Babies & Lyrics

This is my family.  Not perfect, but loved & loving.

With both my kids, I have associated some DMB lyrics for one reason or another.  With Aaron, the first lyrics I can remember that came to me with him are (ironically) from "Grace is Gone".

I could never love again
So much as I love you
Where you end, where I begin
Is like a river running through 

With Aaron, it was as if he was the Eve to my Adam.  As if someone had literally removed a limb or body part from me and from that, came Aaron.  He is a part of me as if he IS me.  

And I remember vividly the first time he kissed me on his own.....  I was sitting on the floor eating a PB&J and he was waddling around the living room with his toys.  He'd come over every once in awhile to get a bite of my sandwich and one of the times, he placed his lips on mine instead.  I thought it was so sweet of course, but figured it was sort of an accident.  I mean, babies don't know how to really kiss, right?  Then he did it a second time and he stayed there for quite awhile, just laying a big smooch on me.  At first I laughed and kissed back, and then my laughter turned into a giant sob-fest because I was so overwhelmed by the love he just gave me.....  Kissing him back through my salty tears of joy and peanut butter.  And for that I remember these lyrics from "Old Dirt Hill (Bring That Beat Back)":

Ride my bike down that old dirt hill 
First time without my trainin' wheels
First time I kissed you I lost my legs
Bring that beat back to me again  

With Elizabeth, DMB lyrics also came naturally.  For one, I actually had an iPod playlist for the labor & birth that was mostly DMB.  The first song on the playlist is "Baby Blue" and although all babies have blue eyes when they are first born, her blue just seemed so vivid.  They are still a steely, grey blue.  So from her and her blue eyes, I got: 

Read more: DAVE MATTHEWS BAND - BABY BLUE LYRICS

Into your blue, blue eyes
Your blue, blue world
You're my baby blue

But really, the lyrics that kept playing over and over again in my head the first few days I had her home was from "Alligator Pie".  Though the song is really about Stella, it has these lyrics:

Grace is all I'm asking
When will Grace return
Grace is all I'm asking

If you haven't figured this out yet about Elizabeth Grace, her middle name is a tribute to Dave (DMB).   Grace is all I'm asking.........  

into your blue, blue eyes, your blue, blue world, you're my baby blue.

Read more: DAVE MATTHEWS BAND - BABY BLUE LYRICS

I have a poster from Blue C Sushi in Seattle with Dave in it and as soon as I get it framed, it's going in Aaron's room.  And I'm hoping to put something in Elizabeth's room too.  So far, I'm liking this handmade wall piece from Etsy: Little Feet Little Hands, which are lyrics from "So Much To Say".  

Yes, I think about lyrics a lot.  Not always Dave lyrics, but music is always in our house, our minds and our hearts.  
  
My family & Dave = Happiness.  

into your blue, blue eyes, your blue, blue world, you're my baby blue.

Read more: DAVE MATTHEWS BAND - BABY BLUE LYRICS

  

Our 2 week update -- Elizabeth Grace & Aaron

What, you're just going to leave me here like this?

Elizabeth Grace had her 2 week follow up appointment and thankfully she's doing well.  Her jaundice has cleared and she has gained weight again!  She now weighs 7 lbs 0.9 oz and is 20 3/4 inches long.  She is still a bit underweight in terms of her growth so we have started giving her more at feedings now so hopefully she'll grow more!  

Just like with Aaron, I am not producing enough breast milk (it took me 3 sessions of pumping to get 1 oz) so I am supplementing with formula.  Right now I'm using an "SNS" (supplemental nursing system) to feed her the formula so that kind of keeps me glued to one spot for over an hour at a time.  And since you're only supposed to go 2-3 hours from the start of one feeding to another, I don't get much down time!  Plus, she's always falling asleep during feedings and I think that's because she's all warm and cozy on my breast so I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out on the bottle.  But we'll see -- I obviously want to do what is best for her while keeping my sanity.  

She's been a really great baby so far though!  She sleeps tons, has started to smile and when her eyes are open, she's alert and loves to look at light and her mommy & daddy.  And today, if I wasn't imagining it, she seemed to be soothed by Dave.  (Dave Matthews Band, obvs).  

The only sucky part has been that Aaron came home with another cold from school on Halloween Eve and of course, I caught it 2 days later.  So now I'm at home, taking care of a newborn, recovering from labor and a surgery and I catch a cold.  Trust me when I say it is NO FUN when you are coughing up a storm with stitches in your belly.  And then Elizabeth caught it.  The poor little angel has to suffer through a cold and she can't get any relief except for rest.  

We all tried very hard to keep Aaron away from Elizabeth, but how can you tell your little boy to stay away from his brand new baby sister?  He just wants to hug and kiss on her all the time!  And sometimes getting him to wash his hands lately is like starting World War III.  So besides Josh who always seems to get away unscathed, we are a house of sickies.  Luckily like I said before, I've had plenty of help from my family and just recently Josh's mom came down to help and stayed for a few days.  

Aaron is still in school and really starting to enjoy it I think.  He got his first birthday part invite the other day (though he couldn't go because it was too close to my due date) and then his first set of school pictures!  He comes home singing new songs all the time and likes to tell us stories about some of the other kids in his class.  He is adjusting to so many changes lately!  Though he definitely has times where he could act better, he's doing pretty well over all.  AND he's finally going to sleep earlier!!!  Thank goodness!

So everyone is doing fine.  I mean, we're all recovering from something but we all have each other and we're all happy about that.  

Before she left, my MIL brought to my attention that the poem titled "Monday's Child" said: 

Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

Elizabeth Grace was born on a Tuesday. 

 
   

Too Cool For School

That's my kid, in a jean jacket, headed to his first day of a preschool daycare program.  He is just too cool.  I should have popped his collar.  Aaron won't be going to this school full-time, or even part-time really.  It's more like a drop off basis type thing.  But Grandma & Grandpa were out of town for the week to celebrate Grandma Yvette's birthday (Happy Birthday Momma!) so we needed a back up.  And luckily were I live currently there is one right across the street.  They take kids from infants up to 12 years old for before and after school daycare as well as all day care that includes playtime and curriculum.  They even throw in some Spanish and Potty Training!  Woot!  Of course, by throw in I mean more like I just paid $191 for 3 full days of care.  And THAT, my friends, is WHY he won't be going full-time.  

It is a great back up and resource to have and he seemed to like it, though I'm sure he thinks of it more as play time than anything.  But it's something new for him and it gets him to socialize with other kids, keeps his brain working on new things and I'm sure (hopefully) they do a lot more activity than we do with him since on our days off we just want to relax.  But his Grandpa & Grandma take him on adventures like the story time at the library which he loves.  In fact, the teacher at the school said Aaron knew most of the stuff they were going over so he was able to join right in.  :)  Hooray for reading to him since he was a baby!  He loves his books.  In fact, he has a Blues Clues video that he watches where Blue reads Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and I kept telling him I would buy it for him once I found it.  The other day we were at "the circle market" (aka Target) and there it was!  I think Aaron saw it as soon as I did and he immediately started "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!  Will there be enough room?".  He would not let go of the book once it was in his hands!  

This of course, doesn't bother me at all and I never consider books as toys or "gifts" in the sense that he has to ask for them as a special treat because every kid should have books!  Now toys, that's a whole other issue.  Frankly, his bedroom is more like a playroom with more toys than furniture but as the only small child in the immediate family -- it's to be expected I guess, right?  But since birthday #3 and Christmas are coming up and just wanna put this out there -- he has plenty of toys!  He does grow out of clothes constantly, however and is now wearing between a 3 and 4 Toddler.  He's also a size 9 Extra Wide in shoes.  PS - he now comes to my waist.  Granted, I'm only 5' but still.  It's a bit daunting to see your (almost) 3 year old be almost half your height already. 

Aaron is still naked potty trained for the most part, but we are practicing with underwear more often and that's still hit and miss.  On his big boy bed, well....... Being with Grandpa & Grandma for a week while Josh and I were on vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC meant that he got to sleep with Grandpa & Grandma in their bed and that put us back a notch or two.  So now we're working again on getting him to sleep on his own in his own bed again.  Having a toddler use you as a head pillow while simultaneously kicking your husband in the kidney (Ow! My pancreas!) and smacking you in the face is not a good way to sleep my friends.  Not At All.  

But this boy, this boy is a crack up.  He as learned that saying "What the hell?" gets a funny reaction out of adults so he's been using that phrase quite a bit more often.  He still loves his singing and dancing.  He still falls asleep faster to Dave (Matthews Band) faster than mostly anything else.  He is still really into The Cars movie and practically every day asks his dad "Can we go to the circle market and get another toy?".  Right now we're on the hunt for Flo & Ramone!  And a kid friendly cd player/radio because he loves music.  And momma's gonna teach him to shake his booty!

Life with Aaron is wonderful.  


The rest of our adult life is stress and work and bills and debts and chores and everything else YOU are also going through.  And today, if I wasn't before (I totally was), I am now most definitely the 99%.  But this blog isn't about that so .......


I'll just say again life with Aaron is wonderful.  He reminds us to love, to smile, to dance to sing, to laugh.  


If you ever need a reminder, just let me know and I'll send you a picture of Aaron! 

I could never love again, so much as I love you

Hi.

Welcome.

This isn't so much as an update on Aaron as it is an update on mommy (me!). Last night I was holding my little chubba-chubba in my arms, putting him to sleep by the sounds of the Dave Matthews Band and I looked down into his sleeping face and thought, How could I ever love anything more than this?

You see when Aaron was first born I think I walked around in a daze..... partly because of those damn drugs but mostly because I don't think I realized that those 9 months had finally produced a beautiful baby boy that I could hold in my arms. A boy that I had to take care of, who was my responsibility and depended completely on me. Suddenly the confidence I had (I just knew I was going to be the best mommy ever!) went out the door and I was a bit nervous and unsure. On top of that I felt bad that he wasn't birthed and instead yanked out of my tummy via c-section. Was that traumatic for him?

Then there was the acid reflux and the gas and the constipation and the formula issues. Because of all those things he cried (a lot) during his first few months. I did the best I could and tried everything to ease his discomforts. And I was home, alone. All day. With the baby. By myself.

But he got older, got over his issues .... Sure, new ones came along (like teeth!) but they're not as bad. I went back to work. And now I come home to a smiling, happy baby. A baby that is happy to see me and hear me call him "chubba-chubba". A baby that puts his little hand on my face to get my attention. A baby that puts his arms around me now. A baby that laughs.....

Aaron is happy. No matter what else is going on at work or at home, Aaron is happy.

He is my love. He is my home and my happiness. I only hope I can provide for him everything I ever had and more. (Props to mom & dad for raising 3 *mostly normal* and happy girls).

I love you baby boy! KISSES from mommy!