My Baby

Today at preschool I brought my camera to try and make up for the six or so months Owen missed this school year.  I discovered that at the end of the year, parents are supposed to create a memory book for their child made up of their art projects, photos and collections from the school year.  Since Owen is lacking in art projects, I am going to try to take a ton of pictures and make up for lost time.  This photo isn't the most artistic or beautiful shot, but I love it.

Sometimes I catch myself looking at Owen and thinking, "when did he get so grown up?"  I'm sure I'll think that a billion times more as he grows up but right now I'm in awe of the changes I've seen over the last few months.  This particular photo illustrates how a mundane, everyday task like washing your hands at the sink seems so amazing to me that now he's mastered it.  3 months ago, I was wiping his hands with baby wipes and now he's marching himself up to the sink, turning on the water, squirting the soap, washing his hands, rinsing his hands and turning off the water.  The only thing I help him with is getting his towel for him but it's only because he can't physically reach it!

Things like complex sentences, potty training and preschool are now part of our daily routine.  Tantrums are bigger and badder than they have ever been.  Emotions like embarrassment and pride are now felt and I recognize them immediately just by looking in his eyes.  Naps are becoming shorter and sometimes not at all.  Bedtime stories are becoming longer with multiple paragraphs per page (Curious George is currently our favorite.)  His preferences for food, toys, activities and pretty much everything else is becoming QUITE clear - especially with his ability to voice his opinion.  I have heard "Mama no talk." twice in the last two days now when I have been telling him things he didn't want to hear.  He loves routine and for things to be the same as the time before...Debi babysat for him last night and it was a nice feeling for me to leave him with someone new knowing that if I forgot to leave clear direction on how things should be, Owen would let her know.  This turned out to be true when I returned home after Owen was in bed and Debi told me she left his bedroom door cracked after she put him down and he called her back up to remind her to close it.  He is now directing us in the car which way to drive to certain places (the park, the trains, cookies at coffee houses and the street where all the speed bumps are near our house.)  When he wakes up in the morning or after nap, instead of crying we hear him calling our names.  This is just a sampling of things that were not happening even three months ago and now are just routine. 

Because he's growing up so fast, I have been hanging on to all the things that make him seem younger.  Especially his Owenese vocabulary.  Here are some of the things he's still saying that make me smile every time I hear them.

• Hebbey-tot-ter (helicopter)
• Pupcake (cupcake)
• Muffin Man (play-doh)
• Ah-choo (kleenex)
• Crunchy (carrot)
• Alligator (elevator)
• BeeBeeBean (well, he used to call his bunny BeeBean, but he changed it to Bunny a long time ago - I've since convinced him that Bunny's name is now BeeBean, so it's come back but he is now calling him BeeBeeBean.)
• Back-up Bunny (the name of the extra Bunny we have that we use when BeeBeeBean is in the wash or accidentally left in Dad's car.)
• Ding-Ding (railroad crossing)
• Captain Dinosaur (Captain Feathersword on The Wiggles)

Stop growing up so fast, Owen...it's killing me. 

Jack and Diane (I Mean, Adam)

Adam's first "friend" is a boy named Jack.  Jack's mom is a co-worker of mine who I got to know better when we discovered we were both pregnant around the same time. 

Jack is about 2 weeks older than Adam.  Now, since we are both on maternity leave, we get together once a week for a "play date" (which is more for the mommies than the babies because really, babies don't play.) 

But here they are looking like best buddies.  Only thing cuter than one baby is two babies.

Cradle Holy Cap

So, Owen never had cradle cap.  He had flaky skin when he was born, but never on his scalp.  Adam has had a pretty major case of it but it hasn't flaked at all.....until today.  I've never really seen cradle cap before, but Adam's head was covered in what looked like kind of scabby skin that just wouldn't come off.  I was fine to just leave it alone because you couldn't see it through all his hair and it didn't seem to bother him at all.

Today though, all that scabbiness exploded into a headful of huge flakes that could not be combed, brushed or shook out.  Well, that's not really true - I could comb out a ton (my bathroom sink was completely covered in them) but they just kept coming and every pass of the comb would just knock a whole bunch more loose.  I kept saying to myself, "Babies aren't gross, but this is REALLY gross."

So when Nana took Owen down to Kent Station this evening  for dinner and trains, Adam and I ran to Babies R Us for some emergency cradle cap treatment.  It is basically lotion that you are supposed to massage into the scalp and leave on overnight and wash out in the morning.  Well, guess how hard it is to massage lotion into a scalp covered with thick, luxurious hair?  You just have to use 3 times the amount, but it can be done.  Not without a little cell phone photo documentation though.  It definitely doesn't seem to bother him!

Grasped An Object?

I keep a daily calendar for Adam's first year just like I did for Owen.  It comes with these little milestone stickers like "first tooth" "said da-da" "ate solid food" -- and I hate them.  I hate these entries in their baby books too.  Because....when kids start doing something, it's usually not very convincing at first and I never know if it "counts" enough for the books.  Rolling over and walking is sort of the only thing that is black and white. 

Right now, I'm looking at the one titled "grasped an object."  Adam has been spastically reaching for things lately and if his hand happens upon something graspable, he grasps it.  But it's not like he's seeing something he wants and going out to purposely get it.  Do I say he's grasped an object?  Or do I wait until I hold something out to him and he takes it from me?  Whatever...I'll just blog that he's kind of grasping things and then it's documented.  Here he is trying to get a piece of his cute little giraffe toy.

Brudders

Owen has been getting extremely good at stalling before bedtime.  He usually is just throwing out darts to see which one sticks.  Tonight, he asked if Adam could get into bed with him.  I think he was expecting me to say no, because when I said, "sure!" his face looked simultaneously confused and excited.  This resulted in him sprinting upstairs, letting me get his pajamas on him in record time, read a quick book and then scurried up his crib wall and leaped into bed.  I put Adam in there with him and they were so stinking cute, I had to take some pictures.

Joke was on Owen, though, when he realized his stall tactic put him in his crib so there was no getting out once photo time was over. 

You have much to learn, young grasshopper.

Back To Real Life - Part I

Steve returned to work on Tuesday, leaving me alone with the boys for 3 and a half days. I was pretty nervous because:

• I have done nothing for myself for the last 10 weeks
• I have done nearly nothing for Owen for the last 10 weeks
• I definitely have done nothing for Steve for the last 10 weeks
• Adam has been going down for the night around 11pm and waking up 2 or 3 times per night
• Owen has been waking up at 7am which is about 1 or 2 hours earlier than usual
• Owen requires lots of attention and assistance during the day
• Adam still prefers to be bounced on the yoga ball quite a bit

So instead of being responsible for 1 person, I will suddenly be responsible for three. Steve is still in charge of himself, but I took over for everyone else.

Now, Steve is home and everyone survived. Looking back, I think the week went as expected. Some of it was easy, some of it was hard, nothing was insurmountable. I was very nervous about not getting any adult interaction, but luckily Nana came up Tuesday and Thursday evenings and I took Owen to preschool on Wednesday so each day had some kind of mental break for me.  But I'm also very happy to have Steve home and I wish it was for longer than 2 days.

The positives for me were getting some confidence that I can handle both kids by myself (although it may be awhile before I take them out of the house alone unless it's to preschool - Owen has a hard time leaving fun activities and I have a hard time wrangling him with Adam hanging from the Bjorn.) I also was able to get some chores done that I had been neglecting. But probably the biggest positive for me was reconnecting with Owen. I have been a benchwarmer in the parenting game for the last 10 weeks and on Tuesday, it was my turn to move up to a starting position. Owen tried to challenge my authority a bit and I had less patience than usual since Adam was usually screaming in the background, but even with a few timeouts and a little bit of tears we seem to have a better relationship than just a week ago. He still accidentally calls me "Dada" quite a bit, but I'm also getting a lot more hugs and kisses too.

All in all, a successful first step on the way back to real life. Next up is to find a nanny everyone likes and then for me to go back to work. Thank God I have 10 more weeks to gear up for that.  I'm sure enjoying my time with these two...

Thomas The Train And The Rainy Day

Sounds like a good book title, doesn't it?  The past few days, weeks, months have been cold and wet.  We try to get out and train watch as much as possible but the weather and sickness has made it fairly difficult lately. 

Steve (the most imaginative dad in the world) decided to bring the train tracks indoors for Owen today.  The tracks are the perfect width for his Thomas Ride-On and Steve made sure to create a train crossing for the correct location of his "ding ding."  Although he used painter's tape for easy removal, I have a feeling this might be a semi-permanent fixture of our house now.

Halfway To Seventy

Today is my birthday.  I was able to celebrate twice - once over the weekend with Nana who made me one of my favorite dinners (stewed chicken) and cake (sprinkle.) 

And today which is the actual day.  I have been given tons of gifts today that were very unexpected...I got to go with Owen to preschool and he gave me the gift of pee-peeing in the potty in public - on a regular potty!  Adam has given me the gift of sitting in his bouncer while I eat a meal for the first time since he's been born.  And Steve is going to drive all the way to Seattle to get me my favorite pizza that I haven't had in years.  It's a great day. 

But how could it not be a great day when I get to spend it with my favorite people?

Two Months Old

Another month gone by.  Where are they going?  I have no clue.  Your second baby does seem fly by so much faster than the first.  Probably because your first baby requires that you split your attention so much you feel like you're only getting about 50% of the time you had with your first.  No matter what the reason, I am wishing time could stand still a little bit for both my kids.  They are each growing and maturing before my eyes and sometimes it's a little scary!

Adam went to the doctor today and had to get 3 shots (poor baby!)  I made sure to take his monthly picture before the doctor's appointment.  Here are the obligatory stats:

Weight: 11 pounds, 4.5 ounces (38th percentile)
Height: 23 inches (51st percentile)
Head: 15.5 inches (34th percentile)

So we know he's growing!  They did a prediction calculator for his final height and he's clocking in right at Dad's height (5'11") so Owen will tower over all of us (he is predicted to be 6'2"!)

Sleeping is still less than I would like.  We had a couple days of 6 hour stretches and I got really excited, but we've reverted back to 4 hours being the longest.  However, he seems to be getting much more comfortable on his tummy and in his pj's so hopefully he'll start to stay asleep a little longer in the next few weeks.  I am looking at his one month post and he was only sleeping 2 hours then, so if we are going to double our longest stretch every month - that is great with me!

I've also started giving him formula at night - just as a "top off" right before bed.  Sometimes he drinks it and sometimes he doesn't and I haven't seen that it affects how long he sleeps.  However, it's not hurting anything and I will most likely be transitioning him to 100% formula when he's 3 months old (like I did with Owen) so this is a way to get him used to the formula and the bottle slowly.  He drank 3 ounces last night, so I think he might like it.

During the day, he is getting more and more alert and happy - but we are not done with the yoga ball yet.  Last night and today at lunch were the first two meals he has allowed me to eat while he sat in the bouncy seat.  He still hates the car, but he has started cooing!  I love that sound.  I also love to watch their faces really try to get that sound out from their head to their mouth.  And he is a smiling fool.  Loves to smile at Owen and us and last night, he smiled for a long time at himself in the mirror.  He must have liked what he saw!

I bought these stickers to put on Adam's shirt each month for his monthly photo. They are designed to look like iron-ons, but they are just stickers and you are supposed to "stick and click." I questioned if they were lame or not when I bought them, but I have been looking for new things to do with Adam that I didn't get to do with Owen and this was one of them. I am really liking them though! I think they are going to be really fun when I have all 12 months to compare.

I can't believe he's two months old.  9 weeks to be exact, and I'm coming up on halfway through my maternity leave.  Maybe it's time to start playing the lotto so I can win and quit my job!

Happy birthday, little Adam.  I love you so much.

Pete's Dragon All Over Again

A famous story of my childhood is how the first movie I cried over was Pete's Dragon.  And that I cried for weeks.  Poor Pete, who had a crappy childhood and found a friend (or some might say a HERO) in a dragon named Elliot.  As soon as life got a little better for Pete, Elliot took off.  Yes, he left to go help other needy children and yes, if they had made a movie about THOSE children, I might decide they needed Elliot's help as much as Pete did.  However, they didn't make a movie about those faceless, nameless children.  They made a movie about Pete and I was on his team.  Just because he found a new mommy who owned a cool lighthouse, doesn't mean that he didn't love his dragon and would miss him every single day?!?!?

Ok, I could go on and on about this movie.  This is why I don't watch it anymore.  However, we had a little moment here today that caused me some PTSD flashbacks of my Pete's Dragon depression.

Owen has been visited by the Sleep Fairy ever since Christmas.  She has been coming to our house leaving treats (it started as chocolate and then quickly changed to gummy vitamins) while Owen is asleep.  She leaves a treat in a red box that is kept in our dining room and when Owen wakes up, he runs to check the box.  She had started coming right before Adam's arrival in the hopes that she could help Owen transition a little better into being a big brother. 

Today, the Sleep Fairy box broke and we took that as a sign that she is sending a message that she won't be visiting us anymore.  Now that Owen has accepted Adam as life as usual - he doesn't really need Sleep Fairy's help.  So today, we explained to Owen that she has gone to help other little boys and girls who need help sleeping.  She said that Owen has been great at picking out his own M&M colors when he goes pee-pee in the potty, so she knows he would be just as good at picking out his own vitamins.  Owen wasn't phased by this information and went on about his day (he prefers picking out his own vitamin anyway.)  Meanwhile, I went and cried in the corner.  Bye, bye Sleep Fairy.  Stupid dragon.

Charlie The Wonder Dog

Another day in the snow and look what we discovered Charlie can do!



Oh, and Owen is still cute as a snow bunny...

First Day Of Preschool

Owen is officially a preschooler!  Last week, we did a trial class at a local co-op and Owen loved it.  Today was our first day as an actual class member.  He did great!  He participated in circle time, painted a picture, played with toys, let a Ukrainian kid play doctor with him (not in a gross way, but it was a little weird,) ate snack at a big table with the rest of kids which included pouring his own water and clearing his own place, played with playdough, used a rice table and then did more circle time! 

This place is pretty fun.  It's 2 hours, twice a week with the option of only coming once a week (we're only going to go on Wednesdays.)  The parents come and assist in the classroom so there are a lot of eyes on the kids at all times.  I was worried about how helpful I would be with Adam in the Bjorn, but it worked out ok.  They didn't expect much of me since this was my first day too. 

Next week is class picture day, so hopefully I'll have a photo of the whole class to share.

Firstish Snow

Today was not the first time Owen has seen or played in snow.  Last year, there was a slight flurry and I rushed Owen out to play in it (it never ended up sticking to the ground.)  It also was not the first time it snowed this year.  But, it was the first time Owen and I got to play in some snow on the ground!  It's also the first time we played in it when Owen understood what it was.  He REALLY liked eating it.  I can't wait to get more than a couple inches so he can really wade around in it!

What Are Little Boys Made Of?

I'm not sure how the whole poem goes, but I know it has something to do with snails.  Owen is obviously into boy activities (can you count the number of trains and garbage truck toys in our house?)  Today, Steve took Owen outside and since his usual activity of ant and spider hunting is on hold until the weather warms up, Steve had the bright idea to go worm hunting.

All I can say is, I'm glad I was on a playdate with Adam during this activity.  (PS: by "playdate" I mean, "shopping at IKEA with a friend of mine who has a baby the same age.)

Choo Choo Park

Yes, another post about trains.  Although, this one is just some cute pictures from our day at the choo-choo park (Owen's favorite park is Titlow Park in Tacoma which, as you can guess, has a train track that runs through it.)

We've been going to the park fairly often since Adam's arrival (we went often before, but I'm surprised at how we've kept it up.)  The camera usually stays home since juggling a baby and a camera isn't the easiest thing.  But, the last few times I have wished I had brought it because Owen is adorable in his little cold weather outfit on the swings (and I'm also worried that I'm not going to have enough pictures for Owen's 3rd photo book since we've been taking so many pictures of Adam.)  So, I brought it today and was able to snap quite a few keepers.  My favorite is the one of the train tracks Steve made in the dirt for Owen to "go fast" over.  He loved them.

An Evening With Nana

I think the photos speak for themselves.  Everyone loves it when Nana comes over!

I'm A Big Kid Now

Owen went pee pee in the potty!  Not sure if he will do it again any time soon, but hopefully the cheering and the chocolate was enough to encourage him!

Happy Place (Hint: It's A Train)

Steve and Owen are out riding the rails this evening.  I just received this video and had to share it.  It truly is Owen's happy place.

While I'm typing this, I just got another email saying that Owen got to blow the train horn.  Oh...man...better than Christmas.  I can't wait to get the scoop when he comes home!

Our Valentine's Day Gifts

Happy Valentine's Day!

We are horrible parents.  I opted to not give Valentine's Day gifts to the kids this year.  Owen has no idea what the holiday is and he's been showered with gifts for the last six weeks.  Adam definitely won't know the difference.  Their gifts from Nana are going to have to fulfill their Valentine's Day needs this year!

They, on the other hand, are giving us gifts.  Dad is taking Owen on his 3rd and 4th train trip this evening (riding the train from Kent to Tacoma and back) which always results in the gift of watching your child doing the thing he loves most in the world.  Mom and Adam might join them, but Adam had a fairly traumatic morning accompanying mom on her last postpartum checkup.  We'll see what kind of mood he is in this evening.

Adam has been giving us the gift of smiles for the last week or so.  But to coincide with the holiday, yesterday and today I managed to get a couple on camera.  They still aren't perfect (the first was on a cell phone camera which is always horrible quality and the second was holding the camera over my head again which is proving to be a difficult task for me!) 

Best Valentine's Day ever!

Double The Pleasure, Double The Fun

What is it like having two kids, you ask?  It's twice as fun.  Here is a video to illustrate my point...