Labor Day lake house

Our friends, Adam and Natasha invited us to their upstate house for Labor Day weekend. I took to calling it the lake house as an easy title for Fay to grab onto. There was a lake nearby, and the house had stunning views of it, but the house was not on the lake.

Let me just say right off, we had SUCH a fantastic weekend. Ever since Rex was born (10 weeks ago), its been difficult for Ryan and I to feel like we have any down time. Even when we've gone out on a weekend night, I'm thinking about breastfeeding and whether we can get back in time to only miss one feeding. And its hard for us to stay out very late since Rex wakes us up throughout the night and we do not get much sleep these days. That being said, this weekend away really felt like a vacation. Adam and Tash made us feel so comfortable in their home. They were laid back enough to let us feel like we could be at home, and yet planned tons of meals for us and fun kid outings. I hope the weekend wasn't too much work for them, because they made it seem pretty effortless (beyond the obvious work of caring for two kids).



Adam and Tash have two kids, Paul who is 3.5 and Juliette who is 1.5 . Fay and Paul were fast fast friends. We never know if Fay will be extremely shy (and a little ornery) in a new situation, but I think Paul's sweetness and welcoming attitude just won her over instantly. They were playing human train within minutes -- meaning Paul was all but dragging Fay along by her hand throughout the wrap around porch.

Some highlights:



We went to the Farmer's Museum on Sat where they have an entire little village set up and actors re-enacting jobs from the period (blacksmith, pharmacist, woman baking bread). They also had a carousel!



On Sunday we went to the Apple Cider Mill where the kids could feed the ducks, take a tour of the cider press, and low and behold they had a bouncy house! Along side the bouncy house they had a game where a person (me!) can wear a harness and try desperately to dunk a small ball into a basketball hoop. We have excellent photos of this feat, but they are on Adam's camera, so I'll have to add them later. Ryan and I both teared up when we saw the photos because I look so ridiculously determined to sink that ball.



Both Sat and Sunday nights Adam lit a fire in their fire pit and we roasted marshmellows and sat around the fire with the kids. There is something truly wonderful about getting to stay up late and sit around a fire in a little chair that is just your size. And you could see it all over Fay's face. I think that is the part she will remember the best. I wish I had photos of it. When you picture it in your head, remember to give each kid (Paul and Fay) a bag of marshmallows of their own to hold in their hands as they stared into the flames.



Rex continued to sleep, eat and poop a lot. Also enjoying his weekend.

No sleep and marbles

Rex is 7 weeks today. This is the period where my baby book says he is supposed to start to lengthen his sleep periods. Rex is not a big reader yet, so he's not sticking to the book's schedule. Rex's longest sleep period is for only 3.5 hours when he goes to sleep at night around 8:30pm or so. After that the sleep periods get progressively shorter until morning breaks.

Also, Rex is like his sister, he has tummy issues after a feeding, so sometimes its hard for him to get back to sleep. I've started to drive myself crazy thinking its something I ate that has made him gassy. Last night he was up and down between 3 and 8am. He wouldn't sleep for longer than 1/2 an hour. So you can imagine my desire to find a reason for his gassiness and try to fix it. But I'm starting to think its not me, its him. And I have to admit I have no control over this one.

And speaking of gassiness, the other area, I have little control over is Fay's potty training. She has successfully gone number one in her little potty, but refuses to go number two. So I took an idea from a mom friend of mine....and I'm using marbles. After Fay did so well with a Dora potty sticker chart (she got a sticker after each pee-pee on the potty), I'm trying something similar for number two.

The Potty chart only gave us about 7 stickers and then there was no motivation to go on the potty anymore. I need a much longer period of motivation. So I have three cups of marbles. There are three different colors. One for pee-pee, one for poo, and one for dressing herself (hey, might as well throw that in there). When she gets all the marbles from their starting cups to the finish bin, she gets a present. And she already knows the present is some kind of Little People Toy. She loves all things Little People.

So far today, one day one, she has earned one marble for going number one. But she also had an accident on the playground when we tried to go out without a diaper. So...we will see if this has any effect.

Nana visits

My mom came to visit last week and to meet Rex for the first time. Her visit fell mostly over the weekend, so she was able to spend a lot of time with both kids. Its nice for me to have the grandmas help with several things....playing with Fay while I nurse Rex, holding Rex while I play with Fay, or household stuff like laundry.

Fay tried to rule out the first option by using a new phrase I've not heard from her before...."I want to play by myself". She said this on the last day Nana was in town when Nana tried to play with her and Fay wanted mommy instead. Ryan is no stranger to this attitude. Fay has always displayed her preference for mommy harshly, or candidly. Its difficult for me to see her do it to my mom, since Nana doesn't get to see Fay everyday. But we all know its not personal, so I assume my mom took it in stride. In fact, my mom may be tickled to know that I received the phrase from Fay just yesterday. She wanted to play with me at first, but then when I colored in her coloring book the "wrong" way, she told me she wanted to play by herself. I guess everyone gets attitude these days.

We spent time playing at home, going to playgrounds and going to the "Water Taxi Beach" with friends. The Water Taxi Beach is an area near South Street Seaport that has a sandy play area with picnic tables. They serve kid friendly food like hot dogs and fries...and parent friendly drinks with alcohol. The best of both worlds. Fay had a good time playing in the sand with her friends. Rex had a good time sleeping in the Baby Bjorn. And the adults attempted to have a conversation.

On the day before my mom left, Fay was in school, so she took Rex and me out for a day of brunch, pedicures and shopping. The outing was in honor of my birthday which occurred a couple weeks ago. It was really nice to be pampered since the actual birthday was filled with mostly kid activities. I do have to point out that each stop we made involved nursing Rex. Nurse while eating brunch, check. Nurse while getting a pedicure, check. Nurse in the dressing room of a clothing store, check. My boy Rex loves to eat.



Before leaving, we all had drinks on the balcony, with Rex as the centerpiece.

Granny visits and Fay's first amusement park

Ryan's mom, Sandy, came into town last week to meet Rex and help out the exhausted parents. When planning the trip, Sandy asked if it would be ok to come over a weekend or if we'd rather she come during the week. I said "come on the weekend!!!" because contrary to our life before kids, weekends are more exhausting than week days.

Needless to say, Sandy fell in love with Rex. I wonder if boys are her first love since she had two of her own. We think Rex looks a lot like Ryan's brother Andy. So, perhaps she was reminded of holding her own newborn. But, I didn't have to wonder about her fondness for Fay. Even though Fay can be cold and stand-off-ish for anyone who is not her mommy, Sandy had her warmed up in no time. And by the time Sandy had to go home, Fay was proclaiming that she wanted to go home WITH Grandma. She even got on her shoes to get ready for the plane. This was a funny sight since we've been potty training and Fay had only a shirt and her shoes on. (Not so funny later when Fay had an accident that poured right into her sneakers)



Grandma was a huge help. She cooked for us, and helped clean up the house and do laundry. But the best part was having an extra set of hands around to help hold Rex when I was playing with Fay, or to play with Fay when I was nursing Rex. And she helped me get more sleep by soothing Rex to sleep after I was done nursing on the nights he didn't want to go right back to sleep.



One highlight of the weekend was taking Fay to the amusement park in Central Park. During the summer, they turn Wollman Rink (ice skating) into Victoria Gardens. It is an amusement park for little kids -- perfect for Fay's age. Fay LOVED the rides. She went on about 4 with daddy. And she hasn't stopped talking about it. The very next day we asked her if she wanted to go to the playground, and which one. She said "the one with the rides".



And, I had a birthday. Fay was really cute...helping daddy frost cupcakes...and singing happy birthday to me. The grandma visit was great timing for a nice birthday outing sans kids too.

Baby Rex Arrives

Its been three days since Rex entered our world, and I've been remiss in writing the birth story on the East River Baby blog. Which should now be named East River Babies blog. But, as you can imagine, I've been a little overwhelmed. :)

With two weeks left to go before Rex's due date, I started feeling contractions on Wed morning. Fay was such a fast birth (2 hours from wake up to birth), that Ryan and I were a little anxious about making it to the hospital on time for Rex's birth. We talked about running out the door as soon as the first labor pains arrived. Our hospital was on the other side of town, and we had to drop off Fay at the neighbors. So we knew we needed all the time we could get.

Of course, when I started feeling labor pains on Wed morning, I wasn't convinced that I was in labor, since the due date was two weeks away. I woke up at 5am feeling really uncomfortable. I rolled over to switch sides, but still could not get comfortable. So I got up to take a shower. Fay was already up....early even for her. After the shower, I got Fay some breakfast and played with her a little. By 5:30 I started feeling contractions, so I woke Ryan up and told him that I thought I was in labor, but I wasn't sure because the pain was manageable. Total denial!

At 6am, the contractions were PAINFUL, and they were coming so frequently I couldn't really time them. Probably about every 5 minutes or less. I woke Ryan up again and told him I was taking Fay to the neighbor's. I told Fay the baby was coming today and that she was going to play with her friends. Fay was great. She was completely cooperative and I got her dressed at to the neighbor's in no time.

We left for the hospital at about 6:30 I think. We got a call back from our midwife while we were in the car, and they scolded us for not calling sooner. (They didn't really know at this point how fast it was all happening). Luckily, one of the midwives lives blocks from the hospital, so she was able to meet us with a wheelchair at the entrance.

I was *really* impressed by our midwife. She took charge of the situation immediately and was shouting out orders to me and to Ryan. She told me to "sit still!" while in the wheelchair, lest I hurt myself. And she commanded Ryan to "hurry up!" and open all the doors in front of us so she could wheel me through.

I expected her to be all rainbows and flowers during the labor in the Birthing Center. But she continued to be very stern and all business. I think this is because we were at the point of delivery, not simply "laboring" while we wait for the endgame.



Rex was born at 7:22am. We had plenty of time once we reached the hospital. I didn't feel as if I almost had him in the car, as I felt with Fay.

Rex has been a champion sleeper and eater from the first day. All seems well, and he is healthy.



We thought we would be discharged from the birthing center on the first day, as is their policy to do early dismissal 12 hours after birth. But as it turned out, I tested positive for Strep B on my last midwife visit (common bacteria for preggers), so they had to test Rex for the same and keep us over night. Normally they can give the mom a shot of antibiotics before the birth is she is positive, but there was no time with my 2 hour labor.



So we came home Thursday night, after Rex tested negative for Strep B. And we have just completed our first day home with the 4 of us.

Fay is doing really well. Better than I expected in fact. She has been very patient when I have to nurse the baby and cannot play with her. And she keeps saying "I love baby". She also wants to help every time he has a dirty diaper, by handing me a new diaper and diaper cream.



Ryan and I first thought that having Rex on the long holiday weekend would be a great thing so we could have a lot of family time before going back to work/school on Tuesday. But after our first day we are somewhat dreaming of school for Fay and work for Ryan so that I can concentrate on one kid for a while and catch up on sleep. I'm sure we will be pros at this whole "two kid" thing shortly. But right now, we are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. And, of course, very very happy.

Can I tell you, that I actually thought I wouldn't fall in love with Rex the same way I did with Fay? I thought there may be no substitute for that first baby feeling. I was wrong. I am completely head over heels for Rex.

VA Beach!

We've just returned from an awesome vacation in VA Beach. We rented a house with one other family. We are friends with Marci and John through having kids the same age and through living in the same building. They have twin girls who are good friends of Fay. The three of them play and fight like sisters. So they were all very excited to be taking a vacation together and doing a week of "sleep-overs".



The house we rented was across the street from the beach, so we had a short walk to get to the ocean. And the house had a pool in the backyard which the girls loved. The adults loved it too -- especially when the girls were napping and we didn't have to feel sequestered to the house to watch over the girls. We felt like we were doing exactly what we wanted -- reading and cocktailing by the pool.



Some highlights of the trip were....A day on the boardwalk...We drove to a nearby boardwalk which was a bit of a disappointment in terms of entertainment value. We thought there would be more attractions for the kids, but all we saw were closed down amusement rides and a small playground. So we ended up rending a 4 seated bicycle with a basket up front for the kids. John taught the girls to yell "yo! yo!" every time we passed an oncoming bike. We were laughing everytime it happened and the passing bicyclers weren't always sure what to make of the exclamations. Some ignored, some laughed, some smiled. In other words, we thought our girls were the cutest thing since baby kittens (is there an expression, I'm forgetting?), and the oncoming bikers, were slightly amused.



We also had mild success flying a kite on the beach. John ran and ran but couldn't keep the kite up for longer than a minute. Ryan had similar success. We chocked it up to the quality of the kite because we saw plenty of other kits sailing through the air.



None of the girls loved the ocean. It was still a bit scary. But they all had fun with their buckets and shovels and watering cans. It was a huge change from last summer when Fay didn't really know what to do with a bucket, and this year she happily scooped sand and water.



One thing I have to rave about was the house. We rented this particular house because it seemed to be very kid-friendly. They mentioned there were cribs and child gates we could use along with some movies and books. There was so much more. There was a full closet of toys for all ages, and a foosball and air hockey table. We used the baby gates and many of the toys...Fay loved having a new book each night, and we watched a couple of the kid movies and one of the adult movies. The house was just so stocked and well managed we felt so lucky. I would stay there again and again. Not to mention, the owners left us a welcome basket with a full bottle of Margarita mix and booze. What an owner!

Now we are back to reality and the girls keep referring to the beach house as the other family's house. The twins want to return to "Fay's house" and Fay wants to go to "Lyla and Jilly's house"

I've got 4 weeks to go before baby number 2 arrives and this blog picks up a new train of thought....life with two kids. I'm looking forward to having my body back as little Rex is pushing the limits of capacity at this point. I don't think I can spare too much more room.

Mom and Fay take separate vacations

My sister and I enjoyed a vacation together last weekend to Captiva Island, FL. She and her team won the trip as a bonus for exceeding her goals at work. She was able to invite a lucky guest to accompany her on the trip. It couldn't have come at a better time. For one thing, I'm 32 weeks pregnant, so I only have about two months left before my world is turned upside down. Also, my sister and I went through a rough patch last year -- we argued -- we stressed and we were not the sisters that either of us want to be. We really needed this trip away to catch up with each other and just enjoy each other away from the stresses of daily life and family. And I think that goal was accomplished. We both had a great time. The resort could not have been more relaxing...scratch that. The resort could have been more relaxing had we rented a car or golf car to take us the mile between our bungalow and the pool! But everything else was perfect!

Meanwhile, Ryan was going to stay home with Fay for the weekend, but at the last minute they were invited to Nebraska to spend the weekend with his mom and dad. Personally, I think Ryan's mom jumped at the chance to have Fay all to herself without that troublesome mommy always trying to keep her on schedule and feed her vegetables! And from the stories I've heard (I'm sure I haven't heard 1/2 of them) her goal was accomplished as well.

Ryan told me that all my mommy packing went to waste as Fay wore ONE outfit the entire time she was there (3 days). The outfit was a zip up hoodie with no undershirt and a pair of leggings. Ane her hair was never tied back (she has long bangs that always fall in her face). Strangely, he said they *did* change her into pajamas at night. I can only imagine they just picked up the clothes from the floor the next day and threw them back on. ;)

Also, Grannny admitted to keeping Fay up until TEN O'CLOCK most nights but assured me that she slept in late and took long naps.

I think that sounds like a true vacation. If I could've, I woiuld've been drinking every night, so why shouldn't Fay party like a rock star?

Sadly there are no photos of Fay's trip. I'm not sure whether I should be more disappointed in Daddy or Granny for that!