Disaster & every day life

If you can watch those news reports about Haiti and not get a little misty-eyed (or bawl, like me) then you're not human.  I wanted to reach through the screen and grab all those orphaned babies and children and bring them back here to live with me.  I felt an obligation to watch when they showed a 3-month-old baby girl in her mother's arms and the reporter narrated that she was starving.  I felt an obligation, but I didn't want to watch.  I wanted to change the channel and forget what I saw.  Before I became a mother, scenes like that would touch me.  Now that I'm a mother, scenes like that haunt me. 

I remember when my baby girl was that age. 
I remember her tummy, how I'd watch it rise and fall with every breath she took. 

The baby girl on TV was so calm, but her eyes were like saucers - staring at the camera in almost a pleading way.  I have heard that there is a movement to bring as many orphaned children to the United States as possible to get them medical care and, hopefully, loving homes.  However, efforts like that can take time.  A lot of time.
Amelia was napping when David and I were watching the news story about Haiti.  When she woke up, I squeezed her extra tight and kissed her over and over again.  And I looked at the remnants of our dinner, thinking about what some Haitians would do to get even a nibble of what we have to eat.

Keep the Haitian people in your prayers. There are still people buried under those buildings and some are still alive, but they are running out of time very quickly.


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Switching gears...Hard to do, I know.

When I wrote my previous post I said that my laptop didn't have a USB drive.  It was late.  I shouldn't write late at night.  My laptop obviously has a USB drive, however, it does not have an SD card reader so I have to use a separate SD card reader that has a USB adapter on it.  There. 

My right eye, for the last few days, has been leaking like crazy and has swollen to impressive levels.  The most fun, though, is waking up in the morning with my eye crusted shut.  Mmm, details.  I'm sure you want to know more.  I wish I could tell you why my eye is going all Hunchback of Notre Dame on me, but I can't.  I have no idea.  I changed my pillowcase thinking maybe it was allergens, but it didn't help.  I took Benadryl last night before bed but that didn't seem to make a difference, either. 

On Monday morning, David said "Wow, yeah your eye is all swollen and crazy".  He got out of bed and walked toward the bathroom.  I thought, How sweet - he's getting me a cold or warm compress for my eye.  He returns to the room and hands me something.  A mirror. 

Thanks, babe.

To his credit, I did ask for a warm compress and he happily brought one to me.

Switching gears again.  Amelia slept 8 1/2 hours last night!  She woke up around 5am and I fed her then laid her back down and she slept for another 4 hours!  Then, for her morning nap when she would usually only sleep for an hour (her long nap is generally the afternoon one), she slept for 2 1/2 hours.  Maybe it's a growth spurt.  Or, maybe, just maybe, the "sleep training" is working.

On Sunday night, she woke up around 1:30am as usual and it had been about 5 hours since she last ate so normally I would just give in and go feed her.  But, I didn't.  I checked on her 3 times in the hour that she was awake and fussing but she never really cried like she meant it and she would even stop for short intervals to look at something in her crib.  She finally fell back asleep and slept for another couple of hours.  So, woo hoo.

We took this picture of Amelia a couple of nights ago.  She's modeling the super cute, very clever "car seat blanket" that her great grandma Baldwin made for her.  We love it!  And she's sitting on a blanket made by David's cousin, Coralie.  We come from a very talented family! 

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.  Amelia and I are going to the University of Washington to participate in a hearing study tomorrow then again on Thursday.  Innnnteresting!  More on that later.