11/15/06 Mom's Peggy day

What a day. Major root canal (requiring an endodontic specialist) this morning, a two-hour procedure, then my 6-week post-partum appointment. With Julian's temp yesterday, plus of course Katrina, these two together was enough to call in the big guns: Peggy. She brought both her kids, and still had no trouble handling Julian and Katrina. Julian thought it was all a big playdate with Miranda!

My postpartum appt revealed two things of interest. One is that my surgery incision is truly not healing; apparently I'm reacting to the dissolving stitches (or they're not dissolving). So, another appointment next week for in-office surgery.

And, I'm now down 8 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, a real surprise since my tummy still sticks out like I'm 4 months pregnant. Buttoning jeans is still an impossible, flab-spilling affair. Ick. ICK.

BUT, because of Peggy, I was able to sneak in a SWIM after my appointments! Yay!

Julian made an interesting comment to Dave today. First he said, "When I'm 4-1/2, I'll go to pre-K." Then, "Dad, when I'm your age, I'll go to work!". Julian's also really into things rhyming. "Bear and care, that rhymes!" he exclaims.

I often think about the psychologist telling us that kids really don't want or enjoy conflict when Gabriel plays his stupid yes/no game. Tonight, Gabriel was distraught because Dave put his pajamas on, after Gabriel had had numerous chances to do it himself. He came crying to me, and I tried to distract him by suggesting I cut his fingernails. No answer. "Gabriel, do you want me to cut your fingernails?" No, he says. "Gabriel, you don't have to, but no games now -- yes or no. If you don't answer, that's a No." Still nothing. "Five seconds and that's a no, then you go upstairs with Dad...5..4..3..2..1...OK, we'll do it tomorrow, time to go up." THEN he threw a huge fit about wanting me to cut his nails. Even an hour later, he wanted me to come up to his bed and cut his nails. No amount of consistently following through prevents these incidents from happening. He clearly wants a reason to scream and yell and cry. Kids don't want conflict? Hah!

Katrina smiling, sort of -- it's hard to capture!

More experimenting with closeups: will a side shot distort her face as much? Not as much as a straight shot, but still somewhat.















Another photo shoot today, this time with a monochromatic color scheme. Katrina's legs are still pretty skinny, but she has a little cute baby thigh flub now !






















We had a great night last night; Katrina went right to sleep and only woke up once. That was at 4am, and she didn't go right back to sleep, but I couldn't blame her: she'd spit up so much I had to change her pajamas, blanket, crib positioners, everything. Then she was awake and happy for a while, and sat calmly in my lap while I just looked at her and marvelled at the miracle of babies. After about 20 minutes, she started to fuss, so I swaddled her up, put her down, and that was it.

Another Katrina triviality: her hair is curly when it's wet! Especially right after towel-drying. Then I give it a quick brush to make it stand up, and it stays that way, though it dries stick-straight. I have to admit, the brushing-up is for the photos!

She was so cute and funny this morning, kicking around, making cute sounds, moving her limbs around, constantly taking in the world...it sustained me throughout my long dental procedure. It was fun thinking about her.

11/15/06