Started: 10/13/18
Finished: 10/25/18
Not great. Again, it’s the writing. The story is fine, but there’s SO much exposition dumped into dialogue, there’s lampshading which only serves to point out small inconsistencies or weirdnesses that I might not have noticed without it, and there’s too much telling and not showing. Callie’s an expert at this or that? Show me, don’t tell me. I will not be continuing this series.
We think Jack may have a sensitivity to milk, so I eliminated dairy from my diet 11 days ago. (I meant to start 13 days ago, but I kept forgetting and doing stupid things like eating ice cream that first day and chicken corn chowder (heavy on cream and cheese) the second day.) I THINK we’re seeing an improvement in Jack, but it’s hard to tell – is it really better? Did I screw up again mid-week? (Yes.) Is it possible that it’s just his immature digestive system acting up and it seems better now because he’s growing? I have no idea. Also, I’ve done my googling (naturally), and if he is sensitive to milk, it’s pretty mild and thank goodness for that. A serious sensitivity would be much more unpleasant for him.
Anyway, being dairy-free SUCKS and that’s with me only eliminating the obvious stuff – no milk, no butter, no cheese, no sour cream. Ugh, no cream cheese. I’m not going full vegan and avoiding baked goods or fully cooked things that might have had dairy in them. I did miss having tea and cereal, so I’m trying almond milk. It’s….okay. I do NOT recommend drinking it straight. I tried it with chocolate cake – that’s a big no. (The cake is a big yes.) But in cereal, it’s great. I pretty much couldn’t tell it wasn’t regular milk with either Frosted Flakes or Honey Nut Cheerios. In tea, the jury is still out. This is my second try with Yorkshire tea, and I’m not wild about it, but I used it in French Vanilla tea yesterday, and it was great.
What I really want is to go back to my normal diet, but I’m not sure how to approach that. If Jack were to show no improvement, then yay I can eat what I want, but the poor baby is still in distress. If Jack shows improvement, then either he’s sensitive to dairy and I should stay off it for at least a few months or dairy has nothing to do with it and he’s just maturing. I have no way to tell without testing by introducing dairy again, which might make Jack very uncomfortable again.
Yeah, yeah, the responsible thing to do is continue to avoid dairy. Boo responsibility.
Now, to thank you all for your patience, here is a picture of Jack from when he was one week old.
I have many many many more pictures, and now that I have solved (John has solved) my picture problem, I will be uploading more. I just don’t have them on my computer yet. Jack is sleeping and my phone is providing white noise, so I don’t want to take it away to get the pictures.
Started: 10/11/18
Gave Up: 10/13/18
I’d been looking forward to reading this – grimdark fantasy series with a mercenary army – but the writing style was impossible. I wasn’t getting any information about the characters, the action scenes were muddled. I couldn’t tell what was happening, who it was happening to, or why I should care. Good reasons to give up reading it.
Jack is two weeks old as of yesterday. In the week and a half we’ve had him home, we have reached the following milestones:
The next milestone is probably unraveling the sleep progress. It feels too early for optimism.
Started: 10/10/18
Gave Up: 10/11/18
This sounded like fun – the gates of Hell open, demons possess most humans, and the only ones saved are those who make it to cathedrals which are being guarded by the gargoyles who came to life. I couldn’t get into it. The characters didn’t grab me and the dialogue was annoying.
For anyone wondering, the complete absence of posts for two weeks was due to Jack being born and me losing the ability to use my hands for anything other than holding the baby. He won’t sleep in anything safe, like the crib or the bassinet. He’ll only sleep occasionally in the napper (unsafe: too cushy, inclined) or in our arms, and in our arms means WE don’t sleep.
We’ve gotten lots of advice, and we’re trying lots of different things, but we’re basically resigned to being completely exhausted for the first couple of months. And hello, we KNEW that – we’ve watched plenty of movies and TV and we have lots of friends and family who have gone through this – but there’s a difference between knowing about it and experiencing it. It’s a combination of “I would give anything for a decent few hours’ sleep” and “no, I can’t put this baby down, I HAVE to hold him so he knows I love him, and if that means I don’t sleep, then I don’t sleep.”
“How am I able to type this now?”, you ask, reasonably curious after what I just said. Well, I’ll tell you. Half an hour ago, he fell asleep in my arms while nursing. I swaddled him first, using the first blanket we got that was actually large enough for him, and I managed to get him from my arms into the pack and play bassinet without fuss. We’ve done that before, but he never lasts more than five minutes or so. As of right now, we’re going on 40 minutes napping in the bassinet, and even if he wakes up right now (he’s stirring, so he might), I’m going to count this as a win. We just need him to do it at night.
Also, it might have been smart of me to take that 40 minutes and nap myself, but…who said I was smart?
Started: 10/5/18
Finished: 10/10/18
A Sherlock Holmes story told in the present day boarding school, with teenagers for Holmes and Watson. Lots of fun, first in a series.
Baby John, henceforth to be known as Jack, was born on 9/26/18 at 8:36pm (Wednesday night, after we arrived at the hospital with labor in full swing about 2:15 Wednesday morning). He weighed 9 lbs even (John says it was actually 9 lbs and .2 oz) and was 21.5 inches long. (Apparently, I was also 21.5 inches long at birth, but I only weighed 6 lbs, 13oz.) He’s a giant. Also, babies typically lose a little weight after birth and it usually takes 10 days to 2 weeks to gain it back. When we left the hospital, he weighed just under 9 lbs (I don’t remember the exact weight). We left on Sunday. On Monday, at his first doctor’s appointment, he weighed 9 lbs, 1 oz. So….already gained it back. And then on Thursday, he weighed 9 lbs, 10.5 oz. Today, at 13 days old, he weights 10 lbs, 9.5 oz, gained an inch in length and half an inch around his head. This is a large baby.
He’s wonderful. Even if he does still look like a grumpy old man.
Damn it, I have to solve a picture size issue before I can upload anything. I PROMISE I will do that real soon.
Started: 10/4/18
Finished: 10/5/18
The last book (novella) in the Dreamhealers series, although it was the first story written, is a little different from the rest. Still good, but I actually thought something bad might happen in this one (it didn’t).
I couldn’t have picked a better series to read in the last weeks of my pregnancy and the first week after Jack’s birth.
Started: 9/27/18
Finished: 10/4/18
I started this one in the hospital the day after Jack was born, so I didn’t get a lot of reading done for a few days, but again, this was the right series at the right time. Calming, nice story, some drama that will be resolved without lasting harm to the characters. This is book 4 in the Dreamhealers series.