Wednesday, April 30, 2008

on books (and don't worry, the bebe)

Shameful confession #568: I want to be an author, meaning I'd like to make my livelihood from having people buy my books.

And yet-- I do not buy books.

Despite this, I went to the kickass bookstore in O-town today. This is what I do: run my hands over the thick smooth dustjackets of the latests hardbacks, then make my way upstairs, spend a dollar on a cup of coffee, and read the used papers on the balcony overlooking the Square.

I do not buy books because I read about five a week, and I don't like to purchase paperbacks. So I go to the library, and occasionally, if there's something really fine that I just have to own, I take a chunk of my quarterly clothing allowance or some birthday cash and buy it.

I don't buy books because how would I pick just one of the lovelies on the display rack? Books are expensive, the price of a decent dinner out, and so I read them first and purchase selectively.

That being said, I'd like more books. Mainly, first signed editions, because I'm getting kind of snobby in my old age.

The aforementioned book store happens to have such a program, and man alive, I am itching to join it.

Since K.'s planning on getting an Iphone, maybe we can work something out.

Now, in recompense for my rambling, a bebe pic:
A little fuzzy, but the cuteness conveys, eh?

She's been impossibly fun lately. We're doing Pantley's no-cry sleep training routine, so we'll see how that goes.... not bad so far.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Sleep or Be Happy: Your resistance to snoozing when cranky and tired better not be a permanent personality characteristic

I'm not sure what's going on with Annaliese.

Three nights ago, she fell asleep at 8.40 (yes!), woke an hour later, got burped and rocked back to sleep in her crib. K. and I went to bed, braced for whatever the night would bring.... and then we woke up at 5.30 in the morning. I had milk soaked through my nightgown and K. was convinced Annaliese had died.

She hadn't.

But on the two subsequent nights, she's woken up 3-6 times; last night, it took a full two hours to soothe her to sleep, so she wasn't out until 10.30. She'd fall asleep, and then push her face into my shoulder, whipping her head back and forth until she was awake and unhappy.

Self-sabotaging behaviour, but whatever.

This morning, despite being TIRED, she would only nap while on a pillow which is shoved between me and the computer desk. And nursing.

The pillow-nursing position is something I'm quite familiar with from her earlier months, but it's been awhile.

Maybe she's going through a growth spurt. Maybe she's going to be a total crankypants for the next eight months as teeth make their way through her gums.

But it doesn't really matter why her sleep schedule is so schizo right now, because really, there's little to do but wait it out.

Babies-- especially the ones who veer between being sunny and being difficult, like mine-- are really good practice in relinquishing control.

But that doesn't mean I'm happy about all this :(

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Annaliese's first playdate

As much as I like it when it's just the two of us.....
Billy came to play for the morning since his mum (a pal of mine and a working lady) had a client conference. As an 8+-month-old, Billy initiated us into the ways of a crawling man-child. It was big fun. And the two bebes seemed kind of...entranced with each other, which Billy demonstrated by trying to thwack Annaliese's face, and Annaliese did things like smile and grab her lady bits. Any gender lessons we can take from this?




In other news, gardening is uber fun, we've finally shaken our colds, and K. made banana bread today.

Hope you're having a happy Wednesday!
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Monday, April 21, 2008

It's 4 pm and I haven't managed to do much today. Dogs walked, me showered, baby fed, changed, fed, changed, down for a nap, entertained, etc. Some laundry folded and a going-through of the novel to square up days and dates.

Not so very much, but here it is 4 pm. Babies take a lot of time, even when you put their red teething telephone in front of the computer and balance them on a knee, trying to get some work done.

Which I do. And then I worry that I'm not stimulating her appropriately, so I play with her on the floor. But then I worry I'm not working on the whole getting-published goal.

And I only have one kid! And few real-world deadlines! Not to mention a small house that takes about 2 hours to clean!

How do all the mothers in the world manage?

Monday, April 07, 2008

Why You Should Not Offer Us Things Unless You Want Us To Take Them

We had a lovely Sunday, picking up cow sh*t and cutting a wood piece for the back of our boat.

See, our neighbor had two boats piled under leaves in the back of his yard. We offered to buy one, because I have visions of family afternoons spent on a lake. And after a few months, with a daughter's wedding reception imminent, when I just happened to be lurking near his yard with winsome daughter in tow, the nice man gave us one. With a trailer. For free.

So now we have a 15 foot aluminum boat with a trailer, and it needed a new back wooden piece thingy, so we cut one.

Right after we called up the friends who had said "anytime! Call us and we'll open the pasture for you and let you scoop up cow manure for your garden!"

They said it, we believed them, and hence we did call. And spent an hour or two trundling through pasture, picking up poop and yelling at the dogs, who were--as always--trying to eat it.

Actually, Dido got herself so filthy that when we came home, we washed her in our boat (full of rainwater).

That's right. We got a boat.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

She's Back

These pictures don't really convey.

But obviously, the hair that took me so long to grow is gone again.





(Mama feels like a rock star.)
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Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Great things are happening.

1. Our neighbor gave us a boat. And a trailer. He's happy a young family wants to use it, and so he passed along this 15', aluminum fishing boat for FREE. Isn't that AWESOME?

2. Annaliese will never need clothes. Ever. Our church gave her (and another new baby girl) a shower over the weekend. I asked for toys, and we got some of those, but we also got outfit after outfit after outfit. And two eyelet-covered Baby Bibles from Belks. Gotta love Mississippi.

3. We all slept 8+ hours last night. Not straight, mind you, but after a very tired mama said enough! she's going in the bassinet! she's begun sleeping in it. She goes down at 10, wakes at 12.30 for a bottle from her papa, wakes at 4.30 for a feeding by her mama, and then wakes for good at 7, and comes in the bed with us for some morning happiness and more food.

So, so, so doable.

Being me, I had some guilt about whether or not I've perpetuated our sleeplessness by cosleeping for the first three months. But I don't think so...A. really did come into this world as a suspicious little baby who need to touch us all the time, and so we did. Cosleeping was the only way we got any sleep at all for the first three months, so I can't regret it. Now, she's more confident in us, in the world, and her night-day patterns are established... she's ready to sleep on her own.

It's fabulous.