Snips and Snails and Puppydog Tails

Wednesday was my birthday. I’m a fabulous 32 years old and life is pretty darn good most of the time. So why “32 and Blue,” you ask? Continue Reading »

Since most of my more recent posts have been about our newest addition, I need to update y’all on my wonderful big boys, too! Right now the biggest one is shooting paper airplanes in the backyard, and the middle one is painting a birdhouse and playing with the dog (also in the backyard). Continue Reading »

No, not another one for Sam, of course. Today we went to the Bris for my stepsister- and brother-in-law’s new baby boy. He was born a week ago today, on May 24, just one day before his Mommy and Daddy’s 1-year anniversary. He weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces at birth and was 20 and 3/4 inches long. He’s precious and TINY. Sam, with 4 weeks’ growth on him, looked ginormous next to his new cousin. The Bris was very nice; it was held at Bubbe and Zayde’s house, and lots of people were there to celebrate this wonderful simcha with the family. Oh, and we now know Baby Insel’s name. His English name is Hayden Nathaniel and his Hebrew name is Netanel Dov (forgive me, Mia and Alex, if I’ve misspelled!)

Here’s a picture of Grandma Daneman holding Hayden and Aunt Susan holding Sam. Quite handsome boys, aren’t they?

Sam is almost a month old, and I can’t believe it. Among the zillions of new things I’ve learned each day in the last month (in addition to how to avoid getting peed on and , are the little things that help Sam calm down when he’s entered the Fussy Zone. I’ve become an expert at the Mommy Sway and the Booty Bounce. (Ahem, that would be bouncing HIM lightly on the booty, not bouncing my own booty. This booty still doesn’t bounce yet.) Continue Reading »

Things I’ve learned to do one-handed in the past two-plus weeks:

1. Refill my drink
2. Get Sam’s sponge baths ready
3. Put a lasagna (thanks Melissa!) in the pre-heated oven
4. Rinse out dishes and put them in the dishwasher
5. Put on soothing music for a fussy Sam
6. Hook and unhook the nursing bra
7. Feed and/or water the dog

I’m sure there’s more that I do one-handed on a daily basis, but for now, that’s what I can think of. Feel free to tell me what fun things you learned to do one-handed, whether one-handed from holding a child or from an injury. 🙂

On Tuesday, May 4, we had a special first outing for Sam. We all went to our synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel for Sam’s Brit Milah. Brit Milah is the Jewish ritual of welcoming a new baby into the congregation and the Jewish faith. It is performed on the 8th day of baby’s life and, for a boy, has two parts: circumcision and the giving of the child’s Hebrew name. Often, this ceremony is done in the home, but I just wasn’t up for everyone (it’s a public celebration, too) coming to the house yet, so we opted for the synagogue ceremony. Since this is a major life cycle event, we opted to pull the big boys out of school for the afternoon, so they could join us. They didn’t even mind that they had to dress a little nicer than usual for a school day. Sam even dressed up some – he wore a day gown that my Nana made. That was very special for me, since Nana passed away in December. I was glad he was able to wear something she made. She made all my nephews’ Baptism suits, but they were older and much bigger, so this little gown (no, it’s not a DRESS) was perfect. It even had light blue detailing and piping on it – perfect for the day.   Continue Reading »

Well, as if my faithful readers didn’t already know, Samuel Lewis Daneman joined us on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 2:26 pm. He weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long. We’re all doing well and settling into a sort of routine at home. We’ve had lots of help from family – my Mom came up Wednesday night and stayed until Friday morning, and then Mom and Dad came back Saturday morning and are here through today. Lynne and her family came up this weekend, too. While Lynne drank in the baby, the Brandt boys and our big boys played the days away enjoying some big boy time. Dad took the big boys to Cabela’s and got them a REALLY special treat of new fishing rods/reels of their very own.

Sam is, of course, perfect in every way–no, really, even his pediatrician says so (okay, maybe I’m a LITTLE biased)! He has really good lungs, which he likes to exercise during diaper changes and clothing changes. He’s eating well (nursing), sleeping as well as can be expected, and has thoroughly charmed the entire family.

So, some things I’ve learned in my first almost-week as a newbie mom:

1. Sleep is NOT highly overrated – it’s completely UNDER rated, and yet, I wouldn’t want to miss a minute of this!
2. Spit-up is not as bad as I’d feared (yet)
3. Hemmorhoids are as bad as I’d heard.
4. A hot shower makes the day complete, even if it’s at 9 at night.
5. A supportive partner and family is indispensable at this time.
6. Sneezing and/or coughing is just mean when you’re healing from birth.

I know there will be many, many more lessons, and I’m looking forward to all of them.

(Note: this post was actually written on day 6 of Sam’s life, but I’ve been a little busy and had a technical difficulty or two, so it didn’t post right away. So sue me. 😛 )

Okay, this post is almost a week late, but cut me a break – there have been other things going on! (And no, no baby yet, so don’t ask.)

Caleb has been playing indoor soccer since–well, since he was old enough to get on a team at age 3. He LOVES it. He’s fast as greased lightening on the field and he’s a great goalie! Continue Reading »

This weekend, a kindergarten insect project turned into a family project. Caleb’s assignment was to pick an insect, any insect he wanted, and build it using things we had in the house. Then he had to write out what he used for each insect part (head, thorax, abdomen, etc.), and he had to learn enough about the insect to be able to write 3 factual sentences about it. Continue Reading »

So, as anyone who has ever had children knows (and likely, most of you who know anyone who has had children know), the third trimester of pregnancy brings with it some “fun” side effects. To list a few, there are the frequent potty breaks 24 hours a day (which, of course means not so great sleep), heartburn, lovely heartburn, feeling generally huge and awkward all over, being hot ALL. THE. TIME., possibly tinkling a little bit every time you sneeze, cough, or laugh, and huge, puffy feet. Continue Reading »