Recovering.

Christmas wiped me out this year. It wasn't that we were all that busy, but with a three year old and a 3 week old that was up all night, plus family gatherings and presents and oh god, the puke, I was exhausted. Plus, I developed a nervous tick from all of the toys cluttering up my living room. But the toys are slowly getting put away, and I am slowly catching up on some much needed sleep, and Charlie is getting himself into a little bit more of a routine (which, who here is a little bit in love with routines and schedules?). Minus one night during which he decided to SCREAM BLOODY MURDER for 4 straight hours because he was tired and for no other reason and I cannot count how many times I said "JUST GO TO SLEEP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THAT WILL SOLVE ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS HERE", he is an absolute joy. I am finding things much easier this time around in regard to the whole newborn thing. I remember talking to my friend about how when our girls were newborns we were so sleep deprived and it was so new to us that we just about lost our minds, and I told her that I actually remember looking at Mikan's razor while sitting in the bathtub (with Ella screaming her 3 week old head off in the background), and thinking "Hmmpfh. THAT might not be a bad course of action right now." I am most definitely not thinking that this time around. Yes, he cries and screams and wakes up at night and does everything that Ella did, but I don't really care as much. Maybe it's because I'm busy with Ella during the day and I don't have time to freak out over every whimper, or maybe it's that I generally require way less sleep than I did 3 years ago when I was a child-free person. But we are definitely enjoying this little man, and I can't believe that he is already almost a month old.

Five Years

Happy Five Year Anniversary to Mikan and I. Hard to believe that it has been five years already. It's even harder to believe that it's been exactly seven years since our first date. Time sure has flown by, and even though there have been ups and downs, fights and laughter, really really good times and some really bad times, we are blessed to have each other and I look forward to the next five years that we spend together.


A picture of us on our wedding day, December 28th, 2003, in which we both look like we're 12 years old.

Aaaannndd....

I'm pretty sure that my family is the only family in America who celebrates the birth of Our Lord And Savior by singing Jason Mraz songs and doing the cha cha slide with their insane Uncle Joe. Next year I'm passing the hat around to collect for Ella and Charlie's therapy bill in 20 years.

7000 Pictures Of Christmas Day.

Minus the massive puke-fest from Ella around 10am, we had a wonderful day. Lots of laughing, presents, and family.

Christmas Eve

We went to Mikan's parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner and some early presents, and the kids all had a blast. I wish I wasn't exhausted from the last two days of merriment and celebrating, and I would write more. But, hey! PICTURES!

Silent Night

Trying to remember the reason that we are celebrating today and tomorrow, in the midst of all of the craziness, presents, whining 3 year olds, runny noses, crying babies, driving, wrapping, late-night runs to stores for batteries, and big, loud family gatherings.

Gingerbread Houses, aka My Kitchen Is Covered In Icing And Gumdrops.

Girls' Day Out

Since Ella and I haven't had any time alone since Charlie's arrival, we decided to ditch the boys and go get our nails done. Ella was thrilled to get out of the house without the baby and to have my undivided attention, and we talked the whole way to the nail salon in the car. She felt like such a big girl and sat perfectly still for the girl doing her nails. She talked to the nail chick the whole time, too, since she was telling Ella how pretty she looked and what a big girl she was for holding so still. That's all she needed to hear, since Ella + flattery and attention = the best time ever. The nail girl even painted little white flowers on Ella's thumbs, which was just the "most amazing thing EVER", as she told me in the car on the way home.

...And A Way To Make Me Really Very Happy.

Show up at my house for no reason other than to do my sink full of dishes and entertain my 3 year old for over an hour, like my best friend Becky did tonight. She even apologized for not bringing coffee with her, as if coming to my house unannounced to CLEAN was not good enough. Yay for best friends.

Ways To Make Me Want To Punch You In The Face.

1. When I say that I am really, really tired because Charlie has decided to wake up every hour all night long and not go back to sleep until I rock him all the way to sleep and/or let him sleep on my chest sitting up, say one of the following things in response: A) Oh, I had (insert absurd number of children here) kids and I survived! YOU WILL TOO, I promise! B) Did you try (insert basic childcare technique here, such as changing diaper or feeding or burping)? That always worked for ME. First of all, I do not care how many kids you had or have or how soon they were sleeping through the night or how well YOU coped with having many, many children. The fact that you had fourteen kids and survived has no bearing on me right now. This fact does not make me any more gleeful about pacing the floor with a screaming infant until there is an actual path worn into the carpet, because HEY! YOU did it, so I can, too! It still sucks, no matter if you've done it once, twice, or a hundred times with multiple kids. So shut up. And hey THANKS! Nope, it didn't occur to me that he might be screaming because he was HUNGRY! I just forgot all about the fact that newborns eat every couple of hours, and didn't even think to try feeding him!!! Of course I tried all of that, idiot. And you know who you are. Appropriate responses to me saying that I am really, really tired: A) "I'm so sorry that he's not sleeping well for you, could I get a very large cup of coffee?" or B) "I'm so sorry he's not sleeping well for you, I'll be over in five minutes to watch the kids so you can take a 4 hour nap."

2. Tell me to just "let it go" when I complain that the house is a wreck and I do not foresee any time being devoted to cleaning it up in the next, oh, four months. Just because you learned to live with mountains of laundry and piles upon piles of dishes in the sink does not mean that I have to do the same. I am not used to having disorder and filth in my house, and it sucks. Yes, I will learn to live with it, but I do not have to enjoy it or embrace it. Appropriate response: "Oh, I'm so sorry you haven't had time to do the dishes in 2 weeks, I'll be over in 5 minutes to clean your house top to bottom for you." OR I could get a sudden knock on the door, and it would be the maid service that you hired for me to come clean my house 4 times a week.

3. Breathe on me/look at me/talk to me in the wrong tone, 'cause I'm just a smidge irritable from lack of sleep. Yes, I know it will get better, but it's not better yet, so shut up.

2 weeks down, 900 to go

We had Charlie's 2 week pediatrician appointment today, and he weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 10 oz and is 22 inches long. I'm surprised I remembered those stats without looking at the baby booklet they're written in since I did not get to have my afternoon pot of coffee yet.

Baby picture to distract from the fact that I have nothing exciting to report so far this week.

Stuck Inside Much?

Apart from the fact that I am super tired and can barely muster the energy to push the 'start' button on Mr. Coffee, so never mind showering, blow drying, makeup-ing, wearing actual clothes that aren't sweatpants, etc....we are doing great! Although, I would DEFINITELY advise against having a baby in the winter when you already have a toddler or preschooler who was used to getting out of the house every day before said baby arrived. Oh, the lengths I've gone to to entertain Ella in the last week. "Here, honey, it's a NEW GAME!!!!! It's called sort through this mountain of laundry for your own damn self and find your matching sock!!! SO FUN!!!" And many variations on that right there. Ella is a trooper, though, and is really putting up with me having less time and zero energy quite well, as opposed to the first few days we were at home alone. So what if the most fun activity we have time for is me helping her write the alphabet on her Magnadoodle while I hold Charlie in the other arm and prop his bottle up with my chin? Soon enough it will be Spring and we can get out of this stinking house for more than five minutes. Until then, my ipod is getting lots and lots and lots of use:

Random, Sleep-Deprived Thoughts

* This has been said of sleep deprivation: "At the very least, sleep deprivation is cruel, inhumane and degrading. If used for prolonged periods of time it is torture." Babies are allowed to keep their mothers awake for days at a time, but when the same is done to detainees at Gitmo, it is called cruel and unusual punishment. Obama has promised to shut Gitmo down asap. I'm just saying. Maybe he wants to come and rock my screaming baby to sleep at 4am as well?

* Does turning on the same dvr'd episode of Super Why? for the 8th time so far today constitute "teaching" my three year old? I'm pretty sure that the show teaches letters and spelling.

* Whose idea was it to have a baby in the wintertime when we would be cooped up in the house for the next 3-4 months? Whoops.

* How is it that it takes seventeen times longer to get ready and out of the house with two kids, instead of just twice as long?

*Could someone come and clean my house? Or at the very least, come and vacuum up the layer of dog hair on the floors?



3am. Ready to party.

"No, I Love My Baby Brother, Why Do You Ask?"

Baby Days

I had forgotten what a blur my days can be with a newborn in the house. So far, Charlie is a fairly decent sleeper at night, so that helps, but my days of Super Scheduled Mom have been temporarily thrown out the window. Right now my schedule consists of: 1. Make sure everyone is fed and happy and clean. 2. Survive. Doing this the second time around has made me stop and think "What the HELL was your problem when Ella was a newborn?! You got to sleep all day with her, you didn't have any other kids to worry about entertaining, and YOU GOT TO SLEEP ALL DAY." Minus the night wakings, Charlie is a breeze compared to the energy suck that is Ella right now. In addition to the normal everyday things like playing Barbies and tea party with her and making her lunch and potty breaks and please for the love of GOD STOP HITTING ME right this instant, she is also clingy to the nth degree right now, and I can't blame her. But I don't have to enjoy it, do I?! Things will get easier, I know that, and in the meantime I am enjoying my whole-pot-and-a-half-of-coffee routine every morning as soon as I can stumble to the coffee maker. Also trying to resist the urge to dial up a preschool and enroll Ella there eight days a week. Kidding, sort of. I feel badly for her that her little world has just been torn down around her, and I am doing my damnedest to be sympathetic and give lots of hugs and "I love you"s to her every 3 minutes. But I am finding it harder than I had imagined to be patient and calm with her every second of every day, especially when she charges at me, headbutts my boobs, and tells me to get out of here right now.

But we're all fine, just settling into our life as a family of four.

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