Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in RiceVermicelli's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, November 21st, 2009
12:16 am	Argh Danger Lad! has woken up crying five times so far tonight. This latest time, he complained of a stuffed up nose (which I definitely observed) and said his head hurt. I have administered Tylenol, and hope it works its customary magic. I have also petted his head, remade his bed, found him his bear, tucked him back in and rubbed his back. I'm not sure if this is an aftereffect of the H1N1 shot he got Thursday or some other thing (including, possibly, a middle of the night bid for attention and snuggles). Bah. Humbug. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
10:26 pm	Quick Updates - I am discovering that I hate Facebook, because it provides me only the illusion of contact. I check it once every few weeks, so today I discovered that one friend is pregnant and another was recently in a car accident. I have no further data - going way the heck back in Facebook is a PITA. But these people clearly think they've updated everyone (me included) and it is, in fact, my own dang fault that I never check FB. That latter will probably never change, but I'm stating here and now, for the record: if you really want me to know something, putting it on your Facebook is unlikely to do the trick. - I am 51 rows from the end of the Juno Regina scarf I posted about last February. And these are rows that get smaller. So there's a chance it will be done in time to be useful this winter! Yay! - Danger Lad! seems to think that he owns Hotspur, like she's an exotic pet. Which is adorable. "I want to give her a kiss!" "Put her in her bed!" "No! I feed her!" "Is not Durrell's baby sister!" I hear that he has developed the habit of talking back at daycare, and what can I say there except, yeah, that's my kid. - The Early Intervention people came to check Hotspur over today. They determined (quel surprise!) that she is developmentally delayed by about a month. What with having been born two months early, I think that's pretty good actually, but it was hard to keep from punching them while they were evaluating. She's a good baby, I'm a tad defensive. - We're working on putting Hotspur on a schedule. The general notion right now is that she wakes up in the morning, is up for two hours, takes a nap, is up for three hours, takes another nap... and then the official recommendation is four hours up, but that seriously wasn't happening. She was up for three more hours and she's sleeping now. This has worked great today, and I feel wonderful about it, but it's day one. How it is tomorrow (and next week, and so on) is an open question. But if it works, it will make holiday baking much easier. If I know when I can expect her to sleep, I know when I can boil sugar syrup. The potential is awesome. - Hotspur's nickname is sticking like crazy. I have trouble remembering to use her real name. I worry that she's going to be like my Uncle Hex, who discovered that his legal name was Herbert in eighth grade. - Speaking of holiday baking, Rose Levy Berenbaum has a new cake book out, and someone has published a book on French macaroons. I have Amazon Prime and the willpower of a drunk baboon, so these should arrive at my house tomorrow. I really want Hotspur's schedule thing to work out. (26 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
10:39 am	Things I Noticed Yesterday 1. When "no time to vacuum" meets "toddler dumped oatmeal on the floor," I suddenly have time to vacuum. 2. If I comb my son's hair after breakfast, he looks cute after breakfast, but by naptime, I will not be able to tell that his hair was ever combed at all. 3. I need to rearrange some bookshelves. Valley of Horses and A Cultural History of the Penis should probably not be shelved right next to Peter Rabbit and Horton Hears a Who. My mother found a dress for Hotspur to wear to my sister's wedding in January. It is everything my frill-starved soul longed for when I was choosing between denim and camo for Danger Lad!. It has rosebuds on it. And it's pettable velvet. (On the downside, it will be a challenge to keep people from touching the baby - it always is, but it's going to be worse.) (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 6th, 2009
4:12 pm	Indelicate Question Who's around during the day these days, and might be interested in some kind of standing lunch-y thing? Say once every week or so, ideally on a weekday? (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
8:04 pm	Follow Up I had my six week post-partum checkup today. Mostly pretty standard stuff. I had one question - "What the heck happened?" - and they, to my surprise, had an answer. They offered, in addition, the explanation that my c-section wasn't a life or death emergency, but was intended to prevent a life or death emergency with problematic long-term consequences. I didn't bother to confirm my suspicion that, had I insisted on waiting, the resulting bed rest would have been draconian. That suspicion is strong enough to come in handy if I ever need to move anything big, like South Dakota. Hotspur is in her crib, making noises like the death throes of the transmission of an '84 Volvo (why yes, I *do* know exactly what that sounds like). Despite this distressing image, she is fine. But that's why I'm awake. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
2:31 pm	Trivia The most consistent challenge I have dealt with since Hotspur was born is remembering that I must take the lids off of containers in order to fill them. It's not the biggest challenge, but I keep tripping over it - the most present part of a sprawling absentmindedness. When was that appointment, where's my phone, is there or is there not a burpcloth on my shoulder... I'm going to the library and I'm stopping off for ice cream. Ice cream is good for brains, right? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
1:44 pm	Hand Regard Hotspur has taken to staring at her hands, not as though she's stoned, but as though she's concerned about her manicure. With her little arms out and her little hands in front of her face, she is something of a challenge to feed. "Honey, if I give you a nail file, will you put your arms down?" (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 1st, 2009
1:08 am	Halloween Report I continue to totally love Halloween. When I was a kid, it was just about ringing doorbells and getting loot, around here it is all about hanging with the neighbors. Which we'll do more of next year, I suspect, when Danger Lad! has a better grip on the loot aspects of the situation. This year, he was scared of skeletons, ghosts and monsters, and needed to be protected. He did start to catch on to the whole Trick or Treat thing as the evening wore on. We had great weather this year, so DL! went as Tarzan, which is to say that he refused to wear a shirt, but wanted to carry his monkey. Hotspur went as a baby being rescued by a firefighter (her daddy in one of our collection of dress-up hats), and was much admired. Sorry about the lack of pictures. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 30th, 2009
12:08 am	Hotspur's Kung Fu Is The Best I spent today telling Hotspur that Grouchy Baby Style was stronger than Sleeping Baby Style. I was hoping that, by making her practice a Kung Fu that required her to be conscious, I could wear her out during the day and she'd sleep at night. Didn't work. Either way. Current Mood: tired (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
3:48 pm	Purple Butterfly Hammer Fist! Watching Hotspur nap today, I came to believe that I understand why she makes so many noises. She's learning Kung Fu. Hoooowaaap Knife-hand Crane Technique! Eeeerahhh Tiger Fist! And then she draws her hands into the deceptively delicate-looking chamber for the deadly Three Lilies Exploding Palm Strike. Her embarrassment in the fight at the Two-Story Chinese Restaurant will give her insight into her enemies' weaknesses. When she gets to the Complicated and Purposeless Log Structure in the Village Square, she will defeat all the other babies' Kung Fu. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
8:47 am	Okay, so someone has signed Eva Longoria's florist for a reality show, convincing me I should pitch my silly ideas to networks. Or something. But for those of us who can't wait, or don't care so much about Eva Longoria episode two is now available. Way better than Attack of the Clones. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
8:37 pm	My Foolishness, Let Me Show You It No one says that you should wait for medical clearance after abdominal surgery before breaking up large quantities of baking chocolate by hand. They should probably say that. The results were worth it. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
12:38 pm	The best thing about our house today is that it has our daughter in it. Current Mood: enthralled (50 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
2:58 pm	Baby Things Hotspur had another episode of bradycardia yesterday, earning herself five more days in the hospital, but they promise us she's coming home sometime, really. When this joyful event finally occurs, we will need someplace to put her. The logical place (the Pack 'n Play we set up for her in my room) is currently full of baby outfits, some of which the girl has actually worn, more of which she has not. Since multitudes of floral print onesies do not constitute a safe infant sleeping surface, I cleared yarn stash out of two drawers to make space for them, and for the innumerable baby outfits elsewhere in the house. Sorting through these items reveals that I have a metric ton of baby girl outfits, at least half of which the baby has already outgrown. She's not even supposed to be born yet, how is it possible that she's outgrown so much stuff? I sacrificed all pretense of organization in my yarn stash, and I could fill both of the resulting drawers to the top with items that Hotspur has never worn and will now never fit into. In other news, Danger Lad! has done the following in the past twenty-four hours: - Cavorted over a playground, waving a stick and yelling "Superpower!" - Shouted "I Danger Lad!" from the top of a ladder. - Buried himself in blankets and remained quiet (possibly for as much as two hours) in order to jump out when I came in to wake him and announce "I hidin' from you!" - Declared Hotspur to be his baby. - Forbidden me to sing "The Ants Go Marching" and then wandered off singing it himself. (18 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
11:10 pm	Well, That's Done As part of an agreement with my sister, I have posted the (fake) recap of the (fake) first episode of the (fake) new show, Top Florist. Enjoy. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
8:15 pm	Cigna Misses the Boat I got a big package in the mail from the health insurance today - a bunch of stuff about their Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies program. There's a bunch of stuff in there about nutrition during pregnancy, health care decisions during pregnancy, mental health during pregnancy. So it's sort of late. Of particular interest, the brochure on "Should I have a C-Section?" mentions that "placental problems can cause dangerous bleeding during vaginal birth." No shit, was that what happened? I never would have guessed. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
11:51 am	Hotspur had a small episode of bradycardia last night, so now they're talking about sending her home Tuesday. I can't deny that this is more convenient, but damn. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
2:28 pm	Parental Anxiety I am noticing that I am not capable of being anxious about only one of the children, and there are two things (besides the children themselves) that are working to make me crazy. The first is our insurance company. Every three days or so, we receive a letter from them indicating that they have approved Hotspur's continued hospital stay, and every now and then, we also receive a letter indicating that, due to some hiccup in processing, they will not be paying for some treatment or other. These letters are indistinguishable from the outside, so each one causes a moment of panic. Envelope from Cigna = mild cardiac arrest. Each non-coverage letter means I have to call them, at which point they invariably assure me that the problem is taken care of and they will be paying after all (for some reason, this is not a decision they announce by mail). I record the confirmation numbers and hold my breath for a bill from the actual hospital. Each coverage letter makes me wonder if, at some three-day increment in the future, they will decide not to continue to cover NICU care after all. The second is a condition I'm calling Parental Tinnitus. Every noise in the whole wide world is one of my children in distress. The cat. The white noise generator Danger Lad!'s room. The heat kicking on. The heat kicking off. Car alarms going off down the street. Total silence, plus the sound of the blood pulsing through my eardrums. Since Hotspur isn't home (although they're making noises about maybe Friday), I am checking on Danger Lad! a lot. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 12th, 2009
7:20 pm	Not So Macho I've been feeling really well the last few days, so much so that I was contemplating going jogging on Wednesday. Not much jog. Just a little. Not far from home. Etcetera. This resolution met my son's determination to make me hop with him and died. I will not be jogging on Wednesday. I'm sure my obstetrician is pleased. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
4:11 pm	Hotspur the Mighty Hotspur nursed all morning this morning - not on the whole time, but five to ten minutes of nursing, followed by 45-60 minutes of sleep, followed by furious fussing and renewed demands to nurse. It was such beautifully normal newborn behavior. (18 Comments |Comment on this)