The Morning After

I've found that one of the most difficult things about dealing with progeny number two (and any subsequent ones, I would imagine) is preventing yourself from caring for them based on the expectations created by caring for progeny number one.  It started with my assumptions for labor and delivery.  Liam was early, born at thirty-eight and a half weeks, and since conventional wisdom states that subsequent births happen more quickly, my anxiety increased the closer I got to thirty-eight weeks.  Then I was thirty-nine weeks.  Then forty.  

I worked right up to the day I gave birth with Liam.  But he was born during Interim and this time around I was due during Session.  Those are two very different work environments.  At two weeks out from my due date, I had worked seventy-three hours while nearly nine months pregnant and while it felt like a cop-out, I decided I had had enough.  Besides, I reasoned with myself, he's coming any day.

Well, Valentine's Day came and I was still very, very pregnant.  But I knew number two was coming because I had spent the whole day, and the day prior, in pre-labor.  That was another difference.  With Liam, I had one contraction, my water broke, and then there was nothing until the Pitocin kicked in.  Number two wanted to make sure I had plenty of warning that he was coming.  I spent Valentine's Day night (my due date) with fairly strong contractions coming fairly regularly.  And then around 3:30 a.m. the morning after, my water broke in spectacular, movie-worthy fashion.  Good thing my sister was here to stay with Liam while Mikey and I rushed to the hospital, me hoping beyond hope that I didn't deliver in the car.  

I couldn't even walk into the hospital.  I got out of the car and just stood there, in pain until Mikey came around and helped me into one of the waiting wheelchairs.  I was contracting the whole time.  Again, based upon expectations developed based on my first pregnancy, I expected things to progress fairly rapidly.  And I suppose they did, but not the way I expected and not the way they did with Liam.  With Liam, my body had to be goaded into completing the process.  This time around, my body was going to finish whether it was ready or not.  There was one, interesting similarity, though.  With Liam, my water broke at 3:30 a.m. on the Saturday of a three-day weekend.  This time around, again, my water broke at 3:30 a.m. on the Saturday of a three-day weekend.  But whereas the first time I was in the labor and delivery room for thirteen hours (I was not technically in labor the whole time), this time I was there for about three.  We got to the hospital around 4:00 a.m. and by 7:00 a.m. we had a new member of Team Monkey.

Ewan Malcolm Hotaru Ng

Ewan was born at 6:38 a.m. on February 15th.  He weighed 7 pounds, 9.5 ounces and was 20.25 inches long.  Although I wasn't sure I could do it again, Ewan was born naturally, with no drugs and no epidural.  And as I told Mikey, I'm done.  But I've got two gorgeous boys and with my handsome husband, I'm happy to hang out with all three of my men.

Liam has thus far been okay with the addition of Baby Brother, though it's been a bit more difficult to get him to the sitter in the morning and to bed at night.  In the morning he wants to stay and play with Mama and at night, although he starts out in his own bed, he eventually wakes up and wants to sleep in Mama and Dad Dad's bed.  He also is very excited to help out with Baby Brother.  He brings us diapers and gets us wipes and wants to feed Baby Brother "myself."  We've told him he'll have to wait for that, but I love that he's showing such a nurturing side.

So far, Ewan sleeps much more than his older brother did.  We're hoping this trend continues, but if it doesn't, we've got plenty of practice going sleepless.

And when he's awake, he's generally pretty mellow.  That's also a new experience after our spirited, high-energy Liam.

We asked Ewan how he felt about being the newest member of Team Monkey.  His response?  "Oy vey!"

Dad Dad Went on a Trip

At the beginning of this past November, Mikey took a three-day business trip to New Mexico.  It was the first time one of us was away from Liam overnight and consequently, the first time one of us had him alone full time.  So while Mikey was away, Mama and Liam had to find something to occupy our time.

After we dropped Mikey off at the airport, we ate at Liam's favorite restaurant, Chili's.

And watched Super Why! when we got home.

Our only full day together was Sunday, so I decided we should head out to Dole Plantation to wander about.

Liam took a picture of our feet.

And then we went to inspect the pineapples.

Liam just loved the pineapples!

He spent some time talking to the birds.

And climbing on the railing. 

Then he peered through the photo cutouts.

For lunch, it was a hot dog and fries served on a frisbee.  Liam's not much of a fruit eater, so I took care of the pineapple.  I thought he might want to go on the train, since he likes them so much, but he was content to watch it from the sidelines.

Bedtime was an adventure in and of itself!

We had dinner with Grammy and the next two days were business as usual, with Liam hanging out at Aunty Lani's and me going to work.  Overall, while exahusting (I was NOT cut out to be a single mother!), we survived!  And so did Mikey...

...who brought back Santa Fe Owl as a gift for Liam.  For some time after, Liam would pick up Santa Fe Owl and say, "Dad Dad went on trip in airplane.  He brought me back owl!"

That's right, buddy, and he brought Mama back some really good spices and soups!  Woot!

My Own Bed

We've generally found that Liam gets to things in his own time.  He didn't roll over until he was ready.  And walking came just when I was about to start worrying.  He didn't start sleeping through the night until he was over a year old.  But we've been content to let him figure things out naturally.  He also usually takes a long time to warm up to the idea of things, so a month or two ago, when he started asking for his own bed, we figured we had time.  Eventually, though, at his request, we went to the store to get a bed.  At first he wanted a Minnie Mouse bed, but they had none left.  Then he saw Doc McStuffins and Mickey Mouse, so he had a decision on his hands.  He decided on Micky Mouse and it was off on an adventure from Babies R Us to Toys R Us to find the very last one they had in stock.

Mostly, he's been content to play on the bed.  At night, he would ask to sleep on his bed, but mainly as a stalling tactic, so we'd usually bring him back to our bed to sleep, much to his frustration.  But last night, with no struggle, he went to sleep in his own bed for the very first time!  I thought for certain he would eventually climb back into bed with us.  What happened, though, was that we were the ones to bring him back into our bed...after he rolled out of  his own for the second time.  The first time he fell out, Mikey woke up to him climbing back in.  I was so proud of him--no crying, no fuss, just climb back in.  But after the second time, my nerves couldn't take it.  We're trying it again tonight (he again went to sleep in his own bed with no fuss), and we've taken steps to prevent the falling out.  We'll see how it goes.

Now...about that potty training thing...

2013 in Review

2013 was an exciting year watching Liam grow more and more into an actual human being.  Well, as much as any toddler can be.  Here's a photo overload of 2013 in review.

Liam, like Dad Dad, is just not satisfied unless he has more than one thing going on at once.  Here, it's a Cars video and something on the Nexus.

Exploration under the blanket was always a hit, as was being found once the blanket ran out.

Macaroni and Cheese was his dish of choice.  It continues to be among his favorites, though he sometimes opts for hot dogs (thanks, Mickey!), cheeseburgers, or chicken.  Good thing his lunches are nutritious!

Mikey and I had a very rare date night when Mikey indulged me with awesome seats at The Cure concert when they were here.  Grammy was kind enough to watch Liam for us and while he refused to go to sleep before we left (try as we might), he finally went to sleep at Grammy's house some time after we left.  It was his first sleepover!

Playing with the cousins involved games on the tablet.  Why does the two-year old have control of the electronics?!

We did get out into nature, though!  This past year, we spent time at parks and Liam actually deigned to walk in the grass.  With shoes on.  No bare feet in the grass.  And he always wants his feet wiped after.

Uncle Roy and Aunty Brenda invited us to their annual end of summer barbeque at the Pacific Club, along with some other mutual friends.  What a pleasant summer evening to spend with good food and in good company.

It was the year of Mickey!  Now, every time there's some sort of problem to solve, Liam decides we need to call Toodles to get some Mouseketools.  It's amazing how much can be done with safety scissors.

At Old Spaghetti Factory, there's a guy who will do balloon animals for tips.  He made Pluto on a leash and so Mikey took them out so Liam could make sure Pluto got his walk in.

Like father, like son.  After I pay the bill for dinner, I could usually find them hanging out in the Apple Store.

Continuing with the Mikey theme, he enjoyed randomly wearing the Mickey ears Tutu got him, even when just hanging out around the house.

We spent some time swimming, though we hope to do more of this in the future.

Liam has become quite the proficient shopper.  Here he is filling up his basket with egregiously overpriced merchandise from Longs.  If you ask him if he has money, he'll say yes and that it's in the blue car.  He's referring to the change he's strewn about the place.

Quiet and Liam are not usually in the same sentence together, but we had our moments.  Here he is multi-tasking again.  This time, it was with a book and a tv show.

We spent lots of time at Grammy and Grandpa Bob's since they were generous enough to make us dinner usually once or twice a week.  Liam enjoyed playing with Grammy's toys and putting puzzles together with her.

We've had a lot of work done on our condo (still!) and some of it was painting.  Liam was home sick, so he and I waited outside to hand off some supplies to the guy we hired to paint.  Liam had a ton of fun putting things in, and taking things out of, the bucket.  He doesn't look sick, does he?

And of course, there was a never-ending fascination with phones.  He can call me from Mikey's phone and Mikey from my phone.  He's also called Grammy and Uncle Drew.  And he cannot let a pay phone go untouched, though he still doesn't quite understand the whole attached with a cord thing.  Kids these days!

Christmas 2013...Finally!

Christmas 2013 was yet another thrown-together event as our move was plagued by a seemingly never-ending series of delays.  But Team Monkey made the most of it!

We went to several parties, including the Iolani Gang party, the Cheesie Christmas party, and one of our annual family parties.

The next generation among our Iolani friends is growing larger and larger every year.  Liam was a good sport through the whole picture-taking process.

Note: As soon as I get my hands on the picture from the Cheesie Christmas party, I'll edit this post!  ><

At the family Christmas party, Liam spent some time with Cousin Audrey, who was visiting with her mama from Big Island.  Neither was very good at the sharing thing, but at least they each took sole possession an equal amount of time.  And that was better than what he had done most of the night, which was try to hide from people.  Poor dude, being sick wasn't helping.

As for our little family Christmas, we were treeless again this year, but we made the most of our bookcase while the Christmas Ninja lurked in the corner.  We are so blessed by such generous family and friends.  Since I had already packed away the few gifts we'd gotten him anticipating the move that was eventually delayed, all of these presents were from outside of our little nuclear family.  So blessed.

This is the first year Liam was actually excited about presents.  He couldn't wait to open them.  And now I can't remember if we let him open this one early or not!

But come Christmas morning, he was ready to go!  And contrary to previous years, each present had to be unwrapped, opened, and played with before we could move on to the next.

He did, however, take the time to read the cards.

Here are a few favorite moments from the actual unwrappings...

Yay for the CAT vehicle that plays rock music!

The tiger chair allows him to be the regal monarch that he assumes he is.

He loved the Mickey Mouse utensils!

And he had to try on his new hat as soon as he figured out what it was.

He took his time with what turned out to be his favorite present--a shopping cart that converts to a little kitchen.  Thus far, he's made macaroni and cheese, steak, peas, corn, and pancakes.  He still gets a little frustrated that the plastic egg won't actually crack open, though.

The rest of Christmas day was wonderful, with dim sum in the morning (remind us not to go to the Chinese Cultural Plaza after 9 a.m.) and then had Christmas dinner with the extended family in the evening.  Overall, a wonderful way to close out the holiday season!