8 weeks

Going going going. We're all super busy. School has started and is going well, but keeps our mornings quick. Finn is loving preschool, and Oliver likes school as well, but will claim it's boring if asked. Francesca says it's funny that she still can't do anything when it gets down to just Tilly, because she still has to hold the baby, or change the baby, or feed the baby, so even though things get a lot easier she still is busy. I keep telling her that as long as she keeps the kids intact then she wins my praises.
Tilly Rose is doing great. Still lots of budha smiles all the time. Still has a pointy little chin, she hasn't chunked up the way the boys had. Her eyes have lost some of the quicksilver gray, looks like she's going to have the deep deep brown of her brothers and mother. The skin on her shins is rough, much like the back of her mothers arms, it reminds me of the legends of the Selkies (the seal's who shed their skin and walk the land as women) I keep meaning to ask Grandma Jill if she also has patches of rough skin to see if my theory holds.
She has survived her first cold, which Francesca has been really worried about. We all had a virus come through, but Tilly managed to only get a little bit sniffly, not even enough to disturb her when she nursed, just enough to spray two jets of snot when she sneezed. Francesca reminded me that Oliver had had a cold when he was very tiny, and was theorizing that that was the reason he had croup all through his young childhood colds. So we're thankful Tilly's first cold was mild.
Francesca and I are still pretty exhausted. Tilly sleeps pretty well, although she tends to have an awake period around 5am, but the other nursing sessions aren't to disturbing (to me at least). But between the 3 children we seem to be up a lot of the night. Hopefully the boys will sleep more soundly as we get further from the cold.
She has been fussier lately, I don't know if it's the cold or just the age but she's gotten frustrated with the different ways I've been holding her. But there is one way that is pretty guaranteed to make her happy, when I hold face down across my forearm, she loves it. Then I hold her feet soul to soul with my other hand. She also loves laying on her belly, and happily falls asleep that way, if she's not getting frustrated doing pushups.
We play the game of calling to her and seeing if she can find us with her eyes to focus on us. The boys still are very proud of being big brothers. Onward ho!

3 and a half weeks

Life is going by fast. Tilly is growing fast and strong, gaining maybe a pound a week. She is a very calm baby, not getting upset, onlyl occasionally a little protest about a diaper change. She's also very grunty, all night long she seems to be making noise, not sure if she's uncomfortable or just trying to figure out how her insides work. When she first came she seemed to calm if we sang to her. I feel like I can almost garauntee I can put her to sleep if I hold her and march, so maybe she lives up to her name: Strength in battle, our little valkerie. Finn is starting to feel a little jealous, he's not liking that someone is always holding her. (He has also been sad that he himself won't be able to give birth) But overall we're adjusting well. Oliver tells everyone that he trained her to hold onto his finger. The first few weeks she was still breathing quickly, but we took her in and the Doctors weren't worried. I am not getting nearly as much time in babyland as I would like. Still, the chances when I get to just sit and hold her, or in the middle of the night when I'm patting her back down after changing her, are very sweet. I feel like she looks intelligent, when she stares into my eyes it feels like there are gears turning, at least until she makes one of her funny cross eyed looks. One of her most common expressions is a very tiny mouth, like she's trying to learn to whistle. She's very strong, able to hold her head up for a good amount of time, ever since she was born. Francesca has commented that her head was smaller than that boys, so maybe it's not that she's exceptionally strong, maybe she just doesn't have as much weight to contend with. Commonly, I change her at 11 when I go to bed, 1am and then she grunts for an hour keeping me u, then Finn calls me in at 4 and needs me to sleep in his bed, then Francesca changes her at 5, Oliver wakes up at 7:30 and gleefully goes and visits everyone, waking up Finn who now literally kicks me out of bed, so I go and switch with Francesca I cuddle Rose while she cuddles Finn, and then we're off and running into a new day. Starting to find the balance, a few weeks until school starts, we're all doing well overall.

Finn practicing with a sling

Matilda Rosalia

Matilda Rosalia, we are all doing well, Mama and baby and the rest of us are happy and running around crazy. I don't want to spend anymore time posting because I want to spend it with her, sorry. 

 

1st outing

last outing while still inside

everyone helping with labor in their own way

 meeting the new sister

 new parents again

 proud big brother

1st reading book

August 2013

Oliver and his good friend Amanda putting on a play.

Finn getting in on the act.  
Oliver y su amiga Amanda hacer una obra de teatro y Finn tambien

And Finn wanted a beard.
Finn quiere un barba

First day of Kindergarden for Oliver.
El primer dia de escuela

2012 Group Camping

Spring lake Group Camping 2012

Primavera 2012

hay un ano que no pone un nuevo video, lo siento, nos vidas son muy occupado con los dos ninos lleno de energia. Estos videos estan de Enero, Fevrero y Marzo, y puede ver Finn aprende mas y mas como caminar (y bailar). Tambien puede oir sus palabras "ayuk" para "look" 'ver' y "throw" para tirar. En un video pone la pelota a su oreja porque Mama usa su mobil para hacer el video. En un otro video toca su palma con su dedo, que es un palabra de lengua de manos significa "mas". Tambien puede ver en los mas temprano que Finn prefiere a ir mas lejos a mama para usar ella a ayudar el a ir al pelota.

Que suerta estamos.


A year since last posted a video, we're run off our feet with these busy boys. These are vids from Jan Feb & March of 2012, you can see Finn getting better at walking (and dancing). You can hear his words "ayuk" for look and his version of throw, and see him communicating with vehement head nods. He holds the ball up to his ear because his mom is using a phone to record him. You can also see how he prefers to get mama to help him walk to get a ball, instead of going the smaller distance on his own. e

Birthday

Finn is 1! We were down in San Diego and he got his first taste of cake at Grandma's insistence. Did great on the traveling. Finn and Oliver seem to be having more and more fun together, cracking each other up. Still hard for Oliver when we play the walking game, when Francesca and I sit apart from each other so that Finn can practice walking between us. All of a sudden Finn has gotten walking. He's not totally independent, but really it's all in his head. He was toddling a few steps from one of us to the other, and diving for our hands, but now he's slowed to down to a more walking pace. If I take my hands away in the middle of a room he squats down immediately. Interesting how cautious he is. But he is cruising all over the house solo now using the push car as a walker. Francesca says he's also got crawling figured out, and can travel around that way too (although he did still face plant yesterday.) So really the only thing holding him back is caution, which he'll probably put away within a week. He's been sick and has a really hoarse voice. Other morning he woke up and said "hello" as he lay there looking at us.