So happy together

After last week's "crazy for food week," this week was basically back to normal. Jacob continues to be a great eater most of the time (I am so impressed with the variety of food he eats and is willing to try) and Luke is back to his normal eating, which isn't much. He still would much rather just eat from mom than be bothered with baby food. I feel like I'm forcing it down most of the time. Unless you give him puffs or Cheerios - than he'll eat for hours. Go figure...a kid who likes to snack instead of eat his meals. :)

We visited with friends this week and made a visit to the Children's Museum in the Woodlands as well. We had not been in more than a year, so we decided to give it another shot. Jacob had a great time and probably would have spent the whole day there if I let him. Unfortunately, lunch and naps took priority, so after a few hours I had to drag him away. It turned out to be a beautiful day, perfect for a trip to the zoo, which was our initial plan for the day, but I'm glad we made the museum trip. Perhaps we'll make a trip to the zoo this week.

The boys have started taking their baths together the past few weeks and both seem to really be enjoying the playtime together. Jacob makes a dash to the bathroom when we say it is bathtime, and no matter what mood Luke might be in pre-bath, he always giggles and splashes and has a great time once he's in it.

Not much planned for the upcoming week (except for a cousin's wedding over the weekend) but the following week, Jacob will start a gymnastics class at the Y and Luke will be in a swim class for 1 week as well. Jacob has been asking about going swimming lately, so we will likely start making a trip at least once a week to the Y pool to let him splash around. I would love for him to really learn to swim this summer, so I may look into lessons for him too.

Here are the rest of the pictures for the week.

Jacob in 'the rack' - he loves it.

Outsourcing Parenthood

A few weeks ago there was a question posed on our playgroup's message board about outsourcing parenthood. Anything from having a personal baby concierge to potty training to babyproofing. I honestly thought it was a joke, but it really does exist. And now...I have decided - Sign Me Up! Anyone out there interested in sleep training an adorable 7 1/2 month old little boy?

We have seriously been trying for a month and a half, and we have only made baby steps, and even those steps go in reverse occasionally. At 2-3 months old, Luke went to sleep fairly easily, often times on his own, slept for long periods of time, and had no problem taking naps and going to bed in his crib. By 4 months, things went downhill. Today, he usually needs nursing or rocking to go to sleep (and even then, when you put him down, he'll sometimes cry), will only sometimes sleep "thru the night" (9 hrs) without waking, and rarely longer than that without insisting on nursing, and will only take 30 min naps in his crib - and even that is usually after he cries for 15-20 minutes first. Put that boy in his carseat or the swing at naptime and he's golden for up to 2 hours. Thankfully, bedtime he rarely puts up a fight when we put him down in his crib.

I honestly don't know what method to try next - he's so incredibly stubborn that the CIO method doesn't seem to be having much effect anymore. Any ideas???

Hungry much?

The biggest theme of the week has been food and lots of it. It seems that both boys are about to have growth spurts (or are in one now) because they are eating non-stop. I have been wanting to get Jacob into a better routine of eating 3 meals and only 2 snacks a day so that he eats better at mealtimes (instead of claiming he's full after only a few bites), but that has been hard to stick to when he's eating HUGE meals (like 4 big pieces of pizza for dinner one night when I ate only 2) and he's still hungry. He is still wearing 2T in his clothes, but that may not last much longer at the rate he's eating (and growing, I presume.)

Luke is also eating a ton, 1-2 jars of baby food at each meal, plus nursing every 3 hours during the day, and at least once during the night. He's solidly in 9 month clothes and feeling heavier everyday. This growth spurt has, once again, messed with Luke's nighttime sleeping. He is back to waking up several times a night just ravenous (I know this by how he eats when I give in and feed him.) Both are constantly on the move, so I am sure that contributes to the constant hunger too.

Here are the rest of the week's pictures.

Clean bill of health

After a rough few weeks, we are finally healthy! Both boys are full of energy and going at full speed. Luke had a follow up appointment with the doctor yesterday and she said everything looks great. He hasn't had any trouble with coughing or congestion in over a week. We feel so fortunate that his body did its job to knock this virus out. It was a rough few weeks of illness for the whole family, but we survived.

We had to change Jacob's antibiotics last Monday because the original one didn't seem to be working, but once we did things turned around almost instantly. We stayed close to home for most of the week, to make sure we didn't have a setback and weren't contagious.

The weather has been warm lately, so even though we have been in semi-quarantine from others, we have been able to get out of the house everyday to go to the park, zoo, and for walks.

Luke continues to amaze me with his physical skills. He can roll over and push to sitting up in a flash, he pulls up on everything, cruises slowly, and is generally into everything. He is also doing great with his solid food eating. He's eating a lot of different flavors everyday. Of course, he doesn't like some of them - he definitely has his favorites, but I keep trying them all. He is also learning to pick up small finger foods. His pincher grasp isn't quite there yet, so he does get frustrated when the food sticks to his palm and it doesn't make it into his mouth. I'm sure in a few weeks things will be different again. Though he's been practicing with the sippee for several months now, I only recently started giving him my milk in a cup, hoping this can be used in a pinch.

We learned through this illness that Jacob does not handle being sick well. He was quite miserable and pitiful. Even though our daily life when he's healthy isn't struggle free, he is much easier to handle. I am so happy to see him happy and well again.

Here are the pictures from this week.

Cruisin'

I can hardly believe how quickly Luke is learning new things. I feel like he is on fast forward. Not only will he attempt (and usually succeed) to pull up on anything higher than 4 inches off the ground, but on Friday, he started cruising! Granted, he is very slow moving right now, but he is doing it nonetheless. I saw him pull up on the couch in one location, and when I looked back, he'd moved himself down to the end - of course, reaching for something I'd put up there, thinking it was out of his reach. My babyproofing is seriously being tested already!

Spring in February

So, the calendar may not say it is springtime, but the past several days sure have felt that way around here. Jacob and Daddy took advantage of the warm weather and even washed the car...

While Luke looked on....

Tooth #2 makes a breakthrough

On the eve of Luke's 7 month "birthday," his second tooth finally cut through. Maybe now the constant finger chewing (his own and anyone else's who puts them near his mouth) will take a break....at least until tooth #3 gets close.

Sorry, not a post about my kiddos...

...but these were a couple of neat videos we captured on our walk this morning, so I thought I would share them.

Bird....lying in wait:


Bird....catching his lunch:


If you listen closely, you can hear Jacob talking in the background on each video.

In the first, he is talking about the bird waiting to catch a fish and about mama scaring the bird. We actually saw him catch (and then drop) one just minutes before I started videoing. He thought it was great.

In the second, he simply says "oh no" then talks about the bird being scared away.

Home Sweet Home for the Superbowl

The end to a tough week is here. As I already described in an earlier entry, it has been a week I'm glad to leave behind.

Luke continues to improve. His cough is much more sporadic and his runny nose is mostly cleared up. Now if we could get his eating and nursing back to normal, I would feel pretty good about the situation. Because he isn't eating much, I continue to nurse him anytime he wants, which unfortunately, seems to happen 2-3 times each night. I hope to pick up our sleep training with him soon, but I have to wait until he's eating as he should be.

Jacob on the other hand, is still struggling to feel better. Once he started on the antibiotic, I expected a quick turnaround, but no such luck. He's had a tough weekend. As long as we keep the Motrin in him, he's ok, but once it starts to wear off, his fever climbs back up to the 101-102 range and he's pretty miserable. Like Luke, he has no desire to eat either. Thankfully, he's happy to drink water and juice, so he's intaking some calories. Hopefully this week will be better for him.

Luke watched his first superbowl today (a half anyways) at home with the family, since we had 2 sick boys who couldn't go out.

There aren't a ton of pictures this week with a sick kid or two taking my energies all week instead...but here they are.