Surgerization Tomorrow

May be out of touch for a while, we'll see how it goes. Weird to go back to the hospital exactly six months later.

I'll post a good six month update soon.

Sorry I haven't responded to e-mails in a long time -- bloggy here takes up all my computer time.

Six Months

There's No Place Like Door

It doesn't look like much, but it is lovely to us. We turn the thermostat down during the middle of the day and at night. Since The Installation yesterday Aaron has noticed that it takes the house three times as long to cool down. That is to say, an actual sealed door is far more insulated than a piece of cardboard. Or the old door even while intact. It is so nice. And it looks good and it has this cool pulldown unbreakable screen. You may also be interested to know that the milk door on the left of the door is our mailbox.

Dylan got her hair put in pigtails at daycare today. Cute, but they used regular rubber bands. Anyone with hair may know that that freaking hurts.















I'm busy trying to figure out the best sedation technique for my surgery. Why, you might ask, is that something I'm deciding myself? Good question, I would say. I called to ask what the surgeon is going to use and the nurse said the form said "choice," meaning he'll talk to me and decide that day. I know he doesn't know anything about lactation and sedation, so I'm going to have to learn all about it and be able to have suggestions for him. It looks like with most drugs the 24 hour waiting period afterwards is probably overkill as long as you avoid morphine or valium. That's good because I wouldn't put it past Dylan to not eat for 24 hours.


Pigs














Cheese














Airport

In Which Dylan Wears a Party Dress

To maintain order when Aaron was gone I enforced a strict rule where all my dependents had to stay on their assigned pillows.















It took Aaron five hours door to door to get to and from New York City over the weekend even with a flight in the middle to speed things up. He managed to get called personally over the PA system on his way back because he neglected to board the plane.

Dylan rocking the party with birthday girl Annabelle

Scenes From Our Morning Walk

Dylan "why don't you go ahead and take me to more parties" Blumkin














Mister "took two days to find the right spot" Snuffleupagus














???














Tommy, do you need any collegiate products? You could be popular...














Subtle, yet effective














I'm not sure it's retro if it never went anywhere in the first place














This isn't the kind of McDonald's that has drive through














University of Rochester "yes that's all one building" Medical Center














An innocuous looking daycare *shudders*

Saturday Night

Dear Dylan,

I get it, okay? Woe is you. Your mouth hurts, you can't sleep, your daddy done left you, I hear you. We are all entitled to a bad day. If you knew the words I Didn't Ask to Be Born I think you would have better been able to express yourself today. Your misery, however, loses credibility when, after the whiniest day on record, you spend two hours charming a house full of people. You have giggled for me in that way exactly once. Yet the dog of a friend of a friend and his squeaky toy can send you into hysterics. I would not have been surprised to walk into the room to find you doing kegstands or bobbing for teething biscuits in the fondue. I have to say, I almost expected it when I found you lying facedown in a pool of vomit. I know firehouses that take babies no questions asked. You little twit.

Your skeptical mother

Scratch and Sniff

You know that blonde joke where you put a scratch and sniff (or scratch and snuff for some of us) sticker on the bottom of the bathtub? (Q: "How do you drown a blonde?") Dylan sort of reminds me of that. She can sit up pretty well with just a little support, but if something she wants is in front of her she slowly folds in half until she can either reach it or her nose is on the floor. Once she's down she can't really get back up. In the tub her toys often float just out of reach, so she starts the folding process. If her face gets close to the water she sticks out her tongue to see what it's like. I usually intervene at that point.


















She has her six month visit this Friday.

He's actually 27

Let us continue making fun of Aaron, for it pleases me. Today we learn that perhaps his dentist knows something the rest of us don't:















The daycare center director brought her new baby in to show off. The baby that she had ON MONDAY. He was a pound and a half smaller than Dylan and looked really small. He was just sleeping as one of the teachers held him in one hand.

The hardest thing about Aaron not being here is taking Snuffy on his customary 3 walks plus Snuffercise a day since Dylan has to be dragged along on each outing. Yesterday it was just starting to clear up enough to use a stroller, but then it snowed six inches last night and is 20 degrees so no dice.

And now a photo series I call
Cute Leggings that Don't Fit Over Fat Thighs

Snuffy is now the man of the house

So. Aaron just left us until Sunday evening. This should be interesting. The rule in our house is that if you leave me alone for several days to take care of the baby and the dog I get to make fun of you. Our house is sort of like Calvinball.

We made a cake last night, as is our wont, and I was at the gym during the crucial frosting time. Aaron, former professional baker, knew that I had a nifty way to put the layers together without any space between them. See, you put the two bottom halves together. Nice try, sweetie.















The headphone thingy wasn't working at the gym yesterday so I watched American Idol with closed captioning. I actually think that's the way to watch it.

New phonebooks were just delivered to our neighborhood, but I guess because of all the snow they didn't actually put them on people's doorsteps, instead choosing to leave them on the sidewalk. Apparently when you walk by a phonebook on the sidewalk, even in front of your house, it doesn't necessarily seem like it has any relationship to your life, so you just leave it there. Which is why our neighborhood has been littered with phonebooks for about a week now.

Slush

All those weeks of snow melted in one day yesterday and refroze today. We cleverly took Dylan and Snuffy for a walk in the park to celebrate the (slightly) warmer weather. Aaron had to drag the stroller backwards through four inches of soft mushy crud for about a mile.

This is why there have been no pictures:

















I keep trying, thus far unsuccessfully, to get a picture of Dylan sitting up on her own. Between the camera and fending Snuffy off from the licking, always licking, and trying to prevent her from smashing her cute face that is one more hand than I have, hence the blurry.

Here are a couple of decent ones:

Desperate teething washcloth noshing














On the way to Sunday brunch with Nana

Days Until the Door Gets Delivered: 6

Oh yeah, also there was no daycare yesterday for Presidents' Day. It was just as well since Dylan had a tough time at home so I can't imagine how hard it would have been for her there. We passed her miserable thrashing self back and forth all day to take turns working. Today there was a note on her daycare report that she had a pretty good day there. She drank some from a bottle and wasn't crying any of the times I showed up. There are a few new younger babies and I think maybe they're making her look good in comparison.

The problem, as it turns out, with turning the head shaking into a cute game is now I can't tell if she's playing or hurting.

Aaron got new shoes that are almost identical to a pair Annie used to have. I keep thinking he took her shoes. Why would he do that?

He put my Skype account on "Skype Me" mode, which I guess means that people I haven't added to my contacts can contact me, but it seems sort of dirty.

Evil Teething Monster Beast

Either that or Satan Spawn Awakes or both. Yikes.

This definitely seems different than Dylan's normal existential pain. She thrashes her little head around frantically all the time like she's trying to shake it off. Not her head, the pain. Aaron has turned it into a cute game where they take turns shaking their heads. I went on an emergency CVS run this morning. I asked two different employees if they had teething biscuits and two times got a blank stare that said what the hell is a teething biscuit? Also, why are you talking to me?

That's not such a weird thing, is it? I know Wegman's has some that Dylan loved last time she tried them so back to Wegman's it is tonight. I would say we go there 3-4 times a week these days because there aren't a lot of other places to get out of the house with Dylan in the evenings. And sometimes remaining in the house just isn't an option.

She can really sit up for a while now, although the precise length of time is unknowable. As with everything else new she's done, it's like she has no idea how or why she is able to do it, and she's not really sure she likes it, but she can't quite stop herself.

We realized today that we never checked the paper for her birth announcement.

She'd better be teething

Ach. Dylan didn't go to bed until 10:30, then woke up at 1:30, 5:30, and 7:30. I wrestled her down for a nap just now, but that was a real battle of wills. This is giving me unpleasant flashbacks to when we first brought her home. I'm pretty sure I can feel a tooth coming in. It's not one of the ones that they say comes in first, so maybe she's not reading the right teething book.

I can't find it anymore, but there was a quote in the news from a Congressman about how if we can't protect the nation's peanut butter supply, how can we expect to protect ourselves against terrorism. As long as they don't poison the great peanut butter pipeline I think we should be all set.

It's snowing here again. My shovel and I are becoming quite close.

Oh, I forgot to write that for Aaron's birthday I inadvertently bought him an illicit for-sale-in-Japan-only Wii nunchuck controller. I like to live dangerously.

Thanks A Lot, Dylan

Remember how before Dylan was born she looked like she was going to pod off rather than go through the normal birthing process?

As I am not built to accommodate podding off, my stomach got ripped to shreds. So in a couple weeks I am going to get surgerized to fix it. It is an outpatient procedure ("one stitch!") and shouldn't require general anesthetic but will still involve much pain and bruising. And not lifting more than 15 pounds for six weeks. I think it's been at least that long since Dylan weighed 15 pounds. I'm sure she won't mind if I don't pick her up for a month and a half.

The other issue is that between anesthesia and pain meds, I won't be able to feed her for a while. This should be even more fun than contaminated peanut butter.

The play gym is much more fun when you can control your hands


Snuffy vs Snow Snuffy


We seem to have forgotten to put the picnic table away for the winter. Aaron, could you get on that?

How 'Bout That Salmonella

With many cases in NY?

Most often from Peter Pan peanut butter?


(honey roast = extra sugar = extra good)

With product numbers starting with 2111?



Awesome.

I don't understand how something so delicious could hurt me.

I haven't opened it yet, but oh, what a sad waste.


In other news of things that are sad, Dylan was up at 11:30 last night and again from 2:30-4. I think her gums were hurting her. If only I could have smeared peanut butter on them.

What a day not to have a camera

Wow, Snowpocalyse 2007, huh?

We got another nasty e-mail saying classes are rarely cancelled, haha there are no snow days in grad school. It has been snowing heavily here since yesterday evening. I woke up to a nice man snowblowing part of our driveway at 6:30am.

We've had 20 inches so far. It drove everyone in our neighborhood out of their houses like worms on the sidewalk in the rain to shovel. Poetic, no?

Snuffy was desperate to run around so we took him to a field and let him prance around ridiculously.

I spent 45 minutes trying to get Dylan to sleep, then Aaron took over and three minutes later she was out. Aaron sucks. He said I loosened her up for him.

Dylan would not take a bottle today at daycare. Shocking. But they wish to keep trying. I will continue to humor them. Suckers.

And I'll leave you with this valentine that Dylan apparently made at daycare. I had to share it to spread the creepiness around a little:

The Snow Apocalypse is Nigh

All anyone could talk about today was the impending doom. It started snowing at 5pm, just as predicted, and was clear right up until then, which was creepy. Doom or no, I had an important craving to go to the bookstore, so we were out driving with a ton of other fools around 6 or 7. Several inches have already piled up, but I can't find the camera charger so I can't take a before picture. Aaron got an e-mail saying that the hospital does not close so you need to plead for mercy from your manager if you want to stay home. Daycare, however, is planning on closing tomorrow if a state of emergency is declared. We're supposed to get 12 to 18 inches by 5pm tomorrow.

Speaking of daycare...today went well. The first sign of this was when I was greeted with enthusiasm by the staff instead of the traditional sullen glares. I'm not that surprised since I have noticed that over the past couple of days that she has really chilled out. It's about the right time for her to come out of the latest fussy phase, so I hope that's what's happening. I left her there a little longer before checking on her so she actually got hungry and drank six ounces from the sippy cup, which was all that I had left for her since she usually only takes one or two. Her teachers responded by saying, great, now that she's eating can you bring in some bottles so she can get more at once? I have NO idea why they think success with the sippy cup means she can now take a bottle, but I will humor them and bring some in. I wish they would be as nice to me and her even on bad days.

This probably counts as sleeping through the night

Apparently our door is shipping from the North Pole because it isn't getting here until the 26th.

Dylan seems to be making up for last night because she is now sleeping for her 13th hour with just a quick snack that she more or less slept through at 6am.

I Deserve Better Parking Car-ma

Snuffy keeps dropping a tennis ball right next to Dylan and then standing there with his tail down when she doesn't respond.

She has been laughing out loud a little. And sitting unassisted for approximately three seconds. I have tried sitting her up alone every day for a week and suddenly yesterday she was strong enough to do it. She has been in a fantastic mood today.

You may know of my little parallel parking problem. I can't do it. Well, today I did it, and quite well at that. And the parking meter didn't work. It's just not right.

We (= me) were up with her 5-6 times last night. When she is congested she wakes herself up with the snot. She didn't have a hard time going back to sleep any of the times, but I did (the music...aaaaaahhhh).

Computers Are Waterproof, Right?

Tip of the Day: If you cleverly play music in the baby's room at night and you have a monitor in your room, you should pick a song you want to listen to all night.

We discovered Skype recently and have been using it to talk to our families a lot. Aaron's computer has a built in camera, so everyone gets to see the baby when they talk to us. Conversely, much disappointment ensues when the baby is asleep, yet we call anyway. It has been especially cool because it lets us talk to Annie in Morocco very easily. She's a Peace Corps Volunteer, you know. Dylan has been fairly good natured about sitting on our laps at the computer while we chat, especially if we give her some mardi gras beads to chew on. Or the computer itself.

More Food

I have been giving Dylan oatmeal for the past few days. She slurps it right down, which is pretty fun. Oatmeal, however, is her only food for the moment because as far as I can tell every single other food has given her a bright red rash on her face. One night last weekend after being given rice cereal she woke up in the middle of the night screaming. I didn't know what what going on and why she wouldn't sleep until I turned on a light 45 minutes after she woke up and saw that the rash, which is normally limited to her cheeks, was all over her face. I gave her a warm bath to help her tummy feel better and two seconds into it HUGE gas bubbles came out and she was fine and went happily back to sleep. But no more rice cereal for her.

In The Continuing Adventures of Storm Door and Friends, our freaky-sized door had to be special ordered so we are left with the Giant Hole of Draftiness for a couple weeks. A guy showed up to double check our measurements at 8am the other day. Snuffy astutely detected him and alerted us to his presence.



We here are bleisenblog are nothing if not classy.

More Baby Stuff

You know, aside from the daycare stuff Dylan is actually pretty easy right now. She's really fun and playful most of the time and very responsive to us. She babbles bababababa constantly, clearly a reference to her beloved bottle. When she is really fussy she is usually obviously tired or hungry, and she goes to sleep relatively easily, whether by being rocked or on her own in her crib. She still takes three naps, but two of them are invariably crappy and I'm hoping she'll switch to two good ones in the next couple of months. She has settled into a routine of waking up once at night between 3 and 5 and then going right back to sleep, which I hardly mind after all those months of wrestling her to bed at midnight and holding her upright and such. I know in a month I probably won't know what to do with her, but for now it's nice to have a rough routine.

We've started playing music in her room at night as she falls asleep. Just one song actually, Wigwam, a Bob Dylan instrumental that was on the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack. Aaron has always liked to listen to it on a loop also, so that's sort of funny. I didn't want to make her dependent on music to fall asleep, but I think she was born that way because we both think it really helped her even the first time.

One thing about still feeding Dylan all her meals is that I spend a fair amount of time in her daycare. The room, while fairly babyproof, is not really set up for babies who can move. So it is hilarious when one of the babies goes mobile. They get themselves under the cribs and behind the changing table and they can manhandle the other babies who are helpless on the floor like little turtles. Four of the six other babies in the room are older than Dylan. One of them can already move himself around pretty easily, although it's more dragging than crawling, and the other three can sort of wiggle and roll around to get places. I think Dylan is only a few weeks at most from being able to roll front to back and sit on her own.

Two Baby Stories

As I was buying groceries the other evening the clerk saw the diapers and asked how old the baby was. The baby was actually there with me, but Aaron was off on a bench holding her sleeping self as we had mismanaged her schedule and she passed out while we debated which brand of hot chocolate to get. I said the baby was five months and she asked if she was talking yet. I was like, uh, no. She said she had a four year old and she remembered that age blah blah blah. She then went on to say, oh, every baby develops differently more blah blah blah. I thought, why is she saying those things. Until she told me that her daughter had said mama at four months. Of course.

People are so funny about Dylan's size. If they aren't really familiar with babies and they find out she's a girl they tell me how petite she is. Ha. If they do know how big babies generally are at different ages they're like oh my god she's huge. A woman the other day told me she is as big as a baby she knows born in May, who is not a particularly small baby. That's our fatty.

Storm Doors: Must-Have Item or Trendy Accessory?

We got back to the house the other day. Aaron and I were both fairly cranky from not sleeping well, too much work, etc. And we were greeted with this, except with the panel still on all twisted-metal-like:


Classy, no?

So we were forced to venture into the cold (COLD!) dark night, baby and all, for the fun task of purchasing a storm door. Luckily we have been casing out storm doors for many many months because one panel of that apparently poorly made door had already flown off in the wind a long time ago. Also, it doesn't fully latch shut on its own. You wouldn't think there would be so many subtle facets of storm door ownership, would you? We both independently measured the door frame so we could get our story straight because last time we went browsing we were questioned as to whether a door could truly be those proportions. We are not secure about our measuring skills to begin with, so this was a blow to our collective ego. We eventually made the big decision (the "Helena" it is) after again being mocked and questioned due to our apparently freaky door size (we then learned our neighborhood is notorious for this deviant quality).

Other things we have been shopping for lately have included baby clothes and more baby clothes. I went a little nuts at the secondhand baby clothes store and this was the result:


But seriously, everything is like less than $3. It's awesome. Although it starts to seem like less of a deal when you spend $70. This was my best find:



It hasn't made its way onto the actual baby yet, but that will come with time.

A doggie door that Snuffy can fit through