Thanksgiving Recap

We spent Thanksgiving in Wimberley with my grandmother and uncle and his family. It was a nice enough day, though exhausting with E. TJ left for a wedding in Grand Forks, North Dakota, early Friday morning. He gets back tonight around midnight (unless there are delays in Denver, in which case he won't get home until tomorrow). We've stayed as busy as possible the past three days, but there's still been lots of time to kill. E's teething woes continue. He's had diarrhea every day, and his little bum hurts and is quite red. He's had a hard time staying happy for more than a few minutes at a time.

On Friday my mom and stepdad and sisters stopped by on their way to Wimberley. My sister Lauren hadn't seen E since he was three months old. He put on quite a show for them--going from one skill to the next (stacking blocks, rolling balls, spinning tops, and so on) and clapping and smiling and giving big hugs. It was adorable, and they were all beside themselves at the insane cuteness. We all went out for coffee and then they left to go on to Wimberley from there.

Saturday morning we went over to Catherine and Shannon's for breakfast. It was Catherine's birthday. Shannon's sister and niece were in town visiting from CA, so we saw them too. I was excited to give Catherine her gifts: We got her an immersion blender (we recently got one as well), and I made her a word bouquet using a pretty little brown vase and strips of card stock. I had her family and friends send me at least ten things that they love and admire about her, so there were around eighty strips when all was said and done. E was having a very hard time yesterday morning, and I would've liked to present it to her in a more ideal setting, but that wasn't to be. In any case, she cried and seemed very touched, and I was glad. We left soon after that, and then the babysitter came in the afternoon and I drove down to San Marcos for my mom's concert, which went well. I longed to spend more time with my sisters, who both live in New York and who I rarely see together, but I felt like I needed to get home. After the performance, I took the girls to get coffee and we talked for a few minutes before I hit the road. They're funny, those two. More about them later (I hope).

This morning my mom and stepdad stopped by on their way out of town (after dropping my sisters at the airport), and we went to breakfast, then E and I went to church. After he wakes up from his nap I'm going to take him to the outlet mall to get some shoes. The one pair he has are falling apart. I traced his feet earlier, so hopefully that will make the outing less painful.

Wow. This is the driest, most boring post ever. Guess that's all I've got in me right now. And it's just as well, because I hear the monkey stirring.

This and That

We stayed at Catherine and Shannon's house for three nights last week, including election night. It sure was nice to have their company. Catherine cooked dinner for us all and Eamon got a chance to spend time with his beloved aunties and their dog, Gracie, who he's nuts for. E did wonderfully at night--he slept through and never woke before 6:00, even with the time change. I was in a funk for much of the week, but grateful to be spending time with my bffs.

Catherine took this picture of us at Zilker Park last Wednesday afternoon.


We picked TJ up at the airport Friday evening, oh happy day. What a relief to have him home. I finally slept well that night.

On Saturday evening I drove to San Antonio to have dinner with two of my college English professors, who were in town for a conference. They were the same as ever, brilliant and kind and unique and beautiful. I hadn't seen either of them in years, and I've been doing a lot of thinking since then.

Saturday afternoon TJ and E went to check the mail (we have a neighborhood bank of mailboxes around the corner), and TJ accidentally left his keys on top of the mailboxes. Some guy we've never met found them and apparently deduced which house was ours by the types of car keys on the key ring. At 6:30 on Sunday morning, he rang the doorbell (which we didn't hear) and then came into our house while we slept to return the keys. Um, creepy! He left them on the floor in an envelope with a very odd note. At my insistence, we have since had the locks changed and an alarm system installed. Better to be safe than sorry. And it will give me peace of mind when TJ's away, as he will be in two weeks.

On Sunday, Catherine and Shannon came over and babysat E while TJ and I had brunch at the Eastside Cafe (using a gift certificate they'd given us for E's birthday to celebrate our first year as parents--aren't they the best?).

What else . . .
We've had some difficulty with co-op the past couple of weeks, but hopefully things will be better from here on out.

Seems like I had a lot more to catch up on, but I think I'll leave it at this for now. This week has been busy, and my to-do list is seemingly neverending. That time of year, I think.

p.s. I'm completely, madly, desperately in love with my son right now. I don't know if I've mentioned on here that recently I was bemoaning the fact that he's not a cuddler, but in any case, he's been proving me wrong the past few weeks. Snuggly guy. Full of love. Can't get enough (me, that is). I remember wishing I could bottle him up at seven months, but this age kicks ass, even with the emerging tantrums and food throwing and infinitely soft, infinitely stinky poos. He's walking, he's starting to talk, he's discovering, he's expressing himself, he's responding to language, he's sleeping well. I can hardly believe this little guy is real.

I should also probably mention that the stuff with my family is resolved, or as resolved as it can be, and we're all moving forward as best we can. I think we'll be seeing my parents sometime soon. They are desperate to see E (they've yet to see him walk), and I want him to see his Grandma and Pops as well.

E and his aunties

TJ and I got to go out on Saturday. The last night we went out was June 11 and before that, April 19, so we were more than ready to visit a restaurant sans baby gear and go to a movie. Catherine and Shannon took care of E as part of their birthday gift to me. :) They arrived around 2 p.m. and we got home at 6:30. All we had to do was put E down after they left; it was such a treat to get a night off from the rest of his evening routine.

It was obvious (from the 185 pictures they took!) that Eamon had a wonderful time with his aunties. I can't resist posting a few of the pictures. It brings tears to my eyes looking at him with them and seeing their love for him. I'm so thankful (and perpetually amazed) that we live in the same town.

Sad News, and a Night Out After All

I got to go out with my girls last night, as it turns out. We went out to dinner and talked for a long time--it was wonderful. We were talking about how we all feel this urgency when we're together to cover every single thought or feeling that we've stored up or that comes to mind in the moment, as though we'll never get another chance to visit again. It's silly, but great. I know it will always be this way, no matter where we live. The fact that we ended up in Austin together ten years after college still blows my mind.

An hour before I left to meet them last night, I got an email from Nana (my mom's mom) with the subject line "Kick in the gut." And it really was. She has bladder cancer. She starts chemo and radiation as early as next week, five days a week, and if after six weeks there are still cancer cells, she may have her bladder removed.

I sobbed all the way to the restaurant last night. I had never considered the possibility of her getting sick anytime soon. My grandfather died last year of congestive heart failure and Alzheimer's; she had been caring for him for years (in Wimberley, where she still is) as he steadily declined. She's the toughest woman I've ever met, and other than having her knees replaced, she's never had any health problems. She eats well and exercises. She just seemed like one of those women who lives forever, at least into her nineties--sharp as a tack, plenty crotchety, and funny as hell. I guess it's possible that she'll still live into her nineties; I don't really know. I know that bladder cancer is aggressive, though, and I'm scared. I realize now that I was counting on her being here for years to come. (She turns 79 on July 18.) I'm closer to her than I am to my own mother.

Of course, I realize I'm lucky to have had her for this long, and to have hundreds of emails and letters that we've shared over the years. And I'm so happy she and Eamon got to be in this world together.

I suppose it' s not possible to ever have enough time with those you love.

Speaking of my mom, we're driving to Dallas tomorrow morning after E's swim class to spend the weekend with her and my stepdad (and my twenty-four-year-old sister, who's living with them right now). And my mom and David's three huge, untrained Alaskan Samoyeds. This is the first time we've visited them since E was born, not that we went much before that. In any case, it should be interesting, for a variety of reasons I don't have time to list here. We'll see how E does with the dogs and vice versa. I wonder if we'll get any sleep.

Eamon has been very high maintenance today. In fact, I gave him some Motrin a few minutes ago. I even just turned on some short animated films (I pretty much never let him watch any TV) out of desperation. I have so much to do before tomorrow morning, and aside from errands, I haven't done any of it. He woke up at 5:00 this morning and hasn't napped much, and he's been screaming off and on for no apparent reason, something I always attribute to teething. He also has several big red blotches on his face, and I don't know what they're from. Hmmm.

Okay, time to be productive.

Night Out

I had a wonderful time with Catherine and Shannon last night. It felt good to be somewhere by myself, talking about regular stuff, and not feeling like a mama every second. Eating and drinking wine without interruption. And TJ and Eamon did fine here. TJ didn't even attempt a bottle this time (or a cup with breastmilk, which we'd talked about trying but probably would've been futile), he just put him down after he'd fed him dinner and bathed him. E wasn't into being rocked, so TJ put him down before the first song was even over (I often do the same thing). He said E cried a bit but was asleep in less than ten minutes. So then TJ got several hours to himself, and he spent the time being a real guy's guy. He ordered Pizza Hut pizza and wings and played a video game until it made him sick. (Playing this game nauseates him, but it doesn't keep him from playing it, which really cracks me up.) We agreed that my monthly night out is a win-win for everyone. TJ gets time alone with Eamon, which he LOVES, and he gets time to himself as well. And I get time with my girls, whom I adore.

Eamon did wake up at 1:30 and 5:00, so it wasn't a banner night, but it could've been worse. I didn't think he was going to go back to sleep at 5:00. I ended up putting him down awake and could hear him making sounds in there, but he didn't cry, and eventually he fell asleep and didn't wake up until 7:00.

How It Went

Well, Catherine and Shannon got here at 4:30 yesterday, and we left around 5:00. I had typed up some info about E for them: dinner and bathtime and bedtime stuff. He'd continued the trend of taking only two thirty minute naps (at 9:00 and 1:00 yesterday), which meant he was going to crash at 6:00. So I figured dinner would be at 5:00, bath at 5:30, etc. Everything went according to plan, and it sounds like they all had lots of fun, at least until bedtime. He wouldn't take the bottle (no surprise), and then Catherine took him back to his room and read him a book and rocked him. He was quiet but not asleep when she put him down, and he laid there quietly for several minutes but then started to cry. I had said that if he cried for longer than ten minutes with no pauses, they should go in and rock him again and then just keep repeating. The ten minutes was somewhat arbitrary on my part. I felt like I should give a certain timeframe that they could follow, and I didn't like the thought of him crying hysterically and being left in there for long. On the other hand, if he was just crying a little before falling asleep, that would be okay. Since they haven't heard him cry all that much, they would have no way of distinguishing how upset he was. So I settled on ten minutes. I honestly didn't think it would be an issue because I knew how tired he would be, and I was sure he would crash without too much trouble. Boy, was I wrong! When we called at 7:45 to let them know we were on our way home, he was still awake! They had done everything they could, but eventually brought him out and were just holding him and trying to keep him happy. When I walked (okay, ran) up the stairs, Shannon was holding him on the couch and he was watching the swing go back and forth with his eyes half open. Bless his heart. I proceeded to nurse him and of course he fell asleep within minutes. It's so very sweet, and I love nursing him more than anything (ANYTHING!), but it makes it hard for other people to soothe him, and that can be frustrating.

Anyway, this taught us quite a bit about him, I think. TJ and I were wondering beforehand if he knows other people yet (like his aunties and Gwen). I guess it's impossible to tell, but he obviously knew something was different last night. Duh, his boobies weren't there. That was probably clue #1. And it's no secret that the boy hates to sleep and struggles to fall asleep (whether we're holding him or he's in his crib). Maybe I should've figured that his not sleeping was a possibility. It also tells us (in a sort of backwards way) that our work over the past month to establish a routine has paid off. But what happens when the routine is disrupted? Are we creating a child who can't adapt well? How can we work on leaving him with other people when the opportunities to do so are so few and far between? And when he's still so dependent on breast milk? I honestly don't feel the desire to work on this with him right now, but I feel for the people who have to try to put him to bed on those rare occasions we go out. Maybe it'll get easier the less we nurse? (I'm pretty sure that's not true.) At least he's not totally dependent on nursing to go to sleep at night right now. It happens about 75% of time, I'd say. The rest of the time he's rocked and put down awake. I know the sleep training people would say this is how he should be put down every night.

The next time we have plans to go out is on May 30. Gwen's going to babysit. There's also the possibility that our friends Kay and Joel will babysit one night next month along with their baby, Jonas. They follow attachment parenting, so I don't feel comfortable asking them to let Eamon cry, even for a few minutes. They also don't use a rocking chair, so that would be totally foreign to them. They'll probably put both babies in Ergo carriers and go on a walk. And you know what, that's probably the best way for someone other than us to get E to fall asleep. Huh. Maybe we should've had Catherine and Shannon do that as a last resort. I hadn't thought about that, since it's not part of our nighttime routine.

In any case . . . it makes me happy when E gets to spend time with the people we love, and they get to know him better. He loves being around people and I think it's fun for him to be exposed to new ways of playing and being held.

This post seems very new mom-ish to me. What can I say.