Baby Report

Last day with Ali and the babies. Max is sleeping in his chair, Thomas is watching Antiques Roadshow and hiccuping. I love the size these kids are, just a little bundle perfect for picking up. They cry, but not usually for long, or very loud. I think the hardest part about it for Allison is that the cries are intermittent, but persistent throughout the night, not a lot of long sleeping stretches. Watching a movie at night is a workout on the remote, cry, pause, binky in, play, cry, pause etc. Nothing too difficult, just constant.

It's true they are cheeriest in the morning. They give you little smiles, or just chill out in their chairs next to each other, looking around. One of the funniest things to me is the little hyperventilating snuffering they do just before they cry, snort snort, SOB!!! Then mom to the rescue, she picks up the little bundle and the face goes calm again. Any kind of motion soothes them as well, totally happy (usually asleep) in the moving stroller, or on the subway. Ali does a good job of getting them out to see the world.

In some ways, there just isn't a lot to them right now, and really that's kind of sweet. They're in that time when things are simple, and they'll start getting a lot more complicated pretty soon here. But for now, they're happy with a cuddle, a little milk, a clean diaper. Being with them here these few days has made things seem pretty simple to me, too. We ran around on the subway yesterday and the limited access for strollers/wheelchairs was eye opening. After we got home, Allison took the boys upstairs and I went to go pick up a pair of pants I had taken to the tailor. Walking to the little shops in her neighborhood, I felt so unencumbered, lucky to be easily mobile and on my own. Not that I wasn't looking forward to getting home and snuggling a baby, but I was happy not to have that big stroller, or a wheelchair to navigate, or just a tiredness in my bones, the one I know Ali must be feeling about now.

But that's just me. I know it's different for Ali, and this is just one of the many reasons that these boys are lucky to have them as their mom. She soldiered through the stroller nightmare with good humor, okay, she did call someone a name under her breath when they absconded with the elevator out of pure laziness, but that was about it. At every set of stairs, someone came forward to help us, and she accepted the help from all manner of people with grace and thankfulness. Next week she'll have a nanny come for the first time, to get acquainted with everything on her last week off. I think she's having to talk herself into the idea that going off on her own a little bit would be nice. "Maybe I'll get a pedicure..." she says a little wistfully, but she doesn't sound that excited about it.

Still, while she's at work, there will be the chocolate place with the good macarons, good lattes, a little shopping at H&M, the florist in the Rockefeller concourse where she can buy flowers for the apartment, and a digital frame on her desk where she can look at photos of the boys all day. It won't be the same, but she'll find good things in that time too. Especially once she finds a way to nap at her desk, undetected. Cause I'm pretty sure the only thing missing from her life right now is sleep.