Recent Accomplishments

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this working mother thing. 


I don't feel quite as anxious about racing out of work as soon as I can, but also manage to get out quickly and efficiently, despite complicated packing routines -- I run home from work twice a week, which means changing into running clothes and then emptying the contents of my wallet into the pocket of my running jacket before I set out. The days that I don't run home, of course, I have my clothes to carry home. Including an extra winter coat (I usually just wear the running jacket to run home) and an extra pair of shoes, plus two days of lunch dishes (and I use glass, which is heavy), plus two days of pumped milk. So one day I feel oddly empty-handed, the next I am a veritable bag lady.


The other thing I'm feeling good about is that I realized I don't get much done during the weekend, between socializing and just hanging out, enjoying the unstructured time... and so I'm trying to tackle one little project each night. While still going to bed early. Tonight's project was fun, sorting through a giant bag of brand new baby clothes just given to me by a co-worker whose baby went straight from 3 months to 9 months clothing. Last night's task was less fun -- cleaning and organizing the area under the kitchen sink (including sweeping out mouse droppings... who knows how old since I've only once seen a mouse in the apartment, two years ago) and putting a very little bit of poison under there because I've seen a water bug hanging out in the kitchen. It was horrifying. Giant and scary in every way.


The big accomplishment of the last two weeks... drum roll please... is that Calliope has started sleeping eleven hours at night. 


In. A. Row.


Glory be.


She's not doing it every night, maybe every second or third, but they are picking up in frequency. 


She still wakes up around five or five thirty to nurse (she's been going to bed around 6:30 the last few nights, extra early because she suddenly just gave up her evening nap). We nurse in bed and snooze together until it's time for me to get up and shower. She keeps sleeping in my bed until a few minutes before seven, then we change her diaper and potty her (usually unsucessfully, but I always say "thank you for trying!") and get her dressed, then we nurse again in the glider until the nanny arrives. She's not usually very hungry at that point but I think we need that time to start our day together. Or at least, I need that time together.


In the last few days she has started to swing her top leg in large circles while nursing. I thought at first she was uncomfortable and needed to be burped (we still do this in a half-hearted way) but no, it just seems she just has energy to burn and body parts to be explored. No time to waste, not even while nursing. 


She takes a bottle twice while I'm gone, every four hours, then nurses when I get home from work, and again once more before bed, about every two hours. She only takes about 10 ounces during the day so I'm guessing she gets well more than half of her milk directly from breastfeeding, which is nice for both of us. I wish I enjoyed breastfeeding in bed more -- it's okay, but sometimes distracting to have someone nibbling on me (that's what it feels like when I'm sleepy) when I want to be sleeping. I do enjoy having her in bed with me for the last part of the night. 


Two nights ago, she rolled all the way over onto her stomach. This time she was far enough over that she could actually push up from one arm. The other arm was, of course, still trapped under her.


She seemed surprised by her new vantage point, but not upset to be on her stomach nor to have lost the use of one arm. 


Mostly, she lies on her back and pulls her legs up into the air, into an "L" position, and then swings her hips to one side or the other. Over and over again. 


She still hasn't gotten her feet into her mouth -- which was the goal for this past Saturday's photo shoot -- but she certainly finds her toes interesting! I've asked the nanny to keep her barefoot in the house because I figure it must be good for her to get familiar with her feet. 


She no longer wants to lean back in my arms to read stores -- now she sort of perches on my lap and leans forward to look more intently at the pictures. She's also starting to grab the pages of the board books and -- I think -- try to turn the pages.


I'm not planning to start her on solid food any time soon, certainly not before six months -- Mommy has to work through some sadness about not being her girl's sole source of sustenance first -- but last night I couldn't resist offering her a bite of this amazing local yogurt I got at the farmer's market. I put the tiniest smidgen on a baby spoon and touched it to her lips. Her mouth opened lazily to taste it... and then she stuck her tongue with a definitive air to say, "Ick! Get that nasty stuff away from me!"


I'm betting that yogurt is a lot more sour than nice and sweet human breast milk.


Wow.


I just had an idea.


I wonder if I could make... breast milk yogurt?


I used to make my own (bovine) yogurt. It's not hard. You just stir in a spoonful of yogurt (with live active cultures) into milk, heat it gently (I think to around 110 degrees but I'd have to check that) and leave it in a briefly warmed (but turned off) oven overnight.


Am I a total weirdo for suddenly wondering about this??? 


I think so. But I might try it anyway. In a couple of months.


Ack. More like a month. 


Girlfriend will be five months in six days.


That sounds really old for a baby.