It’s the same old story. Ellie doesn’t nap well at all. This is not new information. But I’ve realized over the past few weeks that it’s been a long time since she’s had a normal nap in her crib. This is not good. I most often go for a drive which puts her to sleep. I’ll then tip-toe up the stairs with her still in her car seat. I’ll hold my breath while I set the car seat down and turn the monitor on. And then I disappear into the silence and make my way downstairs. It’s never a guaranteed nap, but it’s my best shot. I’ve realized I’ve been cheating the system. She’s going to outgrow that car seat, and soon, and then I’ll be stuck.
A VISITOR FROM THE BEYOND?
One evening I got a frantic phone call from my mom asking me if I had seen the e-mail my brother had just sent. Â When I told her no, she started to get excited and started explaining that when he was over at my house, he snapped a picture of Ellie and in the background you could see a ghost. Â Excited was an understatement. Â “Oh wow! Â This is SOOO cool! Â I wonder if it’s grandpa!?” Â Followed by, “don’t tell Aya, it’ll freak her out!” Â All of this information was coming at me so fast it took a while for it to register. Â A ghost? Â In my house? Â Captured on camera? Â What!?
IS THAT A BABYRUTH?
Every day, Ellie likes to start off her day with a nice dump. Every morning when I come in her room to greet her, she’s already had her morning poop. But on this one particular day, the term “morning poop” would not do what I saw justice.Â
First of all, when I walked into her room the stench overwhelmed me. My knees buckled and my vision blurred. Even though the curtains were shut and the room was dark, I acted as if there was a bright light. I squinted my eyes and put my hand out as if to shield my eyes from the light. After I waded through the dense hazy air to get to her crib, I noticed that she looked thinner. She had an extra bounce in her step. Did you lose weight? I thought. When I opened her diaper you could hear shrieks. Whatever was hiding in there, I had just let it out! And what I saw was absolutely incredible. How one little person can crap their entire body weight is beyond me. Needless to say, it was not her typical morning poop. She had somehow killed the devil in her sleep and trapped him in her diaper. I was horrified and closed one eye trying to limit my view. She had beets for dinner the night before, and it turns out they look the same coming out as they do going in. I didn’t want to breathe through my nose or my mouth. She smiled at me with pride though. “I did that! All by myself.” Of course she felt good. Why wouldn’t she after producing something like that? Even after the clean-up, she desperately needed a morning bath.
DADA?
It’s funny how sometimes no matter what you plan, or how much you prepare, somethings are just out of your control. Â During our pregnancy I had so much time to fantasize about my new life with our baby. Â I had almost a year to build up this image of how I saw myself as a parent and what my relationship with our kid will be like. Â Since I had no experience with newborns or any babies at all, all of my visions were of Ellie as a toddler or older. Â I envisioned us sitting on the couch listening to Led Zeppelin or the Beatles together. Â Me telling her stories about why I liked those songs or what made them so great, and her just looking at me quietly. Â I pictured the typical Kodak moment of playing in the leaves during the fall, or her holding my hand while I wandered the aisles of Home Depot. Â I also pictured the stereotypical scene of coming home from work. Â In my mind I’d bust through the door with a big smile on my face and my arms wide open, and Ellie would squeal in excitement, “Dad’s home!” and then she’d run and give me a big hug. Â But newborn babies don’t do much except lay there, cry, and poop. Â And as you are adjusting to that and realigning the images in your head, life throws you a curve ball. Continue reading “DADA?”
KISS, A COLD, AND SOME CRACK
Ellie started showing symptoms of a cold on Friday. We weren’t overly concerned because she didn’t have a fever and her spirits were still just as usual. Well, as the weekend progressed, so did her cold making it an interesting Monday. Continue reading “KISS, A COLD, AND SOME CRACK”