We are having struggles in the world of sleep. And maybe if you look at each kid individually, it is not that bad. But consider the two together, and it seems like our sleep is really really shitty right now. The kids are 9.5 months old. Could it be a growth spurt? We went through some really good weeks of sleep and we rejoiced that we had survived the worst of sleep stuff. And then the gods laughed at us, and the bad sleep started again. WHY WHY WHY? One of the worst things we are experiencing right now is that Jordan can be exhausted and his eyes are barely open to slits. But when you try to hold him and rock him and soothe him, he pushes against you with amazing force, trying to get away. And if you the put him in the crib, he wails and wails. The pushing away is annoying because it can be painful, it can be tough to hold on to him and not drop him (he is almost 21 lbs now!), and, in a way, it feels like a rejection from him. This may seem weird to say, but it really does feel personally insulting. Like, hey dude, I am trying to rock you and this mommy and me time should be so nice and all you want to do is get the hell away from me.
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Every Thursday I am home with the kids because I now work 4 ten hour days to make up my full time work schedule. In theory, it is nice to have an extra day with the kids and it saves on day care costs. My current struggle is that Thursdays tend to be pretty difficult. I want to cherish these days with the kids, but I find myself more enduring them and wishing them away than anything else. I am constantly looking at the clock and counting the hours until Penny gets home. I hope that, as the kids get older and as the weather gets better, I will be able to get out with them more and enjoy them. Being home for a whole day with the kids alone is tough because it is a neverending litany of feeding, changing, holding, playing, trying to get down for naps (them, not me!), and shuttling them up and down the stairs. Exhausted does not even begin to cover it.
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Both kids have colds and are terribly snotty. Any guesses as to how much they each like to have their noses suctioned out with the nasal aspirator? Also, Taylor has another ear infection, so she is now on antibiotics. Taylor had a rough weekend last week due to fevers of up to 103 degrees, which resulted in a doc's appointment on Sunday...no fever at time of appointment and no ear infection, then being sent home from daycare on Tuesday with a fever os 102.6, another doctor's appointment on Tuesday, and a subsequent diagnosis of an ear infection and the beginning of antibiotics. Good times.
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Yesterday we had another big snowstorm. They predicted 16 inches and I thought about slitting my wrists. In the end, we only got about 8 inches, so that was much nicer. But, Jee-zus! Is this winter over yet? Everyone tells us, "Ya picked a hell of a winter to come back to New England!" Thanks. Very helpful!
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The house we are living in has been sold. This is the 3rd rental house that has been sold out from under us while we were living in it. We may stay here until the end of our lease in August, or we may move early if we can find a suitable arrangement. The sellers have been clear that we are welcome to stay until the end of out lease, which has been nice. But, the buyers are quite vested is us leaving early. We may actually switch houses with them, as they are renting a nice house nearby. We are going to look at it on Sunday. We are asking the buyers to pay for a packer/mover for us, if they really want us to move out early, due to our time constraints with two babies and the fact that we just went through a cross country move 6 months ago. We have proposed the idea to them and they are going to let us know.
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For some reason, my left eye will not stop twitching and watering. Stress and sleep deprivation anyone? In good news, however, is that day care was closed yesterday due to snow and Penny stayed home with the kids becuase I had to go to a staff retreat. The kids were able to go to daycare today instead, and I do not work on Thursdays, so guess who is home all alone, with an entire day all to herself to lay around and eat grapes and bon bons? You guessed it...yours truly. There are SO many things I want to do with my time, so I better run! Penny and I are meeting for lunch later today.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Pics, pics, pics
Cousins Heather and Jessie with J & T recently. Jessie was home from Utah for a visit (along with fiancee Matt and son Chase) and we had a lot of good family time. It was great to meet Matt and to hang out with Chase. He is such a big boy now!
Ms. Taylor is on the move! Check out that drool!
Here's Chase with one of his favorite birthay gifts, courtesy of MeMa (Cindy). Check out that tongue!
Cousins Alex and Trent love to hold J & T. Lookin' good everybody!
Jessie looks ready to be a mom of twins herself, doesn't she? Rockin' the twins, Jess! LOVE the face on Taylor!
Jordan is enjoying finger foods, especially 'nanners! He is a very messy boy. Gotta roll up the sleeves!
Taylor loves her some 'nanners, too! She is such a ham when the camera comes out!
My name is Jordan and I love to eat plastic!
Check out the teeth!
Oh, that eating was such hard, hard work! She fell asleep right in her highchair, so we left her there for a little snooze!
Jordan LOVES to stuff his mouth. Lots of gagging. Good times. And we gotta watch him for choking like you would not believe! This boy gives us a run for our money in the eating department. He also apparently has an endless appetite!
Um, I think I'll take "cute as can be" for 100, Alex.
Penny, Taylor, and Chase. Thanks for letting T wear your hat, Chase!
At Penny's grandmother's surprise 90th birthday party, they took a picture of all the grandkids and great grandkids...and there is even a great great grandkid (Chase)! Penny especially likes this pic, since the babies have so many cousins and I have only one. And this is only ONE side of her family!
Penny and her siblings have not been all together for a long time, but here they were at Gram's 90th. What a motley crew, ey? Standing from oldest to youngest, from right to left: Gordie, Bobby, Cindy, Penny, and Raymond
Friday, February 15, 2008
Rockin' and Rollin' and What-not
The kids had their nine month check-up yesterday. They both got a clean bill of health. Yay! Both kids still have colds, but we can stop Jordan's nebulizer treatments for now, as his lungs are clear and the treatments are not needed. Yay again! Jordan is now more than 2 pounds bigger than Taylor. In fact, he is almost 3 pounds bigger than she is. Here are the stats:
Jordan: 20 lbs, 7 oz (50th percentile), 29 inches long (75th percentile), 19 inch head circumference (97th percentile!)
Taylor: 17 lbs, 12 oz (25th percentile), 26.5 inches long (10th percentile), 17.5 inch head circumference (50th percentile).
Bottom line: Jordan has a gigantic head and loves to eat. Taylor is more petite, but she is growing well and is in proportion, so there is no cause for alarm. (Taylor also loves to eat, but just is not growing by as many leaps and bounds as Jordan is!)
After the doc appointment, we dropped the kids off at daycare and the moms went out for a nice Valentine's Day lunch...alone. It was lovely and relaxing. We also cooked a nice dinner at home, which included steak, crusty bread with goat cheese, sweet potatoes, wine, and chocolate chip cookies. Yeah baby! Oh yeah, and candles. Go us! It was a lovely day!
Hope you all had nice V Days also!
Jordan: 20 lbs, 7 oz (50th percentile), 29 inches long (75th percentile), 19 inch head circumference (97th percentile!)
Taylor: 17 lbs, 12 oz (25th percentile), 26.5 inches long (10th percentile), 17.5 inch head circumference (50th percentile).
Bottom line: Jordan has a gigantic head and loves to eat. Taylor is more petite, but she is growing well and is in proportion, so there is no cause for alarm. (Taylor also loves to eat, but just is not growing by as many leaps and bounds as Jordan is!)
After the doc appointment, we dropped the kids off at daycare and the moms went out for a nice Valentine's Day lunch...alone. It was lovely and relaxing. We also cooked a nice dinner at home, which included steak, crusty bread with goat cheese, sweet potatoes, wine, and chocolate chip cookies. Yeah baby! Oh yeah, and candles. Go us! It was a lovely day!
Hope you all had nice V Days also!
Monday, February 11, 2008
9 Months Old!
Well, we all survived my weekend away! I had a great time in LA and Mandy's wedding was gorgeous. She was a beautiful bride and the wedding was such a neat reflection of Mandy and Dustin as a couple. I got to spend a lot of time with my mom and with my dad's side of the family. It was really lovely. I enjoyed my book on CD (A Wedding in December by Anita Shr.eve), reading leisurely in the morning when I woke up and before I fell asleep (19 minutes by Jodi Picou.lt), eating out with the family, and sleeping in a lovely big bed all to myself. (Thanks to Aunt Nancy who insisted that I have a reservation for a room with a kind sized bed, so that I could spread out and enjoy my two nights away to their fullest!) But, I missed the babies and Penny tremendously and I still felt exhausted when I got home. I was happy to get back home and back to the routine that I was surprised to realize I actually enjoy and relish on a daily basis. Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees! (Oh, and many, many thanks for the amazing Penny who was such a rock star in her ability to care for the babies on her own for most of the weekend. And whose selflessness allowed me to attend the wedding of my ONLY cousin! Thanks, Pen! You continue to amaze me both as a parent, a wife, and a person. We are all so lucky to have you in our lives!)
The babies are 9 months old now. Seriously, they are 3/4 of a year old? How is that even possible? It will be their birthday in the blink of an eye.
Jordan enjoys pulling himself up to a standing position whenever humanly possible. Then he cries because he gets tired and does not know how to lower himself back down to sitting. Jordan also loves crawling like a little wild man, eating as much as he can by shoving food into his pie hole (oh, how he would love some pie!), and sticking his cute tongue out when he is doing just about everything. Jordan also loves to be naked, to turn over on the changing table when you are trying to change him, and attempt to throw himself off of anything that he can. If he is naked when attempting such acrobatics...even better! Jordan also enjoys stealing whatever toy Taylor is playing with and knocking Taylor down when he is crawling around. Clearly, Jordan needs to be taught a few manners!
Taylor is getting so good at holding her own bottle. She makes the cutest faces when she is trying new foods. Taylor is getting much better at eating, and no longer pushes all her food out by thrusting her tongue when trying to eat. Taylor loves to cuddle when she is tired and is able to let her very active body rest. She is learning to pull herself up, she loves to crawl, and she loves to pull hair and blow raspberries at everyone. Taylor loves, loves, loves to splash in the bath. She also loves to touch/pet the dog and cats. Taylor is learning to hold her own against her bully little (Younger by 1 minute...yes, but little? Not so much!) brother. Go girlfriend!
We love you so much Jordan and Taylor. We can't believe that you have been in our lives for 9 months already. You have now been with us on the outside (36 weeks) just about as long as you were growing in Mama Chris' belly (37 weeks). You have taught us so much about ourselves as people, as parents, and as a couple. Thank you for all your love and for teaching us patience on a daily basis. You have made our lives so very, very rich and we look forward to many more milestones to come. We waited a long time for you to come into our lives, but the wait was so, so worth it. And, just as the acupuncturist told us when we were trying to get pregnant with you, everything works out just the way it is supposed to, at just the right time, in just the right way. I think I finally believe her!
Love,
Your mamas
The babies are 9 months old now. Seriously, they are 3/4 of a year old? How is that even possible? It will be their birthday in the blink of an eye.
Jordan enjoys pulling himself up to a standing position whenever humanly possible. Then he cries because he gets tired and does not know how to lower himself back down to sitting. Jordan also loves crawling like a little wild man, eating as much as he can by shoving food into his pie hole (oh, how he would love some pie!), and sticking his cute tongue out when he is doing just about everything. Jordan also loves to be naked, to turn over on the changing table when you are trying to change him, and attempt to throw himself off of anything that he can. If he is naked when attempting such acrobatics...even better! Jordan also enjoys stealing whatever toy Taylor is playing with and knocking Taylor down when he is crawling around. Clearly, Jordan needs to be taught a few manners!
Taylor is getting so good at holding her own bottle. She makes the cutest faces when she is trying new foods. Taylor is getting much better at eating, and no longer pushes all her food out by thrusting her tongue when trying to eat. Taylor loves to cuddle when she is tired and is able to let her very active body rest. She is learning to pull herself up, she loves to crawl, and she loves to pull hair and blow raspberries at everyone. Taylor loves, loves, loves to splash in the bath. She also loves to touch/pet the dog and cats. Taylor is learning to hold her own against her bully little (Younger by 1 minute...yes, but little? Not so much!) brother. Go girlfriend!
We love you so much Jordan and Taylor. We can't believe that you have been in our lives for 9 months already. You have now been with us on the outside (36 weeks) just about as long as you were growing in Mama Chris' belly (37 weeks). You have taught us so much about ourselves as people, as parents, and as a couple. Thank you for all your love and for teaching us patience on a daily basis. You have made our lives so very, very rich and we look forward to many more milestones to come. We waited a long time for you to come into our lives, but the wait was so, so worth it. And, just as the acupuncturist told us when we were trying to get pregnant with you, everything works out just the way it is supposed to, at just the right time, in just the right way. I think I finally believe her!
Love,
Your mamas
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