Three Months, Wow

Three months ago today, we officially became parents (according to my brother who says you're not really a parent unless you have more than one kid).

It has been a strange ride so far and I feel as though we're slowly slogging to the surface of what will become our normal life. Kieran is adjusting to school though he hates wearing a uniform. During his second week, he proclaimed "I kept looking for somebody beautiful on the playground, but no one was beautiful. They were all wearing the same thing." He is, however, beginning to make friends and we've gone from him saying "At my old school we (fill in more fun activity here)." to "It's just like my old school." Today they took a field trip to the library and he got to bring his library card and next month he takes his first bus field trip to a farm. I think with that type of activity he'll start to enjoy his new school more and more. The kids in his class and his aftercare program know him well. I've been walking him home only to hear from the other side of the fence "Kieran, Kieran - bye!"

I'm back at work and adjusting to having to take off quite a bit of time (already) with a public school. Amelia still enjoys daycare (as far as I can tell, anyway) and has begun giving us HUGE smiles. She's also liking her dad quite a bit - she coos for him while he sings to her and gives lots of smiles.

She smiles for me (and also at my boobs, prompting quite a bit of laughter from anyone who has witnessed the 'happy boobie look') and coos a lot. Better at riding in the car, though still not her favorite thing. Each night we have a meltdown around bedtime (8 pm for them both - but Mia is the one that melts, not Kieran), but now that we realize it's her natural bedtime, it's easier to anticipate and get prepared to put her to sleep.

OK, just thought I'd do a quick post on her official 3 month birthday. Love to all, blog again... whenever.

A Few Words About Kids

Kids are awesome, entertaining and completely exhausting. Having two is an experience and a juggling act that I would not trade for the world.

Amelia is finally sleeping soundly in her crib every night. A huge blessing. She does not cry when I drop her off at daycare, but loves to just look around at the world. This makes it MUCH easier for me to leave and get to work. Unfortunately, she's not being kind to Ken. Right now she cries quite a bit when he holds her at night, but I think it's just the equation of boobies = person who can feed me. Even though he's given her a few bottles, she's not sold. We'll keep working on that.

Kieran is starting to enjoy school and has begun making a few friends in the neighborhood. I've gotten better about trying to put playdates in place for him on days when he'd otherwise be idle (school is closed, weekend, etc). This week schools were closed on Tuesday for the primary election, so I put together a long-awaited playdate between Kieran and my cousin's son Eli. Eli's a year younger than Kieran, but they play fairly well together. Eli has a little sister, Sunny, who is about 6 months older than Amelia. Ken had taken Amelia to daycare so I could spend the day just with Kieran.

We all headed to the Science Center where the boys had a blast and Sunny enjoyed looking around. After a quick lunch, we started home and it was naptime for Eli and Sunny. Kieran was upset that the playdate didn't last longer. Katie (Eli's mom) told Kieran that maybe after a nap they would be able to play again (she meant another day, but both Kieran and Eli took it to mean THAT day). They both were a bit upset when they realized they wouldn't have the whole day together. We'll definitely get them together again soon.

After some downtime at home, Kieran and I walked to the library. Along the way, we ran into some neighbors that Kieran's played with before, Conner and Dylan (and their mom, Michelle). Kieran got very excited as he played and whispered to me "They live here!". I was confused, since he's been to their house once before, but smiled and said that yes, they did. Michelle and I talked while the boys played. After awhile Kieran asked Michelle if Eli was done napping. I then realized that Michelle and Katie look a little bit alike. Same color hair and close to the same haircut and their clothes that day were similar.

I explained that this wasn't Katie, but Michelle - Conner and Dylan's mom. Michelle suggested we set up a playdate for the boys at some point in the future (we'll be sure to see them this weekend at the Streat Beet festival's moon bounce) and I agreed. Kieran looked a bit embarrassed and whispered in my ear "I thought she had just changed her shirt."

At least he's making friends, even if he can't keep their moms straight.

School Daze

So, back at work for one full day and then today... disaster. Everything was going fine until I get an email saying the power is out and there will not be an afterschool program. Kieran's school lets out at 2:20, the email came in at 1:45. I could not get a hold of Ken, so no idea if he could pick up Amelia or Kieran.

Frantically, I race out of the office, pick up Mia in record time and race towards home. Thankfully, Ken was already home and was able to get Kieran right on time (I would have been about 10 mins late). But it highlights something we have to deal with - the fact that we have no backup plan for his afterschool program. Am now working on this.

On a separate note, Mia seems to be doing fairly well at daycare. Granted, she's only been there a day and a half, but she seems to like her caregivers and they sent me a photo today (posted it on FB) just because they wanted me to see she was doing well. She does a lot of sleeping on the boppy pillow and doesn't seem to sleep for long periods of time there (yet), but she didn't cry when I brought her in today.

Mostly we're all adjusting this week to me being back at work. The funniest thing happening right now is that while Amelia is not farting as much as she used to, Kieran is blaming his farts on her. I can't help it... that's just funny.

Oh, the Doctor's She'll See

Had our 2 month checkup today. Amelia has gained weight nicely, and has grown. Still has a tiny head, but her development is on track. Results are finally in on the MCADD - nope. But, they still don't want us to let her go more than 6 hrs without eating. The geneticists think that perhaps Mia may not be able to process proteins for energy. More tests happening tomorrow, but those results should only take 10 days. We'll see.

OK, here's Mia, by the numbers at 2 months:

Height: 22 1/4 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 9 lbs, 15 oz (25th percentile)
Head Circumference: 14 inches (less than 5th percentile)

The GP said (again) that they need to keep an eye on her small head. So long as she's hitting her developmental milestones they won't worry. Small heads can mean developmental issues, but it may just be that she has a small head. I'm starting to dislike doctors in general.

Natural Disasters

It's been a very strange week. Tuesday we had the earthquake (and if I hadn't grabbed her out of the pack n' play, Mia probably would have slept through it), yesterday we had a hurricane. All through the week we've been working on sleeping in the crib and dealing with flight issues. First Grandma's, then Ken's.

The earthquake was strange. I was on the phone with Ken when it happened. Felt like the house did a shimmy, twice. Lasted less than 30 seconds overall, but it was frightening. Ken's first thought when I tried to explain was that perhaps our neighbors had done something to the foundation. My first thought was earthquake and then I went outside to see if it was our neighbors only to see everyone who was home out of doors asking "are you OK?" and "did you feel that?".

Debbie was supposed to be landing just as the earthquake struck but her original flight had engine trouble and she was put on a later flight. She made it here on Tuesday, just much later in the day. Mostly we've hung out, done way too much shopping and generally just had some Grandma/Amelia time. Right now they're napping together. So cute.

Ken and Kieran were supposed to be home yesterday. Friday night their Saturday flight was cancelled and they were put on a flight coming in at 9 am today. Then that flight was cancelled as well. Now they'll be home (hopeully) around 9 tonight. Grandma will definitely miss time with Kieran as he starts school tomorrow.

Met Kieran's teacher, Ms. Tiernan. She's got 5 years experience teaching Kindergarten and seemed to have a good handle on everything. Kieran will be in a class of 22 kids total. I forewarned Ms. Tiernan that Kieran can be something of a teacher's pet - but I think he'll love his new school. Especially once he's able to do some playdates with his new classmates.

Amelia's sleep training has been going well. Still having some issues getting her down to begin with but once she is asleep she sleeps well - until I have to wake her 6 hrs later for a feeding (still no results on her tests), then she usually sleeps for another 2-3 hrs. Right now it seems like her bedtime is 10 pm (ish) which may be good because Kieran will already be in bed asleep so if she needs a few more "put downs" he'll (hopefully) sleep through her cries. I'm very excited to have Ken back and now we can even sleep in the same bed... amazing.

Today we'll be putzing around the house, taking some walks to see the damage around the neighborhood and just generally taking it easy until we pick them up. Next week is my last week at home... we start daycare and back to work the day after Labor Day. I'm starting to freak out about leaving Amelia with what will be strangers to her on Tuesday, but what choice do I have? I know once she gets fed by them she'll calm down... and that if they need me I'm only 5 minutes away.

In other news, my mom got her surgery date - Sept 19th. I'll take the day off and hang at the hospital and I know we'll work out some after-surgery schedule as well. OK, that's about all the news I've got. Love to all blog again soon.

Ah, Sleep

Mia's been sleeping with someone holding her on the sofa, pretty much since she's been born. She has hated to be set down, pretty much screaming bloody murder if you tried. Since we haven't been ready to try sleep training, we just split the night sleeping in bed (Ken would lay down with her from 10 until 2 when she fed and then it was my turn. I've missed laying in bed with my husband.

So, while Ken & Kieran enjoy the charms of Orlando and there is no one besides our neighbors (who, let's face it, deserve some tit-for-tat in the noise department) to wake up, I thought I'd begin sleep training.

My first night I didn't bother with the 10 pm slee because I was too tired. At her 1:30 wakeup, however, I took her upstairs, fed her and laid her down (around 2:45). She lasted one hour. Fed her again and she slept from 4 until 7. Hope to start in her bedroom tonight and will try to get the big sleep in her crib. We'll see. I don't know if I'll be able to get her to repeat the process. Fingers crossed everyone.

Things He Probably Won't Remeber Saying

Kieran's been mostly good Even being as cooped up as we've been. Tuesday we went to visit with his cousins (even though he'll spend all next week with them). He had a great time, but as we were getting ready to go, Aunt Wendy was holding Amelia and asking Kieran about her.

Wendy: Do you like your sister?
Kieran: We love her. We're going to keep her forever.
Wendy: Can I borrow her?
Kieran: No, we're keeping her forever, I love her, whatever she wants to do, I do.
Wendy (to me): You should get that on tape.

Yesterday was an adventure (not in a great way). I had this plan to go visit Kilby Cream, a dairy farm about an hour north of here. Right as we were trying to get onto I-95, the exit was blocked. Turning around, I clipped a curb and blew a tire. A new tire. The tire we JUST BOUGHT last week. Two big "thank goodness" happened. First, I was only 2 blocks from a location where we could get it fixed. Second was that we had bought the hazard insurance on the tires so we only paid for the hazard on the new tire ($15) instead of a whole new tire ($150).

This, however, meant that we were home-bound because we had no car while we waited. To get out after awhile, we walked down to Screwballs in Locust Point where they make snowballs and have ice cream. Kieran had never had a snowball before and had been seeing commercials for a slushee maker on TV. Thought he'd enjoy the treat. We got there and, after choosing "The Dora" kid's cup snowball, Kieran sat down and said several times "This is the best day ever." I promised him that we'd go again on Friday with Ken. He also told me while we were walking that whatever I say is correct and he'll do what I tell him. I said I wanted to record that, we'll see if he sticks to that.