July 27, 2010

Now That THAT'S Over

Because it's clearly over right? The whole phase-changing life gets flipped right on top of itself thing that whispers softly in your ear "you're doing a great job and it's all coming together" only to grab your ponytail and dunk you face first in to the toilet for a good 'ol fashioned swirly mere moments later. Over. Yeah.

Well it may not be over, but some good news is that our pediatrician is still claiming that I'm doing a decent job. Ash (AKA Master of the Universe) seems to be potty trained and Leni (AKA I'll sleep whenever the hell I want thankyouverymuch even if that doesn't include the hours of 10PM-3AM) is growing like a weed. She even officially made it on to the newborn growth chart today weighing in at 6lbs 14oz. Not bad seeing as she's still supposed to be inside me for another 8 days. Sure, it's been a while since I've shaved my legs or played any sort of active role in an adult conversation, but I have mastered the art of the "I'm a sincere listener" head nod and ability to keep eyes open just long enough for the other participants to assume I'm totally engaged. Totally. And did you read the first part of the paragraph? The doc said I was doing a DECENT job! Champagne toast at my house!

So anyhow.

The plan was for me to be hyper productive during my maternity leave and do things like clean out / organize / rearrange the play room, actually keep up with the mail (you laugh, but have you ever seen the inside of a self employed photographer's mailbox?), and maybe even clean out the XYZ (insert pretty much anything as it's been AGES since we've cleaned out... anything). So far my accomplishments include:

*Both children are fed and dressed by 8:15AM
*Both children are in their PJ's and read to by 9:00PM (don't let this fool you, there's plenty more fun to be had with Ms Sleeps When She Wants To during our nightly afterparties)

Not bad if you ask me. Those other things on that other list will still be there tomorrow...

July 21, 2010

Just Kidding

I should have known better. Publicly admitting to making progress is just asking, no, screaming for that very progress to come to a screeching halt, no, actually go in reverse. I haven't backtracked completely to corner #2, thankfully I am still on my way to corner #3 and making somewhat forward progress. It just looks a bit more like a zig-zag at the moment with lots of breaks. Lots.

But.

That real me I referred to in that last post? Still somewhere out there, just not completely reattached as of yet. It was fun to have a moment of confidence though. To actually see what's going on around me and ponder and reflect rather than the reactive state my mind has been locked in to for the last 4 1/2 weeks that's gotten amazingly accurate at catching newborn projectile body fluids in mid air. Not exactly great mental prep for digesting the entirety of the Sunday NY Times.

Anyhow.

The point is that a corner was indeed rounded, but I've a long way to go before closing the perimeter.

New goals for the week:

#1: Place more online orders for adult mystery novels and political nonfiction books than online orders at Diapers.com.
#2: Actually read one of the adult mystery novels or political nonfiction books instead of scouring the Internet for answers to questions about sibling jealousy, adoption attachment specific to major life events (bringing home baby sister), "normal" newborn eating/pooping behaviors, and infant developmental milestone timelines.
#3: Leave the house alone, at least once, for at least an hour.

That should set me on a pretty decent course to make progress towards corner #3. There I go again making public comment about potential progress-making...I'm so screwed.

July 20, 2010

Corner #2

We turned corner #1 the day we came home from the hospital (which seems like ages ago at this point), and this week I can confidently say that corner #2 is done and dusted. The real question, of course, is exactly which geometric figure we're working on navigating and how many corners it has. My best guess is that we're looking at a Myriagon (10,000 sided polygon) but only time will tell.

So, more about corner #2:

This week I finally began feeling like my real self again. The kind of person who can wake up, take a shower (1 child wheeled into the bathroom in the bassinet and 1 child staring mindlessly into the world of The Little Einsteins in the next room), get everyone dressed, drop child #1 off at school while nearly simultaneously feeding child #2 (if it weren't for car seat regulations I'd invest time in figuring out a way to feed while driving...), stop for coffee, run to the store for items A, B, and C that we seem to be running out of daily, and return home for child #2's next feeding to be completed mere moments before it's time to go pickup child #1 from school. All while singing a tune in the shower, enjoying the songs on the radio, and having the most brilliant conversation in the car about turtles and airplanes that you've ever heard ever.

Compare this with a week ago when toothpaste was accidentally applied as shampoo and I nearly drove off the road when attempting to both breath and make a left turn all at the same time and well, you'll start to understand what I mean when I say I'm now feeling like my real person. You know, one that can play hide-and-go-seek with one child and breastfeed the other while making phone calls for dinner reservations and booking holiday travel plans online.

Corner #2, it was nice to meet you. Onward and forward.


July 15, 2010

July 12, 2010

3 Weeks Later

I must admit that 3 weeks ago had you told me this picture would be reality 3 weeks later I would have cheers'd to your unmistakable case of the crazies. Yet here we are, 3 weeks later and it's July 2010 and we grew by +1 LAST MONTH and LAST MONTH we became a family of 4 and it's summer 2010 and we have an 18 day old daughter and it happened LAST MONTH. My grasp on reality is quite obviously having a bit of a challenge keeping up with the events of LAST MONTH. None of this was supposed to happen until August yet June came along and decided to kick August's ass, and quite frankly did one hell of a job. So, please forgive me if I seem to regard the above picture as more of a projection than reflection, my mind doesn't seem to take to being catapulted into the future quite as well as my uterus.

So, where are we now that it's 3 weeks later?

Ash is an amazing older brother. He is (understandably) attention seeking and is (understandably) pushing every limit he can wrap his willful little hands around. He also asks to kiss his baby sister at least twice an hour and continues to amaze us with new talents every single day like memorizing the words to new songs after hearing them only once, swimming on his own in the pool at school, and hosting the most incredible imaginary play sessions.

Leni is an amazing little sister. She is (understandably) working on things like digestion and (understandably) prefers to eat every 1 1/2 to 3 hours. She also fixates more on her big brother than any other person and continues to amaze us with new bits of her powerful personality that are constantly popping through her gentile exterior.

We are making it as parents. We (understandably) continue to question absolutely everything we do and (understandably) have managed to neglect absolutely everything else from the cats to the laundry to those poor plants that haven't been watered in, well, about 3 weeks. We also love our kids more than ever thought possible and continue to be amazed by how life really does seem to just keep getting better.

I know, I know, growing a family isn't anything new and zillions of people have done it before us and this just isn't all that exciting to the rest of the world. But it is to us. Crazy ridiculously enormously exciting. And exhausting. And extraordinary. Except for the part where we have to keep track of the baby's pooping/peeing frequency. That part is a bit stressful and kind of sucks. Oh, and the part where the toddler needs to be reminded for the one hundred thousandth time not to launch one of his one million Lightning McQueen cars off of his homemade mega-jump in the direction of his sister. That part kind of sucks too. Oh yeah, and that one morning when we ran out of coffee after having been awake on the hour every hour from midnight to 5AM, and then up permanently at 6:15AM. That one sucked A LOT. But then we went to the grocery store and bought a lifetime supply of coffee beans to make sure it never happens again and low and behold life returned to being pretty much awesome. Until Lightning McQueen came flying across the room and landed in my coffee. Awesome minus one, still pretty good.

July 6, 2010

Transitions

This post deserves so much more than I'm about to write and hit Publish on. C'est la vie. The last 2+ weeks for Ashton have included mommy being in the hospital for 1 week then showing up with his baby sister in tow shortly thereafter, plus daddy going on back-to-back multi-day work trips, plus starting a new school, plus a handful of other smaller yet significant when lumped together bits and pieces. And he's handled it all with an amazing style that only he could manage to pull off. We're so proud of him. Sure, he's had his moments. But he's only asked to put his sister in the garbage can once and the rest of the time asks if he can kiss her which is followed by the most adorable smooch on the forehead from a brother to his sister that you've ever seen EVER. So cute in fact that each time it happens I'm rendered completely useless by the cuteness of it all so have yet to catch the moment on camera.

Have there been time outs? Lots. But they're getting fewer and farther in between. Does parenting 2 children require 8 sets of arms and 5 sets of eyes and quantities of patience only known to Saints? Indeed. But Ashton's grandmas have been here and made it feel like all of those extra arms and eyes and buckets of patience have been ready and waiting.

Like I said, the title "transitions" deserves quite a bit more than this and I'm sure there will be detailed parts 2, 3, and maybe even 4. But for now the bottom line is this: Ash is kicking arse at being a big brother and Leni has mastered being a 2 week old eating and projectile pooping machine. And given all of the events of the last 2+ weeks, that's a pretty dang good bottom line.