The Big 5

In the same week Nathan turned 5 months old and Nicholas turned 5 years old.  Time is flying by...

Nathan is getting bigger by the day.  I'm not sure what his stats are now, but will find out at his 6 month check up in a few weeks.  We started feeding Nathan regular baby food a week ago.  We started with a few fruits (apples, pears and peaches) which he usually gave a funny expression, but did not have any problems finishing them off.  I fed him squash last night and he scarfed that down as well.  Thankfully he is still nursing well.  We think (and hope) that he is teething now.  He has been rather fussy recently and I just want to attribute it to that.  Nathan is still constantly chewing on something (his fingers, toes, your fingers, etc). 

It's hard to believe that Nicholas is already 5 years old.  His actual birthday was on a Thursday, so after school daddy and I took him to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time.  He loved all the games, but daddy and I were extremely disappointed all the issues the games had - not working at all, not spitting out tickets, and just being plain dumb.  Hopefully Nicholas enjoyed it, but I highly doubt we will be going back any time soon.

He wanted a MarioKart birthday party, so we celebrated with family and friends here at the house.  Mimi once again came through with a stellar birthday cake.  

I had fun using my new toy the Silhouette Cameo to make some labels.  I also found a wii remote candy mold online and couldn't resist, so those were the party favors.

Happy Big 5 to both my boys!

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

 

Happy 4 months Nathan!!  Thanks to Nathan's discovering how to roll on his stomach, he is sleeping awesome now!  I still put him down on his back, but he rolls over almost immediately.  He started off sleeping from around 9pm - 4:30am or so.  Luckily he would go back to sleep after I fed him.  Then the other night he slept from 8:30pm - 7am!!!  Of course I woke up thinking I heard him at some point, but did not.  We are loving this new trend, but know it will only last until the dreaded teething starts.  And just this past week, he started to roll from his stomach onto his back.  I have yet to see it, but believe Mimi and Pop's account of it happening. 

One thing I've noticed recently is that Nathan's eye that had been clogged seems to have cleared up on its own.  I'm super excited about this, because I didn't want him to have to go through any procedures to clear it up no matter how "minor" they are.

Two weeks ago we also decided to try giving Nathan rice cereal.  He did really well eating it, but an unintended consequence we discovered was it made him constipated.  So we have since put off giving him more for the time being.  Hopefully his stomach will continue to mature and we can try it again soon.

Happy belated Easter!  I'm a horrible mother and forgot to get a picture of Nathan on his first Easter.  We were in such a hurry to get out the door for the early morning service that there just wasn't time.  There isn't an excuse for why I didn't get one afterwards... 

Nicholas LOVES dying Easter eggs

 The Easter bunny came...

One of his favorites was some "Engineer Turtle" (AKA Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtle) socks that were in the big egg below.

So handsome - he was hesitant to put on the tie at first, but didn't take it off all day once he put it on

Nicholas recently had a big wedding he was a part of.  "Q" and "U" got married at his school and he was one of the groomsmen.  It was really pretty cute and he was excited about the whole thing.  They even had a reception afterwards.  Several weeks ago, we registered him for Kindergarten.  I think he is excited about it.  We are keeping our fingers crossed he gets Mrs. Bell (AKA Uncle Brad's sister) for his teacher. 

Finally, Nathan is able to stick his foot in his mouth.  We think he is teething, since he loves chewing on anything (his hands, our hands, toys, etc).  Only time will tell...

Of course Nicholas had to get in on the foot chewing action too...

Big Beach Weekend

Besides this being Nathan's first time to the beach, he also had a big first while we were there.  Thanks to Gigi having a tennis tournament at the Beach Club, we were able to visit for a long weekend.  We headed down Thursday afternoon.  Nathan did really well - sleeping for the first 3 hours of the trip.  When he woke up, it was time for him and the rest of us to have dinner so we stopped for about 30 minutes in Atmore.  The next leg of the trip wasn't quite as quiet.  Nathan fussed for about 45 minutes or so, but finally gave up and slept for the remainder of the drive.  Nicholas of course was good watching movies the whole time, but towards the end kept asking the ever popular "are we there yet?"  

The weather was gorgeous and Nicholas had a blast.  Every night he crashed and burned.  Friday evening while we were all eating dinner, Nathan was happy just playing on the floor.  Every now and then we would peek over the couch to make sure he was ok.  One time Gabe looked over and discovered that he was on his stomach (originally he was on his back).  Over the next few days, he rolled over a few more times.  He is pretty quick too, so you have to keep an eye on him.  Every time he rolled over his left side on to his stomach.

What are you guys looking at??

Nicholas loved the indoor pool and was very social with anyone else that came in - including three cheerleaders visiting for a competition.  Daddy thinks he could be trouble later on...

 It was a bit windy for Nathan but he still enjoyed the beach!

Nicholas would have stayed out there all day if we would have let him.  (And we probably would have except our pale boy would get burnt to a crisp)

 

This was also our first attempt to give Nathan a bath in a sink.  God bless baby bath tubs!  This did not look very comfortable for him. 

Thank you PawPaw and Gigi for a wonderful beach weekend!

3 months old!

It's hard to believe Nathan is already three months old!  He is growing and changing by the day. 

Over the past few weeks, Nathan has really started "talking" a lot.  It's so sweet to hear and it's always a question we have of "what in the world is he thinking right now?"  Nathan has had strong neck muscles ever since birth, but has gained really good head control and is no longer our little bobble head.  He also has really strong legs and enjoys standing up on my lap.  Nathan kicks constantly.  Whether it is just lying on the floor or in the bathtub, he is very active.  It will be interesting to see how he compares to Nicholas as far as crawling and walking.  Of course, he has motivation of keeping up with a big brother... 

Working those leg muscles.

Smiling at Nicholas.  He loves his big brother!!

Just like his big brother, Nathan loves chewing on his hands.  I'm not sure if this is related to teething or just something to do since he doesn't take a pacifier.  I've tried giving him the famous giraffe teething toy, but he doesn't seem all that interested yet. 

This week was my first one back at work and also Nicholas' spring break.  To help with the transition, Gigi and PawPaw offered to take Nicholas to Mobile for the week.  He LOVED it of course and it was REALLY quiet around here with him gone.  Thanks Gigi and PawPaw!  Nathan didn't have any problems hanging out with Mimi and Pop all day - 3 days a week.  We are extremely thankful that they are able to care for him (as they did with Nicholas) so we don't expose him to daycare/germs.  He takes his bottles well and will drink around 4-5 ounces at a time.  It is extremely rare for Nathan to spit up at all, which is great and I hope that trend continues.   

Nathan has done really well sleeping.  I have noticed that he will sometimes sleep on his side, but typically stays on his back.  It looked like a few times he has wanted to roll over, but can't quite make it all the way.  I am excited that Nathan can be put in his crib awake and fall asleep on his own.  Granted this doesn't happen every time, but at least we know he is capable of doing so.

Nathan is finishing up the last size 1 diaper package we have.  He has outgrown most 3 month clothes, so he generally wears 3-6 month sizes or even 9 months (his blue and white outfit shown in the pictures below is 9 months and I don't think it will last him too much longer).  I'm going to have to reevaluate the clothes that I have for him.  Granted with summer coming up, I plan on just throwing him in a onesie, which we have plenty of for every size under the moon.   

Since we had pictures taken when Nicholas was 3 months, we decided to do the same with Nathan and compare.  After seeing these pictures, they don't look as much alike as I originally thought.  There is no doubt they are still brothers, but just not twins.  Nicholas had a bit more meat on his bones at three months.  Nathan wasn't as liberal with his smiles while we had the pictures taken, but we were definitely able to get some cute shots (and yes we had them wear the same red and white onesie).

 

What's been going on

Nathan's two month appointment on March 7th went well.  At the appointment, he weighed 12 lbs 4 ounces and was 24 3/4 inches or 50th and 90th percentile respectively.  I think he actually weighs a little more than that because the entire time he was on the scale, he was kicking his legs like crazy and it wouldn't settle on one set amount.  He also received 4 shots, which he wasn't a fan of but recovered quickly.  Dr. Whitaker also said he was really impressed with how well Nathan could hold his head up.  He said "he's perfect!"  No argument here...  His next appointment will be at 4 months.

Nathan is sleeping pretty well.  Most recently it seems that I only get up with him once during the night.  The routine we are trying to start is to bathe, feed him and get him down around 8:30.  However, most nights he's not quite ready until 10pm or so.  Either way I'm happy he sleeps so well at night.     

Every Sunday at church, a member leads children's church where the 3-5 year olds go up and sit on the altar for a message.  Well two Sundays ago, Nicholas was up and answering all kinds of questions that the adult was asking.  The funniest part was after he answered a question, he would find us in our seats and give us a big thumbs up!  It had the whole church cracking up (or at least the ones that could see him).  He was so proud of himself for answering questions.  The church member even pulled him aside and talked to him after it was over.  I have no clue what she said to him, but I could hear him say, "Yeah because I'm really smart."  I just love that kid!  

This past week was the Spring consignment sale at our church.  I shopped Wednesday and worked Saturday.  I was able to buy a few staples for Nicholas that should get him through his birthday at which time I'm sure he will receive more clothes.  It gets harder and harder to purchase decent clothes for Nicholas because as boys age, their clothes get much more wear and tear on them.  I did buy Nathan a few items as well, although he is completely covered based on hand-me-downs from Nicholas. 

After I got home from working Saturday, we took Nicholas and Abby to the carnival that was in town.  Based on the location, we pass it every day I take Nicholas to school.  Needless to say, he has been asking about going for awhile.  We bought ride tickets and checked things out.  Nicholas started on a jumpy obstacle course that we knew he would love.  Then rode a kid version roller coaster.  He was just tall enough to ride most all the adult rides and was excited to try them out.  We thought some would terrify him and were shocked that he LOVED them all.  Some that mom and dad rode with him made us more queasy than he was.  I can personally attest to one ride where Nicholas was laughing at me because I was squealing so much.  We were so proud of how brave he was the whole time.  Nathan went with us, but chose to sleep in the stroller the whole time.   

The other night, Gabe was rocking Nathan and realized that we had an exact picture of Nicholas around the same age doing the exact same thing (rocking with daddy and sucking on his hands).  So I snapped a picture to compare the two.  I'll let the pictures do the talking as far as whether or not these two boys are related.  I got out a photo album of Nicholas around the same age and Nicholas says, look how cute Nathan is.  I had to tell him all those pictures were of him!  It's like deja vu! 

10 to 5

We had a momentous night last night.  Nathan didn't sleep hardly at all during the day and was a bit fussy at night.  I fed him around 9pm but he still wasn't content until 10pm, which is when I put him down.  Gabe woke up at 4:45am and checked the video monitor to make sure he was still breathing and of course he was.  Nathan ended up waking up around 5am.  We are super excited to see the sleep progress.  Because we slept great that night, we ended up just getting an early start to the day, even though Nathan went back to sleep.  It's amazing what can get done before 7am when you wake up at 5!

He even had a good night the following night where he slept for 6 hours straight.  Woohoo for sleep!

Two Months Old!

It's hard to believe my baby boy is two months old already!  We won't know his updated weight/length stats until next Friday when we have his next doctors appointment.  It's interesting comparing Nathan to Nicholas when he was that age.  They are extremely similar in almost all aspects of their lives.  Here is happy Nathan with his crazy eyes. 

Size:  Nathan is still wearing size 1 diapers, although I think he will easily transition into size 2 when we run out of the few size 1 packs we have left.  He completely fills out 3 month size clothes and even fits well in 6 month clothes.  Recently he has been going through multiple outfits each day.  I don't think it is a problem with the diapers.  We are currently using Huggies Snuggies.  Apparently Nathan has man sized bowels in a baby body that causes blow-outs at least once a day.   

Sleep: Nathan is starting to go 3 hours between feedings during the day and usually 3 or 4 hours between feedings at night.  He has started to chew on his hands even though I have just fed him.  Nicholas did the exact same thing around this time.  My guess is that he will be just like his brother and suck on his fingers rather than taking a pacifier. 

Bath time: Nathan is getting nightly baths and enjoys them.  Every time we put him in the tub he will exhale and squint his eyes.  Not sure why he's doing this, but its rather cute.  Here was our attempt to document the face...

He is able to follow us with his eyes and is quick to give us smiles.  He really enjoys watching Nicholas (that is when he sits still long enough for him to do so).  Nathan for the most part is a happy guy, but tends to get fussy in the evenings.  His neck muscles and legs are getting stronger and stronger.  Still a little bobble head action, but not bad.  I'm really enjoying my maternity leave and will be sad to go back in a few weeks.