Monster Hat: A photo series.

Goodies from Grandma and Grandpa.

Nate's mom and dad came for a visit last night, and brought Calvin an adorable little Halloween bucket filled with fun stuff: a darling plaid shirt, denim overalls, a rad junior space man t-shirt, two pairs of cozy jammies, a book about fall, a tiny pumpkin decoration for his room, butternut squash baby food, and candy corn socks. SO cute!

The beauty of having a baby: gifts for him are also gifts for me!

Though he seemed pretty darned excited about his presents, too. :)

Oink.

I'm not entirely sure what I've been dealing with for the past SEVENTEEN days, but there are some theories that include swine flu. That's what the doctors who wouldn't let me come to their offices said it sounded like, and what my husband the healthcare worker has been telling everyone I have. So, fine. Swine flu it is.

Pigs 1, Abby 0.

Thanks to this lovely (and beautifully named) virus, which I still think was just the worst cold of my life and not H1N1, there has been very little fun in the Breyer household for the past two weeks. Unless you consider obsessive hand washing and surface sanitizing to be a barrel of laughs. I don't, but they certainly are effective in halting the spread of disease — Nate and Calvin are both healthy. Which is hard to believe given the severity of my symptoms, the smallness of our house, and the amount of time I spend caring for my child. (Thank you, God and Lysol!)

Today I'm back to work with little more than a headache and a lingering cough. Glad to be on the mend — hopefully we'll be back to having fun again very soon. But, until then, here is an eight-second video of Calvin and Matilda to tide you over.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall.

Who's the cutest of them all?


































I wish all questions had such obvious answers.

The many faces of a five month old.

I tried so hard to get a nice picture of Calvin on his five month birthday. Alas, my kid is a total goofball:













So, I tried again before I put him to bed:

















There's no question about it. He's our child.

Put it on my tab.

One of my favorite lines from the movie Dan in Real Life is when Steve Carrell gets pulled over for the second time by the same police officer, who warns him that "this is gonna cost you." Dan's response? A smile and a mumbled "just put it on my tab."

Soon thereafter, he loses his license.

I empathize with poor Dan, except my tab is an ever-growing heap of mommy guilt. I realized pretty quickly after having Calvin that guilt comes with the territory. I don't think there's a mother alive who doesn't feel guilty about something or another related to her kids. For example:

When Calvin was about two days old, I sat in his room, exhausted and sobbing, wondering why I'd thought having a baby was a good idea. And then I cried more, because that's a terrible thing to think about your sweet, innocent child.

I'd like to start a tab, please.

When Nate first went back to work and I was home alone with Calvin for hours on end, I would stare at him and think: what am I supposed to DO with you? I don't know how to play with a three-week-old baby. So, I put him in his bouncy seat, sat on the floor next to him, and checked Facebook.

Yep, go ahead and add that, too.

When I left Calvin to play on a blanket in the living room for a minute, then came back in to find he'd rolled over and was watching Law & Order: SVU, I about died. Not only was he watching TV, he was watching a show about sex crimes.

Mmmhmm. Tab.

When I let him fuss in his crib one morning so I could sleep a few minutes longer, then went into his room to find him laying in a puddle of pee, I wondered if there had ever been a more neglectful mother.

Pile it on, baby.

And when I dreaded having to drop him off at daycare because I had to go back to work, only to find a few days later that I kind of liked being back at work...

Tab, tab, tabby tab.

Now my milk supply has diminished. Even though I'm pumping two to three times a day at work, I'm not making enough for him to eat while I'm there. So this past weekend I had to buy my first can of formula.

Sigh. One more, please.

I really hope they don't revoke my parenting license.

Rule breaker.

Our pediatrician told us to wait until at least five months — but preferably six — before starting solids. Even though Calvin is still getting up every night to eat and reaches for our food all the time.

Of course I'd already tried giving him rice cereal the day before our appointment. And then gave it to him again last week.

Bad mommy.

Or, more accurately, tired mommy who is willing to break the rules for the possibility of a full night's sleep.

He's cute, isn't he?

A while ago.

I am so behind.

This working mom thing is kind of a lot, so you'll have to forgive me for posting about something that happened in August...in October.

Way back when, Calvin and I spent 10 days in IL visiting my family. I saw a bunch of people I love during our visit, including my parents, sister and brother-in-law, a few high school friends, my dear college friends, and my two cousins and their new babies.

To be honest, a lot happened but I'm pretty tired and I don't really know how to cover that much activity in one blog post, much less one blog post two months after the fact. So here are some pictures, all of which will illustrate how much fun we had without me having to say anything other than it was a wonderful week.

Which it was.