The latest from the trenches

It's almost 10:00pm and I should be in bed concentrating on getting some sleep while Jay is in the living room feeding Mac. But I feel compelled to record a few thoughts on our first weeks as a family of four for posterity's sake.


Jay and I are still adjusting to having a "normal" infant in the house. I don't mean "normal" as in - has the standard set of chromosomes. I mean "normal" as in - knows how to drink from a bottle, doesn't have a G-tube, and demands to be fed every 4 hours. If we didn't know it before, Mac has certainly demonstrated for us that Lois's infancy was a cake walk. The Yaya tells me that Mac is a good baby - but compared to Lois, he's a little demon. Granted, Lois and her G-tube presented a whole myriad of issues. But that little sucker made the first few months of her life pretty darn simple. We fed her on a strict schedule because left to her own devices, she'd sleep 24/7. There was no need to burp her as the gas bubbles from her stomach simply escaped out of the tube. And the few weeks when we did bother to wake her at night to feed her, we simply pushed the milk into her tube through a syringe, changed her diaper, and put her back to bed. It's just not quite that simple with Mac.

I mentioned before that Lois recently started giving big, wet kisses. I attempted to capture her in the act, but realized too late I had the wrong lens on my camera. Hopefully, these photos - although totally crappy - will give you an idea of the level of moisture and sweetness involved in a Lois kiss.

You'll notice from Jay's face, he's prepared for the worst.

This is Lois's favorite place to be these days - on the couch next to whomever is feeding her brother. It bothers me she isn't in the floor playing contentedly - but if sitting next to us makes her feel part of the action, I don't mind having the company at all.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but my good friend Evelyn - who has a daughter with Down Syndrome who is two months younger than Lois - was pregnant at the same time I was. Our due dates were about a week apart, but the fates intervened and Mac and baby Anna Lousie were actually born on the same day. Anna Louise was a petite 7 lbs compared to our thickburger (as my friends Dustin and Kelly like to call him) - but we've decided that they are destined to be together. We're already planning their wedding and the layout of their future home which will have room to accommodate their older sisters. The four of them will live happily ever after while the Hogans and the Walters retire to someplace sandy and warm, safe in the knowledge that all of their children are taken care of.

The Walters came over for pizza and beer this week and we snapped a few photos of the newest arrivals which we plan to display at the rehearsal dinner:


Could little Anna be any cuter? And could my chunk of meat be any plumper? At his 6 week check up he weighed in at 12 pounds 12 ounces which explains why he's already had to move into his 6 month wardrobe. Something tells me the cute Christmas outfits Yaya has already purchased in 6 month sizes will end up in the consignment sale pile. Mac is in the 95th percentile for his weight and head circumference, while at last check, Lois was hanging out between the 5th and the 7th percentile. I wonder how long it will be before Mac overtakes her?

Here's lucky Anna's big sister, Elizabeth.


She and Lois have had several playdates together, starting when they were 7 and 9 months old and we were brand new to Richmond and the DS scene:


and continuing this winter:


Elizabeth is a signing superstar and needs to school her friend Lois on how to ask for milk using your hands instead of screaming bloody murder. My shy little antisocial girl isn't much fun to play with right now, but I hope that as the years go by, these two girls and their new siblings will be good friends.

Next week, the Hogan clan is headed to the beach with Aunt Marpa's family, the Yaya, and Auntie Gina's family. It's our annual trek to the Outer Banks, and I'm not sure I've ever looked forward to it as much as I have this year. Having 7 adults in the house, all of whom are willing to lend a hand with your two demanding kids will be a nice change for me. Being here with Lois and Mac by myself isn't as hard as I thought it would be, but it's no cake walk. There is usually an hour or two every day when I have to seriously question my sanity. Letting Auntie Gina and Aunt Marpa help Lois practice her walking while the Yaya feeds and burps Mac and Jay and I sit in the hot tub with a beer sounds like a little slice of heaven right now.

There is so much I have left unsaid about my sweet butter bean and her recent accomplishments - but I just don't seem to be able to find the time to blog like I used to. It is now 5:00 in the morning, two days after I initially started this post. You feel my pain? Here's hoping that the wifi is strong at the beach and I can barricade myself on the deck with my laptop and fill you all in on the latest. Until then.....