Another one down

So I sent in another application and am hoping to get a few more in this week before we make the big move to DELAWARE on Saturday. I am totally excited to live in Delaware - as is Eli, who is very excited to live near Grannie and Grandpa (see above pic) - but incredibly freaked about the actual move. Some lovely friends have promised to help - and I even have a designated baby-helper - but I foresee this whole thing messing with Eli's Highly Important Nap Schedule (though it's not really consistent enough to call it a schedule - he just needs to sleep pretty much between every feeding or he is a real pisser, see pictorial example of Highly Important Nap below) . Anyway, I think we already have a move MVP. My sister Tina helped us pack ALL DAY yesterday and is coming to help on Saturday too. Thank you, Tina!


Tina also threw us a going away party this weekend. It was a whole lot of fun. It was on the roof of our building, which made it handy for Eli's Highly Important Nap Schedule . Also, I got to see some of my friends who are moms (and moms-to-be) with their babies. This past week has been all about new babies. I had a visit from Ari and his family (see pic below - Ari is 6 weeks and weighs about what Eli did at birth! I can't believe Eli has grown that much!). And then on Sat I was hanging with lots of babies (and buns in th oven) and their parents (and, like a dumbass, I have no photos of it). And it was awesome - especially when the babies all did a simultaneous tummy time. Too cute! Anyway, my friends kept making fun of me for complaining about how Eli is a crazed lunatic b/c he was pretty much an angel the whole time. And I thought to myself, you know, if this is how you're going to make a liar out of me, kid, that is awesome. Do it more!


Also, there was a little 13 month old there for a while who was pretty much exactly Eli's size (he's small for his age). It was so incredibly disconcerting to see an Eli-sized kid walking around
instead of flopping around on the floor (see pic below). Also, he touched Eli on the nose and Eli spazzed (take that, you doubters! - ask Tina for corroboration). But later when Alena (who is 5, right?), who has a baby sister who is just a couple of weeks older than Eli, was petting Eli's hand, he was just fine. Maybe Alena just has mad baby skillz - and a fabulous party dress!


In other news, Eli was a serious pooper yesterday. I think it's b/c I ate nuts. He had 3 major blow-outs. During one of them, he pooped in our bed. Josh tried to hide the third one from me, but I, of course, noticed my child was wearing a different outfit (and Tina noticed the poop on the armpit of Josh's shirt - no idea how it got just on his armpit and nowhere else). No more nuts for me. (Pic below is outfit he pooped in on Saturday - well, pre-full outfit but we had to try on the shorts to make sure they fit and then we thought he kind of looked like a frat guy with the preppy shorts, no shirt, and beer/boob belly so we had to take a picture.)


Ok, I just spent way too long on that, but hopefully you found it as entertaining as I did!

One down...

countless numbers left to go. I just turned in my first job application. Ack. Ack. Ack!

I am too busy to do much of anything else, but here's a very quick update:

- Eli is 4 months old now.

- He weighs 19.5 lbs and measures 28" long. He is fast approaching half my length. Jeesh.

- He is getting much better at sitting up (though he still can't roll over). And he should be a Juicy Couture model.


- He now only likes sucking my/Josh's fingers. It's about the only way to get him to nap (although it takes 15 mins of sucking to get him to go down). He hates pacis and isn't too fond of his own fingers (PLEASE make a liar of me, child!).

- He has discovered his feet.


- He has an awesomely dorky laugh, but today for the first time I got some true giggles out of him. Adorable!

- He likes when I sing the alphabet while doing the letters in sign language (though he still won't smile for the camera).


- He doesn't want me to finish my phd or get a job (see, for example, part about how he won't take a nap without sucking on my fingers).

Blergh.

So, you want to know how the Boston trip went? It was horrible. Well, the train rides were horrible. (Actually, I think it was all pretty suck-tacular for Eli. And mostly sucktacular for Josh since he was on baby duty all the time). Eli cried a substantial part of the way up and the way down. I think he cried more intensely on the way up (for about an hour non-stop), but he cried more consistently (ever hour to 1.5 hours or so) on the way down. Breastfeeding was no fun at all on the train, so on the way home we had a couple of bottles ready. At least that made things SLIGHTLY easier for me.

I did have 4 job interviews. Three of four of them went really well. During the last one, I was kind of like a blithering idiot. I was very repetitive/bs-y sounding and actually ended responses to questions with something like, "And that's all I have to say about that." Sorry I stole you line, Forrest Gump. Of course, that job seems really cool...we'll see what happens, I guess!

Since I've been back I've been doing job market stuff in earnest. It scares the pee out of me. I have most of the materials put together, but I am having a heck of a time with my first cover letter. Eli is not helping matters, of course, especially since he's now getting up TWICE a night (with the last feeding usually being followed by some kind of whiny session that pretty much means that there's not much sleep happening after 5am these days). So now I'm REALLY tired and my brain works even less well than it did in Boston. Awesomely awesome.

And the final blerghy thing of the day is that it's Friday, and I was all looking forward to an evening with my Joshie. However, his stupid work has to take over our lives YET AGAIN (though, in reality, I've been REALLY lucky and I know it could be much worse - but I think it has been worse since Eli's arrival), and he won't be home until late. I am single momming it again tonight then. Thank God that we are moving to Delaware soon (except that it means we have some serious packing to do) and this job will be a thing of the past!



Eli is coping by doing Kick and Play until he has a spazz attack. Seriously. The kid plays on that thing until he's whining crazily loudly and almost crying, and then I take it away and he gets REALLY upset. What to do? I guess never let him Kick and Play to begin with, but he likes it so much (and it occupies him for a while so I can get work done)!

And that's all I have to say about that.