Making Memories

I haven't felt compelled to blog lately (obviously.) But, tonight I realized that I've done a very poor job of documenting our memories. It doesn't seem that important until I realize that I've already forgotten the niddy-gritty of early child rearing. I vaguely recall that Nathan's early days were hard. I know there are witnesses to the screaming, but I feel like I'm not one of them. The memories have simply slipped away, and it hasn't been that important to get them back.

Until tonight, when Nathan snuggled with me for the very first time.

It was magical...in every way possible.

Yes, I know I slept with him for the first 6 months of his life...every night, every nap. But, that was survival. Nathan didn't like it, I didn't like it. We needed sleep and somehow sweating together all night long was what gave us the most hours (which were few.) Yes, we carried him every moment from birth until at least 4 months--many debates were about if we should or should not hire a "baby holder" to live with us. He continues to love to be in the baby bijorn as much as possible, and we do it, even though his weight creates red welts on our sholders. I remember those things because I told myself to not forget these silly details--mostly in order to hold it over him when he is a teenager and doesn't like us anymore.

But just now, we finally had a moment of complete peace. It is that detail that I do not want to forget. Nathan put his head down on my shoulder and let...go... Such a simple moment that made me realize these are the moments that I don't want to forget. Not just the act of the "snuggle," but the stillness that was felt between us. The knowledge that he will get bigger, make messes, drive fast, and leave our home for his own will happen sooner than I realize. Chaos will abound in our lives again--expected arrival at 7am tomorrow. But, this moment was mine as his mother. And, I choose not to let it float away.

Now for the pictures...

Nathan has become a happy, "jolly" fellow.

This is my family and how we live. This picture sums it up completely.

We have hundreds of Disney pics, but this one is my favorite. Helen finally got to meet her most favorite princess of all. She and Ariel had a lot of catching up to do.

Opposites

Alan has been encouraging me to write about our favorite subject...how completely opposite Helen and Nathan are. Our friends and family probably here it 10 times a day..."Helen is such a flexible child but Nathan must have darkness and scheduling." Sorry to everyone for being so repititve!! So, I'm finally going to write down all the ways they are opposite, so that we can stop talking about it :)

Oh, and before I forget, I'm able to blog as Nathan has for the first time ever slept 7 hours without eating! He woke up after 5 hours at which point I started the pacifier process, and it held him off for another 2. Unfortunately, that means I got terrible sleep as the "pacifier process" involves hearing grunting and trying to get a pacifier in while Nathan is frantically turning his head to and fro looking for it himself. But, hey! I'll take a little insomnia today. Let's just hope that this is a trend in the right direction.
The opposites began from birth:

Helen-totally routine pregnancy with no side effects; Nathan-many side effects and complications
Helen-born 1 week late; Nathan-2 weeks early
H-had to set an alarm clock to wake her up in the early days to feed her; N-no alarm clock needed...sadly :(
H-giant off the charts head (99th%); N-tiny off the charts head (17th %)
H-always loved a party from the beginning; N-hates parties of all kinds and melts down if forced to socialize for too long
H-sleeps best in bright rooms with lots of noise; N-dark room, no noise
H-has never slept well in a car even if you leave at her naptime and even if you are driving for long distances (on an avg trip to FL she will have maybe a .5 hr long nap); N-excellent car sleeper (his best quality to date)--falls asleep almost immediately and stays asleep until the car comes to a complete stop
H-spit-up was rare but explosive; N-spit-up is frequent and dribbly
H-never denied taking milk from a bottle; N-he is horribly offended if anyone comes within a 5 ft radius of him with a bottle and will scream and turn red until he passes out in exhaustion (good luck to the Nanny!!)
H-**LOVES** her pacies; N-could give or take a paci--it must be forced in and held at which point he may or may not accept his fate of having a mother who WILL force a paci.
H-One time we pinched her skin with her paci holder, and we didn't realize it until hours later while getting her ready for bed--her little skin was so red and we thought it might even leave a scar; N-pinched him with paci holder...immediately he screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed, etc, etc (Perhaps, we are parents who should avoid paci holders.)
H-don't recall her ever leaking out a diaper; N-leaks out at least 1 diaper per day--now I realize that we did in fact need the 30+ sleepers that we have
H-never had any need to co-sleep. If she was in the bed with me, it was because I was being lazy Mommy (not an uncommon event.) N-prefers to sleep snuggled up in my armpit where we sweat together all night long
H-night owl--her natural clock has her going to bed around 10 and waking up at 9; N-morning bird--natural clock is 7:30-5:45.
H-as an infant it was hard to get her to smile; N-if he is on his schedule, he smiles constantly while awake.
H-always been long and skinny; N-currently looks like a butterball
H-definite outie belly button; N-still on the fence, but it looks like we might just have an innie

The things that have in common are much fewer...they both look like Alan and they both like the bouncer seat.
So, based on this analysis of Nathan being completely opposite from Helen, I predict the following:

Nathan will be a picky eater and only eat toddler foods (ie chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese...no guacamole and scallops for him!)
He will walk late but, perhaps, talk early
He will have thick hair and will need a haircut prior to 3 years old
He will never like sleeping in his crib or having pacifiers
He will not have any cavities
He will drool and put everything in his mouth (a result of not constantly having a paci plugged in)
We will have to officially baby proof the house
He will need tubes in his ears

There you have it! The official proof that not every child is the same :) But, we love them both immensely and we wouldn't have it any other way!!

Happy New Year!

So, what's been happening for the past 7 weeks? I'll just say it in one feared word...COLIC! We've been pacing, soothing, and sh-sh-shing pretty much non-stop. By the time things slow down for the night, it is a race to see how quickly we can go to sleep. It would have been nice to not have "mother of a colicky baby" on my resume, but it does speak volumes that Nathan is still living in our house and hasn't been thrown out on the streets!

Actually, we got a great start to 2010 when Nathan suddenly decided that he, in fact, did NOT need to be held 24/7 on New Year's Eve. He must have caught wind that I was frantically reading The Baby Whisperer and that his goose was going to be cooked sooner rather than later. He went more willingly than expected. Of course, he still needs to be held about 10 hours a day but we are currently tickled pink in the 58% reduction in holding hours per day.

We had a great Xmas season filled with gatherings with friends and family. It was a bit energy depleting to have to "do Xmas" in addition to the day-to-day chores. I've told many people that I can keep up with the day-to-day without too much hardship, but there is no time for "special projects", ie Xmas prep, Xmas clean-up, and folding laundry. Poor Dora has definitely suffered this holiday season, but it is my resolution to walk her at least once a week.

Here are a few pictures of the past 7 weeks. As always, I'll try to stay more updated in the New Year!

Our neighbors shared in our Xmas Eve dinner with us. This picture makes me laugh because Nathan is essentially getting strangled by Helen. Oh, the joy of having a big sis!

With John Dylan at the mall waiting to get a pic with Santa. I got a lot of sympathetic looks in the mall as people thought I was the mother of 3 small children!

Nathan as the Baby Jesus. As one of my friends said, "it's going to be hard to top that role."

At the Xmas lights house in our neighborhood. We enjoyed going many times, including with our Sunday School class. We knew we had zero percent chance of getting the kids to pose all together!
We finally got the joy of the Xmas lights at Hollywild, and it was fantastic!! It was cold and sleeting, but we dragged our good friends, the Taylors, and our very patient niece, Chloe, to see the phenomenon that is Hollywild.
Yes, that is an odd cow/buffalo thing RIGHT outside our car window. And, yes, it was TERRIFYING!! Alan got the window rolled up right before the thing tried to stick its head in!


The perfect New Year pic! Helen is 100% up for an all-night party. She stayed up until 1am at which time we forced her to go to sleep. Of course, Nathan spent most of the evening in the completely dark guest room. I'm glad Helen has a fellow partier in Isabella--this pic was taken right at midnight! Watch out Butler Station!!