Kicks and Giggles

I am starting to think that all Jacob does is sleep.  I am not complaining, as I know many parents have troubles with their children sleeping.  He wakes up in the morning, eats, is awake for about an hour and then goes back to bed until it is time to eat again (about every four hours).  He then repeats the pattern all day.  Somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 he goes to bed for the night, usually waking up only once during the wee hours of the morning, and then going right back to bed.  He also is able to put himself to sleep.  I rock him for five min. to soothe him and then put him down and he falls asleep all on his own.  He only takes 20 min. max to eat, usually closer to 10-15 so he still gets to play for a about 45 minutes, but it gives me little time to do anything that requires leaving the house. 

This seems so totally weird to me, as Chloe hardly slept at all when she was a baby.  When she napped, her naps were only about 45 min. long.  She was awake for closer to 2 hours at a time.  It took her 45 min – 1 hour to eat.  She didn’t start going to bed around 7 until she was 4 months old.  She also had to be rocked, or have her face/tummy stroked to go to sleep until she was 6 months old and started sleeping on her stomach.  Despite this, I thought she was a pretty easy baby.  Now that I have Jacob, I think I now really know what an easy baby is.  Speaking of which, time to go put my easy baby back to bed.  He’s been awake for just over an hour!

A little over two months ago, a nurse left the delivery room where Jacob was born, and said “Congratulations, Now you have the million dollar family,”  and I wondered, why exactly is a mom, dad, a boy and a girl the million dollar family.  (Yes, I have been thinking about this post since then.  It has just taken my a long time to get it posted).  Someone also said something similar to my parents after I was born, only in that case, it was “the perfect family”.  I was the second child and have an older brother, so a similar situation, although that one actually was “the perfect family” as the boy was older.

What exactly makes a family perfect, or worth a million dollars?  Personally, I wanted at least one of each, and was quite pleased to be blessed with that, but I know people who wanted all boys, or all girls, or only one child, or numerous children of mixed genders.  I know some people who could have cared less what they had and were just pleased with the tiny little baby that was placed in their arms. (Aren’t most people?) I think most people would consider their family perfect, no matter how many children they had, or what they were.  I know some people who have no children and consider their family perfect.

Personally, we are pretty sure that we are done, although people have told us to wait until: we are thirty(why?), Jacob is older, (again why?), or that we shouldn’t stop at two, (for a third time, why?)  Another argument that I have heard, although not exactly for this situation, is could you imagine your life without…(insert name of younger sibling here).  And my answer is, no I couldn’t, but at the same time, had they never been born, I wouldn’t have known any different.  I also have heard that all girls need a sister.  Okay, I loved having a sister and I am sure that Chloe would too, but what guarantees that if I had another child, it would be a girl?  Do I just keep popping out babies so that Chloe has a sister?  What about Jacob?  Doesn’t he need a brother?

I love my little family and am quite content with it.  I am sure that Chloe will do just fine without a sister and Jacob will be just fine without a brother.  Every family has a different dynamic and there is no way that anyone can experience all the different types. (2 girls, 2 boy, one of each, 3 and 1, only child, 8 mixed, etc.)  So I will enjoy the family dynamic that I have been blessed with and know that, even though their may be a textbook version of the perfect/million dollar family, each and every child is perfect and worth way more than a million dollars.

When Chloe had been using cloth diapers, I bought a clothesline with the plan of sun-bleaching the stains out.  It never got put up.  Finally, today, Brian put up my clothesline.  I hung our shirts and other stuff that can’t go in the dryer on the line.  Also, I will finally be able to bleach her diapers (which I put her back in today after deciding that what was left of the mark was now a permanent fixture.  Her diapers left a scar. Ugh!)  It’ll be nice.  Our clothes will smell fresh when they come in from inside and be warm from the sun, although on those days when the wind is blowing the wrong way, they will smell like a feedlot.  Yum!

Both the kids are napping and I just finished doing one scrapbook page.  Every time I scrapbook, I am reminded how much I would like an actual scrapbooking area/station.  All my stuff is in containers (that can’t be opened by a child) on a low shelf next to our dining room.  Everytime I scrapbook, I have to take everything out and then clean it all up when I am done.  This is extremely annoying and wastes precious scrapbooking time.  I probably could have finished two pages if I did not have to do that.  Also, because everything is condensed into small containers, that are as full as possible I have to almost empty them out every single time I use anything that is not on the very top of the container.  Some of the things I use the most, have to be on the bottom just because that is the way everything fits in the container.

One day, I will have a scrapbooking area/station.  I will be able to spread out my scrapbooking stuff all over my desk/table.  I will have trays for my paper that are similar to in/out trays so that I can look through my papers easily to choose one.  I will have my scissors back in the holder they came in, so that I can see all of them at once.  My other tools will be in one of those plastic mini drawer chest so that I have easy access to them.  Most importantly, it will be an area that is only used for scrapbooking, so I will never have to clean it all up.  I can leave a half-finished page if I need to be somewhere or go do something, or my kids wake up (although by the time I have this, it is unlikely that my kids will still be napping.)  I am looking forward to that day, but for now, I will just have to be patient and attempt to get one page done during naptimes so that I can finally get all my books caught up.

Tonight, I went to pick up Jacob’s prescription.  Since both the kids were in bed, I took the car.  The car is a standard, which Brian taught me how to drive shortly after we moved here.  I absolutely love driving it.  Since I almost always have at least one child with me, I usually take the minivan.  When I take the car, the whole driving experience is totally different.  I love driving a stick.  I love the sound of the engine changing gears and revving as I shift up and down at stoplights and such.  It also feels like I am going so much faster in the car than the van.  Not that I am old or anything, but it makes me feel like I am 5 years younger and driving is fun!

Today Jacob had a VCUG.  It is a test where they insert some kind of fluid into his bladder through a catheter and then take pictures via x-ray.  Through this, they discovered that Jacob has reflux.  This means that when he pees, some bacteria/urine goes back up the tubes and into his kidneys/bladder etc.  This can lead to chronic infections and then kidney/bladder/ureter scarring which can cause problems later in life.  Because of this, they are going to put him on daily antibiotics and we will probably have to go for more ultrasounds and VCUG’s over the next few months/years.

We had to go to the Children’s Hospital for this.  Our children’s hospital is only a few years old and is a really nice building, but I had hoped to never have to go there.  Fortunately, it is nothing life threatening for us.  I can’t imagine people who are there with children that have serious problems.  It doesn’t seem fair to me that we should need a children’s hospital.  I understand why we need them and am glad that they are there, but as I sat in the waiting room, waiting for Jacob’s appointment and hearing kids cry because they were frightened of the machines or because they were undergoing some painful procedure, I was almost in tears, and it wasn’t even my child.  It just doesn’t seem fair that children should have to go through things like this.

Jacob did really well through his appointment and only cried when they turned the board he was strapped to so they could get a picture of his side and I forgot to hold his head.  He didn’t even cry when they inserted the catheter.  We are hoping he outgrows this, as most children do.  If not, he will have to undergo a minor surgery a few years from now.  I hope he outgrows it, because I can’t imagine my baby having to go through surgery.  It was hard enough on me when Chloe got her blood tested.

His:  The Thumb

Hers:  The potty and training pants (which took me forever to find!)