27

Friday was my 27th birthday. To celebrate, Dave took off a half-day from work to watch the boys so that I could have an afternoon to myself. It was a very special treat and I enjoyed my alone time immensely despite thinking about my boys constantly.

Tonight we had some friends with similarly aged children over for a birthday cookout and pumpkin carving. Thanks to the voracious mosquitoes we never made it to pumpkin carving, but it was nice to have the company of adults! Moses really enjoyed playing with their daughter, Vivian, and at one point, the pair was racing around the house in a giggly game of chase--I'm not sure the rules but fun was being had.

It was a great birthday weekend. Thanks to all that have sent birthday wishes in one form or another!

And another gray hair is on my head.

Dave took (and encouraged) these photos. I wasn't in the room at the time.





Pillow diving from a chair. It's no wonder his two front teeth are chipped. Boys.

New and Old Hat

Milo got his first tummy time session yesterday, and he didn't do too bad. He's not too great at lifting that big noggin for long periods of time when lying on his tummy yet, but it was good practice.


Moses got a little jealous and decided it was time he return to his activity mat. I certainly don't look forward to introducing Milo to the jumperoo. Talk about some potential for jealousy.

I think home skillet's recent camera usage has led to tweaked speed settings because everything is coming out blurry now. Blurry or not, at least I'm providing photos.

Yesterday

Moses made himself a pallet on the floor and took a nap. I kid you not. It was magical.

Then he took over the camera and dubbed himself our family photog (which is one of the reasons blogs have been light on pictures--camera batteries are dying rapidly these days).


And, we captured cuteness. Both were unsure of the set up though.

Congested (but still cute)

(yes, that is a dimple--there are dimples. Plural!)

I took Milo into the doctor this morning because his spit up looked as if he'd drank raw egg and he was incredibly upset yesterday. Our regular doctor was out so we saw a nurse practitioner we've seen once before. She said Milo is very congested and has mucus running down his throat, which causes him to gag and spit up more and aggravates any reflux he already has. All the congestion is upsetting his stomach, too, which is causing all the more discomfort. Poor kid. He's still too young for any meds so we're trying some more homeopathic methods she suggested. I'm hoping this isn't a sign of another ear infection prone kid. I blame Dave and I's horrible allergies for all ours sons' congestion issues. Grr...

On the plus side, the nurse was amazed at Milo's level of head control and repeatedly mentioned how impressed she was. As we were leaving she said he's at least 3 weeks ahead developmentally! It is crazy how much difference those 3 additional weeks gestating has made for Milo versus Moses: it seems Milo's already leaps and bounds of Moses in certain areas. There's nothing like a little sibling rivalry. Sigh.

A Conversation with Milo

We grow 'em sumo.

I had my 6 week appointment last Friday and while I've lost 30 pounds (half-way there!), Milo has gained four. He's now a hefty 13 pounds even! I knew he was big but I never would have guessed thirteen pounds. He's not covered in cute rolls but rather is the size of a tank.

To make him even cuter, he's been smiling and cooing for the last couple of weeks. He looks so much like Moses when he smiles, too. Compare the above with these of Moses:

A big bottle o' catch-up!

I've been gently reminded recently by a few readers that I haven't blogged in awhile. It wasn't my intent to abandon the blog for more than two weeks but time just seems to fly with two kids occupying my time--before I know it, the day is done and I'm too tired to string sentences together, let alone type them. Dave also took the lap top back to school with him so blogging mobility is no longer possible, and Moses' interest in the keyboard makes typing at the desk impossible while he's awake since all my sentences would undoubtedly contain extra letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. Ah, the woes of motherhood!

Despite my inability to blog, I've been writing down topics as they come to mind and these jewels to share with you today:

1. Milo's 1-month-old!
2. The characteristics of a first born
3. Fernando
4. Amigos de Fernando
5. Finger painting
6. Sickos
   
7. RIP TV
   

So, please, sit back, relax and let me regale you with the my tales o' family.

1. Milo's 1-month-old!

Time certainly flew for us. We can't believe how quickly we reached the 1 month milestone with our boy. His sleepiness and contentedness wore off almost as soon as I blogged about it and he's now awake more and grumpy/fussy for 90% of the day. I wouldn't say he's colicky but maybe fool's colicky since he exhibits all the signs of a colicky baby but inconsistently so (I'm think I'm going to copyright that).

I meant to take a picture of him at one month, but he wasn't being his cute self on camera. This was taken during his nap a couple days before.

2. The characteristics of a first born

Moses' personality is shining through increasingly more these days. The funniest (and most irritating) part to manifest lately involves his need for things to be just-so. He'll let us know something's not working for him with a pointed finger and "oh, oh, oh." He's suddenly very concerned with the cleanliness of his highchair and its tray and will point out anything that's askew. He'll alert Dave to parts of the lawn that weren't mowed. A spill on his clothes could spark WWIII, and if Milo's spittle so much as dribbles down his chin, we know the instant it happens.

This was all very cute for awhile but now it's a teensy bit annoying since there's little we can do to stop his concern but take the time to correct the offending item. Thankfully, I'm a fan of Kevin Lehman's The Birth Order Book and know this little quirk is a typical characteristic of any first born child and we've essentially created this nit-picking monster!

But what an adorable monster he is.

3. Fernando

You may remember that, while I was suffering from insomnia, I discovered that a mouse was enjoying the comforts of our kitchen . Well, shortly after that discovery, we left for Dallas and when we came back, there was no sign of the mouse (who I dubbed Fernando) so we forgot the issue. Then, a couple months later, I noticed the tell-tale signs again so we bought a no-kill trap and placed it on our counter. We caught Fernando that night and released him far, far away the next day.

Meet Fernando:

Cute, right? Moses enjoyed watching him, and I enjoyed pretending he would wear clothes and talk when we weren't looking.

4. Amigos de Fernando

We've since caught three others. Eek. The aren't so adorable in these numbers.

5. Finger (er, brush) painting

I'm trying to incorporate more activities into our daily routine, including arts and crafts, so we tried our hands, nee fingers, at painting. While we started out using our fingers, we switched to brushes because Moses was too tempted to eat or lick the paint from his hands. The Crayola finger paint was a little disappointing though because it looks like a translucent gel instead of your typical paint. All in all, we had a great time and I look forward to more art projects. Next up--stringing fruit loop necklaces (if we can avoid eating them for long enough).



(no, he didn't paint that tree but rather confiscated my painting)

6. Sickos
Since school started up again recently, it was inevitable that the sick season would start. Two weeks ago, Dave started feeling some cold symptoms and soon after Moses and I had them, too. As with any illness that comes through our door, I got the worst of it and rode the couch as much as Moses would let me. I'm hoping this winter is better than last and that Moses can stay ear-infection free for as long as possible!

7. RIP TV
Last week, our living room TV decided to stop working. That was a rough morning for me because Moses usually watches TV during breakfast so that I can get ready for the day and start chores.

The worst part is that the TV is not even a year old but outside its warranty (don't buy the Wal-Mart brand, ilo). We can't exactly buy a new one so we're stuck with Dave's old 19" set and my fifteen-year-old 13" one that needs rabbit ears. We were used to having a nice large set and pretty HD pictures so this is a bitter pill to swallow. I've already requested an HD converter box coupon though. Sigh.

Well, that covers the last two weeks. I hope to get my rhythm back soon!

Swing kid

While Milo was still sleeping this morning, Moses and I went outside to swing, mismatched pajamas and all. Moses wanted me to swing, but having recently learned better, I told Moses I couldn't because I was too big (read: fat-from-recently-carrying-a-child-for-9-months) and it hurt to squeeze my adult rear into that small swing. Upon hearing that unpleasant news, Moses decided to designate two more "kids" for me to push (notice the bubbles in the other swing). Nevertheless, Moses, the bubble twins, and I had a nice morning.

Raw: It's all the rage

Moses likes to hang around the chopping block when I'm cutting vegetables for dinner so he can finagle some raw slices from me. Last night he surprised me by requesting and eating RAW onion (this was his third slice)! He really is my child.

King of the Castle

Dave's parents and niece came down last weekend and we spent some time at our local mammoth play village. We hadn't been out there before and Moses had a lot of fun. Ignore his shorts--his normally-smooth-dressing daddy wasn't thinking (1- they are too small, 2 - he's got too many shades of blue on).

P.S. Is anyone else having issues with Firefox 3.0.1 and their ability to cut and paste? I can't move my blog pictures and text around like usual (in blogger or any other FF window) and it's disturbing my Internet chi.

Intervention

Moses' latest bout of weirdness involves lotion drinking. Yes, lotion drinking. We have to be extra careful to keep lotion bottles out of his reach or else we'll find him snuggled up with a bottle, sipping the contents from the spout. Ew.