Did you think I was done talking about the Pumpkin's fidgeting after yesterday's long post? I did too. Until last night. When her fidgeting got so bad, I realized that I had more to write.
When I nurse the Pumpkin to sleep, I hate just sitting there. I get so sleepy. It used to be that she'd close her eyes pretty quickly and I could pull out my book and use my new booklight (a Christmas gift) to read while she nursed off to dreamland. But lately, she doesn't close her eyes for a long time, and her fidgeting has gotten worse, so I'm not able to read.
These days while she nurses, she fidgets and fidgets--twirling her hair, playing with the buttons on my shirt, playing with my fingers, trying to grab my lip and nose. So I hold on to her hand or her arm, keeping it still. And do you know what happens when I do that? Her LEG starts going! And she kicks me, and pushes with her leg and swings it around, banging my knee. So I use my hand and arm to try to hold her leg still and against me. Now, remember that my other arm is under the Pumpkin holding her in the craddle nursing position. So you know what happens when I try to hold her leg still... Yep, her arm and hand starts going again.
I'm working on the art of holding her hand/arm and leg still with one of my arms awkwardly positioned over her body. It's not easy, and it's very uncomfortable. So by the time we've switched nursing sides and she's finally actually falling asleep, I'm exhausted from dealing with her beating me up. My knee and arm are sore. I'm emotionally and physically exhausted. But she's finally asleep, and even though she is still fidgety, I'm able to put her in her crib and tip-toe out of the room.
But I'm totally wiped out. And that is why I went to bed at 9:30 last night and 8:30 the night before. I am so exhausted just from the 45 minutes to an hour it takes to get the fidget monster to bed. I had hoped to stay up a while last night and read, but it was not going to happen.
As for reading, I know I said I was going to read Jane Eyre next, and I really did want to. However, I haven't been able get my hands on the book! I know it's in one of the boxes of books still unpacked in our guest room closet. I finally got more shelves so that we can unpack those books. I just haven't had a chance to unpack those boxes and fish out the copy of Jane Eyre.
Instead, I've started Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. Here is the story behind this book on my list of alternates for the TBR Challenge:
Jane Austen is my favorite author (just barely beating out F. Scott Fitzgerald in recent years). My favorite book of hers is Pride and Prejudice, which I have read so many times I've lost count. Since Austen is my favorite author, you'd think I'd have read all her books. After all, when Fitzgerald held the distinction (and it is an honor, I assure you), the only book--nay*, the only story (since I've read all his short stories) of his I hadn't read was The Last Tycoon. Since it was unfinished at the time of his death, I've not felt compelled to read it, although I probably should.
In fact, I have not read all of Austen's finished works. I have never read Mansfield Park or Persuasion or Northanger Abbey. I own multiple copies of compilations of her entire works. I have no idea why I haven't read them. The Penguin Classic copy of Mansfield Park I'm reading was even my husband's copy from a college class. I've always felt remiss in not having read all her works. I'm working on remedying that, which is why this one is on the list. I'm only a few chapters in and already enjoying it. I'll do a review when I'm done.
*Can you believe I said "nay"? My head is apparently in the Austen world right now.
10 comments:
ha ha.... you can't stand it! I can't believe the lands of patience our children lead us to. .... having said that-- i'm scared. :)
so is swaddling a 10/11? month old considered torture? or is there any possible way to separate the rest of her body from yours while she suckles your teat? like some kind of thin cocoony pillow?
i truly cannot imagine...yet the end is near.
your laughter will be ringing at my door soon enough. :) it's just amazing isn't it? the patience we need to develop for trials we hadn't even imagined....
p.s. my father says nay all the time. at least i think he does. and even if he doesn't it's certainly nothing to be ashamed of.
(you can smack me later)
limboland la la makes a good point. I can't stand fidgeting!!! It drives me crazy when people fidget, so this is especially difficult for me. My husband is a fidgeter, and he learned long ago to at least do is silently and not in my vision, lest I go crazy. (Oh, yeah. Now I used "lest." I'm rocking the english language today!)
I feel your pain. Sasha likes to kick the boob he's not feeding from when nursing or reach over and pinch it. Sometimes I wish we could just remove his limbs when it came to feeding time!
My main concern lately is protecting my face from Boog while he's nursing. I just try to lean back as far as possible so I don't get a scratch or pinch on the lip. Lately he's barely been nursing anyway so I suspect my days of dealing with it are numbered.
I feel your pain. Alexis couldn't sit still if her life depended on it, and she's always been that way. I laughed hysterically when my obgyn told me to count fetal movements. I was pretty sure it would be easier to count the moments when she WASN'T moving. She's still the same, but it's not as annoying now that she's a Toddler.
Like Burgh Baby's Mom's Alexis, Arabella started out active in utero, and never let up. She is constantly in motion. Arabella self-weaned at 9 months, just too busy to sit looking at my breast.
I have always been a P&P fan, but Persuasion is a close second. Mansfield Park is good. Northanger Abbey is ok.
Ooh... Persuasion and Northanger Abbey are two of my favs (after P&P, of course). I've never been as into Mansfield Park. I suspect our choices for favorite Jane Austen books say something profound about us... but I'm not sure what.
Pumpkin used to like to pull my hair while she nursed. Her latest thing is to stick her fingers in my mouth and check out my teeth. She likes to do that at other times, too. I'd protest, but it makes her so darn happy. She giggles away (when not nursing) while pulling my mouth open. I figure she's learning about teeth now that she has four of her own.
i was really hoping this was an unusual phenomena. apparently not.
fidgeting drives me mad. knowing my
luck the little booger will be a
chaotic grabbing twirl of an octopus.
you have inspired me to dream that whenever i nurse i shall first wrap the dude/or dudette in a thin blanket or saran wrap (whichever seems more appropriate) .... that way they're conditioned to think that nursing comes with a cocoon of
motionless and provides one stimulation only: food.
wish me luck, i have serious doubts already. i'm not fidgety...but a bit ADD...probably will forget about this before he/she's born.
I remember well those days of nursing the ever-moving-machine. Some things you miss and some you don't.
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