My Beautiful Two-Month Old

I spend a lot of time staring at my baby thinking about how perfectly beautiful he is. How deep blue his eyes are, how beautiful his full top lip is, how tiny his feet and toes still are, and how perfectly perfect he is. SS is such a beautiful baby.

BB and SS's baby pictures are similar when their eyes are closed, but with open eyes, BB's nose was wider and BB's eyes were slightly wider-set than SS's. It's sweet and surreal to look back at photos of BB at this same age, and remember that once, not that long ago, BB was a tiny baby just like SS.

At 2-months old, SS is sleeping in his crib for naps and at night. We made the change from bassinet in mama and daddy's room to the crib in his own room at 6 weeks old. Our Squeaky Son is still squeaky and as such is a noisy sleeper, and I think we all sleep more solidly with this arrangement. A couple of nights he has slept from when we put him down around 9 pm to 5 am, allowing me to get some 7-hour stretches of sleep and after many weeks without continuous sleep, these stretches are very much appreciated. Otherwise, he wakes up 1-2 times at night, with the occasional every-3-hour-wake-up night thrown in here and there. But even when he does wake up, I nurse him and then he falls back asleep nursing and stays asleep when I transfer him from curled-up-on-mama-in-the-glider back to the crib. (I usually unswaddle and change him before I feed him, and then I re-swaddle him before I feed him.)

He has begun smiling consistently - at toys, the black-and-white stripes on his bouncy seat, the airplanes on his crib bumper (which I removed this week as a precaution), and at people. The other night every time I kissed his mouth he would smile back at me, like 5 times in a row. I love that he is reacting now! So now I know that he likes kisses.

He remains very cuddly - if he's having trouble falling asleep at naptime, sometimes he just wants to be held and will falls asleep within minutes of being picked up and cuddled. He gets frustrated if he's in the bouncy seat or on the playmat for too long. He doesn't mind checking out the scenery for a bit, but then he starts fussing - sometimes I can just change his position so he has a new view, but other times he just wants to be picked up, thankyouverymuch. We love how cuddly he is.

His head control is improving, but he still needs just-in-case support. I love the look in his eyes when he has been holding his head up for a long time - a combo of pride, like "Are you seeing this?", and nervousness, as his head bobbles around.

He is still a great eater, and is looking really filled out, with little wrist lines and knuckle dimples, moderately chubby thighs, full cheeks and a hint of a double chin. He eats about every 3 hours during the day. I weigh him (by weighing myself holding him and not holding him) for fun - at 6 weeks he was 10 pounds, and at 7 1/2 weeks he was 11.8 pounds. He has already grown out of some of his newborn clothes!

SS is a spitter-upper. BB rarely ever spit up, and SS is making up for it. I barely get him up to my shoulder to pat his back before he burps, and a few times a day that is followed by an outpouring. Sometimes it comes out of his little nose too (which the doctor says is normal).

If he is sleepy, sometimes he fusses and kicks his legs until we give him his pacifier and swaddle him. And he falls asleep in minutes in his car seat - I think he feels all cuddled up in there.

Today, at 2 months old, he weighed in right at 11 pounds on the "official" scale at the doctor's office, which puts him in the 25th percentile. And he was 23 1/2 inches long, which puts him in the 75th percentile for length.
He got his first vaccines today - cried with the pokes, calmed easily, and has been sleeping ever since.

Happy 2-month birthday SS!

Potty Training

We have had kiddie potties in BB's bathroom and the downstairs bathroom for months and have encouraged BB to use them here and there, but we finally went into full-force potty-training mode a couple of weeks ago. It started when I marked on the calendar that September 14th was officially Potty Training Day. As in, we wouldn't plan on doing anything other than pushing fluids and taking BB potty all day long. J was home the first day too, so we could tackle it together. In preparation for PTD, we bought plastic drop cloths, took BB to pick out big boy undies, bought pull-ups, and got a new and improved toilet seat with a built-in magnetic kiddie seat for the downstairs bath (since BB prefers the toilet over the kiddie potty - we've moved the kiddie potty now since he didn't use it). (You can check out our new toilet seat here.) The plan was to put BB in his undies, push fluids all day, and take him to potty every 15 minutes (or when he told us he needed to go). I was planning to do this with BB naked, and then someone pointed out that the undies might catch some of the pee if he started to go, and alert both him and us that he was peeing and needed to get to the bathroom. In case of accidents, we put the plastic drop cloths on our rug and couch. Kind of drastic, I know, but I'd rather lay down the $5 plastic than attempt to clean pee out of our rug or couch upholstery.

To prepare BB for the big event, we tried to hype up everything about potty training and big boy underwear to BB in the approaching days. We also had a book called "No More Diapers for Ducky" from the library that we read and talked about in the preceding days - after a few days BB would announce smiling "No more diapers for BB!"

So on Potty Training Day, we ceremoniously had BB pick out and put on his big boy undies and took him to potty in the big potty. We gave him a sticker each time he used the big boy potty - I wanted to collect his stickers at the end of each day and display them on a sticker chart in his room, but on day 2 BB peeled the stickers off the paper from day one and he plays with them all over the house. I'm not really sure where all the stickers end up, but they become un-sticky enough after he plays with them for me to peel off of anything. So I gave up on the sticker-chart idea. Anyway, on the first day BB didn't have an accident all day! I couldn't believe it. He only wore one pair of undies all day! We put him in a pull-up for his nap and when we went grocery shopping (which he did wet) but otherwise he went in the potty with us prompting him (it ended up being about every 30 minutes), and even told us he had to go once!

Since day one, we have had days with no accidents and days that runneth over with pee. For some reason he seems to always pee at least a little in his high chair. We discovered that the pull-ups do not hold very much, and so we are using them more as undies (like when he's in his high chair or for short trips) and are still using diapers for long trips out of the house, naps, and nighttime. He does really well in his undies most of the time, telling us he has to pee and is able to pee when we prompt him, but when we put a diaper on he tends to soak it. I still take this as a good sign since it shows that he has control and knows not to pee in his undies. And we're definitely using and changing a lot less diapers.

The best accident story so far is when, immediately after J took BB to potty, BB stood outside the bathroom door and peed right on the floor next to the console table. When J came out, BB looked up at him and said "Sticker?"

And one other thing worth mentioning - BB can now open the baby-proofed toilet in his bathroom with ease, the toilet that his auntie refers to as the "space toilet" because she still isn't quite sure how to get it open. We put a lock on it because it's directly off of BB's room and we wanted to be extra-safe, and well, I guess now we just have to hope that if he's smart enough to figure out how to open this lock at two years old, then he's smart enough to know to pull his head out of the toilet water if he's drowning in there.

So that's how we're doing it so far. We still have the plastic down on the rug and couch. It gives me peace of mind when BB is running around in his t-shirt and undies, which is what he wears at home these days. Hopefully I will have more progress to report sometime soon!

Leche

Last Saturday we were driving home from Target where BB had just picked out his first big boy underwear to prepare for the upcoming official Potty Training Day. He picked Yo Gabba Gabba and Toy Story undies. Yo Gabba Gabba is this crazy kids show (you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_Gabba_Gabba) - the host is this guy DJ Lance Rock, who, upon first look, immediately reminded me and J's sisters (totally separately) of J.

J now jokes that DJ Lance Rock is his photo negative. Anyway, J was more than pleased when BB picked the Yo Gabba Gabba undies over Mickey, Cars, or Sponge Bob (even though I was a little apprehensive about BB having a non-fictional adult man featured on his undies).

So we were driving home after we stopped at Home Depot after Target, and something made me think about how BB's friend Little C has already learned some Spanish words. I realized that I could be teaching BB some Spanish too, especially since BB's such a little word-sponge right now.

"BB, Spanish is another language. Do you want to learn how to say 'milk' in another language?"

BB confirmed his linguistic curiosity.

"The way that you say 'milk' in Spanish is 'leche'. Can you say 'leche'?"

BB: "Leche."

Me: "Leche."

BB: "Leche."

"Very good BB! And if you want to say 'I want milk' you say 'Yo quiero leche'. Can you say 'Yo quiero leche'?"

"Yo.....gabba gabba...leche?"

Too funny.

Hooters

Not that Hooters - although they do have delicious buffalo chicken wings. But don't be ridiculous, that would be inappropriate....obviously BB and SS are too young to eat buffalo wings.

I just finished decorating the Jack and Jill bathroom between BB and SS's rooms. I didn't want to paint so I challenged myself to make it colorful in a way that makes the white walls look intentional and not like I just didn't want to paint. I wanted it to be kid-like, sweet and bright, but not obnoxious. And gender-neutral (in case a little lady ever comes along to share this bathroom). I also didn't want to spend a lot of money. I love how it came out.

It started with a shower curtain I saw at Target when J and I were picking new washcloths for SS - the shower curtain had trees and owls on it and I liked the color scheme. The kids blank white bathroom flashed through my mind. Owls are sweet, and gender-neutral. I had thought about putting owls in a nursery at one point (before I was even pregnant with SS) and I had a few ideas from brainstorming that fictional hooter-filled nursery. Later J ended up finding another owl curtain online that we liked even more, and after way too much obsessive consideration, I whipped out a Target gift card and pulled the trigger on decorating the boys bathroom. Here's what we ended up with!


The vanity area - metal cup and soap dispenser (from Marshalls) and wooden owls (from Home Goods, thanks to a birthday gift card from Hannah), all chosen because they won't break if dropped or thrown by a toddler.


"Owl you need is love" art painted by me - inspired by one seen at Home Goods. (I already had paint and canvases from old bedroom art).

After shopping for wooden stepstools and not finding them for cheaper than $30 (and we wanted two!), J built this step stool with supplies leftover from the media unit project (using plans from www.ana-white.com), and I painted and distressed it (with leftover paint). Completely free. (There's another in the downstairs bathroom).


The "water closet"


More free art by mama - Inspired by Katie Bower's print from her son's woodsy-owl nursery seen here:
http://www.bowerpowerblog.com/2010/09/nursery-reveal/
This owl-tweak on the Love You Forever verse was one of my biggest inspirations to create an owl-filled bathroom (and originally a nursery).


Cute $7.50 bin from Target for easy-to-grab washcloths - it even has a chalkboard on the side which is fun for secret notes for BB and SS to see from the tub

I still want to add a couple of baby bathtub photos of BB and SS to the wall (which will a. be adorable and b. tie in with the "As long as I'm living, my babies you'll be" line from the painting), but otherwise, all done! Pretty simple, but colorful, sweet, and fun for my two boys. Okay, and for me too. It took me a couple days to stop going in there just to bask in the owls and yellow.


Sneak peek of BB in his big boy undies - potty training is underway!!