Category Archives: personal

April 4, 2011 · 6:00 AM

Another Weekend Down

Song Lyric of the Day:

When the loneliness leads to bad dreams / And the bad dreams lead me to callin’ you / And I call you and say “C’mere!” / And it’s bad news / Baby I’m bad news / I’m just bad news, bad news, bad news

Why are weekends so short? No sooner are we done working for the week than it’s back to the grind. Alas, at least I have a job to go back to. And for that I’m grateful.


We had a pretty good weekend. Had dinner with the family Friday night, which included just about melting from the cuteness when my nephew Stephen leaned into his cousin Coraline’s carseat to give her a kiss goodnight. She smiled, reached her arms out to him, and cupped his face in one of her hands. And that right there became one of my favorite things she’s ever done. Too sweet. Later Friday night I subjected Rich to my latest Netflix selection, the British series Look Around You. Let’s just say the hubby and I don’t always agree on what’s funny.

Saturday we took our friends — and Coraline’s honorary grandparents — Fran and Don up on their offer to watch Coraline so we could see a movie. While Coraline was being doted upon by Grandma Fran and Grandpa Don, Rich and I saw a matinee of Paul. We both enjoyed it — not only was it funny, but Seth Rogen didn’t annoy us as much as we’d worried he might. Of course, I’m a huge fan of Simon Pegg/Nick Frost movies, having seen Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz countless times. Hell, I could probably act them out at this point. So I really loved their take on aliens, the sci-fi genre, and the cult of comic geeks in general in Paul.

Sunday was a day for errands. The highlight of the day, however, was giving Coraine plums for the first time. She loved carrots, the first solid food she had, which we introduced the day she turned six months old. Yesterday was a completely different flavor, though, and she made some priceless faces as the tartness of the fruit hit her. She’d even shudder after a few bites, which we found hilarious. She obviously prefers carrots to plums so far. Next up in a few days (to make sure she’s not allergic to plums): bananas. I expect she’ll like those, too.

Another highlight of the weekend — for me, certainly — was finally getting some good sleep. Knock on wood, the insomnia seems to be abating a bit. Of course, I watched a horror movie, Fragile, late Saturday night that featured a creepy ghost that scared the crap out of me. So it’s sheer luck I slept at all that night. Watching a horror movie at bedtime? I never said I was smart.

And now to set about the work week …

I’ve got this feeding thing down.

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March 30, 2011 · 7:12 PM

Some Randomosity

Song Lyric of the Day:

Maybe next year I’ll have no time / To think about the questions to address / Am I the one to try to stop the fire?

Baby on the Mend

Coraline’s doctor gave her the all-clear at her recheck last Tuesday, so we were able to discontinue the nebulizer treatments. And there was much rejoicing (yay!). She had her six-month checkup yesterday and it went really well (despite the two shots). Her doctor reassured me that we had dodged a bullet — he said most of the babies he’s seen with RSV this year had to be admitted to the hospital. Coraline weighed in at 15.9 pounds, having lost a little weight while sick, and measured 25 1/2 inches long. She’s essentially in the 50th percentile across the board. There’s something to be said for having a healthy, perfectly average-sized baby.

Hello, Insomnia My Old Friend
My insomnia’s back. Thanks to having had a sick baby, recovering from and fighting off more illness myself, trying to resolve our leaky roof issue (we’re thisclose to a new roof!), and some serious personal crap, I’m sleeping less and less each night. Even with Coraline now healthy (and myself), worrying about her really took a toll on me. Add to that the other stressors I’ve been dealing with on a daily basis and I’m back to not being able to quiet my mind when I need to sleep. Most nights I can fall asleep pretty easily; I just can’t stay asleep. At this point I’m certain that if the stress doesn’t kill me, the exhaustion will.

The Roof Over Our Head
We’ve been dealing with a leaky roof for some time now. Personally, I’ve grown quite fond of the living room rain bucket. It adds a certain je ne sais quoi to our decor. And when we’ve moved it on good, dry-weather days, our cat Finn has enjoyed playing slip and slide on the towel the bucket sits on; she’s gotten quite good at sliding halfway across the living room on that towel. Well, we finally had the roofer we like come out and give us an estimate on just doing a repair on the leaky part over the living room. When our insurance company sent out an adjuster to substantiate our claim for the repair, she ended up looking over our whole roof and declaring that it was in serious need of repair and that insurance would be covering some of it (ha — I made a pun!). So instead of just getting a much-needed repair, we’ll be getting a much-needed new roof. Thank God for insurance, right?


Timothy Olyphant Is Hot
I’m finally catching up on all the episodes of Justified I have on our DVR. Not only is it a great show (you were right, Frank), but Timothy Olyphant is really easy on the eyes. That is all.


My Husband Rocks
If it weren’t for Rich, I really don’t know how I would’ve made it through some of the stuff we’ve gone through as a family recently. He’s been my rock through it all, and for that I am eternally grateful. Add in the fact that he’s an amazing father to Miss Baby, and that makes me one seriously lucky woman.

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March 22, 2011 · 10:01 PM

Dear Coraline: Month 6

Dear Coraline,

As of 1AM this morning, you turned six months old. I can’t believe you’re already half a year old (and yes, I’m already thinking about your first birthday party). You weigh about 16 pounds and fit well in clothes sized six months, although there are some three month outfits you can still wear. You’re also now in size 3 diapers (as of day 170), which look a bit big on you but fit well, which is what matters.

You now sleep through the night pretty much every night — and for that your poppa and I thank you — sleeping anywhere from 8 1/2 to 11 hours straight depending on how your day went and how tired you are. Your bedtime averages right around 8 o’clock, but some nights you’ll go to bed as early as 7:30 or as late as 9. You primarily sleep on your stomach and still enjoy sucking on your thumb when drowsy. And you always flash us the most awesome smile first thing in the morning — you’re such a happy morning baby that if you didn’t look just like your poppa and have my eyes, we wouldn’t believe you were ours. (Mommy and Poppa don’t do mornings.) You’re happy every morning, even when you have a bad night, like night 156 when we suspect you had teething pain.

And, yes, I’m still counting by the day. On day 154, you laughed spontaneously for the first time. What made you laugh? Our dog Caleb walking toward you. You held out your arms for him and he walked right into them. That’s another thing — you’re already an animal lover. You giggle and smile at all our cats and dogs and enjoy petting them all, but Caleb seems to be your favorite. Maybe because he not only loves being petted by you but because he smiles back at you, too. (You’re even good at scratching his funny spot that makes his hind leg kick.) He also loves to kiss you, especially on the face. You don’t mind it, but your poppa and I do.

You now definitely seem to have favorite toys. At the top of that short list is your pink glow seahorse, which lives in your crib. You love it so much you even figured out how to press its belly to make the music play (night 158); you now turn it on whenever you need comforting and love to sleep snuggled up against it. You’re also now excited when you see your bottle — you know it’s time to eat and eagerly reach out to grab it. On night 163, while your poppa was giving you your bedtime bottle, you reached out and held it on your own. He was so proud of you and couldn’t wait to tell me what you’d done.

This has turned out to be your worst month health-wise since you were less than a month old. On day 161, you were sniffly and fussy; that’s the first time I remember you truly reaching out for me to pick you up from your exersaucer. You got over that little cold in about a day. On a recent Saturday, you developed the sniffles again. By the next day (day 171), you were full-on miserable, coughing so much you threw up a whole bottle’s worth on me. That was also the day your poppa assembled the high chair we bought you, which you enjoyed sitting in despite feeling so awful. We monitored your symptoms closely until that Wednesday morning (day 174) when you woke up with a noticeable rasp and wheezing. We whisked you to the doctor, where you were diagnosed with RSV and croup and prescribed a nebulizer for breathing treatments. Proving once again that you have a very sweet personality, the doctors called you a “happy wheezer” at your recheck that Friday since you were all smiles for the whole staff. You’re finally feeling better and yesterday (day 180) at your recheck the doctor said your lungs were clear as a bell and that we could stop with the nebulizer treatments.

First St. Patrick’s Day (day 175)

You’re so close to sitting up by yourself. You do really well with a bit of support from me or your poppa. During a bath (day 177), you managed to hold on to the sides of your tub and sit up on your own for the first time, which was awesome to see. You are also close to crawling. You do what we call “inchworming,” where you’ll basically shimmy on your tummy until you get to where you want to be. Between you rolling over and inchworming, you can move very quickly in the blink of an eye. As of yesterday you developed a fondness for gravitating to my work laptop, which you like to smack on the keyboard, proving you are indeed your father’s daughter.

I absolutely love how happy you are all the time (even when sick), how quick you are to smile, and the sweet way you’ve started cupping my cheek with your little hands when I’m feeding you or holding you close. Sometimes you even reach out to grab my nose while you’re eating. You also now stroke and pull on your poppa’s beard, which he loves. It’s the little things like that that make my love for you grow stronger every day — the increasing ways in which you interact with and respond to us. Soon you’ll be hugging us back, something I can’t wait to experience. Not that I’m in a rush for you to grow up. You’re still my sweet little baby and I intend to cherish every little moment with you that I can, and I am so proud to be your mommy. Here’s to a fun month seven. 

love,
Mommy

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March 21, 2011 · 6:02 PM

Baby on the Hookah

Song Lyric of the Day:
Be my friend / Hold me, wrap me up / Unfold me / I am small / I’m needy / Warm me up / And breathe me

Sia / “Breathe Me“

What a day. What a weekend. Having a sick baby is no fun. At least now I think Coraline is finally starting to feel better. Today is the best she’s sounded since last Tuesday, before she woke with that rasping/wheezing in her chest Wednesday morning. I’ve been working from home every day since then to administer her nebulizer treatments (Rich worked from home Thursday and Friday to help). I’m actually taking tomorrow off to take her back to the doctor for a second recheck, deal with a few things that need to be taken care of, and get some of my shit together — well, in between her napping, that is.

As for the nebulizer, since I can’t help but inhale the mist when I’m holding it for Coraline to breathe in, it’s actually cleared up some of my sinus problems. Pretty nice side effect. Of course, from certain angles, you’d think Coraline was puffing on some sort of baby hookah pipe. But maybe that’s just me.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Yeah, it’s probably just me.

I could tell she was starting to feel better today not only by how she sounded but by the fact that whenever she was awake, she’d inchworm her way over to my work laptop and either try to hit the keyboard with her hands or try to eat it with her two teeth.

Yummy!

Here’s hoping tomorrow the doctor says her lungs are nice and clear.

I’m helping.

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March 17, 2011 · 4:00 PM

All Work and No Fried Food Make Pattie a Dull Girl

Song Lyric of the Day:

Prepare a meal I can make / Sing funny songs / While it’s in the oven / Then take a bath with bubbles

I’m a recovering Catholic. I haven’t been to a Catholic mass in years, although I have been to other church services since (Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, Unitarian Universalist) for various reasons. And while I’m not actively practicing Catholicism anymore, in recent years I’ve found myself giving something up for Lent. Turns out you can take the girl out of the church …

In recent years I’ve found myself sacrificing something for Lent not necessarily out of a religious need (OK, a little, but not a lot) but more to practice some self-discipline and sacrifice. I’ve given up fried chicken (which I LOVE), soda, and swearing (which was far harder than I expected), among other things. This year I decided to go one step further and really hit myself where it hurts: I’ve given up deep-fried food. And let me just say, it has not been easy. In addition to the obvious stuff like fried chicken and French fries, I can’t eat my beloved kettle-cooked potato chips, donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts, even the complimentary tortilla chips at Mexican restaurants, to say nothing of my beloved fried chicken chimichangas (or taquitos for that matter). I knew I ate a lot of fried food, but I had no idea exactly how many things are deep-fried until I started asking, like hard taco shells (which I thought were baked) and my favorite restaurant shrimp dish, which I thought was pan-sauteed. Nope — turns out they’re deep-fried, too.


So why go with deep-fried food? Because not only am I a little thicker around the middle than I like these days, but I have a certain little someone in my life who is going to start eating solid foods in the very near future. And I have to set a good example for her. Which just might kill me, but that’s what being a parent is about, right? Setting a good example no matter how much it sucks. Now, if I don’t lose any weight after the 40 days are over, well, then I just might have to kill someone myself. Time — and exercise — will tell.

Coraline’s high chair awaits her.


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March 16, 2011 · 7:23 PM

Learning to Trust My Mothering Instincts

Song Lyric of the Day:

The devil ain’t lazy, no siree / The devil ain’t lazy, no siree / He likes to see us fight and fuss / Makes us mean enough to cuss / And then he blames it all on us / He works 24 hours a day

As I wrote the other day, Coraline’s been sick. We thought she had a cold, like she’s had — and kicked — before. She seemed to be getting better yesterday, but this morning when I got her up not only was she still coughing, but I noticed a raspy/wheezy sound to her breathing that wasn’t there before. As soon as I heard her, my gut told me I needed to call the doctor ASAP. I got her in for an afternoon appointment, fully prepared to be diagnosed with Newmommyitis. After all, the other day I almost convinced myself that she was developing pneumonia. To say that I’m paranoid about her being/getting sick is an understatement, one I imagine I share with most new parents.

Well, it turned out to be a good thing that we took her in (Rich left work to meet us there). The doctor examined her, finding that her lungs were clear and that she did not have an ear infection. Her RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) test, however, came back positive and the doctor diagnosed her cough as croup, to boot. The poor kid is miserable, with a runny nose, horrible congestion, and a hacking cough. She is now on Prednisolone to clear up the inflammation around her vocal cords (which is what causes croup — news to me). Her doctor said with RSV you usually get worse before you get better, and he suspects that Coraline is in that downswing right now. We have a recheck on Friday to see how she’s doing. She’s under orders to not go anywhere for the next couple of days, so I’ll be working from home tomorrow and Friday to take care of her; Rich also arranged to work from home the next couple of days so I don’t have to manage Sick Baby Duty by myself. We’re very fortunate that our jobs can accommodate this type of situation (not to mention our bosses’ support). Now to get Miss Baby back to 100 percent …

As for me, I’m not only happy and relieved to know that Coraline will be okay, but that I wasn’t being overly paranoid (Rich was also very concerned, just not as paranoid as I was). In this case my paranoia/concern turned out to be legit. I was validated for being worried, so I’m really glad that I trusted my instincts and got her in before she got even worse. Seems I’ll get the hang of this whole motherhood thing yet. Now to get to bed. It’s been a long day.

“I’m sick?! You’re joking!” (173 days old, 3/15/11)

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March 15, 2011 · 6:00 AM

Sick Baby

Song Lyric of the Day:

Hospital food / It’s gonna help the medicine go down / Want some hospital food

Heads up: This post is going to contain lots of references to baby vomit, enough to make up a drinking game. Consider yourselves warned.


Having a sick baby is no fun: They’re too little to medicate without a doctor’s input and they can’t tell you exactly what’s wrong. The past couple of days were bad ones for Coraline. She started out with the sniffles on Saturday and by Sunday was really congested with a runny nose, a hacking cough, and absolutely miserable. A saving grace: She did not have a fever. Sunday was a lonnng day of trying to keep her as comfortable as possible — she was whiny and cried inconsolably most of the day, she felt so bad. No sooner had I given her a six-ounce bottle than bleeecccccccchhhhhhhhhh I was wearing it. All of it — she didn’t keep any of that bottle down. (Being on the receiving end made me think of that vomiting scene in Family Guy.) That’s when I started to panic. After changing her and getting out of my now-soggy clothes, I hopped online to look up symptoms of pneumonia in infants. Thankfully, she didn’t have the big symptoms: lethargy, fever, and weakness. She was still active, had a normal temperature, and was as strong as she always is. Coraline even got to feeling better after vomiting, albeit temporarily, it turned out. The vomiting was definitely a flag, though, so Rich and I agreed we’d take her to Children’s Hospital if she vomited like that again; we couldn’t risk her getting dehydrated. She managed to keep her next bottle down in its entirety. She only spit up a little during her overnight feeding (which I handled; I’m lucky that way), but nowhere near the amount she did that afternoon. I did have to change shirts again, though.

She looked better yesterday morning when we woke her up. When I called my mom, who keeps Coraline while we’re at work, to check up on her, the news was good: Coraline had a normal temperature, hadn’t vomited, was playing with her toys, and was trying to watch TV (she is my daughter, after all). Last night at home went pretty well, with her even feeling up to doing her best jumping bean impression in her exersaucer. Here’s hoping she finishes kicking this bug to the curb soon.

Not feeling too shabby on Saturday.
Not feeling so great on Sunday.
On her way to feeling a bit better on Monday.

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March 3, 2011 · 10:45 AM

The Beauty of Sleep

Song Lyric of the Day:

And now It’s always good / I fell asleep from day / And all the promises

Chemical Brothers featuring Hope Sandoval / “Asleep From Day“

When Coraline was first born, she didn’t sleep well. It seemed like she actively tried to sleep as little as possible overnight. Of course, newborns can’t tell night from day, but still. No sooner had I finished nursing her than she’d wake up again in 20 minutes wanting to be fed again. And 20 minutes after that. And so on. Needless to say, this did not sit well with my former insomniac self. Bad late-night TV only got me so far.

Snug as a bug in the hospital.

A few months in (three, I think), she finally started sleeping for four-hour stretches. Me being me, this first time this happened I woke up in a panic thinking something was wrong. By then I was so used to being woken up by her that when she didn’t wake me up, I still woke up. So I still wasn’t sleeping well, keeping my bat-like hearing on high alert for even the smallest peep from her. Seriously — I used to wake up in our ranch house in Virginia from the cats walking on the carpet. In the living room. Bat. Like. Hearing.


Swaddle Pod!

And on she slept. She could finally tell night from day and soon started sleeping up to six hours at a time. But she did her best to average four.

No Swaddle Pod can hold my arm in!

Coraline really started sleeping well once she graduated from her bassinet to her crib at the start of this year. I think the combination of more space and a firm mattress made the difference. Or else Rich and I were snoring while she was in the bassinet in our room and she relished the peace and quiet her very own room afforded her. (I admit: I tend to shout/chirp/mumble in my sleep. The spouse loves that habit of mine. LOVES it. I’ll bet Coraline loved it, too.)

All this room, this firm mattress — so luxurious!

No more swaddling, no more bassinet. Just a sleep sack and a big crib. Soon, even longer stretches of sleep followed. And finally, a couple of days before she turned five months old, the magical proverbial switch flipped: She now sleeps through the night, going to bed for the night between 8 and 8:30.

Sucking her thumb while she sleeps on her tummy.

And yet her mommy still sleeps with both her ears open.

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March 2, 2011 · 2:00 PM

Tinkering

Song Lyric of the Day:
 
Ch-ch-Changes / Just gonna have to be a different man / Time may change me / But I can’t trace time
 

I’ve been messing with my blog layout a bit. I’ve added pages for About Me, Blogroll, and Books. That last one is mostly to motivate myself to read more. The most reading I get done these days is when I pump at work. Go figure.

I’ve also finally gotten around to renaming it to iPattie, formerly Pattie’s Pop Culture Paradise. Revolutionary new name, I know (that’s sarcasm). It’s simple, but I like it. I’ll continue blogging about TV, movies, and, of course, music, but I felt like changing my blog’s name to something more all-encompassing. So iPattie it is.

Now to change the URL. Which leads me to go and beg my web designer husband to work his magic behind the scenes.

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March 1, 2011 · 9:00 AM

Now With More Coraline!

Song Lyric of the Day:


Cause I have other things to fill my time / You take what is yours and I’ll take mine / Now let me at the truth / Which will refresh my broken mind


Mumford & Sons / “The Cave“

Turns out people like reading about babies. Turns out some people even like reading about my baby. So from now on I’m going to try to blog a bit more about what it’s like to be a first-time mom to an awesome baby (if I say so myself). I’ve held back a bit (okay, a lot) because, well, I’ve been busy doing my best just to parent her. That’s pretty time-consuming, you know. (I have no idea how professional mommybloggers find the time. No. Idea.) But now that we’re settling into a good evening routine, I have more time to blog. And by good evening routine, I mean the magical switch has finally been flipped and Miss Baby now sleeps through the night. We’ve now got eight magical nights under our belts. Funny, you adapt to getting up however many times a night your baby needs you so you forget how incredibly AWESOME it is to sleep through the night. Although if you have bat-like hearing like I do, you still wake up more than you need to. But I digress.

I’ve also finally, FINALLY started uploading some of the hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds and hundreds) of photos I’ve taken of Coraline to my Flickr account. In addition to all the random, candid shots I take of her playing and discovering things, I have been taking at least one photo of her every day since she was born to document how her face has changed. I’ve managed to miss maybe six or seven days, but considering she’s now 159 days old, that’s not too shabby.

So until I write more in depth about Coraline, I leave you with the cuteness that is the center of my life now. This kid rocks my world.

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