Gametes In Love

Yeah, it turns out some things are not common knowledge, and as a parent I’m finding myself having to state the obvious. You know… things like:

“G please do NOT bounce the ball off your brother’s head.”

I know now why gray hair happens.

My children are genetically engineered to be tummy sleepers.

Milk, it does the body good!

Brotherly hugs

Playtime is so emotional

Yummo grapes

Best part of a week-end.

Yeah, well, today is Tuesday, but it’s the first day of the work-week, so close enough 🙂

Monster Hat

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJQ7Sq1mGIU]

S2’s first swing (at the park)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZWG3m8SVVY]

What an awesome morning looks like. Sorry! It’s dark.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u42Q3iCX9c]

This fortress is for brothers only

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhqm4ZFGGxE]

I am going to loose my ever-loving mind over here. If I thought it was possible for an 8m old to wean, I swear he’d be doing it. He wants nothing to do with me: he wants his sippy, he wants his bottle, but my boobs he could care less about. The only time we can nurse, quite frankly, is if he’s asleep, or on his way to falling asleep.

His nursing sessions during the day? A minute stinkin’ long. And I swear, he is trying to set a personal record for how many times he can latch and un-latch within that minute. He chomps, he tugs his head. IT STINKIN’ SUCKS (or actually, the opposite… it doesn’t)!!! I’ve tried nursing in absolute silence, singing to him, removing all distractions, covering his head, using a nursing cover to focus him on task. NOTHING IS WORKING. At this stage, I’m just grateful he has no teeth just yet. I hate this age, in terms of nursing.

My supply is tanking too, so I’m doing my best to nurse as often as I can. I wait until I’m sure he’s hungry and not “snack”, but it’s just failing. I’m trying to rely on him to nurse so that I can at least keep what I have left, and he’s not down with the program. At this stage, I’m ready to throw in the towel and just pump during the day even on week-ends. It sure won’t help my supply any, but I’m at the end of my rope here. Kid needs to eat. I’m not ready to wean. I just don’t know what else to try.

I’ve decided that the difference between a “tear your hair out” evening as a single parent, and a “hey, I feel pretty good about my parenting (survival) skills” is 30 minutes. 30 minutes of child-free time. This isn’t “relax, zone out” time, mind you. It’s time to: get dressed from work clothes into evening home clothes; prep baby milk bottles for the following day; prep dinner and set the table. These tasks may not seem like much, but you’ll be surprised how long they take, and NOT having to worry about them when 2 kids are with you offloading emotionally from their day makes a big difference. I wish I can do them after G goes to bed, but being the late-bird he is, he’s not in bed before 9:30, and still insists you snuggle with him, meaning that I fall asleep right along side him at 10 and NOTHING gets done past that point.

S has had a business conference since Wednesday. While it’s in the city and he’s been coming home every evening, by the time he comes in both kids are in bed, which is more or less the equivalent of being alone.

So I’ve been bailing out of work 30 minutes earlier than usual. I come home, drop off my bags (because carrying a purse, pump, diaper bag, milk bottles bag, infant carrier AND toddler, all at the same time, is NOT fun, despite how amusing it appears), and do all the items I describe above. Then I turn around and grab the kids. We come home, wash hands and go straight to dinner. And you know what? By the time we’re done, I actually have 20 minutes to play with both of them AND rinse diapers, instead of scrambling to get those other chores done. Now… if I can only figure out how to actually “cook” with all this, I’d be set. I’ve been relying on take-out, or warming-up frozen foods. Not ideal, but again, survival mode here.

I’ll say that these last 4 days haven’t been bad. G has really helped out by actually being in pretty good spirits and NOT throwing tantrums and testing me every five minutes. S2 has actually give me 2 good nights of only waking up once. It’s as if they got the memo that mommy’s needs them to cooperate at this time.

So yeah, we made it through Saturday. I have about the same number of gray hairs, and am not ready to sell the kids off to the highest bidder. I’d say that’s a win 🙂

Yeah, Daddy is silly

Weeee!

Hungry for knowledge

Belly Bombs

Dr. Pooper? Why yes, yes I am!

Hmn… Tucan tastes like chicken

I am hungry. All. The.Time.

I have a big lunch and by 2 I am starving. By 5 I am eyeing my colleagues’ snacks on their desks.

I am also equally embarrassed when we go out with friends. Because I want seconds… and possibly thirds. No, friends, I am not being starved at home by my dear husband — I just have a tapeworm whose name is Nursing.

I never used the term “eating for two” while I was pregnant, because I didn’t want to, or feel like I needed to. Now though? Wow! From the amount of food I intake you’d swear I’m feeding a village. I now frequently out-eat S. I can only imagine how hungry moms who feed multiples must be.

I think a nursing mom needs to enter one of those eating competitions. She’d win hands down… and maybe still be hungry afterward.

At this rate, I can only hope that when I stop nursing G my body won’t expand to show where all this food is going. Otherwise I’ll have to move into the gym.

Until next time — I’ll be the one in the corner eating something.

I’ve been trying to encourage G to stand more. Until recently the only time he’s been in upright position is his jumparoo, so any time I try to get him standing he starts trying to bounce.

So now, for a few minutes every day, I hold him up. He’s getting better at supporting his weight, but thinks that standing up = dance time.

He does this really awesome (aka hilarious) butt jiggle. He sticks out his rump, starts swinging side to side and does a little bounce with his hiney.

This is classic video gold and I WISH I had it to show you. Sadly you’ll have to wait and just use your imagination. Trust me, watching it makes you bust out laughing — just don’t let him see you laughing at him or he gets mad. That’s why I have him facing away from me when we do this — I can snicker behind his back… literally.

Does that make me a mean mommy?

Apparently G thinks so anyway.

We had a really kick-ass day today. Aside from G being a grinch about his afternoon nap, it was awesome! We went to a new park today where G went on the slide for the first time (with me) and got on the swings for the first time too.

He LOVED the swing. After he figured out what was going on, he was laughing and grinning.

I wasn’t expecting anything out of today. One of my friends mentioned earlier this week that her daughter was her mother’s day gift. It’s funny, because I’ve been feeling very much the same way about G. However days like today I’ll take anytime!

Here are some pics:

Neko guarding G’s room while he naps

“Which end of the spoon goes in my mouth again?”

“Never mind… figured it out!”

I’ve been asked a few times this week how I plan to celebrate my first mother’s day. My answer? I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t care to do anything special. I just want a casual day with my boys.

I did, however, send a gift to our RE’s office. I’ve always felt a little guilty for not doing something for the wonderful staff there. At first I didn’t want to jinx the first trimester, then the pregnancy, and then… well too much time had passed.

However, for Mother’s Day, it feels like a perfect opportunity, so I sent them a box of Mrs. Fields sampler cookies. My card read: “This Mother’s Day I thank you for making me a momy!” Yeah, it’s kind of cheesy, but I DO mean it. Besides… there’s only so much you can write in 200 characters or less ;p