Laundry

I have been saving up thoughts about laundry for a while, thinking I needed to write a post about the topic. I will share with you now.

My first week of college, I went to do laundry. I've been doing my own laundry since ninth grade, so I just did it. While I was there, I saw the funniest thing: a guy my own age on the phone with someone I can only assume was his mom, asking her how to do laundry. Thank you, Mom, for not letting me suffer that ignorant fate!

My first married apartment had a very tiny laundry room that served way more people than it should have. It only had two washers and two dryers, for an apartment building that probably had about forty people in it, most of whom would be doing their laundry separately. Also, it was used by a couple of other small buildings nearby. It's hard to not have access to laundry when you plan for it.

At my second married apartment, laundry was a pretty big hassle. We were on the third floor, and even though our building was very close to the (fortunately very large) laundry room, it is hard to carry a big hamper on the stairs. And then I got pregnant, and carrying laundry up and down stairs became even harder!

We moved to a new apartment in the same complex, and our situation was the same: third floor, near the laundry room. But in this quad, I quickly noticed that people noticed me, and I got many offers to carry my hamper for me. Being six and more months pregnant, I never declined. It was so nice to be offered this help!

Then our baby was born. Laundry went from once a week to twice or more a week (with just as many loads per laundry day, might I add!) However, now I had the added tasks of figuring out what to do with my baby while I went down to the laundry room and figuring out how to get poop stains out of lots of things. Baby poop does NOT just wash right out. I asked my mom, went online, and tried lots of things. I still don't really have a strategy. Shout spray works pretty well, and if an item still has a stain on it, I wash it over and over without drying it until I can't see anything anymore. Sometimes this means it's out of commission for a few weeks! Thankfully, she hardly ever poops on her clothing anymore.

As far as what to do with Hazel during laundry, I never totally figured that one out. If she's napping, that's great, but her naps don't often last the two hours it takes to get laundry totally done. So, I carry her with me in our snugli or sling, and if I feel like I just can't do that, I leave her, safe but sad, in her crib until I get back.

Now that I'm in Virginia, though, things have been different. It is SO NICE to have a washer and dryer in the actual place where you live! I can do laundry every day or every other day if I need to, because it's not a huge deal! I can do it while my baby is awake! I don't have to walk stairs! I don't have to rush to get things out of the dryer as soon as it stops out of fear that someone will steal it or move it out of the way! I don't have to look at the dried up, blackened stuff on the inside of the dryer and hope that it doesn't get onto my clothes! I don't have to look at the leftover sludge in the detergent area of the washer and hope that the person before me didn't use bleach!

Having a personal washer and dryer is everything I hoped for, and more.

Another thing I've noticed since getting here: I'm beginning to suspect that non-high-efficiency washers work better. It shouldn't be true, but I think it is. Washing clothes in lots of water just works better.

Also, I should add, I do most of the laundry, but not because I'm a beaten-down wife who does all the housework. No, it's because I'm at home more, so I usually end up having time to do it even with taking care of our baby.

Also, I'd rather do laundry than dishes!

Conditioning

I think I may have successfully conditioned Hazel. For the past month or so, I've been humming or singing the same lullaby almost every time she is falling asleep anyway, usually while she's nursing or I'm cuddling her. I was thinking it might come in handy for helping her learn to fall asleep without sucking on anything. The other night, she woke up crying in the night, and it seemed like it might have helped, but today was even better. I finished feeding her and put her in her crib for her nap. She woke up as I was laying her down, and as I was reaching for the pacifier, I started to hum. She immediately turned her head to the side and fell back asleep.

Isn't that cool?! Of course, she might have done that anyway. I can't tell. But, if it is working, that will be so nice.

Also, it wouldn't be the first thing she's gotten conditioned to. Almost from birth, I trained her to suck when I stroke the back of her neck. And Anthony accidentally trained her to expect something to come to her mouth when he makes an airplane noise.

I love my baby.

Since I don't have many pictures of me and Hazel together, I got Anthony to take some this weekend.

She almost always smiles when I kiss her. As you can imagine, I love that!

A dose of reality: Hazel loves grabbing faces. She seems to go for the eyes...

Mommy and baby.

The Sleeping One

It's been so long since I posted last! I know your lives must have been dreadfully boring without the chance to hear about mine. I am so sorry.

Hazel has improved her scooting forward skills, her creeping backward skills, her raspberry-blowing skills, and (of course) her being-cute skills.

She has started pulling herself up on stuff. She can't get all the way up most of the time, but the main reason seems to be her tendency to have her feet turned on their sides. If she could get them bottom down, I think she would pull to a full stand all the time.


Today I gave her a sippy cup for the first time. She caught on immediately--literally! As soon as she saw it, she reached out and grabbed it, stuck the spout in her mouth, and sucked. It was a little harder to figure out that she needed to tip it more to get more. Anyway, sippy cup=big success. She loves it. I don't know how much she was getting, however; it seemed like she dribbled it down her shirt instead of swallowing it.

We went to the doctor on Friday for her six-month checkup. (Yes, she is seven months old. That's what we get for picking a super-popular doctor) (And no, I don't regret it; he is so nice!) So I have new statistics for you. Hazel is...

27 inches--81st percentile
21 pounds--98th percentile

In other words, she is humongous. :) And, since her carseat only goes to twenty-two pounds, we had to get a new one.
It's a convertible carseat; it can be rear-facing until 35 pounds and then turn forward until 40. I was very excited to find out that the least expensive carseat of this type is the one with the best safety rating. It's the Cosco Scenera, in case you want one. :) I think it's interesting that the other companies aren't dying of shame to be selling their products for two or three times as much with a lower safety rating. Just sayin'. I'd be embarrassed.

The moment you've all been waiting for (but mostly the moment I'VE been waiting for)! Hazel has slept all through the night five out of six nights this week. I'm loving it! And she's getting better at taking naps. My baby is awesome. I hope this continues.

Scones

I made scones last night. I love scones, but Anthony doesn't, so when I make them it is a selfish act. However, I get to eat the whole batch! Yum yum. And it's a double batch, too.

Hazel developed a new talent today. That's right, she can blow raspberries while eating! When we got to the carrots, I put on an old shirt as a smock. Those things stain. Hazel was already mostly undressed.

Anyway, I tried really hard to get a video of her doing this. Here it is.



There's not much of raspberries, but we did get lots of pounding! Other activities that make it difficult to feed Hazel include head turning (to look around, not to avoid the spoon!), looking down to examine the straps, pushing her bib into her mouth, putting her fist in her mouth, and leaning forward to nom on the high chair tray.

Hazel is starting to make more noises. We're enjoying this, but we're still waiting to hear actual babbling. You know, "babababababa," that kind of thing. Little syllables with consonants. Apparently that can show up around four months. Oh, well. I'm sure she'll start talking sometime!

Additionally, she is getting better at clapping! That's right, folks! She actually has her hands flat, and she hardly ever misses! (I tried really hard to get the ratio on this back to normal, but couldn't get MovieMaker to do it. Not the best program ever.)



So, after we instated a bedtime routine and a bit of cry-it-out two months ago, Hazel started sleeping through the night about half the time. I mean, from 8:30 PM to 8:00 AM. Great, huh? On the other nights, she'd wake up once, and sometimes twice, but not more. Over Christmas break, she got sick, and started waking up at least once every single night. Right as she was getting over her illness (cough, cold, ear infections), she started teething! So, none of us have gotten a full night's sleep for over a month, just when we thought things were getting good.

The night before last, though, she mysteriously slept all the way through again. Wonderful! I was hoping it would continue.

It didn't. Last night we had the dreaded TWO wakeup night. *Sigh*

Hazel has become quite obsessed with my feet. Whether I'm wearing cool socks or not. It's pretty cute. And now she is blowing raspberries that are like sweet invitations unto me: Mom! Come feed me! Pleeeeeeeeease?

How can I resist?