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I'm enjoying, lately, a renewed enjoyment of vices of yesteryear: coffee and beer. Don't worry, I'm not the worst mother in the world. The coffee is primarily decaf (also organic and fair trade), and I only have one beer a day. But oh! The enjoyment! I normally have a latte first thing in the morning, but have added an extra one (either latte or brew in the coffee press) after McPie leaves for work. It accompanies me while either pumping breastmilk (if Tim is napping or calm in his chair -- I wonder if he's jealous when he watches me pump?), or changing diapers, or on a video skype call with my sister.

We never used to drink much beer around here; we are wine drinkers, with the odd beer after frisbee or while doing yardwork in the summer. But now, each day around 4 o'clock or so, I get the craving. Just one refreshing brewsky while I bounce the baby on the ball while watching Angel on DVD with the kids, or folding laundry or prepping supper... (Did I just write "brewsky?") The beer signals the end of the alone part of the day, and begins the family part of the day and the anticipation Dad coming home.

It's true, I drink alcohol while nursing. My mom tells me that she was told to drink beer while nursing my sister, to help with milk production and flow. While this may be another outdated axiom of the previous generation (like "crying is good for their lungs")... This one I like, so I'll take it as mother's wisdom.

Anyway, these are a few little pleasures that help perk up the sometimes-tedious days, when I'm not getting an enormous kick out of diaper changes*. (There is also streaming video of Grey's Anatomy re-runs, which make me glad I spent years not watching TV -- now I have something to do while folding laundry or cajoling the baby into a nap!)

Timothy, too, has a newfound simple pleasure. He's finally old enough to be fascinated by the lights and sounds of his swing!



*I'm actually serious about getting a kick out of diaper changes. There's not much cuter or sweeter than a naked baby, and Timothy LOVES his change table. It's the one place he can be counted on to laugh and "chat" and be generally playful. We spend a lot of time there.

Working out the kinks

If I'd written this on the weekend, I'd have written about how the baby is finally starting to sleep well-ish at night... Not a lot at a stretch (cause he still has a tiny tummy that needs refilling regularly), but awake less and less in between sleeps. However, he woke up every g-d hour last night. As if he needs a growth spurt (he's getting huge, quickly.)

Anyway, the overall trend is for the better, and of course we're learning to live more easily with his schedule. He naps a lot in his wrap, and thanks to the glorious art of swadddling, brought to us this past week by Tim's Baba (my mom), he's now able to sleep on his own beside our bed (yay for space to sprawl!), and we have had some growing success at putting him down in his bassinet for naps. Yay for naps! He napped the whole time that I was at the gym yesterday. Also, he's more and more content to sit for extended quiet times in his bouncy chair (like 15 minutes!) without having to be asleep, thus enabling me to do such exciting things as shower, put laundry in the dryer, or fix a cup of coffee. Mmm, coffee.


See? Even Timothy thinks he's a superstar, with all his new tricks.


My mom's visit this week was not unlike a tropical vacation in that it allowed me to relax and unwind in a way that I can barely remember being able to do! An extra set of hands -- hands that wanted nothing more than to hold a baby -- made a world of difference. Which makes me all the more excited for the coming summer.

Awhile ago, I wrote that waiting for the baby was like waiting for Santa to come. Now, I'm waiting for another Christmas Eve-type event, only this time, I know the day. July 26 is Sweetie McPie's last day of work until Labour Day! It's true, we get to do this summer together, two parents, four hands, no work, all play. Just because. Timothy is going to learn the fine art of morning coffee on the front porch, afternoon workouts in the park, and relaxed suppers on the patio. All stress-free. How awesome is that?