Dec
05

Mash, Mish.

I have a bunch of little updates and, once again, no conceivable way to string them together, so I am resorting to my old friend the bullet-point:

• We are pretty sure that Simone is allergic to rice. Once we discontinued the rice cereal, her eczema improved rapidly and dramatically. It’s still there, but in a much milder form, and the itching must be better as well because there are no more bleeding ears and rubbed-raw eyelids. Of course it is hard to know for certain that removing the rice was what did it—maybe the salves and unguents finally kicked in. I suppose the way to tell would be to reintroduce rice and see what happens, but I’m not eager to do so. I suppose this means no rice pudding or baby-sized handrolls for the foreseeable future.

• I started doing something new, exercise-wise, and it is my favorite routine yet. Though I should warn you that as a result I cannot go down a flight of stairs without wincing in pain and causing my husband to inform me that I am walking like the Tin Man. And yes, I’m going to make you go over to Lemondrop if you want to read about it. It’ll be fun, I promise! I even changed my bio picture!

• Tonight I am meeting my best friend from Junior High for a drink, all thanks to the magic of Facebook. I haven’t seen her in almost ten years, though from the ages of 12 through 16 we wore a literal path between our houses. To be honest, I don’t really “get” Facebook just yet—I have a blog, an email account, and Twitter, so in some ways it seems redundant—but I have to admit that rediscovering people I haven’t talked to in years has been kind of amazing.

• I don’t usually do product reviews, no matter how charming the marketing representative, but someone sent me something I really like, and since we have talked before about the challenges of swaddling older babies, it seemed cruel not to share this with you. Aden + Anais makes large all-muslin swaddling blankets, and when I say large, I do mean large: frankly I don’t think they would have worked for Simone when she was teeny tiny (it would have been like wrapping a mouse in a bedsheet), but for a wriggly almost-16-pounder, they are PERFECT. They would probably work for full-term newborns as well. I use the “winter-warmth” version, which I prefer to the original. It isn’t as heavy as the term “winter warmth” would have you believe, and muslin is very breathable, which I appreciate as I have been paranoid about Simone overheating ever since the apnea nurse told me it was a SIDS risk. We only swaddle Simone’s arms (then bundle her into a sleep sack, which takes care of the legs), but even so, she can wriggle herself free of most blankets. I SO wish I’d found these earlier.

• I finished the poll for the ELVER AWARD Readers’ Choice winner. I intended to narrow the field to ten, but eleven was the best I could do. And yes, I KNOW there is another platypus verse—what can I say, I like Platypi. You can view the entries here, and then vote below.

• And finally, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, tomorrow is St. Nicolas’ Day, and I think you all know what that means. This weekend, a certain someone comes to visit. I have been warning Simone all week that she had better be on her best behavior if she doesn’t want to be beaten, thrown in a sack, and roasted over a makeshift campfire in the woods. May Schmutzli spare you!

By Alexa | Posted in Ceci N'est Pas Une Ecrivaine |