Christmas

Christmas went great. Kind of difficult to get out the door, getting everything packed, Oliver is super excited and asking tons of questions so kind of reducing whoever he's talking to to half capacity because it's so distracting, Finn is still so small he needs to be 2 handed held, and the toilet seemed to be leaking so we were seriously considering taking it up to replace the seal. But we made it out and survived the drive, Finn did fine, Oliver told us he had to use the bathroom at one point but once we fought our way off the freeway and into a mall he didn't have to, so he and I went and got fries from In and Out while Finn Nursed. Then on up to Nevada City, and everything was easy. GrampaHoward played neverendingly with Oliver, fireman and mechanic and circus, and Finn had plenty of volunteers to hold him. Oliver is old enough to really get into Christmas now, so it was fun. He was excited about the crumbs Santa left on the plate. And super into presents "oh, it's the bike I always wanted" but was still overwhelmed by them "I'm done opening presents" (and he went to play with the ones he had already opened.) Finn is doing great, still mellow, only uses his cry when he gets annoyed. Seems to be having the same trouble as Oliver in that his mothers milk is too abundant when he just wants to chill and suck. We're back home, with new toys (that will hopefully give Francesca some time with Oliver entertaining himself.)
It's been harder to really appreciate how wonderful it is to have a little baby because I feel like we are just running at full sprint the whole time. Things are great, and it's great having two, but a little harder to have the breathing space to really absorb the miracleness. It's pretty golden when he looks into your eyes and then gives a coy little smile. Finn is so strong, doing push ups practically and can creep 1/4 of a crawl. But he's crying now so I should go try and help.

Found his cry

Francesca showed Finn his reflection in the mirror and he gave a big smile. He's found his cry, getting stronger by the day now, and louder, when he gets angry at having his diaper wet or getting it changed. We're still just treading water, trying to learn how to run 2 kids, we're both pretty tired by the end of the day. It's a very rainy winter, which makes it harder because it takes more organization and limits more what we can do and where we can go. I think we had the last of the meals that the mama's group did for us, which was a HUGE help to not have to deal with meals on top of wrangling these to boy-o's.

3 weeks

Finn's discovered faces. He'll be staring off into yonder then when he swings his head around he'll notice our face looking at him and suddenly he'll start staring into our eyes for a while. Then he'll go cross eyed, and then he'll go back to staring at the ceiling. Oliver is carrying around a Duplo Fireman in his pant cuff and calling it his baby, rocking it and nursing it.

long night

The boys kept us up all night, mostly Finn, not crying just being awake. Even though it's painful, there's something still so sweet about holding Finn in my arms and having him look up at me so peacefully. (Being at work all day I miss a lot of that time, so it's nice to make it up at some point ... like 4 am :)

1st day double Mama

Francesca did her first day solo with the boys today. Tonight she is pretty worn out, but it went well apparently. Finn had a check in appointment with the doctor. He's gained a pound and 4 ounces which is really good. Oliver did great helping his Mom today, and has been accident free for 3 days, seems like getting back into a routine and a little more rest and our pony is back on his feet feeling good. He also wrote on his own most of his name at story time at the library. I was amazed, I haven't even seen him practicing, but he got O L I V and then a Santa sticker blocked the space for the rest of it. So we're doing great, 1 day (and night) at a time.

Eau de Bebe

Francesca says that Finn's poop smells like buttered popcorn ...

late night

Finn has been shifting to a more daytime schedule, having his long awake ending around 9. But last night he was up from 12-3, squirming and stretching. It was nice in a way since I felt like I hadn't spent as much time with him as I wanted. But he kept acting a little hungry so had to pass him to his Mama a few times. His umbilical cord came off, his belly button looks just like a nozzle on a blow up mattress :)