Why does my blog suddenly suck? August 24, 2009

Is it because my kid sleeps more often than not? Because he’s not yet to the stage where I can recount tales of him flushing important items down the toilet? Because I’m so freaking tired that I first typed “tails” before correcting it in the last sentence?

There’s just not much going on right now. I’m back at work. My boobs seem to be giving out on me and I’m very worried. Andrew has been nursing every hour (except at night, thank goodness) all weekend and after work today. The girls can’t keep up. He’s either going through a growth spurt or he’s nursing constantly because they’re letting him down. I’m pumping a little less at work than I got before the summer, which is really depressing.

In unrelated news, there’s a jackass who rides his motorcycle up and down the street at this time every evening, and if he wakes Andrew up I will make a scene. When he imagined that crotchrocket providing a death-defying adrinaline rush, I’m guessing being verbally and physically assaulted by a strung-out mom in a wifebeater isn’t what he had in mind.

Oh ffs, I just typed “wifebeater” as “whife” at first. Must…sleep.

Oh wait, he’s crying.

Did I say he sleeps? I lied.

See that paragraph above? That’s why my blog sucks.

Andrew’s six month photos August 17, 2009

Here’s a sneak peek:

http://melissagoldbergphotography.blogspot.com/

We’ll be getting a CD with all the images in the mail soon. There are a ton. I’m pleased with how they turned out, even though I’m more of a photojournalistic kinda girl.

In other news, I’m back at work full time. Andrew slept like crap last night, therefore we all slept like crap. He also only napped an hour at daycare. He’s down for the night and I pray it goes better tonight.

He lived. August 13, 2009

That nap didn’t happen, but we survived. Yesterday was such a sad day. I tried to cherish every moment knowing it would be our last day together before I went back to work. We played, napped, sang, danced around the living room, went to visit a friend, nursed, sang again, ate some banana…It was an awesome day. I had no idea how hard it would be to leave him at daycare now. I never expected that I would want to stay at home, but oh how I do.

In other news, I went to a chiropractor today for the first time. I’m oh so sore, but I feel much better at the same time. It was kind of disconcerting to hear my neck pop like bubble wrap, but if  that’s what it takes to get me to stop tilting to the right then bring it on.

Man this post is lame. I’m just so tired. I’ve been moving all of my own stuff at school and doing all of my own stunts and I’m just spent. Thankfully my mom is coming to watch Andrew tomorrow so I don’t have to get us both up and ready. Today it took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get us to work—I’ve gotta get better than that.

I can do this August 12, 2009

Andrew is in his crib, howling. As previously discussed, he’s developed a nasty habit of rolling over during naps like a hapless turtle and expecting me to flip him back over. I just can’t keep doing it.

So this time, I’m letting him cry. And oh, is he crying. He knows how to roll back over, he’s done it a thousand times. Please, please let him remember soon.

It’s breaking my heart.

Really? August 10, 2009

 

I didn’t think ‘unexcelled’ was a word. I checked with m-w.com and they backed me up. Even if it is a word, doesn’t it mean service UN-”better than others?”

Before I had Andrew, I would have been able to knock this one out of the park without breaking a sweat. Now it’s all I can do to string two jokes together in one post and remember to change my sheets when they get a bit of baby poop on them (don’t ask.) So, I’ll save my righteous indignation until after someone smart (like Rachel) confirms my suspicions.

The last week

This is my last week of summer vacation. I’m anxious to get back to work in some respects. It’s just like when you were a student–you wanted to see everyone after the break, you looked forward to a new year. New class, new teacher. Shrink-wrapped notebook paper and crisp folders. Unsharpened pencils and functioning glue sticks.

Setting up my room and planning for the new year is something I really enjoy. I like to arrange desks and construct perfectly straight bulletin boards. I like to look back on the previous year and think about what I want to do differently. This year especially, after reading a great new book (The Book Whisperer). But, I’m leaving the classroom. I just got the official word that I’ll be an Instructional Specialist. My ultimate goal is to be a reading specialist, working with struggling readers to help them learn to love reading and be successful at it. Since that position doesn’t exist in my district and I’m happy at my school, that goal is a ways off. As an IS I’ll be a step removed from the kids and will focus on helping teachers. It’s a fairly bureaucratic position and truth be told I don’t know if it’s the right job for me. It opens the door to new opportunities (provided I don’t suck at it) and new challenges. Overall I’m looking forward to it, and if it doesn’t work out I can always go back to the classroom next year.

So I’ll be taking Andrew to daycare twice this week so I can go clean out my room. I have no idea what to do with all of my stuff. I don’t want to get rid of it in case I discover the classroom is my passion. I don’t want to store it at my house because holy cow, y’all, babies take up a lot of room with their exersaucers and high chairs and pack n plays and whatnot.

Monday I’m back full-time. Where did the summer go? I feel like we just got into a good rhythm. Andrew is sleeping through the night consistently (THANK YOU GODS OF SNOOZE) and taking great naps. We have a routine and I love it. When I think about someone else taking care of him during the day, seeing his smiles and playing with him when he’s most active  it breaks my heart. He takes a late nap from 5:00-6:00 and goes to bed around 7:00 so I won’ t have much time with him at all during the week.

We’ll make it work, I’m just a mess of emotions. Excited, nervous, sad, anxious, content…It’s time for a cookie.

Halp. August 7, 2009

Just when I thought we had this sleep thing figured out (ha!) Andrew has started rolling from his stomach to his back in the crib and wedging his arm between the crib slats and wall. Then he screams like little Timmy stuck in the well, and I have to go in and rescue him.

Or do I? Am I undoing all the magic of Ferber by rolling him back over? Surely you moms out there can help me.

What did you do in this situation?

That’s an important lesson August 6, 2009

We watch a lot of Noggin around here, as I’ve mentioned. This one show has a cute jingle about “Don’t bite your friends.” I think that’s such a critical lesson to learn. So, interwebs, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you not to bite your friends.

But, that asshole who stole your blocks? She’s fair game.

THIS WARRANTS EXCESSIVE CAPITALIZATION.

If it’s warranted, can it still be excessive? It’s too early for questions like that, Brain.

Andrew knows how to sleep, y’all! He also knows how to pull off when nursing and turn his head to blow milk-spewing raspberries all over my upper arm, but that’s not the point here.

He has slept through the night for the last three nights.

I know, right?!

The first and second nights he woke up at 4:45 to eat, but he’d been asleep over eight hours at that point so it counts. The first time I let him get up because I had to get ready for a training. The second day I decided to put him back in his crib and he went back to sleep until I had to wake up to go to daycare.

Today he’d slept TEN WHOLE MOTHERFREAKING HOURS when he woke at 6:00 so we got up for the day. By ‘got up’ I mean I took him to my room and nursed laying down, hoping I’d get lucky and he’d snooze some more (I know, I’m greedy). We ended up just cuddling and watching Noggin for an hour until he ruined the mood by making a giant stinky poop.

Sidenote: I know people told me poop after solids would stink, but holy cow. They should have said it will STINK. I found myself having to take a moment to mourn his nonstinky poops of yore. If I’d only known how great they were, I would have appreciated them so much more.

What was I saying? Oh yeah–I slept eight solid hours with a baby in my house. I am not good at expressing joy, enthusiasm, or any positive emotions to be honest, so just go ahead and imagine me jumping up and down in the throes of…contentment tinted ever so slightly by elation.

In other news of awesomeness, Mr. Aggie and I read Gary Chapman’s book on the five love languages last night. We learned quite a bit from the exercise and it has already changed the tone in our house. I learned that the way I was expressing love to him (by taking care of the house or dropping of his dry cleaning without being asked) wasn’t the way he primarily “receives” love. He does that by “physical touch” which I had pretty much stopped all together after Andrew was born. He didn’t realize that because I receive love through “acts of service,” when he stopped washing bottles or changing the diaper genie it really hurt our relationship.

The book was a quick read that really met our needs. I knew before that lasting love within a marriage is a choice but I needed to be reminded.

—I was about to write about how we’re celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary this weekend and how this book couldn’t have come into our lives at a better time, when I realized the actual date is today. Happy Anniversary to Me!–

Nap #1 has begun, so I’m going to be a sloth and get in on the action. (Now visualize me skipping off into the sunset.)

These aren’t related in any sense. I’m just lazy. August 3, 2009

Remember when I discussed Andrew’s unrequited love for the cat? It seems she’s no longer blind to his affection. Any time he’s perched on an accessible surface, there she will be also. We think she does it because she’s guaranteed to get our attention that way, something she’s been missing since Andrew’s debut.

—-
Today, I was driving home from Sonic (mmm, Sonic.) when I heard Andrew making his chewing noises from the back. “That’s strange. I know I didn’t give him a toy to play with.” A quick glance back there revealed this*:

*Obviously I didn’t take the picture until I got home. Snapping the photo while driving would be impossible (rear-facing carseat and all) and foolhardy. File this under “Things you shouldn’t have to explain but do anyway because some people are very, very stupid.”