Nostalgia

After many false starts, they are starting to build condos on the lot behind our home.

Unfortunately, Zebediah is too young either to have appreciated the trees and deer that formerly were to be seen in the lot or to enjoy the bulldozers and other heavy machinery currently working there.

I’m just as happy, though, that he is also too young to want to play in the construction site. I have happy memories of exploring such sites as a kid, but hypocrite that I am, I don’t want my child wandering around there. I also remember playing in the big trenches that were dug in the alley when the city was putting in new pipes and in the new greenbelt before it was finished–there were dry fish in the soil they used for fill. Are fish good for fertilizer? And of course, there was the excitement of climbing down to secret platforms underneath the end of the pier.

Just FYI, if you and a friend jump off a wall with extra large umbrellas in an attempt to mimic Mary Poppins, the umbrellas will break.

Also, it is inappropriate to throw water balloons at the county busses from outside the public library. Speaking hypothetically, of course. I’m sure no child of mine would even consider such a thing.

I’m an Idiot

I learned after college that sleep deprivation is like alcohol in that it affects one’s judgment. I didn’t learn this during college, because I was too sleep deprived, and too therefore too busy doing things like going to the library for ten hours instead of sleeping and then nodding off  in the library every fifteen minutes, or staying up all night doing assigned reading and then falling asleep in class.

So, it doesn’t do much good to have a baby that sleeps 4-6 hours at the beginning of the night if you stay up until he’s been in bed 4-6 hours, which I’ve done twice now.

It’s a slippery slope. He goes to bed early, so often we are eating dinner after he’s asleep (it’s a lot easier that way in any case). The only chance I have to pump is when he’s asleep. He’s not sleeping in the sling as much these days and doesn’t like to be in it if I’m sitting down, so I’ve been doing things like airline tickets and car reservations and paying bills online.

You know how it goes. Once you’re on the computer, Bloglines is right there.

Anyway, I’m feeling like a fool, but I do have airline, hotel, and car reservations for baby’s first wedding.

Making My Life More Difficult

Health Insurance Company: Sent a card for Zebediah Xerxes with the wrong start date. I had to call the benefits office, who called me back to say the company had no idea how they could have made that mistake, and would be sending me a new card. They sent a new card with the same date. (It’s hereditary. When I was a kid, Kaiser kept giving me cards that said I was male.)

My Employer’s New Long Term Care Insurance Company:

1. Sent an acceptance letter to my husband but not to me. I had to call and ask why. Sent me a letter saying I had to fill out a long Evidence of Insurability form. I had to call and remind them that I was only required to fill out the short form that I sent them because I was guaranteed acceptance with the change of carriers.

2. Deducted my premium from my bank account as requested. Sent my husband a bill instead of deducting automatically, because they got the account number wrong, despite us having included a voided check with the application. Had to call to find out what was wrong.

Southwest Airlines:

I bought a ticket for myself and an infant ticket for ZX for our trip to the wedding. They sent email confirmation of his ticket but not mine and according to my online credit card statement, charged me for his ticket but not mine. I called and was told that I do have a seat and have been charged for it, despite indications to the commentary.

These are all calls I had to make after having the baby, on top of my normal telephone sort-of-phobia.

The Gym:

Said they would suspend my membership for a month and stop deducting my monthly fee in June. They charged me in June, but not July, just when I was medically cleared for all physical activity. I haven’t even tried to deal with this yet, since I haven’t worked out the logistics of juggling our gym time(s) and the baby.

Myself:

On first trip to the mall to buy clothes that fit, I drove all the way there before realizing that I had not brought my purse, so I had to drive back home. It’s only 15 minutes away, but this was precious husband-with-the-baby time. In theory, that’s not a problem now that I have a breast pump and Mr. Luo can give the kid a bottle, but Zebediah has been giving him a bit of a hard time when I am gone.

Famous Last Words

• There haven’t been any diaper leaks since we moved up to size 2, which is good, since I was sick of washing the MyBrestFriend cover every other day.
• The baby sure is falling asleep quickly at bedtime these days.
• It’s good that Zebediah’s willing to sit in the bouncy chair long enough for us to inject the cat with her subcutaneous fluids.
• The newspaper’s allergy report has listed molds every day, but I haven’t had symptoms. Maybe pregnancy cured my mold allergies.
• I don’t feel so tired. Maybe I’m getting the hang of this.

HaHaHaHaHa

Random Bullets of Two Months Old

• These days, even the blog posts I write in my head are one-liners.
• The fact that it has taken me more than a week to post random bullets does not bode well for my blogging.
• It’s hard to sleep when the baby sleeps when all daytime sleeping occurs when being held or carried. So I sleep when my husband’s carrying him–unless I’m taking a shower, or going to the grocery store, and so on.
• On the other hand, he sleeps better than should be expected at this age at night (KNOCKONWOODCROSSFINGERSOMMANIPADMEHUM), so I shouldn’t complain.
• For a few days, he stopped sleeping in the sling, preferring that I hold him to my chest / shoulder. This cut down significantly on my blog time, and did not help the pain in my right hand at all.
• My primary care physician says that if I go to an orthopedist, he will give me an injection that will make it all better, and I will be able to pick up Zebediah Xerxes without pain. Unfortunately, I can’t see the orthopedist until after I fly to California with ZX for the weekend, sans husband.
• Zebediah took a bottle from my husband last week with no problem. He thought it was great fun. He did get distracted whenever I came into his field of vision.
• This means I can go shopping for more than an hour and a half, which is good, since the only clothes that fit are some tent-like clothes with elastic waists.
• Update: Of course, when I did go shopping, the bottle feeding did not go quite as well. Lesson for husband: don’t wait until the baby has finished what’s in the bottle and wanting more to defrost more breastmilk.
  I bought a Majamasdress, which I might wear to my sister’s wedding. Not sure what “casual” means in the context of a wedding. Jeans and a t-shirt (I don’t have any pants that fit)? Sundress? I figure that nobody cares too much what anybody besides the bride is wearing.
  I have lost 35 pounds since the day before I went into labor, which puts me at 30 pounds below my Cycle Day 3 weight in August. For once, I am looking forward to buying clothes, although still uptight about spending the money.
• Don’t envy me for losing weight while eating chocolate every day, though, since according to the BMI calculator, I am still obese.
• Junkfood Science says the BMI formula causes short people get categorized as obese disproportionately. I would have thought the whole point of a complicated formula would be to avoid problems like that.