Knocked Up

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• Brothers

  It's official.  Axel and Jonas are brothers.  Here's the photographic proof:   Axel at a day old:   Jonas at a day old:     It's not just the stripes.    Other proof they're related:   Read More... Posted Jul 15 2009, 08:23 AM by knockedup with | with 17 comment(s) Filed under: siblings, poop, two under two, brothers

• The Big Brother

  Throughout my pregnancy, people have asked me if Axel is excited to be a big brother.  Ummmm, not really, I would say.  He's 16, or 17, or 18 months old.  He's excited about dogs, airplanes, the refreshing taste of apple juice, and spinning around until he falls over.  Big brother is not a concept that he gets.  He does not know there's a baby coming.  His favorite two word phrase is "Hi, truck!"    Well, all of a sudden, he seems to get it.  About a week ago, he added the word baby to his vocabulary.  We installed the baby's car seat, next to Axel's seat, and told him that it's for his baby brother.  He looked at the car seat, asked, "Baby?" as in, "So, where is this mysterious baby of which you speak, hmmmm?  I know what a baby is, and there's not one around here, I can tell you that."    Axel seemed to think we were full of crap, with all of this baby talk for a baby that, quite clearly, did not exist.    Then, a few days later, he said baby, looked at Sean, and pointed at my belly.  He gave it a gentle pat.    I was shocked at this cognitive leap. He gets it, I thought.  It's amazing! Read More... Posted Jul 01 2009, 09:47 AM by knockedup with | with 12 comment(s) Filed under: siblings, two under two, big brother, 20 months

• The Second Child

  I promised myself I wouldn't worry about this.    Not about my child's (soon to be children's) health.  I know that won't stop: I worry about autism and mad cow disease and constipation and splinters and mercury and sweet lead-packed paint chips and hives and croup.    Not about school and childcare.  I still don't know what we're going to do, and I hyperventilate a little bit whenever I think about neighborhood schools and school choice and testscores and magnets and mystery meat served for school lunch, let alone nannies and Montessori.   Not how I will handle two children.  I've done almost nothing but vaguely worry about that, especially as the weeks of pregnancy go on and I feel like my body has been replaced by that of an 85-year-old in desperate need of a hip replacement.  (Pregnancy, it seems to me, is a lot like being really, really old - you're forgetful, joints you didn't know you had start hurting, you are hyper-aware of the location of public restrooms, you eat dinner at ungodly hours, you can't sleep through the night, you visit the doctor ever few weeks - except for the very important distinction that it ends in new life and not, well, the end of life.)   How will I, achy old me, handle two ?  Chaos and deep breaths and coffee.   That's my underdeveloped, unexamined plan.  I know it's crazy; that's why I'm worrying to the point of fits of giggles.  Everytime I mention to someone that my son will be 20 months old when my second son arrives, the listener raises his or her eyebrows at me and I start laughing.    No, what I promised myself was that I wouldn't worry about my ability to love another child as much as I love my first.   And, of course, I'm worrying about just that.  Read More... Posted Apr 20 2009, 01:55 PM by knockedup with | with 20 comment(s) Filed under: second pregnancy, siblings, second baby, loving children equally, hitting