January 14, 2014

Jake~2 Months


Wow, I can't believe my little baby is two months old!  That's because he's not...he's three months! Ha! :)  I'm behind.  It definitely isn't due to a lack of love though.  In all honesty, it's mainly because I have trouble putting this little pumpkin down to do anything.  He is so sweet and cuddly and loves to be held against my chest when he sleeps.  I know better than to hold him while he sleeps.  I know this can and probably will backfire on me big time.  
But...
Jake is probably the baby of the family, and I know how fast this stage of being so little goes by.  I know that it is a privilege to get to snuggle him while he naps.  He's already grown so much that it's harder for him to get comfortable on my chest than it used to be.  He wiggles and squirms, and we call him a fish out of water because that's what he looks like.  But then he finds that "just right" spot, and he sleeps.  It's beautiful and peaceful.  And perfect.  Newborns need their mamas, and mamas need their newborns.  
So that's my excuse for my lack of documenting our life lately, and it's a pretty good excuse if I do say so myself!
Back to our little pumpkin at two months though.  This baby is sweet.  Oh so sweet!  He smiles and coos and laughs all the time.  He really started cooing around 7 weeks, and it was so cute because he would work so hard to make a sound (his legs and arms would be moving and dancing, and his whole face would be working), and then one little sound would come out.  We would get so tickled, and he would just smile at himself with such pride!  Then it would start over, and with all he had, he would work and work and then make another adorable little sound.  However, with each day, those little sounds got longer and easier for him, and now he loves to "talk" to us.  My favorite sound, of course, is his laugh.  Outside of hearing their heartbeats when I'm pregnant, their baby laughs are my favorite sounds in the world!  
Jake was cooing during these pictures :)
Our baby Jake still loves to nurse and is so good at it.  He eats about every two hours during the day and still cluster feeds in the evening.  He really prefers to just nurse nonstop from about 7:00 until I go to bed a few hours later.  He'll doze off while he's nursing, and then wake up, nurse, and doze back off.  He's using me as a paci (which he still isn't really interested in-if I give him one, he'll suck on it for a second, and then spit it out).  All his eating is paying off too.  Our little baby really isn't so little.  He wears 3-6 month clothes and size one diapers (barely).  His legs are so chunky that getting a diaper on him is a little hard!  Although he is chunky, he's mainly just long.  If I remember correctly, his height is in the 90th percentile.  
He takes a good, consistent morning nap about an hour or so after he wakes up in the morning, and he takes a good afternoon nap while Cooper's napping.  Then he also gets in a few more naps during the day when he can.  I have been putting him in his crib for his morning nap, but his afternoon nap he naps on me (as I talked about above).  He is still sleeping in the pack and play in our room.  I know he needs to go to his crib, but I have several excuses for leaving him with us for now.  None are really good excuses though.  The main truth of it is that I like having him so close to me.  He gets up twice a night to eat but goes right back to sleep.  I'm still holding him upright for about ten minutes when he's done because of the acid reflux, but that seems to be improving too.  Sometimes he'll wake up to eat in the 5:00 or early 6:00 hour, and after that feeding, I normally just hold him until Cooper wakes up (around 6:30 or so).  I'm able to get a little extra sleep that way.  When he wakes up in the morning, he'll stretch for such a long time.  He puts both arms up and stretches out his legs as far as he can.  He kind of wiggles too like he's trying to make sure everything gets stretched just right.  He'll arch his back when you pick him up and bend his legs behind him and then stretch them out straight again.  It's so cute! 
He is such a happy little guy.  He loves eating, bath time, being with Cooper, any attention, and his swing.  Those are definitely his favorite things.  I think mommy is his favorite person though.  I get the biggest reactions out of him, and he prefers me to hold him over anyone else.  It's probably because I have the milk though!  He is doing so much better about car rider line that last month.  Overall, he really enjoys being in the car and will either go to sleep or just look out his window.  The only thing that he really doesn't like is being on his tummy.  That typically makes him mad enough to cry.  I did get a good laugh the other day because I had put Jake on his play mat to play.  I put Cooper in his bed for nap.  I went in the kitchen to unload the dishwasher.  I peeked in the living room to see that Jake had just gone to sleep on his mat.  I looked at the monitor and Cooper was doing somersaults in his bed.  That's our boys!  Very different personalities!  If Cooper doesn't want to do something, he'll fight it--hard!  If Jake doesn't want to do something, he'll fuss for a second, but then just go to sleep!
He's a very easy baby.  Karl and I were very specific when we prayed about Cooper while I was pregnant.  We got everything and more that we prayed for, but I learned maybe I should leave out words like "strong willed" and "determined" the next time (although I love these things about Cooper, it might be hard to have two super strong willed and determined children)! With Jake, we just prayed he would be healthy, happy, and easy!  God answered!

Hello Again


Long time, no post, I know!  Life got busy after I wrote about how blissful everything was going.  My oldest decided to embrace being three and thought he was more like thirteen and became excessively bossy, stubborn, strong willed, cranky, and defiant.  It was so not fun.  I wonder how many times in the past couple of months I've just offered the good ol' explanation "he's three." The funny thing is anyone with kids goes, "Ooohhh! Gotcha!" Karl told someone that two was nothing compared to how three has been going for us.  The person looked at Karl and said, "Didn't you know the terrible twos last for three years?"  I'm starting to fear that wasn't a joke!  
Then I got the flu the week before Christmas...not good timing when you haven't completed your Christmas shopping!  Out of all four of us, how did I catch the flu?!  Thankfully, it was just me, and no one else got it, and it was a mild case (thank goodness the flu shot did something good for me).  I wasn't able to go to Cooper's Christmas party at his school either.  I missed the Open House in October because it was the week after I had Jake.  Then I've missed all but one birthday party too because Jake was too little to take around small children.  I bet the parents in the class think Cooper only has a dad!  
Then it was Christmas, and wow, is life anything short of chaotic and rushed when it's a holiday and you have children?!?!  Plus, Karl was off work for about two weeks, which was great on one hand (always nice to have extra help around here), but at the same time, that kind of added to our craziness.  Karl is more fun and lenient than I am, and Cooper knows that and takes full advantage.  Some days I felt like I had three children, and our house definitely looked that way.  I was actually excited to take down the Christmas decorations because it meant we were getting closer to being back in our normal routine.  I like routine.  I like normal too.  A nurse once told me normal is only a setting on your dishwasher.  Which reminds me that after almost 8 years of living in our house, a lot of things are starting to need attention.  We had to get a new thermostat, have repairmen come fix our washing machine, and get new parts for our garage door all within a span of two weeks.  Thankfully Karl could fix the garage door.  I looked around the other day and started making our spring cleaning/repair list.  I told Karl I just want to move! 
Anyway, life got B.U.S.Y.  but beautiful nonetheless. Now that Jake is three months old, I'll do his two month post soon.  And who knows, maybe I'll even get around to updating about our Christmas around Easter time!

November 26, 2013

The Beginning

Our first six weeks as a family of four have probably been the best six weeks of my life so far, and that's not the sleep deprivation talking...I don't think!  While I am quite sleep deprived, I can honestly say that I have deeply and greatly enjoyed this new beginning of our lives.  We have had stressful moments--and lots of them--and bad days--more than I care to admit, but there have been so many amazing, fulfilling, special, soul gratifying moments that keep the rough times from taking away from the joyousness of this time.  Cooper asking to hold Baby Jake and always wanting to come to his rescue with a paci or new diaper.  The way he kisses him and holds his hand.  Seeing Jake smile when Karl or Cooper talk to him.  The sound of a newborn's cry.  The innocence in his eyes.  The tiny fingers and toes.  The special father-son time Cooper and Karl have been sharing together.  The way a new baby always tries to scrunch up in the fetal position when you hold him.  The feel of his breath on your chest as you cuddle.  When he falls asleep while nursing and milk drizzles out of his mouth.  The spit up.  The constant changing of diapers.  The endless loads of laundry.  The transition of welcoming a new little one into our family.  I love all of it.  It is glorious and divine, and I am so thankful for this little family of mine.

Here are some pictures from these past six weeks that capture those little special moments of our new beginning as a family of four...

First sponge bath (first day home)

Cuddling-We spend a lot of time cuddling this baby!

Tummy Time and Play Time-Jake will tolerate tummy time for a few minutes, but then gets fussy about it or spits up a lot so that I have to pick him up.  He does enjoy being on his back while Cooper plays around him though.

Sweet Expressions-All those crazy little expressions are so fun to watch!

Ten tiny fingers, ten tiny toes

Is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping baby?

More facial expressions...

Father-Son bonding time-Karl and Cooper have spent a lot of time at the hunting club this fall to give Mommy time to rest with Baby Jake, but Daddy makes sure to get some one-on-one time with the Jakester too!

Sweet little smiles-This baby smiles all the time.  All you have to do is talk to him and his face lights up!

The first real bath (umbilical cord stump finally fell off a few days before his 1 month birthday)-He was a little unsure about it at first, but he never cried, and overall, I think he liked it!

It's not all smiles and happy pictures though!