Friday, November 30, 2012

May 2012


May was a big month. A pretty life-changing one, actually. It was the month that we all moved out of our tiny apartment, into our very own home.

But it started out (mostly) business as usual, as far as the kids were concerned. They were increasingly involved with one another on a day-to-day basis, forming and nourishing a pretty special relationship.


In the meantime, amidst haphazard attempts to get some packing started, Tom and I were constantly brainstorming ways to help keep Michael happy.

One idea that I came up with was trying out a Summer Infant Super Seat. I figured that since gravity can help to keep stomach acid down where it belongs, Michael might benefit from being able to sit up for short periods of time.


Like every other thing we tried with him, before and since, it was a bit of a disappointment. This wasn't the fault of the product- I, personally, still think it's a neat little thing. As for Michael, he didn't hate it, but he didn't love it, either. On the first attempt, he tolerated it long enough for me to snap a few pictures, but not for much longer.

Abby was pretty fascinated with it, though. And with seeing her brother sitting in it.


Our sleep issues with Michael continued, as well. I purchased a sleep-training book to help give me some ideas- The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Elizabeth Pantley- and Tom and I began trying to put some of them to work. The first step was to get Michael used to the bassinet during nap times. It was an adjustment for everyone, because difficult as it was to have to spend an hour or two wearing Michael in shifts three times a day to enforce his naps, it was much harder to have to spend up to an hour picking him up and putting him back down, over and over, only to gain about 30 minutes of sleep out of the whole thing.

We often gave up midway and just let Michael do his thing.


We did seem to make some slow progress, however. For a couple of nights, we got some three- and four-hour shifts out of him, before the reflux got the best of us all, in the end.

As tired and disorganized as we were, we likely wouldn't have gotten any packing done ahead of time for the move, were it not for the near-weekly visits from Nana. She came armed with boxes and other packing materials, and, best of all, an extra set of loving hands.


Despite all of the craziness, we did manage to make it up to Mima and Granda's once or twice that month, as well, and I couldn't help but snap this picture of my two worn-out babes upon our arrival home one evening.


Speaking of worn out, here is photographic evidence of the one-and-only time that either of my children has been so tired that they fell asleep on the spot, right where they lay.


If only it were so easy, every time.

Though Michael kept our hands full much of the time, Abby took a step towards independence, finally, that we found to be quite helpful. She mercifully acquiesced to holding her own "bottle" on a regular basis at the ripe old age of 18 months.


I put bottle in quotations because it was really more of a hybrid drinking apparatus. I started trying to wean Abby off of bottle nipples at twelve months, but she was stubborn. So, for a long while I got her used to the idea of drinking from a different shape by putting the soft-spout sippy attachment on her old Nuk bottle canisters. From there, we slowly moved on to straw and hard-spout sippies, but for as long as she required a pre-bedtime "bottle," that's how she took her nightly dose of warm milk.

Here's a picture of Michael, back in the Super Seat with tray attached. He didn't really appreciate the colorful toys attached for his amusement, but his sister sure did.



May 15th- one of the last group hang-outs on the "big bed" in the old apartment.



And May 19th- a "Nana visit" day, and this time, she brought an awesome hat for Abby (Tom calls it her Carmen Miranda hat). Forgive me as I deluge you with many photos of it.

She has food on her nose in this one, but it was too classic not to include, anyway.




Introducing Miss Abby-Carmen Miranda!

May 20th was when I finally got around to taking Michael's "month" pictures. He wasn't too into the whole process.



I got him to perk up a bit for many of them...




... but he wasn't particularly cooperative, overall.


On May 23rd, my little man rolled from belly to back for the first time.

Finally, around rolled May 25th, the closing date. We had to bring both babies to the title office, and what I remember most about the closing was the mind-numbing theme song of Angry Birds playing over and over on my Kindle Fire, which was left on to amuse Miss Abigail during the proceedings. Michael added to the din by attempting to cry and fuss over all of the other noise. It was good times.

But once it was over, we finally got to walk in the front door of a cute little Cape Cod, and call it home.


Though it was nearly two years after we were actually married, Tom finally carried me over the threshold.

As expected, the move was utter chaos, but we had plenty of family around to help with carting boxes back and forth, and keeping the kids occupied.

At one point, we had Abby set up nicely in the lightly-furnished living room, in front of a borrowed laptop playing a Baby Einstein DVD.


One of the toughest adjustments for all of us was figuring out how to police Abby on the stairs. Having lived in an apartment all of her life, she rarely had to navigate them, and the ones leading up from our main floor are steep and hardwood.

Predictably, she got away from me once, and tumbled down a few. Thankfully, she was not seriously hurt. And unsurprisingly, the incident did not sway her from going for the stairs again, at the very next opportunity.

We made it through, though, like we always do, and now, over six months in, we are about 95% unpacked and settled in. Moving is always tough to do, but was definitely a whole new ballgame with two babies in tow.