"It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's MY HAND" and "Yes, I'm Real"

If Mathew and Renee could talk, this is what I think they would have said on the grand event of their one month birthday.

"Yes, I'm real"
I'll start with Renee. Her one month birthday was marked by an outing to Mom's night out. She did brilliantly - sleeping through dinner waking up after I had eaten, ready to nurse, she stayed awake through dessert while I nursed Matthew. When we were ready to leave (OK 5 minutes before the parking lot closed!) one of my friends pushed Matthew in the stroller while I walked with another friend holding Renee in my arms as we walked to the car. She was facing out, tummy on my arm so she had a great view of the world and people could see her well. We got lots of smiles and "she's so cute" comments. But there were two people who made a really odd comment. The first was a man, mid-forties, disheveled, walked as if he had been drinking, or maybe smoking, something. He looked at Renee and asked me if she was real! He did it in a very nice way - "she's so cute, is she a real baby" type of comment. I chalked it up to whatever he may have been drinking or smoking. Two blocks later as we walked past a patio, and a woman said to her friend "look at that, she's so cute, do you think she's real". I couldn't believe it - two people making that very odd comment - do they really think 35 year old women walk around holding baby dolls? And do baby dolls really look like one-month old Renee?

Had Renee been able to talk, I think she would have looked right at both of them and either said "Yes, I'm real" and keep right on walking or come up with a witty comment that would have left them speechless.

"It's a bird, it's a plane, it's my hand"
So after a great night out with my friends, Matthew had a really rough night crying and feeding on and off until 5 am! Renee's night wasn't great wither, but not as tough as Matthew's. But, in the midst of all the crying fits, he had a moment of quiet and lying on our bed he looked up at his hand and moved it across his line of sight slowly and deliberately and then put it in his mouth! It was one of those time that you forget that it's 4 am and that you only slept 4 hours the night before and no hours yet tonight, because you are so thankful that you were able to witness that moment.


Today, Saturday, was our first day at home as a family of five without help from anyone and I think we did pretty well. Matthew, Renee and I woke up at 8 (seems indulgent, but remember we went to sleep at 5) and Samuel was already up with Marc. We went out for breakfast, came home to feed Matthew and Renee and play with Samuel's water table (sorry, no pics I had both hands completely full). Matthew, Renee, Samuel and I all napped and we went out for dinner. At Samuel's request we had pizza and sat by the window, Matthew and Renee slept through the meal. After bath (for Samuel and Matthew) and bed time, at 3 kid are currently asleep so I'm off to take a shower. Not bad. I hope the night is better than last night.