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My awesome kids, plus pictures and food
Nov. 9th, 2005 11:26 pmYesterday, I finally figured out how to get things done around here. I have to do them WITH the baby and all the kids. I know this sounds obvious, but trust me, it doesn't always come naturally to try to move laundry from the washer to the dryer and then sit down and fold it with a baby in the Kozy. Or even to sweep or do dishes with a baby in the Kozy, when you're still recovering from surgery. But I did it all, and cooked an AWESOME southwestern chicken and rice casserole* too, by starting it like 3 hours before I needed to get it in the oven. That way, it didn't throw me off schedule when I had to stop over. And over. And over again.
But then today I woke up with a stomach virus, and that all went down the drain :/ I took care of the kids and let the mess pile up around us until Grant got home.
Jake is starting to realize it's better to be with someone then to be alone, and I LOVE IT. I think his time in the NICU, only being picked up to eat, had him used to only being picked up to eat. Granted, in the NICU he was also still mostly sleeping 24 hours a day, and I suppose towards the end he was getting to where he needed company. But still...when he's crying, and I pick him up, and he stops...I just melt and squeeze him. It's like, OH - he didn't need a diaper. He's not hungry. He just wants me :) Yesterday morning I held or wore him for quite awhile, sleeping, and then went and layed him down. Within a few minutes he was up fussing, and I picked him back up, and he fell back asleep, and it was like...Aww. *He loves me*. He wants to be close. I could just...die happy.
I know that sounds crazy and is more work and whatever, but when he first came home I felt almost afraid that he would forget me, and strangely irrelevant in the midst of his hospital scheduled bottle feedings and being told whether or not I had to put Zinc Oxide on him at diaper changes based on doctors' orders (seriously).
He's a wonderful baby. He seems to have about 30 minutes once each day where he cries inconsolably, no matter how we pat or rock or bounce or offer the breast or sling or whatever, but other than that - He sleeps at night. 4-5 hours the first block and then two 2-3 hour subsequent blocks, all broken only for a clean diaper and food. He is alert most of the day, doing more cat napping than anything else. The changing table is probably his favorite place to be, because he hates being wet, but also it's by a window and I always give him short little full body massages. His eyes are so alert, and adorable, and complex. He has very obvious "Listening intently" expressions. Mostly he just feels so damned good, on my chest.
Isaac is having a hard couple of days. I think it's his molars coming in. He isn't acting jealous and still seems to love the baby, but he wants to nurse a lot more, and is drooling a little, which is weird, and is just very very moody. He wakes up from the night and his naps tantrum-y and hard to please. And he has this ridiculous thing now where if he can SEE any little clinging drop of milk on my nipple he wigs out completely saying "Dirty! Dirty - clean!" until I get it off. The first time he actually saw the milk, he refused that side and demanded the other one which I guess he assumed wasn't "contaminated". I don't get it, I have no idea what he thinks he's swallowing if he finds BREASTMILK so nasty :p We have very sweet times, though, he nurses with me first thing in the morning, just he and I, and I always run my hands through his hair the whole time like I have since he was born, and he hugs me and dozes in and out. Then sometime in afternoon or evening he nurses again, and that time always ends in a tickle fight or me smelling his feet and pretending to faint and vomit, while he laughs his head off.
He recognizes and says purple, red and yellow, and the letter O, and also spots anything in a quantity of two, now. All courtesy of reading "My First ABC Board Book", "My First Colors Board Book" and "1-2-3" a couple of times each every day. I read to him a lot, but the cutest freaking thing ever is Ananda sitting with him in the recliner reading him books.
I emailed her GS troop leader, AKA my real life best friend Kathy, about meetings tonight. We've totally neglected to re-register her since the summer ended, for a new year. She and Aaron have also been out of dance since summer was over. Just too much going on, with hurricanes and labor and blah blah blah. She and I are also on the hunt for a way to email Emeril (Lagasse, the chef). It's funny to watch her watch him - she laughs at all his lame ass jokes like he's the best comedian ever. Which just goes to show the level his humor is on o_O Her imagination is through the roof, lately, she comes up with the most amazing ideas for pretend play and art projects.
One more thing, and then pictures: I've noticed all of my kids are capable of biting cruelty to the child directly below them. Ananda is periodically MEAN to Aaron, who sometimes turns around and acts so awful to Isaac, who has tried to purposely step on or snatch from Jake. But Ananda is ALWAYS very, very nice to Isaac and Jake, and Aaron is always very nice to Annie and Jake, and so on.
Wait, another one more thing. I'm a part of a "Tons of Kids" messageboard for people with 5 or more children. I'm considered a wannabe or lurker or whatever since I "only" have four, but I like it there. Lots of AP type sahms, none of them bitching about how their kids are ruining their lives (though we all have bad days). Anyway, right now TWO women on there are just getting over CPS battles, and one other woman is currently fighting the courts. And all these stories I'm hearing basically add up to the same thing: Nobody with several small kids could ever pass an unnanounced CPS inspection. As such, it is just the luck of the draw of where their eye happens to fall. This makes my blood run cold. One woman called the fire department out about a gas leak and they wrote her up for fire hazards because she had clean clothes stacked on the dryer and didn't know something about her chimney not being up to code, and next thing you know a social worker came by and found "fire hazards" all over the house, in the form of cluttered kids' bedroom floors and such, and then a judge was taking the kids for an investigation and they were separated into different foster homes and...Grant says he would kill someone. And I know where he is coming from. Argh.
( Ok, Pictures! +a whole lot )
( *Southwestern Chicken and Rice casserole )
But then today I woke up with a stomach virus, and that all went down the drain :/ I took care of the kids and let the mess pile up around us until Grant got home.
Jake is starting to realize it's better to be with someone then to be alone, and I LOVE IT. I think his time in the NICU, only being picked up to eat, had him used to only being picked up to eat. Granted, in the NICU he was also still mostly sleeping 24 hours a day, and I suppose towards the end he was getting to where he needed company. But still...when he's crying, and I pick him up, and he stops...I just melt and squeeze him. It's like, OH - he didn't need a diaper. He's not hungry. He just wants me :) Yesterday morning I held or wore him for quite awhile, sleeping, and then went and layed him down. Within a few minutes he was up fussing, and I picked him back up, and he fell back asleep, and it was like...Aww. *He loves me*. He wants to be close. I could just...die happy.
I know that sounds crazy and is more work and whatever, but when he first came home I felt almost afraid that he would forget me, and strangely irrelevant in the midst of his hospital scheduled bottle feedings and being told whether or not I had to put Zinc Oxide on him at diaper changes based on doctors' orders (seriously).
He's a wonderful baby. He seems to have about 30 minutes once each day where he cries inconsolably, no matter how we pat or rock or bounce or offer the breast or sling or whatever, but other than that - He sleeps at night. 4-5 hours the first block and then two 2-3 hour subsequent blocks, all broken only for a clean diaper and food. He is alert most of the day, doing more cat napping than anything else. The changing table is probably his favorite place to be, because he hates being wet, but also it's by a window and I always give him short little full body massages. His eyes are so alert, and adorable, and complex. He has very obvious "Listening intently" expressions. Mostly he just feels so damned good, on my chest.
Isaac is having a hard couple of days. I think it's his molars coming in. He isn't acting jealous and still seems to love the baby, but he wants to nurse a lot more, and is drooling a little, which is weird, and is just very very moody. He wakes up from the night and his naps tantrum-y and hard to please. And he has this ridiculous thing now where if he can SEE any little clinging drop of milk on my nipple he wigs out completely saying "Dirty! Dirty - clean!" until I get it off. The first time he actually saw the milk, he refused that side and demanded the other one which I guess he assumed wasn't "contaminated". I don't get it, I have no idea what he thinks he's swallowing if he finds BREASTMILK so nasty :p We have very sweet times, though, he nurses with me first thing in the morning, just he and I, and I always run my hands through his hair the whole time like I have since he was born, and he hugs me and dozes in and out. Then sometime in afternoon or evening he nurses again, and that time always ends in a tickle fight or me smelling his feet and pretending to faint and vomit, while he laughs his head off.
He recognizes and says purple, red and yellow, and the letter O, and also spots anything in a quantity of two, now. All courtesy of reading "My First ABC Board Book", "My First Colors Board Book" and "1-2-3" a couple of times each every day. I read to him a lot, but the cutest freaking thing ever is Ananda sitting with him in the recliner reading him books.
I emailed her GS troop leader, AKA my real life best friend Kathy, about meetings tonight. We've totally neglected to re-register her since the summer ended, for a new year. She and Aaron have also been out of dance since summer was over. Just too much going on, with hurricanes and labor and blah blah blah. She and I are also on the hunt for a way to email Emeril (Lagasse, the chef). It's funny to watch her watch him - she laughs at all his lame ass jokes like he's the best comedian ever. Which just goes to show the level his humor is on o_O Her imagination is through the roof, lately, she comes up with the most amazing ideas for pretend play and art projects.
One more thing, and then pictures: I've noticed all of my kids are capable of biting cruelty to the child directly below them. Ananda is periodically MEAN to Aaron, who sometimes turns around and acts so awful to Isaac, who has tried to purposely step on or snatch from Jake. But Ananda is ALWAYS very, very nice to Isaac and Jake, and Aaron is always very nice to Annie and Jake, and so on.
Wait, another one more thing. I'm a part of a "Tons of Kids" messageboard for people with 5 or more children. I'm considered a wannabe or lurker or whatever since I "only" have four, but I like it there. Lots of AP type sahms, none of them bitching about how their kids are ruining their lives (though we all have bad days). Anyway, right now TWO women on there are just getting over CPS battles, and one other woman is currently fighting the courts. And all these stories I'm hearing basically add up to the same thing: Nobody with several small kids could ever pass an unnanounced CPS inspection. As such, it is just the luck of the draw of where their eye happens to fall. This makes my blood run cold. One woman called the fire department out about a gas leak and they wrote her up for fire hazards because she had clean clothes stacked on the dryer and didn't know something about her chimney not being up to code, and next thing you know a social worker came by and found "fire hazards" all over the house, in the form of cluttered kids' bedroom floors and such, and then a judge was taking the kids for an investigation and they were separated into different foster homes and...Grant says he would kill someone. And I know where he is coming from. Argh.
( Ok, Pictures! +a whole lot )
( *Southwestern Chicken and Rice casserole )
