A New Baby! And other stuff.

I swiped a book of Emily Dickinson poems from the communal pile of books in the break room at work. I doubt anyone will miss it. Books just kinda end up there. Michael Crichton and stuff. I got my Janet Evanovich phase from that pile. I remember being ashamed of reading that silliness but it was soooo fun. Kind of like my Kardashians thing. I love them even though I know it's stupid. I think I just want their shoes and hair.

Anyway, thought I'd share a few tidbits of poetry:

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

A wounded deer leaps highest,
I've heard the hunter tell;
Tis but the ecstasy of death,
And then the brake is still....

I always figured I don't really read enough poetry. Amber Tamblyn (one of my heroes!) has a book of poetry out that I should probably pick up one day...eventually.

Anywho - I've got a new cousin! Johannah was born last Thursday the 20th at 6 pounds, 15 ounces, 19 inches, with a HEAD FULL of hair. She's soo itty bitty! I have a really hard time, even now, trying to remember Claudia that SMALL. C was a couple inches longer but I insist she couldn't have been so teeny. It's amazing that only six months later I'm forgetting what it was like for her to be brand new. I don't know if that's good or bad.

Something else good though - SHE'S CUTTING A TOOTH! I'm been looking for evidence of a tooth for a good month now, and she's been showing signs of teething for longer. I'M SO EXCITED!!

Another Wednesday in the can. THAT MUCH CLOSER TO THE WEEKEND.

XO,
Shroomy

Claudia-izing, and the shitty week ahead

I've just tried a weird combo method of crying it out and, ahem, "Ferberizing". My dearest only loudmouth shut-up-for-once-in-your-life baby girl has slept more or less peacefully through the night (and by "through the night" of course, I mean from about midnight to 6 am) since she was about 3 months old. Recently she'd taken to falling asleep on her own around 10, and since she sleeps in the same room with myself and Daddy (she's been in a Pack 'n Play since birth, about time for a crib), she's also taken to waking around ohhh how the hell do I know what time it is...maybe 4 am. She kicks her feet and coos for a while, and then starts to fuss, at which point Daddy will poke me, I'll reach over and pick her up, put her on the boob, and instantly fall asleep again, and the three of us will snooze soundly until it's time to get up. I had the brilliant idea of perhaps training her to sleep a little earlier - because while 10 is usually her SleepyTime, she can easily go to 11:30 wide awake if we let her - and perhaps she'd drop that nighttime habit of waking up demanding to be cuddled.

The last couple of nights I gave her about 20 minutes of Losing Her Shit when I put her down around 9 (an HOUR earlier than the earliest she's fallen asleep on her own for the night! DARING. CRAZY, even), before I came in and nursed her to sleep for about ten minutes. Is that bad? I dunno. I don't even know if she really really needs sleep training - save for the middle of the night hey-I'm-awake-now-cuddle-me-please thing she's got going on (which I don't really mind because frankly, she IS so damn cuddle-able) she sleeps well. Has 3 naps a day about half an hour long, does fine. I'm just hoping to maybe get her to sleep earlier so that me and Daddy can have MAYBE an hour of quality time before I expire? Because C and I tend to fall asleep around the same time (we conked out together on the couch around 10 on New Year's Eve, for example).

And then I got to thinking. Maybe this sleep training thing...just won't work with her. It plain doesn't work for some babies. Betsy's (on BabyCenter) youngest daughter isn't the best sleeper at 5 years old. Carolyn's youngest is giving her sleep issues at 7 or 8 months. (I read a lot of BabyCenter. Shuddup.) My girl would scream bloody murder in her sleep when she was a newborn. I remember FINAALLLYY getting her to sleep by herself in her bassinet by my bed in the hospital (by the way, I'd like to deliver my next baby in a more natural setting - but there's something SO awesome about being brought your meals at the same time every day like clockwork. I enjoyed my hospital time.), and she would CRY, and I would reach over to pick her up, and she'd be sound asleep. I wonder if sleep patterns, like all other things baby, are just...part of who they are. Just the kind of person they are. At what point, if there's any at all, do our children become...people? With HABITS and minds of their own?

At this point C is sleeping, if not soundly - sort of whimpering in her sleep -



(Sleeping Booty)








I feel horrible for her - she's at an age where she SCREAMS for me. If I'm in the shower she'll wail until I come out and she sees me and she'll have a big smile just for me. I know perfectly well that every cry does not mean Hunger or Some Sort of Discomfort or Imminent Death, but still...hate to hear her cry if I can help it.

But still. SLEEPYTIME, DAMMIT.

In other news, I've received the $70 worth of yarn I ordered for Christmas. I am thrilled to begin making things, in particular for the house - I've crocheted a doily and am knitting a dishcloth-



I'm a noob knitter. Read: slow and incompetent and can't even purl yet. But having become pretty good at crocheting, I'm determined to become just as good at knitting. Shouldn't be a problem - I've got a shit ton of yarn to work with! WEEEE. Bulk yarn shopping...yum.

I'm not particularly looking forward to this week (even though it's a short one; thanks MLK). I don't look forward to any week, really, in crappy ass January, but I spent Thursday and Friday home from work with Death Flu.

"Oh you have work to do and a life to live? Not right now HAR HAR HAR. Love, Germs."

I've recovered - and by recovered I mean that I am walking around unassisted and bathing myself. I'm tired though, and while I'm excited to get out of the recycled air incubator that is my home, I am neither really thrilled about going to work again. I'm guaranteed to have missed something important, and I'm going to be behind, and...ugh. UGH.

Here's to 29 degrees in Central Park and sleep training -

XO
Shroomy