He wakes...and then he sleeps

This pretty much sums up the last 2 weeks of Holden's life. A little awake time; A lot of sleeping time; and a whole ton of me staring at him adoringly time.

Memorial Day

We were very excited to get the whole family out of the house this past weekend. Oh man...were we excited. We were invited to Radhika's house for a picnic on Sunday. Scarlett and Radhika played in her (quite fantastic) playhouse. There was another little baby there who was exactly one week older than Holden. Scarlett made sure that everyone at the party knew that Holden was her baby. She did this by running up to almost everyone and telling them "that's my baby Holden." She's quite the big sister and is very proud of her brother. That, or she got a kick out of everyone thinking she was adorable while proclaiming Holden was her brother. Or a healthy mix of both.

And Holden slept and ate. And then ate and slept. And there might have been a poop somewhere in between there. And then he slept. When it was time to leave, Scarlett cried the whole way home saying "my Radhika, my Radhika." I think she missed her. (How cute?!) Then we went to a Memorial Day parade in West Haven. I was very proud of us. We got there early - which meant we got awesome parking, and an awesome spot on grass right where the parade began. And then we only had 45 minutes to kill before the parade actually started. Groan. I think we ate about 3 bags of potato chips.Scarlett decided that this is the way that she watches parades. And Holden decided that this is the way that he watches parades. Scarlett saw marching bands.And Holden slept through marching bands. Scarlett saw bagpipers. And Holden slept through bagpipers.Scarlett saw ambulances with sirens.And Holden...well, you get the idea. But Holden wasn't the only one doing all the sleeping. Scarlett fell asleep about 5 minutes into our car ride home. Please note the potato chip that is in her hand. She actually fell asleep before eating said potato chip. Now that's tired.

And it begins

While we were driving home from daycare today Scarlett had her first conversation with Holden. It was a little one-sided.

Scarlett - (in the highest pitched voice you could possibly imagine) Baby you wearin' shoes?! (He wasn't.) Baby?...Baby you wearin' shoes?! Baby? Hey baby...BABY. Hey! - I talking to you."

"One day I'll be a year..."

2 year old photos

We brought Scarlett to have her 2 year old photos taken this afternoon. Check out this ham! I couldn't believe how good she was. Her behavior recently has been - [ahem] - questionable at times. She absolutely loved the attention she was getting from the photographers. And how cute does she look?! This outfit was a birthday present from Scarlett's Great Grandparents in Burlington, Ontario and Scarlett loves it! Why wouldn't she? It's as pink as it can be!Unfortunately...I'm not quite prepared for Scarlett to look as old as she does in these photos. When did she turn into a kid?! What happened to my baby?! (Whew...I'm okay. I'm going to be okay. Sigh.)
Going to have these photos taken was our first family outing as a family of four and not three. Here we are with two car seats in the back seat. Let's just say it will take some getting used to.We had sent Scarlett to daycare with cupcakes for her birthday, not realizing that they wouldn't have devoured them by 2:45 when we picked her up. Joe ran into the center to get her, and while he was gone Holden started crying - most likely because the car had stopped moving. Scarlett came out of the center being carried by Joe and she was understandably upset that they hadn't eaten her birthday "cupcapes" yet. She kept saying "cupcapes...cupcapes" in the saddest little voice you could ever possibly imagine. She started crying even harder when she heard Holden crying because she doesn't quite understand yet that sometimes babies just cry for no apparent reason. Then, and I'm embarassed to admit, I started crying because I was overwhelmed with guilt that we had sent Bubsy to school with special birthday "cupcapes" and then picked her up before she even got to share them. (I still feel guilty...but rest assured, they're going to have them tomorrow instead.) So...off to a great start. Three out of the four of us are crying and we're not even out of the parking lot yet.
The picture taking itself obviously went really well, but then I had to go to Target to get some new sleepers for Holden. (Why does it seem like you can be perfectly prepared with what seems like hundreds of outfits for a newborn and all it takes is one horrific pooping incident to wipe out an entire wardrobe in a matter of 3 hours?!) Joe and Scarlett went to look at toys and Holden and I went to look at baby stuff. We're all good. We can do this 2 kid thing, right? About 7 minutes later Joe came to find me at the exact second I went looking for him. We met right smack in the middle and both said exactly the same thing "Holden/Scarlett pooped and I really have to pee." A family of four that have all just immediately gone or immediately have to go to the bathroom.
Can I just say that the person who invented the family bathroom is a true GENIUS.
Oh...we've used it before and have always enjoyed the spacious and convenient family bathroom, but man, yesterday that bathroom got so much use I honestly felt like we lived there for a good 28.5 minutes. 2 toilet uses, 5 handwashes, and 2...no - make that 3 diapers changes later - we left for home.
So there it is folks. Our first family outing accurately documented for your enjoyment. We're all going to be just fine. As long as the car never stops moving, Bubsy's dressed in pink, and no one gets poop on their hands.

Happy birthday, Scarlett

Ahh Bubsy. 2 years old already. What are you doing to your mama, little girl? Stop growing up so quickly!

I treasure every second that you let me hold your hand. I treasure every second that you let me cuddle you. You're such a busy little girl now and when you stop long enough for me to give you a "big squeeze" I'm in absolute heaven. You've really got a hold on me, baby girl. You always will. Happy birthday, Bubs.

World...meet Holden

So. We've been mia for a few days. We've been a bit busy. Why? World...meet Holden Joseph. He was born on Wednesday, 5/13/2009 at 5:36 am. He weighed 9.2 lbs. He was 20.5" long. And whew...what a story. Wanna hear it? Good.

I started noticing some decent contractions at 2 am on the 13th. They were decent enough to get me to wake up Joe and ask him to get dressed. I called my midwife. My wonderful, glorious midwife (sense sarcasm?). I told her that my contractions were pretty serious and coming about every 3 minutes...but that they were only about 30 seconds long. Her response was that those were not real contractions - they were too short, and I was probably just feeling the baby settling down and getting ready. I should come into the office at 7:30 the next morning for a check up. Oh man, was she wrong.

I hung out at home until about 4 am when I decided something wasn't right. I had Joe call my sister to come stay at our house with sleeping Scarlett. She got there about 4:15 am. We left for the hospital at about 4:45 am and the whole time I'm thinking - man. I HAVE to be in labor. I hope my midwife isn't mad that I'm not listening to her and going to the hospital anyway. Then, about 3 blocks away from the hospital, my water broke in the car...and wow. Things started happening pretty quickly from that point on. The pain quickly escalated. We got to the hospital at 5:05 am and my midwife and Dr. weren't even there. The hospital staff checked me out. I was 8 cm dilated. No drugs for me. No epidural. No IV with painkillers. No nothin'. There was no time. My Dr. and midwife barely made it to the hospital. I was pushing about 10 minutes later and after about 9 pushes, Holden was born. That's right folks...we checked into the hospital at 5:05 am and a short 31 minutes later we had a baby. I was only in labor for about 3 1/2 hours. It was absolutely insane. And Holden is absolutely wonderful. And we are absolutely exhausted. I'm leaving you for now with these few pictures. I promise there will be tons more later.

Kate

Ahh, my friend Kate. (mother to Molly & Finn - link directly to your right)

Kate and I met about 8 years ago at Long Wharf Theatre. I had just begun my props shop internship - Kate had just finished hers. After Kate moved to NY, I gracefully slid into her spot as properties artisan at Long Wharf. Then I gracefully slid into her spot as stage op at Glimmerglass Opera....and then her spot as head props runner. Etc., etc. You get the point.

Like Kate, my first child turned out to be a cute, witty little girl who loves books and princesses and rain boots. And, like Kate, my second child will be a boy. But...Kate's boy is not just any old boy. He is ALL boy. Like seriously all boy. Is it safe to assume that a post like this might be in my blog's very near future? Kate and I both seem to think so.

Oh. man.

Scarlett's 2nd birthday party

Saturday was Scarlett's 2nd birthday party. It was a blast! We were petrified it was going to rain because those crazy meteorologists couldn't make up their minds. Thankfully, the rain that was supposed to start one hour into the party never started. At all. All that worry for nothing. (Thanks weathermen!)
We had the party at Aunt Nachie and Uncle Keg's house (Stephanie and Craig), this way, if I randomly decided to have a baby the party could have gone on in my absence.
But no baby.
This party had a bit of everything!

We had bubbles...
And more bubbles...

Sidewalk chalk...Even golf...There was definitely running...Maybe a little walking...But definitely running...And cake...yes, cake...And of course, friends...like the bestest of all friends, Carson.Haila... Erin...And Josie, Javier, Kyle, Alexandra, Radhika, and Amaya. And tons of cousins, aunts, uncles, Godparents, and adult friends.
Thank you to everyone who helped Scarlett celebrate! This was a very important birthday party for us because it's the last one we'll have for Scarlett that won't almost immediately be followed or preceded by a certain baby boy's birthday and birthday party. Scarlett was so excited about this party, and really knew what a party was this time around. She had been talking about it for weeks! Last year, I made a joke that Scarlett will be talking about her 1st birthday party until we have her 2nd birthday party. But I wasn't serious. Now, however, I can guarantee that Scarlett will be talking about this party until she turns 3. Thanks to everyone who helped make this day so special for Bubsy.

Happy Mother's Day!

(Scarlett made me this card at daycare on Friday. I don't know who was more excited - Scarlett giving it to me, or me receiving it!)

Unconventional bucket play