Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The lion sleeps tonight
Oh. My. Gosh.
My baby—my sweet little Naomi, the apple of my eye, the muffin of my pantry, the darling little person who has changed my life so beautifully—slept. My baby slept. all night AND even wanted to snooze some more. Oh. My. Gosh.
I tried to restrain myself when it happened two nights ago. It could have just been a fluke. Then it happened again last night and I’m daring to dream that the sleepless, wakeful nights are finally over.
You never realize how debilitating a lack of sleep can be until you experience it for four and a half months, which is practically five months which is practically a half a year. Even on the nights when after three of four feedings I could coax this little lovely to nap with me until ten, bringing my net total of sleep to the 8 to 9 hour range, it didn’t count. Nothing compares to the unbridled peace of mind that uninterrupted sleep brings.
Ah. Sleep.
So it’s been awhile. How are you? I am good. Despite the lack of sleep, being a mom has been exceptionally great. I think my baby is uncommonly nice. She’s ruined me for future babies. She rarely cries, she laughs all the time, and even her poops don’t smell (one of these last statements was not true. You be the judge). We actually went out of town last weekend, she and I and my mother, and even with plane rides and extended car rides, she was very, very nice. And I was totally horrified that she wouldn’t be.
You may or may not be aware that traveling these days is a pretty stressful experience. Lines, license, boarding passes, carry-ons, diapers, bottles, changing pads, stuffed eeyores, the list goes on an on. So adding a human baby to the mix makes for pure, liquid chaos. If my mother hadn’t been there, I would have just laid on the ground and given up the ghost. And of course, on top of all the gear, I was horrified in ways I can not describe that I would be on the receiving end of dirty looks a-plenty for bringing a child on a plane.
And then she slept. And ate. And slept and didn’t cry for any notable time from Birmingham to Baltimore, from Baltimore to Pennsylvania, and back. Amazing.
That said, the first night we were there was exceedingly rough. She wouldn’t just wake up in the night. She would wake up frantic and screaming and if I may be so bold, I believe the baby-to-grown-up translation was something like, “MOOOOOOOOM!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?! WHERE AM I?!? WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?! THIS ISN’T MY BED! GET HERE NOW! MOOOOOM!” Something like that. It was not such a good night of sleep. But, as I alluded, I’m pretty well accustomed to lack of sleep.
There was one other incident but it’s so par for the course at this point that it was only with the unblurred vision of a woman with two nights of sleep that I realize it was kinda weird. Standing in the boarding line for our flight home (oh yeah, they don’t preboard babies any more. Suckage), my mom and I had about 10 people between us. I stood holding the baby, while a little adorable three year old was talking about the baby to her mom. (I realize that might read as sarcastic. It shouldn’t. she was actually very very cute). Then I felt the warmth. I know the warmth. The warmth and I have many experiences most days. My baby, who was facing away from me, had had a major puke the warmth I felt was it running down my front and arm, onto my foot, and onto the floor. Now holding a baby and simultaneously wiping off the area between you and the baby, where the puke is pinned, is a rather grave impossibility. So I just figured, well, there’s puke on me. That’s that. I made little moves to get it off, but nothing doing. So I let it go.
Except apparently my baby’s Linda Blair moment had caught the eye of some other people in line and a stranger offered to hold my baby while I wiped up the puke. And so, that is how a stranger in Maryland ended up holding my baby while I tried to clean the floor of the airport. I couldn’t attend my own parcels.
I guess I’ll wrap it up here. Hopefully, I’m back! But if i’m gone for another 6 months, you should know, I like my baby, I like my husband, and I like you.
Here’s a video that makes me laugh. Look, I know it’s been out for a long time, but I’ve been gone for a long time and my love for Flight of the Conchords has only grown:
Listen you, if you have any love for films or any love for my husband matt (watch it, you!) you should visit www.filmnerds.com. It’s currently a little light on content (but it’s getting there) but it has a very active forum where nerdy folks banter about movie films. If you could get a kick out of such things, visit, register, and make matt smile.
Oh. My. Gosh.
My baby—my sweet little Naomi, the apple of my eye, the muffin of my pantry, the darling little person who has changed my life so beautifully—slept. My baby slept. all night AND even wanted to snooze some more. Oh. My. Gosh.
I tried to restrain myself when it happened two nights ago. It could have just been a fluke. Then it happened again last night and I’m daring to dream that the sleepless, wakeful nights are finally over.
You never realize how debilitating a lack of sleep can be until you experience it for four and a half months, which is practically five months which is practically a half a year. Even on the nights when after three of four feedings I could coax this little lovely to nap with me until ten, bringing my net total of sleep to the 8 to 9 hour range, it didn’t count. Nothing compares to the unbridled peace of mind that uninterrupted sleep brings.
Ah. Sleep.
So it’s been awhile. How are you? I am good. Despite the lack of sleep, being a mom has been exceptionally great. I think my baby is uncommonly nice. She’s ruined me for future babies. She rarely cries, she laughs all the time, and even her poops don’t smell (one of these last statements was not true. You be the judge). We actually went out of town last weekend, she and I and my mother, and even with plane rides and extended car rides, she was very, very nice. And I was totally horrified that she wouldn’t be.
You may or may not be aware that traveling these days is a pretty stressful experience. Lines, license, boarding passes, carry-ons, diapers, bottles, changing pads, stuffed eeyores, the list goes on an on. So adding a human baby to the mix makes for pure, liquid chaos. If my mother hadn’t been there, I would have just laid on the ground and given up the ghost. And of course, on top of all the gear, I was horrified in ways I can not describe that I would be on the receiving end of dirty looks a-plenty for bringing a child on a plane.
And then she slept. And ate. And slept and didn’t cry for any notable time from Birmingham to Baltimore, from Baltimore to Pennsylvania, and back. Amazing.
That said, the first night we were there was exceedingly rough. She wouldn’t just wake up in the night. She would wake up frantic and screaming and if I may be so bold, I believe the baby-to-grown-up translation was something like, “MOOOOOOOOM!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?! WHERE AM I?!? WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?! THIS ISN’T MY BED! GET HERE NOW! MOOOOOM!” Something like that. It was not such a good night of sleep. But, as I alluded, I’m pretty well accustomed to lack of sleep.
There was one other incident but it’s so par for the course at this point that it was only with the unblurred vision of a woman with two nights of sleep that I realize it was kinda weird. Standing in the boarding line for our flight home (oh yeah, they don’t preboard babies any more. Suckage), my mom and I had about 10 people between us. I stood holding the baby, while a little adorable three year old was talking about the baby to her mom. (I realize that might read as sarcastic. It shouldn’t. she was actually very very cute). Then I felt the warmth. I know the warmth. The warmth and I have many experiences most days. My baby, who was facing away from me, had had a major puke the warmth I felt was it running down my front and arm, onto my foot, and onto the floor. Now holding a baby and simultaneously wiping off the area between you and the baby, where the puke is pinned, is a rather grave impossibility. So I just figured, well, there’s puke on me. That’s that. I made little moves to get it off, but nothing doing. So I let it go.
Except apparently my baby’s Linda Blair moment had caught the eye of some other people in line and a stranger offered to hold my baby while I wiped up the puke. And so, that is how a stranger in Maryland ended up holding my baby while I tried to clean the floor of the airport. I couldn’t attend my own parcels.
I guess I’ll wrap it up here. Hopefully, I’m back! But if i’m gone for another 6 months, you should know, I like my baby, I like my husband, and I like you.
Here’s a video that makes me laugh. Look, I know it’s been out for a long time, but I’ve been gone for a long time and my love for Flight of the Conchords has only grown:
Listen you, if you have any love for films or any love for my husband matt (watch it, you!) you should visit www.filmnerds.com. It’s currently a little light on content (but it’s getting there) but it has a very active forum where nerdy folks banter about movie films. If you could get a kick out of such things, visit, register, and make matt smile.
