Conversations with the Doctor

Doctor (every single time we have a doctor appointment for a baby): How’s he* nursing.

Me (unless it’s the first week or two): Fine.

Dr: How’s he sleeping?

Me (lying through my teeth): Fine.

[Alternately: Me: Like a baby.**]

Dr: And how many poopy diapers?

Me (every single time!): (First there’s panic—oh no! Should I be counting these things? Weighing them? Marking some sort of tally? Then there’s a reality check. Hello? You just discovered that he gained two pounds and weighs in some epic high percentile. He’s clearly fine. Why does this matter? Then there’s fear of judgment. She’s going to think I’m a bad mother if I don’t know! Then, finally, there’s the vague reply.) Um, I don’t know. Enough?

Dr: (always pressing the issue!) About how many would you guess?

And then I make up some random number just to make her stop asking.

Except this last time, when here’s what I really said: Just tell me what number I should say here so that it seems normal.

Dr: They usually have between a couple and maybe eight per day.

Me: Okay, we’ll go with six.

And that’s my strategy from now on. What do you want to hear, Doctor? Oh, that’s what you wanted? Well, it just so happens that’s exactly what my kid is doing.

The end.

* Or “she,” of course.

** Which is to say, not very well at all.

Spindles, baby exercises

The kids and I are reading Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, and there is discussion in it of carding and spinning, so we watched some YouTube videos about that. Then we watched one about spinning wheels, and I kept waiting to see something that Sleeping Beauty could have pricked her finger on. Alas, there was nothing.

So then we looked at the Perrault text of the story and discovered it mentions a spindle but no wheel! It was a drop spindle! Oh, Disney. The shame of it all.


In other news, every time I've had a baby, I've thought someone should invent a workout routine that uses the baby as the weights. Today I discovered one! Too bad my baby is now too wiggly and too heavy to use effectively for very long.

http://www.realsimple.com/health/fitness-exercise/workouts/too-tired-too-busy-too-bored-work-out/new-baby-strength-training-routine

Soup

Scene: me feeding baby.
Me: *offers bit of cantaloupe*
Baby: *gnaws on it but makes that face, you knows that face that says he's totally appalled by what I've put in his mouth*
Me: *jokingly offers tiny spoonful of the soup I made, with line, cumin, and jalapeno*
Baby: *eats it happily, gnaws on spoon, eats more afterward*

Later, the baby eats more soup with dinner.

Weird.

Crawling, Earrings

Today's random stuff is normally post on Facebook:

The baby is eight months today! And to celebrate, he decided to officially crawl! Yay! And also eek!

Whenever we go on long drives, I get time to do things like my jewelry making. So I made two sets of earrings yesterday. For other people. Eventually I'll get to the jewelry I've been meaning to make for me. I was totally going to post photos, but apparently blogger doesn't want me to post photos from my phone. Sigh.

Happy new year! I hope that we can all focus on the awesome this year.

Update: pictures!

Maternity-ish Photos

I started writing out a big long explanation about how I don’t have many pregnant photos where I feel like I look both pregnant and cute, and how my photography skills are mediocre, blah blah blah, but I decided that was going to be long and ridiculous. So the short version is what you just read. Plus these items:

1. I have a friend who is a fabulous photographer.

2. I love our cherry tree.

3. I have an awesome husband, and we have awesome kids. They really need to be documented more.

4. While I think maternity photos are lovely, I can never imagine me taking myself seriously in them. So even while we were doing more “traditional” maternity shots, I was trying not to burst into hysterical laughter. Yes, people, that’s not me looking serene and maternal. That’s me trying to hold in my giggles while she took the shot.

And now, without further ado, a bajillion maternity photos and super cute pics of the rest of my family.

She's getting so old! Weird.

I love how much they love each other. All this laughing and playing together--it isn't fake. They really do like to be together. It makes me feel all happy and squishy inside.

I have mostly stopped trying to control what the girls wear for photos, but they managed to coordinate relatively well while still being very uniquely them (Addra is, after all, wearing a leotard over a t-shirt and her pants).

Koa just woke up from a nap, so it was very nice of him to humor us.

All he really wanted was Brice. Hence the change in family positions a few shots later.

Just before Koa freaked out because I was still holding him.

"Ah, much better," Koa says. Also, my tired arms might not have objected too much. :)

How I look on the outside.

How I feel on the inside.

A millisecond before I start laughing like a hyena.

Brice is so much more of a natural at looking awesome and handsome and serious and loving in photos. He took to this just fine, knowing exactly what to do, while I was still feeling ridiculous.

Plus, I can't complain when this is what he decides to do. :)

Please also note how cute my hair is. That one time. And never again since. Even though it only takes about seven minutes.