Thursday, January 29, 2009

Weaned!

It has been 80 hours since Dorian last nursed! Check out my blog (http://becomingabetterkelly.blogspot.com) if you're interested in reading about the challenging nights we've been having. Last night was pretty rough, BUT he is now drinking whole milk! He drank about 12 ounces of whole milk last night and has been having loads today too. Phew. We were worried there for a bit (he didn't seem to be drinking ANY fluids for the first couple days of weaning). Once Dorian has calmed down a bit after the weaning (maybe in a week?), we will re-focus our efforts on sleep training. So far, weaning has not helped his sleep as so many people told us it would. Last night he woke crying every 45 minutes. It's harder to get him back to sleep now since I'm not nursing him. I just have to rock him, pat his back, sing to him. We're still co-sleeping and know this isn't ideal either. We'll work on it. But in the meantime, wow! I feel so free to have him weaned!!!! This is HUGE.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Final Wrap-Up: London

Long overdue post on London. We left for London via train on Friday, January 8th. The original plan (months earlier) had been for me to go to London for 5 days without James and Dorian. Of course, Dorian decided he was not going to give up the boobies at 12 months as we had hoped. So James and Dori had to come with me. We compromised and only went for 3 days. James is not a major fan of cities, and obviously would have preferred to have stayed in Devon with his family for a few extra days. But fair's fair. I had wanted to do London the previous year when Dori was a newborn but there was so much family stuff going on in Devon (and no one had met Dori yet, or seen James in 3 years) so we didn't get the chance to go.

The train ride was beautiful. It took about 2.5 hours and the views were lush. There was a dusting of frost on everything so it looked like it had just freshly snowed. Even in winter, everything in England is so green, so bright and pretty. It is such a stunning country. Shame about the weather. When we arrived at Paddington Station, my good friend Sam was waiting for us. Sam used to live in Devon - I met her when we both worked at a bank in Exeter in 2003. She became my best friend while I lived in England. She has visited us in Oakland once, and miraculously, we've both managed to keep in touch via long emails for 4.5 years. She's a really good friend. One of those few people you click with in life and can go years without seeing and then pick up like you never left off, you know?

We took a taxi to Sam's flat in Westminster (near Chelsea and Kensington) and OH MY GOD. She lives in the nicest part of London and her flat was stunning. It's quite small (though probably not by English standards) but the street is gorgeous. Pristine white Victorian apartment complexes (freshly painted) with black iron gates and fluffy, green trees (at least, I imagine they are in the summer) lining the street. Cobblestone paths. Exactly what you think of when you think of London! Inside, we had to go up 4 flights of tiny, winding stairs to her and her boyfriend's attic apartment. It was very sweet with a kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom. I forgot how tiny British apartments are - it was about the size of James and my second apartment in Exeter.

Sam and I left James and Dorian at Gymboree (yes, they had Gymboree play classes a few blocks from her house!) and went to Portobello Road. There's a market that takes place there every day and it was so cute. The street was gorgeous. I bought the cutest knit Indian hippie jacket for Dorian - it will be in some pictures soon, I'm sure. I didn't take many pics in London because I figured I could find thousands of pics on the internet and didn't want to be walking around with a camera out. I wanted to enjoy my trip. Taking pics can be exhausting! Luckily, I was right...

Here are some pics of Portobello Road, Portobello Market, and Notting Hill (couldn't find exact photos of Sam's place, but the picture with the apartments below is similar):



On Saturday morning, Sam had to work so I went for a walk on my own through her neighborhood, Notting Hill and Kensington. I am in love with London! James and I also took Dorian on a walk through Kensington Park. Dorian hated the cold. Absolutely hated it. So we didn't get very far. But here are a couple pics of this gorgeous city park:


On Saturday afternoon, Sam and I went to a couple pubs, then met up with James, Dorian and Sam's BF Jamie for Indian food. We had a really good night, though boy, is my tolerance low. I got massively drunk after 4 glasses of wine (over several hours) and promptly crashed when returning to Sam's around 9pm.

On Sunday, Sam and I took a double decker bus to Camden Market which was soooo cool. It was like a classy, English version of the Haight Ashbury. It was such an interesting mix of bright colors, new items, ethnic items and old architecture. I was in love. I bought so much stuff for ridiculously cheap, even by English standards. The best buy was an Indian tapestry, cushion covers, and a colorful throw for our couch in red, gold and purple hues. I bought wool tights and cool knit hat for me (the look in England at the moment is wool tights with riding boots, short skirts, peacoats and floppy hippie hats - a look I very much love and have been recreating over here)! I thought of the men in my life and bought a hippie shirt and guitar clock for James, English candy and a VW clock for my Dad (his birthday was Dec 31st), and colorful African art and wooden animal toys for Dorian. I also bought massive quantities of tea, Marmite (for James; I can't stand the stuff), Cadbury chocolate and HobNobs (the yummiest cheap English oatmeal cookie) to bring home. Here are some pics of Camden Street and Camden Market:




Then, Sam and I took the tube to Spitalfields Market, which was awesome too. It was great to see the East End, since I have always heard about it. Every part of London has its own feel and was one of the things I loved most about London. It is like 10+ different cities in one area. Then, Sam and I went to a couple more pubs. A couple pics of Spitalfields:


While we were out boozing and shopping, James and Dori went to visit with James' friend Jim from university. Here are some pics they took (doesn't Dori look thrilled to be in London?):


On Monday, we flew home. It was a short week-end in London, but very fun. And it even snowed lightly a couple times! I could totally see myself living in London - I LOVED it. I am much happier in a city. I don't know what it is. But I just love cities!

England Trip Wrap-Up #4: Final Days with Family















England Trip Wrap-Up #3: Exeter

More photos from our England trip...the below pics are from another couple days we spent in Exeter, the town in Devon where James and I used to live. We met up with two of James' friends, Ben and Duncan.







Friday, January 23, 2009

England Trip Wrap-Up #2

I took this picture the day before we left for London (update to come on that soon). It's my new favorite pic.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

sickness and health

Poor Dorian. We made it back from England last Monday night and all went straight to bed. Tuesday was spent unpacking and catching up. Dorian got reacquainted with his toys while we disassembled his cot and removed his changing table. Now he sleeps on a mattress on the floor and has a cool tent from his Nana and Granta to play in. We didn't leave the house once, except to the store for groceries.

The next day, conscious he needed to be out and playing, I took him to a nearby playgroup. He seemed fine: toddling about, playing with the toys, reading books, watching the older kids...business as usual. I sat with him at the play-dough table, but became a bit too engrossed in making sure the guitar I was making was accurate. When I finally looked down Dorian had his face slightly scrunched, like he was about to cry. I picked him up and then stood. As soon as I did, a milky wave of baby sick emanated from him, all over my T-shirt and trousers. Somewhat dazed, I ran with him to the restroom to clean up. I presumed he'd swallowed some dough, so tried to reassure the other parent by shouting, "it's the plasticine! it's the plasticine!" Later I found out no-one here knows what plasticine is (trade name apparently), so I probably seemed a bit weird, covered in vomit and shouting incoherently. When I got him to the bathroom and half presentable he turned back into Mr Creosote and covered me a second time. I emerged from the restroom worse than when I went in and took a weak, fragile looking Dori back home.

After a bath and some food he seemed much better, so I figured I had been right about him swallowing some play-dough. He seemed well enough for me to take him to Gymbouree in the afternoon. I thought he would be excited to see his friends and all the Gymbouree stuff, but he just lay in my lap the whole time. I put it down to jet lag and the shock of his morning adventures (he'd never vomited before) so we left early and he went to bed.

The next morning he seemed brighter, but on changing his diaper it became obvious all was not well. It was filled with a pool of bright yellow diarrhea. Some had spread up his back and down his legs, but the worst was yet to come. As I held him up to put on a clean diaper I accidentally squeezed his stomach and he emptied out onto my lap! With a vomit shower one day and a diarrhea bath the next I was feeling like I'd passed some sort of initiation to becoming a real dad. Actually I was feeling pretty wretched, but Dori was worse so I couldn't complain.

For a week, he's not been eating much and producing a lot of watery poo. I've done a lot of washing (clothes, sofa covers duvets etc) - that stuff gets everywhere. There has been some farting that was probably picked up by the California Geological Survey and our appartment has been smelling like a chemical plant. Worst of all, we've not been able to go out much.

Thankfully he was back to his old self yesterday (just in time for the heat wave to give way to rain). It's been a looong week.

Friday, January 16, 2009

England Trip Wrap-Up #1: Equation Kids

We spent a lovely day with Kath and Sean, James' former Equation bandmates, and their twin girls Lilly and Poppy. The girls are 3.5 months older than Dorian and so cute. We had a wonderful time catching up with everyone, and Dorian was smitten with the little ladies. We ate a nice meal prepared by Kath (though I'm still not convinced about trifle) and took a very cold walk. Gorgeous views by their house - check out the pics at the end of this post.