Icebox house, breastfeeding, and other clothing adventures

Tuesday I woke up to a cold house. In the morning I blew it off as a cold snap outside that my furnace would soon compensate for, but a couple hours later it was still cold. Our house is a tri-level and each floor has its own temperature zone that varies about five to ten degrees from the floor below or above. I usually hang out on the third floor since it’s always the warmest. I went downstairs to try overriding the energy saver thermostat thing but nothing happened, and damn was it frickin’ cold down there! The thermostat read 60 degrees (Fahrenheit), but I really don’t think it was even that warm. Sophia was fussy all day and wouldn’t let me put her down anywhere because every surface was cold. She didn’t take any naps ans wouldn’t sleep even though she was wearing three layers and I was holding her. By two o’clock I had enough and had realized that I had not heard the furnace kick on once through the whole day.

I called Kurt at work a little ticked off because I thought he had programmed some funky cold temperature only comfortable to him and anyone used to living in a medieval castle. “How the hell do you change the temperature on this thing?” He gave me the instructions, but that was exactly what I had tried earlier. He asked me to check the circuit breaker. I was frustrated holding a phone in one hand and fussy monkey baby in the other, so I was too impatient to try and cipher the scrawl on the panel from twenty-seven years ago. “I have one thing to do and I’ll come right home.” He said. He’s so sweet (sometimes). In the mean time I wondered where we would stay if the furnace needed to be replaced, and oh god that would be another expense on a house we want to move out of soon!

It turned out to be the circuit breaker - the house warmed up, and Sophia slept all evening. Amazingly, I was still able to get her to bed at her usual 10pm that night. Unfortunately, morning wakeup came early on Wednesday. That’s ok, I can play zombie mom. It’s my own fault for staying up late to play with blog stuff. Actually, I got quite a bit done on Wednesday morning. I even had a shower by 9am. At ten I called a friend to explain some blog things to her (I helped her with a Wordpress blog that I will more formally present once she has a little more to read - in the mean time if anyone in the Seattle are needs an event coordinator let me know ).

My friend and I went out to lunch a couple hours later and I woke up my napping baby to go from the car to the restaurant. I didn’t think it was a big deal since she usually goes back to sleep easily when I’m carrying/holding her. Sophia was great up until my food arrived and she decided she was hungry as well. Up until this point, I haven’t even attempted feeding her in public. I usually take her to the car if I need to feed her; it just seems more private that way. What’s odd is that before having a baby I had no problem flashing my little booblets around. Somehow feeding my baby seems like a private thing almost like going to the bathroom but a lot less disgusting. It’s either that or it’s because my previous booblets seemed harmless where as my new super-sized milk producing machines could put an eye out. I don’t know. Either way I haven’t mastered the technique necessary for private feeding and I made this my first attempt. It didn’t go well. I think I managed the privacy part well, but apparently, Sophia can’t find my nipple in the dark. I took the shrieking monster and my baby-blanket-covered-self outside to the car while my friend had my food boxed up for me (thank you). Sophia stopped screaming the minute I left the restaurant. I don’t know if it was the cold air, she liked that I was walking, or if the busy favorite lunch spot was just too loud for her to concentrate on eating. She happily ate in the quiet car and fell asleep.

I drove to a park, finished my lunch and then went to the store. I went to the store to buy a Christmas gift (which I did get), but I also bought a cute Christmas-y red suit for Sophia. She now has two Christmas outfits. Later in the day I found out Kurt almost bought the same outfit when he stopped at the same store after work. She has him so wrapped around her little finger. The day I posted the photo on this Wordless Wednesday he came home and told me he didn’t get any work done because he spent the whole day staring at her.

When Sophia and I got home, I fed her again while she made coffee percolating sounds in her pants. Time to change the baby - OHMYGOD - she shit herself up to her nipples - literally! Usually when she has a blowout, I’m able to roll her onesie up in a way that no poop touches her face as I pull it over her head - no such luck this time. Thankfully her onesie jumped on that bomb and contained the bulk of it. I didn’t notice right away but apparently my clothes weren’t spared from all of the fallout, and now for our unscheduled baby bath accompanied by blood curdling screams. For the first month or so of her life Sophia screamed bloody murder if you changed her diaper, but didn’t mind baths at all - that’s not the case now. Now it’s the reverse for both.

I got her dressed, re-dressed myself and fed her again. She fell asleep just before dad got home, and was completely out for four hours! I took a little nap too because I knew there would be little sleep for me later! I’m new, but I’m not completely daft.