Month: August 2005

I Need A Support Group

Sarah Carolyn

I think I’m going to start a support group for moms who have thick curly hair whose daughters have fine straight hair. Don’t get me wrong, Carrie’s hair is absolutely beautiful, but it won’t stay in a barrette or clip for more than a couple of minutes and it’s always in her eyes. I have no idea what to do with it (hairspray comes to mind, but I haven’t seen any in the baby aisle at the store so I think it’s probably not a good idea). The daily pressure I get from people – family and strangers alike – to cut her hair is immense, but I’ve had bangs and I’m not sure I want to force that route on Carrie. I’m really trying to stick it out long enough so that I can pull it into pigtails with teeny-tiny hair elastics, but I’m afraid that someone’s going to sneak her to the salon and have it cut before then.

I think I might just feed her bananas at every meal, since she likes to mush them into her hair as a styling product anyway…mmm, banana mousse!

First Steps!

Sarah Milestones

Earlier today Carrie was standing next to the ottoman in her room and she took two steps towards me without holding onto anything. She did it a second time a little bit later, so it definitely wasn’t an accident!

Both times she collapsed into my arms giggling, like it was a big joke that she was walking.

It won’t be too much longer before my little baby is officially a toddler…

Peas, Glorious Peas!

Sarah Carolyn

Can a baby OD on peas?!? If I let her, I think Carrie would eat more than a cup of peas at one sitting. If I put a couple of different foods on her tray, and peas are among them, she will only eat the peas. The only thing that trumps peas are blueberries.

In fact, she does the opposite of most children I know, and eats the colorful food while leaving the blander colored foods on her tray. (The only exception to this is Cheerios, which are still manna from heaven.)

I suppose this is a good “problem” to have, but I’m starting to worry that peas are becoming her staple food…well, along with small pasta rings tossed with butter and romano cheese, and grilled cheese sandwich bits.

Walkers And Water And Weeds, Oh My!

Sarah General

20050807_sprayground.jpgWe went to my cousin’s birthday party the other night, and Carrie had a ball with her son’s walker – not the kind you sit in, but the kind you push in front of you. So my grandmother immediately went and bought Carrie this Fisher Price walker, and Carrie has pretty much played with it non-stop since then. It’s only our sixth “battery toy” – that’s a whole ‘nother blog post – but at least it’s not obnoxiously noisy.

Yesterday Denis did a ton of yard work, weeding the front garden and everything. It now looks like actual people live in and care about the house. (Thankfully, all of our neighbors have been very understanding about the jungle. I suppose none of them are in the process of trying to sell their houses so it’s not that big a deal.)

And today… Today we went to a sprayground. What’s a sprayground, you ask? Why, a playground that has water! Carrie took a little while to warm up to it, but once she decided it was fun we could barely drag her away. She really enjoyed walking through the short jets they had, and stopping when one was spraying right up her swimsuit. I can definitely see going to this park many many times a summer when she gets older!

Just When You Think You’ve Got It Figured Out…

Sarah Carolyn

…the baby’s schedule changes! Up until Wednesday, our (very flexible) schedule looked like this:

7 AM – Carrie wakes up, gets a new diaper and nurses.
8 AM – breakfast for both of us, then playtime!
9 AM – new diaper, nurse and nap
— At this point I get to shower, dress, do laundry, clean up the kitchen from breakfast, and maybe putter around doing fun things until Carrie wakes up. —
10:30 AM – Carrie wakes up, gets a new diaper and gets daytime clothes…then more playtime!
Noon – lunchtime, then more playtime!
2 PM – new diaper, nurse and nap
3:30 PM – Carrie wakes up, gets a new diaper and then gets to play more!
6 PM – dinnertime, and more playtime!
7 PM – bedtime starts: bath (some nights), pajamas, stories, nursing
8 PM – Carrie falls asleep.
— Sound good so far? Just wait. This part started happening almost two weeks ago, after some very pleasant weeks of full nights of sleep. —
2 AM – Carrie wakes up crying. Wait 5 minutes. Crying turns into screaming. Stumble down hallway. Check diaper – clean. Offer milk – not interested. Rock baby. Carrie lays there with wide open eyes staring at ceiling. Finally, after 30 minutes or more eyes finally close. Wait a few more minutes. Gingerly place baby in crib. Tiptoe down hallway. Collapse into bed, glance at clock: 2:47 AM.
2:48 AM – Carrie wakes up crying. Wait 5 minutes. (See remaining entry for 2 AM.) Stumble back into bed, clock now reads 3:24 AM.
3:25 AM – You guessed it. Carrie wakes up crying…manage to get back to bed at 4:12.
4:13 AM – Beg Denis to get up this time. Doze until he comes back at 4:47. Hold breath and pray for sleep (or maybe death).
6 AM – Alarm goes off. Carrie must have actually stayed asleep…until 7 rolls around again.

My very smart cousin – who’s turning 30 today! Happy Birthday, Kathy! – listened to my tale of woe while we were out to lunch on Wednesday and asked a very simple question: “How many naps is Carrie taking?”

D’oh!

Wednesday, because we were out, Carrie didn’t take a morning nap. She took a 2 1/4 hour afternoon nap. She slept through the night.

Yesterday we mostly succeeded in skipping the morning nap (there was a 15 minute catnap in there when she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer) and…she slept through except waking up to nurse, but then she fell right back to sleep. (Total time from stumbling down the hallway to collapsing back in bed was less than 15 minutes.)

So, I guess we’re going to have to reinvent our schedule a bit – how on earth do I occupy her for an entire 4 hours between breakfast and lunch, and when do I shower?!? – but it will be totally worth it to not be up for 2-3 hours in the middle of the night, every night!

Raspberries and Zorbits

Sarah Carolyn

So it may just be something my family made up, but when you blow a raspberry on someone’s skin (like a baby’s tummy, what were you thinking?) we’ve always called it a zorbit. Well, Carrie’s been really good at blowing raspberries for months now, but today she learned how to zorbit. She was sitting in my lap, leaning over my arm to look at something she’d dropped on the floor. For some reason, she put her mouth on my elbow and blew a raspberry. That made her giggle, but then I blew one on her elbow and she about fell off my lap because we were both laughing so hard!

Oh, and Carrie has started intentionally feeding the dogs from her high chair tray. She’ll pick up a Cheerio (or whatever she’s eating) bring it to her mouth like she’s going to eat it, and then look directly at me while she puts her hand over the edge of the tray and drops the food. I’ve been trying very hard to keep a straight face when she does this, because she’s obviously trying to gauge my reaction, but it’s so hard not to laugh because it’s so darn funny. Actually, the other day she snuck food under the tray to Murphy, and I’m pretty sure that was intentional too.

ipod, you pod, we all pod…

Sarah Carolyn

If I could only justify a $20 (with shipping) onesie for Carrie. This is the perfect outfit for the daughter of two mac people, don’t you think?

But if I did splurge on it I’d be terrified to let her wear it. This whole self-feeding stage is really, really messy. I don’t even know how she gets food in some of the places I find it after mealtimes…

August Cross-Stitch

Sarah Cross Stitch

august_sb.jpg

Can you believe it’s August already? I can’t. And who would’ve thunk it – another cross-stitch done on-time! And I’ll tell you a secret. Ready? September’s done too!

When I went to drop off September and pick up August – I’ve been getting them stretched and mounted to fit in a single frame and I just switch them out at the beginning of the month – I bought a needlepoint canvas. Although I’ve done many of the stitches, I’ve never done an actual painted canvas project before. It’s three angels, one each in red, green and purple, and if it comes out well I think I’ll hang it in Carrie’s lavender and green room. But I’m not starting it until I’ve gotten a handle on some of the Christmas gifts I have going. Well, probably not.