Randomness

Just a little update about our family:

Christian: Is growing like a weed. I guess I should have waited and made this post next Thursday after his 2 month check-up, but last week he weighed 11 lbs. I think we are going to have another big boy on our hands. I just can't imagine him being bigger than what Joseph was at 6 months. Jeff mentioned the other day what if we had 4 big boys like the Thomas' (Jeff has a set of cousins that are all brothers and they are all over 6 feet tall...huge boys!!). I just shook my head and can't imagine. Can you imagine the grocery bill?!?! Jeff and I laugh at what we finish off at meal time just between the two of us, I can't imagine four boys. That actually might be a good diet plan for me. There just won't be any food for me to eat. Anyway, back to Christian. He is a sweet little baby. Sleeps a lot during the day which is nice because I can tend to Joseph and get things done. Around 5 pm, he starts to wind down and get fussy. I usually cook dinner with him strapped to me in the jeep carrier. Talk about tiring! I remember my pilates instructor telling me before he came, I should focus on strengthening my arms and back because having a two year old and baby can be very tiring. I just shrugged and thought, "I carry Joseph around all the time, I am conditioned enough to handle this." Boy was I wrong. Christian loves to be held a lot and walked around, so that came be very tiring. During the day, he will sit in the swing and bouncy chair, but at night he is ready for some mommy touch. I spend most of my evenings walking him around the living room and kitchen while Jeff and Joe play. Christian loves being outside and baths so that has become a routine for us. Dinner, clean-up, walk, keep baby happy, bath, and then bed. He has recently found his hands and chews and sucks on them constantly. He is cooing and smiling like crazy which is always sweet. He's real chatty in the morning and at bath time. It seems like he is cooing much earlier and much more than what Joseph did. When I think about this, I wonder if that means he is going to talk more than Joseph...something I can't imagine.

Joseph: Is getting so big and at such a joyous age. He is at an age where he is learning, repeating, remembering everything! He is starting to make sentences which is really cute. One of my favorites is "Mama, see me now." So demanding! My least favorite phrases are "No" and "No, mine." He is going through the two's right now and that is all I have to say. I told Jeff that I am going to introduce him as, "this is Joseph and he's two." So whatever he does or whatever happens....he is just a normal 2 year old boy. He is amazing with Christian. He just gets on the floor and talks to him and Christian just coos and smiles back at him. We have had a few close calls with Joseph injuring Christian, but for the most part he is very gentle with him. One night Christian was in his bouncy seat (unbuckled) and Joseph ran by, grabbed the back of the seat and let go. Yep, just about catapulted Christian out of the seat. I was eating and when I turned to see what was going on, all I could see was the whites of Christian's eyes. He went right back to sleep like nothing had ever happened. Joseph is becoming a little boy in all sense of the word. Loves getting dirty, stinky and playing rough. He does this thing where he will run by you and slap you on your back side or leg and take off running. If he ever does this, he is playing and not hitting, because as he runs away he will yell, "get you!" Very cute, but when you're not expecting to get slapped, it can sting a little. He is doing great in his bed. We have a bottom rail so he doesn't fall out at night anymore. Jeff said we didn't need one, but I kept saying we did and then one night he fell out and he had a nice shiner to show for it. Ummhhmmm, mama knows what is best ;-) Last week Joseph had his first round of ear infections. We finally took him in after a week of runny nose, cough, and finally a high fever and vomiting. I never thought it could be an ear infection because he never once pulled on his ear or mentioned his ear hurting. She said there was a lot of fluid in both so I was bummed to hear that because I have had to battle with fluid in my ears for years. I have significant hearing loss due to chronic ear infections and fluid, something I would prefer my kiddos never have to deal with. This week he has really bounced back and been his old chirpy self.

Jeff and I: We are doing good. Just trying to get into a good routine where we can actually visit with each other at night. We get to talk about our day at dinner and then we split up for the night each taking a boy. Jeff is a common request from Joseph, so I take Christian and just try to keep him happy and awake until bath time. I can't wait for Christian to be able to play with the boys and we can all be together in the evenings again. Jeff's job has been going pretty good...he is just happy to still have one. They have been laying off left and right at his place. He may be going to France for this project so that is a week that I am not looking forward too. He is my savior at 6 pm. Someone we are all happy to see walk through that door!
I have been getting into a routine as well. I have started going back to the Y and that has been awesome. Joseph eased right back into it and of course, Christian sleeps the entire time. My back has been hurting ever since the epidural, so I am wanting to get back to pilates, but going by someone else's time isn't going to fly right now. We are all pretty much on Christian's time. I am feeling pretty rested. I don't get a solid couple of hours of sleep every night, but I do get sleep. Christian wakes up at 1, 4 and then is ready to be up for the morning at 5:30. The 9:30-1 is always good, and he will usually go down pretty easily after the 1 am feeding, but after that, I just hold my breath that he will go back to sleep. I fall asleep in the glider a lot, but the other night I just couldn't take it anymore, so I nursed in the recliner...much more comfortable and better for my back. Jeff has been such a big help with the second baby. He will get up sometimes in the middle of the night if Christian wakes up and he knows that I just nursed. He will bring him to the living room and walk him or rock until he goes back to sleep. So nice! He will do this on nights he has to work, which makes it more amazing. That is pretty much it with all our latest news. I will let everyone know Christian's 2 month results next week, so stay tuned. Peace

It is hard to picture that Christian was spittin' mad right before I took the above picture. Many of you have heard that his little guy sleeps a lot. He does!! I just thought this was so typical of him to fall asleep right before bath. The evenings are hard for him and last night was no different. I grabbed the plug to keep him happy while I prepared his bath. It took like 5 minutes and this is what the result was...I guess I took a long time getting the stuff out.

Still asleep after getting him undressed and dunked in water. He stayed asleep a little after the plug came out too. Heavy sleeper I guess.

Trying out the bumbo seat. He did so much better than Joseph did the first time in this seat. Poor Joseph had much more to support (head wise), but this little guy just plopped in and held up his head pretty well. I have a feeling this is how my pictures are going to be with two boys. They just aren't going to care at all. Too bad.

Most of you don't care to see this picture because you see me everyday, but it is for the folks who don't. I am always asked why I don't post more pictures of Jeff and I. It is because I am the one taking the pictures and it is while Jeff is at work.

Weekend

This past weekend my sister Stacey joined us. We were so blessed with her company. Just having another girl in this male dominated house was a real treat. We went shopping, took Joseph to the Rodeo, ate out and had some much needed girl talk. Joseph L-O-V-E-D having her here. "Stacey play," was heard a lot this weekend. And one time, Jeff and I were in the living room and we heard Joseph tell her to sit down (they were in his room playing), I guess she started to get up to leave and he just wasn't done playing with her. Thanks Stacey for coming down!
*Sorry for the lack of pictures taken from this fun filled weekend. I really dropped the ball on that one.

This is how Christian took in his first Rodeo.

Christian after the Rodeo. Must have been so tiring sleeping the entire day.

My manly gardener ;-)

Joseph loved all the animals and am pretty sure that he would have stayed in the petting zoo the entire time if I would have let him. Since he loves animals and can't keep his hands to himself, he only got snipped at by one chicken. No tears from Joseph though, nothing like the snatch from the ostrich.

Joseph's eyes just lit up when he saw this tractor. As you can see, I couldn't get him to look at me for a semi-decent picture. He was just to distracted.

"Tat!"

Many of you know this story, but for those of you who don't, let me tell you. This 'tat' and Joseph have become best buds. Last week, it was a beautiful day, so I asked Joseph if he wanted to go play in the backyard. I had to feed Christian, so I told Joseph that I would join him outside as soon as I was done. Joseph then decided that he didn't like that idea and became Mr. Grumpy Gills. He started whining and getting really mad because I wouldn't come out. I told him he needed to go sit on his bed and when he was ready to join Christian and I and have a good attitude, he could come out. (He had also just woken up from his nap, so he isn't always the sweetest little cherry right after waking up.) Back to our story; I walked out of his room and made myself comfortable in the living room and started nursing Christian. It couldn't have been 5 minutes and out comes running Joseph grinning ear to ear. I thought to myself, "that was a quick turn around." Then whoosh, out runs this cat from under the couch. My only reaction was to scream because I wasn't expecting it at all! I stood up real fast and opened the back door and out he ran. Joseph then followed saying, "tat, tat." He played outside with the cat for a good while and then wanted me to join him outside. We went through the whole "I need to feed Christian, then...." thing again and while doing so, in came the cat again!! I just wanted that yucky thing out of my house. (Yes, I am more of a dog person). I ran through the house closing doors trying to refrain from the cat getting under the beds and end up not coming out. Joseph was just loving this pet in our house. He was following him and petting and bonding....well, I finally got the cat out the front door and kept Joseph inside. Oh man, you should have seen the tears. Joseph ran to the back windows screaming and crying for this stray animal. I videoed it because it was just priceless, but after watching it, I felt bad videoing this totally distraught child. Fast forward to these pictures...his buddy reappeared again this weekend and they bonded once again. The cat just goes right up to him and rubs on him and lets Joseph pick him up. The first picture, Joseph was kissing the cat...blah!
*I wish I could have seen Joseph's face when he saw the cat in his room. I bet it was priceless. He loves animals which is unfortunate because I can't see us ever having one.*

All Smiles

I finally captured some big smiles on camera. This was during Christian's happiest time first thing in the morning. He also 'talks' a lot during this time, but getting that on video would require me to turn on my super duper mommy voice, which can be very annoying.

No Way!

It can actually be done! You can get 7 children sitting, happy and all looking at the camera at the same time. I was so surprised we got the picture we did.

(L-R) Phillip 5 wks., Christian 5 wks., Tilly 1, June 2 1/2, Joseph 2, Mark 5, Jack 4

Leaders of the pack. I don't know why Joseph has the face that he does.

1 Month today!!

Today is Christian's one month birthday! Woohoo. Below are three pictures, the first two are one of each of the boys (Joseph is the first picture) in the same outfit and the third is just of Christian on his first month. You will probably get tired of me posting pictures of the boys, but I thought it would be fun to see what they each look like on the same months. On the other hand, we are doing good. Pretty much have a routine, but am looking forward to more sleep. Christian only gets up twice in the night, but after the second time, he will usually have a hard time going back to sleep. This is where the swing has come in handy lately. I just bundle him up, stick the 'fire' in his mouth and turn on the swing. This buys me about 2 more hours of sleep! He is starting to be more awake during the day, so I am thinking any day now he will be sleeping longer at night. Joseph has done pretty good with having just me here. He is a little more short tempered so we have had to address that a lot these past two weeks, but I am just trying to give it time and let him get used to me tending to Christian all the time.
This past weekend was my shower and I was blessed tremendously! I am so thankful for my church family and all the wonderful ladies of FCofC. We didn't get pictures of the wonderful day...not even of the two boys who were dressed a like. (For those of you who don't know, my sister in law had a baby boy two days before I did, so we had a baby shower together...so much fun!). I do want to get some pictures of them together, but it is so hard right now because someone is either asleep, crying or eating. As they get older, I am sure we will be able to get more of them together.
Christian also went in today for his follow up hep b vaccine and he weighed 9 lbs. My growing little man!
That is about all the news here, stayed tuned for more updates and pictures. (I wanted to get one of both boys today, but Joseph was so crabby during our photo shoot...maybe next time. )