As was the story with last sunday (and every sunday), today was taken up almost entirely by my church calling as Primary Chorister.
...not that I mind. I love it.
It took us hours to get the kids dressed and ready for church. Still showed up 15 minutes late. We sat with the grandparents and they fussed and doted over Sabrina while Edgar spread out all his toys in front of him and resolutely ignored the rest of the world.
Singing in Primary was fun, although we are working on a tough song-- it doesn't rhyme, it's 3 wordy verses that don't seem to work really good with actions or pictures, so we're down to the old standby- repetition, repetition, repetition. So-- we sang the same song overandoverandoverandover until everyone, including me, was hoarse. Not that we didn't have fun while doing it-- the trick is to distract the kids so that they don't notice they're singing. We played hide and seek with a robot, and everybody really got into it.
We came home, exhausted, and I fell into bed. At once, Jen woke me up, and notified me that I had been asleep for 2 hours, her parents had been over for 1 and a half, and that dinner was ready and this was her third time calling me.
After dinner, Edgar and his grandpa and I went swimming in the hotel pool. This time, Edgar started to get brave ... too brave. After Grandpa showed Edgar how to jump into the pool, Edgar wanted to do it, too. Also, Edgar thought it was fun to run right next to the edge of the pool and circle the pool. I'm not much of an overprotective parent, but that scared me a little. Oh well, no harm came of it. Edgar got a nice amount of energy out, and when his mom came to observe, Edgar ran to the towel rack and dried off, thinking she was there to pick him up.
We hurried home to some home teachers, and then put Edgar to bed.
Edgar's catchphrase today has been "Power of Greyskull!" (followed by a sound-effect "Ksssssshhhh!")
At 10, just as I was sitting down to blog, Jen handed me a fussing Sabrina and said she couldn't take any more.
(Jen's been having trouble nursing Sabrina-- nothing major, it's just painful. Brings tears to her eyes most times she nurses, [and yes, we've seen a lactation consultant, yes, we think her latch is okay, no, she doesn't have any sort of infections-- it just hurts])
So, Sabrina and I hung out. I had a whole list of things I wanted to accomplish (like dishes and packing for skiing), but Sabrina was only happy cuddled up on my chest. I couldn't put her down to save my life (reminded me of Edgar at that age). I even attempted to jury-rig a moby wrap one-handed, to try to free my hands, but that failed miserably. So, I got some good reading in while cuddling a pretty agitated baby. Finally, she fell asleep on me, and I fell asleep on the couch.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Day 22-- At peace with the world
Last night, we watched Jack Bauer save the world from nuclear war, fake his own death, and put on his sunglasses and saunter off into the sunrise as we finished that season of 24 that I've been mentioning forever. We also got some fabulous sleep, and the world looked better in the morning.
Grandma and Grandpa took the kids this morning while Jen and I got some extra napping in. Napping seems to be the number-one topic of this blog, followed by nintendo and 24. Well, that's what we're up to these days.
We had wonderful lunch with the grandparents at the Konditerei. I highly reccommend the lunch special with ribbon loaf and cake. Edgar was acting up-- shrieking, etc., and this may be his last time for a long time at the cake-restaurant.
After lunch... another long nap! Edgar and I woke up first, (which isn't saying much), and we played nintendo and listened to records while Mom and Sabrina slept. It was some good boy-time together. Edgar is of the age where I can hand him a controller (not plugged in, not even from the same system that I'm playing), and he's happy just watching and pushing buttons. I know that this stage goes away fast, and I know that kids want to play and be included far younger than they can actually handle playing, so there may be a window of time in the near future where I can only play video games when Edgar's sleeping.
After an obscenely long nap, Jen woke up and invited the grandparents over. By that time, it was getting close to bedtime. A grandparents babysitting-session while Jen and I went to a movie was a non-starter. I was looking at the wrong day's schedule, and the movies that were on tonight, I have zero desire to see.
So, grandma and grandpa allowed us to do some non-fabulous grocery shopping. We also picked up Subway, as we were saving our appetites for the movie. We came home to a furiously hungry Sabrina, and an Edgar being read to in his crib by his grandpa. It was very cute. After Edgar went down, it was too late for socializing with the grandparents. They were beat.
So, not much happened today, but we are suddenly caught up on our rest, and feeling much better about each other, our family, and life in general.
Grandma and Grandpa took the kids this morning while Jen and I got some extra napping in. Napping seems to be the number-one topic of this blog, followed by nintendo and 24. Well, that's what we're up to these days.
We had wonderful lunch with the grandparents at the Konditerei. I highly reccommend the lunch special with ribbon loaf and cake. Edgar was acting up-- shrieking, etc., and this may be his last time for a long time at the cake-restaurant.
After lunch... another long nap! Edgar and I woke up first, (which isn't saying much), and we played nintendo and listened to records while Mom and Sabrina slept. It was some good boy-time together. Edgar is of the age where I can hand him a controller (not plugged in, not even from the same system that I'm playing), and he's happy just watching and pushing buttons. I know that this stage goes away fast, and I know that kids want to play and be included far younger than they can actually handle playing, so there may be a window of time in the near future where I can only play video games when Edgar's sleeping.
After an obscenely long nap, Jen woke up and invited the grandparents over. By that time, it was getting close to bedtime. A grandparents babysitting-session while Jen and I went to a movie was a non-starter. I was looking at the wrong day's schedule, and the movies that were on tonight, I have zero desire to see.
So, grandma and grandpa allowed us to do some non-fabulous grocery shopping. We also picked up Subway, as we were saving our appetites for the movie. We came home to a furiously hungry Sabrina, and an Edgar being read to in his crib by his grandpa. It was very cute. After Edgar went down, it was too late for socializing with the grandparents. They were beat.
So, not much happened today, but we are suddenly caught up on our rest, and feeling much better about each other, our family, and life in general.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Day 21-- Born of Frustration
It would be an understatement to say that last night didn't go as planned. Our sweet little girl took a leaf from her older brother's book, and cried all night. It certainly could be colic, although it would be a much milder case than Edgar. I finally managed a nap on the couch, then took the screamer for a while and let Jen get some sleep. All told, I think I got 3 hours of sleep and Jen got less.
Generally, when I'm tired, I get grumpy. At 3 hours of sleep, the grumpiness escalates into general anger. So, I started off our day pretty angry.
Contrary to what I described in the last post, the grandparents slept in this morning, so we were awake with a fussy baby, more or less ready to go, waiting for the grandparents to arrive.
Upon their arrival, there was some discussion as to whether we should cancel the day at the beach, or have grandma and grandpa watch the kids for a while and let us get some sleep before taking off. Ultimately, the decision we made was probably the wrong one, but it was based on the idea that Jen and I didn't want to drive to the coast only to turn around and drive right back again. So, we pushed on and left for the coast.
So here's where the difference in perspective kicks in: Jen's folks are from landlocked Utah, so to come to Oregon includes a requisite trip to the coast. Since they have no ocean to admire, a simple drive to the ocean is sufficient for their needs. Living here in the northwest, I think we expect something a little more substantial. When we go to the coast, we expect to do something at the coast. Unfortunately, we were far too sleepy to communicate any of this.
So, our trip to the coast today involved a long car ride, punctuated by a long baby-nursing session at the side of the road. Then, we had lunch at a restaurant. Then, we went home via an equally long car ride.
No sand between our toes, no walks on the windswept beach, no shopping, no sightseeing except what's visible out the windows of a minivan with two restless kids driving on Highway 101.
To Jen's folks, that was a decent day at the coast. They had a grand time. To me, that was like sitting in a car for 4 hours to go to a restaurant. I'm trying really hard to reconcile the difference in our perspectives. I'll grant that a lot of my attitude is predicated on sleep deprivation, but I still had a pretty miserable day-- one which I would have rather stayed in bed.
My lunch was fantastic-- cracked dungeness crab!-- but it wasn't 4-hours-in-a-car fantastic.
Home and grumpiness, an improvised dinner, and some quiet time followed. Then, we loaded up the kids into the car and took Edgar swimming at the pool at his grandparents' hotel. That was a bit relaxing, at least.
Now, the kids are sleeping. I plan to, too, before anything else goes wrong.
Generally, when I'm tired, I get grumpy. At 3 hours of sleep, the grumpiness escalates into general anger. So, I started off our day pretty angry.
Contrary to what I described in the last post, the grandparents slept in this morning, so we were awake with a fussy baby, more or less ready to go, waiting for the grandparents to arrive.
Upon their arrival, there was some discussion as to whether we should cancel the day at the beach, or have grandma and grandpa watch the kids for a while and let us get some sleep before taking off. Ultimately, the decision we made was probably the wrong one, but it was based on the idea that Jen and I didn't want to drive to the coast only to turn around and drive right back again. So, we pushed on and left for the coast.
So here's where the difference in perspective kicks in: Jen's folks are from landlocked Utah, so to come to Oregon includes a requisite trip to the coast. Since they have no ocean to admire, a simple drive to the ocean is sufficient for their needs. Living here in the northwest, I think we expect something a little more substantial. When we go to the coast, we expect to do something at the coast. Unfortunately, we were far too sleepy to communicate any of this.
So, our trip to the coast today involved a long car ride, punctuated by a long baby-nursing session at the side of the road. Then, we had lunch at a restaurant. Then, we went home via an equally long car ride.
No sand between our toes, no walks on the windswept beach, no shopping, no sightseeing except what's visible out the windows of a minivan with two restless kids driving on Highway 101.
To Jen's folks, that was a decent day at the coast. They had a grand time. To me, that was like sitting in a car for 4 hours to go to a restaurant. I'm trying really hard to reconcile the difference in our perspectives. I'll grant that a lot of my attitude is predicated on sleep deprivation, but I still had a pretty miserable day-- one which I would have rather stayed in bed.
My lunch was fantastic-- cracked dungeness crab!-- but it wasn't 4-hours-in-a-car fantastic.
Home and grumpiness, an improvised dinner, and some quiet time followed. Then, we loaded up the kids into the car and took Edgar swimming at the pool at his grandparents' hotel. That was a bit relaxing, at least.
Now, the kids are sleeping. I plan to, too, before anything else goes wrong.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Day 20-- A Serenade / The Grandparents Arrive
I'll start today off with a video shot this morning of Edgar serenading us on the piano with "You Are My Sunshine." I find the piano technique reminiscent of Gastr del Sol.
Jen's parents showed up today! They flew in from Utah and rented a car, and we have adventure on the horizon.
Here's us all pretty this morning, ready for Grandma and Grandpa. Edgar is in this rad 70s corduroy jumpsuit that our niece found at a garage sale. He picked it out himself today.
(Trust me, they became better friends).
After getting acquainted, grandma and grandpa got acquainted with their hotel, and we all got acquainted with a nice long nap.
Upon waking, we paid a visit to the Salem Carousel, and spent some time on the playground. Grandma was convinced that the 50+ degree weather (absolutely balmy for the northwest) was too cold for a bundled-up Sabrina, so they cuddled in the car.
I don't have any pictures of that (Jen forgot the camera), but be forewarned: Grandma and Grandpa are photo-happy. What this means for the blog is: if you're facebook friends with grandma, you'll get lots and lots of pictures. If not, we generally don't take pictures when grandma and grandpa are around because with both of them taking pictures, any other shots seem superfluous.
Dinner was at Jen's favorite restaurant, and Edgar got to show off why he's more difficult to deal with than the new baby, screaming, hitting, and generally being a menace throughout dinner. Two trips to a cold bench outside with dad did very little to curb his craziness.
After that, Jen's mom and dad were worn out.
Over the course of several years of marriage, Jen and I have come to realize some hard truths about visiting her parents: Her parents keep very early schedules. Usually, they are awake by 4 AM and in bed by 7 PM every day. Jen and I do not keep early schedules by any stretch. Add to that a 1-hour time zone difference, and, regardless of if we visit Utah or if they visit Oregon, we are 4 to 6 hours off their schedule. This means they are awake for 4-6 hours every morning before we get up, and we are awake 4-6 hours after they go to bed. Every visit.
This means that a day with grandma and grandpa is much shorter than usual. It also means that when we spend time with grandma and grandpa, at least two of us are very tired. It's a lot like Ladyhawke, except without the fantastic magic or epic romance... which means it's not at all like Ladyhawke.
This is why Jen made an appointment to tutor a student at 8:30 tonight... which is where she is right now. I'm at home, with a sleeping Edgar, and a fussing Sabrina on the hands-free:
Tonight will hopefully bring the conclusion of the season of 24 we have been watching, and hopefully with that, a return to normalcy rather than this manic have-to-watch-one-more-episode-before-we-go-to-sleep thing.
Jen's parents showed up today! They flew in from Utah and rented a car, and we have adventure on the horizon.
Here's us all pretty this morning, ready for Grandma and Grandpa. Edgar is in this rad 70s corduroy jumpsuit that our niece found at a garage sale. He picked it out himself today.
We spent the morning cleaning the house to not-quite-as-clean-as-we-hoped. Jen and Edgar had vacuum wars.
And Grandma and Grandpa were here! This is Grandma first meeting Sabrina.
After getting acquainted, grandma and grandpa got acquainted with their hotel, and we all got acquainted with a nice long nap.
Upon waking, we paid a visit to the Salem Carousel, and spent some time on the playground. Grandma was convinced that the 50+ degree weather (absolutely balmy for the northwest) was too cold for a bundled-up Sabrina, so they cuddled in the car.
I don't have any pictures of that (Jen forgot the camera), but be forewarned: Grandma and Grandpa are photo-happy. What this means for the blog is: if you're facebook friends with grandma, you'll get lots and lots of pictures. If not, we generally don't take pictures when grandma and grandpa are around because with both of them taking pictures, any other shots seem superfluous.
Dinner was at Jen's favorite restaurant, and Edgar got to show off why he's more difficult to deal with than the new baby, screaming, hitting, and generally being a menace throughout dinner. Two trips to a cold bench outside with dad did very little to curb his craziness.
After that, Jen's mom and dad were worn out.
Over the course of several years of marriage, Jen and I have come to realize some hard truths about visiting her parents: Her parents keep very early schedules. Usually, they are awake by 4 AM and in bed by 7 PM every day. Jen and I do not keep early schedules by any stretch. Add to that a 1-hour time zone difference, and, regardless of if we visit Utah or if they visit Oregon, we are 4 to 6 hours off their schedule. This means they are awake for 4-6 hours every morning before we get up, and we are awake 4-6 hours after they go to bed. Every visit.
This means that a day with grandma and grandpa is much shorter than usual. It also means that when we spend time with grandma and grandpa, at least two of us are very tired. It's a lot like Ladyhawke, except without the fantastic magic or epic romance... which means it's not at all like Ladyhawke.
This is why Jen made an appointment to tutor a student at 8:30 tonight... which is where she is right now. I'm at home, with a sleeping Edgar, and a fussing Sabrina on the hands-free:
Tonight will hopefully bring the conclusion of the season of 24 we have been watching, and hopefully with that, a return to normalcy rather than this manic have-to-watch-one-more-episode-before-we-go-to-sleep thing.
Day 19-- In Shifts
I didn't see much of Jen today.
After blogging last night, I was awake and Sabrina was awake, so I took her for a while. Compared to midnights with Edgar, it was pretty easy. She bounced in her bouncy seat for quite a while, allowing me to catch up on a good book. Even when she got fussy, I could bounce her and switch positions every 30 seconds or so, and she was fine. Got a lot of reading in, but not a lot of sleeping.
After going to bed reeeeeeeally late, then getting up at 6 with Edgar and convincing him that it was definitely not time to wake up, I was in no shape to start the day. Jen and Sabrina were up for an early morning feeding, and Jen very kindly agreed to start the laundry process for me at 7. I woke up at 10, feeling wonderful, as Jen took Edgar and Sabrina to Edgar's playgroup.
When Jen got home, I attempted to juggle a tired, whiny Edgar, clean-the-fridge leftover lunch, a fussy Sabrina, and laundry, and give Jen a break. I kinda failed, but I did manage to get everybody fed and Jen and Sabrina down for a nap eventually.
Edgar and I have an agreement that, when it is naptime, he doesn't necessarily have to sleep, but he has to stay in his crib for the length of one CD. He took me up on that today. I could hear him on the baby monitor singing and playing: once, I heard him, in a singsong voice, say "Brother Carmichael! Alex Carmichael!" (that was weird). Anyways, the CD wound down, and he was still awake. At the end of it, he calmly called "Daddy! Up!" I tried to renegotiate with him, but ultimately, he took me at my word. His nap was done.
So, Edgar and I played. We played inside. We played outside. We took the pop cans to the store and recycled them. We did laundry together We ate spicy jalapeno chips together. We jumped and wrestled on the couch. Edgar took the clean clothes (mostly pink girly things) and jumbled and jumped on them and turned them into a landing pad.
After blogging last night, I was awake and Sabrina was awake, so I took her for a while. Compared to midnights with Edgar, it was pretty easy. She bounced in her bouncy seat for quite a while, allowing me to catch up on a good book. Even when she got fussy, I could bounce her and switch positions every 30 seconds or so, and she was fine. Got a lot of reading in, but not a lot of sleeping.
After going to bed reeeeeeeally late, then getting up at 6 with Edgar and convincing him that it was definitely not time to wake up, I was in no shape to start the day. Jen and Sabrina were up for an early morning feeding, and Jen very kindly agreed to start the laundry process for me at 7. I woke up at 10, feeling wonderful, as Jen took Edgar and Sabrina to Edgar's playgroup.
When Jen got home, I attempted to juggle a tired, whiny Edgar, clean-the-fridge leftover lunch, a fussy Sabrina, and laundry, and give Jen a break. I kinda failed, but I did manage to get everybody fed and Jen and Sabrina down for a nap eventually.
Edgar and I have an agreement that, when it is naptime, he doesn't necessarily have to sleep, but he has to stay in his crib for the length of one CD. He took me up on that today. I could hear him on the baby monitor singing and playing: once, I heard him, in a singsong voice, say "Brother Carmichael! Alex Carmichael!" (that was weird). Anyways, the CD wound down, and he was still awake. At the end of it, he calmly called "Daddy! Up!" I tried to renegotiate with him, but ultimately, he took me at my word. His nap was done.
So, Edgar and I played. We played inside. We played outside. We took the pop cans to the store and recycled them. We did laundry together We ate spicy jalapeno chips together. We jumped and wrestled on the couch. Edgar took the clean clothes (mostly pink girly things) and jumbled and jumped on them and turned them into a landing pad.
Edgar banged on the computer keyboard, and somehow managed to pull up google maps, and turn the screen UPSIDE DOWN!
¿ʇɐɥʇ op ǝɥ pıp ʍoɥ ʍoɔ ʎןoɥ
All the while, both Edgar and his father were getting tireder and tireder. When Edgar gets tired, he gets clumsy and whiny. When Alex gets tired, he gets grumpy.
When Edgar doesn't do what he is asked (which is more often than not since baby has arrived), I have started telling him I will count to ten (or five). It's a little bit different with Edgar, though. Here is a typical routine:
A: Edgar, it's time to put your diaper on.
E: Nooooooo! (runs away)
A (most commanding fatherly voice): Edgar, I'm going to count to ten, and then it's time to put your diaper on.
A: ONE!
A: TWO!
E (excitedly) : Three!
A: FOUR!
E (ecstatically) : fivesixseven!!
A: EIGHT!
E (euphorically) : nineTEN!!!!
(Edgar runs, grinning, to get his diaper on)
... I thought that counting was supposed to be a punshiment. This kid just loves to count.
Finally, Jen woke up from her nap. The cavalry had arrived.
Jen again kindly let me take a nap on the bed while she juggled dinner for Edgar and Sabrina.
When I awoke, Edgar was asleep, Sabrina was happy, and it was time for Taco Bell and a few episodes of 24. My wife is the BEST!
Gonzo is legit.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Day 18-- Small Victories
Edgar and I shared a room last night-- him in the playpen and me in the bed. At 6ish, Edgar woke up. To me, it felt like 3 or 4ish, and was definitely not light outside. Both clock radios in the room were unplugged, so I had no real idea what time it was. He was quite angry that I was not his mother, and willing to yell at me for quite a while because of this. After dealing with that abuse for what felt like half an hour, trying to calm him down, sing to him, offer him a bottle, etc., I fled the room looking for the bathroom. I ran into Jen in the hallway, and she informed me that she was awake, that it was morning time, and that if I would fetch a bottle she would kindly take Edgar in exchange for Sabrina. While this was no doubt a magnanimous offer on my wife's part, at I-thought-it-was-3-AM, it didn't feel too kindly. Also not so kindly-seeming was the notification at 8:30 that her shift was done and that it was my turn to wake up and take Edgar potty. It's funny how sleep deprivation colors your thoughts. Thinking back on it, she was being a good wife and very nice to me, but at the time, I couldn't believe that she'd not come to my rescue in the morning when she was clearly awake, and that she would have the nerve to wake me up after that to take care of HER son. Yeah, sorry for being grumpy, Jen.
Despite the grumpiness, my not-quite-awake potty session with Edgar yielded his first real poop on the potty. We were ecstatic. It's kind of sad that our lives focus on (and celebrate) poop right now, but hey-- it's a big deal. And, for the record, it was a lot easier to clean up than a stinky diaper.
In celebration, we were supposed to give Edgar the agreed-upon Sucker for potty-pooping. However, due to our spontaneous and unforeseen stay at Grandma and Grandpa's, we were plum out. This occasioned a Daddy-and-Edgar shopping run for suckers. We picked up some valentine-themed lollipops, and a package of conversation hearts for me (one of my favorites-- nearly pure sugar!), we were home again.
Our day's adventures continued with a trip with Jen, Edgar, Sabrina, and I to the fish hatchery. The visit was fun-- sort of a repeat of the last adventures, but we were able to show Jen around. It certainly was worth a return trip, even so soon.
To give my frazzled mother a break, we went in search of lunch out. We found a neat place in Vancouver called Cafe Sip 'n' Play. We stumbled inside not knowing really what to expect, and found a cafe-type setting attached to a play area geared to 1-to-5-year-olds. Perfect!
First, to wash the smell of fish food off our hands, we piled into the Family Bathroom, which had a kid-size potty, full diaper facilities, and a kids' sink. Edgar, handwashing-obsessed as he is, couldn't be torn away from the sink. To make the sink even more irresistible, they had a faucet that shines a blue LED into the water when it's on. The result is washing your hands in translucent, glowing blue water-- which is of course the best way to wash your hands when you're any age.
We were starving upon arrival. They had a pretty typical deli menu. My pizza was delicious, Jen's sandwich was okay, neither was really filling enough, but the facilities were the real draw.
They had a really large kids' play area, with lots of things to do. There was one enfant terrible 4-year-old who insisted that a large section of the play area filled with pads and pillows was his and that everyone had to help him make a choo-choo train. No other kids were allowed to play there, and he was wrestling (and hurting) anyone who even considered playing there. As the agent of chaos that I am, I announced loudly to Edgar that he should take the pads and build a castle and several other kids picked up on the idea. This, of course, angered our single-minded friend.
It was at this point that I realized that I was the only parent left in the kids' play area, and that perhaps the world was better off without my intervention. It took a shift in mindset, but I left Edgar to the Lord of the Flies situation there. He wasn't the smallest or the youngest kid there, so I just had to let it go. I was, to be honest, a little disappointed to be sitting on the grown-up side of the play area, but I guess it was for the best.
We had a lot of fun over the course of our time there. Edgar was too excited to eat much, but we made up for him. He even went in the little-kid toilet and was rewarded with a blue cookie that he had his eye on.
Home to Grandma's, where everyone in the house participated in a large afternoon nap. I LOVE naps!
Since everyone napped so long, we missed the 3:30, 4:30, and 6 PM showings of the movie we wanted to see. We made it out for the 7:30 showing, but that was pushing the kids' bedtimes by more than a little.
It was SO nice to have my parents around to watch our kids. We're in a weird, in-between place with my parents. Many couples that I know have one or two sets of in-town grandparents and get babysitting ALL THE TIME. I'm so jealous. My parents have braved the hour-and-fifteen-minutes between Vancouver and Salem probably less than 10 times in the 8 years we've lived here. Nevertheless, I can't really complain, because we can at least drive the kids and drop them off occasionally. On the far side of the spectrum are the far-off parents, like Jen's (16 hour drive away) who only visit occasionally. [speaking of which, they're coming this week] We're sure lucky to have one set of sorta-close parents, but we're really jealous of couples with closer parents.
When Edgar was a baby, my parents (in their 70s) began insisting that they were too old to take care of kids, and that they would rather not babysit at all. This was a pretty sad moment, but completely understandable. With the birth of an easier baby, and 2 days of enforced babysitting when the baby arrived, my parents have now fallen in love with both Sabrina and Edgar. I'm glad. With parents in their 70s, it's probable that my parents won't see Edgar and Sabrina's kids, so I hope that Edgar and Sabrina get enough of their grandparents to be able to tell stories to their kids someday.
As the youngest child, I got to watch firsthand as my parents got to be grandparents to a whole generation of kids. I saw the joy in their eyes when the grandkids walked in the door. I saw the exhaustion and the relief when grandkids left. And I saw times when watching the grandkids was a joy, and times when it was a chore. With that observation, I can see that watching Edgar and Sabrina is (mostly) a joy to my parents, and they're glad to see them go, and only kinda glad to see them leave. As such, I don't feel too bad about abusing their hospitality over the last few days.
Anyway, Jen and I escaped to Narnia for two hours. The new Chronic- les of Narnia movies do a really good job at creating a world that I want to live in. Watching the movie was like going home. I can see how the movies aren't for everyone-- overt christian images, fantastic creatures, special effects and battles-- but they're right up my alley. Sure, I had a few qualms about differences between the book and film, questionable timelines (WWII was HOW long?), and cheesy special effects, but the movie was good. Oh, and it had a moment where Jen and I looked at each other and said: "Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man". A quick google search reveals that we weren't the only ones to catch that. Anyway, why the movie critique? It was a wonderful, cleansing, 2 hour escape from screaming kids.
After the movie, we collected our up-too-late kids and made our way home to Salem. I'm up late, so let's see how we do it all again tomorrow.
Despite the grumpiness, my not-quite-awake potty session with Edgar yielded his first real poop on the potty. We were ecstatic. It's kind of sad that our lives focus on (and celebrate) poop right now, but hey-- it's a big deal. And, for the record, it was a lot easier to clean up than a stinky diaper.
In celebration, we were supposed to give Edgar the agreed-upon Sucker for potty-pooping. However, due to our spontaneous and unforeseen stay at Grandma and Grandpa's, we were plum out. This occasioned a Daddy-and-Edgar shopping run for suckers. We picked up some valentine-themed lollipops, and a package of conversation hearts for me (one of my favorites-- nearly pure sugar!), we were home again.
Our day's adventures continued with a trip with Jen, Edgar, Sabrina, and I to the fish hatchery. The visit was fun-- sort of a repeat of the last adventures, but we were able to show Jen around. It certainly was worth a return trip, even so soon.
To give my frazzled mother a break, we went in search of lunch out. We found a neat place in Vancouver called Cafe Sip 'n' Play. We stumbled inside not knowing really what to expect, and found a cafe-type setting attached to a play area geared to 1-to-5-year-olds. Perfect!
First, to wash the smell of fish food off our hands, we piled into the Family Bathroom, which had a kid-size potty, full diaper facilities, and a kids' sink. Edgar, handwashing-obsessed as he is, couldn't be torn away from the sink. To make the sink even more irresistible, they had a faucet that shines a blue LED into the water when it's on. The result is washing your hands in translucent, glowing blue water-- which is of course the best way to wash your hands when you're any age.
We were starving upon arrival. They had a pretty typical deli menu. My pizza was delicious, Jen's sandwich was okay, neither was really filling enough, but the facilities were the real draw.
They had a really large kids' play area, with lots of things to do. There was one enfant terrible 4-year-old who insisted that a large section of the play area filled with pads and pillows was his and that everyone had to help him make a choo-choo train. No other kids were allowed to play there, and he was wrestling (and hurting) anyone who even considered playing there. As the agent of chaos that I am, I announced loudly to Edgar that he should take the pads and build a castle and several other kids picked up on the idea. This, of course, angered our single-minded friend.
It was at this point that I realized that I was the only parent left in the kids' play area, and that perhaps the world was better off without my intervention. It took a shift in mindset, but I left Edgar to the Lord of the Flies situation there. He wasn't the smallest or the youngest kid there, so I just had to let it go. I was, to be honest, a little disappointed to be sitting on the grown-up side of the play area, but I guess it was for the best.
We had a lot of fun over the course of our time there. Edgar was too excited to eat much, but we made up for him. He even went in the little-kid toilet and was rewarded with a blue cookie that he had his eye on.
Home to Grandma's, where everyone in the house participated in a large afternoon nap. I LOVE naps!
Since everyone napped so long, we missed the 3:30, 4:30, and 6 PM showings of the movie we wanted to see. We made it out for the 7:30 showing, but that was pushing the kids' bedtimes by more than a little.
It was SO nice to have my parents around to watch our kids. We're in a weird, in-between place with my parents. Many couples that I know have one or two sets of in-town grandparents and get babysitting ALL THE TIME. I'm so jealous. My parents have braved the hour-and-fifteen-minutes between Vancouver and Salem probably less than 10 times in the 8 years we've lived here. Nevertheless, I can't really complain, because we can at least drive the kids and drop them off occasionally. On the far side of the spectrum are the far-off parents, like Jen's (16 hour drive away) who only visit occasionally. [speaking of which, they're coming this week] We're sure lucky to have one set of sorta-close parents, but we're really jealous of couples with closer parents.
When Edgar was a baby, my parents (in their 70s) began insisting that they were too old to take care of kids, and that they would rather not babysit at all. This was a pretty sad moment, but completely understandable. With the birth of an easier baby, and 2 days of enforced babysitting when the baby arrived, my parents have now fallen in love with both Sabrina and Edgar. I'm glad. With parents in their 70s, it's probable that my parents won't see Edgar and Sabrina's kids, so I hope that Edgar and Sabrina get enough of their grandparents to be able to tell stories to their kids someday.
As the youngest child, I got to watch firsthand as my parents got to be grandparents to a whole generation of kids. I saw the joy in their eyes when the grandkids walked in the door. I saw the exhaustion and the relief when grandkids left. And I saw times when watching the grandkids was a joy, and times when it was a chore. With that observation, I can see that watching Edgar and Sabrina is (mostly) a joy to my parents, and they're glad to see them go, and only kinda glad to see them leave. As such, I don't feel too bad about abusing their hospitality over the last few days.
Anyway, Jen and I escaped to Narnia for two hours. The new Chronic- les of Narnia movies do a really good job at creating a world that I want to live in. Watching the movie was like going home. I can see how the movies aren't for everyone-- overt christian images, fantastic creatures, special effects and battles-- but they're right up my alley. Sure, I had a few qualms about differences between the book and film, questionable timelines (WWII was HOW long?), and cheesy special effects, but the movie was good. Oh, and it had a moment where Jen and I looked at each other and said: "Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man". A quick google search reveals that we weren't the only ones to catch that. Anyway, why the movie critique? It was a wonderful, cleansing, 2 hour escape from screaming kids.
After the movie, we collected our up-too-late kids and made our way home to Salem. I'm up late, so let's see how we do it all again tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Day 17-- Fencing and Basketball
We got up bright and early this morning and delivered on the promise that we made to Edgar last night-- that the moment he woke up, we'd go to Grandma and Grandpa's.
True to our word, we were on the road bright and early. We hadn't actually told my parents we were coming that early. It's a good thing my family is easy-going, right? I called Mom and gave her an hour's warning that we would be joining them for "Breakfast Club".
We learned that Dad would be repairing a fence (and that he'd be short on help), so after a fantastic, filling breakfast and nap number one, I headed outside to help Dad and nephew Henry put up a cedar fence. Edgar watched out the window, then came outside to observe, but got sidetracked by playing with cousins.
First, we tore apart the old fence, which was about 30 years old. The wood was the consistency of wet cardboard, came apart by hand, and had some really interesting moss and plant life growing on it.
From there, Dad showed us how to build a fence, then stood back and watched us do it. It felt pretty good to be working with my hands, accomplishing something concrete, and learning how to do something that I may need in the future. In short, I felt like a good son. The fence went up quick, and Mom rewarded us with our choice of two yummy lunches. [Lunch was lentil soup at noon, which I skipped, and "dinner" was ribs at 2 PM]
After a quiet afternoon nap, we were about to start our ritual game of pinochle when nephew Daniel called with an offer of free blazer tickets.
After a split-second of decision making, we decided to let Grandma and Grandpa take Edgar, and Jen, Sabrina, and I would go to the basketball game.
We had a blast. I got lots of looks as the daddy carrying the 2-week-old baby into the stadium, but there were other babies there, including a 3-month-old just a few rows in front of us who was at her 5th game (her first being at 2 weeks also). We got a couple of pictures, which I'll post later.
Sabrina was cute and awake during the game. We had nosebleed seats, but it didn't matter. It was a blast being there. The blazers lost to the sacramento kings. The blazers were on fire when they were hot, but they spent much more time cold than hot.
Auntie Dani (my sister) had the sniffles and was heartbroken that she couldn't hold the baby during the game.
We hit the grocery store for supplies on the way home, and came home to a sleeping Edgar. Since we don't particularly have anything to do tomorrow, we'll spend the night. The sleeping arrangements will be a bit weird, though. Edgar is in a playpen in my old room. I'm going to crash in there, too, and try not to wake him up with my snoring. Jen and Sabrina are going to camp on an air mattress in my parents' basement, so as not to wake up Edgar with Sabrina's crying in the middle of the night.
The weird things we do as inexperienced parents...
True to our word, we were on the road bright and early. We hadn't actually told my parents we were coming that early. It's a good thing my family is easy-going, right? I called Mom and gave her an hour's warning that we would be joining them for "Breakfast Club".
We learned that Dad would be repairing a fence (and that he'd be short on help), so after a fantastic, filling breakfast and nap number one, I headed outside to help Dad and nephew Henry put up a cedar fence. Edgar watched out the window, then came outside to observe, but got sidetracked by playing with cousins.
First, we tore apart the old fence, which was about 30 years old. The wood was the consistency of wet cardboard, came apart by hand, and had some really interesting moss and plant life growing on it.
From there, Dad showed us how to build a fence, then stood back and watched us do it. It felt pretty good to be working with my hands, accomplishing something concrete, and learning how to do something that I may need in the future. In short, I felt like a good son. The fence went up quick, and Mom rewarded us with our choice of two yummy lunches. [Lunch was lentil soup at noon, which I skipped, and "dinner" was ribs at 2 PM]
After a quiet afternoon nap, we were about to start our ritual game of pinochle when nephew Daniel called with an offer of free blazer tickets.
After a split-second of decision making, we decided to let Grandma and Grandpa take Edgar, and Jen, Sabrina, and I would go to the basketball game.
We had a blast. I got lots of looks as the daddy carrying the 2-week-old baby into the stadium, but there were other babies there, including a 3-month-old just a few rows in front of us who was at her 5th game (her first being at 2 weeks also). We got a couple of pictures, which I'll post later.
Sabrina was cute and awake during the game. We had nosebleed seats, but it didn't matter. It was a blast being there. The blazers lost to the sacramento kings. The blazers were on fire when they were hot, but they spent much more time cold than hot.
Auntie Dani (my sister) had the sniffles and was heartbroken that she couldn't hold the baby during the game.
We hit the grocery store for supplies on the way home, and came home to a sleeping Edgar. Since we don't particularly have anything to do tomorrow, we'll spend the night. The sleeping arrangements will be a bit weird, though. Edgar is in a playpen in my old room. I'm going to crash in there, too, and try not to wake him up with my snoring. Jen and Sabrina are going to camp on an air mattress in my parents' basement, so as not to wake up Edgar with Sabrina's crying in the middle of the night.
The weird things we do as inexperienced parents...
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Day 16-- Primary only
It seems as if I spent all day preparing for and recovering from my hour-and-a-half spent as Primary singing leader.
Ed was up, 7:15 like clockwork. After coddling him for a bit, took a long shower. Showers are where I normally get inspiration, and since I'm pretty terrible at preparation and planning ahead, most of my Singing Time lessons are planned out in the shower, the morning of.
I came up with some rudimentary ideas of what to sing today, and spent most of the morning juggling two kids, helping Jen through a shower, trimming my newly-shaggy face into some semblance of a beard, and throwing breakfast at Edgar, etcetera.
Really, Jen did most of the heavy lifting this morning. We again skipped the first hour of our 3-hour service so that Edgar could get a little nap in beforehand. At 1:30, we trundled a just-woke-up Edgar and an sleeping Sabrina in the car to take Sabrina to church for her first time.
I spent the next hour-and-a-half (usually it's two hours, but it was shortened today) jumping up and down, making a fool of myself, blowing out my vocal cords, and having a blast singing with ... (how many? maybe) 60 kids over the course of a Sunday. We got to show Sabrina off, and she was suitably impressive.
Home from church, we all kind of sat on the bed while Edgar and Sabrina vied for mom's attention, and mom and dad played a halfhearted round of video games. Expending that much energy on Primary sure wipes me out.
I took Sabrina and was off to a baptism. I'm not sure who was giving whom a break by me taking Sabrina to the baptism, but it was nice not to have to wrestle Edgar through an hour service. Sabrina was fussy, but at least she's cute while she's fussy.
Home, and sending out emails for my primary calling, as well as trying to get Edgar to bed.
Getting Edgar to bed was a challenge. He was throwing a fit, sweetly asking us to sing a song for him. The problem was, he wanted a specific song, but was unintelligible in the song title. It was something like the "Ki Ka Go Song" or "Ki Ko Song".. I don't know. Usually, Edgar's pretty good at pronouncing, and we're pretty good at interpreting, but both Jen and I were stumped. When we asked him to sing it for us, he was sad and insisted that WE should sing it. We guessed nearly every song we know, but we still don't know what he wanted us to sing, but it broke his heart that we wouldn't sing it for him. How sad.
Boy, that was it. That was all we did today. How sad, indeed. We're going to be up and out early tomorrow (hopefully).
Ed was up, 7:15 like clockwork. After coddling him for a bit, took a long shower. Showers are where I normally get inspiration, and since I'm pretty terrible at preparation and planning ahead, most of my Singing Time lessons are planned out in the shower, the morning of.
I came up with some rudimentary ideas of what to sing today, and spent most of the morning juggling two kids, helping Jen through a shower, trimming my newly-shaggy face into some semblance of a beard, and throwing breakfast at Edgar, etcetera.
Really, Jen did most of the heavy lifting this morning. We again skipped the first hour of our 3-hour service so that Edgar could get a little nap in beforehand. At 1:30, we trundled a just-woke-up Edgar and an sleeping Sabrina in the car to take Sabrina to church for her first time.
I spent the next hour-and-a-half (usually it's two hours, but it was shortened today) jumping up and down, making a fool of myself, blowing out my vocal cords, and having a blast singing with ... (how many? maybe) 60 kids over the course of a Sunday. We got to show Sabrina off, and she was suitably impressive.
Home from church, we all kind of sat on the bed while Edgar and Sabrina vied for mom's attention, and mom and dad played a halfhearted round of video games. Expending that much energy on Primary sure wipes me out.
I took Sabrina and was off to a baptism. I'm not sure who was giving whom a break by me taking Sabrina to the baptism, but it was nice not to have to wrestle Edgar through an hour service. Sabrina was fussy, but at least she's cute while she's fussy.
Home, and sending out emails for my primary calling, as well as trying to get Edgar to bed.
Getting Edgar to bed was a challenge. He was throwing a fit, sweetly asking us to sing a song for him. The problem was, he wanted a specific song, but was unintelligible in the song title. It was something like the "Ki Ka Go Song" or "Ki Ko Song".. I don't know. Usually, Edgar's pretty good at pronouncing, and we're pretty good at interpreting, but both Jen and I were stumped. When we asked him to sing it for us, he was sad and insisted that WE should sing it. We guessed nearly every song we know, but we still don't know what he wanted us to sing, but it broke his heart that we wouldn't sing it for him. How sad.
Boy, that was it. That was all we did today. How sad, indeed. We're going to be up and out early tomorrow (hopefully).
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Day 15-- Cousins and Cousins
I'll start things off today with a photo. I don't know when this was taken, but it's a pretty accurate depiction of times at our house.
I've got lots of pictures today. It was a fun day.
My nephew Garrett invited Edgar and I to hang out with him for a Saturday. I'm not sure he knew what he was signing up for, but I jumped on the offer.At 10:30 AM, we knocked on his door in Newberg (about an hour away from Salem). I think we woke him up.
It was a beautiful day. Probably the first nice day we've had since Sabrina was born. We've been cooped up inside too much, so we kind of insisted on doing something outside. Garrett took us to a nearby park where Edgar swung, slid, played, etcetera while Garrett and I caught up on our lives.
Garrett's mom (my sister Laura) called, inviting us to see her grandkids at her house today. After lunch at a local panaderia, Edgar fell asleep in the car on the way to my sister's. Emily (his 4-months-older-than-him cousin) was napping, too, so Edgar and I got a little shuteye in the car, parked outside my sister's house. I've learned from sad experience not to try to move Edgar during a nap-- otherwise, the nap is over and the kid is awake and whiny.
Edgar and Emily, January 2011
Edgar and Emily, October 2009
Hello up there.
(for scale)
The kids piloted the helicopter-shaped play structure, as real helicopters flew overhead.
working together to fly the chopper.
Cap'n Emily being cute
Edgar and his shadow.
After the playground, Edgar, big Garrett, and I retired to Garrett's place where the rest of the evening was spent playing Wii, eating pizza, and playing Magic Cards while half-watching both Madagascar and Madagascar 2.
We rounded things off with some good, old-fashioned jumping on the bed:
Edgar LOVES his uncle Garrett.
Edgar airborne.
That's about it. He was glad to see his mommy and use his potty when he got home, and he hugged Sabrina mercilessly.
For some reason, I feel much more refreshed having been away from the house most of the day. It seems to take hours to do simple things like breakfast when we're here, but when we're outside of our comfort zone, things seem to go faster and easier-- maybe because they have to. Oh well...
Friday, January 21, 2011
Day 14-- Two weeks down
Sabrina is 14 days old today. She had a rough night last night, acting colicky like Edgar did. Fussing and crying for hours. It still wasn't as bad as Edgar was, but it was trying. I caught a little sleep on the couch, and then took Sabrina and she slept on me in the rocking chair. Jen was generous enough to take Edgar first thing this morning.
Honestly, I'm getting really sick of the sleep deprivation. Intellectually, I realize that we have very little to complain about. We have a relatively easy baby, a toddler who is potty training himself (!), and two parents, staying at home full time with two kids. This should be easy, right?
Then why is it so hard?
I stole Edgar this morning, and ran some errands. With a new Wii, and a leftover birthday gift card, we went video game shopping. We bought a strange assortment of games for SNES, N64, and Game Cube as well as Wii. I even picked out a few classic NES games, but put them back on the shelf when I saw how much I'd picked out. Edgar played in the store while I looked. We got a little plastic Mario figurine with our purchase that he loves.
After naptime, we had kiddy-chaos at our place for an hour or so. I dearly love our next-door neighbors, but 7 kids in our apartment at once makes me crazy. Fighting a fussy baby and a contrary Edgar all night, I was on the verge of losing it all evening. This is reminding me of the darkest days of having Edgar as a baby. Over-tired, achy-headed, nerve-frazzled, and ready to give into despair at the slightest setback. I can't take much more of this.
Edgar was contrary all night-- doing just about the opposite of what anyone asked, menacing his little sister, but never being bad enough to get in trouble.
He spent HOURS today potty training. Sitting there, getting up, changing position, sitting, peeing, being excited, washing his hands for 15 minutes at a time, refusing to get his diaper back on, asking to get back on the potty, etc. Jen informed me that many guides to potty training say to ask your kid if they need to go potty every 10 minutes! That's 160 times in a typical day! I'm not ready for this. Edgar did manage to extrude the tiniest turd I've ever seen into the toilet, so there was the requisite celebration.
Our neighbor suggests that Edgar is potty training himself to get the one-on-one parental attention that he craves. It's working, he gets our attention, praise, love, etc. time and again all day. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess that's a really good way to get the attention he craves, and it certainly could be worse. I'm just so tired from everything else that I don't want to be as patient with him as he needs. blah.
I bought the classic old-school Donkey Kong Country for the SNES today, as well as the new Donkey Kong Country for the Wii (I've heard it's way hard), so I spent a few minutes this evening unwinding over the super nintendo. It was a moment of peace in an otherwise hectic day.
Okay, well that's it for today. Garrett has invited Edgar and I over tomorrow, and I'm ready for the distraction. Bring on the night.
Honestly, I'm getting really sick of the sleep deprivation. Intellectually, I realize that we have very little to complain about. We have a relatively easy baby, a toddler who is potty training himself (!), and two parents, staying at home full time with two kids. This should be easy, right?
Then why is it so hard?
I stole Edgar this morning, and ran some errands. With a new Wii, and a leftover birthday gift card, we went video game shopping. We bought a strange assortment of games for SNES, N64, and Game Cube as well as Wii. I even picked out a few classic NES games, but put them back on the shelf when I saw how much I'd picked out. Edgar played in the store while I looked. We got a little plastic Mario figurine with our purchase that he loves.
After naptime, we had kiddy-chaos at our place for an hour or so. I dearly love our next-door neighbors, but 7 kids in our apartment at once makes me crazy. Fighting a fussy baby and a contrary Edgar all night, I was on the verge of losing it all evening. This is reminding me of the darkest days of having Edgar as a baby. Over-tired, achy-headed, nerve-frazzled, and ready to give into despair at the slightest setback. I can't take much more of this.
Edgar was contrary all night-- doing just about the opposite of what anyone asked, menacing his little sister, but never being bad enough to get in trouble.
He spent HOURS today potty training. Sitting there, getting up, changing position, sitting, peeing, being excited, washing his hands for 15 minutes at a time, refusing to get his diaper back on, asking to get back on the potty, etc. Jen informed me that many guides to potty training say to ask your kid if they need to go potty every 10 minutes! That's 160 times in a typical day! I'm not ready for this. Edgar did manage to extrude the tiniest turd I've ever seen into the toilet, so there was the requisite celebration.
Our neighbor suggests that Edgar is potty training himself to get the one-on-one parental attention that he craves. It's working, he gets our attention, praise, love, etc. time and again all day. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess that's a really good way to get the attention he craves, and it certainly could be worse. I'm just so tired from everything else that I don't want to be as patient with him as he needs. blah.
I bought the classic old-school Donkey Kong Country for the SNES today, as well as the new Donkey Kong Country for the Wii (I've heard it's way hard), so I spent a few minutes this evening unwinding over the super nintendo. It was a moment of peace in an otherwise hectic day.
Okay, well that's it for today. Garrett has invited Edgar and I over tomorrow, and I'm ready for the distraction. Bring on the night.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Day 13-- Date Night
I spent most of today regretting staying up until 2 watching 24 with my sweet wife and awake daughter.
Jen and Sabrina were up for a 6:30 AM feeding that woke me up, and since the alarm was going off at 7, I putzed around on the internet for a while waiting for the Elephants to show up.
Since we live in a basement apartment, and the upstairs neighbor has a little daycare, we have the pitter patter of little feet above our heads. Five of them. Starting at 7 AM. On hardwood floors.
We've mostly gotten used to this little vagary of life, and we usually sleep through it. The inconvenience is more than balanced out by the fact that our upstairs neighbors let us use their washer and dryer. This morning was laundry day, and I'm terribly efficient on laundry day.
I'm not too good at very many domestic chores, but when I do laundry, stuff gets done. So, I was ready, at 7 AM sharp, to start feeding all of our puked-on clothes and peed-on bedsheets through the wash. Things got off to a little late start this morning, but at 7:05, those first heavy toddler footfalls started.
After less than three footsteps, Edgar was awake. So-- laundry was postponed in favor of trundling a crying sleepy Edgar into his sleeping mother's bed for comfort, and stealing a sleepy baby out of the bed and putting her down in the most convenient place -- Edgar's bed. Our sweet little baby slept until 9:30 in Edgar's bed. Edgar, however, demanded mommy's attention and a video. Posthaste.
Mommy was in no mood to deal with Edgar, so we spent the morning together watching Kermit-the-frog and snuggling on the couch, while I snuggled back, did a few dishes, and nursed a series of mountain dews.
Jen slept in until 9:30, and got a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day. I can't imagine what she's done to deserve such a treatment....
I had a short nap with Sabrina in my armpit.
I even had a couple of potty-times with Edgar. It looks like he's going to keep at it. Even though, I still changed some major diapers of Edgar's today.
This evening, I put Edgar to bed a bit early, and Jen and I left Edgar's baby monitor and a sleeping infant with Becky upstairs, and were off for dinner and a movie.
We love Northern Lights, the local dinner theater, and the movie, Red, was really really fun. Twenty stars out of four. Explosions. Assassinations. Insanity. Black comedy. Highly recommended. It was completely awesome. It's been too long since I've seen it, but it may have been more awesome (but in a completely different way) than the other movie called Red, which is one of my favorites.
Came home to a quiet house and a hungry daughter. Life is okay tonight.
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Baby faces: a study in photographs by Jen:
Jen and Sabrina were up for a 6:30 AM feeding that woke me up, and since the alarm was going off at 7, I putzed around on the internet for a while waiting for the Elephants to show up.
Since we live in a basement apartment, and the upstairs neighbor has a little daycare, we have the pitter patter of little feet above our heads. Five of them. Starting at 7 AM. On hardwood floors.
We've mostly gotten used to this little vagary of life, and we usually sleep through it. The inconvenience is more than balanced out by the fact that our upstairs neighbors let us use their washer and dryer. This morning was laundry day, and I'm terribly efficient on laundry day.
I'm not too good at very many domestic chores, but when I do laundry, stuff gets done. So, I was ready, at 7 AM sharp, to start feeding all of our puked-on clothes and peed-on bedsheets through the wash. Things got off to a little late start this morning, but at 7:05, those first heavy toddler footfalls started.
After less than three footsteps, Edgar was awake. So-- laundry was postponed in favor of trundling a crying sleepy Edgar into his sleeping mother's bed for comfort, and stealing a sleepy baby out of the bed and putting her down in the most convenient place -- Edgar's bed. Our sweet little baby slept until 9:30 in Edgar's bed. Edgar, however, demanded mommy's attention and a video. Posthaste.
Mommy was in no mood to deal with Edgar, so we spent the morning together watching Kermit-the-frog and snuggling on the couch, while I snuggled back, did a few dishes, and nursed a series of mountain dews.
Jen slept in until 9:30, and got a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day. I can't imagine what she's done to deserve such a treatment....
I had a short nap with Sabrina in my armpit.
I even had a couple of potty-times with Edgar. It looks like he's going to keep at it. Even though, I still changed some major diapers of Edgar's today.
This evening, I put Edgar to bed a bit early, and Jen and I left Edgar's baby monitor and a sleeping infant with Becky upstairs, and were off for dinner and a movie.
We love Northern Lights, the local dinner theater, and the movie, Red, was really really fun. Twenty stars out of four. Explosions. Assassinations. Insanity. Black comedy. Highly recommended. It was completely awesome. It's been too long since I've seen it, but it may have been more awesome (but in a completely different way) than the other movie called Red, which is one of my favorites.
Came home to a quiet house and a hungry daughter. Life is okay tonight.
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Baby faces: a study in photographs by Jen:
Day 12 -- Little Adventures
Our sweet little daughter curled up next to her mother and only woke up once during the night.
Our sweet little son stretched out in his crib and woke up four times.
Something's wrong here.
Our sweet little son stretched out in his crib and woke up four times.
Something's wrong here.
Edgar at night is mostly Daddy's job. I say mostly because Jen was sweet and handled one of the four incidents last night. I wish I knew what the matter was. Heaven knows, Edgar is communicative enough, but when I ask him why he's waking up at night, he can't or won't answer. Is he sick? no. Is he scared? maybe. Is he sad? Yeah. What does he want? Mommy.
Okay. After a night like that, I was in no mood to deal with the kids, but regardless, I really needed to get out of the house. Playgroup got cancelled at the last minute, so we improvised. Jen fed Edgar breakfast while I slept in the rocking chair with Sabrina on my chest. Then, Edgar and I went exploring.
We hit not one, but TWO guitar stores here in Salem. Edgar was fascinated. So was I, but I'm at the point where the next guitar that I want to buy is so expensive that I just have to dream and hope.
The guitar stores were on the way to the Salem Carousel. I had a couple of spare tokens from my last attempt to take Edgar to the carousel, which didn't go too well. This time, he had a blast. "Horsie! Up-and-down!" He rode a horse and a zebra (!), and after two rides, was still so blissful and surprised that he didn't begrudge us leaving while it was still magical. In typical Alex-fashion, I didn't bother taking the camera with us, so we have no photo-documentation of our adventures to share. We were too busy having fun.
From there, we went to Lancaster Mall, ostensibly to go to the "ski store". Edgar played on the little-kid playground while I got some reading in. Check these pictures out:
...Now, compare this picture to this one, taken of Edgar at about 5 or 6 months old in the same spot (he was just standing up on his own) :
He's even got the same expression on his face!
We wandered down the mall aimlessly, terrorizing all the weird power-walkers that are typically there on a weekday. The random old people walking the mall loved him.
We got a Strawberry Julius (an indulgence for me), and picked up my skis from the shop. Next, we had a father-son lunch at Wendy's. Poor kid-- that's where his mom always takes him. He didn't mind. I bought him fries and chicken nuggets and he ate only ketchup and ranch dressing. He made friends with all the people in the restaurant. We also had two people stop us today and ask us how old my daughter was. He was wearing blue. It's the hair...
...speaking of which, Jen had a conversation with Edgar the other day. It went something like this:
J: "Edgar, it's getting about time to cut your hair. Would you like a haircut?"
E: "No."
J: "We'd cut your hair and you'd look like Dylan and Max and Sam" (all kids from church with short hair)
E: "No! Long like Daddy!"
Well... I can't say that I haven't influenced him. I wouldn't mind him cutting his hair, though. The Prince Adam / Page Boy cut is looking a little weird. If it were me, I'd cut the hair over his ears and turn it into a mullet. Yeah, Jen won't have any part of that.
Had a rad nap at home. (thanks, Jen!), then, I stole the baby.
I took Sabrina to work with me. I let all the ladies (with their strong perfume) pass her around. I had to retrieve an encrytped file from a secure server (sounds like something off of 24, right?), so I needed to spend about 5 minutes in the office. Sabrina was so good that I ended up showing her around the whole place. She was a sweetie and stared at everyone and wiggled, and was generally an angel.
I like taking my kids into work. I like to think that it buys me a bit of forgiveness if I'm flaky or blow a deadline occasionally... "It's okay-- you have the most adorable daughter in the world. I'm sure you were up all night with her instead of making sales projections..."
I came home this evening, and finally fixed the table that I put off from a few days ago. Edgar was fascinated with the electric drill. Jen's a bit disappointed that I fixed the table. She was hoping to replace it.
At dinner, Edgar managed to smear spaghetti all over himself and fill his diaper with (uneaten) noodles and sauce. Jen was gracious enough to shower with Edgar after dinner.
So, back on the potty-training thing, Edgar had 3 different potty-sessions today, including a marathon hour-long one this evening. Edgar couldn't coax any #2 to happen, but he peed multiple times. I'm sure this is wonderful stuff you all want to hear...
We still aren't sure where to go with this potty-training thing. I think we both appreciate the commitment it takes to potty-train a kid, especially a boy, and one so young as Edgar. So, on one hand, we're not really ready for it. On the other hand, Edgar's doing it all on his own. It'd be a shame to discourage him.
So, I guess we'll see where the next day or so takes us with this potty training thing. First order of business is to buy one of the rad toilet seats that we bought for our upstairs neighbors for christmas. They love it and gave a unilateral recommendation to anyone with a toddler.
Okay, well, I have stayed up way too late writing this. See you next time
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Day 11-- Visit to Grandma and Grandpa's
Day 11--
Today was Sabrina's postpartum checkup, so we trundled into the car and headed north. First stop was to buy Edgar some new shoes. They've got firetrucks on them that light up when he steps. He's really proud.
Baby appointment went fine. All the midwives wanted to do was hold Sabrina, which is understandable, because that's all I want to do, and all anyone wants to do.
After that, Grandma and Grandpa's house. This was Sabrina's first real trip outside the house, first time at my folks', and first lots of things.
At the grandparents, we spent hours with Grandma holding baby Sabrina, and the rest of us not doing much, although everyone except Edgar managed to get a nap out of the way.
Here are lots of pictures:
Grandpa and a captive audience.
That's a proud grandma.
I just liked this picture of Edgar.
We had to convince Grandpa that he wanted to hold Sabrina, but he really enjoyed it. Can you see some family resemblance?
Edgar wanted to hold the camera, and shot this inspired little video:
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Before we left this morning, Jen downloaded several months worth of photos off her cellphone. The following pictures are a potpourri of fun stuff stretching back at least since last thanksgiving:
Edgar at Jen's folks playing on Grandma's laptop. Edgar went through a phase around thanksgiving where he watched Harry Potter and the Mysterious Ticking Noise about thirty times a day.
Edgar and Stitch watching one of Stitch's many adventures.
Andaluz has this tree with a leaf for every child born there, We found Edgar's on there. Can't wait to see Sabrina's.
This is a picture of Sabrina just minutes old. I believe this is the one she sent her family from her phone the night of Sabrina's birth.
Sabrina at one day old.
Jen: "Her lips look like the Batman symbol."
If you look closely at this picture, you can see the results of us not trimming Sabrina's fingernails immediately after she was born. She scratched up her face her first night in the world.
This is a proud (and tired! and ugly!) daddy.
This is a confused big brother. I believe this photo was taken last Sunday (by Edgar's outfit)
Jen's phone was FULL of these kind of pictures. Just mommy staring at the expressions on Sabrina's face, and taking as many pictures as possible. I may post more later.
Sabrina relaxing in her bouncy seat, getting mobbed by an affectionate older brother.
...and some recent candid pictures of the two of us. this is us enjoying pizza monday night:
Well, Edgar gets up early (too early) in the morning, so I'd better get off the internets and get some sleep.
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