Traffic for 2007 April

(1) Mon Apr 02 2007 12:26 PST Deep Thoughts by John Chadwick: As I feed my little sweetest at 5 am, my mind considers what my daughter's mind considers. First, does she remember the womb anymore? And if so, does she miss it? I can't imagine she would; after all, Susie and I are wrapped around her little finger. But then again, that was the epitome of the simple life.

Second, does Maggie understand that she won't always be so small and dependent? Or does she think that this is the status quo?

I took work off today to get my daughter ready for life: she now has a social security number, a gmail account, an ING money market college fund (hope she'll use it responsibly), and a birth certificate. Gotta love sitting in a government office lobby for 30 minutes just to pay $17 to get a piece of paper proving that Maggie is alive.

Things left to do include preparing a will. I feel too young to write a will, but I suppose it's necessary. I wonder how that all works? Can I write my own and just get it notarized? After watching my in-laws dealing with a lawyer to sell the house, I'm so not interested in using a lawyer. Also on the list: get a life insurance policy. I have a small one (group term) at work, but I think it'll take more than that to raise my little sugar beet.

Next on the list for the day, however: enjoy my bugaboo!

(1) Sun Apr 08 2007 07:42 PST So Spoiled: Such a great Easter weekend. I decided it was high time that we had an easter hunt of our own. I hid about 15 eggs and a few presents. Susie had a really tough time finding everything, even the obvious stuff. But eventually she found lots of candy. I also got her a DVD and an iTunes giftcard, though I've reserved a few dollars on the giftcard for some Rascal Flats music.

But even more important are the presents from the Beet. She has been such an angel lately. She never fusses. Sat morning after our 5 am feeding she was wide awake, but she still let me put her down. I think she entertained herself in her crib for a full hour before going back to sleep, but at least she let Susie & I have peace. Then this morning she didn't wake me up until 6:30! By then, I'd already slept over 8 hours, so I'm the earlybird today. What a good girl we have. I'm thoroughly enjoying my weekend home.

(5) Sun Apr 15 2007 16:47 PST Finish Line: I have officially survived the busy season...NOT! Even though today is the 15th, the government has extended its filing deadline until the 17th. Grr. I couldn't even enjoy the weekend.

Susie & I had some Amazon $$ to spend on behalf of the Beet, so we racked our brains this weekend thinking of kids books we liked as children. We came up with Graeme Base's "The Eleventh Hour" & got 8 Bernstein Bear books (it was buy 3 get 1 free), and finished off with "Hop on Pop," one of the few Dr. Seuss books we didn't inherit. I loved Bernstein Bears as a kid, but Susie didn't seem at all interested in them.

We went to church with the Beet for two hours today: sacrament meeting & ward choir practice. Only two people showed up to ward choir, so that was kind of a bust of our time. The Beet was extremely well-behaved until 10 minutes before the meeting ended, when she awoke quite hungry. I had to play the closing song so I handed her off to Susie to give her the bottle in the lobby. I could hear her screaming in the lobby the whole time. I was so distracted I missed my cue for the closing hymn.

Maggie didn't want a bottle from Susie, as that is my job. But Susie couldn't play the closing hymn, so there you have it. Church wouldn't be so bad if it weren't riddled with service requirements accompanying the baby-ness. Luckily, we don't have to go back to Priimary until June.

I feel like I am judged in church by how well my baby behaves. Which probably explains why all the young couples with children sit on the back rows. But it's hard to play the organ at the front of the chapel and take care of a baby on the back row of the chapel. Eventually, we'll get the hang of it. Until then, heaven help us.

Still planning on taking the Beet to meet the Chadwicks for Mother's Day, and to meet the Richardson's for Memorial Day. Good thing she (mostly) likes her car seat!

(3) Mon Apr 16 2007 09:44 PST Success?: Last night I woke up at 3 am panicking. Maggie hadn't eaten since 8:30 pm. I thought, well, maybe this is good. She is sleeping through the night now. But then I thought, no, this isn't good. I don't think 5 week-olds are supposed to sleep through the night.

I went to go wake her for a bottle, and decided that before I did I had better check the roster. Apparently she had eaten at 12:30 am, right on schedule. And I didn't hear her cry, didn't her Susie even get up. Wow. I slept right through it. Cool. But what if I start sleeping through my feeding times, (which was at 5:00 am, right on schedule)?

Also, I fed and burped Maggie and changed her diaper in half an hour last night! Usually it takes me 45-60 minutes to do all that. Way to go baby!

(4) Thu Apr 19 2007 17:37 PST Validation: Maggie had her six-week check-up today. She gained two more pounds, and is in the 50th percentile on all the baby comparison tests. This is a very good feeling.

The bad feeling is abandonment. I went to work today and left her to fend for herself through 5 shots! I'm told she survived, but is covered in band-aids. Time to go home and spoil her!

(4) Sat Apr 21 2007 08:23 PST Moving On: Susie & I have decided that enough bad customer service is enough. We've canceled our Netflix subscription and are getting cable! My night job is basically to allow a baby to sleep on me for two hours every night on the couch. Not near me. On me. She sleeps independently in the nursery all night so I won't complain. But it's hard to read a book with her on me (it really makes the arms sore to hold it up high over her). And the network teevee ain't cutting it. For starters, the rabbit ears give horrible reception. And secondly, there is NOTHING on network teevee worth watching, except for Lost. And we watch it online anyway so that if the Beet interrupts we won't miss anything. At the recommendation of many friends, family, and coworkers, I watched about 10 minutes of that Samba with the Stars show. I thought it was pretty dumb.

So now I can have a lot more channels with nothing on them! At least channel surfing will occupy the two hours. It doesn't take long when you only have 5 stations, but will be a lengthy process now. I can't believe we went two years without telly. But before the Beet we were a lot more active I suppose.

It's nice to have busy season behind me. This Tuesday my work is paying for me to go to Club 33 for lunch. And that means I get a full day Disneyland & CA Adventure pass! And then Susie and the Beet get to come with me there on June 2. I haven't been near Disney since our tickets expired 9 months ago; I'm excited to go back. And I'll get to go on Space Mountain and California Screamin with The Red Hot Chili Peppers to boot!

Maggie's still proving to be a doll. She sleeps really good at night, and she smiles a ton. My only complaint is the spitting up. Luckily, I don't own fancy clothes so I really don't care when she does it. I just change my shirt. She must be hands down the most spoiled thing on the planet. And she knows it.

Sat Apr 28 2007 16:02 PST I've Been Replaced: I finally made it to Costco today by going first thing this morning. The lines and the gas station there and inside the place are so crazy that I've been avoiding going for weeks now. I bought batteries for Maggie's bouncer and her swing. She just sits in that swing all day now. Every time I go in to check on her and say hi she pretends to be asleep. She doesn't need me to hold her anymore. This is probably a good thing, but I miss my snuggle time.

(3) Mon Apr 30 2007 12:05 PST Between a Rock & a Hard Bench: Yesterday was Susie's big return to organ playing. Which meant I had to watch the bug. She slept through all of sacrament meeting, at the expense of my body. I didn't date put her down because I didn't want her to wail. But those LDS pews are soooo uncomfortable I thought my body was going to give out on me. I suppose they are made uncomfortable on purpose to keep the masses awake. It didn't work; she slept through the whole thing.

She dutifully took a bottle during Sunday School and smiled at me on my lap the rest of class. I then changed her diaper in that Koala thing hanging on the wall in the men's room. Once again, she hated that big plastic monstrosity. Just looking at her in it made me uncomfortable.

We survived the Sunday, but she owes me.