lately

Okay, I have blogger's guilt.  And I am very tired, and coming down with a cold.  

Therefore, I will compromise.  I will post pictures and news, but in very brief terms.  

{ahem.}

Naomi is six months old!

She (sometimes) loves the swing!

Lily and Noah continue to take their posts as Baby Entertainers very seriously.

I have no idea.

Although Naomi remains doggedly stationary (she's only rolled over a few times each way) and isn't a steady sitter yet, she is apparently determined to backflip out of her Bumbo...

We went wild turkey hunting in our backyard!  (Successfully!)

Over spring break, we took Gemma and Grandad to Sea World with us to be our Professional Baby Handlers.  The big kids LOVED getting to see Shamu...

...until he unapologetically soaked us all.  I will never forget the look of shock and horror on poor Lily's face!  She finally cheered up enough to smile for a picture!

Naomi's main characteristic is still "happy". 

Mommy and her sweet girl!

Bounce, bounce, bounce...

Naomi's four month photo bomb

As usual, it has been way too long since I've posted a blog update... Not that nothing is going on with us--there's plenty going on--but it's things like poopy pants and endless colds and sniffles.  And who wants to write about that?  But it's time to check in, so I thought I'd update about what the kids are doing these days.

Lily has gotten through a fairly rough whiny/tantrum/attitude phase and is a sweet and helpful girl these days.  She continues to be my "analyzer", constantly asking questions.  Only as her memory and comprehension have improved, her questions have gotten more detailed.  She tends to ask questions from obscure portions of Disney movies we haven't watched in weeks.  And shame on me if I don't happen to remember "Why Aladdin pushed that mean man?" or "Why Rapunzel wants that funny man to go with her?"!  She's also obsessed with time and asks several times a day how many minutes or days it will take until __________ .  Luckily, she's usually content with a random answer.  Lily is a great big sister and is captivated by Naomi.  She loves making her laugh and taking care of her blanketing and pacifier-plugging needs.

Noah is, as always, full to bursting with joy and enthusiasm.  He is inquisitive and thoughtful, and he loves entertaining Naomi as often as he can.  He continues to be obsessed with anything he can move or manipulate, particularly doors and cabinets.  He can still be difficult to understand, but his pronunciation is slowly improving.  For months he talked at odd moments about "doo-tee man".  I had no idea what he was talking about and assumed he was butchering the pronunciation of something familiar.  Finally, we realized what he meant.  Scott plays a "game" where he walks his pointer and middle finger around pretending to be a man walking.  He walks across tables, falls off ledges, and generally makes the kids laugh in any way possible. We eventually put it together that while Scott does this little act, he sings "Doo-tee-doo-tee-doo..."  We'd found doo-tee man!

Naomi is now four months old, and has continued to be a happy, content baby.  She is a good sleeper at home (though not so much at daycare).  She has rolled over from tummy to back several times, but it's been several weeks since I've seen her do it.  She can alllmost get from her back to her tummy, and isn't too far away from sitting up on her own.  Today we gave her a first taste of solid food, but it was a bit of a fail--she ended up screaming her head off, it made her so angry!  We may try again in a week or two and see if it goes better.

I took Naomi to get her four month pictures taken yesterday.  She performed like a champ, and Mommy even had time to do some shopping while they printed the photos.

baby alive!

In the past few days, it seems, Naomi has shifted from being a little lump of a baby to being a truly interactive little kiddo.  She smiles, she coos, and she's even starting to try to laugh in response to tickles and funny noises.  She now prefers looking at faces to looking at walls, even her favorite bookshelf and wall decorations.  She's started smiling at me when I pick her up in the morning, instead of just crying immediately.  She's even making some pathetic efforts to put things in her mouth:  she fixates on something, flails her arms indiscriminately, and smacks her lips. As a bonus, she's a good sleeper and goes around 7-8 hours before waking up.  And she really is a sweet and happy baby, even today after coming down with a cold.  She even rolled over four times this afternoon!  

As you can imagine, Mommy is thrilled with these developments.  It's so much fun to see her figure things out and to truly enjoy her company instead of just taking care of her all the time.  And since she's been going to bed earlier in the evening, I can enjoy some time with the twins.  Last night I was a "monster" who terrorized them with my hungry stare and terrible fangs.  Tonight we read books behind a blanket hung over the side of the bunk bed.  Apparently, "fort" is a hard word--Lily kept calling it a "pork", and I kept trying not to laugh while she could see me.  

A true gift of love:  Lily shared her beloved polka-dot blanket  with Naomi to help keep her warm.

We went to a superhero-themed birthday party for Parker yesterday.  Apparently, even superheroes need to stop and take a break sometimes! 

My sweet, happy (and leaky) girl!

One of Scott's recent accomplishments:  redoing our guest bathroom.  It's such an improvement!

A couple of cute things I want to remember:

• Tonight, Lily cuddled up to me before bed.  She said she wanted to marry me.  It was so sweet, I hated having to explain she couldn't!
• Lately, the kids have been increasingly interested in what Scott does at work.  One evening, Noah was talking to Scott about what he should do when he caught a "bad man".  He didn't have the words he needed, but he was painstakingly trying to describe how Scott might use rope to tie someone's arms and legs to keep them from getting away.  Once he figured out what Noah was trying to say, Scott pulled out his handcuffs and held them up.  Noah stopped abruptly, pointed at them, and said, "...Oh!  You have those!"
• We were supposed to go meet my friend Page and a couple of her kids at a museum today.  But poor Page broke her hand!  When I explained that our outing was cancelled because of Page's broken hand, Lily thought for a minute and asked, "She will get a new hand?"

in the interest of full disclosure

Lest there be any confusion on the matter, motherhood is not always my favorite job.  There are some things that are terrifically unenjoyable.  Case in point:  pregnancy.  Who enjoys being pregnant?  Not I.  And then, when it's over, you either get to enjoy hours of labor pains and birth, or major abdominal surgery.  Sometimes, if you're really lucky, you get BOTH.  Your progeny thanks you for bringing her into the world by requiring your around-the-clock care and feeding.

At this point, it has been over a month since I have slept more than three hours at a stretch.  I'm constantly being sucked on.  If I'm not wolfing down a meal in the ten minutes Naomi chances to sleep, I'm juggling her on my hip while I sort laundry.  Evenings are particularly ridiculous, as I usually end up holding a baby in one arm and making dinner in the other, while playing referee to late-day whining from the big kids.

At the end of the day I haven't accomplished much beyond getting to the end of the day.  I haven't done anything beyond the minimum, really.  As exhausting as it is, I have only done what I am expected to do, what mothers everywhere are expected to do.

Especially frustrating to me at this point is the job of breastfeeding.  While I know it has innumerable benefits and I'm committed to it, I simply don't like it.  I'd love to take a little vaycay and NOT be the one who has to be on-call for the baby every time she's hungry.  Not be the one who is confined to the couch for each evening's four-hour marathon feeding/fussing session.

But every once in a while in these long, early-baby days, the fog clears and I am reminded that the blessings of motherhood far outweigh the inconveniences.  The way Naomi has no idea who I am or what I've done for her, yet she knows it is my arm she wants to hold her, and my chest she wants to snuggle into.  The fact that Lily whines and rages when I don't have enough time for her--not because I enjoy it or even because it's acceptable behavior--but because it means she needs her mommy, and nothing else will do.  The way my baby's eyes slowly close and she gives a sigh of ineffable peace as she settles against me to sleep.

Being so important has its drawbacks, but I'll take them.

Gus is a Gussie!

So this has admittedly been a long time coming, but... we have a baby!  Naomi Claire Hewitt was born September 7, at 9:38 a.m.  She weighed 6 lbs, 15 oz, and was 19 1/4 inches long.  

Daddy hanging out with Naomi in the hospital room

Getting ready to go home!

Gemma and Grandad were on call for the birth, and came up and spoiled took care of the twins while Scott and I were in the hospital.  We were so grateful for their help!  Noah and Lily had a great time with them, and it was fun getting to see their reaction to the new baby. And then about 30 seconds later they were ready to go home... thank goodness for electronic entertainment to keep them busy!

 Grandma also came to stay with us for a couple of weeks, and got to do a lot of fun and exciting jobs around our house, including:  laundry, dishes, cooking, and cleaning.  She also managed to be a surrogate mother to the twins for much of the day while Scott and I stayed busy with the new baby.  She got in some grandbaby cuddle time too, though!

Noah saw Grandma snuggling with Naomi, and decided that she needed several accouterments for her nap.

Dan and Emily have come to visit a couple of times.  Here, Emily snuggles the baby while Dan keeps himself busy reading from one of the various parenting books strewn about the living room.

I think she was a week old here.  She already looks so tiny in this picture!

Preschooler shenanigans continue in the Hewitt household.  The kids love dressing up, so there is usually one or more character running around.  Firefighter Noah apparently loves to do Princess Fairy Lily's hair...

The kids also LOVE to love the baby.  I feel terrible, but I'm always having to tell them to get out of her face, stop pulling on her arms, etc.  Dakota, however, has no such limits and has often served as a stand-in when the baby is inaccessible for torment.  In related news, Lily insists on dressing herself most days--hence the crazy pants.  Her idea of matching is dressing herself in head-to-toe pink as frequently as possible.

Scott has stayed crazy-busy since Naomi's birth, not only helping take care of her and the kids and growing his family-leave beard, but also making several improvements to the house.  He fixed up the kids' playset by revamping the sandbox and building a new rock climbing wall.  They have spent hours every day since playing outside.

Naomi seems to be a pretty happy baby so far--no colic or excessive fussiness yet, anyway.  She smiles all the time in her sleep (and, lately, at walls and thin air...) so I'm hoping she'll be a happy, smiley baby.

the end of the world as we know it

September is here.  I'm back at work and the kids are back in daycare.  Our long, lovely summer is over.  And, most importantly, "Baby Gus" is being forcibly evicted in 5 days.  Five days!  People keep asking me if I'm ready, if I'm excited.

And if I'm truly, truly honest... I'm not.  I have ordered a dunce cap and a shirt that says, "I AM A TERRIBLE MOMMY" to wear in honor of the lack of enthusiasm I feel for my poor unborn child.  I mean... I'm not upset about having a baby, don't get me wrong.  Part of my problem, I think, is that I approach major life changes with a sense of needing to prepare and hunker down, rather than just getting excited.  I remember this feeling with the twins especially.  People would ask me the same questions about being excited, and it was really hard to smother my gut response of "NO, I'M NOT READY, I'M FREAKING OUT!!" and answer with something that sounded vaguely maternal.

I'm not quite that worried about it this time.  In fact I'm probably not worried enough, unfortunately.  When I was pregnant with the twins, I fretted and read and planned until I was prepared for everything from diaper changes to natural disasters.  This time, it took me until a month ago to remember that babies spit up, and I'd probably better find where I'd stored the burp cloths.  It's still a bit surreal, too, oddly enough.  That this growth on my abdomen is a child... how strange is that?

But... excited?  I'm excited not to be pregnant anymore.  I'm excited to watch another child develop and see the twins get to be a big brother and sister.  But I'm not excited about another c-section.  Figuring out how to feed a new baby.  Trying to coordinate three children's naptimes so that I can EVER have time to rest or clean.  The spit-ups, the blow-outs, the laundry.  And the sleepless nights, the planning my life around a child who sleeps and eats in relentless three-hour cycles.  I could really skip every bit of that and be perfectly fine.

And I'm not looking forward to upsetting our balance.  I'm pretty dern happy with our little family, just the way it is.  (One factor that made it difficult to decide whether to even have another baby in the first place.)  I love my kids.  I revel in their smiles and the fun and love that we share.  I have our little life more or less under control (as much as I can reasonably expect, anyway).  But... adding a baby?  How will that work?  Why am I messing with a good thing?

I know this is silliness, though.  I know that I will love this baby with the same obsessive love I have for the twins.  And that despite the sleeplessness and constant bodily fluids, in a few weeks I won't be able to remember what it was like without our family's smallest member, and I will have no desire to change a thing.  So, in the next few days, if you happen to ask me if I'm excited and I answer with some sort of glassy-eyed stare, please don't be worried I'm going to hate my child.  I really am excited, but that excitement is buried under a million layers of pragmatic anxiety.

And could somebody please remind me to delete this post in a few years, so that poor baby Gus will never know what a terrible, hateful mommy I am?  Thanks...

a family business venture?

Based on Lily and Noah's newfound scissors obsession and the ever-growing threat of identity theft, I believe we have the potential to start our own small business.  If anyone needs professional help shredding documents, we've got you covered!  Your personal information will be extremely secure for at least a year or two, until the kiddos learn to read.  

In related business news, we may be looking to contract out for professional cleaning services.  Noah tries hard, but the more he sweeps... the more spread out the pieces get!