Moot Thoughts & Musings

Ellis just went down for a nap. Chris is off loading a moving truck for a church family. I'm still in my robe, sipping lukewarm coffee. I should either go take a shower, wrap some more gifts, do more projects that desperately finishing and getting in the mail, start some cookie dough, or go to sleep. Instead I think I'll write in my neglected blog while i finish my coffee.

I started out the month actually being somewhat organized, but that has since unraveled royally and I can't seem to get anything finished. So, I'll just have to face it. Some people just aren't going to get their gifts on time. I'm sorry about that, but at the same time, it's not like school. I'm not going to let the Dec. 25 deadline kill me, you know? For the kids, it matters, and they're the priority. But for adults, they can live if they get their gift on the 27th. I'm all about enjoying the holiday. Actually, it's really convenient, because my family all together is celebrating on the 29th when my sister and her husband come, so I have a little extra time there.

Last week, I spent scrubbing the house, although this week you'd never know. *sigh* But I did do some deep-cleaning, so that we could freely invite people in over the holidays and not have to close off certain portions of the house. It took over three hours, but I scrubbed and waxed the kitchen floor. I went through 3 SOS pads doing it, too.

On Tuesday, I had to take a break and run to the library. I needed to turn a thesis topic before the end of the semester. I'm writing about a 17th c manuscript in Local Fab Univ's rare book lib. It's full of alphabets, calendars, tables, and the last 12 folios are charts of music theory. It's kind of interesting...like someone's personal reference book. Of course, I'm interested in the music part, but also as part of the larger context of the whole manuscript. So it was fun to go spend some time with it. And I'm deeply indebted to Chris's best friend who babysat for me. I had to go in the day, when the rare book lib was open, and C still had school. It was kind of last-minute, and I felt bad askign his friend, who was studyign to take the GRE today, but there was nothing else to do, and he loves Ellis tons and was happy to do it. I was gone for just over 4 hours, and Ellis miraculously slept for almost 3 of those. I'm so thankful! So I don't know what's more exciting...getting to look at the ms or the fact that Ellis slept for so long.

Sleeping? How's it going? I don't know. Well, he goes down to sleep so much better than a month ago. So there is progress. In fact, now I think he goes to sleep better if he's not being held. I put him down in his crib (yes, we've recently graduated from the Pack'n'Play thanks to C's Nana), and even though I have to stand there and hold him down so he doesn't go rolling around, he goes to sleep pretty quickly, sometimes with minor protestations, but often he just closes his eyes and that's it. It's definitely improved our evening life.

Now, STAYING asleep is another matter. He still wakes up about every 2-3 hours at night. But he doesn't really wake up. He's disturbed and crying but he clearly still wants to be asleep; his eyes are still closed. Usually I nurse him and he goes back to sleep no problem. Though occasionally, like last night, he still just can't seem to settle. He wants to be asleep and is frustrated. So I'm standing there by the crib for like an hour, holding him down. The teething tablets have helped soothe, too. Nighttime overall, though, is just nursing every 3 hours. I'm tired. Maybe that's why I feel like everything around me is unraveling. When you have your newborn infant, you think, I can do this for a few months, and then he'll start sleeping through the night. But when it's six months later, and you still can't get a chunk of sleep longer than 3 hours, then certain things start going out the window....like completed to-do lists.

I guess if he's hungry maybe that's why he won't settle? He sure does eat a lot. I nurse about 3 hours during the day, too, and now he eats about 3 meals of solids a day, too! I feed him rice cereal, applesauce, carrots, sweet potatoes, you know the routine (except, I have this funny feeling he doesn't really like bananas...hmm. Maybe I should try them again now that a couple of weeks have passed since their last rejection). I've been doing the ice-cube tray thing, and it's been a lot of fun to shop for fruit and veggies and plan food for him. He eats tons, opening his mouth wide like a little bird. He can easily gobble down 3-4 ozs of food or more in one sitting...three times a day! In addition to nursing. And he's not even crawling yet. I'm glad he's a good eater, though. We love good food, and it's fun to think of sharing that with Ellis.

Okay, this post is turning into all things Ellis.

Chris's Christmas break started yesterday. He has a week and a half...stupid high school, wish it were longer. It's nice to have him home. We've been reorganizing. I sure couldn't do it alone, because I'd lose track of what I was doing. Well, I better go do something productive. Maybe I'll actually make cookies today. I do have peppermint bark on my list this year. It looks SO easy, and I love it, so we'll see if it actually happens.