Keeping busy

Here's a little of how we spent our Saturday:

Nate practiced his piano playing:




 And Simon ran some errands:

A Day of Almosts

A couple of videos where things almost happen:

First, Nate almost finds his feet (warning, this one is indulgent, not much happens, but it's awfully cute)




And here, Simon almost feeds Nate some yogurt, but not quite.

 

March

March was a month of transition, with me back at work and Nate starting daycare. But I've already been through how that's all going, so here are a few fun things we've been up to:

Nate is much more of an infant than a newborn now, he's smiley and giggly and starting to play a little bit. Here he is during tummy time:

And in his exersaucer for one of the first times:

 And here he is in his Woombie swaddler, it's a different type of swaddle and we are hoping it will be a good transition to sleeping with his arms free. We tried letting him sleep without any swaddle for a couple of nights, but he's like a wild banshee in his sleep, arms just waving all over the place.

And Simon is his usual funny self. He is talking up a storm, speaking in full sentences a lot of the time. A favorite is "No Mama, I don't like that."

Here he is"hiding" in the window:

...and playing with his food (and eating it too, so we're ok with the playing):

 His school had a science fair and each room had some kind of different fun experiment to try. Here Simon helps get a volcano to erupt!

 That's all for now, here's hoping April brings real spring weather to Seattle!

Inside and out

Spring in Seattle is a notoriously fickle season when it comes to weather, so we are playing it by ear and getting out when we can. Today we all went to a park, and Simon showed us how good he's gotten on the playground:

And we brought a hat to keep Nate's pumpkin head warm, but it turned out it was a little small for him:

And we've had some great cuddle time when we are inside. Here's Mama and her boys:

And the brothers together:

Nate Update and brother video

Well, the first two weeks back at work have been a little tough. I got sick, the daycare provider, Alyssa, got sick, and Nate got sick. So we haven't exactly taken the world by storm, but almost two weeks in, I am feeling a little more like a participant at work rather than just a bystander.

We have been very happy with Alyssa so far--as I mentioned, she offered to "open" the daycare two weeks early for Nate, so essentially she's just been caring for him along with her 18 month old daughter. She is wonderful with him and so far I've felt very comfortable with him there. She was even very sweet when he puked in her hair yesterday and she had to take an emergency shower and then call me to pick him up :)

It sounds like there will only be one additional infant in the infant room for a while even when the location officially opens, so the personal attention will remain although there will be a different infant "teacher". And there is a toddler room and preschool there too, so it'll be a little more hectic overall, but the babies have a really nice, large space and separate sleeping room all to themselves.

Nate had his four month check up, and he is a strong, healthy boy! He weighed 17 lb 6 oz and was 25 inches long, so he's definitely a big guy! We have the OK to start solids with him, but have to be careful about adding potassium to his diet. So bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, avocados and lots of other first foods are out. Unfortunately, tons of fruits and vegetables have relatively high potassium , so we will have to keep a close eye on his bloodwork as we get started with some that are slightly lower at least.

Otherwise, we are just figuring out the new routine, Simon is doing well and finally through his third big molar, thank god. He is a complete nightmare when he's teething, and we still have one to go. He had Spirit Week last week, and each day they wore something fun, like PJs or backwards clothing. He is excited for springtime and has started telling us when traffic lights turn green so we are sure to go EXACTLY when it's time!

And finally, this isn't the greatest video in the world, but it is one of the first I've gotten with the boys kind of interacting...enjoy!

4 months old

4 months old...and it's been a big week for all of us. I went back to work on Monday, so Nate started daycare. Just like I did with Simon, I freaked out about the daycare we had chosen for Nate, and at the very last minute we found another option. It's a small daycare run out of a home and it's the owner's second location. She was scheduled to officially open on the 26th, but made it work so that she and her 18 month old daughter are caring for Nate all by himself for these first two weeks. We feel very lucky to have found this situation, and so far (yes, it's only been 2 days) he's done really well there. I, on the other hand, have been a bit of a weepy mess.

Otherwise, Nate is just being his usual baby self...he loves to smile and giggles more readily now. Simon likes to try to tickle him under the chin, but I have a feeling it's a little more aggressive than a regular tickle should be. We have been sitting him up in his bumbo from time to time and will likely start him on early solids before too long. His potassium has stayed in the normal-but-high to high-but-low-high range (get all that?)--long story short, we are still just watching and waiting.

So...that's where we are at 4 months...and here's the official shot!

Mr Smarty Pants

Fun video of Simon the smarty pants...

Old MacWhat?

I finally got a great video of Simon with his new guitar. Here he is performing Old Macdonald. In case you want to sing along, his lyrics are:

Old MacDonald had a farm

EIEIO

Old MacFarmer had a dog

EIEIO

Old MacFarmer had a dog

EIEIO

Enjoy!

February

So far February has been the easiest month so far since Nate was born. We have made some good progress with Simon's sleep (bedtime earlier, waking up a little later), Nate is sleeping well and his reflux is well under control right now. Even his potassium has been good the last couple of draws, we are hopeful this is going to just go away.

We even have evenings back, with both kids going to sleep around 7:30-8! Nate sleeps for about 6 or so hours, wakes up for a feeding and goes back down for the rest of the night, which is pretty good for 3 1/2 months.

Otherwise, we've been having fun and we had Grandma come in for a visit. We had a great time, Simon was very excited to have her here and liked to visit her downstairs, even if she was in the bathroom (sorry Grandma!). We all went to a really fun indoor bouncy castle place and Simon went nuts for an hour. And Mom made us some delicious dinners and watched the baby while I got out a bit...thank you!

Simon is a little bit over the novelty of his brother, but is still very loving towards him and gives him a kiss goodbye many mornings.

I'm looking forward to when Nate can interact a little bit more, I think Simon will love that. We have been doing a lot of playdates so Simon gets some one on one time with his friends. We had a fun night at the Mancino's house on Oscar night...Simon and Max spent a few hours running around like madmen, stopping briefly for snacks and then pizza.

We are seeing a lot of interaction from Nate these days, he loves to smile and coo and as my last post showed, has started to giggle. We have started putting him in his bumbo once in a while and he really seems to like sitting up. He is also reaching out and grabbing his toys, he got both hands on rings today on his playmat!

And Simon, after a long and persistent campaign, won us over and we got him his first "big guitar". It's a 1/2 size classical guitar and he is very cute with it. He takes it very seriously and is a bit shy about performing with it. I'm still trying to get a decent video, but here he is with his new guitar.

Just a last few pictures from our February. Wish us luck this month as I go back to work on the 12th and Nate starts daycare :(