Surprises in the night

2 am and I hear it. A chirping. Like a request really. Not so much a demand, but more of a request for attention. I try to ignore it, but I know that the longer I wait, the more insistent the requester will become. After about five minutes I get up and head to the office/impromptu nursery. N is there, eyes open, chirping. Waiting. He knows that I'm coming, and thankfully uses this knowledge to keep the crying at bay. He's very patient.

After unswaddling him and sitting down to feed him, I sort of doze off. It's 2 am and I've been doing this for nearly two months. I'm tired, and he doesn't really need my help to eat anyway - not any more than to just hold him. Suddenly, the little guy arches his little back, scrunches up his little face, and grunts ferociously. He immediately looks relieved and goes on about the business of eating. I don't pay this a lot of mind. He does this from time to time. I'm half asleep anyway.

At least, I was half asleep until I realized that my arm was very warm. My stomach, also warm. Also, what is that smell exactly anyway?

Right. Now my son is quite happily eating and apparently oblivious to the fact that both he and I and the pillow he is laying on are all covered with poo. Who can be bothered with such things when you're drowsy and warm and snuggled up eating?

Apparently I can be bothered. I refused to let 2 am feeding continue until I had cleaned us all and started the washer. This one wasn't like the whole "point it down" incident. I'm not sure HOW we could have avoided this. At least no one ended up with poo in their hair. That would have made things much more complicated.

My knight in wrinkled pjs

This is my fantabulous hubby E. (And my adorable son N.) Now, given that N is just shy of seven weeks old, he's not particularly skilled at sleeping through the night. Since we've decided to breastfeed, there's not a great deal for E to do during the night when N wakes up. He could try, but I'm pretty sure neither of them would find it particularly satisfying. Given the prospect of unsatisfactory feeding and the fact that E is going to work during the day, I've been fielding all nighttime baby business since we got home. The way I figure it, there's not much E could do short of bringing N to me anyway, so it just seemed reasonable to let him sleep. (Especially until I go back to work after the fourth!) Plus, now that N was typically only waking up once or twice in the night, I reasoned that I was starting to recover. Or so I thought.

Because I've had almost seven weeks without more than two and a half to three hours of sleep at a stretch, I'm starting to get delirious. Things that normally wouldn't phase me are ridiculously frustrating. Little nuances that I used to pick up on readily escape me. Needless to say, I was starting to simply exist - I wasn't thriving anymore. My fuzzy head was letting me do whatever I need to do, but really not much else.

Seeing that I was losing the ability to form a coherent sentence, E did perhaps the most chivalrous thing he's done in our entire marriage. The most beautiful words I've ever heard came out of his mouth...

"Honey, why don't you go on to bed? I'll even fill a bottle to take the first feeding."

I couldn't have swooned more if he had slayed a dragon. PLUS - our little man went to bed at 10 pm, woke up at 2 am (and E fed him!) and then he woke up for me at 6 am. I totally got to sleep for a full eight hours. My husband is absolutely the most amazing man of all time.

Tummy time!

Yay!

Now that we've had N around for a while, we're all starting to get comfortable together. We've figured out some of the things he likes a lot. For example, he really likes to be hoisted over your shoulder, a lot like a bag of flour. So when I walk around with him, I hold him this way. He likes it.

One word of caution. Holding a baby who has just eaten over your shoulder in such a manner can result in spit up down your back. I fully knew this, but did it anyway. I just accepted that I would periodically have to change my shirt. What I never expected was to have spit up run all the way down my back, into not just my shorts, but also my undies. This required a full wardrobe change.

So I still carry the little man around like a sack of flour. Just not immediately after meals.

Little things that thrill ya

After over a year of books-stacked-unceremoniously-on-the-floor, E and I decided it was high time to purchase shelves for them to live on. Tah-dah! Faulkner? You don't have to live under Calvin and Hobbes. Digital Signal Processing? No longer will you live next to the paperback we picked up at the airport. It's salve for our obsessive compulsive selves. Everything is organized. There are sections for everything. Textbooks, check. Religious books, over there. Books that make us think are just below books that let us escape from thinking. After a year of seeing all our beloved books wasting away on the office floor, this is certainly a nice change of pace. I'm sure they appreciate it too.

We got an extra bookshelf for the living room that currently houses all of our photo albums and new photos of our little man. Over all I think we really scored. They've even got mood lighting, which, as it turns out, it an excellent way to check on the little man in the middle of the night.

Speaking of that - last night he went down at 10 pm, got up at 2 am, then got up at 5 am. After six weeks of much more chopped up nights, it was like heaven. Let's hope it continues!

One other thing to note. We have doves. Two of them. They've taken up roost in the window above our front door, under the shade of the porch. I'm not really sure what to do about them, but it was kind of exciting discovering them there. I don't want to deal with any more poo than I'm currently handling though (diapers, anyone?) so I might have to find a way to relocate them to one of our trees. Ideas?

My boys

Here are some recent pictures of our little man. He really enjoys having E around on the weekends. I do too! This weekend E took over baby duties and let me go shopping all by myself! It's pretty incredible what two hours out on your own will do for your sanity. Thanks to E, I was refreshed and ready for another week. Love you buddy!

N typically crashes out around 7 pm in the evening. This is right after one of his meals and right before he's supposed to take a bath. Sometimes it's hard to get him moving, but fortunately for us, N loves baths and always wakes up in a good mood when we dip him in the warm water. E was trying to wake him up, but it was kind of fruitless.


As we've mentioned before, there's something fun about styling our little guy's hair. We call this one the "Danny Zuko" a la John Travolta in Grease. I don't really think it works for him. Plus, moments after this photo it all fell back to normal. It's not like we're using gel or anything.

N likes to help with chores, so this weekend when E was doing yardwork, we came outside to supervise. He sleeps on the job from time to time, but I figure that's allowed.

The biggest N news as of late is that we've moved N out of our room! I'm still reticent to walk up and down the stairs multiple times per night, so instead of moving up to his room, he's upgraded to the office. When he's only waking up once per night we can move him upstairs, but I don't want to go up and down two or three times (or more!) during the night. Zoee is still very protective. N is napping in the Pack-n-Play in this photo and Zoee was in her position - protecting him. She's a very good dog.

It's never too early to start...

There are all kinds of chores that always need doing at a house. The grass needs mowing. It's time to vaccuum. You get the idea. Wanting to contribute, N has taken to doing the laundry. Good job little man! We're going to have to work on sock folding and actually hanging things up, but he's definitely a fan of clean laundry.

In other news, our little man has managed to roll over three times! Does it count if he's on his belly and gets really REALLY angry and flings himself over to his back then looks really surprised at himself? We're going to say it does. No more hanging out on the ottoman for you. The last thing we need is for you to fling yourself off of it in a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde fit.

He's pretty incredible. If I could learn to do so many new things in only five and a half weeks... Who knows what I could accomplish!

The "Peyton"

If you remember, E and I have taken to styling N's hair. E likes to call this one "The Peyton". However, he pointed out that Peyton Manning would never let his hair get so long as to go over his ears and made a desperate plea for me to allow him to cut N's hair. I figure the little man should at least be able to hold up his own head before we go to chopping off his golden locks.

Oh, and to clarify - E doesn't hate the swing necessarily. He hates the fact that the swing is decorated with animals who make no sense together. Polar bears = North Pole. Penguins = South Pole. Tropical fish = equator. It just kills him to see things like this, but he figures he can use the swing to teach Nathan more about his favorite topic ever - animals.

Summer in Texas

Summer in Texas means mini-watermelon. Zoee is in heaven.

We've had an exhausting couple of weeks. Four weeks, five days, to be exact. Yes, that is how many days N has been in the world. And yes, we've loved every exhausting minute of it - even the ones that we couldn't wait to be over. (Crying at 3 am? Really little man, we all like to sleep at that time.) Because we've had so much fun, we've been pooped. N and E took a nap to relax and recoup from some recent excitement.

N's latest and greatest discovery... He's able to hold on to things. His favorite thing to hold onto is his pacifier. He really likes sitting in his swing and holding on to his pacifier. As a complete aside - E really hates this swing and as also sees it as an opportunity for teaching. Notice that N is leaning back against a polar bear. Next to the polar bear is very clearly - a penguin. This drives E crazy, but he has pointed out that he can teach N just how very wrong this is.

We've started having a lot of tummy time. N and E really enjoy hanging out on the floor. N thinks this is great for N. He doesn't so much love the term "tummy time". He prefers referring to this as "exercise".

Sometimes N loves tummy time. Sometimes N hates tummy time. Fortunately, during this particular session he was happy and excited. We managed to catch two of his newest feats at the same time. He's smiling AND holding on to a toy. E thinks he's very advanced. I think he's adorable. Regardless, he's one of the cutes pictures we've caught so far.

Our "first" child

Since bringing N home, Zoee has been super attentive to his needs. Since she's our "first" child by five years, we're trying very hard to not neglect her, despite the demands of parenthood. I think she realizes this, so she tries very hard to be patient with us and to help us out. One way of helping is to make sure everything is good with the little man.

For example - all tummy time is carefully supervised by Zoee. If any unexpected noises occur, she's quick to jump up and inform me of the little guy's need for attention. Notice below - she's watching me instead of him. This is because I got too close without announcing myself. Zoee had to make sure I was allowed near the little man.
She also offers suggestions about breastfeeding. I don't put much stock in her breastfeeding advice given she's got no experience. Plus, well, she's a dog. I pretend to listen though, because she's really trying to help. Good dog.

Also, remember how we read to N before we put him to bed? One of his books is called Bad Dog, Marley by John Grogan. It's the same guy who wrote Marley and Me. Anyway, there is a section of the book where all the characters say, "Bad dog Marley!" over and over again. Every time we get to that part, Zoee comes slinking in the room with big sad eyes, as if to say "I was just sleeping - what the heck did I do?". We've modified the passage to read "No Marley!". N can't read right now anyway and it saves our helpful puppy a lot of grief. Good dog Zoee!

N's first road trip

This weekend was a big trip for all of us. For the first time in his three and a half weeks of life, N packed it up and went with us on a road trip to my grandparents. Turns out that driving an hour and a half with E, Zoee, and me is much less complicated than travelling with E, Zoee, me, and N. N has more paraphernalia than most minor league hockey teams. After jamming the car full of all sorts of baby items, Zoee was demoted to riding in the cargo area with the Pack-n-Play, and E ended up riding in the back with N. I got to drive (yay!) with all the luggage in the front. Despite this, I'm still rebelling against the notion of a minivan. Even one with racing stripes.
Anyway, my mom and stepdad drove in for the visit (read: to see their grandson) and Mom had created a fabulous cake in honor of moms everywhere. I'm very impressed with her cake-preparation skills. Thanks Mom!

After we got home, I was feeding N and hanging out with E on the couch. N finished eating and then I spent a little time bouncing him around. (He quite likes being jiggled.) After a few minutes, I decided that since I hang out with the little guy all week, I should let E have some fun. I handed him over, and he immediately spit up all over the place. Er, all over E. Then he got really upset and proceeded to cry quite a bit and require a diaper change.
E accuses me of filling up the baby and shaking him up like a soda can in some kind of sick baby spit-up joke. I have to admit, it was pretty hilarious - even though I will defend to my grave that I didn't do it on purpose.

Hormones...

Today at 11:30 am I found myself feeding the baby, eating lunch, and watching reruns of Full House. I've done pretty well being at home with Zoee and the little man - not too many episodes of post-pregnancy hormonal breakdowns. However, today as I watched Danny and Vicky break off their engagement because she was taking a job in New York and couldn't live in San Francisco with the whole gang, I found myself tearing up. Poor Danny and Vicky. I FEEL for them. It's AWFUL! Wait, isn't this an episode of a comedy from my childhood?

I might as well be crying at Kodak commercials.

Fortunately the next commercial was for Blue Bell ice cream.

It's almost time for the little man's nap too - which means it's just about time for me to hit the treadmill and resume the closet clean-out. Only if he actually goes to sleep though. Keep your fingers crossed. I'm not particularly good at napping myself, so I'm trying to be productive while he sleeps. It's amazing how long it takes to do things now with a little man to take care of. He's so handsome and easy to talk to, but he is a little clingy. Fine for a baby, not so great for a date.

Pops and Gigi

N has discovered the fun and excitement of elephants, crocodiles, and zebras. It's only fitting, given that E loves all things animal. N has already learned the difference between crocodiles, alligators, and caimans. It's pretty interesting to walk into the living room and find E gazing at Animal Planet, explaining to N (who doesn't actually watch TV) about whatever animal is being shown at the time. By the time N is four I fully expect him to know all the finer nuances of the animal kingdom. To prepare N for the many trips to the zoo, aquarium, etc., he's been spending time in his bouncy animal chair. I'm pretty sure he favors the elephant, but it remains to be seen.
In other news, Pops and Gigi came to visit N this past weekend. It was a pretty exciting visit, so Pops and N took an afternoon nap together. Gigi cooked us a fabulous dinner. It was really great, except for the part where our ninja baby was inconsolable in the evening. He's been much better since. I'm hoping it's not sushi upsetting his tummy, but we'll have to test again to know one way or the other. What child of mine wouldn't love super white tuna? Hopefully he's good with sushi next time. We'll need a few days before we're ready to take the chance again. I hate seeing him so upset like that!