Author: The Notorious M.O.M.

Mom-o’s sister Laura is visiting while Dad-o is off with the boys on a trip to Death Valley (an annual pilgrimage to partake in all things macho and dusty). We are having a good time with the boys, cramming in some girl-time after the guys go to sleep.
Auntie Laura is a big hit with Mr. Finn. She has been showering him with gifts–Thomas-related toys handed down from cousin Charlie, Halloween costumes from Charlie and Patrick, and some fun Spider Man plates, utensils, and a placemat to make eating even more of an adventure :D. Finn’s favorite toy so far is the “Jungle Blocks!”–some jungle-themed plastic blocks that come with their own plastic waterfall, and most importantly, their own CAVE! (“Kinda Dark!” exclaims Finny, while putting the lion and monkey in the cave.) He has dubbed some of the cylindrical blocks “smokestacks” based on his recently acquired knowledge of steam engines.
We are finally catching a break with Mr. Henry when it comes to naps. Yesterday he had 2 really long naps, after over a week of 30- or 40-minute ones. Whew. So he’s better rested, and Mom-o is a little more relaxed as well.
Laura and Finny are in the backyard “fixing” the Cozy Coupe with Finny’s ever-present toy pliers while I catch up on some domestic stuff–like dishes and blog entries!

I can’t believe I’m writing this because it seems impossible for it to be true, but get this: Henry has two teeth breaking on through to the other side! He’s not even three months old! He’s been working so hard at grabbing things and aiming them towards his mouth, and he’s really been chewing on his fingers (and ours) a lot the past few days. Both John and I thought we might’ve felt something sharp in his mouth over the weekend, and today I confirmed our suspicions. I took a peek at his lower gumline, and lo and behold, his two front center teeth have started to emerge!
So, no wonder he’s been having trouble sleeping and has been more enthusiastic about getting things into his mouth. Teething in addition to a growth spurt has gotta throw a little guy for quite a loop. Once I discovered the teeth, I gave him some Baby T (Tylenol) before his nap, and it seemed to work–he actually slept for about an hour and a half, by far the longest nap he’s had in several days.
[For those playing along at home, note that Henry has beaten Finn to the tooth-punch by a full month. Of course, I’m acutely aware of how ridiculous it is to suggest that this is a contest of any sort, or that the timing of these developments means anything. On the other hand, well played, Goonie. 🙂 –J.]

Henry has embarked upon his 12-week growth spurt with a vengeance, and he is taking me along as prisoner…figuratively shackled to his hungry mouth and growing little pot belly, slave to his wakefulness. We are on day 2 of innumerable and frequent feedings, and (I kid you not) exactly 37-minute naps. About four 37-minute naps per day so far. Ugh.
I’ve abandoned trying to do anything productive until we’re through this phase since I only get short breaks every couple hours. So far the good news is that his night sleep is still good so I do get a break then. And I happily admit that he is becoming much more animated and alert when he’s awake. His little hands are busy swatting at nearby objects, and his eyes sparkle when he starts cooing and making conversation with us.
I’m glad he’s a healthy little guy and is interested in being a more participative member of the family. I’ll just be glad when we’re back to decent napping so Mom-o can regain her grip on things!

We’ve been starting to settle into a little “bedtime” routine with Henry, even though bedtime ranges anywhere from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. depending on our little guy’s internal clock. Part of the routine is bathtime. We do Henry’s bath in the kitchen, using a little infant tub–he hasn’t yet graduated to the sink or real bathtub. That will come when he’s able to sit up. In the meantime, here is a little gallery (HTML) of pics from one of his recent baths. He seems to like them, as his post-suds smiles attest.
Oh–and there are a couple of pics of Henry and Dad-O enjoying Notre Dame’s victory over Michigan State yesterday afternoon.

Last night Henry really had me freaking out. The little guy went to sleep at 5:30 p.m., having eaten at four o’clock. I figured, like every night, he would wake up around 6:30 p.m., eat again (at least once!) and then hit the sack for the night around eight or nine.
Well, he stayed asleep until, get this, ONE THIRTY A.M.!!! That’s eight hours, people!! And the only reason he roused at one thirty was because I was convinced he was either in a coma or so hungry that he was too weak to move…I just couldn’t believe he would sleep that long in one stretch, so I fed him and then popped him back in the crib.
I’m not going to kid myself into thinking this is a trend, but wow. My only regret is that I was so freaked out I couldn’t take advantage of that full eight hours and pack in a ton of sleep myself!

Oh my, I’m sad to report that our little Henry is losing his nice mop of hair. He’s got a couple of bald patches on each side where his head rubs on the bed, and they are getting bigger and less hirsute by the hour. The same thing happened to Finn, and it was an awkward several months until his hair grew back and started looking normal. I was really hoping that he’d keep it and increase its ranks, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. On the other hand, we can be sporting about it and start taking bets on what color his new hair will eventually be when it grows in.
I won’t embarrass the poor lad by posting photographic evidence!

Yesterday, Finn and Henry got a little box of gifts from our friends Paco and Betty Podmore. Finn got a collection of small, plastic squirting animals for the bathtub: an elephant, a monkey, and a raccoon. Our nanny Carol was talking with Finn and asking him what he might want to name his raccoon. She was suggesting names like Joe, Mike, etc. when all of a sudden, Finn burst out “Duke!”. So henceforth, he is “Duketheraccoon!”. This marks the first time Finny has named one of his toys!
John and I speculate that “Duke” could actually be spelled “Dook”, after the sound effects John makes when he is pretending to drink out of a cup or Coke can. He and Finn have conversations when John grabs a Coke out of the fridge, and Finn says “Dad-o dook dook!”, John says “Yep, Dad-o dook dook.” Then Finn says “Finny dook dook?” and John says “No, Coke’s not for Finny. No dook dook.” We also “dook dook” out of the garden hose when we’re playing in the backyard.

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster, The Word of the Day for August 5 is:
philoprogenitive \fill-uh-proh-JEN-uh-tiv\ adjective
*1 : tending to produce offspring : prolific
2 : of, relating to, or characterized by love of offspring
Correct on both counts!

After another sleepless day and night with little Henry, we paid a visit to Dr. S. this morning to see what is going on. I was unable to tell if it was gas, or the antibiotic, or reflux, or something I was eating that was bothering his intestines and tummy after nursing. All I knew is that pretty much like clockwork, about 20 minutes after nursing, Henry would start screaming and writhing, and was unable to stay asleep for any length of time.
I guess not surprisingly, the doc checked Henry out and diagnosed him with reflux, just like Finny had as an infant. She said his throat is just raw and red and it was no wonder he was screaming and not sleeping. So…the good news is we know what to do and the condition is treatable with the infamous “veg pillow” and Zantac. The bad news is that it’ll take a few days for the meds to kick in and his throat to heal, and then we’re on the Zantac wagon for the next 6 months, 3 times a day. As Finny would say, “poorguy!”.

Finn has been having all sorts of fun this week with his Liggett grandparents. Yesterday he was treated to a dramatic reading of “Three Billy Goats Gruff” by grandma, a chicken taco lunch with grandpa, and lots of time outdoors touring the neighborhood and playing in the sprinklers. He busy was making big strides in feeding himself with a spoon and actually getting the food into his mouth (as opposed to unintentionally dumping it into his lap on the way up). Both grandpa and I were thrilled to see Finny predominantly using his left hand, only sometimes switching to right to see if he could make it work any better (answer: no).
Henry is going through his 3-week growth spurt and is eating all the time, which is great for him but not so fun for me. He has been having bouts of gas and tummy aches and has been quite fussy and not very sleepy for a couple nights in a row. We broke the cycle last night–slept for a 4-hour stretch, then a couple of 3-hour stretches, and did not have any intermittent spit ups or howling due to gas pains. Whew. We both needed the rest!

Dad and Finn like to recap the events of the day, or even the events of many days ago. One of Finn’s favorite conversations, from about 2 weeks ago, follows. “The ladies” are the housecleaners, who remain guilty as charged for throwing away Finn’s favorite paper towel tube:


F: “La-dees!”
J: “Oh yeah, did the ladies throw away our tube?”
F: “Darn-eet!”
J: “But then did someone bring us a new one?”
F: “CoCo!”
J: “And now what do we do?”
F: “I like to moo-bat moo-bat… Keeck it now, keeds!”
…and subtle variations on that theme. 🙂
The paper tubes we rescued from our neighbor Long’s garbage cans are a favorite topic (“Broken! Cut! No Pat No!”), as is the shopping cart that fell off the park maintenance truck (“Dump!!”), the cherry-picker baskets on the cable trucks parked outside on the street (“Up up!”), and Hoot and pickles for lunch (“Hoot! Peecoles! Monday!”).