Day Care Dilemma

Next Tuesday was be Baby Tae's last day at KC daycare. KC is a gigantic corporation that takes care of babies as young as a few weeks to 5 years of age. KC promises a safe place where babies learn and stay active. It is pretty pricey but it is .5 miles from our house, my friends who send their kids there, and Baby Tae loves his Ms K and Ms M. I felt good about Tae being there because they have over 35 years of experience, but more importantly, the babies truly enjoy their company and they truly love the babies that stay in their care.

Baby Tae has been going to the local KC since the third week of January (he was 13 weeks old). It was supposed to be temporary until an opening at a private home daycare opened up. We got the noticed in March that BT could start the first week of June at "AP2G." At first we weren't sure what to do. We didn't want Baby Tae to be disrupted or stressed out because of this change. We were seriously considering having Tae stay at KC even though it would cost of 3x as much for 1/3 less time. And then something very strange happened. Ms K (morning teacher) hurt her ankle badly trying to avoid tripping over another kid in class. I thought nothing of it and assumed she twisted it, since he continued to work that day. The following day she found out it was broken and she may need surgery. This meant she was no longer the primary caregiver for Tae's class. I'm not stressing it. A week later, I noticed the assistants (barely 21) starting taking over Tae's class. Then the class started growing. Usually there are about 5 babies in Tae's class. Now I start noticing there were 9, 10 little babies crawling, sitting, crying, snotting everywhere. Now they have 2 assistants in class (young capable ladies) taking care of the babies. I want Ms K to be taking care of Tae! She was the reason Tae was still there.

The babies did not like this change... Ms K is gone, there are more babies, new caregivers. They were upset for weeks about this change. I started become pretty irate too. Especially since I found Baby Tae stuck under the partition one afternoon. I don't know if he was in that position for 3 seconds or 3 minutes. I came home and told Banker, "THAT'S IT! I don't pay KC $80 a day so my child can be neglected and not taken care of by a seasoned care giver. Blah blab bhaa" I might have overreacted a bit. Needless to day, I have been very very disappoint with KC the past month and I can't wait to have Baby Tae start at the other place.

I know some of you are reading this and saying, "SO, if you hate it so much, take him out of day care." Well.. I wish I could. I wish you the best of luck in the future. For other who will need day care, research and get on the waiting list before the baby comes! Who knew I would have to wait 6 months.

Overalls & white legs

A few days ago, it was warm enough for shorts. Here are 2 pictures of Baby Tae and his first pair of overall shorts he wore out. Thanks Uncle CJ for my cool duds!
Baby Tae's legs looked even whiter with super SPF lotion!

Do you like my book?

Can we go now?

Golden Monday

We went for a very nice walk today. By the time we started our walk at 10, it was already 75 degrees. I was hoping to get a picture of Baby Tae with the kayakers but we were a little early. Clear Creek seems to be a nice little place for many great and not so great kayakers. Yesterday I saw one man flip over and have a very hard time flipping back around. It made me nervous. Later one I saw him as asked if the water was cold, he said it was super cold and he had one really bad "brain freeze." I bet it didn't help that he was stuck under water for 1 minute or so. The water stays pretty cold all year round... it's pretty much melting snow from the Rockies.

"Why do I look so chubby mummy? Why do you keep trying to cover my legs with a blanket? Don't you know I'll just kick it off? Did Adolf Coors really use this water to make beer? Yuck?"

Yet another Castle Rock in Colorado.

The foothills of the Rockies. We live here. Elevation where we live- around 5800 ft.

Ghetto Costco. Another Costco, another box of diapers!

Baseball field #2- Table Mesa. I thought I would take a picture of my near future. Many of my friends spend all their evenings and weekends watching, volunteering, cheering their little kids at baseball games. Not all of them are happy.

Lunch with the newly pregnant couple

Today I wanted to take some pictures of Baby Tae having lunch with his future friend "Sticky." Sticky is 10 weeks old and still in his mommy's tummy. Sticky is probably about 1" long, and weights onces. Sticky is already adored, pampered, and his arrival in December is greatly anticipated. Unfortunately, Baby Tae did not take any pictures with Sticky because we were too busy walking him around. He missed his morning nap and was a little tired and restless. We managed to have a nice lunch at the Golden Hotel. The day was glorious and windy. We might have also had lunch sitting next to an ultra-marathoner- (damnit Banker won't tell me his name because he is embarrassed of his crush).

Baby Tae has simi blocked tear ducts. This means he tears easily and it does not drain properly. So he constantly has eye boogies. On a windy day, it is extra boogielicious. The pediatrician says this is quite normal but if the tear ducts don't open by 1, we will have to think about surgery. Yeah, lets just poke my little Baby's eyes so his tears can drain properly. I think I can wait a little longer before I decide on such a procedure. But on days where his poor little eyes are boogered shut, I do feel quite badly for him.

Going back to my Sticky and Baby Tae story. Sticky's parents are awesome. They have been fun friends in Colorado. Sticky's daddy is a pilot and is gone 4 days at a time. Sticky's mom is ready for the challenge of being a single mom for a few days a week. But she shouldn't worry about that now. She just wants Sticky to get big and fat in her belly. Well not too big and fat since her "crazy" doctor told her to only gain 25 pounds. HAH! I told her I only know 1 woman who gained 25 pounds and she was already 25 pounds over weight! I know more women who gained 70 pounds than I do 25. She should be happy and not worry about such a crazy figure. I told her I proudly gained 38 pounds and loved every swollen pound. Notice how I did not round that number up to 40. Hmmmhmmm...

The banker's been out of town since Monday. Overall Baby Tae has been a good little baby for me. Sleeping well, eating well, doing everything well..... the first two days. Yesterday, I noticed something a little peculiar. When I disappear from his sight, he cries. He'll play in his gym, roll around on the floor, chew on a toy like a baby BUT the minute I leave of the room or disappear from his sight, he cries. Wails. Screams. I tested this new social change a few times and YUP he's definitely in his co-dependent stage. Does it with dad too.

So I read up on this new baby stage. Turns out it's normal and we can expect it to stop around 15 months. OK. So for almost another year, we can just expect Baby Tae to behave this way. Yea, I don't think so. Also looked up coping or curing this new social behavior. I need to reassure him that it's ok when I leave his sight. I'll have to work on "reassuring" him, starting asap. I need to go to the bathroom and stuff and I don't want him me in the commode with me.

My First Mother's Day

Fish or teething baby?

Aloha anyone?

The baby was never in any danger!

For my first Mother's Day ever, the family went to a nice Sunday Brunch at a local hotel. We managed to get up, get dressed, and arrive at the restaurant on time.

One of my pet peeves is people who are alway late and use their kids as the excuse. "YAH, I remember you before kids and you were perpetually late!" Ok, I must admit, I occasionally run late but I am trying hard not to become "that person."

Going back to my Mother's Day recap. At brunch, Baby Tae was very entertained and sweet for about 45 minutes. This is impressive.... always try to find restaurants with lots of ceiling fans and lights! Afterwards, we went for a nice walk downtown and by the creek. Baby Tae was fascinated by the water, the trees, the ground, the sky... everything but daddy who was trying to get his attention behind the camera.

The perfect day ended with a glorious nap for baby and mommy! Almost forgot to mention, my son slept for 9 hours straight that night... that may be the greatest gift of all. Too bad, daddy kept me up because he was nervous about Baby Tae sleeping so long! :)

Enjoy the pictures.

then came Baby Tae

One month old
I've been thinking about creating a blog since my first ultrasound. Nine months later, plus 7 months and 3 days, I finally have the energy and brain capacity to start one. This blog is mainly to post the millions of pictures of Baby Tae. I realize how much work it takes to email everyone I know how cute and fast Baby Tae is growing. It has also dawned on me that some people are probably too polite to tell me to stop inundating their mail boxes with ever precious and not so precious moments. So here we are.... Baby Tae is now 7 months 3 days old.