What I Didn’t Expect When I was Expecting

This post isn’t a fun family update, but it’s about our family in the sense that the experiences I have encountered with my boys, and the knowledge I have sought, frequently too late, has culminated in a set of opinions on pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the early days of child rearing. I did some thinking…


Ian begged me all week to make lemonade. Finally, I bought two bags of lemons and started the project. Our favorite recipe involves a cup of water per lemon and a quarter cup of sugar per lemon, a lot of peeling or zesting, soaking the peels/zest in the sugar, dissolving it in boiled water, removing…

Party Pooper

Remember that Play Foam that the big brothers were supposed to be playing with yesterday while Elijah was going down for his nap? Here is a photo I’ve borrowed from PlayFoam to show you what it could look like before preschoolers have mashed all the colors together to make a big confetti-colored pie.

Too Many Doostractions

To add to my “if I turn scientist” list of studies: Effect of offspring leg length on maternal response. I just randomly noticed that there is a particular age or size of child that completely changes my reaction to having toes in my face. Babies start off so small and squishy and I want to roll them into a little ball in my arms and chew on them. Their little legs are so stubby and their feet, so chubby, and so nibble-y and kissable. Then one day, somewhere between Elijah-size and Isaac-size, I get a foot in my face, and my gut reaction glowers get that clunky hoof off of me! They haven’t yet stopped being precious, but suddenly they’re more adorable from a distance.

Teeth Thing

I think my Motherbear persistence is finally steering us toward some results for Elijah’s teeth. As I’ve said before, his bottom two front “teeth” have been a mystery. He lost them in the NICU, but there has been something protruding from his gums. When his first top tooth was coming in, it looked damaged from the start. We saw the dentist, but were informed that we had to wait until the tooth had fully come in to fix it.

Noodle battle

My brain cells have largely reclassified themselves as dandruff. I had grabbed a pair of socks and went hunting for my fuzzy Crocs. I found one Croc shoe, so I slipped on a sock and stepped into my shoe. While wandering with my remaining sock in hand, I entered our large master bathroom and found a pile of the boys’ clothes that forgot to find the laundry basket. I scooped up the laundry and sorted it into the laundry basket. Pausing to remember my original mission, I realized I was empty-handed.

Follow-Up CT Today (Updated)

UPDATE AT BOTTOM Today Elijah will have a CT Scan to follow up on some lesions in his lungs. They are probably scar tissue, but the doc is keeping an eye on them. Here is what we are looking at. Imagine you sliced the top of his body off at the shoulders and then looked…

He’s 412 Days Old and I’m Going to Gush!

I forgot what a fun age 13 months is! Elijah is a miniature person who has “it” incredibly figured-out. He “talks” on the phone, puts on his brother’s play necklace, tries to put on shirts and socks, stabs at food with a fork, knows what the remote is supposed to do, drives toy cars with great sound effects, and pulls string cheese out of the fridge, doing the Happy Dance as I open it for him.

It’s best to starve your PET

We rocked. We walked. We bounced. A boy knows what he wants. He tantrumed with all his might. I briefly calmed him with some warm water in a bottle. He doesn’t drink out of bottles, but he was happy to chew for a moment. I tried some TV. I walked some more, praying and praying he’d fall asleep. Finally, he did sleep, but it was only long enough for me to get dressed, sneak some food and wake him up to go.