New theme! w00t!!

Well alright, the background image is the same, but that’s not the point. The layout and interface is all-new.

Like the last theme (NF Tree), FamiliaFlex is a flexible chameleon: I can just switch the background image and two or three colours in the CSS and the site looks entirely different, according to season or mood. This one pushes the idea even further with transparent backgrounds and a nifty footer. The code is cleaner, too, since I prepared this one from scratch, though I’ll admit I copy-pasted a lot of stuff.

Oh that reminds me: browser IE 6 and older will probably break all the transparency, so if you’re using that, UPGRADE already! Don’t do it for me, do it for yourself (and as a favour for all web designers world wide).

I started reading while nursing Orléane. It makes for plenty of wonderful, guilt-free reading time – ie. I don’t feel like I should be tackling chores or work, as I’m already doing something useful AND caring for the baby. I went through over 3 novels already, so I’ll try to quickly catch up on my reading list:

Widdershins, by Charles de Lint
My romantic side enjoyed it. A well done de Lint (I’ve heard his writing is not steadily great), but it is very much follow up on The Onion Girl, and probably one or two other novels of de Lint’s Newport chronicles that I will want to pick up in the future, so I wouldn’t recommend it to uninitiated fans.

The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman
Much like I did with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, I had started reading The Golden Compass, put it aside after loosing interest, found out some time afterwards it was being turned into a movie, and picked the novel up again before it came out. Someone had mentioned the trilogy deserved a little push in the beginning – and indeed, the pace is slower, the descriptions abound and some confusing details don’t seem to make sense at first. The last leg of The Golden Compass is better, though, and once The Subtle Knife starts, the pace has been expertly picked up. I loved the feeling of the first chapters of that second book.

It is told the trilogy is inspired from Milton’s Paradise Lost, which I have not read, so I can’t comment on that. I do know that, where I to have a go at organized religion through a novel, I’d much rather do it in Pullman’s complex and meaningful fashion than Dan Brown’s here’s-some-controversy, ain’t-I-cool-to-know-this and tack-it-together-in-a-treasure-hunt-flat-plot line with-dull-characters fiction. Then again, maybe it’s just my natural propensity toward the fantasy genre.

His Dark Materials turned out to be imaginative and exploring. I truly enjoyed the adventure and the two protagonist children, Lyra and Will.

——————-
I’m now almost halfway through Hyperion. I can see how it appeals to Star Wars fan, and it is much more sci-fi than what I’m used to, but I’m liking it and appreciating the humor sprinkled in. Will come back with impressions later on.

Read on!

Yesterday evening, Orléane was fretful and just impossible to deal with. Today, she was fretful and empathy-inducing. In fact, she was acting the same. The difference? A good night’s sleep for mommy.

For three months now – more, if you factor in pregnancy insomnia – my nights have been fractured, and I’ve been walking around (and driving, unfortunately) with diminished alterness, only registering half of what people tell me sometimes.

Orly often does around 6 hours between nursings (for the uninitiated, let me specify this means from the start of one nursing to the start of the next one, and does NOT equal to 6 hours of sleep… if you take out, say, an hour to nurse and then coax the kid to sleep, maybe a little more if you’re stupid enough to allow yourself some personal time, you’re left with no more than 5 hours of sleep if you’re lucky). So I get 4 to 5 wonderful hours of uninterrupted sleep every other night, but she usually butchers the rest of the night with agitation, full wakefulness or another feeding. And when she magically doesn’t, Xavier will inevitably choose that night to have a cough.

Yesterday night was devoid of any kid interruption. And my inner consciousness managed NOT to wake me up anyway, so I got pure, pure sleep, from the moment at 8h30 when I dropped exhausted into bed (Frank cared for still-awake Orléane for another hour) to 4h30 when the (insert a really foul qualitative for low intelligence here) cat jumped on the bed to miaow. I did not manage to go back to sleep, fully rested that I was with my amazing 8 hours of sleep.

What brought this on? No clue. We forgot the windows open, and temperature dropped in the night. The baby fell asleep before being changed to pyjamas, so she slept with short-sleeves, and Frank didn’t tuck her in her blanket, so she was sort of cold when I picked her up at 5h30 for nursing. You think she likes cold?

In any case, I won’t be covering her too much tonight and hope for a repeat performance.

Morning Update: No repeat. Two nursings and fully awake by 5am. We’re exhausted. Good thing we’re getting a 3 day weekend after this.

Hi all!

I’ll be turning 3 months old next week, so I thought I would catch you up on what I’ve been doing lately.

What I’m really into these last few days are these mini tentacle-like growths I’ve got attached to my arms. They’re so fun! I can gnaw on them and put them into my mouth. I can even start to use them to grab blankets, and sometimes mama installs in them a soft-toy with a little bell in it, so I can make some music – until I drop it.

I also started making some friends, and my favourite companion is Black-and-White Tiger. I see him around when I go to play in the jungle, and I like to chat him up a while. Well I chat, he listens; although I’m having fun kicking my legs at him, and when I catch him with my foot he’ll sometimes sing to me.

My neck is starting to build some muscle, too. I exercise it by lying on my belly and raising my head as high as I can. So when dad and mama carry me around, they can mostly let me handle that big head and look around as I wish.

My milk is still 100% mama’s, but I think they have some test planned in this department for this weekend… I don’t like it. I’ll let you know how it goes. Furthermore, I have no set schedule for feeding: I can feed every 2 to 6 hours, depending on my mood – I like to keep mama on her toes. I figure if I start being predictable, she’ll get comfortable and plan outings, and why would I allow that?

And I’m doing ok nights. Often enough, though with regular exceptions, I go 6 hours from one feeding to the next during the night. It’s after this first feeding that things go downhill, however, and even if I don’t feed again until morning, I still get agitated and wake up mama: I bang my fists on the sides of the cradle and kick my legs in the air. And I wake up early : I usually get up (and take a parent with me) between 4h30am and 5h30am. The sun has almost risen by then, so I don’t see a problem.

Lastly, I get along super well with my big brother. He makes me smile and brings me my soother, toys and kisses. He’s all delicate with me and (usually) takes care to be gentle. It’s great!

Alright, I got a big nap coming, so I’ll leave you with this.
Take care!

Orly
xO