Not the First but the Second Day of School

Even though it's not "real" school or anything I still get excited when it's the first day of school.  And this year both kiddos are going (yessssssss!) so it's double fun. 

 

I was pretty nervous because Ella will have new teachers and her ones from last year are going to be pretty tough to top.  She had them for a whole year, through summer.  And they straight up rocked.  We have all fallen in love with Ms Amanda and Ms Carolyn.  They are the kind of people I would be friends with if I had met them in the outside world.  And Carolyn has kept both kiddos overnight (gah!) because she's crazy like that.  And Ella doesn't like any sort of change so I just knew this year would be a rough start.

 

Sawyer will have Ella's old nursery teacher Courtney that I love too.  I was more nervous for her since I was bringing her another alert child that has a hard time napping while there are other things going on.  But I figured it anyone can get him to sleep, it would be her.  She always got Ella to sleep, even if they were short naps.

 

On the first day Sawyer did good.  He only slept a total of an hour out of 5 1/2 but that meant when he got home he slept a whopping 4 1/2 hours, woke up 30 minutes before his 9p bedtime and went right back out at 9.  Ditto the second day.

 

Ella has a new routine in the 2's room where they go play outside as soon as the arrive.  So it's wash hands, put your things away and then out to the playground.  She was fine until we went outside and I signed her in.  She started to cry a bit but as soon as I walked away I saw her run off to play.  On the second day I dropped her off, told her to find Marcus (Ana's son that's the same age and one of her buddies) and walked away.  I turned around to see her running to Marcus and playing on the slide with him.  My, my, what a big girl.

 

On the first day pictures apparently were out of the question because, well...Ella is 2 1/2.  That pretty much sums it up.  But the second day she wanted to pose with Sawyer in their UT gear!

 

 

 

She wanted to hold his hand

 

And give him hugs

You can't see it but her shoes and socks have little longhorns on them.  These kids were decked out.

 



 

Cheese face!

Next week is the first full week so eventually I know they'll settle into the routine.  Getting a run in and getting out the door to arrive on time at 9a with two kiddos is way harder that when it was just one.  I can't wait for all the Fall fun to start!

When Ella is in Charge....

Of fixing baby brother's hair this is what happens....

 

 

 

 

Outta control mohawk/combover/horns

 

 

 

I got back from my run this morning to find Ella with a wet brush, "combing" Sawyer's hair

 

 

 

Ella: "Look Mommy, I brushing baby brother's hair!"

Me: "Yeah, honey it's beautiful!"

 

 

 

Note:  You can sorta see his balding spots.  Poor baby.

 

 

 

And I was just too tired to do anything about it all.day.long.

 

 

Oh and just for grins, here's Ella ready to go to Sassy and Poppy's with her sunglasses, bag of chips and Coach purse with her princess crown in it (which you can't see because in her left hand she is throwing it at me) yelling at me to "Not take my picture Mommy!!!!!"



Variety of Uses

You know big sis is going to find a way to use all of baby brother's toys.  Why not lounge in his bouncy seat and cuddle with his worm while watching Doc McStuffins?

 

 

 

 

"Noooooooo I don't wanna take my picture!!  Noooooo Mommy!!!!"

 

 



Best Friend

My daughter gave me a hug today and said, “Mommy, you’re my best friend.”  Wow.  I don’t even know how she understands what that means.  I’m sure from school or TV, but still.  My daughter called me her best friend. 

 

My first thought was whoahoa kiddo, you are sooo not going to mean that in about, oh…10 years.  The only thing you will say about me is how much you hate me.  Hate me because I won’t let you wear that slutty skirt to school, won’t let you pierce your nose or go out with that boy you say you love so much that your world will end if you can’t see him.  And when I tell you how much I dislike that boy, I will say it with disdain in my voice and a Southern drawl, just like in the movies.

 

But then I thought…you know what little girl?  I AM your best friend.  I will always have all the qualities you'll look for in friends lucky enough to be called ”best”.  I will love you unconditionally.  I will always have your back.  I will tell you when I think you are making a stupid decision.  I will be there to wipe away your tears when your heart gets broken.  I will always listen to your stories about your day as if they were the most thrilling stories ever told.  I will tell you if that outfit looks horrible on you.  I will pick out makeup with you and help you decide what color your hair should be.  I will support your dreams and cheer you through the tough times and do a happy dance when you accomplish them.  I will love your someday children as much as I love you. 

 

So I choose to pretend that she’ll never hate me.  That I’ll never have to pull the “I’m your mother, not your best friend” card.  But I know that one day, when she’s older, maybe college, maybe after she becomes a mother herself, that she will once again think of me as her best friend. 

 

So my response tonight was simply, “Yes, I am your best friend.  And you are my best friend” with my arms wrapped tight around her itty bitty self. 

 

 

 

 

 

Four Months!

Ah, four months...I love you and I strongly dislike you.  I love you for the giggles and belly laughs.  And the walking...oh the walking.  The smiles and boyish grunts.  But I strongly dislike you for the four month growth spurt/four month wakeful-ish behavior.  Our normally happy little man is fussy and squirmy and back to fighting sleep.  It had gotten better, good almost, a little after three months.  And I knew that, unlike with Ella, we may not escape the terribleawfuldreadful four month wakeful this time around.  You don't get that lucky twice.  And lordhavemercy it hit us....him...hard. 

 

I will say that at least he isn't waking up every three hours at night, yet.  This has been going on for about two weeks and no middle of the night wakings so far.  When he does wake up at night, he cries for a minute and goes back to sleep.  That means I am still up, but whatever.  We've had some early mornings where he eats and then falls back asleep.  It's the daytime sleep and going to sleep for the night that are impossible.  He just won't go the eff to sleep.  And you want to know what's sad and hard to see?  How tired he really is and how much he knows he needs to sleep, but his little brain is just firing too fast and there is just too much to see and learn for him to actually close his eyes and rest.  He's gone as long as 4 hours without sleeping.  FOUR freaking long hours with a grumpy baby and even grumpier toddler.  A toddler who just wants to follow me around and whine in a mumble about how she wants me to hold her.  Again, for the millionth time.  {I would feel bad about not holding her except I figured out that she actually doesn't want to be held, she just wants to see how far she can get me to go}

 

The other night I left him to work it out on his own in the swing since after an hour of rocking and eating and shushing he still had not closed his eyes.  I let him fuss for about 10 minutes and had enough so I went in to try again.  Only to have him projectile vomit on me, the swing, the floor, everything as soon as I picked him up.  He had worked himself into such a frenzy that everything he'd eaten came back up.  That is sad.

 

Howeeeever, Daddy put him to sleep one night and he fussed for a couple of minutes in the swing and then was out until 7:30 in the morning.  And all this no napping-fighting sleep happened just in time for Daddy to start a night shift.  So Daddy isn't here to work whatever unfair magic he has over the boy.

 

But all the bad part of this stage aside....one night after fighting him for over an hour to get to sleep for the night, eating, rocking, in the swing, crying it out, when he finally fell asleep in my arms, I held onto him for far longer than necessary.  He seemed most comfortable with his head laying on my shoulder and his body sideways against my stomach.  His face looked so peaceful, so relaxed.  Finally.  And I couldn't stop staring at him.  And rocking him.  And kissing his little head.  I reminded myself that this is my last baby.  I wanted to take in every last feeling of how heavy he felt in my arms and how he filled them up now.  How close his head was to my chin, close enough for me to stick my nose in his thinning hair and smell his baby shampoo.  And in that moment it felt so good.  His little sighs and sleepy smiles.  And the love in my heart is what I try to think of when he is fussy and screaming and fighting me.

 

But on to the good stuff!  He is still super smiley and loves when you say Boo! to him.  He's taken a liking to Sophie the Giraffe but still loves his worm and lovies.  We got a good belly laugh out of him (thanks to Tia) that just kept going.  His fave spot is in his bouncy set grabbing at his feet.  He's so close to getting them in his mouth and I just melt when he does it.

 

 

 

The 'hawk is getting thinner. He's definitely losing hair. It's on the left side of his head, which is the side he sleeps on, and the back. From all the twisting he does while asleep he gets these little balls of hair on the back of his head. I guess he'll be just like Ella and be on the move, even while asleep. 

 

 I am going to have to reassess the bathtub because he is a maniac when you give him a bath. He can sit up but still hasn't quite mastered the balance part and thrashes around. So he's too big for the newborn tub but not ready for the infant/toddler tub. And the kicking and splashing that soaks the wall, the floor and me? Yeah, gonna have to figure something out.

 

 

Foot grabbing plus the "look"

 

 

He did not want that sticker on.  He just kept grabbing at it until is was all crinkled and torn.

 

 So off it came!

 

 His talking has become a very boyish grunt/screech. It was all babble, but right now he's working on seeing how loud he can get. He usually does it as soon as you let him stand up when he gets all excited. He absolutely loves to walk. That's right, walk. I don't know why, but apparently our kiddos are ready to go, like from birth. He was standing up on your lap and bouncing from leg to leg, but the other night he tried walking up me. As in one foot in front of the other. So I put him on the floor, held on to his hands and he walked around the living room. Over to his jumperoo, stopped by the TV and around the table.

 

 We also discovered that he sighs in his sleep. Our AC broke and we spent the night at Sassy and Poppy's house. Sawyer slept in a room with Shaun and I. We were again reminded why he got moved to his room at 3 weeks. Kid is noisy! Neither of us slept much, but we did get to hear him take these deep breath sighs all through the night, every few minutes.   As cute as it was, he'll be getting his own room in the future.

 

He's really trying to suck his thumb/hand and can just about get his thumb in his mouth most of the time.  Ella kind of tried and then gave up, she was never a thumb sucker. 

 

 Aaaand standing.  I looked and Ella was the same age when she could stand briefly in the chair and started practice walking.  Look at those chubby legs!!

 

 

He's so big and just about grown out of his 6 month size clothes.  There are a bunch of shirts where his arms barely fit through the arm holes.  And his legs and arms are bigger than Ella's.  I do realize, though, that is probably because he has baby chub and she doesn't, but still....she's almost 3!

Picture Dump

I've taken so many pictures but just haven't had time to post them.  Tomorrow S will be 4 months old!  He already looks so much older than these pictures taken just in the last few weeks.

Sun Baby

His favorite toy....the inch worm from Gigi and Hoot.  He even wraps his legs around it to hold on!



His eyes light up when it rattles and he gets all excited.



Trying to sit up, like always.  But he's started doing it in the bathtub and that makes bathing him a challenge.  Look at this little crunch!

Sweet little face with Daddy's long eyelashes

And Daddy's dimples

Look at that thigh chub!!!!!

Three Months!

Ah...three months!!!  I love three months!  Babies become...well babies...and not just little lumps of newborn.  Smiling, talking, playing, exploring and little personalities that start to show.  I do get just the teensiest bit sad thinking how this is the last three months I'll see.  Every day he's closer to growing up and becoming all boy instead of cute and chubby and non-tantrum-y.

But with the "last trimester" over and done we get sleep.  For his three month birthday he so kindly gave me almost 12 freakishly long hours of sleep!!  And nope, I did not check on him a billion times to make sure he was still breathing.  That's the second baby for you. Though I disagree with most that the second baby is easier because you are more prepared, there are some perks to already having been on this merry go round once before.  Likesuchas not going into your baby's room every 15 minutes and standing oh so quietly over the swing, your head moving back and forth in time, squinting at a little face in the dark trying to see if you can see the tiniest bit of movement that signals breathing.   Noooooo...that doesn't happen.

And over the past week we have gotten about 10 1/2 hours of sleep at night, several 1 hour naps and a longer 2-3 hour nap during the day.  So that part is much better, but he's back to fighting sleep like it's his mission in life.  He has already cried himself to sleep numerous times because I've used up all my mommy tricks and there is nothing left to do.  I've been down this road before with Ella.  Though it started much later with her, around 4 months, when it's much more acceptable to do sleep training.  After many months of listening to her cry for hours, no matter how I helped her, then finally falling asleep I learned, and accepted (the hardest part), that my baby just had to work it out when it came to falling asleep.  And work it out she did, Ella is a great sleeper and can put herself to sleep no matter what.  I guess both our kids are like that.  And it's just as hard the second time around.  But nothing about teaching your kids to sleep on their own and raising them in general is easy really. 

But when he's awake....he's all smiles!

At three months he moves his head all around to see his world.  It kinda reminds me of the exorcist, a super cute exorcist.  His little hands aren't balled up in fists all the time anymore and he will lay very still while checking out his toys or the fan.  He can pull himself up from laying to sitting and does it quite often when you aren't expecting it and you have to be quick to save him from toppling over forward.  Although he totally knows how to roll over, he just won't do it anymore.  Instead he gets mad, mad, mad!  Screaming mad.  He'd much rather lay on his back and practice rolling onto his stomach.  He still loves his lovie, especially since Sassy made him his very own!  I have an app for babies on my phone that has all these animals in black and white that make noise.  His eyes get wide and he makes an "o" with his mouth when he watches it.  His favorite toy by far though, is people.  He just wants to stare at your face and laugh and talk.  He likes to stare at his sister for a good while and watch her eat or sing.  She's so entertaining!

Every single time we take pictures he pulls this face out.  Cracks me up.  I guess it's the flash?

Mr. Chubby Cheeks.  He weighs a whopping 14 pounds.  I checked and Ella was five months before she hit 14 pounds.  I look at him and think he has such a big head but it's really that he has a square face.  His head is only in the 50th percentile.   I don't know where he gets the face shape from.  I still don't know who he looks like, but a lot of people say it's Poppy.  Which is fitting given they both have the same middle name!

So little boy, here's to 3 months down and a lifetime ahead.  A lifetime of good sleeping and perfect behavior cuz Mom's done with the toddler stage.  So feel free to skip that one.