For once I will not begin my blog with a pathetic lamentation of the infrequency of my posts. OK, screw it. I admit I feel a frustration from not writing and being powerless to change it. I want to sleep, I want to exercise after work, I want to eat (just no grilled salmon!), and most of all I want to hold, feed, change, bathe, soothe, talk to and read to the kids. Not much time remains. Unless I'm on Venus. Certainly this modification to my schedule was not unexpected. Yet, I strive to catalog as often as possible our rapidly progressing time with NL. When the rare opportunity to write arrives, I jump in the seat, rush through my memories since the last entry, slap "Publish Post", and rush back downstairs for Round Six. Dinner may or may not be on the agenda.
As I advertised previously, NL had their 2-month visit on Monday. This time we saw Dr. Didea, the fourth we've seen at the practice. All I anticipated for the kids at this visit was the series of painful shots both were to receive, yet Didea saved those for the end. Noelle weighs 11lb 1oz, Lucas 10lb 14oz. They are now four-plus pounds above their birth weight, and surely and inch or two longer, though I can't recall or identify any change in their appearance from June 25th. They're still tiny, always hungry, and Lucas still doesn't shave. Their vaccines went off smoothly with just a short burst of pained protest from each child. They had a bit of swelling that night but grape Tylenol drops took care of their discomfort.
NL's restful seven-hour nights have evaporated. For the last two weeks, they greet the moon around 3 or 4 A.M. with a chorus of cries lasting intermittenly until 6:30 A.M., when I rise for work and Kel for nursing. Apparently at this age they should be sleeping eight or nine hours straight, and the doc suggested we allow them to cry during the night until sleep again overcomes them. This they did last night while Kel forcibly stuck to the the 'hands-off' policy and suffered through their perceived discomfort.
Last weekend I got a reprieve and traveled to Miami Beach for a rendezvous with some compadres from Chicago. A bang-up time it was. No time to dabble in details. I just wanted to report the event as a token of appreciation for my lovely wife's liberality in granting me this pass.
Latest pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gros.islet/LateAugust2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Pure Filler
Dare I post another entry so soon following the last and risk deflating my argument that my free time is fleeting? Dare I waste my fleeting free time with such useless pondering? Yes. We've surely lost most readers anyway, and the few that remain presumably do so in part as a show of support for these long rambling nonsensical sentences.
Tomorrow, tropical storm Fay pledges to wipe out all signs of civilization in its path through central Florida. Alright, maybe not, but some mindful precautions are necessary nonetheless. Lucas and Noelle may care little, but if I don't move my sandals in from the back patio they may risk a soaking. And who longs for slipping dry feet into soaked sandals? At any rate, the twins are just marvelous. They await their two-month pediatrician visit next Monday, at which they'll receive the first set of vaccines.
Downstairs the cassava is done boiling, and coincidentally this entry is done wasting your time.
Latest photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gros.islet/MidAugust2008
Tomorrow, tropical storm Fay pledges to wipe out all signs of civilization in its path through central Florida. Alright, maybe not, but some mindful precautions are necessary nonetheless. Lucas and Noelle may care little, but if I don't move my sandals in from the back patio they may risk a soaking. And who longs for slipping dry feet into soaked sandals? At any rate, the twins are just marvelous. They await their two-month pediatrician visit next Monday, at which they'll receive the first set of vaccines.
Downstairs the cassava is done boiling, and coincidentally this entry is done wasting your time.
Latest photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gros.islet/MidAugust2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
After Seven Weeks
Another opportunity to write has descended upon me like the choking gray smog in China. Free time these days is a rarity to be treasured. The astonishment of its arrival creates a struggle to find the best activity to fill it with. Oh, there's all sorts of options: wash the car, trim the pets, organize store receipts alphabetically by cashier's name, study up on my constellations...all worthy occupations vying for my attention. Needless to say I instead choose to add to the blog. Before I can inspect my adverb-gerund agreement, however, the free time has whisked by at incredible speed and I'm left with no expectation of its return.
Am I suggesting that filing receipts is more rewarding than soothing crying infants? Negative. Though, I will say that our current interaction with NL is somewhat restricted. Oh sure, there's plenty of knee-bouncies, leg pedaling exercises, and tiny fist finger-grasping. Still, interaction with them is little more advanced than with battery-operated dolls. NL "came with" a few basic actions and sounds though have the added feature of a very lifelike ability to expend diapers. You can talk to them, read to them, sing to them, even interrogate them, yet they show a complete indifference to one topic over another. At least they're a captive audience compared to the 2.0 version with its ability to toddle away in protest.
Am I suggesting that filing receipts is more rewarding than soothing crying infants? Negative. Though, I will say that our current interaction with NL is somewhat restricted. Oh sure, there's plenty of knee-bouncies, leg pedaling exercises, and tiny fist finger-grasping. Still, interaction with them is little more advanced than with battery-operated dolls. NL "came with" a few basic actions and sounds though have the added feature of a very lifelike ability to expend diapers. You can talk to them, read to them, sing to them, even interrogate them, yet they show a complete indifference to one topic over another. At least they're a captive audience compared to the 2.0 version with its ability to toddle away in protest.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Six Weeks into NL
Power blogging this is not. Most certainly the power has been turned off for quite some time.
I hate to say it (I actually hate saying "I hate to say it" but that's the first phrase that came to mind and I'm not about to waste this prized free time by dallying about with the backspace key), but there's really not been much to comment on, and even less time to do so. Sure, in the eight months leading up to June 25th one could argue that there was even less "going on" yet we somehow cobbled together an average 13 entries per month. Now that the kids are here, every spill of the formula, toothless wail and labored baby fart could be a hilarious entry...though if it would, I likely would not be there to experience it as I'd be at the computer feverishly reporting it. So, a bit of a Catch-22. I have no time for one game of catch, let alone twenty two.
As reported in the previous few entries, life's been a broken record the last six weeks. (But what a marvelous repeat chorus has spilled out of it!) The routine has not varied since day one. Noelle and Lucas still enjoy feeding every three hours, still kick their chubby little legs in frustration when hungry or desirous of a hug-hold, and still let out a stream or a slurry during the exact nine seconds between the removal of old diaper and the application of new. What's changed is that in favor of Guatemalan Famoso beer I'm now sipping a Hoegaarden, the average high is 94F instead of 88F, and Kel is one notch higher on the tension scale due to the job dilemma: she's been denied the option of working part-time. So, we'll be forced to either forsake NL for five full days each week or schlep along on just my salary, cutting our toothpaste budget clean in half.
Hmm...so perhaps there is some blogging material out there after all. Apologies for the false alarm. I'll keenly report on the latest developments as they occur---plus a six day delay.
Some recent photos for a visual distraction:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gros.islet/EarlyAugust2008
I hate to say it (I actually hate saying "I hate to say it" but that's the first phrase that came to mind and I'm not about to waste this prized free time by dallying about with the backspace key), but there's really not been much to comment on, and even less time to do so. Sure, in the eight months leading up to June 25th one could argue that there was even less "going on" yet we somehow cobbled together an average 13 entries per month. Now that the kids are here, every spill of the formula, toothless wail and labored baby fart could be a hilarious entry...though if it would, I likely would not be there to experience it as I'd be at the computer feverishly reporting it. So, a bit of a Catch-22. I have no time for one game of catch, let alone twenty two.
As reported in the previous few entries, life's been a broken record the last six weeks. (But what a marvelous repeat chorus has spilled out of it!) The routine has not varied since day one. Noelle and Lucas still enjoy feeding every three hours, still kick their chubby little legs in frustration when hungry or desirous of a hug-hold, and still let out a stream or a slurry during the exact nine seconds between the removal of old diaper and the application of new. What's changed is that in favor of Guatemalan Famoso beer I'm now sipping a Hoegaarden, the average high is 94F instead of 88F, and Kel is one notch higher on the tension scale due to the job dilemma: she's been denied the option of working part-time. So, we'll be forced to either forsake NL for five full days each week or schlep along on just my salary, cutting our toothpaste budget clean in half.
Hmm...so perhaps there is some blogging material out there after all. Apologies for the false alarm. I'll keenly report on the latest developments as they occur---plus a six day delay.
Some recent photos for a visual distraction:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gros.islet/EarlyAugust2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The Last of July
I promise that the aim of this post is not solely to move July's post tally ahead of February's meager record of six entries. On to more important matters: the Chilean trade deficit. No, sorry, that's for my other blog.
Noelle and Lucas have passed their 1-month birthday by six days. As in the last post, there is little to report in the way of "news." Our July has been an unbreakable routine of 7AM nursings supplemented by bottled formula, changing diapers, holding baby, talking to baby, shushing baby, retrieving dropped pacifier from floor followed by hot-water rinsing and re-applying pacifier, a couple of hours of quiet sleepy time, then short quiet whimpers quickly turning into anguished high-pitched wails, then diaper check, and then nursing baby right into the next cycle. Repeat this five or six times a day, times two babies. Since returning to work these are essentially Kelly and MarMa's days; at 6PM I enter the picture and join the torment already in progress. Around 1 to 2 A.M., Kelly and I wrap up the day's final cycle, zombie-over to bed, and await the 7 A.M. crow of the twins.
In the midst of this routine the elder Wieleckis and Silvestris arrived, bottle-fed, held, talked, shushed, changed diapers, and left. NL hardly altered their plans to accommodate the visitors, and in fact escalated the frequency and intensity of their mess-making.
The next highlight in NL's lives is their two-month pediatrician visit on August 25th. In the meantime, our summer will continue to smash all records for high-octane exhilaration. Oh, I kid; Lucas: as I type this you lay warmly bundled on my lap, contemplating your next move with the hospital-issued green pacifier and occasionally glancing around the room. I'd not modify our state of affairs for one clean diaper or quiet nine-hour night. You're so totally worth it. Now, on to Chile's copper exports.
Noelle and Lucas have passed their 1-month birthday by six days. As in the last post, there is little to report in the way of "news." Our July has been an unbreakable routine of 7AM nursings supplemented by bottled formula, changing diapers, holding baby, talking to baby, shushing baby, retrieving dropped pacifier from floor followed by hot-water rinsing and re-applying pacifier, a couple of hours of quiet sleepy time, then short quiet whimpers quickly turning into anguished high-pitched wails, then diaper check, and then nursing baby right into the next cycle. Repeat this five or six times a day, times two babies. Since returning to work these are essentially Kelly and MarMa's days; at 6PM I enter the picture and join the torment already in progress. Around 1 to 2 A.M., Kelly and I wrap up the day's final cycle, zombie-over to bed, and await the 7 A.M. crow of the twins.
In the midst of this routine the elder Wieleckis and Silvestris arrived, bottle-fed, held, talked, shushed, changed diapers, and left. NL hardly altered their plans to accommodate the visitors, and in fact escalated the frequency and intensity of their mess-making.
The next highlight in NL's lives is their two-month pediatrician visit on August 25th. In the meantime, our summer will continue to smash all records for high-octane exhilaration. Oh, I kid; Lucas: as I type this you lay warmly bundled on my lap, contemplating your next move with the hospital-issued green pacifier and occasionally glancing around the room. I'd not modify our state of affairs for one clean diaper or quiet nine-hour night. You're so totally worth it. Now, on to Chile's copper exports.
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