Brotherly Love

Confession: When Darrell announced in the delivery room that WEBS was a boy, I was a little disappointed. I really had no reason to believe that it was going to be a girl, especially because the pregnancy was so similar to William's pregnancy, but I was still (selfishly) hoping. Of course, that disappointment lasted for only a fraction of a second, and now I can't imagine our family any other way. William and Garrett are already quite the pair, and we are so, so excited to watch their relationship grow.

Meeting for the first time

William loves to point out Garrett's various body parts. Thankfully, William learned pretty quickly to just point AT Garrett's eye instead of sticking his finger in it

Showing Garrett some of his toys. William is always very proud of himself when he "shares" with Garrett and will clap for himself whenever he gives Garrett a toy

Can't wait until we can get smiles out of both of them! (I know those of you with multiple kids are laughing right now--a girl can dream, right?)

William loves giving kisses. Unfortunately, Garrett doesn't quite love that William practically lays on top of him to do so

It's hard to see, but William is showing Garrett one of his books. And I just love the way Garrett is looking at him. This happens pretty much anytime William is in Garrett's line of sight

Random photo shoot before swim lessons one morning

 

I can't even count how many times this has happened in our house, and my heart melts every time. Once I make sure there aren't any limbs being crushed, of course



 

I'm sure it won't always be butterflies and rainbows, but right now their relationship is just so innocent and pure and I love it so much.

Wipes Woes

If you've ever spent any amount of time around a newborn/infant and have had to deal with diaper changes, you've probably used one of those "fancy" wipes dispensers that's designed to keep the next wipe ready and available so you don't have to dig into the carton to get it out. And in theory, they work pretty great. But, despite having multiple diaper-changing stations set up at our house, each with its own dispenser, none of ours seem to work as designed. And it has nothing to do with the particular brand or model, but rather everything to do with a particular two-year old. A particularly "helpful" two-year old. Whether I'm changing Garrett's diaper or his own, William has to be the one to close the container of wipes when I'm done (seriously--don't try closing it on your own or be prepared to face the wrath of William). And for some reason he has decided that it is completely unacceptable to close these containers with any of the wipe sticking up and easily accessible. Not a huge deal when the container is full, but when it's getting down to the bottom? I have to waste precious seconds digging for a wipe while my always-moving two-month old (who--by the way--recently decided that he only needs to poop once a day, so when he poops, he POOPS) is trying his best to smear poop onto whatever surface I'm changing him on. So just a note to the designers of those wipes containers: Your products are pretty handy, but if you could build them to withstand the destructive forces of a well-intentioned two-year old that'd be great.

Garrett: Two Months!

Over the weekend we were visiting some friends who had a baby on April 2nd, and I spent the majority of the evening wondering where on earth my newborn went. Their girl was the epitome of the perfect newborn--tiny, snuggly, sleepy, with the occasional grunt and groan thrown in for good measure. Our not at all tiny two month old spent the majority of the time wide awake on Mama's lap watching the big brothers run around or lying on the floor kicking and flailing his arms like the busy body that he always is. Sometimes I can't even handle the amount of independence he's already starting to show... Pretty soon I'll have two boys that are too active and busy to care about cuddling with their Mama!

Height/Weight: 23.5 inches and 12 pounds, 14 ounces per our doctor's appointment this morning.

Wearing: Size two diapers (a must after blowing out of three size one diapers in less than 24 hours) and mostly 3-6 month clothing. I'm kind of in denial about it and keep putting him in 0-3 month pants because his 3-6 month pants just look so big, but I usually end up regretting it because they barely come down to his ankles (which means they are practically shorts whenever he's "sitting" in my arms).

Eating: All mama's milk, all the time. He had been eating every 3-4 hours throughout the day and night, but lately he's slept some longer stretches at night and subsequently wants to eat every two hours during the day. I don't mind the sleep, but it kind of kills my day because I feel like I'm nursing constantly.

Sleep: I almost don't want to type this for fear I'll jinx it, but lately we've gotten some eight hour stretches of sleep at night (so I guess maybe you could say he's sleeping through the night?). Unfortunately, he goes down around 9:30 and Darrell and I never seem to be able to get ourselves in bed before 10:30, so we never quite get the full eight hours, but it's better than it could be. Naps during the day are sporadic and unpredictable at best, especially now that he's eating almost constantly. He rarely naps for longer than an hour, but I suppose it's better than his being up all night.

Likes: I seriously don't know what it is, but Garrett is a super laid back kid and I'm pretty convinced he likes just about everything. He's becoming more interested in toys and stuff this month, so he's enjoyed "playing" with those (aka lying on his back and watching the monkeys on his play mat or having someone dangle a rattle over his head). He still loves the swing (and I love that he loves the swing); Darrell is convinced that he calms down in there more than he does in our arms sometimes. And he is definitely learning our voices; Mommy and Daddy can almost always get smiles out of him when we talk to him, and most of the time William does too (although sometimes I think Garrett doesn't smile at William because he's worried about what he might be up to)

Dislikes: Aside from crying when he is hungry, tired, or sick of William picking on him, this kid just doesn't get upset about much. He didn't even make that big of a fuss about his shots this morning--a few screams when they happened, then asleep in the car seat ten minutes later.

Firsts: He's really starting to smile this month and it's been so.much.fun. Darrell even got a giggle out of him the other day--so adorable! He's also started joining the family at the table for dinner (when he isn't napping); he's a little small for the high chair still, but we make it work. We also celebrated his first Easter, although "celebrate" is used very loosely because we didn't exactly do anything for it. Otherwise, nothing too remarkable--some trips to the park, a few family walks, and a short two-hour babysitting stint with Grandma while Mom and Dad took William out for his birthday (during which he took a bottle with pretty much no fussing--yay Garrett!).

William: Two Years!

I can't think of any way to start this post that isn't totally cliché, so I'm just going to skip right to the facts.

We rescheduled William's well-child visit to April 22nd so we could piggy-back it with Garrett's 2-month visit, so I don't have his official height and weight yet, but I'll update when I do. Based on the growth ruler we made (which I promise to share soon!), he's at 33 inches, and we're guessing that he's around 26 or 27 pounds. (Update: William weighed in at 26.5 pounds and 32.5 inches. Pretty much right what we were expecting!). He wears size four diapers during the day and size five diapers overnight. We tried the size five ones during the day so we didn't have to mess with two different sizes, but William's skinny little legs aren't thick enough to keep everything contained when he is on the go and I was sick of cleaning up the accidents. His clothing is pretty much all over the place, although most of that I attribute to the fact that clothing sizes are terribly inconsistent. Most of his clothes are in the 18-month to 2T range, although he still fits into some of his (longer) 12-month pants and has outgrown some 2T shirts. So it's all just a guessing game.

As I mentioned last week, we took away his pacifier on his birthday. Prior to that, he was sleeping pretty consistently (in his big boy bed) from 8pm-7am with a nap from 1230 to 230(ish). Now? Total crapshoot. It takes him at least an hour to settle down (aka stop crying), and then he's either sleeping shorter stretches because he's overtired or longer stretches because he's exhausted himself so much with his crying. It makes me feel like a terrible parent, but we wanted him to be done with the pacifier before we start any of our traveling this summer, and his birthday seemed like a good, clean breaking point. He was also starting to use it more as a toy than for comfort; in the weeks leading up to his birthday he would often lay in bed for over an hour at night tossing it around (and subsequently crawling out of bed and banging at the door for us whenever he lost it). We aren't sure if Garrett's birth or daylight savings time caused that behavior change, but we were ready to be done with it. We tried making a big deal out of being a big boy on his second birthday by also switching his carseats to forward facing and taking him for special birthday ice cream (and having special big boy pancakes the next morning), but no sort of bribery has yet been effective in helping him get over the loss of his pacifier. Sigh. It has to get better soon, right? At least it can't get much worse... (Update on this since it's taken me a week to get this post written: The marathon meltdown crying sessions have stopped in the past 24 hours. That being said, we put him to bed an hour ago and we can still hear him talking and playing in his room. At least it isn't crying?)

One thing that continually impresses us is his eating habits. I know I always joke that he's going to eat us out of house and home (and seriously--he might), but I really shouldn't complain. He will eat pretty much anything you put in front of him, no questions asked. That isn't to say he necessarily likes everything, but he will almost always try everything on his plate at least once, and usually without any prompting. However, anything Mexican is a definite favorite. If it has cumin in it and/or you can serve it with guacamole, William is all over it. Mom doesn't always care for the diapers the next day, but I suppose that's a trade-off I'm willing to make (and why I try to plan Mexican meals for the weekends when Darrell is home). He also really enjoys eating peanut butter straight out of the jar, and I swear I have no idea who he learned that trick from :-)

While it's been super fun to watch William continue to grow into his own little person, we've definitely had plenty of trials and tribulations. He wants to be soooo independent and do everything himself (and you'd better believe that if you let him do something once he will want to do it every time), but because his vocabulary is still a little lacking he can't always communicate his wants to us, which causes tantrums on his end and frustration on ours. He has also become quite the little sponge lately, which has thankfully helped with his vocabulary, but it has also meant that we've had to be more careful about what we say and do (such as my tendency to use chips/crackers as "spoons" when we're having soup; he definitely copied that at the table the other night). Additionally, he loves to help with some chores, although I wouldn't dare call them chores around him because he seriously thinks they are the greatest things in the world and pitches a major fit if you don't let him help. The big ones he loves to help with are the dishes and the laundry. And if it weren't for the fact that he can't reach the bottom of the washing machine or the buttons to start the appliances on his own, he could pretty much do the laundry by himself. Hopefully he'll have this same enthusiasm for chores when he is a teenager.

I'm sure I'm forgetting all sorts of things; I think to myself on a daily basis that I should really be writing down the funny stuff he says and does and the milestones he's hitting, but of course it never happens. But he's happy, healthy, and pretty darn hilarious, so that's all that matters, right?

Out on a special Mommy and Daddy date for his birthday

Easter selfie (for the record, I had no idea Darrell was in the background until a few days later)

Enjoying some unseasonably nice weather in January

Playing Uncle Nick's baby grand piano

All dressed up for church!

Our Christmas card photo

Somewhere I have photos from the (small) birthday party we had with my family; maybe I'll get them posted sometime before he turns three?

The Good and the Bad

The Good News: William was at my parent's house yesterday, and Garrett didn't poop once, so no poopy diapers (or blowouts!) for me to change!

The Bad News: Garrett didn't poop yesterday. That means he is a fully loaded cannon today. I expect a blowout of epic proportions, which means neither of us will be wearing nice clothes and he will always have at least one junk blanket behind him when he is sitting or laying somewhere. I don't think there is anything I can do to prevent the inevitable, but at least I can be prepared.

Parents of the Year

Nothing says parents of the year quite like taking away your son's beloved pacifier on his birthday. Happy 2nd Birthday William--now no pacifier for you! Needless to say, bedtime has been a little rough tonight, and I'm sure naptime tomorrow will go even better. At least the birthday wasn't a total bust--we did take him out for ice cream after dinner. That counts for something, right? Because I need something to make myself feel better for the fact that I'm making my son cry big, real, crocodile tears on his birthday. And this margarita just isn't getting the job done.

A Tale of Two (Poopy!) Boys

So far, having two kids in diapers hasn't been awful. Sure, we are constantly emptying our Diaper Genie, and our budget will enjoy the break when we aren't having to buy so many diapers, but having the bodily waste contained in a diaper is far better than the alternative...

Saturday morning started out with a bang (quite literally) when Garrett had a rather large and explosive poop that blew out the back of his diaper. Such an occurrence with a six-week-old isn't terribly uncommon, so we changed him, cleaned him up, and went on with our day. A few hours later Garrett hit us with another poop, and this one leaked out the side of his diaper. At this point, Darrell and I decided that we were going to finish up the last of the size one diapers (we only had a pack or so left) and then move up to size two. Well, later that afternoon, Garrett had yet another poop, and this one escaped out the front of his diaper (still not sure on the mechanics of that, but whatever). And that sealed the deal--opened package or not, we were done with size one diapers and are now living large in size twos. Which has been wonderful--not a single blowout since we made the switch (and trust me, there are some times where we haven't been sure how they managed to stay contained).

Fast forward to Monday night at bath time for William for more poopy fun. It took nearly twenty-four months, but we finally had our first "Code Brown" in the tub. And somehow, despite the fact that Darrell was the one monitoring bath time when the incident occurred, I ended up being the one to clean it up. But hey, at least it gave us a good excuse to deep clean and sanitize the tub and all his bath toys, right?

And let's be honest--when my boys are this cute, I can't stay mad at them for long. Poop messes and everything.

A Rare Occurrence

Sometimes William insists on picking out his own outfit (and trust me, you'll be able to tell what days those are based on the outfit). Sometimes Garrett soils an outfit before we even leave his room (true story). But sometimes, the stars align and I'm able to get pictures like this:

I know I'm biased, but seriously, how cute are my boys in their pseudo-matching outfits? I'm usually not super big on siblings being all matchy-matchy (maybe because my sister and I were constantly dressed in matching outfits) but when I discovered that they both had green, navy, and white plaid shorts I couldn't resist. Especially because the matching shorts were totally unintentional--Garrett's outfit is one we were given when William was a baby (let's face it--pretty much all of Garrett's wardrobe is hand-me-downs from William), and William's shorts were picked up at a garage sale last summer. Who knows, maybe someday I'll intentionally buy them matching outfits (although that would probably require paying full price for an outfit--gasp!), but for now, I'll settle for happy surprises like this.

Outdoor Campus

Yesterday was glorious. Not only were the temperatures wonderfully spring-like (bordering on summer-like), but there was no wind. Seriously. If you've been reading my blog long enough you know that is one of my biggest weather complaints about Sioux Falls. Because the wind is seriously constant, and rarely is it just a light breeze. But yesterday, it was practically non-existent (I wish I could say the same for today, but oh well). So naturally, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed outside.

Sioux Falls has an awesome outdoor recreation place with lots of trails, a natural playground, and even a large pond (full of plenty of geese--William thought they were the coolest). And unlike the bike trails that run through town (which are pretty awesome in their own right), these trails are pretty secluded, aren't terribly long, and aren't very crowded. Perfect for letting a (nearly!) two-year old run around. And run around he did. We ran, we threw rocks, we exclaimed about every bird that flew past, and we wore ourselves out. Perfect morning outing in my opinion. And I even remembered to take a few pictures!

We watched this hawk go after a snake. It was pretty sweet

Terrible photo, but oh man did this boy have fun throwing rocks (pebbles)

Those aren't shawdows on his face; it's all dirt. A sure sign of a good time :-)

Garrett enjoyed himself too--at least I'm assuming he did since he slept in the Ergo the whole time. Can't wait until he's old enough to run around with William!