This is what you get...

...when you give a boy a dollhouse for Christmas

apparently, this is how the people get their super powers. sigh.

And these guys? "Watching Go Duke"


At least he's having fun with it!

Two Months Old

Dear Kaeden,

Today, you are two months old. You are not a newborn anymore... I can hardly believe how quickly you are growing.


You are tracking well, and I love the way you focus so intently on things. You look very serious so much of the time, but when your mood is right and you lock eyes with someone, your smile takes over your face (who knew your mouth was that big?).


You are happiest right after you eat, not surprisingly. You still take frequent naps, varying in length. You typically wake up between 7-8 am, eat, have some happy awake time, nap, and repeat. It sort of throws you off if you fall asleep right after you eat and then you usually wake up unhappy and think it's time to eat again even if it's not. You are still staying up late at night, although we've been able to get you down before 10 pm most of the time recently, which helps a lot. At least then Mommy & Daddy can get to bed on time. Some day, we'd love to have our evenings back to ourselves, but until then, we will enjoy the extra time with you :-) And you are sleeping for one 6-7 hour stretch quite consistently, so I really can't complain. Will you be like your brother and start sleeping through the night now that you are a big 2-month-old?



This month, you celebrated your first Christmas.


You got lots of new toys (most of which you're not that interested in yet), but your absolute favorite is a very colorful little stuffed owl from your Aunt Monica & Uncle Avery. It almost always brings a smile to your face, even when you are being fussy. It's so fun to see you starting to gain interest in toys... though you are still equally amused by blinds, shadows, etc. Christmas didn't mean much to you, except that we had nearly 2 weeks of time with extended family, which meant that you got lots of extra attention, snuggles, and special treatment. You spent almost every nap in someone's arms... not a bad life!


Unfortunately, along with your first Christmas, this month also brought your first cold. It was so pitiful, little one. You were oh so congested and the worst were the days when you had trouble eating because you couldn't breathe out of your nose. You would try and try, get so frustrated, and eventually just give up and go back to sleep. It was as if it just wasn't worth the effort. I am so thankful that it wasn't any worse than it was and that you are feeling way better now.


Things you like:

- Being held (especially for naps)!

- Being sung to, especially when there are hand motions involved

- Standing up (with help, of course) - you're holding your head up so well these days!

- Your owl :-)

- The "mega-swaddle", as Daddy calls it. He wraps you up in a huge blanket and it almost always calms you down.


Things you don't like:

- Your car seat... man, you can't stand that thing! The good news is that you still fall asleep most of the time when we start moving, but I'm not looking forward to the day when you stay awake in the car. Let's hope that by then you have gotten used to the seat.

- Sudden loud noises, like when I blow my nose close to you. You get this big pouty lip, but you are easily calmed with a Mommy hug.

- Any part of your body "falling" (like if we put your legs down too swiftly while changing your diaper) ... you get a panicked look on your face and if we don't comfort you fast enough, you scream harder than I've ever heard and shed big tears. Something tells me you may have a fear of heights when you grow up!

- Being held facing out. You much prefer being held over someone's shoulder.

- Being put down to sleep if you are not already in deep sleep. Mommy is not looking forward to sleep training you!

- You don't like tummy time as much as you once did, but you tolerate it okay as long as you are in a good mood... especially if someone else lies on the floor with you.

The snow, but who could blame you? It's awfully cold & bright for a little baby.


So, happy 2 months old! We love you so much, little one. I already can't imagine life without you. Don't grow up too fast, okay?

Love,
Mommy

Big Brother/Little Brother

I have a feeling that it's going to take me weeks to get all of my Christmas blogging done, so for now, here are some photos from one of the many "shoots" we had while up in Connecticut for Christmas. Some day, I will get a photo of both of my boys looking at the camera with happy faces, but it probably won't be anytime soon.

Kaeden's first bottle

On Monday, we gave Kaeden his first bottle. I was starting to get nervous that he might not ever take one if we didn't introduce it soon. I didn't really need to worry, though, 'cause he was quite happy to suck it down! Ryan was, of course, eager to help, although the intermittent pushing and pulling on the bottle was definitely not a help. Anyway, Kaeden ate 3 oz immediately and then after thinking about it for a few minutes decided he wanted another ounce after all! No wonder he's growing so fast...

Some recent photos of my little one...

Kaeden loves his tummy time - he's getting so strong already!

Kaeden's concerned face


...and some from a recent "ooo... Ryan's napping & Kaeden's happy" photo shoot :)...

Reading to Kaeden

Ryan really likes to hold Kaeden... and get right up in his face when he's lying on the floor... sometimes it goes better than other times. On good occasions, I can snap a few quick photos before having to intervene.




Anyway, last weekend, Ryan decided that he wanted to hold Kaeden and then asked me for a book to read to him (in fact, he specifically requested the "Christmas book"). Ryan has always refused to "read" anything out loud before, so I was shocked when he actually started "reading" to Kaeden. I had to get some video! Note how he ends every page with "Amen." (it is a Christmas book after all!) and when I asked him what he just did, he starts frantically kissing Kaeden in apology as though he's done something wrong. Kaeden was such a good sport, with Ryan's elbow and the book up in his face most of the time!

Look-alikes?

So, what do you think? Do they look alike? (Ryan is on the left & Kaeden on the right... ages match approximately)

One Month Old

Kaeden is one month old today. It has been an exciting, exhausting, joyful, trying, new month. Going from one child to two is really a far more difficult transition than zero to one, but we are doing alright. And every time I start to feel discouraged, I just look at these two beautiful faces and remember how incredibly blessed I am. It may not always be easy, but I truly have the best job in the world!

As of yesterday, Kaeden weighed 10 lb with his clothes on. I haven't yet gotten a more accurate one month weight, but I am going to try soon. He is starting to focus on us more and track with his eyes, which is so much fun. It also means that he is more reliably smiling AT us, which is always an amazing feeling.


From the beginning, Kaeden has been less predictable than Ryan was as a newborn, but that isn't much of a surprise since Ryan was definitely not a normal newborn. He sleeps well at night in his crib, but we learned early on that it has to be pitch black in there. He also likes to stay up late and we often find that he is the most wide awake at about 9 pm. I guess he's figured out that he can get Mommy & Daddy's undivided attention after big brother goes to sleep. It's a bit tiring for Mason & I, but he's doing well enough the rest of the night that I don't really mind. Most nights, he'll go one 4-5 hour stretch initially and then 3-4 hours from there, but a couple of nights lately he has gone 6-7 hours, which is amazing! I'm hoping we can start doing that more consistently and maybe I can start catching up on sleep a little bit.



During the day, Kaeden pretty much has to be held or in his swing for naps. He does not like to be put down to sleep, which is funny to me since he sleeps flat on his back all night. He does not like his car seat at all unless it is moving... especially the getting in part. Unlike Ryan, even if he falls asleep in the carrier en route somewhere, he'll often wake up once we get there if we stop moving and then he'll want to be held. He's definitely more fussy in general than Ryan was at this age - he requires a fair amount of holding, bouncing, etc. but no more than an average newborn, I would say. He also loses his mind if his hat happens to fall down over his eyes or if it takes more than 2 minutes to start eating when he wakes up hungry.

Kaeden loves tummy time. Even if he is being very fussy, he'll often calm down if we stick him down on his tummy. He also likes to be on his back, just looking around as long as he is well fed & rested, although he often gets attacked by his big brother in this position. Despite Ryan's many attempts to "play with" Kaeden, I think Kaeden would much rather his big brother just leave him alone. He seems to recognize that Ryan's face means something unpleasant is about to happen. I just hope that changes in time!



Nursing is going alright, although Kaeden is still convinced that eating his hands is a good idea, especially when I'm trying to get him latched on. We finally gave in & gave him a pacifier on Tuesday to try to soothe some of his evening fussy time and he immediately went to town on it! He's hilarious with it, because he'll usually start sucking fairly calmly and as time goes on, he gets more and more intense, as though he is getting frustrated that nothing is actually coming out of it.


As I alluded to earlier, Ryan is a bit rougher with Kaeden than we would like. He has had an interesting transition so far - the first week, he mostly ignored Kaeden... the 2nd & 3rd weeks, he wanted to pay him attention & love on him periodically and would mostly try to be gentle but sometimes fail... this week, he has started intentionally being rough with him - hitting, throwing things at him, etc. At the same time, though, he still wants Kaeden around all the time and wants to give him hugs & kisses and be sweet to him too. It's so hard to find the balance between letting Ryan bond with him & protecting Kaeden because you never know when the sweet might turn sour. Overall, though, it could be so much worse. And I know that Ryan's world has been turned upside down, so we can only expect so much. But God is definitely teaching us some new lessons in patience!

Well, I will leave you with one more photo of my sweet one-month-old. And I hope to fill in my gaps soon with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and more! If only Kaeden would go to sleep before 10 pm...

Sweet smile

... because right now, I don't have time to post more than just a photograph... here's your Kaeden fix :-) Here's to hoping there's more coming soon!

not just for babies...