We Need a Little Christmas
Being so engrossed in (still feels new) motherhood all month, I didn't do a thing about Christmas: didn't send out cards, didn't decorate, didn't shop for gifts, didn't make cookies, didn't go to any parties. My usual Christmas caroling gigs dried up. (not by my choice) I hadn't even played any Christmas music on the stereo. I was starting to feel badly about the non-celebratory state of things.
Sunday morning, I left the baby with Glenn and finished my admittedly short Christmas shopping list in about an hour. (Shopping on Sunday morning is a great way to beat the crowds.) Also, my mother came over that afternoon for a cookie-making bender. We baked all afternoon and into the night and did still more baking Monday morning, but it was great fun. We made about a billion cookies: shortbread, ginger spice, biscotti, and a new-to-us recipe for thumbprint cookies with chocolate-espresso icing. Yum. And yes, I finally got my Christmas music fix by playing some recordings while we worked.
Manheim Steamroller's version of "Silent Night" makes me tear up every time I hear it. When it started playing I sat down where I could see Elizabeth sleeping like a little angel in her swingy seat and I reflected on all the things that I'm grateful for. And I cried, of course. Weepy Darcy is extra weepy where her daughter is concerned.
Her Majesty Elizabeth kind of freaked me out on Sunday because her morning and afternoon naps stretched out for so long that she pretty much slept the whole day. AND she kept sleeping into the evening. (It did make it much easier to bake, though.) I kept telling myself that it was a growth spurt, but seriously I hadn't seen her sleep so much since she was a newborn. And the last time she had a growth spurt she was too busy eating to sleep that much. But apparently babies change the rules all the time. Of course, she woke up all bright-eyed around midnight and I thought, "Here we go. Gonna be a long night." But then she dropped off again around 12:30 AM and slept until about 6 AM. Amazing.
This was only a few days after we took Elizabeth to the pediatrician because she had spit up what seemed like quarts of fluid on the both of us 3 different times in 24 hours. She'd never done that before so I called for advice and the nurse suggested that we bring her in so they could check her out. She's absolutely fine of course. Yeah, this is our first baby, how-did-you-guess?
Developmentally we have something new to deal with: she's learned to be fussy. Oh dear. This was quite a shock to us over the weekend because she had been so easy and quiet before. She now fusses when she's tired and should be napping. She fusses when she's hungry and should be eating. Sometimes she has to be convinced to eat or nap (once we figure out which one it is that she needs) but we're learning to soothe her. The pacifier has become a handy tool for managing the fussiness. We're using 3 of the 5 S's to great effect (Swinging, Sucking and holding her on her Side) But Saturday afternoon sure was interesting*... she was fussing in the car enough to convince me that she must be hungry -- the pacifier was no longer adequate and I thought she was going to suck my fingernail clean off -- but when I tried to feed her in a parking lot she cried until I was reduced to walking laps around the car to calm her down. Good times!!
Today I mailed out a bunch of Christmas cards. Hooray! I'm planning to package up the Christmas cookies and give them to some of our neighbors. When the arctic freeze lifts this week I'll deliver them with Elizabeth in tow.
We still haven't decorated the house, but it feels a lot more like Christmas now.
* "Define interesting."
"Oh god, oh god, we're all going to die?"
Sunday morning, I left the baby with Glenn and finished my admittedly short Christmas shopping list in about an hour. (Shopping on Sunday morning is a great way to beat the crowds.) Also, my mother came over that afternoon for a cookie-making bender. We baked all afternoon and into the night and did still more baking Monday morning, but it was great fun. We made about a billion cookies: shortbread, ginger spice, biscotti, and a new-to-us recipe for thumbprint cookies with chocolate-espresso icing. Yum. And yes, I finally got my Christmas music fix by playing some recordings while we worked.
Manheim Steamroller's version of "Silent Night" makes me tear up every time I hear it. When it started playing I sat down where I could see Elizabeth sleeping like a little angel in her swingy seat and I reflected on all the things that I'm grateful for. And I cried, of course. Weepy Darcy is extra weepy where her daughter is concerned.
Her Majesty Elizabeth kind of freaked me out on Sunday because her morning and afternoon naps stretched out for so long that she pretty much slept the whole day. AND she kept sleeping into the evening. (It did make it much easier to bake, though.) I kept telling myself that it was a growth spurt, but seriously I hadn't seen her sleep so much since she was a newborn. And the last time she had a growth spurt she was too busy eating to sleep that much. But apparently babies change the rules all the time. Of course, she woke up all bright-eyed around midnight and I thought, "Here we go. Gonna be a long night." But then she dropped off again around 12:30 AM and slept until about 6 AM. Amazing.
This was only a few days after we took Elizabeth to the pediatrician because she had spit up what seemed like quarts of fluid on the both of us 3 different times in 24 hours. She'd never done that before so I called for advice and the nurse suggested that we bring her in so they could check her out. She's absolutely fine of course. Yeah, this is our first baby, how-did-you-guess?
Developmentally we have something new to deal with: she's learned to be fussy. Oh dear. This was quite a shock to us over the weekend because she had been so easy and quiet before. She now fusses when she's tired and should be napping. She fusses when she's hungry and should be eating. Sometimes she has to be convinced to eat or nap (once we figure out which one it is that she needs) but we're learning to soothe her. The pacifier has become a handy tool for managing the fussiness. We're using 3 of the 5 S's to great effect (Swinging, Sucking and holding her on her Side) But Saturday afternoon sure was interesting*... she was fussing in the car enough to convince me that she must be hungry -- the pacifier was no longer adequate and I thought she was going to suck my fingernail clean off -- but when I tried to feed her in a parking lot she cried until I was reduced to walking laps around the car to calm her down. Good times!!
Today I mailed out a bunch of Christmas cards. Hooray! I'm planning to package up the Christmas cookies and give them to some of our neighbors. When the arctic freeze lifts this week I'll deliver them with Elizabeth in tow.
We still haven't decorated the house, but it feels a lot more like Christmas now.
* "Define interesting."
"Oh god, oh god, we're all going to die?"