The thoughts are crunchier here.
GAMEDAY!!!
Today is Lydia’s first GameDay. She’s wearing her Lucky Onesie, we’ve sung all the GameDay songs, and now she’s camped out in her excellent vibrating chair, having a bit of paci and watching the GameDay show.
I’ve been teaching her how to spell ‘Lee Corso’: P-E-N-I-S.
So . . . why taco? Most people say bean, right? As with everything, there is a story to the taco name.
Last October The Husband and I boogied down to Columbus, Georgia on a Thursday afternoon to meet my sister and her husband. We were going to see George Carlin — live! We were very excited, and looking back, we are all very glad we went to see him since he passed away the night before Lydia was born.
We were trying for Lydia by now — I had another week to find out I had her. I had suspicions that my sister and her husband might be trying for their own child but wasn’t sure.
The four of us were waiting for the show to start and discussing our dinners. The Husband and I had had Wendy’s, I think, and my sister and brother-in-law had enjoyed some tasty tacos.
“How was your taco?” my sister asked her husband.
“Most excellent,” he replied. He rubbed her belly and asked, “And how is your taco?”
There was this split second where my sister looked kinda funny, looked at him, then said rather guardedly, “My taco is fine.”
“Oh, my God — they’re pregnant.” I thought.
It turns out they weren’t, but wouldn’t you have thought that, too, what with the belly rubbing and taco questions?
So, less than a week later when I saw those two pink lines, what else could it be BUT a taco?
Last weekend, Lydia turned two whole months old. Crazy how fast it’s going. She became more awake this month, though since nothing really interests her yet, being awake was very boring to her and she would get all mad. It wasn’t until recently that she started reacting to to stuff like The Husband and I making the goofiest faces we could come up with.
At about six weeks there were some horrible nights where Lydia would scream and holler. We didn’t know if we needed to tire her out more or try to work out more burps or if she was just a mad mad baby. She would get to sleep but then flail herself awake with her wiggly arms and legs. Even the swaddle couldn’t hold her back.
After we implemented some tips from family and friends, there was a huge change for the better. We ditched the swaddling for footie jammies, got her to nap as soon as she showed signs of fussiness, and we figured out she prefers to sleep on her side. Now she’s more comfy, and we’re more well-rested.
This past month I’ve really started to feel like a mom. The first few weeks Lydia was here I felt more like a long-term babysitter for someone else’s kid. Now that she’s reacting back to us and really starting to show off her personality the realness of having a daughter is pouring over me. We’re a family. How awesome is that?
The family keeps growing, too. On Lydia’s two month birthday we threw a baby shower for my sister, who is due with her first in a few short weeks. We all can’t wait to meet Lydia’s little taco cousin.
It’s DAMN NEAR GAME DAY!!!
And we’re not on television; Carrie can’t watchie! 🙁
Poop. Speaking of poop . . . (you know there’s gonna be more of these stories now that Lydia is about)
Steven got home with Lydia yesterday afternoon. He’s Daycare Daddy right now. We were about to turn right back around and go out to eat but figured we’d better check her diaper first.
Collectively, that was the smartest thing we’ve done in our lives. She was swimming in poo, and it wasn’t all that great-smelling — kinda surprising considering she’s still nursing.
“I knew I’d been smelling something in the car!” Steven exclaimed.
So we changed her up; Steven helped in between huffs of the Butt Paste. (“They should make candles that smell like this.”) When we got in the car to go to dinner he swore he could still smell a lingering aroma but I assured him I didn’t smell a thing. It was only his mind being brought back to the horror of the scene.
After dinner we were heading back home. I had been having el ranko fartos since, it seems, time began, and I felt another one building up. Steven was telling me about a programming website he found. I waited. He was very pleased with this website. I waited.
Then it came. An SBD, a Global Killer. It was to be a silent strike. Steven was still talking. Lydia was asleep in the back seat. I waited.
Suddenly, Steven stopped talking in mid-sentence and exclaimed, “I STILL smell it!” He glanced back toward Lydia.
Poor girl, getting blamed for her mother’s rankness! I started giggling and fessed up. She shouldn’t carry such a burden yet. I’ll wait ’till she’s older before I blame her for my flatulent self.
Tomorrow I go back to work, and thus Lydia will have her first day of daycare. On the one hand, I am looking forward to going back to work and am pleased that I still want to have a career. Many people told me I would ache to be a stay-at-home-mom once I had Lydia, and I didn’t want to be miserable once my maternity leave was over.
On the other hand, I feel a horrible guilt that I am looking forward to going back to work and leaving poor Lydia in the care of strangers. Why would I not want to be with my baby girl all day? I’m a horrible mom.
Nevertheless, work and daycare are just another sleep away.
Speaking of sleep, it’s been a long, hard week. The first half of the week was horrible, sleep-wise. Lydia just screamed and screamed, refusing to go to sleep, not sleeping long, it was just horrendous. The Husband and I were very frustrated and felt like the most horrible of parents. I dreaded the night.
We talked with a few people who assured us this was normal and we weren’t on the path to laying down a horrible childhood for Lydia. We got some tips for some different things to try — we switched from swaddling her flailing legs to legged jammies and we found she preferred to sleep on her side. This plus more sleep during the day and a dash of the rocking chair led to a perfect night the past three nights. Apparently sleep begets more sleep. Here’s hoping we’re starting a trend.
Lydia had her two-month appointment on Friday. She is now a whopping 10 pounds 9 ounces and 22.5 inches long! Unfortunately, she got the first set of a barrage of shots. There were four long shots in her thighs plus an oral medicine. Ohhh, I have never seen her eyes get so big nor her face so red. My poooor baby — the tears did flow!
I’m so glad she won’t remember a bit of that.
This morning I read a news story that reported Shia Labeouf might lose a finger due to a car accident.
When I mentioned it to Steven, he chuckled and said, “I can see it now. They came in to tell him he might lose his finger and he goes, ‘No! Nononono no no no!‘ ”
When I read from the story that they might have to incorporate the lack of a digit in the next Transformers movie, Steven continued: “That’ll be the most creative bit of writing Michael Bay has ever done.”
But then he reflected and added, “I don’t know, I think Michael Bay would have more fun creating a CGI hand.”
We’re horrible. We know.
I think I have forgotten to mention this earlier, but my sister is expecting her own firstborn little girl in about nine weeks. I’m going to be Crazy Aunt Carrie who makes blue pancakes for breakfast and Lydia will have a little cousin to tromp through life with.
My sister and I like to do things at the same time. First there was The Year of the Weddings, now it’s The Year of the Babies.
I’m so excited!
Between Steven and me, I’m the packrat of the family. In fact, somewhere in this house is the little post-it note where I wrote Steven’s telephone number so I could call him — this was over nine years ago a few days after we started dating. I also tend to keep gift bags, rocks, old school notes, and anything that belonged to my grandparents.
Steven is more of an organizer so he keeps me a bit grounded on the stuff I keep. This is one of the many reasons why we work so well together — overall, he keeps me from doing stupid stuff.
Yesterday afternoon we ran across a show called Clean House, where the premise of the show is they find these cluttered homes with cluttered families and they help them, or sometimes make them, get rid of their old junk so they can make their house look fantastic. Steven and I were amazed to see how clingy people could be with absolute junk.
Halfway through the second episode, I uttered the fateful sentence: “Man, I can think of some stuff right now that I should just throw away.”
Steven couldn’t have been more excited if I had suggested a kinky activity we could do involving honey, chocolate, and the phrase ‘on top of the dryer.’ He jumped up and said, “Tell me what it is, I’ll go throw it away right now!”
It started with a candle (which was what I was thinking of) but we quickly moved into the office and got rid of a mountain of books, gift bags, rugs, and old paperwork. We spent the rest of the afternoon picking out what to throw away or donate. Renton was laid out in the middle of the floor; he was totally in his element of being in as much way as possible.
Steven is still stoked. Plans have already been set to work on our closets and drawers next weekend. He can’t wait to tackle the basement.
I am motivated, too; though I’ll probably have to watch an episode or two of Clean House each weekend to remind me what I’m excited about.
And I’m not getting rid of my rocks.
I can’t believe Lydia is already over a month old. In fact, she’s five weeks old today! She has grown so much, too. Lifting her head is practically a piece of cake, and boy does she eat a lot. I would guess she’s about nine pounds by now.
After three weeks of easy burps and seemingly drug-induced sleeps, Lydia’s digestive system screamed, “Hey, I’m not ready for this yet!” and thus we entered the gassy stage. The Husband and I now work really hard to get out every last burp and sometimes that’s still not enough, prompting Lydia to produce this nonstop wailing cry that absolutely tears at your heart and eardrums.
If any good is to find of my poor baby’s gassy tummy, it’s once she has worn herself out from crying, she will have a good, hard sleep of four plus hours. Last evening she slept from 7:30 to 12:00 with only a brief ‘hold-me-now’ moment.
I’m looking forward to the day when Lydia discovers her true superpower — she can actually control her flailing arms and legs. Right now they have a mind of their own and their goal is to shake Lydia awake with their constant wiggling. Swaddling is her only defense.
A milestone was reached last week — Lydia went with us to her first restaurant outing. She did wonderfully. It is no small feat to sleep while visiting an Applebee’s during a loud lunch hour. She also visited the mall and Babies R’Us — Mommy’s favorite store.
She’s also great for snuggling during movies. I think she’ll be a snuggler for many years.
Despite having a newborn around the house, there’s not really much worth talking about. At least, nothing non-babywise. For the time being I plan on keeping that on the other site. Since I’m still home on maternity leave, baby is all I do right now.
A squirrel has taken interest in our deck because of the bird feeder. Normally I would try to keep him away but Hermione and Renton are ecstatic every time he shows up. He’s not a shy bugger, either.
Here he is cooling his nuts:
He lounged like that for quite a while. Sometimes he runs smack into the back door. That gets the cats running.
When the cats aren’t running, they’re lounging:
Renton looks dead.