Moo - 19 days

Weight: 7 lbs, 8 ounces, 21 inches

At his 2 week well baby visit we were pleased to find that Moo has exceeded his birth weight and height. Not too surprising, the dude's an eating fiend. He's exclusively breastfed and he'll eat every few hours, in the late morning, early afternoon he'll clusterfeed so the two of us will camp out on the couch and watch episodes of I Love Lucy together for an hour or two. Moo will start off eating voraciously and then fall asleep. I'll pick him up, clean off his face (he's a messy eater) and then burp him and just as I put him back into his bassinet he's back up wanting to finish his meal.

He's still getting used to the weird sensations in his belly so he fusses when passing gas or trying to poop. We keep him unswaddled for most of the morning so he can swing him arms and legs about and get some exercise and then wrap him into a tight burrito so that he can get his late afternoon snooze. He'll sleep for 2-3 hours at a time and then wake up starving. Then he'll start his cluster feeding until it's bed time. I've been trying to tank him up until 11 pm or so and then change his diaper, put him into his nighttime swaddle wrap (an ingenious garment) and take him upstairs. While K is minding him, I'll get my manual pump parts ready just in case I wake up bursting in the middle of the night. Then, I'll tuck Moo into the corner of his Co-Sleeper (he's happier when he can't thrash about) and jump into bed and snap off the lights before Moo changes his mind and decides to burn the midnight oil after all. He'll wake up anywhere between 2-4 am, I'll try the pacifier a couple times and if that doesn't work, pull him out for a nursing. Then he'll sleep until I bring him downstairs and change his diaper and begin our new day.

Pig - 18 months (almost)

So Miss Pig is teething....A..LOT. It seemed like overnight she went from having 4 little tic tacs in front to a full chomping rack of pearly whites. Poor thing is probably wondering what she did during her short little existence on this earth to deserve this. For awhile we weren't sure what was up. She would wake up screaming and yelling and work herself into hysterics. It coincided with the birth of Moo so we thought that perhaps she was reacting to the change, in particular her father's attention being diverted to this strange new little bundle. As she loves her daddy more than anyone else in the whole wide world, I suggested that K pay especial attention to her, to assure her that she wasn't being replaced. After that, we had two good nights of sleep so...thought we, issue solved. But of course, it came back.


So then we started thinking it's the molars and incisors. Her mouth is likely just one big open sore. She's been fighting sleep big time. We know she's tired, she'll dose off readily but then wake up screaming her head off. Other symptoms, irritability (usually reasonable, she's been yelling if she doesn't get her way), decreased appetite (our little eater usually has three squares, snacks and 25 ounces of milk, these days we're lucky to get two meals in her and it's gotta to be soft, pureed stuff), and chewing (she's been chewing on everything, her wooden puzzle pieces, her fists, her clothes, us). To help her with the discomfort we've been giving her some baby Motrin on the really bad days. *Deep breath* She's got 12 toofers so far, which leaves us with 8 more to go...let us pray.

It probably doesn't help that in addition to the above, we had to find a substitute daycare provider while Mrs. V. cares for her ailing husband. It started off as a week but now it looks like it'll be a month before Mrs. V. opens her doors again. We were lucky to find D to look after Pig during this time. She feeds the kids breakfast, lunch and snack so that helps in the mornings, does not believe in candy incentives and only allows 1 hour of tv in the morning. I'm starting to think it'd be nice if we could switch from Mrs. V. to D. Unfortunately, D already has 7 kids and we'd need someone who could take Moo as well in July.

While nighttime is rough, Miss Pig by day, continues to delight us with her antics. She imitates everything we do. She has started trying to moisturize her face. This is likely the result of her coming into the bathroom as I was conducting my skincare regimen and stared for awhile, filing the image away in her little rolodex-like brain. Problem is, she's rubbing anything onto her face. The other day, she came down the stairs, her face glistening like she had spent the night dancing at Studio 54. Turns out she managed to get some A&D ointment when her dad was changing her diaper and spread it all over her face.


Miss Pig is an incredibly social little thing. She could be a Walmart greeter really. She says hello to women, men, children, animals..if it's moving about, Miss Pig wants to know it. An introvert myself, I'd prayed for a happy, confident child...damn, were my prayers answered. She loves giving kisses and hugs.

Other developmental milestones: she's running around like crazy, she can put together her farmyard wooden puzzle, she likes to match possessions to owners so for example, she'll grab shoes from the closet and take them to whoever they belong too, she can point to parts on her face (e.g. eyes, nose, mouth), she loves dancing and adjusts her dancing to the tempo of the music, she knows that Moo is the baby and when she hears him cry she'll say "baby!"

New Itty Bitty Defender of the Faith

So Moo was baptised today, like Pig, slept through most of it. He woke up afterwards to find himself wearing the holy poncho and his hair washed and smelling sweetly of pine-y scented oil. We had a great gathering afterwards with family and friends. Thanks to everyone for coming out to celebrate with us, it was wonderful to see everyone!!

Moo - 12 days

Yup, those are little blue socks on my son's hands. He's been a pooping and peeing machine since we brought him home so we ran out of outfits with the built-in hands mitts. Lo and behold, his little socks worked a treat, I've found the little hand mitts they sell are pretty crap from keeping Moo from turning into an Edvard Munch painting:

Pig was yelling like a banshee in her high chair and my mom happened to look into Moo's bassinet and saw his little blue hands pressed up against his ears.

Trip to the B'more Zoo

It was such a nice day yesterday that my parents decided to take Pig to the Baltimore Zoo. My friend E had mentioned that it's a nice kid-friendly zoo so I suggested that they go there instead of the National Zoo in DC. They had a blast. They stayed only a few hours because Pig started getting tired but she had a good time looking at the various ungulates as well as some feathered friends (my parents have taught her to quack like a duck). My mom managed to take some really nice photos, difficult when you're trying to keep up with an active little 18 month old. She loves to run and run and no, she doesn't want to hold your hand, she can do it all herself, thank you very much.

I had fun looking at the photos and had to laugh out loud when I saw this next group of photos of Pig in the goat petting area. After some hesitation, she made a beeline for this guy:

My dad saw that there were some kid-sized curry combs and hastened to grab a little yellow one for Pig. So, she starts brushing.....

and brushing...

as she brushed, she started scanning the pen for additional victims, ahem, clients.....

and she came upon the perfect goat....

This morning she looked at Kirby with a new light in her eyes....wait a minute, this yellow guy has fur too...and fur needs brushing....hmmmm.....

Easter Bunny cometh....

Finally got this scanned and just had to share....

I could not stop laughing when I saw this printed out. So we dressed Miss Pig up in pastels to have her picture taken with the mall Easter Bunny. So we get there and start to get apprehensive that the Bunny might scare her....he/she was big and fuzzy and had a huge grin...kinda scared me. So K decided to sit in the photo with her. Now...before we left I told him that he might want to put on something nice, at least a nice shirt because he might end up in the photo with Pig. K goes ahead and puts on....a Battlestar Galactica T-shirt and jeans and his baseball cap.

Some folks have perfect photos taken...well, this is how we roll...we like photos that tell a story. This one just happens to look like a random homeless guy horned in on Pig's Easter Bunny photo.

Presenting Mr. Moo...

Hola everyone, this is Moo. Born April 9, 2009 at 11:52 am, weighing 7lbs, 3.6 ozs and measuring 20 inches in length, here he is dressed to roll with his cow pal.

Je Suis Prest

I can't sleep. Woke up at 2 am as Pig is teething big time. Two upper molars and and a lower incisor have sprouted in the last few weeks so from time to time she'll wake up yelling for help. So after tossing and turning and then reading a few chapters of Under the Tuscan Sun for the umpteenth time (the food talk is soothing), I've given up and waddled downstairs to the welcoming glow of my laptop.

So one more day to get a little bit readier for Moo. I've given up on being entirely ready, it ain't gonna happen, I'm still working so that takes up my time during the day and also my list seems to get longer everyday. So c'est la vie.

I find that I'm a little afraid. Not the same kind of fear that I experienced before Pig's birth, actually that was more terror when I realized that I knew close to nothing about caring for a baby before we brought her home. (Side note: hospitals really shouldn't force you to watch those cheesy childcare videos before discharging you. First of all, they're outdated. The actors all have those big bushy 80s hairdos and everyone's grinning in a creepy way. Second, there's no way you can cram childcare 101 in the 30-45 minutes or so before you're discharged. I left feeling worse.) I'm not worried about the pain either. After 10 months or so of baby growing, a few days are nothing, it's like having a bandaid ripped off.

No, I think it's the fear of another change. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited. I want to see the face of the little one who has been kicking my ass for close to a year. It's still inconceivable to me that this time next year I'll glance at my rear view mirror and see two little faces peering back at me and that our little family will be complete. But... what will this mean for my relationship with Pig? I keep telling myself that once Moo's born that I'll have the energy to run around with Pig as well as look after Moo. But then I remember the bleary-eyed early days after Pig was born. I have to admit that I'm also worried about some gnarly post-partum kicking in. I had a long bout of it after Pig arrived, found myself sobbing in the shower and then had awful and depressing thoughts throughout the day for months. That's actually a big reason why my parents are here again for a month and will be coming back in June. Having told K about that dark period, he thought it'd be a good idea to have alot of activity in the house to keep things upbeat.

Eh...so there's one insomniac's late night confession. Tomorrow I will give Pig and K a big hug and kiss assured that things are only going to get better. Off to bed again...next entry, the birth story, stay tuned.