Highs and Lows - September 12th

Lows

1) Ditto to last week with all the baby fluids making my clothes and my person gross.  Blech.  Double Blech.

2) A couple bouts of Liam having serious gas (reference High #2).  So sad to see a little baby so uncomfortable.  And so unpleasant to have to hear him cry about it.  Maybe more unpleasant than sad, but you didn't hear me say it.  Nope, I'm all about putting my minor (make-me-want-to-stab-the-baby-thermometer-through-my-ears) discomfort aside and focusing patiently on the discomfort of my baby. 

3) Did I mention that I keep getting peed on, spit up on, pooped on and dribbled with milk?  Blech. 

Highs

1) Family Movie Night

We had a nice time with our very first Family Movie Night on Sunday night.  A night where the kiddos get to stay up a little late and watch a movie with us while we all eat pizza.  We imagined a happy family time worthy of a Parenting Magazine cover.  And I'm putting it under "Highs" because the kids say they loved it.

Of course what really happened is that Medman got called into the hospital right when we were getting pizzas ready AND the big kids were supposed to get pj's on AND Liam needed to go to sleep.  Well, with trying not to burn the pizza and trying to corral the other kids into productivity so that the movie didn't get started too late, I missed Liam's sleepy time and sent him into hours of over-exhaustion and sadness (read "furious crying").  Ugg.  Medman and I took turns throughout the movie being in his room trying to sooth him. And the movie still got started pretty late.  Belle lost it before the end and went into hyper/twitchy/uncoordinated mode, endangering her life by jumping on bean bag chairs right next to the stone fireplace and spilling drinks left and right.  D did great and thinks it was a great success.

Side note:  DON'T try to be fun-mom the morning after Family Movie Night when everyone is tired.   DON'T declare that "Today is Silly Cup Day!" and switch the lids on the pink and green sippy cups.  Because then Belle will cry that she wanted the ALL PINK cup.  And when you roll your eyes and say, "Fine, it's not Silly Cup Day.  It's Boring Cup Day," and you switch the lids back, then D will cry because he wanted a silly cup.  Then he will spend 10 minutes trying to tearfully convince Belle that Silly Cup Day is fun and not something to cry about (hello, pot and kettle.) and when she does finally agree and proclaim, "Silly Cup Day is GOOD!  I will not cry!  I will laugh!" and gives a fake, sort of creepy "ha ha ha ha" laugh, DON'T switch the lids again, making each kid keep their original lid and just swapping the cups since they already drank from the lids and you have some irrational thought about not sharing germs.  Because then they will BOTH cry because D wanted the GREEN cup with the PINK lid and Belle can't possibly drink unless she has the PINK cup with the GREEN lid.  

And at that point if you take ALL cups away from EVERYONE and declare that you are deeply sorry for attempting to have any fun with such a group of whiny pants, no one would blame you.  

Yes, I would like to confirm that I did put Family Movie Night in the Highs section - and I'm sticking to it because I'm nursing the ludicrous hope that the NEXT Family Movie Night is going to be a picture perfect evening of domestic happiness. 


2) I'm married to a doctor

My hubby decide to go to a DO medical school instead of a MD one.  Now I'm sure MD's learn plenty of useful stuff and turn out to be fine doctors, but there's something about DO's that ROCKS.  On top of the usual medical education they get to study Osteopathic Manipulation (OMM - no I don't know what the other M is for.  Maybe "Magic".).  Think chiropractor and your in the right ballpark.  They learn a great deal about muscle and bone positions and by feeling joints and such they can rattle off things like, "Wow, your sacrum is left rotated and your iliac crest has a significant posterior shift!"  Or something.  I just put that sentence in so the few DO's that I know who read this will die laughing at my diagnosis. 

Anyway, this has by far been the best part of his medical education.  Sure he's helped little babies who were sick and helped adults get control of diseases that were destroying their lives, but that's not important.  What's important is that he can fix my back when it hurts, help my hips to get realigned during pregnancy, and fix a stiff neck in minutes.  And he has magical hand powers too.  I vividly remember the beginning of medical school when he declared his OMM teachers were delusional for saying they could feel how bones were incorrectly positioned.  But now he can do it too.  And more.

After the blessed Family Movie Night ended and the two older kids were fast asleep, Liam was up screaming his tiny head off.  I think, "huh, maybe gas?" but realize as all mothers do that it's a crap shoot as to whether  he really has gas or not unless you actually hear it coming out.  I mean I don't have a cat scan here to look into his abdomen. 

Enter Medman who politely asks if he can check out the wee bairn.  He pulls up Liam's little shirt, gets a faraway look in his eyes and starts pushing in different places on his tummy.  Then he creases his brow and starts saying sympathetically, "Oh buddy!  Wow!  Poor you!  Let's fix that, ok?"  He then tells me that Liam's little tummy is full to the brim with gas and that he's going to help it move.  Ok, sure.  If you say so.  He even offers to teach me how but then says, with complete sincerity, "But you really can't feel the difference between his small and large intestine?"

Wha'?  Feel the difference between his small and large intestine? From the outside?  Of course not.  No one can do that.  I can feel bony or squishy.  Those are my two choices. And unless I'm REALLY off on my anatomy, both small and large intestines fall in the "squishy" category. 

But Osteopathic Manipulative Magic did it's work and within minutes there was such flatulence as you would never believe came out of such a cute little tushy.  And then my sweet baby was back and he smiled a bit and drifted off to sleep immediately on his changing table.

I hit the marriage jackpot, people.

Highs and Lows - Labor Day Edition

Highs and Lows of the week:


Lows:

I can't really think of any major lows of the week.  Really, it's been a remarkably domestic week, even for me. Since I'm not officially supposed to pick up Belle or the baby+car seat for another couple weeks, we've been laying low at home unless Medman wants to go out with us.   That combined with 8+ hrs a day nursing and diaper changes and such really leads to a quiet week. 

I'd say the lows of my week all revolve around one of my pet peeves.  I HATE when part of my clothes gets wet.  Like if a sleeve gets wet from doing dishes, I go change my shirt.  And it's not like I say, "Huh, that's not comfy, I'll go put on something dry."  No, that would be a fairly reasonable reaction.  It's more of an "Oh sweet Moses, it's wet!  Breathe...don't scream...breathe...You can make it...just hold your arm awkwardly like that and the wet part won't touch you...breathe....must go change shirt...breathe..."  Yeah, something like that. 

And now I have a newborn.  And newborns are ALL ABOUT shooting fluids at people.  They don't give a crap that you don't want to be wet.  In fact crap is exactly what they want to shoot at you.  This past week I've had:

• pee shot onto my arm
• spit up in my hair
• pee shot onto my shirt
• spit up dripping down my arm and staying all slimy and warm under my bracelet.
• crap squirted onto my hand
• spit up pooled on my pants
• spit up running down my hand, down into my sleeve and pooling by my elbow. 
• crap leaked onto my pajamas
• spit up poured down my shirt to pool in my bra.
• pee shot all over my hand
• spit up poured down my shirt AGAIN to pool in my bra.

Yes, it's disgusting.  And no, I don't want you to skim the list.  Go back, reread it and really immerse yourself in each damp situation.  Go ahead, I'll wait.  



Highs:

• Oddly enough, now that I have a new baby I've found time to read.  I haven't read in ages. But this week I picked up Pride and Prejudice and enjoyed reading it in about 100 short sittings.  I dearly love that book but I just found out my father thinks it is "painfully boring."  Which proves that I must get all of my good taste and sophistication from my mother.  And solidifies the fact that I can never again take advice on any subject from my father.  
• My parents were in town for a couple days to meet Liam and to entertain the older ones.  So nice to get a long break in the middle of the day to talk to my husband while someone else sits out front and watches the turkey heads ride bikes.
• The weather has been BEAUTIFUL.  We've had time for playing outside and I haven't wanted to pass out from the heat.  One lovely day the two older munchkins decided to push eachother around in the big plastic car we call Henry.  

First D cheerfully pushed Belle around.  There was much squealing of delight from Belle who was being propelled around the yard at a pretty fast pace. 

Then they had a congenial role change.

Then Belle attempted with all her tiny might to push D through the grass.  Instead of helping, D pulled his knees up to his chest and let her struggle along while hollering encouraging things like, "Your doing great, Belle!  Keep it up!  But I think you can go faster!"

•   There was time to

play at the water table

and wear really big boots.

•   There was a lot of baby gazing time

• And undoubtedly the high point of the kids week was when the dead pine tree in our yard was cut down.  After hours of watching the tree guys scale up the tree with their chainsaw cutting off huge branches, the power company topped off the excitement by showing up in their huge bucket truck to take down the top of it.  And all this was conveniently located directly out the back door for our viewing pleasure. 

Hope everyone else had a great week too.  Sooner or later we'll get in the groove of things this fall and maybe I'll have more exotic highs and less disgusting lows.  But for now, may you all have lovely weather and may no one spray you with anything gross.   

Creative Problem Solving : A Tutorial

Step 1: Identify the Problem.

• Liam, skinny-minny that he is, has peed out of his diaper enough times that I'm out of clean swaddling blankets.  No swaddle = less sleep.  Less sleep is not an option.
• I am out of clean nursing tops.
• I am not allowed to carry anything heavier than the baby.  
• The laundry that needs to get down three flights of stairs in our split level home is considerably heavier than the baby. 
• I do NOT want to make 15 trips down said levels to get a complete load of laundry downstairs.
• Medman (aka my pack mule) is at work all day.

Step 2: Identify the tools you have to work with.

• I have a 5 year old boy who is not strong enough to carry down a heavy hamper. 
• My 5 year old boy does like to make messes. 
• I have a 2 year old girl who, let's face it, is no help at all.  (Reference this post.)  She really shouldn't even be mentioned in the tools section.  When I call her a 'tool' I'm not referring to the useful kind. 
• I have a degree in engineering so that I understand the laws of physics that God set in place, my favorite of which is gravity.  (See how I'm using my education mom and dad?  Not everyone can work physics into their blog post.  Just wait 'til I start blogging about Bernoulli's equation.)

Step 3: Utilize the tools you have.

• Come up with motivation for 5 year old: Shout enthusiastically that the name of the game is "The Great Laundry Roundup!!!"
• Point 5 year old toward your dirty clothes.  
• Direct him to pick up armfuls of clothing.

• Direct him to THROW THEM DOWN THE STAIRS!  (See?  This is where the gravity comes in...)

• Watch him enjoy the next 10 minutes of throwing clothes down flight after flight of stairs until it is all neatly collected in the laundry room. 
• Bask in the joy of knowing your 5 year old thinks you are the coolest mom ever and that the baby's next nap has a good chance of being nice and long. 
• Remember to ask the pack mule tonight to carry the laundry back upstairs.  

Highs and a Bit of Magic

Highs and Lows
You all know I make an effort to do highs and lows each week.  This time I'm dropping the lows because, as you can all imagine, the last twelve days have been full of one tiny little high who has joined our family and none of the lows seem worth mentioning by comparison. 

Bits of Magic
There's another blog I enjoy which is written by D's violin teacher, Karen, called Dreamer.  Each Monday she posts a "10 Bits of Magic" list with a beautifully written, succinct list of 10 somewhat ordinary things she's noticed the beauty of that week under the description "Remembering that grace and wonder abound if I’m willing to see it."

I've enjoyed reading that list for months since I love how she takes every day things that she sees and really notices the wonder that is there. My dilemma is that nothing I write is succinct.  (Take, for example, the fact that we are on the third paragraph here while you wait for me to get to the actual post.)  So, I am going to try to do my own "Bits of Magic" post weekly, but I imagine it will be more of a quick paragraph (or a long-winded ramble) than a vivid, poetic list.  Thankfully Karen is a very kind woman and will probably only say encouraging things to me as I fumble along.

So, getting to the point at last, here is my ramblings of my weekly High and like any good mom I will try to convey to anyone who will listen just how magical the little life of my baby is.

My High and Bits of Magic

High:

Little Liam is 12 days old today. (Yes, thank you, he is adorable.)  I'm sure you can see how mature he is getting compared to my last post.  In the last week and a half he's learned to...uh...can't actually think of a single thing.  But he has eaten and pooped and slept, which as far as I can remember from the hazy memories I have of D and Belle as newborns means he is doing well. 

He is a sweet little baby.  His most endearing characteristic (besides the blessed fact that the child barely ever cries) is that even if he's completely starved and screaming his head off, all we have to do is pick him up and he settles right down.  Really, it makes you feel quite confident as a mother when the screaming is stopped by a touch of your hand.  Granted if the milk doesn't appear in the next few minutes, he'll start grunting his displeasure, but he's pretty content to wait for it as long as mom or dad is holding him.  Lovely child.

D and Belle both think he's pretty great.  Besides Belle's occasional claims of things like, "I will swaddle the baby!" which sends me rushing over in a panic, they are both gentle and seem vaguely fascinated by him and his alien-ness.  It took Belle at least a week to be convinced of the fact that he had no teeth.  They've taken in stride how much of my time he takes up and decided since I'm not available for refereeing they'll just get along. Now I just need to dream up a reason Liam needs me when he's sleeping and the other two may just turn into actual angels.



And it is impossible to spend quite moments with a newborn and not marvel at the wonder of his little being.


Bits of Baby Magic:

1. Skin so soft you can't stop touching it.  
2. Little hands that warm your whole body when they are just wrapped around your finger. 
3. Funny smiles that are probably just because of gas, but make you grin back all the same. 
4. The incredible complexity of his tiny body which works in such harmony together. In the last few months two of my acquaintances have lost babies due to rare health problems.  That and memories of our own little Jack make this especially poignant.  We know first hand what a difference is made in a tiny body if the heart is formed slightly differently.  And it makes us appreciate all the more how miraculous it is that Liam is formed so perfectly.  How many things have to work together in order to form something as intricate and delicate as a human body.  And certainly this gift of life which we come into contact with every day without even thinking about it is about the most breathtaking bit of magic on this earth. 

Linking up to:

Karen's Bits of Magic

and

Jennifer's Highs and Lows

Liam Andrew

After ages of listening to me complain about the discomforts our newest bundle of joy was causing me while still happily sheltered inside my body, you all have earned the reward of finally meeting him...

Meet Liam Andrew

 

Isn't he just scrumptious?  He was born Friday morning and weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs 12 oz, making him officially the biggest baby I've ever birthed.  And, as you can see by the next picture, slightly bigger than my thumb.

He has dark blue eyes, dark enough that they'll probably switch to the lovely dark brown of his older brother's (and much older mother's) eyes.  And his first picture (which I am not smart enough to extract from the text messaging on my phone) that Medman took of him seconds after birth looks so ridiculously like D when he was born that if the two photos did not have date stamps I don't think I could tell who was who. Even the same little serene, "Ah yes, this is what I expected to have happen this morning" look which they both gave the camera.  When I'm more organized I'm posting both pictures.

So we're all home and settling in.  The older two think he's pretty cool.

Stay tuned in the future to be inundated with pictures and stories of his tiny little antics and those of his big siblings as we all adjust to having 3 kids in the house.