Root for the Home Team

So far, Matt's done a pretty good job of convincing Brooke that she likes to watch sporting events, especially live ones (or games on TV past her bedtime - "Can I watch bas-et-ball with you, Daddy?" always buys her another 10 minutes). He's taken her to a couple of Wheaton South baseball games and told me how much she enjoys them. I was able to observe this in action for the first time last week.

She obviously doesn't get the concept of when and when not to clap and instead just spends pretty much the whole game cheering and clapping. And eating popcorn.

Miles was also in attendance and seemed to be enjoying himself.

While Mom's Away

I realize that I'm way behind on updating this. Blogging is literally always on my "to do" list (I have one EVERY day), but always gets put on the backburner - behind things like bathing and laundry. I'm going to try to make it more of a priority, if for no other reason than it's essentially my kids' baby books and I don't want too much time to pass and forget things. They're both changing so fast!

A couple of weekends ago, I went away for an overnight with my girlfriends that's been in the works for months. It's funny - before Miles was born, I was sure that I'd either just take him with or not go. However, when he was about 2 weeks old, I decided that it would be in both or our best interests for me to get a night away. Shout out to Matt, who was supportive and encouraging, even though I know he was at least a *little* intimidated. Of course they went for BBQ.

Thanks to my, we'll call it an "internal clock" - nursing moms know what I'm talking about - I didn't sleep as well as I'd hoped (actually, I think Matt and Miles slept as well if not better than me), but it was SO nice to get away and laugh with friends. I was also very happy and excited to get back to my little lady and little guy - and Matt.

Big Sis

Brooke will be 2 1/2 at the end of this month. She was already a sweetheart, but I feel like being a big sister has made her even sweeter than before. Here are some of my favorite recent quotes of hers:

"Oh no! He's eating your body!" - when she actually watched the process of Miles nursing for the first time.
"Don't cry. Your big sister's here." - what she regularly says to Miles when he's crying.
"We have a problem!" - she ran up to me at My Gym yesterday and said this regarding a toy that wasn't working.
"Little Big Boy" - the nickname she seems to have given Miles when talking to him.

We continue to slowly working on potty training. We had pee in the potty for the first time two days ago and finally got to go out for ice cream. We'd told her that would be her reward about a week before she actually did it and Matt and I were really starting to think we'd never have ice cream as a family again. With that being said, she's also told us that she doesn't want to go on the potty, she wants to go in her diaper. I'm still putting a diaper on her when we go out and when she goes to sleep (I know, I know - add "Potty Training How-To" to the list of books I will not be writing) and she seems to be waiting for that to actually go. I think like most things she's taken her time in accomplishing thus far (taking a bottle, walking), she's going to need to see what's in it for her. Otherwise, she's happy to have us do the work.

She's still really into helping as well as wanting to do things by herself. She's better at my phone than I am.

Music and art continue to be favorite things to do. Matt's been working on ball skills with her. We're not so sure that's going to be her strength.

We've had a few issues with her being scared at bedtime, which makes me sad. I feel like her innocence is already slowly disappearing. She's also thrown a couple of monster nap time tantrums. I think partly because I was putting her down when she was over-tired. (This isn't where she naps. She laid down on Miles' blanket after I picked him up.)

She still loves to play with the neighborhood girls (and watch them when we can't go outside) and talks daily about Lexi.

  

She's also a great big sister. She's already tried to suction Miles' nose and give him some of her juice. Time to keep a closer eye, I guess.

 

Family of Four

We're now a family of four. It's not sounding as scary to say and is now feeling natural. It helps that Miles is still in his sleepy stage. He's usually out cold until at least 9 am, which gives me at least an hour to hang out with Brooke. And both kids have been napping pretty solidly for a couple of hours in the afternoon, when I probably should be napping too, but instead I end up doing things like cleaning and updating the blog.

 

Brooke still loves having Miles around as far as we can tell. She's been pretty clingy to me and will occasionally want to be a "baby" (i.e. be carried downstairs, lay in the crib), but as of now we haven't seen any aggression towards Miles.More on her in my next post.

Usually when Matt gets home from work, he'll take Brooke outside for some one-on-one time, which I know is really special for both of them. Also, thanks to Matt and my mother-in-law, I've been able to get some one-on-one time of my own with each of the kids. While there are certainly moments that it seems like everyone/thing in the house needs me IMMEDIATELY, overall things are manageable.

I've been able to get out of the house the last week or so and am no longer intimidated to take both of them out at the same time (although if there's a way to avoid it, I will). Thank God for double strollers and those giant carts.

And then there's this guy. He does a great job of not letting himself be forgotten. I'm looking forward to the day when I can send all three of them out into the backyard to wear each other out. Maybe by June?

 

Playdates

 

Miles has had a pretty active social calendar since being born. He's already had playdates with some of the friends that he's likely to see most often. First, my friends Joy and Jen came over with (some of) their little ones. This is how most of the pictures looked.

 

But we finally got a decent one (minus the fact that Miles looks like he has an orange star for a head). 

 

Miles also got to "play" with his friends Kellen and Cam, the sons of some of our other great friends. The three boys were all born within 6 weeks of each other. I'm sure this is the first of many photos ops.

3 Weeks

Miles is three weeks old today. We think he's pretty cute, but also realize that all parents of newborns think that, and to most people, they're kind of all pink shriveled blobs for the first couple of months.

At this point, I would characterize Miles as an average to good baby. We're *kind of* getting the hang of nights - although he still likes to keep us (/me) on our (/my) toes by throwing in a rougher night here or there. Generally, he's down around 11 and wakes up every 2 to 3 hours to eat but falls back asleep pretty quickly.
He's still pretty sleepy most of the day.

 

 

Speaking of eating, he likes to do it. A lot. When he's awake, it's every 2 hours. I think we've gone 4 hours two or three times. He was up to 8 lb, 10 oz at his 2 week appointment, so I guess it's sticking. Thank God we were cleared to introduce a bottle last week. I had really missed pumping.

  

What doesn't stick, he spits up. This is a whole new ball game for me. Brooke almost NEVER spit up. Miles does 75% of the time - and not always right after he eats. Sometimes it's a little trickle, sometimes it's projectile. Again, keeping us on our toes.

He HATES dirty diapers. But he also HATES having his diaper changed. We're working on rationalizing with him through that one. Oh, and diapers are SO much less scary a couple of weeks into having a boy. Those first couple of weeks - whoa. Just everything about the diaper-situation-area-experience. Whoa.

He's starting to "wake up" and be more alert and in tune to us, which is so much fun. (Don't be fooled - this was not an actual smile. He was working on something as I took the picture. Also, for all of the complaining I've done about technology/my camera phone, it has allowed for some great shots I wouldn't have otherwise gotten.)

 

It's hard to believe that a month ago we didn't know this little man. He really is a sweetie and I apologize for the redundancy, but we're very blessed.

***Not a fan of the new Blogger format, FYI.***

Adjusting

As my family's left and Matt's gone back to work this week, Brooke, Miles and I are adjusting to what life's really going to be like now. Granted, Miles is still sleeping a ton (minus the hours of 8 pm - 12 am, but I really can't complain), but I think we're all doing pretty well. I'm looking forward to getting out of the house more, but for now it's kind of nice to have to take a leisurely pace. That's not usually a strength of mine (thank you, Timmerman genes).

On Monday we were able to celebrate Ozzie's 5th birthday. I didn't make the cake that I usually do thanks to some missing baking soda, but he seemed happy with a glob of peanut butter, carrots and honey. And Brooke was really excited to sing to him. If you think this is crazy, you should have seen me 4 years and 2 fewer kids ago.


Now there's photographic evidence that Brooke can smile on command (and that we got a new backsplash - yay!).

Miles smiling/gassy?



I'm truly feeling overwhelmed with how blessed I am and am really trying to take in the amazing and undeserved gifts that I've been given. God is good.