my midwife & little Zora

I went to my 5-week check-up last week. All's healed & I've lost about half of the Zora weight. I have experienced a different post-baby emotional roller coaster than last time. When I have a while to type (& think), I'll have to "tell" about it all. The other moms I have spoken to about it have either experienced something like it, or know someone who has. Most of my down times have been anxious & sleepless. I'm getting better & life is getting more calm, but this phase is still going full force. Prayers are always welcome. I'm attempting to get through all this without drug intervention (which hasn't been a-okay with my OBGYN...my midwife talked me through it much better), but I've never used anything mind altering before & I really don't want Zora to begin life on drugs...if at all possible. Once again, just as I said about C-sections vs. natural birth, sometimes medical intervention is necessary, but for now I'm trying life sans meds.

a blustery sort of day...

so our family flew a kite! L. flew it (really high) all by himself! Then we went out for hot drinks (it was really windy & a little cool). This was our first trip out as a family. It was a really nice day.

My little artist

Here are some of L's drawings of late. They come by request. :) He has gotten really good at looking at a pic & then drawing what he sees. He & I do (did...before Zora, I'm trying to get back into the swing of arts & crafts!) this a lot. The top pic is one that hangs in Zora's room. It's our family. L. is blue and "climbing up Daddy," who has the usual "spikes" (Barclay's hair & facial hair...since he shaves only weekly). Zora is the tiny yellow person at the bottom. The next pic is drawn by using the pic of a fairy on the side of a book. I tried to take the pic of both L's drawing & the book. I think that's one of his best. He did it last week. The next one is a drawing he did in late March (for Zora's birth). It was patterned after the birds on her bumper & painting in her room. (Notice the detail on the tails!) The hot pink page has an "angry bear" on it. it was part of an animal series, but I can't find the rest. We have tons of art pages, "stories" (a.k.a. drawings with lots of letters around them), & crafts. I try to date them & keep some, but it's a lot to keep up with!

Plays well with others

So, a month into this "2 kid" thing & all's well with them both. They get along swimmingly. Zora watches her big bro with intensity (as one of these pix shows) & he loves her with vigor. (Sometimes a little too much vigor, but we usually ask him to be more gentle & he chills.) I am thankful for them both...and for the 3+ years we had bt them! I hope they'll get along a year...10years...a lifetime down the road. Don't we all hope that for our babies?

Happy Birthday to Zora!

My sweet girl was one month old on the sixteenth! For all you out there who remember what I did for Langston every month till he was a year old...here come the "monthly hats"! (Barclay hates these...usually by 10 months the baby agrees.) So my big girl went to the dr. and she is a healthy one. 10 # 8 oz. and 22" puts her in the 90% for a girl! (I looked at L's baby book & he was about the same...a little smaller, but not much at all. He was in the 75%, though. I guess that's the diff bt girl-boy charts.) OH! Langston helped with Zora's hat. The design is "birds on the top with a cat at the bottom...blue background." :) He is a helper. And he must be a part of whatever photo session is going on. A ham for the cam, my boy.

walks & worms

Now, don't cheat & use this post as reference for the next one! My kiddos & I went for a walk last night. We all enjoyed it (once Zora went to sleep). L. biked on his trike while I strolled sister. The weather was a little cool, so I got to try out this baby car seat thing shown in the pic. I couldn't imagine having to put this on L's seat when he was tiny (I used my gel ice packs from my breast pump kit to put on his chest so that he wouldn't get heat rash...when he kept getting heat rash where his car seat buckles were...in April...in Gainesville).
Langston & I found a giant worm on the way home (I had to check it out to make sure it wasn't a small snake!). He was super happy (even after the worm "came apart"). And he is adding the pine cones pictured to his "collection" (?). Oh! His word for the day is "terrified." He & "Rock" (Rocky's nickname) were terrified of something they recently found. ;)

Clones of my hubby

One of these is of L-town at 3 + weeks...one is of Zora-bean at the same age. Which is which? You can call our hotline to vote, or just leave your guess on this "comments." The winner gets to hear me say, "good job" as a prize!
Seriously, my kids look just alike. And L. looks so much like Barclay. So, Z. will look like him (and therefore like my mom-in-law). No light green eyes or pale, pale Southern belle like her mommy.