long overdue family-ramble

gus is the laughin’-est kid i ever have seen. he sees mairin, he laughs. he sees his dad, he laughs. (he sees me, he lunges for my breasts, but that’s a whole ‘nother issue.) you blow on his face, he laughs. he wakes up in the morning laughing. and blowing raspberries. which makes him laugh. the kid is amazing. perfect in every way.

mairin is going to be the death of all of us. she has turned into the world’s most loving toddler and smothers everybody with affection. and i do mean smother: she will jump on top of eamon, wrap her chubby arms around his neck, and croon “i love you beebee, beebee-noni-eemon i love you.” i tell her to be gentle. she turns on me with a glare: “i am being gentle, mommy.” and then i am pronounced “gabba-mommy” which sometimes seems to be a step down from “noni-mommy,” but which still comes complete with hug so i think it’s okay.

mairin and eamon are now sharing a room, with mairin bribed out of her crib and into her big-girl bed with the promise of a sticker every morning that she gets up after spending the night in the bed. “mairin’s big-girl sticker chart” has the place of prominence in our entryway, and she has earned herself two stickers in two nights. not too shabby, little girl. of course, she did wake up at 2:24 this morning crying for blueberries, which woke the entire family.

which ruined the first good night’s sleep any of us has had in a week. eamon has decided that while being 6 months is pretty cool, and sitting up and rolling over and chewing his toes are great ways to while away the hours, he would prefer, thank you very much, to spend his days eating like a real  infant: on the breast, every two hours, day or night. especially night. by last sunday i was so frazzled that there was talk of me abandoning the whole stupid family idea and striking out on my own, somewhere, anywhere, without children, so help me god. i’m better now, thanks for asking.

which is partly thanks to shannon, who ordered me A WHOLE BOX OF JENI’S ICE CREAM for my birthday, and so now has renewed status as THE BEST PARTNER EVER (a status he lost due to my sleep deprivation, see above). the box came yesterday, and i had the grace to share my belgian milk chocolate with mairin, leo and leo’s mama while we all sat outside enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.

tomorrow i am taking the day off work to test-drive a new decade. i started out loving my 30s but they got kind of questionable for a while there and they’ve ended with a deafening thud. i’m really forward to the fresh start.