A.B. Kagledom

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.

Posted by kagledom at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy Valentine's Day.

Posted by kagledom at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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.

Posted by kagledom at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by kagledom at 08:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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...

Posted by kagledom at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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!

Posted by kagledom at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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.

Posted by kagledom at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If Adlai had been a girl he would have been named Ivy and he would have looked a lot like this:

Simon bought this outfit for Adlai when he was in the womb. When he saw Adlai wearing it he said "That's the outfit I bought for you because I love you!"

Posted by kagledom at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had my 6 week post-partum checkup this morning and it turns out that I'm just fine. We knew that.

Adlai has been footloose and fancy free with the smiles over the past few days. He smiles at Matthew and I when we smile at him but he also spontaneously smiles at his favorite things: the mobile, the stars painted on the walls of his bedroom, and big brother Simon. Doesn't it seem a bit unfair that those three things are more worthy of smiles than us? We think so too. Simon has at least been appreciative of the love. His affection for Adlai has only increased since the smiles started and Simon was not holding back the love pre-smiles. But the mobile? It even got him to start a chuckle this afternoon which leaves us pondering: why is the mobile so interesting? and, even if it is interesting, why is it funny?

We are pleased to report that Adlai has finished his growth spurt, prefers sleeping over eating again, and finally looks like a baby. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. Instead of posting the photos this evening I went out with friends sans the boys for the first time and it was lovely. I think I very much would like to do it again soon.

Goodnight.

Posted by kagledom at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adlai has been awake and hungry every hour to two hours for the past thirty-six hours. When this is over, I fully expect him to walk over and say "Thank you, Mama. I'm full now."

Posted by kagledom at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Simon's cold is mostly over and Adlai may have managed to avoid the germs. Matthew hasn't been so lucky.

Adlai has now given gummy grins to all three of us and is finding this new trick easier to pull off on a semi-regular basis. He has also developed a talent for making his hands keep the pacifier in his mouth. Some of the time his hands even listen to his brain. His eyes are crossing a lot less and head control is pretty much mastered. As per his usual routine, he has been asleep almost the entire day - waking up long enough to poop and eat.

Up next on the baby agenda is getting Adlai to sleep alone in his room - in the crib. Right now the guest bed is in Adlai's room and he sleeps in the co-sleeper next to me while Matthew is undisturbed (unless by Simon) in our room. We'd like to get the bed out of Adlai's room and make room for a chair where I can nurse in the wee hours. Also? I'd like to have my adult bedtime back.

Posted by kagledom at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Simon was sent home from school today with a bad cold. We're dreading Adlai getting a second cold in two weeks but the spread of germs seems almost inevitable; Simon has no intention of staying away.

Adlai spent more time awake over the past few days and he wasn't happy about it. Matthew suggested last night that we try swaddling him (something we haven't done up to this point) and he went to sleep right away; in fact he slept five and a half hours in a row followed by three sets of three hours and a couple of sets of two hours. He woke up again this evening and, as has become his pattern, ate and ate and ate to store up for a long winter's night. What a great kid!

When he isn't sleeping or screaming for more food, Adlai has started to communicate with language. He can say "meh!" and "oooooh" and even, I kid you not, has said "gah gah" (but not "goo goo"). He came down with cradle cap a couple of days ago and woke up without it this morning. He does, however, have a bad case of male pattern baldness.

He isn't enjoying being carried so much these days. Adlai's bad moods can only be cured via pacifier, "jumping" high in the air, watching the mobile, and warm milk. He has spent some non-crying time in the vibro-chair and the swing but he doesn't fancy either.

Posted by kagledom at 07:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)