Back to "Normal"

(Warning: This blog entry is long and involves a lot of milestones that I felt the need to record. I apologize if this is boring to most of you.)

Yesterday marked 6 weeks since Liam was born. The official ending of the "transition period" and the beginning of so-called "normal life." All restrictions are lifted after the 6 week recovery period, which meant I was finally able to return to the gym! I am most looking forward to resuming my Zumba class on Monday morning.

The other day, it dawned on me that for many mothers, the 6 week mark has a significantly different meaning. It often signals the return to work. Personally, I cannot imagine leaving Liam with a sitter for an entire day, much less an entire week. How can women be expected to get back in the saddle after such a short period? I feel so grateful that I have never had that sort of looming deadline.

My little man at 6 weeks old

As far as family life, I think we have settled back into "normal" pretty quickly. Each day gets a little better, although it all hinges on how well Liam slept the previous night! He seems to be in the habit of 3-4 hour stretches right now. Hopefully that will turn into 4-5 hour stretches soon!

Last night was probably the best night yet. Once he finally fell asleep around 10:00 pm, he didn't wake up for a feeding/diaper change until 2:30 am, and then went back to sleep again until 5:30 am. (The girls woke up at 5:45 am so their internal clocks must all be working in sync.) Only having to get up with him once during the night made a significant difference in my energy level today!

As far as Liam goes, his baby acne has gotten much better. I imagine he'll be back to "normal" by the end of this week. He is become more and more active, sometimes reaching out and grabbing at objects in front of him. He especially likes to grab onto hair, much to Amanda's disliking. Liam is also smiling and vocalizing more. It is fun to see the tiny changes from week to week. It is going by so fast though, and I need to remember to post blog entries so I will have some sort of record of it all! (I have not even purchased a baby book for Liam, so this blog might be all he gets!)

The girls continue to be good helpers, usually running to see who can bring me a diaper first. Eva is especially fond of sprinkling the baby powder on Liam during diaper changes. They both ask often if they can hold Liam. I have a million pictures of Amanda holding him, but until yesterday, didn't have any of Eva. (Probably because I'm too afraid she'll drop him if I am concentrating on the camera.) I managed to get a short video yesterday before she decided she'd had enough of "Mister Buddy", as she calls him.

"He's breathing on me..."

This morning Dave took Amanda and Eva on an outing to Nashua, New Hampshire for a robot-building workshop. It is an ongoing camp meant for older kids, but because one of Dave's co-workers runs it, he invited Dave to come and check it out. It was a special treat for the girls to spend some fun time with Daddy, followed by lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

Meanwhile, the little man and I went grocery shopping and thrift store shopping, searching for the elusive perfect-fitting jeans, which I am convinced do not exist for my body type! Liam slept through the whole excursion so it was almost like I was alone.

The peaceful morning allowed my mind a chance to rest, which is extremely rare these days. I find that if I don't have all three kids with me at any given time, I start to panic... thinking,"How many am I supposed to have with me?" Yesterday Amanda was at preschool, Eva was with Dave and Liam was in the car with me. At a stoplight I suddenly felt like I had forgotten someone because it was so quiet in the car. I guess it's a similar feeling to when you forget your watch!

Taken by Amanda

Since I am writing about general updates, I guess I should also include something about Amanda and Eva.

Eva had her first visit to the dentist last week! This was a monumental day for her and she couldn't wait to go. As soon as she was seated in the dentist's chair, she opened her mouth as wide as could be and just waited patiently for the hygienist to start. However, once the hygienist started poking around in Eva's mouth, she quickly clamped it shut! The promise of marshmallow fluoride was enough to coax her to open up again. However, she was very sensitive to the bright light shining down on her and had to wear a pair of big, bright pink sunglasses through the whole appointment. (I wish I had brought my camera for that.)

Amanda had her appointment too, which included having her first set of dental x-rays taken. Unfortunately they weren't able to get everything they needed because of Amanda's strong gag reflex. She tried hard though and was allowed to take not just one, but TWO prizes because she had been so patient.

Earlier this week, I registered Amanda for Kindergarten. She will have her hour long screening next month and boy, is she excited for that! (I told her she'll be meeting the teachers and playing all sorts of games, rather than using the word "tests.") All she talks about these days is Kindergarten... and riding the school bus.

The biggest news is that Amanda has been reading for the past few months now. It all started when she was at a doctor appointment and started picking out words in the book we were reading. Since then, I've been working more with her on phonics, rhyming and spelling... although I have to admit that it mostly her doing, not mine. She also loves to write her own books, a few of which I have saved.

It is positively amazing to sit next to her and listen to the expression she puts into her words. She knows question marks, exclamation points, quotation marks... and as of the other day, commas. It's really neat when Eva asks me to read a story to her and instead, Amanda will run up and say,"I'll read to you, Eva!" It is such a help to me. I love seeing them snuggled next to each other on the couch, with Eva patiently waiting as Amanda works her way through the words. Every now and then I'll hear Amanda say,"Trouble..." and that's my cue to help her out.

Amanda has been really interested in the Laura Ingalls Wilder children's books, after receiving one from my good friend. (Great book choice, Jenny!) Since then, I have been requesting additional books from the series at our local library.

Yesterday Amanda sat and read one of these books, "Sugar Snow", to me while I fed Liam. After she had made it three pages into the book with next to no help from me, she said,"Mama, I'm reading really good!" Then she suddenly closed the book, looked at the spine with a puzzled look on her face and exclaimed,"It's not even an 'Easy Reader!!" Of all the skills she has mastered, this is definitely the one I am most proud of.

I think that covers just about everything I had milling about in my head for the past few weeks. And now, back to "normal life." I have a cake baking in the oven, laundry in both the washer and dryer, dirty dishes in the sink and a baby who needs to be fed soon.

Life is good.