Uncle. No Really, This Time I Mean It. Also: We Don't Call Him Hair Man For Nothing and Other Observations

Why yes, I do have my hands full. Have I mentioned lately that it's a good thing they're cute?

There's nothing more boring (to me) than posts about sickness, so I will spare you the details of the weekend. I'll just say there was a lot of whining and not enough sleeping (is there ever enough sleeping?) You'd never know it by the above picture but Miss Louie was not her usual chipper self. Teething? Another ear infection? (not as of Friday when we last visited the pediatrician, but only time will tell). I'm at the point where I'm googling "natural ear infection remedies" and "garlic olive oil and infants" (garlic olive oil is reported to help cure ear infection which, something like ninety percent of the time aren't even helped by antibiotics). I'd really like to avoid tubes for Lucy if at all possible.

In other big news, Hair-Man got his first hair cut. Here's the before:

And, after:

And would you get a load of those teeth? Four whole teeth before eleven months! Such an overachiever, that one.

In big kid news, Ellie seems to be enjoying soccer. She runs her little tush off, chasing the ball back and forth--this week she even kicked the ball during the game (it's thirty minutes of practice followed by a thirty minute game). There were also several tissue breaks and one request for the bathroom and by the end of it all she slumps down in her little car seat, head to the side, eyes half closed. She doesn't even have the strength to bark her usual "Mommy can you skip this song" requests (she's quite the backseat d.j.). She's never run this much in her life.

And I have to say I am really enjoying the age of almost five. In the last week or so I've seen an interesting arc of maturity. Oh sure, she's still apt to ask me to open her apple sauce squeezer at the precise moment I'm holding two infant car seats, my purse, two infant lunch boxes and a coat, but she's also offering to help me when I need it. She's opening her eyes more to the world around her. Last night during Lucy's post-dinner, pre-bed meltdown, Ellie asked me if I needed help, without being asked. I told her what I needed and she did exactly what I asked, without protest or whining. I ask the kids for help a lot but I try not to abuse the privalige too much. They're not my little slaves and it's not their fault we have two babies, but we're a big family now and we need to help each other out whenever possible. I don't think that's such a bad lesson to learn.

Ellie has also started trying to translate what the babies are "saying."

"I think Lucy's saying she wants to get up and crawl," Ellie informed me this morning, during a particularly wiggly diaper changing session. "Harry saying he wants you to pick him up," Ellie announced, a few minutes later.

I expected a backlash from Ellie when I went back to work and she went back to full-time "school" but instead she seems to be thriving. Friday morning when we got a late start (the babies were home sick, sigh) she walked around the house aimlessly, fidgety and announced that she "wanted to go to school so she could see her friends."

On the Leo front, we started him back on fish oil. I gave it to him before and can't recall why I stopped--maybe it was when I, oh I don't know, got pregnant with twins or something. It's said to boost mood, improve behavior and cognition and I do remember him benefitting from it. We're giving him a half teaspoon every morning and after a week I am seriously seeing a difference. His energy level is higher (which we did not need--last night he literally ran circles around the minivan)--aside from that little spectacle, it's not a bad kind of energy. He's just boisterous and happy but best of all, generally agreeable. I mean, not all the time (have you met a kid that is?) but I feel like there's been some kind of shift. Less grumbling. Or something.

Maybe I should start taking fish oil?

Our Own Ginsberg

Yesterday Leo read his poem at the second grade “Poetry Café.”

Rehearsing the morning of, with an enamored audience. Harry = Riveted. (Look closely: Lucy (aka Pink Legs) was there too...

The real deal.

He wrote a "Bio Poem" (as in biographical):

Leo: Funny, Smart, Happy, Good

Sibling of: Ellie, Harry and Lucy

Who likes: Buzz Lightyear

Who feels: Happy

Who needs: Food

Who gives: Love

Who fears: Bugs

Who would like to see: DisneyWorld

Poetry was followed by a musical number: "I'm a Believer." (Leo is in the middle of the picture, behind the two boys with guitars--he has a guitar too but you can't see it).

I happened to see Leo’s speech therapist at the performance (the one who urged me to take Leo to the ENT to look into Leo’s congestion). She asked me if Leo had started on his new medication and for some reason I thought she was going to say she didn’t see a difference but instead she told me she’s already seeing a “significant” difference in his intelligibility and diction. So, finally some good news on that front.

And now for some poetry in motion (sorry, I couldn't resist):

Photo evidence: Louie on the move!

Is Time On Our Side? Also: Crawling and Soccer

The babies, circa three months old, looking way more babier than they are these days. 

I don’t know why but I am suddenly thinking a lot about time.

Is it because I am now ten years younger than my mother was when she died? I can't even fathom only having ten more years to live.

Is it because I stayed home with the twins for almost ten months and there were some loooong days in there and I sometimes (OK, often) day dreamed about my orderly, quiet little office and longed to go back to those peaceful days at work? And now, just like that, the home time is over and I’m back at work and the days are looooong again, only this time, without babies. And these are the last babies that we’ll ever have.

Last night I put the Giant Ridiculous Stroller in the basement for a friend who is expecting twins this fall. And as I did this I thought Thank goodness I never have to use that damn thing again! and also? Oh my goodness I am never going to use that damn thing again!

Meanwhile, I'm slowly purging long sleeved onesies but find myself clinging to the ones that though snug, still fit. I want to hold on to the baby days of these babies. At the end of the day, when Leo and Ellie bicker and stomp and do goodness knows what downstairs, I rock Harry a little longer than I need to and I inhale the sweet smell of Lucy's sweaty little curls. I want to stop time.

Speaking of babies: Lucy is a crawling maniac (or as I like to call her, and Ellie loves to parrot: "Lucy is a crawling fool!") She is all over the place. A fan of small spaces especially (tonight we found her behind an end table and practically under the couch) she prefers commando (i.e. the good old snake slither) to the more traditional crawling method. Who can blame her? She can make excellent time on those hard wood floors of ours.

Harry does a kind of modified crab. He does something via his rear end and I’m not sure how or what, I just know that if I put him down in one spot on the rug he is often across the room in a few minutes. Yesterday the plan was to take Ellie to Costco for some Mommy and Ellie time. Leo got wind of this idea and before I knew it, it was the Leo and Ellie and Mommy Show. About ten seconds later, Lucy saw the front door opening and the coats going on and I swear she about lunged for the door. Before I knew it I had three children in the mini van. Not sure how that happened but I have to tell you, one ridiculously friendly and happy baby out on the town with two older kids? It’s practically a vacation! While the babies are crawling, Ellie is on to soccer. Amazing the difference between three short years. She had her first practice and game on Sunday (they won!) and reportedly had a wonderful time in spite of the fact that it was cold and rainy (the first real Aprilly day we’ve seen in April and a good twenty degrees cooler than the day before.
 that  She was a real trooper considering #1 Moms completely forgot to pack any sort of extra clothes or a water bottle. What can I say, we are Soccer Mom Newbies. Lesson learned though, don’t worry. Next week we’ll dress her in leggings and a fleece…and it will be 79 degrees I’m sure. We did remember the pink shin guards and pink soccer ball though, so not all was lost.

PS. OMG Blogger WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE???

Astronomy, Second Grade Style. Also: You Give Me Fever

About a month ago, Leo’s teacher sent a note home saying the class was starting a unit on planets and the solar system. The unit would culminate in a presentation in which each child would sing a song about his assigned planet.

Leo had Saturn.

And he took this Planet Business very seriously.

For weeks, "Saturn has great rings, we wondered what they were, now we know they're blocks of ice, which we saw as a blur" (to the tune of "Farmer in the Dell") has been positively reverberating through my head.

It brings to mind this, which is equally, um, memorable?


Leo has been, shall we say, planet-focused. He brought this drawing home from after-care.

I picked this place mat up for him and when I brought it home he was in love. He even insisted on bringing it to school (you may recall his insistence on bringing something to school every day). At first I balked about the place mat but he was so passionate I finally conceded. I mean, it is educational.

So now, at every meal there is an astronomy lesson. And much singing. I can think of worse things.
***

To be filed under You Didn't Expect This To Go Smoothly Did You?, my going back to work coincided with the babies both getting very sick at the same time. Of course. Until last week we had been pretty lucky in that they'd never both been that miserable at the same time. Well. That streak ended with double ear infections x two. (The above shot was obviously taken pre-illness.) I'm chalking it up to new daycare=new germs. Here's hoping they are developing immune systems of steel.

Really Mommy? Not feeling all that photogenic right now.

You can just tell Harry doesn't feel well here. Poor guy. Look at those puffy eyes.The weekend was once again, unseasonably warm, so I took both babies outside for fresh air as much as possible.

Friday afternoon Harry woke up from his naphot. I took his temperature and it was 105 degrees. I know babies can spike fevers but that was scary. I dosed him with ibuprofen and gave him a cool bath. And thus began the cycle that continued for three days. As soon as the ibuprofen wore off, his fever would spike. He's awfully cute in the bath (see above) but the baths are not so cute at 2 a.m. when he kept waking up exactly six hours post ibuprofen with 104+. Lucy never did get the high fever (thank goodness) but they took turns waking up for several nights straight, bringing back a good seventy-hours of newbornesque Up All Night exhaustion.

Things are better now. Eyes are brighter and appetites have returned.

Pfew.

Babies: Let's Talk About Them.

Lucy still seems like such a little peanut to me. She's a full pound lighter than Harry though half an inch longer. Here she is doing her little pose that she does. She's doing a lot of rocking on her knees, then she'll crawl a few inches, rest on her side and strike a pose (see above).

She's also a fan of getting stuck under things. (Also see above).

They love this little activity center. Harry still takes anything and everything from Lucy (toy-wise) but this is the one thing they can play with together without conflict (since everything on it is nailed down). Interestingly, Lucy does not protest when Harry steals from her. I wonder how that's going to play out in the future. Is it just because she's so little or is it her personality? She is fairly easy going.

You can almost read her mind here, can't you? You know what dude? I've had Juuuuust about enough of you and the toy theft.

Not the best picture and I'm not sure you can really see it but Lucy is positively squealing with glee here. Oh my goodness does she adore her Ellie. And the feeling is mutual, I assure you. Leo and Ellie still fight about who gets to sit closer to Lucy in the car.

Oh, Hair-Bear. He really does know how to have a good time.

We put up the new baby swing last weekend and it was a hit.

In case you couldn't tell.

Some Finery, Some Answers and Some Hope

Know what’s always good for a laugh?

Trying to get four kids to look in the same direction, at the same time.

As you can see, we donned our Easter finery on Sunday. Lucy wore hers for all of forty-five minutes before there was a major wardrobe malfunction (in her case, a massive leakage issue). That explains the pink sleeper while everyone else wore crisp shirts and a dress (OK, full disclosure: Harry paired his dress shirt with jogging pants).


Last week was a doozy. Poor little Ellie came down with a nasty case of bronchitis and had to stay home from school for two days (of course she did, right as I returned to work because isn’t that just how life is?). Poor thing was sicker than I’ve seen her for a long time, maybe ever. On the first day the illness really hit, she came home from school, made herself a little bed on the couch and passed out. No dinner. At one point she even told me she was Too tired to watch TV. Can you imagine?

Everyone keeps asking me how it it's going being back at work. Work is fine, great, the same. I'm slowly acclimating to the luxury of having a moment to complete a task or thought (or both!). I think I spent the first week in a bit of a shock. I ate lunch by myself without it getting cold. And here's more progress: it wasn't string cheese, Goldfish crackers and cold coffee!

Oh sure I arrive at work most mornings to find snot or spit-up on one of my shoulders but, hey. With the way things are at our house, I really wouldn't expect anything different. The routine is getting more, well, routine. Definitely the hours between 5 p.m. (when I usually leave work) to 10 p.m. (when I can finally sit down after the kids are in bed, dinner dishes are finished and the next day's lunches are made) are more than a little frenetic. Staying home is ridiculous, leaving the house and getting all the kids where they need to be and picking them all up on time is ridiculous. But you know what? We enjoy ourselves much of the time, so that's what counts. Because life isn't going to get any less ridiculous for some time. If ever.

Friday was Leo’s follow-up appointment with the ENT, on the recommendation of both of Leo’s speech therapists. I did feel slightly vindicated when, upon answering the doctor's question as to why we were there ("to address how his chronic congestion might be affecting his speech intelligibility") the doctor took one look at me as if to say, Really?

He said congestion is not usually related to intelligibility. I mean, it could and sometimes does make some letters sound not quite right but not to the extent that Leo's speech is affected. So. The good news is, Leo is fine. No fluid in his ears, his adenoids haven’t grown back and his tonsils are right as rain. The doctor did note that he was very congested so he put him on a nasal spray, nasonex. The congestion may be seasonal allergies and while certainly not helping his intelligibility, it's not affecting it much at all.

But I buried the lead (again). For the first time ever, Leo was a rock star ENT patient. He sat quietly and calmly while the doctor peered into his ears and nose and throat. Oh sure he giggled when the spaghetti shaped tube went up his nose (I think you would have too--actually he took it much better than I think I would have). You may recall that the last time I took Leo to the ENT I was approximately twelve years pregnant with two babies. After a brief, semi-violent (Leo shoved the doctor) attempt to examine Leo, the doctor forbid me from trying to hold Leo down in my condition and announced Leo would need sedation for a proper exam. The only reason I agreed to that was it would allow us to do a proper hearing test.

Taking Leo to the ENT used to practically give me hives it was so stressful. Inevitably someone left in tears and sometimes both of us did. But I’m here to tell you that there is light at the end of the stressful doctor visit tunnel. He was similarly amazing at his last sick visit at the pediatrician's.

Dare I say we've turned a corner?

The Mantra + Ten

Thanks to those who expressed concern and made suggestions regarding my post about Leo and speech. As I said, it’s such a mixed bag, because some of Leo’s speech is so clear. It’s just that way too much of it is not. But in my rush to worry and fret, I forgot to mention one of Leo’s newest and perhaps sweetest phrases:

“Best Mommy everrrrr.”

I have no idea where he got this but he says it at least once a day (well, it usually proceeds me giving him something he wants (cheese crackers) or helping him with something (homework)) but I’m not going to argue. And it’s always followed by a hug and kiss. Erin and the other kids are also recipients of this:

“Best Mama/Ellie/Harry/Lucy everrrrrrr.”

I always follow mine up with “Best Leo ever!”
***

In other news, the babies turned ten months yesterday.

To celebrate, Harry started crawling and made a serious dent in his self-feeding skills (previously he’d very much been the I’ll just sit here and look cute and wait for someone to put the food in my mouth guy—really, who can blame him?). Go Harry!

Lucy celebrated by refusing to go to sleep and insisting on staying up with Erin and me all the way through "Mad Men." What the HELL Lucy? Not cool! This is the first time she has ever done this--let's hope it was a rare "I'm ten months old whoot!" event.

We are officially four days into my being back at work (because, you know, I’ve been sitting out by the lanai sipping cocktails for the last ten months and now I’m going to be doing actual work). But it’s true, it’s more work for everyone, this new deal, this working out of the home, and I have to give everyone credit, what they’re being asked to do is not easy and it sure is different.

Those leisurely weekday mornings of days gone by, those of the multi-course breakfasts for Leo (Mommy! I’m still hungry! I want to do yogurt and grapes!), Ellie in her pajamas until noon, watching “Rio,” the babies sleeping until whatever hour their little hearts desired (that usually wasn’t past 7 a.m. but no matter): those days are no more.

Two more tiny lunch boxes.

Even though the first day back felt like it was approximately 72 hours long and more than a little crazed (up at 5:15 a.m., out of the house by 7 a.m. with all four kids) I have to say, these kids are troopers and I’m confident that we will all adjust—dare I say thrive—as we acclimate to our new normal, just as we did when the babies were born and our world felt upside down and the words How Will We Ever Do This reverberated in my head just a little too often.

Things have a way of working out: Advice my dad gave me several years ago during a particularly tough time. I think of this little gem often and go back to this mantra, over and over, when I feel like life is just completely, absurdly chaotic and everything feels totally unmanageable (not that I’ve felt this way at all recently of course HAHAHA). Things feel impossible, undoable and then suddenly, we settle in. We find routine in the ridiculous. We laugh. We cry. We figure it out, little things to make life easier. Lunches made the night before, frozen dinners for the week. Do they kids really need baths every night?

The big kids know they have to carry their backpacks and lunch boxes into the house now since I have so many more things (two more lunch boxes, dirty baby clothes and diapers) to carry (though Ellie is still a fan of “Can you hold this Mommy?” when I have approximately nineteen other things in my arms/hanging on my shoulders.) The babies don’t need to be rocked and swaddled anymore, now they hold their own bottles (mostly, anyway—Harry I’m looking at you) and I can even sort of multi-task (clean up the kitchen, start lunches for the next day) while they drink their nightcap. At the same time, I try to lower my standards--even more than I already had!--the dishes and clean-up can wait. The nightly "To Do List" is overwhelming, but I remind myself to revel in those moments that I do have. Though I wish I could spend half as much time with the kids at night as I do making four lunches (for the next day). My goodness that is a job unto itself.

The night of my first day of work I was reminded of that odd sensation that I also recall from Leo and Ellie’s babyhood: of picking up my baby and realizing he smells like someone else. Someone with a different lotion or perfume or shampoo held him, maybe cradled his little head on a shoulder. For the first time, these little babies have a life apart from me.


But just as I knew would happen, this work thing? It makes the down time that much sweeter.