And So On

I asked Steve yesterday if this is how he imagined adulthood. He said, "What? You mean sitting in a bathroom with four other people? Yeah, I guess so."

Caroline and Edward have reached a stage where they are (more or less) constant, albeit passive, participants in the daily whatnot, no longer sleeping it off in a corner all the time like newborn lumps. Last night I was going to have Steve help me give them a bath in my bathtub rather than the crappy little plastic one with sharp edges that I hated with Patrick but saved for some reason and then felt obligated to use since babies quickly outgrow the tubs in a few months anyway and I am remarkably disinclined to spend money on things that... good grief; I dither like an Agatha Christie spinster. Anyway, I thought I would try taking them one at a time into the tub with me, sluicing off the  detritus and then handing them to Steve to dry and pajama. Patrick, like his mother, loves a nice bath (the bubblier the better, which sounds kinda girly but becomes less so when you listen to him play in the tub and realize that the bubble mountains are just so many volcanoes spewing violent molten DEATH everywhere) so the sound of running water was a call to arms, rather a call to de-arm or at least de-robe and before we could say, "Patrick you don't need a bath tonight" he had stripped and slipped like an eel into the water. He was happy, the babies were happy when it was their turn to be wet and equally happy when it was their turn to be dried... so the entire family hung out in the bathroom for an hour.

Rub-a-dub-dub.

I think Patrick snuck behind me while this was taken. It is not the very first time Edward and Caroline have noticed each other (as I mentioned) but it is close enough to melt me.

Caroline's exuberant mood continued into the tub and when Patrick started talking to her in that BIZARRE high-pitched voice that kids use with babies and that babies love ("You're a baaaaaaaaaaaad Caroline aren't you? A baaaaad baby! No? You're a gooooood Caroline? You are? Yes! A good goood goooooood baby!") she started laughing. Really laughing, which she has never done before and it startled me so much I had to check to make sure I hadn't accidentally dropped her in the water. She sounded a lot like she was drowning. Caroline's laugh is less like silvery moonbeams stretched through gauze and more like glue glopping out of a bottle. A slurpy gulpy gurgling thing -  slightly alarming, but sweet of course. 

Speaking of "less like" I no longer think Caroline looks like a young (a very very young) Audrey Hepburn.

More Marlon Brando, no?

Seriously, she must be the fattest low birth weight, tenth percentile baby (maybe. I am guessing. four month appointment on Friday will confirm whether she has indeed breached the dizzying ranks of the bottom ten rather than the bottom three or the bottom bottom, where she started) in the world. She reminds me of a really well done doll house - a perfectly perfect miniature. Although she is really not that small. Just last night -around 2 am actually - I moved her from the 0-3 month to 3-6 month sleeper in the hopes that perhaps her inability to fully straighten her knees was what was preventing her from going back to fucking sleep for the love of god (it wasn't. I wound up sleeping on her floor for three hours because I decided it was easier to just lie down there than get up one more time. Edward, meanwhile, for novelty, slept through until almost 5 am.) Where was I? Oh right, rhapsodizing about Caroline. I spend way more time than I should trying to decide what color eyes she has. Can you see them? I love them, whatever they are. Gray, I think. A wonderful clear gray. Let me see if I can find a better one of her eyes.

Here

Will they stay this color, do you suppose? I have brown eyes and I have written sonnets (not really. that would be fatuous) about Steve's greeny-golden-cognac eyes but Patrick and Edward are definitively, determinedly blue. How long do babies' eyes take to change, do you know?

Hmmm, I had been wondering why I do not just put Caroline and Edward into their respective beds for an afternoon nap. Why I instead perform an elaborate ballet of swing/sling/car rides which only works for about 50% of the babies about 30% of the time. The angry yells that are currently drifting down from upstairs are serving to remind me that I should go rescue my children and transport them somewhere in something so they can get some sleep.

Comments

[Alyce]

Eye color has to do with melanin production. It can take up to 3 years for a child's melanin production to sufficiently ramp up, although that is rare. It is more likely to be "set" by 6-12 months.

[Andrea]

I have been reading you for YEARS but rarely de-lurk. Your posts tend to be the highlight of my afternoon kid-naptime "break"! I just had to comment about the eye colour thing. Pre-children, I always assumed that if their eyes were going to change, it would happen in the first six months or so. Imagine my delight when my firstborn son, at month six, still retained beautiful blues that largely resembled my own despite the fact that everything else about him screamed of my husband! Then, imagine my horror mid-month eight when my husband said, "Hey, is that some yellow I'm seeing in Q's eyes, right in the middle there...?", my intrigued "oh look, they're a beautiful green" mid-month ten, and my ultimate defeat at his first year birthday when they landed squarely at yellowish-hazel, just like my husband's! (I love both of their eyes, please don't get me wrong, but I really was hoping for just a smidgen of me in there somewhere - "fortunately," he appears to have inherited my highly type-A personality... Nonetheless, our second son is now almost 10 months old, and his eyes have only gotten brighter and brighter blue as time goes on, so I'll take my legacy where I can get it!

All that to say that if Caroline's are dark-ish now, they really may change to the hazel/brown spectrum in the next few months, and I wouldn't put any big money on Edward's just yet! All your kids are beautiful, and I am so happy for your family!

[moo]

My son's eyes were a gorgeous blue ... until they faded into this beautiful bluie-gray color, with a dark blue edging around the iris. He's almost 2.

I love the description of the MOLTEN DEATH bubble volcanoes. My boy loves baths too, but I've never added bubbles because DEAR LORD we'd never be able to leave the tub.

Here's hoping both babies start sleeping through the night SOON.

[JuliaS]

Your kids are way too cute. My oldest daughter was a "fat" preemie too though was like 25th percentile or less. Chubby cheeks and a bubble butt!

I have brown eyes and dh has blue/green. Out of six babies we have had 2 brown eyed and 4 blue eyed.

I found that if their eyes as babies were a clear blue - they stayed blue (might change to green later one - but not brown) - the lighter the blue, the more they were likely to stay blue. The muddier, murkier darker looking blue at the beginning, they tend to go brown.

[sinda]

I have no wisdom to offer about eye color...but I was prompted by this post to go catch up at redbook, where I read the post about Edward Scissorhands. Don't you wish you'd used that title?

Anyway, one of my two daughters was like that. She's seven now, and it's only in the last year or so that she's STOPPED waking up with tiny self-inflicted scratches on her face. She would look just like that photo you posted - and the corners of her eyes were expecially susceptible.

I don't know what my point is, except, maybe, some kids just do this? It shouldn't scar and he probably won't do it in college? (My personal bench mark for most "aberrations" - will they still do it in college? No? Eh.)

[Lisa B]

No babies, just a baby comment: yours are cute! I'm very impressed they're smiling at each other and look very jolly in that one shot. And Caroline looks like you and Patrick in that middle picture. That chin! :-)

[winecat]

Oh my goodness, Edward look SO much like Patrick.

[Libby]

winecat beat me to it. Edward looks just like Patrick! They are both gorgeous. Love Caroline's eyes and her sweet rosy cheeks.

[Aarin]

adorable! my son's eyes started grey and went to blue (like his dad's) within his first few months and stayed that way. my daughter's were the baby greyish-blue also at birth and by 4 months were bright clear blue just like her brother. around 6 months they started to get brown flecks in the middle and now she's a year old and they are back to dark greyish and brown. i keep wondering what they will ultimately be but i suppose we won't know for awhile now.

[Erin]

I agree -- super cute babies AND Edward looks exactly like Patrick! Wow!

Erin

[SarcastiCarrie]

See, putting up pictures wasn't so bad. It's all we really wanted last time.

How are Edward's eyes? I assume he's seeing (at least somewhat) better since he's smiling RIGHT AT Caroline. And she is totally smiling RIGHT BACK at him.

And my word! They look very similarly-sized in that photo. Good News. (Not the same age, my arse.)

[nate]

Oh. My. God. Those babies are SO CUTE!!!

It's a bit hard to tell, but Caroline's eyes look like they're still "baby colored"--that is, that gray/blue color many babies have. C's were that color, and are now an amazing chocolate brown. Don't know when they changed--sometime after 6 months, I think. I'll see if I can find old pix to send you.

[Monica C.]

LOVE the, "Hey, it's another little person! I like you!" picture. Sooooo adorable!

[Beth]

Beautiful kids. Clearly, clearly jolly kids. If you can just get *sleeping* kids, you'd have the trifecta!

C and E are getting to my most favorite cute-cute-cute baby age. You must keep posting pics -- their fans demand it!

[Beth]

Beautiful kids. Clearly, clearly jolly kids. If you can just get *sleeping* kids, you'd have the trifecta!

C and E are getting to my most favorite cute-cute-cute baby age. You must keep posting pics -- their fans demand it!

[Alison S]

Beautiful pictures. I have grey eyes, and so does one of my daughters; I am pretty sure I knew hers were grey when she was about 2 months old. Clear, cold grey, like the Atlantic in winter : )

[Sheila]

I am drunk with the cuteness. They're like... actual little people now!

My middle daughter's eyes did not change from sky blue to green until after her second birthday. The process took about a month, if I recall. It was fascinating to watch.

[Val]

1. Your children are AMAZINGLY gorgeous

2. That pic of C and E looking at each other is fabulous

3. I almost fell off my chair at the Brando comment

4. My daughter is 3 and her eyes seem to have settled into a green-gray color after having been blue for her first year and a half, at least... my son's eyes are currently blue - we'll see how long that lasts! Either way - her eyes are gorgeous!

[cat, galloping]

A few years ago, you wrote a post about being hurt after a woman told you something along the lines of the best feeling in the world is to see your children make each other laugh. Can't help thinking about that today, when I read this post. I'm so happy for you.

[JuliaKB]

Awww... beautiful, both of them. And before you gave your verdict on Caroline's weight percentile, I was about to comment how I think they are both deliciously chubbing up these days.

[Lou Lou]

Oh my Lord, you have some great looking babies. I admit that I was a little worried, once they were born, that my favorite serial with its excellent cast was about to get diluted with some pleasant but boring new characters. Between their immense charm and your (as always) astonishing talent for describing it, the series is as great as always. May it run forever.

[Crystal]

Brown + Green doesn't usually = blue, although it proves my hypothesis about where my own green eyes come from....

About the scratching, they sell little mitts at any sizable baby section. You velcro them around the wrists. Only soft fabric, no nails on baby's face.

That said, he may be having some sensation that is causing him to rub/scratch so much. Worth mentioning to the doctor.

[Toni]

When they smile - they look like Patrick. Do you notice that or am I trying too hard?

I think babies eyes change by 6 months. Or at least, that's what my pediatric nursing book says. But it also says you shouldn't do things that I did with both my girls. So you never know.

Beautiful children! More pictures!

[Nicky]

What absolutely perfect, chubby babies. They are beautiful. And Edward really does have a muppet grin!

[Karla]

Yay, baby pics! I insist that every post from now til the end of time have at least 2 or 3 baby pics. I am so happy for you and your family.

[Jen]

My goodness those babies are just too cute!! I generally think every little child is sweet, but Patrick and the babies are extra adorable. I so look forward to your posts and pictures.

My husband and I both have brown eyes but out of our three bio. kids, we got a blue-eyed daughter. One of my son's eyes stayed blue until he was 10 months, then they turned brown.

[Same Boat]

I had to de-lurk and tell you what beautiful babies you have. It gives me hope for the IVF/PGD cycle we are planning in a few months!! My daughter's eyes are blue blue blue and my husband has hazel and I have green, although they didn't turn green until I was 2! You just never know what you are going to get!

[Elena]

wow, I had forgotten the first time David and I heard Zac laugh (not hard when I am still trying to clean up after his eleventh party)--we thought he was having a seizure!

[melissa]

they are so cute i love the pic where they are looking at each other! enjoy!

[Erica]

Thanks for the photos, Julia, what awesome kids!

[cpma282]

de-lurking to say, in general, how much i enjoy reading: whatever it is, you have it, so please keep it up:)
and specifically, to share a link about the inheritance of eye colour, for you and anyone else who's curious:
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=126

[chantale]

My son's eyes were a beautiful grey colour when he was Caroline's age. Now they are a nice light shade of golden brown, and since he is 2, they will probably stay that colour. I do kind of wish his eyes had stayed grey though. His hair has, at least for now, stayed a lovely red but that too will probably change.

[Christine]

My son's eyes are an amazing blue. To the point people stop me on the street and comment on the amazing blue that is my son's eyes. I have blue eyes, my husband has brown, so I hope they stay this blue.

I love your blog and your sense of humor. And baby pictures are always a plus.

[amy]

about a year ago (at the age of three), my daughter's eyes went from evenly dark blue (like her father's) to mostly blue with a ring of hazel in the middle (mine are hazel). though i would never tell my daughter this, they were prettier before.

[Dara]

Oh, those little babies are too effing cute!!! You crack me up with the 2 am PJ changing thing. I am doing the same thing every other night, too!

[Kris H.]

My son is 6, and he still has his gorgeous gray eyes...

[Shawna]

According to the almighty internet, babies' eye colour is supposed to be set sometime between 6 months and a year, but my daughter had steely-grey, with-a-hint-of-brown eyes at a year, but at two they've gotten more brown and seem to have settled on a fairly equal mix. Officially they're "hazel".

And we always took her into the bath with us too (thank goodness she never pooped on us!). I don't think we even had one of those little tubs.

[Pam L]

Both my parents were brunettes but my Dad was of German/Dutch descent so he has blue grey eyes and so do my one sister and I who are blondes. My other sister takes after my mother and has brown/brown. My husband is light brown/brown and my kids are brown/blue grey and light brown/blue grey but they both have little dots of hazel whereas mine are solid blue grey. If I want my eyes to look bluer I wear either blue or rose colored tops and it brings out the blue. Both my boys baby eyes were the darker blue.

[Pam]

My daughter's eyes were grayish/hazelish until she was just over a year. Then they changed to medium brown. Your babies are so adorable! Thanks for sharing!

[Nancy]

Those babies are absurdly beautiful. I'm not often reduced to high-pitched "ohhhhhs!" (well, that is sort of a lie), but those rosy cheeks are too much for me to bear.

[Sadie]

Those are gorgeous chubby little cherubs. Cherubim. whatever. They are beautiful and yes - Edward looks very much like Patrick.

[Allison]

Your comments on Caroline's laugh made *me* laugh.

My younger son has a giggle that we call the "smoker's cough" laugh. When he first started laughing as a tiny infant, we couldn't tell if he was happy or in miserable pain. It's this choking, gasping "Huh! Huh! Huh!" sound.

Also, his eyes started out a beautiful hazely greenish-bluish-cognac color. But now, at 18 months, they just seem murky. Sigh.

[Anny]

I swear my youngest son's eyes did not settle into the color they are now until he was about 4 1/2 yrs old! He had grey blue eyes for the first few years with maybe a tinge of hazel creeping in at about age 2(my eyes are grey and my husbands are what I call cognac- a very golden brown), now his eyes are sort of greenish/hazel/ blueish/grey. One of those colors that everyone asks, "what color are his eyes?". Our other 2 kids have the darkest brown bordering on black eye color:)

[Rhonda]

Sounds lovely!

As for better tubs...might it be worth asking on craigslist or freecycle in your area? That way maybe you can get a tub you like without having to spend money on it?

[nicole]

Holy crap, your kids are awesome.

[Hetty Fauxvert]

I haven't the foggiest what color Caroline's eyes are or will be, but lordy no woman, she doesn't look like Marlon Brando! If anything, she has that Juliette Binoche look. Very cosmopolitan. And that first photo of the two of them beaming at each other is just darling. What dolls!

[Mizasiwa]

iv never de lurked but i love your blog and your kids are beautiful!!!!

[Laine]

My boy has one blue eye and one half green and half blue.

Makes for an interesting mix.

[Rosie]

My 3 year old's eyes are still changing color. .
It's weird

[Jesska]

Ohhh, now I want twins!