my name is Simon

Simon Sterling Bird. Sterling was my great-grandfather's name. I came into the world in a big hurry on March 24th. Well, once it was actully time to come I had second thoughts and made my mom work for it. I weighed 7lbs 7oz at birth but now I'm down to 6lbs 14oz.

Just like my siblings before me I have jaundice and reflux. So I spent a few days as a glow worm on the bili-blanket. I even had to have an upper GI test done to make sure my digestive anatomy was developed properly. (Those are big words for a six-day-old baby.) Which it was. I will probably just go through lots of laundry and gain weight slowly. That's just the way we Bird babies come.

My dad got Strep throat and a sinus infection two days after I was born and my mom got sick too. It's been a bit rough around here. But I'm lucky to have helpful grandmas and my parents have lots of other helpful friends and family. Things are going much better. Even my sister Miriam is adjusting well. No regression whatsoever...

The adjustment bureau

I just heard about the Adjustment Bureau. I'm so relieved. Is this the branch of the government that comes into your home following the birth of your child to assist in the family's adjustment period? Do they manage household tasks like the endless laundry from a newborn with reflux, the three meals required to feed the other children, and even return phone calls to well-wishers? I imagine they have a team of experts in child psychology to help meet the needs of the displaced 16 month old. And it would be nice to have medical providers on hand to answer all questions related to postpartum, infancy and other unrelated illnesses that family members might inconveniently contract during the adjustment period. Someone give me the number so I can sign up! (I hope to return to blogging following said adjustment period.)

a chiropractic convert

Let me be straight.

Before yesterday I was a true skeptic of chiropractors. I did not trust them, I never went to one and never planned to.

A couple months ago I was having pregnancy related hip issues and my OB referred me to a chiropracter. It must have been written all over my face my feelings about "those doctors." She reassured me that he wasn't a quack and that she trusted him. I took the business card but had no intention of following through. I really did not believe he could help. Or maybe he would help but it would mean I would have to have weekly appointments the rest of my life and I would be totally reliant on his "tricks" to live a new normal.

Last Friday after a week of enduring brief but excruciating pains in my back, ribs and shoulder on my right side I called my OB's office in desperation. The nurse took matters into her own hands and before I knew it I had an appointment with a chiropractor. Honestly, I was so exhausted and miserable I was willing to try anything. The pain was the worst at night and in the midst of a sound sleep I would be shocked back to wakefulness, and bring Richard along with me as I inadvertently exclaimed in pain. I moved back and forth from my bed to the recliner to try to get comfortable.

Enough complaining, I said I was through with it and I meant it.

So yesterday I went to my appointment. I was very nervous. Where was this man going to touch me? Was it going to hurt? I was literally sweating. But he was professional, he talked me through everything asked my permission before applying his "techniques" and explained in medical jargon what was going on. I was impressed with his style and methods but not convinced it was going to make any differene. But it did feel good.

I slept better last night than I have in 10+ nights. There were no shooting pains and I even slept on my right side which I haven't done in just as many nights. The only thing that brought me back to wakefulness was my cramped and overactive bladder.

Some might say that my pains were psychosomatic and I had just enough hope that the chiropractor would work, that he did. Maybe so, but nonetheless it worked. Frankly I'm still a little skeptical myself and I am just waiting for things to get bad again. But I've been converted enough, that if they do I will return to his healing hands.

I consider this a lesson that came as a huge blessing. As they say, don't knock it until you've tried it.

chin up JoJo

So it's been a rough week...couple of weeks. I'll admit I've been a bit whiny. But today I hit a low point with some pregnancy related aches and pains and decided I need to change my attitude. Baby Simon is five weeks from delivery and I can't go on living this way! Besides, only a few days until March and I'm sure that some sunshine will do me good, should it ever arrive.

February, you are the month of my birthday but truly, I do not like you.

But in the words of that song we sang in elementary school, "You've got to AC-CEN-TUATE the positive, E-LIM-INATE the negative"... things are looking up. First of all, I got a new phone. It was my birthday present that was a long time coming. But it exceeds my expectations. It is "smart" as they say, it was virtually free, and I can talk on it without the battery dying. Life is surely good, no?

AND, I borrowed this comfortable and indulgent chair from my parents to alleviate said pregnancy aches and pains.

I even took a picture of myself. I hate doing this while I'm pregnant but when I see comparison shots on other blogs I'm a little jealous I've avoided taking pictures for my past pregnancies.

So there you have it. I have a smile on my face. (For now.)

tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes in it

It was a bad day. I don't have much room to complain because I'm not even the mother who took one child to a doctors appointment and then another child to an urgent care center and the emergency room. But I was involved with the incident that necessitated the visit to the emergency room and it involved a lot of blood and a lot of crying, by all who witnessed it. Fortunately, I think the little guy will be okay. (Despite having a broken nose, possible concussion and fat lip.)


There was also the incident (much less traumatic but much more frustrating) of a little boy who decided to relieve himself without ever lifting the lid of the toilet. Hours passed before I discovered the mess.

After dinner Miriam spilled a bag of M&M's all over the kitchen floor. I could feign ignorance and say she ate them without my knowing, but alas, I saw her eating them one by one and made no effort to intervene.


All of these things could have been better tolerated (rocking a badly injured 20 month old, wiping down a bathroom, and cleaning up candy from the floor) if I wasn't so huge in the mid-section.

I think it's time for bed.

spousal redemption

It has come to my attention that I occasionally expose Richard on the blog in a less than ideal light. While I am totally secure in our relationship, and I know that Richard knows I mean no harm, it isn't fair for me to lead blog readers to believe he is less than he is.

He is a good man. I do not like to boast about Richard's talents and capabilities on my blog, or anywhere for that matter. But my lack of sharing his strengths does not mean they don't exist or that I don't appreciate them. And since I don't really believe anyone else thinks they don't exist, I am not compelled to share them regularly. Those who know him well know he is good.

I am lucky to have him. I am grateful for him. I love him very much. He is good to me despite my occasional implications to the contrary.

Enough said.

It wasn't SO bad

I might be feeling a little bit sorry for myself.

Today is my birthday and I had to work. That is nothing to complain about, most responsible adults work when their birthday falls on a work day. But then on my way home from work, after retrieving two of my three children, my mini-van malfunctioned and we were stranded.

A good friend rescued us, we retrieved my third child and made it home. Richard arrived shortly after and insisted that we still go to dinner. Dinner was good. As good as dinner at Red Robin with three kids five and under can be.

But then Richard had to go figure out something to do with the broken car while I put three very cranky children to bed, and now I'm alone. Pretty sad, huh?

We saved the birthday cake for tomorrow. The kids were too tired to really enjoy it, and frankly they were more excited about the whole birthday thing than I was. A sign of my age I suppose.

Twenty-nine. One more year to be a "twenty-something" and then I really need to grow up. Twenty-nine with almost four kids. How about that.

Well, another birthday in the books. Thanks for the calls, texts, emails and FB messages. I'm sorry I wasn't much disposed to answer them. (And then there is that stupid phone of mine...)

reflections on Valentine's Day

At 8:00pm on Valentine's Day I stood at the sink doing dishes. The kids were all in bed but Richard hadn't even left work yet.

Since Cameron didn't have school on V-day we had spent part of the evening putting together his valentines cards for his class party. I thought back to Valentine's days of past. I laughed as I recalled my years of elementary school where the valentine selection was pretty much the same, simple paper cards. If you were lucky your mom bought the candy hearts to go inside, and occasionally the rich kids put something even better in your bag. I remember individually selecting the candy hearts with words that I wanted to say to each classmate, saving the most romantic ones for my crush and wondering if he would even notice.


Many valentines have passed since then. Some have been full of amorous infatuation. I have only one unmarried coworker who is 20 and in such a relationship. Today she received a large bouquet of lilies. They were beautiful and the rest of us married women fawned over them while she blushed.

After work I fed the kids cereal for dinner and decided to ask Richard to pick up something on his way home from work for us to eat. Around 8:15 when he called to ask what I wanted, we discussed.

Me: I want a hamburger.
Richard: What kind?
Me: I don't know... I never get hamburgers.
Richard: Okay. What else?
Me: Fries and a drink.
Richard: Okay.
Me: Very romantic.
Richard: We're so old.
Me: I'm so pregnant.

Earlier in the evening when I picked up the kids from my in-laws I told my father-in-law to enjoy a relaxing and quiet Valentine's Day with his wife. I told my co-worker with teenage daughters to go out with her husband, just because she could, because she could do so without having to call a babysitter or even feed her girls who were perfectly capable of doing so on their own.

I have no complaints about this stage of life. Well, except that my sciatic nerve hurts and those lilies smelled so good I wouldn't have minded getting a bouquet of my own.