Relax!

I started to do some actual work. My advisor told me to, no, really, take some time off. I'm trying.

I have less than 50 pages left in the Huxley biography. Huxley and I have gotten skilled enough that I can read while he nurses and Turing is sleeping or out with Trouble. I've mostly caught up with the blogs. My rss reader is empty. My email is contained.

Uh, now what? I forgot how to fill time during medical school, relearned for a while in grad school, but promptly forgot again once Turing showed up and I wanted to finish the PhD in four years. I have a couple hours to myself every day - how do people fill time?? Besides TV - we don't have a TV.

I have some sewing to do - I need to finish my advisor's quilt and Huxley's quilt. My advisor's is done except for the binding. Huxley's is in strips. The quilt top could be done in another session, which means there is a really good chance it could be done well before Turing's was done (at six months of age). The colors seem a bit muted for a baby quilt, but we'll see what I think once it is actually together.

I have updated my CV and part of my professional site. I have some professional site email/coding to deal with. It is like extra-curricular work that I have been putting off. I guess it technically is work, but it feels like something I do for fun because it is normally so far down on my to-do list.

But, honestly, I'm not quite sure what else to do. With Turing, I did a lot of reading on butterfly gardens and native species. I have a big stack of books I'd like to read, but I spend most of my time holding a baby *and* playing with a toddler instead of just holding a baby. Maybe I'll actually weed my yard. Maybe I'll just let myself enjoy the fall and go for a walk. Maybe. I guess I could always cook or clean or something. Or write? Write for real? Hrm.

I am sleep deprived (as this transition should point out). No matter when I wake up, my initial thought is "oh, you've got to be kidding me, there is no way I can get out of bed." But I do. Since I am getting (interupted) sleep from 11pm to 10am, it appears that I don't need to have a nap during the day. I take this as an indication that things are going OK. My vision started to freak out last night, so Trouble did a feeding while I slept for more than 90 minutes continuously, and it has fixed itself. That was probably the first time I've had more than 2 hours of continual sleep in over six weeks, since I had to wake up to roll over or pee while pregnant. In any case, I probably shouldn't try doing any real math for fun.

Our family is made up of good eaters. Huxley is doing really well at the nursing, though it can take quite a while per feeding. He also has these two hour fussy spells about twice a day (once during the day and once at night) where he nurses continuously and often poops a lot and we just hang out together for the time because he freaks out if he's put down. I feel a little bad that Trouble hasn't been able to do many of the feedings because he's missing out on Huxley's post-feeding facial expressions - a big smile, then total relaxation, then a little concerned, then a big smile. It seems like it took Turing a lot longer to be this expressive.

In all, things are really good. That my worst compaint is that I'm kind of bored and unfocused is probably a good thing.