HNY

Sorry for the extended silence, but with all of the preholiday chaos at work (huge deadline on December 21), in our house (houseguests arriving on Dec 21 and baptism for SC on the 22nd), with travel (headed off to see the in-laws on the 23rd...with a 12.5 hour drive each way), and the postholiday lack of internet access, I haven’t really had a chance to catch up. I am still attempting to regain control (and do the laundry).

There is so much talk about resolutions at this time of year that it seems as commonplace as breathing. Will I be working on weight loss in 2008? Absolutely. But the only reason that it waited until 2008 is that the new WW@Work session only begins at the end of January. I don’t view that as a resolution, because it is just a life process that took a hiatus while I was pregnant and subsequently establishing my milk supply. What I do resolve to do in 2008, however, is declutter. We started the process in December as outgrown/outdated/outlived clothing went into boxes and bags. The whole clothing purge is still not over. Mr. D and I have a habit of only buying “classic” styles and then keeping them forever and ever. We are also pretty easy on our clothes, so they tend to stay in pretty good shape. The problem is that we still buy more clothes as if we need to freshen our wardrobes. Capitalist pigs are we. We have, therefore, decided to nip the bud on both ends of the problem. Stop buying new clothes and get rid of clothes that we haven’t used in a while because of size, style, or any other reason.

Once we finish the clothes, we need to tackle books and papers. Given that we are both Ph.D.s, we have a LOT of books and a LOT of papers cluttering our house. Too many. For us, getting rid of a book is like cutting off a limb- something we don’t take lightly. I’m certain that this process will be the slowest and most painful of all.

And I won’t start talking about our hobbies, because those alone are a great source of clutter. We have decided that the hobbies can stay if they are organized and we only add to the hobby stash when absolutely necessary (to finish a project, play a game, give a gift, etc.).

The thing about The Great Cleanup of 2008^TM that makes us sure to succeed is that we are approaching it in baby steps. None of this “we’ll finish clearing out the attic tomorrow for sure” type mentality. Too large a job in too small a time. But promising to fill a box with trash from a particular room or clear out a drawer in the file cabinet? Those tasks are completely manageable. And if you do enough small tasks, the large task is accomplished.

So, what’s on your list this year?

Little helper?

Gabe, in an effort to help me with SC, came up with this gem last night:

Gabe: I can feed the baby the bottle?
Me: (not looking) No, honey, mommy is feeding the baby.
Gabe: (insisting) Give the baby bottle?

And I finally look up to see Gabe pulling down the neck of his shirt to expose his nipple. A little off on the concept, but a nice offer I guess.

Laugh-tation

Overheard one morning

Gabe: Mommy, what’s that? (pointing to my bra as I’m getting dressed)
Me: This? (pointing to same as I continue dressing)
Gabe: (excitedly jumping) Oh! That holds the baby water!


Dinner on the “hoof”

Gabe: Whatcha doin’?
Me: Feeding the baby.
Gabe: (looking curiously) Baby eats the belly button?


And now we start saving for therapy...

Me: (pumping)
Gabe: Mommy? Whatcha doin’?
Me: Making milk for the baby.
Gabe: Ok.

(a few minutes later...)

Gabe: Mommy? Whatcha doin’?
Me: Watching a video with you. What are *you* doing?
Gabe: Making a baby.

(BTW, now when Gabe sees the pump bottles...whether they are in use or just sitting there...he looks intently into the bottom and says, “Is it coming OUT? Is it coming OUT?” Yeah, I’d better book the shrink in advance.)

Back to Work

I am officially back to work full time now, and so far things are going well. In reality, I started back to work last week (ergo the blog silence) and worked half of Monday and all day Tuesday. It helped to take a bit of the shock off of the return. Don’t get me wrong, I am not weeping or gnashing my teeth (I always love that biblical description) at my return to work. In fact, I welcome the structure to my day, the eating of lunch without children pulling at my clothes, and the accomplishing of work. It makes a girl feel all useful and stuff. But needing to get up in the morning, dress, and look human by 7:30 so that we can get everyone out the door is a bit taxing on a non-morning person. Mr. D does help with getting Gabe dressed, although I do need to lay out his clothes to prevent the kid either looking like a) a clown or b) a refugee with clothes that are too small (ok, my fault for not being faster at the season change but my gawd man can’t you see that his pants are just waaaaaay too short?).

SC is transitioning well to the daycare routine. Given that she loves to watch other people, especially when they are in motion, having a room full of one-year-olds must be utterly fascinating for her. The caregivers there are wonderful and I trust them to care for my kid (makes the return to work that much easier). My mom is getting a little frazzled with both kids in her house two days a week, but my dad is there too and gets Gabe out of her hair periodically. It will get easier as SC gets bigger and, oh, actually starts taking naps, but at least she’s a pleasant awake-all-the-time kid. My mom does question the exclusive breastfeeding, though, and thinks that I should just not bother and give the kid formula. “What does it matter,” she asks all the time. Well, it matters to me, and it feels awfully good that I have been able to provide for her this well. She has actually had formula twice (once because the daycare forgot that I brought frozen milk and had run out of fresh...it was an abnormally crazy day, and I don’t fault them...and once when I needed to leave SC with Mr. D and didn’t want to dig into my precious frozen stash at home...see, I dispense it too). She thought it was pretty yucky tasting, but drank it anyway.

Please note that I am not in any way dissing formula. Gabe was only getting half of his daily liquid from me for the first six months and then gave up the boob entirely. And I have already told everyone who might ever feed the kid that if they run out of milk- give the kid formula. The cost savings of the milk is nice, the cuddling is nice. The constant need to eat from ME and only from ME is not necessarily nice, especially when I have many things to accomplish in a short amount of time. So, it’s definitely a two-sided coin, and mine tends to flip many times a day.

Hallo-wasn't

I know that there are far greater offenses to make one qualify for world's worst mother, so hopefully ignoring the fact that it is Halloween, especially when it is your daughter's first Halloween, doesn't put me in the WWM hall of fame. I think the combination of sleep deprivation and Gabe's lingering respiratory infection just made it that much less attractive to go parading around for candy that we really don't need. I debated dressing the kids to visit a couple of select neighbors simply for the sake of visiting, but then when SC fell asleep, the deal was sealed and we stayed in. We'll get excited next year...maybe.

Twelve days until I head back to work. Part of me is excited by the prospect of a chance to eat lunch with both hands while both breasts are fully contained. (I think SC smells my food and wants her own...Every. Single. Time.) And part of me will miss cuddling with SC for no good reason at any time of day. But given that I have a HUGE grant application due mid-December, I don't have a lot of choice in the matter. As it is, I will have to go into a**-busting mode to get the darn thing done on time.

Ah, the fun never ends. Maybe I should have had the kids score me some candy.