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Help with designing a new blog.
If you have experience or know how, let me know. I am looking for something fairly basic but don’t have the time to actually do it. Please leave a comment and I will email you with more details and you can let me know how much I might expect to spend.
Thanks.
I remember back with Mr. E was a newborn and I decided to do whatever worked to make life easier, smoother, et cetera. Perhaps I’ve lost some of that as he grew and we developed a routine.
Well his sleep issues and his desire to nurse a lot at night has been rough. Really rough. If A goes to him he just looks to the door for me. When she brings him to me he shows his excitement that maybe there will be milk involved. All of this has led to some pretty funky sleep arraignments and with no end in sight for his night waking/nursing, I was not okay with indefinitely playing musical beds.
We have two cribs one in his room and one in ours. This has more to do with the fact that we moved into my parent’s house and they already had a crib for my nephews and we came with our own. It made sense to keep one in our room for when there were guests/cousins needing E’s room. I recently had the idea to remove one side of the crib in our room and tether it to our bed, thus making space for him to sleep right next to me, but not be in our bed (if we had a king sized bed, he’d just be in the bed, but it’s tight in our queen). We’ve slept two nights like this and I am very pleased with the lack of up and down, and also to be sleeping next to A instead of in the next room with E.
So “whatever works” has returned:
So we’re back to crap for sleep – I’m blaming his cold or maybe it’s teething. All I know is I get up just about every hour with him. It’s *so* much fun! Yay for A being on vacation after today so she can log some night duty! I have to share this picture from this morning. I put him in his crib and he sat up and began talking for a while. When all was quiet I went to peek in on him and this is what I saw:
He’s sitting up and sleeping – and this is how he took his entire morning nap. Time to get more Zzzzzs at night!
Four years ago as A and I watched the DNC and were introduced to Barack Obama, we, like many others, said, next president of the United States. We were moved by him, but honestly, the lack of a Black man (or shall I say person) ever coming close to a successful bid for presidency overshadowed those feelings.
Today we vote. We have a chance to (positively) impact the future of our country and how we treat our global citizens. Our son may will grow up knowing the year he was born, was the year that a great many American folk rose above the racism so deeply ingrained in our society, and voted for the most qualified candidate.
It’s going to happen. Change is coming to us folks. GO VOTE!
It happened ever so innocently. Mr. E’s big cousin was over and wanted to watch Elm.o. Mr. E happened to be in the room and we watched with shock how he tuned right in and began laughing at that silly red character. A few days later I needed to take a shower, he was awake, and well, I put him down and turned El.mo on. He sat there, completely entertained loving every minute. Now it happens about once a week. Sometime I just can’t time my shower with his naps – especially on the days when we are trying to go somewhere in the morning. Today, I let him watch while I unloaded the groceries.
Pre-baby I was anti t.v., anti kids watching t.v. Now, I am sorry, I can’t help it, sometimes I just need a few minutes.
The very nice lady at my A.pple Store called and it all started out nice and chipper. ‘We’ve had a chance to look at your computer and there is some corrosion. We can fix it.’ Just what I wanted to hear. And then she said, ‘unfortunately it will cost more than a new computer.’
The good news? They can retrieve everything on the machine. That is good news and I need to be thankful for this.
I’ll miss you Zac, you were my first Mac, and I loved you more than one person should love a computer.
I don’t usually watch O.prah but today’s topic is likely of interest to many of us. Just wanted to share. The title of the show is already rubbing me the wrong way, but I am very curious to see what these folk’s experience has been.
I don’t feel like I have a whole lot to say these days. Maybe it’s because my days are pretty much the same now and revolve around a small guy with big needs. That said, here’s what we’ve been up to:
Four Weeks!:
Mr. E’s been with us for four weeks and one day. Hard to believe. The time has flow and he’s already growing out of some clothes. Eek! He’s done a damn good job of communicating his needs and desires. It makes me excited each time I figure out one of his cues. In the last week I learned that within a few minutes of getting on the boob, he will need to come off to belch burp, and then need immediately resume nursing.
Mom groups :
Mr. E and I started going to some ‘mommy’ groups. The one we went to last week was a trip. It pretty my epitomized all the reasons why I want to leave this area. I think if I tried to raise my kid here I would go NUTS with all the over the top ‘progressive’ parents. Granted, A and I will be the whack jobs where we’re moving, but at least I won’t feel so damn judged every second. Even so, I think we’ll go back today, give it another try and get some grown up interaction.
We went to a different group yesterday. The description did read ’support’ group but I’ve never been to a support group so I didn’t know what to expect. I am in a place where I want to meet other new moms, so I went. It was not for me. I am not having a hard time with the transition at all, in fact being Mr. E’s mom feels like the most natural thing I’ve ever done. And I couldn’t be happier about being home, and I enjoy doing things around the house. And I want to be with him more than I want my career. You see where this is going right? I am glad such a group exists for women who need it, but I felt out of place. And I am not sure it’s helpful to the women who are struggling for me to be all rosy.
Nursing in public:
After yesterday’s group Mr. E and I went grocery shopping. He usually sleeps through shopping, but I guess I pushed him a little too far because when I was about four items from being done, he let me know he was done! I tried holding him to calm him, but when a milk mama holds their baby and he’s hungry, you can’t deny what he wants. So, I decided, if my child is hungry and I am in the grocery store, he still gets to eat. I unsnapped my bra, and put him on, pulling my shirt down as much as I could to at least try to be discrete, and continued pushing the cart to finish up the shopping. No one said anything to me and my baby was happy.
Sleep:
Three nights ago we had one of our worst sleep nights. Almost as bad as the second night home when Mr. E wiggled his way into our bed. It was awful, A and I were so tired. Then two nights ago he slept in TWO three hour increments! I had no idea how much I missed REM sleep! And last night he had a three and a half hour stretch. Progress. I can only hope it continues.
Depression:
Two nights ago a little liquid accidentally landed in the key board area of my beloved MacBook, Zac. Zac hasn’t worked since – when I hit the power button the machine turns on but the screen is black. I used A’s computer to see what others had to say when their MacBook had a drink and then blacked out. Seemed like the first step was to turn it off, remove the battery and let it sit open to dry for a few days. I turned it on this morning. Nothing. I’m holding out hope that my local Apple Store can fix it.
Cloth Diapering:
So far, so good. The switch has cleared up Mr. E’s diaper rash, and he’s so cute in CDs. We had planned to mostly use prefolds and just get a handful of diapers, but man, the prefolds are a pain in the ass. We’ll still use them, but I also ordered a whole bunch of Fuzz.iBuns. They should arrive today. I’ve also been busy sewing fleece inserts for the prefolds. I’m so glad we made the switch.
We’re home. It’s been a long haul since 3am Tuesday morning. When things settle down I’ll be back to update but here’s the low down:
I delivered our beautiful baby boy, with the support of A, our amazing doula, my mom, the best nurse in the world, and a great midwife. For the most part my birth experience went as I wanted with a few bumps, but I felt empowered and was able to still get through the challenges with out pain meds and was able to labor in the tub. Our boy was born 32 hours after my water broke and with something like 17 hours of labor. It was the most incredible experience of my life and we are so completely in love with our boy.
The stats:
Baby boy born 12:59pm 1/9/08, 6lbs 8 oz, 19 1/2 inches long. More when I can…
It’s a quiet New Year’s Eve in our home this year, and that’s just what I wanted. Each day I tire easier and easier and by afternoon my energy is almost depleted, so going out, in any fashion tonight is out of the question. We’d considered going to the local fireworks, but after returning home this afternoon, and walking through the cold and wind from the car to the house, we decided to put on our pjs and settle in for the night. There’s a pot of chili cooking on the stove and soon corn bread will be baking in the oven. It’s so very quiet here and we are enjoying being. I can’t imagine a better New Year’s Eve for this particular time in our lives.
A posted her year in review. I am far too scattered of a writer to synthesize a whole year in any coherent manner, so I’ve decided not to try. I will say that 2007 will forever be the year we FINALLY achieved our baby dreams. As long as I live, I will always remember the utter shock I experienced on May 15th, 2007 at 4:30am after receiving our first +hpt. It feels like just yesterday that we were standing speechless in the bathroom, staring at the +hpt. We hugged and kissed, and I think we were mostly in disbelief that it was really happening. My pregnancy defined much of the remainder of 2007.
It’s been an amazing journey. 2008 holds much change for us. The biggest, of course, the birth of Moon, but also a career change for A, a move “back home” to plant roots and to raise our kid(s) near family, and me stepping off my career path in search of something new, or maybe just to indulge in a long break from higher education. Eight hours of this year remain and tomorrow we’ll enter Moon’s “due month”, the kicks, turns, and somersaults, I feel as I type will soon be felt on the outside. Our time together will change, and A will, as she said recently, know how Moon is with out having to ask me. I’m ready. I’m ready to meet Moon, to hold him/her on the outside and I am ready for A to hold Moon and continue her bonding process.
2007 was super, but 2008 will be great! (Sorry…I couldn’t resist!)
I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday!
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