Swaddle

It's true that the swaddle soothes a baby.  Especially if you can master it with a regular blanket.

We were not ones to master it well at all.  With the value of sleep on the rise we bought one of those blankets with the Velcro that swaddles the baby with ease.  It worked wonders for our Little Flower.

I wondered one day, "When do we stop swaddling our baby?"

Little Flower let us know the answer sooner than we anticipated.

Now.

So, what do you do with a baby who really would rather not be swaddled and continues to break out of the swaddle, yet still flails her arms about (making it difficult for her to fall asleep and to stay asleep)?  Oh the dilemma.

Well, I did some looking around on the Internet and in our clothing drawer and found a semi-helpful solution.  I put a sleeping gown or sack on the wee one and then pin or rubber-band the arms off --with her little arms inside.  You see, it still acts like a swaddle in that it keeps her arms from going all over the place but not so confining as the swaddle.  It works well enough.  However, I have noticed that the gowns that snap up work much better than ones that go over the head.  Little Flower stretches the neck even further and sometimes breaks out.  The snaps are much stronger. 

 I think I need more snappy sacks.

Numb

It's rather odd that I had major surgery 7 weeks ago and I still have some numbness in my abdomen area.

It's true.

I went for my final check-up and told them about this tingly, numb, weird feeling.  I told them that it wasn't on my incision but near there and doesn't seem to radiate as far out as it had before.  The doctor then told me that the numbing medicine can linger in the body for weeks and that was most likely the issue.

Awesome.

The Going Price

More quotes from a newsletter that we again find ourselves pondering, "Say WHAT?"

"The going price to kill a pastor is $250."
- Faiz Rahman, chairman of Good News India, says about the 500-plus Christians who have been killed in India by Hindu mobs since August 2008. (World Net Daily, www.wnd.com, "Going rate to kill a pastor: $250" 11/20/08 )

"If we threw a handful [of babies] on an island and they raised themselves, I think that they would believe in God."
-Dr. Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at England's University of Oxford's Centre for Anthropology and Mind, who claims that children have a predisposition to believe in God. (www.telegraph.co.uk, "Children are born believers in God, academic claims" 11/24/08 )

"Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."
-The words on a sign placed at the Washington State Capitol by atheists and agnostics with the Freedom From Religion Foundation. (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com, "Nonbelievers' sign at Capitol counters Nativity, " 12/02/08 )

Batteries Not Included

For a time in life if we had batteries, fine... if not, fine.  We didn't have many things that required batteries.

That is, until Little Flower arrived.

We realized that many of her things require batteries (swings, bouncy chairs, sound soothers, etc).  Our family laughed as we entered a phase in life where we should probably have a supply of a variety of batteries on hand.  More than just double A's - we are talking multiples of C and D.

Then it was all topped off by my Papa giving us a fun family game that also required batteries that we did not have.  We accidentally left it on after we first played it only to have to replace them again.

Fun times.

We are looking into rechargeable batteries.  :)

Oh, yes... and Flag Etiquette

I finally remembered what the other thing that occurred to me while I was watching the events of today unfold on TV.

Flag Etiquette.

As a variety of dignitaries were being seated (I think at this particular time it was members of the Senate) a particular man came our wearing the American flag.  This is where I throw the foul flag!  The American flag is not to be donned as a piece of clothing.

You can check out more here at Flag Code

Yes, it's one of my many peeves coming from a military family.  It also helped that my Civics teacher in high school went over this in great detail.

Presidential Chivalry

I opted to watch some of the inauguration coverage this morning on NBC when I would normally be watching on FOX News.  However, while feeding Little Flower it was the channel that the TV was already set.  It's entertaining to listen to what the press notices.

I found it interesting that one man said that "husbands around the country will be in trouble this afternoon" with their wives because President-Elect Obama has been noticed to wait for his wife as she gets out of the car and even <gasp> opens the car door for her when she is getting in and out.  I was glad that another commentator noted that President George W. Bush did the same thing for Mrs. Bush.

My thought on the whole thing... Well, he should!!!  I don't think that chivalry was meant to be relegated to the office of President.

I think it's a function of showing how one cherishes his wife.  My sweet Husband goes well out of his way to do this for me and I love it.

There was something else that I found rather funny in the coverage and now that I am here writing about it I cannot for the life of me remember what it was.  Oh well.  If I remember later I will be back.

Incisions and Adhesive

I am thankful that I live in a time after doctors found a better place for the incision of a c-section.  In days past the incision would be a vertical cut in the stomach almost obliterating the belly button and making a natural birth virtually impossible in future pregnancies.  Now, the incision is horizontal and lower on the abdomen.  I can barely see where the incision was, thus, making the scar basically undetectable.  Plus, barring another baby in a breech presentation the possibility of a natural birth is at a higher percentage.

My husband just asked, "Your blogging about your incision?"

Well, it's not so much the incision that I wanted to tell you about.  It was more of a set up for the next part.

You would think that with such a major surgery the scar would be the biggest remnant left of the whole procedure.  However, for me, that is not the case.  In recent years I have noticed that I have an adhesive sensitivity.  They marked me with an allergy but there wasn't a whole lot they could do to avoid using adhesive on my now very tender skin.  Needless to say, I have some scars left from tape and other adhesive typ things they used to sew me up. 

An unlikely battle scar.  Although, I find it highly entertaining and laugh.  Now the nurses understand why I didn't want to just let them RIP my bandages off.  ha ha ha!!!