Here We Are

It's been thirty days since he was born and twenty four since my last surgery and I can almost kind of sort of pick Aston up the way that I want to.

Recovering can suck it. Still, it's PROGRESS, right?



(I guess I could have bothered with some lip gloss or something, but we're tooling around the house for the holiday weekend which also explains how awesome my bedhead looks. Holy. old. fart. But! I am making up for it by planning hella vacays on Pinterest for the fall.)



p.s. My camera lense broke this week as did our irrigation system, our dog gate, Andrew's zoom on his phone, and the brakes on our stroller. Do not touch me, I am contagious. And expensive.

Shammity Sham Shams

You probably never noticed the corduroy floor pillows I threw under the crib in Aston's nursery. I never pointed them out because I kind of die from their ugliness. I used to love their broken in comfortableness, but now, no. They're spent. They've been bugging me.

So. I bought these.





I paid $3.95 for both of them instead of $39.00 a piece. Found them at a thrift store across town a couple of months ago, original tags still on. Could hardly believe my luck. Machine washable, too, just in case a certain somebody diarrheas across the room. Anyway. Not bad, right?

In your face, Pottery Barn.

The Birth Of Aston, Part 1

At exactly 8.45 this morning Aston Robert Wood turned four weeks old. It's hard to believe.

No one told me how much I would love being a mother.

The photos below were from the first few hours of our journey together, some of the happiest moments I've ever experienced. It was an amazing and humbling and life altering day. Unfortunately, in the end, it was nightmarish. Around the time that the last of these photos were taken I began to realize that something had gone terribly wrong.

If only we knew then how right I was.



Humungous thanks to La Dolce Vita Studio for their extraordinary work capturing these images.

I hope to be able to finish writing down the story of Aston's birth some time soon, and I'll be posting it here. Please understand that I am in no condition to have visitors which is why I am trying to share pictures and details when I can. Thank you (sincerely) for all of the kind notes, words of support, and offers to help. I apologize if I haven't gotten back to you, but thanks to marathon milkings I am slowly working my way through my inbox and should be caught up around the time that Aston is headed to college. Maybe longer. Kid loves his tata juice.

Four Weeks

likes: milk. peeing in the shower. milk. espn sports center. more milk.

dislikes: hiccups. socks. swaddling.

hobbies: stroller riding. car riding. bjorn riding.

talents: laughing. toe touching. rolling to one side. sleeping.

exceptional talents: projectile pooping.

Crunchy Crab Rangoon

Made these. They're good. Eat them with this.





Crunchy Crab Rangoon

3/4 cup crab
2 tablespoon Hellmann's Light Mayonnaise
8 ounces low fat cream cheese
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 green onions, chopped
24 wonton wraps

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Apply cooking spray to muffin pans and press the wonton wrappers into cups. Spray tops with cooking spray. Bake for three minutes. Mix the rest of the ingredients together. Remove the wontons from the oven and fill each with the crab mixture. Place back into the oven for another five minutes. Top each with a few extra chopped green onions and serve immediately.




p.s. With me still primarily parked in bed, Andrew introduced me to American Ninja Warrior this week. Have you seen it? I am OBSESSED.

Andrew Model Two Point Oh

Andrew. January. 1980.



Aston. May. 2012.






I have nothing else to say.



p.s. Remember this? Freaky close, right? What do you think?

Poop Face

We were told babies have bowel movements six to eight times a day. THAT IS A LIE.

From the time Aston wakes up he poops, pees, eats from the left tata, poops, eats from the (lazy) right tata, pees, pees again before you can finish changing him, then farts after the diaper is securely closed just to get you to check one. more. time. And as soon as you do?

Hiroshima.

Then it's eighteen more hours of rinse and repeat. I am not kidding.

(The upside of all of this is that he sleeps for six hours a night.)

All of that to say that if we hadn't sprung for the BumGenius we'd probably be twenty grand or so into disposables by now. A few of you asked if the cloth diapering is working out and I can solidly say that it sooo is. Would totally recommend.

We also started making our own detergent at home, which is way less ambitious than it sounds. I love it because it works just as well as the liquid stuff I've been buying at ten bucks a pop, and I think lasts for, like, three decades or something.

So let's hope the Mayans got their dates mixed up.



(I won't bore you with a recipe since you can easily find a bazillion on Pinterest.)