Sibling Rivalry

Just when I thought I was into the clear - Harrison had been adjusting so well to his new sibling - problems have cropped up. When Noah was born I was shocked at how well Harrison adapted. He was sweet and kind and wanted to do all he could to help mommy. People would often ask how things were going, and I was always happy to be able to be perfectly honest when I said it was better than I could have ever expected. Well, ever since Noah started moving, in fact, I think it almost dates exactly to the day that Noah started crawling, Harrison has reverted on me. He pushes, kicks, shoves, pokes, pulls and grabs whenever he thinks I’m not watching - and even sometimes when he knows that I am. And he also started crawling into Noah’s crib with him keeping Noah up. We started putting them to bed at different times to try and help Noah get to sleep better, but just five minutes ago we caught Harrison standing at Noah’s crib, shaking the rails, and growling at Noah, until he woke up. I guess it’s only to be expected - I did expect it when Noah was born, but what I am most confused by is why it took Harrison 7 months to start to get jealous. Don’t get me wrong, 90% of the time Harrison is still an angel. He does sweet things for Noah too - the other night he sat at Noah’s crib and read books to him. They were both suppose to be sleeping, mind you, but it was endearing. Now begins the task of re-training, correction and intervention. How long can this go on?

Mollie

Day at the Zoo

Today began like many other days in the Payne house. Quiet shrieks of joy coming from the boys bedroom, followed by groaning and rolling over of both Sam and Mollie, and finally, “Daddy, Mommy, wake up!” as Harrison bursts into our room at 6:15 am. But today was not just any day. Today was Saturday. A blessed day in the Payne home. A day where Daddy stays home, and we try and have “Family Fun Day.” Today, without any other conflicts on our schedule, we would actually have a Family Fun Day. We decided our fun for today would take place at the zoo. This is one of Harrison’s favorite places in the world. He has always been amazed by the animals, and asks to go to the zoo whenever the thought arises. Today when I asked him what animals we would see there today, he said, “The huge elephants, and the flamingos and the monkeys.” On the way to the zoo, after passing a series of billboards that included 2 zoo advertisements with monkeys on them, an one for Disneyland, Harrison exclaimed, “Mommy, I saw a monkey and another monkey and another and another. They are at the zoo. But Mickey Mouse is not at the Zoo.” We had a very nice time at the zoo. We did not get to see the huge elephants today, but we did get to see flamingos, monkeys, okapis, hippos and tapirs to name a few. We didn’t make it to the elephants today, but I am sure we will see them again soon. The polar bears were my favorite today - they had a special treat this week - some fresh snow made for them. They were both laying in the warm California sun, peacefully resting on the only two patches of snow that were left. You could tell they felt at home. This was Noah’s 2nd trip to the zoo. He just took it all in - the people, the animals, and mostly Harrison’s jabberings. We topped off the day with a ride on the “Skyfari” (a gondola) which Harrison was anxious to get off of, but just as anxious to get back onto. As we left the gates, he was pleading, “More at the zoo, more at the zoo!” But the tired shrieks of Noah let us know it was definitely time to head home. It’s a good thing we have annual passes.

Mollie

Noxious Weed

Even in the faint light of the morning in the boys dim room at 6:30 AM, I knew something didn’t look quite right. Harrison’s squinting seemed to be more than just from waking up. As I inspected more closely, I was quite alarmed that my darling little Harrison didn’t look like himself at all. I quickly snatched him up and carried him the bright lights of the bathroom. It was there that I got really worried. One of his eyes was almost swollen shut. The opposite cheek was bright red, and he had small white patches on his skin in a few areas. His upper lip was swollen, and once again, he did not look like Harrison.
While Sam calmly feed Noah his bottle, I nervously called our Dr.’s office. The after hours nurse ran me through a whole battery of questions and finally came to the conclusion that he had hives. My mind was racing trying to figure out what could possibility have caused such a reaction. His picky-ness at the dinner table (and breakfast and lunch tables for that matter) pretty much ruled out anything he ate the day before. He had started petting a neighbors dog out at the park recently, but no dogs had not been touched the day before. He hadn’t had any thing out of the ordinary.
Seconds after hanging up the with nurse, my phone rang. Strange, I thought, for 7:30 in the morning, and with thoughts of getting instructions to head to the emergency room, I nervously answered the phone. What was on the other end of the line surprised me. It was my good friend Isa, “Did Harrison wake up all red and swollen?” she asked. All at once I felt a lot better about the situation, but was still confused. Yes, I replied, he had - but how did she know? Well, luckily Isa was a lot better at remembering the activities of the previous day. The day before, Harrison and Chloe had found a strange weed in one of the gardens that was just their height. They stood there for 20 minutes or more tickling each others faces with the leaves of the weed, and giggling wildly.
The mystery was over, and now we just had to wait out the swelling and redness which later turned to blisters and sores. But at least we had a friend to go through it with. And at least we knew what caused the reaction - a noxious weed.

Mollie