Our Little Baby Blog

Where to Begin (by Mike)

Wow, does time fly by when you are in the midst of moving with newborn and a 2 year old in tow. So much has happened since our last post that I almost don't know where to begin and end. But, in order to bring things up to date, a brief recap of the past four weeks.

The move out of our place went as well as could be expected, although we got into a fight with our movers that ended less than amicably at the time. Since we could not move into our new place for 12 days thought, we weren't entirely certain how being homeless would work out, but thanks to the kindness of our friends Pamela, David and Harper, we did not have to live out of our Honda for the first week. Their place was great, as Anna loved playing in Harper's tent and walking in to wake us up in the morning.

The second week was spent at my folks house in Saint Louis, playing in the pool and remembering the joy of a Missouri summer. Anna loved the concrete deck around my parents subdivision pool, although not so much the water itself. She did do a really good job of keeping the deck watered with a kids watering pail though. Aunts Pam and Meagan did a great job helping out to keep Anna entertained.

On Thursday night, we trekked back to Chicago and stayed with our friends Courtney and Adam in a suburb a few minutes away. They have a son named William who is one, and Anna loved having his new toys to play with.

That night we went to a festival in the downtown of their town, and Anna broke our hearts trying to get other kids to play with her. I guess the 12 days of interacting mostly with just me, Maggie and other adults had taken their toll on her, because once we sat on the blanket and ate dinner, Anna just tried to run after other little girls with her arms outstretched to give them hugs, and not a one of them stopped to give her the time of day. I think it made both of us want to cry.

The next day,we closed on our place, and began the joy of moving in with two babies. My folks and sisters came up to help, and did a fantastic job of getting boxes unpacked, while Anna explored her new backyard, swing set and 2 sets of stairs to try to climb. After a whirlwind 48 hours of boxes, we actually succeeded in getting the kitchen unpacked, which was a major help. Kudos to Pam and Meagan for tackling that. They also set up Anna's play area in the basement, which is a huge help for Maggie on weekdays to have a place to preoccupy Anna for a while.

Our first week has been an adventure. Abe was still in his pack and play until yesterday due to our old crib being recalled a few months before we moved, and is still waking up to eat each night at 1 and 4 am. He had a doctor's appointment on Friday, and is now at 13 pounds, 11 ounces. For comparison, Anna did not break 13 pounds until somewhere between 6 and 9 months, so the size difference is huge-he was already into 3-6 months clothes over 2 weeks ago. He also has what we call the "neck thing", which we have to write about in a separate post, but his physical therapist says it appears to be getting better.

Anna has begun refusing to go to bed at night, emerging from her room upwards of 5-10 times per night. When asked what happens when it gets dark outside, she replied that its time to "wake up!" One of us has to stay on the first floor until she goes to sleep, and we often think she is out, only to hear her door open or hear her cry out several times (in fact, while writing this her screaming just happened again, and Maggie is in there with her now). Any advice from those with a toddler who refuses to sleep would be a big help.

In addition, Anna has learned to go up and down stairs, which led on Saturday and Sunday morning to her waking me and Maggie up after she had scaled the steps to the second floor on her own. You cannot carry her up or down the steps right now-most attempts to do so are met with "I can do it myself." So, you stay vigilant and walk behind her. Luckily, although she didn't wake up before me this morning to see it, we installed security gates for the steps to prevent her from trekking up them herself.

Abe has begun smiling at both me and Maggie, and coos at you when you smile and make baby noises at him. I also swear that he tried to reach out for me tonight with his right hand, and when I was playing with Anna in the living room, he got upset until I turned around and smiled at him (he smiled right back and began kicking in his bouncy seat).

Maggie seems to be holding up well, although the lack of sleep is catching up to her now. The doctor advised us to put a bit of rice cereal in a bottle at night to give to him in the hopes of getting 5-6 hours of sleep. We haven't tried it yet, but will soon.

Now I am just rambling, and probably need to turn in for the night. As a way to force myself to post though, I promise that we'll post something about the new town we live in and about Abe's neck condition this week. In the meantime, above are some pictures my friend Gary took this weekend. And yes, that is a 2 month old in Maggie's arms.