A Fishdragon's Ramblings

From Twitter 11-12-2009

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:04:39 GMT

20:00:22: Tupperware container of cheerios: both intermittent food AND a pretty bad ass fun rattle.

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From Twitter 11-09-2009

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:04:29 GMT

14:28:54: The kid is now fighting her second bout of snot ever. Doing well, but she understandably doesn't like it.
18:28:07: Just today, her babbling has acquired consonants.

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From Twitter 11-04-2009

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:04:32 GMT

15:39:45: Beka thinks a sturdy yellow bowl makes a good toy.

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From Twitter 11-03-2009

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:04:40 GMT

09:50:33: I THOUGHT there was some reason I should awake early today -- there's an Irishman in my basement installing a new water meter.

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From Twitter 11-01-2009

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:04:43 GMT

17:36:26: I have finished knitting the baby sweater - and she isn't too big for it! Triumphs. Six when i've buried the ends.

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From Twitter 10-26-2009

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:05:34 GMT

12:27:17: Safe landed in chicago. Heading for pickup.
19:00:46: A laryngitis weekend is a great chance to practice my ASL. Unfortunately, my vocabulary is both limited and, for adult convos, odd. :->
22:30:14: Kid news: TWO teeths now!

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New song: Closer to Filk

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:00:26 GMT

Thanks to OVFF, JoEllyn Davidoff, and the Sunday night filkcircle in the former dealer's room, I have written a new song.

Closer to Filk

Parody lyrics by Elliott Mason, 10/25/2009; to the tune of "Closer to Fine," by Emily Saliers

I'm trying to tell you something 'bout my mind
Maybe show me the things I cannot find.
And the best thing you've ever done for me
Is to help me take my stuff less seriously; they're only songs after all.

Well doubt has a hunger that's insatiable
And courage has a call that's hard to hear
I wrapped my fear around me like a blanket;
I took my self-hatred to the bank; it cheated me every time.

      Chorus:
      I went to the concerts; I went to the movies.
      I played all the albums, I felt them improve me.
      There's more than one path through these chord changes, coming on as smooth as silk
      The farther I am from the commercial, the closer I am to filk,
      The closer I am to filk.

I went to see the authoritative fan
With a poster of Tom Smith and a judgement in his hand
He never did laugh, or stop to sniff a daisy.
He graded my performance, he said that I was crazy.
I spent five years prostrate to his higher taste, then I circled and I was free.

Chorus

I went to the consuite at 3 A.M.
To seek solace in a soda, or possibly a friend.
I woke up with a headache and popcorn on my face
Twice as hungry as I'd been the night before, and I went in seeking calories.

Chorus twice, and coda

From Twitter 10-24-2009

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:05:19 GMT

10:22:08: At a filk convention - Yay. Lost my voice thursday night - sigh. On sign of its return yet.

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From Twitter 10-20-2009

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:07:27 GMT

10:47:03: Low blood sugar == poor judgement: I now have a very bloody, very shallow cut on my left index finger. Also some breakfast. Ow.

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From Twitter 10-16-2009

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:05:01 GMT

08:41:00: I'm up and dressed; kid is changed and dressed and fairly cheerful. Here's hoping I can get somewhere with laundry today ...

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From Twitter 10-14-2009

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:05:06 GMT

09:31:29: I just cleaned up a massive Stanky Containment Failure. Remind me again why we're so interested in getting solids into her? Eew. :->
12:36:19: Home organization triumph: I'm running the Roomba in the living room for the first time ever. I even swept first (low-hanging fruit, etc).
22:01:59: It's confirmed - FIRST TOOTH. Front center right, for those keeping a scorecard.

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From Twitter 10-12-2009

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:05:42 GMT

15:38:20: After a fun and productive wknd, kid is sleeping -- solid 6+ hr nap broken only by nursing, so far. I'm tired too, but not THAT tired. :->

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Taking stock (still not a baby update)

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:01:27 GMT

Just an inventory, for me and for historical purposes.

Good Things:

Beka is healthy and vigorous, and even sleeping a lot some days.

We're staying on top of household chores, and even gradually chiselling away at the bigger mucking-out/organizational tasks. The house is in better, tidier, cleaner shape than it was before we had the kid, and THAT'S not something I thought I'd be saying at almost 8 months postpartum.

I am quite healthy, with no negative pregnancy sequelae at all.

When Beka wakes 3-4 times per night, she doesn't wake up to AWAKE AND WANT TO PLAY, she just eats and keels over again.

I've gotten re-interested in my game of Pokemon Pearl, and made some serious progress with it.

Iron Chef is awesome; I've been watching it (and Iron Chef America) via YouTube in semirandom order, and finding myself very entertained. Also, watching it has been spurring both my appetite and my urge to cook, which has helped a lot in the 'making sure I eat enough during the day' department.

We unearthed and organized an area where I can sew in "the baby's room," meaning in a place where I can sit and sew while supervising Beka in play-on-the-floor-with-toys fun, assuming she can be persuaded to do any such thing. This means I may actually make progress on several backlogged sewing projects even during the day when I am also on Baby Duty.

The house is in pretty good shape, by which I mean the physicality of the house, not its contents and cleanliness. Despite being told when we moved in 5 years ago that the roof and gutters needed to be done, we still only have one small and intermittent leak, for which much thanks. We've largely fixed the 'basement floods when it rains' issue, and the dip in the floor where structural members are missing in the basement is not getting any worse. These things are good because we have no real way to pay for fixing them if they broke.

The workmen next door will redo our whole breezeway sidewalk on that side for free when they take out the fence between our houses and redo THEIR walk. This is because, while they were doing the roof, they dropped stuff on our walk that broke the concrete. Oh, well. At least the new one will almost certainly be sloped AWAY from our foundation, instead of TOWARDS it like it is right now.

Bad or Suboptimal Things:

I'm (warning: these words share emotional truth, not necessarily rational fact) ruled by fear and giving into it like a big coward again, more. This means many days when I might otherwise accomplish things outside the house, I cave in, and just hide in here holding the baby feeling dissatisfied with myself for being such an unproductive lump. Sometimes I do this even when I have promised someone else I will be elsewhere. Sigh.

Beka is going through a patch where if I set her down, she wakes up, meaning I have to hold her pretty much constantly. This is killing my ability to get stuff done while she naps, even during those naps of hers where I am (a) awake and (b) energetic enough to want to/be able to accomplish something, otherwise.

Time is passing quickly, and nothing has been done about lining up childcare that will allow me to take classes in Spring.

I am tired almost all the time, and worn out (energy and patience) usually by Thursday of any given week. (Note: not unrelated to previous item, I know)

She's still waking me up 3-4 times per night, and usually wakes up if I try to set her in her crib, so I have to sleep in weird cattywonkered 'avoid the baby' or 'let the baby nurse' positions, which messes up my shoulders and back.

I've been tired and worn-out enough that I haven't actually read a whole book since finishing Rosemary and Rue in early September. Instead, I've been playing Pokemon, which takes less mental oomph, and watching streaming TV on the internet.

I am exceedingly worried about money and lack of it, especially since -- on current plans -- I am unlikely to be earning an income in less than four years, and even that is a best-case scenario. That's a STAGGERING thing to look at and realize. I not only worry about all the things one would worry about in this situation, but also find my internal narration nagging at me for being a 'freeloader'. Sigh.

We have mice again. I'd much rather have mice than, say, cockroaches (not least because mice are far easier to eradicate!), but still. We're gradually putting all loose food in rodentproof containers and otherwise attempting to make ourselves look less attractive as habitat, and we've baited the snaptraps, but it's still depressing and kind of grossmaking.

There are a lot of things about the house and property that are run-down and ragged enough to be depressing-making, but no money to fix/improve/reinvent them. Most of the things on this 'list' that were fairly quick and cheap fixes, we have already.

John has almost no time, because he has a 9AM French class (step 1 towards him actually finishing the BA we both dropped out before getting), followed by a full workday. He gets home between 7 and 8PM, eats (sometimes cooking dinner for both of us before eating it), holds the kid for me for an hour or so while I eat or cook or whatever, does an hour or more of homework, and ends up getting to go to bed sometime after 11. Later if Beka decides at 10:30 that it's HAPPY PLAY TIME!, because usually by that time of night I can't fricking face it and he has to take play duty until she tires herself out and falls over asleep. These past few months have sucked for me, but they've sucked for him too, just in different ways. Which doesn't mean I don't need (in a 'retain sanity, not need to kill people' way) more than one childfree hour a day, it just means he probably can't provide it.

This is not a baby update

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:30:10 GMT

.. though I owe one.

This is just a 'Look at my new icon!' post. :->

From Twitter 10-08-2009

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:05:36 GMT

12:11:49: For anhy of you who heard Ajax's howls of protest, I want to be on record: I DID NOT flay him alive. I merely trimmed his front toenails.
19:15:08: Boston is now --m with great energy, seriousness & concentration -- making a dog-nest from ... an oven mitt. Like huge cat/tiny box ...

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From Twitter 10-07-2009

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:04:56 GMT

14:45:10: Today's achievements: changedthe sheets and Kid's outfit; run the robot housemaid in the bedroom; ate breakfast and a snack. Go me.

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From Twitter 10-06-2009

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:05:20 GMT

13:59:21: Today, lots of baby-sleeping: I sense a growth spurt coming on. Woohoo. :-> The teething has been Troublesome. Maybe that's what's growing?
15:35:33: 3 long naps already btw 10:30am & 4pm: growth spurt confirmed.

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How did this get so last minute? OVFF plans.

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:21:40 GMT

I have transport, I'm seeking roomshare nights (Thur, Fri, Sat, and Sun). I'd like at minimum half a bed.

I pay up promptly by check at-con; rederences available. It will just be me, no kidlet in tow.

Edited to add: I'm taken care of, plus a backup, but thanks, everyone.

Now if people wanted to call dibs for dinner runs ahead of time, that'd be awesome. :->

From Twitter 10-03-2009

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:05:55 GMT

22:16:41: Today I slept for the majority of the day (John kid-wrangled), then made a big pot of risotto. Yay for days off!

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From Twitter 10-02-2009

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:04:56 GMT

11:12:38: Yesterday's 4 Parenting Words were "poo to the armpits". Wonder what today's will be?
15:00:24: Now that she can (with the right infrastructure) pull up to a stand, she no longer wants to sit and play with toys at all. I'm doomed.

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From Twitter 09-30-2009

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:05:35 GMT

11:58:35: Kid is working determinedly on her 'grab furniture, stand up, clamber sideways' skills. Can walking be far off? Still no crawling, though.
16:07:06: Ajax-beagle is now feeling so needy he's shoving his head repeatedly under Beka's hand, even though she then yanks on him. :->

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From Twitter 09-26-2009

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 08:05:33 GMT

20:56:22: Hit Unique Thrift today for an assortment of baby clothes -- $20, 15 garments. I love this place. We acquired much AWESOME, and also kyoot.

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From Twitter 09-24-2009

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:04:51 GMT

19:20:30: I'm in a talk about new media. She's going on and on about how cool twitter is. :)

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From Twitter 09-22-2009

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:05:31 GMT

16:01:29: Today, I size-sorted 4 big boxes of of baby clothes. Only 4-6 more boxfuls await me at Judy's house. :-> It's a start. Yay for preparedness.

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From Twitter 09-19-2009

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:04:56 GMT

21:46:08: Tomorrow morning we venture intrepidly into the wilds of Schaumburg in search of a crib. I hope we get out of IKEA in less than 3 hours.

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