October 31st, 2007
For the first week of Emory’s life he slept in the crib in his bedroom. It’s a nice crib. We purchased an expensive organic mattress and some breathable bumpers to go with it. I put him down at night, turned on the baby monitor, and we’d settle in as well.
And then something happened. And that something is called the Pack ‘N Play.
A week after we brought Emory home, my mother had the awesome idea of putting together the Pack ‘N Play so we could have an uninterrupted meal with Emory nearby. TobyJoe put it together, including the top bassinet for smaller creatures. That was the end of Emory sleeping in his crib.
Emory has been sleeping in the Pack ‘N Play ever since, a wheeled piece of furniture we like to call “The Baby Mobile”. And for 11 weeks it has been stationed not inches away from my head at night. (The picture below was taken right after he was born.)
I never let him spend too much time in The Baby Mobile during the day because I have this theory (based on no scientific evidence whatsoever) that if I save sleep routines for sleep, my baby will “get it” whenever it comes time to do just that. For example, we never swaddled him unless he was going to bed at night. And we never put him in The Baby Mobile for very long during the day.
Emory weighed 12 pounds, 3 ounces at his last pediatric appointment. It was at that point I realized that we were running out of time. You see, The Baby Mobile’s top bassinet feature has a cap of 15 pounds. And at the rate Emory’s growing, I know we are quickly approaching the day he’ll outgrow the bassinet. So we decided to make the transition now. What I didn’t know was how hard it was going to be for me to let him go.
On Monday night Emory returned to his crib. Which means I no longer get to listen to his farts live. Instead, they are broadcast over a small speaker that dangles next to my head. And that’s so sad, amplified farts. No one should have to live this way.
He’s been OK about it. I usually have to rock him to sleep. (That happened only rarely before.) And putting him down doesn’t usually take the first time. And he doesn’t yet sleep through the night. (He was closer to doing that whenever he slept in The Baby Mobile. I think I threw him off with this whole crib switch.) But I can deal with that. I’m OK with getting up at night. The thing is, ever since he moved out of The Baby Mobile and into the crib I’ve been having pretty horrible nightmares. And I wake up in a cold sweat. If you’d call it “waking up” at all because I’m convinced I never actually fall to sleep anymore, which is probably why I now remember all of my dreams and nightmares.
But my question isn’t about the nightmares or how to make him sleep through the night. My question is if I’m suffering from separation anxiety and he’s only in the next room how the hell am I going to deal with being away from him for a whole 24-hours when we attend The Barbarian Group Christmas party in Boston this year and he stays with my mother? And what will happen whenever he goes off to preschool or kindergarten? And, oh my god, college? This is why people have more kids, isn’t it.
What am I going to do when he grows up?
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October 30th, 2007
TobyJoe and I have done some stupid things in our time. We picked up and moved to San Francisco (a place neither one of us had ever been before) for a job that ended up sucking. There was the time we played pool for 9 hours and drank at least a 12-pack of beer apiece. The next morning was the stupidest part of all. (Thank God those days are behind us.) We both signed up to run the NYC Marathon 6 months before the actual event without having much of a foundation at all. My right knee still hasn’t healed entirely and his running career came to an end because of it. We’ve made some dumb decisions over the years.
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October 29th, 2007
If you’ve been reading this Web site for a while you probably already know that I don’t hold too much back. I will write about almost anything personal, the more self-depricating the better. I like to admit to the ridiculous and embarrassing things I did as a kid, like this. I even posted a story I wrote as a kid, a story filled with atrocious grammar and spelling. (Nothing’s really changed there, am I right?)
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October 25th, 2007
Someone once stated, in regards to new mothers and their daily routines, “I don’t understand what all the bitching is about. Just put the baby on the couch next to you – in a seat, whatever – and go about your business. How hard can that be?” I was pregnant at the time. And I remember thinking I was about to find out.
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October 24th, 2007
Where does the word “mihow” come from?
MiHow is a mash-up of my first and last (maiden) name.
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October 23rd, 2007
I know you’re not supposed to start a baby on solids until he or she is 6 months old for a plethora of reasons, but what if the baby stares at you longingly whenever you eat food? And then proceeds to stick his fist down his throat? And what if he rarely seems full no matter how much milk you feed him during the day? Emory is a big boy (as in tall, he’s not overweight). I’m not sure I’m going to be able to wait 6 months to feed him solid food.
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October 23rd, 2007
When Lisa first wrote to me about Murray, she said, “You have to meet this guy. I am holding him for you. You need to laugh.” The last bit was in response to our having just put our most beloved 14-year-old cat to sleep. An experience that would have sent me over the edge had I not been pregnant with Emory. I used to suggest that putting a pet to sleep while 6 months pregnant was just really bad luck. But I’m starting to believe that since it had to happen, it was sort of better that way because I had something positive to focus on. Regardless of its timing, the experience nearly knocked me to the ground. Lisa was right; I did need to laugh.
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October 22nd, 2007
This is why everyone who made fun of us for buying an organic crib mattress can go ahead and bite me. Seriously, we were laughed at for buying chemical-free baby clothing, blankets and a mattress. We were also scoffed at for wanting to use glass bottles not only by people we know but by some of the folks in our parenthood preparation classes.
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October 18th, 2007
I was watching Ellen the other day (Shut up. I like her.). Her guests were Jon & Kate and their 8 biological children. The word “biological” matters this time because that added to the insanity of their story; you should have see how large this woman was at month 6 and how much bed rest she had. Anyway, I was sort of blown away by this couple. The wife had perfect hair, makeup. Her clothing was ironed. She looked awesome and totally awake, totally peppy, vibrant.
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October 14th, 2007
On Friday afternoon TobyJoe got a phone call from our ISP (internet service provider). The caller works in the “sensitive material” department and called to inform TobyJoe that they had received a phone call from an international crime agency stating that one of the photos on mihow.com was being used on a Web site for pedophiles operating out of the Netherlands. In typical Michele fashion, I completely freaked out. I told Toby to take the site down immediately. And in typical TobyJoe fashion he calmed me down telling me not to do anything too irrational and let him take care of it. I then suggested he remove every single photograph from mihow.com, even the ones of trees, empty bar stools, scones and cats. But he reminded me that if we were to do that, my Web site would look like crap. I’ve been taking pictures for 6 years. Letting it be overrun by a bunch of red Xes is not the most appealing option.
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