52: a portrait a week | Week 4

Ralphie learned how to roll over this week.

He did it for the first time on our bed yesterday. It happened so quickly, and he looked a little confused afterwards, like, "Why am I facing this direction now?" I squealed and clapped, and then scooped him up for a long snuggle because he's growing so fast all of a sudden. I kissed his fat cheeks and smelled his big ol' head. You know, mom stuff.

I wanted to make sure the whole rolling over situation wasn't just a fluke, so we tried again today during tummy time. I was playing my Sound of Music record, and he fussed for a while until Climb Every Mountain came on. Suddenly he started flippin' over like a fish. Ah, the power of an inspirational song! Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream, Ralphie!

Mostly, I'm just glad that he gave me a good memory to go with that song. Because everyone knows that Climb Every Mountain is the yawn of that musical.

Anyway, I think part of the point of this whole portrait series is to take just one photo a week, but I can't possibly do that when I have a baby that looks like this:

Oh sweet boy, I love you!

sick days

I'd like a do-over for this past weekend, dudes.

A fever and chills knocked me out on Saturday, and then, to my despair, Ryan got the stomach flu on Sunday.

The stomach flu.

When I was a child, there was nothing that could ruin a day faster than someone, anyone, throwing up. It paralyzed me with fear. And as I got older, I assumed that that fear would go away.

NOPE, STILL SCARED.

Poor Ryan was suck in bed all day Sunday and Monday. It was a gloomy and quiet couple of days. Eventually he felt well enough to eat some bland food-- noodles and toast and bananas. I finally let him hold Ralphie last night and we were all a happier bunch after that. Having a sick husband is such a bummer. I was lonely!

But Ryan got up bright and early this morning, shaved his face, and went off to work looking fresh as a daisy.   It's warm and rainy here today, and outside smells like spring! When Ralph and I walked past the little school in our neighborhood this morning, the kids that were out for recess had shed their winter coats and tossed them into giant piles by the school doors. And while Ralphie napped, I grabbed the seed catalogs that have been coming in the mail and started to plan a little garden.

Things are looking up.

sketchbook friday {No. 2}

Eh.

I don't love it. In fact, every time I look at it, I hear the "pppffffftthhhhh" sound of a deflating balloon. It's not even what I wanted to paint this week, but Ralphie is teething and is super mad about it AND I have an achey, chilly cold and we all know what happened on Monday and are you feeling sorry for me yet? I just didn't have enough time to work on anything this week, so a sloppy hand-lettered quote is what I'm giving you. Bet you've never seen that on the internet before! I debated even putting it up, because why would I post something that I don't feel proud of? But I said I'd do it, and it's only the second week of Sketchbook Friday, and I didn't want to fail in the second week.

So here ya go. Pppfffftthh.

I'll try harder next week. Promise. But for now, Ralph is napping and I'm going to join him.
PS: We all get 10 points if someone can tell me what movie this quote is from. One of my faves!

52: A portrait a week | Week 3

As of yesterday, Ralphie is officially 3 months old.

His once-wrinkly-fingers have plumped. His legs are roly-poly. All that precious downy newborn fuzz that clung to his teeny shoulders has mostly disappeared. He smiles and coos and is starting to get really fun.

He's drooly and sucking on his fat fists, and a tiny white bump has formed on his bottom gums. A tooth! It's coming!

My newborn has turned into an infant, and my new-mom heart is crying like a baby over it.

The good news is that those funny little hairs on his ears that were there the morning he was born are still hanging on for dear life. Those hairs are still on my side. Thanks guys.

The fire department came :: A very long timeline of the stupid things that happened yesterday

7:25am: Ralph wakes up with an atrocious diaper. I don't want to be the mom who blogs about her baby's poo, but I will tell you that this diaper required an immediate bath and the washing of many linens. Many, many linens.

7:30am: Ralph happily splashes in the sink.
7:45am: Ryan leaves for work, late.
10:45am: I wake a napping Ralphie, and struggle to squish him into his bear suit and his car seat. Remember that it's only 5 degrees outside. Add an extra hat.
10:50am: Ryan picks us up, we head to the baby dermatologist for a check-up on Ralph's strawberry birthmarks.
11:15am: Arrive at the hospital.
11:30am: Are informed that the doctor is running 45 minutes late.
12:00pm: We're finally called back into a room. The nurse instructs us to strip Ralph down to his diaper and dress him up in a doll-sized hospital gown.
12:02pm: Take a million photos of Ralph in the hospital gown, because it's super adorable.

12:40pm: Doctors and nurses finally show up. Ralph charms and coos at them all, except for the scary nurse who obviously ate green peppers for lunch. (Big time tears.)
1:15pm: Ryan drops us off at home, I nurse Ralph, eat lunch.
2:30pm: Ralph goes down for a nap, I tackle the dishes.
3:15pm: Feel sleepy, sit down. Check Pinterest.
3:20pm: Smoke alarm in the stairway beeps.
3:22pm: Smoke alarm beeps again. My brain goes into Crazy Mom Mode, think about people dying in their houses from carbon monoxide, and gosh, I am sleepy. And is that a headache I feel?
3:23pm: Call Ryan, ask if smoke alarm is also a carbon monoxide detector. Am instructed to fetch the other detector from the basement. Bring it upstairs. It beeps four times.
3:24pm: Detector is still beeping. CARBON MONOXIDE. Call brother-in-law Jason, who has the day off, ask him to come over to inspect.
3:25pm: Scoop Ralphie up from his crib, take him downstairs, open front door and fan 5 degree fresh air into the house. An irritated Ralph screams in protest.
3:26pm: Call Ryan again, tell him to come home.
3:27pm: Detector is still beeping. Google "What to do if carbon monoxide detector is beeping." Panic. Call fire department. A recorded message says they're closed for MLK day.
3:28pm: Call 911 (OH YES I DID.) Jason shows up in his sweatpants, looks bewildered. I shove a still-crying Ralphie into his arms while explaining to the 911 dispatcher that it's not really an emergency but my carbon monoxide detector is beeping and I can't take my baby outside in the 5 degree weather and I called the fire department and they're closed? and-- The dispatcher cuts me off, says the fire department is never closed. I try not to lose it.
3:29pm: Dispatcher connects me to a nicer dispatcher who tells me that the fire department is on it's way.
3:30pm: Hang up. Explain to Jason what the rock is going on, tell him the fire department is coming. Maybe cry a little bit.
3:31pm: Hear sirens. A fire truck with whirling lights screeches to a halt in front of the house. Two firemen jump out and run up to the house. ONE OF THEM HAS AN AXE. Die of embarrassment  (But hey, quick response time, guys!)
3:32pm: The friendly firemen inspect all 3 floors of the house, determine that all 3 floors have carbon monoxide levels of zero. Carbon monoxide detector is mysteriously not beeping anymore?
3:35pm: It is declared that the two detectors beeping at the same time was merely a strange coincidence. I sheepishly apologize to all. And then I take a bunch of photos of the firemen to show Ryan later. Firemen exit the house and slowly drive their giant truck away.
3:40pm: Jason makes sure I am ok, hands me a wide-eyed Ralphie, laughs at me, leaves.
3:41pm: Ryan finally gets home. I tell him what happened. He doesn't believe me until I show him the pictures. He asks if I'm ok. Then laughs at me.
4:25pm: We go to Target, pick up a pizza and a carton of ice cream.
5:30pm: Come home, eat pizza, give up on the remainder of the day.

AND THUS CONCLUDES THE STUPIDEST DAY EVER.

sketchbook friday {No.1}

Technically this is not in my sketchbook. It's a gouache painting on a piece of brown paper. But I could totally tape in into my sketchbook, if we were picky. (We aren't picky, are we?)

I painted this with the intent of putting it in Ralphie's room, but it ended up looking pretty girly. I've already got plans to try again for next week. Think boy, Amelia. Think boy!

In other news, this week took forever, didn't it? I'm so glad it's Friday. Next week is supposed to be so cold-- in the single digits! So I'm going to try and spend as much time as possible out and about with the boys this weekend before we're forced back inside on Monday.

Happy weekend! Let's party.

happy pictures

1. Homemade Christmas decorations that didn't make the cut, but are workin' for January.
2. A happy baby that would rather suck on his fists than take a nap.
3. Our bedroom window. | On Saturday mornings we like to pull back the curtains and stare out at the trees, while arguing back and forth about who has to get out of bed and go downstairs to start the coffee.
4. Victory.
5. Lunch for two. | One of the tastier healthy meals we've eaten this week. (Better than the dry chicken I made on Tuesday night.) We're trying pretty hard to stop using the new parent excuse to eat pizza and ice cream every night. It hasn't been too difficult, but last night we were both in bed, listing off the things we wished we could eat at that very moment. "Culver's chicken tenders. Steak. Chocolate cake..."
6. Post diaper change play time in the nursery. | Doesn't that pom pom in Ryan's reflection look like a little yellow beard?
7. A freshly bathed and honey-scented baby. | Bath time is everybody's favorite part of the day in this house.