You Know You're a New Mom When:
a) you find a muffin and a foil-wrapped pat of butter in the bottom of your purse; and
b) they've been there for several days; and
c) you eat them anyway.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Here is Purple Scare's obligatory post on the fracas going on in Florida. If you too are sick of hearing about it, I won't be offended if you scroll past this. There is something funny in the next post down, I promise.
Ahem: Amid all the sturm und drang, everyone seems to forget that 99.9% of the persons bloviating on the subject don't even know the person they're talking about.
Her legal next-of-kin is asking to fulfill what he says (and a court has adjudicated accordingly, based on the testimony of several people) were her wishes. Nobody else has a right to get involved, so leave the woman and her family alone; let them have a fragment of peace.
So where do I get off weighing in on the subject? Personal experience: fourteen years ago I watched my grandfather, whom I loved more than life itself, rage against the dying of the light. If you've ever seen someone fight liver cancer, you know it isn't pretty. Grandpa was a doctor; he knew what he was up against and he knew that suffering would be a big part of it. He could have asked to pull the plug, but he wanted nature to run its course. He wanted to die at home in his own bed when the Powers That Be saw fit to take him. It was absolute hell to watch this, but we honored his wishes because we loved and respected him.
Ten years later, I watched my grandmother, whom I also loved more than life itself, linger in the throes of Alzheimer's. Her last months were not particularly pleasant ones, but as a devout Catholic she believed that it was proper for her to wait it out. Similar to my grandfather, Grandma was a nurse who understood what she was up against and could have asked for plugs to be pulled. She too wanted no heroic measures, she wanted to be kept comfortable, but she wanted nature to run its full course. Is it what I would have chosen? No. But those were her wishes, her choice, based on her beliefs and her conscience. We are her family, and we would honor her decisions, as painful as they were to us, because we loved and respected her.
And anybody who thinks they deserve to butt in at a time like this can go straight to Hell. Do not pass "Go", do not collect $200.
Here endeth the lesson.
Ahem: Amid all the sturm und drang, everyone seems to forget that 99.9% of the persons bloviating on the subject don't even know the person they're talking about.
Her legal next-of-kin is asking to fulfill what he says (and a court has adjudicated accordingly, based on the testimony of several people) were her wishes. Nobody else has a right to get involved, so leave the woman and her family alone; let them have a fragment of peace.
So where do I get off weighing in on the subject? Personal experience: fourteen years ago I watched my grandfather, whom I loved more than life itself, rage against the dying of the light. If you've ever seen someone fight liver cancer, you know it isn't pretty. Grandpa was a doctor; he knew what he was up against and he knew that suffering would be a big part of it. He could have asked to pull the plug, but he wanted nature to run its course. He wanted to die at home in his own bed when the Powers That Be saw fit to take him. It was absolute hell to watch this, but we honored his wishes because we loved and respected him.
Ten years later, I watched my grandmother, whom I also loved more than life itself, linger in the throes of Alzheimer's. Her last months were not particularly pleasant ones, but as a devout Catholic she believed that it was proper for her to wait it out. Similar to my grandfather, Grandma was a nurse who understood what she was up against and could have asked for plugs to be pulled. She too wanted no heroic measures, she wanted to be kept comfortable, but she wanted nature to run its full course. Is it what I would have chosen? No. But those were her wishes, her choice, based on her beliefs and her conscience. We are her family, and we would honor her decisions, as painful as they were to us, because we loved and respected her.
And anybody who thinks they deserve to butt in at a time like this can go straight to Hell. Do not pass "Go", do not collect $200.
Here endeth the lesson.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Just when I think I have this whole HausFrau thing down: Yesterday was the Big Weekly Shop. Every week I go through the grocery store circulars and figure out who's got the best deals on what, then map out my tri- or quadripartite shopping list accordingly. I hit three supermarkets on Thursday and was feeling quite pleased with myself, especially since I got all that crap into the fridge and freezer, right? So imagine my surprise when I was pulling out some cold cuts for lunch today, and discovered some unexpected articles in the meats drawer. Like my checkbook.
Honestly. Good thing I wasn't even looking for it, cause God knows I'd never have come up with that one. I suppose next time I need the ketchup I should check my sock drawer.
And yesterday was a good day, too. Sheesh!
Honestly. Good thing I wasn't even looking for it, cause God knows I'd never have come up with that one. I suppose next time I need the ketchup I should check my sock drawer.
And yesterday was a good day, too. Sheesh!
Been having technical difficulties lately, sorry! My brother handed down a computer to me, which means that I don't have to sneak in computer time when my telecommuting husband is on a bathroom break. The catch is that the machine runs on Windows 98, which as we all know is buggier than the Amazon basin. If I weren't married to an engineer I'd have to blog using smoke signals and morse code.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Monday, March 21, 2005
MILESTONE! Baby "Gigi" has doubled her birthweight. I am one step closer to breathing a deep sigh of relief. I will only feel totally out of the woods on her weight gain when she officially outweighs the cat. (The cat's excuse for looking like Elvis in furs is that she was born 100 klicks downstream from Chernobyl.)
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Another item for the "skills and experience" portion of my resume: Chew Toy.
Yeah, the teething thing is a real treat. We have several soothing rattles and teethers sitting in the fridge, but Gigi isn't interested. What does she like? Fingers. Mommy and Daddy's, to be specific. She really like Daddy's because of all his interestingly broken knuckles; unfortunately, Daddy has a new injury sustained in a card game (yes, Daddy plays full-contact bridge, don't ask) so he gets to beg off gnawing detail.
So I am not doing as much typing as I would like. The good news is that Gigi seems to be settling into a pattern for when the teething activity spikes, so at least there's some predictability to the daily FussFests. Now that I've written about it, no doubt I've screwed that up.
Yeah, the teething thing is a real treat. We have several soothing rattles and teethers sitting in the fridge, but Gigi isn't interested. What does she like? Fingers. Mommy and Daddy's, to be specific. She really like Daddy's because of all his interestingly broken knuckles; unfortunately, Daddy has a new injury sustained in a card game (yes, Daddy plays full-contact bridge, don't ask) so he gets to beg off gnawing detail.
So I am not doing as much typing as I would like. The good news is that Gigi seems to be settling into a pattern for when the teething activity spikes, so at least there's some predictability to the daily FussFests. Now that I've written about it, no doubt I've screwed that up.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Monday was a really good day. Baby and I slept late, then drove into town for our semimonthly lunch date with Grandpa. I managed to get a parking space across the street from Dad's office, with time left on the meter (score!); Dad and I had sandwiches and Gigi showed off her ability to hold her own bottle. Grandpa was quite impressed.
After lunch, Gigi and I went for a sunny stroll. I got a hot chocolate and we sat in the park; she napped while I read the paper. We listened to k.d. lang's Hymns of the 49th Parallel on the drive home along the parkway.
Nothing spectacular, just a really pleasant day.
After lunch, Gigi and I went for a sunny stroll. I got a hot chocolate and we sat in the park; she napped while I read the paper. We listened to k.d. lang's Hymns of the 49th Parallel on the drive home along the parkway.
Nothing spectacular, just a really pleasant day.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
"Where has she been and what has she been up to?" you wonder. Let's recap: the baby has started sleeping in her own room. Sleep patterns have been disrupted: sometimes she goes all the way through the night; other times she'll wake up once or even twice. She has also started teething. That is a topic for another post entirely. I also decided to go decaf to see if it had an effect on Baby "Gigi". Withdrawal was not pretty for either of us. Our backyard raccoons were telling me I looked like hell.
But there's good news, too. Gigi had her four-month well-baby visit, and she is progressing very nicely along her curve. She's still a small baby, but she is a healthy one. She has not yet doubled her birth weight, but she has doubled her lowest weight ever from her hospital days. So she's nearly two feet long and weighed just under ten and a half pounds at her appointment. She is also Mommy's Super Brave Little Girl for getting her immunization shots, four at a pop, poor sweetie.
Her little blond curls are filling out nicely, her eyes are still blue (let's hear it for recessive genes!), and she continues to vocalize with enthusiasm. And right now you could not drag me back to work with whips, chains, wild horses, and cattle prods.
But there's good news, too. Gigi had her four-month well-baby visit, and she is progressing very nicely along her curve. She's still a small baby, but she is a healthy one. She has not yet doubled her birth weight, but she has doubled her lowest weight ever from her hospital days. So she's nearly two feet long and weighed just under ten and a half pounds at her appointment. She is also Mommy's Super Brave Little Girl for getting her immunization shots, four at a pop, poor sweetie.
Her little blond curls are filling out nicely, her eyes are still blue (let's hear it for recessive genes!), and she continues to vocalize with enthusiasm. And right now you could not drag me back to work with whips, chains, wild horses, and cattle prods.
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