How to Make a Screaming Baby Stop Screaming

Today was one of THOSE days. You know, when it’s naptime and the baby will not sleep. We tried the warm bottle, the snuggling, but he just kept screaming.

I tried putting him down in the crib, just to let him cry it out and unwind. He just cried harder for twenty minutes straight.

I thought–hey, might be teething. So I gave him Infant Motrin and prayed it would kick in. Still more crying. I tried baby applesauce, his favorite, in case he was still hungry. Nope.

Tried the lullabye music and rocking him. Still screamed.

Tried the bottle again with more snuggling. Not happening.

Put him back in the crib, cranked up the music, and figured I’d rub his back for a while. He just looked at me, as if to say, “You know I’m not taking a nap today. It just won’t work.”

He was delirious with exhaustion. At 2:45 p.m. (an hour and 45 minutes of trying, I might add), I gave up. The kids were outside playing soccer, and we have a swingset that has a baby swing. Since it was in the shade, I put the baby in the swing and let him hang out there while my daughter and I weeded the lawn.

He was unconscious in fifteen minutes. Swear. He slept the whole time while we did yard work. No, not nearly long enough, but if I’d known this, I would have tried it an hour earlier. Or maybe a good stroller walk would have worked. I’m not sure whether the Motrin had finally kicked in, but either way, I’m keeping this one for future reference.

Little turkey.

Labor Day Weekend

Sorry I didn’t post yesterday–it was very busy with getting my son to his first grade Open House and I’m still working on revisions for Wedded to the Enemy (and I have no doubt the book will get a new title…all of my books tend to be retitled). They’re due next week, so I’ve been kind of crazy trying to get it all done.

But what’s been really nice is having the chance to focus on my kids and my writing and not have to worry about getting a classroom ready and lesson plans. I can read stories to the baby, teach piano to my older son, and not feel stressed about writing deadlines. Well, the stress will always be there because I don’t ever want to miss a deadline, but it’s different when you have more time to manage it.

Now I’m sitting in my kitchen with a mug of coffee, a manuscript file open, and the baby’s playing with Tupperware on the floor. The sun is just coming up, and I’m truly feeling a sense of rightness. I’ll never regret the choice to stay home with the kids. And no matter how short or long the time may be, I’m going to savor every moment.

Visiting the U.S.S. Constitution

I had never seen the U.S.S. Constitution before, but my husband told me it was a must-see. One of the treats of having the Trolley Pass in Boston is that you get a free Harbor Cruise. So we enjoyed the sights from the waterfront.

I think one of those might have been the site of the Boston Tea Party, but I can’t be sure. Even so, one of the nicest things about this city is the mixture of history and modern city. I think I could live in the suburbs of Boston and be happy.
The cruise ends with its first stop at the naval yard, so we disembarked and decided to go for the self-guided tour since it was late in the day. Had it been earlier, I would definitely have gone on the guided tour because then you get to go below deck. Even so, there were some lovely sights to see. Oh, wait. You thought I meant the boat?

The story goes that the U.S.S. Constitution was commissioned in 1794 and set sail in 1798. It’s the oldest navy ship, and it was pretty amazing to walk on deck. The full history of the boat is here.

Its most famous battle took place in the War of 1812. According to the Navy: “Constitution sighted five ships off Egg Harbor, N.J., July 17. By the following morning the lookouts had determined they were a British squadron that had sighted Constitution and were giving chase. Finding themselves becalmed, Hull and his seasoned crew put boats over the side to tow their ship out of range. By using kedge anchors to draw the ship forward, and wetting the sails down to take advantage of every breath of wind, Hull slowly made headway against the pursuing British. After two days and nights of toil in the relentless July heat, Constitution finally eluded her pursuers.

But one month later, she met with one of them again — the frigate Guerriere. The British ship fired the first shot of the legendary battle; 20 minutes later, Guerriere was a dismasted hulk, so badly damaged that she was not worth towing to port. Hull had used his heavier broadsides and his ship’s superior sailing ability, while the British, to their astonishment, saw that their shot seemed to rebound harmlessly off Constitution’s hull — giving her the nickname ‘Old Ironsides’.”

Oh, and the sailors were active-duty Navy, not reenactors. Very cool.

Losing the Rest of the Baby Weight

I’d heard that it was relatively easy to lose weight after having a first child. In fact, thanks to nursing, I lost five pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. It took about 3-4 months.

With my second child, my weight plateaued when she was eight months old, and I just couldn’t shake the last seven pounds. It wasn’t until I did the South Beach diet for two weeks that I managed to kick-start my metabolism. I was completely back to my pre-pregnancy weight by the time she was nine months old.

I don’t think I was eating wrong, but I do think that something about childbirth messes with your ability to burn calories. Might have something to do with not exercising for nine months. Oh, they say you should keep up mild exercise while pregnant, but I was always one to embrace eating whatever I wanted while pregnant and forget the exercise.

Yeah, I’m paying for that now. With child number three, I’m stuck on the last ten pounds (okay, maybe thirteen…). I can sort of fit into my clothes, but it’s not great. I tried cutting out the extras, like soda, but that didn’t work. I nursed my son, hoping that it would burn off more calories. And now, I’m faced with the same issue as before. Only there’s a new twist…I developed hypothyroidism during my last pregnancy. And your thyroid gland has a direct impact on your ability to metabolise food.

I know that the least amount of hormonal shifts can completely mess up your thyroid and that’s why I’m reluctant to try the low-carb diets. I worry that the ketosis (basically where your body doesn’t get enough carbohydrates and starts burning itself) could truly make things weird. And it suddenly struck me that I don’t want to live this way. I want to have my cake and eat it too. I want to be able to have an ice cream cone with my kids or the occasional Coke and pizza.

There’s only one way for it to happen. I have to exercise. On a regular basis. And the idea of going to an aerobics class where I’d flounder around trying to keep up with the choreography makes me really, really reluctant.

So my husband has been helping me out. Every night after supper, after things have been cleared away, he watches the kids for 15-20 minutes while I go out for a neighborhood bike ride. It’s actually been kind of fun. I get to see what’s happening in the neighborhood, see some scenery, and I force myself to keep up an even pace. I’m gradually working my way up, but last night I biked two miles. It actually felt good to get out of the house and have some time to myself. I borrowed my hubby’s iPod and listened to music, so the exercise was fun.

Somehow I thought I’d never use the words exercise and fun in the same sentence.

In any case, I’m hoping I can keep this up. I’ve learned that my thirty-odd-year-old body truly isn’t the same as it was in my twenties. But maybe, just maybe, it’ll work. Life’s too short to give up the tasty goodies.

How about you? Any weight loss tips that worked for you?

Boston Graveyards

One of the more interesting things we saw in Boston were the 17th and 18th century gravestones. These were not happy, peaceful tombstones. No, they were filled with skulls, reminders of death, and most were decidedly morbid. But hey, they’re fun to look at. Can you make out the skull on this 17th century gravestone?

Maybe a pirate is buried here.

This one is my favorite of all. It’s actually a controversial grave site, but it makes a fun story. Can you guess which famous person was supposedly buried here? More of the story can be find by clicking here.

You blink and then they’re five

My baby is nine months old today. I held him up to the mirror today and I realize that more and more, he’s becoming his own person. No longer is he a blob who cries, eats, gets his diaper changed, and sleeps.

No, he tries to eat electrical cords. He can remove a metal spring doorstop and will attempt to teethe upon it. He’s fascinated with shoelaces and can crawl across the room in a microsecond. Today he tried stairs. It didn’t go very well, but thankfully it was only one tread and I caught him.

So I’m waxing nostalgic, but doesn’t it seem that you do this for your children all the time? You step back, let them attempt to spread their wings even when they can be hurt, and you catch them when they fall. You laugh with them when they find bubbles hilarious, and you hold them tight when they cry.

He’s my last baby. And even though I’ll love the convenience of him being a child, I’m going to miss these days.

Visiting Boston

We started touring Boston with Fenway Park. My boy loves to play baseball, so we took him to see the park. It amazed me to see seats that had been there since the park opened in, I think, 1912. Apparently they would lose something like 3000 seats if they upgrade, so they’ve kept them as-is.

One of my favorite things that you all recommended was the Swan boats. It was so relaxing, low-key, and you could see all around Boston Commons. My son enjoyed watching the ducks, who swam and dove right beside us.

Here are my boys right in front of the guide who bicycled to paddle the boat.

And here are a few more shots from the pond:

Photos of Washington D.C.

I thought I’d share some of my trip photos today. We drove back from New York yesterday after spending time with a college friend, and needless to say, it’s been tiring but fun. Here’s a photo of the kids in front of the White House and another of us in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

This is the kids in front of the Washington Monument. My son desperately wanted to go up to the top of it, but I told him that would be another trip.

I had never visited the new World War II Memorial in D.C. It’s located between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, and it’s really beautiful. Here are some photos of it:

Last, here is a photo of inside the Lincoln Memorial and a view from the Lincoln Memorial steps.

The Viking’s Forbidden Love-Slave

Some of you may remember several months ago I was working on what I thought would be a new book, set in Viking Ireland. I ended up using it for something else, and I thought I’d tell you about it, now that everything’s official (Leanne, this should answer your question).

Harlequin Historical is unveiling an exciting new program of e-books called Undone!. These are sexy, short stories that you can download to a reader or a cell phone and enjoy on your way to work or travelling, or whenever you like. The guidelines for the stories are here, if you’re interested.

My exciting news is that I will be one of the launch authors. The title of my e-book is The Viking’s Forbidden Love-Slave. It’s probably better than the title we, as a blog bunch, came up with back then (Sweet Savage Sven). And yes, I actually did submit it to my editor with that name.

Anyway, the book ties directly in with my November book, Her Warrior Slave. The story involves Kieran’s sister Aisling, who is taken by the Tharand Hardrata, a Viking warrior. He intends to exchange her for his sister’s freedom…but he doesn’t expect to fall in love with her. Hope you enjoy it! I’ll be hosting some contests a little closer to the release date, and if you’ve never tried an e-book before, you can see what you think!

I really did enjoy my trip to Boston. I’ll be posting photos and stories when I get back on Tuesday, but I wanted to leave you with a funny question my six-year-old asked. We were walking near one of the old churches, Saint Leonard’s, and my son pointed to a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Son: Is that Mrs. Christ?
Me: Huh? What do you mean?
Son: Well, Jesus’s last name is Christ. So that must make her Mrs. Christ.

What to see in Boston?

My sister-in-law is amazing at getting bargains and she called me last night to tell me about something called the Go Boston Card. We are in Boston for the weekend for a family wedding and my six-year-old son is with us. I want to do some sightseeing, and this card apparently gives you admission to all of the events without having to pre-purchase entrance tickets. It’s pricey, but for some of the bigger tours like the Duck Tours (your “bus” is an amphibious vehicle) and the Beantown Trolley, by the time we pay our fees for those, we’ve already paid for the card. I figured, why not?

So, I’m debating on what to see. Probably the USS Constitution and Beacon Hill. Have you ever been to Boston? What would you recommend?