Ibis & The Unicorn

We bought a swing!

This was the one item of baby gear we'd held off on, because they are expensive and I am a tightwad and we were reluctant to shell out big bucks - or even let someone buy it for us - if there was a chance that Miles wouldn't like it or we wouldn't really need it. I also felt a little weird about the whole idea of letting a machine cuddle my baby for any significant amount of time.

Chalk that one up to "you'll change your mind once you have the baby." Actually I still feel a little guilty letting him sit in there, even though he looks totally content when he does. I'm just like that I guess. But he does like it.

It became clear to us in short order that, especially during the day, Miles really prefers to be held and rocked and walked around much of the time. And much of the time I am perfectly happy to provide that service. I love holding him. Sometimes I snatch him out of the bouncy seat (and now, the swing) even though he is just calmly sitting there - because I want him in my arms. But other times I need a rest.

And in fact, this frightens me a little, but I'm having a lot of pain in my wrists from nursing and holding him. Sometimes when I have to pick him up in the middle of the night I'm afraid my wrists are going to give out, they are so weak and painful - hopefully this has to do with residual relaxin hormones and will get better soon.

Anyway, I'm rambling, the point is we got a couple of checks from generous Aunties and we spent the money on a Fisher Price Cradle Swing. He hasn't noticed the mobile feature yet but he seems comfortable in there and was smiling his cute little head off this morning when we plunked him in there after breakfast. He also slept in it last night in our room, although he does not seem to be able to fall asleep when it's in motion - that is a little visually overstimulating for him - but sleeps peacefully when it's still. Two thumbs up so far.

(As a side note, we thought it would be a great idea to buy rechargeable batteries since it runs only on four D's. To buy rechargeable batteries, you have to spend $25 on the batteries themselves (for four D's) and another $30 on the charger. What the what? It would take us months to break even on such a purchase. As much as I'd like to be green, I don't have the green (har) for it and we just bought a 12 pack of D's for $12.)