8 Weeks – Update

Aedan:

Almost 2 months old and as adorable as ever.  I’ll post about our vacation last weekend separately, but he did great on his first weekend away.  Babies at this age are just so adaptable.  He’s great at sleeping anywhere, anytime, so it’s easy to take him along places.

He is still growing and I love his chubby legs and belly.  He will have his 2 month appointment next Monday, so we’ll know for sure how much weight he’s gained.  I believe he’s still on pace to be bigger than his brother was at this age.  He wears 3-6 month clothes as well and 0-3 month clothes.  We’re wondering how much longer he’ll be in size 1 diapers.  I love that he’s keeping more of his hair than Brody did, and it hasn’t started to lighten up yet.  Could he be keeping my hair-color?  Let’s hope!

Oh and my favorite part right now?  He’s right on track with Brody and sleeping 8-9 hours at night.  We’re on a streak of wonderful full nights of sleep.  Now, I just have to try to move up his bedtime so he goes to bed earlier and wakes up at the same time as his brother.  That would make my life so much easier!  But beggars can’t be choosers.

Brody:

Brody is a great big-brother.  He loves Aedan and constantly gives him hugs and kisses.  He can be a little rough at times, but not on purpose, and rarely.  At least we’re to the point that I can leave them alone in another room and not worry about it.

Last week, I ran upstairs to get dressed while Brody was watching TV and Aedan was sleeping in his swing.  A few minutes later I heard Aedan fussing and started to head downstairs.  Brody was on his way upstairs to get me and tell me that Aedan was crying.  Such a sweet brother.

He still strives for attention, so we’re working on some behavior problems.  We started a behavior sticker chart about 3-4 weeks ago.  He gets a sticker for good behavior.  It’s working pretty well for some items (staying in his room during bedtime/naptime) and not as well for others (going #2 on the potty).

He’s no longer at daycare during the day, so I am loving some of the fun things he says and that we’re doing together.  I am constantly trying to make sure we have enough to do so he’s not bored, but it allows us to do different things.  Right now, he’s doing a lot of Thanksgiving crafts.  As much as it makes sense for him to be home and as much as he loves us, he actually loves daycare.  After the first week, he started asking when he gets to see his “Sunday School” friends.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t been to Sunday school in awhile because of Aedan’s baptism, vacation and a trip to Madison.  And he won’t be going this week because of his cousin’s baptism.  Then, he started talking more about his daycare friends.  He thought he was going back to “school” this week (by accident), so when he woke up and I told him he was staying home, he was very sad.  Then he started telling me how he wants his school friends to come over to his house.  We’ve had a few playdates, but his school friends he’s used to seeing every day.  I think we may look into sending him a couple times before I return to work, just to see his friends again.

Me:

I’m adjusting to life at home with two boys, but I know it’s a time I may never get with them again.  With only 4 more weeks to go, it’s bittersweet.  I can’t wait to get back to my job, to feel useful, to talk to someone other than a 2 year old all day and to make decisions other than what’s for lunch each day.  However, I know after a week or two, I’ll be dying to stay home with my boys…just not every single day.

Officially dairy-free for 10 weeks now…except for those couple days I enjoyed some cheese.  It’s helping Aedan, though I suspect he may still have a sensitivity to more hidden dairy items.  I’ve been trying to eliminate all of those as well, hoping it gets better.  Next step may be eliminating soy, but we’ll talk to the pediatrician next week.  I’m happy though that Aedan has only had breastmilk for 8 weeks, much longer than Brody.  However, unless I can start pumping more milk, in 4 weeks, Aedan will have to start some formula.

3 Weeks

Aedan:

Sleeping: He’s a pretty good sleeper, but still wakes up every 3 – 3.5 hours throughout the night. Once, he slept for 5.5 hours, of which, I got 4.5 hours of sleep because I was dumb enough to stay up for an hour reading a book. I’m hoping to get another one of those soon!

Eating: This totally depends on the day, but on a good day, he eats every 2-3 hours during the day and 3-4 hours at night. Some days though he eats every hour. It’s Aedan’s world and I’m just living in it.

So, now that Aedan is up to his birth weight and growing so well, I thought I would introduce small amounts of dairy into my diet. I thought I would start with a piece of cheese here and there. Then I had pizza one day for lunch. First, he got fussier, but I wasn’t sure if that was due to growth spurts. Then, we noticed changes in his diaper. But that could have been due to his cold. Then I found blood in the diaper. This is exactly what tipped us off to the dairy allergy with Brody, so alas, I’m finding history repeating itself. The good thing is that we figured it out a little earlier this time. The bad thing is, I’ve been dairy free for almost 5 weeks and I hate it. Apparently we eat a lot more cheese and dairy in this house than I thought! However, the switch to formula will be even more annoying, since we’ll likely have to start with hypoallergenic. So back to dairy-free I go!

Development: Aedan is more and more attentive every day. Jason swears that he “smiles” at him / recognizes him. I don’t doubt that, I know he recognizes his voice from even before he was born, but I’m thinking he’s exaggerating the smiling part. 🙂



Exciting night in the Johnson household

We haven’t spent a ton of time on tummy-time, but his neck is pretty strong when we lay him on our chests. We’ll be working on getting him in his playmat more and more.

Brody:
 Big-Brother is still adjusting.  I don’t expect him to accept the change quickly (I know I don’t react well to change), so we’ll continue to give him more time.  But we’ve had good days and bad days.  Still working on getting more good days than bad, but the rainy weekend didn’t really help with that either.

2 Weeks

2 Weeks Old

Aedan:
The very exciting life of a 2 week old.  Aedan is eating every 2-3 hours during the day and 3-3 1/2 hours at night.  He’s a good sleeper right now, but I’m still waking him at night to eat until he’s back to his birth weight.  His 2 week appointment is on Weds and I’m just praying that he’s surpassed 9.5lbs so we can let him sleep on his own.  According to our home-scale this morning, he’s actually over 10 lbs, but since it’s not a very scientific way of weighing him, we’ll see what the pediatrician says!

After eating every hour all evening the other night, I tried letting him wake on his own.  4 hours later he was still sleep and I felt bad, so I woke him up.  Of course once he’ll be allowed to sleep as long as he wants, I’m sure he’ll start waking every 3 hours.

This week, Aedan also got his newborn photos taken.  He did an awful job, but we had a great photographer who was very patient with him.  Once we get more pictures back, I’ll blog about our experience.  Here is one that turned out pretty cute.

 



He’s becoming more attentive, but still sleeps a lot during the day.  We’ve pulled out the playmat to give him some tummy-time when he is awake.  We’ve also introduced the swing, which he seems to like.  He watches the mobile above the swing, which I don’t remember Brody paying any attention to until he was older.  It’s pretty cute.



Brody:

He loves his baby brother.  It’s clear that he realizes he’s not getting as much attention as he used to and has been acting out a little more.  The good thing is, he’s not taking it out on Aedan.  He still wants to hug him and give him kisses.  Our biggest argument about Aedan is when Brody gets mad that we won’t let him carry his brother. 

Reading a book to his brother

Newborn photo shoot

Me:

Nothing much here.  I’m feeling well, just tired.  A couple of weeks of only sleeping 2-3 hours at a time, eventually catches up with you.  However, it’s been fairly manageable and Jason is still being a huge help with Brody.  The weekends are easier to take naps because I know Jason is around to watch Aedan while I’m sleeping.  Even though he’s sleeping, sometimes I still worry about him.  At least at night I’m getting 6-8 hours of sleep, even if it isn’t consecutive sleep.



Cute Things Toddlers Do

I love writing about the cute things Brody does. He’s obviously not different from every other two year old, they all have their cute moments. My theory, is that if I keep track of them, they’re great to look back on when he’s driving me crazy and remind me how sweet and innocent he is.

We tried teaching Brody to give “bear-hugs.” We got him to squeeze us tightly, but then he started “roaring.” Because clearly, to give a bear-hug, you have to roar like a bear! Then, the next time I asked him to give me a bear-hug, he said, “no!” Saddened by this, I asked why not, he said “no, cat-hug”, me, clearly confused, sat there while he wrapped his arms around me and meow-ed while giving me a hug.

What you didn’t know there was such thing as a cat-hug? Me neither, but it’s just as sweet as every other hug…and much more hilarious.

2nd Halloween

Last year we were able to do quite a few fun Halloween activities with Brody, but with each year I know it will get more fun to do new things with him as he grows older.

So this year, we tackled pumpkin painting. I’m not brave enough to carve pumpkins with Brody yet, but since he does a lot of art projects, I thought painting would be perfect. But first, we had to head out to get a pumpkin…

We didn’t end up finding a weekend to go to a pumpkin farm with hayrides, pick your own pumpkins and corn mazes. So instead, we headed to a farm nearby where all their pumpkins on are near the road. I also believe this is the cheapest way to go too.

Despite the low-maintenance pumpkin picking, Brody had a great time. He was able to pull around pumpkins in a small wagon, ride in a bigger wagon and pick out his own pumpkin.

Then we headed home to paint our pumpkins. Brody had a great time painting his pumpkin and my ever-so-patient Mom sat next to him to make sure paint did end up all over the floor and so Jason and I could paint pumpkins as well. The finished products:

Halloween at Brody’s Daycare is also a big celebration. Every year they host a Costume Fashion Show. Parents attend of course, but it also draws a crowd from many others in the office. By the time we got there it was standing room only!

All the kids walk (or are pushed in a stroller if they’re too little) across a stage. Walking is so much more fun, so I was excited that Brody was out walking on his own. He actually did a great job and I snapped a picture of him when he saw me. He pointed and yelled right away of course, but didn’t try to run over. Many other kids get pretty upset when they can’t run over to their parents right away, so I was glad that Brody did such a good job.

Our Little SpiderMan!

Friday night we headed to a Haunted House/Halloween party that my sister helps host every year. While it was cold, we were still able to stay for awhile, which allowed Brody to go through his very first haunted house. While it was a good/scary haunted house (which they do in a garage), when we took Brody through, we used a flashlight and all the people in the haunted house were extra nice to him. So, it wasn’t truly that scary, but we still got a chance to check out all their hard work.

Since Halloween was on a Monday this year, our city chose to do Trick-or-Treat from 6-8pm on Saturday night. At first I was annoyed that it was so late. (Brody goes to bed by 6:30!!) Then I realized that at least it wasn’t a weeknight and reminded myself that it’s not the end of the world if Brody stays up until 8pm. We were in the middle of weaning the pacifier (more on that another day), so any disruption to bedtime was worrisome.

I personally believe that a 1 year old is too young to trick-or-treat (especially since he’s not allowed to eat any candy). However, Jason disagreed, so he headed out to take Brody to a few houses. It was a great way for Brody to get the experience with some of our nearby neighbors, without doing too much. Although, he still ended up with a ton of candy! Apparently they thought he was cute.

Then they headed home and he helped pass out candy. This was by far his favorite activity. He would run down to the end of the driveway with a piece of candy to drop it in a kid’s bucket. Then when it would quiet down, he would yell, “More Kids!!”

Weekend Getaway

So after the craziness at work, I just wanted to hibernate with my favorite boys. So…we headed on yet another vacation!!
Over Labor Day weekend we hopped in the car and drove a couple hours north to Green Bay. We had a couple things in mind for when we got there, but the best part is that it was one of those last minute vacations where every minute wasn’t already planned.

We got there Friday afternoon for lunch at Lambeau Field and a tour through the Packer Hall of Fame. It was my first time, as well as Brody’s, and it was pretty fun. Obviously Brody will enjoy it more when he’s older, but he did a great time hanging out in the stroller while we looked around. He also didn’t sleep the whole car ride up there, so it was a miracle he wasn’t melting down. Waiting for lunch & playing his first arcade game

Checking out the Lombardi Trophy (Super Bowl Champions ’10-’11)

That night we just went out to dinner and headed back to the hotel to get Brody to bed at a normal time. There was also a pit-stop to get eye drops since Brody had developed pink-eye. Though he gets sent home on a regular basis for “pink-eye” this trip was the only time I actually think he had it. Let me tell you, classic pink-eye is actually pretty nasty. Luckily he was able to get medicated right away so that he didn’t spread it to us or anyone else.

We also learned the key to success in hotel-ing it with a toddler. Separate bedrooms!! We stayed in a suite (in the middle of nowhere, this was still a pretty cheap room), which had a separate bedroom, with a fridge/microwave/sink area separating it between the living room. We were able to put Brody to bed and we could actually stay up. He slept great both nights in that hotel room and napped as well. It made things so much easier.

Then on Saturday we headed to Bay Beach. This was actually our main purpose for picking Green Bay, so I was a little dissapointed when we woke up and it was raining outside. For those who don’t know what Bay Beach is (I just learned this recently), it is an amusement park directed at younger kids that is super cheap. You don’t pay to get in and each ride is about $0.25. The most expensive ride we went on was $0.75 per person (Merry Go Round). Many of the rides are geared towards younger kids, but children up to the age of 8 could easily be entertained there. And we struggled to spend $5 in about 3 hours.

At first I was a little nervous. Brody had never been on a carnival ride and the first one I saw didn’t have a seatbelt. I really thought he might try to climb out during the ride, so we went to look for one where he’d be belted in. Though, there really was no reason to worry. Here’s his first ride…

He LOVED it!

By the end of the morning, he was a pro. Jason even yelled out to him, “put your hands in the air!” So, he did…

The best part was, he wouldn’t put his arms down until Jason told him to. It was pretty funny.

The weather wasn’t ideal, but Brody didn’t mind at all. We headed back to the hotel for lunch and nap thinking we’d go back to ride more rides in the afternoon if the weather cleared up.

Unfortunately it rained all afternoon. There was no way I was getting stuck in a hotel room with a toddler on vacation. So we pulled out the laptop, did a few google searches and found an indoor place with inflatables to bounce around in. This also was another first for Brody. He was a little hesitant at first, but quickly got the hang of it. Especially when he figured out that one of them had a basketball hoop and ball in it.

Turned out to be a great couple of days and we loved the more laid-back vacation. Definitely think we’ll head back there again in the next couple of years.

Family Vacation

Every summer, my Dad, Stepmom and as many children that can make it, head to Grand Haven, MI for a family vacation. Between my Dad and Sara, they have 7 children, 2 extended children (Jason & my step-sisters long-time boyfriend) and 1 grandchild. So we end up with quite the crowd (all pictured above).

Last year, when Brody was about 6 months old, we took him for the first time. It was fun to bring him along, but there were a lot of things we couldn’t do with him. He was barely eating solids and couldn’t even crawl yet. So, this year, we had a lot of things we were excited for him to do.

First, we decided we were going to take a ferry across Lake Michigan, instead of making the drive around. We had to take a 6am ferry there and an 11pm ferry back to get the best deal, but it seemed worth it to save on sitting in a car for 6 hours. We were wrong…

The ferry ride to MI was great. Despite getting up early, Brody was happy and unlike an airplane, you could actually move around. It was rocky of course, but he was able to walk around and we even went on the top of the boat to get some fresh air and check out the water.

The ferry ride home? Awful! I’ll spare you the details, but it was stormy and the lake was choppy. Needless to say, it was 11pm at night, Brody was tired and seasick and I was on my own in taking care of him since everyone else on the boat wasn’t doing so well either. I’m never complaining about the 6 hour car ride again!!

Aside from the ride home, the rest of the trip was a blast.

There are several traditions we have for this annual trip. One tradition involves ice cream at a place in town that has a huge variety of yummy flavors. So, despite the fact that I generally don’t give Brody much for dessert, he had to have ice cream with everyone else. I did make the mistake of getting his in a bowl when everyone else got a cone. He ended up finishing my ice cream cone instead and I had to eat out of the bowl!

Second tradition is a place called “Pronto Pups.” They batter and fry corn dogs in a stand on the road and while completely awful for you, they taste great! Brody’s first experience with fried food was a good one of course.

We stay at a home a block away from Lake Michigan, so there is a lot of beach time while we’re there. Last year, Brody freaked out when we tried to expose him to the lake. The water was even relatively warm and he wouldn’t go near it. So we were a little unsure how he would do this year, especially when I wouldn’t go in because it was too cold (and this was in the middle of August!!)
So we walked him to the water….

He checked it out…

And within minutes he was laughing like crazy and loved running into the waves. This is the kid the can’t handle it if his bath is lower than 98 degrees. Yet he went running into a freezing cold lake with no problem. What a crazy guy.

We knew the sand would be his favorite part and it definitely was. He even let Jason bury him in it. All was fun, until he ended up with sand in his eyes…

The best part about vacations with the entire family is not only the fun we have together, it’s also a huge help when you have a little guy. Everyone there is more than willing to help take care of him and keep him entertained. And since we stay in a house, it’s easy for him to adapt to a “home away from home” atmosphere. It’s by far the easiest vacation with a toddler. And next year he’ll be able to do even more!

Laughing our way through Toddlerhood

It’s been way too long since I’ve blogged. First, it was because I was working ridiculous hours…I mean “ridiculous, I haven’t seen my child in 5 days” kind of hours. Then I was back to working normal hours and spending every waking minute with my son, husband, family, friends and then catching up on all the house related stuff we ignored.

Now…we’re catching our breath, so it’s time to blog again! Which is really a good thing, because, seriously, toddlers are funny. I mean babies are cute, sleepy and cuddly. But toddlers are really fun. They’re also difficult, stubborn and stressful. But very fun.

Brody is in a stage where he freaks out if anything isn’t the way he expects. Example: he likes it if you give him a cheese stick whole & he’ll take bites off of it. If you break it into little pieces for him, he doesn’t want it, and will literally cry about it. In his mind, it’s just not the same! You learn which battles to pick and move on.

So this morning, Brody and I were walking out to the car in the garage like we do every morning. However, today, I wasn’t wearing any shoes. My shoes were in the car already and I was going to put them on in the garage (my husband is probably rolling his eyes right now that I didn’t at least put sandals on and now my socks are probably dirty).

And Brody, could not handle it at all. “Mama, shoes!!”

When I reassured him that they were just in the car and I could walk out to get them, he just started picking up every other pair of shoes I had by the back door.

“Mama shoes, mama shoes” as he hands me one shoe after the other. He actually refused to walk out the back door until he saw me pull my shoes out of the car and put them on.

It’s times like this that you just have to laugh at how his little brain works. If you’re not laughing, you’re probably pulling your hair out trying to rationalize with him…so we choose to laugh.

More stories, including a catch-up on how our last 3 summer vacations went (Michigan, Green Bay, New York), coming soon!

Our little traveler

We actually have quite a few vacations planned in 2011, so it should be a year of adventure. Earlier this year, we headed to Valparaiso, IN to cheer on our nephew JJ’s basketball team. Then this past weekend we headed to Kansas City, just the three of us. Later this summer we’ll head to Michigan with more of our family for our annual trip. Then this Fall the three of us will head to NYC for a friend’s wedding, with my older sister to help take care of Brody the night of the wedding. Then to end the year off, we’ll leave Brody home for a week, while Jason & I celebrate our 5 year anniversary / the wedding of a good friend in the Carribean. At some points all the vacationing with a toddler will be stressful, but I’m excited to start these trips early. By the time Brody is two he will have slept in 7 different states.

I’m excited to share these experiences with him, but even more excited to do more once he’s old enough to actually remember them. Needless to say, a lot of the trips this year and last have been about us, more than him. But we love having him along and showing him new things. It also helps this control-freak of a mama get out of her element every once and awhile.

So the latest trip? Overall I’d say it was a success! Though it did have it’s ups and downs. Pictures and stories to come…

Best Purchase Ever

There are a lot of silly purchases we’ve made since we found out Brody was on the way. But more often than not, we end up getting something that works out really well.

This past month we bought Brody a play kitchen. Winter seems to be never-ending in Wisconsin this year (though I’m truly hoping the 70 degree forecast for Sunday turns out to be accurate). All of us have been feeling a little stir crazy. So we need something else to play with in the house.

So a few coupons and my employee discount combined, we got this kitchen for steal. And it was worth every penny. Though I have to say, I end up finding pretend food scattered across the house. I found an orange in the bathtub tonight…the same orange that is in the bookshelf in the picture below.

Even tennis balls make their way into the play kitchen somedays. The best part is that I really think it will last for awhile as he gets older.