Mind the bloody-minded individualist.
September 28th, 2007
I just spent 30 minutes trying to tune my violin, crappy piece of instrumentry that it is. Is instrumentry a word? Anyhow, Robin listened the entire time.
I did finally succeed.
I should go assign lots of tags using Wordpress’s new tagging system.
Categories: Updates From the Void | Tags: Me, Robin, violin | No Comments
September 28th, 2007
This is not a baby who spits up a lot– before this week, it was a little tiny leak a couple times a day.
Nonetheless, despite not having food for over an hour, as soon as I got him into a nice clean outfit, he did a stealth hurl. Mostly on his neck, because, hey, his aim isn’t so good.
Fortunately when he spits his pacifier out, it falls nipple-up usually. Cosmically, it all balances.
He likes to sit in my lap as I do things. This is how I manage to post so often!
So, pumping update! I’ve pumped almost 900 ounces since I started tracking; this probably puts me at 1000 ounces since Robin was born. I get about 24-26 ounces a day, which still isn’t enough, and I’m still working on raising it, intermittently. Meanwhile, the formula is balancing all those times I forget to add vitamin D drops to the milk. I pump 5-8 times a day (and occasionally 9 or 10)– usually around 6 or 7 when I’m not trying to stimulate more– and I get about the same amount whether I pump 5 times or 8 times. Sometimes I get less on 8 times, I think because I lose more dribbles at the end, but I think it helps out long term. Yesterday, an 8-times day, I pumped for 167 minutes. That’s 11 minutes shorter than the theatrical release of Fellowship of the Ring. In the last week, it’s been 842 minutes, which is almost 14 hours. Oh, and yesterday I ordered some fenugreek in the bulk powder cooking format, because paying for gelatin capsules at the rate I swallow them is dumb.
I like numbers.
ETA: Oh, and for your own fun with math, apparently breastmilk is 20 calories an ounce.
Categories: Updates From the Void | 5 Comments
September 27th, 2007
Day 2 of having desires other than the barest necessities and he’s very confused. He wants something! So he opens his mouth! But food, it is not what he wants! So he lets it dribble out. Pacifiers are okay but they don’t stay in when he sticks his tongue out. He wants! WANTS! So he MAKES NOISE. Sometimes he’s so flustered trying to figure out what he wants that he even cries. And, of course, suddenly having the stamina to stay awake for four hours straight can be bewildering. WTF is this boredom monster?Shriek, whine.
He continues to tantalize me with near smiles, possible smiles, and enthusiastic digestion. Twice now I’ve almost believed it was the real thing but the first time, he followed it up with an angry shriek, and just now, it turned into a yawn. The only real positive feedback I get is a truly backhanded compliment: seeing me or being picked up by me will make him scream.*
*This means he likes me enough to tell me about his problems, right?
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September 27th, 2007
the more time i spend exclusively with him, the larger he seems to me. it takes time away, in somebody else’s care, before i can see just how small he is, just how little space he occupies.
i’m growing quite good at one-handed typing while i hold him, but some things have to be sacrificed.
Categories: Updates From the Void | 5 Comments
September 27th, 2007
In the game that is motherhood, I’ve gained some powerups (even though it’s Robin who has developed the new capabilities– it’s a pet class). After all, I’ve been grinding this babycare business for six weeks, and I’ve finally got a new way to entertain myself. I spent most of the Colbert Report playing with my new toy. He’d widen his eyes at the bottle. He’d stick his tongue out at me (though I will note that this isn’t the clearly defined action it is in adults, it’s far more unfocused). He reacted, over and over, with his eyes and his expressions. It rocked. And he was awake and interactive for at least four hours.
Also, a note for posterity– he’s finally grown eyebrows.
I think Kevin is about to finish Halo 3. Hmm. No spoilers.
Categories: Updates From the Void | 1 Comment
September 26th, 2007
And now I am laughing and laughing at this one baby because when I left and returned and he heard me return, he ventured a whine and then his expression settled into the most perfect expression of ‘I am pissed off’. It felt like looking into a mirror when I’m really mad. No writhing, no squirming, just this look of perfect fury. From somebody 2 feet long, who can’t do anything other than wave his arms around. HILARIOUS.
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September 26th, 2007
I hear around now he’s supposed to start recognizing his parents.
Well, just now, he was laying near me on he bed, bitching and whining and writhing and kicking. Eventually I realize he’s focused on and trying to writhe towards a nearly empty bottle propped up nearby. So I give him a bit of it and then put it in a different place. He turns towards it, and starts complaining and writhing again. So I put it out of sight, and he calms down, staring off into space.
Robin, the bottle is not your mother!
Though, seriously, this is exciting. I think this bottle recognition is the first time he’s shown awareness of a world outside his little body. Well, if we ignore his responsiveness to touch and warmth. And, er, scents. And, er, possibly even voices and music. And, okay, he stares at lights and mirrors and the high contrast cards Kevin made. But that last stuff isn’t recognition, just interest!
Categories: Updates From the Void | No Comments
September 25th, 2007
All those hoping for a cute photo of Robin will have to wait, because other than the part where I take the picture, nothing else works: uploading from camera to pc, uploading from pc to web, the baby.
Did I mention I was tired? And it’s ridiculous, too.
Categories: Updates From the Void | No Comments
September 25th, 2007
First of all, this whole growth spurt idea is weird. I mean, ’spurt’ suggests a burst, like a few days when he goes crazy eating and then settles back down to ‘normal’ levels.
That has yet to happen. So far, we’re looking at a five week long spurt here, more eating every day.
I have read in various locations the notion of ‘putting a baby down to sleep’. As if, even at this age, there are babies out there who have distinct, predictable waking and sleeping cycles. I’ve read the notion that sometimes when a sleeping baby wakes up, it wants something other than food.
I have yet to experience this.
I have reason to believe dogs can live with humans without chewing themselves bloody.
God, I wish I could experience this.
I’m tired.
Stay tuned for a picture of Robin in a newborn onesie, with Raymond’s borrowed camera.
Categories: Updates From the Void | 1 Comment
September 24th, 2007
are tiring. Especially when Robin seems acutely aware that one particular set of arms is gone. I moved back into the nursery since we decided that he sleeps better in the softer comfier crib and Kevin really needs more sleep than he’s getting. and Robin’s waking up every two hours still, and…
I started working on a photo story about a neighborhood cat today, nothing clever, just a blog-entry-in-pictures, but then my camera battery started dying and I was too tired to set up some reproduction shots (and will probably need a hand on some of them anyhow). I also installed the carseat in the jeep, despite some difficulties, and went to my six week checkup, and then went to Jiffy Lube. Robin and I went to Dairy Queen while they inspected the Jeep. If I’d planned better I would have brought the baby bjorn, because hauling a carseat around is a pain in the ass.
Now I am home, with a melting Blizzard and a hot sweaty baby asleep on my lap. He is not in favor of road trips, but his tiny mind is powerless to resist car vibrations, so he can only voice his complaints when we stop or bump for any reason.
Chrysoula says (5:29 PM):
also, you know those dogs?
Kevin says (5:29 PM):
I know those dogs.
Chrysoula says (5:31 PM):
you know how those dogs have been well-behaved about not getting stuff from the diaper pail even when we forget to flip it?
Chrysoula says (5:32 PM):
apparently they thought a whole bag of diapers, removed from the pail and tied shut, by the front door, was intended as a reward for all their good behavior.
Kevin says (5:32 PM):
YUM
Categories: Updates From the Void | 1 Comment
