Super Mommy!

So it seems that having a child has given me actual cosmic powers. Wednesday night, Tim and I stayed up until 3 a.m. working on home improvement/cleaning in preparation for our home appraisal (refi) happening the next day. I haven’t tried to pull an all-nighter since college, and even then, I only tried to do that a total of twice. Both times I made it to 4:30 a.m. with the largest bag of skittles they make mostly depleted.

Wednesday night? Not so bad. Certainly I was tired (stayed up until 1 a.m. the night before) and a smidge cranky, namely with my waning strength to help Tim with some woodwork installing. But overall, we both just kept trucking until everything was complete.

Flying an airplane while he sleeps

And Thursday at work, I just caffeinated at three hour intervals (only one cup of coffee and two sodas, so not more than 300 milligrams of caffeine, no worries, won’t hurt baby). That seemed to work out pretty well. Whenever I felt the need to put my head down on my desk and close my eyes, I just got up and told someone a funny story about Levi 

Not only do I have “staying awake to accomplish everything in a mostly lucid state on only three hours of sleep” superpower, I also have The Force. On Tuesday night, Levi slept for TEN HOURS straight. We marked it down to a fluke b/c he hadn’t slept much at daycare that day. But the next night, this time even more amidst banging, drilling, vacuuming (at 11:30 p.m., no less), sawing, dragging furniture around, etc. Levi slept for 9.5 hours!!! On Wednesday night, shortly before falling asleep at 3 a.m., I said out loud “Levi, you will NOT wake Mommy up between now and 6:30 when I have to get up to feed you before we get ready for the day.” And (long, dramatic pause with face screwed up in utter astonishment at my own force of awesomeness) it worked!!! [update one week later: Levi has hit his three-month growth spurt, so he is now eating twice/night instead of zero times per night. Ah well, you can’t win ‘em all.]

Working on finding his thumb on occassion

But enough about me. You want to see Levi! Since our house was in better shape than it’s been…….ever (Tim said “our house is in as good shape now as it was when we moved in! and then we remembered that when we moved in we only owned a coffee table and a futon mattress, the walls in every room were covered in quick coats of thin primer to temporarily erase the dirty or gaudy color of every. single. room. And our kitchen was the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen in your life).

I should note that Tim also said “Honey, I’d like it if our house looked like this all the time.” I told him that he should get right on that.

[I have a poop story. But per this post, I’m not allowed to write about it yet.]

I like to sleep with my arm extended....

One of the things Tim and I have been enjoying about parenthood is the ability to be two-against-one. For example, when Tim tells his corny jokes, I tell Levi not to listen so he won’t start getting into the habit of thinking corny jokes are funny. If I’m saying something silly or running around the house like a tornado trying to accomplish too many things, I hear muttered from the dad and baby lounging on the couch “mommy’s crazy – she needs to slow down.” When I complain about the incessant voice of Joe Castiglione, Tim says “don’t listen to mommy, Joe is your favorite.” And so we go back and forth, laughing at each other and making Levi laugh.

We have been tackling bath time recently. Both mommy remembering to GIVE the poor boy a bath (it’s not like he really gets dirty!) and making it more fun for the little man. Tuesday night was mostly success – he really hates when I pour water on his head to wash his hair, so that part ended not so well, and the 90 seconds it takes me to quick rub him dry all over, throw the diaper on and get him in an outfit again are also much protested (he HATES being cold). But the other parts he finds quite enjoyable. I confess to teaching him how to kick his legs to splash water – which I will later regret, I’m sure. Right now his bath is up on the kitchen sink and I have to stand on my tippy-toes to bathe him, so I don’t get too wet and my back doesn’t get too sore 

What's that? New carpet? blurg

In somewhat of a departure from the normal (if you can call them that) blog posts here on Words of White, I wanted to share a domestic disagreement that Holly and I have been having lately regarding Holly's recent barrage of puke stories on this here blog. Holly feels she's giving the people what they want, I feel it's cringe-worthy TMI, my two sisters were called in to mediate. Krista's solution: everybody loves a little conflict, so air the grievances right on the blog. The following is excerpted from an email conversation among myself, Holly, Krista, and Kara.

***

Listen, I love a good poop joke as much as the next guy, but things have gotten a little out of hand on our friendly little family blog. I don't know whether the isolation of maternity leave has left Holly with some type of post-partum Stockholm Syndrome (wherein she is sympathizing with her captor, Levi's, misdeeds), or if this is just what happens when Holly is allowed to run unchecked (e.g. the "Commando Incident").*

For cross-examination, allow me to add some commentary to a portion of the latest blog post. My reactions in brackets:

I may have mentioned this before, but Levi has become a champion spit-upper [a fact. and one that i'm sure many parents identify with]. I keep finding random spots in our house covered in spit-up that I forgot to clean up (forgetting is one of the things I do best these days) [kinda gross; kinda funny; kinda makes you not want to visit us any time soon]. On the floor outside his room, on our (luckily leather) couch, on his little playmat on the floor, on my shoe... [OK, getting a little too visual]

We actually had another real-live puke incident again last night [uh oh. i know where this is going]. He spit up a little bit after eating quite a large dinner, and then it. just. kept. coming. [look! an unintentional metaphor for this blog post!] I literally just held him at arm's length and pointed him away from me (standing on the lower landing of the stairs) [thank you, Ayn Rand, for the thorough use of setting] as regurgitated milk covered the floor, baseboards, me, him, yes. everything [have you lost your mind?? on what planet is this an OK thing to say to a crowd?]. And then hilariously, while I dashed upstairs to strip our now soaking wet outfits, Tim appeared and laid paper towels down on the stairs [what's wrong with that?]. (Anyone seen that clip from Big Daddy where Adam Sandler just lays down newspaper wherever the little dude spills something??) [oh...] In Tim's defense, he was in the middl of cooking dinner and couldn't really be out of the kitchen, [thanks for not totally throwing me under the bus] but it was pretty funny to walk down the stairs and just see paper towels covering up the mess everywhere. And that, is reason #465 why we will always have hardwood floors, people. [really? that was your "wrap up?" Do you want me to write a follow-up piece titled, "What It Sounded Like From The Kitchen?"]

***

I think I make a pretty strong argument there. So we're kicking around the idea of settling the dispute by limiting Holly to one "best of" style bodily function post per month. You know, just Levi's greatest hits. We'll call it the "Barf Blog" or something, and if you're faint of stomach, you can just skip it. That way, Holly will have an outlet for her motherhood war stories, and I'll have plenty of fodder for follow-up posts like this one. We'll keep churning out the funny as long as Levi keeps churning out the... well, you know.

*Holly's clarification: "the commando incident that Tim is referring to is not, in fact, an incident in which I myself went commando and then "ran unchecked." Just wanted to make sure that was clear."

Red Sox boy

So my baby no longer looks like a teeny newborn. Not just because of his size (somewhere north of 11 pounds now) but his face has been changing from the tiny baby (confused about all that is happening) look, to his own facial expressions and features that look more and more like Tim. He's also getting quite long - too long for the bassinet on his pack n' play, and almost ready for his three month clothes, right on time :)

We've been working on holding toys and other things. He's good at grabbing fabrics laying nearby, or my shirt/neck/necklace/hair, but not so great with solid objects yet. We're using Nannan and Papa's wooden animals for practice!

Levi also sported his first Red Sox gear, courtesy of Auntie Kara. He did spit up several times and had to be changed almost immediately, but we'll take that as a sign of his excitement about Red Sox Nation. I'm sure Joe Castiglione already narrates his dozing moments, as he does mine, from hearing him on the radio day after day after day after.....no, I mean, I enjoy it, listening to baseball games for three and a half hours every night....


I may have mentioned this before, but Levi has become a champion spit-upper. I keep finding random spots in our house covered in spit-up that I forgot to clean up (forgetting is one of the things I do best these days). On the floor outside his room, on our (luckily leather) couch, on his little playmat on the floor, on my shoe...

We actually had another real-live puke incident again last night. He spit up a little bit after eating quite a large dinner, and then it. just. kept. coming. I literally just held him at arm's length and pointed him away from me (standing on the lower landing of the stairs) as regurgitated milk covered the floor, baseboards, me, him, yes. everything. And then hilariously, while I dashed upstairs to strip our now soaking wet outfits, Tim appeared and laid paper towels down on the stairs. (Anyone seen that clip from Big Daddy where Adam Sandler just lays down newspaper wherever the little dude spills something??) In Tim's defense, he was in the middl of cooking dinner and couldn't really be out of the kitchen, but it was pretty funny to walk down the stairs and just see paper towels covering up the mess everywhere. And that, is reason #465 why we will always have hardwood floors, people.

Well, today was my first day back at work full time. This was semi-eventful for Levi, as it was his third day at Daycare and it's becoming more routine for him. But it was most eventful for me, for several reasons: a) I accomplished getting Levi fed, dressed, changed, diaper bag together and in his car seat, myself up, dressed, make-up ized and work bag put together, all of the items put into the car and me and my 4" heels walking Levi out to the car, to daycare, and to work on time. I didn't get to my desk until 8:07, but it was a valiant effort, I think. It was also eventful because i actually put in my notice today at my full time position - I'll be transitioning into a role as a writer for a local publication, which is super exciting.

looking at auntie Krista"s mobile

But back to Levi - he survived Daycare the first day, but seemed a bit out of sorts while he was there, probably from the lack of familiarity. He slept only in short, 20-minute bouts a handful of times, and wouldn't sleep when he was put down in his crib (which has never happened to me before). The second day, yesterday, went MUCH better they said, he took a two hour nap around lunch, ate well and went for a little walk! Everyone says that he is the sweetest little boy, which I think so too!

Levi"s dedication

He's getting into a very regular sleep schedule from about 8 p.m. onward: Thursday he slept from 3:30 - 4:10, then again after we got home from 5:15 until 6:45 or so, and on and off again until 8 p.m., so I was afraid that he wouldn't go to sleep at his normal bedtime between 8 and 8:30. However, not the case! He fell asleep shortly after 8 and didn't move until after 11 for his next feeding. I won't mention his sleeping habits for the rest of the night so as not to make other parents want to smack me, but sufficcient to say that he's a great sleeper :)

And just for entertainment purposes, Tim and I did consider  doing this for Levi's dedication instead:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/97919/modern-family-lion-king

Kicky Squirt

So Levi's new favorite thing is getting his diaper changed on his changing table. We didn't frequent the spot before, because I would usually stake out a spot in our house during the day to work on projects - either our room or the dining room table, and just change him nearby because it was easier. But now I mostly keep the changing items in his own room, and he seems to greatly enjoy it. He's always smiley when he's there. Even when he's puking.

 Which is a great transition into: we had our first projectile vomiting. Even though it was 4 minutes before I had to leave for work, as my mom taught me: everything is washable (and if its not, it doesn’t belong in your house). We stripped his outfit, the changing table pad, threw his diapie dog (teddy special for diaper changes) and burp cloth in the laundry. I left the sitter (also named Holly) to re-dress baby boy and headed off to work, logging onto my laptop at 8:07 a.m. Boo ya.

We’ve also graduated to a real, live, full-sized bath. The sponge bath in our Kitchen sink was great until Levi’s legs got strong enough so that he could start stretching and launching his head towards the solidstone surface…So we graduated to a real-boy tub. The one we had turned out to be leaky and not reliable, so we logged on with my Amazon Mom free shipping discount (seriously, I would buy everything from lime juice to a lawn mower online if I could get free shipping. Best thing ever) and bought him one solid plastic baby bath (the original was two pieces, hence the leaking) upon Auntie Krista’s advice. Bad thing about buying things online – photos are rarely shown next to other objects to gauge the size. The new baby bath is just shy of being the size of our own actual bathtub. It came with each side designed slightly differently to put Levi in – one where he leans back while he’s too young to sit up, and another to sit him up when he can do that on his own. All the reviews I read said that it was great even through early toddler years, the perfect amount to splash around and good for moms and dads instead of bending down over the tub at floor level.They did not mention that it was giant.

The four generations of Whites (left to right) W. John, Tim, Levi, and Bill

Levi’s legs are getting stronger and stronger. And by that, I mean that he’s kicking me/other objects, etc.He can hold his head up all the way when he's up on my shoulder, and also hold it up pretty far during tummy time. If I hold him up, he'll straighten his legs and put his weight on his little thighs to stand up. I realize I'll regret encouraging this pretend walking and crawling when it actually starts to happen and I have to baby proof the house, but for now, its fun to see how strong he's getting!

Aunti Kara meets Levi for the first time!

We’re convinced that Levi cries mainly because he’s bored. He’s been much better in the evenings than previously, though still fusses sometimes. Often though, if he starts to yell, we take him for a walk, either around the house, the yard, or actually out in the stroller/bjorn/moby, so that he can have a change of scenery, and then he’s quite happy. Sometimes he even makes us take him out of the stroller so he can see better. He's also happiest either up on our shoulders or facing out in what Tim calls the "superman" pose (thanks Cousin Heather for teaching us that this weekend). As long as he can see, we're good.

(note that the video above is the longest, most boring video ever, unless you're related to us and want to hear Levi talking) We went on our first real road trip this weekend. Friday afternoon we left about 3:45 to make the trek to my parents house in Rhode Island (technically a stopover/sleeping time before heading another almost three hours to Tim’s parents house). We made it by 11:15 or so, which is great time for a holiday weekend. Levi alternated between sleeping, playing the kicking his blanket off game, and smiling and grinning into his mirror at Daddy. With a couple of stops for eating (timed nicely with a gas fill up and dinner), he survived quite well.

With Nanan for the blowing out of her birthday candles!

We spent Saturday – Monday with Tim’s immediate and extended family, and Levi was very gracious about being passed from one pair of arms to another. He seemed confused at first, I think mainly because we were outside and even though in the shade, the day was still quite bright and there was a light breeze, neither of which Levi appreciated. Inside later with the air conditioning and lack of direct sunlight, he was much more content.

The four boy cousins: Will, Josiah, Levi and Micah. Josiah's face explains the success rate of the photo :)

While up north for the weekend, mostly to celebrate Tim’s mom’s 60^th birthday, we also had Levi dedicated. Though we love our home church, because of it’s size, many things like dedications are often impersonal and end up being a short trotting out of several families on stage, a 30-second speech by the pastor, and then the families trot back to their seats again. We were looking for something a little more meaningful and specific for ourselves, so we asked Tim’s dad, a pastor of a church in New Hampshire, if he could dedicate Levi at his own church, which would be great for the whole family to be there and more personal and small. Levi wore a little navy blue plaid shirt and snazzy white baby shorts, courtesy of our friends the Franz's, and was completely happy in the church service until we walked up front. But he was good while his Papa was holding him for the dedication. We had our whole extended family up front with us - Tim's two sisters and their families, my parents, Tim's grandparents, my sister and Tim's parents.

On Sunday night Levi trekked with us to view his first ever fireworks over Lake Winnipesaukee Sadly, the night was ridiculously muggy and after waiting for 40 minutes the fireworks finally started. We had discovered friends of Tim's parents in a house on the shore of the lake, and they let us sit in their air conditioned porch for part of the waiting time. During the fireworks, Levi fell sound asleep and didn't even wake up for the muted booms of the fireworks going off right in front of the house on the lake.

He also slept the next morning throughout his first trip ever out on a boat. Trussed up to the gills in a life vest about as big as he is, we pulled his baby hat low over his face and he was zonked for the two hours or so from when we started driving to the lake to when we got off the boat....