The State Fair!

Matthew getting a clothing change at the fair

Today Jason took the day off from work so we went to the Minnesota State Fair with Ken and Cheri (Jason's parents). We loaded up the two single strollers we have and arrived early since Jason "doesn't like people" (those were his own words...I believe he means large crowds of people...).

Our first stop at the fair was the dog obedience training show where a bunch of dogs run an agility course with their trainers. Every year when we go to the fair and see the dog shows Jason and I entertain the thought of getting a dog, but then reality sets in and we realize we have enough to do with the two human little ones we have around the house.

Our next stops included looking at many different tractors, mowers and construction equipment. Sam got excited about the tractors, but was very excited when we came upon the construction equipment. He walked around with Jason and Ken and pointed out the various equipment by name..excavator! skid steer! tractor! excavator! front loader! I use exclamation points because that's the way Sam talks about trucks, tractors and construction equipment. He gets so excited and does a little goofy step/dance while he points at them. We'll have to get his dance moves on video sometime.

Jason, Sam and I with Dennis Prager

We then traversed across the fairgrounds to the livestock barns to see sheep, horses, pigs and cows. Matthew had been sleeping most of the time at the fair so far, but he awoke once we got to the livestock barns. We took turns carrying the little one around as he quickly wears out one's arms. I'm not sure what animal Sam liked best, although he mentioned the pigs most frequently when we got home.

Our last stop was the AM1280 booth where my favorite nationally syndicated radio talk show host, Dennis Prager, was broadcasting live from the fair. It was fun to see his show in person and Mr. Prager began by posing the question "Think of the last family vacation you took. Would it have been better if you could do the same vacation but with just your spouse, and leave the kids with loved ones back home?" He then referred to Jason by saying "Iowa State, I can tell you're thinking" (Jason was wearing an IA State T-shirt). Later in the show he referred to Sam too. So they both were referred to on a national radio show. Jason teased me about the fact that Mr. Prager talked about both him and Sam, but not myself although I was wearing a Dennis Prager T-shirt and am a Dennis Prager Groupie. During one of the breaks we got to meet Mr. Prager and had our picture taken with him. Matthew was with Grandma Cheri in the audience so he missed out on the picture.

Growth stats

Today I took Matthew in for his four month appointment. I had scheduled an appointment for later in the week, but he has a rash which looks like ringworm that I wanted to get checked out. Poor kid. I'm pretty sure he picked it up at the Y as it appeared Tuesday afternoon after our trip to the Y in the morning. So we've been to the Y four times, and he's gotten something twice. That's not a good record.

The nurse practitioner recommended some OTC cream and said it shouldn't be infectious shortly after beginning treatment. Hopefully it goes away soon. During the appointment a toddler was in the room next door and I could hear him screaming "AWWWWWWW! I HATE THE SHOTS! I HATE THE SHOTS! AWWWWWW!" I'm definitely not looking forward to Sam's appointment later in the month. Maybe Jason can take him.

Matthew's report card is as follows:
     weight: 18 lbs (95th percentile)
     height: 27.5 in (100th percentile) what does that mean?

So Matthew is a big kid but he's well proportioned. The nurse practitioner commented that he seems a lot older than he is. I sure think so too. It's hard to remember he's so young when he is soooo big and soooo active!

Sam's stats when he was four months was:
     weight: 15 lbs (50th percentile)
     height: 26.5 in (90th percentile)

I think Sam's "little" brother is going to be holding his own very soon. Sam has been smacking Matthew occasionally as he's realized that quickly gets my attention. He doesn't hit Matthew hard enough to make him cry, but he still hits him out of frustration. However, I have a feeling that Matthew's days of non-retaliation are quickly coming to a close...

Sleep training

I think I've already mentioned this, but when Sam was 4 months old, Jason and I decided to do sleep training with him to help him fall asleep on his own. As Matthew is almost that old, I was thinking it may be time to get him to bed at an earlier time and in his own crib. Since birth, he's pretty much slept wherever he wants, mostly in the bouncy seat while Jason or I bounce him in the evenings. Sometimes he goes to sleep at 7, sometimes 10, he's all over the place.

So sleep training involves looking for signs of tiredness, then having a consistent bedtime routine and placing the child in the crib while they're drowsy, but awake. If they cry, you're supposed to check on them every few minutes and pat them on the back and say soothing words, but not pick them up. With Sam, we'd look for signs of tiredness between 7-8 and put him to bed whenever he was "ready" and he would inevitably, get tired around 7 or 7:30, then go to bed. The early days/weeks of sleep training involved much crying and we would go in Sam's room and pat him on the back and whisper, "It's ok" and so on until he learned to fall asleep on his own. Sometimes the crying lasted around an hour, but after a week or so, he went immediately to sleep and he's been a super sleeper ever since.

However, Matthew just doesn't seem to be that predictable. I was thinking sleep training probably wouldn't work with him, because he is just so active and goes from cooing/squirming to asleep very quickly and he doesn't generally show typical signs of tiredness, like yawing, rubbing the eyes and so on. I've gotten pretty good at telling when he is tired by his fussiness but that's about the only sign he gives. 

Last night, however, I thought I'd try a bedtime routine with Matthew and see how it went. He wasn't really showing signs of tiredness, we read a few stories and he was kind of fussy, but not too much. Then we said prayers and I rocked and sang to him for awhile. No droopy eyes, no yawning, nothing. Hmmm. My methods clearly weren't helping him wind down. Frustrated, I thought I would just put him in his crib and see how it went. So I did, then I went to brush my teeth. When I was done (2 min. later as I have a timer on my toothbrush), I peeked in on him and he was pretty much out. No crying, no fussing, nothing. I was slightly less than shocked and thought I should camp outside his door for awhile to wait for the crying to ensue, but I decided to take a chance and go downstairs to watch TV with Jason. Still, no crying, no fussing. He was actually out. Wow. This child amazes me. Now it's only been one day, but I'd say we're off to a pretty good start and Jason and I may have some more time to ourselves in the evenings.

Underwear

As mentioned, Sam has been pretend playing frequently with his stuffed animals. So this morning I was getting the kids ready and Sam wanted to put on some underwear. His isn't quite ready to wear underwear yet (at least not on his bottom, he prefers to walk around with it on his head), but we still have some around in case he decides to try it out. He did not manage to get any on himself, but he did manage to get some on Emmet. Yes, Emmet is wearing underwear. And in the picture, Sam is trying to put some on Bear too.

So Emmet wore his underwear all morning and even went out in public that way.  Emmet has frequently been going on our daily travels with us and today's plan was to meet Jason at his work and then go out to lunch. So we parked in a ramp two blocks from Jason's work. Matthew was in the stroller, Sam was holding my hand and with his other hand he was carrying a skivvy-clad Emmet down Nicollet Mall. When we arrived Jason's coworkers got a good laugh out of the attire and when we were leaving Jason's building to our lunch, Jason quickly hid Emmet in the stroller. Apparently he didn't get as much of a laugh out of the situation as I did.

P.S. To show my age (or my ignorance), as I was writing this, the word "underwear" kept on coming up as a misspelled word (it was underlined with a squiggly red line). I was spelling it "underware" as in software, malware, spyware, etc. On a similar note, the other day I told Jason that the grandmother clock we have needed to be "charged".

BaaBaa's Feet

The Beloved

Sam's beloved BaaBaa has been talked about a few times, but not in-depth, so that's what I'm going to discuss today. When Sam was 4 months old (Matthew's almost there!!!) we decided to start a bedtime routine with him and help him fall asleep on his own (a.k.a. sleep training). Among the suggestions we followed included having a consistent routine (bath, story, prayer, bed), using a white noise machine or music specifically for bedtime and introducing a lovey to the child. So we introduced a lovey to Sam and gave him two little sheep every time he went to bed. He initially loved a little beanie baby sheep, but over time, BaaBaa took over and became his lovey of choice.

Now BaaBaa is very important to all of us. He means a better night's sleep for the entire household. BaaBaa only leaves the house when we're going someplace where Sam will be napping or spending the night. He doesn't not go to the grocery store or for car rides, although if Sam had his way, BaaBaa would not leave his side. In fact, BaaBaa is mostly restricted to Sam's crib. We explained to Sam that BaaBaa needs to sleep during the day so he can stay up and watch over Sam at night. Anyway, when Sam is really tired he cries, "BaaaaaaaBaaaaaaa!" and we know that's a sign he is really ready for bed. We even use BaaBaa as somewhat of a bribe to make Sam's bedtime more attractive when he's is not so desperate to end his day..."Sam, don't you want to see BaaBaa? He's waiting for you..." 

The Beloved's feet

Having a lovey is not out of the ordinary. However, how Sam loves BaaBaa is what is unusual. Sam always holds BaaBaa upside down by his legs with his feet by his nose/mouth. So he stiffs BaaBaa's feet and with his fingers strokes BaaBaa's foot fur. What's even funnier is how Sam shares BaaBaa with others. During our bedtime routine, I let Sam hold BaaBaa during storytime, prayers and song. Of course, I kiss Sam frequently during our little routine as his head is right by my lips. But Sam likes me to kiss BaaBaa too. I try to kiss his head, but that is unacceptable, I must kiss his feet. Not just one foot, but both of them

A few weeks ago I let Sam have BaaBaa downstairs for awhile as he was having a tough morning. It was one of the days where he was pretend playing with his stuffed animals. He was sharing his water in a sippy cup with his friends. Sam held up the sippy cup to Mickey Mouse's mouth, Donald Duck's beak...and BaaBaa's feet. When I asked him where BaaBaa's head and mouth were, he knew the correct part of the body, but still he gave BaaBaa's feet a drink.

Papa Dewey

Sam is apparently quite taken with his great-Grandpa Duane. He has been talking about him frequently since we returned from our trip up north. He will pick up the little old tv remote which we removed the batteries from and gave him as a toy a long time ago, put it up to his ear and say "Hi Papa Dewey!" Then he says "Papa Dewey has a boat" and so on.

The night before we returned home from out trip Sam went to bed around 7:30, but he was making a lot of noise, so I went in to check on him after about 15 minutes. Turns out he was standing up in his pack-n-play and looking out the window at Papa Dewey and Papa Don as they were packing up things in the boat. "Papa Dewey! Papa Don!" he said when I came in. I'm pretty sure Papa Dewey didn't do much to attract Sam's attention and affection, but Sam has sure taken to him. I guess he's just a lovable guy!

3 signs that Matthew is back to normal

1. Last night he slept from 8PM-3:45AM. Yea!!! That's nearly 8 hours!
2. He had a brief early morning snack, then went right back to sleep. There was no fussing, nothing, only happy sleeping sounds.
3. I awoke to him cooing around 6:30. Matthew generally doesn't cry when he wakes in the morning, he usually coos and talks to himself for some time before I get him up. In other words, he's a happy kid in the morning. Seems like he is an earlybird because he certainly isn't that happy in the evening!

Matthew sleeping! Matthew awake!

Matthew, being a little baby (or big baby!) still sleeps quite a lot during the day. When he's tired, he gets a little cranky and starts covering his face with his hands, as if to say "Just leave me alone!" You know when his hands approach his little head, sleep is fast approaching. Then he usually falls asleep with his hands limply resting by his forehead.

As mentioned earlier, he naps in short bits throughout the day, and Sam always seems to keep us posted on Matthew's status. Like when Sam wakes before Matthew, he goes into Matthew's room and says, quite loudly, "Matthew sleeping!" After which, Matthew usually wakes up and Sam says "Matthew awake!" (Now when you're imagining this, say Matthew without the "h", Sam says it more like "Matt-ew")

This morning I went outside to the garage to get something from the van, Jason was using the restroom, Matthew was sleeping in the bouncy seat and Sam was playing with his cars. Matthew was starting to stir as I was leaving and Sam started saying, "Matthew awake!" I assured him I would be right back and take care of Matthew at that time. Apparently when I was in the garage, Sam started banging on the bathroom door and yelling at Jason, "Matthew awake, Matthew awake!" He was quite concerned that Matthew was not getting the attention he needed at.that.very.moment.

I think Sam really likes it when Matthew's awake. At least it seems that way because Sam can't let him sleep for too long. It's like trying to keep bees from honey, keeping Sam away from Matthew when he's sleeping. Very difficult and often unsuccessful. He wakes Matthew up frequently and says "Matthew awake!" Funny, I remember doing that to my little brother when he was trying to sleep too. My sister and I used to sneak into his room at night and plug his nose until he'd wake up, then we'd run back to our room and hear him say "Girls, stop it!" in his toddler voice. I doubt the "wake up your little brother" trait is genetic, but it could be one of the only traits that Sam inherited from me.

The first family vacation

We survived/enjoyed our first vacation as a family of four. We went up north to Long Lake for a few days. Taking small children on a vacation isn't exactly relaxing, but it's memorable. The drive up was uneventful. We saw a lot of construction vehicles so Sam was happy. He barely slept even though we were traveling during his nap time. With about 20 minutes left until we arrived at our destination Sam kept asking for Grandma Sue and Grandpa Don. We told him to count to 10 then we'd see them. He said, "8, 9, 10, 8, 9, 10, 8, 9, 10!" and then, "1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10!"

The first night we stayed in a two bedroom cabin with Grandpa and Grandma Reese. They were kind enough to give us the two bedrooms and they slept on an airbed in the main room. Matthew and I slept in one room and Jason and Samuel in the other. Sam's pack'n'play was at the foot of Jason's bed and Sam woke up about 6AM and Jason gave him the baboosh. Jason then stayed with his head near Sam so in case Sam woke up he could easily give him the baboosh. However, Jason woke up to Sam giving him the baboosh.

Sam's favorite words were Chewbacca (Jason's had Star Wars on the other day) and Grandpa "Dewey" (Duane). He enjoyed feeding the fish some bread from the dock and reluctantly went on two boat rides. What Sam enjoyed most about the boat rides was watching for fish on the fish finder. Matthew received a lot of attention as the youngest person to ever attend the Reese Family Long Lake Vacation, which is in it's seventh year. Matthew showed off his rolling over skills a few times after not rolling over for about two weeks.

                                                                                                                                                                

Membership cards

For some reason, the Y gives membership cards to all family members on the membership regardless of age. They also take photos to put on the membership cards regardless of age. Matthew assumed the senior picture pose:

And Sam, well, I'm not quite sure how to describe the pose he chose:

Saturday is the new Wednesday

I wish my stories about Matthew didn't revolve so much around his elimination habits, but he is simply in a stage right now where those habits often take center stage. He's back to normal now, after being sick since Monday afternoon. He's almost normal I should write, except that I believe the illness altered his weekly pooing day from Wednesday to Saturday. Let me tell you why I think that is the case.

It starts off with the Bumbo chair, again. Matthew was playing and smiling in the bumbo. He likes being able to sit up and see things. Then he started grimacing and making some baby grunting noises. Then the explosion. I didn't notice any obvious poo, but I grabbed him quickly and headed to the laundry room for a diaper change. As I laid him down on the changing pad, I noticed some poo on his shorts, just on the left leg, so it's a left-side attack. Then I look at the arm I had been carrying him in. Ugh. I moan in disgust and tell Jason to get me some clothing for Matthew. He grabs a change of clothes and manages to get it to me without coming within 6 feet of Matthew and I. Another successful extraction and Matthew is soon in his new clothes. Then he naps.

An hour later I am holding Matthew when he starts grimacing. We head to the laundry room again and this time, Matthew has attacked from the upper back. The poo is nearly to his little shoulder blades, this one will take a little more finesse to perform a successful extraction. But I get him out and since Jason is outside working on the yard, I have to run upstairs to get some new clothes for the little one. I carry him over my left shoulder and he produces a large amount of spit up as we begin walking. It's running down both of our arms and one of my legs. I continue on to his room as a burp cloth is nowhere in sight. Sam, who follows me through everything, starts saying "Mess." We get to Matthew's room, get on some new clothes and wipe off our dirty appendages. I change my clothes too as the amount of spit up on me is more than I can tolerate. Then back downstairs to clean up the "mess." I get out the mop and floor cleaner and then Sam insists that he must mop. So I let him and he does a pretty good job. Then it's back to the Bumbo chair, which I notice has a little poo in it. I wipe it out with a disinfectant wipe and we're back to where we began.

An uneventful morning

Despite a brief outing to Target for more acetaminophen for the little one as his fever has persisted and a stop at the YMCA to sign up for a membership, today has been relatively uneventful. Sam went boneless on the way into Target because he didn't want to hold my hand, but otherwise he had his angel wings on. I asked Sam to help me find the yogurt and he redirected me when I strayed into other areas, "Yogurt?" he would ask. Matthew flashed a few smiles at the cashier and we got what we needed and nothing more, which is amazing for a trip to Target. I guess the only thing that was eventful was that the trip was so uneventful.  

On the way home, I decided to go through the Caribou Coffee drive-thru for a dessert drink. I won't even call it coffee, although it does have espresso. It's really more like ice cream. So I ordered ice cream at 10AM. We got home and Sam wanted some "coffee." I put a little of the whip cream from the dessert drink into his cup and he went at it and shared it with Bear. Bear apparently liked it and got some on his nose. Sam enjoyed his "coffee."

I did a few loads of laundry too. Sam followed me into the laundry room, then he started digging in the garbage as I loaded the clothes in the washing machine. While digging, he said, "Batteries." I responded, "Yes, they don't work." He replied, "Daddy will fix it," then he left.

A typical morning

Matthew ate at a little after 4AM, so I hope he'll sleep until at least 7. At 6:30ish I hear him stirring and ask Jason, who hasn't left for work yet, to go in and give him the baboosh. He's quiet for awhile then.

Sam starts rolling around in his creaky crib a little before 7. He's not crying so I give him some Sam time. After a few minutes he says "Mommy, where are you?" How sweet, I can't let that go without a response. I get up and go into his room and pull him out of his crib. He says "Baboosh?" which he apparently lost during the night. We do some searching and find one under the crib. Sam climbs into the crib and grabs BaaBaa his beloved sheep. I usually don't let BaaBaa or his baboosh leave his room, but I decide he can have them for awhile this morning. He then says, "Matthew?" and heads into his room across the hall. "Matthew awake!" Sam says when he gets to Matthew's crib and sure enough, Matthew is awake. I approach him and lean over to see his lower lip stick out and quiver, then he starts crying. Matthew is very good at looking very sad. I pick him up and realize he's probably hungry.

Into my bedroom we go and I start feeding Matthew on the bed. Sam climbs up and starts taking off his PJs. We've recently started working on getting dressed and undressed with him. With little help from me he's soon stripped down, which he likes. He then tries getting off the diaper. "Help you? Help you?" he asks, which means "Help me?". He sometimes uses personal pronouns correctly, but not always. Ugh. I'm almost done feeding the little one, so I help him with the diaper tabs. Off comes the diaper and now Sam is really happy. He loves being naked these days. He climbs around the bed, then sits on my pillow. Yuck. I will have to change the pillowcase. Guess that's what happens when you let your child run around naked.

Matthew is done eating, so I change his diaper and put on his clothes for the day. Somehow Sam gets dressed and diapered too, but I honestly can't remember how that happened. We all play on the bed for awhile, Matthew is happy today, and doesn't seem to have much of a fever anymore, thank the Lord. He's smiling and cooing.

I decide to shower that morning since I went to bed early last night and didn't shower before bed. Matthew is strapped into the bouncy seat next to the shower and Sam is playing with his orange Coronet along the tub. The kids seem to be doing well, and I'm almost done so I decide to get adventurous and shave my legs. I get one done and Matthew starts crying. Oh dear, moral dilemma. I do a shoddy job on the other leg, quickly dry off and then pick up Matthew. He doesn't calm down. I need to get dressed. Down he goes again, still crying. I quickly throw on some gym shorts and a t-shirt, then pick him up and go to the bathroom to comb my hair. Sam is on the bed again trying to throw his sheep and baboosh over the ceiling fan and says "Swing!". In his act of throwing, they're not making any vertical movements, but dropping straight behind him.

My hair is combed and Matthew is still a little fussy, but it's time for Sam's breakfast, so I head over to the stairs. On the way past Sam's room I tell him that BaaBaa and baboosh need to go to the crib until nap time. He goes into his room and puts them to bed. At the stairs, I tell Sam that I will hold his hand as he walks down. He holds his arms out to me and says "Carry?" I reiterate my offer of hand holding. He rejects and starts crying/screaming. I start walking down the stairs and say that I will prepare breakfast. The crying/screaming gets worse. As I approach the bottom of the stairs, I turn around and again ask Sam if he would like me to hold his hand. He accepts the offer and happily walks down the stairs. It's a little before 8 and time for breakfast.

Eagle's Nest

This morning the kids and I were supposed to meet a friend at the Y who has a son almost the same age as Samuel. I was going to workout, then go swimming with Sam while Matthew was in the child care center. However, Matthew came down with a fever last night and still had one this morning, so we had to change our plans. I think Matthew's pooing issues and the fever are related, so hopefully everything will get back to normal soon. Poor kid. He's not quite as smiley as he normally is and is not quite as active. So he got his first little bug. He may have picked it up at the Y last Friday as I think that's when his pooing issues started. That was the first time he was in a child care center, and his young immune system hasn't been exposed to a lot.

Anyway, since it was pretty warm and possibly going to rain, I didn't want to take the kids on walk, so we went to the Eagle's Nest in New Brighton which is an indoor playground. Wow. Apparently a lot of moms also thought that was a good idea for their little ones because the place was packed. The Eagle's Nest has a toddler area for kids under 3, and another area for kids up to age 11. The toddler area has a few different play structures as well as a ball pit and it's a fairly large space. However this morning it felt very small as there were anywhere from 25-30 kids running around in the toddler area and many moms, a few grandparents, and one very bored-looking dad.

We arrived around 10ish and Sam had a great time running, climbing, throwing balls, etc. By 10:15 I was ready to go, but it was downpouring at that time. The screaming, squealing and just noise associated with a lot of kids was intense. And the hovering parents were kind of funny too. Some parents sit on the benches along the side of the play area and watch their kids, while others are always within 1-2 feet of their children. I fall within the former category.When I took Sam to the Eagle's Nest over the winter there was a small girl there with 6 adults watching and hovering around her. I assumed it was her parents, grandparents and possibly an aunt and uncle. Wherever she was, there were 6 adults in the near vicinity taking pictures and smiling in delight at their little angel's playing accomplishments.

Anyway, today it was crowded not so much with 6 adults per child, but just a ton of kids. At one point Sam was trying to get to the ball pit which was surrounded by kids and caregivers. He tried to get between two other kids, accidentally knocked one down, and the child promptly got up and hit Sam. He didn't notice, and continued on his way to the ball pit. I held Matthew the entire time and he seemed to be doing ok, but I think the noise was getting to him too. He squirmed and cried a little, then fell asleep. To be able to sleep in the midst of such chaos is quite an amazing accomplishment. By a little after 11 the rain had let up enough that I felt like I wouldn't be a bad parent if we left and I walked the kids to the car in a little rain. So we survived a morning of chaos at the Eagle's Nest and Sam made it out without an injury.

My ideal job

The other evening both kids were in bed by 9:30 so Jason and I sat on the deck and had some quality time for an hour or so before hitting the sack ourselves. While Jason is perfectly happy sitting next to his wife in silence, my idea of quality time with my husband includes some conversation, so I threw out some deep questions to Jason. After I asked the question, "What is your ideal job?", Jason in typical form replied, "What, is this an interview?" then he thought briefly and said "President." Ok.

I pondered my own question and replied "I think I'm doing it..." I never would have thought that staying at home with the kiddos would be my ideal job, but it really is. A part of me would have to shut off to leave them with another caregiver each and every day. We are so blessed that I have the opportunity to stay home with the kids as many people do not have the freedom to make that choice. While the dailiness of my at home work is mundane at times, there are so many precious moments that I would miss if I wasn't at home. A few months ago Jason sent me the following quote from Martin Luther and although it was written for fathers, it certainly applies to any parent:

“Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores… ?

What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? O how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labor, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight…"

The pictures are from Sunday morning after church. I had actually washed and blow-dried my hair that morning, a rare occurrence these days, and wanted a picture to commemorate the event. I actually wanted an updated photo to post on my profile for the mom's groups I am in. After the large group photo, I set Matthew down on the couch and Sam went and laid beside him, so I captured the other image of the two boys getting along.

Sharing poo war stories

Matthew used to be "regular." He would poo once a week on Wednesdays. No joke. Funny, but completely true. He would save up his poo for Wednesdays and then poo and poo and poo. There were two major blowouts on Wednesdays before I discovered how to handle Matthew's habits. I found the best way to deal with it was to start changing him once he starting pooing and have some diapers at the ready to catch the loads of poo as he eliminated. With my new system, I had avoided any blowouts for three consecutive weeks.

However, Matthew has started pooing randomly these days and unfortunately the blowouts are becoming more frequent. So this afternoon I fed Matthew and was going to put him the Bumbo chair for some upright playtime. I got out the chair (1:07 PM) and noticed it needed some cleaning from the previous day's blowout. Now, before you think I am a terrible mother and housekeeper, it was a very small amount of poo that could have easily been overlooked by almost anyone. So I grabbed a disinfectant wipe and wiped down the chair. Then in Matthew went (1:12 PM) and out came a watery-explosive noise that could mean only one thing. Ugh. I picked Matthew up and saw poo pooling into the Bumbo chair and starting to run down his leg. Oh my. How do I transfer him to the changing station in the laundry room, about 25 feet away without getting poo on the rug, floor, and/or myself. I held Matthew sideways, with his poo leg on top and quickly head to the laundry room. The poo was running down his thigh, down his little calf, toward his toes, oh my...we made it! However, the changing pad didn't have a cover as that was a casualty from yesterday's blowout. That was the least of my concerns.

After extracting Matthew from his poo-covered clothing without getting any on his arms or head, I pull a clean shirt out of the dryer to put on him. It was one of his shirts that succumbed to a blowout yesterday and fortunately, was cleaned and dried promptly but not folded and put away promptly, so it was at the ready for another tour of duty.

"Colors sleeping"

Yesterday I was feeding Matthew and half paying attention to Sam while he was coloring at the table. Well, I wasn't really half paying attention to him, maybe one-quarter, no, that's being generous, Sam was doing his own thing and I knew where he was and what he was up to. Sam started expressing some frustration because he couldn't get the pad of paper to lay flat. It was one of those drawing paper pads, with a thicker cover and he couldn't get the cover to stay open. I let him work it out and eventually he calmed down. A minute or so later, Sam started to exclaim, "Colors sleeping! Colors sleeping!" As I was on the couch at the other end of the room I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, but then I noticed some colors (e.g. crayons, markers) that he had placed under his pad of paper. How cute. Where do kids come up with this stuff? He then pulled a crayon out from where it was "sleeping" and said "Color awake!"

He's recently started playing more pretend games/activities with his stuffed animals and other toys. Sam occasionally lines up an odd assortment of stuffed animals, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck (courtesy of the Brian Kirchhoff family), a small dog, of course a beanie baby sheep and some others, places "blankie" over them and says they are napping. He even once prayed with them before their nap.

Squirmy Worm

Matthew is "trying" to sleep right now. But he is just so squirmy! He kicks his legs, flails his arms around, then shuts his eyes for a brief moment. Then his hand reaches to his mouth and he grabs his pacifier (or baboosh as Sam calls it) and it sails over his head. Fingers go into the mouth. The eyes close, oh, they're open again. Such a struggle to get a little sleep!

Matthew is what I call a high-maintenance napper. He naps well if someone is holding or rocking him. Otherwise he sleeps in short 10-30 minute bits throughout the day. At times I sleep with him (when Sam's napping too) and other times I bounce him in the bouncy seat as I work on the computer.

But he's a great night sleeper. He regularly sleeps 6-8 hours at night without waking, then eats and sleeps for a few more hours. He's even had a few 9 hour uninterrupted stretches recently.

Now he's cooing. Looking at the window and cooing. I wonder who he's talking to? Now he found his thumb again. Matthew's been sucking his thumb more and more and I don't know if I should stop with the baboosh and let the thumb sucking take its normal course or continue giving it to him. But sometimes he loses patience trying to get the fingers into the mouth and, well, you know what happens when babies lose patience. We'll have to see how things progress with the finger/thumb sucking issue.