Trick or Treat!

As predicted, I was up working on costumes into the wee hours of the night last night. I like the idea of sewing and I like the end result, but sometimes the actual task makes me want to pull my hair out. I rediscovered how much I hate dealing with fabric fur, because pieces of it get EVERYWHERE. It currently looks like a large, black, hairy animal exploded in my house -- the current level of black fuzzies in the house far exceeds the normal level generated by the actual dog.

Both the babies wore some festive Halloween-ish duds today before donning their costumes proper (although Molly expressed her displeasure at being dressed in another of Mom's silly outfits by blowing out a diaper). Of course, I couldn't resist having the babies wear theme costumes, so Max was the Big Bad Wolf and Molly was Little Red Riding Hood. Since last year Max went as a boy, dressed as a boy, dressed as wolf, this year we just cut out the middleman and Max was simply a boy dressed as a wolf. Max enjoyed his first Halloween as a real trick-or-treater (last year he just helped Mom hand out candy on the porch). We tried to teach him to say "trick or treat," but it didn't seem to stick, so he toddled around to the neighbors' houses and just said "hi" and "bye bye" instead. Judging by the amount of candy in his bucket, that seems to have worked just as well. ;)

Max's favorite treat by far was a little bag of Fritos that he got at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He clutched it in his hand during the entire outing and refused to put it back in his bucket. When we were finished trick or treating, we opened the Fritos for him and let him eat them out of the bag. He thought that was the greatest thing and wouldn't even share his chips with Mom and Dad. Cider the dog also thought that letting Max handle his own bag of goodies was a grand idea, since she followed along right behind him and cleaned up any crumbs that he dropped. ;) Between the nose paint and all the goodies, it was definitely a mandatory bath night for Max.

On a unrelated note, my first days back at work were fine. It's weird to be back in the office after being at home for six months (either working from home or on maternity leave), but I'm sure I'll settle right back into the routine. Hey, after all, I'd almost forgotten what it's like to be able to sit in one spot for more than five seconds and go to the bathroom any old time I feel like it (and without an audience, mind you!). Molly isn't particularly happy about the absence of the milk bar -- she hasn't been taking much of her afternoon bottle and has a little nurse-a-thon when I get home. But I'd much rather have a nursing baby who has bottle issues than a bottle baby who has nursing issues! I'm sure we'll all settle into the new routine before long.

All Good Things

The baby party is officially over tomorrow morning -- my maternity leave is finally up. Not that I don't like my job and my co-workers, but there's a part of me that wishes I could stay home all day with my babies. But, then again, there's also a part of me that fears that I might go a little batty if I did ;). So, since all good things must come to an end, tomorrow I pack up my work bag (which once again contains an assortment of pumping paraphrenalia) for the first time since May and head off to the office.

These are the looks I got from the babies when I told them I had to go back to work tomorrow (Molly wanted to know if there'd still be milk):



I'm glad that I was able to have a proper maternity leave this time around -- it was really nice getting to spend a lot of time just taking care of and enjoying my baby. Max was still in the NICU when I went back to work, which was really rough. I took my remaining vacation time after he came home, but it wasn't even close to enough. It's hard working eight hour days when you're getting up to feed a very tiny baby every three hours, not to mention the fact that said baby takes an hour to eat and then you still have a half hour of pumping and clean-up time ahead of you. We managed to muddle through somehow, although I'm still not quite sure how we did it (especially since I had sworn off caffeiene entirely, as it made Max's reflux worse). It should be much easier this time around -- Molly nurses like a champ and is starting to sleep longer stretches at night. So, Mom will head off to work and Dad will hold down the baby fort. Molly will have a bottle for the first time in two months, although I'm sure the little piggy won't have any trouble sucking it down.

We're finishing up our Halloween preparations here (yes, once again I'm sewing costumes at the last minute). It never seems to matter how early I start, I'm always still doing stuff at the last minute. It'll be fun to take Max trick-or-treating at the neighbors' houses and I'll bring Molly along for the ride. We've been trying to teach him how to say "trick or treat," but so far he hasn't produced anything that sounds remotely promising. I am bummed because I never made it to the orchard/pumpkin patch with Max, due to poor timing and even poorer weather, so it looks like we're skipping the pumpkin carving this year. It has pretty much rained nonstop here for the last couple of weeks, which made scheduling outings a tad difficult. Molly did volunteer to stand in as the family pumpkin, though, so all is not lost. ;) I won't tell you what costumes Max and Molly will be wearing -- you'll have to stop back after Halloween and see for yourself. :)

I hope everyone has a great Halloween -- may you end up with more treats than tricks!

Not Do

I usually like to approach things with a "can do" philosophy. Like Yoda says (and, really, who's wiser than Yoda?), "Do or not do. There is no try." I've found it works better to just assume you can do something and carry on until proven wrong. This attitude usually works really well for me. Usually.

So, yesterday the hospital called to let me know that they had some openings at the audiology clinic and would I like to move up Molly's appointment? They had one opening first thing this morning, which was as much more convenient day and time than the original appointment. Dad wasn't working Thursday night, so a Friday morning appointment would be just perfect. I was all happy about the new appointment until I remembered that Dad had a dentist appointment that same morning. Obviously, Max couldn't go with Dad to the dentist, so I figured I'd just take him along to Molly's appointment with me. After much planning on the best and most efficient way to get both babies safelty into the hospital and to the appointment, I was feeling like I had things pretty much under control.

We got up early, got both babies up, fed, and dressed, and I gathered up all the necessary gear. I had diapers and wipes. I had a change of clothes for Molly, in case she decided to have a poorly timed diaper blow out. I brought crackers and water to keep Max busy during what I thought would be a brief and straightforward hearing test. We drove through the rain and dark to the hospital, and Molly, the little darling, slept peacefully during the whole trip. When we got there, I snapped Molly's carseat into the stroller, grabbed the diaper bag, picked up Max, and headed for the appointment location. Pushing a stroller with one hand while holding a 25+ toddler isn't the easiest thing to do, but we made it to the office on time ... only to discover that the audiology clinic wasn't where it used to be. Lugging everyone down to the lower level, we found the clinic, checked in, and sat down to wait our turn.

When the doctor called us back, we trudged down a series of hallways, through what appeared to be a break room, and into the examining "room," which was about the size of a large closet. Once we squeezed a large stroller, a carseat, some hearing test equipment, a baby, a toddler, a doctor, and a (starting to get very tired) mom into the room, there literally wasn't any room to move. As planned, I removed the carseat from the stroller, sat Max into the stroller, and made my first tactical error by giving Max the bag of crackers to keep him occupied while the doctor explained the hearing test. I didn't realize that the hearing test that Molly was getting is the same one that they give in the NICU ... where the baby has to be alseep for the test results to be accurate. Having slept soundly in the car, Molly was now WIDE awake and checking everything out. As I tried to convince Molly that she was sleepy, Max was merrily shoving crackers into his mouth. Finally, after taking Molly out of the seat and swaying back and forth with her for about 30 minutes, she finally fell asleep ... at almost exactly the same time that Max finished his crackers and started to get fidgety. As the doctor ran the test on one ear, I tried to keep Max quiet and occupied.

I ran through my usual Max distraction techniques (yes, the same ones that I used on the recent car trip -- with just about as much success) and barely managed to make it through the hearing test on Molly's right ear. The baby was totally zonked out at this point, so I thought I'd carefully set her in the carseat and take Max out into the other room so the doctor could quickly complete the test. At about this point Max figured out how to slide between the stroller bar and the seat (I hadn't buckled him in) and was loose in the room. Unfortunately, as the doctor was reattaching the leads for the test, he managed to thoroughly wake the sleeping baby. I ended up trying to soothe Molly back to sleep (fat chance), while attempting to contain a cranky (and now very tired) toddler, since the appointment had stretched MUCH longer than I had anticipated and we were now infringing on Max's nap time. Much howling was done by all, causing the doctor to have to flee the room for about ten minutes. The doctor finally gave up, gave Molly the less thorough test in both ears, and scheduled her for a follow-up visit in four months. He didn't seem to cheer up much when I joked that all the rest of his appointments today would be a piece of cake compared to this one!

During the course of the testing, it was determined that Max had fallen through the hospital cracks and should also have been having regular hearing tests (due to his prematurity, the fact that he had bacterial meningitis, and some family history of congenital deafness). So, while we were checking out with my now-angelic toddler and sleeping baby, they decided to schedule Max for the next available appointment ... which turns out to be the very same appointment slot that Molly had originally had. Ugh!

And, to really top off my morning, when I got back to the car and was ready to pack up the babies, I discovered that someone had parked so close on Molly's side of the car that it was physically impossible to open the door wide enough to squeeze the carseat in. Having already buckled Max into his seat, I had to take Molly's carseat around to the other side of the car, crawl over Max (while carrying the seat), and snap it into the base.

Needless to say, I will only be taking one baby at a time to all future audiology appointments. It has now become glaringly obvious that Yoda never had children.

What's Your Soundtrack?

I had to steal this meme -- it's too much fun! You all give it a try and lets see what's lurking around in your iPod archives. ;)

My life's movie soundtrack

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

Opening Credits: "Love Letter" - Nick Cave

Waking Up: "Everything Shines" - Great Big Sea

First Day At School: "Calling You" - Blue October

Falling In Love: "Babalon" - David Grey

Fight Song: "Bubble Toes" - Jack Johnson

Breaking Up: "You Don't Have Me" - Patty Griffin

Prom: "Silver Lining" - Amanda Ghost

Life Is Good: "Woke Up This Morning" - A3

Mental Breakdown: "Back in the Bottle" - Tammany Hall

Driving: "True Companion" - Marc Cohn

Flashback: "Same in Any Language" - I Nine

Getting Back Together: "Comfort" - Deb Talen

Wedding: "Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison

Paying The Dues: "Truth" - Patty Griffin

The Night Before The War: "Monday Morning" - Daisy May

Final Battle: "Your Body is a Wonderland" - John Mayer

Moment of Triumph: "Ragland Road" - The Frames

Death Scene: "Landslide" - Fleetwood Mac

Funeral Song: "Sugar Blue" - Jeff Finlin

End Credits: "New York, New York" - Ryan Adams

There and Back Again

We have gone off and had our big adventure and returned in one piece (and even tolerably well rested). We had a very good visit -- Grandma and Grandpa (and an aunt and an uncle) enjoyed seeing the babies and Max had a fantastic time "jugging" a new and exciting house and playing with Grandma's stash of toys. As it turned out, it wasn't the going to bed that was a challenge, it was the three-hour car ride. I purposely left mid morning on Tuesday -- right after Molly's feeding and right at Max's normal nap time. The first hour and a half of the drive was glorious (in spite of the crummy, drizzly weather) -- Molly zonked right out in the car and Max looked out the window for a while before falling asleep himself. I was patting myself on the back and thinking how awesome my mothering and organizational skills were ... until Max woke up. Since his usual naps last two hours and he only slept for one hour, he woke up crabby and proceeded to whine and fuss for the rest of the trip.

I sang songs. I recited many of his bedtime books from memory, including his all-time favorite "Moo, Baa, La La La." I suggested he look at all the cool cars and animals that we passed. Max was not appeased. I managed to dig some crackers of questionable freshness out of the car diaper bag, which bought me about ten minutes of happy toddler silence -- at least until he finished the crackers, asked for more, and discovered that there weren't any more. The whining resumed -- I turned up the radio. Molly, who was the one I thought might act up in the car, slept peacefully during the whole trip. We did eventually reach Grandma and Grandpa's house and Mom only had a slight headache.

However, Max did surprise me by going to bed at night like a perfect angel. I brought his pack and play (which he hasn't been in for at least six months), his favorite blanket, his stuffed monkey from the NICU, his comfort blanket (i.e. burp cloth), his binky (yes, he still sleeps with his paci), and his large, plastic musical crib toy. I set up his bed and we followed our normal bedtime routine (pjs, brush teeth, read a story, turn out the light, sing a song in the dark, kiss mama, get tucked in, turn on musical crib toy, and say goodnight). After Max was all tucked in, I left the room, closed the door, and he whined for all of 30 second before going to sleep. Then he did it again the second night. That's my good boy! Since Molly and I were sleeping in the same room with him and Max is a very light sleeper, I was afraid that we'd wake him up and he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. We did wake him up, but he would just pop his head up, say "Mama, HI!," and then go back to sleep. Molly slept pretty well also, although she did wake up every 3-4 hours to eat, as per usual.

We did have some fun firsts this weekend. Molly took her first walk! We bundled her up, but her in the sling, and zipped her into my coat. She fell fast asleep and was nice and cozy while the rest of us enjoyed the walk (or the stroller, in Max's case). Max also took his very first bath in the big tub, without his little inflatable tubby. He thought it was strange and was a little scared for all of 30 seconds, until he figured out how much more fun it was to splash in all of that water (not to mention playing with the bath toys). Max also took a nap in a big bed. He was so tired by the last day of our visit that he crawled up on my lap after breakfast, laid his head down on my shoulder, and started rubbing his eyes. I'd already packed up the pack and play and put it in the car, so I laid down with him in the big bed and covered him up with his blanket. After about ten minutes of "Mama, HI!" and having him beep my nose, he zonked out and slept there for over an hour. Maybe moving him out of the crib won't be so difficult after all ... (hehe, right).

And, in reference to my previous post, although I felt like I was bringing WAY too much stuff for a short trip, I really wasn't! The musical crib toy was, in fact, necessary and I've discovered that it isn't possible to bring too many burp cloths. I thought I had packed too many outfits and sleepers for Molly, but she went on a clothes rampage. We had FOUR diaper blow outs, two pee babys, and countless attacks of the 'gurge. By the time I put her into her car seat for the ride home, she was wearing her very last clean sleeper. We also managed to blow through ALL of the wipes we had packed.

The ride home was much like the ride up North, without the calm and quiet first half. :P Molly slept most of the way, but Max wasn't happy about being in the car. We did stop to see some friends about 2/3 of the way through the trip, so Max got to get out and stretch his legs and play with his little friends' toys for a while (thank you!). Max finally fell asleep about 45 minutes from home ... at which point Molly promptly woke up and started fussing. She complained for about ten minutes before going back to sleep, but not before she woke up Max, who carried on the whining for her. Needless to say, we were all happy to pull into our driveway!

So, now we begin the mad dash to Halloween. Mom hasn't finished baby costumes yet (ok, I haven't really even started), so it should be an interesting few days of wrangling with the sewing machine and lots of fake fur.

On the Road Again!

Mom is either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish (no comments from the peanut gallery), because I'm packing up the babies and taking my first solo trip with them (and Molly's first trip, period!). Max, Molly, and Mom are hitting the road and heading up North to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We're looking forward to the visit and I'm sure everyone will have a lot of fun. However, it should be interesting to see what happens when you put Max the Incredibly Light Sleeper, Molly the Demanding, and Mom the Sleepless in one room together for a couple of nights (not to mention trying to get Max down for naps!). Hopefully we'll be able to figure it out, everyone will get enough sleep to function, and Max won't morph into the Insanely Crabby Toddler Who Will Not Nap. Either that or I'll be breaking my "no coffee while nursing" rule and hitting a couple of Starbucks along the way. ;)

Of course, as I attempt to get ready for the trip, I realize why it is that people try to avoid traveling with babies -- babies (and their parents) require insane amounts of gear to function at even a subsistence level. I just packed up the babies' suitcase, which is easily twice the size of my suitcase (containing a subset of their wardrobes which is definitely much cuter and more stylish than my own). Between bringing enough items to attempt to recreate Max's familiar sleeping accommodations (is it overkill to bring his musical crib toy?) and enough clothing to account for Molly's reflux (how many burp cloths is too many?), the babies' suitcase is already full to bursting, even though I thought I was packing light. I'm not sure how we'll survive without Molly's swing or Max's crib, but I sincerely doubt they'd fit into the SUV after we pack all the necessary diapers. Stay tuned for all the juicy post-trip tales!

A New 'Do

The deed has been done -- Max had his very first haircut today. Mom clipped off a lock to save and then it was off to the barber shop! Max was a very good boy during the whole haircut -- he sat on Dad's lap and seemed to enjoy being the center of attention (either that or he was just mesmerized by the cartoons that they played on the TV). I was afraid that his hair would look too different from his "regular" look after he got it cut, but it looks mostly the same, just shorter and neater (and it makes him look even older!). My baby boy continues to grow up at an astonishing clip. *sigh*

Here are the before and after shots:



The biggest change is in the back:



As promised, we managed to catch Molly smiling when we had the camera handy. Dad is very good at coaxing the smiles out of her. After I took the picture, I realized that we had a similar picture of Max at about the same adjusted age, wearing the same bib and sitting in the same seat. I hereby submit hard evidence that my children look nothing alike:




And I thought Max was a chunk!!

When You're Smiling

Yes, indeed -- we have a little smiling girl over here! Molly smiled her first official (i.e. not gas related) smile today while Mom and Dad were talking to her. As I've said before, I think babies have some killer survival instincts -- it's no coincidence that they start smiling at exactly the point when your extreme lack of sleep and their colicky behavior prompts you to start scanning the streets for gypsies. Of course, we didn't actually capture the first smile on "film," so we'll have to post some smiley pictures as soon as we get them (rather than the "disgruntled girl in a bow" photo seen here).

We've also gone weightless as of this week -- we finally returned the rented BabyWeigh scale, since Molly no longer really needed it (especially given the current number of chins that she's sporting). I think the compulsion to obsessively track baby's weight down to the last gram is a preemie parent thing -- even though it is totally obvious that Molly isn't having any trouble in the weight gain department, I still feel insecure now that I won't know exactly what she weighs. I don't know how parents of normal, full term babies can get through those first few weeks without being able to check how many ounces their baby is gaining a day (in Molly's case, it was 2-3 oz a day!). However, I'm sure Molly won't really miss being stripped down and set on a cold scale in the buff. We did have to take some photos of the last weigh in, just like we did with Max.

Alas, I don't think I can postpone it much longer -- Max is tentatively scheduled to get his hair cut this week. I love his baby curls, but I do have to admit that he's looking a little shaggy lately and he's having more bad hair days than I am! At least I can comfort myself with the knowledge that I won't have to get Molly's hair cut. It will be interesting to see what he thinks of the whole hair-cutting process (and, of course, we'll take some pictures for posterity ;).

Well Baby!

Molly is two months old now and had her well baby checkup yesterday. She's growing like a weed and is healthy as a horse! Apparently, there are plenty of good eats at Mom's, because Molly weighed in at 12 lbs and is 22 1/4 inches long. That puts her at 75% for weight and 50% for height on the growth charts for her actual age -- what a little bruiser! So, she's already all caught up sizewise and is pretty much where she should be developmentally, although she'll probably be at the back of the developmental pack for a little while (she does get six weeks of preemie credit, if she needs it). She's holding her head up really well, although she hasn't started doing more than the occasional smile or coo. Aside from a tinge of yellow in the whites of her eyes, Molly's jaundice has cleared up and the doctor didn't see a need to retest her bilirubin levels.

Molly did have to get her 2-month vaccinations -- poor little girl. Having only spent six days in the NICU (versus the 67 days that Max camped out there), Molly didn't acquire much of a tolerance for pokes. While Max always cried during the shots, but then stopped as soon as I picked him up, Molly cried for a couple of minutes and shed some real tears (*sniff*). She was too upset to go back in her carseat right afterwards and wanted Mom to hold her, so I lugged her around the doctor's office until we were all checked out and ready to get in the car. She's been a little sleepier than usual, but seems to have weathered the shots just fine. Being the paranoid mom that I am, I dosed her with vitamin C a few days before the shots and will continue a few days after. It's been suggested that it might help prevent bad reactions to vaccinations and I figure it can't hurt.

Since she's such a big girl now, Molly did decide that she's no longer my little peanut and needed a more appropriate endearment. Even though Molly can't really talk (and, that being the case, proper grammar is lost on her as well), I'm pretty sure she meant to have a discussion like this:

"Good morning, my little peanut," says the Mama.

"Mama, I not a peanut," Molly replies, "I a ca-shoo."

"A what?" says the clueless Mama.

"I too big to be a peanut. I a ca-shoo!" insists Molly.

"A cashew? Why of course you are," replies the Mama.

"Ca-shoooooo!!" squeals Molly.

So, there you have it -- Molly has been upgraded to cashew status, having outgrown her preemie peanut-ness. Walnut ho! ;)

On the Max front, the terrible two-ness rages on as my baby boy rapidly outgrows his babyhood. There have been lots of tantrums and plenty of whining at our house these last few weeks, but just as much silliness and fun. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly he picks things up and all the new things he learns every day. He's been saying "hi" for months, but just this week he started saying "hello," after watching someone say it in a video. He now walks around saying "hew-WO!" to everyone he meets. Max and I like to take our daily constiutional after dinner and it can turn into an awfully long walk when Max decides to greet every person he sees.

Although I initially thought Max would be too young to be jealous of the baby, he does seem to have had a slight run in with the green monster. Max has never been a cuddly little boy -- he's always too busy and on the go. But, lately, after watching us hold and tote around his baby sister, he's decided that he wants in on the snuggling action. Of course, Mom doesn't really mind when her little boy wants to climb in her lap, lay his head down on her shoulder, and cuddle during his bedtime stories. It makes me think back to the first time I was able to kangaroo him and how I could hold all of his tiny body in one hand. Now his feet knock around my knees and he's so heavy that it's a challenge to lift him into his crib. It's amazing how much things can change in such a relatively short period of time.

I'm also happy to report that my cold was short lived and I think it is safe to say that the babies have avoided the virus. I guess all the hand washing and Purell using paid off (even though my hands are SO dry now).