Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Six months

My dear, sweet, little boy,

You are six actual months today.


talking away


It feels like a milestone, a big one. See, there were many possibilities for your birthday. Your first birthday could have been August 28th, but you probably would not have survived that, seeing as I was only 17 weeks pregnant and that is very early to be born. Your next possible birthday could have been December 15th, that was when my water broke. It was not too early for you to survive the ordeal, but your lungs did not seem to be ready based on the testing you and I went through. So our doctor and I decided to hold out for one more week… which gives us your birth date… but, my dear sweet one, that was still really early... because it is not the only possibility that we had left, when you and I began our journey together... as your cells divided to make you… your due date was January 29th, give or take a few days.


BW04


So why do I mention all these dates, it is because they are all part of the experience. I can say you might have been 10 months old, or I might have said you will be six months next week, or I can even say you should only be four though almost five months old… and none of these would be a lie… I am so excited by how well you are doing for all the things we went through. I have to also thank you for not coming last August… that would have broken my heart, profoundly.


lady killer minus the gold necklaces


This morning you woke up bright and early, you just bounced your legs as I tried to sleep near you… you did not cry, you just bounced your legs a lot. You are in such a good mood when you wake up, it helps keep me in a good mood.


smile for papa


You want solids more regularly now, I think I may have to give you something else to try soon, I am not sure what to pick, but we will go to the store and try something new this weekend maybe.

One of the things that is so wonderful about you my dear, is that you love people. Apparently some babies don’t take to other people very well, but you just smile or laugh at everyone, you don’t mind being held by someone else, unless you are hungry of course. But you laugh so much, I am convinced that you have a private joke with the world, and I can’t wait to find out what it is.

With Karola


I also want to say something to you… I am a bit eccentric. I have little fear in doing anything that strikes my mood. As such, you and I have had a few adventures. We have jumped in fountains, we have worn funny hats, we have played on the grass, we dashed through sprinklers, we have just had fun. I hope that you continue to enjoy these things with me, I learned a long time ago that regrets are not worth the shyness that can cause them. I hate missed opportunities from choices based on shyness. Take life by its horns and enjoy it. I find that people usually forgive someone that does these things with a smile and a laugh (and I am guessing they are secretly jealous that they did not do it themselves). Take chances, trust your instinct.


Squink with hat


In six months you will be my favorite 1 year old that was almost 14 and 10 months… I have a few birthday options for you so you won’t have to suffer from the too close to Christmas birthday dilemma. We have options, and options are good.

You have brought light and joy to my home, you make our day when you belly laugh at us. You are so rarely bad when I take you out with me (which I always do) that people think I have a miracle baby, which you are.

idea from Hieronymus Bosch


Another thing, if you feel like I am pushing you to other people, it is because I am… see, I have seen too many times when babies are not allowed to be loved by other people, just because the parents have issues… I want as many people to feel like you are important to them, so that in case something ever happens to me and your papa, there will be plenty of love out there for you. So this leads me to another lesson of life I want to teach you. Life is too short to be tormented for other peoples stupidity. We all do stupid things, yes, even your glorious and divine mother makes other folks upset, but the key is that when people upset your mom, she has learned to let it go. That has served her well; you may want to consider that outlook on life. Life is just simply too hard with out adding more misery, just enjoy it, and forgive others as you want to be forgiven, even if the others make you so mad you could spit in their faces, because, really, in the long run, we are all just people, and life is too hard to carry grudges and anger around. Be a happy person.

While I want you to never lose faith in people, I also want you to remain skeptical about people… see, sadly, there are people out there that have no problem causing you pain or problems. Be careful of them, they can and probably will hurt you. Trust your instinct here. However, this is not license to be mean to them.

Ok, I am not done yet… learn to laugh at yourself! Laugh when you think you have done something stupid, because it makes it easier to deal with. Laugh at yourself when you are funny too, because it makes it funnier. Laughter is very important… keep laughing.

Where is my chupo?


Still not done… Make sure you look at your behavior very carefully. Be careful when judging others, see I notice people doing this all the time… and it is too easy to do. Judgment is not the best practice in your mothers’ philosophy of life, it alienates people and makes you seem superior, when frankly no one is superior to any other!

Strive for perfection in all you do, but don’t over do it. Try your hardest that is all that perfection is… for perfection is often only an illusion. Try hard to do your best, and don’t lie to yourself and say that you have, when you know in your heart that you haven’t (this will be tempting), just try.

snoozing


And lastly, know that I love you. I waited my entire life for you to come and teach me the things you are going to teach me and have already taught me. I know that those lessons will incorporate joy, happiness, laughter, but I also know that there may be tears, anger and sorrow… regardless, I still love you! Never, ever, ever, ever forget it.

Happy baby

Thanks Chris!

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Needing to tie the shoe that did not drop

OK... Well, not sure where to start...

We managed to get the tour of the "other" house for the randomly interested buyer... However, the tenant had dishes in the bathtub... among other interestign atrocities a renter is apt to do. Now, she has a "foster" son so I am hoping that she lets him play with them in the bathtub but it is still a wee bit odd. I asked the Schatz if they were dirty, he did not answer, actually I think I told him not to tell me, that I really did not want to know.

We still have our house on the "exclusive" market... but the only person that called and asked to see it never showed up... loser! There is another house down the street selling for much the same, on the "full" market, and it already has a sale pending... perhaps it is because they have a pool and we don't... though we have a 2 car garage and they don't... ah, who knows, maybe if I ever get my butt in gear and finish cleaning to the specifications of my Austrian husband (because he sure won't clean it) we might put it on the "real" market... sorry, last thing I want to do after a full day at work, feeding the boy and eating supper is clean... it is also the last thing I want to do after waking up in the morning and feeding the Squink.
I better stop here I feel a rant coming on!!!!!

The third shoe did not fall, but it came unlaced... Squink is not done seeing the hematologist. The blood parts I was worried about are within normal limits now, however, he is still rather anemic and requires iron supplements. Now, I am not a big fan of iron supplementation... especially in a case like this... which means we have to consider the following:
1) many breast fed babies are anemic
2) bacteria thrives in a high iron environment (which has interesting implications for immune systems)
3) if so many breast fed babies are anemic, why is it being treated like a pathology?

You can add a ton more related questions here... but I won't bore you with them.

Schatz is adamant that we supplement, my concession is to give some, not as suggested by his doctor, but to give some. I am not convinced that it is the right thing for the baby. I may have to call my nutrition teacher from my brief (and hopefully temporary) stint in medical school to talk with her about this, since she deals a lot with infant/child nutrition and health, more so than the specialist we are seeing I am sure.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

oh my, some things can ruin your week.

The buyer for our current house is no longer a buyer for our current house, they withdrew their offer last night... I am just so sad! Very weak excuse IMHO.

We have a second house that we are renting, and that renter acted up... refused to let us in, even though we had given her a week notice and let her choose the date.
I keep waiting for the third shoe to drop.

In other news, Squink has his next "big" doctor appointment Friday, the one where we hope that nothing is wrong. I am rather pessimistic today, and am starting to worry that this may be the third shoe...

Friday, June 10, 2005

House update

I have been meaning to let folks know and have forgotten... there is no real asbestos or lead problem in the house we are hoping to be moving into...
Can I say Phew three times fast or what!

blogardening

be part of the garden be part of the garden

La invitación que recibi:
Lo invito a tomar la flor corazón y apropiarse de ella,
tómele una foto,
tómese una foto con ella,
recórtela, imprímala, píntela, duplíquela, agrándela,
proyéctela, escríbale una canción, regálesela a su suegra,
a su amigo, a un taxista,
a su enemigo o un desconocido...

Es mi primer post en espanol, es dificil, mi espanol me falla, tengo pena en que me lo estoy olvidando, solamente tengo un teclado "estadounidense" y no se como poner los accentos o tildes sin "cut and paste"...
pero tengo mucho orgullo de que parece que este proyecto origino en el pais donde nací... en una parte del mundo que amo tantisimo...

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Sleeping Squink
Sleeping Squink

A good deed often goes unnoticed

Per a recent discussion with a curious hamster... I have decided to mention good deeds gone noticed.
The other day, Mr. Necessities (aka Schatzi) picked up a bunch of papers off of the street. Some of these papers had very personal information on them and when he tried to contact the owners via the contact information on them to no avail (the documents were dated a few years back), he shredded them. Now, sure there may be problems with the fact that he shredded the paper, but imagine if a rapscallion had picked them up and was using them for ill will... plus, he could have just put them in the trash... so I think the fact that he went to the extra effort deserves a word of praise.

Note to people, destroy papers with your private information on them... you never know where they will end up.

In other news

We cleaned the house, it is almost done...
We did a little pre-packing... there is plenty more of that we can do...
the house has a for sale sign in the front yard...
I guess this means we may be moving.

And I guess this means we HAVE to keep the house clean until it does sell. (ugh)

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Well, some days are better than others...

He managed to get a second meal down last night, was pretty happy through most of it, slept like a log until a coughing fit woke him up at 1:30 AM and again at 5:00 AM. I, of course, kept this same schedule.

The house thing is going well, we are putting the one we live in now up on the market soon (this weekend) and I am so tired of all the stuff I collect... that I would throw it all away if I didn't have a major reason to save them (signed first editions, antique books, cookbooks, special things from all the places we have lived). Wait...
there are an awful lot of books in that there mini list of stuff I can't throw away... books are heavy! Well, then we have to couple it with my heinous domestic goddess abilities... Yeah, we will be cleaning until the post goes up in the front yard, maybe even during the first visit from a potential buyer.