Still Funny

Wyatt has had some real gems these last couple of weeks.



(To my mom):

W: e-LAINE!
Me: You call her grandma.
W: e-LAINE!
Me: please call her grandma.
W: Hey grandma!
G: Yes, Wyatt?
W: I call you e-LAINE!



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(immediately after the first time he saw Natalie nursing)

W: Mommy, where your nipple go?
Me: It didn't go anywhere, sweetie.
W: But Natalie ate. Where did it go?

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Me: Wyatt, when did you get so big?
W: Ummm, about thirty minutes ago.


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(after nap)

Me: Wyatt, you ready to go downstairs?
W: No, I want to play in my room for six minutes.

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(looking at a round light on the wall on my hospital room wall)

W: Mommy, that your belly?

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(while I'm pumping (sorry for the TMI))

W: Mommy, your nipple poppin'. Why your nipple poppin'?

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(at breakfast)

W: I want to talk to you.

Me: okay, what would you like to talk about?

W: eating.

Me: what about it?

W: Well, I eat it and it goes in my tummy and then my leg...

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And on a totally cute note, every time Natalie cries (and I do mean every time), Wyatt breaks into a rousing rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle" to help her calm down. He firmly believes he's successful every time. And then he usually tells us he's a really good big brother.

Second Child Syndrome

It exists. By Wyatt's one-week mark we had taken approximately 1,429 photos. I think we have about 10 of Natalie. Maybe if she would eat during the day and sleep at night, I'd be more inclined to document her infancy. Just a suggestion, darling girl.

Anyway, she's starting to wake up a little more and we're actually seeing her eyeballs for more than ten seconds at a time. And she, conveniently, decided to have some of this awake time after Wyatt was down for his nap, so I let her sprawl out on a blanket for the first time. Instant photo shoot.

Yeah, she's not missing meals and has the cheeks to prove it.

Get This.

We were technically released early from the hospital so we had to report today for a weight check to make sure Natalie is gaining weight. If you've read many entries on this blog, you've probably caught a rant or two about Wyatt's weight and lack thereof. So please imagine our surprise and delight when we learned that Natalie is almost back to birthweight. This is a little something that the nurse, doctor and lactation consultant informed us was not only good, but great. Folks, we have a grower on our hands. Yippee!!!!

Hello World.

Since most of my readers are friends and family, you hopefully already know that we welcomed our baby GIRL, Natalie, on Sunday night. She's - if I dare say - perfect. And truly a surprise. Part of me wishes I could adequatlely describe the sheer wonder and awe we felt when someone announced the news of her non-boyness and part of me is glad that only Jeff and I were there to revel in that moment. We are smitten. And it sure was fun to make all those phonecalls to family and friends since we didn't really get to do that from Japan with Wyatt.

See, here's the thing that was different this time around: we kind of always knew that Wyatt was a boy. I thought I saw a special something early on and then we thought we saw that same something late in my pregnancy (accidental both times and never commented upon by my doctors) so we weren't fully surprised. This time we had NO idea. Sheer bliss and to anyone out there who is wondering find out or not find out? Please, don't find out. Just some handy unsolicited advice from me to you.

Other info about Natalie: at 7 lbs. 5 oz, she weighed almost a full pound more than her brother; she is eating well and that is a very pleasant change; her middle name (Sarah) is my Grandma's first name, while Wyatt's middle name was Jeff's Grandpa's middle name; sweet Natalie is remarkably nocturnal right now and we didn't experience that with Wyatt; her labor was even easier than Wyatt's.

When my doctor offered her services for a Sunday night induction (and Steph, I didn't take brownies to my appointments, but I am in book club with her :)), we thought it was great even though it meant we'd be up all night and heading into this all sleep deprived. We got to the hospital around 5, they got me into a room and we found out that the L&D ward had gone from really quiet to full. I was lucky they didn't turn me away! Anyway, I had been dilated to 3 cm since last Thursday, so the plan was to break my water, add pitocin and see what happened. I'm a smart girl, so I asked for my epidural first. I figured that I hadn't felt any real pain yet, so why bother? My epidural was in around 6:45, my water was broken around 7 or 7:15 and at that point I sent Jeff away to get dinner for himself since it looked like it would be a late night. He got back by 8 so we just hung out. After a little while, Jeff started looking at the contraction monitor. I wasn't feeling anything beyond a little tightening and wasn't bothered by it so I was kind of surprised when he told me they looked like good contractions only a minute or two apart. He went out to find a DSN phone to call friends in Japan. My doctor (Anita) came in and asked if I was feeling okay; I assured her I was good. She said she'd like to check me and then, after doing so, said, "that's what I thought. You ready to push this baby out?" I cracked up. Seriously? It was like 9:30 and we were thinking more along the lines of a 3 am baby. I told the doctor that we'd need to find Jeff first. She offered to do that and disappeared. Jeff walked in a minute later and I said, "can you believe this?" Turns out Anita hadn't found him and so I broke the news that our baby was imminent.

Anita showed up moments later with nurses and techs and a coverall thing for Jeff, who wanted to help deliver this baby, too. And I know half (80 percent? More?) of you are weirded out by that but it's so Jeff and I don't care so he totally helped deliver both of our kids. Anita gave him a crash course in what to do and they got him all gowned up. I took that opportunity to take a few pictures and then one of the nurses (who were both so cool, I have to say) offered to take the camera from me since I needed to focus on other things. At about 9:50 I started pushing and at 9:57, Natalie entered the world. Granted, she entered a really disconcerting shade of purple since the cord was wrapped around her neck, but still! I told you it was easy! I am on a quest to be the one person in the world who doesn't tell a scary birth story. Why do people do that?

And now more of what you're really here for:

I think maybe newborn photos are only intriguing to those who already love the child, since they lack any real distinction, but she'll grow up and get interesting and we'll post lots of those photos too. We'll just have to be patient because for now, we're just enjoying her the way she is.

Priorities

Right before Wyatt went down for his nap, we talked about potentially going bowling this afternoon or this evening. We looked up local bowling alleys while he was asleep and hadn't really come to any sort of conclusion before my doctor called and offered up her services for an induction this evening. Heck yeah, bring it on!

So when Wyatt woke up, I was holding him while he mowed down some cheese puffs and we had the following conversation:

Me: My doctor called and said it's time to have the baby. Would you like that? Are you excited to meet the baby?

Wyatt: Silence. Can we go bowling first?

After a little lying (no bowling alleys are open on Sundays, of course) and some promises to go bowling after Grandpa gets here, that crisis was averted.

So now we're waiting around to get confirmation that L&D still has a room open and then *hopefully* we're off to the races! In hopes that this really pans out, I leave you with this, my final pregnancy "portrait" at a very ripe 40 weeks and 3 days.

It should also be noted that my first instinct was to blog and Jeff's was to get out the vacuum. Who's nesting now?

Life Goes On

Wyatt started swimming lessons last week and, of course, last week I forgot the camera (actually not the whole camera, just the battery, but same difference). I was really heartbroken because I thought surely this week I would be occupied with other stuff and not make it to swim lessons. We all know how that's going. So today, I remembered both the camera and the battery and managed to get some evidence that Wyatt loves the water.

He's not entirely fond of going under but I think we'll get there. I figure a few more lessons and one good trip to the Grandparents' in Florida and he'll be a full-fledged fish.

Hmmmm....

Here we are, two days past due date, two days past my doc's attempt to get things started "naturally", one day past 16 hours of fairly regular contractions (that never got less than 16 minutes apart) and now? Nothing. No contractions today, folks. That was just a tease. Typical second-born: running late, a little stubborn, wants to make an entrance, probably thinks this is entertaining the family.

Maybe tomorrow?

Dear highly anticipated baby,
We're excited to meet you and were hoping you would be excited to meet us, too. Your big brother keeps asking where you are. Your grandma has been here for over a week because you faked us out a couple weeks ago. You have made your point: you'd like to be the star of the show. Newsflash: you can't really star in anything until you show up. And just so you know, if you don't do this on your own terms, you'll be doing it on ours one evening very soon.

Much love,
Mom

Posting Notice

An eviction notice, that is. I'm hoping to evict this baby and soon. For someone whose doctor had to say, "you know, we can't let you stay pregnant forever" the first time around (because I was so unready), this waiting and wanting to be in labor is painful. But only emotionally painful as there are no contractions indicating my baby's on board with my idea to go ahead and meet us.

We'll keep you posted...

Here We Are

Six days to go; I was able to keep my hair appointment; I called my mom in early because I was worn out and worried that this baby was coming sooner and yeah. No baby. Well, of course it's still here, but just not revealing itself yet.

This is a case of no news is just no news. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

The Peanut Gallery

We're working (always) with Wyatt on his manners. He chose not to eat his oatmeal this morning, so I told him that was it until lunch. Well, then Jeff came down and had a nice looking bowl of Cheerios so Wyatt asked if he could have some. I jumped in and told him that since he'd chosen not to eat his oatmeal (that he asked for, mind you) then he couldn't have o's.

So he ignored me, looked directly at his dad and said, "Daddy, you want to give me some of those o's please?" As if Jeff hadn't just witnessed the whole interchange. And while it's wrong to be amused that I was overrun, the delivery was hilarious enough that Wyatt got some o's.

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A couple weeks ago, when I was really feeling the effects of the Rock family cold, I coughed. Wyatt promptly said, "bless you." I thanked him but explained that we really only say "bless you" when someone sneezes. So he paused for a moment and then said, "well then cough you, Mommy."

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I realized the other day that I'd failed to mention to Wyatt where he was going to go if I went into labor. So I told him that if the baby comes before Grandma gets here*, then he'll get to go to Isaac's house and maybe even spend the night. He seemed to think that would be a pretty great thing. So then yesterday morning, as I'm unloading the dishwasher, he looked at me and said, "Mommy, where's our baby?" I stood up and told him it was still in my tummy. He looked confused, so I asked if he was worried about our baby. He said, "No. I not worried. I just want to go to Isaac's house."

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I'm hoping it's not a conscious staking-his-claim thing, but Wyatt has taken to calling us "my mommy" or "my daddy". It goes like this:

"Hey my mommy, what you doin'?"
"Where are you my mommy?"
"Hi my daddy! I missed you!"

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We're having a very artistic morning around here. Wyatt awoke at 6:30 and asked for play-doh as soon as we got downstairs. We managed to have our meager breakfast first but in the last hour he has used his play-doh, moved on to watercolors and is now playing with markers. Unfortunately very little art has been produced. The play-doh was all about cutting shapes; the watercoloring involved copious liquid, seven brushes all at once and very little pigment; the markers were used for coloring for approximately five minutes but now it's all about the lids. He's got it in his head he'll be building a tower of lids while the poor markers sit idly by and dry out. And upon realizing the lids won't stack, he's setting them up like bowling pins and asking for a ball. But he's very entertained so I'll just take what I can get.

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*Grandma wasn't supposed to get here for another week, but after a minor (some might argue verging on major) emotional meltdown that I'll attribute to pregnancy, exhaustion and a rough morning with a two-year old, she's arriving tonight. We haven't told Wyatt that this will negate the potential sleepover with his best buddy, but he's very excited for Grandma to play. This just proves that once you're a mom, you're never off-duty.

Gestating, Recuperating and Playing

Each member of this family is doing one of the above things and I'm guessing you can properly assign us each to our task. Currently baby Rock is cozy and staying put, though my doctor said, "good luck on that 40 week plan" which has left us flummoxed. You see, Wyatt made no move for the exit until he was requested to do so, after my due date. So the fact that this child is, perhaps, wanting to make an early arrival is downright confusing. Obviously the jury's still out on this and we could be waiting around for its arrival 10 days from now, but I'm taking it pretty easy in order to not instigate anything. I mean, I have a haircut scheduled for Friday and would really like to keep it.

Jeff is fighting to get over a cold that I'm pretty sure we gave him (or maybe completely sure, since we both still have it, too). Combined with the jetlag, it pretty much knocked him out for a couple days. He seems to be on the mend and has returned to work this week (a whole week with him home was a treat!). Wyatt was hesitant to allow Jeff to go back to work today but we promised that Daddy will be home for dinner every night, so that finally persuaded him that it was okay.

And Wyatt has been a busy boy lately. Or maybe he's just always this busy and it's more noticeable when one parent is attempting to do a lot of nothing while the other is sick. Oh, and the weather has been kind of cruddy with days of rainy, cold weather, keeping us cooped up even more. However, Mother Nature totally redeemed herself by providing us with about two inches of snow overnight. My island-born boy doesn't quite know what to do in all the white stuff, but we gave it a gallant effort this morning since this is a rare treat in these parts.