Sweet boys

 I love moments spent playing with Patrick.  When he looks up at me, grabs my hair and twirls it around - my heart melts.  One of his favorite games, that we play most often in the wee hours of the night, is me holding my hand about 6-8 inches over his head and he giggles as he grabs my fingers with both hands.  Or he watches as I gently move my fingers.  I don’t know what is so fascinating about my hand, but I am absolutely mesmerized watching him.

He is now waking up 4-5 times a night normally.  A treat is when he only gets me up twice to eat.  Those nights are glorious.  I never thought I would be excited about getting 3 hours in a row – but it is absolutely amazing the one night a week he sometimes gifts me.  Haha!  I don’t know if he is just eating because I’m there or if he is hungry, and I’m not sure it matters – because I’m going to feed him regardless.  Surprisingly, I don’t feel too terribly run down with the lack of sleep.  I guess my body has adapted to less.  

William had his first dentist appointment this week and it went fairly well.  It was just a well-check, not a cleaning.  The doctor looked in his mouth (with some gently prying) and he has all but one of his baby teeth.  The last molar is coming in right now.   He was quite the trooper and even found his “treat” that I brought for him and pulled it out in front of the doctor.  Yay… Midget tootsie roll isn’t THAT bad ..right?!    Dr. Lawrence says we’ll have to see how his permanent teeth come in, but usually when baby teeth are crooked-ish, the permanent teeth come in more crooked and that leads to braces early.  Not sure exactly what he means by “early” but that’s fine.  Sam and I both had braces.  No biggie.  We should probably add that to the list of things to save for though, huh… Awesome.

Knock on wood, William has been really excited to go to school this week.  No tears, no tantrums, no clinging.  It’s been awesome.  He literally RUNS to his class and usually gives Ms Phyllis some love.  Apparently, Ms Phyllis has been trying to teach the kids “walking feet” -  William hasn’t caught on yet.  He runs everywhere all the time.  And he seems to fall down a lot, though sometimes it looks like he does it on purpose.  Maybe just to slow down because “I go fast”.  Love that kid.

Not to toot my own horn – but I was this week’s Biggest Loser at work this week!!  I guess exercising, drinking water (nearly) exclusively, and healthy meals are paying off a little bit.  Which totally gives me the motivation to keep going.  It helps that we aren’t eating “diet” food – just meals from scratch and not a lot of processed food really at all.  I’m kinda proud of myself at being able to cook these kind of meals while still working.   I honestly felt a little like super mom yesterday.  Now if I could just keep that feeling going every day!!

I had the wonderful foresight to schedule a date night on this month’s menu – so on Saturday we are going to be enjoying a kidless meal where people will serve us.  I’m really excited about it.  I might even have a glass of wine and get crazy.  But not too crazy, because we’ve got to go pick Patrick back up after we’re done.  William is spending the night with B&B though, so atleast if Patrick goes back to sleep in the morning, we can sleep in a little.  I’m not holding my breath though.   I’m looking forward to getting semi-dressed up (I kinda still hate my post-baby wardrobe…) and going out with my hubs.  He’s the best and it will be fun.  I bet you $10 though that we end up at Barnes & Noble in the kids book section.  Somehow we always go there when we have time alone.  Haha!

William has been practicing his vocabulary.  He literally says almost every thought 17 times in a row practicing the words.  The other day he was practicing “careful” and kept saying that he had to be “careful of the trees” over and over until he could say the word correctly.  It’s kinda cute.  (Also a little annoying, but I’ll focus on the cute)   There has definitely been a word explosion since his birthday.  He has also gotten REALLY bossy.  He wanted to tell me something in the car and when I didn’t stop talking to Sam immediately he said “Mommy stop talking.”  Had to have a serious conversation about that one.  

William has rediscovered Dinosaur Train and that is all he wants to watch now.  Atleast he doesn’t insist that we sit and watch it with him, because there are only 6 episodes downloaded.  I like it because it is a bit educational, even if it is way over his head and he’s just happy because it combines two of his favorite things.   He sits in his mini person chair with his “crackers cheese” and “shake milk” and just relaxes and stares.  I wish we had an awesome house with an awesome yard that we could let him loose in.  One day.  I’m afraid he watches too much tv…

Patrick is STILL refusing to roll over.  I am almost starting to worry.  He’s five months old next week.  He does pretty well during tummy time…. Meaning, it takes awhile before he gets truly pissed about it, but he won’t roll.  He’s strong and can push way up, but he’s just not motivated enough to roll.  Guess that will be the new thing I start googling.  I’m not usually the mom who worries about meeting the milestones… but at this rate….  Anyhow.  Surely he’ll be able to roll by the time he goes to kindergarten! Haha!!

  

Loves.

Playing pretend

We have been bad terrible parents this past week.  I don’t think we got out the camera at all.  I finally grabbed it last night when I realized and took a couple snaps of the boys… oops!!  They are way too cute not to document all the time, but William is going through a “no photo” phase and Patrick usually requires two hands.  It was only one week though.  I don’t think that either of them will truly mind in the long run.

Sam and I took off Friday to paint the living room.  We figured it would be easiest to do without the kids there and would take most of the day.  Well – it only took us three hours – which was totally awesome.  If we had known that, we would’ve sent the boys to B&B’s one afternoon on a weekend… best laid plans.  It is now a wonderfully light light beige instead of green.  I liked the green, but after staring at it for two years, I was ready for something else.  And we almost never go truly neutral – so this is a fresh change.  We are loving it.

William is working hard at developing his imagination.  We played for twenty minutes one night that a dinosaur was behind mommy & daddy’s bed and that Swiper the fox was behind his door.  “Fwiper no fwiping!!”  Not a typo – he’s still working on his “s” Adorable!!  We roared at the dinosaur too.  He is so much fun.  And then at the park – him and Sam pretended that there was a door between the bushes that he needed a key to open – so Sam would “hand” him a key and William would “open” the door.  They played that game all afternoon!  I am in absolute awe of what a little man he is becoming.  And I’m trying hard to enjoy and absorb every non-tantrum moment of it!!

Patrick has discovered his tongue….atleast a little bit.  We were playing on the floor last night.  I make funny faces and noises and he smiles at me.  It’s a really fun game.  Atleast for me.  And then he ever so slightly stuck his tongue out at me and tried to razz a bit.  So we started practicing.  I would do it and he would study me….loved every minute.  Razzing tickles my nose – but he thought it was fun.  I wonder if he will find as much pleasure and amusement in razzing as William did….!!!  OH!  And he has giggled a little - and it is THE most adorable sound.  Now Sam and I spend all evening trying to get him to do it - I'm sure that is the most amusig part of the whole thing! haha!

We are still co-sleeping – made it through the week.  And he only woke up twice on Tuesday night – at 11:15 & 2:30.  (Unfortunately, the rest of the week he took long naps at school and was up most of the wee hours the rest of the week...Thank goodness Sam lets me sleep in on the weekend)So we are getting better and being in bed during those wake up times is hardly like waking up at all.  I’m loving it.  I did insist that I get to sleep in this weekend though since he had been up so much while he didn’t feel good (super congested …. Again poor baby.  We also think his gums hurt…).  That was amazing.  Never thought I would think that 7:30 was sleeping in – but it was glorious.  Bless my husband.

Family dinners are going really well.  I can usually manage to have it on the table by 6:15 at the latest and it’s nice to all be together.  William usually monopolizes the conversation, but I’m hoping that this is something we can keep up for the rest of their lives.  We always ate as a family at home when I was a kid…  Anyhow…. Most nights William comes to the table without a fuss and sometimes even enthusiastically.  He will eat just one more bite if we ask him to, but he doesn’t always try everything on his plate.  And that’s ok.  If prompted, he will even asked to be excused when he is all done.  OH – and for some strange reason – he has to do his “seat belt” on the booster seat – but he can buckle it himself and is very proud.

It is really amazing the amount of energy William has.  I took both boys to the park on Monday afternoon with a friend and her son, who is 18 months.  William ran circles around all of us.  I barely got to talk to her at all for trying to make sure I knew where he was and that he wasn’t going to throw himself off the equipment!  He did make a friend, who I think was a little older, and they played chase all over the park.  Patrick was fairly well behaved.  Slept for the first thirty minutes, sat in my arms, got hungry, sat some more.  Both Williams had a great time until the sun went down and we all had to go make dinner.  But he never slowed down not once for two hours.  We are going to have to put that kid in soccer just to give him a sport that moves at such a fast pace.  I don’t know that he will be able to be still enough for little league!!

William got a little person’s frosting set for Christmas and it has pictures of cupcakes on the front.  This, of course, turned into an obsession about making cupcakes.  And I, being the super awesome sucker of a mom, told him that we would go to the store later and get stuff to make cupcakes.  He immediately goes to find his shoes so we could go to the store.  We ended up going after the park at 5:40 – so dinner wasn’t ready until much later than usual  - but while everything was cooking – we did manage to get the cupcake batter made.  He had a great time.  His favorite part is the stirring.  He has been talking about stirring the eggs for two days now.  He was not as interested in eating the cupcakes though.  So we had 12 cupcakes that he just HAD to make that he now won’t eat…  Only William.   I might have had cupcakes for breakfast, which probably hurt my weigh-in for Biggest Loser at work… Oh well – there’s always next week.

 Patrick has discovered that he is coordinated enough to use his hands to grab and play with things, and it all ends up in his mouth.  Blankets, toys, mommy's fingers, everything.  Subsequently, he is developing a rash on his face if we aren't vigilant about keeping aquaphor on him.  William got a crazy bad rash when he was teething, so we are hoping to avoid it this time.  we will see.  I think it's cute to see the weheels turn as he figures out how to play with his toys.  He had a big time knocking over his zebra.  It's the little things...

Loves.

Gone Granola

My poor darling husband has declared that I am a full-blown hippie.  I don’t’ know if that is totally accurate, but I am definitely a little crunchy…  

It all started when several weeks ago (though, really, probably much earlier) I read an article about a woman who had been harassed by Target employees for breastfeeding at the store.  There was a “nurse-in” organize and I so wanted to go.  Unfortunately for me,  it was at 10am during the week.  I was considering taking my lunch early and going, but Sam didn’t want me getting involved.  He was afraid I’d get arrested and then Patrick would be with me.  Oh – I had a lot to say about that one!  That breastfeeding moms have every right to feed their children, she was covered, it’s all small thinking like that that makes it so much harder to succeed in breastfeeding, and Target’s own policy allowed breastfeeding, and on and on.  

I, personally, have never been harassed while feeding Patrick in public.  I usually try to be way out of the way and I always use a cover, just because I don’t want to make other people uncomfortable and create a scene.  That being said, I would do what I had to do in any situation to make sure that Patrick was getting what he needed.  I think I’m fairly discrete though.  I remember when Patrick was only three weeks old and we had to stop to feed him on the way up to my parent’s house that I was going to feed him on the McDonald’s playground while William played, but Sam was too embarrassed of me and “made” me go to the car.  (Truthfully, I  didn’t want him to be embarrassed, so I went begrudgingly…)  

After that, it took several weeks before I was then comfortable enough to breastfeed in public.  I even then always went out to the car and sat in the passenger’s seat.  Not 100% comfortable, but not bad, and atleast there was the radio.  I don’t know at exactly what point, but I am now totally fine feeding him wherever I have to.  (Today - I walked around Hobby Lobby feeding him - with the cover - but still) And it’s probably, in some ways, because I was so upset that the woman had been given a hard time.  It became the principle of the matter.  I have fed him at the zoo, in Olive Garden, Target, etc.  So that’s the first way that I am granola.

The second is that I don’t want to give Patrick solids before 6 months.  Under any circumstances.  WHO, AAP, and a slew of other organizations recommend that babies be exclusively breastfed for 6 months.  Period.  I tend to agree.  And, I enjoy the satisfaction in knowing that he relies solely on me for sustenance.  That his thigh rolls and chubby cheeks are products of my milk.  I’m proud of how he is growing.   Sam doesn’t feel the same way.  Despite all the research and articles I found, he still wanted to give him cereal.  He thinks that Patrick will sleep through the night if he has something more “substantial” in his stomach.  We are all tired, I get that, but I’m not going to do something I don’t believe is right because I want to sleep.  So, I volunteer to get up with Patrick every time he wakes up for the next two months (until 6 months basically).  

After the first night of this, I realize that life would be oh so much easier if I didn’t have to actually get out of bed.  That that is what wakes me up and makes it so hard for me to go back to sleep.  I suggest that Sam can sleep in the uber comfortable daybed in another room and I will sleep with Patrick in the bed.  Surprisingly, Sam has absolutely no problem with that (of course he wouldn’t, he gets to sleep peacefully all night).  So, Patrick and I have been co-sleeping all week, and the co-sleeping was the third nail in my granola hippie coffin.  The first co-sleeping night, he spent half of it in the pack and play because Sam wasn’t wild about Patrick being in the bed with me.  But after 1.5 hours of trying to get the very awake and playful baby asleep at 3am, I was not risking waking him up by shuffling him into the pack-n-play… so he slept with me.  And that’s where he’s been all week.  

The jury is still out on whether I am getting more sleep…. I know that he is eating more.  Or I think he is…. And if I don’t swaddle him, he just plays with hands, but I think we are starting to get the hang of it after 4 nights.  I certainly don’t mind the extra snuggle time.  It was nice the first night – it felt special – just the two of us.  I am thankful for the extra time at night since we don’t have it during the day and he’s such a sweet wonderful boy.  So, I sleep a little lighter because I am hyper aware that he is right next to me.  I think he is sleeping better overall and that’s worth it.

I don’t think of myself as a particularly extreme parent.  I have definitely been reading more about babies, breastfeeding, and everything in general this time around (I read little to nothing with William) but I don’t think there is anything wrong with being informed.  Sam is afraid that it is making me insecure in my parenting skills, but I don’t think so.  I feel armed with information.   But, if that makes me a hippie granola crunchy parent, then so be it.  

Oh – I almost forgot… haha.  The granola icing on the cake for Sam was when I said I was considering extended breastfeeding and didn't want to wean Patrick until he decided he was ready.  Sam still hasn't wrapped his head around that one....we shall see.  (the same organizations that recommend not introducing cereal and solids early, also recommend breastfeeding two years)  I just can’t imagine waking up one and telling Patrick that he’s not nursing anymore.  I actually enjoy it now, and there are SOOO many benefits for the baby even past a year, that I don’t think it will be worth it to me.  Pumping however, I’m thinking that will disappear quickly. Haha!!!

And let me be clear, I definitely don’t think that we did William a disservice because I basically made the opposite of every decision I’m making now.  He has grown into a wonderful, independent, trusting, healthy, sweet little boy.  All the decisions we made then were the best decisions we could make at that time and for him in particular.  There are things I might have done differently and I have small regrets (not surrounding myself with a breastfeeding support system in particular) but I am fully confident that we have and are doing right by him.  And the same for Patrick, even though it’s very different parenting.  He’s a different kid.  

Anyway – just wanted to get that out there and out of my head.  I’m granola and I’m proud.  

Loves.

You Ok? You Ok? You Ok?

Now that we are finally done documenting every holiday, let me see if I can remember all the “normal” things that our adorable children have been up to.  I’m not making any promises that this will be complete, but hopefully I will get close.

William’s most said phrase the past two weeks or so is “You OK?” You Ok Mommy, You Ok, You Ok, You OK Daddy?, You Ok, You OK?  No joke.  The kid says it in response to almost everything.  Every oops, every mumble, every oof, every ouch, every fall, every everything.  If you ask him if he is ok – he says No.

We have moved his (William’s) bedtime back to 7:30.  All previous times that we have tried have resulted in him waking up even earlier or he will be absolutely foul leading up to the later time.  This time around has produced sleeping until 6:00am!!!!  We are excited!!  And he is just as sweet (and strong-willed) in the evening.  Now, if only Patrick would sleep until 6, we wouldn’t be able to contain ourselves.  He is usually up for the day by 5:30.  Which isn’t terrible….

Patrick is getting really strong.  When he kicks, he can actually move himself.  This was discovered while I was changing his diaper.  I went to go get his clothes and I come back and his head is off the pad.  The child had propelled himself backwards!!   He’s still not rolling over yet but we are going to have to start watching him.  And the big kids in his class must have him convinced that he can crawl, but last night during tummy time he was trying to scoot around.  

William can carry on a conversation on the phone now.  Which might be the most fun ever.  He spent the week after Christmas in Cleveland with my parents, and we talked every day, and it was so fun to hear him tell us what he did.  Usually it was about CARS and cows and horses.  And he now says “I LOVE you”.  When he’s not being ‘strong-willed’, he is absolutely adorable and loving.

William is obsessed with the train table that Sam built.  And it really is super cool.  Between Sam and Grandaddy K – he got all the “extras” – and now he is in train heaven.  He plays with it almost exclusively right now.  Nothing else exists.  Which is saying something – because he has a lot of REALLY cool toys, but he’s obsessed with trains right now.  It’s funny, he has decided that on top of the round house is the “Chug Wash” (“car wash” for trains on Chuggington) and the trains go there.  It’s so funny to hear and watch his imagination.  Apple slices have also been trains at dinner.

Both boys are eating really well.  William has eaten everything we have put in front of him.  Well, atleast a couple bites of all it anyhow.  Which is a huge improvement.  He still loves fruit and hotdogs the best, but has branched out to chicken (cooked several different ways) and even some vegetables every once in awhile.  Patrick has always been a pretty good eater, but it appears that my milk supply is up this week (pumping at work), so he must be having some serious conversations while he is nursing telling the boobs what to do.  Fine with me.  My number one fear is that I lose the milk.

I think potty training is eminent.  William tells us when he has gone ‘poo’ about 85% of the time – and it means wet or dirty….  He is still not wild about sitting on the potty though.  Though – did I mention this already? – he did poo on the potty at school a couple weeks ago… I bet I did write that before.  Oh well.  Are all kids reluctant to sit on the potty or is that a requirement before we even give it an honest go?   Any advice?  How do I know when he is REALLY ready?  Or should I just wait until he says he wants to use the potty….?  That was our original plan, but I’m a little tired of making sure we have size 5 AND size 2 diapers.  It would be so much easier if it was just one.  Except that then he would have to go at really inopportune times.  Maybe I don’t mind diapers as much as I thought I did.

Sam and I are currently in discussions about when to begin giving Patrick solids.  I want to wait until 6 months, period.  Sam wants to start now with cereal/oatmeal.  I’m not sure there is a right decision.  The pediatrician said he could start now or we could wait – either was fine.  The American Academy of Pediatrics says for babies to be exclusively breastfed until six months.  William was started sometime after four months, but he was terrible at it.  Made for cute messy pictures, but not a lot of food was swallowed.  And once again, starting solids affects how many calories Patrick eats from me, so my supply will inevitably decrease…. We will see.  Discussions are still in progress.

Oh!  Patrick is starting to screech a little.  It’s not quite a squeal – but it is high pitched and it is because he is happy.  I think it’s adorable.  William asks if “Tatrick is ok?”

We have lost all but two pacis.  I don’t know where they go.  But I’m fairly certain that they have all been ‘lost’ inside our house (versus in Target) which boggles my mind.  I have a feeling that in two years we will still be finding them in super random spots.  Maybe we should just move every single piece of furniture in the house.  I bet we still wouldn’t find them all.  Frustrating and ridiculously funny all at the same time.

Loves.

Patrick by Numbers : 4

4 months already!  Our little pumpkin is growing and learning just like he should.  Here are the highlights:

*Weighs 15 lbs 10 oz (just over 50th) and is 26 inches (75th) tall.  That is a 3” gain in two short months.  He gained two pounds in one month – way to go me!! (and him for being a good eater!!)

*Is exclusively breastfed still.  And lucky for both of us, my milk supply doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

*He has halfway laughed.  Really more of a shortlived giggle.  Absolutely adorable and he does it for Daddy more often than for me, and usually when you tickle his neck.

*Loves to have his clothes taken off.

*Is still an absolute snuggle bunny.  He is usually very content to be held and snuggle however and whenever.  

*Totally chill and doesn’t put out a whole lot of demands.  He does have his fussier days, but for the most part, he is totally happy all the time.

*Wakes up two to three times prior to 6am to eat.  We much prefer him to wake up at 3am and 5:45am – but we know that if wakes up first at 11-12pm we are in for a not fun night.

*We upped his bottles to 4.5 ounces (from 4) at daycare.  Ms. Tonja said he was still hungry.  Luckily, that is still well within what I am able to pump daily.

*His favorite thing to do is roll his “r”.  GuRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…..  He does it constantly.

*Has learned to happily tolerate tummy time for up to 20 minutes sometimes.  He is getting really strong and is close to figuring out how to roll over.  If only he would listen to our advice and tuck his arm…

*He is enthralled by anything William does – he watches him every time W gets close.  They also enjoy watching the same cartoons and movies….though – William does choose those.

*Can hold on and play with toys now.  He enjoys rattles, rings, and ‘open’ balls.  Basically anything his little fingers can grab.

*Teething has officially begun.  Everyone's fingers end up in his mouth and the drool is out of control.  Atleast he's not unhappy about it....and we keep large tubes of aquaphor on hand.

*Has a sensitivity to garlic.  He HATES it when I eat it.  This is unfortunate.  For me.

*Still loves being in the Moby wrap.  He usually falls asleep in it.  

*Will take decent sized naps in his carseat, which I find amazing.

*Continues to spit up every time he eats.  Without fail.  I don’t know why I seriously just don’t sew shirts for me out of burp cloths.  We are single handedly keeping Tide in business at this point.  Our water bill proves that point as well….

*He goes to bed between 7:30-8:00 every night.  William’s bedtime routine has become part of his and he doesn’t expect to eat or go to bed until we’ve put William down.  

*He has the absolute most joyful smile.