October 2013

 

October has been a predictably unpredictable month!  

We're slowly but surely settling into life with Abby.  Nothing is routine yet, and we're not anticipating that for awhile, but we're getting used to having her around at least!

"Hug her!"

Sharing toys, "She likes it!"

Bruce wanted to give Abby a flower

"Hold her hand!"

Sleep, eat and poop - that's all babies do, right?  Except I would have to add "cry" to the list, because our baby can definitely cry, too.  And loudly.

sleep  ::  Abby's sleeping has been all over the place, so we're just taking it one day at a time and trying to patiently wait for her system to mature and work itself out.  Some days she naps so well I have to wake her up to feed her, other days she won't stay asleep for more than 20 minutes at a time.  Sometimes she falls asleep really easily for naps, other times I have to bounce her for over an hour, with her fussing and fighting it every minute.  There are nights that she'll sleep for 3-5 hours at a time, needing no special attention other than feeding, others that she's wide awake at 4 am, ready to start the day.  It's always a surprise and keeps on our toes.

eat  ::  She's eating really well, I think.  With nursing it's so hard to tell, but at her two week appointment she had surpassed returning to her birth weight, which is what the doctors expect.  At that time, she weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces, ranking in the 59th percentile for weight, and the 97th percentile for length.  I'm still feeding her a couple of times throughout the night, but she's a fast eater which has been really nice.

poop  ::  I don't think I need to say much about poop, except I'm fairly certain we've gone through close to 500 diapers by now.  I don't care about the cost, or the environmental impact - thank God for disposable diapers.  There's nothing quite like changing a diaper and getting the last ridiculously tiny article of clothing back on legs so stiff you'd think rigor-mortis had set in, only to hear the unmistakeable sound that another diaper change is now necessary.  And repeat.  I've gone through four diapers in less minutes on multiple occasions.  Again, thank God for disposable diapers.

and cry  ::  We have definitely entered the "peak fussiness" period this past week.  For the most part, it's manageable with the aid of a swaddle sack and a pacifier, but I have logged many-a hour this month bouncing this precious girl who doesn't quite know what to do with herself, or her fidgety little arms and legs.

Bruce has tolerated all the crying and incessant baby holding remarkably well.  I've heard plenty of whiney (sometimes hysterical) requests for me to "put Abby down" and "mama play with you" that break my heart, but I keep reminding myself this is just for a season, and try to make the most out of the time I do get to spend with Bruce one-on-one.

The cicada drives the bulldozer

The cicada drives the excavator

Unfortunately, Bruce's key to survival the past few weeks has been the television.  Again, I keep reminding myself this is just for a season.  It's quite impressive how well he's learned to operate the iPad though.  He can turn it on, swipe the slide lock, and choose his videos at will, as long as YouTube is queued up.  He even knows what to push to skip the advertisements.  And he can keep the videos going for hours (if allowed) by selecting videos from the "suggestions" strip.  The only quirk with that is that he often gets looped into a lot of foreign cartoons.  He doesn't seem to mind though and he gets a great dose of different languages.  Here are links to some of his favorites, if you're interested in seeing what amuses this kid.

 "The Russian Girl"  - a mischievous and high energy little girl lives alone in a house in the woods, stirring up all kinds of trouble that drives her neighbor-bear crazy.

"Pocoyo" - a curious little boy and his shenanigans.

"Kikaninchen" - a German blue rabbit and his friend Christian use their imagination to explore fantasy places.

"Shawn the Train" -  a Thomas knock-off teaches about letters, numbers, shapes, colors, etc.

 "Yellow Excavator" - a Russian compilation of construction truck video clips.

"Mickey's New Car" - you guessed it, Mickey Mouse gets a new car.

"Funny Tombow - One Man Band" - a Japanese street musician playing fun cover songs.

"Jug Band" - fun music Bruce likes.

"Surprise Eggs" - oh.my.goodness...  There is so much that confuses me about this one.  1) Why would anyone make a YouTube video of them opening up surprise eggs?  2) Why would multiple people make multiple videos of these silly surprise eggs?  3) How in the world have these videos received millions of hits?  and finally 4) Why does Bruce enjoy watching these videos over and over and over again?  And to top it off, we now play "surprise eggs"daily - it's a game Bruce invented where we have to fill old plastic Easter eggs up with tiny treasures for him to open again and again and again...

He likes a little bit of everything I guess...

no matter how big the tv is,
kids always have to get
as close as possible, don't they?

We've been so thankful for all of the belated birthday and "Big Brother" gifts friends and family have sent for Bruce the past two months.  All the new cars and trucks and what-nots have been a huge hit with the Little Man, and have distracted him from time to time from his love affair with YouTube.

construction work with colored rice and pasta

We usually have both kids in bed between 7:00 and 9:00 these days.  Although it would probably be best, I have a hard time making myself go to bed then.  It's nice to spend a little time with Charlie, just the two of us, to keep us feeling sane.  So, we heat up dinner, settle in on the couch, and watch some Netflix together.  It's a simple pleasure, but we've always had a "show" that becomes a stay-at-home date night for us.  We've had several different series that have become part of "us" in this way over the years, and recently we've needed to start a new one.  So, after hearing a lot of talk about it, but knowing nothing about it, we started watching the series "Breaking Bad."  We're one season in and finding it amusing so far - we'll see how it turns out.

I'm adjusting back to life with a newborn, doing almost everything one-handed, squeezing in chores during naps, and appreciating more than two hours of sleep at a time.  I feel fairly rested most days, serve three meals a day, and everyone's dressed before lunch at least.  I load and unload the dishwasher every day, and no one has had to re-wear underwear yet.  Great success.  A friend of ours made arrangements for people to bring us some meals these first few weeks though, which has been such a blessing!

 

Although Charlie went back to work full time at the beginning of the month, other than a few day trips around Oklahoma, he hasn't had to travel at all this month!  We've really enjoyed having him around more, and I think he's enjoyed not living out of a suitcase.  We also found out recently that he received a promotion to be a Senior Associate with the firm - woo hoo!

 

This was the first year in nearly a decade that we didn't have a pumpkin carving party with friends.  Time just got away from us and we didn't make arrangements early enough.  It was a little sad not to host the big event, but it was kind of nice to spend the time just as a family, too. 

 

 

 

We got to squeeze in one more year of family-themed costumes for Halloween.  Bruce has been obsessed with scarecrows lately, so when I suggested he dress as one for Halloween, he was really excited.  It only stood to reason then that Abby would be an ear of corn, and Charlie and I completed the scene as a farmer and a chicken/crow (Bruce was a little scared of the crow costume, so Charlie went as a chicken and a crow).  All the costumes were easy to make too, which was perfect.

 





We went to trick or treat down Main Street and Bruce was mesmerized!  After we loaded up on candy there, we went door to door around our block of houses, too.  What a fun night, and I'm looking forward to many Halloweens to come!

taking a rest from all that candy hauling

he couldn't decide between a pink or
green bucket, so he carried both