Priorities

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

This. Please, please, please. Let me remember this.

I've become increasingly frustrated with Johnathon's absolutely inability to sleep for naps on his own, instead of in my arms. Because of all the things I "have" to do. And I'm getting annoyed that he is a great sleeper--we're talking three hour naps--AS LONG AS I AM NEAR HIM, preferably holding him. Next best is sleeping beside him. For night time, he's fine. It's the naps during the day.

BUT then I see pictures of him when he was only days old and he has changed so much since then and I know three months from now he'll change even more. I can't even comprehend a year, three years, and beyond from now.

So, for now, I'm going to enjoy my baby while I can.

Mommy Time/Daddy Time, Summer Edition

We've taken the Little to his first pool experience. And, again, there are differences to how Mommy does it and how Daddy does it.

So THIS is what no sleep does to you...

Oh y'all. OH Y'ALL.

I have not had more than an hour's sleep in a week. Not kidding. Wish I were. Ever since we got back from Wales, J's sleeping has been a nightmare. Oh wait, you have to be asleep to have a nightmare.

After we returned, mah baby got the sniffles (and gave Mommy the sniffles, too, but bad). So, he wasn't sleeping very well because he couldn't breathe very well. That blue nasal aspirator I got in the hospital? Useless so far. Got nothing out of his little stuffed up nose. So, no relief for him. He's still a little sniffly, but is well on the road to recovery.

His sleeping habits? Not so much. We, of course, picked the week we returned to put him in his crib (he outgrew the pack and play bassinet) because we figured we would start fresh with a new place when we got back. It worked like a charm the two days between our return and his cold. A CHARM, I TELL YOU. Slept for five hours straight at a time and only got up once or twice through the night. I thought I would have no problem with MY child sleeping through the night. Pshaw on those the stupid sleep books on how to get your baby to sleep through the night. Amateurs. I know how to put my child to sleep and I am a new mother. I have a night night time routine, I massage him, I soothe him, he's out like a light. Ok, so fine, when I put him down for a nap, his eyes pop wide open, but that's okay because he sleeps well at night. And, Craig and I finally have time to ourselves at night and we have our room back to where we can turn on the lights and watch tv in bed if we want to. Suck on that, baby experts.

Well, that has come to bite me in the ass. Hard.

Because, OH MY SWEET LORD, my child will not sleep. Let's take yesterday, for instance, which looks a lot like every other day for the past week. He wakes up for good around 8:30. Around 10 am, he starts to get sleepy again, so I try to put him down for a nap. He's not having any of it. So, Craig tries to put him down for a nap. Nope. AT 1 PM, (yes, that's right, three hours later), I finally sit down in the recliner and hold him for three hours while he takes a nap (I nap too). Every time we put him down, he wakes up and starts to cry. That night, we put him down at 8:30 after a bath, massage, bottle, and rocking. He goes down like a dream, all sweet and cute in his crib. Fast forward to 9:30--wakes himself up. I soothe him and he's out again in 10 minutes. Go back down to enjoy a glass of wine. Fast forward to midnight. He's up for a little bit to nurse and he's out. Then, the fun begins. Because the same thing happens at 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

International Traveller

Baby has now crossed the pond.

What? You didn't know that we were going over to Wales for a week to visit family and attend a wedding? Didn't you read my bl.... oh. That's right. I am a blogging failure. It's been another long time since an update, no?




Well, yeah. We went to Wales for a week to visit family and attend Craig's best friend's wedding.



International travel with an 11 week old baby? Easy peasey. You just have to make sure that the grandparents travel with you to help cart around the insane amount of stuff babies travel with and you raise holy hell at the airport to get a bulkhead seat. And get a travel bassinet. And pray your baby sleeps the majority of the trip. And have lots of diapers. AND MAKE SURE THE GRANDPARENTS TRAVEL WITH YOU.

Craig's parents came over the week before we left to spend some alone time with their favorite grandson. It was the first time they met Johnathon and, if I may say so myself, it was love at first sight for all involved. Grandma and Grandpa had a great time with him and I got to spend the week running errands and such that I normally wouldn't be able to do (ahem, haircut and highlights).

Johnathon was a champion flier! Seriously. He did great. Look at him--doesn't he look happy to be on a plane?
He was a big hit with everyone. I was really excited for him to meet his uncle and cousin. It was important to me and Craig for Johnathon to meet his great-grandmothers and his great-aunts, too.

And it's World Cup time in our household. Craig's UK team (Cardiff City Bluebirds) did not make it into the Premiership this year, but baby was ready for it! Craig has grand plans for his son's first World Cup (his goal is to watch ALL of the games. His goal includes my watching the games with him, but we'll see about that). The US's first game is against England, and, like a good Welshman, Craig is for the team who is playing against England.