So, part of blogging once a week is not only my posting...also my reading. Truly, it's the reading that takes up so much of my time. But I do love it so! And confess I read a few times a week over the past week or so since my last post. It's actually kind of a habit/addiction at this point! Which is concerning in its own right I suppose. But I've always been the type to get STUCK in a book - as in, I do not want to put it down for anything until it's done. I'll just sit. and read. I even delay using the bathroom! So...it's perhaps not that surprising that I find myself wanting to read blogs more often than once a week.
I still haven't asked the pediatrician about the night feeds. I plan to call and ask tomorrow. I had decided that he must really be hungry and I'd just go with it because he is still pretty young. And after making that decision life was good, and then better - he slept for 10 hours 2 nights in a row! I thought we'd *finally* made it into the blissful world of regular - long - sleep. And then...it started to fall apart. It started with a waking at 4am. The next night, it was 3:30am. Then 3...2:55...2:45...and then last night he woke up at 1am and 6am before actually waking for the day at 8:30. Ugggghhhh.
And tonight? Well...I put him down early because he's been super tired the past 2-3 days. We think he might be fighting off a cold? :( He's had some boogers and the slightest of a runny nose but the biggest "symptom" is excessive tiredness. He just seems tired ALL day long! And took a super long nap yesterday (perhaps why he woke more at night?). So I put him down early but he's been SUUUPER fussy - it sounded like he went to sleep, but I just heard some crying on the monitor. It was there for about 10 seconds...and then gone. Is he crying in his sleep? Is he still awake? Is he really sick and he needs something? He hasn't had a fever...we've been checking every day.
Anyway, I'll be calling the pediatrician, and I'll be sure to ask about the nighttime feedings. I'll keep you posted.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Something's gotta give
I am going to have to relegate blogging to a once-a-week activity. At least for now. With all of my new activities...something's gotta give so I still have time to sleep. :)
Blogging it is.
Blogging it is.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Schedules
***I feel I should add the caveat that I realize I'm pretty spoiled to be able to even worry and fuss over this. 7:30am isn't that much earlier, or possibly any earlier, than many working moms must report to work. And many of them have to work a full 9 hour day. In fact...I'm feeling like I was acting rather self-entitled to worry over it at all. I guess it's normal to worry....but I'm definitely regretting the email I sent to my boss. Sigh.
To Schedule or Not To Schedule. Or baby-led schedule. Or something.
Scheduling is something I've been pondering and struggling with since Wiggles was about 5 weeks old. As mentioned previously, The Sleep has been elusive in this house. Things are finally, finally getting better. And I am ever grateful for the roughly 6 hours a night I get now. And try very hard not to read about other people's 4 month olds that give them 10-12 hours a night.
There was a time I read Dr. Weissbluth's book and tried to put Wiggles on his recommended schedule. Waking at 7am. Nap at 9am. etc. It did NOT work. Wiggles just was too stubborn. And at 5, 8, 12 weeks (when I tried it) he was too little for true crying it out. Which I'm not opposed to...if I can be sure the little guy is old enough and not crying for another reason. He's finally "old enough". I have a hard time though worrying he's crying for another reason. But, at any rate, as he did not adhere to The Schedule, and I was playing stay-at-home-mommy...I just followed Wiggle's cues...such as they were. And at 16.5 weeks he finally fell into his own schedule. It's similar to Dr. Weissbluths, except he gets up in the 8-10am window. And goes to sleep in the 8-10pm window. So it's just shifted by about 2 hours.
These 2 hours, are kind of critical. You see, I will be teaching a 7:30am class. Which means I need to leave the house by 6:45am. Which means...in order to get myself ready and feed a baby...getting up at 5am. And means that in order to feed the baby...it'd be helpful if he was awake...right around 6:00am. Because then I could feed him and then go. He still usually wakes in the 3-5am window for a feeding. (I need to ask the pediatrician if I should still be feeding him then, or if I'm cultivating a waking habit...) So, do we just try to shift his schedule? Get him to adhere to a more parent-led kind of timing?
But do we dare? At this point, I am hesitant to do anything to disturb our very recently found sleep. VERY hesitant.
I mean, my other option, I suppose, would be to pump in the am before leaving, and then go. But...I feel like I don't get as much pumping as he does direct from the boobie. And I worry we'll quickly run into a supply issue, with him demanding more than I can pump to keep up with. I guess we can always try that first and see how it goes?
So then, the only tragedy to this whole mess is that I miss out on some sweet, sweet sleep. And/or I need to give up my 1-2 hours of wind down time with Mr. Random after putting Wiggles down at night. Maybe I'll just try to arrange my schedule so I can get an afternoon siesta?
I started writing this post distressed and confused. After writing it out - it really gave some clarity. Which is just what this blog is really for. *contented sigh* It really is so much clearer. Before starting, it seemed like an impossibly tangled mess with no clear solution. I see now that there are really several viable solutions.
As far as morning feeding, my options are:
1. Switch Wiggles to an earlier schedule. *trembles with fear*
2. Pump instead of directly feeding in the morning, letting Wiggles sleep in and keep his current schedule.
and as far as my desperate attempts at getting sleep, my options are:
1. Afternoon siesta
2. Give up evening "fun" time.
Maybe both. :)
Well, I should have written this up before I emailed my boss in desperation pleading to see if I could switch to a later class. haha. I doubt I can, so it's good to see that I should be able to make the early class work. Even if it isn't particularly ideal.
To Schedule or Not To Schedule. Or baby-led schedule. Or something.
Scheduling is something I've been pondering and struggling with since Wiggles was about 5 weeks old. As mentioned previously, The Sleep has been elusive in this house. Things are finally, finally getting better. And I am ever grateful for the roughly 6 hours a night I get now. And try very hard not to read about other people's 4 month olds that give them 10-12 hours a night.
There was a time I read Dr. Weissbluth's book and tried to put Wiggles on his recommended schedule. Waking at 7am. Nap at 9am. etc. It did NOT work. Wiggles just was too stubborn. And at 5, 8, 12 weeks (when I tried it) he was too little for true crying it out. Which I'm not opposed to...if I can be sure the little guy is old enough and not crying for another reason. He's finally "old enough". I have a hard time though worrying he's crying for another reason. But, at any rate, as he did not adhere to The Schedule, and I was playing stay-at-home-mommy...I just followed Wiggle's cues...such as they were. And at 16.5 weeks he finally fell into his own schedule. It's similar to Dr. Weissbluths, except he gets up in the 8-10am window. And goes to sleep in the 8-10pm window. So it's just shifted by about 2 hours.
These 2 hours, are kind of critical. You see, I will be teaching a 7:30am class. Which means I need to leave the house by 6:45am. Which means...in order to get myself ready and feed a baby...getting up at 5am. And means that in order to feed the baby...it'd be helpful if he was awake...right around 6:00am. Because then I could feed him and then go. He still usually wakes in the 3-5am window for a feeding. (I need to ask the pediatrician if I should still be feeding him then, or if I'm cultivating a waking habit...) So, do we just try to shift his schedule? Get him to adhere to a more parent-led kind of timing?
But do we dare? At this point, I am hesitant to do anything to disturb our very recently found sleep. VERY hesitant.
I mean, my other option, I suppose, would be to pump in the am before leaving, and then go. But...I feel like I don't get as much pumping as he does direct from the boobie. And I worry we'll quickly run into a supply issue, with him demanding more than I can pump to keep up with. I guess we can always try that first and see how it goes?
So then, the only tragedy to this whole mess is that I miss out on some sweet, sweet sleep. And/or I need to give up my 1-2 hours of wind down time with Mr. Random after putting Wiggles down at night. Maybe I'll just try to arrange my schedule so I can get an afternoon siesta?
I started writing this post distressed and confused. After writing it out - it really gave some clarity. Which is just what this blog is really for. *contented sigh* It really is so much clearer. Before starting, it seemed like an impossibly tangled mess with no clear solution. I see now that there are really several viable solutions.
As far as morning feeding, my options are:
1. Switch Wiggles to an earlier schedule. *trembles with fear*
2. Pump instead of directly feeding in the morning, letting Wiggles sleep in and keep his current schedule.
and as far as my desperate attempts at getting sleep, my options are:
1. Afternoon siesta
2. Give up evening "fun" time.
Maybe both. :)
Well, I should have written this up before I emailed my boss in desperation pleading to see if I could switch to a later class. haha. I doubt I can, so it's good to see that I should be able to make the early class work. Even if it isn't particularly ideal.
Lingering Tears
I can't remember if I wrote about this or not.
One day, when Wiggles was just 2 weeks old, I put him in his crib for a nap. Mr. Random had gone back to work and had urged me to put him in his crib while I went back to my own room to try to get some sleep. We had a baby monitor, though Mr. Random even suggested turning it off so I could get 2 hours of sleep. (Wiggles wasn't sleeping. At all.)
I couldn't comprehend ignoring a BRAND new baby for 2 hours, even for sleep, which, at that point, was critically important for my milk supply - as in my supply was dwindling precariously from utter lack of sleep. But I did put Wiggles in his crib. And went back to my own room.
I left the monitor on. But soon it started making jarring static sounds. It was incredibly annoying, and in my tired state, reduced me to tears. I was so frustrated. Nothing I did could make the static stop. So I turned the monitor down. I thought I'd left it loud enough to hear Wiggles when he next started crying.
I was wrong.
I slept. For nearly 2 hours I slept and it was much needed. But when I woke in confusion (because I hadn't had such a long un-interrupted session of sleep in over a week) and looked at the monitor (it's a video monitor) what I saw stopped my heart. Wiggles was flailing frantically. I couldn't believe it. The monitor had, in fact, been turned down too far. I turned it up, incredulous. Sure the thing had broken and wasn't capable of sound. It was. And I heard his pathetic, terrified cry.
I rushed to his room. He'd been flailing and kicking his legs. And this caused him to bump his head repeated into a keyboard toy hanging on the side of his crib. There was a fine layer of his hair left on the toy. :( I have no idea how long he cried. It could have been almost the whole 2 hours. It's possible it was only 10 minutes. But I'm guessing it was at least an hour.
And I am still so heartbroken when I think about it. And I think about it nearly every time I see his keyboard toy. Poor little guy.
One day, when Wiggles was just 2 weeks old, I put him in his crib for a nap. Mr. Random had gone back to work and had urged me to put him in his crib while I went back to my own room to try to get some sleep. We had a baby monitor, though Mr. Random even suggested turning it off so I could get 2 hours of sleep. (Wiggles wasn't sleeping. At all.)
I couldn't comprehend ignoring a BRAND new baby for 2 hours, even for sleep, which, at that point, was critically important for my milk supply - as in my supply was dwindling precariously from utter lack of sleep. But I did put Wiggles in his crib. And went back to my own room.
I left the monitor on. But soon it started making jarring static sounds. It was incredibly annoying, and in my tired state, reduced me to tears. I was so frustrated. Nothing I did could make the static stop. So I turned the monitor down. I thought I'd left it loud enough to hear Wiggles when he next started crying.
I was wrong.
I slept. For nearly 2 hours I slept and it was much needed. But when I woke in confusion (because I hadn't had such a long un-interrupted session of sleep in over a week) and looked at the monitor (it's a video monitor) what I saw stopped my heart. Wiggles was flailing frantically. I couldn't believe it. The monitor had, in fact, been turned down too far. I turned it up, incredulous. Sure the thing had broken and wasn't capable of sound. It was. And I heard his pathetic, terrified cry.
I rushed to his room. He'd been flailing and kicking his legs. And this caused him to bump his head repeated into a keyboard toy hanging on the side of his crib. There was a fine layer of his hair left on the toy. :( I have no idea how long he cried. It could have been almost the whole 2 hours. It's possible it was only 10 minutes. But I'm guessing it was at least an hour.
And I am still so heartbroken when I think about it. And I think about it nearly every time I see his keyboard toy. Poor little guy.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Helloooo Out There!
Guess What!? It's
And I almost missed it! So - if you haven't commented before, or even if you have, go ahead and leave a comment! Say hello, howdy, wassup...whatever you like. Or I like the idea of telling me something about yourself.
or don't.
But I'd sure enjoy it if you did!
And I almost missed it! So - if you haven't commented before, or even if you have, go ahead and leave a comment! Say hello, howdy, wassup...whatever you like. Or I like the idea of telling me something about yourself.
or don't.
But I'd sure enjoy it if you did!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
New Chapter
It's a new year and soon we're embarking on our new roles. While we're both going to be students, I'll have more obligations, so Mr. Random is becoming the house husband and I'm becoming the "bread-winner". So to speak.
I have mixed feelings about my new role. Part of me is excited to return to research and teaching and intellectual thought. Part of me is sad that I won't be seeing Wiggles as much. But knowing that he'll be in Mr. Random's care makes it all 100% easier. And I'm fairly confident that after the transition everything will settle down to a pretty nice situation. Except for the money stress. But even when it comes to that, I think we'll be okay. And mostly happy. Once we know how everything is going to be (there's still some things up in the air) it'll be a lot easier to just bite the bullet, stick to our new budget, and stop worrying about it.
We've mostly decided to stay where we are, despite the rent increase. It looks like we might be able to rent a house for about the same as the new rent here, which would be super! But utilities would likely be more and we can't get a house in this neighborhood. And we like our neighborhood. And most of our issues are honestly neighbor issues. And let's be honest, we could end up with those problems anywhere we go. :-/ No, it's not ideal here, but ultimately, it's probably the cheapest option that let's us stay in the neighborhood we love. This way we don't have to pay the extra deposits and moving costs of getting into a new place. Better the evil you know, right?
I have mixed feelings about my new role. Part of me is excited to return to research and teaching and intellectual thought. Part of me is sad that I won't be seeing Wiggles as much. But knowing that he'll be in Mr. Random's care makes it all 100% easier. And I'm fairly confident that after the transition everything will settle down to a pretty nice situation. Except for the money stress. But even when it comes to that, I think we'll be okay. And mostly happy. Once we know how everything is going to be (there's still some things up in the air) it'll be a lot easier to just bite the bullet, stick to our new budget, and stop worrying about it.
We've mostly decided to stay where we are, despite the rent increase. It looks like we might be able to rent a house for about the same as the new rent here, which would be super! But utilities would likely be more and we can't get a house in this neighborhood. And we like our neighborhood. And most of our issues are honestly neighbor issues. And let's be honest, we could end up with those problems anywhere we go. :-/ No, it's not ideal here, but ultimately, it's probably the cheapest option that let's us stay in the neighborhood we love. This way we don't have to pay the extra deposits and moving costs of getting into a new place. Better the evil you know, right?
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Irony...
So, adding to the stress of our financial finagling is figuring out health insurance. Yes, the dreaded beast. My insurance is paid for through my school. (yay!). Mr. Random will have to buy his through his school ($1000 for the semester...which isn't TOO bad when you look at the cost per month). And then we have to buy some for Wiggles. He was on Mr. Random's. Now he'll be on mine (cheaper than thru Mr. Random's school).
We knew this was going to be one of the expenses of going this route - and so it was in my financial calculations for how everything would work out. I went on my school's website and looked up how much it would cost for the semester (which covers summer too) and found it was roughly $1400. Ouch. But okay. I added it into the budget and moved on.
Fast forward to this past week when I tried to add him to my policy. First, the website wouldn't let me register. I finally called for assistance, and that person...well, was not helpful in the end. I was supposed to get a call back when they fixed whatever issue, but in my experience, whenever they say they'll "call back" they won't.
So I called back the next day and said I just wanted to add him over the phone. Turns out you can't. Can't add him in person either. My choices were over the internet, or by mail. Problem with this was that for him to have continuous coverage I needed to add him THIS week. Yeah...my bad putting it off, but it takes a bit of work to come up with the $1400. Which I have to pay upfront.
Turns out, it's not $1400. It's $2400. Great. Now I need another $1000...in less than a week. We have about enough in our meager savings - and that's what we're going to have to do, is wipe that out. The irony is, that when I did the financial calculations, I was basically pretending that we'd pay the premium out of the money we will be getting for the semester - in student loans and my stipend. And then did all the math, less the cost of health insurance, taxes, and what nots to give us a monthly "income" to budget from.
Now, with the extra $1000, I needed to re-work my math. So I went back. And it turns out...I'd fudged the numbers the first time (I often do as a sort of "buffer"). I always fudge them so that we think we'll have slightly less than we actually will. When I went back I used the actual numbers - no fudging, because I wanted a clear picture. Turns out when I'd fudged I'd managed to pretend we didn't have about $1000 dollars. Our monthly amount is exactly the same when I use the real numbers, with the new insurance amount.
That, my friends, is ironic. And possibly Providence. I take it as a sign that it'll all work out somehow.
We knew this was going to be one of the expenses of going this route - and so it was in my financial calculations for how everything would work out. I went on my school's website and looked up how much it would cost for the semester (which covers summer too) and found it was roughly $1400. Ouch. But okay. I added it into the budget and moved on.
Fast forward to this past week when I tried to add him to my policy. First, the website wouldn't let me register. I finally called for assistance, and that person...well, was not helpful in the end. I was supposed to get a call back when they fixed whatever issue, but in my experience, whenever they say they'll "call back" they won't.
So I called back the next day and said I just wanted to add him over the phone. Turns out you can't. Can't add him in person either. My choices were over the internet, or by mail. Problem with this was that for him to have continuous coverage I needed to add him THIS week. Yeah...my bad putting it off, but it takes a bit of work to come up with the $1400. Which I have to pay upfront.
Turns out, it's not $1400. It's $2400. Great. Now I need another $1000...in less than a week. We have about enough in our meager savings - and that's what we're going to have to do, is wipe that out. The irony is, that when I did the financial calculations, I was basically pretending that we'd pay the premium out of the money we will be getting for the semester - in student loans and my stipend. And then did all the math, less the cost of health insurance, taxes, and what nots to give us a monthly "income" to budget from.
Now, with the extra $1000, I needed to re-work my math. So I went back. And it turns out...I'd fudged the numbers the first time (I often do as a sort of "buffer"). I always fudge them so that we think we'll have slightly less than we actually will. When I went back I used the actual numbers - no fudging, because I wanted a clear picture. Turns out when I'd fudged I'd managed to pretend we didn't have about $1000 dollars. Our monthly amount is exactly the same when I use the real numbers, with the new insurance amount.
That, my friends, is ironic. And possibly Providence. I take it as a sign that it'll all work out somehow.
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