More Movies Not to Watch While Pregnant

It's been a long time since I saw A.I. I remember it being bizarre and going on far too long. However, I don't remember it being this disturbing and creepy.

Yesterday afternoon, Baby J and I were watching Fiddler on the Roof (she loves singing and dancing and I'm tired of baby programming). I knew Sunrise, Sunset was going to get me, because that's one of those songs that makes me cry even when I'm not pregnant. Sure enough, I spent most of the scene sitting on the floor, tears running down my face and being glad that no one else was home. Then Baby J pulled a kazoo out of the toy hassock. There's nothing quite like a 15-month-old tooting a kazoo to ruin a sentimental moment. :)

Still can't figure out how to embed video. But the scene is here.

"My need medicine! My gotsa nuffy nose!"

Because part of the point of this is to record the adorable things my children say.

(Miss L did not, in fact, have a "nuffy nose." She got over the cold more than a week ago. But it's hanging on with Baby J and she's feeling left out.)

Baby's First Hockey Game

We took Baby J to the game against Carolina last Saturday. She spent the first period chewing on her Lightning smudge, the second period making faces at the little boy sitting behind me, and the third period skating on the edge of tired and cranky. Overall, a good experience. (And we won, which was nice. We won Miss L's first game, too.)

This house has been quarrantined due to plague.

All four of us passed around three strains of the flu bug for almost two weeks. Not fun at all. (The Committee and I also realized this was the first time we'd both been sick at the same time since we had kids. We usually both get whatever's going around, but one at a time.)

There were a couple of upsides to this, though. Miss L has finally consented to walking up or down the stairs under her own power (because there was no way I was hauling her up and down two flights multiple times a day). And oddly enough, Baby J decided to suddenly start sleeping 7-8 hours at a stretch. Regularly. Like, every night. I put her down at 9 or so and she doesn't peep until 5.

Valentine's Day

We don't usually celebrate Valentine's Day. The Committee bought me flowers and hair bands once, probably 7 or 8 years ago.

Yesterday, he came home from work with presents for all of us. Apparently, he saw a really gorgeous frame at one of the stores at Downtown Disney, which started the whole gift kick. He took one of our wedding photos, made it black and white, took the distracting things in the background out, and put it in the frame for me. He brought Baby J a little pink stuffed Nerd and Miss L a Valentine's Day mylar balloon.

Now I have an excuse to get him something for our anniversary in two weeks. :)

I don't know how my ancestresses did it.

Yesterday morning, I was standing next to my bed folding laundry. Or at least I was trying to fold laundry. Baby J was lying on the bed (on her activity mat) screaming at the top of her lungs. Miss L was clinging to my leg and whining at the top of hers. Ah, motherhood. And I started to wonder how my foremothers dealt with this.

Of course, I was missing the obvious, as the Committee pointed out when I shared this with him. My foremothers had their own mothers (and aunts, cousins, etc.) around. I guess it's time to renew my campaign to get my parents to semi-retire and move closer.

Teef!

I've figured out why Baby J was in such a bad mood this weekend. She's cut her first tooth! It's the bottom right incisor. I discovered this at the grocery store this evening, when she chomped down on my finger.

(I spent the entire weekend trying to convince my friend's husband that Baby J really isn't like this all the time. And that it doesn't mean his sweet, placid newborn is going to turn into a shrieking harpy in six months.)

Cautious Optimism

Last Friday, I finally decided it was time to get serious about Baby J's sleeping issues. The first volley was just as ridiculously difficult as I feared. For example, Sunday night went like this:

8:30 pm - Bedtime routine (bath, nurse, bed); I promise myself I won't feed her again for 6 hours

12 am - Baby wakes up and fusses; I go in every 15 minutes to comfort her (which only works the first couple of times)

2 am - Baby falls asleep; I realize that I'm not going to relax enough to sleep until after she wakes up at a time I'm willing to feed her (because I just know that as soon as I get to sleep she'll wake up, and I *hate* that)

3:45 am - Baby wakes up; I feed her

4 am - I finally get to sleep

6 am - Baby wakes up again; we start the every-15-minute thing all over again

8 am - I give in, feed her, and face the morning

Needless to say, I was exhausted beyond the telling of it yesterday. But last night, we seem to have had a breakthrough. She went to bed at 9 and woke up at 12, but only fussed for about 10 minutes. She then slept until 4, then until 8. I actually got 8 hours of sleep! Not all at once, of course, but two 4-hour blocks is more sleep than I've gotten in one night since before she was born.

We're travelling this weekend and will all be sleeping in the same room, so I a little worried about the potential setback. But we'll deal.

A Word about Sleep

My daughter Baby J is less than a week short of 7 months old. She doesn't sleep. Well, of course she sleeps, but in no predictable pattern and never more than four or five hours at a time. For example, last night she did her impression of a snooze alarm: asleep for 4 hours, then 2, then 1, then 1 more. And that was a good night!

She also won't go back to sleep unless she's fed. I know all the books say that this is my fault for not being firmer with her, and they're probably right. But I have to look at my own short-term survival. If I feed her when she cries, she'll go back to sleep and so can I, even if it's only for a couple of hours. If I don't feed her, I either have to walk around with her until she settles again or try to ignore her crying. Neither of these has worked because she's amazingly stubborn and single-minded. I eventually give in and feed her, having not gotten any sleep in the meantime.

I've been trying to keep her awake during the day. She's also starting solids, so I'm feeding her that fairly late in the evening. Objectively, neither is really helping, but they do make me feel slightly more in control of the situation.

She gets this from me. I'm almost thirty and I don't actually sleep through the night either.