Catching up

Notice this post isn't titled 'caught up'. Sheesh. So much compelling activity to attend to. Much of the time I am sitting in bed covered with sticky breastmilk holding a baby who is getting a little uppity about how he is offered the breast. Harrumph. Mother knows best is my motto, but he really wants to poke his hands in the way and help. This is my view for what seems like 20 hours out of the day.

I miss Pequita - I feel like I see her from afar these days, as I am always holding Monito and always nursing him. She entered a phase of preferring Homestead Mama and the original boobs right before Monito was born, which was probably timely, as she is being primarily parented by H-Mama at this point. Grandma and Grandpa are, of course, dedicating huge amounts of time to tending the babes as well. I steal time with her when Monito is fed and sleepy, when a pinky to suck on is enough and I can pass him off to someone else. Pequita is blossoming - she learned to crawl on Father's day, and consequently Grandpa spent Father's Day installing baby gates in the stairwell and to contain the living room. If we follow her around the house, she leads us right to the babyproofing flaws, like the can of paint thinner sitting on the floor in the upstairs hall, the open box of drywall screws sitting on a chest, every single little tiny plastic price tag attacher that has fallen to the floor in the bonanza of baby gifts that has made up the last 8 months. She approaches them all with the attitude of "Yum!" and with a willingness to taste it all. Diligence is key here - I wish we had spent a bit more time before getting the babyproofing done. Friends of the family had a chair with her name painted on it made for her as a baby gift - she's finally big enough (and it is finally warm enough) for her to enjoy it out in the yard.

One thing we were ready with was car seats. Both our kids were born in the 90th percentile for height/weight, although Pequita has since dropped to 50th in height. Nonetheless, at 7 months old she outgrew the infant car seat system we had for her - some kids stay in them until 18 months! I researched the convertible seats until my eyes bled, and we bought a couple of the top of the line metal-framed seats that will work in airplanes and should be usable up to 80 lbs or so. (I'm not sure any self-respecting kid who weighs 80 lbs will be willing to ride in a car seat, but we'll have saved money if she will.) Since I still can't drive for another week due to the c-section, all road trips to the park or shopping are the same - Grandma drives, I ride in the front passenger seat, Pequita and Monito are strapped into their respective car seats in the back, and Homestead Mama squeezes herself in between the carseats in the back seat to tend to the babes in transit. If we had sprung for a minivan before the second kid, she'd be a lot more comfy. I took the pic below from the back end of my station wagon. Note Homestead Mama's skilled baby-tending handiwork. With her back there, most rides are peaceful.