A late night rant by a new parent. LOL

Now that I post this...a couple of months later, of course...it's funny how your whole idea of life, responsibilities and the 'essence' of who you are and what you care about changes once you have a child. This one still makes me giggle as I painstakingly recall that night and still silently say to myself when I see young singles or pregnant women graze our block....'Just you wait. And, yes, as I heard many times before the arrival of Bee - enjoy [the stupidity] now.'....

Hoboken, New Jersey is a really nice neighborhood with prices for rental or purchase is comparable to NYC's prestigious West Village or even Brooklyn's Park Slope. The city is peppered with lovable local shops, parks, and beautiful views of the city. The cohabitants; however, are of an interesting sort - one that Jason and I find ourselves not normally fitting into but enjoy it for the most part due to its safety. The smallest majority would be the original Hobokenites who you can still see from time to time - namely, the Italians or some Irish. The newest gentrification includes the usual...the soccer moms/dads (ie, young families), the yuppies, and sure, we have a college but its Stevens Institute for Technology (so, let's face it, the more behaved, sedated, intellectual type of college student - they tend to stick to their area on the cliffs anyway).

It's 2:45 AM on a Friday, nay, Saturday morning and we just put Olivia Bee to bed after her second feeding in the midst of a growth spurt meaning we will probably be up every 45 minutes to an hour after this (and were already thanking our lucky stars that this was only the second time tonight waking and we had a total of ABOUT 6 hours sleep...last night was 3). We were discussing whether to stick with the SwaddleMe's or to make a first purchase of the Miracle Blanket - for those not hip to the lingo these are brands of swaddlers, *ahem*,baby straitjackets, to aid in their sleep. We were exhausted...of course, this is not what Mr. newest-junior-analyst on Wall Street was feeling on a cool summer morning...

No, he was thinking more along the lines 'Whoooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!....(I make more money than I ever imagined, glad I majored in Psychology and Dad got me this job, time to do a mating call...hopefully she has really tight f*ck me pants on and no underwear - another college staple somehow recreated and desperately held on to during Hoboken's nicest of spring/summer weekends). In retaliation, of course, Olivia Bee thinks 'WTF?!?' and revisits one of her favourite crying spouts in the key of C.

So, THANK YOU, young twentysomething yuppie neighbor. I sincerely hope you are proud of yourself. I hope that you were able to bag the bird and, perhaps, by accident or grace of God, she becomes pregnant. Perhaps you two attempt a relationship and get married for the 'sake of the child'. By this time I would assume and hope that you have moved on to the Upper East Side where your concerns are not for any inconsiderate neighbors but whether your partner is loyal or not.

....as you can see, I never finished this post; however, have moved on from the bitterness due to lack of sleep. Now, I relish the time I have left 24/7 with our little Bee....LOL

Fun/Not Fun, A Day in the Life, Random Update...

This may be long or short...I guess we will see how long Olivia allows me both hands to type...Right now, Jason is trying to get her 'milk drunk/stoned' so she will pass out until about midnight...well, preferably 1 or 2....and if we're lucky - all night HAHA!

STATUS: Olivia Bee is now 7 weeks and 1 day old + approximately 10 lbs.

FUN THINGS
smiling in response to you
imitating your faces and your 'cooing'
being able to wear your baby in a carrier or put her down for an hour
'war stories' (ie, explosive poop, vomit flowing from your hair down to your chest and not knowing it, etc.)
vintage dresses on babies
photoshoots + time spent with kirsten (!)

NOT FUN THINGS
growth spurts/growing pains that screw up the baby and everyone's schedule for a week at a time + not being able to comfort your baby knowing she's uncomfortable from growing
'war stories' when they happen

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A BEE
When we're not going through a growth spurt (which is normally every couple of weeks), our little Olivia Bee is a perfect angel. Here's our NORMAL schedule...
430-730/830 AM: Co-sleep/freestyle breastfeeding (Dad leaves for work by 500)
730-900 AM: Saying 'Good morning' to the world/morning errands; sing songs with Mom as she eats breakfast
900/930-1000/1030 AM: Morning nap
1000/1030-1100/1130: freestyle breastfeeding/light napping
1130-1230: sing songs with Mom while being walked around the house for afternoon errands; Mom eats lunch
1230-200: freestyle breastfeeding; afternoon nap
200-400: Daddy is home (!); Mom does more errands/showers
500: Dinner for the folks
600: walking around town (weather permitting)
700: Jeopardy!; bathtime (every other day); feeding and prep for bed
800: Olivia Bee to bed
1200/130: Olivia Bee wakes for first feeding (sometime within these hours)
230/330: Olivia Bee wakes for second feeding (sometime within these hours)
....and we do it all over again!!!

RANDOM UPDATE
We have been busy planning our little Bee's christening for the end of the month.

This week my friend August will be staying with us as he searches for an apartment for he and his lady friend as they make their big move back east from Seattle.

I still have about 15 lbs. to lose. Slowly but surely....just got the clearance from le docteur that everything has healed nicely and I can start working out...

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT is the BEST show ever!

Olivia's favourite lullaby songs:
ETERNAL FLAME (best to soothe)by The Bangles
ANGEL (best to soothe) by Sarah Mclachlan
MAYBE (best for sing-along/to get her to talk) from ANNIE soundtrack
SANDY(best to grab attention)from ANNIE soundtrack
PART OF YOUR WORLD (best for bath time)from THE LITTLE MERMAID
CLOSER TO ME (ballad version by Mom) (best to soothe in kitchen) by LoveApple
SIP YOUR CIDER (best for bath time)Girl Scouts campfire song

SPEECHLESS

Well, Kirsten...you've done it.
I am at a loss of words and Jason is over here crying like a baby [and Olivia is really crying like a baby].

Now I have to live up to my writing skillz and entertain all of your friends, clients, and family who may stumble across our little world. Hahaha!

Seriously....I don't know what to say.
You've captured us in a way we could never have thought imaginable. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
We CANNOT wait to have you up north. Our door is always open!

And...to those of you sitting here scratching your head in confusion wondering why this is my first post sans apologies for my absence...
Motherhood is cool.
Sleep is AWESOME.
We can talk later....instead, focus on the pictures below. Just a few samples of our DEAR FRIEND, Kirsten Lewis of Innate Photo, who also photographed our wedding + truly wins over our heart with every email, visit, and picture we are able to capture with her!
Also, check out her BLOG....we're featured today - with plugs for Jason's artwork, our music, and blog!

WE HEART YOU BIG TIME, TOO, LADY!!!

xoxo

Finding a schedule.

Dear Friends,

It has been a month since our last post + please don't think we have been forgetting about you. It is just that we are working really hard trying to get Olivia on a schedule that works for us and "blogging" isn't on top of that list.

However, I do keep up-to-date with lots and lots of pictures and have been posting them on my Flickr site. So, I will leave you with that link below. ( You can just click on any image to bring you to the site)

Hopefully, ( for your sake) Melanie will starting writing again soon. I am a lousy blogger + I can only imagine what motherly scriptures she could conjure up on the things that we have been going through these past six weeks.

Till then,
xo
jason + melanie + little bee THREE

www.flickr.com underneathmytree's Olivia Bee Sposa photoset