The Im Family

ozzy is really starting to push himself up and hold his head up strongly, albeit briefly. i love to set him on the boppy and watch him push himself upright while i clap like eddie murphy's mom character from The Nutty Professor, and cheer Hercules! Hercules! Hercules! he seems to like it too and seems to try even harder to sit up. he's really smiling a lot now and trying to babble to me. when he really gets going, he wears this very serious look on his face and will babble at me like he's got a lot on his mind and wants to tell me so in so many words. here's his current favorite sleeping area. rob figured out how well ozzy responded to white noise and brought out mimi's air filter...with a pacy and that fan running, he sleeps really well. also being on his tummy and on a sturdy surface helps to keep him from startling without having to swaddle him. i tried to keep him in the pack and play bassinet, but it swings when he moves and it will trigger his startle re...

mimi has been such a trooper through out the past month, accepting the changes that a new baby brings, and adjusting beautifully, for the most part. i know it's been tough for her though. more and more, she was becoming easily angered/agitated, becoming incensed quickly. the other day, when my friend, Hope, was visiting with her five month old son, Justin, Mimi came by holding some small LEGO pieces. i told her to keep them away from the babies. she seemed to be listening, holding them tight in her hand, but a few minutes later she says look mommy the baby can play with it too. and i see Justin holding a LEGO piece in his hand. i felt a sudden moment of panic, and immediately seized the toy from his hand, and sharply told mimi never ever give a baby a small toy because they can choke on it. mimi immediately put her fingers to her eyes and pressed down on them and became silent...what she does whenever she feels the prick of tears in her eyes and sobs in her throat. i immediat...

well, ozzy has been out cold for the past 4 hours and i started to get engorged...so i pumped. for the first time in 5 weeks, i have finally made it to 4 ounces. that explains why ozzy has lately been so content after feeding for the most part. judging by his reaction, i seem to have a meager supply in the late afternoon but late at night and early morning seem to be providing enough to hold off on supplementing. i hope this increase in production will have some beneficial affects on my weight (a whopping 160 and climbing!). how is it that after i had the baby that i'm gaining weight so soon? i should be on a decline now! it's frightening really. and the truly unfortunate wrinkly mess that is my belly, continues to look alarming like i'm 7 months pregnant. i know it takes time for the belly to go back down, but when i can barely get into my old MATERNITY clothes, it's problematic. i am going to have to make a concerted effort to try to incorporate some exercise ...

i have been meaning to catch some video of mimi reading. she's getting to a point where she can read a whole book by herself. she loves to spend all night in bed reading book after book after book. some nights rob and i have to yell at her several times to go to bed and get some sleep! but as a result her reading is really improving. she still gets stuck on hard words and often uses semantics and meaning cues to figure it out, but doesnt understand cross checking for visual cues yet so her reading isnt 100% accurate as of yet. but she is easily reading about 90 percent of the words on her own correctly. here's mimi reading a book called Mouse Paint, which is at an early second grade reading level.

so strange (but good!)...all of a sudden ozzy has been falling asleep earlier. last night and tonight he was sacked by 8 pm. he's also been fairly content with breast feedings today, which has been a nice bonus. if he continues to fall asleep at 8pm that would be good news for me, then i can spend some time with mimi at bedtime on some nights. tonight rob was out, so i was on my own to put the kids to bed...having ozzy sleep before mimi allowed me to cuddle with her and read her bedtime stories. very nice. finally got around to importing some video. here's one of ozzy's hiccups. mimi loves ozzy's hiccups because sometimes they sound like a squeaky toy...it sends her off into gales of laughter whenever ozzy has a bout of hiccups. this is ozzy getting tummy time at 2 weeks old. he's so lax and easy going here.

mimi wrote me a letter the other day and gave it to me. when i asked her to read it, she pointed to the words and read: Mom. Look at me. I'm dressed up!" i was tickled by the way she spelled 'dressed' (jrest) and 'look' (luc). she still doesnt understand the value of spaces between words in writing. i'll have to point that out to her the next time we read together.

things are getting better! last night ozzy slept for 6 hours straight! not sure if he is just sleeping longer b/c of maturity or if it was getting tanked up with breastmilk and then an additional 2 oz shot of formula, plus the white noise rob set up (a loud air purifier) nearby his sleeping area. whatever the reason, he slept without a sound from 10 til 4 am. woke to breastfeed at 4, put him back to sleep just before 5 am, and then some time in the morning (8?) he woke again. we were co-sleeping at that point so i just rolled him over and let him feed while i continued to sleep. i think he kept falling asleep too b/c he'd start fussing because he needed help latching back on periodically. after several attempts at it, i finally got up from bed at 8:30 and just brought him downstairs for a more focused breastfeeding. he went down for a short nap at 9, was up by 10. i just fed him again, but only one side before he fell asleep yet again. he's been asleep for an hour now ...

things are getting a little better with breastfeeding. this week i have done away with supplements in the night...now ozzy is strictly breastfeeding thru the night...and we are co-sleeping and he is feeding periodically thru the night. i am so tired i honestly have no idea what time he is waking, nor do i have any idea how many times he is feeding and for how long. i am so zonked that when i wake in the morning, eyes practically glued shut from dehydration from lactating, i think it's a miracle that i havent smothered the baby in my sleep. it does bother me that i've been sleeping so hard that i have stretches of sleep where i'm completely unaware of my physical space. w/mimi, i could sleep lightly and be aware through out the night. i guess i am not getting as much solid sleep this time around. i am not going to bed early enough. w/mimi i went to bed at 8pm and rob took care of mimi until midnight before passing her back to me. but she was so colicky that she would...

i ventured out today to eat w/rob, mimi, and ozzy at the local panera. it was a lovely evening... very cool outside. we had a nice meal and walked a bit afterwards, then headed home before i got too engorged w/milk. came home and watched the olympics in Beijing opening ceremony. ozzy fussed for most of the night, refusing to stay latched on to breastfeed, so ended up just giving formula and he's out for the evening. will be up by 2ish and ready for another feed. am getting really discouraged with him... not sure how much longer i can keep on trying to breastfeed him before giving up.

well, it happened again...ozzy got me good while i was changing his diaper today...shot me dead on right on my chest. i need to get one of those pee blockers like the one in the picture made by WeeBlock or a PeePeeTeePee to protect myself from future attacks.