Narcissism and Abby Food

I think it's hilarious that both Danny and I think that our own blogs are hilarious. I sometimes sit here and read one of my old entries, and I say out loud, "Haha! Good one!" Or I'll just sit here thinking, "Wow, how witty of me to have written that." Danny would see the big smile on my face, and ask, "What's so funny? Are you reading one of your old entries again?" Danny, being the master programmer that he is, has now built a new feature on his page whereby if you click on it, you get a random entry he'd written, along with all the comments posted from people. This "Random Entry" link is basically the same thing I do, except it's more nerdy. We just have a blast thinking we're all that.

Anyways, on to Abby. She has started solid foods!!! So according to the books, you're supposed to introduce one food at a time so that you can figure out if your baby is allergic to that particular food. I started out with rice cereal. Everything seemed fine, except that she had major constipation. Poor little grunting girl! Apparently, a teaspoon of prune juice diluted in milk should do the trick. We'll see... Tomorrow she will taste avocado. As I was pureeing the avocado to a nice smooth consistency, I had a thought that horrified me. This avocado is not organic!!! Oh well. Just don't tell my mother-in-law.

Then I wondered what kind of a mother I was going to be, in terms of providing food. This book that I'm reading, Super Baby Food, is sometimes over-the-top, according to Lorraine, and I'm seeing why. For example, it recommends growing your own food. It's one thing to make your own baby food, but to grow your own raw ingredients?? I don't know. Maybe it's just that anything I've ever tried to grow has died. The other thing is, I don't have time to be that kind of mom. My motto will be: Do the best that I can, and make sure I do it for all my kids. This latter clause really grounds me. I know that it definitely will be an entirely different experience with my other kid(s), but some things I want to try and keep the same. I can give all my kids store-bought organically grown food. I can puree a couple of fruits and vegetables here and there. I will not raise my own cow, churn my own butter, or plant my own garden (I'll hire someone to do this if we have a nice backyard one day).

Anyways, after the avocado introduction, I was thinking of introducing KIMCHEE!

New York Trip

abbywedding
Originally uploaded by jieungrace.

Flying with an infant is not so fun. LA trips are ok because a one hour flight is nothing. However, a six hour flight is not too pleasant for all parties involved. I felt really bad for the teenage girl sitting next to me and Danny. Abby slept for most of the flight, but the several hours that she was awake, there was much fussing and crying and wailing.

Anyways, this is a shot of Abby at Marshall and Connie's wedding. When she's in a new situation with new people, she gets really clingy to mommy and daddy. People wanted to hold her and admire her and coo at her, but she gave them nothin. The most she'd do was stare calmly, if in Mommy's or Daddy's arms.

I just love getting to know who Abby is. She is her own person. It's startling to realize that your little girl is not a replica of your own self, and yet it's exciting to see how my influence on her development marks her as my own.

So far I'm finding that she's shy with strangers, doesn't like big crowds, hates being the center of attention, and she's introverted. Wait a second, am I talking about Abby, or DANNY? Ha! They have similar personalities, for sure. It's cute.

One thing about having an infant: when you walk into a store or a restaurant holding your child, you get a LOT of attention. You can hear whispers of "Oh, how cute!" or "Look at those little toes!" Other people simple walk up to you and ask, "How old is he?" I usually respond by saying, "SHE is 4 months old." Anyways, I love the attention we get. I actually enjoy random interactions with strangers, most of the time, when it's not with creepy men. But I realized that Abby probably doesn't enjoy them as much as I do.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Sacred Hours from 9pm to 2am

If you've ever noticed the time stamps on my blog entries, you'll see that they're written mostly from the hours of 9pm to 2am. Occasionally I'll sneak in an entry during one of Abby's naps during the day. I crave my alone time. During this time, I eat at a normal pace, shower at a normal pace, check email, upload pictures on flickr, read other peoples' blogs, pump milk, read, watch TV, pay my bills, write thank you cards, wash the dishes, pick up toys, take out the trash, tidy up the rooms, and spend time with Danny. Basically, my life resumes at night.

You can begin to wonder about some of the problems that arise from this routine.

Two of the chores that are pretty tricky to complete are cleaning the baby room (the baby is in there sleeping!) and doing laundry (since the laundry room in our apartment complex closes at 10pm, and I need about 2 hours). I have to muster up enough energy during the day to do these chores with the baby attached to me on a bjorn, or just slip away while the baby is playing with toys.

I don't get enough sleep. If I sleep at 2am, and the baby wakes up at 6:30am, that's only 4 hours. Now, potentially, I can get 9 hours of sleep if I go to bed right when I put the baby to bed. But therein lies the problem. I can't sleep at such an early hour! I would be lying in bed with my eyes wide open until about midnight or 1am. That would mean that I wasted 3 to 4 hours of productivity. I guess I could always go to bed at midnight and get about 6 and a half hours of sleep. That's ultimately my goal, but it's so hard to break a habit.

I was sooo happy when I discovered a fellow night owl. Jenny, of George and Jenny. She text messaged me at around midnight last month to ask if they could bring something over for dinner the next day. I was like, "Woa! She's still up???" I was so excited that I decided to text her back immediately. The next night, we talked about how we're both night owls, rather sheepishly, because it's so not appropriate to be a night owl in this society. We're a minority. I'm talking about post-college. We are discriminated against institutionally. Schools start at 8am! People go to work at 7-8am!

Anyways, I'm wondering when does everyone else go to bed? Am I a lone owl? Hoot. Hoot...