July 31 Chai Tea and nightmare
Our sweet Lacie loves to sleep through the night so we should be totally grateful. AND we are. God has been good. However, I would give an hour in the night to have her take at least an hour nap during the day – at a time. Our days are so busy and she is busy. She may sleep for about 30 minutes in the morning and maybe 30 minutes in the afternoon. In China she slept for 2-3 hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon. And outside of our occasional mid-night bottle and conversation she slept through the night there too. This evening I decided that we need to begin some sort of going to bed routine so she will learn to know what to expect each evening before she goes to bed. Of course we will tweek it many times as we go along but it is good for both mommy and baby to have some sort going to bed routine. My thoughts are that 8:30 to 9:00 is a good time to have her down for the night. When I go back to work it will give me some time with her in the evening and some time after which I can do some Vonda things. I used to do some Vonda things – I will have to try and remember what those things were some day down the road. So this evening I gave her a bath at 7:00. Then we played, as we got dressed for bed till about 7:45. Then I prepared her medicine and her snack and by 8:00 I gave her the last bottle for the evening. She fell asleep during her bottle and I put her in bed. Ahhhhhhhhhhh – I think (I thought) I will have some Chai tea. I have not had any since before we left for China. I poured the water and waited for it to get hot. I was about to make it and she cried. I went to check on her and comforted her and she went back to sleep. OK – Ahhhhhhhh - time for Chai tea. Then she cried and cried and cried. I went to get her and she was hysterical. I cradled her and rocked her and talked to her and told her it would be ok. She looked around the room like something was going to get her. We rocked and I talked to her for a little while and then lay down with her and held her tight. She passed out. Chai tea? Yes – I did eventually have some.
Yesterday our friends brought over their daughter Lilly to see Lacie for a brief moment. They traveled a month before us to get Lilly. She will be a year old in a week. When Lacie saw her, her eyes lit up. I think she really loved seeing a friend from China. Both Lacie and Lilly seemed taken with each other. I think they recognized the fact that they are alike and of course they have spent their entire life until now with other babies like themselves. I think it made Lacie feel at home to see Lilly. Here is a pic of Lacie and Lilly and also a pic of our smiley girl in her room. She loves the camera I think.
posted by Vonda and John at Sunday, July 31, 2005
3 Comments:
You're a good mom. I love the picture of her in her room. It looks like Lacy had fun with Lilly. They look so cute together.
Allison
You don't honestly think you will ever have pre-Lacie "Vonda" time again? You will have different kinds of Vonda time, becuse your priorities will be different.
For example, this week the 6 swallow-tail butterfly caterpillars I distributed from my herb garden to the preschoolers on my street have begun to come out of their chrysali. It is very exciting. I've also been keeping an eye on my neighbor's 11-year-old son. We were walking his German Shepherd and yellow lab on the path around the double pond that our houses back up to when we saw a Great Blue Heron standing right next to the path. It was still there when we were walking my 2 spaniels 1/2 hour later. When I approached the heron, it just crumpled at my feet. I think it must have flown into the bridge between the two ponds and was still in shock. It managed to stand up and stumble away from me, but its left wing was badly broken. I shooed it under the bridge. It took me 4 hours of internet/phone time to find a wildlife rehab center that would take the bird, but only if I brought it in. Well, the bird was now firmly tucked up under where the bridge met the ground at the top of the rise. It took my neighbors and me 3 hours to slowly ease the bird out from where it was tucked so that we could control its long, pointed beak and lift it at the same time without damaging anything else. We put it in a large dog kennel. I let it overnight in the kennel in my garage. I had put a basin of water in the kennel. By the time I went to bed, the heron had curled up in its blanket "nest." When I got up the next morning, the heron was perched on the edge of the basin of water. I took this to be a good sign. I drove the bird to the rehab center early that morning. If it can't heal enough when the wing is set to be rehabilitated and released back into the wild, they will have to put it down. Better than getting eaten or dying of hunger. The look in its eye when it crumpled at my feet just haunts me. On the other hand, I have never been that close to a bird like that. He was so light compared to his size - those hollow bones.
One of my other neighbors (Colleen) is really stressed out with a 2-month-old and a 4-year-old son. She and the 4-year-old are butting heads this week. Today, in addition to the 11-year-old from next door, I also volunteered to take Colleen's 4-year-old. We actually had a great time. Your nephew flies back to Chicago tomorrow after 4 weeks with his dad in PA. I can't wait to see him. This is the longest I have ever been away from him. I am taking Jonathan and a friend to their first rock concert next week. Then we are coming to Louisville to see my beautiful new new niece. The rest of the family too, of course.
Oh! I forgot to say - I still have to warm my tea up several times if I want to drink "hot" tea. Jonathan will be 13 this November. I will let you know when reheating of tea is no longer required. Perhaps when he goes to college....
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