Isadora's Party

 

A few weeks ago we decided that Isadora's arrival was a great excuse reason to have a big party with our friends... particularly those friends who don't generally get invited to four year old's birthday parties because they don't have a four (or any other year) old.  The party was concieved as a humble little gathering with margaritas and slip and slides in our back yard.  We invited just about everyone we know and when the yes guest list topped 60 we became concerned that we wouldn't have enough space for everyone in our house/backyard so of course early Saturday morning Patrick thought he'd look into a rentable, more substantial slip and slide...  I left it up to him and we ended up with this:

 

I can't even show you a picture of the whole thing because it was just that big and my yard that small by comparison.   Needless to say the 30 foot long, 15 feet wide and 15 feet tall slide was a big hit with all the party goers.  I am happy to report that there were no injuries and a good time was had by all.... including my brother and I.

Of course the honoree of the party did not get to experience the slide or the margaritas.  She did however get the chance to be held by at least a dozen eager visitors and cooed at by at least 3 dozen more.  I think we may just have found our "annual" party!

Rain rides, dresses! and more

I can"t believe it has been more than a week since I last post.  In one way it seems like an eon ago and in another it feels like just yesterday... ahh life with a baby in the house.  The lack of posting is not because of a deficit in goings on though.  We've played in the rain, reorganized almost every room in the house, listened to great stories and played dress up with some great new duds.  On top of all that I started classes this week and Izzy went to her nanny share for the first time.

One of the best of those have been the couple of decent rains these past few weeks.  Well decent by Evie's standards, not nearly enough to help the drought.  Actually Evie even commented on the fact that it wasn't raining enough to make good puddles... until it did and overflowed our rain swales and made the most tempting, muddy puddles to date.  Evie really wanted to jump in them so I told her what the heck, go ahead.  She proceeded to "get dressed" to jump, which involved her putting on a pink dress and pink snow boots.   The call of squishy mud between toes was great and so she managed to convince me to do a little jumping too.  During another rain she got out her favorite new umbrella and took it for a tricycle spin around the driveway.  For yet another, yesterday, it was sunny while it rained, which is my personal favorite.  Evie called it a sun rain, simple yet descriptive.

The other fun happening was receiving fancy new dresses, which just happen to match, for the girls from Nicole, aka Mimi.  I got both of the girls dressed up and we did a very brief little photo shoot because they were too cute.  I can see that one of the great joys of being a parent to two girls is going to be matching dresses...

Isadora at One Month

One month of Isadora. From right to left and top to bottom a photo for almost every day of her life so far (I missed one day...)

As first months go I think Isadora has had a pretty darn good one.  She has traveled to the cabin at Blue, up to Mt. Lemmon, over to the pool, across town to live at my parent's house for a week and even had a chicken coop pool party to celebrate her arrival. 

Overall she seems to be a mellow baby.  She doesn't like sleeping much during the day and will rarely sleep for more than 2 hours at a time, but (thankfully), she is a pretty darn good night sleeper and always does at least 3 hours at a time and as much as 7 hours at a stretch at night.  Her eyes are still light gray/blue and do not yet show signs of turning to brown (Genevieve's were already brown at this point).  She likes to make funny little noises, including a coo here and there, and makes them a lot.  This may be a bit too much information but bear with me here, she is only a month old and there isn't much to use to characterize her....  Isadora is the most explosive and powerful pooper I have ever encountered.  You can hear her across the house!  The other night I had the misfortune of of changing her diaper just as she went poo and, I kid you not, there was BM not just all over me but also a full 6 feet away from where she was lying on the couch (and this would happen to me when I am half awake at 3 am). Here is to hoping that she eventually has a bit more to put on her resume than that.

Advanced Parenting

So you have one child.  You know the ropes (more or less) when it comes to tackling number 2.   When the pediatrician tells you that your baby has lost a pound and if she can't get going on the whole eating thing you'll have to supplement, you don't freak out, hey you've been there before and it all worked out OK.  Getting the kiddo into the car seat isn't a nerve wracking 20 minute ordeal, its a 2 minute exercise.  The experience of successfully getting one child from baby to toddler qualifies you for the next level... Advanced Parenting.

In Beginning Parenting you learn the basics.  Feed, Diaper, Transport and Sleep (or attempt to sleep).  In Advanced Parenting you gain the skills to take your game up a notch. I have just begun my education in Advanced Parenting, but here is what I have learned so far:

Beginning Feeding Skills

• Get the baby to latch on and eat
• Figure out how to position the baby just right on the boppy pillow for maximum comfort
• Learn how to have just enough entertainment and sustenance for the 20-30 minutes you are stuck in one place feeding

Advanced Feeding Skills

• Swallow your pride and accept the fact that even though you thought you knew how to feed a baby that you must relearn how to get the baby to latch on and eat.  This is a bit like taking a class that uses calculus after a four year hiatus from calculus.  You thought you remembered what an integral was, but then you realize all you remember is that it is a cool little symbol, and not what the heck it really does.  Once you figure out how exactly it functions though the rest comes back to you pretty quickly.
• Forget the boppy, it is never where you are when the baby is hungry, learn to use other props instead.  This can include but is not limited to: regular old pillows, dirty laundry piled near you, piles of stuffed animals and the cat.
• Learn the fine art of walking while breastfeeding and holding the baby with one arm while doing so, because there is no way you would actually be allowed to sit in one place for a whole 30 minutes.

Beginning Transport Skills

• Master getting baby in and out of car in less than 20 minutes.  
• Determine how to install a car seat
• Garner the fortitude to not worry incessantly about the baby you cannot see in the backseat

Advanced Transport Skills

• Determine proper sequencing. Learn that it is better to secure the bigger child before the little one.  Reverse order when unloading.  This prevents runaways and frustration. Ideally older child buckles herself in, but, this is not a common occurrence and cannot be depended upon.
• Determine how to install a car seat
• Communication is key. Harness the power of the verbal child to check on status of non-verbal one.  "Is the baby asleep?"  "Does she look distressed?"  "Are you cold back there (to determine if that could be why little one is crying)?"  etc.  This enables one to more efficiently assuage any concerns and minimizes unnecessary car-pull-overs.

Beginning Sleep Skills

• Lower your expectations for mental function.  
• Read all sorts of advice on why your baby isn't sleeping they way she "should"
• Feel a tremendous inadequacy as a parent because your child is a "bad" sleeper.

Advanced Sleep Skills

• Realize that less sleep is no longer a problem because you never regained mental function after the first child.
• Celebrate when your new baby sleeps for two three hour stretches a night (and even one 5 hour stretch)
• Feel a sense of relief knowing that the previous child's "bad" sleep and the current child's "good" sleep have NOTHING to do with how you parent.
• Burn all sleep training books in your home... my that felt cathartic.

Mountain Escape

All last week I took care of both the girls during the day.  It is too hot outside to do anything fun here so I decided last Tuesday to pack both of them into the car and drive up Mt. Lemmon so we could have some fun outside for the day.  It was a great trip.  Evie had tons of fun playing in the stream both where we did a little hike and at a picnic area.  Izzy just hung out in the sling for the whole day, occasionally protesting when she wanted to eat.  I had a chance to just sit around outside and enjoy the day.  I am also proud to report that I remembered almost everything we needed for the day.  The only lapse was the bag full of snacks for Evie and I, which wasn't too big of a deal because we could stop in Summerhaven and get a pizza for lunch.  All in all we all thoroughly enjoyed the time... Evie asked me if we could go back the next day...  I was tempted to I'll admit but really a 3 hour drive (there and back) is only tolerable once a week.