eight months old! a photo retrospective

Where we're at

So, in response to Rachel's questions - I'm not done with school, just with classes. Which means I don't have to be on campus anymore, but it will still be 2.5 more years until I finish my degree. This semester I'll be taking my qualifying exams long-distance, and working on my research proposal. Also applying for research funding. (Bleah.) I plan to start my research over the summer, concluding in June next year. Then I analyze my data and write my dissertation. Ta-da! PhD! :-)

So, for the foreseeable future, we're all together as a family. I have vacated my apt. in Ithaca, but still have a lease on it until the end of May... tried to find a sub-letter, hasn't worked out yet.

Oh, and I am still knitting... I just keep forgetting to take pictures of it! I sent three pairs of socks to Savannah, and am currently working on a fourth pair. It was supposed to be a Christmas present... I just turned the heel on a tweedy brown men's sock, that has a cable pattern along one side. It's going really fast... awesome.

Just for the record, if it weren't for my mother-in-law, I'd be toast right now. Trying to get anything done these days with the Little One-One climbing up my legs is nearly impossible. Thanks Dot!!!

Back to Blogging

It took us four days to travel across the country by train, three days to see my lovely friend C. get married in Yosemite, and another four days to get back to the East Coast. During that time I think I had internect connection twice. We spent Christmas Day in Union Station in Chicago, cold and bored, and I got food poisoning from (I think) a half dozen chicken wings. Then we had five days to pack up my NY apartment before driving south on New Year's Day. It was an eventful end to 2008. Little V. handled it all with equanimity. She is currently fighting an ear infection (boooo!), practicing her new-found crawling skillz, and declaiming "Bababababa!" I'm trying to figure out all our new systems here. Today the dryer broke. It's great having doting grandparents nearby!!!

more Savannah pics

We took a walk down along the river where it was cold but sunny, and saw the warehouses where the boats used to offload their cotton cargo. A refurbished replica of an old-fashioned sailing ship was open to public tours - pretty sweet!

Mama Irma, here are all your girls!
(Note Valerie is wearing the sweater Tara knitted - yay!)

6 month stats

Length: 27.25 inches (85th percentile)

Weight: 16 lbs even! (40th percentile)

head circumference: 17.25 inches

New milestone: sitting up by herself!!

Thanksgiving 2008, Savannah

I have so many awesome pictures, I don't even know where to start...
Or rather, I'm not sure when I'll be able to stop! But here are a few to start with:

Thanksgiving Day preparations at Anita and David's house:

Enjoying the sunshine and 65-degree weather at the local playground:

Cousins!

Bonding with Uncle David:

"No, you can't be in charge of the stuffing. Maybe next year."

"Bye-bye! See you soon!"

FIRST TOOTH!

Last night at about 11:00 we were trying to get Valerie to go to sleep (again... she WAS asleep at about 10:30, for all of like 20 minutes...) I put my knuckle in her mouth and I felt a sharp little prick! We got out the flashlight and sure enough! One sharp little tooth emerging from the lower left gum...
Aw... I felt all teary-eyed... my little baby growing up so fast :-)

more val pics

Obama Mama

YES WE CAN!

Anthropology of Sleep

You know, the sleep schedule would be perfect if:

1) I didn't have to get up at 7 a.m. to teach two mornings a week. Because Val goes to sleep late, this means I am very short on sleep those mornings.

2) We didn't have department colloquium from 3:30-5:00 on Fridays. Because this is prime naptime, I have't been to colloquium in months. It's not a huge deal, but socializing at department events is just good professional practice.

3) She was SURE to go to sleep by 11. Lately she's been pretty consistent. But the nights when she won't go to sleep until after midnight are killers.

Other than that, the only issue I have is that it doesn't seem "normal!" For a baby to go to bed that LATE! And I wonder if we're being bad parents!!!!!

I used to think it was hilarious that there exists a society for the anthropology of sleep, but now I totally get it. Sleep is a natural human need, but there is so much about how we do it that is culturally contingent. Just think about it. T. came back from four years in Africa with the habit of taking naps under his desk or on the grass outside (when warm) whenever he felt like it and people thought it was really weird, but for him it had become normal.

My Granda Beth told me once, "don't ever let anyone make you feel guilty for needing a lot of sleep." She needed more sleep than Grandpa, but he liked her to get up and retire for the night at the same times he did. So she got into the habit of taking a mid-day nap. People would give her a hard time for it, like she was being lazy. But when left to my own devices, I tend to feel best with 9-10 hours a night. I am perfectly capable of sleeping for 11 hours straight. Once I slept for 14 hours straight. I think there is a genetic component at work.

Well, I'm certainly not getting 9 hours a night now; 8 at best, and always interrupted. But it's not so bad. It's doable. Less than that, however, is pretty rough.

Playgroup

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile; I had a major deadline yesterday that had me nose to the proverbial grindstone with not much extra energy or extra computer time.

Today we went to brunch with our long-neglected playgroup; they tend to meet right during Val's afternoon naptime. The good thing about playgroup is socializing with other new parents, seeing the development of babies a few months older than V, getting ideas about things to try with her and learning new information.

The downside of playgroup is that I start second-guessing myself about everything. Feeding, sleeping, diapering... We finally bought two diaper covers yesterday to test-drive with the cloth diapers; she's outgrown the ones we have and we've only been using the disposables for a long time. Not that there's been consensus in the household about that anyway... it's hard to cloth diaper if only one parent is into the idea. Anyway, there seems to be more interest in it now. But the sheer variety of diapering options out there is mind-numbing... paralyzing... sometimes it's easier just to do what you've been doing.

Val seems so thin compared to some of the other babies. She definitely likes her rice cereal and is into eating from a spoon. We want to get a food grinder to mush up stuff for her but haven't been able to find out yet. I hear you can get them at Greenstar though - one thing we learned at playgroup today :-) I worry that I'm not feeding her enough.

And then there's SLEEP - the big one. She's kind of on our night-owl schedule. It seems like all the other babies go to sleep between 6 or 7 p.m., but V. goes to sleep between 10 and 11. Then she sleeps until about 9 a.m. Of course, she nurses up to 4 times during the night. Now that she's back in bed with us, I don't really wake up all the way and I actually feel more rested in the morning than when she was sleeping in the crib and I'd get up twice in the night to feed her. But anyway, I wonder if we're messing up her circadean rhythm by keeping this weird schedule? Can we really shift her schedule earlier? She takes a long nap between 4-8. Sometimes she falls asleep at 6 or so, and can sleep until 9, but then she wakes up for at least 2 hours, sometimes more. There have been nights when she wouldn't go to sleep again until 1 or 2 a.m. Which is crazy-making. But we'd definitely have to do some things differently if we wanted to change her schedule.

musing

There's been a lot of buzz in my playgroup circle and among friends about this book written by women scientists on combining a career in science with motherhood. I liked this quote (lifted from a review):

“Bringing up a child and bringing up a career are remarkably similar. ... They are often exhausting, sometimes heartbreaking, rarely predictable, but tremendously rewarding. Motherhood is the grandest experience. Don’t miss out. And remember that you are not alone in your eternal quest for balance.”

A good day

This was a couple weeks ago when it was still quite warm out, but I'll let it be representative of the great walk we had this afternoon with T-Dad. V. really likes facing out in the bjorn like this; she fusses if I carry her facing in. She's starting to eat rice cereal but did not like the baked apple I tried out on her last week - not much, anyway. Sweet potato is up next! I worry a bit b/c she seems thin to me - even though she's got those great cheeks and some nice chub on her legs, when I lift her up under the arms I can feel her rib cage and shoulder blades. I'd like her to have a little more padding!

Everybody else is sleeping, why amn't I?

Now I lay me down not to sleep
I just get tangled in the sheets
I swim in sweat three inches deep
I just lay back and claim defeat

Chapter read and lesson learned
I turned the lights off while she burned
So while she's three hundred degrees
I throw the sheets off and I freeze

Lids down, I count sheep
I count heartbeats
The only thing that counts is
that I won't sleep
I countdown, I look around

Who needs sleep?
(well you're never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what's that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you're getting
There's a guy who's been awake
since the Second World War)

My hands are locked up tight in fists
My mind is racing filled with lists
of things to do and things I've done
Another sleepless night's begun

There's so much joy in life,
so many pleasures all around
But the pleasure of insomnia
is one I've never found
With all life has to offer,
There's so much to be enjoyed
But the pleasures of insomnia
are ones I can't avoid

~ courtesy of Barenaked Ladies (that's the name of a band)

total cuteness

This is what makes it worth it all.

5 months

So baby Val-Val celebrated turning 5 months by NOT SLEEPING. Well, she DID sleep - all day on the 15th. I should have known better than to let her sleep past 8 p.m., but I was finally able to get some WORK done, so when she stirred at 8 I nursed her and she fell back to sleep, and I let her keep sleeping... until 9. Not a good idea.

At 11:30, she fell asleep nursing in my arms. When I tried to put her down, she woke up. WIDE awake.

At 12:30, I said ok that's it - time for the "Happiest Baby" CD (loud industrial noises that miraculously put babies to sleep). At 1:02 she was asleep; I put her down and she WOKE UP AGAIN.

By 2 a.m., I was sobbing. By 2:30, she was asleep again. FINALLY.

At 3:30, she woke up crying. I brought her into bed with me and we both fell asleep for...THREE... blessed hours.

At 6:30, she woke me up to nurse again. I re-set the alarm from 7:20 to 7:50.

When I picked her up to take her with me to class at 8:20, she woke up again.

Two short naps this morning.

Sometime between 1 and 2 we both conked out and slept for 2 hours. I finally feel (sort of) human again.

I wish I knew what to do to help her sleep at night better. One thing is for sure: no napping past 8 p.m.

fall in ny

quickie

Just a quick little post to say yes, we're still here! Here's your moment of cuteness for the day:

Huh?

At around 8 or 9 this evening I realized that I feel neither overwhelmed nor exhausted, just a little tired. This is unusual for a Wednesday night - but I like it!

In Val news: she now rolls over, plays with her feet, and has discovered the rattle on the excersaucer we bought.