Love, Erika

Parker is TWO months old!

• Little piggy is still growing like a weed and continues to outgrow clothes....he's sort of wearing 6 month outfits right now although they're baggy on him. The 3 months are too short in the legs. He's already too big to comfortably hold with one arm. I can't believe how fast it goes!
• The smiles are just incredible. He started smiling at 4 weeks and since then he has become such a gregarious little guy. He loves to be talked to and smiled at. His biggest smile is a full open mouth, scrunchy eyes and nose, and his tongue sticking out. And he waves his arms around and wiggles his body, it's like he's smiling with his whole body.

• I think it won't be long before he's laughing too. He'll get smiling real big and then start making a fast gasping sound.... I think it's a laugh coming!

• And what a talker!  He loves to "talk" to us and does all these coos, and gaa-gaa goo-goo stuff. It's just adorable.
• He found his fist at 5 weeks and likes to chew on it.

• He had 3 nights in a row where he slept 6-7 hours in a row but sadly it has not been repeated since. :) In general he does very well with his sleeping, and even nighttime is not bad at all....he usually does 4-5 hours at a time at night. He sleeps all night with only 1-2 feedings during the night.

• His evening fussiness/gassiness is getting better, gradually.  We still get him to sleep between 9-10 and he's not as often having those long crying jags (but they're not entirely gone).  I'm not sure when it happened, but I stopped dreading the evenings a couple of weeks ago.
• He's in size 2 diapers already.
• He's got these Michelin Man fat rolls that are soooo cute.
• Now when we put him under his toys, he's taking interest. He talked to the little racoon on his bouncy seat for about 15 minutes yesterday, just chatting up a storm. And lying under his play gym he loves to look at his reflection in the mirror (the front side of the sunshine is a mirror).
• From his 2 month checkup:
• 1. Length: 24.25 in (90th%)
  2. Weight: 12 lbs 12 oz (75th%)
  3. Head: 40.5 cm (70th%)

 

Drew's birthday party

On June 19th we had Drew's 2nd birthday party here at the house and in many ways it was a lot like last year's party since the same people were here, but in other ways it was much different!  Like Drew is walking now and he was able to open his own presents, and oh yeah . . . . he didn't throw up upon looking at his cake this time!! :) LOL.  We had Grammie and Grampie here, and Aunt Dawn, Nate, Meagan and Abby, and Uncle Doug.

We got the cake from Just Like Mom's Pastries in Weare and it was delicious as usual.  She did such a great job last year that I used her again and we were so happy with it.  The "theme" of the party, if there was one, was THE DOG and we got plates and napkins with cute little doggies on them. So I had the cake made in coordinating colors of lime green and bright blue. The little decorations in the icing are supposed to be paw prints.

Drew was so excited this year, having so many people here. He just loved his cousins and couldn't stop running around and playing with everybody. He got some great presents too!  He got a water table, a bubble-blowing lawn mower, a tee-ball set, a soccer net, a size 3 soccer ball, a dump truck, a couple of DVDs, a spill-proof bubble cup, and a Thomas the Train tent. Being a June baby is so awesome because of all the great summer toys that he can play with.

We got lots of pizzas from Pizza Hut and had cake and it was a good time. Drew ate his own little slice of cake but I couldn't get him to look at the camera and smile for anything!  Most of my pictures of him these days are of the back of his head, so I'll take what I can get.

Potty Training.... already??

Until about a week ago the thought of potty training had not even crossed my mind!  I thought that was something that we'd worry about when he was closer to three..... or maybe never?? Ha ha. I have to admit I have been in no hurry whatsoever for Drew to be toilet trained since diapers are so easy right now.  And with a newborn to care for, I am REALLY not liking the idea of doing this right now since it's another level of complexity I just don't need at this point.

But lately we've had several people tell us that he's showing signs of readiness. I had no idea these were signs of anything except being a trouble making two-year old, but then again I am completely clueless about this process so Drew could have walked right up to me and in a man-voice said, "Mother, I am ready to be potty trained now," and I still would not have gotten it.

One thing he's been doing for a long time now is that he'll go hide somewhere when he's pooping and he doesn't want anybody to look at him while he does it. Like he needs his "privacy" or something. Apparently this is a sign and I didn't know this. But more recently he's starting to decide when his diapers are dirty and he'll strip down and take everything off and start looking for a clean diaper to put on.  This means he may pee once in a diaper and whip it off. I'm not liking this at all since we just bumped him up to Size 6 and you get way less in a package so these things are getting pricey!  We kept him in size 5s until it was no longer physically possible to attach the tabs on the sides, ha ha!  They were just hanging by a thread. Maybe potty training is worth it just for the economics alone....

So anyway we bought him a potty and we'll have to do some reading on the internet to figure out how to do this. I have NO idea where to even begin.  This is the potty we got him: it has over 300 positive reviews on Amazon.

To the beach!

On Saturday we headed out to Hampton Beach. It was the only day in the incredibly bleak forecast that wasn't supposed to rain, so we went for it expecting it to be crazy crowded and miserable. But it wasn't! We never figured out why, other than maybe people were busy with graduations that weekend, but we had no problem finding parking and it wasn't that crowded.

It had been almost a year since Drew went to the beach and obviously he didn't remember it, but he did great despite being a little overwhelmed about the sand, the water, the cold, the seaweed, etc. It didn't take long before he got used to it and then he had lots of fun. He played in the tidepool area with his cousins where the water was slightly warmer.

Nate, Meagan and Abby were fearless and went right in the ocean! I don't know how they didn't get hypothermia but they enjoyed it nonetheless.  Dawn was nice enough to keep an eye on Parker so I could go down to the water and get some pictures! My favorite part of course.....

 

Drew's 2 year checkup

Yesterday Drew had his 2 year well visit and here are his stats:

• Height: 36.75"  (95%tile)
• Weight: 34.2 lbs (off the chart)
• Head:  (off the chart)

So he's a big boy. At least he's proportionate for the most part! He's apparently doing well in all areas except speech development (or lack thereof), but we knew that. In New Hampshire the speech evaluation/therapy for under age 3 is done in the home by Easter Seals so the doctor has sent in a referral to get us started on that.  We're really looking forward to having someone evaluate him and see what's going on. Even though he's started trying to make words, it's only been in the past month that it's happened so needless to say he's way behind where a typical 2 year old should be for talking. I'll be relieved to know one way or the other if there is a problem or if he's just a late bloomer. The doctor said they show the parents techniques we can use to help get him on the right track since it's only a once a week visit.

It's kind of funny because Dave and I are so used to him not talking that we didn't even realize that he should be..... at the end of our visit the doctor said, "I understand why you are concerned. I haven't heard him say one word since he's been in here. He's making lots of sounds and grunts, but no words." And Dave and I were thinking, "he's supposed to have said something?"  LOL.  I guess we just have no clue how much a kid his age is supposed to be talking. 

The New England Aquarium

Yesterday we went to Boston to go to the aquarium!! I was sooooo psyched about this because it was a fun trip out of the house!  Since Parker has been born my roaming has been limited to Target and the grocery store so you can imagine my excitement at going somewhere fun. Dave's sister and her kids, and his brother are all in town from various points around the country so this will be a fun-filled week of things to do.

Drew has been loving having the family around. I think he's really enjoying the activity and hustle and bustle and having lots of people. He's been petting the girls' blond hair and wants to play with whatever they're doing.

So yesterday poor Dave didn't get to go because he hurt his back last week really bad, so he didn't want to strain it by walking around the aquarium. Doug was nice enough to drive me and the kids in the Rav4 and we followed the rest of the clan in the minivan down to Boston. I tried to take lots of pictures so Dave could see what Drew thought of the aquarium. He loved it! At first he was a little overwhelmed by all the people (it was sooo crowded) and the commotion but once he got used to it he went nuts and had a ball looking at all the fish and running around. Parker made it easy on us all and slept the whole time.

 

 

 

Swimming lessons!

We're so excited because we've signed Drew up for his first swimming lessons at the Y this summer. We're trying to find ways to get the poor kid out of the house and into fun activities since we're always cooped up because of Parker. So this summer he's taking his little gym class and also swimming lessons once a week.  We're so lucky to have the Y only one minute away and if he likes the swimming it's something we can keep up year-round since they have an indoor pool.

Obviously it's a parent-child class and somehow I was volunteered to be the parent to take him. :) So I had to get a bathing suit in order to do it, and let me tell you. . . . getting into a bathing suit just weeks after giving birth is not high on the list of ways to improve your self esteem. But luckily the suit I got seems to have some good tummy spandex or whatever so the damage control is better than I thought it would be. But still......

Happy Birthday: Drew is TWO years old today!

 

Drew has totally blossomed this past month! I can't believe all the big changes that have happened so suddenly. Where he used to be so shy and scared around new people, suddenly he's all Mr. Friendly and happy and goes right up to people he doesn't know and loves to be around all his grandparents (even gives hugs!!). He is so much more outgoing in his gym class and gives the teachers high-fives. Now he's trying to talk and has been practicing words. We've waited so long to hear him say anything!  He's really become such a fun little dude and we're really enjoying all the new stuff he's doing.

• Finally we have some words!!!  It has been impressive in the past month alone that suddenly he's making some effort at words. They are completely unintelligible for the most part, but I know what he's trying to say. Some of the words that he's trying to use are: cheese, muffin, juice, water (sounds like "wa-wa"), shoes, go, pasta, ow, uh-oh, shirt....... 
• He's finally become interested in watching TV. We don't have many kids' channels but he watches stuff on PBS like Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George and Sid the Science Kid and Super Why.
  

  

  
  
  
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

• He is obsessed with his little netbook that Dave lets him play with, and he constantly wants to play Peggle. He has found the most bizarre ways to screw up the settings on any computer he touches, including my laptop. Sometimes it's really hard to figure out what he's done.
• He'll eat cheese now!!!  I'm so excited about this. I swear it took him forever to accept a piece of dang sliced cheese. In the past when I'd give him a piece all he would do with it is feed the cats. Now he likes it and always gets it out of the fridge so I will give him some.
• I can't get over how helpful he is, or that he tries to be anyway. He's always bringing me stuff for  Parker, he grabs bags of trash out of my hand and takes it out to the porch, and helps to pick up sticks and do various kinds of yard work. I have to be careful when I'm pulling weeds so that he doesn't see me, he thinks he can help by pulling up just any plant he sees. When I'm getting lunch ready and taking stuff out of the fridge he "helps" by pulling just about everything out of the fridge and loading it all up on the counter. I realize all this may not be so much an impulse to help but more of a desire to imitate everything we do.
• He's fascinated by the lawn mower but won't go near it when it's running. When it's safely parked in the shed, he will climb up on the deck and play with the steering wheel making "vrrrroooooomm" noises but when we roll it out and go to start it up he goes running in fear.
• His favorite game is "Where's Drew?" and he goes NUTS laughing when we pretend we can't find him and he goes to crouch beside a shrub and thinks he's invisible.

A lovely visit with my parents

The past few days we've been enjoying a visit from my parents! They came up on Sunday and left yesterday afternoon. We had a great time and they got to meet Parker (and mostly entertain his crying and/or watch him sleep.....  but they did get some great smiles from him!) and had a good time playing with Drew now that he's a lot more fun. 

(click on the collage below for a bigger view)

 

 

 

 

Parker is ONE month old today!

Wow, another kid to do a monthly update for!  I'm so glad I always did this for Drew, though, because even though I have zero time for scrapbooking these days, just knowing that I have this stuff written down is a big relief. I know I can always go back and do it later. Plus, it is great for comparison's sake. We've already been looking at Drew's monthly updates to see where Parker is compared to what Drew was doing at his age.

 

• Parker is already smiling! He made his first smile on June 1st at only four weeks old. I thought that seemed a little early but some google searching confirmed it can be that soon, and he's done it consistently since then so I know it's real.  It's just freaking precious.
• He is so alert and aware of everything when he's awake. Even before he started smiling he looked so excited when someone would talk to him up close, and he can follow us with his eyes.

• He's going through an awkward newborn stage right now, with the peeling dry skin and baby acne. Of course as his mama I'm the only person who gets to admit that it's not terribly cute. :) Everybody else must maintain that he's still adorable.

• He's got great neck strength already. Maybe it's because he doesn't have the massive pumpkin head that Drew had, and also we're more ambitious with tossing him over our shoulders this time around. We never did that with Drew, because we didn't know how to! LOL. 

• Still having some pretty significant gas issues.... mostly during the day he's pretty fine but like clockwork every evening from about 7-10:30 he screams and carries on. I do not understand why it's only at that time of day, but Dave and I are getting used to the nightly routine of high-intensity soothing and rocking and nursing. Aside from Dave's incessant whining and suicide threats, I think we'll get through this. I just hope his little digestive system matures quickly.

• Luckily once he gets to sleep at night, usually by 11pm, he's good to go for the rest of the night and I only have to feed him one or two times before morning.  Of course now that I've put that in writing it will all change.

• Daytime sleeping is great and we're not tiptoe-ing around the house this time so he's able to sleep with more noise going on. That was a HUGE mistake with Drew. Plus there's not much I can do about a shrieking and laughing toddler anyway, so Parker needs to get used to it.

• Every time I give him a bath I swear his hair gets a little lighter and lighter. So maybe he'll be blond like Drew (and Drew had dark hair at birth too).  We're not sure which direction he's going in just yet. I look at him so much that I don't see any resemblance to anybody right now, but I think I just can't see it right now.

• The bouncy seat has been invaluable. I don't know what we ever did without one!!  It's so nice to have somewhere to plunk him when we can't hold him all the time. Right now we have it on the kitchen counter which keeps him well within reach and OUT of Drew's reach. Also he loves the vibration feature of it, it konks him right out. He doesn't seem to care much for the swing right now.

As for me, I feel amazing and I don't think I've taken it for granted for a single minute how glad I am to have done a VBAC. This past month has flown by, and I've been able to enjoy it rather than being laid up in pain like I was after the c-section. I'm walking, driving, doing yard work, and chasing Drew around the yard, and I feel just like my old self (well, except for being out of shape but that is fixable).  It's all good!

Nursing is going fine and it was only rough the first week until things toughened up and now we're in a good rhythm. I'm happy to be able to do this, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting down the remaining 11 months!! :) I give him just one year, and once he can have cow's milk, I'm done!

I gained 45 pounds with this pregnancy and believe me, I earned every ounce of that!! I was pounding the desserts like nobody's business (and enjoyed every single one).  I've already lost 25 lbs so I think with only 20 lbs left to lose to get back to my normal weight I'm in a good place. I don't expect it to fall off overnight but I know it will come off eventually. After Drew it came off in big spurts with long periods in between of no change at all. I just can't wait to shred all my maternity clothes; I never want to see them again after two pregnancies. And then I will go shopping!