Morning?

11am

Very happy baby is awake.

Very tired mama is not.

zzzzzz

Sigh.

May 29, 2009
5:30pm
And Dani just called with a screamingly unhappy, tired baby :( And Brian isn't home yet, so we can't go rescue them just yet. And we have to pick things up for dinner before we do that. And I was hoping we'd have some alone time before we have to go, but I guess not :(

Pictures Megapost

From Elijah

From Elijah

From Elijah

From Elijah

From Elijah

From Elijah

From Elijah

From Elijah

From Elijah

We saw a fox one day!

From Elijah

From Elijah

From Elijah

From Elijah

Lime?

From Elijah

Ahhh, pho. I want pho now :D

From Elijah

From Elijah

Bacon!!

From Elijah

He's not sure about avocado.

From Elijah

From Elijah

Bathtime :D

Boom boom boom boom...

May 29, 2009

Today's albums: Lore, by Clananad; New Beginnings, by Tracy Chapman

^ I don't even remember how many days ago I typed that...

* * *

4:50pm

I'm sitting in my apartment, House on Brian's computer (we don't have a TV) while I stare at my computer. Elijah has been with Dani since 2pm.

I feel very strange, like I'm doing what I should be doing.

I should either be taking care of my boy, or working my ass off to clean the apartment. Arrrg.

I took a nice long scrubby shower and washed my hair. That was definitely necessary, and was nice. Then I had a bagel, some mac and cheese, and some coffee. And then I packed up the books in our bedroom... which is a small dent in the packing, but it's something.

What can I say about the last few days? Oh my. There's been a lot of stress. Mostly house-related, some relationship-related. But things are doing better now, and I've had the chance to relax, and hopefully Brian has to.

And babyface is enjoying his day with his auntie Dani, which is awesome. I hope he's not screaming about food or a nap or whatever... arg. I wish I could watch them, but that would kind of defeat the purpose of giving me some time to relax.

Although this does make me think about how much I could get done if he were away for three or four hours every weekday. And that makes me feel kind of bad. Sigh.

* * *

Last night, I fell in love with John Lee Hooker. This is a revelation.

And I decided a few days ago that we need to listen to music more often. So we will.

* * *

Things I've found in the trash lately:
-high chair
-a Graco Chauffer stroller
-a Graco DuoGlider stroller
-a Combi stroller (this is the one we're using now)
-a working CD player

The day I found the high chair, we were going to go out that night and buy one. The day I found the CD player, I'd been thinking a few minutes before, "It'd be nice to have a CD player in the bathroom, to listen to while we're in the bath." And boom!... there was a CD player. It was awesome.

* * *

In the last few days, Elijah has tried:
-pho (so-so)
-avocado (not so good)
-yoghurt (more more more!)
-chocolate icecream (just a tiny taste)
-mac and cheese (okay-ish)

* * *

I'm uploading a lot of pictures to Picasa, I'll post a link and/or some shots soon.

Quick note. More later.

Memorial Day/Towel Day

Lunch:
-strawberry lemonade slush
-deep-fried garlic breadsticks from Friday's (thank you Uncle Jon)

Dinner:
-crusty bread
-deep-fried calamari (baby did not try this)
-panzarotti (baby liked this)
-poached salmon with tortellini in a strange and not-so-great butter sauce (baby tried tortellini, not salmon)
-white-chocolate-coated raspberry icecream
-tiramisu

Sunday

Sigh.

Life is crazy.

I don't think I have anything coherent to say; I could ramble at length, but mostly it'd probably be a lot of negativity. The house isn't ready yet, stress is high, the dogs are going stir-crazy, etc.

Brian is out at the house, painting it with friends.

Meanwhile, Elijah and I are watching House, doing laundry, trying to do some cleaning, and wishing we had more breadsticks.

Hopefully there's dinner later. And the pool. And a shower. And sleep. Lots of it.

And eventually I'll post more pictures.

Quick bedtime note.

Elijah didn't sleep very well Wednesday night, possibly from gas. He did eat pieces of tomato from salsa, and some tastes of guacamole, so that would make sense :p

He seems to be doing better tonight so far, when the day's food was: Breadsticks, orange, onion/garlic/poppy seed/sesame seed bagel with butter, a slice of lime, a taste of beef, and some noodles.

Date Night Thursday

Baby was along for date night tonight. He spent the day freaking out if I even turned around, let alone went out of the room, so we decided to not risk leaving him without me for the evening. No sense making him even more scared than he already was.

What else went on today? Sigh. My brain is fried, and it's late.

Let's go chronologically for Thursday:
9:40am
-wake up
-whine
-cuddle baby in hopes he'll go back to sleep
-no luck, get up
-baby screams if mama turns around
-baby screams while mama gets breakfast ready and daddy changes him
-breakfast (baby giggles in stroller next to table, chewing a breadstick)

11am
-daddy leaves for work
-mama and baby play in playpen and watch House (baby screams if mama turns around and sobs if she leaves the room)
-mama and baby nap for two hours

1:30pm
-mama still is exhausted
-baby is not in better mood
-baby sits in playpen and eats breadstick while mama eats pasta and cries to daddy on the phone
-mama tells aunt Marcy that it's time for a high chair. Marcy advises going and buying one. Mama agrees that this should be tonight's course of action.
-mama, baby, and dogs go for walk (and call Grandmere)
-mama, baby, and dogs find that a high chair has been left out for the trash, 1/4mi from home. commence bafflement.
-mama spends a a few yards trying to figure out how to roll the stroller and the high chair without losing the dogs
-baby gets upset and wants to be out of stroller and in mama's arms
-cute neighbour man notices plight of the coyote and helps carry the high chair to the apartment

4pm
-baby screams in playpen while mama cleans highchair
-mama and baby share an orange
-mama and baby share an Everything Bagel with oven-melted butter
-mama and baby settle down to nurse
-baby naps a little bit

5:30pm
-daddy gets home
-mama hides in the shower with a book for a while
-mama, daddy, and baby go to one of the myriad local pho places for charbroiled beef with vermicelli, and really good fresh lemonade (and pho, but it was funnier that way)
-baby enjoys noodles (pics later)
-lots of people exclaim over how cute baby is
-baby makes a huge mess with noodles
-mama cleans up noodley mess
-mama, daddy, and baby explore a dollar store
-mama, daddy, and baby explore the baby store (for baby toys and clothes, not babies)

9:45pm
-mama, daddy, and baby come home
-mama escapes to take the dogs outside... baby screams
-baby bathtime!

10:30pm
-bedtime (cuddles, nursing, and the Sisters of Mercy)
-baby is asleep by 11:45pm

And so now I'm writing this post. I should be attempting to sleep. I need as much sleep as I can get... but I also needed to write.

Tomorrow: backdated for Moe's Wednesday, and more pictures.

Almost back to normal?

9pm
Today has been strange. Everyone's still down, but recovering. Brian stayed home from work to continue recovering, and so we could talk and have some de-stress time. Which was helpful and successful, and I'm very grateful.

The baby had a nice nap, which was nice.

We had dinner at the table for the first time in... I don't remember how long. Elijah was thrilled with his food and there was lots of giggling and talking.



Dinner was a frozen skillet meal thing, that was surprisingly tasty. Rotini with chicken and vegetables in a garlic butter sauce.



Dinner was funny!

I've gotten the kitchen cleaned up for the first time in quite a few days, too, and I feel accomplished for that. I'm hoping after the last of the day's dogwalks, and a baby bath, I can settle down and have some relaxation time online.

I think I had a lot more to say about today, but between the barking dog and the fussing baby, I don't think I can think well enough to come up with it.

There will be a couple of more photos and some videos to see later. I'll post again then.

Recovering

6:30pm

After some cajoling and throwing of toys, I may have convinced Elijah to hang out in the pack-n-play for a few minutes.

Maybe.

Although now he's dropped the plastic dog bowl he was playing with over the side, so he may not be satisfied to stay in there for now.

But I need my cup of tea and to ramble at the blog and watch West Wing in peace for a few minutes...

6:34pm
Perhaps not. He's unhappy now. In spurts. "Mmmaaa."

Although for the moment, as long I don't look in his direction, he's quiet.

I'm in danger of whining too much on this blog at the moment, but, dammit, my entire household... and a few of my friends besides... are sick. What the hell?

7:04pm
We may have achieved success. I sat in the playpen and played with him for a while, and now he's alternately standing at the edge going "Bababa BA BA ABAAAA" at Chris and me, or sitting down playing with toys.

This may not last long, however. And all I've done in my couple of minutes is ramble about it, so, er, yeah.

Well, my brain doesn't work. My household is sick! And the baby ate my brain.

"Ama ama ama brrr aahhhh!"

Bad weekend.

What an awful weekend. Bleh.

Friday afternoon: Mama gets sick. Aunt Dani is the best person ever and comes to take babyface to play with basenjis all afternoon.
Friday evening: Babyface gets sick.
Friday night: Mama, daddy, and babyface spend half the night in the ER. Babyface laughs at ER nurse. ER nurse sends us home.
Saturday: Dani is sick.
Sunday daytime: Uncle Chris is sick. Aunt Nicole is fighting off being sick. Mama is cranky. Daddy is cranky. Babyface laughs at us all.
Sunday night: Daddy gets sick.

Uuugh.

And we have a pediatrician's appointment at 9am. I don't see how we can possibly make it.

Uuuugh.

And more house stuff has to happen this week.

I have a lot of frozen food to get us through the week. I am currently not ashamed of that at all. I should be, but I'm not.

And I'm hungry. That's a good sign.

Now for more SmartWater and apple juice...

Goodnight.

Late night...

2:50am, four hours, a dose of Zofran and $200 later, we're home from the ER.

Elijah is fine, no need to worry. The anti-nausea meds seem to be exactly what he needed. We plan to rest tomorrow as much as we can.

V8 and celery salt never tasted so good. I have ribs to eat, too, thanks to Chris and Dani.

I hope to make a bigger post tomorrow, a lot of it with thanks to Dani for taking care of the babyface while I was sick.

Date Night

Exhausted. Almost missed out on date night from being exhausted, was made to get up and go out anyway. Good thing, needed shopping and food. Came home with new ruffly white shirt that Grandma would approve of. Spent most of evening with Jon and Nicole; was awesome. Saw Marcy too; also awesome. Babyface was not so happy with the missing-of-mama, but Nicole handled it well. Babyface discovered joys of chocolate cupcakes. Have pictures, will post later. Maybe more words, too.

What should we have for dinner tomorrow?

Need:
-high chair
-dinner plans
-lightweight jogging stroller
-home-made frozen dinners
-more frequent afternoon meals (already discussed this... need to implement)
-SLEEP

Night night.

"Welcome to Moooeee's!!!"

Me: I gave him my microphone to chew on.
Mom: He has teething rings.
Me: He'd rather chew on the microphone...

Image of motherhood fail: Baby wrapped up in microphone cord, chewing on Tylenol bottle.

Me: I can't do this if he doesn't take naps.
Mom: I know... I remember days where I thought, oh god, you have /got/ to sleep, or I will die. Right now.
Me: That is /so/ not helpful!
Mom: I know...

(He did finally settle down to nurse and while he didn't exactly nap, he was calm, and we had some relaxing time. But I was still a bit anxious and stressed by the time Brian got home.)

* * *

3:30pm

Elijah is now playing in his playpen while Leapfrog Letter Factory plays on the computer next to him. He's mostly ignoring the show, playing with his toys, and once in a while realizing I'm not there, so looking up and going, "Mmma! Mama!"

Now he's actually watching... then he fell down on his Baby Einstein violin-playing Mozart duck dude and it played music.

Hmm. We do have totally non-educational toys, too :p There are bunnies and teddy bears and even a ferret :D

* * *

I'm trying to figure out simple snacks to feed us through the day. Things that I'll actually find the time to make, or can make ahead. Things that are more nutritious than some chocolate graham crackers.

I would like to try this "quick tea" recipe from the BLW site. I'm not so sure about the mix of pear and cheese, but maybe with something mild like provolone, it might be tasty.

I'm also thinking things like apples and peanutbutter, apples and cheese, maybe a soup for the week if I can remember/get the time to make it on a Sunday and freeze it in one-serving sizes for the rest of the week.

Hummus and cucumbers are great... when I remember to eat them. I'm hoping some better refrigerator organization will help with that. Yay for IKEA...

* * *

I want coconut Thai soup with shrimp and chicken.

* * *

6pm - recovering from blood sugar crash

It's so odd, so quick. I have no idea why this one happened, even. Suddenly, I was cranky and having difficulty keeping my eyes open.

"Go get some food," Brian ordered, and I knew he was right, but my response was, "I already did." Because I had; I'd eaten a piece of chicken. I don't know why I crashed after chicken. That doesn't make a lot of sense.

And so now I'm sitting here with a cup of sugary, creamy tea and some chocolate Goldfish, recovering and becoming human again.

Then it's time to go have Moe's and hang out with people.

* * *

11:30pm

Another nice cuddly nursing-down-to-sleep moment with Elijah and the Sisters of Mercy.

Current tasks:
-researching a character background
-finding a jogging stroller
-selecting pictures from today to post

* * *

Dinner was at Moe's, which has amazing nachos. Elijah enjoyed pieces of tomato from my salsa.






And last night, Uncle Chris shared his french fries :)

Nursing down to sleep.

I like this time. The dogs are fed and walked, Elijah has had his bath, I've done my email and blog posts and photos for the day. We're cuddling close on the futon, listening to the Sisters of Mercy while he nurses and fights sleep.

Successful Playpen Time Today

3:30pm

Elijah has been playing by himself in his playpen for nearly an hour now, to my amazement, while Chris B and I watch the West Wing. It's refreshing, and is letting me get some Australian tea consumed and some household management (one of my favourite subjects) reading done.

* * *

9:10pm

I just dropped the majority of Elijah's toys into the playpen with him, and he smiled at each one like he hadn't seen it in years. He's picking them up one by one and shaking them around.

We're watching West Wing again. I have Ovaltine and chocolate graham cracker Goldfish.

Which is what I'd like to ramble about right now: Goldfish crackers.

I HATE the cheese flavoured Goldfish crackers.

HATE HATE HAAATE!!!

It may be hard to believe how much I hate those stupid little crackers, but I always have and I suspect I always will. For some 18 years, every few years I would think, hey, maybe I'll like them if I try them this time. And they'd be just as disgusting as the last time! Arrrg.

I'm not sure why that bothers me so very much, but it does. Everyone seems to love these things so much; I've never heard anyone else say they dislike them. Just uuugh.

But! Now there are CHOCOLATE GRAHAM CRACKER Goldfish! They're not awesome, but they're okay enough, and not especially sweet. And they're fish shaped. Which is cool.

* * *

We went for a 40 minute walk with the dogs today. Elijah loves to be outside, to be riding on my chest or in the stroller, looking at everything. He loves meeting every dog we pass, he loves how excited people are to see him. And they are so excited. It's as if they've never seen a baby before. Everyone exclaims over how beautiful he is... and I agree, of course, but I'm supposed to; I'm his mother. But people... we've stopped traffic! A man actually stopped his car so he and his wife and children could admire Elijah.

Does this happen to other babies? Please say it does.

* * *

I've spent a lot of time today considering how to set up Elijah's bedroom in the new house. It won't be just his, for now; he and I will be sharing it until . . . well, who knows when he'll be sleeping on his own. The plan right now is for us to join Brian in bed during the weekends, when Brian doesn't have to get up early in the mornings. But for weekdays, Elijah and I will most likely be sleeping in his room. I need to see if we'll fit in a twin bed. His room is pretty small, and will have to hold the bed, some toys and books... usual baby things. Extra blankets and pillows. A place for my laptop (which acts as white noise, alarm, and entertainment).

I'm also pondering colours. Probably an antique white on the walls and a bright, interesting blue on the ceiling. Just because.

* * *

Dinner was roast chicken breasts, pad prik green beans, and sauteed broccoli with garlic powder and olive oil.

See?

Quite a day.

Baby Einstein My First Signs is giving me some peace and quiet for the moment. I'm amazed Elijah is actually watching it. He's standing up in his playpen, petting the screen and squeaking once in a while.

Febreze is my friend.

This post at Not That You Asked is also my friend.

* * *

The rest of the day was not my friend.

Well, that's not entirely accurate. I got lots of hugs from Chris B and Marcy and Jon and Nicole and those are good things.

I won't talk about the sad things.

* * *

In other news, there are new videos up that involve basenjis.

And tonight's dinner of carrots and split pea soup was a success, although most of the success was Elijah learned how to get the basenjis to lick his hands (give them carrots), which made him incredibly happy.

* * *

I'm sorry this post is so disjointed, but I think that's how things have to be tonight. My brain isn't working very well, which is a common thing these days, but at least I'm writing, right? Yeah.

We're trying a new thing: Once a week, Elijah will go stay with his aunties, Marcy, Nicole or Dani... or all three, depending on how they want to work it. And Brian and I will wander off to the mall or somewhere for 45 minutes or so of wandering and shopping and eating crack Auntie Ann's Pretzel cinnamon stick thingers.

We tried it tonight, and it resulted in about half an hour of screaming, says auntie Marcy. Sigh. Hopefully it will get better the more he gets used to it. During our time together, Brian and I went to the mall... shopping has always been my therapy (thank you, Grandma), and so I have three new tops. One that may never see the light of day, one that says 'baby girl' across the chest, and one much more respectable brown wrap-around blouse. I'd like to go back for a nice little tank top and a skirt. (Everything was on clearance, I promise.)

Right now, I have a very cuddly boy with his limbs as wrapped around me as he can get them, while he nurses off to sleep.

I've been looking forward to this time for most of the day.

Now it's time to watch Kitchen Nightmares and wait for Elijah to sleep.

Baby Einstein My First Signs is giving me some peace and quiet for the moment. I'm amazed Elijah is actually watching it. He's standing up in his playpen, petting the screen and squeaking once in a while.

Febreze is my friend.