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Jul. 29th, 2006 02:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twirlgrrlI wrote an entry on Blue's LJ that sortof belongs on this journal too. It was bound to happen sometime. So here it is again.
It was really cold and windy and foggy today--thank goodness for the natural protection from that killer heat wave! I was waiting for the fog to kick back in. I wilt easily. Anyway, Blue and I spent most of the day indoors, but while Evan was at the gym we bundled up and went out to the backyard, where I did battle with the blackberry bushes. Our block of houses sits perched atop a very steep hill, so we have no neighbors behind us, just a steep incline covered with a jungle of blackberries and other brush. Of course the blackberries creep into our yard, and they are a terrible nuisance to get rid of once they've rooted. All I did today was cut each vine back as low as I could and haul the thorny branches to the compost. I didn't have the right equipment to dig out the roots, but at least I got the thorny brambles out of the way so I'm not worried that Blue will get spiked back there. It was quite good exercise, at least for someone as sedentary as me. My intention is to garden a fair bit more. It works out well with Blue toddling around in the yard as I weed. But I'm only slowly improving in terms of remembering to prepare before I go downstairs with him. At least I brought the clippers and gloves down today. Next time I hope to remember to tie my hair back, wear closed-toe shoes, and maybe find my heavy duty gloves so I can trace the blackberry vines all the way to the root.
The blackberry vines are indeed a scourge, and I must be vigilant or they'll take over the backyard and then the house. But there are good things about them too. For one, I am really not worried about someone climbing up the hill to break into our house. Also, just behind our back fence, the vines are thick with green blackberries, which will be ripe and easily pickable in just a couple of weeks! Yum!
Poor Blue is teething terribly. I mentioned it briefly in my last entry, but two nights ago he woke up after midnight and screamed bloody murder for what seemed like hours. It was probably about an hour all told, but BOY it seems longer. I felt so bad for him. He didn't want to nurse or be held, and he ended up crawling and pushing his forehead around on the floor. And that was *after* we gave him the Motrin. I felt pretty frantic, though I mostly sat still and/or cried with him, because I couldn't tell for sure if something was terribly wrong or if he was just out of sorts. Finally, after giving the Motrin plenty of time to work, I took him out front for a short moonlight stroll. It was freezing, but beautiful, and it gave him a way to get outside his own head and get ahold of himself. He finally quieted down and looked around with big eyes for a minute before putting his head down on my shoulder and relaxing. After that it was pretty easy to get him to sleep. Then last night he screamed pretty much the same way, but starting *before* we ever got a chance to put him to sleep at all! It seemed much more like a tantrum combined with (or set off by) not feeling well so I waited it out rather than giving him more medicine. He ended up going to sleep without medicine, but he did scream for quite a while. He's not feverish, and he doesn't act sick, although he does grab at/bat his ears a bit sometimes. I wish I knew for sure that I am responding correctly. It's very very difficult and stressful; I want to care for him appropriately and help him when he needs it, but I also don't want to teach him that screaming tantrums are a good way to get some extra attention and/or stay up later. Luckily tonight he went right to sleep.
With all the crying and stress lately, I've been thinking about a really amazing benefit of nursing. Anyone who's had a kid knows how stressful it is when the kid freaks out. Your heart pounds, your nerves are shot... It can be a horrible feeling. And the kid is, of course, stressed and feeling awful too, or he wouldn't be crying. So if we nurse, the kid gets his cortisol (stress hormone) levels totally evened out, and also feels warm and safe and held and loved which decreases his stress. But not only that... *I* get a flood of oxytocin and prolactin. Oxytocin gives me loving, attached feelings toward Blue, and prolactin gives me an instant feeling that everything will be all right. Sortof like the opposite of PMS. Isn't that amazing? Nursing heals all the stress and restores our loving connection just like that.
Related, but a change of subject: An article on this artist's work is going around in some of my communities. Apparently she made kids cry and took their pictures for the exhibit. She did this by giving them lollipops, then taking them away, snapping the crying pics, and then giving the lollipops back. So people are calling for her head because, you know, wow, child abuse! I'm not even going to get into that discussion other than to say I'm likely to yank lollipops out of Blue's hands and NOT give them back. But I think the photos are really beautiful, as well as the reason for the exhibit and what she's trying to say.
http://www.paulkopeikingallery.com/arti
There are a lot of other beautiful exhibits on that website, but I particularly liked this one, which consists of pictures of New Orleans post-Katrina.
http://www.paulkopeikingallery.com/arti
It was really cold and windy and foggy today--thank goodness for the natural protection from that killer heat wave! I was waiting for the fog to kick back in. I wilt easily. Anyway, Blue and I spent most of the day indoors, but while Evan was at the gym we bundled up and went out to the backyard, where I did battle with the blackberry bushes. Our block of houses sits perched atop a very steep hill, so we have no neighbors behind us, just a steep incline covered with a jungle of blackberries and other brush. Of course the blackberries creep into our yard, and they are a terrible nuisance to get rid of once they've rooted. All I did today was cut each vine back as low as I could and haul the thorny branches to the compost. I didn't have the right equipment to dig out the roots, but at least I got the thorny brambles out of the way so I'm not worried that Blue will get spiked back there. It was quite good exercise, at least for someone as sedentary as me. My intention is to garden a fair bit more. It works out well with Blue toddling around in the yard as I weed. But I'm only slowly improving in terms of remembering to prepare before I go downstairs with him. At least I brought the clippers and gloves down today. Next time I hope to remember to tie my hair back, wear closed-toe shoes, and maybe find my heavy duty gloves so I can trace the blackberry vines all the way to the root.
The blackberry vines are indeed a scourge, and I must be vigilant or they'll take over the backyard and then the house. But there are good things about them too. For one, I am really not worried about someone climbing up the hill to break into our house. Also, just behind our back fence, the vines are thick with green blackberries, which will be ripe and easily pickable in just a couple of weeks! Yum!
Poor Blue is teething terribly. I mentioned it briefly in my last entry, but two nights ago he woke up after midnight and screamed bloody murder for what seemed like hours. It was probably about an hour all told, but BOY it seems longer. I felt so bad for him. He didn't want to nurse or be held, and he ended up crawling and pushing his forehead around on the floor. And that was *after* we gave him the Motrin. I felt pretty frantic, though I mostly sat still and/or cried with him, because I couldn't tell for sure if something was terribly wrong or if he was just out of sorts. Finally, after giving the Motrin plenty of time to work, I took him out front for a short moonlight stroll. It was freezing, but beautiful, and it gave him a way to get outside his own head and get ahold of himself. He finally quieted down and looked around with big eyes for a minute before putting his head down on my shoulder and relaxing. After that it was pretty easy to get him to sleep. Then last night he screamed pretty much the same way, but starting *before* we ever got a chance to put him to sleep at all! It seemed much more like a tantrum combined with (or set off by) not feeling well so I waited it out rather than giving him more medicine. He ended up going to sleep without medicine, but he did scream for quite a while. He's not feverish, and he doesn't act sick, although he does grab at/bat his ears a bit sometimes. I wish I knew for sure that I am responding correctly. It's very very difficult and stressful; I want to care for him appropriately and help him when he needs it, but I also don't want to teach him that screaming tantrums are a good way to get some extra attention and/or stay up later. Luckily tonight he went right to sleep.
With all the crying and stress lately, I've been thinking about a really amazing benefit of nursing. Anyone who's had a kid knows how stressful it is when the kid freaks out. Your heart pounds, your nerves are shot... It can be a horrible feeling. And the kid is, of course, stressed and feeling awful too, or he wouldn't be crying. So if we nurse, the kid gets his cortisol (stress hormone) levels totally evened out, and also feels warm and safe and held and loved which decreases his stress. But not only that... *I* get a flood of oxytocin and prolactin. Oxytocin gives me loving, attached feelings toward Blue, and prolactin gives me an instant feeling that everything will be all right. Sortof like the opposite of PMS. Isn't that amazing? Nursing heals all the stress and restores our loving connection just like that.
Related, but a change of subject: An article on this artist's work is going around in some of my communities. Apparently she made kids cry and took their pictures for the exhibit. She did this by giving them lollipops, then taking them away, snapping the crying pics, and then giving the lollipops back. So people are calling for her head because, you know, wow, child abuse! I'm not even going to get into that discussion other than to say I'm likely to yank lollipops out of Blue's hands and NOT give them back. But I think the photos are really beautiful, as well as the reason for the exhibit and what she's trying to say.
http://www.paulkopeikingallery.com/arti
There are a lot of other beautiful exhibits on that website, but I particularly liked this one, which consists of pictures of New Orleans post-Katrina.
http://www.paulkopeikingallery.com/arti
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-29 12:07 pm (UTC)Good work, Mama.
Teething sucks. If you drink a glass of wine 20 minutes prior to breastfeeding, teething is a little more sleep-enriched. Just a thought. Also rubbing the gums helped my kids, them gumming/chewing on my finger really.
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Date: 2006-07-29 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-30 04:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-30 05:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-31 04:33 pm (UTC)Since Arabis is continuing to have teeth busting out left and right, I've been trying many different teething methods (other than resorting to the Baby Orajel). Mind you, the Baby Orajel works like a dream, but I don't want to over-use it.
We had some success with a damp washcloth wrapped around some ice cubes and tied shut. She *loved* it. It did, however, get quite messy, but served to ease the gum pain and the heat wave at the same time.
I've heard frozen mini bagels are good to gnaw on, but I haven't tried those yet.
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Date: 2006-07-31 06:03 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm hip to the red wine thing, but I didn't want to come right out and admit that I'd probably be sippin' on white zinfandel, the soda drinker's wine.
Ah--MINI bagels, that would be the secret! We tried full sized bagels but it was a huge pain and never worked quite right. I'll try the minis.
Thanks!