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We had a good week, mostly getting unpacked and back to a normal routine after our trip. After "sleeping in" until 7am or later everyday while we were in WV, the boys went back to their early rising. Both are awake and ready to play by 6:30am or earlier most days. I'm trying to get used to being up before the sun again.

No more progress on walking with Luke, but he has now become a pro at crawling up stairs after his first encounter with them at Mia and Papas. We went to a little housewarming party on Saturday and I think Luke practiced going up the stairs at least a dozen times.

Jacob took another step forward with potty training this week, wearing underwear at home while awake and even when leaving the house for short trips. Since he still won't tell others he needs to go potty, he is still in a pull up at school and at the church and YMCA nurseries. Once he feels comfortable telling someone he needs to go (since the nurseries require someone to take the kids to the bathroom since they aren't in the same area as the play area), I hope we can just use the pull ups when sleeping or on long car rides or trips away from a bathroom. He goes on his own at home with no assistence required, so I'm hoping we will take another step forward soon. We're getting there.

David was finally able to attend one of Luke's swim classes to take some pictures. Luke has really become more comfortable in the water since we started the class, so for that reason, I'm glad we decided to take it, even though some nights it was a struggle to get there.

Because of the torrential downpour and flooding we've seen over the last 24 hours around here, school was cancelled for the day. Jacob was bummed, but we've had a fun day despite being stuck at home. I think it is forecast to rain off and on all week. Joy.

Here are the pictures for the week.

Huntington, West Virginia

The highlight of last week was our trip to Huntington to visit Mia and Papa. It was Luke's first plane flight, and despite his constant need to move move move, he did pretty well. Jacob, the seasoned traveler, did pretty good too.

We didn't have anything "planned" for our trip except visiting and resting, both of which we did. Both boys settled into their new surroundings quickly and seemed right at home. We went on many walks with both boys and Jacob visited various places around town.

Luke got to meet Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather Haeberle for the first time as well as Uncle Jeff and his fiancee, Amy. Amy and Jeff were there for a few days of our visit, which was nice.



I also was happy to get a 'Haeberle men' picture:


My only complaint, the trip was too short. I would love to go visit again this year, but with the beach week in June and Jeff and Amy's wedding in August, we probably won't make it.


Here are the rest of the week's pictures.

OK, so we did it...

I sent Jacob to school in underwear instead of a pull-up today. We'll see what happens. He's only been in underwear at home the last couple of days and we did have one accident. His teacher says he rarely goes in his pull up (probably because they are extremely diligent in taking him to the potty often, whether or not he says he has to go) so I'm hoping for the best. I just felt like we needed to take that step forward since this process seems to be taking way too long (though he's probably perfectly normal for a little boy...)

**Update - his teacher didn't leave him in his underwear since at school he only goes when they take him, he doesn't ask to go or go on his own. Oh well. :)

Growing Up

Yesterday marked Jacob "turning" 2 yrs 9 months and Luke "turning" 9 1/2 months. Both seem to have made big strides towards "growing up" in the past several weeks.

Jacob is well on his way to potty training. I'm hoping we are only in diapers/pull-ups at night by the time he is 3. We'll see. It seems to be a 2 steps forward, 1 step back process that doesn't seem to be going as quickly as I would like. Once again, it is a situation where I am comparing his progress to others in the same boat, and I shouldn't. Like everything, each child potty trains in his or her own time. I plan to put him in underwear soon (and hope we don't have too many accidents to clean up) so we continue to progress.

We are also in the early stages of weaning him off his pappy. He has made it through the night twice without it, but needed it during naptime today. We don't want to rush him, but I think he is ready to give it up. He continues to be a pretty good eater, but we have heard "I don't like that" a bit more, even for foods he was eating just 5 minutes earlier. And yes, he is still obsessed with cars.

Luke seems to change everyday, which is typical of this stage, but it doesn't make it any less amazing. He made a huge leap forward in his eating several weeks back, suddenly liking all the food we offered him and only occasionally gagging as he had been doing before. Shortly thereafter, we started feeding him table food, and he hasn't looked back. He loves to feed himself and will eat just about anything you put in front of him...and a lot of it.

He has also found his voice and "talks" a lot...and very loudly. We've heard mama, dada, lala, baba, and several other unintelligable sounds, but nothing associated with anyone or thing just yet. He started doing a full arm wave too and thinks it is hilarious if you imitate him. I fully expected to see him walking by now since he started crawling and cruising so early, but so far, he shows no interest. He stands on his own (and loves it), but won't take steps, instead he just falls forward. I'm in no rush for him to walk though...I'm going to cherish these last few weeks/months of him in the cutest stage ever...as a crawler.

Jacob has started taking a bit more pride and "ownership" of Luke, telling us and others that Luke is "my brudder." It is so cute. Of course, this doesn't stop Jacob from sitting on, laying on, or wrestling Luke while he struggles to get away. Not to mention the pushing, pulling, and toy yanking that goes on. Someday they'll be friends....

***I'm sure there is a lot more I could share, but I'll end for now...don't want to run my readers off with extra long posts. There is always tomorrow...

Eating

I have decided that I am going to continue nursing Luke and just try to make changes to his solids diet to get him the nutrition he might be lacking. I have been more diligent in nursing every 3 hours (or more often) and then once during the night over the past week. I am also making sure he eats 3 hearty solids meals and at least 2 snacks.

We haven't been giving him oatmeal cereal as much lately since we were moving on to more table food, but I am bringing it back into at least one meal or snack a day. I have frozen milk and formula to mix with it, so that should give him at least one extra serving a day. I also plan on putting my milk in a cup and serving it to him often. Even if he gets only a few sips, it should help. If anyone else has other suggestions for getting formula or milk into his diet, please let me know (like, is mixing powder in with a more liquid puree ok?)

Jacob went through this same growth pattern and it wasn't a concern for him, so I'm not quite sure why such a drastic change is required. In my heart, I really don't feel that he is being deprived of what he needs and he'll be just fine.

While we were in WV, Luke ate A LOT. I guess when you are around the house most of the day, you can take the time to make sure he is really full at each meal. We saw the effects of eating a lot by him sleeping until at least 5am without waking each night (and of course, in his diaper output...) I was thrilled with the sleeping. I hope we can keep it up. I am also trying to be a bit more diligent in having him eat what we are eating, at least at breakfast and dinner, to get him used to it. A friend told me that kids should be eating what the family eats by 1 year old. We still have to fill in the gaps with baby food and other soft foods to make sure he gets enough, but he is doing well so far, and seems to like what he is given. Last night was spaghetti and tonight, pizza (and peas and carrots...)

Happy Easter! (Really Late, I know)

Happy Easter!

Really really late....here are the pics from last week (not this past week, the one before.)

Last week's theme was parties. The boys had 5 in a span of 5 days. 3 birthday parties (I only have pics from 1) and 2 Easter celebrations. Not including the one J had at school. What a fun week. It was no wonder both boys had trouble falling asleep Sunday and Monday nights...they were wired from all the friends and fun.

Jacob made another big step forward in his potty training last week in that he will now tell me he has to go potty when we are away from home instead of just going in his pullup. So far, he's picked 2 really difficult times to need to go, but hey, whatever it takes.

Luke started standing on his own this week and is quite good at it already. Today, he took one tentative step before falling into me. He is so proud of himself and loves to practice all day.

Here are the pictures from the week.

The 9 Month Stats and Other News

Luke had his 9 month well-baby exam today. Developmentally, he is doing great, hitting all the milestones and then some. However, she was a bit concerned about his height and weight curves.

Luke weighed in at 18.6lbs (20%), is 27.5" tall (25%) and his head is 46.4cm (75%). His head continued on the same curve he's been following since he was 2 weeks old, but his height and weight have taken a dip. He began in the 75% range, then fell to the 50-60% range at 6 months, and now he is in the 20-25% range. He hasn't gained an ounce in 3 weeks.

She initially chalked it up to a high activity level, but after hearing how much he eats and how often he nurses (including in the middle of the night) she decided there must be something else. She tested for diabetes, which came back negative, thank goodness. Instead, she thinks that he isn't getting the ounces (and thus calories) he needs from me anymore. If he would take a bottle, she suggested supplementing with formula, but since he won't, I will probably have to wean him completely (pretty much cold turkey) to get him to drink formula from a bottle or cup. I really don't like that solution. I want my baby to thrive and get what he needs, but 1) I'm just not ready to wean yet, and 2) I do not want to cold turkey him on the nursing to get him to take formula. That just sounds so mean....

I hope to continue nursing and get him to take something from a cup....that is my only hope since I know the bottle is out as long as I am nursing. I'll keep you posted on what I decide.

Standing

Luke discovered a new skill in the last couple of days and he's getting pretty good at it. He loves to pull up on me, then let go.

9 months old

Luke is 9 months old today. I could say the cliche "the time has gone by so fast" but it hasn't. It has been perfect. Long enough for me to enjoy him as a baby but not too long so I wish away a particular stage (though his insistance on not sleeping through the night is one phase I have wished away many many many times.) I should take the time now to document where he is at 9 months, but I'm just too tired. A post discussing what each of the boys is up to is forthcoming, I promise (though there is a lot more to "document" for Luke and since I'm using this instead of a journal like I did for Jacob, I should get writing!)

He "celebrated" this particular milestone with his first Mommy and Me swim class tonight. We have been trying for a couple of months to take the class but illness and a cancelled session pushed it back. Luke enjoyed the water for about 15 min, but once he started shivering from the cold, he was done. Hopefully he'll get something out of the class. Jacob took the same one at 6 months old and was able to kick and splash on command once it was done. We'll see.

More Bluebonnet Pictures

Last Monday, the boys and I made a quick visit to Chappell Hill to take some more pictures in the bluebonnets since our first attempt was foiled by the wind and cold. Our photo shoot was followed by lunch at a local cafe. The boys behaved and even seemed to have fun. The two shots above are my new favorite ones of the boys together.

The middle of the week must not have entailed much because I can't seem to remember what we did besides the norm. I did have a cleaning lady come on Tuesday. A first for me. She was here for almost 5 hours and made a huge difference in the cleanliness of my house. Jacob was at school and Luke and I just hung around the house while she was here.

Saturday Jacob went to an Easter Egg hunt at the church. I use the word hunt lightly because it was basically an egg "gather." Since it was for kids 3 and under, the eggs weren't really hidden. Each child was allowed to gather 20 eggs which Jacob did in under 10 seconds. He doesn't mess around when it comes to getting treats.

That afternoon, some friends came over with their almost 1 year old son. Luke enjoyed having another little one around for the afternoon.

Sunday was a beautiful day so after naps we spent some time just playing outside. Jacob and Daddy tried to fly a kite, but there wasn't enough steady wind (though it felt plenty windy to us.)

In the never-ending illness saga of our house, Jacob came down with a high fever on Friday afternoon that hung around thru Sunday morning but hasn't returned since. I hope whatever it was is gone. Luke woke this morning with a runny nose. It is always something.

Here are the pictures from the week (very bluebonnet heavy...for some reason, I didn't pull out the camera much this week, so most of the pictures for the week are from the bluebonnets last Monday)