AC Capehart capehart

Some days, I’m just not sure I can do it any more. Take this afternoon, for example. When I got up, mom was kinda short with me. When I asked what was going on, she said that she just needed some time to herself, she was weary and frustrated. I gather it was a rough morning. So, I sent her to Wal*Mart on one of the busiest shopping days of the year to buy diapers and other essentials.

Today marks the end of using the SNSas a feeding method for Sam. We started it to try to minimize nipple confusion, but still get Sam the calories she needed. At this point, we’re pretty much resigned to continued use of the nipple shield for as long as Sam breastfeeds. This is pretty frustrating, but our various attempts at weaning her from the shield have been fruitless so far. There’s a Simpsons episode wherein Homer describes alcohol as “the cause of, and solution to…all of life’s problems.

— Unless you’re a blood relative of Samantha. I which case, pay no attention to that strange, calendar-shaped present under the tree. *Yes, I know there are only 12 months in the year — Front and Back cover images account for the other two.

Keeping with the “it sounds religious, but isn’t” theme for today, I thought I’d mention our Baby Björn. We’d heard good things about it, so put it on Sam’s baby registry, and then promptly bought it for ourselves, because it looked too good to do without. Sam recently gained enough weight that she’s now above the minimum weight for this thing, so we tried it out today. We got the regular size instead of the extra long thinking that Carolyn would be wearing her, but now we think that may have been a bit silly.

No, in this case, I’m not talking about the BVM that so permeates Altoona. I’m talking about the latest way to calm a crying baby. I think I mentioned in the most recent monthly newsletter that she likes when we dance to music. I tried Madonna. She loved it. She calmed immediately. I wonder how much this will embarrass her in the future? And am I pleased or sad that this may embarrass her in the future?

I was reading on The long tail, the blog authored by the editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, that he doesn’t visit mainstream media sites directly any more. He gets all of his news filtered through a select (but large) group of bloggers, figuring that if it mattered, it would get blogged about, and so he’d come across it. I had a friend and office-mate that treated a few mailing lists that way.

This is a geeky post. Non-geeks may safely skip over this post and still have a full breadth of understanding of my life (and Sam’s, and to a lesser extent Carolyn’s), or at least as full a one as can be had from this blog. There, now that that’s out of the way, let me fill you in on what’s up. I’ve seen a few blogs (mostly LJ, but some others) that have a “mood” emoticon, and a little “What I’m listening to” bar wherein users can type in the tunes they are currently jamming to.

It’s been a while since I’ve stumbled across something on the web that made me chuckle quite like “stuff on my cat”. I was looking for new themes for wordpress, because when I get stuck on what I’m working on, it’s easier to fantasize about how my blog could look than fix whatever is stumping me at the moment. One link lead to another lead to stuff on my cat. Of course, they claim to be mentioned in GQ and several other magazines, so it’s hardly a discovery.

I’ve been meaning to write about this first one for a while. In the early days of Sam, we received a lot of stuff. We’re (Carolyn’s) gradually making it through our thank-you note list, but one thing remains a mystery. And a fairly significant one too. We received a rocking chair. It was shortly after both Pop-pop and a family friend named “Jo” said they’d send gifts, but gifts from each of them came the same day or shortly thereafter.

Tonight, she’s been ornery. The surest way to wake her up: put her in her crib. The surest way to put her to sleep: prepare a bottle for feeding.