The last guest has departed. A moment of peaceful quiet here as Julius naps and Miles is out with his daddy so I can get a few things done. I’ve been squeezing in card orders whenever I’ve gotten a little free time but haven’t had much time to write in the last few weeks. Visitors always want to be helpful and unobtrusive, but isn’t it always impossible to NOT feel like you have to entertain?

I don’t have many organized thoughts but I do have a few photos to share while we get back to normal around here. I have actually taken more pics of Miles than Julius since the baby was born, because usually I’m holding Julius or he’s strapped to my chest! Rarest of all are photos of me with Julius because of course I am usually holding him AND manning the camera. Here’s a self portrait:

Among the many crazy things that have come up this month was Russell getting ANOTHER bladder infection. We went back to our old vet after an ATROCIOUS experience with Banfield, and found out he has a bladder stone. UGH. NO. $300 later we have a diagnosis and an expensive prescription food he has to eat for the rest of his life and are just praying the food dissolves the stone because if he needs surgery, I am going to have to sell one of these babies, and I’ve grown pretty attached to them.

Also? As if things weren’t stressful enough lately, Julius caught a cold. I kind of thought that might happen with all of the people coming to visit and the early outings to here there and everywhere, but the reality of having a sick newborn is even worse than I’d imagined. He’s already kind of a snorty, grunty baby, so add in some nasal congestion and you get loooong sleepless nights. Sitting up listening to him struggle to breathe and cough on mucus was absolutely miserable. He never spiked a fever so I kept him home from the doctor and just did what I could with saline drops and nose suckers. I *think* he’s almost out of the woods.

But just as Julius regained the ability to sleep normally at night (normally for a newborn, of course), Miles lost it. He was up for hours last night randomly screaming. No idea what was wrong. Finally we hit on the idea of giving him some ibuprofen, because sometimes these brilliant solutions are a little slow coming at 3 am. That finally helped him to sleep. Today he has a cut on his fingertip with a little flappy skin bit that is causing an unending stream of whining and I can’t convince him that putting a bandaid on it will make it better.

But hey. It’s not all doom and gloom around here…. we’re just a little bit in the weeds lately. We’ve also had a lot of fun painting, making cookies, snuggling, giving the baby baths (oh man, “baby a bath?” is now a daily request), and playing with dog food (if you haven’t stuck your arm in a big bag of kibble and sifted it through your fingers for at least 20 minutes, you haven’t lived!). We’ve definitely hit the ground running on our “new normal,” but we’re holding on and still smiling.

(theeisforerin on Instagram)