Moving Day!

The time has come. I'm moving over to my new blog:

www.peanutbutterspoonfuls.com

Please come join me over there!!!

I know I said I'd be doing some sprucing. Predictably things are less spruced than hoped but I wanted to get on with it anyways so please continue to pardon my virtual dust. If you are already following this blog I'm going to try some fancy thing so that following will keep working. I'm warning you now before I do it in case it doesn't work. I refuse to believe it's as easy and seamless as they make it sound.

Sprucing

So rather than quitting blogging, as I briefly considered, I'm instead making a few changes and fancifying things a bit. It's fun to do things with computers and see if I'm still remotely employable. So far, the results indicate that there are still portions of my brain that have not slowly leaked out my ears.

I began the project when, against my own advice, I became convinced that we had really turned over a new sleeping leaf and B was going to make it until 7 or 8 am every day, allowing me a few precious alone hours of tinkering and blogging. As I sit here it is 5:30 am and he is awake and chirping in the bedroom and I am pretending I don't hear him. That is not the point really, but I initially intended on accomplishing my little spruce in a day or two and then making a seamless transfer to the new fancy blog but things might not go exactly that way. Please pardon my dust while my virtual renovation falls behind schedule like all real ones.

Additionally, we are lucky enough to have more guests here at our inn. My sister-in-law and adorable nephew are in town from Africa. It's not a quick flight and we don't see them that often so I'm trying to cherish our time and keep my son from blinding his cousin. One of B's favorite new words is "eye" and for clarity's sake he likes to touch things when he names them. I should emphasize that his word is not eyelid but eye and he will take no substitute.

If I may add one more excuse on the pile for why I'm not meeting my time goals... (Future employers, please focus on my technical acumen here and not my complete lack of adherence to a schedule and bundle of excuses, thanks!) The presence of little T has not only been a joy for me but (mostly) for B as well. After a few early hiccups, fears of Mommy and Grandma stealing, and turf wars, B has embraced the role of big-cousin with minimal levels of violence, and most of it unintentional. Unfortunately, this has G saying things like, "Look! He's ready to be a brother! Do you want a little brother, B?" I know how it all works, I'm pretty sure, but there are still times when I become fearful that G could somehow impregnate me by saying these things a lot so I occasionally have to curl up in the fetal position and sob out of fear. It's a big time suck.

He knows

Aaaaaand this is why I didn't say anything. Obviously B reads this blog and is full of spite because last night was horrible.

Just gonna test a theory here: If B goes back to his good sleeping ways he will get all the Halloween candy he wants. If he does not, then I am giving his precious pumpkin away to little girls and boys who love their mommies.

Ok fine!

Yikes, it's been two weeks since I've whined about how tired I am. I've gotten the question from several people, "How is B sleeping?" I like to think people are really worried about my exhaustion levels and sympathetic but I suspect it's more of the train wreck phenomenon. Regardless, I have been afraid to answer that question publicly.

It's baseball playoff season, (almost soccer!) and not blogging about B's sleeping habits has been my playoff beard. I thought it was better than wearing the same shirt and regardless it seems to have been effective so far. For absolutely no reason, B has decided that he will sleep until 8 am most days rather than 6 am. As icing on the cake, (I am reworking this expression as icing is definitely the main event and cake is a nice addition.) he has also started waking up way less often at night and without any crying or uncontrollable screaming. (<-- See? Sleeping better is the best part, aka the icing, and sleeping in, aka the cake, allows me precious alone time in the morning since I am up with the farmers anyways.)

The most important parenting lesson I've learned over the past year is to not try to find patterns. I am reading Nate Silver's book right now, which discusses the fact that humans have evolved to do just the opposite, so this is nearly impossible. Our fancy brains receive way too much information to actually process so we have to group it somehow. Mr. Silver's point is that this makes us bad statisticians since we see patterns where there are none and since we are making them up anyways, we tend to see the patterns that we want to see. He says we need to overcome this in order to solve the world's problems (or something like that, I'm only on the first chapter).

My thesis will no doubt be much more helpful to mankind so pay close attention. Here it is: when your baby sleeps well you are to look at it as an unexpected and wonderful gift from the universe and not as a momentous portent of great things to come.

Nate Silver is so right though, and isn't he always? Even as I sit here writing this I am getting excited about all the progress B has made and about our bright and well-rested future. This can only end in disappointment. Perhaps the silver lining (hahaha) is that FiveThirtyEight's election forecasts can likely be trusted.

Miracle

B just had (is still having) the greatest night of his life since he was 2.5 months old. He woke up (I think?) sometime around 1 am. I'm not even positive this happened but I assume he must have because there is no way he slept through until 5:15 am when he peacefully nursed and went right back to sleep. Feeling fresh and invigorated from the unbroken sleep, I got up for the day at 5:15 and here I sit having no idea what to do with myself until I remembered I have a blog and I should post something!

Oh, excuse me, now he is waking up. While it seems he may be finally learning to sleep (cue major jinx and the worst night ever tonight) he still has his finely tuned instincts for ruining plans. End post, begin cuddling. Do I love him more after good nights? Maybe a little... hard to say though since I can't remember the last one.

Moving map

I like having predictability and order and thus far I've found parenting to be severely lacking in that department. You never have any idea what to expect next with babies. (Is this where she's going to make the babies don't come with instruction manuals joke?) Consequently I like to latch onto small hints and construct predictions for what is going to come to pass. (Oh God, she said pass. Is this post about intestinal gas?)

When I'm flying on Delta, which is always, I have to keep checking the moving map to see how much farther we have to fly. Usually we are still in Kansas and I reconfirm that the middle of the country is much bigger on the actual map than on my mental map which features two coasts, Texas, and a couple of squares in between. Even though there is nothing I can do about it, I just need to know how far we've gone and how much we have left to endure. It is the same with teething. There is nothing I can do and these aren't even the last teeth, yet I find myself constantly checking on their progress. Are they through yet? Are they almost through? Will we ever sleep?

Turns out I've been overdoing it so much that B can't stand it anymore. Now whenever I put my fingers near his mouth to try to feel his new molars, he rips my hand away, and screams. Recently he has even started shoving his fingers in my mouth and laughing. I'm actually kind of proud of the attitude it takes for him to try to get me back.

Good news bad news

The good news is, IT WAS THE MOLARS!! There is a reason for all of our suffering and it is a reason that will eventually go away. The bad news is it hasn't gone away yet. The nighttime torture continues, days are full of neediness, and naps are fitful and need to be closely managed with nursing and rocking.

Right now B has one molar mostly through and one more just under the surface. It's his bottom two that I can feel yet that picture I diligently pinned on Pinterest suggests that the top ones are supposed to arrive first. Are they likely close behind? In a way I am cheering for the other two to immediately follow so that we can get all the exhaustion out of the way at once and close the door on this round of teething.

B also is finally taking great interest in walking so that milestone might not be too far away either. Before we know it we will have a toothy toddler who will eat crackers all day and no doubt sleep through the night.