Laughter is the Best Medicine

Sometimes when we watch a scary or emotional movie, afterwards I will say, "Now I need a comedy". And we'll pop in a Seinfeld or Arrested Development or whatever comedy we have been watching and it will clear my mind and lift my spirits. After two weeks of being at home and not really watching any tv, I needed a comedy this weekend. Keith seemed to sense this when he put Anchorman in the player without even asking me if I wanted to watch anything.

The first few weeks of having a newborn can be pretty frustrating, and Sophie's homecoming has been no exception. It seems like the dirty diapers and the dishes (from feeding and pumping) are never ending. Sophie almost always wants to be held, which makes getting anything done almost impossible (slings are great, but there are some things you just can't do with the sling, like pump or nap). My two goals for the weekend were to go throw the frisbee and to decide what we are going to do with our backyard. Neither of those happened. I did get out of the house to go to church and grocery shopping. To a lot of people those are annoyances, but when you are pretty much stuck inside the house all the time, just getting out can be relaxing. When I was pregnant I was looking forward to taking Sophie shopping on my maternity leave. But since we rely on the feeding tube (which is portable but a burden) and can't take her to public places, getting out is hard. I did manage to make it out to Keith's league game last week, and will probably go this week. But my thought of perhaps playing in a tournament in early December is dead. I have gotten some exercise, but my legs need a lot more PT before my knee will let me play. Sophie herself is doing ok, but is pretty bothered by gas, a diaper rash, and irritation with her g-tube. She is consistently only taking about half of her feeds from the bottle, with really no improvement since she's been home.

All of this has made me pretty frustrated at times. I have to constantly remind myself of my own advice to new parents: remember that all phases (both good and bad) will end. I tell myself that Sophie will grow up to be a normal, smiley baby in just a few short months. But then sometimes I doubt my own words - what if she needs the g-tube for years? What if she has other developmental issues? I just have to trust that God knows the proper time table for Sophie, which is easier said than done.

In the meantime, I'm going to pop in another DVD while I do some more dishes. I don't think Anchorman helped any of Sophie's ills (I don't think she quite understood the jokes :-) ), but for me it's pretty good medicine.