We'll Be Back

But I don't think I'll be blogging while we're away. You gotta change things up, ya know! Have a great couple of weeks.

A Blog More Sexy Than This One?

I know, it's hard to imagine isn't it? All the references to nap times and The Over Documentation of a baby's meals can really make you wanna....snooze. Wanna wake up? Brooklyn Mama's friend, Mr. Casual, has a rollicking new(ish) blog that Brooklyn Mama can't stop reading. Take a look! I promise the only mention of naps will be in the post-coital context.

Waiting For The Bean To Wake Up

Cuz she'll be doing it pretty soon I imagine since it's 10:30 and she's been napping since 8:45! That's my girl! Remember when she didn't nap and I'd have to do everything in my power to get her to sleep? And then it would be like a 20-30 minute travesty. Now, she's on a napping schedule and generally each one is a bit over an hour. I'm a bit fearful since she took a long morning nap like this on Sunday and then refused to nap in the afternoon, which as you know is when mama naps. But yesterday she took a long morning snoozer and a really long snooze in the afternoon so who knows what's really going on.

Of course we're going to go and wreck havoc with this beautiful napping by going out of town for like 10 days! First stop is Field of Corn, NY on Saturday where we're going to go celebrate our good friend's imminent departure to SCRANTON, PA MED SCHOOL! Yay Alison! And no, I don't think we'll ever stop making Office jokes. On Sunday we'll be going to the Big Apple where we're going to feed The Bean real NY bagels and pizza and go to lots of movies since we'll have lots o' Beansitting available.

We're also (supposedly) going to leave Miss Bean overnight with the grandparents while we go back upstate to watch our friendies get married. Surviving that (me, not Bean she's in good hands) we'll retrieve the Bean, come back to NH for a few days before going over to the other Grandparents in the Adks and leaving her once again to go to another wedding....And she's up! More later.

So now it's eight hours later and The Bean is sleeping (hopefully) for the night because she did not have her afternoon nap. She was so tired on the bottle that she fell asleep without finishing it (it popped right out of her mouth) and she curled up to my...uh...bosom totally asleep. It was really sweet as she has not done that since she was teeny. She remained asleep while I transferred her to the crib and I didn't even have to put the pacifier in her mouth, which is huge. Now I'm off to have me a beer. It's been a day.

Hooray For Baby Daddies!

Since the Internet will be going dark in a little while, The Bean and I would like to give a early shout-out to N and say, very originally, "Happy Father's Day!" Of course you're not surprised that N is one of the best baby daddies around. He has an excellent singing voice and is very through when it comes to cleaning The Bean's bottom. Plus, he plays excellent music for our early morning dance parties, knows how to 2-step, and always tries to find tasty things for Miss Bean to eat for breakfast. Also, The Bean would like it known that now that there's no teaching going on, her dad gets up with her in the early morning and lets mama sleep, which is the best thing (for mom) ever! The Bean's Daddy should get a medal for all the things he had to put together for her this past year: cribs (portable and stationary), car seats, plastic contraptions from China, not to mention figuring out strollers and tattoo guns.

In all seriousness, The Bean and I feel incredibly, amazingly, awesomely, and happily lucky to have N in our lives. We're going to miss him something terrible when he's geeking out in Boston for the first half of next week. Happy Father's Day, N! The Bean says no dance parties till you return!

N.B.

This lady will not be invited to The Bean's first bday.
This is helpful.
Interesting twist.
The revolution will not be televised, but perhaps it will be twittered?
Can you really fall asleep while get a tattoo?

MONDAY MONDAY

Hope y'all had a nice weekend. Ours was okay with long stretches of oh my god it's only 3:00? What are we going do to for the next three hours? Poor Miss Bean was diagnosed with an ear infection on Thursday afternoon but we had to stop the anti-bs after the Saturday night dose because she had a rash all over her chest and belly. Now, she's on a new med that will hopefully do the trick. She was more like herself today than she was all weekend.

Over here we live like we did back in high school with class periods. First period usually starts around 6:00 AM and includes breakfast and some play time and sometimes going outside to pick up the paper or a quick walk to the green and back. Then there's First Nap, which is usually a little before 9:00 AM. After that nap, which ends sometime around 10:00, it's second period. You need to do BIG, exciting things during second period to make Missy Bean happy. Today we went to Mommy and Me Yoga, which was more like Mom Chases The Bean and Tries To Stop Her From Eating the Six Week Old Baby Next to Us. After that we went to the bar with some of the moms for an early lunch. When we got back we had a few more small adventures (watching the cleaning woman vacuum, feeding our neighbor's fish, stealing an apple) and then it was Second Nap time, which Bklyn Mama loves since she got smart and stopped doing anything domestic and naps too. Second Nap Time normally starts between 1-1:30 but started a little early today perhaps due to the resumption of the anti-bs. Second Nap normally ends sometime between 2-2:30 and then we have third period, which is tricky. Today, The Bean woke up in the most fantastic mood she's been in post-nap all week. We had a great time in the house (going up the stairs 3! times, bathroom inspecting, snack time, etc) for about an hour and then she got REALLY REALLY BORED. Nothing was doing the trick---not even the remote control or mom's cell phone. Eventually we made our way outside and thank goodness the dogs next door were out because if they weren't I swear she would've chewed off my hand and poof---no more blogging. The dogs have no interest in the Bean anymore, but luckily she's content to watch them frolic and pee.

Bean's baby daddy came home in the midst of the dog watching and took Bean out for a more exciting second half of third period which included not buying a $40.00 brown shirt, not finding a carabeaner, and a short stop at the playground.

If you can make it through third period you're all good since dinner is about 4:45 and bedtime is around 6:00. And there's sometimes a bath and always a bottle before the hitting of the hay. I know she goes to bed early, but she gets really tired. You'd be tired too climbing the stairs 800 times a day.

Why I Hate Garrison Keillor

Hard to believe now, but you know, there was time, back when I was in my (foolish and boozy) 20's, living in Seattle, when I found "A Prairie Home Companion" comforting. I'd listen while through Seattle's cute rainy neighborhoods, on route to brunch or at home, drinking my coffee or folding my laundry or some other mundane thing. I'd laugh at the ketchup commercials and smile at the English Major riffs. That Guy Noir....he'd just crack me up. When I moved back to Brooklyn I didn't listen to it as much--one, because I didn't drive anymore and probably because I sent my laundry out and also because it just didn't seem to be on when I was drinking coffee, etc. But when I did catch it, I was cool wid it.

One effect of living in NH is that I now HATE APHC. I find Garrison Keeler's voice smarmy and annoying and sometimes N has to physically restrain me from throwing things at the radio. Maybe I dislike the show because I live in the country rather than a metropolitan hot bed like Seattle or New York. Maybe I think Keeler is a bit of an asshole because of this. Maybe a white person living in white people land can only take so much whiteness in a given day. Or maybe I hate APHC because IT'S ALWAYS ON HERE.

We get three NPR stations in this area and on the weekends when we're all chillaxin' and in the mood for some good listening it's APHC on all 3 stations. It kind of makes ya wanna kill yourself. Or maybe just blast some gay rap.

Have yourselves a APHC-free weekend, kiddies. Do it for me, cuz you know I won't.

Back

Well, I'm back online, but my back is still kind of killing me. It was getting better, but I think I did too much on Sunday because Monday morning was just awful. Of course Bean was extra needy too. Luckily, N was able to take over all yesterday afternoon and evening and he's on duty all day today and tomorrow. I can't wait till I'm healed because it really stinks. For the rest of my life I'm going to do back exercises every morning. I think I'm genetically destined for back issues, but I think a lot of it could be prevented.

I really miss being physical with Miss Bean, but feel incredibly lucky that N is home to take over. I'm hoping I'll be back (ha, ha) on track by Thurs/Fri.

Other than the bad back, we had a nice, busy weekend with family. The weather was great too. Now, it's rainy, which we're actually happy about since the landlords put down a ton of weed killer and fertilizer so the lawn has been off limits. I'm getting stir crazy and think I'll leave the house at some point today.

Oh. The Bean is getting her two front teeth, which makes her look even cuter. And, she's starting to stand. On her own.

Maybe You Should Give Me A Call This Weekend

You know cuz I won't be ONLINE AGAIN TILL MONDAY!!!
Did I mentioned my back went out?
Bad back, can't go out and play in the sunshine we're supposed to be having, can't frolick with Beanie, can't go online!
Give a call. You know the number.

More Time Out Than In!!!

Dear Bean,

Today you are ten months! This is crazy and amazing.

You didn't sleep great last night and you didn't nap well today, but in general you are sleeping MUCH BETTER. Your two naps are generally over an hour and although you cry out several times while sleeping, most nights you fall back asleep on your own.

This morning your dad said you were in a really good mood when he got you out of your crib. He gave you mini waffles, banana, and an egg yolk for breakfast. Your babysitter came while you having your morning nap, but you woke up too early from it and you were quite unhappy. You felt a little better when Erica gave you a bottle. She was planning on putting you in the jogging stroller and going for a run, but since your dad came home before me in the afternoon, I'm not sure if she did or how it went. It's exciting to think that there will be a time when I'll be able to ask you about your day! Erica fed you lunch of edamame, cubed squashed, and alphabet pasta with veggie meatballs.

You and I played for a bit in the early part of the afternoon. I tried to take some pictures and videos of you, but you kept going for my camera. After what happened to my last digital camera, the new one is totally off baby limits, which you didn't like. For your afternoon snack you had more edamame and squash as well as some bunny crackers, and another veggie meatball. You are such a good eater; it's so exciting to give you new foods although sometimes it's stressful. I feel like I always need to be at least two meals ahead of you, which is tough since you have 4 meals a day!

After your snack, I went swimming and you went to the daycare at the gym. The daycare is so good for us! I want you to be comfortable at the daycare so you won't get into hysterics when I leave. You've been a tad more whimpery the last few weeks, but I don't think you've ever cried. Normally, it doesn't take much to get you to perk up. When I came to get you last week, you barely acknowledged me since you were having such a good time playing/watching the big girls

After the gym we went home to...EAT PIZZA! All of us to celebrate your 10-monthiness! You've been eyeing pizza since you were six months old so we decided that 10 months was old enough for you to have your own slice. Your pizza, which I prepped and your dad executed, had organic sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan organic mushrooms, fresh oregano, and basil. The three of us ate dinner together on our sun porch, which was awesome. I told your dad we should try doing it at least once a week. It won't kill us to eat at 5:00 and I think it's good for you to eat with us at home. You seemed to enjoy your pizza quite a lot. The one issue is that the dough was a little tough for someone with only two teeth, but you managed it pretty well. You also ate some of the jarred peas and brown rice, but I bet soon enough you'll refuse nasty jarred veggies when there's pizza on your tray. For dessert you had a blueberries and Cheerios.

I tried to give you some of your milk in a sippy cup tonight since you're supposed to be off the bottle by the time you're one. Since you do love your bottles, your dad and I thought we'd start this weaning now. You did okay for a while, but you were drinking REALLY fast and then you seemed to get tired and frustrated and bored so I gave you most of the milk in the bottle. Tomorrow, we'll try giving you the milk in the sippy cup after your morning nap when you're not so sleepy.

Oh, Bean, this post is already so long and I haven't even mentioned all the things you're into! Or all the things you can do like Angry Gorilla face and all your excellent Banging of Things. Your favorite thing in the world right now it standing up. You need to hold onto something, but you can do it with one hand. And you've balanced by yourself for a few seconds here and there. In the past few weeks, you've become a really fast crawler. You love crawling down the hall away from us and you love love love crawling into the bathroom, pulling yourself over the tub. It seems like you could spend hours in the bathroom, which is why we call you Bathroom Inspector every time you crawl in there. Other things that amuse you: goggles, real keys, real cell phones, a stuffed yellow monkey I bought for your dad years ago, wallets, Styrofoam cups, the plastic container that contained the goggles, diaper packages, and a digital camera minus the battery and memory card that used to be mine.

It's crazy and amazing that ten months ago you were this little red swaddled thing and now you're you! YOU! I feel so very lucky about that. Happy 10 Months, Baby Girl!

Love,
BKLYN Mama

No TV Tuesdays!

Sorry, for the silence, kids. This has nothing to do with the lack of posts, but for a few months now, N. and I have been celebrating "No TV Tuesdays", which involves us not watching any TV or DVDs on, you guessed it, Tuesdays. It's not like we watch a ton of shows---the only show I watch regularly is "The Office". N. watches that and "Lost". But even though we're not the kind of people who are into a ton of shows every season, we do get sucked in. Although strangely we have somehow avoided American Idol. We do watch ourselves some Net Flix although we often keep a DVD for a few weeks before we get around to viewing it. Unless it's "The Trailer Park Boys". That we watch stupid fast. NTT was born so we'd have one day during the week when we just don't turn on the tube. It's a good thing. Although it does seem like Tuesdays come up crazy fast around here.

As if this wasn't crazy enough, N. implemented The No Internet on the Weekends!!! rule two weekends ago. That's right. After a designated time on Friday, we don't go online till MONDAY!! Of course there are exceptions, like if we need to look up a movie time or get a phone number. But in those cases it's just that one thing--nothing more. It's been an interesting exercise. I feel myself going for the computer, but can't. It's been a wake up call to see when I'd go online, which is in the "dead time." You know after the baby has gone for a nap, but before I go make the bed or when N. and I are waiting for The Bean to get up from a nap. And after dinner. And during lunch. And before breakfast. I realize I tend to shop online more on the weekends since no one ever updates their blog and there's never any good email. So maybe this new rule will save us money. And maybe I'll just buy more on Mondays.

Hope y'all had a nice weekend. Did YOU go online?