an update from the trenches

First off, let me just report that I have, at long last, had a Major Success today:

I have gotten my child in that damn Moby wrap.

I know they make it look all crunchy-granola easy on the instructions website, but that thing is nearly impossible.  I've tried it twenty times since she was born, and all I got was a screaming baby strapped to my chest for twenty seconds, and a mother who was convinced that she was cutting off all circulation in said baby's legs.  So we switched to a different kind of wrap style, and it may be working.  For the moment.  She's sleeping in it, which gives me TWO WHOLE HANDS to do stuff!  Like write on the blog!  (Not laundry, or dishwasher-emptying, or bed-making.  No.  Nothing like that.  More important stuff.)

My next goal is to master the art of eating cupcakes while baby sleeps in the Moby wrap, but that is doctoral Moby work.  I suspect my child's first solid foods may be the crumbs she inhales while in this thing.  C'est la vie.

Apart from the Mobytrauma, life is good in this house.  I hesitate to write this out loud lest 1.) many readers hate me and 2.) my child then decides to change her mind altogether, but (I'll whisper it to you) she is sleeping through the night.  At eight weeks.  Holy shit, people.  That is all I could ever have asked for as a Christmas gift, and more.  By "sleeping through the night," I mean, "from 11:30pm or so until 5 or 6am," but that is pure gold.  Daytime naps are a bit more hit-and-miss.

On the breastfeeding front, things are improving.  Slowly.  She's gained weight and has been almost entirely off the formula for awhile.  The nipples are still remarkably red, but not nearly as sore.  However, we seem to have begun the Era of Boob Wrestling, in which baby latches onto boob as if it will save her life, and then moves her head around like a freaking bobblehead doll while eating.  Not so great.  Weight gain tells us she's getting enough milk, so I don't think it's that, but dude: that hurts.  If you have tips on this one, I'd love to hear them.

We survived the No Good Very Bad Baby's First Vaccination Day on Monday (although I did learn that I will definitely need to take those days off work, as it leads to Epic Fussiness).  No fun for mama or baby.  But the nurse was as quick as possible, I nursed her right afterward, and we made it.

Christmas with baby?  Great.  Traveling a should-have-been-four-hours-but-reckless-stupid-trucker-who-can't-drive-in-snow-induced-six-hour-drive?  Not so great.  You know how you have these visions of How Things Will Be When I Have a Baby?  Visions which are usually intensified by years of infertility?  My Christmas vision: sitting in church with my child, singing "Silent Night" by candlelight, giving thanks for the Best Gift Ever.   My Christmas reality: running out of church with screaming child who needs to nurse, breastfeeding through most of the hymns I love, and then child being held by Grandma while I sang "Silent Night," thinking, "huh.  This is not quite what I pictured."  But it was good nonetheless.

I have some more posts running through my head, but I may be pushing our Mobytime a bit.  Excuse me while I go pick cupcake crumbs off my kid's head.  Hopefully I'll be back sooner next time.