Seis Puerqueños

I love you, plain and simple.

Some other people don’t. They want to make their blogs private (which is fine) or are freaked out at the thought of you in Timbuktu reading their blog. But not me. I am both honored and proud to have you.

I think the first time I realized you were out there was the time I had a contest and had people I didn’t know enter. But lately I hear more and more I hear stories about “my friend so-and-so was reading on your blog…” and I feel even more popular.

And let’s all be real with ourselves, we all blogstalk. I know I do. Reading about old roommates of my friends, people I knew growing up but now never talk to, and don’t forget about the times when I just click on the different links on random bloglists to see what people I don’t know are up to lately.

So, to all you secretly reading my blog without telling me, thanks for stopping by. Also if you want to confess yourself, then we can be friends. Chances are I may be stalking you right back.

Dearest Baby of Mine,

I don’t understand how you wake up when I yawn, but can stay asleep while the upstairs neighbors drop heavy wooden boxes onto the wooden floor. But I appreciate that quality in you.

Love,
Mom

Dear Upstairs Neighbor,

Seriously WHAT are you doing up there? Is there a stampeding elephant problem? Are you reinforcing the house with steel beams? Are you wearing wooden clogs? Why are you dropping lots of heavy boxes (or something else?) onto your wooden floor while I nap? I am confused. And also wish you would stop.

Thoughtfully,
Kelsey

Dear letter d button on my keyboard,

I am always nice to you. I use you enough, but not too much. Please stop being sticky because I don’t want to throw this entire computer into the lake. Ok, I do want to, but shouldn’t.

Thanks,
Kelsey

Maybe it’s because he’s trying to impress Adri his future wife, or maybe I was pregnant a month longer than I thought, but either way, we have an ultimately strong baby. Here is a short list of his massive strengths from birth to 3 weeks:

1. He must have come out holding his head up, or just been bored being upside down for so long. This kid will hold his head up for minutes at a time.

2. A day or two after arrival out of the womb he did a push-up. He did a hands and knees push-up off my chest and held it for a bit. What? I can’t even do that. He still likes to do those, but he uses his elbows more now, probably because he’s gotten lazy.

3. About a week ago I put him on his stomach for some tummy time. I guess he hated it enough he managed to roll himself right over. I don’t expect to see this again for some months, but obviously he has the muscle power to get it done.

4. I already knew his legs were strong on the inside when he would practice resistance training by pushing constantly (not kicking) with his feet on one side of my ribcage. The result? He can support his entire weight on his legs for a bit. (You may remember it’s a lot of weight).

Anyway we like to brag and will be training him for the strong man competition in no time.

I just realized I didn’t write anything about actually having the baby. Instead of telling you an edited family-safe version on here, I decided to just write the whole thing out on the other blog, so that you can choose if you want to read it and all the gory details. So, if you want to, here it is. If not, I totally understand.

Also, Aaron went back to work today, and we miss him. He’s a great husband and daddy and we miss miss miss him a lot.

I put my wedding ring back on today, and it made me extra happy.

(We’re pretty much obsessed)

It really makes you exhausted, that’s for sure. I thought it was probably about time for me to blog, but then I sat down and forgot what I wanted to say. I guess first I should proclaim how wonderful everyone is, most especially Aaron. He is the ultimate champion, he stayed really calm and soothing throughout many many hours of labor and I could not done it without him. Upon coming home he has taken great care of us, making me food and bringing me water, cleaning up everything, helping me to rouse a sleepy sleepy baby, and perhaps the most amazing of all, he has changed all the diapers but one. He is the best! And everyone else is wonderful too. My mom has taken good care of us, as has Jama, and lots of support, food, and well-wishes from everyone else is so very appreciated. So thanks everyone!

What is there to say? I really really really like my giant baby. Of course I really really really love him too, but that’s pretty much expected right? He is the sleepiest of all babies, which made it virtually impossible to feed him at first. But he now is waking up a bit more on his own, and letting me wake him up to eat when he has been asleep for 100 hours. Things seem to be falling into place nicely, and if my body would heal as fast as I wanted, I would be even happier. But, birthing a giant is hard work, so I guess my body deserves just a little more rest. So… we are all doing well. Thanks for all your thoughts and comments and love, we are so happy with our guy that it makes us happy to share him with you.

When our baby isn’t in a deep trance fully limp and impossible to wake to feed, he is a light sleeper who often tosses and sputters and sometimes cries out. I’ve gotten into the habit of saying “good boy” when he fusses in the night, and believe the sound of my voice soothes him a bit and keeps a brief cry from turning into a full out tantrum that requires a long walk with back patting. Mom has asked me not to respond to him in an attempt to help him learn to self soothe.

Last night he cried out a single sound and Kelsey said “what a cute beep”. It took me a few requests for her to repeat it before I understood what she meant by “beep”.

We’re lucky that he tolerates some rustling and whispers when sleeping and doesn’t require absolute still. But he is easily startled. If you brush against him when he’s in a light sleep he’ll spasm and jerk his hands up, getting this expression like “what’d you do that for?” He’ll quickly settle back down.

He just did that when I coughed, and I thought I’d write it down so I don’t forget. I find myself staring at him thinking, will I forget what he looked like as a baby when he’s all grown up with just a few pictures to remind me.

Short for pumpkin.

The evolution of Kelsey’s nicknames:

pumpkin face
punkin
punky
little punk
snuggy puggy
snug bug
buggy
puggy face
pug
puglet
puggle
turtle

The last from the way he bobs and stretches his neck.

My own contributions:

Giant
Little monster
Big boy
Nino gigante
Chico grande
Little snort

The last because of his tendency to snort, not unlike a pig (pug?).