Nerdy Suburban Mom

Reuven is 7 pounds 13 ounces already — a pound over his birth weight. Considering how frequently he guzzles milk, and how long he sleeps, it isn’t terribly surprising. He already looks much sturdier than he did at birth!

Unfortunately, he also has terrible heat rash, especially on his face (which looks uncannily like acne, and makes one wonder just how bad his complexion will be as a teenager). He also has terrible eye “goop” in his left eye, apparently a result of vernix in the tear ducts. He also has a raspberry birth mark on the back of his neck… which won’t be problematic if we remember to style his hair appropriately to hide it.

All told, he’s completely healthy, all his bits are intact, and he’s growing well. Next appointment won’t be for another six weeks, and then he gets to begin the fun of vaccinations!

I couldn’t be more proud of the way Lillian is handling her new role as Big Sister. Of course, it’s not perfect. She does get upset that she isn’t getting as much attention as before, and that it is slower in coming. She’s also begun to dread being alone, which can include sitting at the dining room table by herself while everyone else is on the couch (ten feet away). But there’s a critical point which makes me feel better about this — she blames us for the perceived lack of interest, and doesn’t blame Reuven for drawing us away from her. I can tell because if she’s sobbing over a minor injustice, she will go to him, give him a big hug and kiss, and immediately begin to feel better.

Whenever I pick her up at school, the other kids (from 1 1/2 years old up to 4) crowd around wanting to hold him. Lil makes sure to point out that she is his big sister, and is very helpful and keeps him safe and happy, so she gets to hold him all the time. She also finds noises he makes to be uproariously funny: “Mommy, he BURPED! Mommy, he FARTED! Mommy, he said MNNnnnrrrggg!” (Such things are fascinating to toddlers. I find a fair amount of amusement in him myself, to be completely honest.)

The downside of her being so close to him: they will be more apt to team up against me and Brett, and they’re just smart enough for that to be very, very dangerous…

Most children don’t climb trees when they’re less than a week old. In this day and age, it’s possible many children never climb trees at all. This does not, however, apply to Altschul children; we intend to have them in as many trees as possible over the course of their lifetimes, starting as early as possible.

“Climb” is a bit of a stretch in this case, since Reuven is still not capable of holding his head up without help (and wasn’t even capable of staying awake for this photo session). But you get the idea…

Breastmilk-poo is sweet smelling, especially compared to formula-poo (or solid-food-poo!). I probably wouldn’t make perfume or potpourri from it, but it’s clean and baby-related. It brings home the emotional memory and feeling of cuddling, loving, sweet little infant who hasn’t yet learned that the word “no” could exist, and trusts and loves absolutely…(I do wish, though, it wasn’t quite so sticky! Every time he poos, it gets everywhere and clings to everything it touches. Meconium is worse, but there’s something about the consistency that is really icky. I thought a baby girl’s crevices would be tougher to keep clean, but with a baby boy it all gets under the scrotum and you have to move everything around to clean, all the time hoping he doesn’t decide he’d really like to pee before you’ve gotten a fresh diaper on.)

Right now, I feel completely awesome. The delivery went perfectly, he’s a good sleeper, I’ve gotten rest and am proud of myself and my family… I hope this feeling stays and doesn’t turn into depression. His smell is part of that good feeling. Unfortunately, there’s no way I can think of to have the smell of breastmilk-poo on hand regularly — can you imagine asking an aromatherapy professional to duplicate that scent?