Oh Lord, it's Hard to Be Humble...

...when it appears your 4 year old may grow up to be a surgeon.

Natalie's View

Some Sleep Deprived Ramblings

Natalie is putting off bedtime tonight, so I have no reason to not post a blog and go to bed at a normally unreasonably early time. Just be aware, most of this was typed with one hand.

She is 1 month old today and weighed 8lbs 12oz at her well baby visit - that is 2.75 lbs over what she weighed at her 5 day visit. I don't like doctor visits in general, but I especially don't like newborn visits because I don't pay any attention whatsoever to how many wet and dirty diapers my babies have had, I don't watch the clock when they nurse, and...I let them sleep on their tummies. To me, the child was visibly larger and had too many poopy diapers to count so I was totally unconcerned that she was not getting enough milk. The nurse was pressing me for a number of dirty diapers, so I guessed 6 or more and that contented her. She also asked if she slept on her back or her side...and the most complete answer would be neither, but I said, "I put her down however she seems comfortable." and she didn't press me for what that meant!

I have never blogged about it, but I started using cloth diapers at home when Annalise was 8 months old. I do care about the environment, but my main motivation was that a 2 week diaper supply suddenly became a month's diaper supply...and that motivation has helped me persevere! I use plain, old-fashioned, buy-em-at-Target cotton pre-folds with a Snappi...and I was happy with them until...my friend Stephanie gave me 2 BumGenius diapers and I tried them on Natalie. I wish I had not known such absorbency existed, but since the are $18 EACH, I will content myself with my pre-folds and be thankful that I have been given so many size 1 diapers that Natalie will probably be in size 2 before we run out.

Both Caleb and Annalise were born with a different color hair than they ended up having, but I think Natalie will buck this trend. Her fuzzy baby hair is red and I think she will keep it because she also has a paler skin tone and her eye lashes are also red. I was surprised at first, but we keep thinking of more and more relatives we have that are redheads and lots of people have pointed out that my hair has natural red highlights. Her hair has made me notice something I didn't realize concerned me - I don't know what color Annalise's hair is.
Here is looks brown.
Here it looks blond.

When she was born, it was black.

In real life my mom described it as "Dish-water Blond", and to me, dish-water is not the most lovely way to describe a color and I like her hair, but I guess it is what it is (whatever that is). What I think is funny about her hair is that it's never been cut (except a few locks removed with safety scissors) and the child has bangs. In the back she has a couple of banana curls that can be stretched midway down her back.

Ah, the babe sleeps! And so must I! Good night!

Newborns are Awesome

My parents took Caleb and Annalise to the beach yesterday and I had almost the whole day with just Natalie. I have decided that aside from the whole waking 4+ times a night thing, newborns are pretty much perfect children, I submit:

1. She took at least 4 naps.
2. She was very quiet.
3. I never had to look for her.
4. She didn't even once pick up something sharp, touch something hot, or follow someone out the door.
5. The only messes she made were confined to her diaper.
6. She didn't complain about anything.
7. She happily ate what I had prepared for her.

I hesitate to say she is an easy baby...and only because I know that newborns like to make you eat your words! I learned with Caleb that as soon as you say they "always" do something, they never do that again.

Coral Spawning...by Caleb

(For anyone wondering why a 4 year old boy would know anything about coral spawning, there is an extra on the Finding Nemo DVD that features Jean-Michel Cousteau telling about life on a coral reef and it shows a coral spawning.)

Whale Spout...by Caleb

Due Date

It's Natalie's actual due date and she is 18 days old. She was weighed at the 2 week mark (the time they say they should have gained back their birth weight) and she weighed 8oz over her birth weight! I think by now she is very close to 7lbs. She definitely feels heavier although that is still lighter than either of the big kids when they were born. Those first few days she was so light, it was like carrying a kitten.

Sleep-wise, I am looking forward to improvement, although I know it could be worse. She is happy to sleep 3 hour stretches in the daytime, but at night likes to cap it at 2. Fortunately, she has been relatively easy to get back to bed.

Natalie made Annalise grow overnight. I swear she was bigger on the Thursday she visited me in the hospital than the Wednesday when I kissed her and Caleb before Rob and I left. I'm not allowed to pick her up for 4 more weeks, but I can tell she is taller and heavier.

Caleb has handled adding Natalie to our family much better than he handled Annalise. He cannot stop telling us how cute she is and loves to hold her. He actually holds her pretty well and I can tell Natalie doesn't mind him holding her.

4th and 9th

Our 4th of July:

Natalie's first Sunday in church and my first non-medical outing since she was born:

Our church also had a cookout, Annalise displays a very patriotic icing face:

And they shot off some unregulated fireworks in the church playground, too LOUD says Annalise!

Natalie and I opted out of the fireworks, this year the City of Homestead held their display at the Nascar track and the kids got to check out the pits and see some cars.

Annalise's Miss American wave:

Usually Homestead has the fireworks at the baseball stadium and Rob said that it is much better there. Hopefully enough other people thought the same and they will go back there next year.

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AND a special "heads-up" to anyone who likes dressing up in costumes and free chicken - THIS FRIDAY, July 9th is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a.basically, if you dress up like a cow, you can get free food at Chick-fil-a. If it sounds a little awkward, just know that so long as you are going to a free-standing Chick-fil-a and not one in a mall, you will be in good company...and they don't require you to wear your costume while you eat. Fortunately for us, I saved the more difficult to produce parts of our costumes from last year and they held up well. The kids are super excited and we are going to cow-up a onesie for Natalie so she can join in the fun :)

Fishing Trip

On Thursday Rob took Caleb fishing, Annalise got to spend the afternoon playing with friends and swimming, and my mom and I watched a mostly sleeping baby and relaxed with some books. I imagine it was the quietest day I will have for a while! Here are some pictures from their trip:
This is a cichlid, they didn't keep it (it is smaller than it appears). Rob said they are the same as tilapia.

He's getting so big :)

The big catch - one of the best lately - 2 catfish, 5 keeper bluegill and several smaller fish they threw back. They said they knew they had found a good fishing spot - because there were a lot of alligators!

And here is Natalie doing what she does...in the daytime!

Junk Comments

I have been getting a ton of spam comments - has that been happening to anyone else? I just reject them, but is there something I can do to make them stop coming?