Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Happy Birthday Baby

December 19, 2006

As of December 19, I officially have a 2-year-old!!! If you're wondering why I haven't posted pics or stories of his party, it's because we are switching to half birthdays while he still doesn't have a concept of birthday parties. Therefore, the celebration will be June 19. It's a good thing too because once again Emerson's birthday brought a blizzard to town!

Coming up for air!

Taking a break from packing:


I'm going to unpack this box last :)


Jabba the Hut:


Sleepy smiles:



There is no reason I should be writing this when I have so much to do and my oldest is still asleep, but I feel obligated to explain to those of you that I've been ignoring what has been going on the past few weeks!

The good news is that Fionn is doing much better - still incredibly "high-need" (how's that for a euphemism?), but at least with enough work we can get him to stop crying and occasionally he even gives us big dimply smiles and giggles. When he's in those moods, I remember why I wanted another one. I can't get enough of his sweet-milk smell and nuzzling his enormous cheeks. I don't know why a fat baby is so satisfying, but fat he is.

The bad news is that fat babies or not, these past few weeks have been utter hell! We closed on the house a week after Fionn was born and had a little over a month to finish as many renovations as possible while taking care of two kids and packing the old house. Of course, renovations ran into constant problems, we all got sick with two rounds of a nasty cold (including a case of croup for Emerson that sent him to the emergency room), then Robbie ran into a really stressful time at work, the weekend we were moving Emerson got the stomach flu, followed by me, followed by Robbie - so the move was postponed and we didn't get nearly as much done as we needed. We had to spend every night last week until 2a.m. battling the blizzard conditions to finish packing and cleaning the old house. Now we're finally able to focus on the new house, which is good because I'm going insane trying to entertain a toddler and newborn in the midst of chaotic boxes piled everywhere and half-finished renovations! Don't even get me started on holiday preparations...

So that's our tale of woe. Last Friday was a snow day for the schools and so I watched heavily bundled children tromp through the high snow in the orchard by our house. They had snowball fights and made snow angels and explored the deserted streets. It made me wish I was that age again when lots of snow was a good thing and there was a parent ready with hot soup and dry clothes when you burst through the door at the end of the day.

At least it was a good reminder that people are still out there leading normal lives and having fun. Hopefully someday soon we'll be one of them again! I just have to keep telling myself that underneath all the clutter and to-do lists is a house that will be beautiful and totally ours once we're done.

And as for the boys, each day we get through they are that much closer to self-sufficiency and to playing with each other. A couple of days ago I was sitting next to Emerson and had the baby in my arms. I started making funny faces to get the baby to smile, which made Emerson laugh hysterically too. He leaned in to see the baby's face and the two of them spent a minute or two just smiling at each other. It reminded me of a woman I met right before Fionn was born who had two boys about the same distance apart. I asked her what it was like and she told me, "Just this morning they were hugging each other and it was the sweetest thing I have ever seen....Take a picture of that kind of stuff because it's the only thing that will get you through the rest of the day!"

Boy was she right.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Holiday Wishes...Disco Style




To make up for my last post, I thought I'd quickly share one of those "kids do the darndest things" stories. The other day I decided to get into the holiday spirit by pulling out my beloved "Disco Duck Christmas" record to play while Emerson and I packed (aka Emerson shredded packing peanuts while I frantically piled books into boxes).

I know you're probably asking yourself why I own a record with the words "duck" and "disco" in the title, but let's just say it's a combination of being a shameless disco fanatic and that the record is a bit of a family heirloom. My older sister literally rocked so hard to this record as a toddler that she fell out of her chair and broke her arm. I spent countless hours choreographing a Christmas dance pageant to this record with my childhood best friend who has since passed away. Every year I dance in the holidays with this timeless music and reminiscence about my childhood. Of course I was born after the disco generation, but I think this record captures the spirit well - it's like Santa on acid wearing tight red polyester pants.

Anyway, ever since I pulled out Disco Duck, Emerson has been asking me (via sign language) to play it again and again every day. He may look like Robbie and be a total daddy's boy, but at least I passed on my disco-lovin' genes. Now I've just got to track down this record for his birthday:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzY-hsQVVCRTd9RiZ0FNGQv3oMfKjKEkYRUOlgAcM5NcqYzHLbOEtvObmyQ9pvW021nv5-am6T8sP9VnR8wA4EK7N72SX7h4FTofbgCr1HZUCWjCGGycjk5DKUC_v7XSahRIxN7L_cMl1m/s1600-h/nurserydisco.jpg

For fun, here's another blogger who reviewed Disco Duck. Although they don't appreciate its fine artistic quality the way I do, it is pretty funny - and includes a free music clip for your listening pleasure.

http://christmasyuleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/irwin-disco-duck-christmas-new-years.html

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Family Pictures

This is horrible quality, but it may be the only time everyone is clean, dressed and quiet, so here goes....

Bah Humbug

I probably won't be writing much for a while. I've been in a bit of a funk and I don't think it's charitable to share my melancholy during the holiday season. However, I do want to do my duty as a fellow parent and warn anyone out there planning on having two or more kids that having them closer than 3 years apart is a BIG mistake and anyone who says otherwise should be shot on the spot. Same goes for those people who say that the second kid is always easier, more laid back.

Little Fionn still has a very old soul demeanor about him so I don't regret his name, but the calm and easy part quickly went away. Here is a break down of our day:

Crying - 75% Eating - 15% Sleeping - 9.99%
Awake and Quiet - 0.01%

He hates the car, the sling, the pacifier, the swing, bathtime, eating, getting dressed, getting his diaper changed...basically anything you do to keep him alive and try to comfort him. He looks up at me with these huge weepy eyes with an expression that says "Why did you bring me to this earth? Why did you rip me out of the comfortable womb?" And in my exhaustion all I can say is "I don't know little man, I just don't know."

I truly thought he would be an easy baby because Emerson was hard in every way except colic. Instead I got a baby with colic. All the research swears that it goes away after 3 months, so if you want a happy post, you should check back in February. In the meantime Happy Holidays to all and to all some peace and quiet.