Thank you for the hat, Nanna

I'm adding new pics to flickr as well.

S L E E P

I've been majorly sleep deprived lately. Lil a has decided that he will only sleep for 2 hours at a time at most. More often it's 45 mins to an hour.

I already have this problem that if something happens when I'm asleep, I usually can't remember that it occurred. I get so startled when I'm awoken that my heart races a million miles an hour (ok, I'm exaggerating...200 MPH) and I get all messed up in the head.

So, a few nights ago, lil a was crying and refusing to sleep. Eno had suggested that he take the little one downstairs...apparently World Cup soccer lulls him right to sleep. (We all know Eno just wanted to watch soccer.) I objected and said that he was probably hungry and proceeded to feed him. He fell asleep and so did I. At least that's the story I told my mom the next day.

Eno called the next day and asked me how the baby slept last night (he usually sleeps through the night feedings/crying). I mentioned how he fell right to sleep after I fed him. He said,

"No, I mean, after I took him downstairs."

"That wasn't last night. You didn't take him downstairs."

"Yes, I did."

"No you didn't. He fell right asleep after he ate."

"No he didn't. You don't remember?!?" (hysterically laughing now)

"No way. If you did, tell me what you watched on TV"

"We watched Battle in the River: Hippos vs Rhinos. The Hippos won."

Wow. That's some compelling evidence.

What's grosser than gross?

Looking down and seeing your angelic little baby gnawing on a dog toy.

'Nuff said.

Pooptastic

Anyone who has children or knows anyone who has children will spend and inordinate amount of time talking about poop. That's just the way it is. Amazingly however, you can find yourself poop-talking in the most inappropriate places without realizing or sensing the inappropriateness, like during dinner at a nice restaurant on your one night out without the baby. "Lil a pooped this morning, you should've seen it....What? Yes, I'll have the caviar."

Anyway, I am writing about poop, if you haven't figured that out yet. More specifically, I am writing about the 5 times lil a pooped on Sunday. 5 times!!! That's 5 poopy diapers in one day, more than he'd normally have in a week. Of course, he had gone...wait, lemme check the TrixieTracker...3 days with nary a pooplet.

You see, it seemed like every time lil a had a poopy diaper, I was the only one around to take care of the mess. Seriously, it would happen nanoseconds after eno left for work, or 10 minutes before the nanny shows up. I think my wonderful son sensed my frustration because eno cleaned each and every one of them.

Anyway, I learned something about solid foods. I was under the impression that most fruits are very high in fiber, especially apples. For that reason I would be sure that one of his meals was apples -- the other could be something else. Well, it turns out that apples and bananas (his other staple) actually cause...um...firming, if you know what I mean. Wholesome Baby Food explains it all and suggests pears as an alternative. Last night, he had his first meal of pears, with some diluted prune juice on the side.

Lucky baby.

Data mining my baby

I'm anal. I hate that when someone asks me if lil a slept through the night, I usually can't remember, and if I do remember, I really don't remember how long he slept or when he got up to eat. Same goes for when someone asked me when I last changed his diaper or fed him. It drives me crazy.

I've tried keeping a log but I never keep it up and I could never decide on a format. Enter trixietracker.com. It allows you to enter all sorts of data about your little one, including diapers, naps, nursing, meals.

I had read about this on a few different websites, but I didn't sign up until today. So far, I love it. It's making me a little OCD about things though...now I want to make sure the data is accurate up to the minute (for sleep or nursing) or oz (for feeding).

This could get out of control. :)

Waffle: 1989 - 2006

We got Waffle when I was about 11 or 12. At the time, we lived in Oxford, PA, a very small town in the heart of Amish country. My neighbor had a cat named Pancake so, in order to keep with the theme, we named our new kitten Waffle.

She was a quirky cat, as most cats are. When I moved away to college many years later, she eventually made the trip with me. She was often found lying in the sink, waiting for me to turn on the faucet so she could lap up some fresh water.

All night, she'd be up and about, knocking things off the dresser and waking you up. If you had your hand hanging off the bed, she rub up against it in the morning. She was a good cat.

In 1998, she was lovingly adopted by my best friend Lorelle when Eno and I went to Spain for the summer. They bonded while we were gone and Lorelle graciously agreed to keep her, since our new apartment wouldn't allow pets. (For years we've had an ongoing joke about whether I abandoned her or Lorelle stole her.)

There she lived for many happy years. Lorelle took the best care of her, even added a few kitty friends for her to play with.

A few weeks ago, Eno and I went to visit. Waffle was still doing well, but getting noticeably older and weaker. She was much smaller than I remember.

Last week, she got very ill and was no longer able to eat or play. Lorelle took her to the vet and they decided it was time.

Rest in peace, Waffleopolis. I hope there's a giant sink with a never-ending faucet drip with your name on it.

Long time...

You know that friend. The one you email or chat with everyday. You tell them everything and you know everything about them. Then something happens, you go on vacation, change jobs, whatever, and you don't talk everyday. Maybe a week goes by. Then, when you come up for some air and think about talking to them, you realize you have too much to say and you don't know where to start. It's a vicious cycle. You don't call then 3 weeks or 3 months pass. Then there's way too much to say. It goes on and on.

That's what happened with my blog. I got really busy, didn't post as much, and now too much has happened and I don't know where to start. Sigh.

I'm all about lists (but you already know that don't you), so here's a rundown of all the crap that's been going on:

-- lil a had his 6 month doctor's appointment. He's 18 lbs, 14 oz and 27.5 inches long. The doc said that his weight gain has dropped off a little (he's still in the 75 percentile though), so she wanted us to up his solid intake to twice a day.

-- We upped his solid intake as ordered, which caused poor lil a to ... uh ... have a strain a bit, if you know what I mean.

-- Teething ensues, we think.

-- We gave in and bought an exersaucer for the little one. He loves it, of course. As you might suspect, given my history with strollers, I'm not a big fan of the new big piece of plastic that takes up my entire living room. But as my friend Beth says, they were invented for a reason. True dat.

-- Eno's parents are moving...to Texas. Yeah, right by Bush's ranch. They don't like my kind down in those parts. I'll need a passport and visa to go visit, I think.

-- Nanny update: still love her to death and trying to figure out how to afford her more often. A plan may be in the works to have her here Mondays and Fridays for a few hours. That would be glorious.

Jinx

I don't want to jinx myself, but we've had two relatively good nights of sleep in a row. By "relatively good" I mean only nursing twice (amazing!) and only soothing once or twice. I think I got 4 hours of continuous sleep for the first time in weeks.

This is very surprising because I'm pretty sure lil a is getting teeth. He's been incredibly fussy, crying for no reason (it seems), and the tylenol that we gave him last night seemed to make him feel better. I suspected that we'd have crappy sleep until the elusive tooth emerges, but thank god I was wrong!

Teething sucks (or does it bite?)