It had been a while since I'd taken a self-portrait of my side-view. It's a different look than the belly pics, isn't it? I'm more top-heavy these days, on account of carrying our son in the Baby Bjorn, a device that I own thanks to my sister Emi.
Yes, Webber is inside my coat. Plus a few other layers. I'm set on making this arrangement work as long as my coat is big enough to zip and snap the bottom half shut.
I've determined that The Boy has now grown big enough to fit into the Bjorn, which is just a nice variety from the sling. This device is the new mutual best friend of Webber's and mine. Not only does it mean that we can get out of this lovely box we call our home and get some fresh air together, but it means that we can also move around the lovely box together more easily, and allow me to do really exciting things with two hands like I used to, like: unload the dishwasher (oooh!), fold laundry (ahhh!), and sweep up the cat hair (okay, I tried it once).
It also comes in handy when the little man wants to be walked around just for the sake of walking around and my arms would otherwise fall off from walking around for the sheer amount of time that he would like me to walk him around. Around the dining room table. Into the kitchen. Out of the kitchen. There's a whole downstairs circuit, not to be confused with the upstairs circuit. And for extra points, you can connect the two circuits and walk up and down our creaky stairs and burn a few extra calories that have been sneaking onto your thighs during the rest of your time that is spent sitting and feeding. Okay, maybe those are my thighs, not yours.
We Bjorned (yes, I'm making it a verb) around the downstairs circuit for quite a while the other night, or should I say morning, when Webber informed me that instead of dutifully going back to sleep after his 2am feeding, he would like to remain WIDE awake, and that he wanted, surprise surprise, to be walked around. I title the pictures below, "Greetings from 4:29am". It's a splendid time of day.
And a big blog high five to anyone who can tell me how many calories are burned per hour of chair-rocking. WHILE breastfeeding, no less. AND holding a magazine.
Are you sensing a little cabin fever? Well I hope so, because I'm pleased to have had the appropriate amount of time available to paint the picture. This blog entry has been brought to you with the help of our friend the Boppy: another wonderful device that lets you type with two hands like you used to in the old days. Okay, those are my two hands and my old days. As long as he is content to feed and sleep while laying on the Boppy, and can hold off on his need to be walked around for just a little longer, Mommy can blog.
This belated segue from the cabin-fever topic is that Mommy and Daddy had their first legitimate date night last weekend.
Okay, it was for Daddy's company's annual holiday party at the Elks Lodge...
But how often do you have a date night when the meal and one drink, with the redemption of your drink ticket, is paid for?
It was all I could do to refrain from writing with lipstick on my forehead, "MOMMY'S FIRST NIGHT OUT SINCE THE BIRTH OF HER LOVELY SON. HE IS 7 WEEKS 2 DAYS OLD. NO, I DIDN'T BRING PICTURES. NO, HE'S NOT SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT YET. NOW THEN, WHAT TOPIC OF ADULT CONVERSATION WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENGAGE IN WITH ME? TRUST ME, NO TOPIC IS TOO DULL. I REPEAT, THIS IS MOMMY'S FIRST NIGHT OUT." I decided against it. Even with my forehead, there just wasn't enough room.
I never knew the Elks Lodge could be such a magical place. Filled with so many adults. Who clean themselves after they go to bathroom. And do not spit up on your shoulder. Although, they will walk away from you if you sing Christmas carols or the Name Game song to them. Free-thinkers, those adults.And I was able to talk to, and dance with, my husband while neither of us were on Walk-With- or Dance-With-Webber-Duty. He is a charming man. He even treated me to my second glass of wine - the one that he did not have a drink ticket for.
I pumped milk for 2 weeks in preparation for the night out. There is now a very modest stash of this Ice Freedom in our freezer. But I'm still holding out on using it for frivolous things like grocery shopping without The Boy, or going to see a movie without The Boy. I'm saving it up for our second adult night out at a holiday party tomorrow night.
A big thanks goes out to my dad for sitting/walking around with Webber last week so that I could walk in town to get a hair cut. I didn't care how it came out, it was the best hair cut I ever got. I think I even skipped a little bit on the way home. That is, until I realized, an hour after leaving my house, that I forgot to bring my cell phone with me. YIKES. I guess I'm a little new at this being-separated-from-my-son thing.
Thanks to my mom and Steve for babysitting last weekend - thanks to our Freedom in a Bottle, she made it through the evening unscathed by any Webber hickeys. And thanks in advance to Nate's parents for tomorrow night. I'll try to remember to bring the cell phone. I'm still getting used to how weird it feels to tell my parents to "help themselves to anything in the fridge; here's what he sleeps in; we think we'll be home by 11pm."
Okay, his marathon nap has ended...
It's been fun, everyone.
And really, there are many moments of this parenthood thing that are truly fun, too. It gets more and more fun with every new fat roll that Webber grows, and every new facial expression that he makes, enhanced by his steadily growing jowls.
Nicky, Nate and Webber
