Audra had a great sleep schedule. She was going to bed around 7-8pm and waking up about 7-8am.
Then, two nights ago, at 1am, she screamed.
She was letting us know that she had obtained her first cold.
There was not much sleep for any us for the remainder of that night.
Last night, Carolyn and Audra slept on the couch. I slept alone in bed. I stayed on my own side. I had no opposition to my efforts to wrap all the sheets, blankets, comforters, and a random shirt left on the bed around my person.
I hope I go home from work today to find a healthy baby. I want my opposition back.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Jack Daniel's Special Oak Reserve
Yesterday was Thanksgiving, an American holiday that supposedly celebrates the blessings we have received. It's loosely based on the Puritans surviving with the aid of the Native Americans. When they finally had food, they feasted together. The conquering by force of those helpful Natives came later. God bless America.
Most Americans who can afford to still celebrate the holiday with a feast. We didn't have any Native Americans at our feast, though we live in Indian Territory. I don't know how my family would have reacted if I had chosen to invite some Natives. I have a lot of friends who have some Native blood, but I only have a few with pure Native blood.
What does all of this have to do with Audra?
And what does whiskey have to do with Audra?
Certain members of my family chose, as they have chosen many times before, to give us advice on raising Audra. I expect this from grandparents and great-grandparents. Audra's grandparents (on both sides) have been quite reasonable with dispensation of advice. They offer it as a series of suggestions, coupled with anecdotes about raising us.
Audra's great-grandparents on Carolyn's side are pretty low key with advice. Her father's mom is especially funny, because her attitude is sort of, "I haven't raised babies in a long time, so what do I know?"
Back to my family, with whom we spent the holiday.
My grandparents on my father's side were in attendance. They talk often about how intelligent and educated Carolyn and I are. They talk about how we are more intelligent than they. We are more intelligent until we disagree with their unasked for advice.
My dad has one sister, my Aunt Robin. Robin is his younger sister and, though she is in her 40's, acts like a teenager, until the topic of children comes up. On this she is an expert. She is an expert, because she has 3 maladjusted children. Her older son, 17, often refuses to visit her on her weekends (joint custody...). The other 2 live with her, a 16 year-old boy and a 12 year-old girl. The 16 year-old boy is actually doing fine, but it is as a reaction against his mother. He escapes his family life with the aid of fiction. He does well in school. He has his life planned out. He wants to get away, to have a life vastly different than that he has been given. The girl is only a young version of her mother. Some in the family are worried, because she is dating a 16 year-old, whom she says would never try to take advantage of her.
Fending off advances from Robin's advice or my grandparents individually isn't too difficult. But yesterday they joined forces to tell us we must put whiskey on Audra's gums. That is the ONLY way to make it through teething. She has been teething for a couple of months now, and I'm the only one who has had any whiskey. It wasn't her teething that drove me to the whiskey. I was just thirsty.
I understand that my grandparents had few options for relief of pain, so I can write off their suggestion of whiskey as a consequence of generational gap. Robin got in my face and yelled at me about the whiskey. Had she merely told me that she used it with her children and it worked fine for her, I could have said, "Thank you, but Carolyn and I have chosen not to use that method of treatment." Had she not berated me and insulted my intelligence and decision making ability, I probably wouldn't be upset.
My wife and I have many choices to make as we raise Audra. We want to have the counsel of those who have gone before us, but the choices are still ours. We are her parents. So we are choosing not to use whiskey as an analgesic, and we are choosing not to allow her to date 16 year-olds (ever) ;-)
Most Americans who can afford to still celebrate the holiday with a feast. We didn't have any Native Americans at our feast, though we live in Indian Territory. I don't know how my family would have reacted if I had chosen to invite some Natives. I have a lot of friends who have some Native blood, but I only have a few with pure Native blood.
What does all of this have to do with Audra?
And what does whiskey have to do with Audra?
Certain members of my family chose, as they have chosen many times before, to give us advice on raising Audra. I expect this from grandparents and great-grandparents. Audra's grandparents (on both sides) have been quite reasonable with dispensation of advice. They offer it as a series of suggestions, coupled with anecdotes about raising us.
Audra's great-grandparents on Carolyn's side are pretty low key with advice. Her father's mom is especially funny, because her attitude is sort of, "I haven't raised babies in a long time, so what do I know?"
Back to my family, with whom we spent the holiday.
My grandparents on my father's side were in attendance. They talk often about how intelligent and educated Carolyn and I are. They talk about how we are more intelligent than they. We are more intelligent until we disagree with their unasked for advice.
My dad has one sister, my Aunt Robin. Robin is his younger sister and, though she is in her 40's, acts like a teenager, until the topic of children comes up. On this she is an expert. She is an expert, because she has 3 maladjusted children. Her older son, 17, often refuses to visit her on her weekends (joint custody...). The other 2 live with her, a 16 year-old boy and a 12 year-old girl. The 16 year-old boy is actually doing fine, but it is as a reaction against his mother. He escapes his family life with the aid of fiction. He does well in school. He has his life planned out. He wants to get away, to have a life vastly different than that he has been given. The girl is only a young version of her mother. Some in the family are worried, because she is dating a 16 year-old, whom she says would never try to take advantage of her.
Fending off advances from Robin's advice or my grandparents individually isn't too difficult. But yesterday they joined forces to tell us we must put whiskey on Audra's gums. That is the ONLY way to make it through teething. She has been teething for a couple of months now, and I'm the only one who has had any whiskey. It wasn't her teething that drove me to the whiskey. I was just thirsty.
I understand that my grandparents had few options for relief of pain, so I can write off their suggestion of whiskey as a consequence of generational gap. Robin got in my face and yelled at me about the whiskey. Had she merely told me that she used it with her children and it worked fine for her, I could have said, "Thank you, but Carolyn and I have chosen not to use that method of treatment." Had she not berated me and insulted my intelligence and decision making ability, I probably wouldn't be upset.
My wife and I have many choices to make as we raise Audra. We want to have the counsel of those who have gone before us, but the choices are still ours. We are her parents. So we are choosing not to use whiskey as an analgesic, and we are choosing not to allow her to date 16 year-olds (ever) ;-)
Daddy Weiss
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tooth Monster
The Tooth Fairy is a familiar figure in the lore of raising children. She shows up after a child loses a tooth, takes the tooth, and gives the child some sort of reward. My parents' relationship with her gained me small sums of currency. My grandparents must have been better friends with her, because I was rewarded more substantially when I lost a tooth while on holiday.
Before I became a parent, I assumed that teeth came naturally, as part of the growing process. I now know the truth. They are delivered by the Tooth Monster. The delivery does not occur immediately, as the trade with the Tooth Fairy does. The Tooth Monster lingers, invisible, slowly pushing the teeth, one at a time, through tender baby gums. He pushes them up randomly, so the gums can hurt in several places. His precision in applying pain to children is remarkable in its craftiness. Would that I had enemies that deserved such pain, I would seek to hire him. But no one deserves this. No one deserves weeks of inconsolable crying (and screaming). No one deserves a pain induced fever. No baby can deserve having to look at a parent who looks so lost and desperate while trying to offer consolation.
The first tooth has just come through. I hope the others follow quickly and with less pain. Or I will find that Tooth Monster, and that will be the end of him.
Before I became a parent, I assumed that teeth came naturally, as part of the growing process. I now know the truth. They are delivered by the Tooth Monster. The delivery does not occur immediately, as the trade with the Tooth Fairy does. The Tooth Monster lingers, invisible, slowly pushing the teeth, one at a time, through tender baby gums. He pushes them up randomly, so the gums can hurt in several places. His precision in applying pain to children is remarkable in its craftiness. Would that I had enemies that deserved such pain, I would seek to hire him. But no one deserves this. No one deserves weeks of inconsolable crying (and screaming). No one deserves a pain induced fever. No baby can deserve having to look at a parent who looks so lost and desperate while trying to offer consolation.
The first tooth has just come through. I hope the others follow quickly and with less pain. Or I will find that Tooth Monster, and that will be the end of him.
Daddy Weiss
Diaper Butt
In one of our many attempts to be an environmentally friendly household we have chosen to use cloth diapers. I know several people who think cloth diapers are gross and several who picture lots of folding and pinning and complications that accompany cloth diapers. Today there are lots of options for cloth diapers. We primarily use the Bum Genius 3.0, though Grammy recently got some new bamboo diapers for Audra.
These cloth diapers exacerbate the usual symptoms of diaper butt. Taking a one size fits all diaper and adjusting it to fit my beautiful five-month old and you have LOTS of bulk around her little tush. When you take it off there is a itsy-bitsy perfect little baby butt, but as soon as I put it on she has to go up a pant size to contain her diaper butt.
Every day I'm struck my the humor of it all. Audra holds her giant diaper butt up in the air as her chubby little legs squirm and learn to crawl, as her tiny toes wiggle and push off of the ground or the couch, as her tiny fingers grasp at toys and at my face and as her beautiful round little face grows excited as she learns all about the world around her.
These cloth diapers exacerbate the usual symptoms of diaper butt. Taking a one size fits all diaper and adjusting it to fit my beautiful five-month old and you have LOTS of bulk around her little tush. When you take it off there is a itsy-bitsy perfect little baby butt, but as soon as I put it on she has to go up a pant size to contain her diaper butt.
Every day I'm struck my the humor of it all. Audra holds her giant diaper butt up in the air as her chubby little legs squirm and learn to crawl, as her tiny toes wiggle and push off of the ground or the couch, as her tiny fingers grasp at toys and at my face and as her beautiful round little face grows excited as she learns all about the world around her.
Mommy Weiss
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
31 Weeks
I keep telling myself that I should write in this blog while I'm still pregnant, but I keep finding other things to occupy my time. Things like making a bassinet cover and diaper bag or shopping for a travel system. Visiting family and attending baby showers.
We've reached the point where I wish sleep were one of the things I was doing, but that's difficult to do anymore. I find it difficult to get comfortable and we won't discuss how many times a night I have to get up to go to the bathroom or sit up to relieve my heartburn.
I don't want it to sound like I'm not enjoying being pregnant. I am. I love feeling the baby wiggle and move. Some of my favourite moments have been sitting with Randall as he plays with and talks to the baby. He/She is getting big enough that I can distinguish hands and feet pushing from the inside out. The baby can react to pressure on my tummy. Randall will put a couple of fingers against my torso and the baby will push back with a hand or foot. He says it feels weird, but he always gets an adoring and amazed smile on his face. It's so cute. I'm so excited about our little family.
Well, 62 days to go...theoretically.
We've reached the point where I wish sleep were one of the things I was doing, but that's difficult to do anymore. I find it difficult to get comfortable and we won't discuss how many times a night I have to get up to go to the bathroom or sit up to relieve my heartburn.
I don't want it to sound like I'm not enjoying being pregnant. I am. I love feeling the baby wiggle and move. Some of my favourite moments have been sitting with Randall as he plays with and talks to the baby. He/She is getting big enough that I can distinguish hands and feet pushing from the inside out. The baby can react to pressure on my tummy. Randall will put a couple of fingers against my torso and the baby will push back with a hand or foot. He says it feels weird, but he always gets an adoring and amazed smile on his face. It's so cute. I'm so excited about our little family.
Well, 62 days to go...theoretically.
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