life with a new baby
Posts tagged naps
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 26th
We had a marvelous day, chowing down on delicious, and I do mean DELICIOUS food and taking a million pictures of Nathan on his very first Thanksgiving at Paul’s grandmother’s house (Nathan’s great-grandmother.)
I even gave him a bite of banana pudding.
He loved it. He moved it slowly around in his mouth, chewing the soft graham-cracker pieces and making delightful “Mmmmmm” noises.
After we ate, I sat with Nathan on the couch and took this video:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ce6_xWRuO0
I think he wanted to tell me just how delicious that banana pudding tasted. It was good a taste of heaven.
All in all, Nathan had a wonderful day, even though he didn’t take his nap. Not only did he really enjoy that bite of banana pudding, but he even thrilled himself by running his hands along the couch’s upholstery, feeling the texture. But when his exhaustion with all the excitement started getting to him, all I had to do was whip out the camera.
HE STOPS CRYING.
He really loves having his picture/video taken. He’ll even cry when I put the camera away. So to keep him pacified, I alternated between taking his picture and recording videos.
Hey, whatever works, right?
Boogers in Abnormal Places
Nov 20th
So today, after I laid Nathan down for his nap, I tip-toed quietly out of his room in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice my departure.
I successfully make it to the living room and am about to sit down and enjoy one of my pre-recorded episodes of House because lately, for some reason, I cannot sleep when Nathan naps. I have been plagued with this fear that something’s going to happen to him… he’s going to die of SIDS or he’s going to get his legs stuck in the crib railing and rip them off or he’s going to morph into a little moth and flutter his way out of room.
YOU NEVER KNOW.
I’m just terrified that something will happen to him, something that I could have prevented if only I had been awake. These feelings won’t go away. In fact, they’ve been getting stronger. I’m not normally one to subscribe to superstitions, but lately I’ve heard so many stories about babies passing away unexpectedly that it has started to weigh me down, like if it happened to this person then it could happen to me.
I’m sure these feelings will pass soon, these New Mommy Jitters. Nathan is nearly 9 months old now. He’s made it this far; I don’t see why he would suddenly pass away out of the clear blue.
So anyways, I stay awake so I can keep checking on him after he falls asleep. IF he falls asleep. So I was sitting there, about to turn on the TV when my ear starts itching.
Like every other normal person on earth, I scratch it. I felt something small and hard. I grab it with my fingernail, assuming it was a piece of ear wax. Normal people get ear wax.
It was not ear wax.
IT WAS A BOOGER.
A dried, crusty ball of Nathan Booger.
I know it was Nathan’s booger because earlier in the day, I tried to lay him down for a nap unsuccessfully. After a few minutes of hearing him cry, I relented and rescued him from his comfortably plush prison.
He had snot all over his face, his hands… crusted in his eyebrows.
I wiped the snot off, but apparently, I didn’t get it all off of his hands because shortly after that, he inserted his finger in my ear. That was when he must have deposited his booger.
I am beginning to realize I can’t exactly say I have a normal life anymore… I had a displaced booger temporarily residing in my ear.
Not really normal, huh? Well, actually… it just might be normal for a Mommy.
The Curious Case of the Malfunctioning Body Wash
Nov 19th
Last night when I was taking my usual shower, something strange happened. No, I didn’t have an epiphany on how to accomplish world peace. Nor did I compose a soon-to-be renowned symphony with my awesome mind power. No, I was just bathing myself.
I felt… soapier than usual.
Kinda slimy.
I thought my body wash had started to rot. I don’t know if body wash can rot or not, but I’m telling you, this stuff was really slimy and weird-feeling on my skin. I thought MY BODY WASH HAD MALFUNCTIONED. So I slowly raised the loofah to my quivering nostrils and took a whiff.
PANTENE.
That’s what I smelled on my loofah. So apparently, in my sleep-deprived state, I slathered SHAMPOO onto it. Not the body wash that was sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. No, I lathered it up with SHAMPOO.
Shampoo that’s in a bottle that doesn’t even remotely resemble the bottle of my body wash.
How does this happen?
Sleep deprivation.
Nathan, of course, didn’t let us get much sleep last night either. The little guy has been bright-eyed and bushy-tailed since early this morning. I just laid him down for his nap, and I can hear him in his room talking to himself.
Trying to be LIKE HIS MOMMY.
“Nya nya nya nya! Oye Oye Oye! Rar MA MA!” he says. So I sneak through the hallway and peek my head into his room.
He has kicked one sock off, dislodging it from his foot like water off sliding off rocks. Those naked toes are wrapped around one of the crib rails, clinging to it with a tenacity to be reckoned with. His other foot still has its sock on, so the sock-foot and his arms are flailing aimlessly in the air. Those arms flail around until one of them randomly strikes the base of his mobile, the part attached to the crib rails.
CONTACT!
Instantly, all his senses are awakened. He rolls over, still managing to keep his naked toes wrapped around the crib rail while draping the other leg over it. Like a human pretzel. He starts banging at the base of the mobile, fingers splayed, searching for buttons or lights or KNIVES or whatever baby fingers are looking for whenever they roam all over an object.
Nathan, 6 months old, playing with his feet instead of sleeping
Satisfied that he is okay, I slowly edge away from the doorway.
The floor creaks.
DAMN YOU, CREAKY FLOOR.
I immediately pause in The Stance. (I mentioned The Stance here, during one of Nathan’s naptime failures.) My heart thuds loudly in my chest. I wonder crazily if he has super-sonic hearing and can hear my thumping heart.
I breathe. Slowly.
Nathan’s searching fingers pause briefly over the surface of the mobile. He waits a few seconds, apparently waiting to see if there is any more creakage. Satisfied that the world has not come to an end behind his back, he finally continues exploring his new find.
I continue to slowly back my way down the hallway, mindful to avoid the especially creaky parts of the floor. And now I sit here, listening to Nathan muttering to himself as I type this. He’s got to be tired. How can he not be tired? But alas, he is apparently not tired.
Let’s hope he takes his nap. Not only for himself, but for me as well.
Because mommies need naps, too.
Growing Up Nathan
Sep 16th

Nap times can sometimes be a bit of a struggle in this house. When I lay Nathan down in his crib, one of three things happen: He screams indignantly, he flops around like a fish out of water, or he falls peacefully asleep. Falling peacefully asleep is low on his priority list, however. He usually prefers to flop around, rolling over tirelessly while playing with his feet.
When I laid him down for his mid-morning nap today, Nathan immediately started giggling, his blue eyes dancing with mischievousness. It was the kind of giggle that made me wonder if he was plotting to destroy the world with red permanent markers, play dough, and smeared poop. Good thing he’s not capable of doing that… yet. Then, he noticed his hands and started opening and closing them, so I tiptoed out of his room as quietly as my popping knees would allow.
After I left the room, I heard music. FROM HIS MOBILE. It has buttons that have to be pushed in order to hear that music. I peeked through the door and sure enough, he had scooted over towards the mobile and had managed to push one of the buttons, turning it on! He was proudly kicking his feet in the air and humming along with the music. I was happy because he is learning even more ways of soothing and entertaining himself. Little by little, he’s growing up and leaving babyhood behind him.

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