My two sleeping beauties…
Archive for May, 2008
Jenn’s Daily iPhone Pic
23
May
A Minute of Morning T’ai Chi
22
May
Grace is totally Zen’ed out with ancient martial arts, wicker and the sound of a waterfall.
38 Weeks and all is going just fi…Zzzzzzzzzzzz
21
May
38 weeks since we got pregnant (and married for that matter). 9 weeks since the rush to the hospital, 8 since Grace was born and 3 since she came home. What a wild little ride. So now our lives look more or less normal except that we wake up everyday with this baby who should not even be born yet! She’s eating more, we’re sleeping less. She weighs more, we weigh ourselves less. And so on.
Someone told me yesterday (with some surprise) how well rested I looked. I think that is largely from force of will. That dead-tired-new-parent look is soooo cliché. I think that in the darkness and quiet of the late night feeding, when parents are trying not to nod off they keep themselves going by thinking about all of the other parents that have to suffer the same fate. I also think that these concerned questions about my sleep at least partially stem from a need to make sure that I am suffering. Every day, from the time I started talking about Jenn’s pregnancy at work, a guy at work stops me in the hall and lets me know how little sleep I will soon be getting. Now that Grace is home, he asks (everyday) if I am getting any sleep. PLENTY, I tell him, unwilling to give him the satisfaction. She’s a great sleeper! “Oh, it’s coming…” he says walking down the hall shaking his head. I get it…kids keep you up with their feeding schedules! I’m in the club now! I UNDERSTAND! But I have a secret weapon. I can adapt. I am a (mostly) recovering insomniac. This getting up in the middle of the night schedule is like home to me (though arguably a dysfunctional and cold home where nobody loves me). Giving Grace a bottle just gives me something to focus on for an hour or so in the middle of the night. And then I go back to sleep. I LOOOOOVE IT. Ha! Right back atcha! Nya, Nya, Nya!
On a side note, I’ve taken to singing the Alphabet song while Grace gurgles away at her bottle. I don’t know if it is really doing either of us any good, but I have myself convinced that pure repetition might cause her to one day just know the song as if she heard it in a dream. I’m not saying that I expect her to sing along with me next time, the time after that or any of the times in the forseeable future. I’m just saying if she suddenly starts humming along, I will know that her Daddy has some POWER!
On a side note to the side note, I noticed suddenly (like a slap across the face with a mackerel at 3:30 in the morning) that the Alphabet song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are the same song. How come I never noticed this before? Am I getting one or both of the tunes wrong? Are there more famous songs that just use the same music? If I sing them backwards will I learn something that only parents know? Will I learn that I am really just tired?
What was I writing about?
Jenn’s Daily iPhone Pic
21
May
Graciemelon, Just in Time for Summer
17
May
Little Gracie isn’t going to be able to use that “little” adjective for much longer. Today she passed 7 lbs, making her about the same weight as a mini-watermelon. According to Babycenter.com this is what a baby weighs at 39 weeks. Our daughter, at only 37 weeks, is still crushing expectation after expectation. Somehow, I am imagining a certain birth canal that is saying “Phew!” right now.
New Parenting Lessons for New Parents
17
May
If the blog has been quiet for the last couple days, that doesn’t mean that everything has been. After two weeks at home learning the ropes of diapers, feedings, laundry and the rest, we felt like we pretty much had a handle on it. Our little Grace was actually pretty easy. She mostly ate, she slept and she went on about her business. A new diaper here, a pacifier there, a swaddle to go to sleep and she was happy…and so were we.
On Wednesday, as I kissed Jenn goodbye and headed back to the office, leaving her to apply each lesson we had learned…simultaneously…on her own…we were both pretty optimistic. Even Lincoln was there to help where he could by furiously announcing the arrival of the mailman, needing to pee from time to time and otherwise wagging his tail in encouragement. After a long Day 1 of “normal life”, we still felt mostly in control and comfortable. Looking back, we might have guessed that we were learning Parenting Lesson #23: if you are feeling comfortable, you are doing it wrong.
If the collection of fused flesh, sweat and formula in the general shape of my wife and daughter, that I found on the couch when I got home Thursday night is any indication, Jenn learned Parenting Lesson #5 on Day 2: when your baby is uncomfortable, everything is a lot harder. Thursday in San Francisco was one of those days that makes babies uncomfortable. The temperature hit 97 that day and no breeze (and no air conditioner) appeared to cool off the night. The “everything” mentioned in the rule included eating, sleeping, grocery shopping and breathing. By the time I got home, the girls were an exhausted mess, too tired to move. I sent Jenn to bed and set about learning Parenting Lesson #47: when you have one tool (the swaddle) that gets a baby to sleep, and that tool is unavailable (because of the heat) YOU don’t get to sleep either.
I know for sure that there are many more sleepless nights ahead of me and many more Parenting Lessons to record. I can only hope that there are stretches of quiet long enough between them for me to forget lesson #23 and believe that it is all under control.
Grace and Friends
13
May
MVI_0597
Originally uploaded by Lincoln Topliff
Moments like these are what I will miss most when I return to work tomorrow. In these, Grace is lying in her crib…the short way! She has some growing to do to fit in the long way and not get lost. By that time, her friends will have to find somewhere else to sleep.
Strange Trophies
12
May
After a long struggle and many tears, we managed to capture and mount these wild little baby appendages (Castingkeepsakes.com). Grace was less than pleased to have her hand and foot placed in goo and held there for a couple minutes (surely, you’ll thank us someday, sweetheart). I have to admit (Jenn made me) the result is something we will be happy to have…someday. In the meantime, I will find flesh-colored paint and some fake blood and patiently wait til Halloween.
IMG_0596.JPG, originally uploaded by Lincoln Topliff.