The Watermelon Incident

There's always a surprise when I upload photos now...Jacob helps himself to the camera when I'm not around. And here is what I find. You have to look closely to see what this is, and at first glance it will appear that the watermelon is simply resting on the couch, but I promise you, it is not. That is the coffee table with a blue waterbottle (top off) on it, and then a whole watermelon balanced on the waterbottle. WTF? 

So I had no idea that this episode even took place until I saw the photo evidence. What was going through Jacob's head, and where the hell was I when this was happening? Oh right, I have three kids now so this is just what it's going to be like...complete chaos all the time.

Dear Summer: 2 Weeks

Dear Summer,

    You're two weeks and a few days old now.  At one point you were down to five pounds even, and probably less than that in the days between weigh-ins.  From that point you started to get the hang of nursing and gained 13 ounces in three and a half days!  That was ten days ago, so you're probably nearing seven pounds by now.  The weight is starting to show in your face, is forming little tiny legs rolls and, happily, has given you somewhat of a toosh.  You're skin finally stopped peeling right around the time I was able to give you your first bath (which is nice because now I'm not picking at it all the time) and your skin has become so silky soft!

    To Sabine you are still The New Baby.  To Jacob you are Summy because we realized there isn't an obvious nickname for Summer.  Daddy and I sometimes call you Sumsy because there is a Bob the Builder character with that name.  To Mango you are something interesting to sniff and to Ginger you do not exist.  To the bunnies, you are just one more thing in the long line of things that have pushed them further down the list of priorities.  And to everyone you are a nice something to hold, snuggle and adore.

    For at least the first week of your life I don't think you were put down.  Maybe for ten minutes here or there, but it's very possible you really were never out of arms.  For starters, I would have held you all day if there was nothing else for me to do.  And then there was Daddy holding you every chance he got.  Jacob and Sabine were constantly fighting over who was going to get to hold you.  Jacob especially would just sit there and hold you for a long time.  There were the grandparents and all the other visitors holding you.  And at night you sleep right in the bed with us.  Right now you do spend brief periods in the bassinet that we have downstairs, mostly because I'm really trying hard to put you down so you get used to being on your own because I don't want to mess you up for sleep like I did with the others.  But it's hard because mostly I just want to hold you all day long.      

    My favorite times with you are when your eyes are open and you look around.  I love gazing into your little eyes and wondering what you're thinking.  The extent of your abilities now is to turn your head around, lock you eyes on something, stick your tongue out at in and then make an 'O' with your mouth in approval.  If you like what you see you'll swing your jerky little limbs around in excitement.  It's fun witnessing your motions and realizing that they are familiar ones because they are the exact movements that drove me crazy when you were still inside.  In your sleep you practice your smiles, and sometimes laugh out loud.  The sleep smiles make sense, but we can't figure out how newborn babies laugh - like how do you know things are funny?  And if you can do it in your sleep, how come you can't do it while awake yet?  I guess it is just a mechanical thing at this point and there's no emotion attached to the laughing yet.

    Daddy has already coined a special term for you.  He calls it The Watchtower.  When you're fussy he puts you high up on his shoulder, as if to burp you, and lets you look out at whatever is behind him.  You look so cute with your crinkled brow and dark little eyes peeking out from above Daddy's shoulder.  Things must look very different from up there.

    Some days I don't think it can get much better with you, but I know the next best thing that is coming:  The day that you first smile at us for real.  It's going to be like fireworks going off inside my heart.  Your brother and sister were all over you for the first couple weeks, and have finally started to back off a little bit, but when you begin smiling at them, it's going to be all over.  And when you start giving us belly laughs, I can only imagine what goofballs they'll look like trying to evoke a laugh from you.

    Whatever is coming, it's going to be good.  There isn't going to be much downtime around here for quite a while.  We're going to be tired and cranky.  The house is going to get messy and it's going to drive me crazy.  You're going to continue to poop all over things and your spit up is going to reach greater distances.  You'll keep us awake at night (like last night when you were up for 2 1/2 hours straight).  But at the end of the day we'll look at you, fall in love a little more, and know that it's all worth it.

Love,

    Mommy

   

Summer Laurel

    Here's our girl, Summer, and pictures of her first couple days of life.  Everything is calm and under control for the moment, but we could lose it at any second!

 Meeting her big brother and big sister

See who she gets her knobby knees from?

 Jacob helping with her first bath

What toosh?

                                                   

 

 This is the Going Home outfit.  I came home from the

hospital in this outfit, and so did both my other kids.

 Don't worry, I was really careful with those ribbons!

 We make a song of it, "This is the way to

buckle a baby..."

                                             Old lady foot

Dear Summer: Welcome!

Dear Summer,

    You were born two days ago, on August 2nd, 2011.  The time was 6:22pm and we had just gotten to the hospital about 20 minutes before that.  One push and you were out!

    Since it's still fresh in my mind, I might as well go over how the day went.  12 hours before you were born I was still asleep in bed.  Around 8am I told Daddy that maybe he should stay home from work, to be on the safe side (since he didn't want to go in anyway, as we thought you would have been born already).  Late in the morning the whole family went and did errands.  We went to the grocery store, Sabine got her hair cut, etc.  Daddy thought I was crazy to be out and about, but it wasn't even that bad until about noon.  I wasn't even sure it was going to be the day until a couple hours after that when we'd gotten Sabine down for a nap.  I cooked an early dinner, vacuumed the house, and Daddy was getting so mad at me because even though I was having contractions, I couldn't just sit still.  Sometime after 5pm I called MamMa to tell her maybe she should come by to take your brother and sister.  Then I went in the backyard to tell Daddy I'd called you and I started weeding the garden.  That's what I was doing an hour before you were born!

    I think I was just afraid to sit still because I was so scared of what was coming.  When MamMa and Papa got here I didn't want to leave your brother and sister.  I kept giving them hugs and telling them I loved them.  And Daddy was getting more mad because he wanted me to get in the car.  And then when we were partway to the hospital is when I realized you were going to be born very soon.  Just like when your big sister was born, I had to have Daddy drop me off at the door, but this time I made it inside and could still talk.  I couldn't sign to admit papers though, I was shaking too hard!  Inside the delivery room the nurses were being very vague, so in retrospect, I think they realized you were ready to be born, but they were trying to wait for the midwife to get there, and not make me too scared about her not being there.  The same midwife that delivered Sabine walked in and one push later, literally 10 seconds, it was all over.  I can honestly say it was easier than and not as painful as my last birth.  I feel like I won the gold medal in the Childbirth Olympics.

    You are so tiny, Summer!  You were 5lb 7oz, 19 in. when you were born.  And I was a week late with you - I don't know how you go to be so tiny.  Jacob was 7lb. 7oz, so you are a whole two pounds lighter than he was at birth.  Sabine was 7lb 5oz, which is the exact reverse of you, a fact that will make it easier to remember these new statistics.  All of us girls in this family have S names, not something that was particularly planned.  We girls also have only 2s in the day of our birthdays; Sabine is June 22nd and I am October 2nd. Oh yeah, same month as Daddy's birthday, same day of the month as your mother. Anyway, numbers are important to me, so I've been doing a lot of playing around with them in my head the past couple days.

    You're coming home to a full and loving household, little baby.  We have four rabbits, two dogs, and now three kids!  You have one big brother and one big sister, just like I do.  You and I are both the baby girls of the family; it's going to be nice growing up, you'll have lots of people to do stuff for you.  It probably won't be very quiet, but I promise it will be very fun!  You will learn to love being outside in nature, eat lots of healthy foods (you'll probably also develop an amazing appetite for ice cream), read tons of books, and chances are, you'll be one active kid, just like your siblings. You'll grow up with a deep respect for our planet. You'll be introduced to the Tickle Spider and The Bull.  You'll run circles inside our house and always have someone to try to catch.  You'll quickly discover the joys of snuggling in bed with a warm body next to you, and I promise we'll find a place to fit you when there's already a full bed.  You'll get lots of shoulder rides from Daddy.  Jacob will dote on you he'll share his construction vehicles and tools.  Sabine will teach you lots of songs and encourage you to dance.

    I'll keep you ever so close to me and will probably be over-protective; and even though I can't imagine it yet, I know I'll let you go out in to the world when it's your time because you'll teach me things too.  You'll teach me about parts of my heart I didn't know could exist, and I'll learn (perhaps painfully) that I'm capable of things that I thought were impossible (like letting go).  I can't fathom these things yet, but I know they'll happen because I love you with an indescribable fierceness that, surely, can overcome any obstacle.