He gave me such a nice long sleep last night, all the way from 2am to 7:30!!!

And then he proceeded to eat every hour and a half until 3 pm. Since then, it was a nap-snack-look around-nap-snack-look around cycle for about 4 hours (snack = he eats like a starving maniac for up to 2 minutes, then cries and howls until I move him away from the milk truck). Each cycle takes about an hour.

Aunt Anna arrived part way through that series of events, and bravely volunteered for a tour of diaper changing duty. While it didn’t make it to the projectile pooping hall of fame, he did manage to psyche her out mid-change and poop on his outfit, the outside of the clean diaper, and the surface of the pack & play. She took it bravely!

Aunt Anna also brought presents! They played together with a cute brown cow, and the grown-ups admired his new distressed jeans and t-shirt with pre-drawn bling. At the rate he’s growing, it should fit very soon.

Today was also eventful for The King’s mommies, who got word of his start date at the local infant-accepting Montessori school! June 5, they’re almost certain. Assuming that we get medical sign off on the leave plan — which was developed when I expected to have a vaginal birth — that date is only 2 work days after the end of my FMLA leave. Which should work perfectly!

We also got our registration packet with everything we need to bring, and information on how to be a Montessori parent at home.

We have a lot to learn.

Fruit & Veg Count, 2/28: Maybe 1/3 of an organic gala apple, 1/4 cup sauted zuchini & summer squash

 

Jill wants me to put up another cute picture of The King, and since Grandma hasn’t yet emailed us the two amazing pictures she took over the weekend, I’ll update with the picture Jill likes best: 100_0374_1

Fruit & Veg Count, 2/27: There were lots of pieces of carrot & mushroom in the coq au vin Grandma made for us. And little pearl onions, but I didn’t eat those.

 

This was a VERY exciting weekend here in Booski Haus. First, Grandma & Grandpa visited, and the King went out for dinner TWICE. Jill and I also left the house alone together for approximately 3 hours, leaving the King to survive with new grandparental minions.

Then on Sunday, while his grandparents were off getting lunch, (Honorary) Uncle Jerry & Aunt Cindy called, asking how far away we lived from the airport! They had a long layover here, en route home from a family bat mitzvah, and could they come meet The King?

100_0371We would like nothing better. They arrived less than an hour after the Grandparents left, and the King slept through the entire visit. At least it was a peaceful snooze; The King obviously knew that he was in the presence of admirers.

And we learned other exciting things during the course of their visit. First, The King’s first name is also Jerry & Cindy’s son Nadav’s middle name. And he was exactly the same size at birth as their son Ariel, who quickly grew into a strong & healthy man. (Really quickly. Ariel had a full beard before he started high school. College women hit on him when he was 13. Fortunately, he didn’t realize it at the time.)

Since there may be a parallel universe out there in which I am 10 years younger, straight, modern Orthodox, and married to Ariel, I have absolutely no problem with Noah growing up as much like Uncle Ariel as he’d like.

The whole family is just one of the coolest and most wonderful collections of people we know; they’ve been fixtures at my family’s Christmas Eve celebration for the last 20 years or so. And the first road trip we know that we’re taking with The King is back to my hometown this summer, for Uncle Ariel’s wedding to the lovely Aunt Dana. It was a delight to have their surprise visit!

And Jill got a fabulous picture of The King a little while ago while he was trying to decide whether or not to get fussy. He ultimately decided yes, he would get fussy, but before that, he started showing off his new ability to notice objects other than the milk truck.

100_0376_1Plus, he just looks cute!

QUICK NEWS UPDATE: Props to the singer Meatloaf, and particularly his hit song "Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad."  Mr. Fussy  The King was on a car ride in the effort to get him to quiet down, which failed  completely until this song came on the radio.  In fact, Jill wants you to know that he fell asleep at the line "There ain’t no coupe de ville lying at the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box." 100_0380

 

Our little boy is growing up! He hit two milestones this weekend:

  • His cord stub fell off. The last physical evidence that he was part of my body is now gone. And although he’s still far from being independent, there is something sweetly sad to me about his new level of independence as a human being.
  • He outgrew his first outfit! One of the first days that he was home, we dressed him in a little green froggy sleep sack. It snaps down the front and is sewn shut along the bottom.

    Yesterday, after he managed an explosive series of poops, including mid-diaper-diaper change, reaching his outfit, 2 diapers, 2 flannel blankets, the cloth diaper we use to block fountains of pee, and the changing table pad, I put him in the green froggy sleep sack again.

    When he stretched his legs out, the whole sleep sack was taut, and it visibly pulled down on his shoulders. I changed him again, into a pair of footie pjs, and Jill thought they looked like they might be too small too. Almost!

 

One set of grandparents came to visit for the weekend! Since Grandpa hates having his picture taken, here’s a picture of The King and Grandma in the nursery that Grandma was in charge of painting.
100_0360I think The King likes having grandparents! They certainly like having a little King to play with and spoil.

During the couple of days before Grandma and Grandpa arrived, The King has been running his mommies ragged. Here’s how it looks when mommy gets delirious trying to get The King to settle down:
100_0340

And finally, here’s what The King looks like when he’s exhausted and run down, just like his mommies:
100_0362

Sadly, our camera is no good at close-up pictures — we can’t get them to come out in focus. So all of our attempts to zoom in on his little face or his tiny toes are pointless….

Still no fruit & veg update for me — I ate a normal dinner last night, and when I got home, regretted it almost immediately. It looks like I’m going to have an apples & rice & dry toast kind of day.

 

OK, I don’t mean the part about the guns.

I shouldn’t be nervous, but I am — excruciatingly! This afternoon, we go to meet with the lawyer handling our second-parent adoption. Today is when we turn in all of our paperwork to make Jill legally The King’s parent.

Later The Same Day

OK, we’re now back from the lawyer’s office. She’s going to file Jill’s petition tomorrow, and within a week, we should at least know which judge we are assigned, and in all probabilty, have a hearing date scheduled.

There’s a small chance we’ll get the judge who won’t do second-parent same sex adoptions, but most likely, all will go smoothly from here. Or so we hope!!! It’s still nerve-wrecking nerve-wracking.
 

(Grammariphiles — is it nerve-wrecking or nerve-racking? Update: see comments.)

And the good thing is that even though doing this is expensive, it’s totally worth it, and Jill will get the full amount back on her taxes next year.

Fruit & Veg Count, 2/21-23: Not much. My tummy has been hypersensitive. Today is all about rice, tea, maybe some apple, and some gatorade. And it’s been that way for about 2 days. :(

 

Three years ago today, we stood in front of our friends and family, and each of us promised, "I will cause your life to work for you, moment by moment, for the rest of my life."
Lizajillwedding001

It was the best decision I ever made. (I can’t seem to get the image to turn the right direction.)

And over the last three years, there have been a few hiccups, but we’ve learned from them. The most counterintuitive lesson — and the most important one by far — is that when I put causing your life to work for you first and foremost in my priorities, my life suddenly starts working better for me.

Thank you so much, my love. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. And having The King here with us just makes something wonderful even better.

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