Shoo Cicada Go Away...

Sorry for having NOT written for so long. It's been quite busy in the Gailey household. I finally got to bring Jen and Elena back from Akron after their 2 week freedom from Cicada Storm 2008. Yes, the cicadas are alive and having a mating frenzy everywhere I live and work. They don't bite or sting or carry disease, but they are super annoying and love to land on you or simply dive-bomb at your face. I guess they'll be dead soon and leave lots of cicada carcasses behind, but for now they are loud and ridiculously numerous.But I digress.

Elena is SOOO cute these days. She's 1o weeks old tomorrow and weighs about 12 lbs (I did the ghetto trick of weighing myself with her and without her so I'm sure there's a +/- factor of a pound or so). She's making all kinds of new noises and little crying coos. She loves "hanging around" in her new Baby Bjorn (pictures to follow soon on that) and likes to play in her activity center - for about 4-7 minutes or until hungry (which ironically is every 4-7 minutes). Jen swears she has my metabolism and that's why she's ALWAYS hungry and eats like a fiend.

Jen has made AMAZING efforts in cleaning up the house that I kept somewhat unattended for the 2 weeks she was gone. It's hard missing my girls and working and not being somewhat sad and having a hard time keeping up on chores. No, I'm not making excuses... seriously.

I have taken lots of pictures of Elena and have added a new web album and will add a more extensive one soon. She's super photogenic - I guess every baby is but I'm just a little jaded.

As for keeping us busy these days we have a small garden giving us lettuce and spinach currently and soon to have peppers and tomatoes. I’m also excited for when our raspberries, blackberries, and apples are ready to pick.

Elena is sleeping through the night a lot better as long as she doesn’t nap too much during the day, but she is SO fussy sometimes that the best we can do to maintain sanity is to swaddle her and let her sleep a bit. She loves going for walks and being outside. If only for the cicadas and 90F temps we’d be outside every moment.

Well, I have a few things to accomplish before I’m off to work. Jen’s vacuuming with the baby on her chest as we speak and is sure to yell at me if I’m wasting too much time on the computer. Thanks for reading!

My sad post...

You may ask yourself - why the long face?

Sorry... had to reference an obscure old SNL bit by David Spade called "Hollywood Minute". That's Ric Ocasek lead singer of the Cars - whose greatest hits I was listening to today. But I'm a bit off topic. What was the topic? I guess you could call it a postpartum depression of sorts.

Ok, I know I shouldn't joke about this cause it is a true disorder but I have a little right now. And it's not for the reason you might think. I didn't give birth and have dropped hormone levels and cry a lot. But what I have been dealing with is being separated from my baby girl Elena for 6 days now and probably for another 5 or 6 still to come.

Why have I been apart from my precious girl so long? It's for a good reason involving some good news. It seems Jen and her sister have a buyer for their late mom's house. This is the good news. The not so good news is the stress of going through all their mom's possessions in a short 3+ weeks, having an estate sale, arranging movers and storage, and all the other loose ends of moving and selling a house.

I am of course stuck in Cincinnati working and am terribly missing Elena and Jennifer. What makes me even more sad is that Elena is beginning to smile at people, make cooing sounds, and interact with objects. All firsts that I unfortunately have missed. I've only witnessed the cries, whines, poops, naps, and feedings. I'M MISSING ALL THE GOOD STUFF!! ;-)

I suppose you can look at the positives. I HAVE been getting more sleep and not changing dirty diapers is nice. I've also plenty of time to play a lot of racquetball and tennis recently. But I'd gladly trade it for a chance to snuggle with my little coo-dums. I miss her!!

So anyway, enough about me. I'll get over being sad. I promise.

Elena is 8 weeks old today and will be 2 months old on the 6th of June. I hope to get more pictures and video up on the website soon. Hope everyone is well. Thanks for reading!