Two, and three.

Technically I've been a mother for 2 years 2 months now. But I'm still young, going back to college, and "momness" never really hit me. Until now. You see, the Orclette is old enough to be scared by movies/shows now, and I have to screen what she watches. And some kind, horrible person gave her an Elmo doll. She loves Elmo. And now she's seen Sesame Street. There is no going back. Kid shows are in, my shows, most of them, are out by virtue of being too scary. There is also the joining of MOPS. I didn't do it with Orclette-once she stopped crying incessantly I treated her as just another extension of myself and continued doing what I normally did. No kiddy activities necessary. But this time around I need distractions and special "big girl" stuff for her to do. So MOPS has been joined, trips to Barnes & Noble have been planned so she can play with the trains (and eventually listen to storytime), parks have been scouted and the channel and time of...

I couldn't resist-I tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans 4 days after giving birth. I wasn't surprised that they didn't fit. I just wanted to see how far I had to go. My maternity jeans were getting really loose, however, even with the belly band, so I decided to try 'em on again this morning. They fit! I must also mention that I can't butten them yet. Still using the belly band to keep my pants on. Delving through my closet and finding clothes that fit me again was fun last time and it's pure joy this time. Quite a few won't fit for a while-I got pretty skinny when we moved to Las Cruces. It also doesn't help that certain bits of my anatomy are somewhat bigger than they typically are and would strain my smaller shirts. I haven't done any "exercising," but we have gone out on excursions to the mall, various stores, the library, etc, and so I'm walking a bit more everyday. Next Tuesday I plan to return to my gym, stroll on the treadmill, and ...

His adventures started early. I wasn't aware of the first two since I was in labor but at one point the nurses couldn't find his heartbeat. So all of a sudden nurses are rushing into the room, my mom started to grip my hand rather tightly, and they put a scalp monitor on him. Heartbeat came through loud and strong, so apparently no complications there just a rather scary moment. Second one happened while he was making his way out into the world. The cord was loosely looped around his neck and he wasn't recovering well between pushes (I'm trying not to be graphic-I've never had a desire to hear about what happens in labor & delivery and I suspect there are many people out there who also prefer to remain mostly ignorant). So they put an oxygen mask on me and employed a few other nurse tricks. The pushing part lasted mere minutes so he was out before anything serious could develop. Then Friday night he wouldn't fall back asleep and was crying inconsolably which...