Houston, we have a smile!

At 5 weeks and 1 day old, Ivy is giving us purposeful social smiles! OK, not consistently, and she has to be in exactly the right mood (very alert, diaper clean and fresh, not trying to poop), and the somewhat fleeting and very unpredictable smiling that results from this is impossible to get on camera-- BUT we have seen smiles, 6 or 7 of them this morning, and they are definitely aimed at us, as we smile in return. She's impossibly cute when she finally gets both sides of her face going and both eyes crinkle up. It's like a silent laugh. Perhaps more like a silent guffaw. She's hilarious.

Newborns are really quite manipulative, you know? They are alternately demanding and boring and show us so little positive feedback; we are like starving prisoners with a crust of bread any time we are given the least reward. This smiling--it is like we have won the lottery.

In other news, Jack has had a bit of a rough weekend. It's like the poor kid is a toddler or something, always picking up the latest illness. This time we had a fun little bout with rotovirus. Nat had the distinct pleasure of helping his son learn how to throw up in the toilet, which was done many times yesterday. I got to feel like a wretched excuse for a mother, as my aversion to vomit made it hard for me to be very nurturing to my sweet sick boy. And he was a sweetie, a real trouper, happy as a lark when he was not busy vomiting. Thankfully he's on the mend today, gratefully accepting offers of toast and milk and bananas. Perhaps this was the secret to making him eat, all along-- deny him. It was the saddest thing in the universe yesterday, listening to him say, "milk??? I'm hungry..." over and over and telling him no. He actually commented last night, "I smell your cooking, mom, it smells really guk! Can I have some?" Um, really? He NEVER says that!

This morning the boy amazed me with his memory and verbal skills, once again. He was showing me his green race car and asking me to vroom it with him and I complimented him on what a nice green race car it was. He replied, "Yes, its the one I got with Becca. And Brooks (a little friend whose house Jack has been to exactly twice) has the same one! But his is yellow one like this one, not green. I wish I could go to Brooks house! Or he could come here and bring some toys from his basement!"

Another thing that Jack would like for me to tell you is: He is the proud owner of a Play-doh fun factory. If there was ever a boy who deserved a fun factory its this one, the most patient and good-spirited invalid ever. He absolutely adores this thing. He played with it, first with Nat and then with me, for over 3 hours. He is serious about his blue play-doh worms, this kid. We also made spaghetti for green race car to eat. Good times.

Summer on Somerton...

Summertime has arrived just in time to remind me of what I do love about our neighborhood. Jack and I have just had the loveliest of summer evenings, and such a simple one! We set off to walk to the library (Nat had taken Ivy off to Gram's house for a few hours, so Jack and I could have some "us" time, and the library is one of "our" special things...) Turns out we never made it to the library because we were having too much fun walking around the block.

Shortly after turning the corner onto Somerton, we saw some neighbor-friends out on their porch. Jack had played with the young girl, Rachel, at the park a few weeks ago. He recognized her and was asking "What her playing with?" as we started to walk by. They looked up, we waved, said hello from the sidewalk and chatted for a moment. Then the mom came down to say hi to Corydon, then Rachel wandered down and showed Jack what she was playing with: no less than a Play-doh Ice Cream Shop, a toy combining two of Jack's loves. She invited him up to play and we spent a delightful half hour, talking dogs and houses while the kids made "ice cream", watered the plants, and were generally perfect with one another. Did I mention that it was a 68 degree evening with perfect summer sun drifting through the trees? Can't imagine a better evening to spend on a neighbor's lovely porch, on their lovely street, getting to know some lovely new friends. I do hope we see more of them-- not only do the kids play well together but we share design taste (got a sneak peek at their open concept IKEA kitchen and modern furniture!) and have professors in both families. Plus they are ex-pats. Too cool.

Eventually we headed on to attempt our library trip once more. We then ran into Hazel-the-dog and her mom and had to let the dogs have a wrestling break. She was heading down the block to try to find the deer that had been sighted in the neighborhood so we walked together, dogs bounding and barking alongside (good thing Cor is so cute, she can get away with rotten behavior like that...). On the next block, we ran into a nice couple who have two adopted children-- we'd spent some time chatting with them last summer and like them a great deal too. We ended up all standing and chatting in their yard for a while as Jack ran in circles and waved flags and pinwheels with 2 year old Mary, the sun slowly sinking behind the trees...

Yes, our neighborhood is perhaps the most idyllic spot in the universe, it's true.

Jack and I headed home from there-- maybe we'll make it to the library tomorrow. Or not. I'd take another evening like this one, anytime...

Toddler of the week...

On my chat board for August 07 kiddos, we are doing "Toddler of the Week". It's Jack's week! (don't you tell me I don't have an exciting life!!)

Thought I'd share his update here too!

* Name: Jack Randall

* Nickname: Jackie

*Birthday?: August 28th

*Weight at birth/Weight now?: 9lbs 4oz/ 34 pounds

*Height at birth/Height now?: 20 inches/ no idea!!! :) He's in the 90th percentile for height, though...

*Siblings?: Ivy Jane, 1 month old, Corydon (fur-sister), 6 years old

*Clothing size (tops/bottoms)?: Tops-- 3T, 2T for short sleeves is OK, bottoms-- 2T-3T depending on whether he's wearing cloth or sposies

*Shoe size?: 91/2

*Still Napping? If yes, how long are naps?: Napping most days, from an hour and a half to two and half hours. If he doesn't sleep he still gets at least an hour of alone "quiet time" in his room...

*STTN?: Finally, yes! He wakes some nights if his legs or feet hurt (he has loose ligaments which means he gets pulls and strains easily and his legs and feet can hurt him at night).

*Crib/Toddler Bed/Big Bed?: Just moved into his toddler bed, at his own choosing, when Ivy was about a week old. We've had it in his room with him since March-- one night he just asked to sleep in it and after one night with lots of waking (kind of freaked him out to be in a new spot, I think) he's done great ever since. He doesn't want us to take the crib out of his room yet, though...

*Potty trained/Process of PTing/Haven't started yet?: Haven't really started. He'll talk about it with us but mostly refuses to sit on the potty when we offer him the chance, even when we offer chocolate ( his favorite thing in the world) as a reward. So we're not pushing it. He knows what to do and I firmly believe, just like everything else this kids does, he'll wait til we almost give up on him EVER doing it, and then decide to do it one day and do great. At least, that is sure what I HOPE happens! :)

*Favorite Foods?: Chocolate! :)

Breakfast: Cheerios, zuchini or banana bread, waffles or pancakes, English muffins, eggs
Lunch: PBJ, waffles, quesadillas, granola bars, cheese, yogurt, eggs, cheerios
Dinner: Chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, PBJ, sometmes spaghetti, pizza, cheerios (lol)
Snacks: granola bars, cheese, goldfish, graham crackers, pretzels, cheerios

*Favorite Book(s)?: Anything about trucks or dinosaurs! He really likes Curious George books. He is into going to the library these days and we get 10 new books a week so his "favorite" books change every week right now!

*Favorite Toy(s)?: Little Monster Truck, Big Monster Truck, his favorite red train engine (these 3 sleep with him at night), remote controlled dump truck, his kitchen food, his LP garage, art supplies, books, his tape player (likes to listen to recorded stories on it, more than music.)

*Favorite Activities?:

Inside: Playing playdough, coloring or stamping, vrooming trucks, reading, helping with cooking or cleaning (seriously, he loves to mop!!), videos (much to our chagrin!) on youtube or DVD's (but he can only do this a couple times a day)

Outside: sandbox, playground, bubbles (LOOOOVES bubbles, we use "gazillion bubbles" brand and he runs around shouting "gadillon bubbles!!"

*Favorite Color?: blue!

*Favorite t.v. show/movie?: Movies-- Cars, Dinosaur Shows--Thomas, Wubzy, Kai Lan

*Any special summer activities planned?: We are finally going to use our local pool- bought a pool pass and Jack will be doing swimming lessons! We are also going to take a few trips to upstate NY to the lake cottage-- hopefully a 2 week stay there, if all goes well with sleeping arrangements for the two little ones! Plus lots of summer festivals, cookouts and fires in the backyard, and playgroups with Jack's friends. Preschool (2 half days per week) starts in September! Wow.

*Anything else you want to share?: I love so much about this age! Well, not the manipulation/talking back/ornery rotten behavior he is pulling out recently! lol But the things he says! He makes me laugh out loud all day long. I love the way he kind of mispronounces things while he tries to use new words, constantly. I love the way he really means what he says, whatever it is. I love his silly giggle and the way he loves tickle games and chasing. I love the way he notices everything about the world. It is fascinating to watch him develop into this unique little person, still the same deliberate, focused, serious little man I've seen since he was an infant-- but so independent now, so many of his own thoughts and insights to share with the world. He's so cool! :)

4 week pictures

Trying to keep up! Weeks are very fast things...

One Month

Today is the 8th, which means that Ivy is one month old, officially. I have now been the mother of two children for a month. In some ways, it has gotten easier. For instance,we have practiced and become much more adept at getting out of the house in an expedient fashion, two little ones in tow. Breastfeeding is going swimmingly and the girl is growing like a weed. And despite Ivy's overall lack of a schedule, and indeed the lack of any structure to our daily routine as a whole (with neither parent working at the moment), Nat and I have settled into a rhythm of caring for the two little ones. In general this involves Nat taking Jack while I take Ivy-- the presence of my functional milk ducts making this the most sensible choice-- though I try to tuck the boy in to bed and spend other moments with him when possible. We have even gotten cavalier with our energy levels and have begun to tackle projects and tasks outside of the basics of dishes, laundry and diaper changes (see deck below, and our painted porch floor). I don't take naps any more. (sigh. I miss that.)

Other things are not getting easier at the rate I had hoped. Jack seems to care about his sister, and is sweet and loving to her-- but he continues to pull out new and interesting ways to manipulate our attentions. This involves, thanks to his highly verbal nature, talking back, arguing, and generally being contrary to our wishes at all possible times. Ivy continues to be serious about her sleep-- during the day at least. And really at night as well, as she gets a 4-5 hour stretch of sleep at most times. But she is moving more and more into that phase of babyhood which involves a "witching hour"-- or hours, really-- in the late evening, fussing and demanding much more bouncing and direct ministration that we'd gotten used to, between the hours of 7 and 11, and often throwing in a good long alert period after 11pm. You know, right when we are realizing that perhaps we did a bit too much with our limited energy and we'd really like to be in bed... It is nice to remember that evening fussiness tends to peak at 6-8 weeks. Close to the top of the hill means we are approaching that downslope. And anything is possible for a short amount of time. I also need to remind myself that we can't begin to expect this new little person to have a schedule or a sleep routine anytime before we hit that downslope. If then. And this is normal. And really, it lasts for such a short time in the scope of a childhood. Before we know it, Ivy will be the surprisingly manipulative 2 year old. And in the meantime I must try to suppress the frustration with myself, the thinking that as a second-time mom, I ought to have more of the answers, this ALL ought to be easy, that I shouldn't have had to write this paragraph in the first place...

It's Saturday...

...time for an update! The little chunk (Aka Turtle, Mushy, Baby Girl, Ivy Jane) is passed out, milk-faced in her boppy on the couch next to me, sleeping off her latest feeding. The new nickname can be credited to her most recent weight, as of Friday's breastfeeding group: 9 pounds 9 ounces! She is now, at 4 weeks old, larger than her brother was at birth. Other people continue to comment on how tiny she is, but she is seeming quite substantial to me these days. Appropriate baby size, now.

At 4 weeks old Ivy is a lot less of a "bundle" than she used to be-- she likes to stretch out, arms and legs both, and one of her pastimes is flailing all of her limbs. This is occasionally startling to her, especially when she bops herself in the face. In a show of my cruelty as a mommy-- this really makes me laugh. She is having some nice long alert periods during the day now, mostly before 10 am and after 5 pm. In between: serious about her sleep, this girl. She'll wake to eat and grunt at regular intervals (usually 2-3 hours between feedings with some clustering in the late evening) but that's about it. Last night her alert period was from 9-11 pm. Late bedtime for a baby, but not bad, really, especially as she then proceeded to sleep for 4 hours in her pack and play. God I love it when she sleeps part of the night in the pack and play. It is blissful to be able to roll over and move about in bed, at will. Of course, I can't complain that she slept another 5 hours next to us in bed when she wouldn't go back in her pack and play at 3am. I love that this baby likes to sleep.

She also, by the way, continues to be the gruntiest baby on the planet. Seriously. I have never heard a baby grunt this much. She is definitely part dinosaur.

She also has he silkiest hair ever. It is not falling out yet! :) Rather we think it is getting thicker. Though still sparse at the hairline, meaning we can give her a comb-over if we want. Good times with newborns!

The update on the boy is that he continues to be a highly verbal, utterly adorable, little booger. His listening skills have taken a nosedive this week overall. But he then redeems himself by coming up to me and saying things like, "Mom, you try to talk into the fan. It makes a funny sound!" That's how I was greeted by him after his nap today. I love him and his little, earnest voice. He's perfect even if he drives me crazy. Just now he came over, eskimo kissed his sister and reported, "I give her little nose a kiss!!" Yep, perfect.

Today we went to the mass insanity at Lakewood Park called Meet the Trucks. It was humid and still but the rain held off all day and we were able to thoroughly overwhelm the boy with large vehicles. Oh, the horn honking! We were ALLL ready for our naps when we got home...

Here for your enjoyment: Pictures of the trucks!! Ivy's 4 week photos coming soon...

3 weeks old!

Here are Ivy's 3 week photos... just a little bit late!
Also some shots from the photo shoot we did with friend Tiffany when Ivy was 19 days old.. still waiting on Tiffany's masterpieces from that day...