washing

wren is loving the new air conditioner our landlord brought over. she likes to sit in front of it and let the wind blow her "beauful" hair. she calls this "washing her hair". then she hops down and it's "all clean."

 

saturday morning smiles

 

 

 

Raiders of the Lost Ark

5am, Friday. I woke up on the couch again. This time my waker was Ara dropping a wiggly baby into my lap. Then she zombie-walked away, back to the bedroom. Half asleep myself, I tried to soothe wiggly Kaj back to sleep using all my usual tricks. But he was wide-eyed and squirming in my arms. Finally, as the sunlight started hitting the living room, he held still for a few moments. His eyes were staring right at me.

Me: “Hi, Kaj. Are you gonna go back to sleep, little guy?”

Kaj: “Nope.”

I was pretty much wide awake myself. Decided to put him in the sling and take a morning stroll down St. Clair Ave. Kaj was still wide awake, head slightly peering out of the sling with intense little eyes as we walked. On three separate occasions, jogging women stopped jogging to peek in at him in the sling and comment on his cuteness (I hadn’t showered or put on real clothes yet, otherwise I’d have gotten comments, too…).

We walked all the way to the river, and as I was turning around to walk back home with Kaj still looking out at the world, I noticed a subtle little path going into the woods on the bluffs. So I followed it, and it led us through a maze of awesome narrow trails and cliff rocks to climb. It was like an Indiana Jones discovery. We loved it. And there were so many paths we didn’t even try, because we wanted to save them for next time.

I’m so glad that little Kaj wiggled me awake to take me there.

kaj

oh, baby kaj. you take my breath away. my sweet boy. quite honestly, even in the days before you were born, i worried i might not love you enough. a boy? i still wondered if the ultrasound was wrong and you might be a girl. "oh!" the midwife would say after you came out, "it's a girl!" we would laugh and have to think of a name...but then YOU arrived. a fresh little bundle. a new baby. my boy. i couldn't stop staring at you and holding you. i still can't stop. i was so instantly in love with you. tiny (well, 9.48, but still tiny) and warm and watching us. laying on my chest we just stared at each other. what an amazing journey you took us on.

i absolutely adore you and all your baby sweetness. you are such a good baby. you sleep well, you eat well, you tolerate hands-on love from wren and her crew, and you rarely fuss. you are starting to smile and gurgle and coo and it just melts us. you have been with us for six weeks. six weeks ago today, about an hour ago. but i think you have been with us forever. seems like eternity. you instantly became a part of us. and now we are four.

wren

darling wren. changing every day. just six weeks ago you were so much younger. quietly padding into our room to witness your brother's first seconds of life. his very first breaths. a tiny mite in your pink jammies with the horses. i will never forget the look in your eyes. eyes big and round with amazement and curiousity. wonder and bewilderment. so gentle and sweet and barely past a babe yourself. six weeks later you are already older. stronger. the big sister.

you've lost that toddler weightless feel. you are solid. feet constantly dirty from playing in the garden. calloused and able to walk on bricks, sidewalk, grass, gravel. you climb fearlessly at the playground, amazing other parents when we say you just turned two. you swing from monkey bars. climb to the biggest slide, bold and able. so strong and amazing balancing skills, we don't worry too much because we know you are so capable. you are smart and confident. endlessly stubborn. assertive and strong willed. my girl knows her mind and doesn't back down. a trait i am proud of you for having, no matter how frustrating it is coming from two year old you.you are suddenly and passionately into dress up. dancing. performing. singing. princesses. castles. tutus. you have become such a big girl. you are constantly standing proudly on top of the trunk in our living room ("your stage") and belting out songs. sometimes they are songs we know. sometimes they are songs you write. sometimes they are mashups of several different songs. you yell to us "dress up with me! turn it up! turn up the music!" your dad puts music on and you go crazy, dancing and spinning and laughing. "daddy, its your jam!" you love to dance with your dad.
socially you are exceptional. your verbal and listening skills are unreal and we have learned that we have to watch what we say. in the car we are talking and you constantly interrupt with, "mama, what you talkin' 'bout?" you pick up on EVERYTHING. so very aware. you play with maia, lily, olive and luna. these are "your people" and you love them. you are learning how to communicate with them, play and share, and for the most part are right there with them, even though they are all older than you. you are two going on five.
and you are a sister. you have adapted and adjusted to this role with amazing grace and love, especially for being so little yourself. you have been helpful and caring and often protective of baby kaj. you lean in towards him and say, "ohhhh, he's so cute!" You proudly tell strangers, "that's my baby. that's baby kaj!" you always want to hold him. and you do your best to be gentle, even if sometimes you want to squeeze him so tight. you grind your teeth and pinch his toes or hug his neck, "thatsmybrother" you say through your teeth. but we know you love him. when you woke from nap the other day and noticed kaj wasn't in his swing(he was sleeping in the other room) you burst into tears. "our baby kaj is gone!" you cried. you are so good to him and to us and we love you so much.

wren and kaj

oh yes. another blog. we have been meaning to update the old one, or start a new one, for months now. i guess we feel the need to change blogs as often as we change homes... but we wanted to sit down and work on the new blog together. and mike wanted to think of a cool name. and template. and lay it out just so. but apparently that's not happening. because we just don't have time. kaj is already six weeks old today, and we haven't blogged one photo of him. or told any stories about his new life, our adapting to a family of four, and wren's sisterly love and funny comments.

so. here we are. wren and kaj are fast asleep, and amid the never ending laundry and the dishes and the diapers and the cleaning, i am throwing this blog together and online. because we have to. i need a place to write about the things our babes say and do, because it goes by so fast, and i can't seem to find time to write in the baby books, or remember it all. somehow maybe i will be able to add a photo or story and document our life. no less gypsy and no less chaotic than its ever been, but we are happy and embracing the adventure we live, because what else would you do? and along the way mike wants to blog about music and gnomes. i think.

welcome to the new blog.