Category Archives: Search

I Think I Can…I Think I Can…

In March: It’s a New Generation – One with Many Ultrasounds Baby B is a bit more . . . rambunctious. I’m pretty sure I saw him punch Baby A at one point. It’s actually been quite difficult to get a still photo of Baby B. Every time the camera tries to freeze frame, for something like a medical measurement, Baby B thinks it’s hilarious to jerk and move away as quickly as possible. We also think he’s had the hiccups several times. Flailing about, clearly warming up for as many 90-foot sprints as possible, Baby B is clearly the frontrunner in the mischievous category.”

In April: Ain’t that a Kick in the Head “Earlier in the week, Jon had suggested he get some games to keep us all occupied. Baby B apparently took this to heart. Based on his circumstances, Hide-n-Seek was the game of choice. The nurse and I could hear his heartbeat faintly in the background. The nurse continued to move the puck around on my stomach trying to track Baby B down. But B is very good at Hide-n-Seek. He was winning even though the nurse had the sound wave monitoring machine advantage.”

Four hours after his birth last May, Search’s primary nurse June, informed me he was refusing to stay swaddled in his bunting – despite the wires encompassing his little body. Throughout his NICU stay, he was only happy once he’d kicked his little feet out. By two weeks old, he was scooting around his isolette and trying to push himself up.

Now that he’s a big giant boy, he’s attempting to mobilize in earnest.

He has spent the past several mornings scooting around the living room. Rolling over from back to tummy is a piece of cake; lifting his head up to look around in a half push-up position takes him very little effort.

Yesterday, Search noticed his soft discovery block about three feet in front of his playmat. He reached out toward it, but it was just out of range. You could see the wheels turning in his head.

“I want that block. That block is over there. I am over here.” He reached forward again – nope, still an arm’s length away. “I want to be over there. That is where the block is. I want that block.”

With a laser-like focus on the big blue block, he scrunched his little legs up underneath him. Step one. He paused, diligently trying to problem solve the situation. The lightbulb went on! He shoved with his arms. And scooted backwards. He repeated this scenario two or three more times. Each time moving farther away from the desired block.

At this point, Search was starting to get frustrated. He collapsed his head to the floor – tushy still pointing skyward.

Search is a voracious thumb-sucker. It may be for self-soothing, it may be his magic feather, or it may be his superpower recharger. He’d flung his head onto the carpet and was furiously sucking his thumb. Thumb firmly ensconced and drool soaking the carpet, his lower lip was just about to jut out in the quiver that precedes the wail, when he noticed the two smaller blocks in the set in his line of vision, just to his left.

He lifted his head slightly, peering at these blocks, and then turned his head to look back at the big blue block. He put both hands on the floor and shoved himself finally forward – inchworming over to the blocks. He was very pleased with himself.

Search has discovered he can move. It’s still a bit wonky. He can’t quite crawl yet. But he’s mastered the art of pulling his legs up under himself, inchworming a few inches and then rolling to the side. He’ll be fully mobile in the very near future.

This morning, he attempted a full tour of our living room. Then he passed out for his morning catnap – bottom still straight up. I took those few moments of solitude to order babyproofing items…

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Catch

Hey, Dad… You wanna have a catch?

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If You Give the Muppets a Midnight Snack

If you give a muppet a midnight snack,

he’s going to ask for a fresh new diaper.

When you change his diaper, he’ll probably want to put on a new outfit as well.

Once he’s dressed, he’ll ask to put on a drool bib.

Then he will want to chew on his hand and various lovies nearby.

While he’s sucking his thumb, he’ll probably realize that there’s a lot of interesting stuff surrounding him. So he’s going to want to look around a bit.

When he’s finished taking everything in, he’ll want to listen to some classic music to calm himself down. You will have to make sure the iPod is plugged into the speakers and find the Disney Classic Lullabies playlist.

While he’s listening to the songs, he’s probably going to want to sing along. He’ll smile and squeal; his voice will make him remember a funny story he wants to share about his day.

Telling his story will remind him of all the books in our children’s library. So you’ll read him one of his cardboard books and he’ll want to turn the pages himself.

When he holds the book, he’ll get so excited that he’ll want to hold all his toys. He’ll ask to sit on the floor so he can grab his blocks.

He’ll try to crawl. When he starts to get frustrated, he’ll want to snuggle with you in his glider.

The gentle rocking will slowly start to put him to sleep against your chest. Which means you’ll need to bundle him back up in his wearable blanket and put him back in his crib.

Squirming and rolling in his sleepsack to get comfortable will make him realize that his diaper is wet again. So…he’ll ask for another diaper change.

And chances are, if he needs a new diaper, he’s going to want a midnight snack before he goes back to bed.

 

Inspired by the book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Laura Joffe Numeroff

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Bathnight Blowout

I know what you’re thinking. Today is Wednesday; bath night is Tuesday. For Search – bath night was both days this week. He had a blowout.

The muppets are getting so big so fast! Both are excitedly grasping at their toys and taking in the world around them in wonder. Thanks to the generosity of Santa and grandparents, there are a lot of new toys to inspire their little minds. Search’s new favorite is his jumper seat, which is highly conducive to his affinity for standing and bouncing.

This evening, when I got home, Destroy was working on his sitting ability with Dad while Search bounced happily away in his Baby Einstein Playful Piano Johnny Jumper. (He’s our budding rockstar.) I made a few final phone calls and sent out several work related follow-up emails. (A large portion of my job involves herding hamsters and chasing chickens.) Then I walked over to where my boys were enjoying some male bonding.

An odd smell wafted up through the air around me. Destroy looked up from Daddy’s lap, tooted, and grinned at me. Being the fabulous and loving wife and mother that I am, I offered to change his diaper. “You’re right – it really smells,” Jon agreed. “But I just checked and it’s only a tiny smear.” Hmmm, perhaps the odiferous culprit was his brother.

I scooped Search up out of the jumper and was practically knocked out by the noxious odor emanating from his nether regions. “It’s him,” I choked. We scurried upstairs toward the changing table, mass quantities of wipes and the likelihood of multiple new diapers.

I put Pig Pen down on the changing pad – one could practically see the smelly squiggles wriggling around him – unsnapped his jimmies and peeled his outfit off. There was no amount of wipes that was going to solve this situation. We marched back downstairs.

“Babe…we have a bit of a situation in here…” I called from where I was ruining more outfits, blankets, and washcloths in the bathroom. Jon rounded the corner and stumbled back out of the bathroom, overwhelmed by the stench (and pile of poop accumulating on the barrier blanket).

Even the size 3 diaper our little muppet recently graduated into couldn’t hold a candle to this blowout. Poop was smeared up to his neck. Thrilled with the attention, enjoying the unexpected naked time and preferring to stand instead of sit at any time of day, Search was all grins and giggles – even sharing his machine gun laugh with us.

When Jon was ready to shed the necessary hazmat suit and assist with the now exceedingly essential bath, Search was soaked from head to toe – literally. Now that out growing boys have begun experiences the joys of teething, the drool has begun to threaten a flood watch. Search has been sucking his thumb/hand with a furious vigor that can only be explained by the assumption that he is actually a changling that hasn’t yet realized he is no longer a swamp monster.

Then he peed on me. Overall, he was pretty pleased with himself today.

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Santa Tantrums

As a final conclusion to the holidays 2010, I would like to share one of my favorite posts of the year from one of my favorite parenting blogs – The Poop.

Sadly, I missed the call for entries for the 2010 Annual Santa Tantrum Awards. But the muppets didn’t let us down. Their first visit with Santa is one to be remembered…

But here’s what our entry would have been:
Both muppets remained calm and composed throughout the wait in line. The moment we met Santa, Destroy became entranced by all the glittering and blinking lights. Search was not a fan.

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The Muppets Christmas Spectacular

I am sitting amidst the mountains of wrapping-paper wreckage in the living room. The laughter has finally died down. This has been a holiday for the history books – new chapters and new memories. Continue reading

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The Infamous ExerSaucer

I really can’t be bothered to provide witty anecdotes for the blog right now, Mom. I’m busy playing hard here…

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Santa Baby

Santa's Little Helpers

This morning we headed over to our local mall for the muppets first meeting with Santa. We wanted to make sure the Big Man in the Red Suit knew the boys were home and eagerly awaiting a midnight visit.

Breaking from his duties directing busy toy-making elves, Santa has recently begun accepting visitors. His social secretary began making photo appointments at 11 a.m. When we arrived to meet Aunt Ivy for the big meet and greet at 11:02 a.m., the line already snaked outside the building. I can’t say I blame people. Meeting Santa in person is a big deal.

A woman commented, “We just saw Santa at Macy’s. No line” as she departed from her morning shopping excursion. Aunt Ivy went to investigate. It was true! Jolly Old St. Nick was ho-ho-hoing to a much smaller happy group of children at the department store at the other end of the mall.

(To all grinches readying a snide comment that Santa can’t be in two places at once: magic. That’s how he works. Our Polar Express sleigh-bell still rings loud and clear in this house.)

I was very excited. And we were off – to find the Miracle of 34th Street Macys Santa. We arrived to find the entire store dressed for the holidays. The halls were decked with boughs of holly and brightly shining baubles. Twinkling lights wove their way through Christmas trees that stood at the end of every aisle. Giant red banners draped from the ceiling read, “BELIEVE.” Children dressed in their holiday best scampered around – toddlers wrote letters to the North Pole at Victoria’s desk. (Yes, Victoria, there is a Santa Claus…) All the while, Christmas Carols (piped through the store stereo system since the end of August) shared the spirit of Christmas.

And at the end of a red carpet, on a golden throne, sat a fabulously jolly old man. He had a deep real Santa-esque chuckle, crisp white gloves and fur trim set off the deep red velour suit, and the twinkle in his eye gave off the knowledge of a man who makes children happy (even if they do scream bloody murder when they sit on the strange man’s lap).

The muppets dressed in their fancy December outfits. (They are two seriously handsome guys.) They woke up right as we got in line. Search eyed me warily. Destroy was utterly fascinated by all the décor – he couldn’t take in all in fast enough. His little eyes were wide with delight.

Then it was our turn.

Dear Santa: This Christmas, we’d like to continue growing up – strong, healthy and smart. (And perhaps a jumperoo.)

Santa reached out to greet the muppets. Search had a meltdown. Destroy found new shiny ornaments to capture his attention. The elves jingled bells and squeaked fuzzy ducks in an attempt to elicit muppet smiles.

The end result:
Search – “I don’t know about this…”
Destroy – “Ooh, shiny object!”

‘Tis the Season!

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Playtime

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really, Dad?

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First Food

Destroy appears to be very concerned that his supply of milk is not going to last forever. His solution to this dilemma appears to be consuming as much in reserve stores as his little 15-pound body can handle.

The muppets recently graduated to the next level of bottle nipples and have consistently been screaming for food every two hours. So we decided to see how solids would go over.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies be breastfed exclusively for at least six months. Yet many doctors and parents say little ones can be ready as early as four months. The muppets are in an interesting position. As prior preemies, they’re three months old adjusted, but six months actual.

We decided to go with the time honored tradition of “the doctor said it was ok and we’ll take our cues from the little ones themselves.” This evening we introduced rice cereal. It is basically powdered rice that mixes with breast milk. Appetizing, it is not.

Since the boys are still primarily eating milk, the first few forays into grown-up food is really more of a sensory experiment rather than actual nutritional supplementation. Jon and I were mostly curious as to how they would react to the concept of a spoon.

According to BabyCenter babies are allegedly ready to start solids when:

  • Head control. (Muppets are now experts at holding their head up and trying to turn and watch TV, which we do not let them do.)
  • Sitting well when supported. (While not yet able to sit up of their own accord, they can sit on a couch with back support. This evening’s dining took place in the Bumbo chair.)
  • Chewing motions. (They don’t stop. They even chew in their sleep.)
  • Significant weight gain. Most babies are ready to eat solids when they’ve doubled their birth weight (or weigh about 15 pounds) and are at least four months old. (We’ve definitely more than doubled their weight. And they are really close to four months adjusted, with five months of eating life experience.)
  • Growing appetite. (Muppets are focused. Feed me!)

It was a huge milestone when they successfully transitioned from the IV to a feeding tube. I was ecstatic and nervous when they began trying to nurse from a bottle. Jon and I were so proud when we watched them learn to suck, swallow and breathe all at the same time. We will be taking the introduction of solids (or slightly thicker goop in the case of rice cereal) very slowly. But this eating milestone really represents how far the boys have come since their rushed arrival back in May. It’s the clearest demonstration of how big and strong they continue to grow.

Destroy thought the spoon was a hoot. He laughed and squealed and played along with our little experiment before attempting to flip himself out of the Bumbo in protest until he got his bottle. Search was less interested. But he also was…busy…focusing on other pressing needs.

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