insomnomaniac

Happy Christmakwanzmakah New Baby!

OK, here it is--the down and dirty "quickie" update on my life since last you heard from me:

- New house in NC closed without incident (11/28)

- Move into new house in NC happened 11/29, NOT without incident (hint: whenever possible, pack your own shit--what our packers thought ought to go in the same box was so bizarre only the writers of "Lost" could have found it logical)

- Old house in MA closed without incident (12/06)

- Baby Lily Grace born three weeks early (12/13) but aside from provoking a second induction (premature rupture of membranes--a.k.a. "PROM" supposedly happens in only 5% of pregnant women, despite what the movies would have you believe, but I apparently am solidly in that 5% now that it's happened to me TWICE in a row), which this time they called an "augmentation," (euphemisms are fun, aren't they?), the labor was quick (16 hours from water-breaking until cord-cutting) and relatively painless (one role I didn't want to play twice was that of MARTYR--got that epidural as soon as they said I could). In fact, being numb from the waist down enabled me to have one of the most relaxing nights of the past several months! Kinda wish I'd enjoyed it more now that I'm not sleeping at ALL...

You know how people tell you that having your second child adds three times the work? Well, they aren't kidding if they're talking about adding a second child to a household with a toddler in it. The baby is easy compared to the "creature" who has eaten my adorable firstborn's brain in the past two weeks. This "entity" alternates between "loving" her new baby sister and demanding that she "go now!"

I don't mean to complain, the baby is adorable and sleeps most of the time (so far, so far...don't want to jinx myself), but trying to figure out how to juggle both girls is a challenge. This challenge is further complicated by the horrific pain I have in my neck thanks to the old neck injury suffered during labor with Emma (and aggravated by that hit-and-run last year) returning for a repeat appearance. The spasms I get at night are so awful--if I didn't know better (no fever) I'd think I had meningitis!

On the whole though, we are unbelievably happy with our new life here in NC. When Emma was born, we got cards and some gifts from relatives and such, but that was it. Here? We had neighbors we've met once dropping by with dinner, and people from the local Mom's association doing the same! We have a freezer full of food cooked by others we've only barely met!

Also, our house is awesome, conveniently located (not off a major road from which Dunkin Donuts trash drifts into our yard, and not abutting a park in which juvee delinquent punk dirt-bags hang out), comfortable and big enough that we never "need" to move to get more space.

Emma goes to preschool two days a week at the local Presbyterian Church school and it's fantastic! She loves it and I'm starting to feel like homeschooling isn't a dire necessity anymore (still an option though...).

I haven't had time to post much, but I've wanted to so many times in the past few weeks--between the NSA controversy (will somebody please explain to me why the NYT and WAPO didn't care when Clinton did the same thing?), the Iraqi elections (shame on us that our turnout isn't as high and we don't have to run the gauntlet to get to the polls--even if the lies about dogs and abusive cops in Florida in 2000 were true, they are a far cry from bombs and guns) and the absurd claim that there "is no war on Christmas" (did I hear correctly Mumbles? Did you call the tree you just lit up the "Holiday Tree?"), I've wanted to post PLENTY.

But alas, I have bigger (or littler) matters to attend to these days.

Hope you all had a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HANNUKAH, and may you have a HAPPY NEW YEAR as well!

Posted by insomnomaniac at December 27, 2005 7:06 PM