Little feet

Some days are easier than others. Some days are harder. And it seems like whenever we have an easy day, it's followed by a hard day. Today was hard. Augie woke up in a bad mood very early (4am), and James went to bed with him while I finished a nursing session with Leif, and then I swapped in to be with Augie. It's clear that Augie misses me a bit, especially at night, so we try for me to go in with him whenever he's calling (he's been waking more now that we have a newborn in the house). I calmed Augie down (by nursing him) and we all went back to sleep, and then at 7-something James swapped in to be with Augie so I could nurse Leif again, and then we all slept until 9am. So that's not a bad wake-up time, but that's a lot of bed-swapping and baby-feeding.

On top of the exhaustion I'm feeling a little out of it, with some pain and bleeding (I've been in touch with the hospital), so I've essentially been out of commission with helping take care of Augie. James has been working very hard and visiting lots of parks the last two days.

BUT. Despite the fatigue and the pain and the constant gnawing at my breasts by these two suckling babes, we are so happy. Being around a newborn, smelling him, holding his helpless little body in my arms, is wonderful, awe-inspiring, and so, so fulfilling. And Augie gets funnier and cheekier every day, and more loving, and we're all bathed in his kisses and hugs and silly games (especially Leif!). We know how lucky we are, and how amazing these two little creatures are, and we remind ourselves and each other all the time.

I'd love to get photos like this (or the toddler equivalent) of Augie, but that one never sits still. Never. Sits. Still.

Napping with my babies

Just one picture for you today. I had been napping with Leif when Augie woke up from his nap and James brought him to bed with us:

His name

I don't have any pictures for you today, but I do have an announcement: we named the baby! Ready?

Leif William Macrae Watson

Leif is pronounced "leaf" in English, "lafe" (rhymes with "safe") in Swedish, and several other ways in several other languages. We like both the "leaf" and "lafe" pronunciations, though we've mostly been using "leaf". When we get angry with him, we use the Icelandic version: Leifur. We've never gotten angry with him.

And FYI, August has recovered. By the time he woke up the morning after he was sent home from dagis he was much better, but we kept him home with us for another day. He went back to school today (which he did NOT appreciate). He's not eating much and he's sleeping a lot, but he's otherwise running around like normal and being his goofy self, so hopefully he'll sleep well this weekend and get completely over whatever bug got him.

Sick day

This afternoon, we had a home visit with a nurse from the pediatrician's office. Isn't that great? - here in Sweden, your first appointment with your pediatrician's office is held in your home, so you don't have to haul the little one out into the wild while you're still healing and getting used to each other. The nurse brought a sling and hand-held scale with her, and she wrapped Dai-Dai in the sling and lifted him up mid-air. They want babies to gain about 150 grams per week; Baby Boy has gained 280 since he was weighed last week, so we're doing just fine. (The nurse had questioned whether I thought I was making enough milk to feed both boys - ha!). He's up to 3,910 grams or so now. Next week we'll go into the office (about four blocks away) for him to be weighed and measured; we won't see the actual pediatrician, unless there's a problem, until the second or third month. Nurses do the basic exams and vaccines here.

Sadly, shortly before the nurse came around, dagis called to say that Augie had a fever and we should come pick him up. Apparently there's something going around the school. When he came home he seemed just fine to us, but when he woke up from his nap he was hot. He was still running and goofing around like normal, so we packed up and took the boys for a walk around Långholmen. When we got outside we realized that we'd totally misjudged the weather and it was much warmer than we'd thought. Both boys were totally overdressed.

This picture makes him look deceptively large; you can't quite tell that his arms and legs are still pulled in close to his body and the arms and legs of the bear suit are empty!

We knew Augie wasn't feeling well when we got to the beach and unclipped him from the stroller: he didn't want to get out. That's the first time ever that he hasn't wanted to run around and play.

This is what happened when we got home. He was still in a good mood, talking and smiling, but he was lying on the floor:

And then while Baba was making dinner - look how red his cheeks are!:

The upside to all of this is that we got to spend some quiet time snuggling with Augie; normally he's never still, and even reading books together can be an athletic event. But today he just lay in bed with me while I read books to him, and let us massage his back and stroke his hair. Oh, my sick baby. Here's hoping the fever breaks tonight and he wakes tomorrow feeling at least a little bit better.

Getting in the groove

All's well over here. We're settling into a comfortable groove and everyone is getting used to each other. Two nights ago we had a really rough night, with Augie wetting through his diaper around 4am and then coming into our bed and crying until I nursed him (I don't nurse him overnight anymore), which woke up Dai-Dai, and then Augie wouldn't go back to sleep...the next day was tough. But last night was much better, with Dai-Dai nursing only a couple times overnight, and Augie woke around 4 o'clock again but I took him back to his room and we slept together until 6:30 (6:30! - that feels like such a luxury these days), then enjoyed a leisurely morning together of breakfast and books while Baba slept with Dai-Dai. Preschool preparation and drop-off were much more difficult today than they have been in quite a while, though - we think it's because Augie spent so much time alone with me this morning, which he doesn't get a lot of lately, and that made it harder for him to go away in the morning.

We gave Dai-Dai (official name coming soon!) his first washing today - they don't wash at the hospital, and we've been waiting for his cord stump to fall off. Here are some pictures of him all squeaky clean at one week old (+ one day).

Autumn in Stockholm

I blinked, and autumn is here. No, that's not quite right: I birthed a baby and then cocooned for a week, and when I emerged, autumn had arrived. We went on our first family walk this afternoon, to the top of Långholmen, and admired the leaf-littered trails and colorful trees. Ah Mah left today, so now it's just the four of us. It was so helpful having her here, and I know that Augie loved getting to know her; he's been calling for her all afternoon! I imagine he will for the next few days, even though we explained that she was leaving and she said goodbye. It was great for us, too, to see the relationship building between them and to see him get attached to someone other than us. It was also great to have our tummies filled with delicious food every day! Thank you for visiting us Ah Mah!

We're having so much fun with Augie these days, who's an absolute delight and a real funnyman. I'm hoping to write more about him in the next few days, as I haven't done a proper update in ages. We're reveling in the little boy (person!) he's becoming just as we're reveling in getting to know the little guy who came to us last week (name coming soon!). As exhausted as we are, we also know how blessed we are to have these two little souls with us.

My three boys

Getting acquainted

Some photos of us all getting acquainted with the new arrival.

The grand arrival

After just over 24 hours of prelabor signs and warnings, I went into labor on the afternoon of Monday, September 29. At 11:03pm, Baby Boy Watson came to us. He weighed 8lbs 7oz and measured 20 inches long. He remains nameless and stateless. August has taken well to his Dai Dai (little brother), showering him with kisses, hats and diapers. More pictures and more about the birth to come.

Trial runs

(I had scheduled this post to publish on Monday morning, but it never did. It's old news now!)

Sunday morning I woke up thinking that maybe my water had broken and that labor would be starting soon. We spent the morning waiting for something (namely, contractions) to happen. By noontime, nothing seemed to be going on, so we went to the hospital/birthing center to make sure everything was okay. They monitored the baby (heartbeat fine) and did a brief exam on me (nothing doing), and sent us home. The midwife thinks that it's likely things will get going in the next few days, that my body's just starting to get warmed up. So still we wait.

It was good to have a trial run for all of us though, as we've chosen to give birth somewhere we'd never been prior to this afternoon. It's a swanky place, as far as hospitals/birthing centers are concerned, and the staff was great. And Augie woke up from his nap to find Mama and Baba gone, and Ah Mah here to take care of him. The two of them did well together, and they'll be fine when the real thing happens.

I made James take a few pictures of me (it's always so hard to get him to take pictures of me!), in what we hope are the last days/hours of my pregnancy. I really think I'm getting bigger by the day.

I think this is my widest view:

This is kinda how I'm feeling these days:

Responding to some "direction" from James:

And here's Augie's trial run on the potty:

Augie and Anna

Augie has a doll named Anna. We got her for him before we left the US, as a way to help him begin to understand that he's about to have a little baby sibling. He was mildly interested in her until recently, and now he's really taken to her. He feeds her (tries to put raisins and forks into her mouth), changes her diaper (I've been wrapping little newborn-sized diapers around her), has her suck her thumb (which is weird because he doesn't do that) and puts her to sleep (usually with a blanket over her, sometimes by jamming his fingers into her eyes so she'll close them). Every now and then we'll be in the middle of something and he'll realize she isn't there; he'll shout "Anna!" and go get her. Yesterday we went walking and he took her with us.

He carried her from bench to bench:

Then, when we got to the workout area, he had her do some exercises:

Baking and painting

Yesterday afternoon, after our outing to Gamla Stan and Augie's nap, Augie got to bake with Ah Mah and paint with Baba.