Ugh, I just realized I won’t be able to read on the plane, either, because I’ll have a baby in my lap. He might be in John’s lap. But more likely mine. BOO! Airplane reading is the good reading. Talk about life changes I didn’t expect…
Started: 6/15/19
Finished: 6/22/19
Book 2 in the Wayfarers series. Instead of an episodic adventure story like the first one, this book follows two characters as they struggle with their identities. Universal in a very science-fictional way. It’s also a found-family story. I’m a sucker for found-family stories.
Our grocery cart/high chair cover came weeks ago, and I FINALLY tried it out at the store with Jack the other day. He did great. I still have to work on getting it in place quickly and with one hand. For this outing, I put the car seat in the cart, got the cover on, moved Jack into the seat, and then piled groceries on top of the car seat.
Plenty adorable, right? It got so much better. I turned back to the cart after picking up milk, and found this:
Poor sad baby chicken. Not quite 9 months old and already completely done with grocery shopping.
Jack in May!
You guys are overdue for some cute baby pictures, and boy, do I have some good ones for you. Let’s start with April.
Nursing Jack, wonderful in itself, has been especially great because it’s time I’ve been able to read. Even if only for 5-10 minutes, I get to read multiple times a day. Lately…not so much. I’m still nursing him as much as ever, but he rarely settles down and just eats anymore. Instead, he does gymnastics. Or parkour. Sometimes he ends up practically upside down. I need both hands, making it pretty difficult to read. He does it almost every time, even before bed and in the middle of the night, and especially before naps, and once he settles into sleep, I’m getting him into the crib pretty quickly. I am NOT complaining about him napping in the crib instead of on me – that is WONDERFUL and HELPFUL and I use that time to get work done so I don’t have to work as late at night. Occasionally (okay, all the time), I wish I were holding him for a nap instead because he’s so cuddly and warm and sweet, but really, he sleeps longer in the crib, and we all need that. A napping baby is a charming, adorable, and funny baby who sleeps better at night.
What was my point?
Right.
So I lost my nursing/reading time to acrobatics, and I have to use napping time for work (like, ahem, right now). I try to read in bed at night, but that’s not working, either. For the last five nights in a row I’ve done that thing where you’re reading and then you wonder why you can’t see your book anymore and you realize your eyes are closed and when you open them the words on the page don’t look at all familiar so you go back a page or two and try again but then, whoops, you can’t see the book anymore and who flipped ahead to that page and oh, crap, I’m just going to go to sleep.
I’m calling it quits on Call The Midwife. I was enjoying it, and there’s plenty to enjoy (and how I will miss Miranda Hart), but I can’t take it anymore for two reasons:
DONE.
Started: 6/7/19
Finished: 6/15/19
This one keeps popping up in my recommendations, usually described as being like Firefly, and I finally got a copy in this year’s Hugo voter’s packet (the 3rd book and the series have been nominated). I can say that yes, it IS like Firefly (not as much shooting), and I enjoyed it very much. It’s light and fun, much lighter than what I’ve been reading lately, so that was a pleasant surprise. It’s not heavy on plot – there’s an episodic feel to it which probably also led to the Firefly comparisons, but it’s nice.
Started: 6/1/19
Finished: 6/7/19
I’ve been meaning to read this one for a year, and then it got nominated for a Hugo and I got it in the voter’s packet, so yay for me! It’s a story about monsters and monsterslayers in a post-apocalyptic US, set on a Navajo reservation, and it’s pretty great.
Jack hit peak baby today in the grocery store. He was wearing a romper (one piece, short sleeves, short pants), no shoes or socks, so his baby thighs and baby feet were visible in the car seat (which was in the grocery cart). He was looking around the aisles, kicking his feet, fingers in his mouth, babbling “ba ba ba ba ba” at everyone and no one. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen (or heard).
I regret to inform you that I did not get video, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Peak baby.
After a long break, we have officially restarted nap training. Sleep training. Crib training? I mean I’m working on getting Jack to nap in the crib. We were working on it months ago, but I gave it up when the teething started in earnest and nighttime sleep was being disrupted. For however many months that’s been (maybe two?), Jack has been napping semi-well, but exclusively while being held (mostly by me) or in the car seat (stroller and car). The advantage of the car seat is that I can usually bring the car seat in from outside without waking Jack up, and he can sleep in it, in the house, and let me do other things. But wouldn’t it be nice if he would just sleep in the crib? I’m starting (restarting) now for a couple of reasons:
I just want the flexibility. We’re at home at naptime? Sleep in the crib! We’re on a walk and he gets sleepy? Sleep in the stroller! We’re in the car? Sleep in the car! And if he’ll really nap in the crib, I can get work done during the day. Probably not the full four hours, but it means I won’t have to stay up as late EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.
The worst thing about this is the crying, of course. I’ve tried all kinds of things, read all kinds of books, and I really don’t know how to make this work without any crying. Thankfully, today, new attempt #1, he only cried for a couple of minutes. Then he tossed and turned but quietly, and he was sleeping 6 minutes later. Of course, as I type this, I can see (and hear) him kicking the back of the crib, but I’m pretty sure he’s still sleeping. Weird kid. He wiggled around a ton during those first few minutes, so I can’t see his face in the monitor anymore.
Shoot, I think I jinxed it. He’s definitely awake. Eleven minutes isn’t enough!
Update: Attempt #2 is going well so far. He stayed asleep when I put him in the crib, and he’s been asleep for 14 minutes.
Started: 5/25/19
Finished: 6/1/19
Commissario Brunetti series book 3. I think I see what Jo Walton meant when she said this series was about integrity. Brunetti solves the mystery, but the ultimate bad guy doesn’t get punished (or not for the right thing). If there’s a larger character arc, I wonder if Brunetti will go through a depression.