My children get up early. Really early. So early that Andrew and I have become trained to think that 6:30am is "sleeping in" and 7:00am is sinfully late. The baby is excused from this analysis because of her babyhood, but the two older children would get up at 5:15am every day if we let them, no matter what time they had gone to bed.
We tried a lot of things to keep the children in bed longer - wait, that's a lie. We tried two things. First we tried keeping them up later, but, as I said, that didn't work. All we got were two very cranky early risers for our troubles. So we made a rule that they could not get up until the dining room clock bonged. This clock has a setting to turn off the chimes between 10:00pm ad 6:00am, so that rule bought us an extra 30-45 minutes, but, man, did we wish we could sleep in till 6:30 on the weekends at least.
We finally caved and bought the "OK to Wake" clock, and it was a life-changer. We set the clock to turn green at 6:15 (Andrew has to leave at 6:30 on the weekdays, so that way he could at least say good morning), and called it a day. It worked a treat, I'll tell you. But, man, was it an enormous pain in the neck to set.
Between the two of us, Andrew an I hold five degrees in various fields of engineering. FIVE. Two bachelors, two masters, and one doctorate. You'd think, then, that we'd be able to program a clock, right?
Well, we did figure it out, but a while back we lost power and could not for the life of us figure out how to reset the light timer. The main problem was the terrible, terrible clock design, but this problem was compounded by our forgetting to ever figure it out until we were putting children to bed in a dark room and did not have fifteen minutes to fiddle with buttons.
Until today! I finally took time when all the children were awake and have decided to write down the steps for programming this clock for easy reference for all.
1. Press and hold the "Light" button for two seconds.
2. The clock will say "on" on the front. Set the time for when you want the night light to come on (yellow light); for example, 8:00pm.
3. Press the light button again, clock will say "off." Set the time for when you want all the lights to turn off. Perhaps 8:00am.
4. Press the light button again, clock will say "CNG." This stands for "Change" and is the time the light will switch from yellow to green. The elusive "OK to wake!" time; e.g., 7:00am.
5. Press the light button again. The clock should have a little light bulb on the front indicating the light timer is on.
Done.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
I think it's safe to tell you now
We all know that parents of babies are preoccupied with sleep. “Should I be nursing her to sleep?” “I can’t get him to nap.” “I have to sing 47 versus of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star while holding her with her face smooshed into my neck, but then she’s good for at least two hours." Sleep sleep sleep. It’s all we think about. Or talk about. We’d dream about it, but we can’t because we don’t ever get any sleep.
Except… Have you ever heard of those babies? The ones that go to sleep easily and then stay asleep for a long time? And sleep through the night at two months? I always thought those babies were mythical, but then I got one. It is safe for me to tell you this without invoking the wrath of the sleep gods because she stopped doing it, but Ann Marie started sleeping through the night at something like two months old. Note: She will be five months old next week, but I can’t even remember exactly when it started it was so long ago. That’s right, my five-month-old baby has reliably slept through the night for the past three months.
Of course, everyone knows that “through the night” means different things to parents of babies, so you’re probably thinking that I mean Ann Marie would wake for her last feeding at 10:00 or 11:00pm and then not again for five or six or – if I’m super lucky – seven hours.
Yeah. Twelve. She would sleep for twelve straight hours. I would nurse her around 6:30pm and put her in her bed around 7:00 or 7:30. And she would wake up at 7:00 or 7:30 the next morning.
I KNOW.
It started slowly; at first, I would nurse her in the living room and hold her while we watched TV and then put her down when we were ready to go to bed. And then she started staying asleep. And then I started to put her down sooner so I could get some stuff done. And the next thing you know, I was sitting at the kitchen table in the morning waiting for her to wake up while eyeing the breast pump. Things were so good that one night she woke up once, and Andrew actually complained. And then I made fun of him and he recalled himself, but that’s where we were. We were in a place where our two-year-old was far more likely to wake us up in the night than our three-month-old.
I had to go to a meeting when she was just three months old, and it didn’t go well for Andrew – she wouldn’t take a bottle – but I had another meeting about two weeks later and he put her down in her bed, swaddled with a pacifier, looking at her mobile, while he read Nora a bedtime story. Ann Marie fell asleep like that and then slept for twelve hours. Nora and Jack have slept for twelve hours straight pretty much never. They're both more 11-hour kids.
Naturally, I credit all of this to our superior baby-rearing skills. Ann Marie slept through the night so young because we have worked so hard on recognizing her sleep cues and instituting a bedtime routine and firmly putting her down drowsy-but-awake and – HAHAHAHAHAHA! No. Clearly all credit goes to her being a magic baby. There is no other explanation. I don’t even have a routine! I read her a book for the first time just tonight! Well, I guess the routine is “swaddled and nursing” but I wasn’t even necessarily nursing her in the same place every night. Sometimes I sat on the couch, sometimes on the bed, and sometimes in the rocking chair. A sort-of routine has since developed, but it’s been happening gradually. No, my sleep-training techniques can be summarized thusly: Let the baby sleep wherever, whenever she wants to. Hold her if need be. Nurse her if she wants. Swaddle. Mostly don’t worry about it.
I have of course been terrified to talk about all this lest it immediately end, but she’s been back to waking up one or two times a night like a normal baby, so I think it’s safe. Actually, I think I can hear her right now, so I’ll end things here . Perhaps I have incurred the wrath of the sleep gods after all, and tonight I will be up all night. But even if that happens, man, these first few months have been glorious. If someone could guarantee me a magic baby every time, I would have twenty.
Parenting on a full nights’ sleep: I recommend it.
Except… Have you ever heard of those babies? The ones that go to sleep easily and then stay asleep for a long time? And sleep through the night at two months? I always thought those babies were mythical, but then I got one. It is safe for me to tell you this without invoking the wrath of the sleep gods because she stopped doing it, but Ann Marie started sleeping through the night at something like two months old. Note: She will be five months old next week, but I can’t even remember exactly when it started it was so long ago. That’s right, my five-month-old baby has reliably slept through the night for the past three months.
Of course, everyone knows that “through the night” means different things to parents of babies, so you’re probably thinking that I mean Ann Marie would wake for her last feeding at 10:00 or 11:00pm and then not again for five or six or – if I’m super lucky – seven hours.
Yeah. Twelve. She would sleep for twelve straight hours. I would nurse her around 6:30pm and put her in her bed around 7:00 or 7:30. And she would wake up at 7:00 or 7:30 the next morning.
I KNOW.
It started slowly; at first, I would nurse her in the living room and hold her while we watched TV and then put her down when we were ready to go to bed. And then she started staying asleep. And then I started to put her down sooner so I could get some stuff done. And the next thing you know, I was sitting at the kitchen table in the morning waiting for her to wake up while eyeing the breast pump. Things were so good that one night she woke up once, and Andrew actually complained. And then I made fun of him and he recalled himself, but that’s where we were. We were in a place where our two-year-old was far more likely to wake us up in the night than our three-month-old.
I had to go to a meeting when she was just three months old, and it didn’t go well for Andrew – she wouldn’t take a bottle – but I had another meeting about two weeks later and he put her down in her bed, swaddled with a pacifier, looking at her mobile, while he read Nora a bedtime story. Ann Marie fell asleep like that and then slept for twelve hours. Nora and Jack have slept for twelve hours straight pretty much never. They're both more 11-hour kids.
Naturally, I credit all of this to our superior baby-rearing skills. Ann Marie slept through the night so young because we have worked so hard on recognizing her sleep cues and instituting a bedtime routine and firmly putting her down drowsy-but-awake and – HAHAHAHAHAHA! No. Clearly all credit goes to her being a magic baby. There is no other explanation. I don’t even have a routine! I read her a book for the first time just tonight! Well, I guess the routine is “swaddled and nursing” but I wasn’t even necessarily nursing her in the same place every night. Sometimes I sat on the couch, sometimes on the bed, and sometimes in the rocking chair. A sort-of routine has since developed, but it’s been happening gradually. No, my sleep-training techniques can be summarized thusly: Let the baby sleep wherever, whenever she wants to. Hold her if need be. Nurse her if she wants. Swaddle. Mostly don’t worry about it.
I have of course been terrified to talk about all this lest it immediately end, but she’s been back to waking up one or two times a night like a normal baby, so I think it’s safe. Actually, I think I can hear her right now, so I’ll end things here . Perhaps I have incurred the wrath of the sleep gods after all, and tonight I will be up all night. But even if that happens, man, these first few months have been glorious. If someone could guarantee me a magic baby every time, I would have twenty.
Parenting on a full nights’ sleep: I recommend it.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Am I a Catholic?
Jack just asked me if he's a Catholic. I told him he was, and tried to start a conversation about baptism and confirmation and being raised Catholic when he interrupted to ask "What's a 'Public'?"
Ah.
"Oh, 'publics' are kids whose parents don't really love them," I said.
No, of course I didn't. Instead I tried to explain the separation of church and state at a five-year-old's level, and then rerouted the conversation back to baptism vs. confirmation, and how and when we choose to remain Catholic if we have been baptized as babies.
"I don't want to be Catholic," he whined at me.
"Really? Why not?"
"Because I want to see the whole construction," he said.
This will make more sense to you if I explain that we got a notice yesterday informing us that a road construction project is slated to begin next week and is going to last until the end of September. It's going to be a "full depth road construction" and work will occur from 7:00 am - 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. Most of the work will be done in front of the - public - school complex; hence, Jack's desire to become a "public."
In other news, this summer should be super super fun! I cannot wait to put two kids down for a nap during the jackhammering! EVERY DAY! (crazy-eyed expression)
Ah.
"Oh, 'publics' are kids whose parents don't really love them," I said.
No, of course I didn't. Instead I tried to explain the separation of church and state at a five-year-old's level, and then rerouted the conversation back to baptism vs. confirmation, and how and when we choose to remain Catholic if we have been baptized as babies.
"I don't want to be Catholic," he whined at me.
"Really? Why not?"
"Because I want to see the whole construction," he said.
This will make more sense to you if I explain that we got a notice yesterday informing us that a road construction project is slated to begin next week and is going to last until the end of September. It's going to be a "full depth road construction" and work will occur from 7:00 am - 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. Most of the work will be done in front of the - public - school complex; hence, Jack's desire to become a "public."
In other news, this summer should be super super fun! I cannot wait to put two kids down for a nap during the jackhammering! EVERY DAY! (crazy-eyed expression)
Friday, February 24, 2012
Pictures for Emily
Emily just asked me on Twitter why I never post pictures of Ann Marie, thus documenting her increasing cuteness. My answer was threefold:
1. I have no smart phone, and thus posting photos is a multi-step process that involves changing out memory cards and exporting and resizing and blah de blah, it's a huge pain.
2. It's an even huger pain on my blog because I don't like the way Blogger does photos so I have to post to Photobucket and then copy links and there is EXTRA TYPING, people.
3. Ann Marie is the third baby, so there are practically no photos of her at all. (There probably would be if I had a smart phone.) (Or maybe not.)
BUT. I actually coincidentally JUST COPIED brand new photos to my computer! I got Emily's tweet while putting Nora to bed so I came right out and sat down and went through the process - the MULTI-STEPPED process - of putting them on my blog. All for you! And Emily! Because who am I to deny requests for photos of my adorable baby? Who is and remains a DREAM BABY SENT FROM HEAVEN, by the way. Tonight she did cry a lot for a total of maybe fifteen whole minutes, split over two cry sessions, but the first fussy period was because she was starving and I ignored her more patient whimpers while I finished making dinner for the other two. The second round of fussiness was because she was wet and tired, and then I Nose-Frida-ed her. In between those two screaming sessions, she hung around in her bouncy seat and grinned like a fool at anyone who was willing to make eye contact. (Many of us were willing.) (But she stopped grinning as soon as I got the camera.)
All this complaining about the hardships of having to click buttons and type things makes me think of an issue I once had with a website. I maintain a corporate membership account for my company, but I am not personally a member of the service we offer our staff. Whenever I send the invitation to join to the new hires, however, I always click the link I send them to make sure it works. The link takes me to a sign up page, and at that point I just close the window, because I do not need to join. But during the last round of hires, I started getting chirpy little emails from the membership service reminding me to complete my registration. These were annoying, yes, but not nearly as annoying as discovering that when I went back to the website, I was routed directly to the registration page instead of my normal homepage. The first time this happened, it took me a few tries to even figure out how to get back to my homepage. And I couldn't shut it off.
So now, every time I wanted to check the billing statement which is the only thing I ever need to look at, I had to first go to step 1 of the registration, then click the logo in the top left corner, and then click "Account settings." That's TWO EXTRA CLICKS. I lived this nightmare for WEEKS. I finally emailed the company to ask them how to shut it off, and I ended up having to call them. It was difficult to explain the problem to the agent I spoke to on the phone, but once he understood exactly what was happening he realized he'd have to send an email to a separate department and have them get in touch with me. "It may take a day or two," he warned me, apologetically. "Is that OK?" I told him I'd probably be able to survive two more days of unnecessary mouse clicks, but only just.
And now here are pictures of my adorable children.
1. I have no smart phone, and thus posting photos is a multi-step process that involves changing out memory cards and exporting and resizing and blah de blah, it's a huge pain.
2. It's an even huger pain on my blog because I don't like the way Blogger does photos so I have to post to Photobucket and then copy links and there is EXTRA TYPING, people.
3. Ann Marie is the third baby, so there are practically no photos of her at all. (There probably would be if I had a smart phone.) (Or maybe not.)
BUT. I actually coincidentally JUST COPIED brand new photos to my computer! I got Emily's tweet while putting Nora to bed so I came right out and sat down and went through the process - the MULTI-STEPPED process - of putting them on my blog. All for you! And Emily! Because who am I to deny requests for photos of my adorable baby? Who is and remains a DREAM BABY SENT FROM HEAVEN, by the way. Tonight she did cry a lot for a total of maybe fifteen whole minutes, split over two cry sessions, but the first fussy period was because she was starving and I ignored her more patient whimpers while I finished making dinner for the other two. The second round of fussiness was because she was wet and tired, and then I Nose-Frida-ed her. In between those two screaming sessions, she hung around in her bouncy seat and grinned like a fool at anyone who was willing to make eye contact. (Many of us were willing.) (But she stopped grinning as soon as I got the camera.)
All this complaining about the hardships of having to click buttons and type things makes me think of an issue I once had with a website. I maintain a corporate membership account for my company, but I am not personally a member of the service we offer our staff. Whenever I send the invitation to join to the new hires, however, I always click the link I send them to make sure it works. The link takes me to a sign up page, and at that point I just close the window, because I do not need to join. But during the last round of hires, I started getting chirpy little emails from the membership service reminding me to complete my registration. These were annoying, yes, but not nearly as annoying as discovering that when I went back to the website, I was routed directly to the registration page instead of my normal homepage. The first time this happened, it took me a few tries to even figure out how to get back to my homepage. And I couldn't shut it off.
So now, every time I wanted to check the billing statement which is the only thing I ever need to look at, I had to first go to step 1 of the registration, then click the logo in the top left corner, and then click "Account settings." That's TWO EXTRA CLICKS. I lived this nightmare for WEEKS. I finally emailed the company to ask them how to shut it off, and I ended up having to call them. It was difficult to explain the problem to the agent I spoke to on the phone, but once he understood exactly what was happening he realized he'd have to send an email to a separate department and have them get in touch with me. "It may take a day or two," he warned me, apologetically. "Is that OK?" I told him I'd probably be able to survive two more days of unnecessary mouse clicks, but only just.
And now here are pictures of my adorable children.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Magic bread
Do you know about Catherine Newman's Five-Minute Bread? I discovered this recipe several months ago and it is magic. Magic, I tell you. And this is coming from a long-time fan and proponent of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. But Newman's recipe is even easier. And is also magical.
"Oh, come on," I can hear you saying. "I'm sure it's easy, but 'magical'? Really?"
Well to you I say, "REALLY." Because I can't think of a better word to describe a recipe that you cannot screw up. No matter what you do. Today, for example, I baked up a loaf from dough that I mixed up two nights ago, and then forgot to put in the refrigerator after the "maximum" rising time of 5 hours. I saw it when I was up with the baby and put it in at 4:30 am or so, which was approximately 8.5 hours of rising time. And for this (and the last three) loaves, I've been using old rye flour and the dough comes out extra extra wet. So wet that when I took it out this morning to let it rest, I had to put the cutting board it was on onto a pizza peel because it was oozing so much.
Witness:
But since this combination of flours (2c water, 2c rye, 2c all purpose, 1/6c flaxseed, 1/6c wheat germ, 1T cider vinegar, 1T kosher salt, 1 scant T yeast) has been making really wet doughs all week, I went ahead and scraped it into the pot. SCRAPED. I use a long knife and it sort of gloops off the cutting board. There's a very small step between what I'm doing and pouring this dough.
Here's the result:
Isn't that gorgeous? I didn't even slash the top, since it would have been like trying to slash quicksand. It just did that by itself. I haven't tasted it yet, but experience tells me it will be delicious. So make this bread. Trust me.
"Oh, come on," I can hear you saying. "I'm sure it's easy, but 'magical'? Really?"
Well to you I say, "REALLY." Because I can't think of a better word to describe a recipe that you cannot screw up. No matter what you do. Today, for example, I baked up a loaf from dough that I mixed up two nights ago, and then forgot to put in the refrigerator after the "maximum" rising time of 5 hours. I saw it when I was up with the baby and put it in at 4:30 am or so, which was approximately 8.5 hours of rising time. And for this (and the last three) loaves, I've been using old rye flour and the dough comes out extra extra wet. So wet that when I took it out this morning to let it rest, I had to put the cutting board it was on onto a pizza peel because it was oozing so much.
Witness:
But since this combination of flours (2c water, 2c rye, 2c all purpose, 1/6c flaxseed, 1/6c wheat germ, 1T cider vinegar, 1T kosher salt, 1 scant T yeast) has been making really wet doughs all week, I went ahead and scraped it into the pot. SCRAPED. I use a long knife and it sort of gloops off the cutting board. There's a very small step between what I'm doing and pouring this dough.
Here's the result:
Isn't that gorgeous? I didn't even slash the top, since it would have been like trying to slash quicksand. It just did that by itself. I haven't tasted it yet, but experience tells me it will be delicious. So make this bread. Trust me.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Parent-teacher conference
Can I brag for a minute? I met with Jack’s teacher today for a post-progress-report conference. I wasn’t concerned about anything, I mostly just wanted to go hear about how wonderful Jack is. And I was not disappointed.
Jack got all “S’s” and a few “S+’s” in everything except for knowing his phone number, that was an “I” for “improving.” (I taught him our phone number last year, but failed to practice it with him, so he forgot it.) Mrs. M. said that she’s actually pretty stingy with her “S+’s,” but Jack just knows his numbers and patterns too well. He’s the best in the class at patterns, in fact. He also is a good leader and follows directions really well; she never has to tell him anything twice. (This is slightly different from my experience with him.) All in all, he’s a joy and delight to have in class.
But you know the best part of the whole thing? She said that he’s a good leader and will help kids who are struggling with their work, and that he is kind about it. Because if I had to choose between raising a child who is kind and raising a child who succeeds at school, I would a thousand times rather raise a kind child.
Oh! And they asked the kids today what they want to be when they grow up, and Jack said he’s going to be a scientist. “What are you going to study?” his teacher asked. “Whatever interests me,” he said.
Jack got all “S’s” and a few “S+’s” in everything except for knowing his phone number, that was an “I” for “improving.” (I taught him our phone number last year, but failed to practice it with him, so he forgot it.) Mrs. M. said that she’s actually pretty stingy with her “S+’s,” but Jack just knows his numbers and patterns too well. He’s the best in the class at patterns, in fact. He also is a good leader and follows directions really well; she never has to tell him anything twice. (This is slightly different from my experience with him.) All in all, he’s a joy and delight to have in class.
But you know the best part of the whole thing? She said that he’s a good leader and will help kids who are struggling with their work, and that he is kind about it. Because if I had to choose between raising a child who is kind and raising a child who succeeds at school, I would a thousand times rather raise a kind child.
Oh! And they asked the kids today what they want to be when they grow up, and Jack said he’s going to be a scientist. “What are you going to study?” his teacher asked. “Whatever interests me,” he said.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Carpe-ing the diem as best I can
You know how old ladies have a tendency to tell moms with little kids to make sure they savor every moment because it all goes by so fast? And meanwhile the moms are counting every dragging minute till bedtime? Well I was at the mall yesterday with Nora and Ann Marie and two old ladies came over to admire the baby. There was much oohing and ahhing over my sweet baby, and it turned out the first lady had a daughter named Ann Marie. Then the second lady said, "Oh, to be young again! Enjoy it!" and the first lady said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that again! I had seven, that's enough for me."
My kids were being sweet and enjoyable that day, so I didn't have much to complain about at that moment, but I couldn't help but think of this post, and smile to myself. It was just so refreshing.
My kids were being sweet and enjoyable that day, so I didn't have much to complain about at that moment, but I couldn't help but think of this post, and smile to myself. It was just so refreshing.
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