The months of Declan: FIVE!

Last October we made it to the twelve-week mark of my pregnancy and began to cautiously believe that our rainbow would finally come (and that my nausea-starvation combo might begin to subside).  A year later and our little Doc is laughing, army crawling (and face-planting), and doing his best to keep up with the tornado that is our three-year-old. This month he owned the dreaded 4-month sleep regression as if he had read all of the baby sleep books that I haven't even read! He loved his visit from Lolli who smashed herself in between two carseats to keep his tears to a minimum during our adventures around central New Jersey. A couple weeks ago we headed back into the city where Declan rolled around with his little baby friend in my childhood friend's Harlem home, looked at dinosaur bones and listened to an opera at the Natural History Museum, and swung at a playground in Central Park. Other firsts this month include: trips to the pumpkin patch, a perfect fall morning spent at Princeton University's campus and it's art museum, and his first legit brunch experience at our favorite grown-up restaurant. This little one has been along for so much in just a few months and the best is yet to be! 

 

The months of Declan: FOUR months!

Our squishy little Declan is so, so good. He upped his cuddle game this past month and prefers to sleep forehead-to-forehead with me while his gummy little fingers hug my cheeks in place. I have a feeling his sister is giving away all of our secrets when the kids lay together sucking their thumbs with arms tangled around each other; he is her Velveteen Rabbit. Declan spends much of his day exploring his hands, feet, and toys like it's his job, rolling and scooting around the living room so to keep up with the family buzz while dodging his jumping, twirling sister. The rest of the day, he is perched on our hips, joining in household chores, and lurching towards any food that comes near him. Once he threw his head back like a great white shark, nearly snapping his neck off trying to get to a bite of Chris' chips and queso. It's taken four months, but he finally made it through a single car-ride without screaming, screeching, wailing, and sweating through his nose pores. Let's hope it's not another four months before we have another quiet ride. 

We cherish this good-natured boy.

The months of Declan: THREE!

Declan started his third month with a trip into New York City! He sat with his big, round eyes opened wide during his first train ride, and catnapped through Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, completely underwhelmed by the throngs of tourists, the 90-degree heat, and priceless art from centuries past. Even Monet and Picasso did not impress. He did blink awake the moment we stepped into an Uber and screamed loud enough to drown out all of the city noise. After twelve full weeks at home, Mom went back to work just a few days before her school's summer vacay and his big sister finally got her wish and fed him a bottle. He ended this month with his first airplane ride to Texas where he became acquainted with barbecue and sweet tea, doting neighbors and his namesake. Pappy mesmerized him with his drum set, showed him where he keeps the candy stashed, and lulled him to sleep on his shoulder. Nanny's huge smile and endless, expressive baby-talk charmed Declan and sparked his biggest smiles and biggest coos to date! 

"is harmony, is poetry, is beauty"

Kristy Powell Photography

During the month of August, the US Department of Health and Human Services funds a national campaign to promote and support breastfeeding, highlighting its benefits to both mother and baby. And as a breastfed child, and now a breastfeeding mother twice over, I am grateful, amazed, and empowered by breastfeeding  my children. But I am also acutely aware that, sometimes those advantages come after a stressful and teary learning curve, a hungry (screaming) newborn with difficulty latching, bleeding nipples, breast pumps, nipple shields and nipple cream, engorgement, mastitis, low supply, over supply, and a lot of grit. And although breastfeeding is certainly not the only way to nourish and comfort a child, it is one example of the courage, harmony, poetry and beauty within women and mothers. 

"This is a great gift of God: He has given us woman. And in the Gospel, we have heard what woman is capable of, eh? She is courageous, that one, eh? She went forward with courage. But there is more, so much more. A woman is harmony, is poetry, is beauty. Without her the world would not be so beautiful, it would not be harmonious. And I like to think-- but this is a personal thing-- that God created women so that we would all have a mother." -- Pope Francis

First latch with Mary Allison. Esther Edith Photography

World Breastfeeding Week 2014. Kristy Powell Photography

First latch with Declan. Kristy Powell Photography

The months of Doc: TWO!

We're two months into life with this little fella and he's already grown three inches, visited practically every playground and library within a half-hour drive of Hamilton, NJ, seen the ocean, napped to the sound of its waves, and sleeps more soundly than his sister did when she was two-years-old. (Thank you, Jesus!) By my third trimester with him, he was so strong and wiggly that I was actually self-conscious that his brazen movements would be noticed by my coworkers through my clothes. Even so, we were surprised when he rolled over onto his stomach when he was less than 30-hours-old and he hasn't stopped rolling since! Every day begins the same way-- with Mary Allison hopping out of bed and running to his bassinet to give him a serious squeeze around the neck while she says, "I love my baby brother so much!" She asks us at least twice a week if he can run, and jump, and eat broccoli yet, but for now we are all happy to eat up his gummy smile, darling babbles, and endearing spirit.  

on sharing parenthood

Life with two little children is very full. Full of hysterical tales from the three-year-old, full of new smiles that cover the newborn's whole face, full of playgrounds, bubble baths, sidewalk chalk, sweet coos, and tight squeezes around the neck. It's also full of early bedtimes, never-ending sentences that begin with "I want," and behavior that hinges on hunger levels and the number of hours slept. So for young families, like ours, having friends that join in the hilarity, the irritability-- the unremitting responsibility of parenthood-- we are grateful. 

We ventured to Avalon, a friendly beach town in south Jersey, with three other young families this past week. Five kids, three and under, two pregnant mamas (both in their third trimesters, no less), and one 65-pound dog all under one roof. We ate at one big table at every meal (while toddlers came and went), juggled each others' babies on our hips, learned from each others' parenting strategies and patience, watched each others' kids delight in the sand, gag on mushrooms, and meltdown as bedtime ticked closer. We listened to baby monitors from the balcony as our kids slept (and woke and cried and slept and woke and cried and slept) while we ate entire pans of Trader Joe's brownies with heaping spoonfuls of ice-cream, drank Old Fashions, and shared stories and laughter without our favorite tiny humans hanging off of us. Then we crawled into beds with our little ones, remembering all of the good from the day. Community is so good for the soul. We are grateful for ours.