Ashworth Alcove

Growth & Appearance: You weigh 21 lbs. You are 30 inches long. 18-24 month clothing. Size 4 diapers. You don't have much in the way of hair. It's light brown, flirting with blonde, and wispy fine. Your eyes are blue - medium in color, deep in presence. You have a slight blush of color down the top of your arms from the summer sun. Eating: You nurse every 2-3 hours around the clock. You eat a bit of whatever we're eating. You will aggressively pursue ice pops. So much so, that we all hide from you while eating them. One glimpse of one and you launch into a high-speed chase, racing across the floor panting frantically. Breastfeeding is borderline abusive at times. It's like feeding a wolf. You will roll around in my lap, even getting on all fours at times, all while staying clamped down and suckling away. Sometimes you sweetly rub my face, sometimes you shove your fingers in my mouth. Bizarre times. Sleeping: You go to bed around 8:30 and get u...

Growth & Appearance: You weigh 21 lbs. You are 32 inches long. 24 month or 2T clothing. Size 5 diapers. Your hair is still a flirty tone between brown and blonde. It's gotten a bit longer and at times is fluffy, sticking up from sleeping. The new hair growing in seems distinctly brown. You have a tiny tiny mole on your thigh. 6 teeth. Eating: You nurse every 3 hours or so during the day. You also eat whatever we're eating. You can spot someone preparing food from across a room and will start calling out to them and smacking your lips. While eating, you make a lot of growling sounds. You've still not mastered drinking from any type of cup. Bottles never did happen. Neither did traditional sippy cups. You do best with the 360 cup, but even so you only take a small drink occasionally. After you eat food you usually want to nurse briefly and I suspect it's just for thirst after eating.  Sleeping: You go to bed between 8:30-9. You nurse on both side...

Growth & Appearance: You weigh 18.5 lbs. You are 28 inches long. 9 month clothing is getting snug. Who am I kidding... you're in 12 month clothing at this point. I'm just not ready to let go of the well-stocked 9 month wardrobe and move on to the non-existent 12 month wardrobe. No matter though, you're rarely in clothes these days. If you are wearing clothes, you are drenched in drool within minutes. You're between size 3-4 diapers. Your eyes are a steely, solemn shade of blue. The little hair you have is light honey brown. You are big. My grandmother used the term "robust" recently to describe you. Eating: You nurse about every 2 hours during the day. As we get into the evening hours you tank up for bedtime and nurse every 1 hour.  You've had pears and sweet potatoes. Although confused about the texture initially, you enjoyed them. You actually consume more than I expected, rather than merely pushing the goop out with your tongue. ...

  Growth & Appearance: You're the size of most 9 month olds. The only thing giving away your age is your mannerisms - the newborn-like gang signs are a dead giveaway. You weigh 17 lbs, 5 oz. Just for a point of reference, your sister weighed 16 lbs, 1 oz at four months. You are 27 inches long. You are in 9 month clothing and size 3 diaper. The pediatrician says you have the muscle tone of a 6 month old. You have blue eyes. They are deep and knowing. Your beautiful black newborn hair fell out completely. It's slowly being replaced by fine brown hair. Your skin is fair and so smooth. You have a tiny hole, like a pinprick, on your right ear. The birthmark on your crown is just as visible. Your nailbeds seems very long and your toenails are gnarly. You've had ingrown nails on both big toes. We call you Tub Tub. Eating: Nursing sessions are short and frequent - still every 1-2 hours during the day. You're efficient, with most sessions lasting no longer ...

Growth & Appearance: You weigh 14 lbs 1 oz. You are 25 inches long. You wear 6 month clothing and size 3 diaper. Your hair is medium brown. Much of your newborn hair has fallen out, especially on the top and a ring around the middle of your head where you lay on my arm. The hair at your nape never fell out and is longer. It’s hard for me to believe we produced two blue-eyed children, but that appears to be the case. You have a cute round head with a splotchy birthmark on your crown. You have one elf ear, presumably from me. The line between where your chin ends and your neck begins is nonexistent. It’s all one glorious thing. Your smile is the sweetest, and sometimes crooked. One other thing that’s crooked - your butt crack. Really. The top inch of it. Development: When you look at me, I can tell that you know things. While in the hospital, I opened my eyes from a nap and looked over to find you wide-eyed and staring straight through me from your crib. I wil...

September 27. Your birth was scheduled. It took time, but I finally came to terms with that. I found out the hard way with your sister that I was unable to have babies the way I had hoped. My pelvis is simply not the right size and shape to serve as a baby passage. My doctor told me I could choose a date for the surgery. I launched into an internal over analytical calendar frenzy. It felt like the heaviest burden to choose a person’s birthday. For someone who believes that babies come when they are ready, on a specific day, when the moon is right, and all that other witchy shit… There simply was no way to choose the “correct” day. Because the correct day wouldn’t be chosen at all. The day came to actually schedule the surgery. As I stood at the counter staring at my phone calendar, ready to commit to my chosen day, the lady told me that the Women’s Center would call me with a date after consulting the OR schedule and the doctor’s sc...