Author: Sarah

Don’t Panic

Sarah General

We went to see the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie yesterday afternoon while my parents watched Carrie. I did enjoy the movie, although it deviated from the book quite a bit. (Plus my memory of the book is kind of fuzzy, so I had a hard time figuring out what was different and what I just didn’t remember.)

However, I’m not so sure the whole movie theater experience is worth it anymore. Aside from the fact that a matinee cost $6 per ticket (I remember when it was $3.25, $2.50 if you had a valid student ID) and the concession prices are outrageous, the actual pre-movie content was appalling. Instead of the slide-show type thing with trivia that they used to show – and that you could easily ignore – they had 20 minutes of advertising, mainly for television networks. It was loud, obnoxious, and made me want to run home and cancel my cable subscription. Quite frankly, I think they should have paid me to sit through that, rather than the other way around.

And I shouldn’t even start on the 15 minutes worth of movie previews. Is there not one single original idea left in all of Hollywood? Every single movie that’s coming up is a remake of something else – including one that is literally Jumanji repackaged as a space-themed game.

Don’t get me wrong, I like movies. But I don’t know if I’m going to bother seeing them in the theater anymore. I can just as easily wait for a few months for the DVD – in fact, it’s easier since I don’t have to worry about who’s going to watch Carrie. Of course, then I think about the new Harry Potter movie coming out in November and wonder if I can really wait to watch that one…

Two Foot, Two Inch Terror!

Sarah Milestones

Carrie started pulling up this afternoon. She crawled over to my parents’ coffee table, put her hands on the top, and ended up on her feet. She was quite pleased with this new perspective. Now, in addition to all the other general baby-proofing we need to finish, we’re going to have to start securing things to walls.

Is it just me, or does she seem to figure out several new things all at once? And isn’t it much too early for her to be doing all of this? I thought for sure I’d have at least another month or two before I had to start chasing her all over the house.

In other baby news, we started giving Carrie a second meal of solids today. So far, she’s tried – and liked – rice cereal, pears, sweet potatoes, apples and bananas. We’re going to start some less sweet things, like carrots and peas, in the next couple of weeks, so I wanted her to have one meal with something familiar and one with something new.

Being A Mom

Sarah General

Being a mom is everything I didn’t expect. I expected to love my daughter. I didn’t expect how much I would love her. I didn’t expect how much I would worry. I didn’t expect how much it would make me cry for other mothers and babies in trouble, for the sorry state of the world we live in, for all the things I have no power to change that will somehow affect Carolyn’s life. I didn’t expect how it would change the way I look at my mom, and how guilty I would feel about things I said or did as a child that might have hurt her.

It’s strange: sometimes I think I’m only aware of Carolyn as the baby who lives in our house. I spend almost every minute of every day with her, and I’m constantly aware of her presence. But then there are times when I look at her – at this beautiful, funny, vibrant child – and realize that she is my daughter. My soul weeps with joy at that recognition. I am in awe of this perfect life we have created, with her soft cheeks, sparkling eyes and busy, chubby little hands.

And then I panic a little. I am in charge of making sure that Carolyn survives to adulthood, and that she won’t need to spend a fortune on therapy once she gets there. That’s no small responsibility.

I find myself wanting to somehow make the world a better place for her. I make an extra effort to recycle things I might not have before. I think more about my political decisions, and look at how the candidates might affect the future. I want to get in shape, eat better, volunteer more – in short, become a good role model for my daughter.

In some ways being a mom is the most natural thing I have ever done. In most ways it’s not, and I’m figuring things out just one step ahead (or sometimes not) of Carrie. I’m realizing how strong I can be when I need to be. I’m more aware than ever of the importance of not taking things for granted, and of all the dangers that lurk around every corner. I’m learning how to live in the moment, and how to put my faith in God when I feel the worries closing in around me.

I’m learning how to love my daughter. I’m learning how to be a mom. And it’s wonderful.

How to change a diaper in 21 (sort of) easy steps

Sarah Carolyn

1. Lay baby on changing table.
2. Roll baby who has immediately flipped onto her stomach back onto her back.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until baby stays on her back for more than 3 milliseconds.
4. Hand baby toy to try to keep her still.
5. Retrieve baby who is trying to climb headfirst down the front of the dresser.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until baby starts crying.
7. Comfort baby until crying stops.
8. Quickly repeat steps 1 and 4 while using teeth and inside of elbow to fasten changing table strap.
9. Blow rasperries at baby to distract her.
10. Unfasten snaps and attempt to access diaper.
11. Retrieve baby who has wriggled out of straps and is now once again climbing headfirst down the front of the dresser.
12. Repeat step 8, tightening straps as much as possible without hurting baby.
13. Sing to baby while unfastening diaper.
14. Quickly place new diaper underneath baby and use wipes as necessary.
15. Attempt to fasten new diaper.
16. Roll baby who has somehow flipped onto stomach despite straps back onto her back.
17. Repeat steps 15 and 16 until diaper is reasonably secure.
(17a. If diaper has “gaskets” check to make sure they’re still secure, or the next diaper change might not be so fun.)
18. Undo straps to retrieve clothing which is now up around baby’s shoulders.
19. Repeat steps 1 through 8 until baby is once again securely fastened down.
20. Sing silly songs about snaps while attempting to refasten clothing.
21. Congratulations! Baby has a clean diaper, and it only took 20 minutes! Collapse in exhausted heap – after removing baby from changing table where she is once again climbing headfirst down the front of the dresser – until next diaper change.

If baby requires a change of clothes…good luck.

Sit & Knit & Pick Up Toys

Sarah Carolyn, Crafts

This evening Miss Carolyn accompanied me to Sit & Knit, while Denis was out at a business dinner. (At the Dinosaur Barbeque. Lucky guy!) Anyway, Carrie was really good while we were out. I set up her booster chair and gave her some toys to play with. She tested gravity the entire time, so I only managed to actually knit one row on her poncho in between picking up toys. (Granted, it was a cable row, so it would have taken a while anyway.)

I feel terrible, though. I had planned to leave at 8:00 – her usual bedtime – figuring that being up an extra half-hour wouldn’t be so bad, but we didn’t leave until 8:30, and Carrie spent most of the car ride home crying her poor little heart out. I’m such a bad mommy. I was actually hoping she’d sleep in the car and then I could just feed her and put her to bed when we got home, but no such luck. Ah, well. She’s sleeping soundly now, so I guess there’s no harm done.

I Predict…

Sarah Milestones

I should be careful what I wish for. Remember, just a few hours ago, when I said Carrie was going to start crawling because we’d just told the pediatrician she didn’t yet? Yep. She did. I even caught it on video:

Her first successful crawl was directly for the pedals on the piano. I looked up from my knitting (I was just trying to put another row or two on her poncho) and there she was, crawling away. She practiced all afternoon. I thought babies were supposed to sleep a lot after getting shots? Not this one. She apparently doesn’t like it when we tell people that she can’t do things yet – it just makes her determined to show us that she can!

6 month well-baby visit

Sarah Growing Up

Vital stats:
27 weeks, 2 days old
16 lbs.
26.75″ tall

Yet more shots today, which Carrie handed very well. (I’d cry too if someone stuck me twice in each thigh!) Somehow, even though her weight is tracking along the 50th percentile line perfectly, she’s been jumping into higher brackets for height at every appointment. At the last one she was in the 75th, now she’s in the 90th! I’d be very excited for Carrie if she ends up average height. She wouldn’t need to shorten every pair of pants she buys!

Based on the last appointment and all the things she learned to do immediately after we told the pediatrician she didn’t yet, I’m expecting her to accomplish the following this week: crawl, cut a tooth, and start saying “mama” and “dada”. (Actually, if she says “mama” for mothers day, I think my heart might just melt!)

T is for Teddy Bears

Sarah Carolyn

I’m working on an alphabet book for Carolyn, made up entirely of pictures. So, for the letter ‘T’ I needed a picture of her with a bunch of teddy bears. These are a couple of the shots I didn’t pick. (It was very hard to pick one, because she was having such a good time all of them came out great!)

20050502_teddybear_outtake1.jpg
20050502_teddybear_outtake2.jpg

In other news, Carolyn is this close -> <- to crawling. She can definitely move forward under her own power, but it's the most inelegant thing I've ever seen. She gets up on her hands and knees, tucks one foot under and pushes off. This causes her opposite shoulder to crash into the floor. Then she gets back up on her hands and knees, tucks the other foot under, and does it again. Lather, rinse and repeat. Believe it or not, this is a very fast way of moving around the room - usually either towards the nearest plastic bag or tote bag with a long strap. Or any other potentially dangerous object.

She’s also starting to get up on her hands and her feet, with her butt sticking way up in the air. According to my mom, I never crawled, I just walked on my hands and feet – but I didn’t do that until I was 10 months old.

Since Carrie’s gaining a lot of height with these new maneuvers, we dropped the crib mattress down yesterday. We probably could have gotten a few more weeks out of the higher level, but why take a chance? It’s actually much easier to get her in there while she’s asleep than I expected it would be. It also puts her right at eye level with the dogs when they’re allowed in her room (which is only under supervision, no need to worry) which makes Carrie very happy!

April Cross Stitch

Sarah Cross Stitch

april_sb.jpgWait…you mean it’s not April anymore? Oops! This little piece really didn’t take very long, but I still didn’t manage to finish it in time to display it. I really ought to start and finish May this week. That’s probably not going to happen, but it’s good to have goals, right?

I’m also still working on Carrie’s poncho. I think there are only about eight more 8-row pattern repeats to do. It looks like it will be finished just in time to put it away for fall! Although, the evenings will still be cool, even during summer, so maybe she’ll get some wear out of it sooner than that.

The thing that’s been distracting me from everything else, though, is a baby carrier that I’m sewing. I’m sort of making it up as I go along, so it’s being a little challenging. I think it might be close to done, though. Once Carrie wakes up from her nap I’m going to try it and see what modifications need to be made. I have enough scraps from the fabric that I think I might make a couple of quilt blocks with some fabric in my stash and turn them into a tote bag/diaper bag/day bag sort of thing. Maybe I’ll even get brave and try to figure out how to add a zipper. (And with the amount of free time I have lately, that will likely be done by the time Carrie’s about 12!)

If The Shoe Fits…

Sarah Carolyn

Carrie is rapidly becoming more and more mobile, and summer is coming and with it opportunities to stand outside. On the ground. Where there’s dirt. So, I thought I’d look into getting her some shoes. (Not that I have anything against dirt, but her choices are barefoot or shoes. No socks in the dirt, please.) These are my current favorites (although there are so many designs I like it was really hard to pick one!)

The only thing is, I can’t figure out which size to get. I tried some on her the other day. The 0-6 month size should fit lengthwise, but her chubby little feet won’t go in them. The 6-12 month size fit over her feet, but extend a good inch or so past her toes – they’re like baby clown shoes. I have no idea how fast baby feet grow – if I get these now, will she even be able to wear them in a couple of months, or will they still be huge? I suppose it doesn’t matter if they’re big, since she’ll grow into them eventually, but I don’t know what to put on her until then. Or maybe I won’t really need them until she grows into them anyway.

And I thought buying shoes for myself was hard!