It was 53 degrees when I woke up this morning. A sure sign that fall has arrived. Usually that’s marked by when Starbucks starts serving its Pumpkin Spiced Latte, but it just seemed too hot when that happened. All is going well these days. Here’s what’s happening since Michelle Money’s Bachelor in Paradise ended:
– Ellie turned a whopping SIX months. I have no idea how this happened. She is happy and smiley and so curious about everything. She was doing this head bopping / turning thing that freaked me out at first. I told the doctor about it and she thinks it’s Ellie just being a baby and getting excited about things. We took Ellie to a music class and this happened. Yes, she’s the one bopping her head like a lunatic and NO, I’m not doing this for her.
– We started solids. Well, first we tried to transition her from the hypoallergenic, $50/can powder formula that we have to special order online (Neocate) back to Similac. But she seems to still have issues with the cow’s milk protein, so we went back to Neocate. Little girl likes the good stuff. We tried to get insurance to cover it, but so far, haven’t been successful. We’ve now done rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, sweet potato, squash, bananas, peas and green beans. She’s loving everything but the green veggies. The face she makes when we try to shovel it into her mouth is priceless. Kind of like this, “Are you trying to poison me???!”
– I’ve been loving my time at home with Ellie on this extended maternity leave. The days are very tiring, but having her sleep through the night is life-changing. She’s taking about 3 naps a day – anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. It’s wonderful. I’m sure it won’t last 🙂
– Ellie is sitting up on her own for the most part. After about 10 minutes, she’ll slump over. She’s nowhere near crawling though and I’d like to keep it this way. Less work for us. Can we staple her diaper to the floor?
As for me, I’m still writing weekly at Thought Catalog. My latest article is here: http://thoughtcatalog.com/stacey-becker/2014/09/20-things-id-tell-my-former-single-self-now-that-im-married/
You can see the rest of my articles here: http://thoughtcatalog.com/stacey-becker/
And now I need to vent a little bit about the baby class / nursery school situation going on in my neighborhood. I’m curious to hear what it’s like in different parts of the country (and world) because I know this can’t be normal. Here it goes:
The Upper East Side (where we live) offers many different types of classes for babies. Yes, babies. And they are pricey (averaging $50 or more per class). The options range from music classes (about 15 to choose from), swimming, sign language, foreign languages, story time and even gym classes where you can work on your baby’s core. There are mom support groups, mommy and me yoga classes, outdoor strollercise classes and prestigious, hard-to-get-into classes requiring that moms call from the hospital to get their baby on the wait list. I’m not kidding. The classes are “feeder” programs for the insanity of private nursery school. The process for getting into one of these schools sounds more complicated than getting into Harvard. These pre schools require essays, interviews (with a 2 year old!), recommendations from people already attending the school and lots of $$$. Average fees for private nursery school are $25,000 a year. Am I in an insane asylum? People are competing with each other to get into these programs and there aren’t even enough applications. So you can’t even apply to get rejected. I have no interest in putting our family through such a crazy process. Which means we’ll be aiming for a much lower brow school if we stay in the city or moving out to the ‘burbs. Not that it’s such a bargain in Westchester or New Jersey. Ughhh.
Anyhow, I need a sanity check as I’m starting to think it’s a bargain to find a $15,000 nursery school. HUH? Does anyone have a winning lottery ticket they can lend me?
Wally’s barking at something. Which means there may be an intruder in our apartment, so I better go check. If we survive whatever’s happening in the living room, I’m taking Ellie apple picking near my parents’ house tomorrow. L’Shana Tova (Happy New Year) to all those who celebrate Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). I hope it’s filled with lots of love, baby kisses and doggy licks.
More to share at a later time…
PS – Married at First Sight on the FYI channel was AMAZING and has been renewed for a second season. Watch On-Demand. Completely worth it and far better than this last season of The Bachelorette.
More photos
Cynthia says
Did you know Jamie on Married at First Sight was on Ben’s season of the Bachelor? When I watched the final show they started talking about the Bachelor and I couldn’t remember her at first but she was the one that had the awkward kiss with Ben. Cynthia
A4 says
Hey Stacey,
Nursery school? Oh, the best nursery school is «home with mommy» … guaranteed. All the language skills, the social skills, the nurturing and values she needs are best instilled at home. You can have play dates with other kiddies organized outside of a «school» context. Once we are busy working and don’t spend that quality time at home with them they have a terribly difficult time later on in school.
Ellie is so darling. All those smiles. Glad you’re getting breathers during her nap times. It also looks like you’ve lost a lot of weight from that picture of you two together. What a happy mommy and baby 😉
Yes, Married at First Sight was great??? So happy for Jamie. It made much more sense about her difficulties finding/trusting someone. Just wish Vaughn and Monet had gotten a new place together. What a shame Vaughn didn’t have the patience that Doug had. It’s Doug’s patient love that won Jamie over. And such a shame that Monet couldn’t trust Vaughn. Sorry, I’m carrying on about it. Thanks to you Stace I watched that really insightful show.
A4
Angie says
Average full-time daycare costs here are approx $800/month = $9600/year.
I, however, live in New Brunswick (Canada). The entire province only has about 750,000 people… nothing compared to New York city lol
The idea of “nursery school” is crazy to me, to be honest, and I think that most of the mommy & me type classes are a huge waste of money, unless it’s worth the money to you to meet other new moms. Any educational benefits to baby can just as easily be gotten at home with mom and dad for free. And babies don’t really actively play with other babies, especially at under a year old! So don’t feel like a bad mom if you’re not willing or able to dish out that kind of money! She’ll thrive just as well playing with you and daddy 🙂
Amy Heinl says
The whole day care pricing is outrageous. They didn’t have nursery school 19 years ago when my son was an infant but these prices seem outrageous. I would check your local Y to see what classes they offer. I know our Y (YMCA) offers mommy and baby classes that run over multiple weeks and even if you aren’t a member the most you would pay is $100 for the entire class series. I would also check some local churches.
Ellie is looking so adorable and getting so big. My son had the green veggies too so I can relate
I loved Married at Frist Sight and hope you blog about that next season. Not sure if you saw but they are going to do a special 6 episode update on Doug, Jamie, Jason and Courtney on how they are doing since we last saw them
Keep up the great work Stacey….you are rockin good mom!