Oh my eyelid!

So the other night Puck decided at 2:30 that he needed to cuddle my head.  He walks along my body waking me up so that I would be nice and awake when he...gets his claw stuck IN MY EYELID!  I got up and went to the bathroom to wash the blood away and see what sort of care it would need.  There was a tiny scrape.  I couldn't believe it! A tiny scrape?! It had felt like I was lucky to come away with my eyeball intact and I was already imagining that I would have to start sleeping in some sort of helmet to keep me safe.  Tiny scrape or not, when he came up and tried to cuddle last night he was not a happy kitty.  

Our little True is doing well, as are his parents who are getting a decent amount of sleep.  This guy likes to sleep.  Of course he doesn't sleep straight through, but he likes to sleep from about 9pm to 10am in general.  It is usually digestive system stuff that wakes him, but if you take care of that, he is happy to go right back to sleep.  You can even lay him down in his crib awake and he will almost always be fine with it.  Good baby.  

 Last night at dinner, I had True sitting in a baby chair on the floor near the table.  I saw Perrin trying to peer around me and she says, "I wanna see my baby True."  So I scooched his chair over near her then she was able to go on with her dinner.  She is enjoying True about as much as a 2 year old can enjoy a tiny crying immovable thing.  I had them both on my lap yesterday to read a book and, with no prompt from me, she grabbed her brother's hand to hold.  He would jerk it away due to his erratic baby movements, but she would just get it and hold on again.  Or when he starts crying she will instruct me, "Mama, he wants the milk" or "Mama, pick him up!" with urgency.  I can't decide if it is bossy or sweet.  Probably sweet.

I have already been looking to Christmas and getting excited.  My mom is flying out to be with us for a few weeks, plus something about having more kids around, even when they aren't old enough to appreciate the holiday (or poop free pants) makes me yearn for the magic of Christmas.  

This Christmas we have been informed that Santa is sending our family an elf named Rupert  Jinglebottom to make sure all is well with our holiday spirit the month of Christmas.  Hopefully Rupert won't make too much mischief and mess. I have been reading this blog that got me excited about our elf, but she is a pretty funny writer in general.  Mostly I read it when I am nursing in the middle of the night and trying not to fall asleep. 

Anyway, I have heard that some of these Christmas elves are sweet and cheery, and that when their families wake up they find the elf has made cookies or decorated for the holiday.  I have this funny feeling that Rupert is going to be a bit of a trouble maker. 
    We can only hope for the best and be thankful that Santa didn't forget us.  Here's hoping he won't do anything too crazy like tp the Christmas tree or swap out the children's gifts with crummy gag gifts and hide the real presents.  We shall see when we meet Rupert in December.  

I just wanted to share a handful of pics that were taken of True when he was 2 weeks old.  They are too sweet to keep to ourselves, in my completely unbiased opinion. 

 

 

Anyone still there?

So, I haven't posted here since I went back to work.  It turns out working 30 hours a week, running a baby to daycare and back, plus keeping it entertained and alive while at home takes up a good deal of time.  I have been wanting to post for a while but instead have been choosing more mentally lazy past times like reading my really fun fantasy novel, The Name of the Wind, or watching some tv with Joseph (and when I say "some tv," I mean barely making it through one episode of News Room, before dragging self to bed at 9pm).  The point here really isn't- or shouldn't be- that we are busy and tired.  

The point should be that at this moment Perrin is napping, Joseph and I are out on the balcony on this chilly morning, while it quietly rains around us. Joseph is studying, while I write this post just for you. I pulled the lounge chair over between us and put a blanket on it for Simon, so he is all cozied up out here too. Life is very good right now. Oh, and we are drinking hot coffee--you get it---it's awesome.  

In short, our new lifestyle of J being in school, P in daycare 3 days a week and me working 4 days a week, has turned out to work well for our family so far.  I am happier getting out of the house more and having more adult time (even if it is while I am working), Joseph is certainly happier in school than when he was working and Perrin likes the babysitter, Katie, just fine.  Especially because she has a gentle giant of a dog, a St. Bernard named Peaches.  Katie says that whenever Perrin is ready for her nap, she crawls over to Peaches, lays her head on the dog, and sucks her thumb--thus requesting her nap please. I love it.  It's too bad that by definition I can never see it happen.  Oh, well.  Perrin is happy, so I am happy.  

Perrin still only has 2 teeth, but we think that the top two are on their way.  She does enjoy brushing her teeth.  We have a brush for her to use and then another that we use on her, sort of at the same time.  That way, she feels like she is participating, and the teeth do actually get brushed.  She sits on her little yellow stool in the bathroom to do it right before her bath.  

 Above are pictures from her first visit to Monkey Bizness, an indoor play area near us.  Relaxing it is not, as you must make sure no giant 2 year old runs over her or that she gets up some stairs into this little Keebler Elf tree then can't get back down.  But, I'm glad to have found this Monkey Bizness place so that we will have a fun spot to play when it gets cold.  Winter is coming. (Like in Game of Thrones, duh...)  


Perrin is due to wake at any moment, so I can't get into much more right now.  But thanks for coming back to check in!  Hope you have a nice weekend...maybe with less flash flooding than we have been having.  Oh, and less water dripping from the ceiling in your daughters closet.
 

Babies are hard.

One of the things about having a baby (and maybe this is true for a child of any age...oh dear god) that stands out to me as a new parent is just the way in which you can never relax.  Maybe I should speak for myself, but I imagine this is fairly prevalent feeling among parents.  To be honest, I don't know how we do it--live as though walking on egg shells for so long.  Obviously it can be done--Perrin is getting ready to turn one and we continue to carry on, and the current world population is over 7 billion people--so people are managing.  But sometimes, especially when I am over tired and Perrin is in a grumpy mood, I just don't see how we do it.

When she is napping or sleeping at night, I am trying to be quiet and constantly listening for her--even when I am not consciously doing so.  When she is awake and playing or eating you are on edge watching for dangerous things that could go in her mouth, things that can be pulled down or over--always with the looming threat of the cry or at least emergence of the grumpkin. 

I frequently find myself thinking, "Why did no one warn me that I would feel uptight and not be able to relax--for years?"  But why would they?  No sense giving a parent-to-be more to worry about when there is not one thing they can do to make it not so. I have always considered myself a laid-back person; and I still try to put up that front.  But man, this business is not for the faint of heart.

~

For Joseph's first Father's Day we ate some breakfast out at The Fat Frog Cafe, then went to the Botanic Gardens in the big city.  Perrin was pretty antsy at the restaurant since she was missing her nap, but it did enable us to eat a Nutella crepe, so bring it on baby.

The Denver Botanic Gardens are so beautiful.  Just walking through the air filled with all those flower smells does your soul good.  

It rained a bit which gave us the opportunity to seek shelter in a sweet little gazebo with an ice cream cone.  Perrin stayed in a pretty good mood all day, but napped surprisingly little.  I guess flowers are just too exciting.  The Gardens also have a wonderful children's area--sort of a mini garden with a built stream for wading and some play areas.  

So happy late Father's Day to you Joseph.  You two make quite a pair.  My favorite pair.  

Parenting Books

A few weeks ago I realized that Perrin was starting to do things that I didn't want her to do, and I wasn't sure when it would start being constructive for me to tell her "no."  This sounds like a petty thing, but when it is your first child and they have not yet had the physical skills or the will to do anything too rotten, it is a very strange feeling to suddenly hold them accountable for their actions for the first time.   

Perrin's main two offenses right now are pushing buttons on the stereo and pulling books off of shelves.  She can be pretty persistent too...she will crawl way out of her way to get around me and whatever I am trying to block her way with to get to the stereo.  I try not to kick up too much of a fuss because I don't want her to do it just to get attention.  So I just say "no" in a voice that I hope sounds firm and authoritative, pick her up and plunk her down in front of something that is invariably less fun than the stereo.  Sometimes this works, sometimes we do this dance three or four times in a row.  

The point being, I picked up a few parenting books at the library and have been doing some reading.  While I know I could raise my daughter just fine without out research, I do appreciate some good scientific research on baby brains and tested advice from people with experience.  

There are three that stood out to me as pretty logical and grounded, but one stood out even from the other two.  It was Brain Rules for Baby, How to Raise a Smart and Happy child from 0 - 5  by John Medina.  This one was just enough science for people who what to know the WHY of it all.  The book refers to a lot of studies and brain research, but isn't dry at all.  He is able to distill lots of scientific information into a manageable about of bullet points that you can really focus on instead letting you wallow in so much information that your brain just rejects it all.  One of my favorite take aways was EMPATHY.  That helping your child develop it is a major advantage for them, now and into adulthood.  He also talks about the importance of modeling it for them in your relationships with other family members.  Empathy is just good for everybody.  

Another book I found lots of useful information in was Simplicity Parenting,  Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids  by Kim John Payne, M.Ed  This one is about simplifying our kids stuff, the speed of our daily lives and our routines (or lack thereof).  Most of what was in this book felt like it really agreed with my instincts, and some seemed obvious after reading it, but it was good to have it stated explicitly so that you could give it conscience thought.  

Lastly, I liked Raising a Self-Reliant Child,  A back to basics parenting plan from birth to age 6  by Dr. Alanna Levine.  This one emphasizes giving your child the freedom to do for themselves that they are able to do on their own-- whether it is feeding, dressing, walking, play.  Lots of this felt fairly common sense, but again, I think it is good to give explicit thought to some of these seemingly common sense things, so that you can CHOOSE to have these behaviors instead of probably/maybe falling into doing them.
 
Ok, P's nap can't last much longer...Here are some pictures of the Perrin happenings this week.  Enjoy the weekend!

 

I need to be folding laundry...

Right now I need to be folding laundry and stuffing diaper shells...but I am having a beer and as I drink it, I am seeing how all the things I thought I needed to do tonight (including showering myself) seem like things that, really, I could probably fit in tomorrow morning before Joseph gets home from his work trip.  I haven't even feed myself dinner and it is 8:20, but it just seems like so much trouble right now.  Perrin is in bed---I just want to sit on the couch with my beer and pet my cats.  I feel like a bachelor- minus the cat part.

~

I know numerous people right now who are pregnant with their 2nd and 3rd babies.  There is just something about other people you know having babies that makes you feel like you are running late when it isn't you.  Something in your brain just thinks, I've got to get on this. We are behind!  Why is that?  My only hurry would be (this is going to sound harsh) I am looking forward to having newborn stage babies behind me forever!  No baby #3 for us...and the first months were so stressful that I would like to go ahead and get it over with sooner than later and just get on with the business AND PLEASURE of being with my family who can all hold their own heads up and sleep through the night.  

Ok.  I'm going to get up and do things that need to be done.  Grrr.  Have a nice weekend all!

"You don't want 10 more of me, mama?  But I am so darling and sweet--just look at me!  Oh, and I just threw up a little on the floor over there."
-Perrin

 

Picnics, Books, and Bad Attitudes

Yesterday was my birthday celebration picnic in the park, and it was so lovely--a significant improvement upon the gas station burrito on my actual birthday.  Jeff made chicken and veggie kabobs, Joseph and I made an amazing salad with strawberries, almonds, gorgonzola, and red onion with a balsamic & olive oil type dressing that makes eating salad more like eating, well--something way yummier.  (Yes, I am a bit prejudiced against "the salad" as a category.  It is one of my short comings as a grown woman.)  Tara made a beautiful trifle that I finished eating out of the beautiful trifle dish yesterday with a giant serving spoon.  That's pleasure.  

 
We waded in a little creek running through the park, played paddle ball, ate lots of food, drank some champagne to celebrate Tara and Jeff's recent engagement---What!  Yep!  Congratulations Tara and Jeff!  I am happy for you two and happy to see my sister in such a good place in her life.  Love is beautiful, isn't it?

~ 

Joseph just bought two boxes of books for school from a graduating med student.  He got a great deal on them which is terrific.  However, they are not even all of the books he will need.  Then he got many that aren't required, but will be very helpful.  So there they all sat, on our living room floor.  We are just looking at these books, both thinking the same thing.  So I said, "Go ahead, learn that stuff."  Seriously, we are just trying to fathom the amount of information he is going to have to absorb come August.  Open head.  Insert knowledge.  Perrin, being of stronger character than her parents, was not brought up short even for a moment.

We already had more books than bookshelf space, so to Home Depot we went.  As of today we have a brand new six foot long book shelf above our tv in the living room.  We now own riveting titles from, "The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics" to "Rapid Interpretation of EKGs."  Man, I can't wait to get into those.  This is me not being jealous of Joseph.

~

Last night Perrin woke at 11pm and wouldn't go back down without eating.  She has been having some random (but sadly increasingly regular) nighttime wake-ups for the last couple of weeks.  It is generally making me grumpy.  So when the cats started loudly begging for breakfast this morning at 5am, thus waking up Perrin, I was NOT NOT happy.  I hadn't even set my feet on the floor and I had already dropped the F bomb--"Those f!@#$%* cats...grumble, grumble, curse, curse..."  

I don't want to be that angry person.  Cursing at the cats before even getting out of bed for the day seems like a good--let's stop and take stock--moment for me.  Yes J and I have been varying degrees of sleep deprived for 10 months, but, PULL IT TOGETHER.  Anyone with advice on living with sleep deprivation and not turning into a complete A!@#$%^, let me know your best tips.  I really don't want to be that angry cranky person.

 

The dryer is broken...really?

So our dryer is officially broken.  Yesterday when I went to get the clothes out of the dryer and they were still not dry, I thought that maybe it was some kind of fluke--if I didn't acknowledge that it happened, it would not have happened.  After the 3rd cycle that didn't end with dry clothes, I considered considering that the dryer may not be operating at peak condition.

After running another experimental load today, I can say--yes, the dryer is broken.  The heating element is not heating the air.  I now have clothes, diaper shells, diaper inserts, and cloth wipes strewn about the house to dry.  Now to try and dig out those dryer warranty papers that--come on, does anyone actually know where those papers are?

Joseph just brought home sandwiches and ice cream, so of course Perrin just decided to wake up and cry 30 minutes after going to bed.  And as you can see, we are doing really well with making more healthy dinners at home.  It's just that Jimmy John's makes these sandwiches...and if you give them money, they just hand them to you, no questions asked.  Next week we will hunker down and plan two meals for the week.  That seems like a good starting place.  Send food! we are starving!  Wish us luck!

Tara took me to Cafe Terracotta for Mother's Day breakfast over the weekend.  I love that place.  Anyone here in Littleton should eat there.  Seriously. Eat there.  I had eggs benedict with artichoke and mushrooms and a side of french toast.  We sat on the restaurant's front porch, talked, ate, drank.  It was wonderful.  

The next morning, on Mother's Day proper, Joseph made me breakfast and we all went to the farmer's market.  I was off diaper duty all day.  It was a great weekend.

Here is little P in another one of my old baby dresses that my mom brought to me when she visited in March.  The sleeves were pretty tight on her chubby little arms, sweet sweet chubby baby.  "D" is for double chin.
 

 

What's for dinner?

Yesterday Perrin and I had a lovely day.  We took the train downtown to J's work, where Tara also met us on her lunch break, since RTD just opened up a new line on the light rail that goes right by T's work.  It was such a pleasure to see two of my favorite people in the middle of the day during the work week.  Plus Perrin did a wonderful job on the train ride in, sitting on my lap, smiling and babbling at strangers, and watching out the window.  We had a wonderful lunch at Davita, which sounds strange, but they have an awesome cafeteria--seriously restaurant quality.  I had Pad Thai with chicken.  Perrin got to eat some of my chicken and veggies off of Aunt Tara's salad.  It is good to have Aunt T around when we are eating out; we know someone will order something that is healthy/ natural enough to share with the little one, as J and I's plates of cheese laden, carb heavy plates arrive.  

I had thought that when Perrin started eating solids we, as a family, would naturally start eating healthier, less processed foods since we want to be able to largely all eat the same foods.  This has not happened.  Instead our evenings look more like this:

Nurse Perrin at 6:30, put her to bed at 7.  J gets home at bedtime.  I haven't shopped for food for a meal.  J and I are both worn down by our days so someone suggests, Want me to run and get Jimmy Johns?  (Or to be perfectly honest, Taco Bell.)  The other person's face lights up and decision is made.  

Other nights we may have pasta (quinoa pasta, to counter act the Taco Bell) with jar sauce and if we are feeling our oats, and I have grocery shopped in the the recent past, we will throw in some sauteed veggies.  This meal ends with one of us thanking the other for cooking.

The funny thing is that J and I both enjoy cooking.  But we do not enjoy planning meals, grocery shopping, or compiling the list of magical items that when combined create a legitimate respectful meal, where everything isn't the same color and you could serve it to guests and not be slightly embarrassed/ashamed.  

In order to prove that we aren't completely unambitious, I will brag on a few great things we do sometimes make...(clear throat)...

Homemade bread.  This one is olive rosemary.

   
J makes great pecan pie, lemon meringue too.

We do Chicken Tikka Masala that we are both really proud of.  It takes a decent amount of time, but keeps thus makes great leftovers.  We make it nice and spicy with lots of cilantro sprinkled on top.  The chicken gets coated in a ginger yogurt sauce before being baked and mixed in.  Wish I had a picture of this one.  The red with the green cilantro is very pretty.  

On our 2nd date we made orange glazed pork chops with rice pilaf (from The Working Stiff Cookbook).  We continue to make these dishes from time to time, as they are sooo good.  It always makes me remember that date when we were still figuring out who the other was.  I walked into the house he shared with three other guys in our little college town...the top of the kitchen cabinets were lined with empty beer bottles...Oh no, I was sure he wasn't one of those guys who act like they are in a fraternity for the whole of their adult lives...He wasn't.  If anything, in that house they were more Dazed and Confused than Greek...anyway...

I guess the point of all of this is that I am not sure how to eat the same food together as a family, while making sure my daughter is getting healthy and natural food, even when J and I have both had long days.  I fear the only answer is planning ahead, so I will continue to implore, how do we do this?

Irrational

I have been thinking about how parenthood makes people pretty irrational.  The other night I was in bed reading while J was getting ready.  He was opening drawers on his big old wooden dresser that are very heavy and creak like crazy when opened and shut.  All I could think in that moment was...Perrin is going to wake up!  What the hell are you doing?  Why would you be opening those drawers right now except that you want to ruin my night and our baby's sleep.  You hate me and everything that is good and wholesome in this world!  

Of course I said nothing because the poor man was just trying to put on his pajamas.  And concurrent with those thoughts was...This is no way to live.  Chill out.  Neither does my husband hate me, nor everything that is good and wholesome.  Crazy lady.  This is one example of something that happens numerous times a day.  Big things, smaller things...thinking it might be possible for Perrin to choke on a piece of lint she just found on the floor and popped into her mouth and is now chewing.  It can be difficult to relax and keep rational perspective when dealing with your children.  This is something I am going to try to get better about...because poor J.  I don't like to be mean to him in my irrational controlling mom internal dialog.  


Perrin's crawling is progressing slowly.  She seems to sometimes forget that she knows how to do it, so she will just sit and play with what is right around her or roll to something near by.  But when she does go, it sure is fun to see.  Here she is with her first crawling conquest, my camera cord.  

Today we went outside in a little green space right near our house to get some fresh air before nap time.  It is a beautiful 60 degree day and being outside tends to put P in a good mood if things have gotten a little testy.  I think with the crawling revelation she is just slightly out of sorts, but sitting out on the blanket in the sunshine made us both feel good.

Leeks

We just got back from a big day celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary, going to the theater.  The musical was good, yea yea, let me tell you about the pizza we ate before the show. It was from Lucky Pie downtown, a sort of sexy cool little pizza place.  The pizza was called Freak A Leek.  It had leek, goat cheese, mozzarella, and bacon on a thin crust.  Wow, leeks.  Who knew.  And leeks with goat cheese was magic.  I took really small bites to make it last longer, while I looked at Joseph sitting across from me and considered knocking him out and hiding his slumped body under the table while I devoured his slices.  I am already plotting another trip there...maybe I can use my upcoming birthday to get close to that leek pie again.


I found a baby tunnel at the Goodwill last week.  Now that P can crawl we busted it out.  She hasn't crawled through it, but likes to sit at one end and peer through at you on the other.  Both cats also like the tunnel.

I love how in the above picture you can see Perrin in the background craned around in her highchair watching the cats.  She is thrilled just watching them lay curled up motionless on the couch, so Puck getting ready to attack Simon in the tunnel is riveting business. 


Merry sent us some great books for Perrin the other day.  The series is called...

We have Baby mix me a drink, Baby make me breakfast, Baby get me some lovin', and Baby do my banking.  I would also appreciate a Baby clean my house tutorial for Perrin, so if anyone sees that one..., as there is a funny smell emanating from somewhere in our kitchen. 

Speaking of funny smelling, I captured a great Perrin "I just smelled a fart" face...because we are classy ladies like that. 

 

She crawled!!!!

Perrin officially, no doubt crawled this morning!!!!!  And the timing was wonderful; Joseph hadn't left for work yet and got to see.  Go baby go!!

As of this very moment, she is putting a damper on the excitement of the morning, as she is laying in her crib napping crying.  She doesn't like to dole out the parental joy in too large of doses, as it may inoculate us to her baby charms.  I see the logic.  

Well, she has got to work it out for herself in there for a little while longer, as I am pumping right now in preparation for tomorrow--Joseph and I's anniversary!  He got tickets from his work for us to go see Mary Poppins at the Buell Theater in the afternoon.  Tara is going to babysit--sort of for the first time since the other times Perrin had already gone to bed.  It will be the longest Perrin has been away from both J and I when she was awake.  It will be fine.  It will be fine.  

J and I are really looking forward to going out.  I get to put on a dress, drink an adult beverage somewhere, and then just sit for awhile.  Not to insult the cast of the musical, but the sitting down with out interruption for nearly two hours has a good chance of being the highlight for me, and I really like Mary Poppins.

Ok, time for baby torture to come to an end.  Off I go.

Is that crawling??

So Perrin and I are skyping with my mom this morning and I have the computer on the floor so grandma can watch Perrin roll/ sit/ scooch and around, straining towards crawling.  We are talking and my mom says, "I think she is crawling."  And I say, "Is that crawling?"  

It seems my standards are a bit high.  What I was looking for was a more coordinated graceful movement than that...I don't know; I guess that WAS crawling.  She was on hands and knees and was moving forward...hum.  Cool.

Perrin is now just over 9 months old and is in constant- absorb my surroundings- mode.  This is really fun to watch--to see her really see the world and to see her making something of it in her mind.  The one time this is not fun to watch is when she is supposed to be nursing.  We will be sitting on the couch, but then the cats run through, Joseph comes home from work, a pin drops...aaaand she is pulling away from me, looking all around, trying to do little baby sit-ups.  I can actually become worn out nursing her, just trying to wrangle her, move her, try different positions, different rooms. 

So this morning we go into my bedroom to nurse on the bed where there is less distraction.  Sometimes this works, but other times she just keeps rolling away, wanting to look at whatever is behind her.  Here is what this morning was like.  Nursing for a few minutes, then rolling onto her back then onto her stomach (very pleased with herself).  So I say, oh, she wants to to be turned that way, so I switch sides with her and try to nurse her that way.  then she rolls onto her back the other way, then onto her stomach (again, extremely self satisfied).  It is a silly and frustrating dance we do...darn babies.  Just eat the food!  But usually she eventually eats well; either worn down by the dance and finally submits to consuming the life giving food, or eats more later in the day.  The 3rd option is-- don't eat well all day and wake up hungry at 1am hollering from the next room, "Why won't you guys give me some food!?  All I want is to be fed, gosh!"  

(Insert sweet Perrin picture to counteract rotten baby thoughts...)

Months ago I bought material to make a celebration flag banner to hang up for birthdays or any celebration really.  Since my sewing machine was still sitting on the kitchen table from Merry's visit, and since her homemade tutus fired up my DIY spirit, I finally got my banner made!  Here is a quick rundown of how to do it.

Just get about a 1/2 yard of each of the fabrics you want to use and some ribbon that matches.  I used a thin ribbon, but after making mine, I would advise getting a wide ribbon that you could fold over the tops of the flags and sew so that the top of the flags are enclosed.  

My template for the triangle flags was two 11.5 inch sides and one 8.5 inch side.  Just trace onto your fabric and cut out. 

Now I have this banner making bug because it is so easy with such great visual payoff...I want one for every holiday!  Picking fabric for the Presidents' Day banner will be challenging, possibly rivaling finding Columbus Day banner fabric...

Puck Cat moment of zen...

 "I like tunnels."