Dleep Seprivation

Oh you'd know. You'd recognize us even if you didn't know us: stumbling around the grocery store, looking without seeing, one with a car seat dangling from his arm and one with a basket full of random food dangling from hers, she (having left the shopping list with him) trying desperately to remember which item she was supposed to get, and he staring blankly at the list, trying to remember how to read. Yes, we're in the thick of being in a total state of zombie around here. Our darling child is in the midst of some sad gas issues and we're doing our best to keep him from bloating up while still trying to get a little shut-eye ourselves. Today I thought I'd help to relieve some of his issues by feeding him in a warm bath, an opportunity he used to poo ALL OVER ME. (See how relaxed the baby looks in the above photo? Yeah. That was after the explosion. And the draining and re-filling of the tub.) Note to self: perhaps the bath makes the baby a little too relaxed. Oy. I know it's a bit of a cliche and comes up a lot in bad movies about tough guys and babies, but infants really are all about the bodily functions. Seemingly normal people (I won't name any names), now parents, will have long, drawn-out conversations about poo. How much came out. How often. What color. You name it. Crazy!

We've had a few visitors recently - Nathan and Barbara came for some double birthday fun and Barbara took some AMAZING photos of Owain. You can visit their blog to see some of them if you're at work with nothing to do or something: http://nordlunds.blogspot.com (under the heading "The bump goes to the farm"). It was great to see visibly pregnant Barbara and get excited about the prospect of three little ones running around together next summer! Jay's brother Greg and his wife Emily and their two girls, Hope and Ellie came to see us last weekend, which was a blast! I loved seeing the cousins together, and the girls were so dear with Owain. Good times!

Alright, Jay and I are now racing around, trying to get our business taken care of so we can go to bed before the baby wakes up! Somehow we found the time to can 9 jars of salsa today, and I couldn't even tell you how it happened, though it was mostly Jay. I apologize for the lack of blogging, but it's hard enough to get laundry done these days! I'm still working on my account of Owain's birth, trying to find that middle ground between the experience being too close still to process and key details beginning to fade. I will say that it was very primal, immersed in the power of ancient female wisdom, and felt like a deep connection to all mothers everywhere, down through the generations. Also, I'm in love with all three of my midwives. And more in love with my husband, sister and mom. I couldn't have asked for better support.

Love and diapers full of poo to everyone,

Charis