Three things

#1:
Yesterday, M and I were taking a walk around the block and passed our neighbors' house. In their window, they have an Obama sign prominently displayed. M took one look at it and said "Obama President!" I was rather surprised and thought he had read it for a second. Then I realized that someone must have pointed it out to him before. And, his Bubby did very helpfully teach him to say "Obama for President" with a lot of enthusiasm while she was here after the baby was born. Still, for a second, I was like, "he reads (political signs)!"

#2:
We did some dividing and playing this afternoon, with Sacha taking Mateo to swimmin' class (as I like to call it, and so now he does, too) and me taking Natalia on a waterfront walk with some friends. These friends also just had their second child (and their first child is just a few months younger than Mateo) so we like to say that we're living practically the same life these days. We all had a lovely time and it was nice for us all to get out of the house.

After we reconvened back at the ranch, Sacha and I were discussing genetics and what role it does or doesn't play in the raising of children. We realized that each of our kids (at least so far) takes after their non-biological parent in terms of sleep. Mateo has been a frequent waker and takes after Sacha, who didn't sleep through the night until she was two and a half. Natalia, who threw in a nearly eight hour stretch of unbroken sleep last night (thank you, thank you, to the heavens above), seems to take after me, who started sleeping through the night at the tender age of three months. Obviously, we realize that Apa's genes are certainly in play, as well, but it's also fun to see what characteristics we share with both our kids, regardless of genetic relationships.

#3: I have a job interview tomorrow! I've started searching for the perfect part-time social work position again and just applied for my first job today. Lo and behold, they called this afternoon and I'm going in tomorrow to talk to the supervisor. I'm not expecting it to pan out (I never do - makes me less nervous) but I do think it will be excellent practice at the very least. Wish me luck!

Five

I took the kids to the park today while Sacha enjoyed an afternoon of pampering at a local spa. (After being pregnant, having an intense birth experience, and the subsequent recovery, we both thought she could use some rejuvenation once she passed six weeks post-partum.) It was my first outing alone with them and it actually went fine. We went to a park and Mateo played while I followed him around with a rather fussy baby who eventually fell asleep in my arms. For some reason, the sling seems to make her mad. It made Mateo mad, too, when he was an infant, but I was determined that Natalia would love it. Not so. But anyway...

At this particular park, this is a huge slide that M loves. I told him several times that we couldn't go on the slide today, because I couldn't go up the steep steps with him while carrying N. He actually seemed to get it at least a little bit, but did want to stand at the bottom of the steps and hold onto the railing.

As he was doing this, a kid came along and wanted to go on the slide. As I was attempting to move M out of the way, I said to him "Let's move over, sweetie pie, because this little boy wants to go on the slide." As the kid was climbing the stairs, I heard him huffing to himself "I am five years old." Then, he turned around and said "Excuse me, ma'am. I just turned five years old!" He was SO offended that I called him a little boy! And calling me ma'am just about did me in. I managed to keep a straight face until Mr. Five Years Old had reached the top of the slide, where he proceeded to hurl plastic trucks off the top until his mom ran over and stopped him.

You know, from this vantage point, my general impression of four and five year olds is that they are absolutely wild and gigantic and somewhat dangerous to small children in settings like parks or stores or whatever. When we went to indoor play parks this winter, I always had to be on guard to swoop M out of the way in case one of them came zooming by at top speed and nearly took him out. However, I know we'll be there in a few years and then I'll wonder why people just don't get their toddlers out of the way so my child can explore his environment!

Perfect dinner

Teo and I went out to the farmer's market this afternoon, leaving Sacha to nurse, nurse, nurse the baby and try to rest as much as possible. We had a great time with just the two of us and he helped me pick out some delicious stuff.

Tonight, we had the next-to-last of the tamales Apa made us this past winter, plus some corn from our freezer. We added, straight from the farmer's market, some hand-made tortilla chips and hot salsa made today, blackberries from a farm nearby, and cheesecake from this booth we've been wanting to try out. Delicious! I love summer.

Also, Sacha's starting to feel better. She was really in a lot of pain earlier, so we're all very happy that things are looking up.

Doing too much!

Yesterday I clearly did too much. I think we got a little bit carried away with our adventurousness because I now have a plugged duct.

Yesterday I had a two hour morning date with myself. During that time, I sent to a sport store to find a new pair of tennis shoes. (Actually, it turned out they were having a sale, and somehow the $39 shoes I found were only $14 at the register, even though they were not marked as being on sale. The cashier didn't seemed concerned. . . so that is what I paid.)

Then, I thought I should look for a bathing suit. I tried on all of the bathing suits that I thought would fit at first store, and then a second store, and then a third store. Let's just say that nothing fits, probably because I have just so much milk to give and am rather endowed, so to speak, these days. I ended up finding a swim skirt bottom, and will just have to wear a nursing bra or shirt on top.

Since I still had 30 minutes left of my two hour date, I thought that it is about time I find some non-stretchy pants. I know that I am going to continue to change sizes for the immediate future, so I found a nice pair of jeans at go*dwill.

In the afternoon we picked who knows how many lbs. of blueberries, as mentioned in another post in high 80 degree weather.

In the evening we went on a long walk for the ice cream social, and were walking for an hour and a half.

Natalia didn't really nurse much on my left side for 12 hours.

And I have a plugged duct.

Dias y noches de helado

We've had two successive days in which ice cream has featured prominently. Yesterday, we took the kids to a park in a trendy area of downtown. It was hot and the popular water feature was packed. In fact, the whole park was packed. We took turns taking Mateo into the water - which was more like protecting him from the crazed older kids splashing like maniacs - and hanging out with Talia on the blanket.




Then, M and I walked across the street to a popular ice cream joint and got two cones to take back to our girls. I think this should count as M's first ice cream cone, personally. He's licked from cones before, but this time he wrestled it away from me as soon as it had been scooped and just dove right in. By the time we got back to the park, he was demanding to "hold it!" He got chocolate all over his face, all over everything. We enjoyed the scraps he left behind :)



Today, we had three different adventures. This morning, we resumed our kid-swapping with Mateo's friend, D, and his mom. We decided to ease back in with a two-hour chunk of time instead of three and I think that was a good idea. It went fine, but, as Sacha was out for much of the morning, it was a short crash course in dealing with three kids under the age of three on my own. All things considered, the boys had fun and the baby alternately slept and observed things.

Then, after Mateo decided to nap for only an hour, and after Sacha had her six-week post-partum appointment, and after we had lunch, we got into the car and drove out to my grandma's house. She's out of town this week, but had invited us to come by anyway and pick blueberries from her garden.

I told Sacha that I think I love blueberries from her bushes better than from anywhere else - maybe because I've been picking and eating them since I was a small child. She always used to think it was hilarious that I liked them better frozen than fresh when I was a kid...but I think I've finally grown out of that. Anyway, it was hotter than anything but we managed to pick two big tubs of berries. And, luckily, we have a key to the house, so Talia napped in air-conditioned comfort while we were there and we got to cool off before heading home. Thanks, Grandmommy!

Our last thing of the day was a neighborhood ice cream social! It's an annual event at this shopping street near us - each restaurant or business scoops free ice cream for one hour and you just roam around tasting the different treats. We went with some friends and had lots of fun. The kids both hung in there really well, as it was definitely past Teo's bedtime. We hardly ever mess with bedtime, but this was a once-a-year thing.

We've been talking recently about how we feel like we're actually having a summer vacation. We sure weren't expecting one, but we've sure been having fun getting out and exploring the town. I think it helps that we have a toddler who needs things to do, and that our baby is sleeping relatively well (although the nurse at Sacha's appointment asked her if the baby was sleeping through the night. Through the night?? Sacha was like, was that supposed to be a joke?).

And, it also helps that Mateo himself has been sleeping through the night! Yes, that's right. After 21 months of nighttime wakefulness. He's done it pretty much every night now for at least a couple of weeks. Long enough that we decided that he's now night-weaned, even if he backslides. Somehow, totally on his own, he has learned how to settle himself when he goes into a lighter sleep cycle or wakes up. We hear him fussing a little on the monitor and then...silence. I've been hesitant to write about it, but I finally decide we should just celebrate it now and not worry about what might happen tomorrow.

Anyway, we have just a few weeks left before summer ends and school begins. We're trying to enjoy every day.

(This is Alayna - just realized I'm signed in as my lovely wife)

6 weeks, 1 day

Visit from Auntie E

Auntie E is visiting our fair city for a few days before she makes a big move from the Deep South to the Big City. M is thrilled to have her here again and has been directing her around the house to play with his different toys. She gave him a couple of teddy bears (one big, one small) that seem to be particular favorites. They've been having a great time together!

Talia seems happy to meet her auntie and demonstrated this by falling asleep in her arms earlier today. Here are a couple of photos we took:

Note that Teo is making an important call on his auntie's blackberry:


And one close-up of the babe. We could barely post this without melting from the cuteness: