I am about 98% sure Ansel’s front two teeth are about the make their appearance, based on his behavior and the ghostly white outlines of teeth now swelling his gums in front. I have been waiting for this moment with trepidation and fear, wondering if it might turn our happy go lucky ‘trick’ baby into a totally new creature to contend with. I have no answers yet.
He’s been napping terribly, but this isn’t anything all that new. He does best napping while being held, which makes his napping complicated and spotty, depending on who he’s with, when, and what they are doing. He sleeps pretty well at night, although he’s upped his night wakings from 2 to 3 times, and has been harder to settle once he’s eaten. He also has started to wake up for the day earlier and earlier. I used to be able to pull him into bed when he woke up around 5-5:30a, and he’d nurse and sleep next to me until we had to get up between 7:30-8a. This morning he woke up at 6 and wanted to gum my nipple hard and play with his hands. This isn’t as pleasant as snuggling and nursing in the wee morning hours.
Speaking of gumming things . . .that’s all he does. Your hands, fingers, whatever he has in front of him. He wants to chomp down as hard as his little jaw can muster. He basically lost his shit last night when he dropped his ice cold teether and couldn’t find something to immediately replace it with.
We cut up some banana and avocado last weekend and offered it to him. He played with it a bit and then managed to get a small chunk of banana back far enough to swallow and look shocked. Given his current love of cold teethers, we cut up some banana and froze it in a mesh feeder. He has been pretty psyched about this:
We are going pretty slow with the food introduction, otherwise. This week, we haven’t been eating super well (see below) so I’m less interested in offering him much off our plates, and while he has some interest (mostly in the things he actually CAN’T have, like my plain yogurt with honey this morning) he also isn’t getting super grabby. So, slow and steady.
The last week has been a tough one, mostly because we are in a shitty spot financially. Although I was told I was getting a raise and started taking on a lot more at work in early July, we had to wait for the BoD to approve pay increases and the new budget. Due to bad timing all around, the board didn’t meet until Aug 19th to make this decision, so the pay increase still hasn’t actually happened – although it’s now, at least, approved. This, coupled with L’s switch from summer session to fall semester (which = in adjunct world, a skipped pay check) has meant an August that seems unending. Last weekend, we did the math and realized that with some reimbursement checks I was owed, we’d be able to cover our bills, but not buy gas or groceries. I was honestly less worried about groceries, since we are pretty creative and had some staples in the cupboard. Gas, though, was another story. Since we have to take Ansel to my mom’s or the baby sitter, and get to work.
But, when the going gets tough, the tough wander around their house and look for shit to sell on craigslist. And, sure enough, we found some baby items we didn’t need anymore, an old roku box and a broken but fixable lawn mower, and we scraped together $160. And the 31st, when I’ll not only get my new bigger salary, but also back pay for July and the first part of August, is much much closer now. If only we didn’t have a list of things to buy/pay for/pay back that we had to miss in August, we might have enough to do something fun with, too. But honestly, I’ll be happy to just feel less panicked about getting through the bills.
And finally, to round out a difficult week, I managed to just . . .forget to go do a training I’d committed to months ago. It was in my calendar – for September – and I moved offices at the exact time I was to be there, meaning my phone was out of commission and I wasn’t in front of my computer. Because of this, I didn’t get word of my mistake until my boss came in to tell me she had gotten a call. Whoops. After a lot of groveling, a tearful walk around the block to feel shitty about myself, and some deep breaths, I realize it’s the universe’s way of telling me I need to slow the fuck down. So, I’m trying.
And, I’ll be happy when September comes and I get to at least pretend to hit the reset button.