The road to Cakesmash Vol. 1

Fired clients.
Reverse ski off the roof.
Bella and Bud found mold behind the fireplace before I re-learned to walk.
A race to get the house baby-ready, and re-re-learn to walk.
All the while Bella lived & breathed fresh air at her mama’s.
Painting Day turned into Inducement Day.
Delivery Day came a day later.
Twice I looked away, and twice an infant was taken to NICU.
Labor Day Weekend.
Ronald McDonald House.
11 more days & nights at OHSU.
Stuck atop the mountain on their first trip home.
But not before a night at grammies.
“Yeah, let’s try the testosterone shots.”
Monthly occupational therapy meetings.
Nursing, and pumping, and nursing, and pumping…
Fill the bottle, eat the bottle, wash the bottle, sanitize the bottle, fill the bottle…
Mounds of clothes and supplies appeared out of the aether.
6-month winter.
Emptying the shelves of formula before the shortage became an epidemic.
20 lbs. on the pizza & pot pie diet.
Exhaustion.
A Rockstar Zero and a 6-pack of Diet Dr. Pepper a day keeps the doctor in your face.
300 straight sleepless nights on a single bed next to the cribs.

Somewhere along the way, they decided to sleep with the moon more than the sun.

Somehow, I gave up caffeine and cheese.

In some way, Bella maintained a work groove.

Someone noted we should have an open house on their first birthday.

I was the only one who had reservations because I wanted their first year to last a decade.

I wanted them to be babies forever.

But, we made it. They made it.

Peanut & prophet looked like they culled a Smurf village when they were done, but they were filled with laughter in the end.

A huge thank you to the neighbors who came out to their first cakesmash.

We still have some Amazon gifts that came without cards. If you sent something, please hit us up. We’re still chronicly behind on their gifts & donations from last year. We’re working on it, albeit it slowly. And now those two have basketball hoops.

We don’t post much publicly about peanut & prophet, but we took many, many photos. If you haven’t yet seen them, hit us up. We’ll send along the Google Photos link.

Here’s to hoping the next year takes a decade.

Last updated by Finn at September 5, 2022.