Dirt and Standing

We spent the day working on the yard. Mowing, trimming, pruning, raking, disassembling a rotting raised bed, hauling it's dirt to the trench, collecting all the scattered wine bottles (?!) and rocks. Trying for a tiny titch of order. P Loved using the reel mower and the electric trimmer! And the pruners;). He instigated the rock hauling and single handedly crow-barred up the rotting railroad ties buried in the yard's middle (?!). I was in heaven - I Love manual labor in a yard - and it was such a nice way to spend the day together - it relaxed me (a great deal:). Zia is at her happiest crawling in the dirt, so she gave me some space to work - which was awesome :). But she was a freakin Pigpen by the time we left tonight. Along the way though, she figured out how to stand. Not pull up, but just Stand Up. She practiced over and over. And she seemed to be proud of herself, because it made her laugh :)

Slowly but surely (or maybe...)

Unlocking the front door...

I'm falling behind.  (in everything.)  Everything that could go wrong with a house closing... went wrong.  Even the title company guy was shaking his head.  But we finally got the house.  Unfortunately, it was two weeks late, so we don't have the time to do the repairs (and beautification;) before we move in so...  its going to be a very interesting ride :)  Ever painted floors with kids in tow?

But at least we have the house.  An now that we have access, P wants to be there all. the. time.  He loves the top floor.  LOVES.  But every time we go over, about 7 more things shout (loudly), ahem,  I need attention!  The first few days, this excited me.  I love me a good house project.  Then I took a few wagon loads over with the kids, fell on the stairs moving shit.  Tried something simple, to change light bulbs, but they were too high, couldn't reach with Zia on me with the ladder, couldn't put Zia down...).  Tried to pull up carpet, needed different tools.  Tried to remove cabinet doors, couldn't reach with Zia on me, couldn't put Zia down...  Tried something super simple: to mop the top floor.  P turned this into "mop school" with BB, which, of course, made a mess and didn't clean anything.  And by then, of course, Zia only wanted to be D-o-w-n.  To crawl right through the thick of it.  All missions: aborted.

One afternoon and I already felt totally defeated.  What the h-e-double freaking toothpicks was I thinking???  Buying a fixer with a baby?  And a homeschooler?  Who would much prefer to have absolute and constant, non-stop attention?  (Cue mother saying "I told you so, dear...")

Kids relishing the top floor.

Then I spent the next morning attempting to call the plumbers, electricians, H-vac guys, painters and roofers to get bids.  Ha.  My family and friends know I don't make phone calls for a reason.  Epic failure on so many fronts.  "I'm sorry, could you excuse me for a second while I wrestle the construction paper from the baby's mouth?")

P and the moving wagon.

Aaaaand Zia has decided that waking every 45 minutes all night is most appropriate at this stage.  Because I deal with messes and messed up expectations and confusion much better when I'm exhausted.  (I actually sat down to pee with my pants still on today.  And it took me a second (fortunately, not too long of a second;) to figure out why this felt strange.  That's how tired I am.)  Last night she added in the extra delight of BITING ME each time she woke to nurse.  News alert: this HURTS.

P was not a biter.  He did it exactly twice.  Spread out by months.  End of story.  Zia has nipped for months.  I'm at a loss.  And now for the last 24 hours it is Constant.  She doesn't appear to be teething, but what do I know.  Well, what I know is the ta-ta's feel like a war zone and I'm starting to cringe when she comes at me.   Le sigh.

And E's back has given out.  It has an amazing way of doing this every time we get ready to move.  This is inconvenient...

And in case we weren't feeling a little unsure of our dive into home ownership...  I saw a black cat in the house a few weeks ago.  We were hanging in the backyard, still in the dreamy- we love this - stage, when a massive MEOW made me peer in the back window.  Just in time to see the cat dart up the stairs.  Realtors were informed.  They expressed doubt.  Process moved forward.

Innocently hanging in the backyard, making a catapult, pre-Meow.

Skip ahead TWO WEEKS and we are in the house.  The basement seems to strangely grow stinkier with every visit.  Granted, it is an ancient cavern down there, so at first this seemed par for the course... But yesterday the stench said CAT.  I had no more uttered the word than we heard a MEOW.  I kid you not.  Surely, surely it was from the  yard.  Up and down and around we went, all through the labyrinth, clicking our tongues and here- kitty-kittying.  Just as we gave up P announced he heard something upstairs... IN THE WALL.  After shushing everyone downstairs and creeping to the access point with the most coaxing voice I could muster, out comes, you guessed it, a freaking black cat.  And then it growled at me.  Great.  A RABID black cat.

Long story short, it was very sweet (after a little ice cream) and belongs to the family across the street.  Who had, of course, written it off as DEAD.  Since it had been trapped in our house for TWO weeks.  Yes, I've crafted a snarky email to the realtors in my head a few times by now.

It was at this point that I told E, were we Sicilian or something, we would take all of these omens and R-U-N.  But we're Kansans.  And those guys stick to shit like glue.  So, off to Home Depot we go today (or at least the boys, giving me this glorious moment of quiet while my little Vampire sleeps on my lap.  That she won't sleep out of.  Le Big sigh.)

What is the glowing gem at the end of this whiney pants page?  Well, we got ourselves a house.  And for that I feel, truly, infinitely lucky.  And it is a helluva house, or at least, it will be, someday :)  We'll soon be neighbors with some of our favorite people on the planet (assuming we can fix it enough that they'll live there;).  Phoenix wakes up every day elated (at least briefly, before whining that I'm too busy and he hates moving;) that he has a house to make a home.  And projects to dig into.  And Zia will get bigger so that I can dig into those projects too.  Until then, though, we're going to have to just Be Patient (not my strong suit), Make Do and Accept and Enjoy what we have, in all of its infinite wackiness.  Or it will Do. Me. In. :)

I have more pics and stories.  But I must Google "how to remove cat stench from 100 year old caverns" now before the boys come home and wake the Vampire...

Zia: her sixth month

A proper 7 months post ;)  

Zia has grown So Freaking much in the last month.  She's cruising like a champ.  She's speed crawling everywhere.  She started Climbing The Stairs.  And one day after she turned 7 months, she started saying Mama :)))

She hasn't really been a big babbler.  I mean, she talks, a lot, but it was mostly just vowels, noise.  I figured she'd be a typical second, a late talker (P talks enough for all of us;)  She did start, right around turning 6 months, saying "va-va" when she wanted me.  (Yes, Dale, this made me thing of you, and your mom and Ella.  And that we would, someday, with luck, be "Va's" ourselves :)  But that would be so young to equate a sound with a person, I assumed it was finally consonants coming in.

But that was it.  No, mamamamama, dadadada, bababa, like her big bro.  Then, she just turned to me and said, "Mama."  It was so sudden, I totally wrote it off as the beginnings of her babbling.  The next day when E had her, she said it again, asking for me.  He was sure it was purposeful, I was sure it was the beginning of babbling.  Despite the fact that it was Mama and not Mamamama, he pointed out.  A few more times that day, each time when she was crawling to the kitchen, searching for me, and I thought, maybe....  Another few days and now I'm convinced, the girl knows Exactly what she's saying ;)  

And that she enjoys mushing bananas.  Even if little goes into her mouth.  And licking (of course) her new front teeth.  They are so sweet and tiny.  And she spent their first days sticking her tongue out over them (over and over and over again) to get used to the new objects in her mouth.  Apples and carrots to gnaw on are now off limits, as she bites off more than she can chew (leading to a scary choking episode.  blech.)

And speaking of choking.  She is really playing with sounds.  She has started this dramatic breath intake thing that sounds like she is positively Dying and can't get air.  It freaks. E. out.  But really, what can you expect when the person she worships does dramatic death scenes multiple times a day ;)

What else...  Her hair is really coming in.  And it appears to be settling on a reddish, ginger tint.  Her eyes are a strange, steely grey.  Her toes are constantly mud covered, as she loves nothing more than crawling around the damp outdoors.  Her knees are red and rug burned, despite the baby legs.  Her temples are typically decorated with bruises from crashing into things.  And she is busy all. day. long.

Mt. Tabor.  Baby heaven.  Red hair ;)

She Loves to stand and play with the abacus.

P is so awesome.  Yes, he gets totally frustrated with her (like today, when she fell. apart. in the car after the house signing.  We couldn't bring her back from crazyville (and he'd been doing his best to entertain her) so he announced, "I'm Done, Zia!  I Quit!"  Then, when she kept bawling he calmly informed me he wanted to kill her and dump her in the garbage.  hehe.)  And yes, he picks her up and pisses her off.  But, honestly, he's awesome and he's really loving having a little sis these days.  Here, she was busy licking something and he wanted to get her attention.  So he made a trail of toys and laid in their path ;)

Laying in the grass at the new house.  A rare moment of stillness :)

Taming the jungle together.

Hyperdrive

Zia's crawl has gotten waaay to fast.  Blink and she's... gone!  Its a challenge getting into the fridge or any cabinets because she races over, chuckling with delight.  Until she's removed from the fridge, of course.  Those squeals head south, fast ;)  I've got a distract drawer of tupperware and lids, but, damn, this babe is in hyperdrive!

Wagon-o-rama

This earth day weekend was wicked gorgeous.  But I fear we have become true blue Oregonians, as two days straight of warm sunshine just about wiped. us. out.  And that was with us all hidden behind sunglasses, hats and...  The Beast.

We went on a long foot journey Saturday to a huge Nursery in excited preparation of Project Tame-Jungle (seriously, we're gonna close on this house... somefreakin day...).  Too far for the Little Man to schlep, we took the wagon.  But, as mentioned, it was really sunny and the kid tried to hide under his coat while I hovered over Zia with an umbrella.  Not so fab.  Sunday morning we wanted to wander to Mount Tabor.  A long wander and even more sun.  So we grabbed some hula-hoops and a poncho and presto-bango, the kids were comfy.

Aaaaaalmost there...

P is so pleased she's growing!  He wanted me to document how big her feet are compared to his hand :)

Closing on this house is draaaaaaagging on for forever!  The Little Man is being So Patient (erm, doing better than the grown-ups, really;)  But he's ready.  He keeps packing boxes.  I suggested (strongly;) the contents be categorized, so hopefully they won't be too painful to unpack. Its mostly just his stuff anyway:)

Zia is so crazy active that, actually, I may just have to have P pack it all.  She is into Everything.  Those damn electrical cords are gonna do me in. Come to think of it, moving is actually happening at an ideal time, as I can line the walls (and thereby block off the plugs and cords) with boxes.  But she is so freakin determined that she stands on her tip toes and eyes them and screeeeeams.  Silly baby.

And I'm having a hard time making sure everything is baby-proof with all of the packing and stuff moving around.  Seems like the floor is always covered in toys.  Stuff she grabs and strews around.  P is being positively magical about keeping the Legos up (and freaks if he drops one and can't find it), but somehow, someway, something is always on the floor.  As I washed dishes yesterday I watched her lick and suck on what I thought was a black Brio train.  She seemed to lick it in a really strange way.  I dunno, it was just different.  E came walking through and I asked him to check if something was up with the train.  Um.  Make that a freakin 9 volt battery.  E licked it to test... yup.  Nice and charged.  Silly baby.  Bad mommy...  If this child survives this move I'll be very pleased.

And especially pleased to be somewhere where there are doors between her and the stairs.  As I washed dishes (a different time) yesterday, P took the iPad playing music up the stairs.  Just to see if he could lure her.  Me, thinking there was no way in hell her short little baby legs could make it, practically ignored the situation.  Until she was a few stairs up.  Wow. This whole post is starting to read like a cry for CPS...  I really am very vigilant.  Promise.

At any rate. the Little Man is thrilled that The Frog (as he calls her.  She looks Exactly like a baby frog when she moves.) is so playful (as long as he isn't busy doing something else, of course;)  He drags her around by her feet.  Lays on the ground to let her amble over him.  Crawls in a moving box and sticks toys out the holes (we kept last year's boxes, so they are well loved by now and will finish their life in our garden this year) to taunt her.  He is totally ready for her to be BIG.

And it is kinda nice now that she is getting just a titch more capable, more communicative. She crawls over to me and sticks her little arms up to be lifted.  She's more obvious about wanting a snack than just random crying.  She's even started switching sides herself as she nurses if she's still hungry, rather than me just having to guess (since she eats sooo often (every two hours my ass) sometimes its just a little snack, sometimes she chows - and its hard for me to know which!) She's cruising around the house on her tiny toes and standing on her own every once in a while when she needs both of her hands for something.  She still likes to taste, well, lick, foods, but isn't so sure about eating anything.  P purchased some baby food for her and adored sticking into her mouth.  Her, not so much.  However, she had a Blast making a mess mouthing a banana yesterday...

Hmm, just realizing she just turned 7 months.  So I guess this is my 7th month post!  I love this age, it is So Sweet.  I love this baby :)  Must get video up of her chasing P.  But that catnap is Over!

The Wagon

We've wanted a wagon since we moved.  Actually, since Brooklyn.  Oh, to have had a wagon to bring groceries home with rather than balancing them in a box on the back of that scooter, uphill, in the snow, with P hanging off the side... Come to think of it, if we'd just purchased the damn thing back then, I may not have felt so much pressure to move ;) (Seriously, it was SUCH a pain in the ass.)  But we always put off purchases.  And we haven't had a place to store one anyway.  Well, I've been eyeing Craigslist for the last year, waiting for a heavy-duty one to be listed, to no avail.  So E and P popped over to the hardware store (now that we'll have a basement to store a wagon in!!!) and snagged one.  P was So Excited.  Cracks me up.  E thinks he can move most of our stuff by the wagonload.  Um.  Me, I'm waiting to see how that all pans out...

At any rate, P was in heaven putting it together.

And E was in heaven taking the kids for a walk with it.  P can walk So Very Far (ok, dance, hop, climb, but rarely walk;) when we go on outings.  And I hope this doesn't deter that.  But I think E liked both of them being in one place, so that he didn't have to strain his single-focused mind by keeping track of both of them at the same time :)  And it was fabulous for Zia.  E grabbed her Bumbo (you know, that total wasted purchase?  Since she used it for about a heartbeat before she only wanted to sit by her big self?) and squished her chubby baby thighs into it and boom, she sat like a Queen at the front.  E and I LOVE to walk.  Far and long, so this definitely will make further distances within our reach too, since the Little Man can only hop, dance and climb so far before growing weary ;)  And, heck, maybe it will even move our stuff to the new house ;)

Family walk!

This shot of E and Z cracks me up.  She adores her father.  And I swear she tries to sign Papa all. the. time. when she sees him (why else would she stick her fist up by the top of her head every time he appears?  And, seriously, the man has been signing Papa at her since she exploded out of the womb.)  Buuuut, she's pretty particular about when she adores her father.   And his kisses.  That he constantly tries to plant on her.  Fortunately, he's got a sturdy personality and can laugh at a six month old consistently pushing away from him :)

 

Pink flowers and monsters

We took E to one of our favorite parks this weekend.  Its reeeeally lovely.  And there's a great pond with rocks in it for rock hopping.  And the paths aren't all paved, since P prefers to walk on non-paved trails ;)

The colors were so vibrant it shocked me.  Zia really enjoys getting out and about these days (as long as a car ride isn't required ;), so its a good family outing.

BB is still a constant fixture in our lives.  He is as much a part of P as is breathing. After doing BB's voice for so long (almost five and a half years now!) I can usually figure out what my script is supposed to be from the way P phrases things or just based on how well I know the inner workings of the pink monster.  (Cuz, seriously, the little thing has a REAL personality. After so many years of friendship, BB has his own set of food allergies, we know what his poo smells like (strawberries) his favorite foods, games, how his Mama (he has a small stuffed Mama I sewed for P a few years back) treats him (BB goes to school and gets yucky dinners), the whole nine yards.)  In fact, I feel a titch multiple personality some days ;)  Occasionally by dinnertime,  I feel like I might cry if I do BB's voice for even one more second, cuz I've barely used my own all freakin day.  And then some days he joins us just on occasion.  Sometimes I get my lines wrong and then P just asks the question again (and again and again) to BB, until he gets a more correct (the desired) response.  Every once in a while P takes a new turn and I'm just lost, saying totally the wrong thing.  "BB!"  BB gets yelled at, a lot.  But the kid always fills me in so that BB can be exactly who he needs at the time :)

Smiley

Zia's emotions (and her sharing thereof) are such a new thing for E and I.  P was a really serious baby.  We had to WORK to get the kid to smile or laugh for the first year of his life.  And he cried when something was wrong (which, thanks to the food allergies, was a LOT, but, well, it was different.).  Zia laughs all. the. time.  I typically know, by sound, if she has found something on the floor that's new because she'll let out a "he-he."  Cracks me up.  Totally like, he-he, sucker mommy missed this scrap of paper...

So she laughs loud and long and lots.  And she also screams and cries and complains, lots ;)  She is just, well, very expressive.  If E is holding her and she is done with him?  Forgettaboutit.  This baby will bitch. him. out.  She looks right at him and yells (shrieks) and looks at me and yeeeeelllllls and will keep yelling and moaning and tossing herself with such sudden and unforgiving drama that (sick, second time around parents that we are) you almost wanna not grab the kid just to see how good of a show she can put on ;)  Not really, but its still pretty impressive :)

And though this noise annoys P, he is getting into playing with her a bit more.  They were hamming around in the living room the other day and he yelled to me, "you're right, Mama, she is fun!"  (He was teasing her with his car, but you gotta start somewhere :))))  He is clear, however, that he doesn't' find her unconditionally appealing.  And I think he has guilt over this, even though we've been really supportive that he doesn't have to think his sister is a slice of golden sunshine.  Walking to the store the other day he explained it to me.

Arms really wide, "This is how amazing my life used to be."
Arms a little less wide.  "And this, this is how amazing my life is now.  With Zia."

His sister had just stolen my sunglasses and deposited them somewhere unknown to me.  He was aghast that she would lose a precious possession (as any possession is precious to P;)

He went on.  "She makes me lose your sunglasses.  She makes me lose time with you.  And she is LOUD.   That's what I don't like about her."  Pause.  "OK, Mama?"

I patted him and said yes, I understood.  We kept walking.

"There was something else.  Something else I don't like about her...  I think there were five things....  Oh!  And she poops in her pants sometimes and her breath smells DISGUSTING."  Pause.  "Ok, Mama?"

More patting and validation.  And then he added his final complaint, the one that broke my heart.

"And now I worry about her, that she'll die or something."

The classic Zen complaint.  Love = attachment = pain.  And he really, really does worry about her.  He climbed over to me in bed the other night and whispered, "Mama!  Zia hasn't moved at all!  I think she might be dead!  Check her!"  Of course, she was sleeping peacefully not an inch away from me, but he'd been monitoring and seen no movement :)  I feel badly that big brother-hood seems to have cast such a heavy shadow of self-inflicted responsibility over the Little Man.  But I guess that's just life.

The New Backyard

Oh the drama of home buying!  We have the house, we lose the house.  Have it. Lose it.  Rinse, repeat.  We knew this property would be blessed with extra, erm, excitement, so its not sooo surprising to us.  But I am trying to shield the Little Man from the roller-coaster a wee bit.  Cuz he is sooo excited to have his own home.  And he keeps asking, "Nobody else can buy it now, right?"  I'm realizing shielding is not my most natural inclination.  I'm working on integrating shades of honesty, or editing if you will, into my parenting tool box rather than the straight up, occasionally over-informed variety.

Not my strong suit.  And a love for specific veracity may have thus been passed down to the Little Man.  As seen with the Easter Bunny business.  P's neighbor buddy came over chatting Bunny based plans.  Fortunately, P had just asked the day before, "Why are there bunnies for candy for Easter?"  "Because of the Easter Bunny, of cour...."  Insert head slap.  It was only then that I realized... we had missed this milestone.  I mean, he asks us to hide eggs and such, but we'd neglected to ever introduce the whole bunny-drops-eggs bit.  It just never crossed our (boring, adult) minds.  Whoops.

So when the kid from next door told P they would be hiking for their egg hunt the next day (oh how very Portland can you get?) I was tense waiting to see how he handled it.  The dialog was ADORABLE.  P, of course, wanted to know where they found these magical bunny eggs.  On a hike.  Same hike every year?  No, different hikes.  How do you know where to go?

"My dad goes ahead of us to check it out."

Anyone else above the age of five fall for this line?  It was at about this point P stopped asking questions.  I couldn't tell if he thought his buds were beyond lucky or beyond stupid.

And in the spirit of my (renewed, really, since Xmas) vow to cherish childhood and shoulder worry for the seven year old, I didn't ask him.

We, with E gone and unable to go track down big bunnies in the mountains, ahem, had a nice indoor hunt and then a backyard hunt.  Or two. Or six.  And P was glowing when he said that next year, his hunt would be in his own yard.  With his sister.

And, in celebration of this excitement, we make a little pilgrimage every day (its only four blocks) to the "new house."  A silly name for such an ancient building, but it has stuck.  And we go into the overgrown backyard (as it has no front yard, nor driveway, nor garage... oh urban living!  I kinda cringe when I think about it, its so strange to the little Kansas girl in me!) P is ecstatic.  He climbs his favorite tree (a lovely camellia), BB digs in the dirt, Zia eats leaves and gets her knees grubby and I make mental to-do's.  I'm so excited to get into that dirt and whip that yard into shape its silly.  (I was waaaay too pregnant to enjoy it last summer.  It was a labor of love towards P to plant in my third trimester with that varicosity, and I dreaded every bend.)  This year, assuming Peaches doesn't constantly choke herself on grabbables, P and I will dig and dream (and prune and weed and fill and clean...) together!

Until then, we'll just sit in the backyard we almost own and smile.

Flying Solo

E finally made it to LA to see our besties down there (yay!!!!). He shook his head at his sick and teething and miserable daughter as he headed out. While the timing worried him, the kids and I had a lovely Easter weekend. Z was pretty dramatic with her discomfort, but the sun was out (after a particularly rainy week) and we played in the park all afternoon Sunday. P packed a picnic, plus balls and blankets. He said we needed to have a proper park outing;) Peaches is finally old enough that I feel like I have two kids (they go separate directions, need me at the same time, get mad at each other - the whole nine yards;) No longer just one plus a screamy squishy. Its kinda cool;)

I hate posting photos from my phone - but at least I blog this way... In some random order below is:
P, posing for "Death by stroller," a pic he staged and wanted me to text to his father. He was miffed when he found out E wouldn't be worried;).
The kids playing in the park.
P donning a glass jar he found on the way home (listening to it gong as he struck it:).
P running through the woods playing hide and seek with Imaginary BB.
P burying Tiny Imaginary BB's lakeside island retreat in a dramatic rockslide. Yes, I think the man on the park bench behind us figured me to be totally insane as I copped BB's voice and screamed. oh well;)

Kid cracks me up

Z's oral fixation is seriously over the top. P liked to mouth things - like any baby worth it's salt. But yeesh. There is something in Z's mouth every second of the day. She goes from nursing to licking everything she can get her hot little hands on.

Below: Hmm, what's that? Well, hello, couch, haven't tasted you yet today. LICK. And what's this? A germy library book? Let's cruise... LICK.

Playpen

My mom keeps teasing me about the logistics of an early moving baby without the backup of a playpen or crib to stick them in. P tool care of that today ;). It looks slightly evil (and may have started as such ;) but he built an addition for himself next door, filled her "house" with her toys and then spent time knocking on their adjoining "window" and saying peekaboo:). Helps make up for the various angry "ZIA!!"s I hear these days....