Welcome to malshag.org, the chronicles of our growing family consisting of several humans, six dogs, two cats, some reptiles and a gay rhino.
L turned one month old on Friday! Here are mommy and L the morning before, on Thanksgiving.
We went to an appointment with our new pediatrician, and L has grown from 7 pounds 2 ounces to 8 pounds 6 ounces in two weeks. Since he was a bit underweight while her milk production was gaining, this much growth was a great thing.
I was finally off from work today, so our friend shipped his ugly mug over here this afternoon and managed to hold our son. It was very touching, since I know that in about 1.5 years his wife will turn 29 and suddenly be obsessed with nesting and having babies. This was good preparation.
While E and I were standing in our living room listening to the exterminator tell us bowhunting stories, the doorbell rang. It was our neighbor, holding a makeshift bungee cord leash, attached to which was our asshole dog, Bob.
At the end of last week, presumably when the garbage truck roared through the back alley, he broke planks off the fence, opened the gate, and got out with Mama Bear (aka Cuppycakes), the black shepherd mix.
This time, he apparently dug under the corner of the gate of the back fence, and ran around the neighborhood.
I honestly have no idea how we get our dogs back. They’ve only gotten out a handful of times, but somehow we maintain the full head count and no one goes missing. If I were to guess, I would say it’s some favored reciprocation the universe has granted us for all the good deeds we’ve done for the other dogs in our neighborhood. I’ve chased down anything with a collar, taken dogs in and called owners for pickup. It must be why ours show up back at our doorstep, unharmed and probably full of tales to tell the others.
At 6:50pm tonight, L will be four calendar weeks old. He’s grown quite a bit, and can now fit into his Baby Snoopy outfit, I think it’s the first outfit that was bought for him before he was even born.
He got his first bath last week. We had to wait awhile until his umbilical cord tip had fallen off, and it happened just in time for him really needing a bath. It wasn’t his favorite thing in the world.
Things are still pretty surreal at times. Everything has run together in a sea of endless diaper changes and feedings. In the midst of what has become routine is still the amazement that he looks less like a newborn, and more and more like a little person. He has mannerisms, gestures, facial expressions, and behaviors. When he sleeps, he looks like a miniature adult.
I don’t know if the glow will wear off completely. I imagine when he starts puking in greater volume and throwing food spoons across the room, things will get a little tiresome. But for now he’s still pretty angelic and well-behaved.
We’ve had a problematic tree on the side of our house since we moved in. It was not only leaning against the side of the roof, but it was also chafing the cable tv lines that were stretched around it.
Removing trees has always been cost prohibitive in my mind, I’ve heard people paying over a grand for the removal of a large tree. That’s nowhere near in our budget.
Just for the hell of it, when our lawn service guy came over, I asked if he removed trees and for how much. He eyeballed the tree, including the situation with the wires, and told me it’d be $150.00. I wrote him a check right there.
E and I were standing in the kitchen listening to the chainsaws and decided not to count Jah blessings until we saw how many wires he knocked out of service. Turns out he only unfocused the satellite dish, which is fixable by a free visit from the carrier. All in all, an excellent deal.
L turned two weeks old on Tuesday, and went for his second appointment at his pediatrician. He was very excited about being able to wear his Pooh outfit.
L is now almost 2 weeks old, and I can tell a huge difference in him from even a week ago. He’s making a lot more little noises, his eyes are open a lot more and he’s looking at the world around him. He’s even holding his head up by himself and trying to head-butt me when I burp him. He’s starting to be awake more during the day, whereas a week ago he slept almost round the clock. As such, he’s more fussy and wants to be held to be soothed a lot more.
A few days ago we entered the period where everything started getting really difficult. In between all his feedings and holding-time, there is laundry to be done, floors to be vacuumed, showers to be taken, groceries to be bought, trash to be taken out, and six dogs, two cats, and five reptiles that all need to be fed. We’ve trouble adjusting, to say the least. I worried a week ago what would happen when I am back at work full time and E is home by herself, but we’re just taking it a step at a time.
I went back to work today for the first time, and it was pretty gut wrenching. I thought before we had L that I would cherish time away, but I was horribly sad and missed my family terribly the whole time I was gone.
