I do know that I got most of my goals done: the thank you notes, showering, dishes, ordering thank you gifts, vacuuming most of the apartment with the new shark navigator lift away (I suspect I'm going to forever use the whole name, sort of like how I insist on calling that store I love Ross Dress for Less), and steam mopping the bathroom. I got Milo's 7 week picture taken (though he was cranky, so it isn't very satisfying), and I paid most of the bills (including the hospital bills, which would have been somewhere around $20k without insurance!). I did NOT fold and put away the laundry--surprise, surprise--but you have to admit, that was a lot to get done in one day. Especially since I'm pretty sure I didn't start until somewhere around 3 pm.
For those of you that are wondering, the Shark Navigator Lift Away is pretty great. It was, I think, worth the money, but it is not as good as the infomercial made it out to be. (Surprise, surprise). First, the pros: it does have AMAZING suction...so good, in fact, that they include a little emergency "suction release" button for when you accidentally vacuum up your cat. Or baby. Good call, shark-o. It also has a relatively small footprint, which most people might not care about, but since my whole apartment is roughly 700 sq ft and I have roughly 3 sq ft of closet space, that's important to me. It's also fairly quiet for a vacuum and somehow, it makes my apartment look bigger (via clean floors). Magic. I love the lift away feature. The handle is a little tall for me, though, and I think it's surprisingly heavy for a small vacuum, and a little hard to drive for a vacuum that compares its swivel feature to a dyson. But, it does work better than my old vacuum, and I'm hopeful I'll find a place to store it in our apartment which will help us make use of it more than twice a year.
The steam mop is a toss up. It was wicked expensive, and I think I expected a gleaming-floor miracle. But it only cleans with steam--no chemicals or floor polish--so the floor doesn't look, well, polished afterward. Yet, the point is kind of to have a clean, sterile, not chemical-y (and baby friendly) floor, and it does work for that. The jury is still out about whether the steam really gets hard stains off the floor, because I haven't gotten to do the kitchen yet. I think in order to be really excited about the results, I'd have to vacuum, mop, and swiffer. Which is a tad too much cleaning even for me.
BEFORE: AFTER:
BEFORE: AFTER:
Well, maybe before and afters of the kitchen floor would have been more dramatic. *shrug*
The other thing I wanted to tell you all is that we got Milo to start taking a bottle again! I emailed the mommy group and talked to my family and friends and got tons of advice, and from that I formed a theory that since I did the first two feedings of the night (around midnight and three) and REALLY filled Milo up, and Michael did the early morning feeding (around 5:30-6)...maybe Milo just wasn't as hungry. I'm not sure why it would have changed all of a sudden, but I figured Milo will always take a boob/bottle from me, because it's comforting (right?) but if he wasn't REALLY hungry, he might not take a bottle from someone else. And since I wake as soon as Milo starts making hunger cues (sucking in his sleep, sucking on his hands, tiny whimpers) we feed him before he's really starving usually...sometimes before he's even really awake. So we switched, and had Michael do the middle feeding, around three...but we waited until Milo was really starting to cry his appeal for milk (and even then, it takes a good 5-10 minutes before Michael gets moving and gets the bottle warmed). And it worked! I don't love waiting until Milo is really upset, but hey, I don't love not sleeping either.
And get this...for the past few nights, Milo has woken only once during the "night" to eat. Meaning I wait until the 11/12 feeding is done to go to sleep, and then Milo waited until around 4:30 to wake up (and Michael fed him) and then he woke up between 7:30-8:30 (normal people waking up time) to eat again. Meaning that we got about 6 hours of sleep! Woohoo. We are quite pleased with our little man, let me tell you. Let's hope he keeps it up. (Though I fear he won't, since there's supposedly another growth spurt coming in less than a week.)
Usually, I try to pump after that morning feeding and then catch a bit more sleep (and maybe a shower) if Milo is sleeping. This morning, I couldn't do that because the nanny was coming to interview. I was so sure I was going to love this one...she seemed so unapologetically sure of herself in her profile and phone interview. But in person she seemed like she was very much trying to suss out what we wanted her to say. I really want someone who is very convincing/confident about their ability to care for my son. But she is local, and her schedule works perfectly, and she clearly gets attached to the kids she cares for, and she doesn't mind doing household chores, and she seems to have a positive attitude. It also sounded like she'd stay active and didn't mind that I'd be nearby (in a very tiny space). And, most importantly, I would feel like Milo was safe. And, I think I'd get along with her, which is always a good thing.
We have another nanny interviewing on Monday afternoon. She seems super together, polished, and confident/competent...but maybe a little less enthusiastic. We'll see, I guess.
So the big news for today is that we FINALLY got the storage closet cleaned out in preparation for a community yard sale we are trying to organize for next Sunday. I spent five hours on this project, but it was worth it. It's been on the To-Do list since last spring (pushed back from organizing month last January). Any big cleaning project like that is a hazard to our marriage, since Michael does not feel as compelled as I do to tackle such projects. I suspect he feels more like he's just humoring me than that this is actually something that needs to happen. He would have preferred to put it off (indefinitely) but given that he'll spend 12 hours tomorrow fishing and we hardly have the energy to eat dinner during the week, it really needed to happen today. I guess it doesn't technically NEED to happen at all. But we are hoping to move in the next year, and I figure this will make THAT easier but also will make our lives easier in the meanwhile. (We'll have someplace to store the vacuum, for one thing. And a bunch of the stuff that we had to move out to make the nursery.) In any case, when we start a project like this, I am mind-over-matter devoted to getting as much done as possible as quickly as possible, with the logic that the sooner it's all done, the less stressed I'll feel and the sooner I'll be able to relax. Michael comes at it from the opposite angle, I think...as in, the less he does, the more he'll be able to relax.
Which usually goes over poorly. And today was no exception, as I wound up pulling/pushing a 50lb box bigger than me and a surprisingly heavy entertainment center down two flights of stairs and into the common room by myself. 7 weeks post C section. After 5 hours of heavy cleaning/dragging/sorting in a hot and humid second floor attic-like hallway, breaking only to have my nipples chewed off by my adorable son. I was just about to start loading the heavy duty stuff in the Nissan for drop offs around campus when my neighbor friend offered to watch Milo so Michael could help me. What a lifesaver. (Either his life or mine, maybe both.)
But all's well that ends well, because the storage closet is SO much roomier and accessible now. And Michael is a wiz at putting stuff back in in the most space efficient way, which is something I am totally hopeless at. So I tried to let the rest of it go...the important thing was that it got done.
We still need to drag up the furniture from the basement and go through the apartment and basement for books, etc...but hopefully I can manage most of that during the week.
And our reward for a hard day's work: our dorm parent boss friend cooked and delivered a delicious meal for us! He had offered to on account of Milo sucking up all of our energy these days. He brought ribs and steak tips (freshly grilled) and string beans and dinner rolls and tomatoes in balsamic dressing and chocolate cake for dessert. Whoa. It was delicious.
Which just reminded me (yet again) how lucky we are to live in this community, and have these people in our lives.
On that note, it's time to wake and feed Milo so we can both get some sleep.
Goals for tomorrow: fold that laundry and put it away, mop the kitchen floor, maybe go through the apartment for stuff for the yard sale. Otherwise, some college counseling while Milo sleeps. But maybe something fun too, since Michael will be fishing all day.
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