Glad tidings...
- Plus Two
- What a fertility adventure we had! Our children were eventually conceived through in vitro fertilization and were born in the fall of 2009. Julie is the biological mother of both kids... Diana was the gestational mother for our son and Julie was the gestational mother for our daughter [the first couple of blog entries provides more detail]. Together, we are one lucky family!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
On the go
We have become big advocates for baby carriers... Koen seems to enjoy them more than Simone but both have been rocked to sleep while the moms wander around the house. Both babies also very much enjoy a walk outside -- the trees, the fresh air, the new sights and sounds are all enthralling. Even better, they are all soothing and can guarantee a sleeping babe in a matter of minutes!
A new definition of multi-tasking
So most of you reading this blog have heard by now that Diana will be staying home with the wee ones while she is finishing graduate school -- the triumvirate of work, school & parenting seemed a bit too daunting. As such, Diana is learning to embrace a new definition of multi-tasking... Of course, at the moment this change requires little more than sitting on the couch with two beautiful babes in arms, but she expects life to look a little different after Julie returns to work on Jan 4.
Below are some pictures of this new venture. :-)
Below are some pictures of this new venture. :-)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
More random photos
From the past two weeks -- my how they've grown! On their Dec 11 check-up, Simone was 9 lbs 13 oz (four weeks old) and Koen tipped 11 lbs (six weeks old)... our newborns are moving into infancy...
Holiday photo shoot
OK, so an Anne Geddes photo shoot it was not, but we had a few giggles while snapping these pics...
If you would like to see all of the holiday photos, visit Julie's Face Book page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/julie.rivett), as there is a limit on the number of photos we can post per blog entry on this site.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thanks, Grandmere!
Grandmere Fulchiron went home to Ohio today, after giving our family a month's worth of her love, attention & time. She was a wonderful companion to have with us during these first few weeks -- Julie and Diana were able to rest (as much as possible!); the babes had an extra set of loving hands around to comfort & nurture them; and even the animals came to depend on her caretaking.Mom, we will *all* miss you. Thanks so much for everything!
Notes from the field
So while four weeks in to parenting is a little early to make pronouncements regarding our children’s personalities & propensities, we thought we'd pass along some tidbits of our daily life with the wee ones...
And since we know you're checking the blog for pictures, rather than our rambling musings, below are a few pictures from the past few weeks...
Julie & Simone
Simone's first sponge bath
The siblings, asleep
Diana, the wee ones & a book
- Things that we know will break our hearts later (and allow the kids to manipulate us shamelessly): Koen's impossibly long eye lashes & Simone's quivering chin.
- Both dear ones are firmly convinced that breastfeeding would be *much* better if they could have their hands in their mouths while nursing. They both appear resistant to compromise on this issue.
- Yoga balls rock for maintaining long-term baby-bop motion.
- Koen has a highly attuned sense of spatial awareness. In other words, he knows when you are laying him down an d he is NOT happy about it.
- Simone is really just partial to any soft-ish spot where she finds her head laid... crib, bassinet, exam table at doctor's office... really, she's pretty flexible.
- Koen digs nursing in the bathroom when it has a steamy, post-shower atmosphere. Well, let's be honest, Koen digs nursing just about anywhere, anytime.
- For those that are keeping track, Koen had his one month check up on Nov 30 and was 10 lbs, 3 oz. Simone had her two week check up at the same time and was 9 lbs, 7 oz.
- Simone also last her umbilical cord stub yesterday.
And since we know you're checking the blog for pictures, rather than our rambling musings, below are a few pictures from the past few weeks...
Julie & Simone
Simone's first sponge bath
The siblings, asleep
Diana, the wee ones & a bookMeditation on Expectations
Diana wrote the following earlier this year but forgot to post it....
Almost a year and a half ago, I was handed my infant nephew for the first time. As first impressions go, his was awe-inspiring in the way that babies tend to be. He was a-ma-zing and in that moment, that first quick impulse, my first thought was, “You are going to make the handsomest & smartest Harvard College president ever, why yes you are.” I believe that I may have even spoken those words out loud, in the midst of that first cooing fest.
My second thought ran something along the lines of, “where did that come from?!?!?” Which, thankfully, I definitely did NOT say out loud in front my brother & his wife.
This is not to say that my nephew isn’t going to be handsome, ‘cuz he’s already got numerous people wrapped around his adorable little finger.
And this isn’t to say that he couldn’t grow up to be the president of Harvard and be marvelous for the institution and remembered for all of history as the best and the brightest.
What was so discombobulating to me was my instantaneous transformation from a laid-back, come-as-you-are hippie-esque aunt to a prestige-fanning, high-demand ivy league aunt whispering a very specific set of expectations into my infant nephew’s ear. For goodness sake, I didn’t even have the decency to let the boy display a propensity towards anything before wishing a particular future onto his little life.
In that moment I understood how parents (and care-takers of all kinds) could amass expectations of the loftiest kind for children under their care. Unbidden, perhaps even unspoken, these goals and dreams of specific kinds of happiness and fulfillment have an existence all of their own.
As I look towards the future of my own parenting adventure, I am wary of this instinct towards expectations that I have uncovered in myself. I found have myself purposefully courting acceptance of the unknown-ness of what is & what will be – from labor & delivery to those first few weeks of parenthood and beyond. I can’t possibly know how I am going to react to those first contractions, what position the baby will be in when those contractions start, how easily (or not) he will traverse the birth canal, or any of the other variables that come with the birth process.
From everything that I have heard, kids are determined to have a life and a mind of their own, so any expectations I may build – consciously or no – will most likely be shattered along the way. So rather than mourning these expectations, rather than lamenting that “this [whatever this is in front of me] isn’t the way it was supposed to be”, I hope that I can be the type of mom that feels of the gifts of her children’s explorations, that is open to the always unfolding of that which is and that which will be.
Almost a year and a half ago, I was handed my infant nephew for the first time. As first impressions go, his was awe-inspiring in the way that babies tend to be. He was a-ma-zing and in that moment, that first quick impulse, my first thought was, “You are going to make the handsomest & smartest Harvard College president ever, why yes you are.” I believe that I may have even spoken those words out loud, in the midst of that first cooing fest.
My second thought ran something along the lines of, “where did that come from?!?!?” Which, thankfully, I definitely did NOT say out loud in front my brother & his wife.
This is not to say that my nephew isn’t going to be handsome, ‘cuz he’s already got numerous people wrapped around his adorable little finger.
And this isn’t to say that he couldn’t grow up to be the president of Harvard and be marvelous for the institution and remembered for all of history as the best and the brightest.
What was so discombobulating to me was my instantaneous transformation from a laid-back, come-as-you-are hippie-esque aunt to a prestige-fanning, high-demand ivy league aunt whispering a very specific set of expectations into my infant nephew’s ear. For goodness sake, I didn’t even have the decency to let the boy display a propensity towards anything before wishing a particular future onto his little life.
In that moment I understood how parents (and care-takers of all kinds) could amass expectations of the loftiest kind for children under their care. Unbidden, perhaps even unspoken, these goals and dreams of specific kinds of happiness and fulfillment have an existence all of their own.
As I look towards the future of my own parenting adventure, I am wary of this instinct towards expectations that I have uncovered in myself. I found have myself purposefully courting acceptance of the unknown-ness of what is & what will be – from labor & delivery to those first few weeks of parenthood and beyond. I can’t possibly know how I am going to react to those first contractions, what position the baby will be in when those contractions start, how easily (or not) he will traverse the birth canal, or any of the other variables that come with the birth process.
From everything that I have heard, kids are determined to have a life and a mind of their own, so any expectations I may build – consciously or no – will most likely be shattered along the way. So rather than mourning these expectations, rather than lamenting that “this [whatever this is in front of me] isn’t the way it was supposed to be”, I hope that I can be the type of mom that feels of the gifts of her children’s explorations, that is open to the always unfolding of that which is and that which will be.
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