Great News
I heard this week that I was accepted to the writing workshop at Downtown Cathedral. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I am absolutely thrilled. Now I get to figure out how it’s going to work, but after getting to know baby M over the last month I believe it’s possible, somehow. Of course, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover between now and then, including a couple of traditional developmentally fussy milestones (6 weeks seems to be a threshold, and there’s usually a growth spurt between 2 1/2 and 3 months, when the babe becomes a Remorseless Eating Machine). But between volunteer nannies and surrogate grandmas, breastpumps, slings, and even Mamala’s new apartment near the cathedral where we could possibly stay to avoid commuting, I am excited about the possibility. Heck, the writing project I pitched for the week centers around ministry and motherhood, so the experience itself will be a good laboratory for navigating those dual vocations.
If you’ve read the wonderful post over at the Ice Floe you know that the fabulous PPB was also accepted. We are totally stoked. And you RGBPs might be pleased to know that of 50+ applications submitted, 12 were selected, and 2 of those are RevGals.
Shifting gears…
Today
Today, 1/28, is the third anniversary of my father’s death.
1/28 is also the day the space shuttle Challenger exploded, twenty years ago.
Dad’s memorial services were on 2/1.
On that same day was the Columbia disaster.
I remember hearing the news on the radio on the way to the service—how the shuttle had been hurtling through the atmosphere at 18 times the speed of sound, and suddenly disintegrated, raining toxic debris over Texas and leaving a wide swath of destruction, and I thought, “Yep, that’s about right.”
There’s a poem in there somewhere, but I don’t feel like writing it.
Last year’s tributes here and here.
It’s actually been a decent day. The weather was warm-ish and sunny so we took the girls for a walk around County Lake Park. C crunched through the leaves while M was snug in a fleece winter zip-up suit and Baby Bjorn. Then we went to the car wash and to lunch. I took an afternoon nap with M on my chest.
The sleep situation was better last night. Here’s our sob story… Basically the problem is that M never fully settles down after her late-night feeding (thankfully there’s only one of those, ranging from 3-5 a.m.). She grunts and clears her throat and so on. She doesn’t do it at bedtime, just after the night feed. If I had to describe it, it sounds like she’s struggling to free herself from her swaddle. So we thought, maybe she’s too tightly confined. NO. That was even worse. She never wakes up enough to actually cry or express real distress. If she were an adult I would call it “tossing and turning.”
We’ve tried the following: burp her thoroughly, change her diaper, NOT change her diaper (in case that was waking her up more), rock her thoroughly, not rock her at all, put her on our chest, hold her in cradle hold, warm her bassinet with a heating pad, feed her only on one side, feed her on both sides, feed her in bed, feed her in the glider.
Of course, to save our sleep we’ve talked about putting her down in her room after the night feeding so she’s not as disruptive. That solves my problem and R’s, sort of, although I don’t like the idea of just shutting her away from us this young as an ongoing solution (as an occasional coping mechanism? Damn straight). But it doesn’t solve her problem. I just can’t imagine that she’s sleeping well with all that noise going on. But I’m told that some babies are just loud sleepers.
Well as I said, last night was better. We tried a new swaddling technique and it seemed to work. She woke up at 4:30 and settled with only a minute or two of grunting. Then she started up again around 6:30. So, we’re making progress.
Sleep deprivation is really hard. And we don’t even have it that bad! I keep thinking of that great bit from the Simpsons where Homer and Marge go visit Apu and his wife, who have given birth to octuplets…
- Marge: I knew you had your hands full with the babies, so I baked you some banana bread.
Apu: [sarcastic] Oh hallelujah, our problems are solved. We have banana bread.
Marge: Well, you don’t have to be sarcastic.…
Marge: Maybe you two should get a nanny.
Apu: Yes, and what would I pay her with? Banana bread? Sorry, sorry, it’s just that we haven’t slept in days, and we’re running out of money and … banana bread? What the hell were you thinking? Banana bread. Apologize, apologize again. As a token of forgiveness, please take this baby.
Homer: No, Marge, no!
And on that note, I’m going to head towards bed.
18 Responses to “mishmash update”
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Asides
» I have been remiss in posting SBJ’s latest stats: 23 pounds and 27 inches at six months. Yes, I’ve got the big mama biceps.
» Aaaaaand little she-who-is lost another tooth this week!
» SBJ is four months old, 19 pounds 5 ounces, and 26 inches tall. GIGANTOR!
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I am so thrilled for you both! RevGalBlogPals rule!
(I’d think of something more coherent and less pep squadish but there you have it).
Here’s sending all wishes for a sleepy baby.
Hey, congratulations! I’m not at all surprised– but I’m so glad it looks like this may just work out, baby and all. And I love the banan bread quote!
Wow, rm - that’s great! Congrats on acceptance to the writing workshop.
Please realize this is from a Mom about to celebrate the first birthday of her child and in no way a judgment on where your family is right now: i miss those little grunts. {sigh}
Congratulations. You and PPB will have a ball,I’m certain. As to the nocturnal noises,- I think some babes just are very noisy, though I do appreciate just how exhausting it can be, waiting to hear if those grunts are going to develop into full-blown “feed me now, this instant” cries. All of mine loathed being swaddled after the first couple of weeks…but then, all of mine also hated being asleep for more than 3 hours at a time, ever, till at least their first birthday.
Ignore this reference, oh lovely reverend baby, and sleep well.
Otherwise, we’ll bring your mummy some banana bread
Awesome, awesome, awesome! Articulate, aren’t I?
Sleep will happen. Then the next thing you know they’ll be 18 and once again, you won’t sleep…
Those snurfling sounds - I can still hear them. All I can remember of those years was pretending to be asleep so Daddy could get up and bring the baby to me.Bad mibi. I deserve banana bread (which we all know exists only to dispose of overripe bananas we wouldn’t otherwise eat.)
As for your dad’s anniversary, I send you a big hug. Mine died 35 years ago on Feb 11th, and was buried on Valentine’s Day. We came home from the interment to find cards he had mailed us that morning. Hard stuff. Who is it that said that great grief is the price we pay for great love?
Congratulations! I wish I’d read this before I did yesterday’s update–you and PPB at this prestigious workshop is quite exciting for all of us!
Congrats on the writing conference! How wonderful.
Did I miss something at some point: Has your mom now moved nearby? That must be lovely.
Congrats on the acceptance to the workshop!
congratulations! you’ll make it work.
and on the sleep note. our first was a very loud mouth-breathing sleeper. i could always hear him breathing from our bedroom (his room was adjacent to ours).our second child was such a quiet sleeper that i had to get up several times in the middle of each night to go and watch her breathe to make sure she was ok. and the third was an athlete from birth, doing everything with great physical gusto. each is wonderfully and differently made.
Hooray for you for the writing contest!! Rev Gals rule!!!
Sleep will come again - honest. (She said as she sheepishly places the banana bread back in her freezer:))
Congratulations!!
Brief update on Grunty McLoudsleep…
Our household has had congestion and colds, so we wondered whether she was getting stuffy too. So we put her down, swaddled, in a blanket-lined car seat, which seemed to work much better. Slept from about 11:30 to almost 5, which has been typical for her best days. Nursed her well, then rocked her for a good long while until she settled (the magic 20 minute mark). Put her in the car seat.
Silence.
For about 45 minutes, when the grunting began again.
R decided to get up and just observe–see what she was doing. She wasn’t trying to get free, and wasn’t stuffy-nosed, she was just noisy. I woke up about an hour later to find the car seat gone. Turns out he had put her in our closet with the door open! Far enough away so we could sleep, close enough that we could hear any real distress. And no windows nearby, so she slept until 8:30 or so.
All this is to say–there seems to be no problem. It’s just that, when she’s sleeping lightly, she’s just darn loud.
You put the Divine Miss M in your closet? I’m chuckling just imagining it! I’m glad she (and y’all) got some good sleep!
You know, if she comes out at a later date, she’s going to blame you for putting her in the closet in the first place.
That occurred to me, ppb!
Congratulations!!
Best wishes on getting regular sleep — I know for me there is a thin line between sanity and insanity and getting some consistent sleep is the biggest factor.
congrats and hip hip hooray for the Rev Gals. 2 out of only 12. wow!
baby in the closet
what a great title for a book or a poem