....without any snapshots (sorry!)
Michael: Michael is rounding out a near-perfect week without any drama, tantrums and perfect obedience. He has been so so sweet!
Matthew: While Matthew is still the sweetest little boy, his sleeping has taken a step backwards in his sleeping. We moved him out of his car seat (where he was sleeping for 10 and 11 hours) and into his bed.
We did this for a few reasons:
1) It seems like it's better for him to stretch out a little in a bed instead of sitting hunched over in his car seat.
2) Everytime we put him into his car seat, he would wake up. So frustrating!
3) Ultimately, he needs to learn.. I mean, will he one and still in his car seat? I don't think so.
So, this transition to the bed has been a little rough. He is back to waking up every..well, sometimes hour...two if we're lucky. Three? Humph.
Last night, Matthew decided that despite going to bed at a reasonable 7:30pm, woke up at 1 and wanted to stay up, smiling and cooing until 5am. What?!! This has not happened before. What causes that! And no matter how cute Matthew is...very few things are that cute at 2, 3, and 4 in the morning.
Aggh! And I don't like myself at that time of day! I'm cranky and impatient, and tired!
It's got to better right? Well, in the words of John Lennon, it can't get no worse.
Bitteschon. My car. She's sick. She's real sick. She's "my piston blew a hole through my engine like a bullet" kind of sick. Ugh. No, no fun.
Thankfully, Michael was safe, and was able to pull off the freeway safely and get it taken in to the shop. And, as much as I am sad it happened to him, I am a little glad I didn't have to deal with that with two kids in the car.
Well, that's it for now. Hopefully all will be well this week!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
A Diagnosis
I'm sorry to announce this over the internet, but it seems that Michael has come down with a serious case of Doodler's disease.
The symptoms presented today.
A rash on the hands.
The rash in Doodler's disease then spreads quickly to other parts of the body.
The legs.....
The face...
and even the mouth.
Side effects include extreme adorableness
and even some drowsiness
Some less conventional cures include giraffe earwax
and fish kisses.
However there's only one surefire cure...
But those no guarantee there won't be a relapse tomorrow.
The symptoms presented today.
A rash on the hands.
The rash in Doodler's disease then spreads quickly to other parts of the body.
The legs.....
The face...
and even the mouth.
Side effects include extreme adorableness
and even some drowsiness
Some less conventional cures include giraffe earwax
and fish kisses.
However there's only one surefire cure...
But those no guarantee there won't be a relapse tomorrow.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
19 Month Update
Aaah...Michael! There's too much to say!
Here are a few fun things:
1) Michael learned the word "Sorry" and when to use it. Sometimes, when he gets frustrated he'll try to hit or bite...but lately he has been saying "Sorry" right afterward and leaning in for a hug. I don't even think he is using it as a "Get out of jail free card" because his attitude genuinely changes. It's sweet.
2) Michael LOVES to draw. He'll grab a crayon, or if he finds one I accidentally left out, a pen, and he'll find me and ask, "Paper! Paper!" Then he'll draw to his heart's content.
Speaking of hearts, he likes to draw them. Pretty good, eh?
3) Michael says his own name. He says it when he sees himself in the mirror, he says it when he sees a picture of himself...and he says it when he sees pictures of his cousins, Jack, Thomas and Peter. I love it when he says his name...I don't know why, there is something so cool about self-identity.
4) Michael just loves to talk, and it always surprises me at words he remembers, or gets close to remembering. Sometimes, it's not the words he gets right that get me the most..but the ones that are a little off.
For example, Michael knows the word "fountain" because he likes to go to the fountain in our apartment complex....
Today, he was playing with his stuffed elephant and he said, "Hi ele-fountain!" So, so, cute.
5) Michael still loves the moon and does this crazy moon dance each night in hopes his dad will take him out to see him.
6) Michael still loves and adores his brother...he blows raspberries at him (and Matthew blows them back) and he just loves to play with his toes, and even introduce him to people.
Michael is full of love and affection. He is so sweet, especially when we have gone out to visit with people, he's been on his best behavior, and while there is sometimes some drama at home, it's such a relief that he behaves well out among friends!
It's hard to believe how fast he is growing up, and it's so fun having him as my little buddy!
Here are a few fun things:
1) Michael learned the word "Sorry" and when to use it. Sometimes, when he gets frustrated he'll try to hit or bite...but lately he has been saying "Sorry" right afterward and leaning in for a hug. I don't even think he is using it as a "Get out of jail free card" because his attitude genuinely changes. It's sweet.
2) Michael LOVES to draw. He'll grab a crayon, or if he finds one I accidentally left out, a pen, and he'll find me and ask, "Paper! Paper!" Then he'll draw to his heart's content.
Speaking of hearts, he likes to draw them. Pretty good, eh?
3) Michael says his own name. He says it when he sees himself in the mirror, he says it when he sees a picture of himself...and he says it when he sees pictures of his cousins, Jack, Thomas and Peter. I love it when he says his name...I don't know why, there is something so cool about self-identity.
4) Michael just loves to talk, and it always surprises me at words he remembers, or gets close to remembering. Sometimes, it's not the words he gets right that get me the most..but the ones that are a little off.
For example, Michael knows the word "fountain" because he likes to go to the fountain in our apartment complex....
Today, he was playing with his stuffed elephant and he said, "Hi ele-fountain!" So, so, cute.
5) Michael still loves the moon and does this crazy moon dance each night in hopes his dad will take him out to see him.
6) Michael still loves and adores his brother...he blows raspberries at him (and Matthew blows them back) and he just loves to play with his toes, and even introduce him to people.
Michael is full of love and affection. He is so sweet, especially when we have gone out to visit with people, he's been on his best behavior, and while there is sometimes some drama at home, it's such a relief that he behaves well out among friends!
It's hard to believe how fast he is growing up, and it's so fun having him as my little buddy!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Because
1. Because I finally charged my camera.
2. Because Matthew has been sleeping from 7:30pm to 6:00 am five days in a row.
2. Because Matthew has been sleeping from 7:30pm to 6:00 am five days in a row.
Just a little side note: First, this was early in the morning that's why are bed wasn't made....don't judge! Secondly, I don't normally put Matthew in our bed, but Michael Sr was going to walk into the room shortly and I wanted to do this to make him laugh. It worked.
3. Because babies look cute in blankets.
4. Because I wonder if that dimple could be any deeper.
5. Because babies look cute when they try to eat their hands.
6. Because I only have to look at him to make him smile.
7. Because he reminds me of his brother.
8. Because...with a face like this, I don't really need a reason.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Recipe for Cornbread Shampoo
Ingredients:
Cornbread
Butter
Honey
Toddler
Add ingredients together.
Repeat.
Rinse.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
3 Month Update
Little Mamoo turned 3 months old this week!
He is abounding in smiles, love, and huggable fun.
Matthew loves to smile...provided he has food in his tummy and it isn't right before his bedtime, Matthew is SO easy to get to smile. It's like he's got a smile waiting all the time, ready for whenever someone looks at him. It's so precious!
Matthew is doing well in his sleeping...only getting up about once a night and on a few occasions, sleeping more than 10 hours at a time at night! Quite a turn around from the first 1.5 months of his life! Every once in a while he does something sneaky like wake up for food at 4:30 or 5, and then decide he wants to be awake for a good hour, which lands us pretty close to 7am, when Michael gets up. That's no fun...but thankfully that isn't all the time and hopefully will not become so.
Matthew loves to stick his fingers in his mouth. It's like a new toy he just can't get enough of. He chews on them until they are red...and does so very loudly so that I can even hear him if I'm in another room!
Matthew LOVES his brother and follows him with his eyes pretty much wherever he goes. He does take quite a smothering from Michael most days, but it's always done in love...Michael just can't seem to get enough of him and feels like he has to just be right on top of him in order to adequately express his love.
Matthew is doing better with his reflux, and so we are slowly transitioning him back into his bassinett from his car seat...so hopefully in the next month or so he'll be sleeping like a normal baby (and I can wash his car seat finally!) and we can start some sleep training.
In the mean time, I am just thankful he takes good naps and sleeps well at night. Whenever I get a little frustrated because I want him to sleep more than he wants to, I always remember that Matthew's shortest naps are longer than what I used to describe as a "long nap" for Michael and when Matthew gets going on a long nap...lookout! He'll be sleeping for hours...which never happened until Michael started taking only one nap a day. So, I'm thankful Matthew is a good sleeper. God knows what I could handle, especially now that Michael really isn't taking any naps anymore (boo!).
I often forget to give Matthew good rolling-around-on-the-floor time, so hopefully he won't get too far behind in rolling over. I always worry about what questions the doctors will ask at his checkups (his next one is in a month) and feel like I have to "cram" to get some landmark skills done for him so I don't get any sort of worried look or warning from the doctor that he is behind. It's just that his reflux makes it hard to just lay him down wherever, and/or I feel like Matthew is a little safer from the wanderings of a toddler when he's in his bouncy chair or swing than just laying on the ground.
Matthew likes to talk and coo, especially if he is wants to get your attention.
...and it appears we have another Daddy's boy in the family. As much as Matthew is good to his Mommy, whenever his dad is in the room, his gaze is fixed on him. If Matthew is crying, one look at his dad will calm him down, and at Mass when I hold Matthew, he makes sure to position himself so he can look right at his Dad and his brother, almost as if to say, "How do I get over there to be with those guys?" I wouldn't be surprised if, in a few months, Michael Sr will be juggling two boys during Mass...not because I'm not willing to help, but simply because Matthew will want in on the Daddy fun!
Matthew is loved abundantly by all of us...he's the family's Little Moo!
He is abounding in smiles, love, and huggable fun.
Matthew loves to smile...provided he has food in his tummy and it isn't right before his bedtime, Matthew is SO easy to get to smile. It's like he's got a smile waiting all the time, ready for whenever someone looks at him. It's so precious!
Matthew is doing well in his sleeping...only getting up about once a night and on a few occasions, sleeping more than 10 hours at a time at night! Quite a turn around from the first 1.5 months of his life! Every once in a while he does something sneaky like wake up for food at 4:30 or 5, and then decide he wants to be awake for a good hour, which lands us pretty close to 7am, when Michael gets up. That's no fun...but thankfully that isn't all the time and hopefully will not become so.
Matthew loves to stick his fingers in his mouth. It's like a new toy he just can't get enough of. He chews on them until they are red...and does so very loudly so that I can even hear him if I'm in another room!
Matthew LOVES his brother and follows him with his eyes pretty much wherever he goes. He does take quite a smothering from Michael most days, but it's always done in love...Michael just can't seem to get enough of him and feels like he has to just be right on top of him in order to adequately express his love.
Matthew is doing better with his reflux, and so we are slowly transitioning him back into his bassinett from his car seat...so hopefully in the next month or so he'll be sleeping like a normal baby (and I can wash his car seat finally!) and we can start some sleep training.
In the mean time, I am just thankful he takes good naps and sleeps well at night. Whenever I get a little frustrated because I want him to sleep more than he wants to, I always remember that Matthew's shortest naps are longer than what I used to describe as a "long nap" for Michael and when Matthew gets going on a long nap...lookout! He'll be sleeping for hours...which never happened until Michael started taking only one nap a day. So, I'm thankful Matthew is a good sleeper. God knows what I could handle, especially now that Michael really isn't taking any naps anymore (boo!).
I often forget to give Matthew good rolling-around-on-the-floor time, so hopefully he won't get too far behind in rolling over. I always worry about what questions the doctors will ask at his checkups (his next one is in a month) and feel like I have to "cram" to get some landmark skills done for him so I don't get any sort of worried look or warning from the doctor that he is behind. It's just that his reflux makes it hard to just lay him down wherever, and/or I feel like Matthew is a little safer from the wanderings of a toddler when he's in his bouncy chair or swing than just laying on the ground.
Matthew likes to talk and coo, especially if he is wants to get your attention.
...and it appears we have another Daddy's boy in the family. As much as Matthew is good to his Mommy, whenever his dad is in the room, his gaze is fixed on him. If Matthew is crying, one look at his dad will calm him down, and at Mass when I hold Matthew, he makes sure to position himself so he can look right at his Dad and his brother, almost as if to say, "How do I get over there to be with those guys?" I wouldn't be surprised if, in a few months, Michael Sr will be juggling two boys during Mass...not because I'm not willing to help, but simply because Matthew will want in on the Daddy fun!
Matthew is loved abundantly by all of us...he's the family's Little Moo!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Mystery of the Universe
Answer me this:
How is it that a baby, when taken to a park, can sleep soundly in a stroller with construction men sawing through metal poles not more than 20 feet away....
...but the smallest creak of my bed when I get up in the morning, hoping to bustle around a few minutes before the kids get up, wakes him up every single time?
How is it that a baby, when taken to a park, can sleep soundly in a stroller with construction men sawing through metal poles not more than 20 feet away....
...but the smallest creak of my bed when I get up in the morning, hoping to bustle around a few minutes before the kids get up, wakes him up every single time?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Mean Geese
I decided to take the boys to Lake Poway today to try and burn off some of Michael's energy (average of 1.5 naps per week...ugh!) in hopes he would take a nap (no luck this time either, by the way). Kathy and I had gone there before once...there is a nice park and a little lake with ducks and coots who like it when you through bread at them.
Hmm...showing Michael real life duckies! That sounds like a great idea! I grabbed some old hamburger buns on the counter, packed up the boys and some snacks and headed out.
Matthew was asleep in the stroller and so I carried Michael and wheeled Matthew down the little embankment to get near the water where the ducks and coots were. Michael really liked looking at them...there were probably 100 birds in total (who am I kidding, I'm terrible at estimating numbers in crowds...but there were a lot of birds!) and they were mostly just floating in the water, some of them waddling around on the dirt not bothering us, just quacking and "cooting."
I figured I would get out the bread and see if I can coax Michael to hurling some bread at them. However, I didn't even get that far. As soon as I dug around in my bag, the birds, who clearly are used to this routine bolted right for us without an ounce of fear.
Now I know ducks are usually pretty calm and standoffish, they'll come closer for the bread, but I've never experienced an aggressive duck who will bite. However, I don't know about coots so I whisk Michael up and hold him while I hurl bread at the birds. They come right at might feet and are swarming! I toss the bread as far as I can in hopes they will back off, but they don't! They keep coming closer and are hovering around my heels.
Meanwhile, Matthew is sleeping the stroller (note, it will be important later: I had to put the brakes on the stroller because of the incline).
Ok, now ducks and coots are not really a problem for me..I'm laughing at their noises and Michael is having a good time looking at the birdies....
...then they came....
...two big nasty geese make their way up the bank and decide to pay us a visit.
Ducks=nice
Coots=persistent, but still non-aggressive
Geese=Mean, nasty, and aggressive
I knew from a few nips in my childhood that geese don't like to wait patiently, or waddle around and look cute. Geese go for the source of the food, in all likelihood to maul the source and get the whole jackpot of bread instead of just a crumb or two.
So these geese tag team and start to go after me. I desperately try to throw bread right at them hoping they will get the food and I can bait them further and further away from me. But these geese aren't even interested in the food. They didn't eat a single chunk despite my attempts to get them away from us. They just keep coming toward me, leaning their heads forward, honking and really looking like they are coming in for the bite.
For crying out loud, geese! I am holding my toddler and you are coming after me with your red eyes, honking, and leaning forward like you want to bite me...do you seriously want to take on a Mom holding her baby boy?
I am evading these geese because I don't want them anywhere near Michael, but for the life of me, I can't get them to stop following me. I use Matthew in his stroller as a shield...we keep going around and around the stroller, the geese going after me, and me circling the stroller holding Michael.
Ok, I'm getting tired of this. I want to leave now. I lure the geese away from the stroller and then go in to swoop Matthew away and bolt in the stroller: but guess what? The brakes on the stroller are engaged...doh! I can't undo them fast enough with my foot and here come the geese again..closer, closer, closer...
I use the bag of hamburger buns to swing in the goose's general direction hoping to startle it away. It didn't, he just held his head down again, honked, and glared at me with his little eyes while his partner tried to outflank me and come at me from around the back.
I'm officially not having fun and I just want to get out. I've left Matthew to fend for himself among a sea of coots and ducks and I'm running away from the two mean geese!
Hey...what if I throw away the bag? Maybe since they know what it looks like when I take a bag out, maybe they will know what it looks like when the bag goes away.
I throw away the bag and wouldn't you know, as soon as they rushed upon us, they all went away back into the water...ducks, coots, and geese.
Michael was pretty unaware of my concern and he actually kept asking to get down, and he thought it was pretty interesting...
..but I was a wreck and that will be the last time we will feed the ducks in a long while!
Hmm...showing Michael real life duckies! That sounds like a great idea! I grabbed some old hamburger buns on the counter, packed up the boys and some snacks and headed out.
Matthew was asleep in the stroller and so I carried Michael and wheeled Matthew down the little embankment to get near the water where the ducks and coots were. Michael really liked looking at them...there were probably 100 birds in total (who am I kidding, I'm terrible at estimating numbers in crowds...but there were a lot of birds!) and they were mostly just floating in the water, some of them waddling around on the dirt not bothering us, just quacking and "cooting."
I figured I would get out the bread and see if I can coax Michael to hurling some bread at them. However, I didn't even get that far. As soon as I dug around in my bag, the birds, who clearly are used to this routine bolted right for us without an ounce of fear.
Now I know ducks are usually pretty calm and standoffish, they'll come closer for the bread, but I've never experienced an aggressive duck who will bite. However, I don't know about coots so I whisk Michael up and hold him while I hurl bread at the birds. They come right at might feet and are swarming! I toss the bread as far as I can in hopes they will back off, but they don't! They keep coming closer and are hovering around my heels.
Meanwhile, Matthew is sleeping the stroller (note, it will be important later: I had to put the brakes on the stroller because of the incline).
Ok, now ducks and coots are not really a problem for me..I'm laughing at their noises and Michael is having a good time looking at the birdies....
...then they came....
...two big nasty geese make their way up the bank and decide to pay us a visit.
Ducks=nice
Coots=persistent, but still non-aggressive
Geese=Mean, nasty, and aggressive
I knew from a few nips in my childhood that geese don't like to wait patiently, or waddle around and look cute. Geese go for the source of the food, in all likelihood to maul the source and get the whole jackpot of bread instead of just a crumb or two.
So these geese tag team and start to go after me. I desperately try to throw bread right at them hoping they will get the food and I can bait them further and further away from me. But these geese aren't even interested in the food. They didn't eat a single chunk despite my attempts to get them away from us. They just keep coming toward me, leaning their heads forward, honking and really looking like they are coming in for the bite.
For crying out loud, geese! I am holding my toddler and you are coming after me with your red eyes, honking, and leaning forward like you want to bite me...do you seriously want to take on a Mom holding her baby boy?
I am evading these geese because I don't want them anywhere near Michael, but for the life of me, I can't get them to stop following me. I use Matthew in his stroller as a shield...we keep going around and around the stroller, the geese going after me, and me circling the stroller holding Michael.
Ok, I'm getting tired of this. I want to leave now. I lure the geese away from the stroller and then go in to swoop Matthew away and bolt in the stroller: but guess what? The brakes on the stroller are engaged...doh! I can't undo them fast enough with my foot and here come the geese again..closer, closer, closer...
I'm officially not having fun and I just want to get out. I've left Matthew to fend for himself among a sea of coots and ducks and I'm running away from the two mean geese!
Hey...what if I throw away the bag? Maybe since they know what it looks like when I take a bag out, maybe they will know what it looks like when the bag goes away.
I throw away the bag and wouldn't you know, as soon as they rushed upon us, they all went away back into the water...ducks, coots, and geese.
Michael was pretty unaware of my concern and he actually kept asking to get down, and he thought it was pretty interesting...
..but I was a wreck and that will be the last time we will feed the ducks in a long while!
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