I am the mother of newborn twins! How crazy and exciting to have come through a twin pregnancy, twin delivery and the first month of having these two new babies in our family. Amalia and Alexander. The newest Lerner clan members!
I hope I'll take the time to write down the details of their births, but for the moment, I have the house to myself. Everyone except me and Amalia are asleep right now. Poor Amalia is trying desperately to fall asleep, but she doesn't really like the pacifier and is having a hard time getting all the way asleep.
Rather than typing this, I should also be trying to sleep. But, I've been wanting to type a little about our babies and my new life, so sleep will have to wait. There is also a fantastic thunderstorm outside right now and I want to savor it.
What is life like with month-old twins, you might wonder? It is all-encompassing. It is distressing, relaxing, exhausting, sweet, difficult, overwhelming, challenging, exhilarating and more! It is even more challenging when everyone in the household over the age of one month comes down with strep throat. Sheesh! Like we didn't already have enough on our plates without that!
In summary, or as an introduction, I would say that my life has become extremely simplified since the twins were born: I operate almost exclusively on survival mode.
Nursing a baby like Alexander takes about 16 hours (range: 12-19) a week. Nursing a baby like Amalia takes about 13 hours (range: 11-19 hours) a week. A mother of twins quickly learns to get the babies on a nursing schedule and nurse both babies at the same time. This is the only way I can see surviving. But I will confess that it is extremely...what's the word...stimulating? Over-stimulating? And, not in a particularly pleasant way. More like how one feels in a 3-D surround sound movie during the shoot-out part of an action flick after years of not watching TV.
Even after a month of nursing two babies, I just can't relax in the same way when I'm nursing both babies as I do when I'm just nursing one. It is such a pleasure to be out of the house and find that I have to nurse the babies. I sit down for a 10 minutes to nurse one baby, then switch to nursing the other afterward. Ah, sweet relaxing bliss. Did I neglect to mention that while I nurse one baby the other one is off-and-on screaming about having to wait? And Evelyn is demanding attention or leaning over the screaming baby making me fear for the baby's life? Survival mode has helped me redefine "relaxing" and "bliss."
I find myself also in survival mode when it comes to crying babies. There are times it gets to me--really really gets to me--and I'm ready to do whatever it takes to soothe the cry baby. And then there are times where I have to stop myself from moving on to a new task after I've been finishing something up during a cry baby spell. Really, I can slip right into survival mode and function pretty well when one, or even both, of my babies are crying. Sometimes Evelyn gets thrown into the mix and I have all three kids crying. And I find I am balanced on a point tightly wedged between sobbing and giggling. More often than not I find myself giggling to myself or trying to get Evie or any nearby adult to laugh along with me. Like the time I was in the urgent care clinic waiting for a strep test at dinner time with no food and three crying kids. And I overheard one receptionist say to the other, "that lady with the babies" [points] "can we get her in a room?" HA HA HA HA! Who is that crazy lady who shows up by herself with three crying kids? Oh, that's me! HA HA HA HA!
Well, the storm is over and Amalia still isn't asleep and Michael is here to relieve me. I must take these opportunities to sleep when I get them!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, September 3, 2010
The owl birthday cake
Here is a photo of the owl birthday cake we made for Allan yesterday. The nose and talons are banana runts. Evie helped assemble the ingredients and Michael, Joe, Aspen, Eric and Evie watched while I got him all decorated. Then we devoured his head. Yum!
And now from the side:
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Allan's birthday, 4 years old
Today is Allan's birthday. He would be four years old. He would have energy and personality. He'd be learning to read or already reading, throwing balls, imagining detailed situations (probably involving animal encounters). He would be swimming. A lot, it is so darn hot here in Maryland.
He would be doing a lot more than this, but I never got to know his full personality, so I'm just not sure what exactly would be so very important to him today. I get glimpses from knowing Andrew Dotzour, Evelyn, Sylvia and other kids in our lives. I don't think he would be as sports crazy as Jake and Luke are, but I think he would just love trips to Wisconsin to be with his cousins. I think they would all love riding the go-cart at Nana and Grandpa's, and there would have to be some negotiation about who took the first ride and who rode with whom. And I think they would have collapsed in a monkey pile more often than not after a long day of play. Maiken says Jake still prays for him every night. It breaks my heart to think that Jake has any idea of what our whole family lost four years ago.
But in the intervening four years, our family has also gained so much. I have a closer bond with most of my family members than I ever did before, Schroedls, Thompsons, Kileys, Dotzours and Bablers alike. I remember in great detail ordinary moments of quiet talk and wild play from these past four years for each person in my life. I get less caught up in the daily grind and find it easier to let go completely so I can fully be with my friends and family. And I notice more when I'm not doing that.
And we've gained a whole person: Evelyn Rose Lerner. I feel like my every day and purpose revolves around this one small being. I am either waiting for her to wake up in the morning or being woken by her. I am then spending an hour or more in the morning talking to her, reading to her, playing, eating and running with her. And then I am waiting for the time to come when I will hear her squeal with delight upon seeing me at home, at Fanta's house or in the park. Then there is more play, eating, bath play, reading, snuggling and finally bedtime when I begin waiting for her to wake up again.
Things have changed a lot this past year in how I feel on a daily basis and how I approach my day. I think much less about what Allan would be doing if he were with us. I still get surprised by the things we do that suddenly bring his loss close around me and heavy on my heart. A few weeks ago it was Evelyn's first pony ride. I had dreamed about the day Allan would get to ride a pony. I wanted that so much for him.
I don't often wake up in the night from the nightmare of September 1st, 2006. The day we arrived for a routine ob appointment to find that our baby boy had no heart beat. I don't dream much about that room, the slowly rising panic as it took longer and longer to find his heartbeat. The wait for a second doctor to confirm what the first doctor was too afraid to say to us. I remember every stitch of clothing I was wearing, every step I took, the mug I had filled with a smoothie and brought in the car with us and yet, I don't find myself suddenly back there often at all now. I don't dream anymore of the phone calls we had to make.
But most of all, I feel less bitter and angry. Yes, I can still tap into that when I hit on particular thoughts. The doctor who told us there was no reason to induce even after the due date had passed. The doctor who referred us to the crazy brainwashing of the Bradley method (though the hip lift technique they teach was a real necessity during my two labors). I don't want to throw raw eggs on every car that has a stupid "life is good" sticker anymore.
I was about to say that I feel less afraid. And while that is generally true, there are caveats. I don't wake up every day with a deep pit of stomach-eating fear in me. My hands don't tremble like they used to and I don't think my eyes look so wide and vacant as they did the year after Allan was born. I don't feel completely rigid about how I care for Evie, as if I can keep her safer by holding a ball of tension at the center of myself. But I am quicker to fear for the lives of the people around me. And I am afraid for every pregnant woman, especially friends. Especially friends. I find I can't talk to friends as they approach their baby's due dates. It still hurts me to think of how happy I was at that time in Allan's life. And I am so gripped with fear that something tragic will happen to them. And I don't want to be seen as a doom-sayer.
And then there is the thought of attempting another pregnancy that brings the fear on hard and cold. How could I ever expose Evelyn to such a thing? Not to mention the community of friends and family who have carried us this far. But how could I deny this world the possibility of another person so special as Evie has turned out to be.
Today, we celebrated Allan's birthday by going to eat our breakfast at the zoo with the gorillas, gibbons and siamangs. We also saw the elephants and got to pet a little house wren that was caught in a net at a banding site run by a friend (huge oversimplification of her purpose and project, sorry!). We took a pink flamingo feather as a souvenir from the edge of the flamingo enclosure. Evelyn's face showed such awe and wonder when I handed her the feather. She and I are kindred spirits. I think Allan would have loved the special morning. He would have roared back to the elephants, or he would have listened in awe as they rumbled this morning. He would have run ahead of us to find out what was next, or he would have been mesmerized by the Siamangs and would hardly have been dragged away with any promise.
After a quick trip to the library, we dropped Evie off at daycare and took our ritual trip to the nursery. We buy a tree every year on Allan's birthday. Last year two of the trees we have bought died, so we had a few to replace. After an hour of perusing and discussing, we discovered the citrus tree section. There was no going back. We are home now with one Kumquat tree, one lime tree and a satsuma orange tree. Each one of them has fruit growing. They will be a nice addition to the little Meyer lemon we already have.
Tonight we are planning to eat gazpacho and owl cake. I think the cake will be amazing...I think Allan would like going on night walks to find owls around here.
Thanks for all the notes, calls and love you send our way today and every day.
Heather, mom to Allan Frederick Lerner and Evelyn Rose Lerner
He would be doing a lot more than this, but I never got to know his full personality, so I'm just not sure what exactly would be so very important to him today. I get glimpses from knowing Andrew Dotzour, Evelyn, Sylvia and other kids in our lives. I don't think he would be as sports crazy as Jake and Luke are, but I think he would just love trips to Wisconsin to be with his cousins. I think they would all love riding the go-cart at Nana and Grandpa's, and there would have to be some negotiation about who took the first ride and who rode with whom. And I think they would have collapsed in a monkey pile more often than not after a long day of play. Maiken says Jake still prays for him every night. It breaks my heart to think that Jake has any idea of what our whole family lost four years ago.
But in the intervening four years, our family has also gained so much. I have a closer bond with most of my family members than I ever did before, Schroedls, Thompsons, Kileys, Dotzours and Bablers alike. I remember in great detail ordinary moments of quiet talk and wild play from these past four years for each person in my life. I get less caught up in the daily grind and find it easier to let go completely so I can fully be with my friends and family. And I notice more when I'm not doing that.
And we've gained a whole person: Evelyn Rose Lerner. I feel like my every day and purpose revolves around this one small being. I am either waiting for her to wake up in the morning or being woken by her. I am then spending an hour or more in the morning talking to her, reading to her, playing, eating and running with her. And then I am waiting for the time to come when I will hear her squeal with delight upon seeing me at home, at Fanta's house or in the park. Then there is more play, eating, bath play, reading, snuggling and finally bedtime when I begin waiting for her to wake up again.
Things have changed a lot this past year in how I feel on a daily basis and how I approach my day. I think much less about what Allan would be doing if he were with us. I still get surprised by the things we do that suddenly bring his loss close around me and heavy on my heart. A few weeks ago it was Evelyn's first pony ride. I had dreamed about the day Allan would get to ride a pony. I wanted that so much for him.
I don't often wake up in the night from the nightmare of September 1st, 2006. The day we arrived for a routine ob appointment to find that our baby boy had no heart beat. I don't dream much about that room, the slowly rising panic as it took longer and longer to find his heartbeat. The wait for a second doctor to confirm what the first doctor was too afraid to say to us. I remember every stitch of clothing I was wearing, every step I took, the mug I had filled with a smoothie and brought in the car with us and yet, I don't find myself suddenly back there often at all now. I don't dream anymore of the phone calls we had to make.
But most of all, I feel less bitter and angry. Yes, I can still tap into that when I hit on particular thoughts. The doctor who told us there was no reason to induce even after the due date had passed. The doctor who referred us to the crazy brainwashing of the Bradley method (though the hip lift technique they teach was a real necessity during my two labors). I don't want to throw raw eggs on every car that has a stupid "life is good" sticker anymore.
I was about to say that I feel less afraid. And while that is generally true, there are caveats. I don't wake up every day with a deep pit of stomach-eating fear in me. My hands don't tremble like they used to and I don't think my eyes look so wide and vacant as they did the year after Allan was born. I don't feel completely rigid about how I care for Evie, as if I can keep her safer by holding a ball of tension at the center of myself. But I am quicker to fear for the lives of the people around me. And I am afraid for every pregnant woman, especially friends. Especially friends. I find I can't talk to friends as they approach their baby's due dates. It still hurts me to think of how happy I was at that time in Allan's life. And I am so gripped with fear that something tragic will happen to them. And I don't want to be seen as a doom-sayer.
And then there is the thought of attempting another pregnancy that brings the fear on hard and cold. How could I ever expose Evelyn to such a thing? Not to mention the community of friends and family who have carried us this far. But how could I deny this world the possibility of another person so special as Evie has turned out to be.
Today, we celebrated Allan's birthday by going to eat our breakfast at the zoo with the gorillas, gibbons and siamangs. We also saw the elephants and got to pet a little house wren that was caught in a net at a banding site run by a friend (huge oversimplification of her purpose and project, sorry!). We took a pink flamingo feather as a souvenir from the edge of the flamingo enclosure. Evelyn's face showed such awe and wonder when I handed her the feather. She and I are kindred spirits. I think Allan would have loved the special morning. He would have roared back to the elephants, or he would have listened in awe as they rumbled this morning. He would have run ahead of us to find out what was next, or he would have been mesmerized by the Siamangs and would hardly have been dragged away with any promise.
After a quick trip to the library, we dropped Evie off at daycare and took our ritual trip to the nursery. We buy a tree every year on Allan's birthday. Last year two of the trees we have bought died, so we had a few to replace. After an hour of perusing and discussing, we discovered the citrus tree section. There was no going back. We are home now with one Kumquat tree, one lime tree and a satsuma orange tree. Each one of them has fruit growing. They will be a nice addition to the little Meyer lemon we already have.
Tonight we are planning to eat gazpacho and owl cake. I think the cake will be amazing...I think Allan would like going on night walks to find owls around here.
Thanks for all the notes, calls and love you send our way today and every day.
Heather, mom to Allan Frederick Lerner and Evelyn Rose Lerner
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
October 2009 update!
Just signed in to this website and realized how long it has been since I posted. Well, never mind that, let's just see what I have to say now and forget the last six months of silence:)
We have been enjoying the last 10 days with Nana here taking care of Evie. We missed Nana a lot this summer while she was busy selling cheesecake and other yummies. We did enjoy getting to know Fanta and the kids at Fanta's daycare (Miranda, Zack, Opal, Kian, Elliot). We also really enjoyed walking to/from Fanta's with Evie and had settled into a pretty sustainable routine, albeit one that had us working rather limited hours due to the constraints of the open hours at the daycare.
One of the highlights of our learning to cope without Nana was starting a dinner co-op (which continues on!). It is a simple and fun solution to the problem of two working parents trying to get a hot healthy home-cooked meal on the table every night. It works like this: on Monday nights Michael and I cook a yummy healthy meal made from organic and/or locally grown foods for 3 other families and drop it off at their homes by 6 p.m. On Tuesday nights Lisa does the same, on Thursday nights Maria follows suit and finally, on Friday, Bailey delivers her meal to us all. Only one weeknight remains where we have to fend for ourselves. We usually savor our co-op meals so that we have enough left for lunches and that extra non-coop weeknight. Or I put something into the slow cooker. We enjoy selecting one special meal to cook each week, we enjoy cooking together and we especially enjoy meals being delivered to us! I'm becoming a better cook, learning from Michael as we cook together. We're trying new foods as recipients of other people's special meals and as chefs. I have thoroughly enjoyed three fish-based meals! That's more fish meals than I've enjoyed in my entire pre-co-op life! We learned to make phenomenal pulled pork. We can cook gluten-free meals with no trouble.
Now that Nana is here, we are adjusting to a new routine and trying to take full advantage of the extra time we can spend at work, cleaning around the house (we're still unpacking, but I'll get to that later...) and reconnecting with each other. Last week Michael and I went on walks around the neighborhood several nights after Evie was in bed. We talked, held hands, laughed, discussed research and parenting and homebirth (bad idea, criminally bad). We finally finished unpacking and organizing our bedroom and set up an office for Michael (and sometimes me!). We also purchased our travel tickets for the Christmas holiday. Over the weekend we played in an ultimate frisbee game while Evie napped at home with Nana. We didn't worry about the rain and we went out with the team for drinks afterward. We also spent some fun time playing with Evie and had Lidija, Keven and their twins, Lilly and Luca over to the house. We even went out for the India buffet at Woodlands on Sunday. Evie really likes mango lassi:) And on Sunday night we went to Boo at the Zoo, where Evie wore her frog costume and especially liked seeing the "liolin" (Lionness).
Evie is flourishing under Nana's care. She is speaking in more complex sentence structures, expanding her vocabulary, working on potty training (first day almost entirely diaper-free today!), pretend-playing in her kitchen and with her dolly and spending lots of time outside. Nana has been active on the internet since she arrived, ordering Halloween tattoos to give out this Saturday for trick-or-treat, ordering several winter coats for Evie, finding and buying a wagon for Evie and so on.. Evie and Nana have gone to the library for circle time, spent a day at the zoo, had a playdate with Joy, Grace and their dad, Chuck, had a playdate with Toby and gone for lots of wagon rides. The best part of my day at work is when I get my daily photo(s) from Nana!
Michael had a "best moment of his life" this morning. Evie went to bed before he got home last night, so she missed her nightly bedtime stories with Daddy. When she woke up this morning and saw Daddy she asked right away for him to read her a story. What a sweet girl. She missed reading her stories with Daddy and she wanted to make up for it. I think this says volumes about her love for her Daddy and her adaptability.
Michael and Nana just took off to the airport to pick up Grandpa (i.e. Pops). We'll all be together celebrating what is bound to be a really fun Halloween in our new neighborhood (did I explain that we had to move September 1st and that we're now 0.3 miles away from our old house? We LOVE our new home and neighborhood...but that's another post). I really love the month of October, Halloween, pumpkins, decorations, candy corn and costumes. I'm so sad that it is almost over but so excited that Halloween is almost here! I'm glad we got to have Boo at the Zoo last weekend so some of the excitement is spread out...it's like having TWO Halloweens! I'm supposed to be asleep now, so I better get off to bed.
Good night!
Heather
We have been enjoying the last 10 days with Nana here taking care of Evie. We missed Nana a lot this summer while she was busy selling cheesecake and other yummies. We did enjoy getting to know Fanta and the kids at Fanta's daycare (Miranda, Zack, Opal, Kian, Elliot). We also really enjoyed walking to/from Fanta's with Evie and had settled into a pretty sustainable routine, albeit one that had us working rather limited hours due to the constraints of the open hours at the daycare.
One of the highlights of our learning to cope without Nana was starting a dinner co-op (which continues on!). It is a simple and fun solution to the problem of two working parents trying to get a hot healthy home-cooked meal on the table every night. It works like this: on Monday nights Michael and I cook a yummy healthy meal made from organic and/or locally grown foods for 3 other families and drop it off at their homes by 6 p.m. On Tuesday nights Lisa does the same, on Thursday nights Maria follows suit and finally, on Friday, Bailey delivers her meal to us all. Only one weeknight remains where we have to fend for ourselves. We usually savor our co-op meals so that we have enough left for lunches and that extra non-coop weeknight. Or I put something into the slow cooker. We enjoy selecting one special meal to cook each week, we enjoy cooking together and we especially enjoy meals being delivered to us! I'm becoming a better cook, learning from Michael as we cook together. We're trying new foods as recipients of other people's special meals and as chefs. I have thoroughly enjoyed three fish-based meals! That's more fish meals than I've enjoyed in my entire pre-co-op life! We learned to make phenomenal pulled pork. We can cook gluten-free meals with no trouble.
Now that Nana is here, we are adjusting to a new routine and trying to take full advantage of the extra time we can spend at work, cleaning around the house (we're still unpacking, but I'll get to that later...) and reconnecting with each other. Last week Michael and I went on walks around the neighborhood several nights after Evie was in bed. We talked, held hands, laughed, discussed research and parenting and homebirth (bad idea, criminally bad). We finally finished unpacking and organizing our bedroom and set up an office for Michael (and sometimes me!). We also purchased our travel tickets for the Christmas holiday. Over the weekend we played in an ultimate frisbee game while Evie napped at home with Nana. We didn't worry about the rain and we went out with the team for drinks afterward. We also spent some fun time playing with Evie and had Lidija, Keven and their twins, Lilly and Luca over to the house. We even went out for the India buffet at Woodlands on Sunday. Evie really likes mango lassi:) And on Sunday night we went to Boo at the Zoo, where Evie wore her frog costume and especially liked seeing the "liolin" (Lionness).
Evie is flourishing under Nana's care. She is speaking in more complex sentence structures, expanding her vocabulary, working on potty training (first day almost entirely diaper-free today!), pretend-playing in her kitchen and with her dolly and spending lots of time outside. Nana has been active on the internet since she arrived, ordering Halloween tattoos to give out this Saturday for trick-or-treat, ordering several winter coats for Evie, finding and buying a wagon for Evie and so on.. Evie and Nana have gone to the library for circle time, spent a day at the zoo, had a playdate with Joy, Grace and their dad, Chuck, had a playdate with Toby and gone for lots of wagon rides. The best part of my day at work is when I get my daily photo(s) from Nana!
Michael had a "best moment of his life" this morning. Evie went to bed before he got home last night, so she missed her nightly bedtime stories with Daddy. When she woke up this morning and saw Daddy she asked right away for him to read her a story. What a sweet girl. She missed reading her stories with Daddy and she wanted to make up for it. I think this says volumes about her love for her Daddy and her adaptability.
Michael and Nana just took off to the airport to pick up Grandpa (i.e. Pops). We'll all be together celebrating what is bound to be a really fun Halloween in our new neighborhood (did I explain that we had to move September 1st and that we're now 0.3 miles away from our old house? We LOVE our new home and neighborhood...but that's another post). I really love the month of October, Halloween, pumpkins, decorations, candy corn and costumes. I'm so sad that it is almost over but so excited that Halloween is almost here! I'm glad we got to have Boo at the Zoo last weekend so some of the excitement is spread out...it's like having TWO Halloweens! I'm supposed to be asleep now, so I better get off to bed.
Good night!
Heather
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Evelyn's first Easter egg hunt
This morning we went to an Easter egg hunt at the Piney Branch Elementary School in Takoma Park. Evelyn's FIRST Easter egg hunt! We staked out a spot on the field with four plastic Easter eggs and Evelyn surveyed the area, sat down, mouthed the eggs, put some eggs in her basket, took some out and was delighted at the new experience. She wore her bunny ears we found at the store yesterday and got her photo taken for the newspaper--hopefully it will make it into the article and I'll be posting a link to the photo! In the meantime, I've posted an album at Picasa for you to see Evelyn bunny at the egg hunt.
Directly after the egg hunt we headed over to Rockville for Ben Cavanaugh's first birthday party. Evelyn loved the pumpkin muffin/cake, asking for more, moRE, MORE! Luckily we got two muffins to take home with us and the recipe. She also got into the present process, playing with Ben's toys right alongside him, smiling, waving and truly enjoying it all. She took 4 steps in a row on her own, a new personal record, toward one of Ben's relatives. I stood by in awe as my baby took steps so confidently and quickly that she was really walking. The past 3 weeks I've been considering her steps as cute antics not entirely connected to walking, but seeing her today made me realize that walking is not so far off for her. And what a whole new world it will be for Evelyn when she can walk--or should I say run? We had such fun at Ben's party and seeing Evelyn play with Ben's presents gave me some ideas for her birthday. Bongo drums, for instance, were a big hit today and I like the sound they make. The fisher price Barn was another hit, although I prefer the old school ones that say, "Moo!" when the doors open (the doors don't even open on the new one!).
What an exciting day! Of course, there are photos of Ben's party in the Picasa album with the Easter egg hunt photos.
Directly after the egg hunt we headed over to Rockville for Ben Cavanaugh's first birthday party. Evelyn loved the pumpkin muffin/cake, asking for more, moRE, MORE! Luckily we got two muffins to take home with us and the recipe. She also got into the present process, playing with Ben's toys right alongside him, smiling, waving and truly enjoying it all. She took 4 steps in a row on her own, a new personal record, toward one of Ben's relatives. I stood by in awe as my baby took steps so confidently and quickly that she was really walking. The past 3 weeks I've been considering her steps as cute antics not entirely connected to walking, but seeing her today made me realize that walking is not so far off for her. And what a whole new world it will be for Evelyn when she can walk--or should I say run? We had such fun at Ben's party and seeing Evelyn play with Ben's presents gave me some ideas for her birthday. Bongo drums, for instance, were a big hit today and I like the sound they make. The fisher price Barn was another hit, although I prefer the old school ones that say, "Moo!" when the doors open (the doors don't even open on the new one!).
What an exciting day! Of course, there are photos of Ben's party in the Picasa album with the Easter egg hunt photos.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Photos from our January trip to Kansas
Back in January when we were visiting the Lerners in Lawrence, Kansas, they hosted a very nice party. I took some photos and have finally posted them at Picasa HERE with a few other photos fro our trip to Kansas, including photos of Rachel and Dean with Evelyn.
At the party, Evelyn wore a lovely dress in which she looked like a snowflake (to me), little tights and black patent leather shoes. Many of you may be astounded at my attention to Evelyn's clothes, especially those of you who are familiar with my own style in clothing (or lack thereof). Dressing a beautiful baby girl is just so incredibly fun. I love it. One of my favorite things each morning is picking out an outfit for Evelyn. And on the weekends I love to go shopping for baby clothes. erm...toddler clothes...?
At the party, Evelyn wore a lovely dress in which she looked like a snowflake (to me), little tights and black patent leather shoes. Many of you may be astounded at my attention to Evelyn's clothes, especially those of you who are familiar with my own style in clothing (or lack thereof). Dressing a beautiful baby girl is just so incredibly fun. I love it. One of my favorite things each morning is picking out an outfit for Evelyn. And on the weekends I love to go shopping for baby clothes. erm...toddler clothes...?
Kerplunk!
Evelyn's latest game is called Kerplunk! She sits up, catches your eye and then slowly lets herself fall over while you say "Kerplunk!" Then she rolls over, sits up and does it again. Usually she does this on the bed, which is where she developed the game with Nana while skyping with Grandpa. But lately she has also decided to Kerplunk in the bathtub. She has no fear. She doesn't mind the water washing over her, she just rolls herself over and sits up, albeit sometimes spluttering. I, on the other hand, feel my pulse racing and tremble while I try to keep that happy fun smile on my face. This is so scary, but so great that she likes the bath and doesn't mind going under water! Swimming lessons this summer would be fantastic!
Baby steps
For about two weeks Evelyn has been taking single steps to get to me, Michael or Nana or to go from the footstool to the window ledge. The past two days she has taken 2 steps in a row. She is still wobbly, but making progress. The moms at the play group last week were calling her a toddler. My breath caught in my throat at that. My baby could be a toddler soon?! How can nearly a year have gone by so quickly?
Dairy update #3: major progress
We have made incredible strides on the dairy front. I am afraid to talk about the amazing strides for fear that I will jinx the whole thing. I am regularly eating yogurt and cheese and I have eaten 1.5 pieces of Pops's cheesecake. YUM! and some banana bread with butter in it. I can't bring myself to put butter on my food or drink a glass of milk yet, but maybe soon...I don't even know what to cook these days, everything tastes SO GOOD with cheese on it. Tonight I ate some leftover black beans with CHEESE and avocado. A random meal, but SO GOOD. Almost anything could be a meal when you add cheese!
But the best part: Evelyn has been eating yogurt every day this week. She bangs her hands together to tell me the sign for MORE! MORE! MORE! when I get the yogurt out. And she has had cheese twice without incident. And, some banana bread made with butter (more enthusiastic banging of her hands!). A whole new world is opening up before her. In less than 3 weeks Pops will be here and I believe cheesecake will be on little Evie's menu:)
But the best part: Evelyn has been eating yogurt every day this week. She bangs her hands together to tell me the sign for MORE! MORE! MORE! when I get the yogurt out. And she has had cheese twice without incident. And, some banana bread made with butter (more enthusiastic banging of her hands!). A whole new world is opening up before her. In less than 3 weeks Pops will be here and I believe cheesecake will be on little Evie's menu:)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Baby sign break-through
This week Evelyn started using some new baby signs and really focusing on signs in general. It's like she suddenly fully realized the importance of using her baby sign language and is gung-ho to move it to the next level. She's been doing milk, water and potty on occasion for the last three months or so, but not necessarily when she wanted any of those things and always with a look of silliness on her face like she didn't quite believe what she was doing. But now, she has a whole new relationship with those signs. She is visibly thoughtful before she does one of the signs and she is using them in situations when she is frustrated because she wants something and isn't getting it.
She picked up the sign for "more" this week and is so thrilled to use it. Our most difficult times of the day (Althea is laughing hysterically thinking of the differences in scale we have between Evelyn's and Sylvia's difficult times...) are when Evelyn is eating. At nearly every meal she gets fussy (maybe frustrated? with us?) at least briefy and we distract her by using the sign for water (and giving her water from a cup) or by putting her food in a dish of brewer's yeast for her to fish out. We often wonder if she has to use the potty since she almost invariably pees during her meals. But really, who wants to take off the tray, wipe the baby down, take off the bibs, remove the clothes, hustle over to the potty and wait to see if pottying was the source of the fuss?!
Now that Evelyn has learned that she can tell us she wants more of something, she has used that sign at every meal. it doesn't hurt that most of her meals have involved blueberries or mangoes in the past three days:) And she does it with such character. She'll do the more sign and then clap, as if to say, "I'm amazing! I just said 'more!'" Just tonight she started fussing when she ran out of blueberries and when I asked her if she wanted more she became very thoughtful for a few moments, did the sign for more a few times and then clapped. It was so adorable...all 10 or 15 times she did it.
A mom who was nursing her second child told me last fall that it wasn't worth teaching a baby signs since they only really use them for a few months before they start to speak anyway...I was so disapointed in my heart to think that moms in-the-know think signs are a waste of time, but I decided we should do signs anyway. And, I'm so glad I did. Just the past three days have been amazing. The pleasure Evelyn gets from communicating, the break-through in understanding her fussiness at dinner, both of these things are so worth the absolutely minor effort we've exerted in teaching her signs!
Now we have to get that signing book and DVD out (thanks, Ben!) to refresh ourselves on the signs while Evie is so receptive!
skipping work and dairy update #2
Yesterday I took the afternoon off of work because it was absolutely beautiful, 60 degrees and sunny and my office doesn't have a window so I was feeling trapped and yucky. I left work around 2:30 p.m., picked Evelyn up, picked Pippin up and drove to the Rachel Carson Greenway. We hiked for about 1.5 hours in the warm sun stopping to throw the ball for Pippin and watch him swim across the creek to get it. We saw trees gnawed down by beavers, we got very intimate with some moss on a rock and some old leaves, we touched tree bark and baby budding leaves, we sang songs, we talked about the rooster (Cock! says Evie) and the turkey (Gobba! says Evie) and we threw the ball some more for Pippin. It was a wonderful afternoon.
We then messed it all up by my trying some food at Trader Joe's that unbeknown to me had whey in it. Poor Evie had a very rough day today, lots of crying, refusing to eat or drink or be happy unless Mommy was holding her. Poor dear, I thought maybe the dairy problems were over. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
We then messed it all up by my trying some food at Trader Joe's that unbeknown to me had whey in it. Poor Evie had a very rough day today, lots of crying, refusing to eat or drink or be happy unless Mommy was holding her. Poor dear, I thought maybe the dairy problems were over. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Meet me, I'm Bob...or Pbopb!
You may have always known me as, "Heather," but I am hereby telling you that my name is currently, "Bob." We've all said "Mom," "Mama," and "mommy," to Evelyn for months now and just three days ago she finally responded with a very soft and hesitant, "Bob." Maybe more of a, "Pbopb." And every day since then she's become more confident in saying my new name, "Pbopb!"
This is in stark contrast to the perfect DAAAD! that she constantly says:) Lucky, lucky, Michael:)
This is in stark contrast to the perfect DAAAD! that she constantly says:) Lucky, lucky, Michael:)
The dairy saga continues
On Monday I intentionally ate some cow's milk cheese (cheddar in my omelet) after 9 months of abstaining from all cow's milk products. In fact, every day this week I've eaten some cow's milk cheese of some sort.....and....Evie seems to be doing fine. She was a little fussy today, but she is NOT bloated, she does NOT have red spots on her face and neck, she does NOT need intensive comforting constantly and she does NOT wake every 1 or 1.5 hours screaming and arching her back in pain and agony.
I can't even comprehend the possibilities that are opening up for my daily diet....and maybe, in a few weeks, Evie's!
It has been such a long 9 months of difficulties when shopping and eating out (if you are ever a waitperson and a customer with an allergy present him/herself at your table--TAKE IT SERIOUSLY! YOU COULD BE HURTING SOMEONE, MAYBE EVEN A BABY!). We've lived much of this time very happily in the sunshine of dairy-free life but the dark clouds of evil dairy products have constantly lurked nearby often coming on all of a sudden with weeks of pain and sadness for Evie. It takes about 2 weeks for dairy products to clear out of Evie's system after she's been exposed, so just one trip to a restaurant with a lying or inconsiderate or just plain stupid waitperson could lead to 2 weeks of trouble. The last time I went to a restaurant where someone lied to me about reading an ingredient label (and I know she knowingly lied because I forced her to show me the label she told me she had read...the label that had microwave directions on it instead of a list of ingredients!), I actually stood up for myself and my daughter. I told the person that her behavior was unacceptable and that I would not eat there since I couldn't be sure it was safe. I then wrote a letter to the owner of the restaurant--and received a very nice phone call of apology.
But, I digress. I just wanted to tell you about this testing process we're in right now and how tentatively good I'm feeling about it. I'm not sure what to try next. It seems that Evelyn has been most sensitive to the whey part of milk (as opposed to the curds part) so I suppose I should have something with whey in it. Maybe I will try yogurt next. I'd really like to try the fancy chocolate cake Michael's boss's wife is making tomorrow, but that might be too much of a jump:)
I can't even comprehend the possibilities that are opening up for my daily diet....and maybe, in a few weeks, Evie's!
It has been such a long 9 months of difficulties when shopping and eating out (if you are ever a waitperson and a customer with an allergy present him/herself at your table--TAKE IT SERIOUSLY! YOU COULD BE HURTING SOMEONE, MAYBE EVEN A BABY!). We've lived much of this time very happily in the sunshine of dairy-free life but the dark clouds of evil dairy products have constantly lurked nearby often coming on all of a sudden with weeks of pain and sadness for Evie. It takes about 2 weeks for dairy products to clear out of Evie's system after she's been exposed, so just one trip to a restaurant with a lying or inconsiderate or just plain stupid waitperson could lead to 2 weeks of trouble. The last time I went to a restaurant where someone lied to me about reading an ingredient label (and I know she knowingly lied because I forced her to show me the label she told me she had read...the label that had microwave directions on it instead of a list of ingredients!), I actually stood up for myself and my daughter. I told the person that her behavior was unacceptable and that I would not eat there since I couldn't be sure it was safe. I then wrote a letter to the owner of the restaurant--and received a very nice phone call of apology.
But, I digress. I just wanted to tell you about this testing process we're in right now and how tentatively good I'm feeling about it. I'm not sure what to try next. It seems that Evelyn has been most sensitive to the whey part of milk (as opposed to the curds part) so I suppose I should have something with whey in it. Maybe I will try yogurt next. I'd really like to try the fancy chocolate cake Michael's boss's wife is making tomorrow, but that might be too much of a jump:)
Temporary site for lerner clan
I've been wanting to post some updates the past few months and just haven't been able to because our site is down so often. We're having some very strange issues with our lerner clan blog computer so I'm posting this blog as a temporary site until we fix our problems with the home computer or establish a fancy shmancy blog somewhere else. Thanks for traveling here with us:)
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