March 27, 2013

Still going a little batty here waiting for Spring.  It's taking extra effort to keep my attitude in check.  I filled in for someone at work today for a couple hours and I nearly threw confetti over the opportunity.  I LOOOOOVE LOOOOVE LOOOOVE my babies and every day I get to be with them...but it's awful nice to get out for a minute too.

Luke's still waking up and jabbering every other night or so. He's not terribly predictable - sometimes he jabbers for a few minutes and goes to sleep. Sometimes he jabbers for an hour and goes to sleep. Sometimes he alternately jabbers and sleeps, and then decides that he's hungry now.  In the meantime Matt and I get up to - now the new habit - crawl by his crib and slink down to the bathroom, and he's becoming increasingly aware of the shadows slinking by.  So he hoots or sends out a warning cry, and it's like, great.  Then I have a hard time getting back to sleep.  Last night I explained in my head how CPAP and positive end expiratory pressure work, and that seemed to do the trick. ;)

Levi's command of random and quirky phrases and their appropriate application is nothing short of hilarious.  I can't think of a really great example at the moment.  His ability to come up with random stories, and build them upon each other, linking whatever story he came up with the day before, is also hilarious.  I went in to get him up the other morning and he was talking about a woodpecker in a tree eating a cookie.  Who then started up his car and went with the skunk to Tip Toes.  To bake brownies together in the play kitchen downstairs.  There was, in fact, a woodpecker outside the house, and I was pretty astonished that he knew what it was.  He dons an imaginary 'sucker jacket,' which is apparently the jacket form of his sucker truck.  It carries an assortment of 'delicious' suckers that he hands out to those who need it.

Sitting in time out has proven to be a fairly successful method of discipline because he HAAAATES having to sit.  He will do anything he can to twist himself in a hundred directions so his keester doesn't touch the seat of his little rocking chair. He'll perch plank-style on the edge, sit on his knees, sit on the arm rests, but he howls in do-you-even-have-a-SOUL ennui when he's told to SIT, on his bottom, or the timer restarts.

Tonight Matt took the boys upstairs (which he usually does) after dinner, and the three of them (especially Luke) were roaring with laughter in our room.  I want to bottle it up. :)

Now that those memories are recorded....here are pictures:

Thank you to the Wolters across the street for having repairs done to their roof.  Two mornings of entertainment for a little boy!!



Boys and their toys. :)



Luke DOES smile for the camera sometimes!!



Levi collected pine cones in the back yard and loves walking them around the block.  "C'mon pine cones!! Let's go for a walk!"  "Hold on, pine cones, here's a bump..."  He looks for a big stick to carry in one hand and pulls his pine cones with the other.  He made me carry his hot pink plastic shovel. I'm sure we looked like quite the crew: a mom with a baby strapped on carrying a pink shovel, and a little boy hauling a wagon load of pine cones and wielding a stick.

March 25, 2013

Levi's been asking and asking and asking and asking to go to the park for I don't know how long.  He'll look out the window when it's blowing four feet of snow sideways and say, "See?  It's not collllldddd, it's not windyyyyy...it's a  beautiful day!!" to try to convince me to take him.

Today we made it happen.  He was soooo happy. It was a little chilly, but I keep telling myself maaayyybe this is the last full week that we'll have to bundle in a hundred layers just to play outside for a few minutes. Luke got to go in the swing, which at first elicited nothing more than a 'whhhaaaaaattttt...' look, but then he started giggling when I gave him a gentle push.

No, Luke wasn't on the verge of tears.  It was cold and a little windy and the sky was kind of bright.  He does smile, I swear.  Just not when a camera is turned on.

 Little Baby Blue Eyes is sitting up a whole lot more lately; he can do it for several minutes now by himself.  Still doesn't see the point of rolling over, though. He'll twist around and just about do it, make a half-hearted attempt at making it over the speedbump of his arm, give up and flop back on his back.

 

 Bruvver time.

March 19, 2013

Well Luke is now hosting midnight sing-a-longs in his crib.  We usually wake up around 12:30 or 1am and he's cooing, squealing, and thumping away, sometimes for close to an hour.  With Levi, I would just turn down the volume on the monitor so I could doze but still hear him if he ramped it up and started crying.  Luke, however, is right outside our door, so we are privy to every breathy coo, excited screech, and jubilant mattress-thump.

I don't normally let any eyes other than dearly beloved family into our upstairs, because it's really the least favorite part of our house (badly-needing-to-be-replaced carpet, funky lighting, mishmashed furniture, etc), but why carry any pretense?  Just so you have a visual, here's Luke's "bedroom:"

I'm standing next to the top of our stairs.  Our upstairs is a half-story that is pretty much all our bedroom. He gets that little corner. We shut the door to our bedroom at night to keep it cold in our room and warm out where he is.  He'll move in with Levi at some point.

Anyway, last night during his midnight soiree Matt and I both badly needed to empty our bladders.  This is one of the many times we both wished we had a fancy master bedroom with a bathroom.  But no, our one and only is downstairs.  

So we both got up at the same time, and I'm not kidding - crawled on our hands and knees past Luke.  You could hear him leaning over to see who was there, but since he didn't hoot, that means he wasn't entirely "on" to us.  Had he hooted, it would have been all over.  But we made it to the bathroom and back, he continued his sing-a-long, and then went back to sleep.

Well then. In other news....not much is new.  Levi helped me make dinner this morning.  I made calico beans off a Pinterest recipe and polenta bread and he rinsed Luke's bottles and we listened to the radio.  Luke was sleeping.  It was fun. :)

Luke finally figured out how to jump in his saucer.  Great fun.

Just an afternoon.  Levi reading to his increasingly beloved Soft Doggy (we're creative with names, huh), and Luke madly wishing he could sit up so well.  He's getting there quickly, though.

 

I spent some time this evening boxing up more clothes that Luke has outgrown, as well as some of that little-little baby stuff that he doesn't need anymore.  For the first time, I actually felt a little sad that the little-little baby season in our life is over.  Not really sad. Just a little.  Then I stood back and saw the extra space in the basement and the sadness passed.  We really look forward to regular sleep, and two rambunctious little boys playing together.

March 18, 2013

Not a terribly inspiring picture day.  I felt like I hit the lottery when I got both boys down for naps at the same time (which is happening more and more frequently, thankfully!), they both fell asleep right away, AND my housework was mostly done - so I got to lie on the couch and read a book for about an hour!!!  Such a luxury!



I've been begging Luke to roll over. He just doesn't really see the need.  He contorts his body and twists around and pushes himself around using his feet and pivoting on his head.  He's rolled both ways before, I've witnessed it, but only a handful of times.  I put him on his tummy, his back, toys out of reach, toys within reach, toys behind his head, anything to encourage him to roll.  Nope.  Welp, today I went upstairs to get him out of his crib...and it's pretty dark upstairs, so I always kind of reach out and feel for his cheeks to orient myself to where he is (let's face it, it's the biggest piece of real estate on him).  I reached out for his cheeks, and....found the back of a head.  He was on his tummy!!! BAHA!!!  Here I put him on the floor with feet of space on either side, and he can't bring himself to do it.  Put him in his (mini) crib, and he somehow finds enough space to roll over.  Hilarious.

We had his six month checkup on Friday.  He weighs 16lbs 12oz.  Which puts him in the 34th percentile.  He's in the 78th or something percentile for height.  But still....34th percentile for weight?  Seriously?  Luke's not exactly a teeny weeny.  How fat ARE the babies of America these days?

March 16, 2013

So.  I read like three Bibles to Levi at breakfast (Luke's usually still asleep).  Only because he has one little kid Bible with the googly-eyed characters that is super-easy to understand and he likes the pictures, and then a much more theologically sound children's Bible that he also likes me to read, and then I try to read a chapter of Proverbs out of my Bible if he'll stand for it.

I pray with him and Luke.

I pray FOR him and Luke.

I try to incorporate scripture into any teaching moment of the day.

We listen to fun Christian kids music and memory verses set to songs.

And at the end of the day - what does he repeat over and over and over and over and over again??.......

(Running up to my closet and sticking his head in it)

"Where. Are. My. JEANS?!?!?" (that's me yelling in exasperation to no one in particular because I can't find my *one* pair of non-holey jeans AGAIN)

-AND-

"GROSS, Molly." (that's me getting exasperated again, and I really don't even want to explain why.  But Levi thought it was terribly hilarious)

Over. And over. And over.

March 14, 2013

Stroller ahoy!!!  We finally broke down and bought a double stroller....and I took great pains to make it as un-land-barge-like as possible.  I admired a friend's Graco double umbrella stroller a few weeks ago and decided that it would be a good fit.  I am pleased.  It takes up only a little more space width-wise than our honker jogger, is very sturdy, folds easily and takes up very little real estate when folded.  This was Luke's first walk ever without being tightly strapped to me.  He didn't make a peep the entire time...I think he was in awe that there is more to the world than the zipper and  collar on my winter coat.

 

They look like two little old men in a side-by-side wheelchair with their lap blankets!!!  I love Luke's shades and sock-mittens.

A couple of little goofs at lunch time.

 

 Luke's cuteness just slays us! 

March 13, 2013

A day on the town with the grands and the littles.  My dad made Levi a little work bench, complete with a little vise that was given to him by his own dad when he was about five years old.  Levi LOVED the vise and thinks it's something for him to "fix."  We went to Froggy's for hot dog and burgers, and Kilwin's for ice cream.  Both boys ate up all the attention. :)

(Yes, Luke was there but either he was asleep or in my lap when I took pictures!)

March 12, 2013

Lukey Kabukie is six months old today.  He's a raspberry-blowing, crib-thumping, why-bother-rolling-when-I-can-pivot-around-the-room-on-my-back kind of baby.  He adores his brother, looks at his daddy with stars in his eyes, but I have to dance and sing like a vaudeville comedian to get the slightest of smiles. ;)  Looking back at pictures and videos of Levi, Luke is much more relaxed in his demeanor overall, he likes to watch and observe, though he can be very particular about how he wants things to go.  If I'm sitting next to him and even turn my face in the other direction, he hoots a warning at me to let me know he's displeased.  After all.....he is the king.




 

 

He loves to laugh. He loves to grab your arm when you change his diaper, and he laughs like he's playing a hysterical joke on you.  He's trying so hard to "talk" and he's trying SO HARD to push himself up on his hands and knees (he's still a ways from it).  He sits up decently but still rolls off to the side or face-plants pretty quickly.  He's starting to become very interested in Levi's toys, and Levi's not too keen on that.  The warm and fuzzy relationship that these two have had all along loses its luster in moments when Luke wants to grab at Levi's books or blinky toys.

We love you, Luke James!!

March 7, 2013

Well.  It's not every day that nursing students show up after their lecture armed with dinner ingredients, and leave you an hour later with a delicious pot of dinner simmering on the stove.

Our family has been the "clinical" this semester for a couple of nursing students in their Family Nursing rotation. (I know one of them from church, so that's how that came about.)  Part of their care plan involved creating a gluten-free meal. :)  We're always up for that!!!  Levi was very excited for them to come and donned his celebratory shark sweatshirt.

Highlight of Levi's month: his toddler/preschool version of Highlights magazine coming in the mail.  I don't have to say anything - I just hold it up for him to see, and he dances a jig and sings, "Thank youuuuu!!!!" and sits right down to read it. And we read each issue and back issue over and over and over and over again.

So thankful to make it outside a little more frequently these days.  I can't WAIT until the day when going outside will not take 30min of planning and execution, and I put Luke down to play in the grass.  I think he's looking forward to that too...but he's very content in the Ergo and usually takes a very comfy little nap while I chop and shovel ice in the driveway.

Other favorite part of the day: Levi running laps around the house this morning telling me about the "sucker truck" he invented.  From what we gather, it's kind of like an ice cream truck.  He says it's red and the doors open wide and it's full of suckers, and kids can come and get whatever color sucker they want, and when they get their sucker they'll say, "That's a good deal." This picture is Levi animatedly describing the sucker truck to Matt.  Yes, that bag of Costco tortilla chips really is that big.

March 6, 2013

I get the Sticky Hands showcase today. :)

I went shopping, thank you.  Nana came to watch the babes during nap time and I went downtown to spend my Christmas money.  I got my wedding rings cleaned and bought a dress at the Outpost (I went for a Patagonia skirt that I had my eye on, and then swooned over a Horny Toad dress - there IS such a little beast by that very name - and since I love all of my HT dresses I had to add one more), and then I went to Gazelle for a new pair of running kicks.  It's been about three years since I bought running shoes and heavens, things have changed in the running shoe world.  I was a runner - a very serious runner - for a very long time, used to know exactly what brands and styles I liked.  Today I could barely even identify what brand was what.  And the colors are rather uproarious.

And then I went to JP's for a coffee smoothie. It was packed full of college students with all their shmancy electronics (I'd be curious how many of those kids actually forked over the cash for their shmancy electronics???).  Anyway, I felt tragically unhip.  Tragically.  There was NO place to sit, so I found a teeny corner to stuff myself and my recipe magazines and my mint-mocha-decaf-frozen-yogurt-smoothie and wondered when on earth I crossed the threshold from sort of cool to not at all.  There was one girl there wearing a very young baby in a Moby wrap, but she still looked young and fresh and cute.  I think Baby #2 is what pushed me over into being surprisingly content with hole-y mom jeans and showers every other day.

It was super-fun to be out on the town for a little bit, and now I'm actually writing this as I sit in my new dress AND shoes.  Because it makes me feel sporty and fun.  And I promised Renee I'd send her pics.

Blast it, Blogger, stop rotating my pics. Argh. I don't have time to fiddle around with it.

They are reddish-pink.  I really wanted the hot pink shoes with neon green laces, but these won for comfort.

Sorry, I look pretty roughed up after the past week.  Renee, I love the detailing under the neckline.  I think you need to buy this dress too.  It came in brown and coral as well. 

March 4, 2013

Well remember how I week ago I said we were hitting our stride, and then joked that Luke would exact his revenge on us because I said that?

It wasn't a joke after all.

A week later, we are bleary-eyed and a little batty after a week of night wakings followed by an upper respiratory cold that left Luke sobbing like crazy if we laid him down in any manner.  I had barely slept all week so Matt stayed up with him on Friday night, and Luke wanted him to be *standing and walking* while he held him upright.  He IS the king, after all.  Matt packed him in the Ergo and stood with him - all night, in the dark, until about 6am when I got up.  It wasn't much better the following night, but I had picked up a shift on Sunday morning so Matt stayed up with him again.  He was much better last night and I got up with him for a feeding one time, and he needed a little more snuggling than normal to settle back to sleep, but it was far less drama.

So now we're digging out and I think we're on the upswing.  A lot of sinks full of hot water, steamy showers, breastmilk drops in the nose, and rosemary oil in the vaporizer.  If I've learned anything, it's that a few drops of rosemary essential oil in a vaporizer are a life saver.

Today was not my favorite day on record, but after dinner Levi dove onto Luke's play mat while I was cleaning up the kitchen, and next thing I know Luke is cracking UP.  Levi was next to him going, "Bah-bah-bah-bah - dadadadadadada - mamamamama -" like I always do and Luke was dying over it.  It made my day.  Levi's heart is so sweet on his brother, and it's fun to finally see Luke appreciate it. :)