It’s been hard to juggle baby care with everything else that I’ve had going on. That’s why I’ve been an on-and-off blogger lately. I have a lot of catching up to do on blog reading.
But I am happy that the baby is doing well. He’s now 4.5 months old and started to teethe. He actually started Thursday afternoon. He was cranky, which is unusual for him as he’s a very chill little soul. Mid-morning he chewed in his sleep. He drooled. Awake he put his hand in his mouth. His bib in his mouth. The burp cloth. His toys. His books. My clothes. Then he wouldn’t sleep, but just fussed. Finally the thought of teething hit me. So I soaked a baby washcloth in very cold water and put a corner of it in his mouth. Within a minute or so he fell asleep! That’s when I was 99.9% sure he was teething. Before he went home I felt his gums and sure enough on his top gum I found a little sharp point . . . .
I’ve been watching him for over three months now! Hope I can keep this up as he gets heavier. He weighs 15 1/2 pounds now. You might think that I would get stronger with the gradual increase of weight, but NO HAHA.
On another note, why do babies need such massive amounts of equipment and supplies?! The gardener keeps saying, that’s enough now, but it’s never enough because he keeps growing and developing.
Unfortunately, I introduced Hudson to the original Baby Shark song, and now I can’t get it out of my mind. EAR WORM. If I ask him if he’s Baby Shark, he laughs. If I say, “I’m Grandma Shark,” he laughs even harder.
I did participate in something this weekend that was not very time-consuming. That is the Flash Flood 2024 Write-In. Have you ever heard of Flash Flood? https://www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/index.php/flash-flood/ If you write flash stories you can submit early in the year (check website for dates) and then a weekend they publish them one at a time. That weekend was this past one this year.
Then they also have the write-in where they post a writing prompt every hour for 24 hours. https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/ I decided to do that this year, although I couldn’t do all 24 as we had a big family party for the baby. I wrote ten stories and was pretty excited that they chose nine of ten to publish. Keep in mind, I spent about 15 minutes on each story, so they are really more like highly pressurized rough drafts. But I feel pretty good about how I did. Here they are:
https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2024/06/why-wind-laughs-by-luanne-castle.html
https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-princess-and-peanut-by-luann-castle.html
https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2024/06/elemental-ghosting-by-luanne-castle.html
https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2024/06/list-for-involved-grandparenting-by.html
https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2024/06/grounding-by-luanne-castle.html
https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2024/06/a-is-for-accolade-by-luanne-castle.html
https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2024/06/in-manner-of-fairy-tales-by-luanne.html
https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2024/06/i-am-whole-and-ubiquitous-by-luanne.html
https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/2024/06/marianne-examines-physics-of-prolonged.html
Doesn’t it sound fun to participate? You should try it next time!
Just as I go to hit PUBLISH on this post, I feel the symptoms coming on of a bug that the Gardener has been wrestling with since Saturday night. Oh no.
I love Grandma SHARK!! 👵🏻🦈 That is too cute! I love the flash fiction idea. I hope you don’t get sick. The little one is definitely teething! 💗
Hehe, I knew the baby would love it, and I love it, but it does haunt you once it’s in your ear! Poor baby had a party on Saturday and was teething. He is so good though. And it was fun to see little kids “playing” with him. Thanks re the sick thing. I have all the symptoms, just not as bad at this point. That may (probably will) change. But it would be cool if I just got a milder version.
Sinus rinse! That’s the cure before you get too far gone.
Weird you mention that because this is a GI bug with all the GI symptoms, but it seems to have a sinus component to it. Is that strange?!
I don’t think it’s strange. A lot of illnesses begin in our throat from eating or breathing and we have a lot of soft, dark, moist tissue there.
Teething! Yikes! Before you know it he’ll be picking out colleges!
Right?!!!!! It seems crazy that he would be teething already.
What a delightful post, Luanne, well, except for the sicky part. Hope you’ll be back to your charming Grandma Shark self soon.
Thank you so much, Joy! Haha, that’s me, Grandma Shark!
I can tell you’re having so much fun being Grandma Shark, Luanne. Congrats on the stories, and I hope you feel better soon!
Thanks so much! Yes, he’s so much fun. Hard work, especially for my old self.
You’re welcome. It is tiring caring for a baby. Don’t you wonder how we did it and so many other things at the same time? 🙂
We have friends our age who are raising their grandchildren. They’ve had them since they were toddlers, and now the kids have turned 10 and 11, I think. They’re doing the whole thing over again-school, soccer, swimming, dance. . .
I have had that thought though I had a lot more energy and better health in those days. I was always good at multitasking, but not as much any more. I mean I still do it, but not as well as years ago.
Your friends raising their grandchildren is not that unusual any more, and I thought about what that must be like. I can’t imagine not being able to send Hudson home after a long day.
I can’t imagine raising children now either at my age. My mom had custody of my niece beginning when she maybe about 5? My dad took her on some weekends and vacations, but it was mostly my mom.
Oh wow. What a trouper.
Poor little guy! Hopefully, his teething pain will ease up soon. Congratulations on your publications! I enjoyed reading all of them and appreciated their variety.
Oh, Liz, you are wonderful. Thank you so much for reading them. That’s part of the fun, I think, coming up with wildly different stuff for each prompt.
You’re welcome, Luanne! You are so good at these.
Thanks! I keep working at it!
You’re welcome! I can tell!
Congratulations on your stories. I hope that bug passes you by.
Thank you, John! Weirdest thing, I have been sick-ish all day, but don’t have the drama of the symptoms the Gardener has had. Hmm. Hoping that’s not ahead of me ;).
There are two types of all illnesses. The man version and the women version. The man version is almost fatal even if it’s a cold.😁
OMIGOSH, I am laughing so hard You’ve been to my house!!!!!!!! Quote: “This is bad. This is really bad!” hahahahaha
Yup. Man flu. (Please shoot me)
Haha!
😊
I love hearing about little Hudson. I’m sorry about the teething. I’d forgotten a lot about those stages of infancy. He sounds pretty precocious if he already Recognizes the shark song and thinks it’s funny that you are grandma shark!
I also enjoyed reading your little stories or whatever the proper term is. It would be interesting to know what the prompts were. My particular favorites were the princess and the peanut, grandparenting, and grounding. I guess my tendency towards the literal shows!
Amy, did you get hurt or have surgery? I saw a glimpse on Facebook and then fell asleep (yes, not feeling great) before I could respond. Thanks so much for reading the stories. Funny you say that about literal: the princess and the peanut does have a lot of nonfiction backing it. Isn’t that perceptive of you!
Hudson is very precocious, but I feel like that can vary. Precocious in one period of life, then not, or the other way around. This one loves the baby Shark video and he loves the Little Bear introduction. About 6-7 minutes is about his tolerance. He also watched his aunt dance two duos back to back on video, mesmerized. Crummy videocam footage of her in high school. He also started insisting on sleeping on his stomach by the time he turned three months. He does stuff like that. Yet in other regards he’s this little tiny baby :).
What a delightful post, and I’ve long wondered about ALL the words of the shark song, haha. Congratulations on your stories. You are amazingly productive and successful at publications. It takes effort to keep an eye on all the possibilities. 24 prompts in 24 hours, plus, childminding? Sheesh!
And I hope you feel better soon.
Hah, there was no child here while I did the 10 little stories. It was the weekend. We just had the party, but they give you time after the prompt are all dropped to finish up and send in the stories.
Thank you, Gwen!!!!
Well, being Grandma Shark is definitely more important than reading blogs.🙂 Enjoyed all your flash pieces. Congratulations. You are so clever and creative.
Luanne~ Absolutely LOVED your flash fiction. I can see why the pieces were chosen! My very good real estate deal has almost gotten to the finish line. Inspections still raging on (stressful!) bu buyers are very motivated. Have had time only to post a blog now and then. My last one about the seismic shift I’m going through. Your grandson sounds adorable, and how lucky he is to have you!
Luanne, I love the Grandma Shark song and it’s now well and truly stuck in my ear! 😀 Well done for getting so much writing completed while on baby duty. Ouch, those teething times are hard for both baby and grown-ups – mind your fingers! 😀
Annika, haha. That song! It’s very annoying how it embeds itself in your head!!! Thanks re the teething. He’s so squirmy right now because of the teething
!
Oh, my, Hudson is growing so fast! Never mind his weight, once he starts walking, you’ll be breathless trying to keep up with him 🙂 Good on you for finding the time to write. I haven’t been writing (much) and I don’t even have a grandbaby to monopolize my time 😄
I got so exhausted this afternoon. My pet sitter is sitting with him right now. I had to turn him over for a bit on this Friday afternoon because it’s been a long week and he is very strong when he’s trying not to eat and not sit still etc. Wore me out!
I bet he wears you out! xo
Hah, you got that right. I have him in his bouncy seat right now, and he figured out to make music from a toy but we’re now in the last hour to half and half stretch and that’s when I get really tired.
Poor little guy with his tooth-y issues, but at least it’ll only last for so long. I’ve never tried to get involved with flash fiction, but you have the knack for it. Always nice to see a post from you.
Thanks, Ally. He is having a hard time eating because he keeps wanting to rub the nipple of the bottle over his gum :/. I never thought I would write flash fiction. Ever. And then it happened by accident.
I love hearing about Hudson. I feel like I’ve missed getting to know him, I’ve been so terrible about keeping up with blogs. I have a big hairball in my life right now that I keep telling myself things will get back to normal when it gets settled…and it keeps getting worse (I hate even typing that–what am I bringing on next?) So yay for the baby even if it brings Baby Shark back into your life!
Hairballs are NASTY. I’m so sorry! I have a few little hairballs . . . . But Hudson is a real bright spot. He’s so adorable.