Elsie weighs in: 13 lbs., 6 oz.
I think now is the time to stop counting weeks officially. Maybe we'll go to a bakers' dozen, but since I'm back to work all day, every day in two weeks (this week was a 3-day week, next week is a 4-day week), I think I will just go with months from now on. Probably.
Anyway, today I had the day off for sleeping in and spending more time with Elsie. We slept until 10:15. Elsie ate, and then we jetted out the door to have lunch with some of the moms before Thursday play group at the hospital. At play group, there were 15 babies. That's the most since I've been going! We stayed for a long time. The big topic of discussion this week is making baby food. It seems doable, and relatively cheap.
I realized that during the school year Elsie will be spending a lot of time not with us, except on weekends. I'll wake her up and drive her to J's. I'll pick her up after school and bring her home by 4, and then she'll be in bed by 8. So, that's approximately four hours that we'll get to spend together. And on nights that I'm working at Sylvan...well, I don't even want to think about it. In fact, I need to not think about it or I may have a breakdown.
Anyway, our big news is that we are hammering out a lease for a house. So, just when I waited to subscribe to magazines for my classroom, now I'll have to get the address changed. One of the moms I met on Thursdays is moving up North for her husband's job and they were trying to sell their house (which is about 4 blocks from my school). We went and looked at it but know that we are in no place to buy a house right now. We told them to call us if they needed renters. Well, last weekend they called and wanted to know if we were still interested. I've gone back and forth. I hate moving, but there are a lot of reasons to leave this place, and I would rather help out a friend than pay money to a company that can't even get the gate to our gated community to work right after a year of living here!
Anyway, tomorrow is our last day of leisure before the long haul. We will sleep in. Oh, yes. We will.
Cheers.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Back to Work
Well, today was my first day back to work.
We actually got out the door on time this morning, despite the fact that I was an acting single mother, and I even remembered to bring milk for Elsie. I was afraid I would get all the way there and have forgotten her food! As I was driving up to Judy's apartment, I started crying and I can't really explain where that came from. I was able to calm myself enough to give her some basic instructions. I had spent some time typing them all up last night only to find out that we have no ink in our printer. Smooth. Because I had to write it out by hand, I only put the very basics, saving my tome for another day. Judy has cared for babies before, but this is the first breastfed baby she's watched, so I had to explain about how to thaw (when necessary)/reheat the milk. [I did, however, forget to mention the yellow, runny poo, which freaked her out a little bit...haha.]
On the way to work, I started crying again. I tried to pull myself together, but failed miserably, and showed up to the new teacher training with my face all blotchy, with people probably thinking I didn't want to be at work. Partially true. During introductions, I explained why I was a mess and got several pitying looks, and throughout the day ladies kept coming up to me telling me about the first time they left their children.
At lunch, I left to go see my girl. I hadn't had the opportunity to pump (ouch!!!), so I was anxious to feed Elsie. So, of course, I would have left my lights on and my car was dead in the 100 degree heat. Yep. That's exactly what I did. Again. Do you remember that this also happened on my first day of work at my last job? I would have been fine jumping it off, but it just so happened that one of the other new hires that came out right after me is the new auto tech teacher at the high school, and he was happy to help. Alas, fifteen minutes of my lunch time wasted!
They were waiting for me outside, with Elsie in her stroller facing away from me. I greeted Judy and Jim and they made surprised expressions toward Elsie. Evidently she started kicking her feet and flailing her arms when she heard me. That made me feel good...and sad. We ate lunch, and too soon, it was time to leave.
Back at school, I knew I still needed to pump, but there wasn't a break for another hour. When I was able to sneak away, I found the counselor (who remembered me!) and she opened an empty office for me. Evidently it used to be the "pumping room" before they moved all the choir junk in there. She told me she would be happy to help me find places to pump this coming year. I knew going into it that several of the teachers there breastfed and pumped, but this definitely made me feel better.
And, we got done early for the day, so I asked the curriculum coordinator where my classroom was, so she got me some keys and showed me. Evidently the A/C is broken in my classroom right now, but the part is on order. I say, good, that means I won't be tempted to go up there Thursday or Friday and work. I can be at home finishing up projects started this past week.
Finally, I got over to Judy's, about 30 minutes earlier than I told her I would be there, and Elsie was wailing because Judy changed her clothes to "freshen her up," and, well, Elsie hates to have clothes pulled over her head. I told Judy that unless she was poopy or all wet from spitup that changing her clothes was an unnecessary step. It was sweet that she wanted her to be clean for me. :)
We're going to have to work out some kinks in the feeding area since I don't know how much milk Elsie actually drinks. Hard to tell.
I know that this will be good, but no one else is ME. They can't take care of my baby the way I do. This, again, is another control issue I'm going to have to work through.
I promised in my last post something vague involving pictures. If you don't remember, that's okay. I'm still working on that since it requires me to scan photographs, but being a single mom this weekend I didn't have the time to mess with the technology. Soon. Very soon.
Cheers.
We actually got out the door on time this morning, despite the fact that I was an acting single mother, and I even remembered to bring milk for Elsie. I was afraid I would get all the way there and have forgotten her food! As I was driving up to Judy's apartment, I started crying and I can't really explain where that came from. I was able to calm myself enough to give her some basic instructions. I had spent some time typing them all up last night only to find out that we have no ink in our printer. Smooth. Because I had to write it out by hand, I only put the very basics, saving my tome for another day. Judy has cared for babies before, but this is the first breastfed baby she's watched, so I had to explain about how to thaw (when necessary)/reheat the milk. [I did, however, forget to mention the yellow, runny poo, which freaked her out a little bit...haha.]
On the way to work, I started crying again. I tried to pull myself together, but failed miserably, and showed up to the new teacher training with my face all blotchy, with people probably thinking I didn't want to be at work. Partially true. During introductions, I explained why I was a mess and got several pitying looks, and throughout the day ladies kept coming up to me telling me about the first time they left their children.
At lunch, I left to go see my girl. I hadn't had the opportunity to pump (ouch!!!), so I was anxious to feed Elsie. So, of course, I would have left my lights on and my car was dead in the 100 degree heat. Yep. That's exactly what I did. Again. Do you remember that this also happened on my first day of work at my last job? I would have been fine jumping it off, but it just so happened that one of the other new hires that came out right after me is the new auto tech teacher at the high school, and he was happy to help. Alas, fifteen minutes of my lunch time wasted!
They were waiting for me outside, with Elsie in her stroller facing away from me. I greeted Judy and Jim and they made surprised expressions toward Elsie. Evidently she started kicking her feet and flailing her arms when she heard me. That made me feel good...and sad. We ate lunch, and too soon, it was time to leave.
Back at school, I knew I still needed to pump, but there wasn't a break for another hour. When I was able to sneak away, I found the counselor (who remembered me!) and she opened an empty office for me. Evidently it used to be the "pumping room" before they moved all the choir junk in there. She told me she would be happy to help me find places to pump this coming year. I knew going into it that several of the teachers there breastfed and pumped, but this definitely made me feel better.
And, we got done early for the day, so I asked the curriculum coordinator where my classroom was, so she got me some keys and showed me. Evidently the A/C is broken in my classroom right now, but the part is on order. I say, good, that means I won't be tempted to go up there Thursday or Friday and work. I can be at home finishing up projects started this past week.
Finally, I got over to Judy's, about 30 minutes earlier than I told her I would be there, and Elsie was wailing because Judy changed her clothes to "freshen her up," and, well, Elsie hates to have clothes pulled over her head. I told Judy that unless she was poopy or all wet from spitup that changing her clothes was an unnecessary step. It was sweet that she wanted her to be clean for me. :)
We're going to have to work out some kinks in the feeding area since I don't know how much milk Elsie actually drinks. Hard to tell.
I know that this will be good, but no one else is ME. They can't take care of my baby the way I do. This, again, is another control issue I'm going to have to work through.
I promised in my last post something vague involving pictures. If you don't remember, that's okay. I'm still working on that since it requires me to scan photographs, but being a single mom this weekend I didn't have the time to mess with the technology. Soon. Very soon.
Cheers.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
11 Weeks
I was able to go back to the hospital play group today and weighed Elsie with her onesie on: 12 pounds, 12 ounces! She's getting to be a big girl! I also met another mom with a 5-month-old. She's an RN, is from Ecuador and is 30. Her daughter is her first child, and she and her husband have been married for 7 years. Needless to say, we have a lot in common. I invited her to church with me on Sunday, and I hope that she is able to come.
Elsie has been doing really well sleeping in her crib in her own room. This morning I heard her making sucking noises, but not crying, and since it had only been 2 hours since her last feeding, I decided to go back to sleep until she vocalized. Well, an hour and a half later she finally made her impatient noise (gah!) and so I fed her. She was still calm, but I got 3.5 hours of sleep at a run. Nice.
The only thing that stinks about Elsie being all the way across the house is that I'm the only one getting up at night. It doesn't make sense for Eli to get up to change her diaper when I'm headed that way anyway, and, besides, she hasn't needed her diaper changed in the night since before we left for Texas. For equitable division of duties, you would think it would make sense for Eli to get Elsie when she cries during the early morning when he's up getting ready (so, after 5 a.m.) and then bring her to me in our bedroom, and that would be great except that Elsie must sense when he's in the shower/bathroom and unable to get to her, because Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday mornings she cried only when he was indisposed. And then this morning Eli went to early Bible study and Elsie didn't cry until Eli shut and locked the front door at 6 a.m. Lucky me. Ah, but isn't that the mother's plight?
On another note, it is nearing the 1-year anniversary of my first visit (of 3 total) to the EAMC ER for asthma last year when I finally moved down here...my second night living in Auburn, I think. Eli and his best friend were out at a bar before their big camping trip celebrating the new job and the end of the Bar Exam, and they came home early to take me. And wouldn't you know, a year later, that my asthma is flaring up and I've had to use the nebulizer twice in two days (thanks, Stacey!). I. Can't. Breathe. Except when I nebulize. So, I have come to the conclusion that I'm allergic to Texas, but I'm asthmatized by Alabama. And yes, I did just make that word up.
Okay, tomorrow's post should be interesting, and there may be pictures to go with it. Right now we're getting ready to go in the pool! Those two thoughts are in no way related.
Cheers!
Elsie has been doing really well sleeping in her crib in her own room. This morning I heard her making sucking noises, but not crying, and since it had only been 2 hours since her last feeding, I decided to go back to sleep until she vocalized. Well, an hour and a half later she finally made her impatient noise (gah!) and so I fed her. She was still calm, but I got 3.5 hours of sleep at a run. Nice.
The only thing that stinks about Elsie being all the way across the house is that I'm the only one getting up at night. It doesn't make sense for Eli to get up to change her diaper when I'm headed that way anyway, and, besides, she hasn't needed her diaper changed in the night since before we left for Texas. For equitable division of duties, you would think it would make sense for Eli to get Elsie when she cries during the early morning when he's up getting ready (so, after 5 a.m.) and then bring her to me in our bedroom, and that would be great except that Elsie must sense when he's in the shower/bathroom and unable to get to her, because Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday mornings she cried only when he was indisposed. And then this morning Eli went to early Bible study and Elsie didn't cry until Eli shut and locked the front door at 6 a.m. Lucky me. Ah, but isn't that the mother's plight?
On another note, it is nearing the 1-year anniversary of my first visit (of 3 total) to the EAMC ER for asthma last year when I finally moved down here...my second night living in Auburn, I think. Eli and his best friend were out at a bar before their big camping trip celebrating the new job and the end of the Bar Exam, and they came home early to take me. And wouldn't you know, a year later, that my asthma is flaring up and I've had to use the nebulizer twice in two days (thanks, Stacey!). I. Can't. Breathe. Except when I nebulize. So, I have come to the conclusion that I'm allergic to Texas, but I'm asthmatized by Alabama. And yes, I did just make that word up.
Okay, tomorrow's post should be interesting, and there may be pictures to go with it. Right now we're getting ready to go in the pool! Those two thoughts are in no way related.
Cheers!
Monday, July 20, 2009
a casa de nuevo
Thanks to everyone for your words of support and advice.
As of 10 p.m. yesterday, we are at home in Alabama again. Being here now, I have no doubt that we made the right choice.
The flight home was uneventful. There were only thirty people on a plane that holds over 100, and as a result I had an entire 3-seat row to myself with the rows in front, behind, and the three to my left vacant. Nursing Elsie was not a problem, and I wasn't self-conscious. She slept in the Moby wrap until take-off, at which point I was instructed to remove her (I'll have to look up why this is). She nursed for a couple of minutes, after which I had to give her the pacifier until the air pressure stopped changing. This, I think, is one of the few drawbacks of Elsie being an efficient eater these days, with her average eating time being six minutes--she was done before we were fully ascended. Another important fact about flying that I just plum forgot was that during flight you can hear little more than white noise, so Elsie slept the entire flight and sucked on her pacifier on the way down and all was well.
There's a lot I need to get done before I go back to work next week, so I am glad to be here. Most of it is house cleaning stuff. While I was gone, Eli bought and assembled a crib, taking the spare bed out of the spare room and putting the new bed in there. Now we need to do the menial tasks that will make that room Elsie's room.
On the same vein, Elsie slept in her own room last night. We put the monitor in there, and it is very strong--I could hear the cats meowing in surround sound, the train was much louder, and the air conditioning unit outside her window made its presence known. But, all in all, we slept. I only got up twice in the night to feed her, and it was no problem to walk the few steps to her room. We also moved the rocking chair into that bedroom, so I had someplace to sleep, er...sit while nursing her.
Time to think about dinner (though I started this when it was still time to think about breakfast...).
Cheers.
As of 10 p.m. yesterday, we are at home in Alabama again. Being here now, I have no doubt that we made the right choice.
The flight home was uneventful. There were only thirty people on a plane that holds over 100, and as a result I had an entire 3-seat row to myself with the rows in front, behind, and the three to my left vacant. Nursing Elsie was not a problem, and I wasn't self-conscious. She slept in the Moby wrap until take-off, at which point I was instructed to remove her (I'll have to look up why this is). She nursed for a couple of minutes, after which I had to give her the pacifier until the air pressure stopped changing. This, I think, is one of the few drawbacks of Elsie being an efficient eater these days, with her average eating time being six minutes--she was done before we were fully ascended. Another important fact about flying that I just plum forgot was that during flight you can hear little more than white noise, so Elsie slept the entire flight and sucked on her pacifier on the way down and all was well.
There's a lot I need to get done before I go back to work next week, so I am glad to be here. Most of it is house cleaning stuff. While I was gone, Eli bought and assembled a crib, taking the spare bed out of the spare room and putting the new bed in there. Now we need to do the menial tasks that will make that room Elsie's room.
On the same vein, Elsie slept in her own room last night. We put the monitor in there, and it is very strong--I could hear the cats meowing in surround sound, the train was much louder, and the air conditioning unit outside her window made its presence known. But, all in all, we slept. I only got up twice in the night to feed her, and it was no problem to walk the few steps to her room. We also moved the rocking chair into that bedroom, so I had someplace to sleep, er...sit while nursing her.
Time to think about dinner (though I started this when it was still time to think about breakfast...).
Cheers.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
10 Weeks
At ten weeks, Elsie is smiling in response to faces and is babbling in that baby way, carrying on a "conversation" when talked to. She's also drooling all over the place. I can't believe how much change happens in so little time in these early days! I think she's also starting to look like a redhead. That may just be my wishful thinking, but one can hope! She's cute as pie and I want to eat her all up.
Last weekend I made the difficult decision to cut my trip to Texas short. I'm enjoying getting to see my family and spend time with old friends, but I'm still seeing way too much of the inside of Julie's room, where I'm staying. It used to be my room, so I've already gotten my fill of these walls, and yet, here I am...
I know she thinks she means well, but my Alzheimer's-stricken grandmother who lives with my parents has gotten to be unbearable and the situation has deteriorated as I've been here. At first, she would hear Elsie fuss or cry or make noise and she would come out of her room to investigate. She wanted to hold her and even tried to pick her up more than once while Elsie was still strapped into her swing. Then, one morning, right after Mom left for work, Elsie was fussing and Grandma just opened the door and came into my room. She wanted to take the baby and "bounce her." It took about 15 minutes for her to leave so that I could feed Elsie. That night, with Mom's supervision (it was making me so crazy I was either sitting on the edge of the couch or pacing in the kitchen), Grandma rocked Elsie, at first singing "Rock-a-bye, baby, all the day long" loudly in her ear, and then singing along to a CD of church hymns that Mom put on. It was sweet, and I know Grandma enjoyed the time, but she kept repositioning Elsie roughly and it took everything I had to keep from grabbing my baby and running away.
Well, Grandma didn't come near my room again, but I guess it was the weekend, because come Monday morning, Grandma just walked in (I had taken to locking the door, but has slacked off over the weeked when she wasn't interested) when we were sleeping. Before, Grandma had been responding to Elsie's noises, but this time she just had the baby on the brain because Elsie was fast asleep and Grandma just wanted to hold her, she said. I told her she needed to leave, but she just stood by the bassinet watching Elsie. I just wanted to scream but was able to persuade her to leave.
And then yesterday, Elsie had gas and we were trying to work it out, I heard Grandma try both doors to the bedroom (the other door is through the bathroom), and when she found they were locked, for the first time finally knocked. I essentially told her to go away, but in a nice granddaughterly fashion. A few minutes later she brushed the door with her hand and spoke to me through the door, letting me know that she was standing outside the door if I needed her. I told her thank you, but that we were doing okay.
Later that night, when Dad was home from work, and Elsie was all swaddled and ready for bed, a calm and content little burrito, Grandma wanted to hold her. I let her, but it didn't last long because she started singing loudly in Elsie's ear again, and then decided that Elsie's feet needed to be free, so she started tugging at the swaddling, which of course agitated the baby, but to Grandma, that was proof that the blanket was too tight. Then, when that didn't stop Elsie from crying, she started positioning roughly again. I shot Dad a look (because, to me, it was his fault I had let Grandma hold Elsie again--though I think I misunderstood) and thankfully, he rescued my baby and gave her back to me.
Just a minute ago, Elsie was fussing and Grandma came into the bathroom. I opened the bedroom door, said, "No," emptied my Chik-Fil-A cup into the sink, and came back into the bedroom and closed the door. Julie persuaded her to leave the bathroom.
Just recounting these events is stressing me out. I'm feeling dizzy, like I just may be getting sick and I just really want to be home in my own bed.
Anyway, all this to say that I'm flying home on Sunday, a week earlier than originally planned. The longer I stay here, the more money I'll spend while I'm trying to get out of the house so I don't feel claustrophobic. I've never flown with a baby before, so please pray for me.
Last weekend I made the difficult decision to cut my trip to Texas short. I'm enjoying getting to see my family and spend time with old friends, but I'm still seeing way too much of the inside of Julie's room, where I'm staying. It used to be my room, so I've already gotten my fill of these walls, and yet, here I am...
I know she thinks she means well, but my Alzheimer's-stricken grandmother who lives with my parents has gotten to be unbearable and the situation has deteriorated as I've been here. At first, she would hear Elsie fuss or cry or make noise and she would come out of her room to investigate. She wanted to hold her and even tried to pick her up more than once while Elsie was still strapped into her swing. Then, one morning, right after Mom left for work, Elsie was fussing and Grandma just opened the door and came into my room. She wanted to take the baby and "bounce her." It took about 15 minutes for her to leave so that I could feed Elsie. That night, with Mom's supervision (it was making me so crazy I was either sitting on the edge of the couch or pacing in the kitchen), Grandma rocked Elsie, at first singing "Rock-a-bye, baby, all the day long" loudly in her ear, and then singing along to a CD of church hymns that Mom put on. It was sweet, and I know Grandma enjoyed the time, but she kept repositioning Elsie roughly and it took everything I had to keep from grabbing my baby and running away.
Well, Grandma didn't come near my room again, but I guess it was the weekend, because come Monday morning, Grandma just walked in (I had taken to locking the door, but has slacked off over the weeked when she wasn't interested) when we were sleeping. Before, Grandma had been responding to Elsie's noises, but this time she just had the baby on the brain because Elsie was fast asleep and Grandma just wanted to hold her, she said. I told her she needed to leave, but she just stood by the bassinet watching Elsie. I just wanted to scream but was able to persuade her to leave.
And then yesterday, Elsie had gas and we were trying to work it out, I heard Grandma try both doors to the bedroom (the other door is through the bathroom), and when she found they were locked, for the first time finally knocked. I essentially told her to go away, but in a nice granddaughterly fashion. A few minutes later she brushed the door with her hand and spoke to me through the door, letting me know that she was standing outside the door if I needed her. I told her thank you, but that we were doing okay.
Later that night, when Dad was home from work, and Elsie was all swaddled and ready for bed, a calm and content little burrito, Grandma wanted to hold her. I let her, but it didn't last long because she started singing loudly in Elsie's ear again, and then decided that Elsie's feet needed to be free, so she started tugging at the swaddling, which of course agitated the baby, but to Grandma, that was proof that the blanket was too tight. Then, when that didn't stop Elsie from crying, she started positioning roughly again. I shot Dad a look (because, to me, it was his fault I had let Grandma hold Elsie again--though I think I misunderstood) and thankfully, he rescued my baby and gave her back to me.
Just a minute ago, Elsie was fussing and Grandma came into the bathroom. I opened the bedroom door, said, "No," emptied my Chik-Fil-A cup into the sink, and came back into the bedroom and closed the door. Julie persuaded her to leave the bathroom.
Just recounting these events is stressing me out. I'm feeling dizzy, like I just may be getting sick and I just really want to be home in my own bed.
Anyway, all this to say that I'm flying home on Sunday, a week earlier than originally planned. The longer I stay here, the more money I'll spend while I'm trying to get out of the house so I don't feel claustrophobic. I've never flown with a baby before, so please pray for me.
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