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.
 

"Beat up the baby"

So today at the park I was letting Perrin play around, meaning: cruise around on the playground equipment and attempt to eat handfuls of wood chips every time I took my eyes off of her.   Up runs a little boy, who starts climbing around near her, saying something over and over.  "Beam up the baby." No, that's not it.  "Be the baby." No. [Listening closer...]  "Beat up the baby.  Beat up the baby.  Beat up the baby."  Seriously, little six year old was climbing around chanting, yes chanting, "Beat up the baby."  That is the only thing he would say.  Over and over and over...  "Ok Perrin! [big smile that shows nothing is amiss] Time to go home!"  I'd like to hear that kid's story. 

~

Joseph gets home from Mexico tomorrow!  He has been there for 6 days in Merida training nurses in a dialysis clinic.  This is nothing to my productivity for the week which involved keeping the baby alive and replacing our 2nd hand armchair from LensCrafters with a 2nd hand armchair from Craig's List.  It is a futon chair my friends; YES A FUTON CHAIR!  Who knew these things even existed!  Of course you have to be 7 years old or younger to be able to sleep on the thing---BUT IT'S A FUTON CHAIR!  Anyway, I like it and it only cost me $15.  

So as for our family news...I am going back to work for 4 days a week starting on the 5th, and Joseph has officially worked his last day in the office with Davita, AND, Perrin's 1st day of day care is the 12th.  Thing are really changing for all three of us, and I really think it will make us all happier.  It has been a tough year in the Clere-Callis household.  Some change is pretty welcome at this point to be honest.  Joseph gets to pursue his passion of working daily with tongue depressors [that's what Doctors do, right?], I get to again have a more multifaceted daily life, and Perrin gets to socialize with some other children and learn all the good curse words from them, as they are twice as old as her.  2 year olds know all the good curse words.

I don't mean to say that being a stay-at-home parent is lame and one dimensional.  Lots of people are able to do that work and not lose themselves, turning into only "mother" or "father."  But I personally just have such a hard time turning off my "mom" mode, and have done a poor job still being myself.  I know that going back to work at LensCrafters isn't exactly going to sooth my soul and allow me to be my best self, but it will get me out of the house where I only have to worry about my own actions for about 8 hours, 4 days a week.  I will also get to talk to other adults as much as I want to---which for those of you who know me [meaning everyone, as I'm pretty sure my blog following is my sister and my mother] this means maybe a few muttered words every couple of hours, as I am a big hater of the human race, which all of my co-works will surely be a part of.  

 ~

I was shopping at the Goodwill the other day and bought this t-shirt for myself because I liked the graphic on it and it happened to be my size.  I wore it over to Tara and Jeff's house and Jeff was like, "You like 'Pretty Lights?'"  And this is where, if I was a quick thinker on my feet I would have said, "Oh yeah, they are super cool.  Love that band." But then I would have been wrong, because it's not a band.  Evidently Pretty Lights is a DJ, or something, who is from here in Denver---and I guess he is supposed to be pretty cool.  Yep, that's the kind of hip I am...inadvertently hip.   

It's funny the roller coaster of "cool" one goes through in ones life. When you are an adolescent, I think everyone feels un-cool--maily due to the fact that everyone's armpits are starting to smell.  Then you get into your early 20's and you realize that there isn't just one kind of cool and you definitely feel like you are, in this unique way.  Then you get into your 30's [ok, maybe I am just speaking for myself] and you realize in some random moment while you are talking to some younger, more interestingly dressed person [who probably doesn't go to bed before 11pm], and they are saying, "You know, *[insert quirky band name]?  They are playing at the bla bla theater Saturday."  Then I say, "No, I don't know them."  This conversation happens approximately 4 times, and then you have the epiphany.  I am square.

*I realize I have officially gone nuts with the brackets usage in this post.

Zen moment with Perrin.  

"Can you put the food in my mouth while I sleep?"

Home again home again

Here we are, home again.  Part of me wants to recount, day by day, Perrin's Summer Tour 2013 to you because each day of it was wonderful and magical--in big heavy handed ways and tiny ways.  But for some reason I think that would be a little sad for me, not to mention tedious to read. It is hard to switch gears in your heart and head from full family immersion back to family of three life.  I feel back in the stride of things now though, after one weepy--I miss my family why would we ever stay so far away from all of them I love love them--day.

The gist of the whole trip was introducing Perrin to our families.  It was indescribably FULL feeling to see them together.  It felt so right to see her with her extended family that it begs the question, Is it wrong to keep her away from them?  This is not a reasonable question to ask oneself I have decided.  

 

There was a moment on our trip while we were staying at my parent's house that Perrin had woken up in the night crying.  It was about 2:30am and I found myself standing in my childhood bedroom holding my daughter to me while I rocked back and forth, staring up at the glowing star stickers on the ceiling that I had placed there years ago.  I still don't know what that moment meant, but it was captured in my mind like a snap shot.  It made me feel a million miles away from my childhood self, my Martinsville self, but it was also a beautiful full circle moment. 

We got a special kick out of seeing Perrin with her cousin Solaris for the first time.  Since they are just months apart in age, we couldn't wait to see how they would react to each other.  After an initial bonk on the head with a snack cup, Sol took to Perrin pretty darn well I would say.  She even feed Perrin her own pumpernickel rye slice.

 They were darling together.  We miss you sweet Sol!  Perrin also got to meet her cousin Brendan and a few second cousins.  Everyone loved everyone.  It was a big hippie fest.

 

By the way, Perrin just turned 1 this past week. Happy birthday to my girl.  Here she is with her new piano from Aunt Tara and Uncle Jeff.  I love this picture as she is playing the piano just like Tori Amos.

 

 

Gone...and gone some more

Sorry for the long silence.  We have been preparing for our trip back home and there have been so many little things to plan.  We are leaving at 6am tomorrow morning to fly into IN...Let's hope Perrin proves to be a good little nomad. 

We will be gone for 11 days so the radio silence will continue unfortunately.  Here are some recent Perrin shots to serve as substitute for an actually thought out blog post.  Enjoy!  I will write a proper post when we get back from our trip...seriously, I will.