(no subject)

Delia can now feed herself Oatios (which are just like Cheerios except made with rice flour instead of wheat flour). Watching her learn was fascinating. At first, she couldn't tell when she'd managed to pick up an Oatio. She'd have one in her hand but still be looking for it on the tray. She also wasn't at all sure how to pick up something that small so that most of the time picking one up was accidental and more due to wet fingers than to any intention.

Then she had to figure out how to get the things to her mouth. For a while, she'd only use her left hand for that. Even if she picked up the Oatio in her right hand, she'd pass it to her left for the trip to her mouth. Once there, she often couldn't figure out the right way to move her hand so that the Oatio got anywhere near her lips. Even if she did get it into her mouth (usually with a large portion of her hand as well), she generally didn't let go of it and would just drop a wet, gooey piece of cereal once she pulled her hand out.

Now, however, she can manage all those tricks. She mastered a lot of them on Friday and was so utterly pleased with herself. She still drops those gooey Oatios, but not nearly as often. We're also getting partially eaten bits on her clothes because she can't quite keep track of what's in her mouth and where it goes. Doesn't matter. Clothes can be washed.

(no subject)

I'm contemplating trying to eliminate dairy from my diet, just to see if that helps Delia's rash. After we cut that accidental dairy from her diet, at least half the rash went away, but some of what's left is still obviously (at least to me) allergy rash. She wasn't bothered by dairy in my diet before we started her on solids, but now that she's had it directly, she may be sensitive enough to be bothered by the proteins coming through me.

I suspect that the contemplation will become commitment. I'm just hesitating over the minor things-- Scott just bought me several bars of Fair Trade milk chocolate, and I normally use ice cream to help settle my stomach when I have evening reflux. Those will both be things in the house that I'll have to exercise will power to avoid. I'm also remembering what a pain it is to read every food label.

But I really, really want to see that rash go away.

(no subject)

Last week, on Wednesday, we had a full house humidifier installed. We'd talked about it on occasion for years, but Scott had always said we didn't need it. This year, though... The quality of our sleep has depended for years (at least in the winter) on a humidifier in our bedroom and a closed door. With the door open, the humidifier simply doesn't help much. Also, we couldn't put any sort of humidifier in Delia's room, and we knew that she had to be suffering too. Unlike me and Scott, she didn't end up with any bloody noses, but...

The installation was, naturally, more complicated than expected. Our heating system is apparently a bit peculiar. Fortunately, it wasn't too much so, and the installer was able to make everything work. We noticed a fairly rapid improvement in the air quality.

The one major complication was that the kitchen faucet decided to die. That faucet has been a continual problem for us. Scott kept replacing the washers, but the leak always came back in about three weeks. Basically, in order to shut it off, we had to position it very carefully just to the left or to the right of center. It drove my mother crazy when she visited.

The folks who installed the humidifier thought that the problem was probably dirt in the filter screen at the tip of the faucet, but removing that didn't improve flow. Scott decided that it was time simply to replace the whole thing and set up to do it on Saturday (sadly requiring the cancellation of his Traveller game). The process mostly went smoothly. booniverse and her husband came over for a little while to help and to socialize. Paul E. also dropped in later in the day to visit.

We now have better water pressure in the kitchen than we've every had. The only problem is that I keep reflexively pushing the handle a bit off from true when I'm trying to shut off the water... Which means the water doesn't fully shut off. Oh, well, I'm sure I'll adjust.

We'd planned to visit Scott's family on Sunday. His parents were about to head to San Francisco to meet their newest grandchild and wanted to see everybody before they left. These plans fell through however because Scott got sick. Delia was cranky, and I was exhausted, but we probably would have dragged ourselves over there anyway (We've done it before). Scott having a sore throat, however, was too much.

I was both relieved and disappointed. From Thursday on, I was sufficiently short on sleep to have a building headache, and medications don't dull exhaustion headaches for me. The only thing that helps at all is extra sleep. Lots of extra sleep. Extra calories, preferably meat or refine sugar, can take the edge off temporarily, but only at the price of feeling bad in other ways. There was no way I was going to enjoy visiting Scott's family.

On the other hand, I wanted to show off Delia's Oatio eating talents. Grandparents make a properly appreciative audience for such accomplishments.

(no subject)

I finally remembered to call on the biopsy results from the endoscopy. Everything's fine that way, no cancer, nothing even precancerous. I still won't know till mid-April if there's something worth trying to correct the hiatal hernia, something, that is, apart from the medications I've been taking for years (and the always classic bit about losing weight).

The last week has brought home why I really hope that something can be done-- Needing to wait 2-3 hours after eating anything in order to lie down to sleep, even for a nap (and no, I can't sleep sitting up. People keep asking), pretty well limits my day time options for catching up on baby impaired sleep. Being told to "sleep when the baby sleeps" doesn't work all that well when it means not eating or drinking anything starting 2 hours before she *might* sleep.

I wish I could find a way around this, but I haven't been able to. There are a very few things that I can sometimes get away with eating close to lying down, but only ice cream is consistently safe. Whether or not I can drink anything only partly depends on the reflux; it's more of a bladder problem. At least, I've got a better handle on what I can get away with there.

(no subject)

My writing's really gone nowhere recently. Exhaustion and headaches seem to strangle my words. I hate this part of being a parent. I mean, I had low points before; they go with fibromyalgia and can't be avoided. It's just that I don't have any space to recover from them so they last a lot longer. I also have very limited time for myself, and it disappears so rapidly that I'm not sure what's become of it. Usually, it turns out not to really be time for me-- I do dishes or laundry or try to catch up on non-fun e-mail. Even when it is time for me, I have to fit in a shower or bath and a meal.

I did manage a page of new stuff on Tuesday, and I got lunargeography to look over the info dump section last night and make suggestions about how the other characters should respond to it. I think that will be useful for a rewrite. That should be easier than writing new stuff which is a pity because upcoming scenes are starting to form little mobs in my head. Previously, they were each trying to push all the others back in order to get first place in line, but now, they're cooperating, just trying to get me to write *something*.

Even the DVD commentary thing on chapter 1 has stalled. It's hard to come up with anything to say right now, and I've kind of lost my sense of urgency. The fact that that chapter is very long isn't helping. I've got 34 pages of stuff with commentary (after commentary length, so it's probably about the first 15-20 pages of the chapter) with about 18 pages left to comment on (which will likely produce another 30 pages after I insert the comments). Those 18 pages contain the most emotionally fraught events of the chapter, and I want to be mentally... together when I try to comment on it. That or some place where I can focus my attention entirely on what I'm doing.

I'm really regretting my inability to drive right now. By the time Scott gets home, the buses are only running once an hour, and I'm not very comfortable taking them at night anyway because of the lighting-- They keep the lights up inside the bus, and I find that I can't tell where the bus is at any given point. That makes signaling for the correct stop not just a challenge but almost panic inducing. My reaction to cold air (and lack of a winter coat that fits) makes me reluctant to risk having to walk any further than I absolutely have to.

My best bet would be to get someone to come in during the day to watch Delia and play with her for an hour or two at a time. I've tried to find someone without any luck. Scott's sister thinks that bringing me and Delia up to her place will help (This means me and her and three kids under 5 and no topics of common interest that don't relate to children). We've also tried to find someone to come in a couple of hours a week to help with some basic household chores, ones that I either can't manage at all while keeping up with Delia or that I'm only managing sporadically.

Sigh... Well, I'll survive. The writing will get done eventually. Just please don't be disappointed when I don't comment on LJ entries or don't respond to comments. It's my exhaustion and my focus on Delia, inability to think combined with distraction.

(no subject)

Yesterday gave me a reminder about the dangers of not cleaning up Delia's toys regularly. I stepped on one of her wooden blocks while I was getting up from the loveseat with Delia in my arms. I went down fairly hard but managed not to let Delia get more than slightly jostled. I got ice on my left knee fairly quickly, and it doesn't seem to have bruised too badly. My right foot's still twinging, though, because I twisted it. Both wrists also gave me some trouble. I'm not really sure why since I didn't bang them.

I am impressed by my instincts though-- I responded exactly the way I hoped I would by protecting Delia rather than trying to minimize my own injuries. This is a Good Thing.