Poop and/or Barf, Random Thoughts, The Little People Are Trying to Kill Me 
14 Comments Is it 8 o’clock yet? (alternate title: Bouncing off Boobs)
Two things got me to thinking today. First off, I’m finishing up a painting I started in Africa. There is an African Mama in it.
Secondly, Siegfried has screamed to the point of barfing today. Twice. It hasn’t been a good day.
This is nothing new. He has been screaming since day one. He came out sneezing and decided that wasn’t working for him and so he tried screaming instead. He really hasn’t stopped.
He never just DRIFTED to sleep. Do babies really do that??? He would scream bloody murder for about 3 hours and then just pass out.
I can’t believe we survived all alone out there on that Strawberry Farm.
A couple of months after he was born, Cathy came in an attempt to save me from one week of tears. My own tears.
We decided to venture out in public for a change. I can’t stand it when babies (especially my own) flip out in a busy establishment. But it makes The Dark Knight’s head explode.
So we went into Kalk Bay with some trepidation. It wasn’t that bad really. Siegfried flipped a couple of times but for the most part he was alright.
I tried to find one picture of Kalk Bay that sums up its beauty, but I couldn’t find one. So I chose a few.
Its a tiny village that goes straight up the mountain. The sidewalks are steep stairs. The alleys are packed with shops.
We were in one of these shops (a huge one) and Siggy started flipping his gourd. So I went outside and hung out in the alley with him.
This big grandma started waddling up the alley towards me.
She was so cute. She had her eyes on the screamer.
She asked me to fork him over.
I sized her up and figured I could take her if she made any sudden moves.
She took him and began her own version of grandma-comfort.
His crying died down a little in the unfamiliar territory.
And then she started with the bouncing.
Like his head was a ball and her bosom was a giant, squishy ping-pong paddle.
I thought, maybe this is it…
Maybe this is the thing he needs! A big ‘ole African nanny….
….nope.
She handed him back to me and walked off. Darn.
I took this picture on the way home.
We survived those first 4 months by moving to the beach. There was a cafe there with a few African ladies who loved the screamer.
And there was a little beach market.
And, well, eventually he just got so cute that we didn’t care anymore….
But man, those first days are hard….
PS- Sorry you get an obnoxious load of photos when I “write” about Africa. I blogged almost every day that I was there but when I came back my blog was transferred to another server and I lost the entire thing. 3 years worth of stories and pictures. Breaks my heart.
PPS-8 o’clock is when the midgets go to bed……
loved every pic
Thank you! I love them too. They are like little gold nuggets to me.
I’m trying really hard not to laugh too loud or else I’ll wake up my own sleep-fighting little ones. P.S. – I’m coveting those awesome boots!!
Those boots are my favorite material possession!
I have many pictures of my son (first child) screaming/post scream – looks very much like the pic of your son in the carseat! Happiest Baby on the Block saved my life (swaddle/suck/shush/swing) he screamed every day from about 6 weeks to at least 4 months I think!!
It’s excruciating. I cried right along with him half the time.
My wife and I were SO lucky with our three kids. No super-screamers or criers. I worked with a guy once who told me that his daughter nearly drove him to suicide. She had what he described as “extreme colic” until she was 2 1/2.
“If she was awake, she was screaming. And she never slept.”
I was SO, SO lucky.
You are lucky! It’s so painful. I can hardly watch The Godfather because in half the scenes there is a crying baby. Really?! And that adds to the movie HOW?!
It makes it more Italian.
I remember those days. I too had a screamer. My 2nd child. A daughter. In fact it was so bad my husband got a vasectomy. We NEVER wanted to go through it again. Now our daughter is happily marrried ! Yeehaw~
Great pics. BTW, You rocked those boots
Thank you!
The screamies take up such a short period of time (and yet they ate so memorable). It’s like being tortured by the cutest little terrorist on the planet.
Those first few months can be rough. My son was not a screamer, but he puked constantly. Up until he was eight years old. Everything upset his stomach and he never did get good at doing it in a more convenient (i.e. easy to clean) location.
Sometimes I wanted to return him, but he eventually grew on me.
My oldest was an angel. Slept through the night by ten weeks. She would conk out at scheduled nap times like clockwork. I was so spoiled.
I was utterly unprepared for my youngest. She screamed from the second she was born. For almost a year. If she was awake, and wasn’t eating, she was screaming. Occasionally, she would pass out from all the screaming, and sleep for twenty minutes or so – if I could hold very very still – and then wake up and start screaming at me again. When she finally settled down a bit, I had to move all my furniture and repaint the bedroom because I would start hyperventilating if I went in there alone.
The screaming can make you crazy.
I really thought that she was trying to kill me.
We’re okay now. She doesn’t scream nearly as much.
Loo hab prize for lee? Tank yew!!
All kidding aside, the evidence of your talent is everywhere on your website, from your hilarious cartoon drawings to your crafty displays and the glimpses we get of your acrylics. No doubt you have far more physical examples that when totaled show a person gifted with the ability to express herself artistically using almost any medium and/or materials.
You clearly walk through life on the path that is right for you.