Hello! I missed you all! It's not that I have nothing to say, or maybe I don't. It's just trying to find the solitary moment to say it.

Also, since "reader" is gone, and I haven't reset up my bloglines fully yet, I'm woefully behind on everyone else's lives, so my deepest apologies for that.

I can't believe that a) it's been a month already since the Magpie got here; b) summer is, once again, almost over, and I find myself having accomplished nothing. Well, nothing academically.

But, tomorrow my bookstand, the same one that Heu Mihi raved so much about, will be here tomorrow. I had been debating on spending the money on this stand really since January. And even though I wasn't doing any serious reading (just baby and breastfeeding books*), and it became clear that once I tried to get any sort of academic reading done, it was going to be impossible. Miss Magpie will not allow me to hold a book for any length of time while I nurse her. And as I spend nearly half my day right now nursing and holding her, you can see how much reading I *could* get done if I could hold a book while she nurses/sleeps in my lap. The other half of my day is spent trying to rest, eat, stay on top of the dishes and laundry (especially hers) and figure out a schedule for the dogs for walking them, with her, and avoiding the heat. I don't care about the heat. She can't be out in this heat. The dog walking situation is really the hardest thing to negotiate right now with an infant.

I feel ridiculously guilty when I get up upset with her for her nighttime routine. Sometimes she will nurse for two hours straight at night. It gets a little tiring.

And as it has taken me way longer to write this than I thought, I must leave this incomplete for now.

Magpie really is a good baby though. And adorable. And perfect. And wonderful. And while I'm glad she loves her crib (which will make working in the office much easier if she likes being in the crib), I am determined for her to love the co-sleeper as much because I am not ready for her not to sleep in the same room as me. I can't stand to be away from her. We're getting a softer sheet for the co-sleeper to see if that helps. Next stop, a different mattress. But we're going to try the cheap thing first.



*uh, yeah, I have come to HATE those books. Anyone pregnant out there? Use them as references and for troubleshooting. The J told me to put them down. I was feeling guilty for being an inadequate loser parent even though I was trying to be all "prepared." No. They have become resource material only now.