holden holidays

Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving. Holden donned his fanciest tuxedo onesie and napped while the grown-ups feasted: turkey, mac ‘n’ cheese, potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, green beans ‘n’ bacon, sparkling grape juice we used to toast our new family. Then it was football and naps and lazy Sundaylike thoughts. Low key. Lovely.

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Monster baby

Originally we were trying to figure out if this child is a zombie or a vampire. When his daddy holds him, he rares his head back and bobs around, mouth agape, around Daddy’s clavicle and face, trying to devour him. So, one point for zombie. And he looooves to suck. And suck and suck and suck. So, one point for vampire. But then we thought maybe he’s got a streak of werewolf in him, because…

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holden the family

Holden meets The Clampetts

My family was here days and days ago but it’s taken me this long to post pictures! My sister and nephews are hopefully coming up this week to meet the beebs, so that should be fun. My dad was already talking about getting the boy into Civil War re-enacting. I was like, Dad, he can’t even hold his head up yet! So we have quite a battle ahead of us.

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Bitchy McComplainsalot holden parenthood

Two weeks: The complaints!

There is this little mercurial creature hanging around my house and we don’t speak each other’s language but we’re learning. My emotions twist and turn with every involuntary grimace on his face. I am his huckleberry. The hardwiring is intense. I get caught up in the brutal cycle of wondering if I’m doing an OK job and asking myself, “Is my baby happy?” The latter is a crazy question. What does that even mean —…

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There is no time

… to write. My phone alarm goes off every two hours and that’s when I stick my boob in the boy’s mouth provided it’s not there already, which it often is. He lives a life of decadence. Oh, and he gets the hiccups a lot.

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holden parenthood

First bath!

I finally relented on giving the boy a rubdown once the sweet newborn smell of his head gave way to the mundane smell of sweaty hair. I propped up the baby book and made sure we did things as Dr. Sears said to do them. I know, I know. This is also how I cook, even when I’m cooking Hamburger Helper. I’m neurotic. Holden was not too keen on the experience, but he smells a…

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Holden’s home birth

Soooooo. Friday night when I thought I was going to be so clever and go to bed for some much-needed rest before the big contractions began, my body had other much bigger plans. Almost as soon as I laid down, I started feeling those radiating menstrual cramps in my back, and they were immediately strong enough to wake me as I would be dozing off. I started timing them and they were coming roughly 10…

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I can’t stop smelling his head

He’s here and he’s wonderful. Holden Turner Karpovage arrived Saturday, Nov. 5, at 8:34 a.m., at home in a tiny inflatable pool. I’ll write more eventually when I get a chance but for now here’s a video. Like his mama, he has no shame. http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/theogeo/6321195952/ I can’t figure out how to embed since I’m on my phone. Argh.

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