EjectPreviewFiller1

Filler: Eject! Concept art 1

32 Comments

Okay, this is ridiculous. Baby’s sleep schedule went from bad to worse. Now he goes to sleep at 4 AM, wakes up at 8 AM, and takes no naps. I can’t get any sleep or get any housework done. While I’m often stuck at the computer to nurse him, I’m too exhausted to draw. I haven’t even started this week’s Anthronauts. I’ve looked up so many sites on how to get babies to sleep, but none of it has worked. I dunno what to do and I’m sooo tiiiiiiiiired… T^T

  • ZNickel

    A Jackalope? How really original? Haven’t seen an anthro one at all. *note read in Kryten’s voice from RD*

  • http://Twitter.com/Draven_Long Draven

    Is the jackalope trying to look tough? I don’t see how a bunny with antlers can be intimidating in most situations.

  • Jeroen Swagerman

    Personally I would advise to use a carrying sling, keeping the baby close to your body might help and at least it would allow you to do housework, otherwise Id say just put him into a separate room on a set time each day to take a nap, for about one hour, the steady rhytm should eventually pay off, it won’t be fun, and youll feel cruel about it, but it worked for my daughter, wich goes to bed reall easy now,and sleeps entire nights, as a last ditch effort, get some friends to take him out for a stroll or baby sit so you can at least get some sleep. Good luck.

  • Rayalli

    Oh look! A jackadeer!

  • http://www.facebook.com/jack.winberry Jack Winberry

    the eject characters look good. can’t wait to see how it turns out. hope ya feel better, nixie.

  • Jarimor

    i think my parents doped me a time or two…
    but in all fairness, the baby sling is probably your best choice to try for naps, i have seen those things work wonders.

  • RocketT.Coyote

    Love the deer character. So like Tony Tony Chopper without the hat.

  • quartzfire

    *gasp* is he a jackelope?!

  • DragonForLife

    aww. i hope the baby starts sleeping more. But we understand. Fillers are okay :3

  • Reich995

    Jackalopes? …Me gusta.

  • Jerohan

    Am I the only one who thinks the jackalope’s spurs are on the wrong damn end of the boot? Still, gotta hurt like hell when he kicks someone…

    • NixieSeal

      The entire purpose of those front-of-the-boot spurs is for kicking face. XP

  • Oldfurr

    Nice, really appreciate you doing these comics and putting them out for us to see.

  • Kor3986

    don’t worry most babies go through a i hate sleeping phase, it’ll pass… or you’ll go insane. Either way you won’t worry so much in a while.

  • Stig Hemmer

    I have no baby advice, but I just wanted to say that you have the BEST reason ever for delays.

  • i unno, some guy

    It’s alright sugar-n-spice, kiddo gets priority, we’ll wait patiently for more epic comicness as long as we know whats got you bound up XD

  • MechaAshura20

    Wonder how their story will go in the series… Anyway, I’m packing up for Thanksgiving. Gonna find a gryphon (not really) to mount on.

  • albert jester

    curse you small mammal! it’s the little sister syndrome all over again!

  • ArA

    Great picture! However the spur being on the front of the boot looks silly. It’s completely out of place. Having grown up riding horses western style I know the reason for which one wears spurs on the back of their boot. It’s for riding horses… To use the cliche term in a manner of which you’d understand, here’s an example. “Giddy-Up!” Spat the rider as he dug spurred heels into the Mare’s side’s in an unnecessarily cruel gesture to force the animal into swift motion.

    My father wore spurs on his boots, but they were merely for show. He wasn’t that cruel as to use spurs on our horses. We had pretty good horses too.

    In conclusion, spurs on the front of one’s boots would be inefficient, especially when one’s boots would be in stirrups…

    • NixieSeal

      I know what spurs are supposed to be used for and why they’re on the back of the boot. This guy wears them for a different reason entirely.

      • DragonForLife

        painful groin kicks?

    • Dood

      If you look at the way the foot is shaped, he doesn’t really have a good place to mount a rear-facing spur that would be useful for riding.

  • Boris Ljubojevic

    Offspring trouble? Well as someone who has experience in such things…. the most practical way is to play with the child… you know tickle it make funny faces to make it laugh etc… this way the child will have fun, develop properly and also get exhausted = it will sleep like a log; also what the hell is papa doing? mama is most needed to the child but papa should help whenever possible. Also check who’s DNA child inherited the most it will affect the baby’s behavior if its active type it needs activity thus it will be restless if it isn’t entertained, or if its constantly hungry make sure its well fed always, otherwise you will not get any sleep. Also it might be the type that just likes to be attached to its mother like a tick. Natural milk itself contains stuff that makes people sleepy. Don’t forget to check for any “hidden” diseases that might be bothering the child or if it has a tummy ache a simple tummy massage does wonders and improves digestion.

    • NixieSeal

      Baby won’t tolerate daddy doing anything to help out. Heck, baby will scream and cry if anybody but mommy’s holding him, and he won’t tolerate being set down either. I spend at least half my waking hours nursing this kid and he’s on solid foods as well at four months… Neither my hubby nor roommate do any housecleaning, so I have to do all that and don’t have time to do much playing with baby, I can only meet his eating, diapering and washing needs…

      • Isi

        No love is better than tough love. Plus the baby needs father time even if they don’t think they do. He may scream and cry but mommies do need a break and he’ll calm down over time. Give it a week and you’ll probably notice a difference, especially if you keep it routine :)

        • NixieSeal

          Bwah… Except dad gets home from work at midnight, and is only awake for a couple hours a day before he goes to work. He’s usually only here for baby’s lunchtime and that’s it.

    • Majinmaster

      back rubs make babies burp. Burping is good

  • The_Rippy_One

    First, love these character designs. I’m really excited (interested?) about the jackalope morph. So nifty.

    Well, if you are taking advice…I’m assuming that you’ve done all the general things (contacted your pediatrician, tried changing the crib lining to different materials, impregnated a blanket with your scent, letting him sleep in your bed, that sort of thing). Babies take huge amounts of energy to grow, so he can’t be getting by with only 4 hours (though, trying to is probably part of why he’s so cranky). I’m going to guess that he’s catnapping for a couple of minutes each hour. Ask your pediatrician if you should try to break him of that, and be ready for some even more exhausting days while you try.

    I’m going to mention something that ended up being critical to me, and which I wish someone had mentioned to me sooner – If a kid is happy, healthy (well fed, burped, clean), and he isn’t crying until after you put him into his crib, it’s okay to let him cry himself to sleep. Really counter-intuitive (Believe Me, I know; felt my heart rip out the first night I tried it), and I don’t know a parent who doesn’t worry about it, but crying/fidgeting burns off the excess energy, and doesn’t seem to harm a kid’s development. If he’s screaming, that…may be a different matter – everyone is different. Sometimes, it’s energy burn off, and sometimes it’s separation fear…which sounds likely in your case. If he is screaming, try letting him have your hand – keep it light, so he knows momma’s around, but not actively interacting. Yeah, you may lose that hand for an hour, but given little to no stimulation, he will eventually sleep (assuming he isn’t actively self entertaining. That implies a lot more energy, and that you’ll be there quite a bit longer). Either way, start early enough, and you’ll likely get more sleep over all. I won’t swear to this working – my sister woke up once a night until she was 2, just because her metabolism was like a house on fire, and between her energy expenditure and her tiny stomach, six hours was really all she could manage before she was starving again. Still, she and my parents both got 8+ hours…it just was divided between two periods. And lords did she fidget when she was put back to sleep. ;)

    I would not pick him up once he’s down unless the crying implies some other issue (if it switches to “I’m hungry” or “I’m a mess,” certainly respond). Being picked up often implies that “Something is happening” and then you get an internal war between “Doing something” and “going to sleep,” and yours has proven strongly which way he’s likely to go on that matter. ;D

    Hope this helps!

    • NixieSeal

      Haven’t tried changing the crib liner material, but getting him to fall asleep ANYWHERE is a challenge, not just in his crib. Sleeping in my bed hasn’t helped, so I doubt a blankie with my scent would help. I tried cry-it-out sleep training. He doesn’t just cry, he starts screaming the moment I looked away, and it’s a bad enough scream that I can’t discern it from an “I’m hungry” or “I need changed” scream. For a couple nights I tried letting him scream anyway, but I couldn’t handle it at all, I ended up sobbing hysterically in the other room listening to him wailing like he was being dismembered. I’ve also tried letting him hold my hands so he knows I’m there, but he plays with them for so long that he gets hungry and needs fed again. That’s another trouble- he’s seriously underweight and he can usually only handle going half an hour between nursing sessions… X_X

      • The_Rippy_One

        X_X Like I said, screaming can be a much different matter (and I so entirely feel for you. Just the crying and fretting ripped me apart emotionally). Have you tried placing your hand in such a way that he can touch it, but can’t really play with it (palm flat on the bed, or entirely against the side)? Also, after you fed him, did you put him right back in?

        Next, seriously, go harass your pediatrician – I can think of about three reasons for this rate of hunger, and none of them are good things (the most neutral is that he is literally burning more energy than he’s taking in, and that’s a truly fearsome metabolism. Relatively easy fix, but you need a specialist to look at his diet, examine him, and then tell you what he needs more of, and how to get it in him efficiently). I don’t know if you’ve gone yet (I sort of assume so, but you hadn’t said, so…), but, if so, go again. At least call. Talk to her/him about the fact that he is only sleeping 4 hours, isn’t taking any serious naps, is eating every hour but is still underweight (and what he is eating). Talk about when these things started, tell her about the before and after if you can (bring notes to keep it all straight if you need to). While your at it, talk about the issues your kid is having with your husband (and bring the man along to demonstrate). I know how I’d try to tackle that particular issue, but I’m not a licensed professional.

        Okay, last thing. I’m going to preface by saying that this part isn’t meant to knock you, and I’m not implying fault, because it’s a really easy remark to take the wrong way. Especially if you are running on 4 hours of sleep, and 20 hours of stress. ;) Kids pick up on their parent’s vibes – their postures, their tone, their stress. Part of the routine that people try to set up to get a kid into bed is meant to calm, not only the child, but the parent in charge of the ritual that evening. This has nothing to do with your current issues initially, but the stress that you are suffering probably isn’t helping matters at this point. Again, that isn’t a criticism – I’ve been there, and it well and truly does suck. I had someone to get me focused on calming myself down for the sake of the baby, and, while I wanted to remove their head at the time, it was entirely true. If your husband can’t help directly, can he help you somehow instead (back-rubs? singing soft and slow nursery rhymes and lullabies)? I know you don’t have time to calm down and de-stress – but you might think about how to do so anyways, because that to may be just what the doctor orders.

        • NixieSeal

          I have already talked to his pediatrician about the sleep problems and his hunger… All the pediatrician said was that I should keep on trying to nurse him to sleep, and start giving him baby cereal. I do know one thing that might be a medical cause for his troubles, but the earliest date I could set for having it fixed is late in December. Can’t really bring hubby to his appointments…. And hubby can’t really help putting him to sleep. His very presence distracts baby so much that baby can’t nurse. Oh, and lullabies excite baby. A lot. Same with showers, books, getting changed into jammies, rocking… X_X

          I do however manage to put on a cheery act for baby… Heck, I even smile and sing to him and play with him when changing diapers. By the time baby is tired around 3 AM, I’m on the verge of falling over, and yet I still put on the cheery act, because it’s even harder to get him to sleep if he gets upset…

          • The_Rippy_One

            Okay. yeah – semi-solid food is a great idea (and you’re already working that, so go you! What fruit/veggies does he like?) hm…Excited by…how much? can you over-stimulate him into exhaustion? Not a great idea admittedly, on several levels, but it is a thought. If your husband causes that much excitement, yeah, nap assisting is currently out…but, he can still help You, right? Off the top of my head, shoulder rubs brighten my day immensely…

            I’m not sure what else to tell you. There are plenty of things I can think to try, but I’m not a trained professional, I don’t know your situation well enough, and my suggestions would be…without malicious fore-thought, at least, but I wouldn’t go to much farther than that, because your circumstances seem pretty unique.