Aldus has a little bit of a cult following among the kids in our neighborhood, most of whom are girls. I don't know if it's because he's the youngest of the kids who's old enough to play, or because it's a novelty that we speak English, or if it's just because he's so darn cute. (It started with them all wanting to play with Maui because he obeyed commands in English and with hand signals.)
Regardless, not only do they ring the doorbell nearly every day to ask of Aldus can come out and play, they've also taken to playing in the circular driveway in front of our house just to let us know they're out there ready and waiting. I finally understand the exasperated parents of teenage boys who complain about all the phone calls from admiring girls.
I really shouldn't complain about it, as they keep him occupied, help him (us?) to burn off his energy, and a couple of the girls are old enough to watch him for an hour or two without our supervision.
But it also means that leaving the playground always takes longer than it ought to as they all line up to give Aldus goodbye kisses, hugs, waves, elbow bonks and fist bumps.
When Aldus was born, we forgot to ask someone to take a photo of the three of us together. Until Charles's parents visited, we only had photos of Aldus by himself or with each of us individually.
We were fortunate that the midwives attending Torsten's birth immediately volunteered to take a photo of the three of us, and my parents took a photo of all four of us during their recent visit.
Has it been almost a week already? Time flies!
We're doing well, especially with Charles still home and the kraamzorg help during the day. Tuesday may be an adventure when she's gone and Charles (I assume) will be back at work.
Regardless, we've had a great week with Torsten at home with us. I think he sleeps more and cries less than Aldus did. Score! Most importantly, he eats well and is healthy and strong. And beautiful. And sweet. Yeah, I like him.
Aldus likes Torsten, too. He very much wants to touch him and give hugs and kisses. But he's also having a rough time because of all these new rules like not touching the baby when I'm nursing, not pulling on the carrycot of the stroller when Torsten is in it, etc. It's not easy to be two with a new baby in the house.
Yesterday I was feeing great, both pysically and emotionally. The engorgement started to subside, I had energy, etc. This morning I'm a physical wreck. Fortunately, my emotions are still good. Coffee helps. But I'm going to spend the day trying to do almost nothing physical so that I can rest up. I know how susceptible I am emotionally to my physical well-being.
Here are a few pics from our first few days:
Me in labor. Thank goodness Charles took this photo right away because I was like this for less than 10 minutes before I needed to start pushing!
Some people thought Charles didn't look so good in the photo we emailed to everyone. Ha ha! Stress will do that to you. But have you every seen a more proud father?
Aldus likes to see Torsten first thing when he (Aldus) first gets up in the morning and whenever he comes home from the babysitter's or peuterclub.
Torsten's first outing to the playground behind our house. (And a coffee for me!)
Ahhhh....lekker slapen!
Just to spite me for saying that I didn't think he would come on his due date, Baby #2 made a valiant last ditch effort Sunday. Sporadic, mild contractions in the afternoon and evening were followed by my water breaking around 10:40pm. Nothing for a half-hour, then quicker, stronger contractions over the next hour, and we rushed off to the babysitter's and the hospital.
After 15 minutes of evaluation by the midwives and 5 minutes of pushing, we were blessed with another boy!
Torsten Jinsup Yun
Born 1:33am on Monday 22 June
3.81 kg / 8 lbs 6 oz
Lots of black hair and a Yun nose!
Torsten was my grandfather Palmquist's name (changed to Thomas when he immigrated from Sweden). Jinsup is made up of "Jin" (진/眞) meaning truth, faithfulness or real, and "Sup" (섭/燮), the generational family name he shares with his brother and cousins, meaning harmony or flame.
We're all doing great, Aldus and Maui included. More photos and updates to come.
Editor's note: Bad Umma! I got my Chinese characters mixed up in the original post. They've been updated to reflect the correct syllables. I will blame sleep deprivation.
Is it September 11 again already? Yes, I'll always remember this day.
I have to put in a completely shameless plug for my best friend's band's new CD and upcoming shows -- and not just because she sent us what may be one of the world's most awesome and exhaustive care packages (rivaled only by those sent by my other best friend and my own mother).
Orpheum Bell's new CD is finally up on the web. There are a few songs playable in their entirety on their MySpace site. (Warning: the page will automatically start playing some music, so consider yourself forewarned if you're at work and your speaker volume is turned up to 11.)
You can also hear 2 minutes of each and every song on CD Baby, which is where you can order a physical copy of the CD from the web if you are so inclined.
If you want to own a small piece of the action, they're also now on ITunes. (Merrill recommends "Something From Above" if you're in the market for a single track.)
Better yet, for those of you in Michigan, they have a handful of upcoming shows, all listed on MySpace, including one at the Ark on Tuesday September 18th. You can't go wrong because it's a benefit for Food Gatherers - admission price is an item of nonperishable food. (If perishable is more your thing, take Merrill a cupcake and she'll sneak you in the back door. Or take her an extra dry double macchiato and tell her it's from Krees.)
I know it's actually Monday now. I would apologize for not updating the blog sooner, but I think you'll all understand.
Aldus arrived last Friday at 3:45am weighing 3.895 kilograms (8 lbs 9 oz). He has a full head of dark brown, almost black hair and blue eyes (for now). He definitely looks like his dad and his grandpa Yun, but I think he has my eyelids, ears and fingers.
HE IS AMAZING. I'm so in love with this kid. (Charles is, too. You should see the way he looks at him and dotes on him.) The last 24 hours have been a little difficult with a couple uncontrollable screaming jags, but otherwise he's been such a good baby! He's been nursing like a champ every few hours from the very beginning, sleeps or quietly lazes about between feedings, lets us get some sleep during the nights, has already started regaining weight and was already lifting his head up yesterday. I'm completely gob-smacked.
Labor and delivery? That was okay, too. It started with some contractions early Thursday morning (1am-ish?) and ended with a pain-med free delivery a little over 24 hours later. They sent us home from the hospital about 1pm Friday. If I get a chance I'll write up the entire birth story, but I can't make any promises.
I'll also try to post updates as often as I can here, but I readily admit that sometimes just sitting and staring at this guy is a heck of a lot more enjoyable than blogging.
This post was written with my new son making smacking noises in his crib next to me. I can't believe he's here!
