Homecoming

This week was our university's Homecoming, which meant that Poppy was extraordinarily busy and Dan and Evelyn got to be in the Homecoming parade. I wasn't there to witness it--Andrew had a soccer game at the same time--but I hear that Evelyn was a big hit in her cheerleader's outfit. One of my friends saw her and said that she was dancing down the street and offering candy individually to people sitting along the route. Good thing that girl isn't shy. At all.

Meanwhile, Andrew, Oliver and I were at Andrew's soccer game. Since we had two simultaneous conflicts, Oliver got to come with us. It was Andrew's last game (is it wrong to admit how happy I am about that), and one of his best. His team lost (by a lot), but Andrew had a great game, scoring his team's two goals.

Other highlights from the week: on Thursday, we had Oliver weighed again. This time, he weighed 9 lbs 11 oz--a full 1 lb 3 oz more than he weighed 13 days earlier. Clearly, the boy knows how to eat. Now, if we could just get him to learn how to sleep longer, especially at night.

I had an odd conversation with Andrew this week, one that revealed just how upset Andrew has been by Oliver's advent. I was giving Oliver a bath and telling him how "phat" he is.

Andrew asked, "Why is it good for babies to be fat?"

I explained that fat on babies was often a sign of good health.

Andrew thought for a minute, then said, "So, does this mean that he won't die?"

I was a little horrified. Andrew was quite upset by our miscarriage last year (the one he knows about) and still talks about it sometimes. Apparently, he absorbed some of our worry about Oliver, especially with him being in the hospital so long, but didn't quite know what it meant. And, since we didn't know he was worried about it, we didn't talk to him about it. Hopefully, he's a little more reassured now that Oliver will be okay. (I admit the specter of SIDS does sometimes worry me, as it has with all my kids, but it seems unlikely). But we keep saying our prayers. Now I just have one more reason for praying--please let the baby be healthy so I don't have to explain to my son why something went wrong!

Preschool picture

This picture of Evelyn (from her preschool's blog) cracks me up.

Pictures, mostly

 First, before I get bogged down in the details of our lives, here are the pictures I promised last week.

Here's Oliver at two months.

 

And here, at three months, evidence that he is, in fact, growing.

 He even has fat fingers and dimples on his hands. We're working on what Poppy calls the "rubber bands"--the fat rolls at the ankles and wrists that look like you've put a rubber band on the baby. We're almost there.

And then Oliver was done with the photo shoot.

This last week has been pretty busy. Andrew had two soccer games back to back on Wednesday and Thursday. His team even won Thursday's game, after losing most of the season. (Probably the fact that the kids like to do gymnastics in the backfield when the ball isn't nearby has something to do with their losing streak).

Three nights running I had stuff going on (most weeks aren't like this, I promise): Young Women, book group, and then my writer's group. It was fun to get out. Also exhausting.

That might be why I don't remember much else from this week. Yesterday we decided to get out of Dodge and went to the condo, where Oliver mostly hung out. I took the kids to Target and Dan took the kids swimming, so I guess we all had fun, one way or another. :)

Pictures from this afternoon. We love Oliver, but he's not very cooperative when it comes to looking at the camera . . .

Fieldtrips

 This week was a particularly busy one for Andrew. On Monday he had a back-to-school bash (which really means lots of tired parents and energetic children flocking to the schoolyard for carnival-type activities with cheap prizes). He and Evelyn enjoyed it immensely. I think Dan was glad he had an excuse to stay home with Oliver.

On Thursday Andrew had another soccer game. They didn't win, but Andrew seemed to enjoy it (by report--Dan went; I didn't). I will be very glad when the soccer season ends. When I signed him up, I didn't plan on having a preemie who couldn't go to public places for a while (although I'm not sure what I thought I was going to do with a newborn).

And on Friday, Andrew had his first field-trip of first grade: they went to Cedar Breaks for a day-long fieldtrip. I thought Andrew would be excited about it, but he was more nervous than anything beforehand. Afterwards, when I asked him how it went, he complained that he fell asleep on the bus and the kids pushed him out of his seat, they hike was too long, his sandwich fell in the dirt and he couldn't get a replacement, and he spilled his chocolate milk. Dan suggested we start calling him Eeyore (he certainly sounded like that).

He also enjoyed snuggling with the baby.

Evelyn continues to enjoy preschool. Her mom enjoys trying to get in some naptime while she's at preschool.

Oliver had a doctor's appointment on Friday. I made Dan come with me as I knew in advance that this particular appointment would involve some tears (it did). So Dan sat with the baby and I sat in the waiting room and was very glad when it was all over. All of us are recovering well from the physical and emotional trauma.

And Dan and I? Dan graciously watched the kids on Saturday so I could go to a writing workshop with Jeni, which I very much enjoyed--even while wondering when I'll get full use of my brain cells back so that I can write something decent.

Today is also Oliver's three month birthday. I'll try to post more pictures soon.

Labor Day and Onward

 My parents came down for part of Labor Day weekend, so last Sunday evening we had a celebration for Oliver's "birth day" (i.e., his due date). He's now, finally, no longer a negative in terms of adjusted age (calculated from his due date). If he'd been born on time, he'd be about one week old now. Crazy.

On Monday, I dragged my parents and two oldest children to the county fair. (Dan was more than happy to stay home with the baby--he hates fairs. They combine heat, overpriced food, and crowds.) We arrived early, while the concomitant parade was going on, so we avoided the worst of the crowds. Mostly we watched the kids go on overpriced fair rides, but they enjoyed it and we had fun watching them enjoy it. I did have to go on one ride with the kids (they weren't tall enough to go alone) and discovered that I'm not as young as I used to be. While my kids shrieked with glee and squished me into the side of the seat, I struggled to keep my head upright and my stomach in place. About half way through I was more than ready to be done. All I could think was: "How much longer does this ride last?"

 That afternoon, my mom helped me can. With her help, we canned two batches of peach jam (er, syrup--it still hasn't set!), two cans of peaches, and two cans of tomatoes. Thank goodness for moms! This would never have happened without her help.

Our garden tends to be over-generous with the squash, so I continue to experiment with new squash recipes. (Andrew never even noticed the squash I hid in the tamale casserole).

Evelyn started preschool this week and of course I don't have a picture.

But I do have a bunch of baby pictures, courtesy of an impromptu photo session on Friday with my captive audience. I even got a couple of good ones.

 See, look--he's starting to get fat!

 These last two are my very favorite. Such a sweet little boy.

Due Dates

Yesterday was Oliver's official due date. And yesterday, Oliver was 77 days old. Still acts like a newborn, though, including the waking up every 2-3 hours to eat. Sometimes at night he'll sneak in 4 hours, which is nice, but he usually follows that up with a shorter stint. He's growing well, though: a weight check on Friday revealed that he's just over 7 lbs (7 lbs 2 oz)--a respectable weight for a 40 week gestational age.

Other highlights from the week: Dan started teaching. I think he's glad to have a routine back. I'm not so glad about the 8 a.m. classes, but we're surviving.

Andrew's still adjusting to first grade. Most days he likes it (lunch and recess especially), but we did have one night this week where at bedtime, my over-tired oldest (the one who's especially sensitive to routine disruptions) started crying because he "didn't feel like he fit into our family anymore." I think we've worked through that, but this kind of pre-teen angst was a first for me!

To compensate, Andrew got a little extra attention this week: he got to go to a fund raiser with Bubby and Poppy (just him!) and Friday he went to a friend's house (after we finally worked out the logistics). He's learning that he can't just come home and say "Aiden invited me over"--we have to actually have a phone number and address for said friend. Finally, after 3 or 4 days of him saying this, Aiden's mom sent us a note with her name and phone number (the similar note that I sent with our phone number never made it).

That leaves Evelyn, who's eagerly waiting for preschool to start next week and otherwise stays home and keeps me company. This week, it was her turn for pictures with the baby.

 Not sure what she was doing here.

 This is my new favorite picture of my two littlest kids.

 And of course, the baby by himself.