Brown babies. Plural.

Because it's true that really only the parent of the child is the one interested in what the small one is doing, I'll spare you the blow-by-blow on what Iris is up to. As I told Red Door, she's not yet running--but I feel that is imminent such is her development now that she's out of the hospital.

Sure her ticker is repaired and working marvelously, but it's so very clear that just a month of stimulation and frequent hugs at home are doing what six months in the hospital could not. It's fabulous to see and makes me giggle/cry when I see her doing something new to her and new to us.


A baby on the couch. Our favorite place. I'm having it and some other pieces of furniture cleaned tomorrow and a little worried about where the hell we're going to sit while we wait for it dry.



Ezra. Passed clean out. Yes, he's still in his crib (he loves it and doesn't even attempt to climb out). Yes, those are pacis (three of maybe five). Changes to the crib we're not touching with a ten foot pole (why mess with a good thing); the pacis are slowly being chucked. Once we get down to one I really don't have a plan.

Intervention

Last night I dreamt that Sarah Jessica Parker and I went on a road trip and ate at all of the cafeterias in the Midwest. She ate mandarin oranges and read Vanity Fair while I drove her Prius.

The night before I dreamt that I visited the Countess at her house and was shocked at how dumpy it was. She was dressed in a purple dress. I had on a jumper. I decided she was boring in person and went next door to hang out with Bethenny.

Needless to say, Iris and I have been watching a lot of television. Homegirl has her sleeping down to a science and I love me some On Demand.

Help me.

Frankie says relax

Since Iris has come home, I've been feeling twitchy about the interwebs.

I'm thinking the bulk of this is due to previously spending about 8-10 hours a day on my computer at work plus using Gmail, conversing via Gchat, posting whatnots on Twitter and blogging. The esssence of my job as a librarian was to be online and know what's what and where to find it. The essence of my job now is caring for Iris and making sure our house doesn't burn down around us and yet still I feel compelled to be online even though I have zero time to do so. As I type this, the dishwasher needs to be unloaded, there are three loads of laundry to fold, things to race around and do while the Small Fries are sleeping and no one needs to be held or read to. T needs a hot minute to himself and I need to get sleep otherwise I am Mean the next day.

So because those things are more important to me right now and because trying to find time to online was taking up too much space in my brain, I'm going to take an internet sabbatical for a bit of time.

Call me or text me if you have my number...I'll be hanging out at home with the fam.

My day

I think this morning I thought about something to write in this here space, but since every day is seemingly the same--well, I've already forgotten about it.

The days are passing by quickly and not terribly monotonous. Today Iris and I went to Target and like with every trip to Target, I spent about a hundred dollars on other stuff and almost forgot the $5.00 item I went there for.

I started two iced mochas throughout the day and didn't finish either one.

Iris got sweaty about mid-morning like she does every other day and I had to change her outfit.

We visited with CurlyGirl and New Baby C in the afternoon, rushed home to eat and then picked up Ezra at school.

The evening was a blur of dinner, cleaning up, dosing up meds, herding everyone upstairs, T and I dividing and conquering, all Small Fries in bed by 7:45pm, me on the internets and reading about Whitney Houston's weight gain.

It was sunny and breezy and lovely.

I think I figured out Iris' daytime sleep schedule.

Laundry was folded.

I watch DVR in the evening and dose up with Unisom to make the most of the 8 hours.

Overall, pretty good.

A quickie list

Good:

• Iris' home monitor rarely goes off at night. This is good for it is very loud. Very. Like scare-a-little-pee-out-of-you loud.
• Ezra seems to be doing marvelously both at home and at school given the new roommate situation
• Iris is sleeping like a chaaamp at night in her crib. Eats then passes right back out. No dramatics.
• People have been so very about lovely dropping off meals. It's been helping so, so much.
• I go to bed at 8pm and look forward to this time so very much.
• Iris is a hotbox so I'm thankful that it's only been in the 60s here lately, although, my feet are persistently cold during the day.
• My hair is long enough that I can pull it back and have it be mildly presentable should I need to run out.
• Two kids make it hard to find time to eat and as a result I've lost a few more pounds.
• Ezra hated his swing but loved his bouncer. Iris loves the swing but hates the bouncer.
• Having T home for these two-three weeks has been great.
• Much to T's chagrin, I've been watching episode after episode of SATC On Demand. With Iris passed out on my chest.

Working on it:

• Her nap schedule is wonky.
• I miss Ezra a lot. I miss my solo time with him. I miss him when I drop him off.
• Iris has a cough that isn't a cold, isn't reflux and might be jenky lungs.
• I'm in discussions with someone to possibly be Iris' nanny come August. We shall see what comes of it.
• T and I don't get to talk much.
• I forgot that babies don't actually "play" much and as a result there is a lot of staring at one another during the day.
• Due to monitor success, we're hoping that her oxygen can be weaned even more.
• Because of her g-tube and oxygen tubing and diaper changes, turns out many of the outfits that I bought for Iris are kind of a hassle. The button up the front ones are the best.
• The carseat is apparently a torture device.
• The newborn phase of needing more food at night makes me reconsider having more children.
• Iris still doesn't like taking a paci which is a bummer orally, but she sucks on her fingers like a mad woman and we can hear her smacking away in the next room.
• I have a handful of friends to call and introduce to Iris. I promise I'm getting to it!

Zombies gone soft

In my more rested moments months and months ago, I thought a large family would be STUPENDOUS. Lots of love. Lots of personality. Lots of curly eyelashes.

But I'll be damned if I can do this middle of the night thing over and over and over and over again. I am not getting any younger (and neither is T) and, well, ouchie. It hurts.

I guess we should consider ourselves lucky. Ezra was a boob machine and nursed every two hours from dusk til dawn. T, I think it goes without saying, was very well-rested during this time. Until I started pumping and then T was on until 2am and I was on after.

The game is a little bit more even this go 'round because Iris is fed through her g-tube--a free for one and all activity. Also, she doesn't eat every two hours--rather, every three. We might even go gutsy and nix her 3am feeding giving us from 1am-7am free and sleeping.

Six hours of sleep back in the day made me want to roll in the grass and count my sheckels with gleeI felt so lucky. Six hours now is just a sad reminder that it's four short of what I used to get.

Last night I layed awake at 3:30am thinking myself an ass because here I was getting all grouse-y about sleep after the hell we've been through the past seven months. I am so not saying I would send her back or wish she weren't here. Lord, no.

It's just that I LOVE Iris and I happen to also LOVE sleep. These loves (like fitting into skinny pants and loving chocolate cake) may just not be able to co-exist at the same time. At least not right now.

Maybe I should give it a few more days.

Home!

The quickie highlights:

• It felt surreal to have a baby in the carseat yesterday.
• Iris slept like a champ in her crib.
• Her monitor only went off twice; once scaring the pants off T at 11:30pm and just plain annoying me at 3:30am when I was changing her diaper.
• This morning was insanity trying to get Iris her meds, her food, Ezra wrangled and dressed for school, T out the door for a meeting.
• Iris likes her back patted to go to sleep.
• Onesies on her are a pain in the can.
• I am having a greasy day.

Party time

Ezra's party on Saturday was a rousing success. I Swiffered (I heart you, Swiffer) and tidied up in the morning. He marveled at the party hats (see below). We went swimming and had lunch. He took a mega nap. I showered and distributed balloons. He woke up. Guests arrived. Party commenced.



Upon spotting the party hats on the table Saturday morning, Ezra needed to wear one. Also, his latest thing is to carry around our tennis rackets and play them like a guitar.

Mid-tune of "Happy Birthday to MEEEEE"...

So, here's the thing: it's been really nice here. 85, sunny, a little humid--nothing intolerable when the windows are opened. Not like, say, Kenya in May. But the African/naturalized American I live with was being a complete flower on Saturday. "K! Our guests neeeddd aiiirrrr!" I suggested he take off his undershirt and maybe calm the hell down and sit for a bit. The compromise was him turning on the air ("To take the edge off. Trust me") and lay near the vent that shoots under the couch. Ezra, in the meantime, was watching some pre-party Wow Wow Wubzy. And holding a Diego balloon.

While highly excited bordering on spastic, thank Jebus there weren't any tantrums when gifts were being opened. The worst part is that he wanted to play rightthenandthere with everything that was opened and ignore the next one in line.

My brother wedging his 24 year old biscuits onto Ezra's new trike.

Ice cream caaaakkkeee.

Eating of the ice cream cake. Later, I found ice cream drips both on that bowl and on the pineapple inside the bowl. Huh.

Swimming!

The outdoor pool at our gym opened on Saturday and we've hit it every single morning. The weather here as been ridiculously gorgeous, I lovelovelove pools and we can eat lunch there (well, hello, grilled cheeseburger and Cherry Pepsi) which made a trifecta of fabulousness this long weekend.

As an aside, it is clear that Ezra's skin is a force to be reckoned with. I'm a Mighty Pale Face through the winter months, but tan pretty easily. T, obviously, is not pigmentally challenged. This has left Ezra with skin that you can watch get darker. I make him wear a hat, have a shirt on the back-up and even slather him in SPF 70. And still--after just two hours outside in the morning, no less--is so chocolately brown, I just shake my head.

My favorite part?--that his little toddler creases (neck, wrists) are whiter than the rest of him.