Last weekend, our fabulous friends the Bumps came to town and met Mr. L, played with Mr. A, and a fabulous time was had by all. They brought a quilt made by Mrs. Bump (the quilter, not the runner). L has a quilt made just for him! And it's gorgeous and useful in the cold we've been having.
All our visitors have had the sucky weather. Both the Bumps and the grandparents got stuck with the cold snaps, and now we're in the middle of the deluge. Today we even had bean-bag-filler hail, so it's pretty serious for weather here. No signs of flooding for us, which is good, and no signs of ants, which is the bad part about days of rain.
It was the training-wheel week this week, where A went back to school (happy A) while C had one more week before returning to work. I've been alone with L and alone with A and L a couple times, so we'll see how next week goes. A s so thrilled to be in school again and we're thrilled to be back on a more normal schedule for life and naps.
I realized this week that the thank you notes are still sitting half-composed in piles on our bookcases. Christmas cards are a lost cause. Oy.
L is six weeks old and quite the snuggler. He's having a growth spurt, because he's been nursing a lot and is unhappy to be out of my arms for very long. He's gassier than A was (is this rude to report?). I'm starting to eliminate the obvious gassy things from my diet (onions, broccoli, etc.), but I'm a-feared that there will be a dairy-fast in the near future. I have the diet of a Northern European milkmaid: milk and cereal, cheese and bread, cheese and apples, yogurt and fruit, and more milk. I'm not sure what I will eat for protein when I don't have milk (beans? that seems contraindicated by the gassiness).
Showing posts with label visits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label visits. Show all posts
Friday, January 22, 2010
Monday, January 04, 2010
Holiday recap
In retrospect, having a baby before Christmas is super and I highly recommend it as the ultimate experiment in letting go of all your expectations.
Christmas was very low-key here. Being the Type-A personality I am, all the critical wrapping for A was done months and months ago, so we went to bed pretty normally for people with a newborn on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning we actually slept in and stayed in our PJs all day.
Grandma and Grandpa came to town the next day, which was wonderful. They had snuggle time with L (Grandma is smitten), play time with A (so many many books read so many times), and cleaned our bathroom and kitchen (which is both mortifying and fabulous). Grandma and A baked cookies, which thrilled them both; Grandpa and A took a walk together, which was great. A had his new camera, the hit present from Grandma and Grandpa, and the entire walk is documented.
How's the sleep? Well, C fell asleep playing a video game in the middle of the day. Playing a video game. That's how the sleep is.
So far (note the caution), the only things that make L cry are wet diapers, diaper changes (so cold and rude) and city driving in the car (so stop-and-go). He's been super easy-going. He's been so easy-going that I've been worried that he's dehydrated and has brain damage, but he's got tons of wet and dirty diapers, super chubby cheeks, and periods of being awake and alert, so it's not that. He's just a mellow little guy.
I'm still healing. I hit frustration at the 4-week point, where I said, okay, I should be done with the healing because I'm sick of being out of commission. It turns out I'm not done with healing. I'm still sore, dependent on meds for activity, and easily tired. But C is still on paternity leave and we're taking things extremely easy, so I'm trying to just enjoy this time and focus on L.
Baby announcements went out, which was an accomplishment. Christmas cards were in various stages of being written when L arrived, so those may or may not make it into the mail. (I'm not re-opening already-written ones to add L's name and photo to the card. I'm not.) Babies first, parents next, everything else after that. You may be getting your cards in March.
Christmas was very low-key here. Being the Type-A personality I am, all the critical wrapping for A was done months and months ago, so we went to bed pretty normally for people with a newborn on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning we actually slept in and stayed in our PJs all day.
Grandma and Grandpa came to town the next day, which was wonderful. They had snuggle time with L (Grandma is smitten), play time with A (so many many books read so many times), and cleaned our bathroom and kitchen (which is both mortifying and fabulous). Grandma and A baked cookies, which thrilled them both; Grandpa and A took a walk together, which was great. A had his new camera, the hit present from Grandma and Grandpa, and the entire walk is documented.
How's the sleep? Well, C fell asleep playing a video game in the middle of the day. Playing a video game. That's how the sleep is.
So far (note the caution), the only things that make L cry are wet diapers, diaper changes (so cold and rude) and city driving in the car (so stop-and-go). He's been super easy-going. He's been so easy-going that I've been worried that he's dehydrated and has brain damage, but he's got tons of wet and dirty diapers, super chubby cheeks, and periods of being awake and alert, so it's not that. He's just a mellow little guy.
I'm still healing. I hit frustration at the 4-week point, where I said, okay, I should be done with the healing because I'm sick of being out of commission. It turns out I'm not done with healing. I'm still sore, dependent on meds for activity, and easily tired. But C is still on paternity leave and we're taking things extremely easy, so I'm trying to just enjoy this time and focus on L.
Baby announcements went out, which was an accomplishment. Christmas cards were in various stages of being written when L arrived, so those may or may not make it into the mail. (I'm not re-opening already-written ones to add L's name and photo to the card. I'm not.) Babies first, parents next, everything else after that. You may be getting your cards in March.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
The calm before the storm
It's Saturday. C is better but not great; still sounds like he's going to cough up a lung every now and again. A and I avoided the flu, so I'm thrilled.
Today is the deep breath before the plunge of this week. Tomorrow I am going to meetings, meetings, meetings: San Diego Writers Ink, followed by the plumeria society. That'll take me from 9AM to 5PM pretty easily, if not longer. C and A are going to a Padres game. It's both of their first baseball games. A and I are doing the summer reading program at the library and for reading twenty books with Mommy, he got two tickets to the Padres. Go A! They're playing the Mets; I'm a little jealous of C.
The grandparents roll into town at Wednesday midnight, so there is shopping and cleaning that needs to happen between then and now. Wednesday my fabulous friend JJ offered to take A off my hands in the morning for a playdate so I can house clean and bake a cake, plus A has speech therapy that day. Plus the grandparents will be getting there late.
Thursday we're jam-packed with preschool and grandparents and my twenty(-two, nice scheduling there, guys) week ultrasound. Friday C's off work but I'm sure we'll be busy running around and doing party prep.
Saturday will be the official birthday party for the little boy. We are not bounce housing or petting zoo-ing or anything like that. Brunch at home, wading pool on the lawn, a pinata, and cake, of course. "A Dora pinata, Mommy," I was told this morning. Right. Dora.
And then the whole whirlwind will be over. So this time next week, I should be a lot more relaxed.
Today is the deep breath before the plunge of this week. Tomorrow I am going to meetings, meetings, meetings: San Diego Writers Ink, followed by the plumeria society. That'll take me from 9AM to 5PM pretty easily, if not longer. C and A are going to a Padres game. It's both of their first baseball games. A and I are doing the summer reading program at the library and for reading twenty books with Mommy, he got two tickets to the Padres. Go A! They're playing the Mets; I'm a little jealous of C.
The grandparents roll into town at Wednesday midnight, so there is shopping and cleaning that needs to happen between then and now. Wednesday my fabulous friend JJ offered to take A off my hands in the morning for a playdate so I can house clean and bake a cake, plus A has speech therapy that day. Plus the grandparents will be getting there late.
Thursday we're jam-packed with preschool and grandparents and my twenty(-two, nice scheduling there, guys) week ultrasound. Friday C's off work but I'm sure we'll be busy running around and doing party prep.
Saturday will be the official birthday party for the little boy. We are not bounce housing or petting zoo-ing or anything like that. Brunch at home, wading pool on the lawn, a pinata, and cake, of course. "A Dora pinata, Mommy," I was told this morning. Right. Dora.
And then the whole whirlwind will be over. So this time next week, I should be a lot more relaxed.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Friday? No, Thursday
It's hard to keep track.
L and K left today, and I have to say we (being all the grownups) were unpleasantly surprised by how little A and L got along. They used to get along fine, but this visit was like a non-stop toddler cage match. They couldn't parallel play or cooperatively play. If one had a toy, the other wanted it. Tug of wars over toys escalated to throwing toys and shoving and hitting.
This was bad. Very bad.
The relatively non-stop screaming was also bad. I think every time C came home, he hit the Advil bottle pretty hard.
Neither of these kids act this way with anyone else. I'd ask at preschool, "Was A acting out today?" No, he was super. It's sad because A and L used to get along fine and after our fabulous visit of last week I thought, two birth class friends, playing together, what could be more fun?
Nope. Fun didn't happen.
Anyway, we're getting back to our normal existence, although tomorrow A has his second audiology exam so normal is relative, I guess.
L and K left today, and I have to say we (being all the grownups) were unpleasantly surprised by how little A and L got along. They used to get along fine, but this visit was like a non-stop toddler cage match. They couldn't parallel play or cooperatively play. If one had a toy, the other wanted it. Tug of wars over toys escalated to throwing toys and shoving and hitting.
This was bad. Very bad.
The relatively non-stop screaming was also bad. I think every time C came home, he hit the Advil bottle pretty hard.
Neither of these kids act this way with anyone else. I'd ask at preschool, "Was A acting out today?" No, he was super. It's sad because A and L used to get along fine and after our fabulous visit of last week I thought, two birth class friends, playing together, what could be more fun?
Nope. Fun didn't happen.
Anyway, we're getting back to our normal existence, although tomorrow A has his second audiology exam so normal is relative, I guess.
Friday, May 01, 2009
ER: the Disneyland edition
The grandparents descended Thursday night to visit, which was lovely. Friday we all went to Disneyland, where we had a good time. We had the little boy-centered itinerary: Winnie the Pooh, Pirates, Buzz, Tarzan's Treehouse, the train.
At the end of the day, as we were talking about going home, I went to put a sweater on A. He was retracting. C and I took A over to First Aid. We walked in and the three RNs on duty took one look at A's breathing and sprang into action. One of them got us into a room while another got an oxygen tank and the third called the paramedics.
So we were sent via ambulance to the ER about 8 or so. I rode with A. He was pretty scared. They hooked him to the gurney and wheeled him out; if I'd been thinking I would have walked ahead of the gurney so he could see me. C followed with the grandparents in the rented minivan.
Anyway, at the ER, they hooked A up to oxygen, albuterol, and steroid treatments. The nurses were really kind to us and the doctor actually had a respiratory therapist come down to administer treatments. A fell asleep around 10 or so.
He ended up having four or five albuterol treatments and three steroid treatments. His oxygen level didn't stabilize until 1AM. At 2, they discharged us. C, A and I spent some time discovering that the 24-hour pharmacies listed on the sheet Disney had given us weren't 24-hour ones, before C and I realized the only take-out restaurant we'd seen open was a Jack-in-the-Box that said, "Open until 3AM," and figured we'd better get something to eat since we hadn't eaten a meal since lunch at 2:30. I went to sleep with A on the sofabed.
A woke up at 6AM and freaked. Strange room, no Daddy (Daddy was sleeping in the other room). C and I got up and calmed him down, changed him (since he was soaked through his one set of clothes), then took him out to get his meds since the doctor had recommended getting drugs into him first thing in the morning. It took forever to find an open pharmacy because the Neverlost navigation system lies.
Anyway, pick up the grandparents, try to have breakfast but decide the host is skeevy and A's beginning to labor his breathing again. Okay. We debate going back to the ER or going to our own pediatrician's office and decide on our pediatrician. We stop by the hotel and get cereal for A and two bad donuts for C and me. C also gets coffee, very important.
We drive from Anaheim down straight to the doctor's where he gets another treatment and is sent home, where he's okay since then. He's been managing with his inhalers since then and has been much better. It's just not exactly the fun weekend with the grandparents we had in mind.
At the end of the day, as we were talking about going home, I went to put a sweater on A. He was retracting. C and I took A over to First Aid. We walked in and the three RNs on duty took one look at A's breathing and sprang into action. One of them got us into a room while another got an oxygen tank and the third called the paramedics.
So we were sent via ambulance to the ER about 8 or so. I rode with A. He was pretty scared. They hooked him to the gurney and wheeled him out; if I'd been thinking I would have walked ahead of the gurney so he could see me. C followed with the grandparents in the rented minivan.
Anyway, at the ER, they hooked A up to oxygen, albuterol, and steroid treatments. The nurses were really kind to us and the doctor actually had a respiratory therapist come down to administer treatments. A fell asleep around 10 or so.
He ended up having four or five albuterol treatments and three steroid treatments. His oxygen level didn't stabilize until 1AM. At 2, they discharged us. C, A and I spent some time discovering that the 24-hour pharmacies listed on the sheet Disney had given us weren't 24-hour ones, before C and I realized the only take-out restaurant we'd seen open was a Jack-in-the-Box that said, "Open until 3AM," and figured we'd better get something to eat since we hadn't eaten a meal since lunch at 2:30. I went to sleep with A on the sofabed.
A woke up at 6AM and freaked. Strange room, no Daddy (Daddy was sleeping in the other room). C and I got up and calmed him down, changed him (since he was soaked through his one set of clothes), then took him out to get his meds since the doctor had recommended getting drugs into him first thing in the morning. It took forever to find an open pharmacy because the Neverlost navigation system lies.
Anyway, pick up the grandparents, try to have breakfast but decide the host is skeevy and A's beginning to labor his breathing again. Okay. We debate going back to the ER or going to our own pediatrician's office and decide on our pediatrician. We stop by the hotel and get cereal for A and two bad donuts for C and me. C also gets coffee, very important.
We drive from Anaheim down straight to the doctor's where he gets another treatment and is sent home, where he's okay since then. He's been managing with his inhalers since then and has been much better. It's just not exactly the fun weekend with the grandparents we had in mind.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Bye, Pooh! Bye, Tigger! Bye, Piglet! Bye, Rabbit...
When we leave the house, we have to say goodbye not only to the cats, but to Pooh and Tigger and the whole Hundred Acre Wood gang because there's a Pooh movie in the house. It makes leaving a long long process.
I'm making a half-assed attempt to clean my own bedroom that has just been derailed by the discovery of my best bra, which I had thought lost forever. Does the fact that I have discovered something that was missing because this room is so terribly cluttered and filthy inspire me towards even greater cleaning? No. It makes me want to have lunch and quit, since now I have accomplished something.
In any case, A is walking around with an apple (and has proudly discovered one of his toys which I have unearthed in the great bedroom cleaning). He just finished speech therapy for the week. His teacher says he's becoming too sophisticated for her toys. He'll play with her toys--in conjunction with his own toys. For example, she had some blocks. He used his dustpan to lift the blocks from the floor into the bed of his dump truck until he decided that was taking too long. Then he dumped the blocks from her box into his truck. He's a smart cookie. His language is getting much, much better.
I got him another haircut, this one more severe. His hair was just too long to keep brushing to the side. He looks a lot older now. I wasn't impressed with this salon either. I think he'll go to Supercuts or something like that or his dad's barber shop, because it's silly to spend so much on a quick trim. I'l ask my stylist how much her kid cuts are, but I can't imagine they are even in a spectrum I'd like to pay.
Not much else to report. I bought plane tickets for our vacation getaway to Oregon for Memorial Day, so now that trip's all set as far as I am concerned. This is the last unplanned weekend we have before two weekends chock-full of activities, so I'm hoping to just relax and mostly enjoy it. And I desperately want my son to have a nap today, because he didn't get one yesterday, and only the fact that he went to preschool so I could have some run-around-and-do-errand time in the morning saved us from complete insanity.
I'm making a half-assed attempt to clean my own bedroom that has just been derailed by the discovery of my best bra, which I had thought lost forever. Does the fact that I have discovered something that was missing because this room is so terribly cluttered and filthy inspire me towards even greater cleaning? No. It makes me want to have lunch and quit, since now I have accomplished something.
In any case, A is walking around with an apple (and has proudly discovered one of his toys which I have unearthed in the great bedroom cleaning). He just finished speech therapy for the week. His teacher says he's becoming too sophisticated for her toys. He'll play with her toys--in conjunction with his own toys. For example, she had some blocks. He used his dustpan to lift the blocks from the floor into the bed of his dump truck until he decided that was taking too long. Then he dumped the blocks from her box into his truck. He's a smart cookie. His language is getting much, much better.
I got him another haircut, this one more severe. His hair was just too long to keep brushing to the side. He looks a lot older now. I wasn't impressed with this salon either. I think he'll go to Supercuts or something like that or his dad's barber shop, because it's silly to spend so much on a quick trim. I'l ask my stylist how much her kid cuts are, but I can't imagine they are even in a spectrum I'd like to pay.
Not much else to report. I bought plane tickets for our vacation getaway to Oregon for Memorial Day, so now that trip's all set as far as I am concerned. This is the last unplanned weekend we have before two weekends chock-full of activities, so I'm hoping to just relax and mostly enjoy it. And I desperately want my son to have a nap today, because he didn't get one yesterday, and only the fact that he went to preschool so I could have some run-around-and-do-errand time in the morning saved us from complete insanity.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Baby love
The horde from Portland has left for home (or should have soon), and we had such a good time with them. C and I finally met baby L, who is a smiley little guy. The most amazing thing were how well A and M played together. Oh my gosh, they are so very very cute. E is going to be as tall as C next time.
A and I met up with the fam in Disneyland yesterday, and in due course of taking turns riding the mountains that the little ones can't ride, I found myself with L in a sling, and A and M tasked to hold hands and stick together so we could ride Pooh. I got numerous compliments on my beautiful baby boy (L) and cute and cheerful twins (A and M)--God bless you mothers of twins out there. M herded A like a Border collie; it was funny to watch.
When we got off of Pooh, both M and A saw Tigger and decided we had to meet him. But Tigger was at the end of his visit time. ("Tigger's going to lunch," I told them.) But as we came around the corner, Pooh was there. So they both waited patiently (very patiently, I must say, for two two-and-a-half year olds) and then ran up to Pooh and gave him a big hug. So cute!
The PhotoPass person was prompting, "A, can you take your fingers out of your mouth?" to get a super picture. M looked at A, grabbed his hand, and pulled his fingers out of his mouth. Priceless.
A didn't want to ride the Haunted Mansion, which was a little strange but we didn't push him to go on it. But of course he loved Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, and it's a small world, as always. And I got to ride Splash and Space Mountain, so life's pretty good.
So I'm glad they came, and I miss them terribly, and I'm taking a quick breath before the next horde descends.
A and I met up with the fam in Disneyland yesterday, and in due course of taking turns riding the mountains that the little ones can't ride, I found myself with L in a sling, and A and M tasked to hold hands and stick together so we could ride Pooh. I got numerous compliments on my beautiful baby boy (L) and cute and cheerful twins (A and M)--God bless you mothers of twins out there. M herded A like a Border collie; it was funny to watch.
When we got off of Pooh, both M and A saw Tigger and decided we had to meet him. But Tigger was at the end of his visit time. ("Tigger's going to lunch," I told them.) But as we came around the corner, Pooh was there. So they both waited patiently (very patiently, I must say, for two two-and-a-half year olds) and then ran up to Pooh and gave him a big hug. So cute!
The PhotoPass person was prompting, "A, can you take your fingers out of your mouth?" to get a super picture. M looked at A, grabbed his hand, and pulled his fingers out of his mouth. Priceless.
A didn't want to ride the Haunted Mansion, which was a little strange but we didn't push him to go on it. But of course he loved Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, and it's a small world, as always. And I got to ride Splash and Space Mountain, so life's pretty good.
So I'm glad they came, and I miss them terribly, and I'm taking a quick breath before the next horde descends.
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