It’s really hard to track Henry’s sleeping and nursing at night.  He sleeps with me and tends to nurse on and off when he wakes up, which he does often.  So often, in fact, that I can’t see myself getting up and writing it down every time.  I wonder if it’s time to put the telemetry on hold until we get to the point where we’re ready to put him on a regular sleep schedule?

Also, now that we’re satisfied that he’s getting enough to eat, is it necessary to track his nursing…?  It seems like half-assed record keeping might be worse than none at all.

Also?  I’m tired.

henryleo.com

Originally uploaded by Kelly Sue.

Han helped me get Henry’s blog up.

Yeah… my baby has a blog. So what?

If this post seems disjointed, it’s because I’m still on pain meds, though I’m weaning myself off fairly well, I think. Only one yesterday and I’m aiming for only one today — down from two every six hours at the start. I’m relying on the ibuprofen for the most part as I think it’s the swelling that bothers me most. With my history, having narcotics around the house makes me nervous and I’d like to be done with them as soon as possible. (At the same time, I find myself panicked at the notion of being in pain again and finding the bottle empty. Some things never change, I guess.) Luckily, I’m more of a control freak than anything else and the fact that I’m not allowed to drive right now is making me batshit. I assume the driving restriction is related to the pain pills and hope that once I’m off, I’ll be afforded a little autonomy. We’ll see, I guess.

(I only have two restrictions: I can’t drive and I can’t lift anything heavier than the baby. Just two, but they irritate the crap out of me. Right now, there’s a box of laundry detergent sitting by the basement door waiting for someone to walk it downstairs and I can’t do it. It’s making my eye twitch.)

My mother (who has decided she would like to be called “Mimi” or “Grandma Mimi” — the best part of which is watching Fraction’s face prune as he tries to make himself say it) is visiting until the 25th. My grandfather arrives on the 21st and Fraction’s folks arrive on the 29th — our fifth wedding anniversary, as it happens. Everyone seems concerned that I’ll find all this family overwhelming, but honestly, I’m enjoying it. Who knew?

Laurenn has been absolutely indispensable — settling in like family, shuttling Grandma Mimi to and fro, keeping me calm and focused and all the while documenting Henry’s first weeks in photos I’m sure I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.

Henry’s making some sounds now — I’m off to check on him.

Oh — before I forget: has anyone out there figure out how to nurse and read at the same time?? All these baby books are so big I can’t support them with one hand! Advice welcome.

I… I don’t really know how to start this post. I need to sit down at some point soon and write out Henry’s birth story, but as it happens, I just don’t have time this morning. So — a couple of quick notes and I’ll check in again with you soon.

Oh, man. There’s so much to tell you. We’ll just have to get to it later. For now –

• Uncle Han called it.
• Dan Curtis Johnson turned us on to Trixie Tracker and it has been a life saver. How did people have babies before the internets?? More than you want to know, right here.
• Okay, I see a few of you have found the baby registry (Thank you, Gus! Thank you, Sean!) and Peter just wrote to ask for the url, so here it is. HOWEVER: people have been incredibly generous with us and there isn’t much left on the registry that hasn’t been purchased. What remains are largely high dollar items. Not entirely, but mostly. SO — I have a suggestion: if you want to send Henry Leo a little something, how about a card or a note that I can put in the beautiful baby book that Terry Tyson made for him? Send him well wishes, or, how about sharing some hard-earned knowledge? Try saving him the trouble of learning the hard way. (It won’t work, of course, but try it. ) It’ll be fun for him to read when he’s older and it might be a good writing exercise for you. If you’re an artist, we are putting together a sketchbook called “Henry, NO!” We’d love to have a little sketch from you of Henry having an adventure, laughing in the face of danger — anything that could be captioned, “Henry, NO!” (A baby tightrope-walking on electrical wires, for instance?)Mailing address is:
  Henry Leo DeFraction
  c/o Three Irons, Inc.
  4741 Central, Ste. 216
  KCMO, 64112

  (ETA:  Pages are 12″ x 12″!)

• Did everyone see this? Is it super dorky for me to want to print it, the related bad signal and Laurenn’s post and put them in his baby book?
• Henry Leo has a posse.
• ETA: I am horribly behind on thank you notes (and everything else). I am not ungrateful, nor a cad, just a little inept. I beg your patience.
• EAgainTA: photos. More photos. And more photos. These kill me. I am a lucky, lucky woman.

Problem:

My father made the baby a beautiful cherry cradle — okay, that‘s not a problem, that’s a lovely, lovely gesture.  We put the cradle in Fraction’s office, also not a problem — we’d been thinking about getting a Moses basket or something for in there anyway.

The problem is that I can’t figure out how/where to buy bedding for it.  The bottom of the cradle is 31 3/4″ long and 11 1/4″ wide.   I can’t seem to find a mattress or pad that small.  Any suggestions?

I’ll post a picture shortly.

• Gah. I accidentally closed the window without saving this post as a draft.  Let’s see how much I can remember…
• Has anyone ever had or made Swedish Egg Coffee?  Is it good?
• You know those vivid sex dreams you’re supposed to have in the second trimester?  I’m having them in the third, now that I’m at my puffy-footed, water-retaining, waddling height of sex goddess-dom.  Fraction and I were joking this morning that if JT is taking the sexy back, we’re actually giving the sexy back.  But hey, that’s just us.  We’re givers.
• Usually, I wear a shoe size 6 1/2 or 7.  Yesterday I had to go out and buy a pair of ballerina flats in size 8 1/2.  Hot-t-t.  (If you actually have a thing for giant feet, do keep it to yourself.)
• I went through the whole identity theft thing a few years ago* and I am not in the habit of locking my car doors when I pump gas, so this is disconcerting.  Guess I’ll move my purse and lock the doors from now on.  [via Dan Boone]
• A little slow, but I responded to all the comments on the previous post here.
• Closet’s coming along.  Pictures tomorrow.

*  It sucked; thanks for asking.

• 
• I need to work on Black Cat Vol. 15 today.
• The editor on two of my as-yet-unannounced Viz projects is leaving.  I’d be more bummed, but KIT FOX is taking over at least one of the titles.  I heart Kit Fox.  So… yay.  Here’s hoping Kit’s got room in his schedule to take both.
• Speaking of Kit, I just got the comp copy of our last project together — Portus — in the mail yesterday.  [Thank you, Kit.]  For some reason the Amazon pre-order page lists Annette Roman as the editor… it was Kit though.  Huh.  I wonder how that happened.  (Don’t get me wrong — Annette’s great; we’re on a different title together right now in fact.)
• Pregnancy Progress: 37 weeks, as of yesterday.  What does that mean?  We made it to full term!  The kid’s not due until September 21st, but could come any time now.
• What else?  I’m freaking out.  A little.  Here’s a tip: don’t try to tell me I shouldn’t be worrying — I’ll rip your head off.  Apparently, it’s hormonal, but honestly, even when I’m not pregnant I’m not fond of having my concerns poo-poo’d.  Who is?  Also:  I’m mean.  Probably meaner than you are.  I will hurt your delicate feelings.  I will find your button and I will smoosh it… I wouldn’t risk it.
• Last night I dreamed not of Manderlay actually, but of the kid’s impending birth.  Suddenly in the middle of everything, I realized I’d been given an epidural.  I didn’t remember asking for one or having one placed and no one would answer any of my questions.  I wasn’t exactly disappointed that the birth was painless, but I was angry that I wasn’t given the chance to even try the low-intervention approach.  As merely the vessel, I wasn’t consulted.  When the kid was born I was informed that Fraction had changed its name from what we’d agreed upon.  …Think I’m having some control issues?
• Mom and Frank are here, helping us with the nursery.  [Read: Mom and Frank are working on the nursery while I work downstairs, avoiding the wallpaper stripper fumes and Fraction remains chained to his desk cranking out scripts.  I feel horribly rude, but that wallpaper stripper stinks.]  Hopefully we’ll have something like a closet for the kid by Tuesday.
• Speaking of Fraction and cranking out scripts, we’ve GOT to get him a new set up. Poor guy’s wrists are about to explode.  I think the desk is the problem.  One day, when we have money again [Buy comics, you bastards!], we’ve got to get him a set up that will allow us to mount they keyboard on some kind of pullout drawer.  We should probably invest in one of those ergonomic keyboards, too.
• As I write this I’m drinking half a mug of coffee and a non-alcoholic beer.  From separate glasses.  Fraction is nonplussed.
• 20th Century Boys is being adapted to anime.
• I feel bad for Barklage’s ass, but this made me laugh.
• I’m so far behind on thank you notes I should be shot. (Speaking of, does anyone have a mailing address for Lolokickyou? Han? Jill?)
• Fat Cobra Strikes!! on Facebook.

• Girl Farts: horrifying strangers since… I dunno. For a good long while now.
• 30 Days of Night: Eben & Stella #4 is out today.  You love me, so you bought it, right?
• 23 days until the baby’s due. As of yesterday, the kid hadn’t dropped yet and zero dilation. BUT, I’m 50% effaced. So something is happening.
• Has everyone seen Antony‘s take on Getting Things Done for Writers?
• Yoda cake. Yoda. Cake.

• 30 Days of Night: Eben & Stella #4 is out August 29th. Preorder page for the tpb is up on Amazon here.
• Fraction was interviewed by GQ! Pick up the print version (with Obama on the cover) and check out page 258, or read the interview on their site. (Now, I think somebody who is not me ought to add that link to Fraction’s Wikipedia page.)
• I am apparently in danger of letting Ann Coulter run my life.
• Our baby is due one month from today.
• Covetous Corner: Tartan tote from Target; this book/magazine rack for the nursery; more energy; an extra 3-4 hours in every day.
• YouTube belly pr0n.
• The nursery is coming along. We had to rearrange everything to accommodate the new glider, but Fraction put in a full day’s work on it this weekend and took care of the hard labor aspect. My mom and Frank are coming labor day weekend to help us tackle the rest of the to do list.
• I think I might need to go take a nap.

• As I compose this, I’m sipping on some divine smelling Kyoto Cherry Rose organic green tea, part of a care package from lovely Kathryn. Also included in the pick-me-up: fancy salt and the “hot” version of my favorite smoked paprika. (We use the version of the latter on salmon pretty frequently. Can’t wait to taste the difference.) Thank you, Ms. K.
• Oh, ouch. The housing market in the midwest has T-A-N-K-E-D. A house down the street from us just sold at auction this weekend for $109K.
• Had the pleasure of Danyon‘s company for a day yesterday and looking forward to brunch with him again on Sunday. What a peach! I wish we lived closer.
• My friend Sarah is making an effort to eat locally this summer and is blogging her efforts here.
• Rantz has opened a new forum for those who will be left homeless once the Engine closes its doors at the end of the month. Rantz is a good guy and will no doubt make a great host, but I admit to being turned off by a thread that seeks to name 50 bad autobio comics. Less than classy, if you ask me. [Mind you, no one did. This is unsolicited opinion-giving.] I mean, really: isn’t this a discussion we’ve had a zillion times? The threshold to comics publishing is so low that bad comics are just not hard to find. (I have a love-hate relationship with that low-threshold, but that’s a conversation for another day.) What’s to be gained from this list? We could also make a list of embarrassing semi-autobiographical first novels if we really wanted to get our snark on. Isn’t it more interesting and more challenging to find and talk about the good stuff? Le sigh. Rantz has cautioned the guy already but I suspect that thread will devolve and fast.
• Yesterday was a big day for ticking things off the monstrous and intimidating to do list. Also? For spending money. We got this glider for the nursery (and its ottoman) and despite my concerns that it may not actually FIT in our tiny little nursery, I think it’s a good buy. Fraction and I were both comfortable enough to sleep in it and it’s hard to find a chair that’s comfy for us both, what with the foot of height difference. We also ordered the breast pump and bottles. Fraction and Danyon installed the car seat — we just need to run by the hospital and have them check it and make sure it’s in there properly. What else? Oh, we did our shopping for Kara and Tony‘s wedding, too!
• Lee is starting up his Fast Fiction Challenge again. Go check it out here.
• T2 was kind enough to package up my purchases from SDCC and send them, sparing me the trouble of carting heavy luggage home. Even better? He threw some goodies into the box, including an AWESOME rubber stamp of a pirate baby and the Kid’s handmade baby book. I believe we have a plans for that; I’ll confirm with Fraction and fill you in later.
• Adrian got a fancy new camera lens. EVERYTHING that girl makes is beautiful. It’s both uncanny and unfair. Good thing I adore her. (Speaking of women I adore who make pretty pictures, check out Lauren Martin’s lomo set on Flickr. Stunning.)
• …Aaaand the glider is here. Aaaaand it takes up more room than I’d hoped. We did figure a work-around, but it’s going to involve a lot of, well, work. We’re going to have to move the changing station to where the shelves are now, which means taking shelves, pictures and a mirror off two walls, patching, repainting and rehanging. Ugh. When we’re done, though, we’ll have space for the crib, the changing table/dresser, the chair and a small table next to it for a lamp, some books and oh, I dunno, a breast pump, maybe.