Wednesday, January 11, 2012

ushering in 2012

Oh, man.  There are a million things I want to blog about right now and I think about them ALL while lying in a dark room trying to get both my kids to nap.  A million things.  Life is so full.

Right now, it's 10:36pm.  I *just* got Hazel to sleep.  Last week, she crossed the divide between being a sleeping-all-the-time newborn (ha ha ha, I was actually a little concerned that she slept too much) and an erratic 7-week-old wrestling with her new digestive tract.  She'll struggle all day, shooting green frothy poop and spitting up over my shoulder--happy in no position but my shoulder--and the next day, she'll sleep.  She's starting to get predictable. Tomorrow, I have appointments in the big city and Hazel is scheduled to be on a green-frothy-poop-wrestling day.  Look out, people.

My own sanity alternates almost as predictably from one day to the next.  January 2012 had been looming on my mental horizon for months, and here she is, face-to-face.  All our family, gone.  My man, back to work.  Me, navigating the waters of having two little monkeys all to myself.  We're finding our rhythm.  Some days, we get good quality playtime, dancing, drawing and cooking--sneak in some laundry and dishes--play outside, go for a walk AND take a nap.  Other days, we're lucky to get out of our pajamas and getting outside is an all-day goal that never happens.  My sanity rests completely on whether or not I can drop my own agenda.  Who cares if we don't make library storytime?  Naps are overrated!  You wanted to write a blog post?  Blog, schmog.  Bills to pay?  They can wait!  Sometimes I can drop the agenda and my face relaxes, my heart sings.  Sometimes, I can't.  I'm working on that.

The best part is: I have Juniper back.  I've really missed her.  Since Hazel was, like, 48 hours old, I've really missed Juniper.  It had hit me hard: the shock of me being her everything, to my man being her everything.  I physically ached for my firstborn.  I tried hard to keep things as normal as possible for her, but still, I felt her slipping.  On the rare occasion when Juniper gets into our bed in the middle of the night, I secretly love it even though we're wedged in like a family of sardines and only Hazel and Juniper are actually sleeping.  Now, Juniper and I have had a solid work-week together and our bond has strengthened.  I'm fun again.  

If Juniper holds any jealousy for Hazel, she never directs it towards her.  She can be running around squealing all crazy-like, or crying and throwing a fit because she wanted the pink cup not the white one, and yet she'll suddenly stop.  ...and gently kiss Hazel on the forehead.  It's breathtaking, this sibling love.  

But here I go writing about this week when I still have last....
  
:: We used the last bit of 2011 to unleash cousins...
    
Then harness them into a sleigh ride on the elk refuge (well, wagon ride due to the lack of snow):
^It's possible cousin Owen was more excited about the bus ride.^

^These are the bad boys.  We got to see some of nature's funk this time: one earless bull and one antlered cow (not shown).^

^Juniper was too excited for a hat and mittens.  "Elk!  horsies!  Elk!  horsies!  I wanna black horsie!"^ 

^Hazel is the lump under my jacket.  She loved the wagon ride.^

:: We had some chinook winds roll in and turn our snow to slush.  So what was previously unpackable sugar became the perfect sculpting material for a snowman (or woman--Juniper refers to the snowman with feminine pronouns).

Unfortunately, the snowblower doesn't blow slush and we were getting hung up in our driveway.  The men folk shoveled the drive by hand, bringing back strong childhood memories.  Afterwards, we did some front porch sledding at sunset.

:: On New Year's Eve, good, long-time friends showed up.  Two sets of brothers with their wives...and now we all have kids.  As I walked past the bathroom to change Hazel's diaper, I heard my friend's voice saying, "Yeah!  Now flush the poop down."  Ten years ago, nearly all of us were tromping around the backcountry and getting paid to do it.  Later I asked her, "Ten years ago, would you ever have imagined this day in our future?"  She said, "Hell, no.  Well...I guess we were still messing with poop back then, it's just that it was our own."  Oh, how times change.    

Tried to get a photo of the girls in their adorable matching hats:

Four families, two last names:

:: M&D wanted some naked photos of the boys before leaving so we threw up the black sheet, and this is how we opened 2012:
^Not so sure we can call him "baby" Sam anymore!^




:: One of my favorite J-bug sayings: "I so excited!!"  Happy 2012 to you all.


 ^Isn't he cute?^

1 comment:

  1. The poop description is gross, but I'm sure accurate!
    How did you get Juniper to stay in her own bed??

    ReplyDelete

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