Hot in the City

I'm currently sipping my half-caf with half and half (half to the third power?) and blogging on the couch while my little man is doing his grunting thing in his bouncy chair next to me (seriously - the child is so grunty, like a piglet). The house is quiet. Bella was whisked away by the in-laws for some outside park & wading pool time and Husband is off running errands (he has the week off). Never would have thought that Oliver's arrival would bring more quiet time for me, but so far it's worked out fabulously. Having help here - and me accepting the help -is pretty much what is keeping me sane and even keel. That and my magic placenta pills, of course.

This weekend Husband commented to me that Bella can be so exhausting with her endless talking and need for attention. I reminded him that she is in fact JUST LIKE HIM. Ha. That made him think. We mentioned this to his parents and they laughed, saying that as a child he would complain that "Nobody loved him or listened to him or paid attention to him!" Even though, obviously, they were endlessly loving him and listening to him and paying attention to him. Apple, tree, whatnot. (And I should add that I was probably the most relentlessly and annoyingly attention-seeking of my siblings. So Bella had it coming from two sides.)

Short interruption as I jiggle and soothe the now crying baby. Enjoy this picture of Oliver and his multiplying chins while you wait.

This weekend marked our first family adventure and it was to my beloved Mill City Farmer's Market. It didn't start out so promising. It took forever to corral and organize ourselves and then the 10-block car ride was total chaos with Oliver crying and Bella shouting, "Be quiet! Quiet, Ah-yiver! SHHHHH!" the entire time. Husband looked at me in a panic and yelped, "What have we done!?" But once we arrived after those interminable 10-minutes (thank you excessive downtown stoplights), all was well.

Right now Bella's face is covered in bumps and bruises as she has managed to bonk her head not once, not twice, but THREE times in the past week. The first one involved her walking directly into a pole and after the goose-egg subsided, it somehow drained down her face and now she has two blue spots on her inner eye where it meets her nose.

Husband and I feel compelled to explain this to everyone we meet (and we do meet everyone given Extremely Social Family Member 1 & 2), lest they think something suspect about it.

Speaking of meeting people, as we were eating our Farmer's Market lunch, Bella decided that the group of women sitting near us would like a performance. She got up, plunked herself down on the stairs above them and sang her latest song - Row Your Boat. And then she clapped along with them when she was done. Oh, that girl. Still waiting on stranger anxiety to show up...

Yesterday was ridonkulously hot so we headed up to our super fancy rooftop pool. Sometimes I feel bad for those people in the fancy condos across the street. Their view of our messy deck is probably not so lovely. It was so incredibly humid that it took only 10 seconds for my camera to fog up and within another 5 seconds I wasn't able to use it. So iPhone camera to the rescue!

So that's what's up on the Mothership. Life is slowly resuming a new normal - a good new normal, even. I really thought these early days would just be pure hell (uh...don't mind me with my glass half full optimism!), but they aren't. There are moments that are frustrating and I want to cry UNCLE on having to breastfeed for the zillionth time, but overall I'm feeling pretty darn happy these days.