A Good Night

Seems like maybe we're getting our groove. Last night was a good night. Yes, we woke up every 3 hours pretty consistently. I tried to really burp Edwin after each feeding last night and it seemed to help, though he always sounds so uncomfortable during the burping. We had a great sleep from 6:30 until we got up. We went to bed pretty late and it looks like that will happen again unless we just eat dinner and hope in bed.

John has been amazing. He deals with cooking, laundry, dishes, grocery shopping. He works hard to make it nice. We have been eating from the couch and coffee table mostly. (We also have eaten breakfast in bed.) He makes a nice tray using our big cutting boards. He remembers to put my vitamins next to my glass. He lights candles and turns off the lights. He puts on Dave Brubeck or Norah Jones. It's really nice.

Sometimes it's hard to relax. I want fresh air. Maybe I'll sit on the porch one of these days. I want sun. That's harder to get. The computer is a very tempting distraction all day long. From the radio to the NY Times to checking emails. It's better content than some peoples screen time. But sometimes it seems like we spent a lot more time listening than talking. Tonight we lay in bed for a while, both reading and then talking. That was really nice, but then we needed to heat up dinner and get the diapers out of the drier.

My New Years resolution is to write in my journal at least once a week, so I need to (and want to) tonight. I wrote in the hospital, but now Edwin is a week old and I need to make sure I record some thing.

One funny thing about the labor was want we did Friday night. We played cribbage for a while, and I would need to stop talking for a second during contractions. But one of the "tests" of Braxton Hicks contractions is if one can be distracted from them, if they go away when you engage in something. We sat on the couch and watched parts of episodes of the West Wing on YouTube. Which did distract, but then once we got in bed the distraction was gone. Maybe we should have kept watching for a while. Ah well.

We've had two visitors so far, which has been nice. Each visitor has been extremely respectful, which of course is better than the alternative, but is also funny because they whisper and say "Oh he's sleeping, I'll go."   As some may know, that probably is the best time to sit and visit. It's not interrupting breast feeding or diaper changing, etc. But anyway, one women brought us a lasagna and sat talking for a while before doing all our piled up dishes. Another came with a a plush toy that plays a lullaby and chocolate for us.

I've been thinking about iron rich foods. I want to eat some of them. I had a great beet soup in the hospital, and I wish I knew how to make it. I also had lots of beef gravy with potatoes. I had salmon for the first meal. YUM! Something that is pretty funny is the Finns use of what John and I call hot dogs. It is hot dog, but they have so many types in the store and call it "sausage", and it was an ingredient in one of my soup meals. We had fun calling it hot dog soup.
Not only do I wish I knew how to make some of the food. I wish I had the energy now, or the foresight a few weeks ago, to prepare it. We did prepare food ahead of time. We are eating some tonight. But now I want different things. Beets, kale, etc. I wish I had people cooking for us purely for the sake of variety. I have been enjoying shredded carrot, raisen, apple, sunflower seed salad with some orange juice on top. Yum again.

Edwin is sleeping on my chest wrapped up in a "sling". And I think it's lasagna time, so that all for now.