at last...

Almost a month since my last post. I wouldn't have believed it if you had told me it would be that long between posts say, two months ago. But with a baby who will be eight weeks old tomorrow (already!), it really is a little tough to find an hour to blog. There's always too much other stuff to do when she's sleeping, and I don't mean sleep myself. I'm talking pumping (I'm breastfeeding, but we use one bottle a day, too), showering, laundry, dishes, cooking, etc. But I miss my blogging fix so much. I feel out of touch and feel like I'm losing out on memories that I will be able to have later on, so here I go again: trying to blog at least weekly, if not daily. But if you see an entry that suddenly cuts off, that may be an indication that it's time for me to play mommy again.

So, what's gone on in the last month? I've taken hundreds of pics (see April and May pics, and I'll keep adding to the May) and several short video clips (I won't bore you with the hundreds, but some of my favorites are online). We had a good Easter, first going to church Saturday evening and then having Easter dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's with Uncle John, Uncle Bill and Aunt Theresa, Aunt Ann and cousins Andy and Neil. At church the music woke Bridget up, but she didn't threaten to start fussing until it was over and the pastor started praying. Out into the lobby went mommy and Bridget, where we got invited to tour the nursery (she'll start going in it when we go back to church next month--right now they're having a three-week series that Al isn't particularly interested in). Then Laura came out with Ella (they were all there too) and so Laura and I watched Ella play on the slides while Bridget slept. Ella said my name for the first time that day! She says it more like "Wanna," but I was such a happy, proud aunt. She's such a fun little girl. At Grandma and Grandpa's Aunt Theresa got Bridget down onto the floor to play, which mainly consists of kicking and wiggling at this point. And smiling a lot! I swear, sometimes I think my little girls going to bust out laughing. She goos and gurgles a lot right now, but no laughter yet. It's strange that crying is a natural instinct but laughter has to be learned.

Bridget did give mommy, daddy, and Aunt Beth a scare on Easter weekend. Beth and I gave her a bath right before church Saturday evening and Beth noticed a blue lump on her tummy. It protruded a bit and was hard, but didn't seem to hurt her at all. We had friends over that evening, and Cathy, one of them, thought it might be a hernia (she's an ER doctor) but said that when babies do develop them, it's usually closer to their belly buttons--Bridget's is about an inch above and to the right (her left side). Since it didn't seem to bother her, Cathy thought it would be okay to wait until Monday to see a doctor. My sister-in-law, Theresa, said the same thing on Sunday (she's a postpartum nurse). So I waited until Monday morning to take Bridget to the doctor. We couldn't see our regular pediatrician and this doctor was in the room all of three minutes, but she assured me that it was a hemangioma and nothing to worry about unless it grew very rapidly. Since she described it as vascular blood vessels that are near to the surface and therefore easily spotted, I called my Aunt Carolyn, a vascular technician who spends all day ultra-sounding this type of stuff (First comment: I know a lot of people, don't I? Second comment: I'm sure ultra-sounding is not a verb, but since I don't know the correct term, I figured I'd make one up). She said the same thing, therefore, no more worries. This hemangioma could be something that Bridget lives with all of her life or it could go away after a couple of years, but they rarely cause medical problems.

Let's see, what else? Bridget is very good at holding her head up, and is just a bit wobbly in the front-to-back category; side to side she's strong. She also wants to sit up a lot and often pushes back if she's leaning forward (especially if we're trying to burp her). She's started following things with her eyes--she watched Al as he walked away from her and across the room the other day--and her face lights up in a huge smile when someone talks to her in a playful voice or when I sing to her. Her stomach is very ticklish, and she wiggles all over (and smiles) when I rub or tickle it. I'm beginning to understand why a kid's show is called Wiggles (although I'll admit I've never watched it). She refuses to sleep on her back unless she's moving, either in the car or in the stroller. Since Al was so concerned about SIDS, I did try putting her on her side to sleep for a few nights; she rolled over onto her stomach on her own. Bridget has been able to move her head from side to side since in the "tummy time" position since she was two weeks old, so I don't reallly worry about it and have finally convinced Al to give in to her stomach-sleeping preference, especially since she's been sleeping an average of ten hours a night for the past week and a half. She typically eats every two hours during the day and then pigs out at night, wanting to eat for at least two hours straight--probably filling up for the long night. Naps are hit and miss, and I can't really count on her to sleep more than half an hour at a time during the day unless I go out shopping and she sleeps then. That's probably why she's been so fussy at night: she gets overtired, and when she finally goes to sleep (between 9 and 11) she's exhausted. And Al and I finally agreed that we will start putting her in her crib after her two-month pediatrician appointment, on May 13. It'll be strange after having her in our room, but at least I won't have to squeeze between the bassinet and the bed or my half of the closet anymore!

Speaking of squeezing, I only have to do the amount I was doing before I got pregnant since I've lost all but three pounds of my pregnancy weight (without trying--breastfeeding helps a lot!). I'm all back to normal and actually got to go in the hot tub this week. Of course, Al refused to open it the entire way (leaving the lid over the half with my favorite seat) since he thinks we may have bees living in it again. He wants to find a "cool morning" to remove the panel and try to take care of the potential hive, which means I probably will not be in my favorite seat all summer. I hope he does find that cool morning, though, since I'll need it: I'm back to work, at least on the days that Al's off. By "work" I mean schoolwork: last week I managed to find a replacement for one person on my POS committee (POS=Program of Study, and these people will ultimately approve my dissertation and deem me Doctor Rhonda; my old committee member retired and moved to New Zealand); put in a proposal for the major conference in my field; and renew my library books. I'm actually scanning one of those library books as I blog since it's been recalled and I'll have to mail it back to the library. On my list to do in the near future: write a proposal for another conference, finalize my reading list, and finalize my list of questions for my upcoming comprehensive exam. I also need to schedule my comps for this fall. I'd like to do them early November (they're a seventeen day process, and I basically answer three of my questions, modified by the exams committee, in three ten-page, double-spaced papers--a lot harder than it sounds since we usually write twenty or more pages and that space includes our works cited lists) but may need to do them in October if I get into this second conference.

The funny thing about work/school at this point in my life? I enjoy it while I'm actually doing it, but when I'm not doing it, I could care less if I finish or ever go back. I never thought I could be a stay-at-home mom but now I wish I could be (that's what $40K+ in grad school student loans will do to you--never had a loan before my PhD program, either). Although I will admit that there are moments when I wish I could get back to work, just to get away for a while. It's not easy having someone rely on you 24/7. Which reminds me, we had our first babysitter earlier this week--Beth came over while we went to see Wolverine (good movie).

Anyway, back to speaking about work, I will need to go back eventually, and it would be good if I could at least get some editing jobs or earn some extra money somehow for the next few months. We're putting in an Invisible Fence, have to pay for the fall semester for me, have student loan payments that will be starting soon, will have to pay for daycare in the fall, etc. But my brother mentioned an idea that stuck with me and has been growing ever since because it appeals to me: When Beth and I gave Ryan and Rachel Lily's quilt (oh, yeah! Lily was born on April 20th, so now I have two nieces and a nephew), they loved it so much that they asked for an entire crib set to go with it. So I'm making it: crib bumper, dust ruffle, and perhaps a sheet, although they could easily buy a solid sheet that matched. Ryan said, "You guys should sell these!" Well, I've decided I'm going to try. I don't want to spend any money advertising, but I'll do what I can for free for now to see if it drums up any business: put a little blurb on a sidebar on this blog, put a little something up on Facebook, and give Ryan practice with websites (in exchange for teaching him so CSS and HTML), which I'll eventually host on the free space provided to me by school. We'll see if it drums anything up. If so, it'll be fun and earn some cash, and if not, no big deal. So if you know anyone who might be interested in a custom crib set (quilt, bumper, sheet, and dust ruffle) starting around $200, send them my way! I'm also going to offer Mommy's Memories quilts (who knows if that will be an "official" name for them--I'm sure it's already taken for something) that can be made from a child's old clothing and/or mommy's maternity clothes. I think those will be my two official products for now, although I'll probably add a blurb that I can do other pieces as well--twin, full, queen or king quilts, curtains or valances, etc. It'll be fun if it works out, and I can always get Beth to help me if I get too busy (probably hoping for too much, there). But I'll be posting pics of my (our) work soon, just in case someone's interested.

Have a happy day! Hope to be back in a week, if not sooner...