Tuesday, August 4, 2009

One month in

My first post-baby long article is due next Friday and I definitely should be working on it instead of blogging right now. Somehow, writing about employee background checks is less compelling than blathering on about myself.

We had a fun weekend. Well, let me back up. Thursday's date night was awesome! We were going to go somewhere we hadn't been before, but we ended up at Outback. There was a 20-minute wait (supposedly; it ended up being closer to an hour) so we got tall beers and drank them sitting on the porch under a ceiling fan. It was lovely. Instead of normal dinners we had a cheap "multi-course meal" -- the complimentary bread, salads, a blooming onion, split a $9.95 6-ounce-steak-and-three-shrimp entree, and free key lime pie for dessert thanks to a coupon Mom gave us.

When we got home Claire was fussy but Brie swore she'd been asleep most of the time. Still don't really know if that's true but thank you for saying so, Brie -- and THANK YOU again for keeping her!

Friday night I don't specifically remember but I think we watched "Mad Men," which possibly has become my favorite show, and Saturday we went to Raleigh. We had some stuff to exchange and buy at Babies 'R' Us, and the past two weekends we'd had out-of-town visitors (the Coles last weekend, the Armentas the weekend before). When we got back we went to London's Purple Party for her third (!) birthday.

It was Claire's first time attending a birthday party and I think she liked it -- thanks to Brooke, Brie, Leigh and Lauren G. (am I leaving out anyone?) I didn't see her except when she was dirty or hungry. London's birthday list was as follows: bicycle, space suit, hammock, pants. I love that girl.

We were in bed by 12:30 and Claire slept straight through to 7:15 a.m.! It was her longest stretch ever. I just wish I knew what caused it. The past two nights haven't been so great, but at least she consistently goes back to sleep without a fight after middle-of-the-night feedings now, which is a wonderful milestone. It's one thing to nurse at 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., but to spend another 30 minutes after each feeding conveying to your child that it's still the middle of the night, not time to hang out ... that's a quick ticket to the crazy farm.

Sunday we probably could/should have gone to church but we decided to claim one more Sunday at home. Since Claire was born we've spent Sunday mornings making a big breakfast and a pot of coffee (Matt does most or all of the cooking since I usually don't have a free hand) and curling up on the couch, all three of us, to listen to a sermon.

The first few weeks we listened to podcasts of our church's new pastor (really like his style and can't wait until he's here permanently, in September). This Sunday we listened to the Tim Keller sermon Ally sent last week, "Blessed Self-Forgetfulness." It's her favorite Keller sermon and it was truly excellent. It's on my computer now so I'm happy to pass it on if anyone's interested.

Tomorrow through Saturday I have an out-of-state buyer in town. We're supposed to look at houses all day tomorrow, meaning Matt gets to have his first day alone with Claire. I hope it goes well. I scheduled in a long lunch break so I can come home and nurse her and just give him a break to go bang his head against a wall somewhere. Hopefully she'll be good and that last part won't be necessary.

She's wiggling. I'm out.

3 comments:

Ken Loyd said...

Great blog. I wonder if London's favorite colors are black, gold, silver, and shiny. Those were cool gifts. Mom and I expect to be available Thurs. and/or Fri. to help with Claire if we are needed. And we hope we are.

Ally said...

Yeah for Claire sleeping for such a long stretch! That's promising.

Glad you enjoyed the sermon. I like the picture of you three curled up on the sofa with coffee and a sermon. Cozy family time.

Anonymous said...

"I would not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well." -- Henry David Thoreau

You're in good company. :)