Cute
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February 29, 2008
February 28, 2008
On The Move
Adlai can't quite figure out how to get the top half of his body to roll with the bottom half. When the top half and the bottom half start working together, he'll be rolling over. In the mean time, he has started to scoot up when on his back by digging his heels into the bed/floor and pushing. When he's really enthusiastic, he can move about a foot in five to ten minutes.
February 27, 2008
In the Middle of the Night
Adlai: Cries.
Hava: Jumps out of bed, confused. "I need to get the stuff."
Matthew: Jumps out of bed, confused. "What stuff?:
Hava: Shuffling into the hallway. "The umm stuff. The thing for his mouth. The MILK!"
Matthew: Shuffles quickly to the fridge.
Hava: Reaches Adlai. Realizes she IS the milk.
Matthew: Reaches fridge. Can't find milk. Goes to Adlai's room.
Hava: Standing in doorway still realizing she is the milk and not sure what to do about it. Scolds Matthew for not understanding the situation.
Matthew: Goes back to bed. Dreams of replacing wife.
February 26, 2008
Brain Development
After an initial four hours of sleep, Adlai spent the rest of the night waking every two hours with an insane desire for milk. My nap will be had later - or not if it remains warm and sunny.
On the Simon front, over the past few days, we've seen a renewed abilty to use the potty (for no. 2) and toilet (for no. 1). He has also been (mostly) sleeping through the night and has started drawing representational art (his hair "when it is long", treasure maps, etc.). We told him a long time ago we'd take him to Disneyland when he has been in underpants full time for a week. After Adlai was born and Simon was "challenging" we were starting to think we might make it to Disneyland some time in 2010. (The Disneyland thing, along with almost everything else, has proved not to be a big incentive. Simon is using the toilet for stuffed characters from Blue's Clues - already on order.)
February 24, 2008
The Party Weekend and New Tricks
Adlai has been working on some new moves over the past few days and tonight he perfected the routine. When he's tired he places his right hand on his forehead, makes a fist, drags the fist down to his right eye and rubs his eye back and forth.
Adlai has been giving smiles and coos to everyone this weekend. The mobile is still his favorite thing on Earth; he even laughs when the animals stop moving and waits patiently for a while, as if they are trying to fool him, before becoming upset. His new hair appears to be coming in brown and his blue eyes are stunning.
Simon and Adlai went to three parties this weekend. Simon had a good time at all of them but it was dining with the over-40 crowd which delighted him the most. It's strange to watch him interact with the different groups. He's calm, comfortable, polite, and happy around adults. He's full of energy, noise, and often disappointment around kids. He hasn't had any problems with pushing at school lately but, when he was, the pushing mostly seemed to occur when he was disappointed with the push-ees behavior. Not sharing makes Simon REALLY angry as does another child yelling at him or telling him he can't have something he's already playing with. We adults? We actually like to share our toys.
February 23, 2008
Mama Time
One week a year Matthew stops playing with the three-year-old crowd and celebrates his adulthood by hanging out with gamers at the Game Developers Conference. That was Wednesday thru Friday of this past week. We know we're very fortunate to have *both* of us around for Adlai's first few months. I'm not sure how most people manage when they have two children and are immediately in charge of both by themselves full time. It's terrifying - especially after this week.
Wednesday things went really well. I managed to be domestically inclined while making sure both boys were entertained without the use of the DVD player. We walked around the neighborhood and went puddle stopping. We played "Mama's Kitchen" - a new made-up game where we call each other "Sir", order using a bell, and are sickeningly polite all through lunch. We picked up Grammy from the train in the late afternoon and went birthday present shopping for friends before a trip to Simon's favorite restaurant, Cafe Yulong. At the end of the day, I really wanted an award.
It was Thursday when everything fell apart. All I had to do was get Simon to and from school on time, let him relax in front of some Blue's Clues, and feed him some dinner. Simple! Unfortunately, he was exhausted when I arrived at school in the afternoon and refused to leave with me. With Adlai in the front carrier, I couldn't pick Simon up so I had to coax him to stand and then drag him to the car. Once we were home I took Adlai out of the car and Simon took off down the street. Yelling at him didn't work so I opened the house, dropped an already crying Adlai off in his car seat and ran after Simon. By the time I caught up with him he was turning the corner about ten houses away. With a burst of energy I grabbed him and we both fell to the ground. To put it mildly, we were not happy with each other after that. Imagine the worst; screaming, yelling, tears. Simon told me to go back to work. It was a new low.
Friday was better. I should mention that Simon has been going to sleep at 7 pm and waking up in the morning between 4 and 6 am since Wednesday so most of the problem has been extreme exhaustion. By Friday at 9 am he was so tired that he could hardly stand. DVDs were watched. MANY DVDs were watched. And then Simon's sitter came over for a few hours to play with him which cheered him immensely. We even made a surprise dinner for Daddy at "Simon's Restaurant" of "meatlow" (meatloaf - one of Simon's new favorite things).
Today we attended a birthday party for two friends and left at Adlai's second nap time (12:30 pm) to drive Simon to sleep. Both boys slept until 3 pm. It's after 9:30 pm now and Simon still can't fall asleep because of that nap but at least he isn't likely to be up before the sun (although the sunrise this morning was spectacular).
Tomorrow we'll be celebrating at another birthday party just before meeting up with a group of friends for dinner. Monday we're celebrating Simon's sleeping through the night fourteen times with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.
Adlai continues to be a happy and, more importantly, happy-to-be-sleeping baby. He's also starting to drool.
February 19, 2008
A First
Today Adlai started blowing raspberries.
February 18, 2008
Adlai the Two Month Old
Today Adlai turned two months old. There wasn't much fanfare - just the traditional boppy photo shoot. He is working really hard at rolling over using his legs, has grown out of his 0-3 month clothes, and is pooping five of fewer times a day. The upside of this is that he rarely poops at night (when he does the lights have to come on which makes it hard to get him back to sleep). The downside of this is that his diapers almost always fail to contain the explosion. He is also spitting up more these days. Hooray for laundry machines. His schedule is solidifying a little; he eats twice in the night, wakes up for the day between 6 and 7 am (although I can often get him to sleep until 8 by snuggling) and he always naps at 9 am and two or three other big chunks during the day. He goes to sleep for the night between 7 and 8 pm.
I haven't lost any weight lately despite a healthy diet and vigorous exercise routine, still have a light linea negra on my belly, and am starting the post-pregnancy shed. My super healthy head of hair is not looking or feeling so nice and will be clogging our new pipes very soon. Ahhh, isn't the aftermath of pregnancy great.
February 16, 2008
Love, Sleep, and Fun
We've been really busy over the past couple of days (and the fun isn't over yet). On Valentine's Day Simon came home from his preschool party to take part in our family party. We decorated the house with Simon valentine art, baked our traditional valentine cookie, ate a big dinner (where Simon discovered that meatballs are mmmm good), and opened "love" presents. We gave Simon a book but Adlai went ALL OUT and gave Simon the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and an additional two characters. Adlai didn't actually get anything but love and affection from all of us and gratitude from his big brother. At bedtime Simon said he wants to buy Adlai a glow-in-the-dark star pacifier - now that's love.
Here are photos of the 2008 cookie experience:
Our initials now spell MASH, SHAM, or HAMS.
Yesterday was the busiest day we've had in a long time. In the morning Simon and Matthew went to a play based on one of our favorite books, "How I Became a Pirate." And, after the play and lunch, we took Simon to the Hiller Aviation Museum.
Simon flew a helicopter, a Blue Angels jet, and a 747 before we bought a kite and drove to a park in Foster City for some kite flying (which didn't really work out but was fun anyway). After the park, Simon was treated to McDonalds just before spending a couple of hours at the OCLC (formerly RLG) open house (my former employer of eight years has moved to San Mateo). The boys were both spoiled with RLG-ish attention and both collapsed into bed shortly after we got home. Adlai slept seven hours, woke up to eat, and went right back down for another four hours. Simon slept all night long. Ahhhh.
And right now? We're going to have a formal tea with our little friends. Wish us luck.
February 13, 2008
A Valentine Kiss
Happy Valentine's Day.
February 12, 2008
The Eight Week Old
Adlai brought in the his eight-week-ness by sleeping from 8 pm to 3 am with only one pacifier reinsertion. That is seven hours - a good long stretch for someone his age. Unfortunately, he was awake from 3 am to 6 am eating and pooping and spitting up and then eating and pooping again but, hey, one of these days I may get to sleep all night long. There is hope.
In other happy news, I packed up all my maternity pants and placed them in the give away pile this afternoon. It isn't pretty, my waist still has some shrinking to do, but I can manage to squeeze into all of my normal pants. The chocolate party isn't scheduled until the "Adlai roll" is gone.
February 10, 2008
An Early Valentine Weekend
The problem with having a newborn, no matter how easy the newborn, is that there are very few moments of relaxation. Now that we have two children, the bird, and ourselves to look after, relaxation really just isn't happening. Laundry, dishes, changing diapers, getting exercise, bathing, and making sure everyone is fed seem to take up all of our time. So really, everything is going well, we're just not having a whole heck of a lot of fun.
Saturday we made it out of Mountain View and into San Francisco for the first time since Adlai's birth. It was sunny and warm and clear and perfect. We left the kids with the Feefadders and walked over for a long lunch with an Alcatraz view. It was the first time we'd both left Adlai and HOLY COW was it nice. After lunch we drove our brand spankin' new (to us) Valentine-red Toyota Matrix home. The having one car thing felt ecological but with two kids, two jobs, and two adults who like to get out alone on occasion, it was starting to become too much of an organizational challenge.
Today we threw a Valentine party for our Las Madres group. Everything turned out well in the end but If it hadn't been for the second car, there would have been a lot of hungry people. I'm not sure we'll be throwing any more parties until our schedules (and our kids) are a little more predictable.
Adlai is cooing more and pooping less. He enjoys batting at toys and looking at ceiling fixtures. He's working on rolling over and is very proud of his fists. I've been spending half of each night in the same room with him because, in the wee hours, he can't seem to keep the pacifier in and he doesn't like to fall back to sleep without it. After two or three trips in the dark from our bed to his crib, I give up and pass out in his room.
Simon has been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately. He has also been congested at night and in the morning since his last cold. On the surface, he continues to think Adlai is the greatest. We're looking forward to the day when he thinks we're great too.
February 06, 2008
An Admission and An Appointment
It's been a busy past 24 hours. For the first time in two months, we all slept in our own beds. If it hadn't been so painful, it would have made a great comedic scene:
11:30 pm: Adlai cries, Hava shuffles from her room into the hall, trips on shoes, then a toy, curses, gets to Adlai and stuffs pacifier back in
11:45 pm: Adlai cries. Hava feeds Adlai.
Midnight: Adlai poops. Hava changes Adlai, goes into bathroom to wash hands. Trips over toy which landed in the bathroom after previous tripping. Hava curses toy and returns to give Adlai a second boob.
12:30 am: Hava returns to her room
12:35 am: Simon cries. Matthew shuffles into Simon's room.
12:40: am: Adlai cries. Hava shuffles into Adlai's room.
12:41 am: Hava shuffles into Simon's room after reinserting pacifier into Adlai's mouth.
12:45 am: we all return to bed.
1:30 am: Adlai cries. Matthew shuffles...
And it went on and on and on like that until morning. I'm not sure "sleeping" in a separate room from Adlai is a good idea at this point. Sleep seems like a better option. We did order a comfy glider for Adlai and, once it arrives, the bed will have to go.
After we all woke up and managed to make it into the car for Adlai's two-month check-up, Simon revealed that he would really like to send Adlai back from whence he came. Not only that but he would like to leave us and be with his friends instead. Simon has been having a very rough (literally) past few days with his friends and his teacher suggested the new sibling thing might be the problem. It seems her theory could be correct. Simon did, however, comfort the wee Adlai mere moments after these declarations. He's clearly conflicted.
And, back to Adlai. The boy has grown three inches since birth making him 23 inches tall (71st percentile) and weighing in at 10 lbs. 6 ounces (35th percentile). He had seven vaccinations which he tolerated fairly well until the Tylenol wore off. He's had a low fever and the sleepy crankies all day. Grandma Whee is here from New York and she, the Feefadders and I took turns holding him on and off all afternoon and evening.
I promise that we have been taking photos - I've just been too distracted to upload. Tomorrow is another day...
February 05, 2008
Seven Weeks of "WOW WHAT A GREAT BABY"
Adlai is seven weeks old today. He's cute. He sleeps in his crib. He puts himself to sleep in his crib. He's cute. He coos and smiles. He enjoys batting at toys in the baby gym. He amost has a set schedule. He eats well. He poops well.
And? He's cute!
February 03, 2008
News You Can't Use
Adlai B. is becoming less newborny. He poops slightly less often, is awake more often, is sleeping in his crib at night without complaint, batting at toys, acquiring some semblance of a schedule, and is very nearly bald. Getting him to spend the night in the crib was easy once he stopped pooping every ten minutes and once we realized that he prefers to be very very warm. He LOVES his pacifier and falls asleep without rocking or nursing as long as he can suck suck suck! He would very much like to roll over and stand on his own.
Simon's anger has dissipated. He is back to his normal level of 3-year-old angst. His swim teachers are mighty impressed with his new "swimming" skills including putting his face in the water and, keeping his ears below his shoulders while in a back float. In a very typical Simonial move, he took apart his lamp yesterday, electrocuted himself, and then ran out of his room to ask us to give it a try because it was JUST SO FUN! He is now lamp-less. He is enjoying all of the rain because it means "big 'ol puddles" and getting soaking wet and filthy at every chance. And getting to the car without coming across a puddle? Not easy.