Bye nanna and grandpa

Dear nanna and grandpa,

Mom told me that you left today.  Why did you have to go?  I miss you.  When will you come back and see me?  I can't wait till this summer.  Then I can visit you and meet cousin Manny and pet some kangaroos.  I'm going to pet at least five.  Mom says that I'm going to be a really big boy then.  You might not recognize me.  I'll be the one in daddy's arms.     

Love,
Baby Chuck

Lotions and potions

Things are finally slowly settling down here.  Baby Chuck is getting less fussy during the daytime and he's sloooooowly adjusting to nighttime sleeping.   (Hooray!)  We hit a low point last week when he woke up every half an hour, but this week we're bouncing back to two- or three- hour stints.  Thank goodness, because the bags under my eyes were developing bags of their own.   

We think that Baby Chuck's eczema is one of the reasons behind his moodiness and sleeplessness.  He's constantly scratching the red, weepy, angry-looking patches that appear all over.  Poor boy.  Right now we're working on uncovering the irritants that cause the spots and we're also trying to ease the itchiness by dousing his body with lotion.

Thanks to Nanna, our lotion collection has exploded.  I think Baby Chuck now has enough products to open an online store.

Chuck-  "Eczema, you're no match for my army of lotions!"

Pretty nails, better mom?

Last Christmas hubby surprised me with a spa gift certificate.  Last weekend I finally redeemed it and got a manicure, facial, and pedicure.  Hubby, nanna, and grandpa volunteered to babysit Chuck for 3 hours.  I was so nervous because it was the longest time I'd ever been away from him.  What if he didn't stop crying?  What if I didn't leave enough milk?  What if Rumpelstiltskin visited the apartment and tricked everyone into giving the baby away?  (Hey, you never know.)

As you can probably guess, none of these scenarios happened.  They did a great job taking care of Chuck and I ended up with pretty nails and less facial acne.  (Yes!) Even though I missed Chuck terribly (and ended up talking to the esthetician about him for most of the time), I'd like to think that little breathers like this will help me to relax and be a better mom.