A Return to Responsibility

Safia ended up doing great on the marathon car trip from DC back here to Athens.  I'd even go as far to say she exceeded expectations.  As the trip progressed, her sleeping sessions got shorter and shorter necessitating more frequent pit-stops.  When we arrived home, we were sobered by our return to reality:  house to clean, grass to mow, roof to repair, meals to cook, baby to care for, all by ourselves.  It sure was nice to have so many people around to soothe Safia when she got grumpy, or to collaborate in the kitchen with on a meal, or to just have interesting conversations with.  I guess the old cliche that "it takes a village..." does ring true.  


Below, I've posted a couple of videos for your enjoyment.  I'll give a little background info to clarify things a bit.  The first is of Safia in the car.  She is playing with a rattle and being awfully cute (if I do say so).  She is also listening to "This American Life" which is on in the car, describing the now predictable way in which Middle East dictators try to salvage their deteriorating positions of power.  The second video is of a little music session we had.  She's already starting to sing.

Now a point of digression, if I may:  On our drive back home, there was a major traffic back-up in South Carolina as a result of an accident that delayed us about one-and-a-half hours.   On that drive, in which we stayed on major interstate highways (I-95 and I-85), I was shocked at the high frequency of aggressive, sudden, and un-signaled lane changes.  I, myself, was cut-off repeatedly (often while driving in the right-most lane) by drivers making their move.  The accident that caused the miles-long back-up on I-85 was caused by a lane change in which three cars were ultimately involved, and it resulted in a fatality (a 26-year old man returning to Georgia after visiting his girlfriend in North Carolina).  So sad.  Lately I've been thinking, as I drive Safia around, that I have precious cargo in the car and that I should drive more safely.  It's clear to me now that we are all precious cargo.  Drive safely. 

On the Road

So I'm posting from the road! We left Ellen's parent's house this morning at 4am. Safia made a smooth transition to the car and continued sleeping the good sleep. In fact she gave us four-and-a-half hours of solid driving. We made a pit-stop for gas, nursing, and a diaper change. We're back in the car and I'm trying to keep Safia entertained with an onslaught of rattles and woobies and books. So far so good...

Who's the Happiest Baby on the Block?

Yesterday was a much needed day of rest.  Everyone is better because of it.  I was starting to get nervous and a little frustrated that Safia was becoming increasingly dependent on us for falling asleep.  For the past few days, we were spending an exorbitant amount of time and energy getting her to fall asleep; we would hold her and bounce on the exercise ball (parenting gold, by the way), we would hold her and walk her up and down hallways, we would hold her and rock her in the rocking chair.  After finally falling asleep she would abruptly awaken upon leaving our touch, necessitating a complete re-do.  I will admit, I had a meltdown.  When the new day dawned, and I had composed myself, I took a new (actually, old) approach.

When Safia was a newborn, we utilized a method that may be recognizable as the "Happiest Baby on the Block" method.  It was incredibly effective, but for some unclear reason, we had moved away from it.  Yesterday, with few events planned for the day, I committed to returning to our old method.  I was devoted to swaddling Safia (we do anyway), putting Safia on her side, shushing, and gently swinging/shaking her in my arms every time it was nap time.  Rampant success ensued. I am hesitant to assign credit solely upon these specific calming methods.  Like all things, there are so many factors that come into play, but I was so relieved to have a low-stress, low-frustration, nap-full day.

We have also come to a decision as to our travel plans for returning to Athens.   We have decided to leave early tomorrow morning.  We're going to take things as they come and not try to push too hard on anybody's sanity.  Durham, North Carolina marks the half-way point on our journey, and we will keep open the possibility of stopping there for a break to assess our progress and further course of action.  If anyone has spent any time in Durham, please send along suggestions for eating/sites to see/places to visit.  Keep your fingers crossed and send us positive traveling vibes.

Safia and Ellen play patty-cake

Contemplating a Journey

Safia at 13-weeks / 3-months

Somewhere in the chaos, we neglected to post the 13th-week/3-month picture of Safia.  That is the picture above.  My sincerest apologies for my failure to keep things up-to-date.

Yesterday, we all went downtown to the National Gallery to infuse some culture into our visit.  Safia had been clamoring all week to see the Chester Dale Collection: From Impressionism to Modernism exhibit, so we finally relented, and went to check it out.  She slept for about three-hours in her stroller as we navigated the exhibit to let all the magnificence marinate fully.  It was a great trip downtown, and we arrived back at home relatively unscathed.  

Safia commiserates with Jude 

So we are fully preparing for our return journey back to Athens.  600 miles.  10 hours by car.  We would like to get it done in one trip (rather than breaking it up into multiple days), but we are new to this type of journey with a baby, and are, therefore, open to the idea of laying over for a night if things get crazy.  We realize that our travel time will be greatly increased due to the necessary and regular stops for feeding, changing, and comforting, so we'll see how it goes.  If you have any advice or tips for long road trips with an infant, we are open and appreciative.  Luckily, there is no hard-and-fast date or time we need to be back in Athens by, so we do have the luxury of relative flexibility. 

A New Badge for Rube

I've never denied nor attempted to hide my dorkiness or my nerdiness.  I wear those badges proudly.  But last night, I began to sew a new badge onto my personality sash: crotchety old fart.  You may be wondering what that badge might look like.  Well, it has a picture of me on it, face all scrunched up, with a finger pointing and yelling to some fun-loving person to stop having so much fun.  Lately, this is how it plays out:  Car drives down the street with window-rattling bass...."Turn it down!  There's a baby sleeping here!"  Harley rumbles past the house..."You better not wake my baby up, or else!"  UPS delivery person rings the door bell..."Hey! Don't you know there's a baby here?!"  (I know, I know...put up a little sign that politely asks delivery persons/visitors to not ring the door bell at inopportune times).  Last night, however, we had a new one: {Fireworks Boom! Pop! Pow!} X 1,000,000..."I'm so over 4th of July fireworks!! Aren't they illegal here?  If they're not illegal, they should be!!" Well, I admit to being a big fuddy-duddy, but dang, Safia had a real tough time going to sleep yesterday and that really sucked for us.  But......when she did get to sleep, she did sleep for 7 hours.  That's right, seven big ones.  Booyah! {Rube dance of joy}

The parade yesterday was awesome.  We enjoyed it thoroughly with friends and family by our sides, we consumed barbeque (although I'm sad to report that I did not eat the 12 hotdogs I vowed to eat), and Safia enjoyed her first parade in the sturdy arms of her Grandpa George flanked by her Great-Grandparents, Danny and Seena.  Who could want anything more?  Even an old grump like me was pretty darned satisfied.

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July! 

We have had a tremendous time here this weekend.  Ellen, Safia, and I have been in the company of innumerable lovely and loving people.  We are off this morning to go to the Takoma Park Independence Day Parade: a quirky, unique, and saucy display of patriotism and democracy and anarchy.  Sparklers will be lit and subsequently waved, barbeque will be had, and merriment will be omnipresent.

Slow it Down

Yesterday was a much needed day of rest.  It feels a little ridiculous saying we need to rest on, what is essentially, our vacation.  But with all the going here and going there, meeting this person and that, we really did find ourselves out-of-sorts yesterday.  Safia had a few meltdowns throughout the day, but all-in-all, seemed to enjoy the slower pace.

woobie

Due to Safia's newly developed propensity toward tactile delights, we recently introduced her to a woobie.  I don't know if it has an official name (I'm sure it does), but a woobie is a very soft, smallish blanket with a head attached to one corner.  I now realize that a written description of this object sounds slightly terrifying, yet I assure you, in actuality, it is certifiably adorable.  The woobie is adorable, and appropriately, Safia adores it completely.  It certainly isn't our goal to have material objects raise our child, but up until now she's rejected almost all "things": the bottle, the pacifier, toys on the playmat are brushed aside, doesn't really like the swing, and despises the car.  Mr. Woob-Woobs here, might have just broken through the threshold and found a genuine spot in the heart of an almost-3-month-old.

bffs