Couldn't NOT be saidC

Oh I'm so glad I have an outlet to tell these funny things to before I forget them.

Scene: Hadley, on the changing table, poopy diaper, no big deal, changed and cleaned up.

Me: Reach over to throw the diaper in the diaper pail, miss and lean over to pick it up.

Cue Hadley's double sneeze

Upon standing up -- I make a mental note to self, that next time I put the diaper ON before doing anything else. I've heard that the human sneeze can travel 100 miles an hour, and evidently it can shoot poop out of a baby a good 12 inches at least. Good thing there was a wall there.

I happened to think this was really funny, though I'm pretty sure no one else who lives here would have.

Backlog

This was supposed to be a big frosting face picture. It looks a little devious to me.

Action shot, jumping off the slide into the giant pit of foam.

Plop

Sometimes I even surprise myself. Granted it was a box mix and canned frosting, but I have to say I still impressed people with my cupcakes. This is not the best example of one of them, but I wanted to grab a picture and didn't have a whole lot of free time to pick he best one. But you get the idea.

I know I have been negligent in sharing with family and friends our life events. Not sure if anyone minds that lapse, but oh well. I realize that I haven't give Greta's big 5th b-day the attention we gave it here, and don't even get me started on Clara's poor appearance behind the camera. I hope to remedy that soon. However, in the mean time, here are some pictures from Greta's birthday party. We had it at the Gymnastics Academy in town. We rented the place for her party, and her and her friends had the run of it to jump on the trampoline, flip, flop and do whatever it is 5 year olds do -- just go crazy. It looked like everyone had a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's over. I think I still enjoy the good old fashioned home parties where you play games and things like that, but this just wasn't the year, and I'm not sure this is the house for that anyways.

I'll try to do better with the blogging, so please bookmark the page and check back frequently. If I find I just want to give it all up, I'll let you know.

Reruns and Bon Bons and Laundry -- oh my!

I had fully intended on leaving this blog to sit. To ruminate, to marinate...perhaps even to just mold. Sure, I've thought of a few things to write about, my ideas seeming like great excitement and entertainment while I am up during the wee hours of the night. But come the next day, I just have no interest in sitting down to remember what I was going to write, or to even pound out anything on the keyboard. What exactly have I been doing all day? Not much. Whether it's birthing a 9.9 pound baby, being on the other side of the prime age for child-bearing, or this just being the third one in five years, recovery is s-l-o-w. Every time I think I'm ready to just move on with life, I'm reminded that perhaps another day on the couch wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. And so, I comply with the requests of my body. I have been thoroughly enjoying the Today Show, I Love Lucy reruns, and this hefty series of books I have immersed myself within. Yes, I am also nursing, changing diapers, getting laundry done, and tackling the daily battle of the kitchen and am not minding any of it one bit.

So what brought me to the keyboard today? Why have I laid down the lethargy and plopped myself here to tap out some notes? Because if i didn't, you'd miss out on this:

Incidentally, a few days ago -- after begging me to hold Hadley -- Greta was on the couch with her while I ventured into the kitchen to prepare some dinner. All of the sudden I hear screaming and crying and calls of terror and dash into the living room to hear Greta shrieking because Hadley "threw up" all over her (it was spit up, and it was very little). Greta was horrified/disgusted/shocked/sickened all at once. Thankfully she didn't throw Hadley down in a fit of nausea, but honestly she was pretty close. After we removed Greta's shirt and I reassured her that it wasn't throw up and tried to explain spit up, it wasn't long before Greta wanted to hold her again, though she listens to me when I warn her not to rock her too hard because of what might happen.

It must not have scarred her too badly, however, because this is the second day that it only took about 15 minutes at home on the couch, after a little snack, to have both Hadley and Greta sound asleep for a nap. Notice the hand that has fallen away from the mouth and is covering Hadley, it took some prying to remove her so I could put her in her bassinet, but neither sister noticed and remain snoozing at this time.

See? I just couldn't have you miss out on something like this now, could I?

5!

From This:

To This:

Yesterday we celebrated a very special day,

and it was great, just like the same day

5 years earlier, only with more faces to clean up.

Rose-Colored Half Full Glasses

I'm not one you could necessarily call an Optimist. Pessimist more often than naught I suppose. It's all part of me trying to one up a bad scenario -- or potential disaster in the making. Of course you really can't one up those, but I like to at least feel mentally or emotionally prepared. I'm not sure if that is really a good quality, I'm sure it sounds slightly morbid, but I don't think of it that way. However...today I have stopped to reflect on just close to perfect the past month has gone. I mean, aside from being huge and uncomfortable for quite a while, that really is just a splash in the bucket. Meaningless. So I figured instead of keeping my reflections to myself, I will share them with you. As I sit and type and feel filled with joy, I'm trying to keep the this is too good, what is going to happen vibes at bay because they want to join in the party....

So, I bring you: The Glass is Half Full

1. I got to be there for Greta's first few weeks of Kindergarten

2. I got to spend the first 2 weeks of the school year with my students

3. While no where close to pain free, my labor was exceptionally fast and actually slightly less miserable than the others as it didn't include all of the hours of contraction activity and the unpleasant bodily functions that go with that.

4. This morning I took Clara to school, Greta has the day off so we are spending it together. A little nervous about how Clara would handle this transition (because someone else has been taking her all week) once her school was in view she said "Bye Baby Hadley, I'll see you later, Love You!" in the car and then walked into school herself (without having to be carried).

5. Greta and I have sat at home, watched tv, read books, ate apples with carmel dip and played 3 games of CandyLane -- of which my nearly 5 year old was rooting for me to win AND while I was putting laundry in the dryer she moved the cards so that I would get GOOD CARDS. And yes, I won 2 out of 3 games.

6. A friend is bringing pizza and salad for us for dinner tonight

7. I think Greta and I will maybe paint our fingernails later, or at least hers

8. Hadley slept from 9 until 1:15 last night and then from 2 until 4:30.

9. Because I had Hadley last weekend, on the weekend Chris was scheduled to work, that means I get him home with us this weekend instead of gone for 12 hours each day at the golf course. What a great way to mark our first week as our new improved -- and complete -- family.

10. There is no ten right now, because I'm leaving it open for the great things yet to come.

Pictures

This is actually what I meant to post earlier. Just some pics from the last few days.

Day Three

We've been home since noon on Sunday, nearly 36 hours since Hadley roared her way into the world at full blast. We are all doing well. Thought I'd include some pictures of the past few days, she's been sleeping a ton today, so there aren't many with her eyes open, or without other hands plastered all over her.