November Twenty-Third, Two Thousand Eleven

Photos that I stole from Dan's phone!

{I started writing this post two weeks ago. I think I averaged 3 sentences/day. How do you guys find time to post? Oh my goodness. Even when I find a tiny bit of time...I just don't have the energy!}

I never loved this season more than I did this year. I don't know what it was but everything seemed brighter and more beautiful than ever before. (Maybe because I am in love.) We had an uncharacteristically large number of dry days here in Portland this fall, so I enjoyed the foliage longer than usual. I only had a few moments each day to observe it all-as I drove Raine to daycare and myself to work in the morning, and again in the afternoon when I visit him during my lunch break. Sherwood is hilly with generous views of surrounding towns and country. The red maples, ash trees, and dogwoods were bursting with color. By the time I left work at 6, it was completely dark. A week (or 2?) ago a storm came through and blew the majority of our leaves in the neighborhood to the ground. Our car was coated in pine needles the following day. I noticed them finding their way into Raine's car seat, my purse, and my shoes. It is raining buckets now and winter has definitely arrived.

The days are shorter but we still try to stay awake until 10 p.m., try to hold out for it, but all of our internal clocks are turning off at 9. Hobbes sits at his food dish and meows in confusion. Daylight savings means nothing to him and his night time appetite. Two of my favorite shows are on at 10 but I can never stay up to watch them! (Parenthood and Prime Suspect!) If you watch Parenthood then you will know why I identify with the Kristina character right now. She and her husband just had their 3rd child and I think the show is capturing some great moments where her postpartum character is overwhelmed, joyful, exhausted, or insecure. I have heard others say that this show makes them cry but I never cried until the episode last week when her husband tells her how beautiful and hot he thinks she is, after she spends an evening out for the first time since their baby was born. She isn't ready for his affection and she doesn't quite see herself as normal yet, but she is getting there and he is very patient. Now that I have returned to work and Raine is sleeping with me through the night, I am starting to feel normal again but it is a very slow and strange process. I feel like I'm fumbling in the dark for a light switch or my glasses. I'm reaching for it...Normalcy...I know it is there. It looks and feels a little different than it did before, but it's there. As these crispy, cool days go by I get a little bit more.


I have a routine now that I am back to work and it is good for me. Raine and I wake together, he nurses and then usually falls back asleep. I tuck him in bed and get dressed (an outfit determined the night before), brush my teeth, and take the pumped milk from the fridge and add it to his daycare bag. If he is still asleep, I try to do other things: Brush my hair, eat something, tidy up a mess left from the night before. Showers are best performed at night while Dan can occupy him. :) I change his diaper and dress him, let him talk to his Ugly Dolls. Then I sit him in his car seat while I quickly take Rocco outside. He is very good natured in the morning and doesn't mind waiting in his car seat. He will chit chat with his zebra that hangs from the car seat handle and chew on his blanky. Once Rocco is taken care of and I have final items packed, we drive to Tina's, about five minutes away. There, we are greeted greedily by little Carlie, his 3 year old BFF. She tells me where to put him and then promptly shows me to the door! LOL. She has no use for me! So I get a quick kiss in and steal one last look and then shuffle out the door she has wide open and waiting. It would be so much more difficult to leave him in the mornings if I didn't know I would be back in a few hours to feed him. In the first 3 weeks, I have only missed my afternoon time with him once, and that was because Dan and I had a MUCH needed lunch date. When I visit him in the afternoons, Raine is usually sleepy but eager to eat. And once he has had his milk, he is super happy. He will coo and grin, flashing his dimples. I make sure to take a photo for daddy. :) I already know now that my visits will be very hard to give up when I eventually wean Raine. But let's not think about that right now! LOL.

Ugly Talk!

Entertained by Hungry Caterpillar and Mr. Zebra

Our Little Buddy Bean!

And the evenings? Oh my goodness they are delicious. I get to come home to Dan and Raine. And we play as a family. Yum. Even though Raine is only 14 weeks old, there is a surprising amount of things we can do with him...Especially since the last two weeks as he has become more engaged. He has 3 play areas...Daddy's lap on the couch is most popular. (Probably over half of the photos I have taken of him in his small short life have been with daddy's knees in the background. LOL.) Daddy's lap (or alternatively, mommy's lap, which is smaller and not as comfy and doesn't happen as often) is also known as "Poop Position." We have found that Raine can get his number 2 train moving if he is sitting in this position, and that has helped us out on more than one occasion when little dude really needed to poop but couldn't. Haha. I can't believe I'm writing about this. So glamorous! Anyway, he loves sitting in our laps and looking at toys or listening to us as we talk. We have black and white pictures, board books, and sensory toys. We use these when he plays on the floor, while lying on his special quilt. ;) He is getting super close to rolling over, too! I guess he did kind do it Monday night, but Dan missed it and I didn't count it because he didn't "land" completely on the other side. LOL. He basically rolled from his back to his tummy, but didn't stay put with all fours down. He went right back from the way he came. Ha ha. So then, another play area that is *new is his crib! He sleeps in bed with us for now but I wanted to start building some positive associations with his crib. (Aside from playing in the crib, I also put him in it if he is asleep in his car seat when we get home. I'm trying to get him used to waking up in it.) So far he loves playtime in it. I play a musical stuffed animal and swing his crane mobile back and forth. He kicks his feet and stares completely enchanted. Evenings are pretty fun, huh? We also have bath time, swing time, and we used to go for walks until the rain started. Pretty much we wind things down and Raine and I are in bed nursing at about 10. He has been super great sleeping throughout the night. We wake occasionally so I can switch sides or change his diaper if he is wet and distracted by it. He gets really obnoxious and fidgety if he doesn't like the way it feels. :) 

Lap Time!

Hangin' in Da Crib

Quilt playtime ;)

Anyway, I finally think I can wrap this up. :) I'm so grateful to have this little family and I am so excited about celebrating Raine's first Thanksgiving tomorrow. I hope your holiday finds you with loved ones and yummy food! I look forward to sharing about our day....Hopefully it won't take me a month to do that post.

xoxo,
Leah