Holiday Wrap-Up

Christmas this year was a crazy whirlwind tour of grandparents. Nine grandparents in a span of 72 hours. A five day tour of Michigan friends and family. Good (and the part about spending the holiday with our nut of a child was better than wonderful), but exhausting. Some highlights, in no particular order:

• Natalie spent most of her time trying to eat paper and ribbons. Her moms spent much time fishing said objects out of her mouth.
• While visiting NTM, Jen managed to stop conversation with her feet. While adjusting her sock, the scratchy velcro-like sound of heel against cloth was so loud that Emilin stopped mid-sentence to say, "Do you want some lotion?"
• Until Natalie finally melted down into a too-much-travelling-too-little-napping puddle, Natalie and Sanna played quite happily together. Sanna attempted to use Natalie as a point of balance while cruising and instead pulled her down on top of herself. She put puzzle pieces in Natalie's mouth and took them back out again. Natalie chewed every toy she came across, and convinced Sanna's moms to let Sanna try sour cream.
• Natalie learned to wave and spent 20 minutes Thursday evening sitting in my mom's upstairs hallway waving at everything she could. The light, the walls, the mirror, the dog, the cat, the humans...
• We learned that even soft-soled baby shoes need to be removed at security checkpoints.
• Both flights were spent doing a combination of nursing and sleeping (whew!), after frightening most of the passengers with loud (but gleeful) shrieks while waiting at the gate.
• Natalie decided that sleeping in the Pack 'N Play was for chumps, and required her moms to nap with her. It was rough, but we took turns so as to spread out the, um, burden. We're self-sacrificing like that.
  
• My sister gave us this book. Hilarious.
  
• Jen and I gave each other spatulas and paper models of presents to come, and despite the lameness of the presents, had one of the best Christmases ever.
• We're home now. The girl is sleeping in her own bed, and soon we'll be sleeping in our own bed. We're tired but happy.
  

Best wishes to all as we move into the new year. And welcome to the world, Mia!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

A few thoughts on sleep, or lack thereof:

• You know you're tired when you don't want to eat something because chewing would be too strenuous. Particularly when the item in question is chocolate.
• We are making progress on the wee-hours-of-the-night weaning, but I discovered that it is much more exhausting to me NOT to nurse her than to nurse. However, we persevere, as the not-eating-but-biting in the morning is not ok.
• Cait finds night nursing and night non-nursing equally disruptive. Apparently, according to The No-Cry Sleep Solution, my sleep cycles are synchronized with Natalie's where Cait's may not be, hence the sleep nursing is less bothersome to Natalie and me, but rather intrusive for Cait.
• It is unclear how Natalie feels about the whole proposition, however, she is making it VERY clear at this precise moment that she needs to nurse NOW. Since it is before the 3:00 am closing of the diner, I am off to oblige her. More thoughts later.
  

We Only Had a Child to Help With the Housework

Natalie is mobile enough now that doing household chores with her around is getting more difficult. She climbs into the dishwasher, eats paper, unfolds laundry, and chews on power cords, shoes, or anything else left in her path. Entertaining, yes. Helpful, not so much. I'm just waiting for her to figure out how to pull on the tablecloth. Anyone who has ever seen our dining room table (a.k.a. the place where all papers go to die) knows just how screwed we are.

Adoption Day

Today's hearing was actually the easiest part of the entire process. The judge, much to our surprise, was quite nice, and interrupted herself multiple times to comment on how cute Natalie is, or to laugh at something she was doing. She made sure that everyone was clear that the adoption would mean that Jen and I have equal legal ties to Natalie (um, yeah, that's the point), and then read some stuff and declared it done. We took pictures, and she had us pick out a children's book from a little bookshelf in the courtroom, which she inscribed for Natalie. That was it. No drama, no more hoops. Most importantly, it's done. Our girl has two legal parents, and now we can go back to living our lives without worries about social workers or other fun intrusions.

And now for the pictures.

Natalie shares her opinions and questions during the hearing


The happy family post-hearing

Natalie Has Two Mommies

It's legal and official. At 11:50 this morning, we walked out of the courtroom carrying a copy (uncertified) of the Final Decree of Adoption. In a few weeks, we'll receive a certified copy, which we can take to vital records to obtain a revised birth certificate--one listing both of her moms.

Pictures to come when we get around to uploading them. For now, we're taking a nap.

Good News for Friends and Dogs

As most of you probably know, there's a lot of good news going down at Unwellness (and it's about time!!!). Head on over to issue congratulations, and if you have any holiday pet shopping to do, check out Lexie Lew!!

Just Who's the Baby Here, Anyway?

Cait is right. I am doing better, and I will write more about it later. But, like everyone, I still have my days, and today looks like it's going to be one of them.

She didn't want to nurse this morning*. She bit me when I offered her the opportunity anyway. I bumped her head getting her out of the car at the babysitter's. She had huge grins for the babysitter, her son, and the ceiling fan. She wouldn't even look at me when I said goodbye. And then I had to get in the car and leave her for the fourth day this week.

Sometimes I really hate being a working mom.

*She nursed all night, so she's not starving.

Various Updates

Jen...

...is doing OK. Better. I'll let her fill you in on the details when she's ready, but things are happier for all of us these days, and that is good.

The Girl...

...is going crazy. After a month and a half of dragging herself around millitary-style, she learned to do the traditional crawl over Thanksgiving weekend. She also learned how to sit herself back up after she's done crawling. She's traveling farther and faster by the day. Last Monday, she figured out how to pull herself to standing on a surface the height of her knees. This morning she pulled herself up to stand at her activity table. This evening at the bookstore, she pulled herself up multiple times on the kid-size benches and made attempts to cruise. She's got the moving her hands part down. It's the feet she sometimes leaves behind. Solid foods have taken on new meaning for her, and she's beginning to really swallow notable quantities of food with great enthusiasm. She's grown too wiggly for her bath ring, so bathtime is now a free-for-all in an inch or so of water. Video here if YouTube doesn't reject it.

I...

...am fine. Had an appointment with my Lyme Doctor today. The good news is, I have been noticing improvement. This is the first time in the 5 years since the damn tick bit me that I can say that with confidence and continue the treatment that's causing the improvement. This is a good thing. But, it means at least 6 more months on this medication. Which means at least a year before I could TTC. So, we're thinking and talking, but it's looking more and more like Jen will carry the second child. It's not just the timing--there are a number of reasons, which I will go into at a later date. I'm OK with this likelihood.

The Adoption...

...court date is next Tuesday. I have received no confirmation that everything is OK with the second homestudy. Nor have I received word that anything is wrong with it. I'm just gonna be on edge until it's over. Hopefully, by this time next week, it will be.