The notebook

Before Max arrived I did my own version of "nesting" to prepare for him. Sure, I did the normal things most mothers do by cleaning, laundering, decorating, and organizing. However, my organization went beyond the household. For one, I scheduled several weeks of blog entries for my other blog. The other thing I did caused those around me to tease me mercilessly.

I created The Notebook.

It's a black binder that holds my sanity. I thought it would be helpful once the little guy arrived, but I had no idea how much. Most of the contents are based on Tracy Hogg's The Baby Whisperer. I think the woman was a genius.

The Notebook has a schedule in it where we mark down when he eats, needs a diaper change, stays awake, sleeps, etc. It's based on the E.A.S.Y approach. Eat, Activity, Sleep, You time. Why? A record sure helps when you awaken to his whimpers at 2:40 in the morning and you realize it's been 3 hours since he last ate. Otherwise, you're very tempted to think he's just a crybaby and try to strap a pacifier permanently in his mouth so that you can go back to sleep. Or if he's crying in between feedings, it helps to look at the schedule and go through everything mentally: fed? yep. changed? yep. slept? yep. bored? nope. belched? yep. It's at this point that you go through the questions again and usually realize an error. Commonly, I notice that, yes, he is changed but somehow he/I managed to get his clothes wet either by him peeing on them or him puking on them. Somehow, this doesn't happen to Garrett, Master of Sanitation. Max will not be quiet if his clothes are damp. These seem like little things, but when you're sleep deprived and concerned that the crying may be the first of (gasp!) colic, they make a real difference.

The Notebook also has pages that were run off from the book and placed in plastic protectors. These saved us during many of the early nights. My most checked pages concern "cues." Babies are little humans who try to communicate with us. Unfortunately, they're language is crying. Our job as translators is to try to figure out what they're saying. Because they're humans, they communicate largely through body language. That's our big helper. The "cues" indicate what's going on. For example, baby gnawing on hands=hungry. Baby panting and arching back= gassy. Oh yeah, the list goes on. Believe me. It really helps.

Garrett after teasing me and ignoring my comments those first nights at home as I recited suggestions from The Notebook claims that "Mommy deserves a star for her effort in setting up The Notebook." Since he's an "analysis" and "data" guy, he finds the record of feeding times helpful. He even concedes that sometimes I've made sense with the "cues."

Not exactly a glowing review, but I'll take it.