Eowyn Update

Yeah, I know, I haven't blogged much about this sweet baby at all. It's been a tad busy around here the past few weeks. Oh, and my camera crapped out right after Mace's party, and my backup camera will only hold a charge long enough to snap a couple of shots of anything. Anyway.

She's such a sweet baby, (I'll never understand when people ask, "Is she a good baby?" Really? Am I going to say, "Oh, she's just rotten!" But I guess they're just asking....) aside from the spitting up thing (Really, really hate that). She sleeps well at night, takes up all my time during the day, and is your average happy baby.

She's finally waking up more, which is a good/bad thing. Now that she's not sleeping all the time, she doesn't quite know what to do with herself, aside from eat. But we got a vibrating seat yesterday that she just loves - she actually fell asleep peacefully in it a few minutes ago! Without me! Woo hoo!

I've always said that she has a pleased look about her, and she's smiled at me for weeks now (PJ doesn't believe me), but she's really smiling now (in sporadic bursts), which is so fun. She loves to be with me and follows my voice and presence whenever I'm not holding her (love this, but makes it difficult to ever get anything done).

She's getting huge! Already fits well into her 0-3 month clothes, and probably will be out of those in another 2-3 weeks. Eek! Of course, I just bought a case of 150 size 1 diapers, and she's already starting to ooze out of those. Good planning.

The kids all love her. MaraJade always wants to share her blankie with the baby, Tristen loves on her and wants to hold and carry her, and Mace loves to talk to her in this super high-pitched voice.

So, aside from the having zero time to do anything (what with the constant carpooling, going to various doctor/physical therapy appointments, plus my regular chores/duties - I've got thank you notes to write people!!), it's very nice right now. I'm not losing my mind at all. :)

Asleep! On her own!

One of the only ways she'll sleep without me, propped up on the Boppy - just long enough for a shower for Mom.

Oh, Mace. What ever are we going to do with you?

So today when I picked up the boys from school, I got Tristen, then went to Mace's class. (I do it in this order in case Mace's teacher needs to talk to me - yes, it happens often.) While waiting for Mace to come out, Tristen tells me about how he saw Mace at lunch, "and Mrs. O was holding him real tight, and he was waving and screaming!!" Crap. Then one of Mace's classmates pipes up, "yeah, he was real bad today." Double crap. So when it's my turn, I ask Mrs. O how it went today. Turns out, he's been having "a rough week". According to the other teachers (PE, music, library, etc.) it's been ever since the baby came, but to his wonderful teachers (Mrs. O & Ms. D) who love him and know him best, they say it's only been this week.

Sample Behaviors:

Running up and down the lunch table benches
Repeatedly smacking a classmate with his lunch bag (Quote Mrs. O: Good thing you didn't have one of those ice packs in there!)
Making fart noises with his mouth incessantly (got him kicked out of PE on Tuesday!)

So the teacher asks if anything has changed in the past week or so (sleeping, eating, anything?), and I really can't think of anything. I know he has a hard time in PE because, a) the teacher is young and doesn't have an appreciation for Mace, b) Dude, there are 22 5-6 year olds running around in this giant open space, c) it's a giant open space - really, d) it gets noisy - and when it's noisy, Mace simply can't control himself and just spazzes out.

So we thought maybe something to make it less loud? Earmuffs are out of season, kids' lawnmowing earcovers don't exist, and his giant headphones won't do anything without accompanying music. So I thought, earplugs? We'll see how that works.

PTA meeting was later this evening and we talked some more, and simply can't think what might be going on right now to explain this behavior. What it really boils down to is Mace not taking responsibility for what he does. He knows right from wrong, appropriate behavior from inappropriate, but he just doesn't care to do the right thing. He is willing to take the punishment as it comes to have the fun of doing what he wants. Oh, and because "it's funny!" If he thinks something is funny (fart noises!), you simply cannot get him to stop short of removing him from the room.

When we ask him why he does this, here are his kind of answers:

"Something else was controlling my body!"
"I just have the Sillies."
"It's fun!"

How do you get a super smart 6-year-old to do what he's supposed to? One who doesn't care about the punishment? Who just wants to have fun every waking minute?

We've joked that he'll do fine as long as Mrs. O follows him throughout his elementary years at Campbell. But really, if he doesn't start getting it together, he's just going to be perpetually in trouble at school. I wrack my brain, but simply can't figure out what to do with him.

Sometimes I hate being a responsible grown-up

So my favorite band ever is a-ha (www.a-ha.com). You may remember their hit "Take On Me" from 1985. They had modest success in the US after that, but only for a couple of years. However, internationally, they've been a huge hit ever since. They've made 14 albums, set a world attendance record at a stadium in Brazil, and have had successful solo careers as well. I've loved them ever since the beginning and have done whatever was necessary to get my hands on their import CDs (back before the days of Amazon!).

I've always told myself that if they ever tour anywhere in the US, I'm going to go see them in concert. Well, they are calling it quits after 25 years together, and are playing 2 cities in the US!!!! 4 shows in NYC and LA. And there is just no way I can go. It'll be in May, so I'll have a 4-month-old whom I just can't leave. And even to fly to LA the day of the concert and fly back that night would be about $250, plus the concert ticket and other costs. Not the best use of $350-400 when we have medical bills and regular life to pay for. Crap. PJ told me to make it work, but I just can't rationalize spending that kind of money on a one-time event when it could pay for, say, groceries for a month.

I hate growing up. It kinda sucks.

All My Children...

It's time once again for one of my geeky comparisons. What can I say, I love hard data. And everyone wonders who the new baby looks most like, so here ya go. So who can get these right? It's Guess the Bocek Baby. And leave a comment saying how many you got right!

I was surprised by just how similar they looked at birth. Guess they really do share the same gene pool. Many people were surprised by how dark Eowyn's hair and skin are, but she isn't the only one. See below for answers!

Once again, in color and birth order:

And, just for kicks, here they are at 4 weeks:

Them's some cute babies, if I do say so myself!

Silly Girl!

Here's Monster being one of her favorite alter-egos (since we've banned her favorite: Naked Girl), Silly Girl.

Urpalicious

The bulk of my experience with babies began when my half-sisters were born, when I was 8-10 years old. And so many of my references come from that time: we call pacifiers "pi-pi's" (Rachel) and baby spit-up is "urp".

Eowyn is the urping-est kid I've had so far. The Dr hasn't gone so far as to say she has reflux yet, but man, this kid can spit up! And it's never in a predictable way, like when you're burping her after she eats. No, it's 10 minutes later, while she's lying on her back looking at you. Or 2 hours later, as she starts eating again and returns 1/4 of her last meal, nice and curdled. Or every time I put her in her carseat. I've never had to use bibs on a newborn before, but we go through several a day with her.

And so, I find myself calling her Urpalicious (which almost always results in having Beyonce's "Bootylicious" stuck in my head for the next hour), or Princess Urpy, or Urpalina. Poor girl - MaraJade was LadyBug or Baby Girl - but Eowyn is just the Urping Queen.

They Change! They green now!

Toward the end of my pregnancy, MaraJade started asking a lot of questions about the baby. "Does the baby have fingers?" "Does the baby walk?" "Does the baby have a nose?" And her most frequently asked: "Does the baby have eyes? What color are baby's eyes?" I explained that they would probably be blue because we all have blue eyes. She responds, "But you eyes are green, Mommy." I say that my eyes were blue when I was little like her, but they changed to green when I was older.

Fast forward a few weeks, and she still loves to talk about everyone's eye color, then go look in the mirror to corroborate that, yes, her eyes are blue. (Typical convo: "Daddy's eyes blue, Tristen's eyes blue, Mace's eyes blue, MaraJade's eyes blue, 'Owyn's eyes blue, you eyes green!") Then last week, after such a talk, she runs to the mirror to check, then runs back, all excited, saying, "Look! My eyes green now! They change! My eyes green now like yours!" And nobody can convince her differently. Yep, they green, Miss Monster.