Memories of Us

Friday Quick Takes

1.  I actually had to look at my iPhone to confirm that yes, it really is Friday before I titled this post.  I am officially in the new baby time-suck and am losing track of time.

2.  I have decided to get this for Will (and by extension Jake, though he won't use it for a WHILE) for Christmas.  It is also kind of a gift for ME since I'm the one who has to entertain him indoors all winter.  Anyway, this is the ONLY Christmas gift I have decided on thus far.  For anyone.  I can't even believe how the holiday has snuck up on me and I'm completely unprepared.  I'm just going to apologize in advance for the abysmal gift-giving that is bound to happen this year.  I better get cracking if ANYONE is going to get anything since I plan to do most shopping online.  I start hyperventilating even thinking about taking my little guys to the mall during the Christmas hysteria.  Plus, germs!  No thank you.

3.  Speaking of germs, my little family will be flying to Dallas in about two weeks to attend a wedding.  Just as I was with Will (though worse because this time it will be the height of cold/flu season), I'm stressing about airplane germs and wedding guest germs.  Especially since whooping cough is on the rise and Jake won't have had his first Dtap yet.  I'm trying to be cool and non-chalant about it since there is really nothing I can do.  Jamie and I are both in the wedding.  And honestly, I AM way more relaxed when it comes to Jake, having used up most of the new mom paranoia during Will's infancy.  But I'm still pretty scared.  I plan on just keeping him covered/hidden the whole trip.  And saying a lot of prayers.

4.  Jake is starting to look more and more like his own little self.  I'm excited for the newborn-ness to wear off and the baby cuteness to set in so I can appreciate what a handsome little dude he's bound to be.  Do you know what I mean?  Maybe not, since I see pictures of friends' new babies and they are seemingly flawless right from the start.  But my boys?  They came out looking they had gone through an ORDEAL.  And, you know, they had.  Nine months in my belly topped off by a pleasant little trip down the birth canal.  Heck, it was a full two weeks before I could actually appreciate how BIG Jake really is because he was permanently curled into the fetal position.  And then there's the splotchy, peeling new baby skin.  Plus, both my boys were born with stork bites, most visibly on their foreheads.  In short, newborns aren't at their cutest.  They are undeniably sweet and precious and miraculous and all things wonderful.  But it takes a month or two for the chubby glowy cuteness to surface.  And I can't wait to discover what Jake REALLY looks like.  Every day he just gets cuter.  His skin tone is evening out, his eyes are focusing, his facial features are smoothing out, his whole body is relaxing.  Already he looks so different from Will.  And yet very much the same.  Brothers.  I love it!

5.  Jake already has some awesome neck strength!  No floppy headed kids around here!  Both my boys were born already able to hold up their heads.  Which, considering the size of their heads, is pretty impressive.  Unlike Will, though, Jake doesn't really seem to mind tummy time.  Will used to scream his head off every time we flipped him onto his belly.  But Jake is just an all around chill little guy.  So far.

6.  Jake is a cuddler.  Unfortunately I don't get a lot of cuddle time during the day, what with Will wanting my attention like EVERY SECOND HE'S AWAKE.  And then, after Will is asleep, Daddy is home.  And I have to share. 

7.  This is how Will likes to wake up from his nap.  Woofwoof and at least one of his blankets always accompanies him downstairs.
This is how Charlie likes to wake up from his nap.
Which is to say, he doesn't.  Life is a permanent napping opportunity for him.  And he makes the most of it.

Homebody

Jake will be three weeks old tomorrow.  I feel like I'm starting to get a handle on mothering my two boys, at least when we are safely confined within the house.  I am somewhat desperate to go out and be productive during the day, but the idea of taking my two kids out alone scares the pants off of me.  Seriously, taking Will out alone was getting to be a task worthy of avoidance in the weeks leading up to labor.  And while I'm sure part of it was because I was ridiculously pregnant, a larger part of it was because Will seems to have entered the terrible two's early.  At least I hope so.  Because if he hits two and we discover a whole nother level of irrational and demanding, I might curl up into a ball and cry.  Anyway, I realize that Will might be going a little stir-crazy from hanging out inside, but sometimes I just look at him and think to myself, "Who is this little urchin?"  We are going through a rough patch, I hope.  Actually, I think he's going through a growth spurt.  He's taking extremely long naps these days.  I expect him to wake up one morning having outgrown all his clothes.  And hopefully with a bit of an attitude adjustment as well. 

We thought better of switching him entirely to 2% milk about two days after doing so when it occurred to me that his severly grumpy behavior was because Mommy stupidly put him on a pretty drastic diet.  He's a much better eater than he used to be, but I don't think he was able to eat enough to compensate for the loss in calories.  So, we are incorporating a few whole milk bottles back into his day.  I don't know why I let it bother me, but when people make subtle comments about how much I feed my son or what a big boy he is, I feel totally judged and guilty, like I'm going to make him fat.  He's not though.  He's perfectly healthy and active.  He's just big.  He's a solid kid and has been from the very start.  Anyway, a series of such comments is kind of what led me to consider switching to 2% milk.  I should know better by now as a mother than to give credence to off-hand comments made by others, but I did.  My bad.  Sorry Will. 

Now that I've badmouthed my son and implied that he's chunky, I feel it necessary to brag on him.  His communication skills have improved so drastically this past month!  He grabs your hand and leads you around, showing you exactly what he wants.  He can say "bottle" (which sounds more like butt-hole, but that's okay), and "Dada" and "Mama" and "Hi Y'all" and "Dog" and "Bye bye" and "Night night" and his favorite, "Wow" (which is ALWAYS whispered with reverence).  And he'll play the "repeat after me" game now, attempting to imitate what we say.  SO FUN!  He runs over to his high chair when he's hungry and points to food on the counter when he wants more of it.  Naps and bedtime are wonderful anymore, with Will enjoying some milk while being rocked (in the new glider.  Yes, I made that happen.) and then handing you the bottle and pointing to his crib.  That's right.  He ASKS to get in his crib and puts HIMSELF to sleep.  WHAT??!?  How and when did that happen!?  What a gift!?  Not having to struggle through bedtime has made having the new baby SO much easier.  And the fact that he sleeps 11-12 hours at night consistently means that we only have one little guy to manage during the night.  And even THAT little dude has been giving us 3-4 hours of sleep at a stretch.  Halleluia!  And Will is so clever.  Seriously.  Dangerously clever.  He has discovered that his little push/ride toys are good for STANDING on. 

And just yesterday he figured out that he can use them as step stools to climb up on the furniture.  God help me.  

 

Growing Boys

So, I guess I do make enough milk.  (Not So) Little Jake weighed in at 9 lbs 9 oz at his two week appointment, topping his birth weight by 2 oz.  This means that he gained an oz a day in the past week.  Considering that I didn't start supplementing until the night before the appointment, all that weight gain is a credit to me.  This baffles me.  Will did the same thing, gaining back all his lost birth weight on my breast milk and then starving in the weeks to follow.  Thus I'm not letting a good weight check go to my head.  I have surmised that while I produce enough to meet his needs at this point, I probably won't be able to keep up as he grows.  I believe this because despite Jake's best efforts to up my supply through constant nursing, I'm not making MORE and he's still HUNGRY.  I've been nursing him these past two days and if he's not satisfied after 30 minutes or so at the breast, I give him an oz or two of formula.  There is no harm in that and it gives me confidence that he's getting enough calories, especially during this growth spurt.  All I know is that I will NOT make the same mistake again that I made with Will.  I'm paranoid about it.  It's my mission to ensure that this boy has a tummy full enough to sleep on.  And considering that he currently looks like this
I'm calling it "Mission Accomplished."

My other little man took a three hour nap today!  It was lovely.  I think he's gearing up for a growth spurt too.  He woke up in a good mood and is contentedly laying in his Boppy pillow, drinking a bottle of milk, hugging Woofwoof, holding a little car in one hand, and watching Monsters Inc.  Never was there a happier boy.  He's adjusting to having Jake around more and more every day.  In fact, he came over to me the other day while I was holding Jake (completely unsolicited!) to stroke his hair and kiss him on the head.  Needless to say, Jamie and I both melted into a puddle of goo from witnessing such sweetness.  So, he's handling the new addition pretty well.  However, there are some boundaries that are NOT to be crossed.  For instance, he made it VERY clear that the Boppy pillow will not be shared.  I attempted to use it to nurse Jake on the day we brought him home but Will walked in the room and caught us.  He marched right over and pulled the pillow out of my lap.  Message received.  And that's fine for right now.  I don't really need it for nursing anyway since I rarely get to just sit and nurse anymore.  I think by the time Jake is going to need it for tummy time and supported sitting that Will won't mind as much.  Also important is that Will gets a bottle whenever he sees Jake with one.  We learned that lesson VERY quickly.  He got SO upset when he saw us feeding Jake with one of his bottles.  SOOOO upset.  Like angry/heartbroken/beside himself upset.  So, Will has been getting little snack bottles whenever I need to supplement Jake.  It's a good thing we've switched to 2% milk!  I'm not sure how this jealousy issue will impact weaning him off the bottles altogether.  He doesn't NEED them anymore, as he drinks water from sippy cups and uses a straw like a pro.  But he SO enjoys them.  I don't think now is the time to consider weaning though.  Maybe in another month when Will is used to seeing Jake use them and the jealousy has ebbed.  Doing it now would just reinforce the idea that Jake stole his bottles.

So, New Jersey is starting to get pretty cold.  In fact, Charlie's water bowl was frozen this morning.  The low temperatures seem to have no effect on my son, however.  He STILL wants to spend every waking moment outside.  He drags me over to the door every five minutes begging to play outdoors.  It is such a shame that we moved away from our lovely big backyard just as Will was reaching the age and mobility level to enjoy it.  Our townhouse has a postage stamp sized yard and Charlie has done a number on it already.    We've pretty much accepted that we'll have to resod annually.  But sodding a postage stamp should be cheap, so no biggie.  What really sucks is that I have to clean up every last speck of dog poop each time we go out there or else Will is guaranteed to step in it.  I hate it.  Plus, the neighboring yard has this tree that drops some kind of nut into our yard and Will attempts to eat one at LEAST once every time we are out there.  Taking him outside is a high maintenance activity.  But he LOVES it.  And really, it's kind of fun to play with him out there.  All he wants to do is push his car around chasing after Charlie and occasionally get a ride around the yard.I'm down with that.  It's just getting him to come back inside that's a problem.  He's not even two yet and he's mastered the temper tantrum.  Lord help me.