The Baby Juggler

Too Cute!

J had knee surgery recently (what kind of crack were we smoking when we decided to get a puppy the week I got a new job AND J was having knee surgery?).  So her knee is really hurting, enough that she is now back on crutches.  J and Mini were sitting on the couch reading books when Mini said, "I want yeeddel [little] purrrple scrutches.  Mommy will buy dem at da store."

What the babies are up to

Mini can climb out of her crib. 

It all started about a week ago.  The babies seem to not able to nurse or bottle to sleep any longer, so after much ado and babies getting up to lots of high jinks, we settled them into their cribs to go to sleep.  While they were awake.

So, we heard some crying, then some shrieking (with glee, not fury), then, as we were for some reason looking at the door to the babies' room, it opened.  By itself.  Well, not by itself but not propelled by me or J.  And it was Mini, with a shit-eating grin on her face, as if to say, "See?  What I did?  Aren't you proud?"

SO, we put her back in both times she climbed out that night before she finally fell asleep.

The NEXT night she climbed out of her crib, then later climbed into Jr.'s crib, then climbed out of her crib AGAIN and must have fallen and hit her head as she began crying.  At our wit's end, we decided to lower her crib rails so that when she climbed out she would at least do it in somewhat more safety.  I explained to her very patiently that once we put her in her crib she needs to stay there.

Tonight, she did NOT climb out but she did cry to me several times, when I would go in, lie her back down (or lay, or whatever), rub her back, tell her she was a good girl, it's bedtime, and she would settle down again for a few minutes.  We only did this three or four times in a short period, so hopefully we are working towards a resolution to what three nights ago I thought was the end of my semi-sane existence.

On a positive note, language seems to be taking off, with the babies putting two words together and I SWEAR it they are sometimes putting three words together. 

Some common things heard in our house this week:

"Dat unnn (that one)"

"Dunno"

"I want it"

"No, I doooond (no, I don't)"

"mommy eyes"

"mama eyes"

Oh, speaking of which, they began to say "Mimi" last Friday for "Mommy" (me) follwed by "mommy" but Sunday afternoon.  They now clearly differentiate "mommy" (me) and "mama" (J).

They can point to and say some semblence of the following body parts:

eyes

ears

nose

mouth

teeth

tongue

lips

cheek

chin

forehead

hair

tummy

bellybutton

elbow

arm

fingers

hands

genitals

knees

ankles

feet

toes

Geniuses, can we all agree on that?

PHEW! And other tidbits

SO, we have successfully moved into the temporary apartment.  As much as I mourn our beautiful home, the likes of which we will NEVER be able to afford on the OTHER coast, it does feel somewhat like a vacation to live the apartment life.  No cutting grass, no sweeping the porch- just going to work, playing with babies, going for a run, folding laundry, then going to bed.  The ONLY bummer is that J and I have agreed to do the house cleaning for the three months in the apartment, a small economy on our part.  Huh.

After not having had to pick-up a vacuum cleaner in, ahem, five years, I found myself somewhat rusty when vacuuming the Big House just after the removal of the big furniture.  I surmised that we should probably vacuum prior to the carpet cleaners visit, so I spent last Thursday evening alone in a (mostly) empty house, surrounded by silence, vacuuming away.  I vacuumed, and I thought, "hmmm... so this is pretty much why I have paid people to clean my house for the past five years.  This is truly the most boring enterprise EVER.   And monotonous.  And boring. "  As I was thinking these deep and worthy thoughts, the vacuum (which was a virgin vacuum, having been bought a year ago but never used) made a strange choking sound over the berber.  As I quickly pulled it the two feet toward me, I noticed an empty, berber-thread width line begin to form.  My quick wits deduced I should stop pulling on the vacuum immediately, then I discovered the berber thread wrapped around the vacuum's roller, about three feet worth.  THREE DAYS BEFORE CLOSING.   These incidents are why I have been barred from using the lawn mower.  They are never really my fault, it's not like I fed berber thread through the vacuum, but these things JUST HAPPEN TO ME.

So, babies, books, furniture, papers and other sundry items are now successfully moved, mostly in an organized fashion.  One of J's friends gets kudos for saving our sorry slow asses.  Thanks, T!!!

I wanted to mention books I've been reading, since my stay at the hotel apartment (right, no maid service, damn!).  Most recently, I think I've mentioned the fabulous fantasy series by Jacqueline Carey, starting with Kushiel's Dart.  Next comes Blindfold Games, a new stand-alone thriller by one of my favorite mystery authors, Dana Stabenow.  Kate Shugak kicks ass, y'all! (er, for the record, Blindfold Games does not feature Kate). 

Interestingly enough the book I just picked-up, by author Gwyn Hyman Rubio, deals with a character with Tourette's Syndrome.  I had no idea, just got the book because the OTHER book I've read of hers, "The Woodsman's Daughter" just HAUNTED me for over a week.  I always forget, are book titles underlined or in quotes?

The Tourette's pretty much is shown to the reader in the first few pages.  Her descriptions are painfully familiar, stimulating my own compulsions to no end.  I totally understand the character's almost orgasmic release of her compulsions whenever she is finally, blessedly alone and in hiding.  ** an aside, have I mentioned here how horrible my C-section was, not in itself, but the paralyzing effects of the epidural drove me mad, not being able to complete a tic below the middle of my back.  It was the biggest mind-f#%k ever, me needing to spasm, or thrash, or jolt a muscle group and not being able to move.  If i were ever truly paralyzed I think I really WOULD go mad.

I think I will start a book list here, again.  I stopped the one I had before because a) I read so many books I'd be updating it almost daily, and 2) I felt obligated to write reviews (even though I never did so). 

The babies were pretty stressed out with the move, at first.  I think realizing Super Apa will still come to the apartment to baby sit them, and adding a fun regime of swimming at the apartment pool has really helped to alleviate most anxiety.  Super Apa is WONDERFUL and loving and good to those babies of ours.  We are lucky lucky to have her.

That's all for now, oooohhh!  I almost forgot.  Comcast struck again, with adding on hidden line installation charges to our first bill with our move (for lines we told the installer NOT to add) and with our cable ALREADY failing.  I. Am. Getting. Satellite. when we finally settle.  I swear it.

Please go and wish Liza and her J and Noah a hearty congratulations and other well wishes for FINALLY getting their second parent adoption legalized.

What the critters are up to and other stories

The toddlers are developing and reaching milestones at an exciting rate.  Some of this is good.  More words are said, more thoughts are expressed.  I can see them begin to process the idea of emotion, when we talk about feeling mad or sad, or look at pictures of a baby crying in a book.  Meanwhile, Mini is all over me, not wanting me out of her sight, following me around asking for "up, up."  She screams no whenever J approaches her for snuggles or smooches.  She giggles reluctantly when J tickles her trying to make her laugh.  Then she asks to nurse, or asks for the "boppa", which she now insists on having to nurse.   She knows where each of her boppies are at all times (we have an upstairs and a downstairs boppy) and has even been known to bring the boppy to Apa (the super nanny) with the strangely sinister/demented giggle she emits when she knows nursing is imminent (insert any cartoon villian here). 

Nightweaning is going pretty well.  Mini is still waking-up about once or twice a night, but she HAS been fine just being held and snuggled for a few minutes, then put back down.

Mr. Jr. Man, meanwhile, has been teething AGAIN.  We think his two year molars are about to come in.  He has been feeling much better and recently gaining weight fairly rapidly!  A whopping 24 lbs at last weigh-in on our home scale!  Fast recovering from the illness that dropped him to 20 and a half pounds and caused umpteen emergency room visits as well as struck terror in moms' hearts. 

Jr. is starting to talk more again, often telling me stories or "reading" from books aloud.  His favorite homebound pastime is to read, looking at pictures and absorbing them into his mind.  Often he points to pictures in books that I cannot see from my vantage point, demanding "dat.  DAT." He wants me to name the object. 

His obsession with transportation has evolved to include airplanes and helicopters.  What amazes me most about this is his ability to transfer a concept onto other ideas.  For example, the first time I remember him asking me about an airplane, it was a cartoonish picture of an old-time airplane.  I showed him the sign for "airplane" accompanied by an appropriate aviation-like  zooming noise.  I must also note that we live in a very wooded city, and this time of year the skies are hard to see through the greenery.  Airplanes fly so high over our home, unless it is winter without greenery, you really can't see them unless you look straight up through the trees.  Try to get a 19 month-old to look straight up at the sky.  Go ahead.  I'll wait here. 

Thought so.  Anywho, he can now look at any picture of any kind of airplane and identify it as such.  Also, he can hear an airplane in the sky and he will look around (not straight up, more just above the horizon) and sign the word for airplane while scanning for it.  Genius.

After our last zoo visit, for some strange reason the babies have both begun to use the sign for "gorilla" whenever they see a picture of a panda.  My ONLY guess is that the sign for "bear" and "gorilla" are similar in toddler terms so they have the SIGNS confused, not the animals.  At least they are consistent, right?  RIGHT?

I was going to write about my quest for THREE letters of recommendation.  THREE.  Is one supposed to ask an employer from five years ago to provide one?  Should I use an old one?  My profession is so small, I usually only work with one other of "me" at any time.  I will ask the head of my department, I will ask my co-worker, who is the senior of the two of us at our company.  Otherwise there is really no one else with whom I currently work I would want or need to provide me with a letter of reference.  I've lost touch with the last co-worker with whom I worked closely (I think she moved to Arkansas, plus I have a "cringe memory" in that relationship and feel uncomfortable re-establishing contact).  PLUS, doesn't one usually provide references when the time to leave current employment is pending (i.e. when the position applied for is being offered).  This is for a position starting in September, why would they think I could let my employer know NOW that I need references for another position.  Strange.  Luckily, I AM giving notice next week (anxious gasp, challenging the gods or fate in doing this BEFORE house closing).

Aside-  I came back to this post after several hours and had NO recollection of calling the babes "critters" in the title.  I have never, not once, referred to them as critters.  We used to have a house-full of animals, before old age, diseases, and grandma took them (not necessarily in that order).  I used to call THEM critters, but never the babies.  Weird.  Weird.  Weird.

Any other typos or spelling errors (I'm perfect, they are TYPOS, ok, NOT spelling errors) or grammar errors I'm gonna ignore  cause I'm tired and going to bed.  Sorry to the Language Police.

Busy, busy, busy

So, we have a contract on our house, currently working through the contingency issues.  Hopefully that will resolve beautifully and we'll be in the clear and ready to sell.  In the meantime, Mini has a bad cold and Jr.'s belly is not right again.  Not full fledged stomach virus but upset tummy and he AND Mini have stopped eating much again.  I'm fretting terribly over this as they are both in the 5th percentile for weight and don't have anymore to lose.

Because my job requires 90 day notice, we will be leasing an apartment for 3 months after closing, sometime mid to end June.  That means we won't be moving across country until September.  In the meantime, we are packing our house, so I probably won't be around much.  I'm bummed about that, cause I was just getting back into good posting habits.

Books-  I AM reading Kushiel's Dart by Jaqueline Carey.  It is very good, a wee bit strange premise, but fascinating.  Definitely has pulled me in.

Good News and Not So Good News

Damn!  I forgot my rules for capitalization within a title.  Jeesh, did I even spell capital right?  Or did I spell state capitol!? 

Anyway, the good news is....  my children have decided their bedtime is anywhere between 6 and 7:30 PM!  Yeah!  They did this all by themselves, starting a couple of weeks ago.  This is great!  I get to play on the internet, I can linger over my dinner plate instead of doing a fair imitation of a DOG who hasn't eaten in two weeks (i.e. incredibly fast scarfing down of food).  I amaze friends and family with how fast food disappears.  Move over, Copperfield.

The not so great news, my girl, Mini, is waking up at 4 IN THE MORNING, PEOPLE!  I have been "waking" her up for "dream" feed at 10PM because otherwise she would only be getting 5 feedings a day.   The problem is either 1) she is not eating enough at that feeding because she only rouses enough to eat a small amount, therefore not getting a whole feeding, or 2) she is not yet ready to sleep for more than 6-8 hour increments without waking for a period, or 3) teething, or 4) all of the above.  She woke last night at 2 PM which I actually preferred as I can go back to sleep, THAT IS IF SHE DOES!  At 4, I have to wake up at the ung-dly hour of 5 anyway, so I am just losing sleep.  Don't bother telling me it is the same amount of sleep, either.  There is just something to be said about going back to sleep that feels good to me.  Also, if I feed her at 4AM, it screws with our 6AM feeding.  No way am I going to wake her at 6 when she finished eating at 5 and FINALLY fell back to sleep.  Nuh-uh, no how.

So that's the news around here.  We have been very busy with accelerating through some important developmental milestones.  I put the babies in the excersaucer today.  When Nag-ee came home, she said it was like coming home to two children, not babies.  Mini and Jr. were just playing away at the toys on the exersaucer like playing a piano.  SO CUTE.  I love the Renaissance.

P.S.  I do have some very strange feelings of, well, guilt might be too stong of a word.  I have this deep seated feeling that I am neglecting my babies by not having them up later than 7PM.  I feel strangely ambivalent while watching television without a baby on each hip (or whatever).  Does anyone else know what I am talking about?