Doing Better
11 years ago
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Noah's Fortune
My mother, who is currently living in Taiwan, went to a fortuneteller and inquired about Noah Maxx's fortune.
It's not a very uncommon practice in Chinese society to consult with a fortuneteller upon the birth of a new child to see what his or her life will be like and what to watch out for. In fact, I believe that everyone in my family, until the births of my cousins, had their fortunes told and their Chinese names made after some suggestions from the fortunetellers.
After my mom had consulted a fortuneteller in Taiwan, she sent the results to my sister, and then my sister sent it to me. It was a big piece of paper with some Chinese proverbs, various timeframes according to the Chinese timetable for times of the day, seasons, and years, and advices. My mom also wrote out a summary of what the fortuneteller had said about Noah Maxx. The fortuneteller used Noah Maxx's birth time and date as the basis for her predictions. I'm sorry that I'm really not all that well-versed in the ways of fortunetelling so I really could not offer further explanations.
Noah Maxx's fortune states that he has two brothers (possible, since his sperm donor had reported pregnancies prior to Noah Maxx), is easy to get along with, will be popular so we should watch out for friends who will lead him astray, he should not marry anyone six years younger or six years older than him (they're monkeys in the Chinese zodiac), he should not travel for more than 50 miles away from home in the first three years of his life (we've already violated that by driving to Ocean City, Md), he is best suited for work in the restaurant business, or as a entrepreneur, not suited for government work, he will get married at age 28, will be very close to his moms (good to know!), and will have two sons of his own. (That means that both the GF and I will not become grandparents until we are in our late 60's and early 70's... :-(
While I am not a huge believer in fortunetelling, I do think that it'll be great if at least one of the good things that was said about Noah Maxx's future will be true. I really do hope that my mom didn't spend a lot of money on the fortuneteller!
Speaking of my mom, we have not seen each other in a very long time. My sister and I are basically our grandparents' children. Now that our family is sort of fractured and scattered after my grandparents passing away, there's aunt and uncle who don't like each other (my aunt had seen Noah Maxx but not my uncle, who now lives in China as a very well paid oil company executive), and a very distant stepmother (she had not seen Noah Maxx yet, and I really don't know if she wants to), and lastly, my father who passed away back in 2008. That basically leaves my mother, who lives far away. The GF and I would like to bring her out here to visit with us so she can hang out with her grandson for a bit. It'll be costly but I think it'll be worth it.
The Hard Days
Nerdstar's been having a hard time understanding my hard days, understanding that even a dream job has bad days. I've had three kinda melt-down days, due to being overly tired and pms. Then there's been the days when Noah's had really fussy afternoons and I've been out of energy. Nerdstar comes home to a fussy mom and baby.
So, yes, I am thankful beyond measure I get to stay at home with Noah. I love watching him change and grow. I love how he smiles when he sees me, how he wakes up happy. I love taking him to the store with me and asking what he thinks of it all. I don't love the screaming when he's hungry, or the times he's bored and nothing works. And honestly, I don't love the housework - never have, never will. The dishes and laundry and vacuuming, the litter box and the trash.
I explained that I feel like taking care of Noah is a job equal to her going to work. Therefore, all the housework is extra stuff for both of us, except, in reality, I do have a lot more time to get it done, in no small part because of the stupid time she spends commuting. We can only dream how much better it would be if she got home from her 9-5 at 5:30 like normal people instead of an average of 6:30.
I explained that staying home with Noah all the time is a little like the time she spent on Mosul. There was always, always a chance that a mortar would come crashing in at anytime. In fact, she came within minutes of being blown up once, and her poor laundry drying on the line was blown up. Now, it's not that Noah is deadly, but it's that same sort of constant underlying stress. You never know when the next screaming/crying will start or stop, or that you'll know what to do about it, or anything really.
Therefore, I just need a little break sometimes. Monday was one of the bad days, and I spent Tuesday and a little bit of Wednesday thinking about getting away today. But, I don't really want to spend the day away from them. I like watching her get to spend time with him, seeing him smile at her. But even if I say she's 100% in charge of him, she's not really, she has the comfort of a backup here.
I think she gets it a little better, but until it's really just the two of them for twelve or more hours, well, she won't fully know.
That said, I am also extremely grateful that she tries to understand, and that she gladly takes over of Noah duty, and helps with the dishes and bottles, and goes to work so we can all eat well. If I had a spouse that didn't - I think I'd kill them in their sleep.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
So Cute!
How cute is this little face? Hopefully soon I can get a pic of him smiling.
He can only spend about ten minutes at a time in this contraption, but he seems to like it.
He can only spend about ten minutes at a time in this contraption, but he seems to like it.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
A Few Things
Today is day two of Noah waking up at 6:30, at least today I was much more ready for it. (I went to bed about 8:30 last night!) He seems to be happier this morning as well.
His squealing is getting louder and more frequent. It's hard to tell if it's due to frustration or just because he can. He's still mostly a mellow little fellow.
He still hates tummy time. I guess he's going to be one of those babies that rolls back to front first, and then figures out how to roll from front to back just to get off his tummy. I tell him he's got to learn to roll over, and then think - and fetch and play dead.
The poor boy has had skin troubles almost from day one. His cradle cap is gone, but there's still some dry skin issues on the top of his scalp. His face is 90% better, but he rubs it all the time with his fists. It's hard to tell sometimes it he rubs because he's tired, or because his face is itchy. I feel bad, because I'm sure he's getting at least a little lotion on his fists and then getting it in his eyes. This is one of the biggest reasons he sleeps swaddled up, to keep his hands off his face.
He still stares at his fist, looking at it as if he has to keep an eye on it so it doesn't sneak up on him. I still think it's cute.
We're also finally having him sleep in his crib in his room overnight. He just got too long for the bassinet. So that means moving all of his clothes and supplies from our room downstairs to his room upstairs. Which means a change in logistics in where he and I spend most of our time during the day. Really, the only thing downstairs is the tv. His room, the kitchen, and my desk and computer are all upstairs. There's a huge space of empty floor up here behind the desk for him to "play". Nerdstar's been more sad than I have about him not being in our room.
Twice when we've been out in public people have commented on how alert he is, taking everything in. I find that odd, are babies not usually alert when out and about? Although, even at two months we found he likes to people watch when we go out to eat. It's cute. We finally bought a stroller and I think he likes being in it a lot better because he can see everything.
That said, I'm not sure anything has made me feel more like a MOM than pushing him in a stroller at the mall. Weird, I know.
I'm not sure the boy will ever learn his name. I've mostly taken to calling him Shorty and Sweetie. I think Nerdstar still calls him Pinhead. I try to use Noah often enough.
He's still such a sweet, happy baby boy. Even when he's fussy he'll look at me and smile. Although, that said, one of the hardest things is when I'm holding him up facing me and he looks right in my eyes and screams. So far the screams are because he thinks he's dying of starvation, and because I know that can't possibly be true, the screams aren't heartbreaking.
His squealing is getting louder and more frequent. It's hard to tell if it's due to frustration or just because he can. He's still mostly a mellow little fellow.
He still hates tummy time. I guess he's going to be one of those babies that rolls back to front first, and then figures out how to roll from front to back just to get off his tummy. I tell him he's got to learn to roll over, and then think - and fetch and play dead.
The poor boy has had skin troubles almost from day one. His cradle cap is gone, but there's still some dry skin issues on the top of his scalp. His face is 90% better, but he rubs it all the time with his fists. It's hard to tell sometimes it he rubs because he's tired, or because his face is itchy. I feel bad, because I'm sure he's getting at least a little lotion on his fists and then getting it in his eyes. This is one of the biggest reasons he sleeps swaddled up, to keep his hands off his face.
He still stares at his fist, looking at it as if he has to keep an eye on it so it doesn't sneak up on him. I still think it's cute.
We're also finally having him sleep in his crib in his room overnight. He just got too long for the bassinet. So that means moving all of his clothes and supplies from our room downstairs to his room upstairs. Which means a change in logistics in where he and I spend most of our time during the day. Really, the only thing downstairs is the tv. His room, the kitchen, and my desk and computer are all upstairs. There's a huge space of empty floor up here behind the desk for him to "play". Nerdstar's been more sad than I have about him not being in our room.
Twice when we've been out in public people have commented on how alert he is, taking everything in. I find that odd, are babies not usually alert when out and about? Although, even at two months we found he likes to people watch when we go out to eat. It's cute. We finally bought a stroller and I think he likes being in it a lot better because he can see everything.
That said, I'm not sure anything has made me feel more like a MOM than pushing him in a stroller at the mall. Weird, I know.
I'm not sure the boy will ever learn his name. I've mostly taken to calling him Shorty and Sweetie. I think Nerdstar still calls him Pinhead. I try to use Noah often enough.
He's still such a sweet, happy baby boy. Even when he's fussy he'll look at me and smile. Although, that said, one of the hardest things is when I'm holding him up facing me and he looks right in my eyes and screams. So far the screams are because he thinks he's dying of starvation, and because I know that can't possibly be true, the screams aren't heartbreaking.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Updated Kitchen
We moved into our house about a year and a half ago. We love the floor plan and the big rooms. Everything in the kitchen was new, but it didn't have a pantry. We have some tall, black bookshelves I built a few years ago that we used for storage, but the kitchen always looked messy and cluttered.
We were some of the lucky home buyers who qualified for the $8,000 tax refund and I hoped we'd be able to do something with the kitchen with it, but we had to wait until Noah was born and all other expenses were taken care of.
This week, I finally found a contractor and had three changes made.
This is our new pantry. I'm really happy with it.
I had the backsplash done to add a better sense of the kitchen being finished.
And last but not least, we changed out the light fixture. The other one was bigger and just didn't seem right in the space. I like the simplicity of this one.
The reason I say "I" in this post and now "we" is that although Nerdstar helped pick things out, it was pretty much my project to get done. No, I didn't use the entire $8,000.
We were some of the lucky home buyers who qualified for the $8,000 tax refund and I hoped we'd be able to do something with the kitchen with it, but we had to wait until Noah was born and all other expenses were taken care of.
This week, I finally found a contractor and had three changes made.
This is our new pantry. I'm really happy with it.
I had the backsplash done to add a better sense of the kitchen being finished. 
And last but not least, we changed out the light fixture. The other one was bigger and just didn't seem right in the space. I like the simplicity of this one.
The reason I say "I" in this post and now "we" is that although Nerdstar helped pick things out, it was pretty much my project to get done. No, I didn't use the entire $8,000.
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