Happy Halloween

...from your friendly neighborhood chicken-baby.

Some long overdue updates

1. Sleeping -- now going pretty well! We steeled ourselves for weeks of hideous, heartbreaking sleep-training but after one night of mere fussing -- not rip-your-heart-out, I'm-in-dreadful-pain sobbing by ANY stretch of the imagination -- babe was completely reprogrammed (for now anyway). She goes down between 7:30-8, sleeps 8-10 hours, wakes up for a short feeding (<5 minutes), then back down for another 2-3 hours. It's awesome. I say if you can take it, don't rule out the sleep training... it may not be anything like you thought. And if you brace yourself for the worst, it can only be better. Thumbs up!!

2. Bottles -- better I guess. She's taken one 4 days in a row now, with varying levels of success. I think my husband is a bit frayed -- it took him two hours one day and one hour the other -- but they are both getting better. I even got to get my haircut and buy a new shirt on Sunday. Wow... the simple pleasures. Hopefully we'll continue onwards and upwards.

3. HAWAII -- not sure if this is an update or a first reference... but we are going in FOUR WEEKS! With ALL my in-laws (!)! I am simultaneously totally excited and totally full of fear/dread. Now you can understand my eagerness to get the occasional bottle feeding in place... there may be a Hawaiian date or two with my husband in my future if I can play my cards right. Maybe even a scuba diving date... dare to dream... Two weeks away from the house with the babe is a bit daunting (she and I will go "home" to CA for 5 days before we meet up with G. and continue on to the islands), but hopefully it will be wonderful and (semi-) relaxing, and the in-law drama will be kept to a minimum. Hmmm.....

In any case, pi~na coladas will abound (that's what breast pumps are for eh?)!

Unclear on the concept

An email from my childless best friend:

"What do you do all day? I think I'd go crazy with all that free time on my hands. I would definitely need a hobby."

Ummm, yeah.

A conversation with same friend, couple weeks later:

"I think I'll have my kids back-to-back -- I think 11 months apart sounds really perfect."

Okayyyy sweetie. You get back to me on that when the time comes.

HAHAHAHAHA.

I need to get out more.

At my mommy's group yesterday we were talking about separation anxiety, and how the babies will be experiencing it soon if not already.

I had a moment of clarity and realized it is ME who experiences the separation anxiety, every time I leave the house (and it is admittedly not very often).

As we talked I realized I have been away from the baby out of the house approximately 10 hours since she was born -- and mostly for doctor's appointments and boring stuff like that. She has been resistant to taking a bottle (a vicious cycle -- she won't take it, so I don't go out without her, so she doesn't have to take it, blah blah blah), and I guess I am more or less chained to her.

It's not all bad -- in truth I can hardly stomach the idea of someone else caring for her (although a bit more volunteeering from my husband would be nice) -- but it's not realistic for the long-term.

Bottom line: baby needs to get some bottle training, and mommy needs to get some away-from-baby training! Sigh.