Zen Peanut is salmonella free!

Peanut is asleep in her swing so I thought I'd dash off another quick post.

Bedtime is progressing interestingly. For the past two nights, I put her in her crib wide awake and pleasant and both nights - after only a few minutes of fussing, she's fallen asleep on her own. Hurrah! I'm so proud of her. She continues to wake up crying for milk in the middle of the night, though. So that's the next battle. And nap time has been way more pleasant now that I put her to sleep in her swing.

She's doing some amazing stuff. She says ma-ma and claps her hands. She can sit up for long stretches of time unassisted. And she's working on her pincer grasp by picking up Trader Joe's O's. She's amazing!

On the mommy front, I'm in the midst of a mommy makeover. I was feeling frumpy and old. Ill fitting clothes - too many gray hairs. I got a few new outfits that fit my new body better. It's funny to see how my body has changed since having a baby. I put on a few of my old shirts - HA! - what a laugh. All you could see was a big, mushy belly. New clothes help me be in my new body better. Dealing with what is as opposed to what was. It's also about making an effort for myself. I need to take care of Peanut, but I also need to take care of Peanut's mommy, too. The hair coloring didn't go quite as well. I see why people get it done professionally. Believe it or not, I managed to pick a color that's even darker than my natural shade. It looks sort of flat to me. It's supposed to wash out after 6 weeks. We'll see. The cool part, at least, is that the color tamed those wiry gray hairs. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

quick quick

Since Peanut is awake during more of the day - the extra time I had to blog or do Facebook has evaporated. She requires more and more of my attention. No, not requires. Demands. So, here's a super quick update while she's busy playing with her musical zoo.

- She still doesn't care to roll over.
- Napping is still a battle, which I've pretty much decided to give up on. She can nap with me or in her swing. But napping in her crib is hit or miss (mostly miss). It just isn't worth spending all that time and energy to get her to sleep for 30 minutes.
- We have been fighting the nighttime sleep battle for the past two weeks. We've resorted to the crying it out method after many failed attempts at other "friendlier" techniques which I won't bother to get into. I hate hate hate it. To make it me feel better about it, we have don't let her cry it out alone. I sit on the sofa with her until she stops or falls asleep. The first night, when she wailed for 50 minutes, broke my heart. Now it's much better. She fusses for under 10 minutes now. And last night, she actually slept 8 straight hours without waking up and crying for food. This was a BIG deal.
- She's eating solids daily. She seems to eat pretty much anything I give her, but she doesn't seem to indicate that she finds anything particularly tasty either.

Okay, the zoo bores her now and she's upset. I better go scoop her up and do some mommying. Why is that lame after 5 minutes, yet the forbidden remote or the forbidden mobile is endlessly entertaining?

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Peanut just published my post before I could type anything. She's already part of the blogosphere registering her complaints! Having her on my lap is not working while I type... Okay, now she's in her swing...

Anyway, the funniest thing happened yesterday. It's been oft-discussed that she just won't/doesn't roll over. But I still stick her own her stomach for tummy time. Not in hopes she'll roll, but so her head doesn't get flatter. So she's on her belly and crying. I turn to look at an email. Three seconds later, I noticed she's now on her back and crying. I'm not sure what happened in the meantime, but something certainly did. I just had to scoop her up and give her hugs and kisses. She's just too cute.

New food group: Solids

The Peanut started solids yesterday. Single grain oatmeal mixed with breast milk. The look on her face was pretty priceless. "What the hell is this mushy crap in my mouth?" She managed to eat a few teaspoons of it - and this morning, too - instead of wearing most of it.

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We interrupt this post to have a dance around the den with the Peanut to New Order's Blue Monday playing on BBC1!!!!
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We need to figure out what the next step is. A veggie of some sort, I suppose. Peas? Sweet potatoes? Meanwhile, I'm attempting to wean her from her night feeding. We all could use the sleep. So far, I haven't encountered too much success. But, she'll go seven hours now, instead of six. It's amazing how much that extra hour means.

Bugs and such

BUGS: I've been plagued by a nastiee stomach flu for the past few days. It hit me suddenly like a ton of bricks Wednesday mid morning. Bob even had to come home from work early to help tend the Peanut. Aren't these bugs only supposed to last 24 hours? I still feel funky (and not the good Parliament Funkadelic-type funky). Food is staying down (good), but I still feel quite queasy (bad). That's all I have to say on that subject.

AND SUCH: My kid is super. She amazes me every single day. I just can't get over it. She's awesome, in the truest sense of the word. She leaves me speechless at the very sight of her.

Election night - hip hip hooray!!!!!!!!!!! That's all I have to say on that subject, too :)

We've been trying to catch up on some movies as of late. Here's a round up of what we're watching:

Sex and the City: The Movie: Terrible, disappointing - I don't enjoy drama for drama's sake.
Indiana Jones and the Yada Yada: It's Indiana Jones, which is good, but this movie made no sense. Some good things should just fade away.
Hot Fuzz: So good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In Bruges: Funny yet surprisingly poignant in places. Quite enjoyable.
Lars and the Real Girl: Sweet
Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Fun overall - felt a little long in some parts
Iron Man: Very entertaining, in that summer blockbuster movie way

Looking forward to seeing X-Files movie (which I hear is bad) and The Tudors: Season 2 in December. Love those Tudors!!!!

Today is the Day

Whoa, I bet the "blogosphere" will be on fire today with yahoos spouting off their two cents. So let me add my voice to the din. Oddly enough, I don't feel the least bit political. Sure, I went out and voted this morning (no line whatsoever) and dragged the Peanut with me for her first taste of the democratic process. I am actually in more of a contemplative mood. Eight years. I've been focused on this day for eight years. And now it's here. And where did the time go? Eight freaking years. Life is speeding up. I can't believe it. Where is the time going? Mostly spent worrying about bullshit is my best guess. Having a kid really puts a lot into perspective. What's really important and what seems really important but really isn't.

Everybody's working for the weekend...

I'm feeling good. Ever since I've come to the conclusion that my lack of sleep is making me delusional, I feel more at peace. See, all I needed was a logical explanation for what's been happening to me. My brain has the tendency to jump to all sorts of wild conclusions. But it all comes down to sleep. Really. I have not had a full night of uninterrupted sleep (eight hours) in, say, 13 months. While I was pregnant, it was the whole get up to pee 5(000) times in the middle of the night thing. Now it's getting up to feed the Peanut one to three times a night. It's mostly once a night, so I'm not complaining or anything. I feel like I can let a lot more stuff go. Whatever. I'll get to it. Or I won't. I heard somewhere that kids, when they grow up, will never really remember how clean their house was - they just remember the time they spent with you. That's kind of my new mantra. So what if I have some seriously crazy cobwebs in my house or a ton of unfinished yard work. It'll get done at some point. Or it won't. Stressing about it doesn't get it done. And who needs that extra baggage to carry around? I either do it or don't do it. But fretting about not doing it just makes me feel crappy. And fretting about what Bob's doing/not doing makes me feel crappier.

For instance, Sunday, Bob spent a good, hmm, I don't know, say 90 minutes crafting a letter to the editor. While I applaud his community mindedness, part of me was annoyed. A big part. Why couldn't he have expended that energy on vacuuming? But that was then. Today, I'm more like whatever. He had to express himself and that's important to. Me stomping around the house waiting for him to pick up the clue phone was unproductive, and I guess I should add immature. *shock*

Is this what enlightenment feels like? :)

I had an absolutely sublime day with the Peanut yesterday. She had to get two vaccinations in the morning (that's a whole other post) and I was in a cuddling mood. I used to think she needed the cuddle. Now I fully admit that I need it more than she. She was a complete champ, by the way. Sure, she cried a bit, but she was done by the time I had redressed her. She seemed pretty unfazed after that. We spent the entire day playing and snuggling. So nice. For some reason, Peanut has some sort of island flair. She loves-loves-loves when I sing Day-O/The Banana Boat Song. She'll go from flat out screaming to laughing by mid song. Since she seems to like it, I put on some Bob Marley and we sat on the floor practicing her sitting up (I've given up on the rolling over and moved on). We swayed to the music and laughed together. It was pure joy.

Oh man, and she just fell asleep by herself. Do I have a great kid or what?