LSNED September 6

Thursday:

Gratitude. I am grateful for two Grandmas who will drive almost 2 hours each way to take care of Lucas so I can teach part time. Amazing.

I am grateful for the opportunity to teach college part time. So far, I love it.

I am grateful for an amazing husband who is truly my best friend.

And I'm grateful for this spitfire of energy currently turning himself in circles on my bed and "narrating his journey" as Mark called it. (I'm also grateful that he only woke up once last night.) He really is a cool kid.

He totally laughed at my routine last night. He was out cold by 7:30. No solid food for dinner. No bath. Fell asleep nursing. Wasn't even in his pajamas. But there was no waking that poor child up. So I let him sleep. I woke him up at 11 to nurse, and changed him into his pajamas at that time. He went right back to sleep and slept until 3, nursed, then slept until 7:15ish. I call that success. 

LSNED September 5

Wednesday:

Patience has been a life long learning for me. Whether attributed to my red hair, genetics, environment, or whatever, I have always been quick to temper and fast-paced. It has taken years of breathing and relaxing. And after having Lucas, I'm almost having to start over teaching myself patience!

The key to patience for me has been to focus on the other person. What is their perspective? What do they need? How is their need different from mine? I hope that this has made me a more discerning person, too; someone who thinks of others and can communicate effectively with all kinds of people from all different backgrounds. I think it has increased my skills of mediation, because I often am able to see multiple sides of issues. Of course, that makes me rather indecisive, but that's a tale for another day!

"Patience is a virtue," and my patience is something I find failing me often with a little one who is learning so many new things. I just pray that I can find and keep my patience, because there's no one in my life who needs it more than he does. And I hope in the process I can teach him patience, too, because, after all, he is my child. Maybe it will be something we can do together. And maybe we can start with being patient with each other.

Lunch with Valerie and a doctor's appointment. He woke at 3 am, 5:30am, and is now still asleep at 9:15. I however, got up to create a test for Reading Strategies. Total fail. An hour and a half later, no test, because I can't figure out how to access the online test bank. Ugh. Maybe technology just isn't for me today.

LSNED September 4

Tuesday:

Doing the same thing does not always generate the same result. Same bedtime routine. Up at 3, 5:30, and awake for the day at 7:45. Ugh. I need more sleep than this.

Teach today. I feel more at home in the classroom at Martin than I did at Bridgeforth. Must think about why, specifically. More relaxed? Less responsibility for behavior? Only twice a week, 3 classes instead of 8 hours straight 5 days a week?

Happiness is a sleeping baby. Or at least a happy baby.

Taught, lunch, taught, choir.

He was asleep at 3 when I called home to check on him! No meltdown, no rushing home to nurse. Today was a good day.

LSNED September 3

Monday, September 3:

One day at a time. That's the only way to raise a baby. I look for the big milestones, and sometimes they're there, but more than anything it's a slow progression. He doesn't crawl across the room all at once. He doesn't suddenly eat like a grown up. And he's not going to just magically sleep through the night. But when I slow down and take it one day at a time, I enjoy the moments. He is growing, and is so much bigger every day. Learning to sit up is his latest great adventure, and he practices everywhere he can, even falling asleep sitting up in is car seat. But he's a pro at pulling to sit up on his change table, taking my hands and pulling himself. So cool to see. He is an amazing little person.

Woke at 3am, wouldn't go back to sleep without nursing (tried for an hour), slept til 7, nursed, then slept until 10:30! Off to grama's for labor day steaks and skewers.

LSNED September 2

Rough, rough night. I get so angry when he doesn't sleep, and then angry for getting angry. Mark took him for a drive at 4:30am. I couldn't sleep, then got upset because Mark wouldn't answer his cell phone (later found out it was dead). Started to go look for them when they pulled back in the driveway. Slept holding Lucas in the recliner. Decided something had to be done, but have no idea what.

Made pecan pie squares for labor day grill out tomorrow.

Mark cooked lots today: pancakes for breakfast, homemade Chick-Fil-A sandwiches for lunch, chicken alfredo for dinner. Chick-Fil-A on a Sunday with no money going to the CEO's pocket. We'll show those homophobic bastards.

Instituted a bed time routine:

No sleeping past 7pm

9pm - cereal and veggie

Bath, lotion, no jammie's

Nurse in diaper with both lamps on

Put on jammies

Turn off one lamp, read bedtime stories

Turn off other lamp, rock to sleep

We'll see.

Learn Something New Each Day

I've been part of Shimelle's September class for 4 years. I've actually attempted the project twice before; last year I just read the prompts and thought longingly of days I had not been inundated with middle school papers to grade.

This year, I realized that this class could be an opportunity to record some things I'm learning as a new mom and about my little guy. I have yet to scrapbook anything, but I have taken the time to type a few thoughts each day in response to the daily prompts. I'm hopeful that at some point I can record these in a more permanent way, possibly in scrapbook form, to remember this time. The thought crossed my mind today, however, that instead of just putting these notes on my phone, they could become a daily blog. So I'm going to post the past 6 days, and then hopefully keep up with something each day. Some are simply recaps of what I did that day, in hopes that retrospect might give light to a lesson. Most are in response to the prompt, so they tend to flow from that. Hopefully they'll kind of make sense, even if you're not reading the prompts. We'll see how long I keep it up!


Here is Saturday, September 1:

Latest big adventure? Lucas. The greatest adventure of my life. It's the hardest and best thing I've ever done. I have no idea what I'm doing. But somehow we make it. It helps to have an awesome husband and father along for the ride. And an awesome kid, too. Just saying.

Sleepless nights lead to lazy days. Lucas has been sick- fever, cough, sneezing. Pretty sure it's a cold, but his doctor prescribed an antibiotic anyway. Our adventure for the day was Walmart. And some days that's enough. We made salads for the week (this new thing Mark found online for making salads in mason jars - it's awesome!). First Auburn game of the year. My cousin Sarah's wedding that we did not attend because of the distance - I so wanted to be there, but just couldn't fathom driving 12 hours in one weekend, even a 3-day one. My 10 year HS reunion that I did not attend. Making choices as to what I want/can do is kind of empowering.

Vacation!

This past month saw Lucas's first vacation. It was a family affair. We first met my parents, sister, aunt, and cousin for a week in a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. This has been a long family tradition for me - we used to meet every summer when I was growing up. As my sister and I've gotten older, we've gotten out of the habit, but the opportunity for my aunt to meet the little one was too enticing to pass up this summer. It was a lazy week filled with lots of good food and fun family time. My aunt teaches middle school, so it was fun to swap horror stories. She also has a lot of experience (read: wisdom), so it was encouraging to hear from someone who's stuck with it. Even thought I am not. (More about that later.)

Lucas did amazing on the car ride. I was terrified that it was going to be horrible, especially since he had cried every time we put him in the car for about 4 days before the trip. But he slept a lot, and we preempted his meltdowns by stopping and nursing often.

4.5 hours in and still smiling!

Mark's parents have really wanted to go to a theme park lately. His dad, especially, has been talking about it for years, but going to Disney World this past Christmas really gave them the theme park bug. When the plans for his dad's birthday this past summer fell through, and they realized we were going to be about an hour from Dollywood (with it's new roller coaster, the Wild Eagle), they decided to meet us there after our week in NC. I was a little concerned about Lucas, just because going to a theme park is a big deal and I didn't want to overwhelm him. That, and when Mark and I do theme parks, we DO theme parks (A 20 hour day at Univeral Studios Islands of Adventures, 3 12+ hour days at Disney World while recovering from the flu, to name the most recent). I anticipated that having a baby with us would likely slow down our theme park craziness. But Lucas was a champ! He was with us the whole way. He napped in his stroller, and then awoke for more fun. I guess all those roller coasters I rode when I was a month pregnant with him (and didn't know it, by the way) just got him prepared. 

Our day at Dollywood ended with fireworks. Again, paranoid, anxious mother that I have become, I was worried that they would scare him and he would scream the entire time. What was his reaction?

Enthralled. Completely enthralled. He watched the ENTIRE 20 minute show, looking exactly like that. Really, I missed the whole show because I was having so much fun watching him. He loved every minute of it, and even cried when they were over.

So, all in all, I would have to rule that Lucas's first vacation was a total success. I'm looking forward to making more memories with you, kid. You're awesome.