Nicholas & his 2 month checkup

Nicholas smiling at the cow - they have a good relationship. He likes to talk to the cow, pig and lamb hanging down from the bar on this bouncy seat.

I took Nicholas in this morning for his 2 month checkup - here are his stats:

13 pounds exactly (75th percentile)
23 inches long (50%)
16 inches for head circumferance (75%)

He got a couple shots today and his little face got all red. :-( Poor little guy. He looked up at me after the first one and had this look like help me mommy! :-( But the good news is is that he is a healthy little boy! Since he's growing, they still aren't concerned about his tongue tie.

They asked me about my mood and I said I was fine, but apparently, I had this look like they couldn't believe me so they gave me information on a peps group and asked if I felt I needed medication. It's true that I have my moments, but I didn't feel like it rose to the level of medication. I'm sure that having two pregnancies within 2 years isn't the best hormonally though. They also think I look tired as they told me to take naps and stop worrying about things that need to be done before I go back to work. I'm just not a good napper.

Anyway, Nicholas is looking good! I'll be posting more pics on flickr soon if you'd like to see!

Mo', Mo' Peas

Here is another update. I've become really bad at blogging lately... Anyway...

First up - Nicholas. Today, he turns 2 months old. I should probably make sure I take a picture of him today. It's amazing how fast time goes by and he's already 2 months old! He's cooing more and doing a little bit of babbling to the cow and pig hanging from his rocker chair. He smiles and talks to them - it's really adorable and something I hope to get caught on tape soon. He smiles at us too. His hair looks like it is going to be red. So right now, I have a blond haired girl, a brown haired boy and a red haired boy.

As far as sleeping, he can have nights where he sleeps up to 5 hours after we first go to bed then come back to 3 hours the next night. He is doing better at sleeping in his own bed. Something that I'm working on during the day is to get him to take naps in his own bed instead of in my arms or in the swing or rocker chair. The first time I put him in there, he was having none of it. The next time, he slept there for 45 minutes until I woke him up with the sound of the breast pump.

Then Benjamin - his latest words are more and teacher and he said please a few times. His more sounds like "mo'" and his please sounds like "peas", but he's saying the words! His favorite words are more and no. Oh, and he has said walk and rock and duck. We went shopping this morning to get him new shoes - he's already wearing a size 7. I feel like I just bought the other shoes! Kids grow up quickly. He's wearing a 3T shirt and pants are usually a 2T, but he seems to be moving into 3T soon - some 2T ones are getting too short.

And, last, but not least, Ella. She is saying more and more words like "more" and "I see" but her favorite words are still "kitty" and "baby". She understands far more words than I hear her say. She has tried to be the little mommy by giving Nicholas the pacifier, but she can be a little too aggressive with that. She will force the pacifier on him if given the chance. Nicholas doesn't like that too much.

Both Ben & Ella are pretty good sleepers (knock on wood). Lately, they've been sleeping from around 8:30 to about 7:30-8 in the morning and taking one nap during the day. They go to daycare for a few hours each day though I'm thinking of keeping them with me one day this week to take them to a playgroup at our church. We'll see how that goes. I've been taking them on my own to daycare and picking them up, but I haven't gone anywhere else on my own with all 3. Jon is braver than I am and will walk to the park with all 3 while I stay home to pump or whatever. Or sometimes I'll go with them and put Nicholas in the Bjorn.

That's about it for now. I need to go do some cleaning before Ben & Ella get up from their nap and Jon goes out with some friends this evening.

A long overdue update

Nicholas

At about 5 weeks, Nicholas has been giving me huge grins when he sees me. It just makes my heart melt! It is so adorable and then he follows it up with some cooing - so incredibly cute! I tried to take pictures today of his smile, but I'm not sure if they turned out. I'll upload as soon as possible.

This little guy loves to be snuggled or wrapped up. I tried to have him sleep in his own bed last night and it didn't work. He wanted to be with someone. Jon ended up taking him upstairs and somehow got him to sleep not right next to him but just near him. During the day, he loves to snuggle and he likes the swing - so much so that I wonder if I'm making it so he'll only sleep when snuggled or in the swing. In a little while, I am going to attempt to try to get him to take his naps in the co-sleeper - wish me luck.

Benjamin

This little guy has started to say so many new words that it's hard to keep up with the new ones he's said. He has told me lately that he's stuck (when in his high chair) or he wants a rock or one day he told me wanted to get up (he said "mommy, I want to get up"). Other words include saying anything starting with a b with two b's - for example "b-bye", "b-ball", "b-book" "b-block", and, of course, "b-baby".

Ella

She's saying more words, but not as much as Benjamin. However, she seems to recognize pictures more than Benjamin. If you ask her to find the block with the elephant or the kitty or the tree, she can find it. I think that is because Benjamin wasn't really into reading books and asking what something is until recently whereas Ella has been doing that for a while. She is starting to repeat more words lately.

Lessons learned - do not change routine on a child or you will have cranky toddler central. They took their nap way later than usual yesterday and it was cranky time the whole rest of the day.

Do not leave toddler with baby even for a moment as toddlers like to put pacifier into baby's mouth even while sleeping. Or they like to rock the swing a little more than is necessary. I moved the swing to where I could see it after that.

Other - breastfeeding is going well...so well that our freezer is pretty much breast milk. We have no room for other foods in there - at least, not much.

I learned last night that my dad is going to have gall bladder surgery soon. I hope that goes well.

I'll be returning to work on June 10 and work that day and the 11th and take that Friday off as it is Ben & Ella's 2nd birthday. Unbelievable how fast time flies! Then the following week, it will be back to full time. I certainly don't want to go back to work because I'm not that fond of my job, but at the same time, it would be nice if I could just work a couple days a week and that was it. I think that's all I need to feel sane. The rest of the time, I'd like to spend with my kids. Speaking of, the twins do go to daycare for a few hours a day. Someone asked me why I'm doing this - there are a few reasons - the main two are to be able to bond with Nicholas and the other is preserve some part of my sanity. Just a few hours alone with all 3 can be a strain on my sanity - I'm sure those with toddlers understand. I feel guilty all the time with doing this - I feel like I should have them home with me more, but this is working for us right now, so this is what we're doing.

Anyway, that's all for now. I am really going to try to blog more so I don't keep having these long posts.