Wren has been referred to Physical Therapy for help with managing his swollen leg. Dr Lewin and Dr Johnson feel that PT might have some ideas for helping the edema caused by the blocked Ileac vein.
Meanwhile, Frost has a strange lump on the tooth that was coated with sealant on Wednesday. Assuming this lump didn't grow by itself overnight, I believe it is a lump of the gluey stuff.
He is going back to the dentist on Tuesday for a fix-it-up.
Yesterday, I drove over something on the road. It looked like a tiny shampoo bottle made of plastic. It went WHUMPH under the front tyre. Since then the car has been engulfed in a cloud of the most unbelievable stench. Joshua called it "stale pee", it could be described as "burning fish" or "melting plastic utensil". I suspect it is the aroma of shampoo burning on the underbelly of our car.
Last night Josh took it for an emergency whirl through the carwash and parked it in the street. I just went out to check and the pong is still there so I sprayed the left wheel wells with the hose. We couldn't have the car in the garage because it was seeping the stink into the living room.
I just hope it dissipates really soon.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Ergo Yogini
I have just bought a new baby carrier. Its called an Ergo and is supposed to help carry a heavier baby and allow easy back carrier.
Ergo shmergo.
Once again I am cursing the damn bits of cloth that make up a baby carrier and whoever wrote the instructions has a cruel sense of humor. How am I to know which the male clasp on the webbing is? Or which way they mean me to hold this thing to define RIGHT or LEFT shoulder? Hey, its reversible!!
While I can use the Rosaldo sling in my sleep and knot myself in a Moby sling (all the while dragging whatever debris happens to be lying on the parking lot floor into my arms) in a moment this Ergo thing has me baffled. It seems to make a tiny pouch for the baby to fit in or smothers him into my bosoms. Sure, a girl wants to be able to breastfeed her baby but not to walk around like a marsupial with the embryo attached!
I think I shall have to practice new positions with the Moby as well as use this thing a bit to give it a chance. Honestly, I do wish baby carrying didn't have such a steep learning curve. I wish it was more graceful, easy, mutually satisfying from the get-go. Instead I feel as if I could throw it away and tow Wren around in a stroller for the rest of his infancy. No More of this Fashionable Carrying nonsense.
Oh, while I am on the business of strollers. What is going on in stroller world? Why does the more bizarre a stroller is the more desirable it becomes. I was at the PAcific Science Center last week and saw a women pushing her infant in what can only be described as an aluminum hatstand. It was super high off the ground and had strange hooks and a little baby bed. I later saw this model advertized for over $900. I kid you not. The Bugaboo is a category unto itself and craigslist is forever populated by the Bugaboo enthusiasts trying to sell their gently used BB for only $600... quelle disconte!
I have set my sights on a Combi stroller but these seem scarce on Craigslist and since my ancient Graco stroller is still working I am not willing to spend very much for the lightness and portability we all value - oh, and a basket underneath! I also like the Bumbleride - one of the suite of strollers that make their mark by being reversible (so baby can ride backwards) and having cute textiles instead of a blue check. But even then... do I need this? Nope. No and no.
I am going to lie on the couch with the remote control for the last 15 minutes of my freedom before entering the dreaded bedroom with the little limpet.
Oh, and I missed out on reading half my email this week so I also missed the final Parents Meeting of the year for our school. And it was on a Wednesday - a day I can usually manage with the car - instead of Thursday. I really wanted to go but I missed it. One more irritation and frustration to rival not being able to make a big enough pouch with the ergo.
Ergo shmergo.
Once again I am cursing the damn bits of cloth that make up a baby carrier and whoever wrote the instructions has a cruel sense of humor. How am I to know which the male clasp on the webbing is? Or which way they mean me to hold this thing to define RIGHT or LEFT shoulder? Hey, its reversible!!
While I can use the Rosaldo sling in my sleep and knot myself in a Moby sling (all the while dragging whatever debris happens to be lying on the parking lot floor into my arms) in a moment this Ergo thing has me baffled. It seems to make a tiny pouch for the baby to fit in or smothers him into my bosoms. Sure, a girl wants to be able to breastfeed her baby but not to walk around like a marsupial with the embryo attached!
I think I shall have to practice new positions with the Moby as well as use this thing a bit to give it a chance. Honestly, I do wish baby carrying didn't have such a steep learning curve. I wish it was more graceful, easy, mutually satisfying from the get-go. Instead I feel as if I could throw it away and tow Wren around in a stroller for the rest of his infancy. No More of this Fashionable Carrying nonsense.
Oh, while I am on the business of strollers. What is going on in stroller world? Why does the more bizarre a stroller is the more desirable it becomes. I was at the PAcific Science Center last week and saw a women pushing her infant in what can only be described as an aluminum hatstand. It was super high off the ground and had strange hooks and a little baby bed. I later saw this model advertized for over $900. I kid you not. The Bugaboo is a category unto itself and craigslist is forever populated by the Bugaboo enthusiasts trying to sell their gently used BB for only $600... quelle disconte!
I have set my sights on a Combi stroller but these seem scarce on Craigslist and since my ancient Graco stroller is still working I am not willing to spend very much for the lightness and portability we all value - oh, and a basket underneath! I also like the Bumbleride - one of the suite of strollers that make their mark by being reversible (so baby can ride backwards) and having cute textiles instead of a blue check. But even then... do I need this? Nope. No and no.
I am going to lie on the couch with the remote control for the last 15 minutes of my freedom before entering the dreaded bedroom with the little limpet.
Oh, and I missed out on reading half my email this week so I also missed the final Parents Meeting of the year for our school. And it was on a Wednesday - a day I can usually manage with the car - instead of Thursday. I really wanted to go but I missed it. One more irritation and frustration to rival not being able to make a big enough pouch with the ergo.
Various small moments
I am sorry to announce that Dad (Grandad Peter [Rabbit]) has left to return to South Africa on his very long trip via Heathrow. I dropped him off at SeaTac this afternoon without a voice, bearing two small check-in bags, 16 boxes of chocolates and wearing oversize shoes for Orion which he hopes to age gracefully and avoid customs. Dad has a remarkably fast blink reflex so I was unable to get any flash pictures of him with his eyes entirely open. This is the best I can do. I think it is a lovely shot of all of them.
Here is another of Wren this week, taken by Frost. We both look a bit plumper than strictly necessary but Wren is enjoying himself. His sleep is still absolutely foul. In fact, in a week moment today I started paging through The Ferber Book and decided that I have completely messed up Wren's sleep by nursing to sleep, nursing when he wakes in the night, jiggling him to sleep, allowing him not to cry to sleep and not having a good reliable bedtime routine of bath, books, etc. All of these things seem completely out of my control right now and I am about to sink into a well of self-pity and despair about it. Last night was so bad I can't even identify when he woke and slept. It was all a jumbled blur of jiggling him, nursing him, calling joshua to jiggle him and despairing. After 4am I kind of gave up and felt better lying in the dark. Still, this cannot go on, obviously.
This last one is of Wren mouthing the washing basket. He loves to suck and chew on anything near his mouth... this is evidence. No teeth yet!
Here is another of Wren this week, taken by Frost. We both look a bit plumper than strictly necessary but Wren is enjoying himself. His sleep is still absolutely foul. In fact, in a week moment today I started paging through The Ferber Book and decided that I have completely messed up Wren's sleep by nursing to sleep, nursing when he wakes in the night, jiggling him to sleep, allowing him not to cry to sleep and not having a good reliable bedtime routine of bath, books, etc. All of these things seem completely out of my control right now and I am about to sink into a well of self-pity and despair about it. Last night was so bad I can't even identify when he woke and slept. It was all a jumbled blur of jiggling him, nursing him, calling joshua to jiggle him and despairing. After 4am I kind of gave up and felt better lying in the dark. Still, this cannot go on, obviously.
This last one is of Wren mouthing the washing basket. He loves to suck and chew on anything near his mouth... this is evidence. No teeth yet!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
grandpa Peter Rabbit's visit
My week with Wren has been a treat and a surprise. He behaves just as one would expect a baby who had not experienced the trauma of an operation to do. Indeed he is doing things now that I did not notice when I arrived.
He is mouthing anything that he can get to grips with quite aggressively. He likes to be a part of family activities. The exercise of being carried around in the garden as we weed or dig is a treat for him for quite a long while and he rests in the carrier between activities. He seems to stay awake for longer periods when interesting things are happening and sleeps well afterwards.
He loves mobiles for a while, gazing enraptured at them, but the normal distractions given to babies have only limited appeal time. He is soon asking for more and Shannon is quick to oblige with feeds, rests or a walk around the house. His cycle of rest, play food seems to be shorter than I recall for our children but the difference I think is in the way Shannon chooses to manage Wren.
I have noticed far more lovely smiles in the past couple of days and squeals and grunts of pure happiness when he responds to attention. Wren seems to be growing in confidence by leaps and bounds. It is a pity that I shall miss so many stages of development before I see him again. When he looks deep into my eyes I cannot help thinking he is seeing a particular person and I wonder how long he will remember.
He is mouthing anything that he can get to grips with quite aggressively. He likes to be a part of family activities. The exercise of being carried around in the garden as we weed or dig is a treat for him for quite a long while and he rests in the carrier between activities. He seems to stay awake for longer periods when interesting things are happening and sleeps well afterwards.
He loves mobiles for a while, gazing enraptured at them, but the normal distractions given to babies have only limited appeal time. He is soon asking for more and Shannon is quick to oblige with feeds, rests or a walk around the house. His cycle of rest, play food seems to be shorter than I recall for our children but the difference I think is in the way Shannon chooses to manage Wren.
I have noticed far more lovely smiles in the past couple of days and squeals and grunts of pure happiness when he responds to attention. Wren seems to be growing in confidence by leaps and bounds. It is a pity that I shall miss so many stages of development before I see him again. When he looks deep into my eyes I cannot help thinking he is seeing a particular person and I wonder how long he will remember.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Science experiments and Tiger Mountain
- This morning we climbed Tiger Mountain up to the Bat Caves. Frost and Grandad claim they saw 2 bats although I am not convinced. Wren did not see the bats because he didn't go into the cave which was deep green and slippery in a crack between two huge rocks. The walk was a long haul (about 1.25 miles) along a path that became progressively steeper until it felt as if we were climbing a muddy bank. Frost complained that he was tired from about 100 yards along the trail. He couldn't believe we expected him to keep walking up and up and up. After an hour he asked whether we could carry him. We found that playing knights with sword ferns helped distract him from the hike. On the way down he skipped and ran until he complained he had a sore side (a stitch?) We stopped at Krispy Kreme in Issaquah and bought a dozen to replenish ourselves.
- Wren liked lying on his back watching the leaves while Frost and Grandad played sailing boats down the little pebbled stream.
- Frost went to the dentist and had sealants put on his second molars. The dentist liked babies and enjoyed talking to Wren. She stroked his big fat left leg and said how cute it was when babies have nice fat thighs. I didn't feel the need to tell her that it was an edema from his occluded ileac vein.
- Frost thinks it very funny when Wren sucks his finger. "Sometimes Wren can go crazy cos like I was telling you before I put my knuckle in his mouth and he bit it hard two times but then like he suddenly started to go like [tossing his head from side to side] go crazy!!! Wren sucks my finger like a cuttlefish"
- Dad and Frost did some science experiments this afternoon. Frost woke me from my nap explaining that he and grandad had heated copper sulfate over the gas flame and some had leaked and it make green fire! They also exploded a bottle rocket from baking soda and white vinegar, heated iron filings and sulphur and made a zinc dust and sulphur fire which sputtered away making bright lights.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Despite
Despite the sleep thing, Wren and his sleep enablers are doing well. Last night was slightly better than other nights this past week. Wren went to sleep at 9.30 but I woke him for a "top up" at 10.30pm and he woke:
Wren is very fat, happy and easy going during the day. He likes to hold things and grab and loves being talked to. He sleeps easily in the car and on the move.
Today we are planning to BBQ although josh tells me our BBQ is a health hazard and we need a new one. I shall see ..... argh. I am so overwhelmed with things to do that I can't even think of multi-tasking:
laundry
clean kitchen
remove pastry from floor
put away old laundry
open mail
toys everywhere
eat food myself
put on clothes
pick up stuff everhwere
sweep messy floors
throw out old diapers
garbage out
pay bills.....
- 2.00am
- 3.30am
- 4.30am
- 6.00am
- 7.00am morning!
Wren is very fat, happy and easy going during the day. He likes to hold things and grab and loves being talked to. He sleeps easily in the car and on the move.
Today we are planning to BBQ although josh tells me our BBQ is a health hazard and we need a new one. I shall see ..... argh. I am so overwhelmed with things to do that I can't even think of multi-tasking:
laundry
clean kitchen
remove pastry from floor
put away old laundry
open mail
toys everywhere
eat food myself
put on clothes
pick up stuff everhwere
sweep messy floors
throw out old diapers
garbage out
pay bills.....
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Sleep Deprived Visitation
Wren is still not sleeping (well). He believes that he should remain attached to my breast at all times like a tick. If attached he sleeps. When removed he wakes.
Meanwhile, Dad has arrived from South Africa via China, Taiwan and Thailand for a one-week visit. He tells us that the sun is out so brightly in SE Asia that he was burned through a t-shirt while swimming. I feel envious. I want to wander the beach and suffer heat.
It is wonderful to have Dad with us - he brings with him all manner of pleasures: the smell of mint toothpaste and shaving cream in the bathroom in the morning, having a tall person in the doorway (he is 6 ft 4"), having someone to share the carrying of Wren during the day and a fellow cook in the kitchen.
Last night Dad brought out recipes from his cooking class in Thailand and we made Thai fish cakes from scratch. Unfortunately, the lime tree Ingrid was trying to smuggle home to South Africa was captured in transit by the Chinese customs sniffing dogs but we managed to find some leaves for sale at Whole Foods (along with a lovely lunch from the deli bar). Frost was thrilled to be allowed to leave school early yesterday after the field trip to the arboretum where we went for a 2 hour walk with the school. Dad was impressed by the answers the kids gave to the docents questions. Zephyr was particularly observant in his responses - including explaining why we should not feed the ducks ("Then they will become lazy and not look for their normal food and it will make them sick" vs Frosts' "Its like they are eating desert all day")
Today we are going to the Burke Museum and to the thrift store. Dad has an interest in the geology collections and some cheap clothes.
Wren and Josh are a bit sick with a head cold. Frost is off to swimming at school.
7 days till Camp Orkila!!
Meanwhile, Dad has arrived from South Africa via China, Taiwan and Thailand for a one-week visit. He tells us that the sun is out so brightly in SE Asia that he was burned through a t-shirt while swimming. I feel envious. I want to wander the beach and suffer heat.
It is wonderful to have Dad with us - he brings with him all manner of pleasures: the smell of mint toothpaste and shaving cream in the bathroom in the morning, having a tall person in the doorway (he is 6 ft 4"), having someone to share the carrying of Wren during the day and a fellow cook in the kitchen.
Last night Dad brought out recipes from his cooking class in Thailand and we made Thai fish cakes from scratch. Unfortunately, the lime tree Ingrid was trying to smuggle home to South Africa was captured in transit by the Chinese customs sniffing dogs but we managed to find some leaves for sale at Whole Foods (along with a lovely lunch from the deli bar). Frost was thrilled to be allowed to leave school early yesterday after the field trip to the arboretum where we went for a 2 hour walk with the school. Dad was impressed by the answers the kids gave to the docents questions. Zephyr was particularly observant in his responses - including explaining why we should not feed the ducks ("Then they will become lazy and not look for their normal food and it will make them sick" vs Frosts' "Its like they are eating desert all day")
Today we are going to the Burke Museum and to the thrift store. Dad has an interest in the geology collections and some cheap clothes.
Wren and Josh are a bit sick with a head cold. Frost is off to swimming at school.
7 days till Camp Orkila!!
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Counting Sugar
Josh told me an interesting anecdote about sugar. Apparently, we now eat as much sugar in a week as a person living 1000 years ago ate in one year. He has been unable to provide me a reference so it may be skewed but the point is is that we eat WAY more sugar than we used to, or need.
I also read that high-fructose-corn-syryp (HFCS) is a vile stuff and that kids 6+ should have no more than 40-50g of added sugar per day. Really, 40 should be the upper limit for kids Frost's age. So, as an experiment I have been counting and limiting Frost to that amount. Here is the result for Day 1:
6g Breakfast cereal (puffins)
14g Granola bar snack for lunch
1/2 glass of ovaltine with unsweetened soy milk (5g)
7g Two cookies in lunchbox
3g 3 chocolate altoids when he came home
7g Two more cookies after school
10g Icecream desert
=52g
Denied:
Drinking Josh's soda at 45g per can
More altoids at 1g each
More ovaltine at 10g per full glass
Juice
He did eat all the other stuff (apples, strawberries, pita, hummus, some vegies, some chicken, goldfish) but think how much more hungry he could be.... [evil glint in eye]
I also read that high-fructose-corn-syryp (HFCS) is a vile stuff and that kids 6+ should have no more than 40-50g of added sugar per day. Really, 40 should be the upper limit for kids Frost's age. So, as an experiment I have been counting and limiting Frost to that amount. Here is the result for Day 1:
6g Breakfast cereal (puffins)
14g Granola bar snack for lunch
1/2 glass of ovaltine with unsweetened soy milk (5g)
7g Two cookies in lunchbox
3g 3 chocolate altoids when he came home
7g Two more cookies after school
10g Icecream desert
=52g
Denied:
Drinking Josh's soda at 45g per can
More altoids at 1g each
More ovaltine at 10g per full glass
Juice
He did eat all the other stuff (apples, strawberries, pita, hummus, some vegies, some chicken, goldfish) but think how much more hungry he could be.... [evil glint in eye]
Pediatrician update
Wren had a pediatrician visit today. They measured his leg to get a baseline. It is 1" larger on the left than the right (measured 4cm above knee). It is proportionally larger on the calf too.
He had a hemocrit check. His haemaglobin had gone up from 29.1 on April 5th to 31.8 today. That is a big improvement. We plan to give him iron rich foods when he is 6 months old. Dr Levitt suggested lamb as a good start along with vitamin C rich foods. She also likes iron fortified cereal. I am not sure whether we need to try another iron supplement - for now we are not giving him any.
She can see no sign of teeth.
On the sleep issues she feels we are doing okay if he sleeps a few "at least" 3 hour stretches at night and gets 12+ hours sleep in a day (with naps). When he reaches 6 months she suggests that we can try letting him cry a bit to get the hang of soothing himself if he hasn't improved on that count.
He had a hemocrit check. His haemaglobin had gone up from 29.1 on April 5th to 31.8 today. That is a big improvement. We plan to give him iron rich foods when he is 6 months old. Dr Levitt suggested lamb as a good start along with vitamin C rich foods. She also likes iron fortified cereal. I am not sure whether we need to try another iron supplement - for now we are not giving him any.
She can see no sign of teeth.
On the sleep issues she feels we are doing okay if he sleeps a few "at least" 3 hour stretches at night and gets 12+ hours sleep in a day (with naps). When he reaches 6 months she suggests that we can try letting him cry a bit to get the hang of soothing himself if he hasn't improved on that count.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Head above wine
After that week of sleeping hourly naps all night and rising at ever earlier hours I am pleased to announce that life has taken a turn for the better.
This evening we sipped a Napa Merlot in anticipation of our trip down to the San Francisco coast in July. We will be meeting my mother and Mervyn, Claire (stepsister) and Jeff with their two girls Sasha and Cailey. Cailey was born only a few days after Frost so they will have fun playing together. We have decided to take a road-trip down to California and are enjoying musing over maps and looking at versions of the trip. Google Earth has this neat feature where people can load up their images of locations so we have been able to see pictures of the beach near our planned house as well as the area around the motel in Crescent City.
I have been enjoying a new book - a biography of Sir Richard Francis Burton written by Edward Rice. For those not familiar with Burton - he was a famous British adventurer and early ethnographer. He spoke numerous languages including arabic, greek, roman, hindustani, persian etc and is credited with translating the Karma Sutra and indeed "discovering" it for the West. He was also the first Westerner to make pilgrimage to mecca. I am reading about his first time in India and getting wanderlust (although I think I could do without my own concubine, tiger hunting and studying hindustani 12 hours a day in 120 degree heat.) I was thinking that one could not live this kind of life while being a parent and indeed it seems he was not a parental figure although (I didn't know this) he apparently fathered a number of children with his concubines whose decendents still live in India.)
While musing about travel and life abroad, Josh and I are toying (I stress toying) with the idea of living in Melbourne or New Zealand at some point. This is not an imminent event. It is not a plan. It is an excuse to browse realestate.com.au and look at New Zealand on Google Earth. Its a reason for me to pursue getting my US citizenship which might otherwise languish in the longterm to do pile (if I left the US for over 6 months I might lose my permanent residency here and have to reapply to return.) Natasha says she could hook me up with a lot of hippy families in Melbourne and that we should live in Northcote. Real Estate in Melbourne is NOT cheap.
Josh and I have had all this time to look at Google Earth and sip wine because Frost has been playing with some kids in our neighbourhood. Unfortunately, he feels compelled to shriek and make lame jokes and be naughty to show the big boys how cool he is but they seem to manage to have a good time despite his antics. Today he played with Elias and met Eli from up the street. They played Elias's quota of Wii time, roughhoused on the bed, played with the house, climbed the fence with the ladder, ate smores, toasted marshmallows on the gas flame, spraypainted Warhammer spiders and ran shrieking in all directions. I spoke with Ashley (Eli's mother) and it looks like we will try and have a block party in August this year and I have offered to help out if she plans it.
While Frost was over at Elias's I managed to do some more weeding. Wren sat under a tree in his bumbo but wasn't too content to grab leaves so I left him inside with Josh while I attacked the unintentional shrubbery that is our parking strip. Its 90% grass but there is potential. I also went jogging with Wren in the jogger stroller. The whole event was nearly derailed when I couldn't find the canopy for the jogger stroller and didn't want to take Wren out in the sun (yes, there was SUN). Before I could get completely obsessed with my failure to locate anything in the basement, Josh proposed a hat. The hat fell down over Wren's face but he fell asleep so all the falling went in order and I had a lovely garden-tour like jog. Everyone was out doing yardwork. Everyone.
Finally, lest I forget to mention sleep. Yes, Wren did well last night - a necessary condition for all this spring ebulliance. He slept for 6 hours and then 3 hours. We have a new plan - bedtime routing, nurse to sleep, put him down in his wedge, when he wakes (as long as its 3+ hours) nurse him to sleep again but let him sleep in bed with us. That makes the frequent nursings of the early morning more bearable and he seems to be able to get back to sleep with a few pats on occasion. He is getting 1.2ml of zantac AM and PM. We are seeing the pediatrician to review all this and the leg stuff, tomorrow.
Edited this AM: The kids played with the hose, not the house. We have a bedtime routine not a bedtime routing although both of these have me giggling. Last night Wren slept a bit worse: 9pm bed, 11.30 wake, 12.30wake, 5am wake, 7am up (after an hour of wriggling). That long stretch in the middle will get me through the day.
This evening we sipped a Napa Merlot in anticipation of our trip down to the San Francisco coast in July. We will be meeting my mother and Mervyn, Claire (stepsister) and Jeff with their two girls Sasha and Cailey. Cailey was born only a few days after Frost so they will have fun playing together. We have decided to take a road-trip down to California and are enjoying musing over maps and looking at versions of the trip. Google Earth has this neat feature where people can load up their images of locations so we have been able to see pictures of the beach near our planned house as well as the area around the motel in Crescent City.
I have been enjoying a new book - a biography of Sir Richard Francis Burton written by Edward Rice. For those not familiar with Burton - he was a famous British adventurer and early ethnographer. He spoke numerous languages including arabic, greek, roman, hindustani, persian etc and is credited with translating the Karma Sutra and indeed "discovering" it for the West. He was also the first Westerner to make pilgrimage to mecca. I am reading about his first time in India and getting wanderlust (although I think I could do without my own concubine, tiger hunting and studying hindustani 12 hours a day in 120 degree heat.) I was thinking that one could not live this kind of life while being a parent and indeed it seems he was not a parental figure although (I didn't know this) he apparently fathered a number of children with his concubines whose decendents still live in India.)
While musing about travel and life abroad, Josh and I are toying (I stress toying) with the idea of living in Melbourne or New Zealand at some point. This is not an imminent event. It is not a plan. It is an excuse to browse realestate.com.au and look at New Zealand on Google Earth. Its a reason for me to pursue getting my US citizenship which might otherwise languish in the longterm to do pile (if I left the US for over 6 months I might lose my permanent residency here and have to reapply to return.) Natasha says she could hook me up with a lot of hippy families in Melbourne and that we should live in Northcote. Real Estate in Melbourne is NOT cheap.
Josh and I have had all this time to look at Google Earth and sip wine because Frost has been playing with some kids in our neighbourhood. Unfortunately, he feels compelled to shriek and make lame jokes and be naughty to show the big boys how cool he is but they seem to manage to have a good time despite his antics. Today he played with Elias and met Eli from up the street. They played Elias's quota of Wii time, roughhoused on the bed, played with the house, climbed the fence with the ladder, ate smores, toasted marshmallows on the gas flame, spraypainted Warhammer spiders and ran shrieking in all directions. I spoke with Ashley (Eli's mother) and it looks like we will try and have a block party in August this year and I have offered to help out if she plans it.
While Frost was over at Elias's I managed to do some more weeding. Wren sat under a tree in his bumbo but wasn't too content to grab leaves so I left him inside with Josh while I attacked the unintentional shrubbery that is our parking strip. Its 90% grass but there is potential. I also went jogging with Wren in the jogger stroller. The whole event was nearly derailed when I couldn't find the canopy for the jogger stroller and didn't want to take Wren out in the sun (yes, there was SUN). Before I could get completely obsessed with my failure to locate anything in the basement, Josh proposed a hat. The hat fell down over Wren's face but he fell asleep so all the falling went in order and I had a lovely garden-tour like jog. Everyone was out doing yardwork. Everyone.
Finally, lest I forget to mention sleep. Yes, Wren did well last night - a necessary condition for all this spring ebulliance. He slept for 6 hours and then 3 hours. We have a new plan - bedtime routing, nurse to sleep, put him down in his wedge, when he wakes (as long as its 3+ hours) nurse him to sleep again but let him sleep in bed with us. That makes the frequent nursings of the early morning more bearable and he seems to be able to get back to sleep with a few pats on occasion. He is getting 1.2ml of zantac AM and PM. We are seeing the pediatrician to review all this and the leg stuff, tomorrow.
Edited this AM: The kids played with the hose, not the house. We have a bedtime routine not a bedtime routing although both of these have me giggling. Last night Wren slept a bit worse: 9pm bed, 11.30 wake, 12.30wake, 5am wake, 7am up (after an hour of wriggling). That long stretch in the middle will get me through the day.
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