Land Grab

I've been impressed with how well Logan has taken to having a baby brother. He's been eager to join Ollie in his crib and he always wants to make sure Ollie is coming with us when we get in the car. I've heard and read that toddlers are fine with baby siblings until the babies gain the ability to encroach physically on the toddlers' space.

Welcome to encroachment.

Ollie is not crawling yet, but he is a speed demon with the belly crawl and the length of his reach is astounding, as those who witnessed him snatch the burning candle from his birthday cake this weekend can attest. The more (volume, frequency) he's able to grab, the less pleased Logan is with his presence. Add to that the tsunami of new toys that arrived with Ollie's birthday and we've had quite a few ignored lectures about sharing over the past few days.

Here is a brief moment when Ollie was allowed to play with his own toy from Cousin Wills.

Logan is not in the picture because he was on the couch sulking. Prior to this, he'd instructed Ollie to "Keep your hands to yourself!" and also informed us that Ollie's new firetruck is "MINEMYFIRETRUCKMINE." This morning he generously agreed that Ollie could play with one of his new blocks.

Ollie's First Birthday Party

Some photos from Ollie's first birthday party. It was smaller than Logan's two years ago. I think that happens with all second kids. Oliver clearly did not want for attention.

Oliver has fun with balloon prep (Superman colors, of course).



Big brother Logan is a great co-host! The candle in the background was for Avery.



Ollie found the birthday cake experience unnerving. He doesn't really seem to like muffins or cake that much.

Happy Birthday

Happy first birthday, baby Ollie. I'm sorry we scared you a little when we woke you up with our off-key Happy Birthday song.

Happy birthday, baby Avery. We are thinking about you all day long.

Feels Like a Lifetime Ago

It is really possible that a year ago, I was on bed rest, terrified for Avery and wondering how long I could keep those boys growing before they would try to bust out?

July 2008

July 2009

The Tatts, with FAQs

Very soon after we lost Avery, we decided to get tattoos in his memory. Larry already has tattoos for each of the boys (a Leo for Ollie, a Virgo for Logan) and for me (a Cancer sign), so it was natural for him to plan on a tattoo for Avery. For me it's a one-time event. FAQs below.

We mulled a few ideas: an "A" or his full name; a broken heart (double meaning there: his literally broken heart, and our figuratively broken hearts); a little white rose (if a baby dies, they put a white rose on the door of the mom's hospital room to signal the situation to people who are entering). When the NICU nurse presented us with a box containing his hat and a few other mementos, our quest was over: His little hospital footprints were included in the box, a perfect size for a tattoo.

Since my birthday is exactly two weeks from the day he died, we decided it would be ideal timing, and Larry offered it as my birthday gift. So off we went to Atomic Tattoo Sunday evening to see Brandi, who has done Larry's other tattoos. We asked her to try to duplicate the look of the footprint, so not completely uniform black in a cartoon-y way, but kind of faded in parts just like a real footprint would be.

The tattoos are near our hearts, as planned. Mine is still a little swollen (I think women's skin is thinner in that area) so here is a picture of Larry's (they had to shave his chest, which was amusing). Mine is in the same place and looks exactly the same. They are actual size, around the length of the first two joints of my pinky. He was very small.

Tattoo FAQs

Did it hurt?

Yeah, for sure. The outline didn't but the filling in did. However, it only took about 20 minutes for the actual tattoo.

Did Logan notice?

Logan asked me "what happened?" and offered to wash it off. I have no way to explain it to him right now, so I said Mommy and Daddy got stickers. He understands a love of stickers and didn't question this.

Are you a tattoo addict now?

No, that was my first and last visit to Atomic.

Do you think you're cool now?

Yes, but mainly because of my fancy iPhone.

Big Day

I didn't really mind turning 30 and I don't mind turning 40. Seriously. Man, you could not pay me to be 24 again. Am I supposed to be lamenting the years slipping away when the years brought me this?

I don't think so.

My birthday was very good. We went to Bluestar Cafeteria for lunch, then the Apple store at the Domain for my brand new iPhone (special shoutout to Sam the Apple Store Guy who was nice, helpful and not condescending) then our much-discussed trip to Atomic Tattoo.

And finally, pizza and Champagne for dinner.

All is well.

Chompers #3-6

After an incredibly fussy few days, I made a spur of the moment decision this morning to bring Oliver to the Saturday clinic. With the recent bronchitis, the near miss on the ear infection, the three-a-night wakings...something didn't "feel right" to me.

Turns out something doesn't "feel right" to Ollie, either. He has four new teeth trying to break through, in adidition to the two new ones that already broke through on the bottom. After examining his ears, throat and other potential trouble spots, the doctor took a peek at his gums and said "Ah-hah!" Then she showed me the two front teeth starting to push against the gums and the ridge of white on the other sides of the top gum that signals some additional visitors. I'd been so enamored of the new bottom teeth I was not expecting the top ones so soon. This didn't happen with Logan, his teeth kind of came in steadily.

No wonder Oliver has seemed miserable. I would, too. Anyway, it's Tylenol, Orajel and frozen waffles until he gets through this and then maybe he'll have some time to enjoy them.

Lemmeeee Feed the Baby!

Logan has to be watched closely but he is pretty good at feeding Oliver. He gets as much food in Oliver's mouth as anyone else, anyway. And Ollie is so entranced by Logan he gobbles up the food just to keep getting Logan's attention.

Chomper #2

Breaking news: Oliver's second tooth has begun to poke out to keep the first one company. The first one has pushed all the way through the gum now. He's pretty drooly but generally in a good mood about it.

Daddy Rescues the Balloon

Larry rescues Logan's balloon from the ceiling fan using a toy robotic arm from Terra Toys. I feel like this might be a metaphor for our parenting, but I can't quite verbalize it.

The Toddler Mind

Logan, do you want some juice?

Yellow juice*, mommy!

OK, here is some yellow juice in your alphabet cup.

No, mommy! Want it out of my cup!

**(Inner thought: how will I give him juice out of a cup? What does that even mean?)**

Buddy, that's your juice.

No, mommy, no yellow juice!

**(Inner thought: it's that or unsweetened sun tea, my friend.)**

What kind of juice do you want?

Yellow juice!

OK, there it is.

Oooh, mommy, yellow juice!

**(Inner thought: where did I put the Xanax?)**



*Watered-down limeade.

Chomper #1

Breaking news...Oliver sprouts first tooth! We can finally see it coming in on the bottom front right, and the river of drool and fussiness confirm it.

Bulletins as events warrant.