Quiet Time

What do you get when you put one 4 year old and one 2 year old into a small room by themselves for "quiet time" lasting just over an hour?

A big, fat mess.
P.S. - it was certainly not a very quiet "quiet time".

2 week update

Today we visited the midwife's office for a 2-week postpartum visit for myself as well as a 2 week quick checkup for Alex (all handled by the midwives).

My weight is down to 190 by their scale (185 by mine...huh). Down from a top weight of 212, I believe it was. My tear is fully healed already (woohoo!).

Alex weighed in at a whopping 12lbs 6oz - almost 2 pounds heavier than his birthweight, in only 2 week! Wow! Melinda wasn't even that heavy at 1 month old!!

Alex does have quite a case of acne on his forehead right now. My midwife said it may be related to spicy foods, dairy, or chocolate. I've never heard that suggestion before - Melinda and Jacob both had baby acne, but from what I understood back then, it was from my hormones. On the one hand, I'm happy to know that I could possibly get rid of Alex's acne by cutting out some dairy and chocolate, but on the other hand - NOOOO!!! My chocolate ice cream?!?!?!? I absolutely crave those sweets!!!

Alex really hated the carseat at first. Cried from the instant he was set in it, until we finally took him out. But he's getting a little better. Now he'll still cry, but usually not right away, and usually he stops a few minutes into a drive, thank goodness. Which is definitely a blessing, since the drive down to the midwife's office is about 30 minutes. I would be an absolute nervous wreck if I had to endure 30 minutes of Alex screaming in the carseat!!

Trip to the park / New Bike

Jesse is home from work this week (yay!). We decided that since 1) this week is going to be very sunny and Jesse is home, and 2) Melinda has been practically begging for a "big girl" bike, that we'd go ahead and buy her the bike and let her try it at the park a few times this week.

So this afternoon, we all headed out to the park together. Melinda was a natural on the bike, figured out the brakes by backward-pedaling without any prompting and everything! Of course Mom and Dad were too distracted by trying to get out the door with 3 kids instead of 2, and forgot her helmet at home. Oops. Good thing she goes pretty slowly! She did fall down a couple times around corners (Jesse blames it on the training wheels that don't let you lean into a turn well enough), but managed to jump off the bike as it was falling so that she didn't get hurt at all.

After only a few minutes of biking, the kids wanted to switch to playing on the playground. Fair enough, I guess. The wind was pretty chilly, especially when a cloud happened to block out the sun, but Alex was super cozy in my carrier. In between swinging and sliding, Melinda and Jacob went crazy, picking a million and a half dandelions and stuffing them in their pockets, giving a few choice flowers to Mommy. We finished up the outing with a little bit more bike riding, which was honestly less bike riding and more flower picking.

A video taken from first arriving at the park:

Jacob rides a little ways:

Here comes Melinda around the bend!

Melinda smiles for the camera as she rides by.

Jacob gives up on pedaling and starts walking the bike:

Becky and Alex enjoying the sunshine (I'm wearing Alex in the carrier I sewed myself!). Notice Melinda pulling up her pants as she heads out to the dandelions (her skinny hips are constantly a problem with pants!), and one long-stemmed dandelion poking out from my pocket.

See what I mean about ending the outing with more picking flowers than riding bikes? Melinda was literally only pedaling about two rotations at a time before hopping off to pick more dandelions.