Friday, July 25, 2008

Sleep and dates and other good things.

Maiya slept four hours straight two nights in a row. I think it was four hours. All that I can be sure of is the lack of dread I felt when I heard the birds start to sing at day break. That dread was replaced by a feeling that brings profound nestalgia. What's it called again? Oh yeah. Feeling rested.
Dave and I got to go out last night to dinner and a movie. We ate our current favorite restaurant - an busy Irish place close by. During the movie, my mind wandered to calculate the number of ounces of breastmilk I left for Maiya compared to how many hours I would be away. Of course, all calculations were for naught as I have no idea how many ounces she drinks while she's nursing. So, I returned my attention to the movie. Which was great. We saw Dark Night and while I only agreed to see it for Heath Ledger's riveting performance as the joker, the whole movie kept my interest. Anyway, it was wonderful to get out with Dave and have some time alone. And Maiya was just drinking the last of the milk I left her when we got home. It all makes me wish we had a regular babysitter so this could be possible more than once or twice a year.

The night was made possible by .... my mother-in-law and nephew, Brandon, who are visiting for a couple of weeks. They teamed up to watch Maiya and Haven while Dave and I painted the town red. Their visit has been lots of fun and Haven is fascinated by his older cousin. He can't get enough of that boy. When Brandon plays the Wii, Haven takes out an extra controller and just stands next to him. See that look of admiration on Haven's face?

Now Dave and his mom are taking in a baseball game on tv. Haven is asleep. Maiya is discovering the bliss of the swing. We let Brandon loose in the kitchen with a brownie mix. I think I'll just go cut myself a nice big piece before another night begins. Here's to another 4-hour stretch of sleep!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Baby Days

Today is my first day alone with two kids. Yikes. So far so good. But we've only been awake a couple of hours. One perk to having these two so close together is that Haven is young enough that he still needs at least one long nap a day, and sometimes two. Alas, I have a few moments to write (at the expense of a neat house, but whatever).


I lifted this picture from my Dad's website, courtesy of my stepmom's photography skills. That's me, my Dad and Maiya, and my sister Rebecca with Haven.


I've been reading in all of my spare time - meaning, the middle of the night. I just finished Made in the USA by Billie Letts. She also wrote the book-turned-movie Where the Heart Is. They're fun reads. At about 2 AM last night I started a Jodi Picoult book. Her books are usually pretty intense. I'm so tired I can barely put a sentance together, so please understand why these are not more thrilling reviews.


What else? The nurse laughed yesterday when, at my check up, I asked about birth control. I had just lugged two babies up two flights of stairs, put Maiya's carrier on a shelf where Haven could not reach and tackled Haven into my lap so he would not explore the trash can labled Medical Waste Only. I could hardly breath. You'd think I might ask, "How much weight, exactly, can I lift without my incision ripping open?" Nope. I asked about birth control. I quickly added, "I love these guys" and smiled broadly. I wanted to go on to explain that I think I will be a the best mom I can be if I have a few years off from making more babies, it's not that I don't like babies, I love them, I just want to be a good mom, help me, please! But I figured that was too much information for a nurse I just met.

Okay. That's all for now. More coffee please.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

ramblings

Maiya is two weeks old today. Already?

So far my mom and two sisters have each visited for a few days, easing the transition from a family of three to a family of four. It was fun to see them care for Haven while I was suspended to the couch, nursing Maiya. I see traces of myself in each of them and I think Haven appreciated the familiarity. The amount of support we've had these past two weeks is astonishing. Meals, rides, diaper changes, cleaning and laundry were all part of the help. Though my recovery from the c-section has been swift, I cannot imagine having had all of those things to handle alone.

Haven's adjustment to Maiya has been relatively smooth. I could not tell what he was thinking until one morning, a few days ago, when he and I were the first ones awake. I got him out of his crib and he ran out to the living room and looked in Maiya's car seat and then in the bouncer and then up at me - confused. Yesterday, when I took a moment to check my email, I saw Haven traveling between his bedroom and the pack n' play - where Maiya napped - back and forth, back and forth. When I looked in the pack n' play, Maiya was surrounded by her socks. Haven can reach her sock drawer and must have thought either her feet were cold ... or she needed to keep her socks out of his room. Hope it was the former.

Maiya looks a lot like Dave's side of the family, I think. She has jet black hair and long fingers and toes. I think she especially looks like Dave's mom. What a beautiful girl, if I do say so myself. It's hard to describe how I feel about my little girl. I think so much about the things that we'll do in years to come, I imagine what it will be like for her to have me as a mother, I think of all of the things I hope that she finds in me. I think of the things that I want to help her to develop: a relationship with God, a good body image, confidence, how to pick friends, a sense of humor... She's lying in my lap nursing right now. Looking at a new baby is as close as we can get to a glimpse of the future.


So, I feel much more relaxed in the aftermath of this pregnancy than I did in that of Haven's. What I appreciate most is that I do not dread the night. I know what it will be. Long and relatively sleepless. But I also know that these sleepless nights are a temporary phase. Now, with two, the nights are my only alone time with my baby. I can stare at her endlessly without guilt that I might be neglecting Haven. I can hold her and change her and feed her and burp her with no interruptions. The nights are our special time.


Additionally, I am not as blindsided by the looks of my body after this second birth. Of course my arms are riddled with bruises and my abdomen is puffy and wounded and my eyes are dark with fatigue. Of course. But it is temporary (except, maybe, the puffy abdomen). Maiya will not always weigh less than 7 pounds. She will not always nurse 4 times a night. She will not always nurse. I am going to enjoy this season. As I watch my 17-month-old son tear apart the house I nurse his sister, I am aware how quickly this infant stage passes. I just want to treasure it.

I realize this is not the attitude I may have tomorrow, or in an hour, or at 3:30 AM, but generally this is how I feel - all is good. This season is one to embrace.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Our precious daugther is here!

Dave, Haven and I present...




Maiya Adisen
Born July 2, 2008
6 pounds, 14 ounces, 20 inches

(More photos on our family site.)


She's healthy and sleepy and nursing well!

The c-section went better than I could have expected and recovery has been relatively good, except for a major cases of the itchies as the anestesia wore off. The result? I scratched my nose so much during the night that I look like Rudolph.

We are now home and survived the first night, during which she nursed at least once an hour.

Feel free to call our house if you'd like to ... I'll be here nonstop for quite a few days to come.

More later. You know, in a few months when I'm running on more than 4 hours of chopped up sleep and half a cup of coffee.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Life these Days

Tomorrow is baby day. Here are some not-natural self portraits, but at least you will get the basic 9-months-pregnant idea....


"I LOVE being pregnant! What's not to love about gaining weight, exhaustion and gasping for air every time I climb the stairs?!"





" Don't you come steal my baby."



"Yeah, I'm totally relaxed. No, I did not wake up at 4 o'clock this morning in a panic about how I will take care of two children. Not me. I'm cool as a cucumber."




I don't have any explanation for this.



So, in other news, I was having a particularly stressful day one day last week, and just as I was trying to get a bunch of stuff done in a short amount of time, comic relief walked into the room:

Haven discovered that this basket is see through. He walks all over the house with it on his head and that bucket in his hand.


Okay, that's it for now. Tomorrow I go under the knife. When I return to this blog, I will be the mother of two. Let's hope I actually am able to return to this blog once I am the mother of two.