Happy Belated Halloween!

2 month checkup, family visit and last week of leave

Levi had his 2 month appointment last week. The doctor says he's right on track - she checked him for his eyesight tracking, a symmetrical startle, checked ears, chest, etc. He was 15 lbs 1 oz and 24 3/4 inches long, with a 43 cm head circumference. He's in the 95% for both height and weight. I told her he still nurses like every 2-3 hours and not more spaced out as I'm reading some kids his age do. She said well it's probably nice for me because he sleeps longer at night then. That's true and I do appreciate it - we're getting 6-7 hour stretches typically. As long as Kaylee can stay sleeping, then we can stay asleep and that's so restorative! She also said I'm probably making a lot of breastmilk too to support him. He's so big, everyone's comment on him is about his size. I will be taking him into the office tomorrow and I'm sure I'll hear a lot about how big he is. Our doctor said that he's the size of an average 4 month old. Basically it seems to me he's 2 lbs ahead, which makes sense because he's about 2 lbs ahead of babies his age at birth. Levi also got his first shots and it was very sad the way he cried, but I am very thankful for the vaccinations that we have at easy access to that. We are so fortunate. I had to ask questions about autism, and the doctor pretty much scoffed at those saying the doctor who did that research lied, and had his license taken away and there is no basis for those claims. She said that she can tell that he probably doesn't have it because he's smiling so much, looking at you directly and has lots of facial expressions.

Eric's parents just left. It was fun to have a visit with them for about 4 days. It was a special moment when Eric's mom got Levi to smile for the first time ever! Kaylee and Levi had fun seeing them especially, and Eric and I felt like we were on a mini-vacation because we had to do a lot less for the kids. There was time to sit and have coffee and to talk, and go to bed early. I did less bed-hopping between kids beds. I started to get sick so it was good to have more rest. We took Kaylee and Levi to the library and the kids did really well in the toy rooms they had there (super nice) but Kaylee did have a very embarrassing public tantrum, kicking and screaming through the library lobby. It was really close to her nap and I guess it was just too much for her. I hadn't been through a public tantrum in a while and it wasn't pretty! Oh well! Such is life with a 2 year old. She's normally just a sweetheart. So, his parents did notice that Kaylee is at times competing for attention and sometimes in a negative way. Kicking off when told to leave Levi alone. The first month wasn't too bad with this but the second month has yielded a little bit more of these sorts of conflicts. Kaylee is still really sweet toward her brother though for the most part. She just can't wait to kiss him, hold him and hold his hands.

I asked Kaylee what she thinks about sharing a room with her brother sometime soon. I asked her what it would be like for her to have us move his crib into her room. She said, "Yeah! That sounds fun! He will crawl up and make himself comfortable." It wouldn't be for about 3 months or more until I'm comfortable with moving him in, but I just wanted to test the waters. Her response was sweet.

We've just moved Levi into his crib this weekend. He looks like a tiny little prince sprawling in the huge crib. He's so sweet. He likes his mobile, even though I can't find the part that makes it move and make music. He's been loving his playmat and seems to burn a lot of calories kicking and grooving around. He especially loves his giraffe toy from his Aunt and Uncle.

This is my last week of maternity leave. I am a little conflicted about it, I don't think I'd be a normal Mom if I wasn't. I feel very sad to be going back and to have less time with the kids. I know things will be very crazy time-wise. It will be majorly hard to keep the house clean and to keep up with the cooking. I am really glad to be working with such a great firm that doesn't really require me to travel (at least not yet) and that allows me to work less hours (30) to allow for a little bit more flexibility so that I can have more time for our household upkeep and family. I am nervous about Levi starting daycare. One good thing is I am comfortable with our daycare provider and that he takes a bottle well. I'm mostly worried about the number of other kids around and that they might hurt him, but I know the the daycare provider will be very careful with him. He's just still so little and he doesn't really like his swing too well yet. If he did that would be a nice safe place for him to stay. Something that's so great about me going back next week is that it's Thanksgiving and I get paid for the holiday, and therefore will only need to work 5-6 hours for those 3 days. It will be nice to have just three short days to test out Levi being away from me. And me being away from him... He'll be with family that first week, which is nice because it won't be such a stimulating environment as daycare will be. I know once he starts daycare he will come home absolutely exhausted from all the stimulation! Kaylee is super excited for him to go to daycare with her. While I've been on my leave, she tells me everyday she doesn't want to go to daycare but then once she's there she is fine and has fun. It's hard to hear. Yesterday she also said she wants to stay home with me like the little girl across the street stays home with her Mommy. This definitely pulled on my heartstrings. However, it will be nice to go back and use my skills and intellect, and use all the training I worked so hard to complete. One of my projects is about to go into construction so it will be good to help out with that. I am so glad that I didn't have to do the commute in this snow this morning!

Grasping at toys and Halloween

Levi is 8 weeks old and about to grow too big for his bassinet. I re arranged our bedroom to make room for the crib and all we have to do is set it up. He is changing every day and is showing us more and more his beautiful personality. He's all smiles lately. He will smile over and over, and many times within a play period. It's so much fun and is totally adorable! The other day he seemed totally close to letting out a laugh, I could hear the beginnings of one in his throat. Oh I can't wait to hear that! I remember the unfiltered pure joy that is the sound of a baby giggle...awwww!

Whenever we put him in his carseat he smiles at his monkey mirror as if to say, "hey dude! I haven't seen you in awhile!" He will smile for several minutes at his monkey mirror. He now likes his playmat with the hanging toys. He hits them and tries to grasp for the toys. He also likes his attachment for his bouncy chair now, which has hanging toys to pull on. It is nice for me, because he will be entertained for 15 minutes or so, so I can go get some things done since now at the same time he is sleeping less. Kaylee likes his playmat too and thinks she should change Levi's diaper. I have been telling her this is a job only for me and not allowing it. It's been tough to deter her and I prefer to do the playmat more when she's not around, or is preoccupied since she is so enamored with the idea of 'changing' Levi.

Kaylee has been so funny saying a new thing all the time. At the end of sentences she is saying "or something." Like she will say, "I don't want my dinner, I want a cookie...or something!" She says it all the time and now Eric and I are wondering which one of us is saying this. Also she will add an indignant "What!?" when she doesn't like what she's hearing and mayyyybe doesn't hear what's been said (but that is up for debate.) So if we say like, "You need to eat some of your ravioli before you can have the cookie." She will look at us and say, "What!?" We can't help but giggle a little bit at this, and we are trying not to encourage the response even though it tends to be a little bit funny and is totally a two-year-old behavior.

Some of the parents who read my blog have been asking how we potty-trained Kaylee. Kaylee had been not showing the most consistent show of wanting to go potty at home. We had been telling our daycare provider how nice it would be to have her out of diapers with the new baby. She said she would go ahead and start pushing it at daycare. Then Kaylee used the sesame street lid insert on the big potty to go. Kaylee doesn't seem to have a problem going #2, she seems sort of entertained by it. She tells stories and chats it up the entire time she's "working on it." I think the mistake we were making at home when we started is that Eric and I thought she would respond with a "yes" when asked if she "had to go." She never would say yes. We started just putting her on the potty every so often, every time it had been about 1 1/2 hour since the last time, every time before had to leave to go somewhere, before going to bed and before sitting down on the couch. The way she does it at home is different than at daycare because she's intrigued that we also have a little potty, and enjoys pouring her pee out of the little potty into the big potty (she's actually not messy about it and I honestly don't care as long as she goes.) She wanted to used a lot of toilet paper and wipes, but I insisted that I be the one to wipe her (because she was getting a rash from not doing a good job) and then she gets one tissue to throw into the toilet. She loves, as I'm sure all potty-trainers do, to flush the toilet. She doesn't like to wash her hands, but has to and does eventually do it. A lot of times she wants to take all of her clothes off during going potty and then we have to ge them all back on after (a big pain). In the first couple of weeks of potty-training she wore just underwear or underwear and a shirt only a lot of the time. It's easier for them to feel confident about going if they have easy, quick access to their underwear. Now she is doing a better job with getting re-dressed (probably the cold weather - burr) and telling us that she has to go (though she is still inconsistent and we as parents have to be vigilantly tracking when the last time she went was). She has had an accident on the carpet and one on the couch. Our daycare provider has said that she is the easiest child to potty-train that she's ever had, and that she's easier than her own kids were. We love that she's potty-trained now! She's even woken up a couple of times after sleeping with a dry diaper. Though the last two days at daycare we were told she had accidents and so did her other toddler friend at daycare. So I'm sure the efforts will be continued on for the next few months until she's more reliable...tattoos were our intermittent reinforcement if you're looking for a reward for your child, FYI, in case you haven't read my old posts.

Halloween at our house was really fun. Early on in the day, I took the kids to see my family for breakfast. I dressed the kids up and it's actually the only time Levi wore his costume. They looked adorable. Kaylee practiced trick-or-treating at my parents door and then they gave her some goodies. She had a blast. Then later that night, Levi and I stayed home and passed out candy. He was perturbed to have his nursing/sleeping interrupted over and over again for the trick-or-treaters. He only cried a couple of times, but he wasn't a happy boy. People thought he was pretty cute and complimented him a lot and I received a lot of congratulations on the baby from the neighborhood's adult chaperones. Kaylee and Eric had a great time, at first she was scared and didn't want to go. But once she understood that Eric would be with her the whole time, she went happily. The neighbors across the street have 5 kids, and Kaylee went trick-or-treating with their two youngest. Eric said that Kaylee received tons of compliments on her pumpkin costume and that a few people asked if they could keep her (hell no!) She whispered a very very quiet "trick-or-treat" and wouldn't reach in the bowl. But they came back at about 7:30 after about an hour for hat and gloves, and I thought they were home for the evening. But then they headed out for almost another hour, I started to get worried about 8:15 thinking it was too late for Kaylee. Then Eric and her showed up just at that moment. She had a hard time winding down from all the excitement and didn't sleep too well, that and all that sugar! I will post some photos just as soon as Eric helps me download them.

Last night we took Kaylee to Chuck-E-Cheese's. We wanted to see what it was all about after all the talk after she goes there a lot with daycare. We saw what she calls the 'blue thing' and the 'mouse' she talks about. When I saw the mascot mouse I thought for sure she'd be excited to see him assuming she'd seen him before. She yelped "daddy" and ran the other direction. It turns out the animated anamatronic mouse at the stage is what she likes to watch...So now I know. It was fun to see her run all around and get excited that we were taking her as a family. She just couldn't believe we were all going to go together! It was really sweet. She loved riding on all the cars and animal rides (only one needed to be activated, for the most part she was happy just sitting.) She played a little ski-ball too, my favorite. Levi cried at first from all the noise, and then nodded off unhappily in my baby carrier. She won a bunch of tickets and I was surprised at the end all it got her was a slimy bug toy, but if memory serves I remember taking home my slimy bugs too...I liked the 'kid check' that they have at the door. They scan your hand and your kids hand and then check at the door to see if they match. To make sure that the same person who brought your kid in is you. That is nice since there were kids running all around without their parents being right next to them, and someday that will probably be Kaylee. We will definitely be back, maybe with one parent at home with Levi next time, she had such a good time!

Also, last week I started to keep Kaylee home on Fridays from now on. When I go back to work in about 2 weeks, I will not be working Fridays. I'm happy because I wanted to spend some of my maternity leave time with her too. It has helped though having her at daycare so I can focus on Levi, bond with him and give him the attention that I gave Kaylee during her maternity leave (reading, singing, playing, etc).

7 week update

Levi is now 7 weeks old and around 14 lbs, he's growing up so fast! He's trying now to reach out and touch, he's reached out for both Eric and I. I've also seen him reach or try to reach for a book I was showing him about colors, he reached for multicolored bird. His legs are starting to not be so scrunched up to his body, womb-style but he still does it a little.

We left the kids on Sat night so we could go out to dinner just the two of us. I think Levi was excited about being with the grandparents even though he was tired he'd only catnap so he could be part of the action. It's interesting that with my first leaving the baby was such a big deal I was so nervous about but now I just don't feel that, I was mostly worried Kaylee might hurt him - she can climb atop him trying to hold and hug and needs to be watched carefully and policed away from him. Another thing that helps is that he's been taking a bottle no problem, he's been doing it about 3 weeks when I am not around. This allows me to run an errand, go out with just 1 child or get some shuteye at night. I love it. Of course the main (95%) way of feeding him is still breastfeeding. It's so fulfilling for us both, so convenient but as any mom knows who's tried public breastfeeding is still slightly uncomfortable. I think the main thing to do is to find a private corner if possible. However, I believe public policy on this has helped but could still improve, I think design-wise especially in spaces where kids are welcomed, an environment more friendly to breastfeeding could be better pursued. Also I think it should be required that restaurants and stores have baby changing stations in the bathroom, female and male. I have recently come across so many restrooms without one, and as a parent or caregiver it leaves you in quite the awkward predicament. Eric tells me it's real hit or miss for men, he estimated that only 30% of restrooms for men have them.

I have been starting to feel like I can handle picking kaylee up earlier from daycare. I wanted to spend some of my maternity leave with her too so it feels good to be able to squeeze in a trip to the park with her or set up a play date for her.

Kaylee is now able to draw a couple of shapes and draws lines saying they are people. She also draws horizontal squiggling lines, which my mother in law, whose a teacher, says is pretend writing.

The reverse life and mounting excitement about Halloween

Being on maternity leave with my second baby is like living a reverse life of what I was living before. The easy (it's relative) part of my day is now the opposite of what I considered it before. From 8-4 while Kaylee is at daycare and I am just home with Levi, that's my 'easy' part of my day. In the evenings and on weekends, those are harder. What I mean is, it's so much more work with two. It's enjoyable and I love it and wouldn't trade it for the world, but it is definitely harder than with one and harder than being at work (at least at this stage with Levi being so little and demanding). It's just odd this sensation that my life has reversed itself. I find myself looking forward to Friday night, until I realize the real work is just beginning with two kids all weekend. Again I'll say, I do love it - just another one of the adjustments.

Yesterday Kaylee said something funny while Eric was playing tag with her in the house. She said, "Daddy, you don't chase me. I will chase myself." Then she would run through the house with much hilarity, looking behind her expectantly for her playful Daddy to pursue her. Sure enough he wouldn't let her chase herself for long, and would go off to 'get her' much to her delight.

Levi has had a very sleepy today, I really hope that doesn't mean that he'll have a wakeful night. But it seems if I do something during the day like take him grocery shopping, even if he sleeps it must not be a deep, restful sleep because he seems to need to make up for lost time later on.

Levi is liking his bath time. He even got a huge, open-mouthed grin on his face the other day as I put him in. He barely fusses except for if I have to reposition him. Soon enough, I know he will be kicking his legs and splashing and we will hear his belly laughs. I can't wait!

Kaylee is getting excited about Halloween. Our daycare provider's older daughter likes to play trick-or-treat setting up her own play door and practicing saying "trick-or-treat" for M&Ms after knocking on the door. They dress up to do this sometimes as well. Now she thinks every day is Halloween, she is going to think the month of October is a never-ending good time. I picked out pumpkin costumes for both kids. I opened up a magazine to show Kaylee all sorts of costumes, and she said she wanted to be a pumpkin. How sweet. It won't be long until she insists on being a princess or some girly thing so it's fun to dress her up in something appropriately toddler-ish.

Levi at one month old

Levi and I are getting to know each other better. We are over the hump of the first month. He is now starting to organize himself, understanding the patterns of our day a bit better. Although I regulary stay up with him 2 hours in the middle of the night still, making attempts to keep him from waking Kaylee (and Eric if he's not already engaged in helping with Levi). Eric is very helpful with the kids and very good at calming them both and keeping Kaylee disciplined as necessary. Levi's also understanding more the attempts we make at comforting him, and being more receptive to us as we are making our way towards satisfying his needs, i.e. there's less crying and more of little protesting squeaks instead. Levi has started to coo a little bit. He's made a couple of sounds that are not cries or squeaks but are the use of his voice. I get so excited every time he does it. Also, he smiles at my efforts to play with him at least a couple times a day now. Some of the smiles are large, open mouthed excited-looking smiles. So cute! I weighed Levi at Oct. 5 - one month old - and he was 12 lb 2 oz. He's a big boy but very proportionate in his size. Eric and I are both having our aches and pains related to carrying, holding, sitting and rocking as needed to care for him.

I am feeling better each day and have been having more days when I don't take a nap with Levi. I have found that it's just easier to go to bed at 8:30 or so with the kids and get all the sleep during the night. I now have only 10 lbs to lose and I know those are going to probably be the hardest from my experience with Kaylee. But it's only 5 weeks postpartum so that's pretty good, there's a lot of time left - as my doctor puts it "It takes you 9 months to get this way, why would you not allow at least 9 months for yourself to get back to the way you were before pregnancy?" Makes sense but I'm impatient.

Sunday we went to the apple orchard with the family. It was fun to see how Kaylee reacted to the apple orchard this year. She loved picking up the apples from the ground, even though we weren't supposed to take those we did let her have one. She was disinterested in the pumpkin patch but liked the hike up to the patch anyways. She loved seeing the little play house for the kids, watching the tractor rides (the line was way too long for us to go!) and she enjoyed her apple doughnut snack very much. We opted out of the shopping side of the trip thinking the day had gone well so far without deviating too much from her nap time. It was good to see everyone in the family, but the trip is getting more challenging with the family growing more. Each family has its own thing it wants to do. But the trip was still very fun and hopefully I will have some cute photos to post here soon.

We also went to the zoo. It was fun to see how she reacted since it had been a while since I took her myself. My mom and I took Levi and Kaylee and I can say if I had done it by myself we would've only lasted about 15 minutes - that would not have been good. We saw the new polar bear exhibit, the tiger/lions and the seal/fish building. That was enough and then we called it quits. Of course Kaylee doesn't really want to stay in her stroller so that adds to the challenge of the trip. We decided to stay in the one location and have lunch at their deli, and that worked out really well again allowing us not to deviate too much from nap schedules. at the end of the day she said she had fun and "I like the tigers - rahr!"

If anyone wants to come by and visit - feel free. We are doing well and ready for visitors! Just give a call!

Eric's parents visited weekend before last. We had so much fun with them during their trip. It was really nice to see them again and exciting to introduce the new member of our family, our Levi, to his parents. They had fun holding him, helping out and providing fun distractions for Kaylee. We went out to dinner a couple times and we ordered in a couple of times, also we were able to get together with more family over at the great-grandparents too. It was a fun trip, not too busy though - just right!

This past weekend and still today I have been pretty sick. Eric had this thing last week and looking back I think Kaylee had it too. I seem to have gotten a real bad case. I have hot flashes and chills, sore throat, achey (very achey hips!) On Saturday I was so bad I was crying from being overwhelmed. My parents came over to help when Eric had to do some stuff (Eric's been very helpful). That was nice because that was the one time Kaylee got ouf of the house this weekend to do something fun. I was so glad for that. I felt slightly better yesterday, it'll be a relief to be back to normal. I'm really hoping that Levi doesn't get sick with this thing and I haven't seen any evidence that he has it or is getting it so far. I'm not sure how he wouldn't get it though at this point. Hopefully those antibodies in my breast milk protect him!