Bonding with Chloe (and a camera)

I'm not sure if I've told you this or not, but there is a new woman in my life (not Chloe silly... I said "woman").  And she is wonderful.  She is the temporary nanny who basically is paid to hang out with Monkey and have a blast.  My parents have been gracious enough to offer us this help due to my c-section.  Besides the fact that she is wonderful with Monkey and teaches him all kinds ogf new things, she gives me the opportunity to do something very important - bond with Chloe.

I know it seems like I would naturally do this... that of course a mother would bond with her baby - especially a breastfeeding mother... but then there is me.  Ellen + newborn = nothing.  Sersiously, nothing.  I mean if someone tried to harm her I'd kill them but almost out of principle.  It's just that until babies have a personality (which means they need to do more than eat, sleep, pass gas, pee and poop) I'm not that interested.  And I know that if I was still with Evan all day AND Chloe that I would probably gravitate more towards Evan.  It's just the truth people... it doesn't make me a bad mother.

One of the bonding things I do is take pictures because even though I'm not a fan of newborns I can objectively look at her and say how super cute she is.  And the other day, as I was holding her, I figured I would see how good I was at one-handed photo taking.  And now you get to benefit from our bonding.

My first attempt at taking a picture of her super cute feet (hers are thin and long whereas Evan's have always been - and still are - more like mine... Flintstone feet):

And so I figured I would need to address the fuzziness of the photo and I tried again:

And clearly I still needed lessons for close photos so I decided to move on and take a picture of the princess herself:

And then I realized that since I'm always the one taking photos that I didn't have any photos of the two of us together and I needed to fix that:

Oooh - but that double triple chin thing wasn't working for me so I tried a trick our wedding photographer taught me to just lift my chin a little:

And apparently I overdid that... but at least my nose is clean and my chins are gone.  And so I figured that I would return to the one thing I could take a picture of:

I'm not sure she liked the camera in her face as much as I did but it made some memories.

Uncles, Firetrucks, & Boots

This past weekend my brother (Uncle Joe) and his girlfriend (Miss Joanna) came to visit.  Neither one of them has children and I always find it amazing that people without children volunteer to come and be part of our chaotic household.  They handled the chaos well and played with Evan and cuddled with Chloe (and thankfully they weren't looking for some crazy nightlife because Chloe's late night feedings are as nuts as we get right now).

One of the things we did while they were here was visit our local fire station (they were having a fundraiser).  We got there pretty late so much of the activities were over, but Evan still got to see the firetruck:

He also got to play with the fireman's gear:

I think being so close to all the gear, buttons, levers, horns, etc made Evan a little contemplative:

And, of course, Chloe was there... sleeping:

Uncle Joe and Miss Joanna posed with Evan in front of the firetruck:

But we had to wait for Chloe's picture with Uncle Joe and Miss Joanna until Chloe was awake.  This meant later that night at home:

I think overall everyone had a good time.  I know Evan liked having new people around to adore him and tell him how wonderful he is... good thing that boy doesn't have a self-esteem problem!

Turkey Tamer

This is what Evan and his sitter do during the day (this is around the corner from our house in the city):



On another note, Chloe went to the pediatrician today and was declared perfect (no big surprise to me)... all 10 lbs of her.  My little butterball.

Evan is Talking!

I mean, he isn't telling us long and convoluted stories but he is slowly starting to use his words (which makes him less frustrated and us less concerned about why our brialliant son isn't talking).  Here are the words he currently says (that I can remember):

1. Dada (been saying this for as long as I can remember... like last week... just kidding)
2. Mama (started saying this once I gave birth and I wasn't around him 24/7 - seriously added to my guilt when I would hear him calling my name but I was breastfeeding or doing something with Chloe)
3. Miss D (this is the woman who is watching him whil I recover from surgery)
4. Chlo-Chlo (Chloe)
5. Charlie (which sounds a lot like Chlo-Chlo... this would be Miss D's outdoor cat that Evan helps to find when he goes and visits Miss D's house)
6. Bel-Bel (Bella cat)
7. Bubba (old man Bubba cat)
8. Pool (referring to his blow-up pool)
9. Grill (which sounds a lot like "pool" unless you listen closely)
10. Milk
11. Bowl (which he pronounces the same way the spanish commentator pronounces "goal" for soccer... so it sounds like "boooooooooowl")
12. Ice (yes, he says it, he knows what it is, he knows where it lives, and he wants to play with it - oddly this was one of his first words)
13. Egg
14. Boo-Boo (which is almost always his skinned knees)
15. Boom
16. Bad Boom (what Miss D taught him to refer to something dangerous)
17. Hot (but he won't say cold... he understands it, he just won't say it)
18. Uh-oh (is this a word?)

I'm sure I've missed some words but they are so random that they are hard to remember.  He still signs for some things like: "all done," "eat," "more," and "open." 

On another note, Miss Chloe found her thumb today.  She seemed to really like it, sucked on it for about 30 seconds and then promptly lost it again.  I'm cheering her on since she won't take a pacifier and my nipple can't be her pacifier forever.

All is Well With the Heart (and the boobs)

Chloe had her follow-up appointment with the pediatric cardiologist about her heart thing-a-ma-bob that you can read about here. Originally the pediatric cardiologist in the hospital felt it was realistic that Chloe would need to be seen monthly to monitor the murmur.  However, today's pediatric cardiologist listened and felt the murmur was so insignificant that he didn't need to see her again until she was 2 years old.  And, the selfish part of me that cringed at the idea of scheduling monthly appointments cheered at the news.  And, the part of my that loves my little girl and is excited that she doesn't have a significant health problem cheered even more.

On another note... looks like my boobs are working just fine.  Chloe, 2.5 weeks after her last pediatrician appointment, has gained some weight.  Most recently she was back to her birth weight of (7lbs 12oz) and today she was a whopping 9lbs 9oz.  It looks like she has gained most of this in her cheeks and in her Buddha belly.