From Nana's Camera...

The Rat Pack includes (left to right):
Evan (I-can-take-you-down-in-an-arm-wrestle), Cole (someday-I-will-be-able-to-hold-my-head-up-unassisted), Noah (I-eat-seatbelts-for-breakfast), and Ethan (future-NBA-star).

Look what a mommy-veteran can do... manage three children simultaneously!

Cole keeps growing....

Cole and DadCole and Grandpa Mike

Cole and the remote control (looking a lot like Uncle Jay in this picture)

Close up of Mom and Cole

First attempts at thumb-sucking

Grandpa Mike and Grandma Kathy with Cole

Tummy time

All Remaining Dignity

I've heard many women say that after giving birth, with all the peeping that goes on at their yoo-hoo's, they lose all shyness and worry about who sees the various parts of their bodies. I've heard women declare that they could now be naked in huge crowds at formal get-togethers and wouldn't feel an ounce of shame. The birthing process wasn't what separated me from all dignity, it was breastfeeding.

My breasts are not asthetical objects, they are functional. And if my baby requires food (necessary for survival), then I will feed him. And I won't hide in the corner to do it.

Well, today I visited my school. And wouldn't ya know it, Cole got hungry. And I was in the staff room, so I found a corner on a couch and decided to nurse him. Incidentally, a good friend, who happens to be a bit shy about breasts and breastmilk (she formula-fed her two beautiful daughters) was the only one sitting on the couches.

Not wanting to make her nervous, I covered Cole and myself with a receiving blanket and, luckily, he didn't protest. When it came time, however, to de-latch him and re-attach my bra, I was not as graceful as one would have hoped. I struggled to get my boob covered so quickly that, when I put Cole to my shoulder to burp him, I realized I hadn't re-positioned the nursing pad. In fact, I hadn't seen a nursing pad at all. I looked across from me at my friend and said, "I can't find my boob-pad."

She glanced down at my mid-section then turned a bit red, "It's by your waist-band."

French Teeny-Bopper Magazine Content

Our school librarian ordered some french language magazines which were supposed to be filled with content appropriate for pre-teens and teens.

One of our french teachers came across one of the magazines and noticed that one article was called, "Which Sexual Animal Are You?" Also, one of the questions in this article was, "When your partner @#$#@s, do you look him in the eye?"

But best of all, there was a top 10 list of things to bring to summer camp. Number 2: Two different sizes of condoms.

Very informative.

More Pictures....

Noah enjoys crawling, smiling, and eating Evan's car seat.

The Rat Pack is now complete. Back Row (Evan with Delia), Ethan (with Sue), Noah (with Jen).
Front Row (Cole).


The Cadillac of Rockers is apparently also a recliner!

What no one tells you about being a new parent….

Being a new parent is tiring (understatement of the century) and folks will tell you this. And if you’re pregnant when they tell you this, you’ll think, “SURELY it can’t be as tiring as lugging around this 30 pound belly.” Then, when you have your little one in your arms, you’ll shake your head and think, “I was so SO naïve.”

Here are some additional bits of information that no one told me, but that I also wouldn’t have believed if they had.

There is a REASON my mother always moves so quickly (we lovingly call it Mommy Mode). When you become a mother, there is always a random number of seconds of peace and tranquility before the next bout of crying chaos. In that unpredictable number of seconds, you learn to shovel food into your mouth, pee at lightning speed and shower super-sonically. The knot in your stomach, always anticipating the next cry, slowly fades with time. But the fast-forward gear, I suspect that stays with you.

Keep everything useful at waist-level or higher. While carrying around your newborn for at least the first three months of his or her life, you will not be able to bend over without waking him or her (and that is the ultimate demise), so you will simply forfeit eating or drinking if the thing you require is, say, at coffee-table height. I’m sure this subsides with subsequent pregnancies, but new-moms find a way to survive on only the crumbs they can scavenge within arm’s reach (or what is prepared and served to her by someone loving and supporting).

You’ll learn to do everything with one hand, slightly reclined and bobbing from side to side and up and down. You will eat cereal like this, read books like this, Stephenie Meyer wrote her award winning four-part Twilight novel series like this! You may not publicly admit it, but you will even learn to use the toilet like this (well, possibly no bobbing side to side).

You will speak to your baby in the embarrassing and idiotic way that all other parents speak to their babies. With dumb-ass smiles on their faces and cooing and repeating themselves stupidly. You will also make crazy happy faces at your baby when they smile at you. You will smile as if you’ve just won a million dollars. And when your baby cries, you may cry as well.

No matter how frugal you were before the baby was born, money becomes no object when it comes to the promise of a “cure” for sleeplessness. You will purchase every book, every mobile, every sling, swing, carrier, rocking chair, anything if the label promises it will: a) make the baby stop crying or b) make the baby sleep (and, consequently, allow you to sleep. You would gladly sell your own kidneys for the promise of a five consecutive hours in the land of Nod.

And finally….

You will suddenly not remember the last time you had a bowel movement. This kind of thing requires some time, and you just don’t have that these days!

The Holidays with the Perons

Papa and Cole

Cole and his new Ramones onesie

Everyone needs to rest after the holidays

A very sleepy great, grandma and Cole dressed in his mini-Mark shirt

Ponderous

Thanks Uncle Matt and Aunt Andrea, for the shirt