From The Normans: A Rainy Tuesday

We've been spoiled here in Maryland with nice spring weather. Dexter and I have been spending lots of play time out in the back yard. CoCo comes out with us sometimes, when she is not snoring. But not today. Today spring is back with a vengeance (really? Is that how you spell vengeance?), with cold rain, no sun - good day for a nap!

Speaking of naps - I was beginning to think that my boy was a weirdo - 30 minutes of naps at a time, and none of this "Oh, my 2 month old sleeps for two hours - doesn't yours?" crap. Then I re-read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" which says that at about 4 months of age a child's brain develops enough so that he can start to consolidate his daytime sleep. So naps start to develop. Starting with the morning nap. AND - in the past week or so Dexter has been doing just that. Sleep 30 minutes in the morning, wake up, suck thumb for a while, go back to sleep. HA! Take that! My kid just may be NORMAL! All y'all with the sleeping kids - YOU are the weirdos! ;-)

Dex weighed in at 14 lbs 15 oz this morning at lactation group. Judging by the amount of poop in his diaper this morning, had he weighed in before breakfast he'd have been over 17 pounds...

I get competitive at lactation group. Quietly so, but still. Competitive. Silly, right? I'm all checking out everyone else's weights to see how big their baby is. 14 pounds? HA! My baby will kick your baby's ass. Only ate 4 ounces? HA! My kid just guzzled 7! Your baby was 25 inches at his last doctor appt? HA! Mine is currently 7 feet tall. Your kid only sleeps on your chest at night? HA! Mine sleeps in his own room. The DOG may sleep on my chest, though... I, of course, don't actually say any of these things. Probably for the best.

On Thursday last week I was chatting with Christie and I told her something to the effect of "I am taking a baby and a dog to volleyball tonight. I may want to shoot myself when I get home." And then off we went to John's work to watch our team play volleyball. And? It went way better than I thought it would. The baby was great. Ate well, kind of went to sleep in his car seat, played nicely. The dog? Well, the dog was a pain in the ass. THIS is why I didn't take her to volleyball at all last year. Now I remember. It's because I can no longer yell at the begging, annoying dog because she is DEAF. So when she wanders over to another group of people, begging pizza crust, I have to go get her and poke her and make her come back. Also - she is a sissy. By the end of the night she was shivering with cold. Remind me next spring to leave her shaggy coat on til about July... So - this week Dex and I will go to volleyball. I may actually even play. And CoCo? Well, CoCo will stay home. Which she's fine with. Volleyball disrupts her evening nap.

I used to make fun of people waiting in line at the drive-through at McDonald's. Why not park your car and walk your lazy butt inside to order? And then I had a baby. Who sleeps in the car. I now hit every drive-through place I can think of. What I really want? A drive-through candy store. Someplace where I can get M&M's, and maybe a bottle of water, without taking the sleeping baby out of the car. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Will they let me carry on a backpack with a laptop and a camera, plus another backpack with a breast pump, on the airplane? Where, pray tell, shall I pump in the airport? Or in the plane? I can't imagine sitting in the airplane bathroom for 15 minutes, pumping away, while someone waits in line doing the pee-pee dance.

Pssst. Chatty baby. GO TO SLEEP!!