Happy 7 week birthday, Liam!

Dear Liam,

I can't believe you're 7 weeks old today! Every time I pick you up, you feel heavier...and you keep getting longer!

You're being a REALLY good sleeper and I'm so grateful and happy. Last night, you slept from 10 to 4:30 and then from 5 to 7! Yay! You've been settling into more of a nap routine, taking 1-2 hour naps for me! Let's hope this continues. You knock out within minutes of us going outside. I still can't tell if you like the fresh air or the heat... but I think it's the heat.

You're SUCH a good boy. For the most part, you're very chill and don't fuss too much. You like to look around at everything and don't mind when Eli is screaming, running around, etc. You really only cry when you have a poopy diaper (bad diaper rash...it must sting), are hungry, have gas or are tired.

Ok.... you're sleeping and therefore, I should sleep!

Things I don't want to forget

Jumbled thoughts on a hurried night... things I don't want to forget:

*Liam smiled his first real smile on July 18th at 5 weeks old! He was looking at me (awake, not like his I'm falling asleep smiles) and smiled! It was the cutest little thing and he's done it a bunch of times since.... at Daddy, Mommy, Eli and Auntie Jenn. Yay!

A few days ago, when I went in to get Eli out of his crib for the morning, he greeted me with "Mommy, I took off my diaper!" Whaaaaaat? It took me a second to realize that he was serious and he was, in fact, holding his diaper. He was still wearing his pajama shorts, so he either took off his diaper while still wearing them or figured out how to take off and put back ON his shorts. Luckily, it wasn't a poopoo diaper....but I am prepared to face that in the near future.

Eli's new phrase is "I NEED it!" Anything he wants, he NEEDS.

A few days in a row, Eli has come over to shake my hand and say "Nice to meet you!" :) Very cute.

Not only does Eli always want to "sit next to Liam!" but now, he wants to "HOLD Liam!" He always looks at his little brother with a super loving smile and it is absolutely adorable to see.

Eli is CONSTANTLY saying two phrases.... "To the infinity... and beyond!" (yes, he adds the word THE)... and "I AM Buzz Lightyear... I come in peace." (but he doesn't get that last part right and says something like I dumma deece).

Eli still LOVES humpty dumpty and constantly likes to fall off of things, pretending he is humpty. He is also still obsessed with Yankee Doodle. Today, Jenn and I bought him a bunch of feathers so he could stick them in his hats and he was SO SO excited. Everyone had to have a feather - even his Woody and Buzzlightyear toys.

It is HARD to take the two boys out places.

Tomorrow is Rachelle and Jack's wedding! WOOHOO! Eli is staying back with Auntie Jenn (who is going to try to attempt taking him to the Central Park Zoo) and Daddy and I are taking Liam... his first wedding!

zzzzzzzzz.........

Liam's 1 month checkup

Before I forget...

This morning, when I heard the cries of "MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY!!!" (aka - I'm awake - come get me!), I found Eli standing up in his crib, holding all of his Toy Story characters. He told me "Poo Poo in the diaper. Right here. On my Puwet." (Puwet is the Tagalog word for butt). It was the funniest thing.

We went to the New York Hall of Science and Fool (aka Jenn) bought us a year membership!!! SO FUN!!!!!!!!!!! There was a great preschool area and Eli had the best time running around, pretending to ring up groceries, using the train table and tons of other fun things. We didn't make it to the science playground, but we'll be back!

Liam and I scooted off to his one month well visit this afternoon. He was 8 lbs two weeks ago and I was wondering what he'd be today - he's now 9lbs 10oz!!!!!! Mommy's big boy!!!

When I got home, I found out Eli had a fever... 103! No good. It came down to 100, so hopefully tomorrow he'll be much better!

On that note - I have to jet - Liam is screaming! Adios.

Liam is one month old!

I can't believe my little man is now a month old! I feel like he's been with us for a long time, but I also remember the day he joined us like it was yesterday. Time is so weird.

Liam's starting to become much more alert and when he looks at me, I feel like he really sees me now. He is still a HUNGRY little man and eats soooo much. Today, he wanted to eat every hour! I'm still trucking along with breastfeeding... one of the hardest, most mentally challenging things I've ever done. I'm taking it one day at a time. I'll have a night (like last night!) when I decide I'm giving up...but then I'll have a good day that will put me back in the game. My initial goal was one month and I made it so I'm proud of myself. We'll see how it goes from here and how the pumping goes when I go back to work in 2 weeks.

Liam loves hanging out on a blanket on the floor next to the couch. I'd leave him there all the time if it weren't for Eli the giant sprinter/jumper who would surely injure his brother (unintentionally) in minutes. So for now, Liam's blanket time is limited to when his big brother is sleeping or in his high chair.

He does NOT like sitting in the frog bouncy chair, which is very sad cause Eli used to love that thing. I took many a shower and cooked many a meal with Eli happily sitting in that chair. It's been much harder to get anything done around the house with Liam. I can't even confidently put him in his little crib and do things, because Eli demonstrated that he can climb into the crib with Liam in about 2 seconds the other day.

Eli's still a GREAT big brother and truly loves Liam. He wakes up asking for him and makes sure to say goodnight before he goes to bed. He loves kissing him and hugging him, especially if he's crying. He loves telling me "He's happy!" even if he's crying. He loves laying "next to Liam!!" on the couch and wants to be "in the jungle with Liam" all the time (they have a jungle play mat). Tonight I saw Eli run over and show Liam (translation...put them in and on his face) all of his little action figures. They're going to have a great time playing together in a few years... I hope!

Liam likes to fall asleep on my chest/tummy and there have been several nights where we have slept that way. He's already getting to be so big... I really am trying hard to cherish these times.

He has a doc appt on Monday, so we'll see how big he is! Two weeks ago, he was 8 lbs. I'm guessing he's now at 8.5.

Me, Eli, Jenn (sooooooooooooooooo beyond excited to have her here. She's a LIFESAVER) and Liam went to Muscoot Farm yesterday and had a great time. Liam nursed and slept the whole time and Eli led Jenn around the farm, showing her his favorite animals. We taught him how to milk a (pretend) cow and he really looked like a little farmer boy with his cute Texas hat. :)

We (me and Liam) attempted to sleep in the bedroom for the first time since we brought him home. Pffffft. He HAD been sleeping in stretches of 4-5 hours. Last night, I only got to sleep in my bed for 1.5 hours before he woke up. I took him out to the living room to nurse and then brought him back, seemingly asleep. As soon as I laid down (I'm telling you - babies KNOW when mommies lay down!), he started wailing.... then I heard Eli say "crying! crying!!" and then HE started crying. Uh oh. Liam and I hightailed it out of there, which is a good thing considering he wanted to be awake from 12:30-3am. It took Eli a while to stop crying and calm down (he thought it was morning time).... We're going to try it again tonight to see if it's any better. I'd REALLY like to sleep in a bed instead of the couch!

On that note folks, I'm off to sleep. wish me luck!

Random comments

Never enough time to write a full blog entry like I would like to...

but I just wanted to write these two things down before I forgot.

Yesterday, Eli was playing with a little toy that has a gun (noooooo) on it.... He came over to me and said "Emperor Zurg has a pow!" Haha. I love that he's calling a gun a pow. Then he went over to the toy that daddy was holding and went "pow pow pow." Boys. Sigh.

Today, Eli gave Liam a kiss and then said "She's a nice little girl!" Hahaha. I told him - no, your brother is a BOY. He said - yes, boy, and then repeated the girl comment. Nice.

They are napping at the same time right now (though Liam is getting squeaky and will be up very soon), which hasn't happened in a few days! It's soooo nice when it does. Gives me a second to recharge and reset and just have a moment to myself. I should be napping or showering or doing SOMETHING productive, but I really wanted to just sit down and have a nice, relaxing lunch. Mmmm. No interruptions. lovely.

I need a house. NOW. I would really, really like to have bedrooms for my boys. I've been sleeping on the couch in the living room with Liam since he's been here (almost a month!) because when he cries in the middle of the night, if he's in the room with us, he'll wake Eli up. He's starting to sleep better at night....he'll usually do a four hour stretch and then is up for 45 min and then down for another 2 or 3 hour stretch.... but that's still not quite good enough to have him in the room with us. It also makes it nearly impossible to get anything done IN the room (like putting away the boy's clothes, etc) because if Eli is napping I can't be in there... and if he's not napping, I have to be out here to make sure he's not attacking (kindly, unaware) his brother.

Eli continues to be a really good big brother and is really adjusting well. There are only a few times a day when he tells me to "Put it on the crib" (translation - put liam back in his crib) so that I can get him something. If anything, the challenges I'm facing are that Eli wants to be TOO close to his brother. He wants to kiss him constantly, which sometimes turns into more of a squishy headbutt (is that not how you spell headbutt? is it headbut? lol). Or he wants to "lay next to liam!" which is in theory a wonderful idea, but it's always when Liam is about to fall asleep or is screaming his head off. :)

Jenn is coming tomorrow to stay for a few weeks and I CANNOT WAAAAAAIT. She's going to be an amaaaaazing help to me and I'll be brave enough to venture out! i'm feeling VERY shut in these days cause it's really hard to get both of the schedules aligned so I can take both boys out.... and Eli is soooo hard to manage outside these days (he can sprint FAST). I have lots of fun trips planned for when she's here.... to Rye playland, the crayola factory, the zoo... maryland... the sprinklers... etc. I can't WAIT!!!! WOOOHOO!

Ok - might try to squeeze in a few zzzs or an ice cream before the boys wake up. Don't you wish you could just wave your magic wand and have the cleaning fairy come out and straighten everything up? I just don't have the energy.

imagine this..... sung to the tune of "one day, I'll fall in love" from (snow white?")

One dayyyyyyyy I'll have a dishwasher......

:)

Happy 3 week birthday, Liam!

Liam,

You're 3 weeks old today! I can't believe that in another week, you'll have been with us for a month. You're still a really good baby, and in general it's really been easy taking care of you. Your big brother still loves having you around and kisses you about 20 times a day. You're starting to get more alert now, staying awake for longer periods of time and keeping your eyes open wider when you're looking at things.

*Your best friend/favorite thing to look at is still the couch. It's beige... don't know why you love it so much - but you love staring at it!

*You HATE when we put you in the car seat and scream bloody murder for the first five minutes you're in there. Then you generally fall asleep. You still look so tiny in there!

*You're getting so big! You're still very tiny, but I can feel that you're getting heavier and your head is getting bigger. You have tiny little wrist rolls!

*You are a pretty good sleeper and sleep in stretches of 3-4 hours. At night, you generally go right back to sleep after I feed you.

*You have like 10 poopy diapers a day! It's unreal. Today you projectile pooped all over mommy and the couch. The SECOND I put you in a clean diaper, you immediately poop. Happens every single time.

*You like sleeping on mommy's or daddy's chest. I like having you there.

*I read you a black and white book last night and you were staring pretty intently at the pictures!

*Your legs are still super flexed and you rarely straighten them. You prefer to be curled up in your little ball.

You're an absolute joy to have around and I love spending time with you. Now stop growing so fast!!!

Love,

Mommy

Finding my groove!

I realize that there are going to be good days and bad days and some will be much more tough than others. Hopefully the good days will outweigh the bad, and that's what will keep me going....

But today is a GOOD day! I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of this thing. This morning, I showered (scary - Liam was sleeping, and I turned on Toy Story for Eli and hoped for the best! He brought me a paper cup a few times, tried to brush his teeth solo.....but didn't try to go near the baby or anything dangerous! Success!)..... fixed breakfast for Eli, packed for Liam and Eli and myself (going to Maryland this weekend), and then decided we needed to get OUT.

I was just planning on taking us for a walk, but as we neared the playground, I thought to myself... Ok, I can DO THIS. So I parked a sleeping Liam in the corner of the park, kept an eye on him and let Eli run all around. I had to move Liam about a dozen times, but he stayed asleep the whole time. Eli got to climb, run, swing and go up and down the steps 50,000 times. Liam woke up hungry, so I decided to move us to the baseball fields in hopes that someone was out there playing.... success - they were! I parked us in front of the field, gave Eli a bag of goldfish crackers and attempted feeding Liam. Lol - I had no nursing cover and just went for it. I'm sure the baseball players and spectators were having a field day with that one - pfffft - whatever. I only got to nurse from one side before Eli decided he wanted OUT OUT OUT. I had to stop feeding Liam cause Eli was about to escape - now THAT would have been an interesting experience.

We went to McD's for chicken nuggets (and ice cream for me! Thanks, Mel - I've decided that every day I keep breastfeeding, I get to have a fabulous treat for myself, guilt-free.. and today it was an oreo mcflurry!) and apples.... I ended up sharing my ice cream with Eli. Liam was still sleeping, so I decided we should brave the Library. I was SO excited to see that they remodeled the kid's area (previously the most UNFRIENDLY kids area of all time)... now there's a carpet, little benches, and buckets with books. I parked Liam off to the side and read a few books with Eli... but he mostly just ran around like a crazy little guy. I got some new CDs and a few books and we fled the scene. Lol.

Next stop: grocery store! NOT easy to manage with a double stroller! With Eli's single stroller, I can steer single handed - with this one, I need both hands. I'm going to for sure have to make lots of little trips instead of big ones.

Miraculously, both boys have been napping at the SAME TIME for about an hour now! Woohoo!!!!!!

Sidenote.... most of Liam's cord fell off today! He still has a piece left, and the doc said that it's going to take a while for the rest to come off, but yay!

Ok - time to feed the little guy!