all the news that isn't

With the leaves mostly down now, saw this up in the tree. First thought it was a turkey hanging out, but looks to be a nest. Wasp? Anybody know? Should I practice my baseball bat tossing skills (it’s about 20 feet up in the air)?

And every now and then these guys get along in a very sweet way.

Trouble brewing?

Thursday morning we were all up early. The week prior Adrienne developed excruciating itching and a rash all over her body that would be diagnosed as PUPPPs. The only cure for the condition is delivery (and even then it could be some time), and so we eventually decided to induce labor, since everything else appeared ready – baby checked out and Adrienne’s body was well along its preparations. Even a few days of relief was a welcome prospect. And so we took a couple last photos before dropping Mal off at a friend’s and heading towards the hospital by 8am or so.

Since Adrienne was using the same midwives, she delivered at the same hospital – Morristown Hospital – about 30 miles south and west of our home in Bloomfield. It is a very well-regarded hospital with (what seem to me) very good facilities.

So here is where we insert the yadda yadda yadda part. No, not really, but I’ll give just minor details. It took 3 nurses and finally an anesthesiologist to have success getting an IV into Adrienne – she’s got hard veins already and the rash made it very difficult. Adrienne was already having decent-size braxton hicks contractions pretty regularly, and so a low dose of pitocin kicked things up pretty easily. Adrienne labored for about 2 hours 45 minutes and then spent 30 minutes in the water pushing. Baby girl Tallacksen (#2) was born at 1:15pm.

This birth was much less exciting than Mallory, and so the whole sense was of much more calm. In the birthing room there were us two, the midwife and the nurse and that was it. The nurse pretty much stayed back and just made preparations.

Sadly they’re using a new scale so it’s hard to get the weight and baby in the same frame. Measurements below:

Visiting hours are until 8pm, and so I was able to go pick up Mal from the friend by 5:15 and get back to the hospital so we could eat our first family dinner together. Mal proved to be quite the hit on the ward.

Mal enjoyed the double heart-shaped pretzels. They’re called heartzels.

This is what happens when you point a camera at Mal and ask her to smile:

Baby girl Tallacksen (#2) has more hair than Mal had at nearly 1 year old!

Mal immediately took to her little sister.

David and Mallory spent the nights back at home. We visited twice the following day (Friday the 5th) and celebrated Adrienne’s birthday with a candle (with a fake flame) in homemade oatmeal-chocolate chip-butterscotch cookies.

Saturday was the day to come home! David made Mallory a special breakfast of banana-chocolate chip pancakes. With sausage of course. That kid can pound back the sausage.

Discharge was pretty easy (we’re old pros!) and so we were on our way home, but not before finally deciding on a name – it took a while to figure out who this little person is and what fits her! And so we’ve got Mallory Lenora on the left below, and Hannah Lucille on the right. Both sisters passed out on the way home. Lightweights.

After a lunch of homemade pizza and some naps, we went for our first walk. I gave Hannah her first ride in the Ergo.

The neighborhood turkeys were out and about.

Hannah likes to sleep.

Celli likes to visit.

And Mallory sure seems attached. I figure it will be mutual.

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And I know animated GIFs are all the rage, so here’s one for you.

Don’t show up for bed late, or I’ll lose my place.

(Charlie’s food dish, unused tonight). We’ve still got two in our household, but Charlie’s spending the weekend at the vet. Thursday night she ate half a corn cob. Didn’t pass Friday, so into the vet we went Saturday, where she had surgery to remove the cob from her stomach. All reports say she’s doing well, but I sure miss the little furball. The vet said, “we should tell her she’s supposed to be a carnivore.” Our cats have had more medical procedures than us humans!

Mallory helping Adrienne fold clothes (while she watches Fringe, no doubt!):

Charlie’s tail. Enough said!

Test driving the jumper.

Cats taking in the afternoon sun.

And a small weekend project: I decided I wanted a more productive workspace in my practice space in the basement. Fabricated using all scrap pieces and a couple bucks worth of hardware from the Depot.

Dudley sometimes leaves little drool spots where he’s sleeping, but never have we had such conclusive evidence that the big galoot drools in his sleep.

And since you just looked at that, here’s the photo equivalent of a little lemon sorbet.

Happy Sunday!

We’ve got three flavors of cat in the house: big-dumb-needy (Dudley), furry-sweet-tiny (Charlie), and crazy-smart-uh… crazy (Celli). That’s not ‘crazy smart’ like she solves quadratic equations in her head smart, but Celli seems to be the most aware cat, but she’s also just plain crazy. She likes to do track-style laps in the bathtub many mornings. And some of you may know she likes to drag blankets around the house. This usually means a blanket in our second-floor room ends up in the hallway or maybe even downstairs and sometimes even in the dining room. Her method seems mostly to grab the blanket in her mouth and while she’s basically stepping on top of it, to drag is around to its new location. But lately, she’s started a new trick: bringing a blanket from the sunroom downstairs up into our room. This isn’t a tiny blanket, though it’s relatively light. This means the blanket travels over carpet, around two 90-degree turns and up a flight of stairs.

Yup, Celli did that. What a wierdo!

She usually insists on helping with Mal’s bath.