The SIDS enforcers are coming after me

I feel like I'm never going to blog again. Everything is going great, it's just that when Yelena naps and I have a bit of free time there is so much to do -- make dinner (so Eli also has lunch), switch the laundry, organize the office (done!), call contractors, write thank you notes (yes, you'll be getting yours soon), pay bills, etc. On top of that, I am putting together a birthday book for a good friend's 35th birthday, which is this Saturday, and am hosting Erev Rosh Hashanah dinner here. Why? Because I am insane.

Yelena is sleeping longer periods at night. I'm not. Well, I've gotten better the past couple nights, but Friday night I was wide awake from 1:00 a.m. until her 3:30 a.m. feeding and as crabby as a bunny can be. I've started side-lying nursing her at night, the benefit of which is that we both fall back asleep really quickly. I typically fall asleep when she's still nursing, waking sometimes to put her back in the co-sleeper, sometimes not until her next feeding. Our bed isn't exactly approved co-sleeping space -- no side rails and untucked blankets -- so I'm not going to be the SIDS Mommy of the Month. But we both sleep! The other thing that is helping is putting her down to sleep when she is sleepy and mellow, but not quite asleep yet. Don't worry, if she cries even a tiny bit I run in to pick her up -- no barbaric crying it out for us -- but she hasn't really cried from this system yet. I tank her up on milk and then we put her down, sing her a song or two, kiss her and then shut the door quietly, letting her put herself to sleep. It's working!

We're getting out basically every day, to the farmers' market every week, 3+ mile walks daily, even to shul all by ourselves without Daddy. I've also started pumping, so Daddy is now giving a bottle when I go to dance and I've even been to the gym twice! Pumping is probably the most degrading thing I've ever done with my body. Nursing is all sweet and tender and kicks happy hormones through my body. Pumping just makes me feel bovine, and not in a happy free-range cow kind of way. Moo. My friend Robin told me to look at it as my freedom and I will grow to love it. Ha! That's why I tolerate it.

Yelena's taking the bottle, but not enthusiastically. It's getting better and Daddy is going to start giving it to her at least every other day. October 11 is the first opera of the season, so he will have her for longer than a 1-2 bottle period of time.

OK, I have referred to Eli not by his name or as "my husband" but as Daddy. How easily the mighty topple.

I have read a whopping 25 pages of the new Salman Rushdie book Eli was kind enough to buy me the day it came out. (True love!) I am officially pathetic. At least there is a Haruki Murakami short story in this week's New Yorker to stimulate the literary part of my brain. And Riley just flew off to the jungle oblivious to Buffy shouting his name on the runway. Sniff. Although I really got all choked up when Xander told Anya how he felt about her. It's a damned good thing we don't have TV reception or I might get sucked into something besides Buffy. I doubt I could convince Eli to upgrade to the 8 at a time Netflix.