i'd like to renegotiate my terms of departure from the womb

it all started out sweet enough

then things got weird

and downright scary

then we were all supposed to be "gentle". whatever that means.

then the head tilt. my mom and i, we know this look.
it's my brother's "oh-that's-right-he's-not-a-doll-
but-can-i-still-squeeze-him-
and-poke-at-his-eyes-
really-
i'm-not-doing-anything-wrong-
i'm just loving-him" tilt

i'm hungry

apparently i'm not feeding him well enough...really, bubbles? i mean, after the first lick doesn't one realize they're not tasty? i guess i should know from the whole "i still eat bark sometimes" thing that bubbles could be a yummy treat.

aidan & jack's different hospital experiences

i may not look it, but i'm really excited to be here. mom actually has the time to hold me. she doesn't yell in my ear "aidan what are you doing? where are you? stop! don't!". i'm pretty sure my name is jack now, i wasn't hearing much of it at home. they've got these uncomfortable wires all over me, but i can handle that. the shots sucked though. i understand from mommy that i get more shots for my immunizations in two weeks. can't wait. the nurses are pretty cute. all in all, except for that whole meningitis thing, a good time. when i grow up i'm going to be a doctor.

i love the hospital. so many buttons. the doors, the elevators, the water fountains--and, of course, the beds--should i use these buttons to fold mommy & jack in half? perhaps call the nurse then run and hide? turn the lights on and off to see if seizures are one of jack's symptoms? change the channel on the tv so i can watch cartoons? if they only had more balls i might invite everyone to a playdate at kaiser. when i grow up i'm going to be an elevator operator.

a rite of passage

our first emergency room visit. the short version (difficult for me as you all know) ... we took jack in on friday night because he had a fever of 102. once we got past the scary child-molester-looking triage nurse that didn't wash his hands, the (excellent) doctors in the back did a series of tests and jack had meningitis. he spent three days in the hospital and monday night he was released. he appears to be perfectly happy, healthy and ready to continue defending himself against aidan. here's a video john took the night he stayed with him (sunday night). poor little guy.

papa, the birds & me

background music provided by the wind

we're getting the hang of this

i didn't really expect my toddler to be the problem when i had a newborn, but that appears to be the case. everyone thinks it's because of the adjustment of the baby, but he seems perfectly happy to have him--it's mom he'd like to return to the hospital! it seems i'm not his favorite person right now--i'm pretty sure it's because my entire vocabulary has been relegated to "no", "don't", "gentle", "stop", & "hey". i'd be annoyed at me too. that said, we're getting our little selves into a rhythm. aidan is napping better (okay, it's only been two days, but i'll take them!) and jack is still pretty darn easy.

some funny aidanisms:
-okie okie (okie dokie)
-ahhhh shit (ahhhh shit)--we're hoping he forgets this one. full disclosure--he copied john once, me the second time, so be both get the blame here.
-that's cool
-aidan farted (funny until you substitue "aidan" with any other family member, then embarrassing)
-abby no no no no no, abby bye bye, abby outside, abby at door, abby (indecipherable, but clearly something perilous) aidan, abby ruff, ruff, ruff--abby is a dog. abby scares the living daylights out of aidan, i guess he copes with it by talking non-stop about her.

feeding rocks to the ducks

aidan sucking the life out of his first popsicle aidan's face when prompted to smile for the camera

2 a.m. rapping

obviously i owe a lot more credit to those of you that already have two or more children. last night i saw the next three years of my life in vibrant technicolor at 2 a.m.

aidan has been a late teether all along and is now apparently playing catch up by trying to push like eight of those suckers out at once. he cries when he goes to sleep, cries in the middle of the night and cries when he wakes up. he throws tantrums and cries all day resulting from the lack of sleep from all the crying at night. (sidenote: he has also resorted to trying to pull my houseplants apart in an effort to, well i'm not sure ... get my attention? inflict pain on the poor shrubs? prune for me?) so in the midst of a tough week, at 2 a.m. last night over the monitor i hear aidan doing flo-rida ... no joke, 2 a.m., aidan, "low, low, low, low" ... a little cry, then apparently back to sleep to make more teeth. are you frickin kidding me?!?

meanwhile, jack (who, while exceptional in every way, can't sing rap yet) decided that the night before daddy went back to work would be a good one to give us our toughest night thus far. i didn't mention above that when i heard mr. future american idol, i was already awake with #2. he just wanted to hang out. mommy didn't. we fought. daddy slept. it was super and made for a great day today. luckily he can't get to the houseplants yet.

some photos i took during jack's sleep strike last night (what else did i have to do??) -- you can see by the alert eyes that i didn't have a fighting chance:

nothing in particular

our little sleeper is still at it. he's awake a lot more often now, but is still a very easy baby. by my estimation we should all be very well rested ... not the case, of course. a great baby doesn't necessarily mean one that sleeps when you want to sleep ... we're up 2-3 times a night, which is 2-3 times too many in this house.


and sweet little aidan has decided to boycott his daily nap which is making our evenings impossible. most nights lately he's down before 6. great in theory, but i'd rather have him nap to get a moment of peace!




ahhh, everyone loves a new hat for the summertime








"one of these days, mom ... that camera is mine ... one of these days"