One Month Old!

Andrew’s one month old today!  Thanks for the pictures, Amy, they’re lovely (FYI: this is another Amy, I’m not talking to myself here).

 

Here are some stats from the doctor:

• 12 lbs, 11 oz
• 22 inches long

Here are some things he is doing now:

• smiling (true social smiles! okay, just one so far)
• fussing (wailing) in the evening
• making eye contact and tracking
• reaching a fisted arm in the air as if he were saying “hip hip hurray!” or “charge!”
• stomping on air
• making us all fall in love with him

We are all enjoying this little guy very much.

Three Years Old!

   The many faces of Susanna… And a leg covered in stickers.

Here are some things Susanna is up to lately:

• taking care of her children (her stuffed animals and dolls)
• dancing and singing (her main dance step is the gallop)
• playing with puzzles
• playing at playgrounds
• helping take care of Andrew
• bossing us around
• learning to deal with strong emotions
• pretending (our living room has recently been a dessert, swimming pool, garden, mountain range—almost all of these were entirely her idea); when she’s not playing with her children she particularly likes being a bear

We’ll end with some photographs of the big sisters and baby brothers in our home.

Two’s a Crowd

Hats off to all parents of two or more children.Woah.  How do you guys do anything or go anywhere?  Don’t get me wrong, I’m keeping both of mine, but after such episodes as trying to fish bath toys out of the toilet with one hand while keeping Andrew latched on with the other (or at least not dropping him in the toilet with Susanna’s unlucky orca), all the while defending Andrew against the hard plastic heads and limbs of Susanna’s dolls, I’m a bit taken aback by our drawer with one stamp in it—and the following need to go to the post office. 

It’s not so much needing stamps that gets me (I can make Scott go or something) it’s that even even considering going with both of them makes me dizzy with admiration for those of you who have done it.

More on Andrew and the Rest of Us

Everything started with Andrew at 3:00 am on July 29th when my water broke. We scooped Susanna out of her crib and carried her to our very kind neighbor’s home where she became less and less groggy as the realization of what was happening dawned on her. We left her very excited and wiggly (she supposedly said “I am going to be so gentle” every thirty seconds) until, at last, she could calm down enough to drop off to sleep.

Andrew arrived almost five hours later at 7:48 am, and despite what I told my caregivers and husband in the last thirty minutes of laboring, I had a wonderful experience delivering Andrew. Thanks to those caregivers and especially Scott for all the support (he was an amazing help). And thanks to Andrew for choosing the hottest day in Seattle’s recorded history so we could all enjoy the hospital’s air conditioning.

My wonderful mother arrived at the hospital around 7:00 pm and left to get Susanna from another neighbor’s home around 9:00 pm, only to call us a half hour later asking where a flashlight is—the power had gone out (remember that it was the hottest day ever so they were without refrigeration, AC (not that they would have had that anyway) or even fans. That’s the true test of a mother’s love (that and dealing with a tired toddler) Thanks mom.

The three of us came home the next day and we celebrated Andrew’s arrival with a birthday party (it also happened to be my birthday). We partied at our apartment complex’s community center (it was air conditioned); here’s a picture of Susanna and three community center babies at the party.

The following Monday we made this picture of our family for Family Night. Scott’s nose (as well as mine) sort of take up our entire face, but we love it anyway. Susanna labeled all of the faces with our names, and she refers to it often.

Here are a few photos of the little guy.

Andrew, at this point, has olive skin and brown hair. He is bright eyed and gives sleepy smiles all the time (he even laughs occasionally!). According to yesterday’s doctor’s visit, he already weighs 10 lbs and 1 ounce. He doesn’t look particularly chubby but is a healthy strong boy with exceptionally long fingers, toes, and especially feet. He has so far been a pretty mild tempered boy: he sleeps, is soothed to a calm state well, and has an adorable (albeit very loud) cry. We all love him very much.

Big Sister

Susanna is loving having a baby brother around. Here are a couple of videos of her singing to him.