The Baby Monitor and other tales

After much complaining about our complete and utter lack of one, my wife finally got a baby monitor Sunday, and I immediately set about plugging it in and putting all the pieces in place. This has been incredibly handy to have around because, as I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned a time or two, having the Avid gear up and running is like having an airplane idling right next to you. If Evan’s down for a nap between feedings, and starts getting fidgety, I’m not going to hear it until he’s at a full-bore wail. Which probably means he’s woken his mom and I’m in really deep trouble. So a baby monitor isn’t an “oh, that would be nice” for me; it’s an “I need this.”

Abou the only drawback is that I get to listen to Evan FM all night – the aforementioned mix CD of baby music that I made for him. Good thing I like most of that stuff. But so far, it’s worked great. There’s just one little drawback. 1 night = 1 9-volt battery. Ugh.

Fig. 1 – Evan in the hood.

Fig. 2 – Olivia looking far, far spazzier than I think anyone thought possible during her “shift” with the baby.

A simple and completely inelegant solution has also been reached for the window that leaks cold air into the room – okay, maybe for “completely inelegant” read “kinda ghetto, actually”. It is, in fact, exactly what it looks like – a big freakin’ blanket, folded over once, tacked up across the entire window frame. It makes it possible for me to sleep in the bed though, as comfortably as I possibly can with the Head Cold From Hell at any rate,

Fig. 3 – Yub nub, eee chop yub nub…

This terrifying little fellow is no mere Ewok. For he is Womb Bear. You heard me. There’s a gadget inside him that plays back X minutes of a sound loop of what a baby hears in the womb. This is, like the doggy hat a few days ago, one of many nifty things that my wife’s well-meaning friends got for us earlier this year, but Womb Bear has a prior record: one of my wife’s friends got it for her baby, who was scared to death of it. Womb Bear was out of a job. Evan really seems like he couldn’t care less about Womb Bear – he’s neither scared nor intrigued, just indifferent. Oberon, on the other hand, likes to attack Womb Bear. I guess he sees it as competition for Evan’s affections. He needn’t worry, the poor jealous fool.

Fig. 4 – Blue water.

This is the humidifier that’s been helping me breathe, and hopefully is helping to keep Evan from getting the creeping crud I’ve got. (Why I’m the one sleeping in the room with him at the moment, I have no idea.) I moved the little LED light thing onto the shelf that the humidifier is sitting on, at a slight angle, so the water makes groovy colorful patterns on the wall. I don’t know if Evan even notices this stuff, but hey, why not? It’s cool!

Fig. 4 – Puffball? Puffball. Puffball.

That’s it for today’s report. For now.