Moved again

I've moved some posts over to a new blog...

http://sweetlyricsofmylife.blogspot.com

That's where I'll be posting updates on the kids now, plus whatever else I feel like writing about.

Mission: Sleeping Babies... Night 236

12:32am, Night 236

Baby-waking sounds heard through baby monitor

Jump out of bed and slip into dark kids’ room all stealthily like a cat

Hover over stirring baby, checking to see whether eyes are open or closed

Eyes: closed, but time is limited

Locate pacifier lodged under baby’s neck, and attempt to retrieve without further waking baby

Success

Re-insert pacifier and gently-but-quickly roll baby on side to better facilitate sleep

Hands in the air (woo!)

Slowly back out of room

...

Halfway to the door, 28-year old ankle snap-crackle-pops, echoing like a gunshot in the tiny bedroom

(Crap)

Baby flings arms and opens eyes wide

...

FREEZE

...

If you do not move, it cannot see you

...

Do not breathe either

...

Baby relaxes, takes a deep breath, and falls asleep effortlessly

FLOAT out of room

Snuggle back down in a now-cold bed

Begin to drift off, dreaming of Christian Bale rescuing you from...

"Mommy?"

...

"Mommy? I want to hold you."

Open one squinty eye and see pitiful-looking 3 year-old, toting blankie and care bear, standing shivery at the edge of the bed


*sigh* at least she’ll help keep the bed warm?




(Some pics at Flickr too.)

So Busy!

Hayden is 7 months, Haleigh is 3 years old!
More at Flickr.

I ran into Beth at Kroger this morning and that reminded me that I haven't posted to this blog in a really long time! Happy Belated 3rd Birthday Averie! Gosh a lot has been going on.

At the end of January, Haleigh celebrated her 3rd Birthday also and had a pink spiderman cake, designed by the brilliant Angi. A dozen pink and white balloons were her favorite part of the whole thing. My post on her birthday:

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Happy Birthday Haleigh Rose!
Current mood: emotional

My Haleigh-bugg, you are 3 years old today. I look back to that cold day in January when you were born and realize that it was one of the happiest days of my life. I can't believe how much you've grown; you're not a baby anymore, but a little girl, almost ready for preschool. How is that possible!

Tall and skinny, with your big feet and big lovey eyes... I love the time we spend together after your brother goes to bed every night. You ask me to cuddle you and we grab blankets and books and snuggle down for a little bit.

You are a mini-me when it comes to your baby brother. You imitate the sweet baby-talk you hear from me, you pat him to calm him, and you fetch absolutely anything he needs. He adores you so much, you can just walk towards him and he'll wiggle and smile so big with anticipation that you're going to play with him.

I hope you remember this point in your life, when you got to play all day long, your brother was sweet and nice and immobile, and it was just the 3 of us.

Love you bunches, see ya later al-gader
Mama

She had her tonsils and adenoids removed, and new tubes put in her ears on Feb 22nd. She spent the week with my parents and has completely recovered now. Her voice is different, her eating habits are 100x improved, and she sleeps soundlessly now. I'm so glad we had it done. More details from my MySpace blog:

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Again, why did we do this?... updated
Current mood: drained

So Haleigh had her tonsils and adenoids out yesterday, and also new tubes put in her ears. She was in an amazingly good mood in the morning when we left to check in at the surgery center. She's always been very tolerant of doctors, never scared or worried, always polite and watchful. We had told her she'd be seeing the doctor and taking a short nap, and then afterward she could have a popsicle and take some medicine to make her feel better. She was cool with that lol.

Back in pre-op, we had to change her into the tiniest little yellow scrubs ever and of course she threw a fit about taking her clothes off. But then she got checked over by the nurse, her temp and pulse taken, and she was back to being a perfect angel. Then the waiting started. Her surgery was scheduled for 9am and we were called back to pre-op about 8:30, but they didn't take her for surgery until 9:45! That's a long time to entertain a 3 year-old in pjs in a tiny 8x8 space with only a curtain separating us from the patient next door. Fun times.

The little girl next to us was having tubes put in her ears, and sounded to be about Haleigh's age. When the nurse came to take her back to surgery, she was really upset and didn't want to leave her parents. I was pretty sure Haleigh wouldn't do that because she didn't have a problem leaving me last time, but I mentioned it to her that the nurse was going to come get her too, like that little girl, and take her back to see the doctor. Was she cool with that? Cue the enthusiastic nodding and staring at the surgery doors for that particular nurse to return.

And she was right, when the nurse came to collect her and go back to surgery, Haleigh immediately put her arms up so the nurse could pick her up and take her! She had a few things to say to us first, so Haleigh waited patiently, and then the nurse asked if she could walk instead? Sure! She hopped up off my lap and padded away with the nurse in her tiny yellow scrubs, barely looking back at us to say goodbye. They had to backtrack to the nurses' station to pick up her chart, so all the other patients got a chuckle, watching as she followed her mentor, looking like she did this very thing every single day. On their way past us again, headed to surgery now, she waved a quick see-ya-later-al-gader and flashed us a proud grin.

More in a bit, I'm needed...

Okay, so the surgery only took 30 minutes, and then we were back talking with the doctor about all the stuff we're supposed to do and not to do... and finally get to meet up with her in recovery about 20 minutes after that. She was awake, but not awake, and we just sat in a dim room in a recliner and rocked for probably 30 minutes while she snored away, until all of a sudden she just sat up and said, "I need to wipe my nose." Fantastic! So you DO want to go home today, sleepyhead!

Spent 2 hours in recovery watching The Land Before Time, got her dressed and headed home. She's done really well so far, but she's really sore. She's also got a cold still, and when she coughs it really causes her trouble. She's drinking pretty well, but only will eat pudding so far. Her voice is very different, caused by all the open space in her throat now.

So, it appears to have gone great! So far anyway. Supposedly days 3 and 4 are the worst, so we will see. Thank you for all your good thoughts!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

an update
Current mood: accomplished

Haleigh is taking her time recovering... my mom has really saved me by being able to take care of her because we work so much. But the bugg is eating more now, and drinking like she should. Everything has to be her idea though, by her own accord. Kind of have to make her a plate (spaghetti last night) and set it on the table and walk away. She eventually can't stand it any longer and shows up at the table to eat a few bites. But gosh, don't look at her because she'll growl and disappear to the couch again to snuggle down and watch the same bug movie over and over and over... So she's slowly recovering :)

Hayden is my sweet smiley baby now, always happy and always trying to gum something to death. Haleigh merely has to look at him and he busts out in giggles. He turned 7 months old last week and had his 6 month checkup (oops) where he weighed in at 18lbs 4oz and was 27 inches tall. 50th percentile for both, yet he's wearing 12-month clothes?! He's still not sleeping through the night consistently, which is driving me insane, and frequently they both end up in my bed by morning. Hey, I can only do so much. :)

Sorry for the cutting-and-pasting of posts... I usually post to my MySpace blog.

Ack! So Busy

Tax season is upon us already, so I'm working 6 days plus one or two late nights... yuck. But it will be over soon and the weather will be warmer and I can take some time off again and hopefully post some more

Pictures here.

Update here on my Myspace... I don't think you have to sign in to see it. I'm scheduling surgery for Haleigh soon :/

4 Months!

It has been way too long since I've updated this. I was waiting for Hayden's 4 month checkup, which was scheduled 2 weeks ago, but got rescheduled to this morning. He's doing great, weighs in at a hefty 16 lbs 2 oz, and 26 inches tall. Both in the 75th percentile. The doctor said his feet turn in a bit, but nothing we can't work out with some exercise, and then he'll stand more willingly.

The kids had a great Christmas, and got some really neat stuff from Santa.

Something funny Haleigh said while we were in the waiting room this morning... the receptionist turned on the tv with a remote from far away, and Haleigh looked surprised and said to me, "The TV just came on! That is really odd..." That earned her a few chuckles from the other patients waiting, something like that coming from a 3 year-old. Well, almost three years old.

A few new pictures at Flickr.

3 months old!

I can't believe Hayden is 3 months old already. He's sleeping 8 hours at a stretch every night now, but if I can't keep him up until 9pm, he wakes me up quite early. He's such a happy baby all of the time. Haleigh was singing the ABCs to him this morning in the car and he was just cracking up. He's found his voice and it's so funny to see him realize that he can make sounds. And he holds his head up so well, and so long! Now he's working on grabbing stuff... I can see him concentrating so hard and his little fingers moving, but he just hasn't gotten it figured out yet.



A few more at Flickr!

Formula and Tantrums

More at Flickr of course.

Not much of a post because we don't go anywhere too exciting or do much of anything, but thought I'd document some stuff.

Hayden's almost exclusively on formula now... my milk supply just tanked last week and I was hardly able to pump anything at work. So he started getting formula during the day, and then at night he'd nurse and nurse and nurse and still suck his hands so I offered him a bottle and he sucked the whole thing down! Poor baby was starving. But you wouldn't think it, looking at the little tank.

But then tonight, all he's wanted to do is nurse. He won't take a bottle from me at all. I guess that's common, but I don't exactly have anyone else handy here to give him the bottle. So he nursed for a while and seemed satisfied and just went to bed. I guess we'll see how soon he wakes up.

Haleigh is just one big tantrum lately. Trying to figure out how to get her to stop telling us no, to stop yelling all the time, and to actually eat some food for me and Chad. She eats great for the sitter during the day, ALL day in fact, but lately she's refused to eat anything but oatmeal for me. I guess maybe she's not really hungry because she eats so good for 2.5 meals at the babysitter, but I just worry because she's *still* 25 pounds and just as skinny as a rail. She's in 3T clothes because she's tall, though the pants just fall right off.

Other times she's just so pleasant and sweet. She's especially sweet to Hayden all of the time, and most nights at bedtime she'll snuggle with me in her bed for a little bit, but then she looks over at me and says, "Okay, get up now Mommy."

Hayden sleeps in his crib all night now, with one feeding anywhere from 1am to 4am. He smiles and coos and 'talks' like crazy. I love that he gets so much attention and interaction with the babysitter and the other kids all day. And we've been lucky so far that he hasn't gotten sick because it's gone around through all the other kids, Haleigh's had it and I've had it twice. Hopefully we can keep healthy!