Take A Deep Inhale

And exhale.

Three months. Three months. How could it have possibly been three months? I barely recognize the baby in that picture. That baby is so little and fragile. He is hardly the robust little man we spend all our time with these days.

I realized that it was one year ago that I was watching Kirk Cameron talk about his wife's pregnancy test on the View, when I decided that I had nothing better to do, and that I might as well pee on a stick. I thought it might be fun (ask me about the time I peed in a mug just to practice for an upcoming doctors appointment). When that little pink plus sign appeared, I ran out the door to buy more pee sticks, calling Hill for support on the way. When the next THREE tests came out positive, I called a nurse asking if I should take a real medically sanctioned test administered at a doctor's office. She told me that the at-home tests were extremely accurate and that a false positive is extremely rare. So, when I asked if three positive tests probably meant I was pregnant, she laughed in my face...or she would have, had we not been on the phone.

Anyway, here we are, with a giant baby who laughs and smiles and squeaks and cries. He is asleep now, so I am drinking a white Russian (we ran out of wine!) with the homemade Kahlua that Julia and Zach made, while I blog, take quizzes on face book, and thumb through my Real Simple magazine. He is sweet and funny, with really keen comedic timing, particularly for any scatological humor. Few things are rewarded with such a big smile as pooping in a brand new diaper, leading to yet another trip to the changing table.

The balancing act is a challenge, but I am slowly getting the hang of this. I registered for a full schedule in the fall, so I certainly hope we've got an even better handle on it by then.

I will be doing a triathlon in August. If I write about it here, I have to be accountable to everyone who reads it, right? It is a fairly short tri, a half mile swim, twelve mile bike ride, and 2.5 mile run, and my only goal is to complete it. I don't have any fancy notion of doing it to win. While I know I can do all of these things individually, it is the sequential nature of a triathlon that makes me nervous. So I am running (read jogging slowly) every other day, and once I get my bike fixed/exchanged for new bike I will start that. I really need to get some practice with some open water swimming. I won't have any walls to kick off of in Lake Washington. 

So, here is my little man today, on his three month birthday. I am hoping that we are past the age in weeks business, that requires far too much remembering. Am I a bad mom because I let this fall happen? Not just let it happen, but documented it, and then laugh every time I look at it? I hope not. It's not like our couch is made out of razor blades and shards of glass.

Wha' happened?

You Can Call Me Al.

Is there anything better than driving your car with the windows down on a beautiful day listening to a little Paul Simon and singing at the top of your lungs?

No, there's not. The past few days have been beautiful in Seattle. I'm sitting on my couch right now and I have an amazing view of beautiful Mt. Rainier in the distance and an adorable sleeping baby. Not a bad day. Rob is coming home early and I get to go to school.

One class is just the right amount of class. One class is almost a manageable amount of reading and there is only one project to stress about. That will change in the fall when I go back to school full time. I am excited and terrified by that. We have to figure out what to do with the boy. I am hoping to either join a nanny share or find a neighborhood daycare that takes infants. I also hope we qualify for UW's childcare assistance...that will definitely help out the cause.

I am so excited for summer. We are going to get a zoo membership because we are just four blocks from the zoo. I know that Reed is still really little, but I really like the animals. And since its so close, I can make it a part of our daily walks. I can just pop into the zoo for a minute, say hello to our animal friends, and then go take a nap.

I am excited to restart my running program. It is called "Couch to 5k". It's an eight week program designed for running novices. I got to week five before I found out I was pregnant and got too tired to move. But I think it is about time to get back on that. I have goals of 5k and 10k races.

I am excited about the project I am working on for school, increasing the graduation rates for kids in the foster care system. It's really interesting and a little depressing. We are really failing these kids. What can we do to support them? That's what we'll be looking into.

What else...I don't know. I am just feeling really good about a lot of stuff right now. I'm looking forward to visitors and to bringing Reed to California next month. 

So I have plenty of adventures in store, school, running, zoo trips, more writing, figuring out daycare, not to mention, cleaning, cooking, and finding time to go grocery shopping. Logistics become a bit more challenging when you add in a third person. Even a tiny one.

Two Months is a milestone, right? or Therapize this!

Wow. Two months. It really seems like every day is a victory. A victory over what? That I don't really know. But every day we manage to keep a baby alive or not fight with one another or actually fold that pile of laundry feels like a day of accomplishment.  Never mind that the sink is overflowing with dirty dishes, we'll get to that later.

Reed is starting to tease us with long stretches of sleep. Twice in the past week, he has slept from about 7:45 pm to 5 the next morning. If only we could get ourselves to bed before the sun sets we would be in a good place. Speaking of a good place, I have had just a bit of an issue with that dreaded pregnancy problem of the post-partum depression. There were definitely some signs that I was heading towards a bad place mentally, so we took some preemptive action before I could spiral too far into this place. I have started seeing a counselor and that along with a small dose of medication seems to really be helping. Who knows what causes ppd? Or why it strikes some people and not others. I think in my case it had a lot to do with the less than perfect labor coupled with some outside stresses that just happened to coincide with some crazy ass hormone fluctuations. Whatever the cause, the other day when Reed peed in my mouth, spit up in my hair, and then pooped on my hand, all I could think was "Thank goodness for the Zoloft."

"I'll pee in your mouth if you're not careful!"

The turtles are back out at Green Lake.

And since it has been awhile...here is a picture of downtown on a lovely spring day.

We're growing up so fast around here.

First, a little bragging.

Reed is six weeks old today. Over the course of the past week, Reed has learned to flip himself over from his tummy to his back. According to babycenter.com's development chart, this is something that is generally mastered around the three month mark. Clearly, Reed is very advanced. He can also hold his head at a 45 degree angle. Apparently that is also a developmental milestone. Who knew we would get so excited over seemingly simple things. 

Second, Reed has finally kind of started to like sitting in his swing for small amounts of time. I really hoped that Reed would take to his swing and we could go about our business. That has not been the case. Up till about two days ago, the swing only encouraged very loud screaming. Very loud. But, the other day he stayed in it long enough for me to make, and get this, EAT my spinach salad. It was indeed a luxury.

Third, we went to a PEPS meeting. It stands for Parenting something something Support, or something like that. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Only three of six couples brought their babies. At six weeks, Reed was the oldest baby there. And with the other two little girls each weighing in at under seven pounds, he looked like a behemoth! According to my super accurate Wii Fit scale, he weighs about 11 pounds. He was 8.12 when he was born, so he is really packing it on.

And finally, School starts again next Tuesday. Eeek. There is something I am unprepared for. I already have homework for the class I am taking. Also, I learned that one class is actually twice as expensive as I thought. Apparently, I was looking at the undergrad tuition scale in preparation for the class. Maybe if one can't read a chart accurately that person is not really ready for graduate school. Ooops.  

So, I should probably stop writing this, turn off Days of our Lives, and maybe stop messing around on the internet long enough to read the assigned articles. Oh the non-stop excitement of a stay-at-home graduate student/mom.

Wait for it...wait for it...

There it is!

In Search of the Holy Grail

I'm finding it hard to find time to blog. Also, I'm worried that I have little to talk about, aside from diapers and poop.  And just so you know, we are using thirsties all in one diapers, bummis diaper covers with prefolds, and seventh generations and naturebaby disposables. Very exciting stuff, isn't it? We'll be expanding our cloth diaper collection as he grows.

What can I say about this first month of Reed. A lot of adjustments, but its as if he has always been here. I can't remember life before he was here. No, not true, I still vaguely remember being pregnant. Enough to know that I am not ready to do that again. Anyway, we have an ox of a child, appropriate because he was born in the Year of the Ox. He is so strong. He holds up his head and looks around. He presses his feet against any surface they touch so that he is standing up, or while in the bathtub, till his head smashes into the side of the kitchen sink.  Knock on wood, he is a fantastic sleeper. We have had several nights of 4-6 hours of sleep at night and we love and appreciate him for allowing us that luxury. He is a mini-Rob. With his blue eyes and red hair(!) and his adorable little chin, he is Rob's tiny little doppleganger. 

In the past week or so, Reed has been giving us glimpses of a smile. They started with little night smiles, and have gradually progressed to his waking hours. Some books say they are an indication of inner contentment, others say it a reaction to passed gas (I think we all have those smiles, don't we), and still others say that due to his late arrival, they could be the beginnings of the long awaited social smiles. Whatever the cause, they are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life.  They are just pure joy...or relief.

We haven't managed to catch the smiles on camera, but the two following shots are an attempt to catch them. 

Alright...enough blogging, I need to get back to Facebook!

There are legal names...and then there are the names we call him...

Sometimes I am asleep and content.

Other times, I am just so upset.

And then there are the times when I am concentrating so hard...or pooping.

His birth certificate says Reed Elliot Chambliss.

We call him...

Puppy Rabbit

Shark Baby

Little Critter

Stink Bomb

Squeak Toy

Snorty Pig

Minotaur

and of course,

Futureman

He'll never learn his real name at this rate.