Saturday night we gave LO a bath and we couldn't zip the 12m sleeper over his leg! Last week's suspected growth spurt is real.
We went to Target to buy a new food processor because our old one broke. Found out that footie PJs in size 18m are rare and expensive ($14). We ended up driving ~30 minutes away to a secondhand shop. I picked up 8 sets of PJs for under $30. Most are separates. Most don't have feet. One is fleece, which I feel is going to be too warm, but I bought it anyway.
One day DH tried to do his morning routine with baby and he was much more understanding after that. Our LO gives you about 5 minutes to shit, shower and shave. That's what I've been dealing with for 233 days. DH experienced it one day and felt like he missed out on his spa time.
Definitely got out all the holiday decorations, which I normally don't do. We usually celebrate elsewhere and refrain from decorating here at home. But I'm thinking that if I just get it all out now, it will be worthwhile to leave it up for a couple of months. I don't know.
We booked a getaway for DH's birthday next month. It's a mountain cabin. We last stayed there 10 years ago. We might get snow and I am kind of hoping for it.
We're getting together with SIL in 2 weeks for a family hike. Is that enough time to practice back-carrying LO? I have been consistently babywearing but 99% inward facing front carry. I don't think a stroller will work for the hike. I guess we have some time to practice. The one & only time I tried back-carry, LO arched his back and was being all weird and floppy.
I was thinking about superheros. Like do they ever wake up in the morning and think... I don't feel like putting on the cape and tights today. I don't feel like saving lives. I'm sure they do. Parents are superheros for raising these little ones. It's just a thought I had while emptying the dishwasher, doing a load of laundry, feeding LO breakfast, doing a barre workout and planning a surprise for DH who is a veteran. I mean... superhero stuff, right?
I am pretty behind at work. DH is like "I'm sure you'll be caught up if you just have an hour to work, right?" And I'm like, bro, there's at least 8 hours worth of work to be done. I'm really dragging to the finish line of the semester. Two more experiments, two more units, two more chapters, but final exam to write, final papers and presentations to grade. Plus I am about 3 labs and 3 quizzes behind. But my baby is cute. And I'm trying to give myself grace for rolling with all the COVID-related adjustments to content delivery.
Every day I think about doing something cute for Christmas cards but it just keeps getting pushed back due to dealing with the everyday job of keeping the house tidy and cooking. I feel like I'm just constantly getting stuff out or putting stuff away.
DH has maxed out his vacation hours. Like if he doesn't take some, he'll lose it. So he stayed home today. The plan was for me to catch up on work. I have worked all day with no breaks, except for a workout and a shower. I'm still not caught up. 🥵
Pre-baby I taught 5 classes which kept me on campus 40 hours per week and sometimes more, even though I'm not technically full time. This semester I have only 3 classes and I'm trying to cruise by with as little effort as possible since we have no childcare for LO. I mean I want to do a basic good job but I'm not going above and beyond if you know what I mean.
I've said this before but with just teaching and office hours, I work 14 hours per week. I don't get breaks. DH takes LO just while I teach, not even during office hours. I can't be productive for more than 15-20 minutes about twice per day. LO is so demanding.
All this is fine and I'm managing without a herpes outbreak, without screaming at my family members, without crying every day. But the other day I had a work-related nightmare. So I asked DH to please stay home today and watch LO.
Now that brings us full circle. DH made a ludicrous comment that I should be able to catch up if only I just had an hour without LO. Did I mention I used to have 40+ hours per week? That's 4x more than I have now. And I had to use weekends and holidays to catch up even before baby came along.
After watching me work all day, he starts criticizing what I'm doing and how I'm doing it and saying that he won't take days off in the future to help me if I don't stay on task. I burned my hand making fish tacos for lunch. And DH just called me from the store to ask where they keep the protein powder. I'm like I DON'T KNOW. LOOK FOR IT.
Not to complain about COVID but we've had to make some big changes in how we teach because of the switch to virtual. That necessitates some extra work beyond just the usual keeping up with grading assignments. DH doesn't understand that because he's not a teacher.
DH is really good about pushing back if I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do. I could advocate for myself better when I need more help. Or refuse to do something that I feel is too much. The problem is that I don't want to fight in front of LO and I would do just about anything for my baby, so I just try to hold it together and do all the things.
TLDR: I'm running out of steam today. And I wish DH wasn't also punking me.
I wonder what DH thinks when he keeps letting dirty dishes pile up. Also I did the ultra-glam task of cleaning the washing machine today. When the clean clothes smell like a barnyard, it's time to clean the washing machine.
I noticed the e-waste drive thru drop-off has reopened. So we're cleaning out some junk in our garage. Also trying to figure out how to move some items through our local Buy Nothing group. There are some items I would sell in a consignment sale, but others I feel fine gifting. The clutter needs to go.
Had a good family workout yesterday at the park with 7 other mommas & babies. It was cute to see some younger and some older than LO. Exercise was followed by a long nap, a trip to Vitamin Shoppe and a visit to the used bookstore. These are nonessential trips I know, but we haven't been to the bookstore since before baby was born. It used to be our romantic date activity, so it was really nice to get out and have a change of scenery.
I am washing and googling used toys that I bought to find out the appropriate age range. Yeah cutout puzzles are for two-year-olds or older. Guess those are going into storage for a bit. Am I crazy for being so meticulous? Sometimes I feel that being "detail oriented" is a hinderance to just moving on with life and "going with the flow" but I certainly don't want my kiddo to choke on anything. Geez. I don't know if I would have been so serious about cleaning & sterilization pre-COVID but I am certainly thinking about it now. Soap & water + 4-6 hours in direct sunlight should be enough. How do day care providers do it? It took me an hour to clean 3 puzzles and a walker while trying to coax LO to eat carrots. 🥕🤮
Our tree is out of the garage and out of the box but not decorated yet. I want to enjoy it for as long as possible. Bring on the cheer indeed!
We're doing a hike tomorrow with SIL to celebrate Thanksgiving with social distancing. But they want to do a one-way hike where we take 2 vehicles but park one at the start and one at the end. This means at two points in time we'll all be squished into one vehicle. I asked DH if everyone will be wearing masks in the vehicle and he said "I was just planning to roll the windows down."
I'm thinking that would just swirl the viral load all over the inside of our van. I'm thinking how to deal with this information. DH said if I want everyone to wear masks, I have to be the one to enforce it. So I guess I can do that. Or I could wait for them to be dropped off and have DH swing back by and pick me up or something complicated like that. MIL and SIL are both nurses but still think COVID is a hoax. I thought the hike would be a way to see them outdoors, but now I am feeling stressed.
MIL has had some dental work done, which she is quick to point out required a COVID test that came back negative. It's exhausting to try to explain why that isn't evidence for me of a safe interaction. And MIL's husband took a contact tracing course, I think just to make fun of it. He has a degree in clinical psychology so he's not an idiot. I just don't understand why some people are so anti-science. I am reminded of the phrase "inconvenient truth." Like when scientific evidence is inconvenient, people choose to turn a blind eye to it.
And now I'm shaving my legs because SIL and MIL expect it. I feel legit disgruntled.
First tooth!
We got rid of our swing. It was sad and I miss it, but it was just getting unsafe since LO kept trying to sit up.
I was in bed at MIL's house on Thanksgiving day with a massive headache. Dunno if MIL had a talk with DH or what but he's been extra helpful this week. I think the stress caught up with me all at once. Or my body gave up when it knew there were more adults around to help.
Here's a justnoMIL comment... I was exercising with MIL and she told me to start wearing super compression sports bras otherwise my breasts will droop all the way down to the floor and "you don't want that."
Ummm... I don't know how to tell you this but 1) I had droopy boobs before getting pregnant 2) compression decreases milk supply 3) breastfeeding is important to me 4) my boobs are so huge now I can't fit into any of my prepregnancy shirts 5) when I do stop breastfeeding, my boobs will deflate and no sports bra will stop that from happening.
My MIL has had lots of plastic surgery. I'm not interested. Just no. Why is the appearance of my breasts any of her concern?
And FIL kept encouraging me to cover up while breastfeeding "for my privacy." Um yeah, remember when you came to the hospital while I was in labor? You've seen all the parts of my body. Get over it. This is how I feed my baby. Sometimes with a spoon, sometimes with "tits out." It took every sweet bone in my body to not say, "ok Mike Pence." Jeez Louise.
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