(not just a) MommyBlog (dot com)

I’ve been doing a lot of that lately.   Cracking up as in laughing my head off, and “cracking up” as in oh my goodness I’ve done five loads of laundry in the last ten hours and Kenny still doesn’t have a clean pair of shorts that fit him to wear to church.   And then Casey does something innocent like turn the sprinkler on at noon on a 90 degree day and I find myself choking back tears as I nurse Cooper on the couch, watching the water evaporate in thin air and wondering how our eco-inconsiderate action will affect his availability of natural resources in the next twenty years.  

I actually   got them both to nap at the same time.   In   their OWN BEDS.   I am not holding, nursing, burping, soothing or jiggling Cooper, nor trying to catch up with all the inanity called housework while attempting to give Kenny some much-needed attention.   This infant+toddler equation is not an easy one.

Yesterday found both of them at the doctors’ office – Croup.   Yuk.   Poor baby Cooper needs the boogers suctioned out to nurse and Kenny sounds like a baby seal.    After the un-planned appointment,  a group of dear friends had a baby shower for me.   I was so overwhelmed with these incredible women, who are so busy with their own broods, that they put together this beautiful brunch and showered Cooper with adorable gifts.   It is humbling.   It was also delicious!   Fruit “pizza” and french toast strata topped the tastes, as did tender blueberry muffins and a fluffy quiche that they swear they just “threw together.”   HA!   Thank you girls – you are over  the top!

As I write, Kenny has wandered into the office – only 45 minutes after I left him (how did 45 minutes speed by so fast and I STILL didn’t have a chance to go to the bathroom?), and is climbing onto my lap asking to “see something,” which is how he asks to watch anything animated, be it a cartoon or an uploaded curious George snippet on YouTube.

So I must be brief with my main question to pose here:   Anyone out there have an infant with  seborrheic dermatitis on their face???   This is called cradle cap when it’s on the head.   Kenny had an awful case for about six months, but it never crept onto his face.   Now Cooper has it on his face and neck, but not yet on his head.   It is definitely not infant acne, as the pediatrician has seen it.   It breaks my heart to see my beautiful Cooper with this rash on his perfect face.   I can’t imagine that it will last as long as Kenny’s did.   Our doc said that we could use hydro-cortisone every few days to keep the itch away, but to wait five days or so in between each two days of using it, because it can damage tender baby skin.   Any advice would be appreciated.

Oops… now Cooper is starting to grunt… So much for naptime…

Cooper is an addict.   A very adorable and sweet addict, but an addict all the same.   In the evenings, it’s all I can do to get five minutes without him crying so desperately for milk that you’d think I hadn’t fed him all day.   The trade-off is that he’s been sleeping 5 to 6 hour stretches, then another 2 hour stretch at night, so the binging is obviously worth it.   But these hours between 7 and 11 are tough on the old mama.  

This weekend, we decided to venture out of the house.   On Friday, we went downtown for sushi…

Cooper was a dream-boat and Kenny was so thrilled with a night out on the town that he was in his most charming comic form.  

On Saturday we headed out to my parent’s house for my Dad’s 62nd birthday party…

And today we made it to church not only all clean and dressed, but early.     Yeehaw.   Ah, but we make it look so easy, and the reality is that I have four loads of clean but unfolded laundry on the guest room bed, a full dirty clothes hamper, still at least 10 thank-you’s to get written and mailed for Cooper gifts we got that first week, two weeks worth of mail to open and bills to pay, dirty dishes in the sink,  a dog who hasn’t been pet all day (and oh my, have we even fed him yet today?!?) and a husband who hasn’t had a kiss in days, much less a hug with both of my arms.

Ah, but I have managed to find time to nap… me and the exotic new man in my life…

Well, we found the camera.   After ransacking the house, making a list of theft possibilities (we’d had a cleaning service and two construction workers in the house on the day the camera disappeared), we finally thought to ask Kenny.   He said, “I know where it is,” then gave us a bunch of bogus locations.   But it did trigger us to look on his level, in some of his favorite spots.

We found the camera in one of the living room toy boxes, with 87 unauthorized photos, including about 15 like this:

Not his best angle, but it gave me the first belly laugh that hasn’t hurt in two weeks.

I also noticed in a few of the recent pictures of Cooper, he looks more like baby Kenny than I’d thought at first:

Can you guess who’s who?

Our household is beginning to resemble a little more of a circus, as Cooper  and Kenny (and Casey and Dudley!) vie for attention.   But all is well… I still haven’t had to get up more than once a night so far.   Cooper certainly makes up for it by daytime feedings, though.   All in all, I’d say we’re experiencing a little bit of heaven.

Cooper’s still adorable and STILL only waking once a night.   Kenny is still a loveable rascal and I STILL don’t have time to write!   And we can’t find the camera… so no new pictures at the moment.

Hm… there’s a little baby doing an impressive impersonation of a woodpecker on my shoulder… guess that’s my cue…

Cooper has surfer dude hair.   It is so cool.   I think it’s my favorite feature about him so far.   When he first emerged from the womb, it was curly and sticky and looked like it had frosted tips.   Now it’s downy and  some lays softly against his head and the rest sticks up  and still has wild sun-bleached highlights.   Maybe I spent too much time in the salon when he was in vitro??

First, pictures…

It has been such a joy getting to know him over these past eight days.   He is a super-sleeper… since we’ve been home, he’s slept nearly every night just waking ONCE!   I am actually not a zombie.   (Ok, at least I’m no longer a zombie since weaning myself from the percocet…)   In the mornings, he is one mellow kid.   He wakes up with a stretch, nurses, dozes, nurses, dozes and generally just hangs out.   In the evenings, though, he does a complete turn-around and wants to nurse non-stop from about 4PM until we go to bed.   No kidding.   He’ll drink for a half hour, fall asleep for a few minutes and then wake up howling and doing the woodpecker, latching on to any bare skin he can find until I nurse him again.    But then he sleeps nearly all night, so who’s to complain?   It’s not like I’m going anywhere, right?

He’s a snuggler, too.   But he’s also the kind of baby you can put down for a while and he’s just content to look around and listen to what’s going on.   I know it’s still the honeymoon, but I’m hooked on this little guy.

Having a new baby in the house, with a post-surgery mamma, means lots of time with Daddy and the grandparents!

Casey and Kenny and Papa spent some time fishing on the dock yesterday…

…and they caught a record FIFTEEN (yes, that’s 15!) fish!  

Kenny is doing very well, considering that his whole world has been rocked!   He’s had a couple moments of whining and obvious jealousy, but has been mostly loving, patient and very curious.   I wonder what he’s thinking about all this.   I can tell that he’s a little wary.   And a little sad that the life he knew has changed for good.   I am too, in a little way.   For nearly three years, he and I have been  bosum buddies.   We’ve talked, read, played, napped, cooked, giggled, danced and sung together – just the two of us (except weekends and after Casey gets home from work) –  nearly every day of his life.   And that’s not going to be the same anymore.

I am hopelessly in love with Cooper.   I will write the next post all about him, and post lots more pictures.   But I needed to just write about my little guy Kenny for a quiet minute.   He’ll always be my first little boy.

 (Kenny, 6 days old)

So far so good.   Cooper and I came home Wednesday at lunchtime.   He is a great little sleeper (so far!) and a pretty vigorous eater, too.   Kenny is happy to have him home to stay…

… and Casey is already prepping him on rooting for the home team.

I’m having some wicked side effects from the surgery, namely horrid headaches and overall swelling.   In fact, I left for my delivery at the hospital at 131 pounds, and came home 135!   Yuk.   It happened when I had Kenny, too, but right now I wish they’d invent something to just wring the water out of me.  

Ah, but the joy is incomparible.   I can hardly believe we have another son!!   Welcome home, Cooper!