Big Boy

This is why there are not many Ricord boys. Jacob is not yet 2 months and wearing 3-6 month clothes. The kid is a brute!

Bounce house fun!

Kates school was closed yesterday so we invited her school friends to a bouncehouse with us. She had a blast. And Jacob slept the whole time (love my ergo!).

Old wives tale

So I think the old wives tale is true. Jacob is over 12 lbs (Kate is just 29 lbs herself) and he has slept 7 hours straight for four nights.

I feel lucky, spoiled, and rested and I am living in the moment knowing tonight I could be up all night.

Have a babysitter today so I can go to the doctor with only one kid. :). Kate and I are going to find somethig special to do while we are at it.

Nursing

"Horsey is eating so kitty cat gets to watch a show on tv."

Oops

"Horsey had an accident," she explains. "He went poopy on them."

Two guesses who had a poopy accident at school today...

Considering a Move to Google+

Now that Google+ has a circles feature, I am thinking about moving the blog over yonder to minimize the places that I post/write/bullsh*t... still chewing on this one but since my video and pictures automatically upload from my phone to Google this is a very handy place for a mama of two to post from.  Those of you who insist on not participating in Google+... well... I can offer to send it to you in email form as long as that is supported, but otherwise you'd be SOL.

Still munching on it.  Will get back to you.  In the meantime... a video...

Mobile Friendly

We are now mobile-browser friendly!  Read while walking!  Woo hoo!  (Disclaimer:  not responsible for accidents related to browser reading while walking, driving, skipping, jumping, hopping, biking, or lolligaging.)

Princess? Really?

So, yes, I am anti-princess. I have avoided any princess items staying in our house and glad Kate can recognize Thomas the train but not Sleeping Beauty. (commercialism as a whole is harder to avoid than princesses....)

Today, at the doctor, a very disturbing thing happened. My daughter, who loves dogs, who loves kitties, chose the Snow White sticker over all others. Dumbfounded I began my interrogation.

Casually I asked, "so who told you about princesses?" Ready to hear her teacher or daycare friend be named, I instead had to look no further than my own family.

"Nana," she said. "Nana knows about princesses."

Oh great. Has Nana told you about crack, too? I have my work cut out for me.

Single moms deserve free nannies

Past and future:

10pm finally fall asleep
11pm feed baby
12pm back asleep
3:20am feed baby
Rock baby, burp baby, cuss at baby, change clothes after getting spit up on, bounce baby, get spit up on again.
4:50 in bed
5:00 baby crying. Try again.
5:50 baby asleep. Hubby gets up for work.
Kate wakes up. Put her in our bed with a book and strict instructions to rest until her clock alarm goes off.
Iron clothes, make coffee.
Make hotel reservation for hubby for tonight.
6:45 Say goodbye to hubby.
Feed Kate. Feed dog. Drink coffee.
7:20 Shower. Kate dresses self (small miracles...)
7:30 feed baby
7:45 breathe...

Todays adventures include: Dr appt for Kate, the hubby's first day of work (new faculty orientation this week), going to work while mama and papa watch the kids, then my first night solo!

How To Get Dressed

Mall Pictures: dos and don'ts

Do: know what you are using as a bribe ahead of time. This prevents you naming everything under the sun in desperation. As it stands, Kate earned a ride on the carousel, a snack, a new car, and a full-ride at the college of her choosing.

Don't: tell your husband, "I'm okay. I got this. Go get yourself some coffee."

Do: bring stuff from home like toys, props, blankets.

Don't: think nursing before leaving the house is enough. Nurse minutes before sitting down.

Do: bring changes of clothing and burp aggressively.

Don't: cry.

HAPPY Birthday

Kate made a one year old birthday cake for Jacob. It should keep, right?

Lesson Learned...Again.

I had leftover pasta for lunch yesterday. It had cheese on it. Ricotta. And then... The baby woke up frequently with gas pains, squirming and screaming. 

Right. Okay. I got it.

Finally got him to sleep and off of me after a morning of rocking, bouncing, shushing, and walking.

Well Good Morning

Sigh... A Greek tragedy: baby sleeps for six hours while mother, restless and paranoid with worry, wakes every two hours to make sure baby is breathing.

Seriously? I mean, seriously?

I am getting xanax.

My sin

Fridge brewed coffee and sweetened condensed milk.

Sleepless comfort.

Mama Bear

Another reason mamas are compared to bears and lionesses: they have and use sharp claws when you wake them.

Daddy P made this mistake. I had fallen asleep on the floor of the baby's room and ripped into him when toddler and dad barged in and woke me. To his credit he was trying to get the baby since he was stirring. Unfortunately the stirring was not yet at a level to wake me whereas my toddler pouncing on me was.

Today is our first semi-normal day. Daddy P is driving to Belton to get some things ready, Kate is at school and I have clients tonight.

Happy happy

Couldn't find my favorite sleep book so I bought it online. Man, my kids fit that book to a t. As a result, we slept from 11 pm to 5am and since Paul did all burping, diapering and baby getting I felt like I slept from 9:30 to 7am. Aweeesooome. I feel like a new person.

And the hubby made pancakes to boot.

What is this, my birthday?

One Month Pictures

My cuties...

Ice Cream test

I ate ice cream last night.  It was yummy.  My favorite treat:  an M&M McFlurry.

The results?  A fussy, awake, spitting-up baby.  All day.  Either eating, crying, or (occasionally and very disrupted) sleeping.

And then, finally, with the help of the bouncer he released a sh*t-ton of gas and poop and suddenly calmed slightly.

Goodbye, ice cream... 

Sorry, Mom

So, in attending to the peeing in the closet situation... On the way home from school I started checking in to see about what was going on with Kate that day. I told her that, that morning I really appreciated that when she wanted to talk to me she came up, tapped me, and said "excuse me."

Then I said, "Sometimes we try to get attention by doing other things. Daddy told me that you went potty in the house yesterday and I think you did that to get Daddy's attention. It can be hard when he's holding baby brother. Do you have ideas for other ways you can get attention when Daddy is holding baby?"

Kate answered, "I could tap you but I like Daddy more."

Zing. Insert Knife. Twist.

This is what 12 y.o. is going to feel like.

1 Month Stats

Height: 22 7/8 (95-98%ile)

Weight: 11 lb 10 oz (90 - 95%ile)

FOC: 39 cm (90-95%ile)

Five Fraking Hours!

My kid slept from 11pm to 4am. As did I. Thank heavens! Maybe someday it will happen again!

And, I raise you one

You all know Kate's been tantruming for attention.

Well, the game just got a bit more high stakes.

Last weekend, we had my sister-in-law and nephew in town.  Kate had been talking about her cousin Mason for a week.  Saturday morning, her first words were "Is Mason coming today?"  She is in love with her big cousin Mason and followed him around laughing at every cool thing he did and trying to do whatever he did.  It was totally adorable.

But.

Saturday we had a tiny get together for my birthday.  In the midst of things, Mason looked a little lost, so I suggested Paul play ball with them.  They began to play t-ball, and Kate helped field the game.  When it was her turn at bat she couldn't hit as well as her cousin and quickly became frustrated.  When Daddy P told her it was Mason's turn she got upset.

Not long thereafter, she walked onto the patio, peed a large puddle of urine around her, and then promptly yelled, "Daddy!  I went potty in my pants and now I need your attention!"

This sets the scene up nicely for

ACT II

KITCHEN - EVENING

Paul holds the baby while preparing dinner.  Kate is frustrated and fussing around the kitchen.  She goes to stand in the pantry and closes the door.  She emerges a minute later.

                           KATE
                           I peed in there.  You need to change me.

                           PAUL
                           I can't right now.  Go change your panties.


You can guess how tense the house was when I got home from work.  Both kids were crying when I got home.  Kate was crying because Jacob was crying, Jacob was crying because he was hungry, and Paul was crying (well, not really, but he was a little pissed) because the baby wouldn't take the bottle I'd left.  I think my husband deserves a mini vacation for braving the kids at dinner alone.  Unfortunately for him, this is going to be a regular Monday night occurrence since I am seeing clients Monday and Friday nights... poor dude.  On the flip side, I will have the kids alone every morning, so we'll have to commiserate together somewhere in the middle...

Strangely (luckily!) Kate loves her baby brother.  He has not been blamed at all for any of this, although she clearly holds Paul and I responsible.  Which is fine and appropriate.  But I continually find it a small miracle she hasn't hit him, thrown something on him or tried to smother him.  (whew.  since these are all stories i have heard from friends in this situation!)