5

Oh, man. I have a 5-year-old. I don't quite know how this happened. 

Things I do know: Harry is sweet, funny, and smart; he rides his bike too fast; he loves video games, chicken nuggets, and his baby sister; and he is growing up too fast.

The Kindness of Strangers

So, I'm on my own this week with the kids while Kevin is skiing in New Mexico. It's kind of daunting to know that reinforcements will not be arriving at dinnertime, and that not only am I going to be putting both kids to bed, but I am also the one who will be washing dishes and folding laundry once they're asleep. The bathroom could use a good cleaning too, but I am only one woman.A complete stranger did me a solid today, though, relieving some of this temporary-single-parent burden. Harry and I had just gone outside, shovels in hands after putting Harper down for a nap, tasked with clearing four inches of new snow off of the driveway. This very nice man was clearing the drive of the older woman across the street, and when he saw me and Harry shoveling, he waved. I waved back. When he was done with her drive, he stopped in front of my house and said, "Would you mind if I gave you a hand?"My emphatic answer: Of course not!I just wanted to share that, the kindness of strangers, which is something I've been trying to impress upon Harry. Yes, there are bad, scary strangers in the world, and anyone who tries to hurt him or take him away is a bad stranger, but there are also nice strangers in the world: kind, helpful, friendly people whose names we just don't happen to know. I'm hoping today's experience was not lost on him.
And because you may be forgetting what my babies look like since I post so infrequently. . . 

Solid food! So far Harper has eaten (and enjoyed!) oatmeal, acorn squash, bananas, and peas.

Harry, pretending to be a tree.

Harper, with dramatic lighting.

The Night Before Christmas

Harry has picked out four cookies for Santa, and we will pour a glass of milk before sending Harry off to bed. We scattered reindeer food on the front lawn, which has the barest covering of snow. Kevin is playing "Mele Kalikimaka" on his ukulele. 

I am off to work in a few hours and will be home just in time to put on my pajamas and open presents in the morning.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Sometimes I Forget

I was having one of those mornings where essentially every single thing my children did was getting on my nerves. Harper spitting up on my last clean pair of jeans? Annoying. Harry yelling at me from the basement for help with a video game while I was nursing Harper? Aggravating. Harry telling me wasn't hungry, then asking me to make his lunch two seconds after I sat down to eat my own lunch? Frustrating. Harper waking up while I was making Harry's lunch while my own lunch grew cold? The end of my rope. 

And then we went to Target. After putting the kids in the car, I climbed in, buckled up, and said to Harry, "I'm going to use this car ride to put myself in a better mood," and he said, "Me too, Mom." So we spent five minutes quietly in the car, then shared a pretzel as we strolled through Target and Harper napped. Thirty minutes later, everyone felt much better.

And once my mood had improved, I was able to remember how adorable and bright and fun these kids are, and how lucky I am to have them in my life and in my family.

She always looks this happy after spitting up. I guess it's therapeutic.

Looking pensive. Before the mood-improving pretzel, obviously.

Cheap and Easy Holiday Gift

Harry has four teachers in his room at daycare, and I was faced with the challenge of a small, inexpensive holiday gift that would be appropriate for three women, ages 20 to 45, and a man in his early 20s. I was kind of stalled out until Harry came home with these little holiday boxes that he apparently fell in love with while on a trip to the big box hardware store with Grandma, and she was nice enough to send them home with him. A few days later Harry picked up some $1 ornaments from Target and a package of Hershey bars.

The total cost per box was about $4 dollars, and everyone can use a few ornaments and a piece of chocolate. 

Thankful

On the list of the many, many things for which I am grateful, these two precious bits of wonderful are at the top. Harry has been and continues to be the most amazing big brother to Harper, and Harper is such an easy, happy baby. They make being their mother a joy. 

It's hard to leave these two kids at bedtime to go work, but I am also thankful that I have a job that I love, and a wonderful husband who takes such good care of them while I'm at work.

We have one more day of work this week, then off to spend Thanksgiving with family. I hope you have safe travels, Dear Reader, and a thankful heart.

Prepare to Resume Non-Mom Activities in 3, 2, 1. . .

Let's just get this out of the way: Obama! Re-elected! Woo-hoo!

Moving on. . .

Forty-eight hours from now I will be helping my kiddos wind down for the night. Forty-nine hours from now I will be frantically getting ready to go to work. . . for the first time since Harper was born. . . and I will be gone for 12 hours. . . while Kevin is alone. . . with two children. I am way more nervous about this than anyone else (cough, cough, Kevin) is. I know he'll be fine, but I have discovered that I am a bit of a control freak where our kids are concerned.

I am also nervous to go back to work. My third-shift cohorts assure me that not too much has changed, but I feel like quite a few little lab nuggets may have escaped my brain over the last 10 weeks. Even though I have home stress and going-back-to-work stress, I really am looking forward to Friday night. The people I work with are awesome and hilarious and some of my best friends, and on slow nights we tell inappropriate jokes and listen to iHeartRadio and quote The Big Lebowski, and on busy nights we pull together and literally help save some lives: either way leaves me feeling pretty good.

I am telling myself that everything will be alright. And it will. Right?

Second Time Around

Maybe one of my favorite things about having children is sharing with them things that I love. It's a proud fact that my son could name all four members of The Beatles by age 2, and can recognize Cat Stevens's voice. Harry also has a love of baking, and it makes my day to make chocolate chip cookies with him. Kevin and I both played soccer for years, and for a 4-year-old, Harry has a pretty accurate kicking ability.

I also love going back to things that I read or watched or listened to in my own childhood. Some things don't stand up that well after a few years (Fraggle Rock, anyone?), but others amaze me even more now at 31 than they did at 4 or 6 or 10 years of age. Last night Harry and I finished Charlotte's Web. As I read the last chapter, I was choked up but held it together until I tucked Harry in and left his room, but by the time I got down the stairs I was crying. Kevin asked what was wrong, and I said, "We finished the book." He looked at me like I was a little crazy, and I said, "The really good children's books are just so good, you know?"

What has come back around for you and stood the test of time?

Cheese!

Harper will be six weeks old tomorrow and has started to smile! Harry and I love propping her up on some pillows, getting right in her face, and saying, "Smile, Harper!" Sometimes we get a fake/gassy smile followed by a diaper blowout, but sometimes we get the real deal.

Falling for Fall

We took advantage of really gorgeous weather to make our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We got there later in the morning on Sunday, before the after-church crowd showed up. We paid one dollar each to ride in a tractor-pulled wagon around the grounds. We bumped along the dirt tracks and made stops while people with the $8.50 wristbands were dropped off at the corn maze, the apple cannons, and the Back Forty, which included steer-roping (sitting on a sawhorse and throwing a rope around another sawhorse), a petting zoo (one mule and two miniature horses), and Corn Hole (tossing bean bags through plywood targets). I do not profess to know much about measuring acreage, but I'm reasonably sure the Back Forty was two acres, tops. 

Tip: Always have someone standing
in front of you for post-baby pictures.

Farm-made doughnuts, fresh from the oven.
We totally ate all six right at that table.

Harper slept the entire time.
She has no idea she went anywhere.

False advertising aside, we had a lot of fun. We ate delicious doughnuts, snagged a second ride on the tractor, and brought home our Halloween pumpkins. And we did it before NFL kickoff at 1:00. 

16 Days

Harper is 16 days old and has been home for exactly two weeks. Other than still being slightly below her birth weight, she is doing great. She's even sleeping for three-hour stretches at night sometimes, which is completely awesome for me. She does want to nurse constantly from dinnertime to bedtime, but if it fills her up enough so she sleeps, I'm happy to comply.

Harry and Harper are also getting along really well. More accurately, Harry is very excited to have Harper around, kisses her and tickles her and "reads" to her, while Harper tolerates his attention without much fuss.

It's About Time, Harper Louise!

Forty-one weeks is a long time to be pregnant. Even so, I was still a little apprehensive about having my labor induced on Thursday. Would the Pitocin work, kick-starting my labor? (Yes.) Would it send me into active labor quickly? (Yes.) Would I break down and get an epidural? (Yes.) Would I do the same thing I did with Harry, which was to decide I was ready to push and then literally be waiting for the doctor to get her gloves on so someone was ready to catch the baby, because I am just that awesome when it comes to pushing? (Yes.)

Harper Louise arrived at 1:59 pm on Thursday, August 30th, almost exactly six hours after Kevin and I showed up for our 8 am induction. 

One of her first portraits: 

Day 2 -- Pinker and happier:

Day 3 -- Home with her big brother:

We are so lucky to have had two uncomplicated pregnancies and deliveries, and especially thankful for our healthy little ones.

Due Date +3

Baby girl is three days overdue now. I had an appointment on Thursday, which was our due date, and everything looks great: there's a good level of amniotic fluid, she's still head down, her heartbeat is appropriate, and I'm still feeling tons of movement. I get to go back into the office tomorrow for a couple of hours so I can have a non-stress test to monitor fetal heart rate, an ultrasound to recheck the fluid level, and a quick check with the physician's assistant.

It's just astounding to me how much more uncomfortable I am since passing the 40-week mark and moving towards week 41. Sleep is nearly impossible at night (too hot, have to pee, can't get comfortable) but all too tempting during the day. Playing with Harry requires a lot of forethought (if I get down on the floor with him, how long will it take me to get up again, and how long can I sit down here before stiffening up completely?) and I hate how lazy it makes me feel to just sit on the couch while he plays Hot Wheels. He has been in a really good "read to me" phase the last few weeks, so that has definitely helped.

Part of me is really hoping that I get recommended for induction. Of course, a bigger part of me is hoping to go into labor naturally tonight or tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed, everybody. . . I just don't want to go back in to work Monday night!

Any Time Now

I'm getting a little impatient for the arrival of Baby Girl. We are past 38 weeks (just barely) and everyone around here seems ready. I, for one, do not mind going back to work Monday and Tuesday nights, but I sure don't want to work another five in a row starting next Friday. Kevin is, of course, just as excited to meet, see, and hold the new baby as I am. And Harry starts every morning lately by climbing into bed with us, patting my bump, and asking, "How's baby doing in there?"

Harry was born one week before his due date, and I hope this one decides to show up a little early, too.

Absence, Heart, Fonder

I've definitely enjoyed a quiet Sunday at home while Harry is at an amusement park with his dad and the in-laws, but I sure do miss having my little boy and husband around today. I did absolutely nothing productive today, unless you count knitting, and maybe washing dishes, but instead spent almost the entire day watching Netflix, reading, and napping.

They just called to say they're going for their last ride. I kind of thought they'd have started home already, so now I have two more hours alone, but I just can't wait to see them.

Heat Wave

You know it's bad when you're leaving work and the heat and humidity assault you in the parking ramp -- at 7 in the MORNING.

It is unreasonably, inconsiderately, intolerably hot right now. It has been in the mid- to upper-nineties for over a week now, even creeping above 100 in the late afternoon and early evening. It has not rained in two weeks. Our lawn is a mottled green-yellow-brown, which isn't really that big a deal because we only go outside in ten-minute intervals right now. In fact, Harry and I just had a trip outside: swing, Hot Wheels in the dirt, check the mail, come back inside to wash hands and drink water. We will repeat this series of activities at least one more time this afternoon, and I am not looking forward to it.

Tea Party

My sister brought her adorable family to visit this week, and our last hurrah was a tea party at a local shop I love that specializes in loose tea and gourmet chocolates. Lucky for the kids, they also do a pot of hot chocolate that is delicious and only four bucks and big enough to share.

Harry sipping cocoa on a 90-degree day, on the outdoor patio, of course.

I assure you, these children actually had a very good time, despite this picture.

 

Harry smashing cookie pieces into his mouth.

Me -- operating on five hours of sleep and seven months pregnant -- my mom and my sister.

Pool Boy

We are about two months until due date around here, and the weather has been incredibly hot and humid. It's all I can do to go outside during the summer when I'm not pregnant, but when it's this hot and a 4-year-old wants to play in the water, a mom just can't say no. We certainly limited our time outside and wore plenty of sunscreen, and I also added a big ol' hat and sunglasses for myself.

It was definitely worth getting a little hot and sweaty, because Harry always has a blast in the plastic pool.

Totally different than the kid who, a mere hour earlier, would not let go of Kevin's neck in the "big" pool at his swimming lesson.

4

Oh, boy. Harry is 4 years old. His birthday was yesterday, and he started the day by saying, "I'm much bigger now. I'm four." He was set to high volume all day because Kevin's parents were visiting, and he always puts on a show for them.

The weather has been really warm, almost inconsiderately so, and therefore we had to limit the number of times Harry went outside to ride his bike. He was entertained inside instead, playing with the Legos he got for his birthday, and reading Where the Wild Things Are, of which he is now enamored.

I did take birthday pictures - cake, presents - and even got Kevin to take a few shots of me and Harry, which we usually neglect to do, but as we pack up and prepare to move to the new house on Friday, posting pictures will just have to wait.

Seriously Stressin'

It may be the pregnancy hormones, but I am not handling my stress all that well today. Our house has, after eight months on the market, finally (almost) sold. We've reached a price and possession date with the buyer, and there will be a home inspection some time in the next few days. This is good news, despite the fact that we would have liked to get a little more money for our house. Being on the market so long meant that we dropped the price two times, but hey, what can you do?

We feel the need for some extra elbow room, and we thought, possibly naively, that we would be able to find a house "one step up," in the next price range. Having been through some houses that are kind of at the next level, I'm daunted by the work/money they would require. They're bigger, yes, but replacing a houseful of windows? Finishing a basement so the kids have a place to play? Buying all new appliances? Yikes!

Of course, the realtor threw in a house last night that is beyond what we were looking at in terms of price, and OF COURSE it was BEAUTIFUL and we LOVED it. I wouldn't even need to see it again to make an offer on it, but now Kevin and I are having these awful talks about what can we really afford, can we have a tight year or two while both kids are in daycare, are we willing to put off buying new phones to keep our monthly cell bill much lower, and can he really stop spending money on records and me on yarn? Honestly? These are hard questions, and I wish I wasn't 31 and didn't have to answer them myself.

I'm so tired -- a combination of pregnancy, already having an energetic boy, and working third shift -- and kind of burned out on "house talk" that I feel like I might shatter if someone bumps into me at the grocery store: that is, if I can convince Harry to put his shoes on and go grocery shopping with me, and getting him to do that this morning is a whole different kind of stress.

Better stuff next time, I promise.