Vincent-1 month

One month already. Why can't they stay babies a little longer?

Vincent weighs 10 lbs, 14 oz and is 22.5 inches long.

He is a fusser, an evening fusser, more precisely. We've been there and done that before, but it would have been nice to have a calm, peaceful baby for the third child. Oh, well. We'll get through it. I had to keep telling myself that the other night when I was bouncing him while Henry combed a fork full of butter into his and Maria's hair. I was going a little bonkers wondering if the baby was ever going to calm down so I could wash the hair of the other two. 

Can't decide if fussing is worth the effort

I thought I had more to say, but maybe not...it's only one month after all.

I still can't get over that he's real, and he's mine. I wish I could spend all day holding him and smelling his face and head. At night, I put the other two in bed, clean up the house, and then in surprise I realize I get to cuddle a baby! My baby, at that! I haven't done any sewing since he was born. I am piling up project ideas in my mind, but I hate to put him down at night. He's too beautiful and this time is too fleeting.

Mystery Solved

That kid up there? You can just call him William Wallace. Except he can't say "Freedom". We tried to teach him and he only giggled at us. 

The blue Sharpies around here seem not only to have become mobile but are reproducing as well. Every time we think we have collected them and put them 'way up high, William Wallace here shows up with new war paint. On the left side. Always on the left.

Anyway, when I get a chance to hold William Henry, I like to kiss his cheeks and temples. Lately I have been noticing that his temples smell of urine. I at first attributed it to the fact that Maria always has her hands down her pants, figuring that she touched his head and transferred her special hand aroma to it. 

As if that wasn't gross enough, I was wrong. Turns out, Henry likes to mosey into the bathroom, stick both pudgy paws into the toilet, and then run them through his hair. Urine mousse. (Or worse than urine...Maria never flushes). I caught him doing this twice today. This meant two kitchen sink hair washes.

Seriously, what WILL my kids think of next? Fecal mascara? Let's eat rotten garbage? Maybe I better stop guessing.

Saturday Quick Takes with Spring Flowers

1. I gave up sweets/desserts for Lent. This means cookies, cake, pie, ice cream, etc. I usually include chocolate in that category. Thursday, I realized that it would be bad for my kids if I gave up chocolate. Because I am giving up yelling, too, and I can either yell without chocolate or be a more gentle mother with chocolate. Quiet, gentle parenting just ain't gonna happen without chocolate. I'd end up resorting to shots of vodka instead, which would be very bad for all of us. See, when things get hairy, I throw back 6 or 8 chocolate chips like some would a shot. A moment chewing the chocolate and looking out the window can help me deal with two cups of spilled oats with grace, rather than smacking the oat spiller and yelling at him. Good, right? So no, I didn't give up chocolate for Lent.

 2. My very dear friend Jessica came to see me this past week, with her son, mom, and sister in tow. We hadn't seen each other in 3 years, when Maria was a baby. It was so nice. We sat around, talked, and nursed our babies while the kids tore the house up. Jess and her mom cooked some delicious food for us as well, in large quantities, so we had and still have leftovers. It was a nice break for me. I hope they enjoyed their visit. It's a bit hard to entertain with toddlers (and a newborn!). The niceties you wish you could provide as a hostess, such as doing all the dishes, a gift for your guests, etc, are replaced with such like, "well, at least my kids have clothes on" or "we cleaned the bathroom special for you-it'd been a month!".

3. We did do one outing in addition to Ash Wednesday Mass-the conservatory, which has their spring flower show going. It was so beautiful. I could have sat in that room all day long, but the kids wanted to move on. The photos are all from there, to give a lift to your February depression. :)

 4. I got a free month of Netflix to watch while nursing and cuddling at night. So far, Kings of Pastry is the best film I've seen-though I haven't really used it much. Mr. G ended up using it more than me, to watch nature movies with the children on weekends. He and I did watch The Hunt for Red October together. I enjoyed it, to my surprise-I don't share my dad's passion for submarine movies. We also watched Cool World. I wish we hadn't. If ever a movie was nightmare fuel, that was it. So far no Doodles have not appeared in my dreams...we'll see.

5. The latest around here is forts made of couch cushions. I love when I come in to sit down and nurse the baby and there's no couch to sit on. *sigh* At least it's keeping the other two busy.

6. All these past 4 weeks while I've been upstairs nursing the baby and trying not to kill Henry and Maria (mostly Henry these days), a machine shop has been taking shape in the basement below me. My husband has recently purchased a metalworking lathe, a milling machine, and all the tooling needed to operate them. (Ouch, said our bank account). Then he had to clean the basement and arrange everything, which is still not completed to his satisfaction. However, we can see the tools now-they're no longer buried in dirt and debris, which is major progress. Mr. G is very excited about his new shop, and I'm happy for him, though apprehensive that it's not going to make all the money he thought it would. We'll see. Today he's "making chips" for the first time.

7. Not much left for a seventh take. It's time to do dishes and get my laundry out of the washing machine so my tenant can use it. 

Happy Weekend!

It Passes So Fast

I found this blog a while ago. I think Monica's oldest is a little older than Maria, but still, we're at the same place in our families right now. Two toddlers and a newborn.

I loved this post because it said everything I feel right now for me. She perfectly captured that bittersweet feeling that you have while studying your baby. Reading it made me cry because (I'm hormonal from just having a baby 3 weeks ago) I feel exactly the same way.

In fact, I'd drafted a post very similar to it before I went and read hers. She wrote what I felt better than I did in my draft, so go read her post! Instead, here's a list.

These are things I want to always remember. I know I won't, so here they are and later I can come back and read them and cry. How is it that my baby is already 3 weeks old?

Vincent's delicate silken eyelashes. In just months they'll be as thick as his older siblings' are.


His adorable chinless-ness, with extra chin below nonexistent chin. 


His sideburns, and how they fade into a velvet fuzz that covers his entire face. And his ridiculously furry shoulders and legs.


The funny faces he makes when he's awake. The wrinkles on his forehead. The way he studies a blank wall like it's a detailed painting.


The way he smells. I can't sniff him enough because I know the smell will be gone and I will not remember it.


The way he scrunches up in a little warm lump on my chest  while he's sleeping.


And the way he cries for two hours at night most nights? It's okay, I know I'll forget that one first.

A little update

I suppose you all expected not to hear much from me over the last week. I lived up to your expectations admirably then.

It's a new challenge every time we bring a baby home for me to learn to spread myself a little further. (And humbling-that so many people want ME so much). Vincent needs a lot of me. He eats a lot. He needs to be held a lot...he could make do with less, but why? He is so young, and this phase passes so fast. And it's good for both of us to cuddle as much as we can. The other two kids still need my attention. I have been making a point of reading with them, holding each one individually at least once a day, and really looking at them when they want to engage my attention-if I'm able at that time. And then there's my sweet husband. He always gets the least of my time. He doesn't have immediate needs like diapers or nursing, and he doesn't stand on tables naked to create immediate needs for me. :) He comes first in my heart, but he is not the first to get my time right now. 

Vincent on Sunday, wearing my mom's baby sweater and blanket

Vincent is a very content baby. He was a little whiny in the hospital before my milk came in, but he's happy as a clam now. He eats off and on for a while, sleeps, wakes, eats, has a little alert time, then nurses to sleep again. Vincent is the first of my babies to like having his arms inside his swaddle. The other two hated it. He sleeps much more contentedly when I tuck his arms in so he looks like a little burrito. He's so funny when he's awake. His eyes are all over the place in different directions and his arms, which seem to long for his scrunched up body, flail through the air. I study his little face all I can. My kids pork up so fast, I barely know their newborn face before they turn into big chubby babies. On Monday, Vincent weighed in at 9 lbs even. He's another great sleeper. He eats three or four times at night, I think...I hardly wake up.

Brothers! Henry loves his "bee bee". 

I'm feeling very well. I do seem to have swapped upper bodies with Dolly Par.ton. Mr. G. thinks my new look is hilarious. It's been my easiest recovery yet. If I didn't see evidence every time I use the bathroom that I'm not healed inside, I'd feel totally normal. It's really frustrating to try to rest because I am ready to conquer my house if not the world. The only thing that keeps me on the couch is wanting to cuddle Vincent, and be fully recovered as fast as possible.

The baptism was Sunday. A lot of folks from church stayed for it, which was nice. My family unfortunately could not make it (except for Tibby, who was staying with us), but my grandma and aunt and uncle did attend. Vincent cried more than I have ever heard him cry before, howling through the whole ceremony until he was put back in my arms after being consecrated to Our Lady. He was desperate to have a snack, and could not figure out why his godmother didn't respond to his rooting at her arm. We had a lunch here afterwards with just us and the godparents, to keep it simple. Plus it was the Superbowl so no one would have come anyway. :) Tibby and I did all we could in advance. We had French onion soup, salad, a fruit and cheese plate, bread, and Vincent's godmother made a delicious lemon daffodil cake, which Maria and Henry pigged out on shamelessly.

Finally, I can't understand people who are going back and forth on whether to "have another one" because they're not sure the other kids will like it. Sure, Maria and Henry are a little jealous of my attention, but they are in love with Vincent. The poor child would literally be smothered in none to gentle toddler hugs and kisses and full body embraces if I didn't watch him diligently. His face and hands get kissed constantly- I find all sorts of food substances on him that I know he wasn't eating. :) All this leading me to believe, that argument is nonsense. Kids naturally love babies. Vincent is by far the best gift I could give my other children. No toy, no pet, would be adored more.

Our new son!

Vincent Alexander Marie

born Monday, January 30th, at 3:07am

8 lbs, 3 oz, 20" long

I just came home this morning. I'm feeling pretty well and Vincent is doing great. However, it's crazy at my house. I hope to tell more soon. In the meantime, here's cute baby pictures! He makes me think of Maria more then Henry so far; what do you think?

7 Quick Takes-with birthday pics

1. Happy 3rd Birthday to our little Maria! Today's the real thing. She seems to think she's getting another "buffday dessert" with candles, even though she seemed to get that the blueberry trifle last weekend was her cake. No one in this house needs more dessert, but one of us needs something to think about other than the fact that she's still pregnant. So there might be cupcakes, because chocolate will distract me from just about anything. And I totally lost 2 lbs from last Thursday to this. I can afford a cupcake or 3, right?

2. Mr. G's "big boss" asked him to work day shift today. It stunk. He got home last night and we went to bed at 1, then the alarm rang at 8. We stood in the kitchen, blinking stupidly at each other and shivering, while I attempted to construct a PBJ sandwich for him. "Why do people do this to themselves? " Mr. G. moaned. "Getting up and leaving this early is insane!" Agreed. I mean, we usually get up around 9-9:30 on weekdays, but it still felt so early.

3. I just now read this news and I have to say something, so: Congratulations, Meghan and Michael and Matthew! And welcome to the world, baby Christian! I'm so happy for you guys.

Meghan prayed for me during Prayer Buddies back in the summer. She had just announced her miracle pregnancy days before the prayer buddy reveal, so I'd actually been praying for her before I knew she was praying for me. Pretty crazy how things work.

4. Okay, the phone thing might be getting on my nerves already. Yesterday I got "where's the baby" calls from my mom, two of my sisters, and my friend H. I told H she should know better. :P She always goes late herself and she just had a -late-baby six months ago. She just laughed at me when I said that. Today my mom called, my sister called, and then another sister just called to say that they were going out for the evening and where to reach them if I need them. I appreciate knowing that, but for goodness' sake, folks, calling is not going to get the baby out.

5. My husband is the cutest dork I know. That's why I am so happy I married him. A few days ago, he was shopping for Italian naval sailor jackets that he thought I was going to wear. It's a cute shirt, but I'm not seeing me running around in it. I told him that. He then turned on "Anchors Aweigh" very loud to help convince me. I was dying. But I still told him 'no' on the shirt. So he started looking at military jackets instead, and played a Sousa march medley while he viewed them.

6. Maria's biological classification system is all based on "nice" and "not nice" animals. For example, penguins are nice, but leopard seals are not nice because they eat penguins. She also uses the gender terms "boy" and "girl" for animals (or "mommy" and "daddy" for animals caring for young), which bothers her biologist father. He's been trying to teach her male and female, even though I keep telling him it's too deep for her. Hopefully I proved my point last night by sharing this with him.

She came in to the kitchen to tell me, quite out of the blue, "Males are bulls and bulls are not nice. Daddy's nice. I guess Daddy is a female."

7. I'm finishing these up at 11pm. I just wiped up the kitchen floor. This baby better come before it gets dirty again, because that did me in.

Have a great weekend! I hope mine includes a new baby.

The Big 4-0

Happy due date to us, happy due date to us...

40 weeks

And we are sooo not in labor. It's okay. The baby, of course, does not know what day it is. I do, but I didn't really think Baby would come out today. The people who pin hopes on the due date are the ones who aren't pregnant. Such as husbands-who say they know due dates aren't an exact science, but at lunch on the day, ask "Um, so why is the baby still inside you?" Due dates are for mother-in-laws to obsess about, which is why mine thinks ours is February 5. :P And for little sisters, who promise they won't bug you, but call anyway to say, "So, do you think you are going to have the baby tonight?"

What is today to me?

Today means that, because of the grace of God, today is not a "should have been" like I was afraid it would be about 30 weeks ago, when I was mentally saying farewell to this baby.

Today means we've done it, baby and I. We've made it through a whole, term gestation.

And today means that, because I'm not allowed to be pregnant for more than 42 weeks, the most possible days I could be pregnant is 14. We could do that, too, if we had to.

For fun, here's your three bellies to compare. I tried to do a 3-in-a-row collage, but it seems picnik doesn't do those any more and Picasa was not being user friendly either. Sorry about that.

I wore that annoying blue shirt the day I took Maria's 40 week photo, and unwittingly made it the Official 40 Week Photo shirt. It's not that I like that shirt. In fact, I almost sent it to the rag bag when the weather cooled off this fall. I ended up saving it for some reason, and I'm glad I did because if we have more kids I'll need it for pictures.

40 weeks with Maria, January 23 2009. Our combined weight: 187 lbs. Is that not the highest belly you've ever seen? I used to push her bottom down to give my aching ribs a break.

40 weeks with Henry, 4 October 2010. Our combined weight: 184 lbs.

40 weeks, 3rd full-term pregnancy, 25 January 2012. Our combined weight: 173 lbs !!! How did we do that? I wish I knew. We look so tiny! And low. This baby's bottom is a good 5 inches below my bustline, compared to Maria's which was right at it. Either it's a small baby or my muscles are way stretched. Most likely a combination of the two. This baby's head is very low.

Well, enough fat pictures already. I have to go iron the slipcover to the Poang chair cushion and wrestle the foam back into it. 

Birthday-Time Happenings

After yesterday's desperate post, I feel I ought to show up and be a little more positive. My mood goes down as the day progresses and I get more tired. I should try blogging earlier. What I said last night still goes, of course, but I don't feel that awful every moment of the day, thank Heaven.

Maria's birthday is Friday. Since we have no idea when Baby is going to come, we sort of started celebrating last week. She has been looking forward to her birthday for months now, ever since Henry and Daddy had theirs, and it has to be an event worth waiting for.

Last week, we took her to see real live penguins. It was a financial sacrifice, to be honest, but it was also a once-in-years or perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity. Our family is growing and aquarium tickets are only going to become harder to afford. Maria is obsessed with penguins and has been for some months now.

She was quiet, watching the three African penguins who were brought out first thing in the morning for a little close-up viewing. The penguins all looked at her. We could tell that she was so happy to see them, she didn't really know what to do...hence the introverted response. The penguins looked at Maria and Maria looked, overwhelmed, at the penguins.

Our camera took awful pictures in the aquarium. I wish I had something better to remember our visit by, but this is what we got.

"Me hugging a fake King penguin", says Maria of this photo.

The penguin exhibit was at the end of everything. I could have sat for hours, watching the penguins swim. They interact a lot, breaking out into little fights where they smack each other with their wings, taking turns hopping out of the water and diving back in, chasing each other in the water and out, and even leaping out of the water like dolphins. It was really neat. Maria was enthralled. She went up very close to the glass to get face-to-face with the swimming Gentoo penguins. Then she decided to dance for the penguins. She danced for quite a while, doing all her best ballet maneuvers with solemn concentration. Perhaps because the other children in the viewing area were just running around yelling, the penguins seemed to take more notice of the dancing child. Several of them floated on the surface of the pool watching her.

Maria dances for the penguins.

We stopped to visit the husband of one of Mr. G.'s coworkers, who manages an ice cream parlor near the aquarium, and were treated to free ice cream. Another special birthday event!

Saturday, we did a spur-of-the-moment trip out to my mom and dad's. They grilled ribs and gave Maria presents, so it was sort of a party.

Sunday, I let my husband persuade me to have dinner guests out of the blue. Yeah, crazy, I know. The house was clean or I would not have done it. I had already put together the dessert Saturday night, the blueberry trifle Maria asked for and the components of which I had gradually prepared over the preceding days. I got a little nap Sunday afternoon, even. Mr. G cleaned off and readied the dining room table. I made a pretty simple dinner of a venison roast, steamed vegetables, and polenta which my husband did all the stirring of. Our guests, who are the baby's future godparents, brought a roast chicken to supplement the very tiny venison roast. They also helped us sing Happy Birthday to Maria. :) It was a nice visit...even though our children behaved rather monstrously...and Mr G actually helped with the dishes. I even had the energy left to sew a little after the kids went to bed.

I dont' know why, but most days just an ordinary day at home wears me to threads, and then I can have a day like Sunday, where I went to Mass and then entertained, and still have a little umph left in me by the day's end. Odd.

My sister helped me make chocolate muffins to freeze last week, so on Friday we'll have those for breakfast and give Maria the present from her other grandparents, and then her birthday will be over, I think. I hope she feels like her expectations were fulfilled. I really did try.

Well...off to do the lunch dishes before nap time. I'm so blessed that the kids both take naps still, and 2-2 1/2 hour ones at that. I don't know what I'd do without MY nap.

Done

I'm done. As in, stick a fork in me done. Or, it was supposed to be medium rare but you overcooked it to well, done.

I am too tired to keep up with the house and the kids and be this pregnant. I need too much rest. It's so hard to pick up the toys myself at night, but the 40 minute battle to get the kids to do it is equally exhausting. I'm too tired to be dealing with dissected pine cones on the living room floor, spilled milk, stripping kids, Legos thrown into the bathtub amidst the poop diapers I'm too tired to rinse.

Selfish it may be, but I'd appreciate prayers that the baby comes soon. I know it will be crazier after that, but I'll have so much more energy to deal with it. Am I asking too much? I've already been praying for a safe birth and healthy baby (and me)...I just wish it would happen soon. I think if I have to do this for two more weeks I'm going to go berserk.


Note: I am pretty sure none of you sweethearts would say this, but please no one tell me to just ask for an induction. I know too much to do that. I  strongly believe that induction is not a good thing, and the only way I will let it happen is if we do indeed go to 42 weeks,  for at that point to induce or not to induce is no longer a choice.