Experiment

Both kids are asleep in Nicholas' room with the door closed and the lights out.  Luckily Nicholas REALLY wants to share a room with his sister and so was willing to compromise on his usual routine as well as his usual insistence on sleeping with a light on and the door open.  I have high hopes that getting her more than 5 feet away from me will help us both sleep better but I have the feeling it might actually mean that I spend half the night walking back and forth between rooms.  We'll see how this goes.  But she is 3 1/2 months old--she should be able to sleep more than 2 1/2 hours in a row without eating!!!!!

Pseudo-Family

We neglect this poor little blog and in the last couple weeks we haven't even taken many pictures for me to upload now.  Things have just been so incredibly busy and between that and us all being slightly under the weather, I feel like I've just been hanging on for dear life.  After a couple weeks of being off, culminating in being REALLY off Weds-Fri last week, Elizabeth has settled back down.  Maria commented when Joe picked Elizabeth up yesterday that it was like she was a different baby.  Looking at her sheet, it was like she was back to the baby she used to be.  She hasn't gotten her nighttime sleep patterns back, but her naps and eating are back on track.  And last night she would have slept better if she hadn't woken up every time I coughed.  (Yeah, that was fun.)

Joe has been out of town again the last couple days and it has actually been fine but anticipating it this weekend in the midst of already being overbooked and overtired and sick led me to completely melt down.  What pushed me over the edge was when we realized that I had a Monday evening meeting that I couldn't get out of and that he would have already left and so couldn't watch the kids.  And Maria had a commitment so couldn't keep Elizabeth late and I had to teach until half an hour before my meeting so couldn't drive up to get Elizabeth even if I could find a student I trusted with an infant.  (Nicholas was easy, we have a bunch of former students studying to be preschool teachers who are happy to take him to dinner in the cafeteria and make some easy money.)  And I just felt so overwhelmed and alone and hopeless. 

But the thing is, I'm not alone.  I ended up trying two friends to see if they could help and left voice messages for both.  And both called back saying they could take Elizabeth, acting as though it was no big deal, even though they each have two young kids and a full life of their own.  And today the one who didn't watch Elizabeth yesterday met me at daycare pickup with a casserole of baked ziti ready to be popped in the oven and a loaf of garlic bread!  On Saturday I was crying overwhelmed tears but today I feel ready to cry again but this time tears of gratitude.  It is in part the actual help they both provided in making it possible to get through the week but it is more the fact that they jumped to help. 

As my friend said last night when I was thanking her effusively as I picked up Elizabeth, we have to make family when we don't have family around.  It is so true.  You need someone who you can impose on.  And I mean that in the nicest possible way.  Someone you can call with needs that are actually an imposition.  Someone you don't keep score with, but just help each other out whenever the need arises.  Someone you don't clean for or even shower for.  I feel so lucky to have two such friends here.  I'd still prefer to have my mom around the corner, but this week has made me realize that I'm not as alone as I thought. 

Slightly Sick Baby

We've all had colds for the past week.  Nothing awful, certainly nothing we can complain about given the various stomach bugs going around, but just at the level of annoying.  Elizabeth sounded a little stuffed up, but really was mostly symptom free.  No runny nose, no cough, no fever.  But she had very little appetite.  And DID NOT want to eat.  As in, would scream like she was being hurt and arch her back to get away when I tried to nurse her.  Sometimes right away, sometimes a couple minutes in.  We suspected it was likely the cold or maybe an early tooth rather than something more serious given that she was in mostly good spirits as long as I didn't try to get her to eat, but on Thursday afternoon I called the doctor because it was a little worrisome and we needed to find out how little eating was the line for worrying about dehydration.  They had me bring her in but couldn't find anything wrong (checked ears, throat, gums, etc) so sent us home with directions that as long as she had some wet diapers each day to just wait her out a few days.  (Side note for record-keeping purposes: 13 lbs, 9oz.) 

She has been doing much better the last few days, although still not eating as much as usual.  But eating enough that she had the liquid to cover her sweater in drool yesterday!  My cold has gone from a painfully sore throat all last week (so bad that I had them check for strep Friday--negative) to a cough and runny nose.  It isn't as painful as the sore throat was, but much more annoying, especially since a cough wakes the baby and there is nowhere in the apartment to put her that is more than 10 feet from someone who has a cough.  But no fevers and no throwing up so deep breaths and remembering gratitude.  And knocking on wood.

What does [insert word] mean?

Living with Nicholas has turned into a 24/7 game of Catch Phrase in the past week.  He wants us to define words constantly.  And I know this is good for him cognitively but so often it is impossible to define the word or phrase without using any of the words invovled!  Tonight's one that made my head hurt was "more likely."

Cuteness

From 2014 February

From 2014 February

Ice Skating

I took Nicholas ice skating on Monday since he was off for President's Day but Elizabeth's daycare was open.  He was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to do jumps and throws like they did in the Olympics, but he had a ton of fun and I was impressed both with how much progress he made for his first time out and how willing he was to stick with it despite falling at least 60 times.

Photo:

From 2014 February

Short video:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LA8RSEzJD_OVVwgfBUndFNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

I Should Have Knocked on Wood

So you know how I wrote yesterday that Elizabeth had gotten pretty consistent at an early bedtime?  Well, I should have knocked on wood.  She is sitting here wide awake at almost 10:00 with no plan to go to sleep.  After fighting with her and dealing with ear piecing screams for about an hour we gave up and let her come out to the living room.  She has been pretty calm most of the time since but shows no interest in sleeping.  And this is the second time this week and it is only Wednesday.  Boo!

Videos

We have said since about 8 weeks into the pregnancy that Elizabeth was a fighter and not one to be messed with.  Well, watch this video and see how true this is: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/U6N3FSF7TmsXtLQloXgardMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

She has attacked her toys for quite awhile.  It was actually even funnier a few weeks ago when she still did it with her fists clenched because it really looked like she was trying to box them.  All babies bat at the toys on the playmat (that is why they are hanging there afterall) but I seem to recall Nicholas just hitting at them to make them move some.  Elizabeth seems to be trying to send them to the moon.  And do you see the force with which her legs are going too?!  No wonder she is putting on weight so slowly--this looks like quite the workout!

There are a couple more videos in the February album that I just love.  And since embedding the videos rarely works, just go to the album to watch them.  And make sure you have your sound on!

Three Months

Elizabeth is three months old and an absolute total joy.  I really and truly am loving this age and wishing time would slow down.  Here are a few notes about Elizabeth at three months:

• She has forgotten how to roll over.  After doing it for about a week she hasn't done it since.  It is probably at least in part our fault since I could count the number of times we've put her down on her stomach in the last few weeks on one hand.
• She loves putting things in her mouth.  No, loves isn't strong enough.  This girl wants to chew on everything.  It is like she is part dog.  I really don't know how her hands aren't chapped given that they are constantly covered in slobber.  It doesn't matter what sounds a toy makes or what it looks like.  The only thing that matters is if she can get it into her mouth and what it feels like on her gums.
• She is such a smiley kid, especially when she first sees you.  After a few minutes, the smiles are fewer and further between.
• She babbles a lot.  Some days only a little bit here and there, but there are times when I swear she is having a whole conversation with me.  There is such expression in her eyes as she babbles and babbles and babbles and so many different sounds and intonations!  Given that there are days when Nicholas talks nonstop until my  head is going to explode (I know, pot kettle), this should be interesting.
• She is still wearing mostly 3 month pants but basically 6 month in everything else.  Apparently her legs are short, just like Nicholas' have always been.
• She has 0 flexibility.  None.  Apparently other babies put their feet in their mouths.  My kids can't even see their feet as babies!  This must come from Joe.
• She is doing much better with sleeping.  When I look back at Nicholas or talk to other people with babies around the same age (or even younger!), it doesn't seem very good, but compared to even a few weeks ago this is heaven.  She wakes up pretty reliably every 3 hours, but most nights her night is about 8:00-6:30 and she'll only eat on one side (so about 15 minutes) before going back to sleep and go back down without much fuss.  She has nights when she fights going back down or won't go down well until 11, but these really have become the exception rather than the rule.  And so as long as I'm able to get to bed at a reasonable hour, I get a descent amount of sleep.  And at this point I get most of that sleep in bed lying down, which is a huge improvement!  There are times I sleep a couple hours sitting up but those tend to be when I accidentally fall asleep while feeding her rather than times when she refuses to sleep on her own.  She doesn't really need the bassinet anymore because I rarely need to rock her now, but I love the convenience of having her right next to the bed and getting her down at night is difficult enough without a loud big brother who insists on sleeping with the light on.  If she had her own room we might move her to a crib at this point despite the inconvenience, but sharing a room is not happening quite yet.
• She seems completely unfazed by daycare, which is truly the best reaction for her age I think.  She doesn't seem to think anything of it when I take her and hardly notices when I come to pick her up.  She seems to behave almost identically whether she is there or here.  She doesn't seem to care whether she gets a bottle or nurses and the few times she has had formula she has seemed nonplussed by that as well.  So pretty go with the flow.
• She likes wearing dresses because she can grab at the hem and pull on it and of course try to stuff it in her mouth.
• She lost her routine.  For a few weeks she reliably took a 3-hour nap about 10-1.  It was sometimes shifted one way or the other by an hour, but pretty close.  For the past couple weeks she has thrown all ideas of a routine out the window.  She still usually takes one 3-hour nap and a few catnaps over the course of the day but one day her long nap is 9-12 and the next it is 1-4.  This makes it impossible to plan around, which drives me a little crazy, but as long as she takes one long nap I can make do.

And a few pictures:

From 2014 February

From 2014 February

From 2014 February

Photo Shoot

31 pictures from our photo shoot are in the album here: https://picasaweb.google.com/103033220833760597415/ClairHighlights?authuser=0&feat=directlink

But here are a few of my favorites:

From Clair highlights

From Clair highlights

From Clair highlights

From Clair highlights

From Clair highlights

From Clair highlights

From Clair highlights

From Clair highlights

From Clair highlights

From Clair highlights

Sneak Peek

Clair and I did an at-home photo shoot with the babies this afternoon and had way too much fun with it.  I haven't had time to go through all the photos yet, but here are a couple:

From 2014 January

From 2014 January

Supermom . . . or not

Earlier this week while talking with a colleague about Joe being gone, he said that if I managed to get everyone ready and to daycare and to my 8:30 Friday class on time, "you would cement your nomination for Supermom."  Well, I did manage that (much to my own surprise), but I think there are some things standing in the way of that nomination.

Case in point, today is the first time our sheets have been washed since Elizabeth was born.  The kids' get washed when Elizabeth spits up or Nicholas has an accident, but ours  . . .