For my Chris

Nine years ago today we had a small wedding with
a gathering of friends and family in an
old haunted mansion in San Francisco.
Rebecca performed the service and we took
lines from a Princess Bride for our vows
which were barely heard over the click of disposable cameras.
I treasure that day because it made you completely mine.
Some day our babies will look at this picture and say
"Were Mom and Dad really ever that young?"
It feels like yesterday and forever ago.
I love you more with each passing year.
Yes.
I will spend another nine years with you.
(after that we'll have to talk)

The Little Dude

The little Dude is six weeks already, er actually almost seven. I am constantly amazed at how quickly time flies when measured by a little life.

At John Patrick's six week well baby check up he was in the 97th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight at 24 inches and 12 pounds 10 ounces. He is, basically, the size of a three month old. And practically perfect in every way.

He is starting to settle into a schedule. Even though he still wakes up three and four times a night, he goes back to sleep quickly and is much less fussy and uncomfortable. He's also almost holding his head up and smiling just a little bit, especially when he recognizes his people.

Here's some photos of our little chunk...

We're No. 2!

Guess what this little girl accomplished today? See her gleefully holding her potty present (a princess Belle frisbee)? Yep, she took a big step towards freedom from diapers and went on the potty. Can we get a hurrah!

Welcome to the Darkside

It's always interesting when the incongruous happens and when the mighty fall. My beautiful, urban and uber stylish sister has been staying with us for a couple of months (thank god) has changed and I've been teasing her relentlessly about falling into the Darkside of Motherhood with me.

Now for me, wearing black sweatpants all day and going to the grocery store without brushing my hair is not much of a plunge. But Mimi who shops because she doesn't like what she is wearing and wears makeup to the gym it is a big deal to see her:

• not wearing any makeup for a full day or showering for two


• walking around with a fuzzy purple scrunchi holding her hair back
  
• putting on pants with a quarter sized mysterious stain on them
  
• singing along to Dora's "backpack" song
  
• accepting a Zoe booger in the palm of her hand without blinking an eye
  
• saying "Oh cool the penguins from Madagascar are on. I love them."
  
• and keeping a spare diaper in her purse (even when she's not with children)

Now Uncle Stu, before you throw her into a van to deprogram her and take her back to NYC, she's actually quite enjoying her visit to suburban Momdom (perhaps because she knows it's not a permanent move) while she is in between life choices.

And I gotta tell you, if you ever decide to be crazy and have a third kid...you gotta get yourself a Mimi (I'm not sharing mine).

"Join me...and together we will rule the universe..."

(Photo coutesy of Uncle Stu)

Baby Doll

And so it begins.

When I was cleaning up Athena and Zoe's room, Athena watched over John Patrick by tucking him in her bed with her blankets and animals, singing and reading to him - just like she does to her baby dolls.

John Patrick will soon be wearing baby doll dresses.

Happy Easter

Hope everyone's Easter was more cheery than ours which included two sick little girls, a trip to urgent care and Chris driving out of town to visit Aunt Mavi in the hospital.

The day began well with Easter baskets, an egg hunt and brunch with friends but ended with the girls sick and feverish cuddled under a blanket and watching the Sound of Music through watery eyes. Athena was complaining that her ear hurt, so I took her to urgent care to check it out but it was only a 102.5 fever and non-distinct virus. Zoe has also been sniffley and miserable all weekend.

And, she sneezed on John Patrick this morning so it's only a matter of time before he gets it too, I fear.

Little Pitchers

So we were totally caught yesterday.

Since I started breast feeding Athena, Chris and I have casually tossed around our own humor and called everything related to the breast as "boob" - like milk is "boob juice" and I'm the "boob lady" and if the baby is crying we'll say "he just wants some boob" or sigh and say "it's all about the boob." Well, the last time we had a breast feeding baby, Athena was quite wee, now she's a sassy preschooler and our crappy language is coming back at us.

Yesterday, we had a couple of Moms from our art class over for a play date. We were chat chat chatting away about something and Athena inserted herself into the conversation with a

"My Mommy feeds the baby. She had boobs!"

What followed was nervous laughter and I swear one Mom darted her eyes around the room and looked like she wanted to cover her sons ears.

Oh dear.

Almost Victory

we call this John Patrick's "mad baby" face

What does one do when one's newborn is sleepless, fussy and uncomfortable? Well you can:

• change your diet to restrict dairy
• try lactose-free formula (after soy formula makes it worse)
  
• burp baby at 10 minute intervals during nursing
• learn baby massage
• give gripe water 4x per day
• and gas drops after each feeding
• try all sorts of different sleeping positions
  
• wait it out until baby turns a corner
  

I have no idea which one of these things is working, but I am happy to report that we have a contented baby today. No fussiness and sleeping peacefully. AND last night he slept for over four hours at the start of the night, then woke up for 15 minutes and went right back to sleep for two and a half hours, then woke up for 15 minutes and went to sleep again for an hour. Which means I got almost seven hours of actual sleeping time! Although it wasn't an uninterrupted seven hours, it still feels like a vacation!!!

I am not hanging a "mission accomplished" banner just yet, but I see a light...

Baby Daze

Yesterday, Athena was pretending to be a Mommy talking and she said "I nursed the baby and put him down in his bed, he cried so I gave him a bottle, he cried so I rocked him...he didn't sleep." That pretty much sums up the bulk of my days and nights (from a surprisingly perceptive source).

I've tried to write this post several times and it all just sounds like complaining, and I don't mean to complain because thanks to the help from Yiayia and Mimi, we're handling it just fine, but little John Patrick is kind of consuming my every waking moment...and there are too many waking moments.

He wants to eat almost every hour and sleeps no more than an hour and a half at a time. He rarely takes naps during the day with any regularity, he is mostly wide awake. He doesn't like his crib, bassinet or swing for very long, rather prefers to sleep in my arms or next to me in bed. So, yea, I'm rarely without him, he's my constant sidekick. Annnd, he has indigestion and gas and like the photo, often looses his lunch immediately after eating. His doctor, however, is not worried because he is putting on weight like a football player (check out that double chin). It's all just normal newborn stuff, his digestive system needs to grow and develop, he'll soon get used to sleeping on his own and his sleep patterns will naturally settle into a predictable pattern. Right? Right!!?

Luckily, Mimi and Yiayia are here to distract the girls and give me time to take naps - I live on sleep snacks - without their help I surely would have lost it by now. And little John Patrick is a funny, sweet little guy so I don't mind so much.

Enough of the lack of sleep rambling...here are some photos:

A very, very tired Mommy.

Yiayia takes a turn holding our little dude.

Trying to be artistic.

I took one excursion to the grocery store, just me with all three little ones. Athena was a big help looking after John Patrick on the drive. (p.s. we were stopped at a stoplight).

Athena truly and tenderly loves her little brother.

He seems to be confused as to where he is and who all these people are.

John Patrick's first restaurant experience.
Asleep in my arms.

life with three

I know it's only been a few weeks, but so far life with three is daunting and the glimpse of our future with three children will mean that we'll have more children than we have hands, arms, eyes and sides; the kids outnumber the parents; there will be mess, chaos and a general zooishness to our home; no longer will there be time for work, phone calls, emails or anything that doesn't involve the feeding, dressing, changing, bathing and general caretaking of children.

But, instead of on the computer, say writing a grant or blogging, I am probably cuddling with all three babies at once or gently petting John Patrick's soft head while I cuddle with him or playing with the girls outside in the sunshine in the precious moments that John Patrick naps. So, it's not all bad, but it's not easy.

And reality hasn't even set in yet.