Last day of spring

So this smile thing is not working out for me. I thought I'd taken 100 photos of every smile, but on second glance they look more like the beginnings of a grimace. Or the 'concentration' face. You know what I'm talking about. Too bad I can't have you all over to the house when my mom is here, because she has extracted more smiles from the boy than Phillip and me and God put together. Something about being mere inches from his face, the high-pitched gooey voice, the kissing and gobbling of his fingers. My mother is the person telling me to prop open books in his bed so he has something to look at when he wakes up from a nap, buy him a moving mobile instead of the homemade streetfair version we have hanging above his bed and to talk to him constantly. I'm all, he's a month old. He sleeps all day. When he fusses we pick him up. But noooo, now I get right in his face and babble and suddenly the crying stops and he SMILES. Okay, sometimes I still have to pick him up, but I feel like the dumbest and/or worst mother in the world. My baby likes stimulation and attention! Who'da thought!

And yes, you did read "NAP" in the above paragraph.

I took the advice of Arwen's Mom (thanks for your inexplicable continuing interest, Arwen's Mom!) and I've started rocking the baby to sleep after he eats during the day (when he seems sleepy, instead of "please put me on my playmat") and waiting until he is boneless. I knew all about this boneless thing, but I had not thought about how it could work to my advantage. Now I wait till he is boneless, then I wait a little longer. I look at the clock. Then carefully oh so carefully I put him down in his box and stand over him with my fingers crossed. Half the time it works and when it does, it is AMAYYYYZING. A sleeping baby! Who is not sleeping on me! There seems to be a period in the morning where he's likely to nap and then a late afternoon timeframe. He's even napped in his CRIB. I am getting half hour to forty-five minutes of Me Time once or twice a day. It's not perfect but I'll take what I can get!

Then again, there was this morning, when he wanted to eat every two hours and would not settle down in between. The two of us finally passed out from exhaustion around eleven- the first morning I did not successfully get in the shower and eat breakfast until much later, and then only because Phillip was working from home.

But now? Nappy nap nap!

Oh, and he naps in a box. We have this glorified cardboard box, gussied up with nylon and foam padding. Its official name is the Eddie Bauer Travel Bed, but really, it's just a cardboard box that undoes itself and zips flat. I'm not sure what we thought we were going to use it for originally, but now it's open on the coffee table. I put one of his soft blankets on the bottom, filled it with a few toys, and that's where he naps in the daytime. Because I am too lazy to march up and down stairs if he doesn't go down right away.

Ugh. Now he is awake. I am not a magician, people.

In non-baby news (of which there has been decidedly little, by which I mean none) I am reading a pretty funny book called I Love You, Beth Cooper. I ordered it on Saturday and it arrived on Tuesday. (I love you, Amazon.com!) I know I could get books at the library, but then I have to wait and have you met me? I am not much of a waiter. So anyway, I've been reading a string of loser adolescent boy books lately (King Dork, Joe College) and I'm not sure what the attraction is. I generally wasn't a fan of loser boys in high school. (Or any boys, really. Because they were all losers. But I'll save this point for the inevitable Oh My God My Ten Year Reunion Is This Summer freak out post.) I would like to will write a novel some day and when I'm not dreaming up some horribly profound and meaningful generational saga or something light and goofy and geared towards fifth graders, I'd write something about loser adolescents. Only from a female perspective and with a lot less swearing.

Oh! And there will be a baptism on July 29. We have to go to two baptism classes, even though we both believe we know absolutely everything about everything and think baptism CLASSES are a little MUCH. And by that I mean, one of them is scheduled for the evening of our anniversary and BOOOOO. But we are looking forward to the actual baptism. I hope he fits into the dress (the gown all five of us wore for our baptisms, complete with bonnet, but I won't make him wear the bonnet) and that he doesn't pee in the water. My church baptizes the babies naked (I've seen one baptized the way I was, on my back in the dress, and those parents were probably scandalized by the nakedness or something, just like my mother is going to be). And if you know me in person, you are invited to the big shindig afterwards, where we will stuff our faces full of dim sum and pass the baby around the tables, like the coveted plates of honey walnut prawns.

Perhaps that is baby news as well. See? THERE IS NOTHING ELSE TO TALK ABOUT. Are there any of you left who do not have babies? I AM SO SORRY.

Well, it's time to give the baby a bath. He likes his bath. Sort of. After he decides that we are not going to submerge him or squirt shampoo in his eyes or scrub him with the scrubby side of the sponge that sits right next to the faucet. And I am working on those smile pictures!

Comments

[Christina]

There was a whole entire paragraph that was not baby related (unless, you know, you figure that one day said baby will grow up to be an adolescent boy like in the novels) - so I think that was quite enough. Besides, I love all the baby talk - chatter away, I will happily read all of it!! :)

[Jenny Ryan]

Glad you're getting some "me" time these days.

And I think you're doing a GREAT job with this little person you didn't even know until 4 weeks ago, who can't yet communicate his desires in a way you can clearly understand.

This is why God made grandmas, and the Internet-to help us when we get a little stuck on our learning curves. :)

[Laura]

Hey, I know you personally right..and I love some Dim Sum so count me in. Seriously, wish we lived closer b/c we would crash your party!! Can't wait to see some smiles and glad you are getting a nap here and there : )

[Arwen]

My mom is so smart.

It stinks about baptism classes being on your anniversary, but maybe they will be fun! I enjoyed ours, although of course I am a theology geek. I actually learned something, which sort of surprised me since I took an entire class on the sacraments, which we jokingly referred to as Baptism Class since the professor spent the first two-thirds of the semester covering baptism.

I hope you are enjoying having your mom there! I'm sure she is definitely enjoying spending time with Jackson.

[Jennifer]

you are hilarious.

It is State the Obvious Day, didn't you know?

;)

[karianne]

Grandmas are the best! Even the non related ones.

[Kate P]

Hey, I'm neither married nor a mom (someday to both hopefully), but I have a CAT who loves to sleep in a box, so it's not totally foreign to me. :)

Although I am a bit puzzled about what "boneless" means. . .