What a Life!

Sleeping Baby
Joey’s waking up after only 45 minutes may be more related to only needing 16 hours of sleep a day – since he gets 12 hours at night, three or four 45 minute naps may be all he needs. Yesterday there was never any spit-up that seemed to be the cause of him waking. I nurse him to sleep for naps, but only for a couple minutes since it seems to do the trick very quickly. Real interruptions that may have caused early awakening were as follows:

Take 1 – Ben wanted to look out the window next to Joey’s crib and decided to move the crib into the middle of the room so he could have more space to enjoy the entire window. Yes, the crib wheels have locks on them…but when you “lock” them, they still roll – they just make clicking noises while they roll instead of rolling quietly.

Take 2 – Ben decided the door to the bedroom Joey was sleeping in needed to be closed…tight. So he closed it without turning the knob – bang. Then he rattled it a little to show me that it was closed. Since our house was built in 1950, the door is loose enough to bang really good when you do that. Yeah.

Regarding the whole idea of getting him to sleep at 6:30 p.m….part of the reason why is so I can leave the house and work my Mary Kay business. However, I’m thinking perhaps I’ll just take Joey with me…even when I’m holding sales appointments. None of them are so long that he will need to eat or have his diaper changed if I nurse and change him immediately before I leave. When he’s in the sling, he’s happy (quiet) or asleep. It’s not like I’m trying to tend to a fussy baby while trying to show a product to a customer – that would not work.

It may be considered “unprofessional” to take one’s baby along to sales appointments, but I am running my own business, and if it’s worth it to me to take my baby even if that means risking the loss of a few potential customers, that’s my gamble to take. I think moms should be able to take their babies with them more, and that if more people took their babies along and proved that it could be done without distraction, more people might be able to do it…and more babies might be with their mommies. Yes, I am probably a pioneer on this, but I have heard of other mothers who have taken their children to work with them in various situations and it’s worked out splendidly. Nuf said.

Jogging Stroller
Now I’m seriously eyeing either this stroller or this stroller which happens to be on sale. I know I said I wanted a swivel wheel, which these don’t have. A swivel wheel is considered “dangerous” if you’re jogging or running. Since I’m a slow, 15+ minute walker, I don’t think those issues would apply to me. I do get so tired of steering, but these strollers have a couple of things the other don’t have. Namely…

150 lb capacity The others I was looking at only had a 100 lb capacity – and that is half in each seat, not 75 lb in one seat and 25 lb in the other. With the larger capacity, I would get at least three years use out of it, which would certainly last until Ben is in school.

Hand break Not a major issue as we live in the Great Plains, but there are some nice slopes that go for a block or more where a hand break might come in handy with the weight of two healthy boys.

If I get the stroller now, I would probably get the one on sale. That would save me $70. I would also need to consider how I’m going to keep Joey warm. Would a stack of blankets do the trick or do I need a snowsuit? I might be able to find one on clearance, but it would still cost money. If I wait, I think I will get the first one, which may be the only one available anyway when I’m ready to buy.

Book Report
I started reading Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald a couple weeks ago. I got about sixty pages into and decided that the story line was not interesting to me. It might have been interesting to me when I bought the book, but I really do not find it intriguing now.

Then I picked up The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. I read a few pages and quit reading this one for the same reason – not a story line I’m interested in reading right now.

If I was reading a book a week or something, I would probably read both books. But since I am reading one book a month which is only twleve books per year, I want to spend my time on books I’m really interested in reading.

So…Oprah announced here new book club book – The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Portier. I haven’t read all of her book club selections as they start to sound the same after a while. Some are more challenging to read than others (Faulkner?). This one seems to be off the beaten path as well as something I would find very interesting at this point in my life. I’m very much enjoying it thus far – even savoring it as I read a few pages every night. At this point I would call it highly recommended.

TV upstairs
I mentioned yesterday that I am contemplating removing the tv upstairs and storing it in our spare room. Steve has said more than once that he wouldn’t care if there wouldn’t be a tv up there, but he still watches it all the time. I even mentioned it again yesterday and he reiterated that he wouldn’t care if we didn’t have one up there. Here are some more reasons why I’m thinking no tv in our living/dining room area might be a good thing.

Family Dinner Since we wouldn’t be tempted to sit out the couch and watch tv while we eat, we might eat dinner together at the table as a family more often. As it stands, we usually only do that when we’re eating food that doesn’t lend itself to couch-eating, like steak that needs to be cut with a steak knife.

Quiet Time In the evenings, I like to unwind by knitting and listening to classical music on public radio. Last night, Steve came upstairs and turned on the basketball game. I sat there and wasn’t able to relax (don’t ask me how he is able to relax while surfing channels). When I finally went to bed, it took me longer than usual to get to sleep. I hate that. If it were up to me, we would have a no-tv-after-9:00 p.m. rule. Removing the tv would give me space I need to relax and unwind, and that is so good for my mental health. If Steve really wants to check out the game, he can do so downstairs. Watching tv together isn’t really “quality time” anyway.

Easier Evenings My favorite show which I watch almost every day is Special Report with Brit Hume on the Fox News Channel. Politics is kind of my version of a soap opera that I like to follow. At our house, that show is on between 5:00 and 6:00, which is while I’m making supper and Steve is arriving home, etc. so I kind of “watch” it while I’m doing other things. If I taped it and watched it the next morning, I would see more of it and spend less time on it at the same time (because I would skip the ads). This would actually be the key reason why I have not removed the tv up until this point, but now I’m thinking I might be happier with an alternate arrangement anyway.

Ultimately, I can always bring the tv back upstairs if I decide this is a bad idea. I could even bring it upstairs just when I want to watch the NASCAR race on the weekends.

I think the only question that remains is whether I want to carry it downstairs myself or if I want to ask Steve to do it.

Eye Candy
Here is a picture I took of Joey this weekend. If only I had some of that magic software that can be used to erase backgrounds, this would be a great shot.