Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
It's Here!
The inauguration of President Obama. I'm fortunate enough to be tuning in from work and I can't wait to get home and show Baby Charlie the taped ceremony. Part of me was tempted to go grab him from daycare and let him watch it with me live, but I'm sure it will have the same effect if we just watch it later :)
Not that I expect him to remember this whole event, just that I'd like to one day be able to tell him that he was a witness to history. I can't even find the words to describe how hopeful I am today.
Not that I expect him to remember this whole event, just that I'd like to one day be able to tell him that he was a witness to history. I can't even find the words to describe how hopeful I am today.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Closed-Mindedness Grinds My Gears
Disclaimer: This post was prompted by the discussion I heard on the radio this morning about the Ann Coulter appearance on The View yesterday. I'm not trying to stir the pot with anyone I know in real life, just stating my own opinions and beliefs. To be perfectly clear, political party is not the issue here.
There are certain words in our society that have very negative connotations and awful history behind them. The type of words that elicit a reaction of shock each time you hear them, because they are used so infrequently today. I'm not talking about the F-Bomb, which I, myself, am guilty of using excessively, I'm talking about a select few words that are so offensive and so disgusting that I'm not even going to tell you what they start with. I'm sure you can guess.
It baffles me that these words are still tossed around so casually by some people. When I think about the world that I have brought a child into I want to be hopeful that we're on our way to making it a better place.
The morning after Obama's election my great Aunt Carol (great as in ancestral, and great as in awesome) sent a beautifully-written email to her friends and family expressing how emotional this political milestone was for her. I read it over and over, so amazed that this new feeling of hope was not just limited to my own generation, but shared across many generations, the young and the old(er) alike. Reading her words about how far our society has come since she was a little girl gave me chills and increased my excitement that maybe we could all work together to have a positive impact on future generations. I'm hopeful that we will someday live in a society where gender/race/religion/sexuality are only afterthoughts.
When I hear the kind of filth I discussed above slide out of someone's mouth today, especially by an individual not much older that I am, some of that hope is lessened.
I suppose it's naive to think that a child born even today can grow up without ever hearing these words. As much as we like to think about how far we've come, there will always be those who refuse to bend and insist on tainting future generations with their hate-filled ideals. Maybe Baby Charlie's future Baby Charlie will have a linguistic repertoire that doesn't include these terms. The cynical side of me finds it hard to believe, but there is still a part of me that hopes....
There are certain words in our society that have very negative connotations and awful history behind them. The type of words that elicit a reaction of shock each time you hear them, because they are used so infrequently today. I'm not talking about the F-Bomb, which I, myself, am guilty of using excessively, I'm talking about a select few words that are so offensive and so disgusting that I'm not even going to tell you what they start with. I'm sure you can guess.
It baffles me that these words are still tossed around so casually by some people. When I think about the world that I have brought a child into I want to be hopeful that we're on our way to making it a better place.
The morning after Obama's election my great Aunt Carol (great as in ancestral, and great as in awesome) sent a beautifully-written email to her friends and family expressing how emotional this political milestone was for her. I read it over and over, so amazed that this new feeling of hope was not just limited to my own generation, but shared across many generations, the young and the old(er) alike. Reading her words about how far our society has come since she was a little girl gave me chills and increased my excitement that maybe we could all work together to have a positive impact on future generations. I'm hopeful that we will someday live in a society where gender/race/religion/sexuality are only afterthoughts.
When I hear the kind of filth I discussed above slide out of someone's mouth today, especially by an individual not much older that I am, some of that hope is lessened.
I suppose it's naive to think that a child born even today can grow up without ever hearing these words. As much as we like to think about how far we've come, there will always be those who refuse to bend and insist on tainting future generations with their hate-filled ideals. Maybe Baby Charlie's future Baby Charlie will have a linguistic repertoire that doesn't include these terms. The cynical side of me finds it hard to believe, but there is still a part of me that hopes....
sleepy
So both Charlies have colds. I'm lucky enough to have been spared the sickness, but we all know how men and babies are when they're sick - exactly the same. (no offense to my male readers, or to my husband, who is generally awesome, but for some reason a case of the sniffles renders you basically helpless)
Where does that leave me? Trying to pump at 10:00 at night, an hour past when I'm supposed to do it, and having to do one side at a time because I'm trying to hold the baby upright so he can breathe through his nose. It also leaves me still awake at 11:00, because it took twice as long to pump as it should have, with a still awake baby who still can't breathe through his nose but really wants his pacifier. Obviously, a stuffed-up nose is incompatible with a pacifier.
Around midnight, after an hour of snorting, coughing, and pacifier-spitting-out while sitting in my lap, I decided to prop up the crib mattress and try to get some sleep. I successfully created an incline that I hoped would allow the snot to drain out, put him down in the crib, turned to leave the room, and he decided that he was hungry. Again. Much in the same way that pacifiers don't work so well with a stuffy nose, bottle-feeding is also pretty much impossible. So from midnight until 1:00 we worked on getting the bottle down, interrupted by snorts, coughs, and breathing breaks. He finally fell asleep while eating, so I put him in the crib and snuck back to my own bed.
10 minutes later he was up again, so I decided to just camp out on the floor in his room for the rest of the night rather than bothering to get comfy in my own space and then having to drag my ass back down the hall every time the monitor started screeching. He was up every 10 minutes or so, miserable without the pacifier, miserable with it because he couldn't breathe. Someone needs to invent one that doesn't restrict mouth breathing. He doesn't usually even need the damn thing, he's been sleeping without it for weeks now.
Hopefully tonight will be better.
Where does that leave me? Trying to pump at 10:00 at night, an hour past when I'm supposed to do it, and having to do one side at a time because I'm trying to hold the baby upright so he can breathe through his nose. It also leaves me still awake at 11:00, because it took twice as long to pump as it should have, with a still awake baby who still can't breathe through his nose but really wants his pacifier. Obviously, a stuffed-up nose is incompatible with a pacifier.
Around midnight, after an hour of snorting, coughing, and pacifier-spitting-out while sitting in my lap, I decided to prop up the crib mattress and try to get some sleep. I successfully created an incline that I hoped would allow the snot to drain out, put him down in the crib, turned to leave the room, and he decided that he was hungry. Again. Much in the same way that pacifiers don't work so well with a stuffy nose, bottle-feeding is also pretty much impossible. So from midnight until 1:00 we worked on getting the bottle down, interrupted by snorts, coughs, and breathing breaks. He finally fell asleep while eating, so I put him in the crib and snuck back to my own bed.
10 minutes later he was up again, so I decided to just camp out on the floor in his room for the rest of the night rather than bothering to get comfy in my own space and then having to drag my ass back down the hall every time the monitor started screeching. He was up every 10 minutes or so, miserable without the pacifier, miserable with it because he couldn't breathe. Someone needs to invent one that doesn't restrict mouth breathing. He doesn't usually even need the damn thing, he's been sleeping without it for weeks now.
Hopefully tonight will be better.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Baby C's Blog (again)
I need your email addresses to set up permissions. You can leave them in a comment, I won't publish it here.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Privacy Issue
Given an unfortunate circumstance that has arisen I've decided to make The Minion's blog private. Email me, comment on this post, or contact me on Facebook if you'd like a blog invitation. If this particular individual does not cease contacting me, lurking on my blog/facebook account and googling my name for information I will also make this blog private and invitation only.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Holiday Update
I've been off of work since December 23rd. It was a nice, long holiday break but I kind of feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. It seems like there has been a steady stream of people in and out of our house since around thanksgiving. After turkey day we started getting ready for christmas. We (I) dragged the boxes out from the basement, put the lights up, got a tree, did the ornament thing, et cetera et cetera, and now it's time to take everything back down and pack it away until next year. The OCD in me loves packing boxes, but I'm just not in the mood.
Christmas with the baby was lots of fun. C told me that when he was little they would read a story from the Tall Book of Christmas every christmas eve. Of course, he didn't tell me about this until two days before christmas, so I surprised him and overnighted a copy from Amazon so he could continue the tradition with his own child. Katie made him a really awesome Yankees stocking - we kind of draped it over the mantle this year, but next year we'll find a suitable hanging place. The minion didn't really "get" the whole idea of presents, but he had fun chewing on everything, so it was all good :)
We have had some sleep regression lately, which has definitely been trying my sanity at work. Thankfully the last few nights he's been back to "normal," only waking up once to eat around 5. I get up at that time anyway, so I can handle it.
I don't usually do new year's resolutions because I never keep them and then I feel guilty when February comes around, but I will get back into blogging. I need to complain somewhere, and at least online you have a choice over whether or not to listen to my kvetching and rambling.
Christmas with the baby was lots of fun. C told me that when he was little they would read a story from the Tall Book of Christmas every christmas eve. Of course, he didn't tell me about this until two days before christmas, so I surprised him and overnighted a copy from Amazon so he could continue the tradition with his own child. Katie made him a really awesome Yankees stocking - we kind of draped it over the mantle this year, but next year we'll find a suitable hanging place. The minion didn't really "get" the whole idea of presents, but he had fun chewing on everything, so it was all good :)
We have had some sleep regression lately, which has definitely been trying my sanity at work. Thankfully the last few nights he's been back to "normal," only waking up once to eat around 5. I get up at that time anyway, so I can handle it.
I don't usually do new year's resolutions because I never keep them and then I feel guilty when February comes around, but I will get back into blogging. I need to complain somewhere, and at least online you have a choice over whether or not to listen to my kvetching and rambling.
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