Darn

Apparently, the "Evie Sleepy Through the Nighty" show was only in town for one night. Haven't been lucky enough to catch a repeat performance. *sigh* Oh, well. It was one heck of a show while it lasted.

Josie has discovered the fine art of the zerbert. Perhaps that isn't the correct spelling, or pronunciation - but you know what I mean, right? Putting your lips on the bare skin of another and blowing, which makes a lovely fart sound? Yeah. So I'm covered in drool ala Josephine because she doesn't quiet get it right every time, and insisted on getting my shins, and arms, and belly all day today. There's nothing quite like getting spit on by a 20-month old. Well, your own, at least. Perhaps getting the gift of zerbert from someone else's 20-month old wouldn't be as joyous.

shhhhhh.

i am going to say it really quietly and really quickly and maybe i won't jinx us... eve slept through the night last night - 11:00 pm to 6:00 am. yahoo. :)

The littlest Clay fan?

Here is Josie this morning, on the couch, enraptured by Clay Aiken's performance on "The View."







Here I am, during the same performance. NOT the biggest Clay fan.














And I think he gave Eve gas.

Holy Crap - both of my kids are napping at the same time!

I don't know what to do! Do I nap? Do I clean? Do I do laundry, shower, balance the checkbook, workout? Ahh! I think I'll just sit here in the quiet and do nothing - ooh, I know, maybe I'll have a snack... Oh, the endless possibilities!! Carpe Diem, Carpe Diem!

My Little Pony

I finally made it to a Fall Festival at St. Jerome's. It turned out to be a beautiful end-of-summer day, and boy, does it feel like fall tonight. Following mass in the big tent complete with contemporary music, we ate a little lunch, walked a little cake-walk and rode a little pony. Josie loved running around the cars at the car show and Eve slept away content in her carrier. Here are pictures of Josie's first pony ride and Eve giving me big smiles the other night.

Sidenote - I just did a spell check before publishing this post, and it gave me the suggestion to replace cake-walk with gazelles. ???

Eve's 2 month check-up

Eve and I met with the clinic's new doctor on Thursday for her 2 month appointment. I was very impressed with Dr. Carpenter and think that I will request to have her as Eve and Josie's primary physician. The appointment went well, although we do have to go back on Tuesday so that Evie-do can get her shots. She has the sniffles and the doctor recommended that we try to wait until she's cleared up before getting her shots. Her stats:
Weight: 11 lbs. 3 oz.
Height: 22 1/2 in.
I don't remember what her head measurement was. Oh well. It's written down somewhere. She's in the 35th percentile for both height and weight.

Josie's stats at 2 months:
Weight: 11 lbs. 11 oz.
Height: 21 3/4 in.
Strange how fast memory fades. Here I thought Eve was so much smaller than Josie was. Guess not.

We had our first family outing to White Castle last night after going to Pat's cousin Alex's football game at Central High School. What a sight we must have been trucking into the one on University Ave (of all places!) all fair-skinned and red-haired with toddler and baby in tow. It was a lovely experience except for the customer who was threatening to kill the cashier when she got off her shift because they were too slow with the food. Good times. Gotta love the ghetto.

My Girls

Eve and Brewster












Smiley











To poo or not to poo... that is the question














Fun in the rain at Great Grandma Janet's











Our first family outing to a Twins game. Obviously, it was way past Josie's bedtime.

Finding Carol

I'm not going to lie. These past 8 weeks have been hard. Really hard. The second time around the childbirth track, I was thrown into a tailspin by how inadequate I felt. My emotions were all over the place and I found myself beating myself up over, well, everything. There is a societal expectation that once one gives birth, there is this euphoria, this glowing light that is "Motherhood." And I gotta tell ya, I was having trouble finding the light.

I think I mentioned before that I started to worry that perhaps I was dealing with a bout of postpartum depression. But after talking with my doc, we decided that I wasn't. And after an even more helpful appointment with my bookclub friends, accompanied by a couple of tasty margaritas, I realized that what I was dealing with was a case of unrealistic expectations. I expected newborn Eve to be like newborn Josie. She isn't, and shouldn't be. I expected to breastfeed this time. After all, I wanted it to work so badly. It didn't, and that's okay. I expected to have twice the motherly love now that I have two children. I guess that's not quite how it works.

It's funny how much difference a little perspective, and sleep, can make on a dreary outlook. And Eve turned a corner over the weekend. Even though she's far from sleeping through the night, she showed her exhausted parents that there is the possibility that she will sleep through the night someday, and that's good enough for me, for right now.

I had a "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" moment on Saturday. Eve had finished eating and I turned her so that she lay on my lap with her head by my knees, propped up, looking at me. She contemplated me with her big, blue eyes for a few minutes and I felt like she was trying to tell me something. Then, she gave me a genuine, ear-to-ear smile (no, it wasn't gas,) and I felt my heart grow three sizes that day. Of course, I've loved her since she was born, but in a primal "I have to take care of you because you're my offspring" kind of way. But that has changed. Now I can say that I have found "Motherhood" again. It's messy, and smelly, far from perfect and a heck of a lot of work, but it finally feels right.

Eve, if you ever read this, please know that none of this really had anything to do with you. It was me. You are exactly as you should be. And I am, too. It just took me a while to figure that out and forgive myself for it. I'm doing the best I can, and I always will.

If you think you've lost something, check under Pat's butt

I don't know about you, but I tend to look before I leap, I mean, sit. But I guess not everyone finds this a necessary behavior. Josie and I spent 10 minutes last night looking everywhere for her blankie. "Is it in your room, Josie?" So we toddle off to the bedroom to look. Nope. "Is it in the playroom, Josie?" We toddle off to the playroom to look. Nope. "Is it in the living room, Josie?" Back to the living room to look. Don't see it. And while I'm growing more confused because Blankie had just been present 15 minutes earlier, Josie is following behind throwing her hands in the air asking "where'd it go?" Finally, I'm standing in the living room wondering if the dog somehow managed to eat a 3' x 3' baby blanket when I see a glimpse of fabric underneath Pat's behinder on the couch. Ah ha. After Josie got over being upset that Daddy was on her blanket, she was awfully relieved to have it back.

And in Evie news, everyday she is more and more alert. She's having more awake time during daytime hours, and is smiling, cooing and searching for faces to entertain her. There's nothing quite like a baby's gummy smile. She'll be 8 weeks old next Monday, and I was quite excited to get a newsletter from her clinic in the mail today and see that they've hired a new doctor - a woman - who specializes in women's health and pediatrics. So I made an appointment with her for Eve's 2 month checkup, and hopefully, we like her. I've not been overly thrilled with the girls' temporary doctor since their regular physician left because she was pregnant with triplets (and already has 2 children - yikes.) And I'm guessing she's not coming back. I'll keep you posted on Eve's stats!

The joy of... saying goodbye?

We had a mini family reunion on my side of the family at my Gram's over the weekend, and even though Josie had been waving and saying goodbye for quite some time now, she really got into it for some reason on Sunday. As people were leaving, she zealously waved and said "BI-YEEEEEEEE," while they were leaving and even well after they were gone. As we left, she waved and said "BI-YEEEEEEE." And she continued to wave and say "BI-YEEEEEEE," all the way through Rochester on the way home. That's a solid half hour of farewells.

Then yesterday I took the girls in to work to visit with co-workers. You guessed it, we were saying goodbye to everyone we passed on the way out of downtown, and all the cars we saw on the highway on the way home. BI-YEEEEEE for now, more later!