Hey all! I didn’t mean to go a week without posting, but that’s life. This week has been a doozy. Monday I blew out a tire just as I was entering the Lincoln Tunnel (on the NJ side.) I guess you could say I was lucky because I was one of five cars to lose at least one tire (thank god I didn’t lose TWO like the people in front of me who had to wait for a tow truck) and GREG, Port Authority Worker Extraordinaire was on a roll changing tires. He changed mine lickety split, wouldn’t take a tip, and MAN was he easy on the eyes!!! (Looked a bit like G actually – just my type!) So skilled was Greg that the baby didn’t even wake up.
Tuesday I did a last minute photo shoot for a 2 week old baby girl. I can’t even remember Meli that new anymore. Isn’t that so sad? Then I went and had my hair cut and colored. It was desperately needed as I hadn’t had it colored since about two weeks before Meli was born. Whew! G was on and he did GREAT! Sent me a picture of the baby sleeping away while I was halfway through my appointment.
First thing Wednesday we had Meli’s four month check up. For those keeping score, she was 13.8 lbs and 24.75 inches. I thought it was pretty funny that she was 10.8 at 2 months, 12 at 3 months and 13.8 at 4 months. Guess she’s a 1.5 lb a month kind of girl! The doctor said she’s perfect. Like we didn’t know that. 😉 Then we went and sat at the car place. Needed a new tire after Monday.
Thursday we had lunch with some out of town friends in the city and I also made up the appointment I missed on Monday because of the tire.
MAN am I tired! I’ve been doing badly with the sleep thing too. Meli is generally out for the night by around 10PM and then she sleeps for about six hours. If I was smart, I’d be going to sleep then too, but lately I’ve been reading a book I read about on Terry’s blog: The Devil in the White City. I’m really liking the book which is weird for me because I never read non-fiction. I’m really a fiction kind of girl, but this book has really pulled me in. It’s about the World’s Fair in Chicago and what went into building it, the city at the time, and the parallel lives of the architects of the Fair and a serial killer on the loose in Chi-town. Anyway, it’s keeping me up at night. I nurse Meli to sleep and then I read. It’s great fun but I’m exhausted.
And in between all of these things I knit what felt like eighty million swatches for (yet another!) new project. FINALLY I’ve settled on a yarn and now I just have to wait for the colorway I want to arrive. I’m SO super excited about this project – it has everything I’ve grown to love about knitting in it, and I just want to start NOW. I’m proud that I’ve been diligent, though, in making sure everything is just right. I hope to talk about it soon.
It probably won’t be another week until I post again. We’re going on a bit of a vacation tomorrow until mid-week and then I’m at my sister’s through the weekend. God I wish I had that yarn! Have a wonderful weekend!
I love Devil in the White City. I love how thorough the notes are, so you can see which parts have been fictionalized [because some parts certainly were, it’s not entirely non-fiction.] I highly recommend the book he wrote before, Isaac’s Storm about the hurricane in Galveston, Texas. In a similar vein, you might also like “Loving Frank” which is a piece of historical fiction based on the affair between Mamah Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright.
I loved The Devil in the White City, too, and I, too, am not a non-fiction sort of person. And I agree with the previous poster — Isaac’s Storm was, I think, even better!
The best advice I got from my MIL was: When the baby sleeps, YOU sleep. Try it. A happy mother is a better/happier mother.
The best advice I got from my MIL was: When the baby sleeps, YOU sleep. Try it. A happy mother is a better/happier mother.
The best advice I got from my MIL was: When the baby sleeps, YOU sleep. Try it. A happy mother is a better/happier mother.
Hey, I miss that nursing them to sleep thing! Is she still in bed with you guys? I miss that too. Although, not as much as I would like, since our 4 year old usually gets up in the night to go potty, then comes into our room and pokes me in the shoulder and asks, “Can I snuggle with you?” Seriously, even at o’crap o’clock in the morning, how can you turn that down? I let him sleep on my until my arm falls asleep. And then another minute or two…
I loved that book! It held my attention and totally sucked me in. I can understand your dilemma.
I also had a tire blow this week. Unfortunately, my “Greg” wasn’t as easy on the eyes as yours…think big ‘ol butt crack!!!
Have an uneventful vacation with no more blowouts! And try to sleep when you can — maybe a nap or two? (Yeah, I know, dream on!)
See you and the perfect baby on the flip side!
Baby slept through the tire change? Greg is good!!
Have fun on your vacay and with the sis!
Wow lost a tire thats pretty scary but to have someone right there to fix it now thats pretty cool. Have a great time on your vacation!!!
I just read that book this spring and couldn’t put it down. And I, too, don’t read history ever. My new SIL is an avid historian and thought the book was terrible because of the murder mystery side of it. But I thought it was fascinating — especially all the things that are now commonplace that came out of that World’s Fair. I can understand your not sleeping w/ that book around!
I read that book when Elio was around the age Meli is…in Chicago…kept me up and gave me nightmares. I hope they NEVER make the movie.
There’s a great passage in A.S. Byatt’s Still Life about a mother understanding she only holds her child as he is in the moment and can’t retain a memory of him younger–it’s beautiful and poignant and I copied it into my first son’s baby book. It’s a heartbreaking book, so pick it up warily. I will be happy to scan in the section I’m talking about for you when I’m reunited with my books in August.
Yeah, you gotta sleep when the baby sleeps, even if that means you get nothing done. I remember when Taz was maybe a week old and refused to sleep for about a 12-hour stretch. Wasn’t sick, wasn’t hungry, wasn’t wet, wouldn’t sleep. Finally he conked out and so did I, and we slept for a full 8 hours. (He didn’t do that again for a while.) It was heaven.
When just barely pregnant with Miss B and Taz 17 months old I asked a friend with two daughters 13 months apart how she coped when they were babies (given that at that point I had just one child and morning sickness and was completely useless), and she imparted to me a piece of wisdom I will treasure forever: you can’t get less than nothing done.
Of course knitting helps with that: you knit one stitch, you get something done.
DIWC is fiction, just so you know. But Stanford White (I believe he was the architect on whom the book’s main character was based) was murdered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_White
just want you to know you are in my top five blogs I read faithfully I dont care what you talk about your interesting. Love your pics at the top. please keep blogging when you can.
I love the banner photo, and the Devil in the White City is sooo creepy, and so hard to put down.
Isn’t she just the cutest thing? I really think your darling is about the most adorable lamb since my husband’s niece was born 20 years ago last month. This is such a cute age and she really looks like a happy baby. Lucky you.
Ann Carpenter in Dallas(hot as the hinges of Hell)Texas
Ah, sleep – I forgot what that was like!! My little one is 2.5 and I still don’t sleep very well. It does get better as they get older; and yes, you really do need to sleep when they do. I still take naps on occaision when my wee one does and I always feel good afterwards.
The laughter is wonderful! What’s cute too is that I noticed on the “Mad” video, when she finished sneezing, you said bless you and she flashed a smile afterwards. My wee one would smile at certain words that she liked and I always thought that was a sweet little trait.
Don’t worry about blogging – I haven’t blogged since 2005, so you are doing much better than me!!!
I **love** that book! I read it on a business trip in a weekend, and could NOT put it down. You can find pics of the Fair if you Google “World Columbian Exposition.” (By the way, it’s historical fiction, not fiction.)
Also check out Isaac’s Storm, a book about the Galveston hurricane in the early 1900s – it is completely amazing, and has tons of interesting stuff about hurricanes, the damage water can do (!) and some very interesting people.