Documentation

I wanted to document this freak occurrence before future sleep deprivation leads me to believe that it never happened.

Last night on 3/30/08:
8:30 PM – 3 AM: Lolo slept in Pack N’ Play
3 AM until 4 AM: Lolo ate and rocked back to sleep with me
4 AM – 6:30 AM: Lolo slept in Pack N’ Play

I am stunned silly with rich sleep. I actually laid upon my own adult bed as opposed to the couch, the floor and the glider. Usually I don’t even bother climbing into bed. I just fall asleep on the couch knowing I’ll be up in 7 minutes. But, this time, no. I was allowed to experience true slumber.

Now, the previous night she was up from 2:30 AM until 6:30 AM just chillin’. But, I will concentrate on this huge victory and hope that it wasn’t just dumb luck, but more a combination of my deft sleep-inducing skill set.

Amazing

Lolo and I hit our yoga class again, and guess what? My baby fell asleep in class! That’s right, she just drifted off to sleep upon her own free will in the middle of a class of contorted moms and screaming babies!

In my mind, this means that it is still possible that she has inherited my love of sleep as opposed to Matt’s unexplainable disdain for sleep.

On top of that, we rolled to class with my metal, grandma cart filled with our diaper bag, yoga mat and Matt’s dry cleaning. We dropped shirts off and picked some up. The other moms were tres impressed with my multitasking abilities. If you haven’t noticed, life is a series of mini competitions, and I like to win.

Diaper Duty

Here’s what I find myself contemplating wherever I go, would it be okay if I changed a stinky diaper here? Due to my obsessive need to control all variables that are out of my control, I like to think ahead about worst-case scenarios. It’s fun. Try it.

While sitting in a café with Matt and Lolo, I wonder to myself as I am eating an omelet, if she had an explosive poo right here and now and there wasn’t a pull down changing table in the bathroom, how would I do it? Would I bring a chair or two into the bathroom to lay her on? Would I walk next door to another establishment looking for one of those blasted “kangaroo” changing tables? Would people be traumatized if I used the sink countertop to lay her on the changing pad? Would a mean lady give me a lecture about how abhorrent I am and how my sense of judgment and parenting skills have obviously gone down the toilet. Would I then fling poo at her?

Is this how my OCD is going to be cured? At what point am I just laying her on the sidewalk to change her diaper, completely indifferent to the germs that are rushing to have a party with our immune systems?

Unfortunately I see no sign of my germ phobia letting up anytime soon. My hands look like they would be better suited on a 90-year-old woman from the amount of washing they have to endure. I feel as though I should just wear a “camelbak” (see here if you don’t know what a camelbak is …) filled with Purell to save myself the time and energy of rummaging through the diaper bag for the travel sized bottle.

However, when I really think about it, my obsession is no longer to keep the germs away from me. It’s to keep them away from Lolo. I ruin the skin on my hands for her! And, I am completely ready to live with a spot of her pee and poo on my jeans all day because it’s my baby’s pee and poo. It’s my sweet child’s waste and therefore it is perfect and wonderful and doesn’t freak me out in the least. Now that is some personal growth for you!

Family Pride

How much more proud can you be of your brother at college?
Here is Charlie at the Virginia Tech game during the NIT tournament. He called me just before the game to say hi, but he didn’t quite clue me into the fact that at the time he was adorned with so much school spirit!
Go Tech!

Magic Sleeping Machine

It may be grainy, but this video speaks for itself.

No Apologies!

There seems to be a requirement in the world of blogging to apologize for long spaces in between posts. If you read any blog regularly, especially “mommy blogs,” eventually you will read a paragraph about how someone is so sorry for not keeping up with the site and how they will be more regular in the future. But, I have decided that this is a no apologies blog. There might just be a reason for me not posting to the site other than my laziness or lack of sleep or ability to procrastinate … Maybe if I did add something to the blog, it would have been monotonous musings on how I have not washed the dog in 3 months. So, I’ve decided to spare you the boring details and save the posting for the good stuff. This way, we can all just assume that I am not lazy and never procrastinate.

So, now I will get to the real post. Last week Lolo and I went to Mommy and Me a yoga class in the neighborhood. And, while I think I did a total of 6 minutes of yoga and an hour of feeding, rocking, walking, cuddling Lolo, it was nonetheless our first venture into fun activities out in the world. Everyone gave us kudos for getting out and about at 5 weeks, so we can add that compliment to the list of why we are a rock star pair.

Lolo is growing everyday and filling out her little cheeks like a pro. She’s becoming more alert when she’s awake and enjoying taking in the sights and sounds on walks and in the apartment. This week I have challenged her to spend less time in the Bjorn and more time seeing what it is like to see and hear Mama, but not be attached to Mama. (When I say less time, I mean, not 16 hours a day!) And, I think she was ready. She seems to have more of a tolerance for being in the bouncy seat and lying on her fun activity mat.

So, in two days we have made great strides with her being able to sleep in the car seat and with me on the floor. She changes and matures in little ways each and every day. The next goal will be to actually have her sleep in the Pack n’ Play. And soon, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Mayo, we will have a glider swing to experiment with. I am hoping this thing is pure nirvana for Lolo!

Below is a video of Lolo kicking on her activity mat. It’s a little long, but oh well. If you listen closely near the end, you can hear Zoe . She’s kinda humming in a concerned way. She wants so badly to investigate when Lolo is freewheeling on the floor.

Not so breakable afterall

We just finished a weekend of house hunting in Westchester County, NY, with one rental car, two adults, one adorable newborn, one grandma and 1,700 pounds of baby stuff in case ANYTHING should arise with Lolo. Should she need to change outfits seven times? We were covered. Should she need to eat 4 times her body weight in formula? We were covered. Should she pee 50x her normal rate? We were covered.

Matt was a little taken aback but the amount of sheer crap that we needed to pack for an eight hour outing just because we had an additional seven pound miniature guest. But, he just doesn’t know how these little babies can run right through your ample provisions. And, yes, I tend to overdo the packing, but even a rational adult would have at least agreed with 2/3 of my supply list.

While we didn’t find our dream home, we checked off one more experience with Lolo where she was a super star. She slept most of the time and was more than agreeable even though she was strapped into her car seat the majority of the time. I realize that this is no huge feat for a newborn as they are supposed to sleep the majority of the day, but it’s huge for new parents who have no idea how the day will turn out. Every time a new experience turns out to be incredibly “normal” and uneventful, it proves the point that we really won’t break them and that everything will be okay in the end.

On top of all that activity over the weekend, we crossed off another huge milestone today as well. I had a doctor’s appointment in the city and afterwards, Lolo and I stopped by Lehman Brothers to say hello to Papa. It really is something to have your tiny mite newborn strapped to you whilst strolling through Times Square. God, I can’t wait for that plastic baby bubble to arrive from amazon.com.

(Below is a picture of us dropping off Mama Mayo at LaGuardia Airport after a long weekend of driving around Westchester in a Zip Car.)

7 and 7

Although I may still be wearing maternity clothes, I am definitely no longer pregnant as proven by the babe constantly hanging off of my front body with the help of the blessed invention called the Baby Bjorn. She loves to be attached and still has a hard time wanting to sleep all by her lonesome.

She is now 7 pounds and 7 ounces after her doctor’s appointment on Monday and is getting bigger with every swig of the bottle. Day by day she spends a little more time being alert and checking out the world.