Life is too busy. We’re trying to move here!
Archive for December, 2008
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Monday, December 15th, 2008Packing?
Saturday, December 13th, 2008So John and Jonathan went to Las Vegas. And came back. In one day. I think it was really fun for them. AND John figured out how to get me a poker chip (something I’ve wanted since seeing Casino Royale) courtesy of Jonathan who brought cash (apparently if you pay for anything with a card on the strip, especially if it’s a really small denomination, you get majorly ripped off). They walked around and sent me pictures and I am glad they went.
Interestingly enough Camper waited until about 20 minutes after John left to develop a low-grade fever. It’s just a cold/flu which caused him to go to bed last night around 8:30 and sleep til 1 and then again til about 6…and then again until about 10am. I’m afraid I might be spoiling him letting him sleep with me, but he was SICK. And I needed a cuddle, too with John gone all night. I said, “I think he’s started to associate me with sleep.” John said, “I don’t know if that’s good.” I said, “I don’t know if that’s good either. But I don’t co-sleep with him (even though I did last night…).” John said, “I want you to co-sleep with ME.” Haha. Poor us! It’s getting sad! When we move to New England though, it’s time. Time to sleep in my own bed again. I can do it. He’ll be fine. We got him his white noise CD and he won’t be closer to the front door than we are (which is the situation here). So I can probably learn to relax and let him be more independant. We’ll see how it goes!
Today was meant to be big packing day. Instead, because of the trip and the fact that Camper needs a wee more attention right now it’s more of a slowly getting to it packing day. I’ve got my lists going, my Auntie gets here Monday (I can’t WAIT!!!) and yeah. We’ll be ok. My friend Anisa was going to come and stay the night last night, but in light of a no-fun crying/sick baby, we postponed our girly night til tonight. She also graciously offered to help us pack today, again…a plan that went by the wayside on my side of things, but THANKS girly.
I’ve acutally gotten to reconnect with a couple of people before leaving. Anisa, of course, who I never really disconnected with…I just had a baby…and Becca!! A friend I lived with when I first lived here. We kind of mutually lost track of each other for about…10 months? Almost a year. Crazy. But turns out we still love each other. I’ve also tried to call/chat with my friends from out east a bit more lately. I’m trying girlies! I’ll see you soon!
Ok, I must be tired because I’ve used too many exclamation points in this psudeo-boring entry. And Camper is whimpering and probably needs some love. So more later. If I’m not packing.
ARG 2
Thursday, December 11th, 2008And then she threw the chicken in the trash.
END SCENE
Walk
Thursday, December 11th, 2008So we got out. It was a no coat day, so when school let out Camper and I strolled around to scope out the families walking around. It was nice. We walked around a wee neighborhood that I never went into before. It was just like Reading, England! Lots of interconnected houses with walkways winding around in circles and lots of trees and bricks. Very pretty. Lots o’ old people. There were lots of boxes on peoples porches, problably Christmas presents :) It made me happy.
Then I called my bro to tell him that the chicken probably won’t be done for when he gets off work because it’s not unthawing. And there are guts in this one. I couldn’t find one without the giblets. And to tell you the truth, I’m not sure where they are. I think I have some vague recollection of the neck and guts being shoved up the…well…I don’t know. And wherever they are they are frozen solid. Costco pizza anyone?
My favorite part of that conversation was when I was telling him to tell his boss to kiss it (my exact words) because they want him to work until the last second he’s in Utah, and I’m all “I WILL GO CRAZY IF YOU CAN’T HELP US FOR ONE DAY,” and as soon as the words “kiss it” leave my mouth I look down to see a little joe with a Spongebob backpack looking at me like, “Thanks for the new vocab.” Beautiful. At least I’m leaving a little something for the neighbors.
Real
Thursday, December 11th, 2008So most of the time these days I’m posting about my little boy and how insanely in love with him I am. It’s true. I think I spent most of the morning just breathing in his baby breath (how does it smell so good?) as he tried to fall asleep and feeling his little arms wrapped around my neck. Last night he slept amazingly well. He actually did go to bed around 9:30, til about 2:30am. Then he went back to bed until 5:30am, then again until around 8ish. It’s was a good thing I got some sleep, too, because John certainly didn’t. He pulled an all nighter to finish up his last assignments, which I’m proud to report he DID finish. He is just about to go into his last class of the entire semester now, and when he gets home I fully expect him to crash. Hard. He needs to. But this is my public “I’m proud of you” for a husband who finished his last semester in college (almost!) with a newborn baby, emotional wife, and impending cross-country move. His degree has taken him across state lines and a few years before finishing…and we’re both crazy enough to go on for more. But this is an amazing first step.
So, back to my original point…so yes. I have been on almost sole baby duty for a little bit so John could tackle his scary workload. So I was happy le Camper slept so well last night and has been rather congenial for a couple of days, actually. But you know what I’m finding? And I’m going to get real with you here. This is HARD. He hasn’t taken a nap today, which means all the paperwork type stuff I’ve been needing to do isn’t getting done. I had a fight with the scanner trying to update my blogher info (gets to wait for another day, yet again) and still haven’t gotten out of the house to pick up groceries (much less made a grocery list) or send out our family Christmas presents that arrived yesterday or get my Camper weighed so I can figure out which size diaper to pick up at Costco pre-move. And then I think, “Don’t you just LOVE days when you don’t even get done the things you don’t want to do in the first place?” I’ve held my beautiful baby all morning, and I was just BORED of it. That’s horrible. I know. So I did some dishes to take a break (wo ho!), Camper playing happily in the background (he hasn’t had a screamy day, just an AWAKE one, it’s hard to entertain a 3 month old!) and had a frustrated cry. Then I realized I hadn’t eaten anything since I got up this morning. So I stopped my huge list of “to-do’s,” made myself some soup and a sandwich, and ate. Amazingly enough, the “trapped in my house with someone who can’t talk” feeling faded away.
Moral of the story. EAT SOMETHING. Sheez.
I apologized to Camper for my sour mood. He frowned at me. So I told him to just let me know when he forgave me. Then he smiled. And I finished my soup and we watched the end of some Cheetah Girls in Spain movie together.
And that, my friends, is real.
Who reads your blog that you would love to see have their OWN blog?
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008Let me see. My cousin SARA, who writes uber-long interesting comments and would do quite well in her own space.
My friend Alicia who could post lovely pictures of her son, one month older than my son.
and…
Becca B! Who started one, I guess, but I can’t find it and she’s barely ever on her computer…but it could work!
So come on guys. Give me more people to add to my blogroll! Consider this a FORMAL invitation.
Jumble of Thoughts
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008He napped fabulously today! AND he didn’t scream after his bath (I drained it before I took him out…seemed to “transition” him better), AND he ate and went to sleep on his own in his crib by 8:30pm. Who took my baby and switched him with another one?
Ok. That’s not even funny.
Is he gonna wake up any minute now? What do I do with the load of laundry that needs switched? The washer and dryer are in the closet in his room… I’m not used to this!
Also: I’m re-reading Twilight after seeing the movie that I only loved because it is fun to mock. I finished the first book and am skipping right to the last one. That’s totally the way to go.
Also again: If you’re looking for a good meal, we got a marinated pork loin from Costco awhile ago. I cut it into 5 pieces (could’ve cut it into 6 for just the two of us, easy) and then baked it in the oven for an hour and a half in some tin foil at 350ish. It might take a little while, but it’s SO tender and tasty and nice and easy. And it’s a bunch of dinners just ready in the freezer for you! Yup. Yummmmmy.
Sleep and My Three Month Old
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008So it’s time. Camper is 10 days away from his 3 month birthday, I can’t believe it! I’ve been feeling more and more like it might be time to not only grow more serious about our sleep rules that we’ve established (and been at least 80% good at keeping) but to begin a more formal “sleep training.” I was wondering when it would become time that we could actually maneuver him into sleeping when we want/need him to, and I think that most of the things that I’m reading point to between 3 and 6 months old. I found this today:
Sleep training opportunity
Typically, by age 3 months or so, babies have started to develop more of a regular sleep/wake pattern and have dropped most of their night feedings.
This doesn’t mean you should suddenly impose a rigid sleep program on your 3- or 4-month-old. In fact, your baby may already have developed sleep patterns that fit in well with your family life. But if you’d like to help your baby sleep longer at a stretch and keep more regular hours, now might be a good time to try some type of sleep training.
Keep in mind that every baby is on a unique developmental schedule. Observe how your child reacts to sleep training, and if she doesn’t seem ready, slow down and try again in a few weeks.”
So there ya go! Keeping in mind that my baby may or may NOT be ready for a more regular schedule, I think it’s time to try. The last few days I’ve been trying to follow a bedtime routine, which is the most consistent piece of advice EVERYONE seems to give about helping baby learn how to sleep more regularly. Here’s the thing, I don’t mind if he wants to wake up and eat in the middle of the night- he actually goes right back to sleep afterward and it doesn’t cause too much of a problem for me. What I REALLY want, my BIG goal, is for him to go to bed the same time every night, within an hour or so. That way as he matures and is able to sleep longer, he’ll do it from the same starting point. I see it like setting up a good platform to jump off of. And a more predictable evening for Mommy and Daddy.
SO. This is the routine that we’ve come up with.
8pm Change diaper, change into feety PJ’s, have a little lotion massage. (I know this is generally when people say, “Give him a bath, it’ll put him out!” But tis not true. My baby LOVES the bath, so much so that it traumatizes him to the tune of screaming for an hour every time I take him out. Also: I give him a bath earlier in the day when it’s warmest out.)
8:15pm Quiet rocking until it’s time to eat. Feed him a bottle in a dim room, say goonight!
Whenever all THAT is done: Cuddle in his bedroom and listen to lullabies, when he’s VERY sleepy turn on the white noise and put him in his crib. Say a prayer, final goodnight, and leave him in his bed.
Whenever he starts freaking out, pat on the back, rub his head, pick up for a couple of minutes and then RIGHT BACK in the crib until he falls alseep for real. So far this process has taken….until 2 am. Last night he took a power nap then was up til around 2:30.
I know.
It sucks.
I get SO frustrated! It’s so hard to wonder, is he still a newborn? Is this having any effect at all?
Then I read that while you cannot control when your baby goes to sleep, you can wake him up at the same time every day. So I think I’ll try waking him up every day at 7am (this is the time he woke up today, he slept from 2-7, not bad, just needs to be earlier!!) and see if that helps his little clock get settled down a wee. We shall see I guess. He might just fall right back to sleep, who knows?
Today I think I began reading his “signals” a little better. I put him down for a nap usually about two hours after he gets up in the morning. He’ll start rubbing his eyes and I know it’s time for either a swaddle or a meltdown. I almost always choose swaddle. Today I laid him down and he did his obligatory 20 minute nap and seemed awake. But I was on to him this time. I kept the white noise on, kept him in his swaddle and laid down with him for about 10 minutes. Sure enough, he fell asleep immediately. He woke once more and then went back to sleep. Total nap time: 2.5 hours. Perfect. He was up for about two hours (enough time to visit with friends!) and then back to sleep again for another hour. I think that this could work…as long as I watch him and get him to sleep before the meltdown happens.
Yup. Been working on this post pretty much all day, and am finding it a wee ironic that as I speak not only is it past 8 and we’ve done nothing on our “schedule,” but Camper is sleeping peacefully in his Daddy’s arms. Sigh. One day.
ARG
Monday, December 8th, 2008Anisa called and invited me to lunch at BURGER SUPREME! I got Camper all dressed up warm and snug and in his car seat, got his bag together and got him calmed down, got myself dressed and put on my FAVORITE POLKA DOT BOOTS, went out to my car…got Camper in…calmed him down AGAIN!!! Tried to turn on the car and go and nothing happened. Well, that’s not right. It went “sputter sputter sputter” and the battery light blinked at me and I glared at the beautiful floaty snow out the window and listened to Camper start to scream again in the backseat. Then I got out of my car in my polka dot boots, pulled Camper out and went back down into the house where there is no floaty snow and no burgers with frysauce and no Anisa. Sigh.
Christmastime with a Little Baby Boy
Sunday, December 7th, 2008Before I gave birth I gave the actual birth/babyhood of Jesus only a cursory thought. It happened. He was born, he was a baby. Mary was his mother. This Christmas it’s very different for me. As I listen to the hymns and contemplate Mary riding a donkey into Bethlehem I think about how I could barely stand a five minute ride in our comfy subaru by my 8th month. I realize that she didn’t have a labor and delivery nurse to comfort her and help her know what to do. We don’t read anything about her having other women there, but when I think about the time she lived in I think that women probably just found each other in times like that. Who else was there? I think about Joseph, wishing he could take the pain away and wondering how he would do as an earthly, surrogate father for the Son of God. We know that Christ was perfect, body and spirit, but to me that means that Mary probably had a very healthy, routine birthing experience, with all of the normal pain and discomfort that comes with it. No NICU for Baby Jesus, no epidural for Mary.
I wonder if she felt relief and joy as she heard his first cries, if she held him immediately or if Joseph held him first. Did Joseph deliver him? Did he latch on right away? I think that Jesus was probably a normal baby in many ways, definitely extraordinary, but ordinary, too. He relied on his Mom for comfort, cried when he wanted to be held. As he grew he began to smile and coo at his parents. Did he learn his consonant sounds first like most babies do? When did he first sleep through the night? Are sleepless nights just as challenging when your child is the Son of God? When did Mary first sense that sooner than most, He would mature and she would rely on him more than he would rely on her? I wonder if in any of Christ’s adult years he felt the need to be near his mother the way I still do from time to time. I can picture Him going to her and laying his head on her shoulder like my little brother Jonathan (now 22) does to me and my Mom. Or did he rely soley on his Father for comfort?
Then I think about the fear. I think that Mary was immune to some fears with regard to her child. Maybe she didn’t have to lie awake at night pushing away images of something happening, someone stealing him away or things like SIDS. Sometimes the fear of what could happen to Camper paralyzes me. But I couldn’t imagine, not even for one moment, realizing that although my child was safe and protected by angels as he grew, that one day He would Atone for all mankind. Did she know what it would entail? Did she realize what her son would go through, or was she protected from that knowledge for as long as she could be? I wonder if in her heart she wished that He would use His agency and protect himself from the pain, back out and live a quiet life with her and their family. Of course she was willing to give Him up, to support Him, but I can’t even imagine the anguish she must have felt when she understood what had to be done. The pride and awe and love she felt when she understood, even in small measure, why He was doing it. She raised Him, He saved her. They both did what they needed to do, but I can’t imagine even for a moment that it was easy.
All year long I concentrate on the Living Christ, divinity- His death and resurrection. I love Him for that. But this Christmastime I am overwhelmed thinking about the Baby Jesus. An infant, lying in His mother’s arms, full of potential and grace and promise in much the same way my baby lies in my arms. Was He the Son of God? Yes. But He was also a little baby, and His humanity is what makes His life here so remarkable and his sacrifice so universal and saving. And for me, this year, that is what makes Christmas special.
And I love that even after Christmastime is over, the story continues.
Luke Chapter 2:25-33
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
