Letting Go

Well, the Big Blue sold yesterday -- the market is fast and strong and we were really happy to have our real estate agent do so much for us to make it all happen! It was great to be able to sell this house, despite the memories wrapped up in it. Honestly, letting go feels very cleansing, like closing the chapter on many past lives only to step more firmly into my present one.

Post-Partum Haiku

If I cry again
will the world think I'm crazy
or just a bit off?

Once obsessed by clean
I see bottles, diapers, toys
Household sacrifice

Oh dear Amnesia!
The pain you've made me forget...
Shall we have one more?

I'm pumping again
Soon he will be at my breast
Just call me Maisey.

Firmly in my arms
you hunker down, squawk like a bird
Together, we fly.

The Hiccups have you
loud, gutteral, echoing
Nature is unkind

If I must pump
Give me bad t.v. and snacks
I deserve the best

Current Joys

Some recent photos Henry's fourth week...getting long and filing out his skin!

Ode to the Couch

I have a new affection
for your soft and supple hold,
your colored, textured fold,
your comfort from the cold

I sit these days for hours
watching bees alight the flowers,
imagining superhero powers,
how much time 'til breast milk sours?

I am back again indeed
for this boy again must feed
and your back support I need
oh dear beloved couch

Rolling Considerations

Check me out! I can rollover all by myself, a skill usually reserved for the four month olds!

Henry's Week Three Update

Well, I have my moms right where I want 'em...they are smitten with me! Even at 3am, when they have not slept in days and I am up fussing away, one is quite likely to wake the other just to say, "Honey, wake up, look how adorable Henry is right now!" They just can't get enough of me!

I am growing fast -- no surprise since I eat all the time! My once-was-loose skin on my arms and legs has all but filled out and I am definitely more heft to lift in and out of the cradle. Momma Di is going to take me in for a weight check today -- I am guessing I will weigh well over 8.5 lbs... My hair is thinning a bit up top, but still growning longer in the back...perhaps I am destined for a mullet in my first months of life!

Moms have been keeping me busy! We have been on the road a lot -- down to Spokane to meet the cousins, up to Priest Lake to experience my first pontoon boat adventure, back to Spokane to be oogled by really nice ladies at a "Meet the Baby" shower at which I was the guest of honor! I mean, really, all I had to do was show up in this world, and so many fabulous people already love me and have been giving me such amazing gifts...how fortunate am I???

Soon we will also get to go to Seattle! Plans are underway and I am delightedly excited to meet all of moms' friends over yonder. They talk with them on the phone a lot and I can tell they miss having their friends close by -- but we'll get about 10 days there and this will be great!

I enjoyed my first concert last Friday at the Sandpoint Festival. Grandpa Buddy was with us and we saw Tanya Tucker! While the music was fine...the outdoor venue, the yummy picnic and community feel was fabulous! I do believe I am going to like growing up in this town! And oh by the way...did you know Tanya Tucker sang "Delta Dawn" well before Helen Reddy made it so popular? Early musicology lessons! This week the concert series continues with Nickle Creek, David Grey, Susan Tedeschi, Etta James and a Pops concert. The fun never stops!

I have learned some great new tricks in my first few weeks as well:

1. When placed on my stomach for what moms call "tummy time," I can easily flip myself over onto my back. The pediatrician was a bit aghast at this one, having only seen this kind of move in a 4+ month old before. So I'm a bit precocious...tell me something I don't already know...

2. No matter the time of day, just make a loud squawk and a fresh boob comes rushing to my lips...it's a pretty good gig, I tell you!

3. I can stop a whole training class dead in its tracks with one big blow out gassy poop! Yep, I tried it yesterday when moms took me to watch an interviewing skills workshop and it worked like a charm! My moms were so proud!

So, this is what is going on this week! Life is good!

Reflections on Pregnancy

Amidst my continued amazement of Henry's arrival and his daily permutations, I was thinking back to pregnancy and how far away this part of the journey seems. Before forgetting the unique condition that is pregnancy, let me just summarize a few "these could only happen when you're pregnant" truths about the blessed 9 months...

1. Every single day, every single person asks you “How are you feeling?”
2. You can wear elastic waist band pants and not be a “fashion don’t”
3. People take all liberties to touch your stomach – when else would anyone do this?
4. Random co-workers ask to be the kid’s “local Grandma”
5. You find little gifts left at your desk on a weekly basis (mostly for the kid)
5. Co-workers you hardly know knit you exquisite blankets made of machine washable yarn
6. Women in the grocery line smile at you in a knowing way – envy or pity, who knows?
7. You get a free follow-up dental check up midway through the preganancy
8. People notice your girth before your brains
9. Someone walking by can say, “My that belly is growin’” without getting slapped
10. People’s faces will distort wildly when they look at you across the table, not because you have food on your face, but because your belly is distorting itself due to alien movements inside
11. Guacamole, which has never been even remotely interesting to you, suddenly becomes the favored meal of the house
12. Employees at the grocery store, post office, cafeteria, and vet’s office all seem to care about you and your growing family well-beyond what might be considered normal customer service
13. Random people will approach you and say “I know it’s a boy and I am ten for ten!” without hesitation (and oh my, they are right!)
14. Nipple cream is an appropriate gift from a friend you have not seen in over 3 years
15. You can be an absolute bitch and have a really good excuse
16. You solicit input from everyone possible about their views on circumcision; even the bartender overhearing your conversation will come over and add his two cents.
17.You share your trials with hemorrhoids with colleagues at the lunch table
18. People tell you “You shouldn’t exercise so much…” and you get pissy with them.
19. The receptionist at the vet extolls the virues of perineal massage

20. Co-workers talk directly to your navel instead of to your face.
21. The checkout lady at the grocery store calls over the loud speaker: “Assistance needed on aisle 4” and a swarthy Kevin comes to help you carry your two bags out to your car – without you even asking or wanting this!’
22. You may mistake yourself for an elephant if you look only at your legs…
23. You wake in the middle of the night truly perplexed as to whether the wetness in the bed is you having pee’d your pants or your bag of waters having broken