Sri Lanka Photos

So the Sri Lanka Photos are on snapfish. If you have a snapfish account i'll gladly share them with you just lemme know. Other than that, I'll try to get a couple of them up on the blog eventually...

two is as bad as one... or worse...

We're transitioning... it's not easy. You would think that being relatively well seasoned parents we'd be prepared for the addition of an infant. Not precisely the case. One child: perfectly manageable by one adult. Two children: takes a well organized, not easily flustered, energetic, patient, and good humored adult. While i'm relatively well organized (or so i'd like to believe) I do not consider myself as having any of the other assets, as much as i wish i did... So here's to hoping i can cultivate all those other things and in quick succession.

All that said, we're doing relatively well. Sometimes it seems very do-able and other times it's a truely daunting task - raising these two completely dependent small people to be nice, caring, funny, happy individuals who are capable of taking care of themselves and hopefully others as well... They (whoever the ambiguous "they" may be) say that the goal of parenting is to raise your children to be people you like. I gotta say at times i don't particularly like my children right now... Don't get me wrong I do love them fiercely... but sometimes when they're both screaming, poopy, hungry, angry, defiant, challenging, and sleepless i'm pretty sure that success is simply not dropping everything handing Asa to Esther and heading west as fast as my feet can possibly carry me. Which is a nice little segue into sharing that i've been (probably as part of some deep seeded self-destructive notion) nostalgic for Arizona lately. It could be the Barbara Kingsolver Essays i'm reading (High Tide in Tucson - I highly recommend it! - and Thanks Terri!!!!), it could be the recent reiteration of the shackles and bonds of parenthood that leave me realizing how long it will be before things like backpacking, rock climbing, going to the bathroom alone, not wearing bras with with extra hooks and latches (which incidentally resemble, ironically, s&m wear), and having to pack as though we were attempting to survive some outlandish natural disaster just to get to and from the grocery store...

Well, when a hungry wee'un calls. The boobs must answer. I'm off...

Our wee 'un

Asa Kiernan Jones Matthews

Born at 2:30am on January 10th 2009. Total length of labor was 13 hours. Only 9 of which were in earnest and only 5 of which were pretty hard.

Arrived at the birth center at 12:30am and he was born 2 hours later after about 6 pushes.
6lbs 7 oz, 19inches long, 13cm head, nursed right away, and is so mellow compared to his big sister.

Everyone is doing really well. Libby and Asa are resting and recovering. Esther is soooo proud and a little overwhelmed. We're a little worried about Ben, he hasn't had much sleep and keeps getting fits of the giggles.

Love to you all.
And we're still not really answering the phone but we are thinking of all of you and can't wait for you to meet him.

Early Labor

We're in early labor. Yippie!! hopefully we'll be meeting our newest youngun' before the weekend is out.

We're not answering our phone though, sorry... not feeling much like chatting... just burrowing in and hunkering down...

Brushing up...

9 months and 2 days...
is it just me or do the sink and i have extremely complementary shapes?

gotta love that guy!

i&j were over for our weekly dinner - which for some reason i stopped posting about... i gotta get back on that...

anyhow two things occurred to me/us: 1) i didn't have a link to Ian's flickr page which is simply full of fun things to look at and 2) he's totally capable of helping me jazz up this blog so it's not such a dud. So... here's to ian and his nocturnal nature... maybe he can come up with something not too labor intensive that will help this blog be more fun to look at... yay ian!!!

now go look at his stuff

Due Date Schmu Date

Today is the supposed due date. Nothing's happening that i can tell...

sigh...

Still Preggers...

I'm sure you're all anxiously holding your breath and checking the site every few hours to see if i've gone into labor yet...

not yet...

Getting bigger and fatter every day. Peeing every 20 minutes, sighing every 15.

Just sittin' around trying to enjoy the semi-peace of life before the arrival of a new born... and failing... miserably...

Little Miss Impatient

I'm ready to burn all my maternity clothes... not that i really fit into even them any more. My pants won't stay up, my shirts won't stay down...

I'm anxiously awaiting the time i will be able to fit into clothes other than the same 4 or 5 pieces i've been wearing for the last 80 days...

(of course, i'm also anxiously awaiting the time when i get to hold and cuddle my infant son)

If anyone has any hand-me-down clothes they think i'd like, send them my way. I don't even know what i have in storage any more... I'm afraid i'm going to be bound to sweat pants for the rest of my life... sigh.

Best Present of the Year Award...

...goes to (drum roll)... Miah and Cessie for

And a Happy New Year

Merry Christmas