One Month Old

Once again, I'm sitting at my computer with one eye on the screen and the other on the clock. Lois and Mac both have full bellies and are asleep for the time being. By 3:30pm, they both need to be awake, have clean diapers and clean clothes and be ready to walk out the door in order to get to Music Therapy on time. That leaves me about 10 minutes to update you on the past 2 weeks of our lives. Are you noticing a pattern here?


* Mac continues to be a good sleeper - but sometimes he wants to sleep all day and stare at you all night. That kind of behavior starts to mess with your head after a while. I think the prison guards at Guantanamo need to forget about water boarding. Sleep deprivation is the worst kind of torture there is. I'm not sure how Jay and I are managing with less than 4 hours of sleep some nights - but like so many parents before us, we're making it work. I'm not sure we've spoken 10 words to each other in the past four weeks that haven't had to do with formula, poop, orthotics, or willful behavior on the part of a certain 20 month old. But I know that this will pass - our lives will return to some semblance of normalcy - and I will be able to go back to drinking only 1 cup of coffee a day.


* Lois is giving kisses to her Momma, her Daddy, and her baby brother. Of course, her kisses are delivered with an open mouth with a large, wet tongue hanging out. There's a bit of clean up involved after Lois gives you a kiss, but you won't mind at all. The sweetness of it is rather overwhelming.


* Lois is still not walking. Or standing unassisted. Nor is she showing any interest at all in doing either. In fact, she is displaying a purposeful intent to do absolutely nothing that requires her to be off her butt for more than 10 seconds at a time. What can I say?


* Mac finally seems to have caught on to the whole eating thing. He's never had trouble with the suck, swallow, breathe concept that totally eluded our girl - but he wasn't much interested for the first few weeks of his life. Last week a switch got flipped somewhere inside his head, and he went from taking 21 ounces each day to taking 36 ounces. One day, he ate 14 ounces in a 4 hour period. Needless to say, when we returned to the pediatrician yesterday for our weight check (since he still hadn't made it back to his birth weight) he topped the scales at a massive 11 pounds 2 ounces. So he gained 18 ounces in 10 days. I knew my genetic material was in there somewhere.


* The visitors keep coming and we are loving every minute of it. The Yaya left after a lengthy stay - and it was hard to see her going knowing we were on our own! Then my good friends Sonora and Wilma took a road trip from Christiansburg to pay Mac a little visit. (That's right - I used your full names. Do you mind?) That visit was bittersweet as I'm missing home something awful these days. Auntie Gina popped in last weekend and stayed up into the wee hours of the morning with Mac and I more than she should have. But I loved having the company. We're still looking forward to seeing one of my oldest, bestest friends from my childhood, Angie - our dear Mr. Andrew and Mr. Nathan are planning to drop in later this month - and hopefully we'll be seeing Mac's other Grandmother. We love showing off our fat little bundle.


* Thanks to the EDCD waiver, I've been able to employ some help for those days when Jay doesn't work from home and I am home alone with 2 demanding kids. Yes - I know I should be able to handle this on my own, but I am loving the fact that I don't have to. Miss Kate drops in three days a week and is seemingly willing to do Lois duty OR Mac duty - which is such a blessing for me. Kate has a sibling who is a member of the T21 club - and Hannah is a superstar. Seriously. If Lois grows up to be half as well mannered, funny, smart, and engaging as Hannah, Jay and I will consider ourselves lucky. Check out Hannah's antics at her blog.

Time's up! Got to run start the clothes changing and bag packing. Until next time....