Naptime with the swaddle:
Ginny: I'm so sleepy...
Me: Let's wrap you up and put you to bed.
Ginny: No, I'm fine! I don't want to nap.
*give her the pacifier and place my hand on her chest*
Ginny: Pacifier is fun. And woah, I'm tired. Actually, here's the pacifier back. My eyes aren't opening anymore. Zzzz...
Naptime without the swaddle:
Ginny: I'm so sleepy.
Me: Here is your crib.
Ginny: No, I'm fine, I don't want to nap!
Me: Umm... here's the pacifier?
*tries to give pacifier*
Ginny: You're doing it wrong. Let me hold it. And hold your hand. With both my hands. And wait, I can roll over. *rolls over* I don't want to be in the crib! *cries*
*tries to give pacifier*
Ginny: Hmm, pacifier. Let me hold it. No, wait, I'm on to you. I don't want to be here! *cries**gets head up, moves head to the other side* I don't like this side! *cries**gets head up, moves head to other side*
Me: Pacifier?
Ginny: I hate your stupid pacifier! And now my sheets are wet! *cries*
Me: They wouldn't be wet if you stopped crying on them. *moves baby*
Ginny: I don't want to nap! You can't make me! *cries*
Me: You sound completely exhausted...
Ginny: But I hate sleeping! *cries*
Me: Let's try your back.
Ginny: Hey, you moved me. Am I getting up?
*put hand on her chest and offer pacifier*
Ginny: Oh, that pacifier thing again. Nah, I want to roll over. Your hand is holding me back. I want to roll over! *cries and struggles*
*remove hand*
*rolls over* Man, I'm so tired. I'm so tired it makes me upset. *cries*
Me: You need to sleep, little girl.
Ginny: I don't know how to sleep! I'm so tired! *cries*
*pats back ineffectually. Offers pacifier*
Ginny: I don't want it! I'm too tired! *cries**blinks heavily**starts just fussing* This sucks! *cries hysterically, pushes head up*
*stands there ineffectually*
Ginny: I'm so tired I can't sleep. *cries exhaustedly**cries hysterically**cries exhaustedly**cries hysterically**cries exhaustedly*
Me: *cries*
Monday, September 26, 2016
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
23:30... why...
First off, in response to my last post.
There. Headband. Only way I could make it more obvious is to put a stamp on her forehead that says "girl."
So it is 23:30. And I'm awake.
Last night, I couldn't get to sleep. I was just falling asleep at 02:00 when Ginny woke up for the first time. I must be going through a sleeping regression. And here I thought Ginny was the one who was supposed to get those.
It's bad enough when Ginny manages to sleep until like 03:30 or 04:00 and I wake up at 03:30 and worry that she died in her sleep or something which negates the point of her sleeping for seven to eight hours in a row. Clearly I'm not ready for her to sleep through the night. If she would only get to the point where she would actually go to sleep at bedtime and then only wake up once during the night at like 03:30... Perfect. Almost. Perfect for me at this time.
Or whatever stage of life I was in before last night. So last night I couldn't sleep and I was super sleepy tired all day today. Ginny has a sixth sense about when I leave the house or need a nap and she shortens hers accordingly, so my daughter took mostly short naps all day and as a result, I didn't get a nap. And there's nothing more disappointing then almost falling asleep and then hearing a baby cry and knowing you have to get up for it. First world problems, I can't deal with it.
I'm like, "Hey, tonight I'll crash. It will be good."
Well...
I don't know, my throat is kind of scratchy. It keeps drying out when I breathe in and that's super irritating. So instead of tossing for three hours, I got up and made myself some echinacea tea, which I generally just refer to as "immune boosting tea" because I can't pronounce echinacea, after googling if it was safe while nursing of course. I was going to add honey and lemon for throat coating, but my lemon juice expired like three years ago, so I just added honey and honey in tea is gross.
My tea is gone now. I guess I'll go and try and sleep again. Seriously, if I don't get sleep, I'll be like the walking dead tomorrow and that's no good way to take care of a baby.
There. Headband. Only way I could make it more obvious is to put a stamp on her forehead that says "girl."
So it is 23:30. And I'm awake.
Last night, I couldn't get to sleep. I was just falling asleep at 02:00 when Ginny woke up for the first time. I must be going through a sleeping regression. And here I thought Ginny was the one who was supposed to get those.
It's bad enough when Ginny manages to sleep until like 03:30 or 04:00 and I wake up at 03:30 and worry that she died in her sleep or something which negates the point of her sleeping for seven to eight hours in a row. Clearly I'm not ready for her to sleep through the night. If she would only get to the point where she would actually go to sleep at bedtime and then only wake up once during the night at like 03:30... Perfect. Almost. Perfect for me at this time.
Or whatever stage of life I was in before last night. So last night I couldn't sleep and I was super sleepy tired all day today. Ginny has a sixth sense about when I leave the house or need a nap and she shortens hers accordingly, so my daughter took mostly short naps all day and as a result, I didn't get a nap. And there's nothing more disappointing then almost falling asleep and then hearing a baby cry and knowing you have to get up for it. First world problems, I can't deal with it.
I'm like, "Hey, tonight I'll crash. It will be good."
Well...
I don't know, my throat is kind of scratchy. It keeps drying out when I breathe in and that's super irritating. So instead of tossing for three hours, I got up and made myself some echinacea tea, which I generally just refer to as "immune boosting tea" because I can't pronounce echinacea, after googling if it was safe while nursing of course. I was going to add honey and lemon for throat coating, but my lemon juice expired like three years ago, so I just added honey and honey in tea is gross.
My tea is gone now. I guess I'll go and try and sleep again. Seriously, if I don't get sleep, I'll be like the walking dead tomorrow and that's no good way to take care of a baby.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
On the appropriate color coding of infants
On Sunday, my child wore this:
It's a bit blurry because my husband is bouncing her. She has to be in a constant state of motion or have something to look at while awake.
It's basically a white onesie with ruffled sleeves with pink on the edges, light pink pants, and pink-striped socks.
And she got mistaken for a boy twice.
David says people always assume babies are boys.
Hence all the pink.
Look, there are two reasons I dress my child in pink even though I do not like the color and I don't particularly like that girls are always assigned pink.
1) I want to communicate her gender accurately more than I dislike that social shortcut.
2) Most of her clothes were given to me and are, as a result, pink. Heck, even some of the stuff I bought was pink. But with cute little foxes on them.
Anyway, I don't want people to think she is a boy, largely because I highly value clear communication. And then I feel obligated to correct them whenever they assume she is a boy, or at least head off the question. Kids her age don't have a whole lot to their identities other than their first and middle name, family position, gender, and amount of hours they sleep at night. Cause that's what everybody asks.
Sidetrack for a moment. Why does everyone ask if she is sleeping through the night? I've heard people ask the mother of a two-week-old if he was sleeping through the night. At two weeks, they generally advise you to wake the baby up like every four hours to feed if they aren't waking up on their own, so it'd be a bad sign if they were sleeping through that! I never asked anybody that until after I had a kid, and the reason I ask is for polling data. How does my child measure up to the norm? Are other people in my boat? He still wakes up three-plus times? I feel your pain.
In case you're wondering, no, she isn't sleeping through the night. Generally though she wakes up an average of two times and goes back to sleep after nursing pretty easy and doesn't wake up for the morning until usually after seven. Could it be better? Much. Would I prefer it better? Definitely. Livable? Yes, way better than 0-2. So given the options, I'll take this.
Where was I? Ah yes. The proper color coding of infants.
I like dressing her in stuff that is either girly-styled or girly-colored, although preferably not too much of both at the same time.
I tend to like things that use bold colors, like orange and turquoise, patterns like arrows, or girly up an outfit, like a lacy onesie under blue denim overalls. Feminine touches to gender-neutral things.
Sunday's outfit was a vague reflection of mine as I didn't feel like wearing a skirt and so wore khaki capris. And clearly, I failed in my attempts to communicate (through the liberal application of pink) her gender.
Why do I care if people think she's a boy? Why do I need her to look like a girl? Gender is fluid?
No. I'm not even getting into that. We're talking about when the world was normal.
At any rate, I prefer it when other people dress their kids in something that at least hints as to their sex so I can use the proper pronouns when talking about him or her. Asking "is it a boy or a girl?" can be construed as insulting (especially if the child in question is older).
And so I am failing. I guess the pink pants were too light-colored. I need to up my game. More frills? Skirts? Headbands? Earrings? A label on her forehead?
On headbands... I've never really gotten into those for babies. I mean she doesn't have hair... so what's the point? I have seen some babies with impressive full heads of hair and headbands look cute on them, but on my baby's bald noggin?
Ah well, if it's for communication... anybody know some cute, yet comfortable headbands that are about as obvious as a label maker?
Behold the baby glory.
No, she's a girl.
It's a bit blurry because my husband is bouncing her. She has to be in a constant state of motion or have something to look at while awake.
It's basically a white onesie with ruffled sleeves with pink on the edges, light pink pants, and pink-striped socks.
And she got mistaken for a boy twice.
David says people always assume babies are boys.
Hence all the pink.
Look, there are two reasons I dress my child in pink even though I do not like the color and I don't particularly like that girls are always assigned pink.
1) I want to communicate her gender accurately more than I dislike that social shortcut.
2) Most of her clothes were given to me and are, as a result, pink. Heck, even some of the stuff I bought was pink. But with cute little foxes on them.
Anyway, I don't want people to think she is a boy, largely because I highly value clear communication. And then I feel obligated to correct them whenever they assume she is a boy, or at least head off the question. Kids her age don't have a whole lot to their identities other than their first and middle name, family position, gender, and amount of hours they sleep at night. Cause that's what everybody asks.
Sidetrack for a moment. Why does everyone ask if she is sleeping through the night? I've heard people ask the mother of a two-week-old if he was sleeping through the night. At two weeks, they generally advise you to wake the baby up like every four hours to feed if they aren't waking up on their own, so it'd be a bad sign if they were sleeping through that! I never asked anybody that until after I had a kid, and the reason I ask is for polling data. How does my child measure up to the norm? Are other people in my boat? He still wakes up three-plus times? I feel your pain.
In case you're wondering, no, she isn't sleeping through the night. Generally though she wakes up an average of two times and goes back to sleep after nursing pretty easy and doesn't wake up for the morning until usually after seven. Could it be better? Much. Would I prefer it better? Definitely. Livable? Yes, way better than 0-2. So given the options, I'll take this.
Where was I? Ah yes. The proper color coding of infants.
I like dressing her in stuff that is either girly-styled or girly-colored, although preferably not too much of both at the same time.
I tend to like things that use bold colors, like orange and turquoise, patterns like arrows, or girly up an outfit, like a lacy onesie under blue denim overalls. Feminine touches to gender-neutral things.
Sunday's outfit was a vague reflection of mine as I didn't feel like wearing a skirt and so wore khaki capris. And clearly, I failed in my attempts to communicate (through the liberal application of pink) her gender.
Why do I care if people think she's a boy? Why do I need her to look like a girl? Gender is fluid?
No. I'm not even getting into that. We're talking about when the world was normal.
At any rate, I prefer it when other people dress their kids in something that at least hints as to their sex so I can use the proper pronouns when talking about him or her. Asking "is it a boy or a girl?" can be construed as insulting (especially if the child in question is older).
And so I am failing. I guess the pink pants were too light-colored. I need to up my game. More frills? Skirts? Headbands? Earrings? A label on her forehead?
On headbands... I've never really gotten into those for babies. I mean she doesn't have hair... so what's the point? I have seen some babies with impressive full heads of hair and headbands look cute on them, but on my baby's bald noggin?
Ah well, if it's for communication... anybody know some cute, yet comfortable headbands that are about as obvious as a label maker?
Behold the baby glory.
No, she's a girl.
Monday, August 8, 2016
I can't keep a plant alive and you expect me to raise a kid?
Two months in to motherhood and I live in fear of one particular thing. Well, two if you count Princess Fussbudget's bad moods.
I am afraid of the eternal Forming Bad Habits. It is the specter that lurks behind every decision I make, the start of every day, every time I get up in the middle of the night. It is the nightmare that haunts my plans and dreams of the future.
So The Books say to put baby on a routine. Not a schedule, mind you, a routine. A schedule says they eat at 10:30, stay awake until 11:30, and then nap until 13:30 and then eat again. A routine says that they eat when they wake up, stay up for about an hour or whenever they start showing tired cues, go down for a 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap, and when they wake up, they eat again. If they get hungry in the meantime, really actually hungry, you can feed them again instead of holding off until the clock.
A routine is the greatest thing for babies, the best thing since sliced bread. Touchy babies are comforted by routine, babies are build for routine, they like knowing what comes next. Routine routine routine. It will save your sanity, your sleep, your marriage, your life, whatever. Eat/wake/sleep routine is where it's at. Or so they tell me.
So I want wakeup time to be 07:30-08:00. What do I do when she wakes up at 06:30? What about 07:00? Feed her and put her back? Consider it her getting up? Let her cry it out? If I get her up, won't that reinforce her bad habit of waking up early?
So I feed her at 02:30. What do I do when she wakes up again at 04:00 and wants to eat? Babies can go a lot longer than that without eating, but that's what she wants. Do I spend half an hour trying to calm her back to sleep (to sleep or just to drowsy?) or do I feed her and let her fall asleep on the breast in fifteen minutes? Feeding her again so soon, that probably forms bad habits of waking up too much and letting her fall asleep while nursing is also a no-no, so I'm committing like double sin or something. But it takes fifteen minutes and often I don't even have to go back in to get her back to sleep. Then I get to go to bed. And I like my sleep.
Often during the day she asks to nurse maybe a half hour to an hour after I fed her. She doesn't need it. I'm relatively sure she isn't actually hungry. She just wants to nurse, for comfort I assume. That's not part of the routine! I'm sure nursing her all the time will form a bad habit.
What about when I put her down for a nap and she wakes up forty-five minutes later and wants to nurse (nursing after waking up is the part of the routine she seems to agree on)? Probably a bad habit.
I had been putting her down for naps in her crib (after she no longer seemed to be able to sleep on the couch) and those worked fairly well for a couple of weeks. I would go in and unswaddle her to encourage her to wake up at the end of two hours. It was great, everything seemed to be working, I got things done. 'Course, at that point I worried about putting her down to sleep too soon after her waking up, but I swear she was yawning a bunch and then getting fussy. Now, she seems to wake up in her crib after forty-five minutes to an hour, but if I let her fall asleep in her bouncy chair, she can sleep for two hours easily. She rouses from time to time and I just keep bouncing her with my foot and she'll put herself back to sleep (kind of like while I'm typing this). Is letting her nap in her bouncy chair a bad habit? I'm not sure what it's enforcing... getting used to being bounced, or not getting used to her crib.
There seems to be so many bad habits to try and avoid and the girl is only two months old. I can only imagine how much I'm going to mess her up by the time she hits three. Or thirteen. Or eighteen. And I'm sure it will be some sort of blowback from that time I let her sleep in the bouncy chair as a child. Wait for a psychologist to bring that up someday.
Look at all the evil sleeping habits she's been infected with:
I'm sure it's my fault when she doesn't sleep at night.
I am afraid of the eternal Forming Bad Habits. It is the specter that lurks behind every decision I make, the start of every day, every time I get up in the middle of the night. It is the nightmare that haunts my plans and dreams of the future.
So The Books say to put baby on a routine. Not a schedule, mind you, a routine. A schedule says they eat at 10:30, stay awake until 11:30, and then nap until 13:30 and then eat again. A routine says that they eat when they wake up, stay up for about an hour or whenever they start showing tired cues, go down for a 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap, and when they wake up, they eat again. If they get hungry in the meantime, really actually hungry, you can feed them again instead of holding off until the clock.
A routine is the greatest thing for babies, the best thing since sliced bread. Touchy babies are comforted by routine, babies are build for routine, they like knowing what comes next. Routine routine routine. It will save your sanity, your sleep, your marriage, your life, whatever. Eat/wake/sleep routine is where it's at. Or so they tell me.
So I want wakeup time to be 07:30-08:00. What do I do when she wakes up at 06:30? What about 07:00? Feed her and put her back? Consider it her getting up? Let her cry it out? If I get her up, won't that reinforce her bad habit of waking up early?
So I feed her at 02:30. What do I do when she wakes up again at 04:00 and wants to eat? Babies can go a lot longer than that without eating, but that's what she wants. Do I spend half an hour trying to calm her back to sleep (to sleep or just to drowsy?) or do I feed her and let her fall asleep on the breast in fifteen minutes? Feeding her again so soon, that probably forms bad habits of waking up too much and letting her fall asleep while nursing is also a no-no, so I'm committing like double sin or something. But it takes fifteen minutes and often I don't even have to go back in to get her back to sleep. Then I get to go to bed. And I like my sleep.
Often during the day she asks to nurse maybe a half hour to an hour after I fed her. She doesn't need it. I'm relatively sure she isn't actually hungry. She just wants to nurse, for comfort I assume. That's not part of the routine! I'm sure nursing her all the time will form a bad habit.
What about when I put her down for a nap and she wakes up forty-five minutes later and wants to nurse (nursing after waking up is the part of the routine she seems to agree on)? Probably a bad habit.
I had been putting her down for naps in her crib (after she no longer seemed to be able to sleep on the couch) and those worked fairly well for a couple of weeks. I would go in and unswaddle her to encourage her to wake up at the end of two hours. It was great, everything seemed to be working, I got things done. 'Course, at that point I worried about putting her down to sleep too soon after her waking up, but I swear she was yawning a bunch and then getting fussy. Now, she seems to wake up in her crib after forty-five minutes to an hour, but if I let her fall asleep in her bouncy chair, she can sleep for two hours easily. She rouses from time to time and I just keep bouncing her with my foot and she'll put herself back to sleep (kind of like while I'm typing this). Is letting her nap in her bouncy chair a bad habit? I'm not sure what it's enforcing... getting used to being bounced, or not getting used to her crib.
There seems to be so many bad habits to try and avoid and the girl is only two months old. I can only imagine how much I'm going to mess her up by the time she hits three. Or thirteen. Or eighteen. And I'm sure it will be some sort of blowback from that time I let her sleep in the bouncy chair as a child. Wait for a psychologist to bring that up someday.
Look at all the evil sleeping habits she's been infected with:
I'm sure it's my fault when she doesn't sleep at night.
Friday, August 5, 2016
I have a theory...
My baby (or LO) turns two months tomorrow.
I don't actually know what LO means. I presume "Little One?" It's a shorthand I see frequently on stuff like the Birthways Breastfeeding Support Facebook group and the Ames Babywearing and Beyond group. I don't get it. I mean, it's fine calling your baby "Little One," as its a nice gender-neutral non-specific-age term of endearment, but why abbreviate it? While, yes, it takes about half a second longer to type out little one than LO, this is a PC with a full keyboard. I'm not texting. Heck, autocorrect even made abbreviations old fashioned. Seems weird. It's also another one of those random things that I've learned since becoming a mom. Like you have no idea how many new words I learned that relate to breastfeeding...
Anyway, that's not where I was trying to go with this.
I frequently have questioned how on earth people could have more than one kid. Like I said, my "LO" is turning two months tomorrow. During those two months, I have been cried at, had to get up multiple times a night (usually three, not counting all the times fifteen minutes later to calm her back to sleep), had to spend inordinate amounts of time bouncing, can't seem to take a minute to myself to dress or eat breakfast unless I wait for her nap time, have to watch my alcohol consumption and timing, been pooped on, changed multiple diapers, can't get away for more than a couple hours, and let's not even talk about how I haven't slept for more than four hours in a stretch and usually no more than six a night for those two months and not even a smile in repayment from a super-demanding tiny individual. And this was all after the traumatizing birth (that also kept me up all night) that ended with me in the operating room with a third degree laceration. Why would people repeat that? I love my little girl, but man, why try this over again?
People all tell me it gets better, but can you truly forget all of this within a year or two?
I have discovered the answer: sleep deprivation. Oh, you think it's a bad thing? Well, yes, it's a bad thing. There have been days where I have been dead on my feet and nights I cry in desperation when I hear her start to cry again after I had just begun to drift off, clocking only three hours of sleep by 3am. Sleep deprivation sucks. BUT, sleep deprivation brings memory loss.
Sleep-deprivation based amnesia. That must be the answer. For example, I honestly cannot remember how many times I got up last night. I know she woke up at 01:30ish, and again at 03:00ish (which is stupid), but I can't for the life of me remember if she woke up at 05:00ish or not. I thought she did, but examining that idea more closely, I found I couldn't link any memories with that specifically. Kind of like how you sometimes can't remember if you brushed your teeth because you've done it so dang often that it all seems the same and you can't tell if your teeth-brushing memory is from this morning or yesterday morning or a week ago.
So in six months or whenever she hopefully starts sleeping through the night and I start getting normal amounts of sleep, this whole episode will fade to the murky consistency of a dream. Kind of like how right after she was born, I'm like "If this is the way childbirth goes, I am never doing it again," and then I was sleep deprived because labor had started at like 22:30 (not when I would choose to run a marathon) and then it was exhausting and then I was drugged for the OR and all groggy and I haven't had a good night's sleep ever since. And I talk about "next time."
Well, it's either the sleep thing or kids get a lot more fun later on. Hard to imagine at this point (this week, she's cut her nap times in half).
(Ironic onesie)
I don't actually know what LO means. I presume "Little One?" It's a shorthand I see frequently on stuff like the Birthways Breastfeeding Support Facebook group and the Ames Babywearing and Beyond group. I don't get it. I mean, it's fine calling your baby "Little One," as its a nice gender-neutral non-specific-age term of endearment, but why abbreviate it? While, yes, it takes about half a second longer to type out little one than LO, this is a PC with a full keyboard. I'm not texting. Heck, autocorrect even made abbreviations old fashioned. Seems weird. It's also another one of those random things that I've learned since becoming a mom. Like you have no idea how many new words I learned that relate to breastfeeding...
Anyway, that's not where I was trying to go with this.
I frequently have questioned how on earth people could have more than one kid. Like I said, my "LO" is turning two months tomorrow. During those two months, I have been cried at, had to get up multiple times a night (usually three, not counting all the times fifteen minutes later to calm her back to sleep), had to spend inordinate amounts of time bouncing, can't seem to take a minute to myself to dress or eat breakfast unless I wait for her nap time, have to watch my alcohol consumption and timing, been pooped on, changed multiple diapers, can't get away for more than a couple hours, and let's not even talk about how I haven't slept for more than four hours in a stretch and usually no more than six a night for those two months and not even a smile in repayment from a super-demanding tiny individual. And this was all after the traumatizing birth (that also kept me up all night) that ended with me in the operating room with a third degree laceration. Why would people repeat that? I love my little girl, but man, why try this over again?
People all tell me it gets better, but can you truly forget all of this within a year or two?
I have discovered the answer: sleep deprivation. Oh, you think it's a bad thing? Well, yes, it's a bad thing. There have been days where I have been dead on my feet and nights I cry in desperation when I hear her start to cry again after I had just begun to drift off, clocking only three hours of sleep by 3am. Sleep deprivation sucks. BUT, sleep deprivation brings memory loss.
Sleep-deprivation based amnesia. That must be the answer. For example, I honestly cannot remember how many times I got up last night. I know she woke up at 01:30ish, and again at 03:00ish (which is stupid), but I can't for the life of me remember if she woke up at 05:00ish or not. I thought she did, but examining that idea more closely, I found I couldn't link any memories with that specifically. Kind of like how you sometimes can't remember if you brushed your teeth because you've done it so dang often that it all seems the same and you can't tell if your teeth-brushing memory is from this morning or yesterday morning or a week ago.
So in six months or whenever she hopefully starts sleeping through the night and I start getting normal amounts of sleep, this whole episode will fade to the murky consistency of a dream. Kind of like how right after she was born, I'm like "If this is the way childbirth goes, I am never doing it again," and then I was sleep deprived because labor had started at like 22:30 (not when I would choose to run a marathon) and then it was exhausting and then I was drugged for the OR and all groggy and I haven't had a good night's sleep ever since. And I talk about "next time."
Well, it's either the sleep thing or kids get a lot more fun later on. Hard to imagine at this point (this week, she's cut her nap times in half).
(Ironic onesie)
Thursday, July 28, 2016
The answer is out there, somewhere.
Another reason I haven't posted much is that I don't know the direction I want to take this blog. Not like it had a perceptible focus before. Looking back on my posts, it seems mostly just my ruminations about news stories, happenings where I live, and politics. But now I have a baby. It seems there are plenty of successful "mom" blogs out there, and I don't really feel like I have anything to add to that discussion, especially since I'm the one going to those blogs looking for answers.
But, at this point, how can I think of anything else?
I have a fussy baby. I am still in the diagnostics phase. Is she lactose-intolerant, frequently overtired, wanting to nurse more, spirited, high-need, touchy, etc (or normal and I'm just a first time mom and wasn't prepared for this level of fuss)?
Also, did you know my way of coping with stress was the research the hell out of it? David has taken to yelling, "No more books!" whenever a new book on parenting shows up from the library. But it seems like a problem to me, and problems can be fixed, or dealt with. Or at the very least, maybe I could prepare myself for an 18-year battle of the wills after which she will move out of the house, get a tattoo, and date a jerk for a while before maybe realizing that Mom was right some of the time.
Genevieve likes: bouncing, nursing
Genevieve tolerates: sling rides, stroller rides
Genevieve dislikes: most things that are not bouncing or nursing, including diaper changes, being put down, being held while not bounced, car rides, baths, and so on.
What do I do?
"Just love her," says my mom and David.
But I'm sure I'll find some sort of clear definitive answer in a book or on the Internet somewhere that will give me clear strategies on whatever it is Princess Fussbudget wants and how to deal with her.
Unless dealing with her involves constant bouncing. I'm not sure which muscle groups are involved in bouncing, but I expect they'll be magnificent in short order.
Onesie says "I speak Wookiee."
But, at this point, how can I think of anything else?
I have a fussy baby. I am still in the diagnostics phase. Is she lactose-intolerant, frequently overtired, wanting to nurse more, spirited, high-need, touchy, etc (or normal and I'm just a first time mom and wasn't prepared for this level of fuss)?
Also, did you know my way of coping with stress was the research the hell out of it? David has taken to yelling, "No more books!" whenever a new book on parenting shows up from the library. But it seems like a problem to me, and problems can be fixed, or dealt with. Or at the very least, maybe I could prepare myself for an 18-year battle of the wills after which she will move out of the house, get a tattoo, and date a jerk for a while before maybe realizing that Mom was right some of the time.
Genevieve likes: bouncing, nursing
Genevieve tolerates: sling rides, stroller rides
Genevieve dislikes: most things that are not bouncing or nursing, including diaper changes, being put down, being held while not bounced, car rides, baths, and so on.
What do I do?
"Just love her," says my mom and David.
But I'm sure I'll find some sort of clear definitive answer in a book or on the Internet somewhere that will give me clear strategies on whatever it is Princess Fussbudget wants and how to deal with her.
Unless dealing with her involves constant bouncing. I'm not sure which muscle groups are involved in bouncing, but I expect they'll be magnificent in short order.
Onesie says "I speak Wookiee."
Monday, July 11, 2016
Eat, play, sleep, repeat. Right?
I'm reasonably sure my few (very few) readers have noticed I haven't been updating. They also know why.
If you want to guess, it's rather obvious from previous posts: I've had my baby. And really, how does anyone have anytime for anything for the next twenty years?
My idea of a schedule, based on the E.A.S.Y. routine of Eat, Awake (play), Sleep, You time (which is the same time slot as sleep):
08:00 - Wake up when baby wakes up. Change and feed baby. Play with baby.
09:30 - Baby goes down for a nap. I can then eat breakfast and clean the bathroom and clean up the kitchen.
11:00 - Baby wakes up. Feed, then change. Play.
12:30 - Baby goes down for a nap. I eat lunch.
etc.
What actually happens:
06:04 - Baby wakes up. Feed baby, coax her back to sleep. Then try to sleep, but can't because baby, even sleeping is making a lot of grunting noises and it's light out. Try to get a few things done before she's totally awake, like brushing my teeth. Discover David cleaned up the kitchen (Hurrah!)
07:25 - Baby wakes up again. Change baby, feed her, play with her. Try to get dressed.
08:45 - Baby very fussy. Go for a walk. Baby calms down, but remains awake for the next fifteen-twenty minutes of the walk instead of falling asleep in the sling. Gets fussy again at the end, so I return home.
09:00 - Coax baby to sleep on the couch (cause we're both too warm at this point) with a pacifier (dang it, I didn't want to use that thing). Contemplate being productive. Start process to clean the bathroom.
09:30 - Baby wakes up. Bathroom not clean (shouldn't have checked Facebook). Nurse the baby. She proceeds to have two blowout diapers. Nurse again.
10:00 - Baby gets fussy. Walk around the house in circles with the sling (or it would be circles, except the dining room has tiles all over the floor. So more like crescents)
10:30 - Baby nods off. Take a quick walk around the block.
10:40 - I contemplate my options of things to do with a baby on my chest. I try blogging.
10:45 - I get warm and my back hurts, so try and ease baby off with sling. Baby wakes up, but seems to be falling asleep.
10:46 - Baby cries. I use pacifier again (dang it!).
10:54 - Blogging my excuses for not blogging.
11:13 - Download Dropbox and use GIMP to resize a picture so I can use it on my blog.
So as you can see, I have a very hard time finding time to be actually productive. And sleep when the baby is sleeping? Nice pipe dream. I have other things that I need to do. Anyway, I can't sleep in the morning.
And they're only supposed to be awake more as they get older. How will I be able to do anything!? I can see why parents invented bedtime.
She is pretty cute though.
I should probably go clean the bathroom.
Edit: 11:19 - Baby wakes up...
If you want to guess, it's rather obvious from previous posts: I've had my baby. And really, how does anyone have anytime for anything for the next twenty years?
My idea of a schedule, based on the E.A.S.Y. routine of Eat, Awake (play), Sleep, You time (which is the same time slot as sleep):
08:00 - Wake up when baby wakes up. Change and feed baby. Play with baby.
09:30 - Baby goes down for a nap. I can then eat breakfast and clean the bathroom and clean up the kitchen.
11:00 - Baby wakes up. Feed, then change. Play.
12:30 - Baby goes down for a nap. I eat lunch.
etc.
What actually happens:
06:04 - Baby wakes up. Feed baby, coax her back to sleep. Then try to sleep, but can't because baby, even sleeping is making a lot of grunting noises and it's light out. Try to get a few things done before she's totally awake, like brushing my teeth. Discover David cleaned up the kitchen (Hurrah!)
07:25 - Baby wakes up again. Change baby, feed her, play with her. Try to get dressed.
08:45 - Baby very fussy. Go for a walk. Baby calms down, but remains awake for the next fifteen-twenty minutes of the walk instead of falling asleep in the sling. Gets fussy again at the end, so I return home.
09:00 - Coax baby to sleep on the couch (cause we're both too warm at this point) with a pacifier (dang it, I didn't want to use that thing). Contemplate being productive. Start process to clean the bathroom.
09:30 - Baby wakes up. Bathroom not clean (shouldn't have checked Facebook). Nurse the baby. She proceeds to have two blowout diapers. Nurse again.
10:00 - Baby gets fussy. Walk around the house in circles with the sling (or it would be circles, except the dining room has tiles all over the floor. So more like crescents)
10:30 - Baby nods off. Take a quick walk around the block.
10:40 - I contemplate my options of things to do with a baby on my chest. I try blogging.
10:45 - I get warm and my back hurts, so try and ease baby off with sling. Baby wakes up, but seems to be falling asleep.
10:46 - Baby cries. I use pacifier again (dang it!).
10:54 - Blogging my excuses for not blogging.
11:13 - Download Dropbox and use GIMP to resize a picture so I can use it on my blog.
So as you can see, I have a very hard time finding time to be actually productive. And sleep when the baby is sleeping? Nice pipe dream. I have other things that I need to do. Anyway, I can't sleep in the morning.
And they're only supposed to be awake more as they get older. How will I be able to do anything!? I can see why parents invented bedtime.
She is pretty cute though.
I should probably go clean the bathroom.
Edit: 11:19 - Baby wakes up...
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