THREE! Months, that is.

Hey.  Whazzup?  

It's me, Mikey.  

You didn't forget about me did you?

Nahhhh.  Didn't think so, man.  I'm unforgeddable.

I'm doin' good, real good.

Did a lot this past month.  Just a lot of stuff.  I'm a busy little dude.

Did I tell ya that I moved into my own room?  Yeah.  My VERY own room.  I also got my VERY own crib, and my VERY own changing table, and.....huh?  What's that?  What's a hand-me-down?  I don't think I like the sound of that....

Anyways, my room rocks.  You should come visit sometime and I'll show ya around.  It's got jungle animals in it.  

It's got a big green comfi chair too.  Mommy sits in it to nurse me at night.  Don't tell her I told you this, but she sleeps there a lot too.  Yeah.  She gets tired, that Mommy of mine.  Usually she passes out on it while waiting for me to settle down at night.

Speaking of settling down, I don't do it very well.  I usually need a little help.  In order for me to hit that nice, deep sleep I need to nurse.  I also need it to be silent.  No noise what so ever. I usually have to wait for my Big Sisty to go to sleep before I can get some shut eye.  She is a noisy one, she is.  

Once I get to sleep, I usually wake up about two hours later looking for something to suck on, much to Mommy's dismay.  I am addicted to sucking.  Binky, blanket, fingers, other peoples fingers - it's all fair game.

What else is going on?  Oh, I am very interested in other people.  I love to stare at them and make them squirm.  I look them right in the eye and they just can't look away.  Also, any type of movement or noise peaks my interest.  I like to consider myself very alert.

I like to hang with my Daddy.  He is very entertaining, he is.  He sings me songs and helps me to dance.  He's awesome.  I totally look up to him. 

 

The problem is that he's usually busy with my Big Sisty.  She's always having him throw her in the air, or dance with her, or play Mario for her.  I get my turn every now and again.  But, usually, when I do, Katie asks him politely, "Daddy, can you please give Mikey to Mommy so that you can play with me?"  I mean, how do you say no to that.  I gotta remember that whole polite thing for later.....

Hey, did you know that I have giant bugs in my house?  Yeah.  They frustrate me, so I punch them.  I punch them hard.  So hard that they jingle.

But, my most important accomplishment this month can be seen below:

I smile.  A lot.  No.  I mean A LOT.  Anytime someone talks to me or looks at me, I smile.  You play peek-a-boo with me, I smile.  You put my clothes on, I smile.  You change my super-smelly poopy diaper, I smile.

I also do another thing quite often as well.  This, my readers, is the key to my charm.  The ladies cannot resist....

And there you have it.  That's me at three months.

Hope you enjoyed looking at it as much as I did living it.

Out. 

The Trouble with Toys

I want to find a toy to give to Katie as a trade. 

The deal is that she trades in all the Halloween candy that she can't eat (which should be about 95% of it) and I give her a toy.

I went to the Disney store today to look for something princess-y to give to her.

Of course, there were dresses and clothes and nightgowns.  But, they aren't much fun.

I found toys that let you do a princesses hair, let you dress her in multiple princess-y dresses, playsets that let you retell various movie scenes, stuffed princesses, baby-fied princesses, etc.

Ugh.  How imaginative can you get with that crap?

I then looked at some princess figures.  If I got princess figures she could take them and put them into various make believe scenarios all of her choosing.  That would be perfect.  

Well, the problem with that was that there's a figure of Jasmine in the set.  Katie has already designated one of her other "guys" at home as Jasmine.  So, getting the REAL Jasmine would make that "made-up" Jasmine obsolete.

WTF.  Sometimes, I think that I think to much.

Hahahahahaha.  That last statement was funny.

I hate princesses.

The Pumpkin Patch: A Journey In Pictures

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

My first trip to the pumpkin patch!

I'm SO excited!

Let's go!  Let's go!

WHOOOO-HOOOOO!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

Mommy, is the punkin patch left or right?

Why are there orange lights on the pole, Mommy?

Why are there punkins on the pole, Mommy?

What are the signs doing on the pole, Mommy?

When do we pick our punkin, Mommy?

First we go to the hay maze, then pet animules, then ride the

tractor, then pick a punkin and then get a special treat?

I wonder what the special treat is?

When do I get the special treat, Mommy?

Is that corn, Mommy?

Mommy?

I think ghosts like da hay maze.  It's dark.

Ghosts like the dark.  Maybe even skeletons too.

Let's go this way!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

I went super-fast down the swide.

Teacher Judy caught me.

Is this the tractor we ride to the punkin patch, Mommy?

Why is it not moving, Mommy?

Mommy an' me an' Mikey went on da hay ride to

pick a punkin.

'Dis is my punkin.

Uggghhh.

It's heavy, Mommy.

MY SPECIAL TREAT!!!!

Halloween is only two weeks away?!?!?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

The Extremes

Today, both kids were laughing at the same time.  One was being tickled while getting a diaper change.  The other was jumping on the inflatable mattress rhyming made up words. 

It was one of my happiest moments, like, ever.

Today, both kids were screaming at the same time.  In the car.  One dropped a binky and was tired.  The other one was yelling at me to stop the other one from screaming.

It was one of the crappiest moments, like, ever.

Happy.  Crappy.

BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

I think I might be going insane.

Fine & Dandy

While I find myself with a spare few minutes, I will update zee blog.

Me:  Healthy.  Short temper.  Need more patience.  Too many Mommy Meetings.  Too much laundry.  Too much mess.  Need more Me Time, I mean more WoW time.

Huzbend:  Healthy.  Riding to work again.  Playing Mario on the Wii to entertain Katie.  Is not shaving.

Katie:  Healthy.  Pushing limits.  Loves to be naked.  Has mastered a somersault.  Loves preschool.  Goes to the potty without the kiddie potty seat now.  Still has NOT mastered getting her pee to shoot into the toilet (it's hard to explain).  Very imaginative and is very much into princesses.  

Mikey:  Healthy.  Smiles a whole lot.  Laughed for the first time the other day.  Still shooting poop across the room.  Entertains himself looking in a mirror.  Is now sleeping in own room (with me on the floor).  Has slept for at least a 6 hour stretch consistently for the past 3 nights.  I will most likely move back into my room this weekend.  Whose child is this?!?!?!? 

Gotta go.  Mikey calls.

Sickness Abounds

We are ALL sick.  Yep.  ALL of us.

We got something.  I have no idea how to tell if it is the flu.  

I always thought that the flu involved puking, but all the literature says that you can have at least two of the following symptoms and have the flu:  sore throat, coughing, runny nose, fatigue, body aches, head aches and possible vomiting/diarrhea.

So, maybe we have some flu and maybe we don't.  All I know is that it is pretty miserable around here.

I admit, it started with me.  I brought it in here.  I tried my best to wash hands as frequently as I could.  I used a lot of Purel.  All to no avail.  It spread anyways.

I don't think coughing and sneezing into your sleeve works when you have a baby.  I would do that and he would just rub his face in all the germs that were embedded in my sleeve.  Sigh.

Katie is snotty and coughing.

Huzbend is snotty.

Mikey has leaky eyes and is coughing.

Bummer.

Funny thing is that we are all scheduled for our seasonal flu shots next week.

Hmph.

2 Cool 2 B 2 Months

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..........

Huh?  Whazzat!!!!!

Oh.  Man.  It's you.  You scared the cradle cap outta me.

Hello.  How are you?

Oh?  Me?  I'm totally awesome.  

Yeah, just like my middle name.  The initial is A for Awesome.  You didn't know that?  Learn somethin' new every day don't ya?

You wanna know what went on this past month?

Hmmmmmm.  Let me break it down for ya.  

I ate a lot.  I pooped a lot.  I peed a lot.  I kicked my feet and punched my arms, um, a lot.

I notice a trend here.  I do things a lot.

I also got all flaky on my face and scalp.  I had some plugged up tear ducts.  I had some acne too. I wasn't looking too good.  I think I might be over the hump now though.

Do you wanna know the secret to getting insta-hugs?  Right here, bucko.

 

Is that not the most pathetic pouty face, like, ever?  I believe I have perfected it.  You use this, dude, and you'll be getting major cuddles in about .02 seconds.  I've timed it.

Besides my pouty face, I can smile now too.  Smiling is great.  It gets me all sorts of attention from, like, everybody.

Family life is cool.  Daddy is laid back.  We like to have some nice conversations.

Mommy, well, she seems a little rushed.  She's always running around here trying to "get stuff done".  What other stuff is there besides ME?  Oh yeah.  Big sister.

Speaking of Big Sis, she loves me a bunch.  She is always concerned about my emotional state.  She likes to announce when I am happy and when I am sad.  Sometimes, though, I sense a bit of jealousy.  Like, when she tells Mommy to not feed me and let me cry 'cause she wants a snack.  Hmph.  Not too nice.

She also likes to make sure that I am entertained at all times.  As an example, see the picture below.  She never thinks that I have enough toys to play with.  So, she piles them on top of me.  She's got a lot of love to give, that sister of mine.  Love her to pieces, I do.

I had my two month checkup the other day.  Everything is A-okay with me.  I'm lookin' pretty good.  Here are my stats.  Read 'em and weep, baby:

 

Height - 23 inches - 50th percentile

Weight - 12 pounds 3 oz. - 70th percentile

Head Size - 16.5 inches - 90th percentile

I like to make lots of noises now.  Ahhh-gooooos and such.  Sometimes, I can work myself up to a scream if I really, really try.

I also partake of a little tummy time now and again.  Doc says I gotta work on strengthening my neck muscles.  Guess I have a pretty big head or something.  It's gonna take some strong neck muscles to lift it.  Maybe I should start on a lifting regimen.  Get myself a protein drink or somethin'.

Here's a video of me doing my thang.  Check it out.

I can't really think of anything else new.  I guess there's one more thing.....

I recently graduated to sitting up in my tub.  

Okay, so it's not that exciting.  

I just wanted to show you how sophisticated I am.  I'm a man of the world, you see.  I can be quite serious on occasion.  Very pensive and the like.  I could be contemplating the fate of the universe.  I could be formulating a way to harness dark energy.  Thoughts that are way beyond that of any normal human being.  

Ahhhhh, enough of that high brow stuff.

Now, it's time for me to try to eat my towel.  

Now make like trees and get outta here, kiddies.  

Catch you on the flip side.

Mikey.

Temper Tantrum of the Day

Katie was taking a nap and then started crying.  This happens at least three times a week. 

Of course, I was feeding Mikey and couldn't go up to her room to see what she was upset about. Yelling out to her would have scared the living crap outta Mikey, so I had to just sit there in hopes that she would just resolve the issue herself.

No such luck.  

Down the stairs she came screaming and crying about boogies.

I asked her if she wanted me to help her blow her nose and I got out a tissue.  I went to wipe her nose and then she threw herself on the ground and screamed.

I spent the next twenty minutes trying to decipher what she wanted of me.  

She kept telling me that she wanted to calm down and then we would try our calm down technique (counting and deep breathes) over and over again.  But, she just wouldn't calm down.

Finally, she went to her "calm down place", which is next to the couch, and was able to finally communicate with me.

She was upset because she "had boogies" and then when she went to blow her nose there were "no boogies".

Yeah.  That was the reason.  Spock would not be amused.

In the middle of all this, I put a sleepy Mikey down on the couch.  Not the best place for him to be, I know, but I had to engage Katie to get her to at least try to calm down.  It's hard to do that with Mikey in the middle of us.  

Miraculously, he is still asleep.  He slept through the whole thing.   Even when she was standing next to him screaming at the top of her lungs.

Katie, took herself back to her room to "relax" a bit.

All is quiet.  

Now it's time for ME to count to 10 and take some looooong deeeeeep breathes........ 

Tractors

Katie, Mikey and I took a visit to a local Mom hangout for our playgroup today.

It's a cafe/coffee house where Mom's and Dad's can sit, talk and eat and the kids can play with various toys. They had a Thomas train table, so all was well.  Katie carried "Gordon" around for the hour and a half that we were there.  I had to make him talk only a couple of times.

The only problem with the place was that they served PB&J.  So, I was on hyper-alert mode looking for signs of an allergic reaction every time Katie touched something.

After hanging out there for a while, we headed outside to a playground.  Katie climbed a rope ladder thingie all by herself and then hung from a trapeze looking contraption.  She also managed to almost fall off a kid-sized merry-go-round too.  Mikey slept the entire time.

Mikey finally started to get cranky, so I decided to pack it up.  We got back to the car and Katie saw this "train" riding by with some kids in it.  The train was actually made up of four cars and was pulled by an engine that was actually a tractor in disguise. 

I fed and changed Mikey in the car and we went over to ride the train.  Each ride is, like, $3.50, but I had coupons for two free rides from some haircuts that Katie had gotten.

Katie sat in the caboose all by herself, while Mikey and I plopped down into another train car. She was very proud of herself and told me that the caboose was really bumpy.

There's nothing like a tractor ride on a nice day.

I miss Poppop.

Deformed

Yesterday, Katie was holding on to my hands and jumping up and down in front of me.  She jumped once and hit my stomach.  It hurt.

And now it's time for the obligatory "I hate my body" post.  This happened after the last kid too.

I know.  I know.  You're saying to yourself, "Well, she's only, like, seven weeks postpartum."

Yeah.  I am.  But, I want this gone NOW.

It's worse than last time.  Last time, there was extra weight.  I think it was something like 20 pounds that I had to lose.  It was in the form of a little bit of belly and there were no stretch marks.  Oh yeah, and there was the scar - ugly and pink.  

This time, I've got belly to spare.  

It's a big pouch of fat that over hangs my c-scar.  I mean IT HANGS.  I just found out there's a phrase for this phenomenon - "A Mother's Apron".  On that big pouch is my still distended belly button, the dark brown pregnancy line (called linea negra) caused by hormones, a whole bunch of little pink squiggly stretch marks and then a few large dark pink stretch marks on my left side (that was where Mikey spent most of this time).  This pouch of fat/skin hurts when it's touched.  It even feels like it's bruised. 

The c-scar seems deeper looking and indents a little on the right side now.

I feel deformed.  Ahhhh, frig it, I am deformed.

I was wondering if all this was normal and guess what, it is.  

I found this website that allows women to post pics of their postpartum bodies.  Lots of belly overhangs on here.  Phew.  I'm not the only one.

Somehow, some way I'll figure out a time to start working out.  I guess I could be doing that right now instead of whining about my problems here on the blog.  It's just so nice to sit and do NOTHING.

Ahhhhh, nothing.  Sometimes nothing is great.  No nursing, no diaper changing, no making various guys talk, no crying, no diffusing temper tantrums.....You know what?  I should be sleeping.

The only thing I got going for me right now are huge boobs.  The only problem is that they frequently explode because of an excess of milk. Hmph.  Not so attractive.

Sigh.

For now, I'll just have to be happy with my two cute kids, my hunky huzbend, my huge milk-filled boobs and my Size G underwear.

That's G for Ginormous.

I Suck

Some women look as if they have been nursing babies all their lives.  Like, they have some knowledge that was passed down from their mama's mama's mama's mama.

Me, on the other hand, I look like I read the Cliffs Notes booklet on it.

My right boob feels like it is going to fall off.  When Mikey nurses on it, I have to either cry or try to use deep breathing to get through it.

I have no idea what is going on with it.  I just know that it hurts.  A lot.

Nursing just doesn't come easy to me for some reason.  

Nursing wasn't easy with Katie.  We had shields to use, formula supplementing, pumping, etc. To tell the truth, it was kinda horrible until the 3rd month.

This time around, it's a tad bit easier.  My milk came early (before I left the hospital) and Mikey was ready to eat.  It's just the whole pain thing that I can't stand.  Why can't I just nurse and be happy?  Why does everything with me have to be a challenge?  I want it easy, folks.  Can you blame me?

So, if this boob pain doesn't clear up I'm gonna have to visit a doctor.  Sigh.

There is one thing about nursing the second time around though.  I am not shy about getting it done in public.  

Last weekend, we had to get new tires on our truck.  I was seriously thinking about nursing on one of the display couches of the Fred Meyer that was next door to the tire place.  Huzbend protested.  So, I opted for a bench outside the entrance to the Fred Meyer.

So far, I've nursed at the zoo, a water park, in the truck a bunch of times, at a park or two, at a preschool meeting and outside a Fred Meyer.  Where will I whip 'em out next?  We have a trip coming up - the airport?  the airplane?  my sister's wedding?

Stay tuned.