30 Days of Giving Thanks: Day 1

I'm participating in the 30 Days of Giving Thanks Challenge over at Blessed Beyond Words for the month of November.  I try to really be thankful each day, but I know I am not perfect.  I hope that putting one thing in writing every day I will truly remember to be more appreciative in my daily life and prayers.

Today I am very thankful for my little boys!  They constantly amaze me with the new things they learn and do (both good and bad, tee hee).

Just tonight I took both of them to Mass by myself (Matt had to work late) and on the way there Jack declares "I'm going to be good at church"... and sure enough he was great!  They were both great and I feel like it was the first time in a very long time that I felt like I was really able to participate in [most of] Mass.

This morning Christopher woke up late, which wasn't that great from the perspective of needing to get to work, but it was SO nice to not have my little alarm clock waking up at 5:30 am.  After he finally woke up, he reached for me and I held him while he just hugged me and laid his head on my shoulder while I got ready for work.  Love that he is a mama's boy!

I am so very blessed to be their mom!

My Baby is 1!

I know I have been terrible about posting as of late... I chalk it up to being busy at work and with things for the local ACS section, as well as other general life stuff!  But on to the fun stuff...

My baby boy is officially 1!  He turned 1 last Saturday and definitely seemed to have a lot of fun at his party.  His 1 year check up at the pediatrician's was on Tuesday and he was 20 pounds 13 ounces and 28 inches.  He's dropped to the 25% across the board, which is where he started out as far as his birth weight was.  The doctor said he might be starting to reach his "genetic potential" as far as growing curves goes.  It will be interesting to see if that is true because I think he will be taller because of his big feet and long fingers!

Christopher LOVES to eat... he eats more than Jack these days!  His favorite foods are strawberries, french toast, and puffs/Cheerios.  I am still nursing him (yay!) but at about 11 months we did have to start supplementing during the work day, because I am not pumping quite enough to keep up.  I don't know how much longer he will want to nurse, but so far he is interested (which might change next week when I go on a trip for a training course).  He is a pro at sippy cups, just as long as it is the "right one."

He's becoming quite steady on his feet, though he is not quite walking.  He can walk while holding on to pretty much anything or anyone and still loves to climb!

He is definitely a "mama's boy" and I love it (most of the time ;-)). Some of his words are "hi" and "got it"... he says "mama" but I think it is still more in the babbling way.

Here are some pictures from his birthday party:

Happy baby eating his birthday lunch!  He LOVES strawberries!

The "before" Christopher's smash cake... Jack helped me make the cake and I did the decorating... not too bad for not being a professional!

Christopher enjoying his new rocking chair that my grandma got for him!

Concentrating on opening a present!  Big brother was helping a bit too!

He was genuinely excited about his gifts and I found it adorable!

Opening a BIG box... looking like quite the little man!

Eating some chocolate cake!

It didn't last long because I don't think he was crazy about having sticky fingers!

As you can tell, his birthday was owl themed!  I will have to show the invitation and maybe even a tutorial on how I made them because I am kind of proud of them.

Hope everyone had a blessed All Saints' Day today!  I will do another post soon on the boys' Halloween with pictures of their costumes and even some Halloween commentary from Jack!

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

So, today wasn't just National Ice Cream Day... it was the day on which I braved the grocery store alone with two children for more than just a gallon of milk.  I must say, the boys did excellent!  Jack did have a minor freak out at the fact that there were NO car shopping carts.  The only way we made it into the store was by me carrying a 33 lb. 3 year old while pushing the cart with the 8 month old... ah, I was a site to see.

And of course, I couldn't go to the grocery store without getting ice cream to celebrate!  Here's Jack enjoying the treat after dinner:

And we can't leave Christopher out:

Playing with Daddy's Arnold Palmer while I cooked dinner!

And We're Off!

Christopher is officially 8 months old and approximately 19 pounds (as measured by the weight by loss method on our home scale).  He has been crawling for a couple of weeks now and is getting quicker every day.  His favorite room to go to is our bathroom, hence why Matt is standing in the bathroom as Christopher makes a beeline for the doorway.  He also heads straight for his big brother's toys... especially Jack's train tracks.  Jack feels it is his responsibility to always take things away from Christopher & tell him no... even if it is a toy that is perfectly fine for Christopher to play with.  Bossy big brother much?

Christopher is pretty regularly eating two solid food "meals" a day outside of nursing or getting breastmilk in a bottle.  He's had peas, carrots, green beans and most recently squash.  The only thing he has consistently made a face at has been peas.  Oh well..

He LOVES swimming in the pool and swinging on the play set.  Though he does get a bit ticked when the sun is in his eyes and he can't quite figure out how to make that stop (by you know, closing his eyes).

My little Mama's boy!

Silly boy!

I LOVE this picture... so sweet!

Happy early 4th of July everyone!

Baby Boy is 7 Months!

We had Christopher's "6 month" check-up the Friday before he turned 7 months.  He was 18 pounds 8.5 ounces, 27 inches long and had a 43 centimeters head circumference.  That puts him in the 50th percentile for height and weight and between the 25th-50th percentile for head size.

He's easily sitting up unassisted and trying to climb and even starting to get on all fours to try crawling.  He goes from sitting to try and get on his hands and knees but usually gets a foot stuck and can't quite get there.  It won't be long I'm sure!

Here is my adorable little man!

His favorite band is O.A.R. and he loves to listen to it on Mommy's iPhone.  (Seriously, it calms him right down when he's fussy... must be that concert he went to when I was pregnant with him.)

On his chair... getting so big!

Thinking about lunging for Mommy's camera.

Playing with his bear!

Happy Half-birthday Christopher!

I can not believe my baby boy is halfway to his first birthday!  He is at a very fun age for me... he is sitting, cracking up at funny things (especially his big brother!), getting into toys a LOT, and getting to enjoy his first bits of solid food.  Here's my big boy:

Happy boy in his exersaucer!

No Mom, I want to be silly not take pictures!

Good lookin' boy!

With his bear on the blanket his Bapie made him.

Enjoying his cereal + breast milk... must have been bad timing because it looks like he doesn't like it but he is usually lunging for the spoon!

After his first serving of cereal... that is spilled  cereal on the high chair tray.  Somebody thinks it's fun to tip bowls over already!

My Smiley Baby is 2 Months Old!

You can see his 1 month update here.

We had Christopher's 2 month check-up last Friday.  He weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds 4 ounces (up almost 6 pounds in 9 weeks) and is 23 1/4 inches long.  He's continuing to stay in the 50-75% percentile range for length and weight.

He's getting pretty good at holding his head up while laying on his tummy.  His favorite person to look at is Jack... watches him go everywhere!  He's rolled over one more time in the past month and is constantly moving his legs when he's lying on the ground.  I can only imagine how quick he will just take off rolling... then crawling... then walking!  Here are a few 2 month pictures!

Such a smiley boy!  This 0-3 month onesie is getting pretty tight on him!

On his blanket crocheted by his Bapie with his bear from Mommy, Daddy & Jack!

Pushing his bear away... It was our cue that he was done with the photo shoot!

The "Chrisfer" Song

Brought to you by one very silly big brother (complete with carseat dance)!

You can see my younger sister behind Jack joining in on the dance!

Where does the time go?

Our baby boy is 1 month old... seriously?  When did that happen?  I thought time went quickly with Jack.

Today was his 1 month check-up.  He was 10 lbs and 22 inches long/tall... that's roughly a 3 1/2 pounds and 2 inches gained in a month!  Such a growing boy!

Yesterday, he rolled over from his tummy to his back!  I'm almost certain it was a bit of a fluke, but he has seemed motivated to move since the day he was born so maybe not!

Trying to catch the end of a smile... at least I'm pretty sure it was a smile at the nice frog that sings to him while he's sitting in the bouncy seat!

I'm 1 month old!  Like my sweet owl on my belly?

Here is Christopher with his teddy bear that Mommy, Daddy & big brother Jack made for him before he was born!

The Bonds of Brotherhood

It has been amazing to watch the love between Jack and Christopher grow over the past couple of weeks!  I am so thankful for how easy of a transition from one child to two has been... the instant connection for Jack to his baby brother has been awesome!

Jack talking to his baby brother... he loves to lay on the ground with Christopher when he's getting some "wiggle time"!

Not to say he doesn't get a little jealous, but only when Daddy's getting some Christopher time.  (Jack is a major Daddy's boy.)

Christopher "enjoying" tummy time... and though you can't tell, he's actually lifting his head a decent bit and in this picture he was actually swinging his legs as if he were trying to roll over... I know he wasn't but I wouldn't be surprised if he did it earlier than we expect!

A quick weight stat from Christopher's 12 day check-up (it was just a weight check even though he was already over his birth-weight at 5 days), he was at 7 pounds 6.5 ounces which is 13 ounces in one week!  He seems to be a very "efficient" nurser... he doesn't nurse very long, but he's obviously gaining a lot plenty of weight so he's getting what he needs!  It seems kind of strange to me simply because Jack was still nursing for nearly 40 minutes every 2 hours at this point... just goes to show how different babies can be!

Welcome Christopher!

Well, it has definitely been a while since I've posted... things have been a bit busy around here! 

Christopher joined our family (well, outside of my womb) last Thursday, October 27th at 7:44 p.m.

Christopher warming up in our labor & delivery room.

Getting some skin-to-skin snuggles in with the little man!

He weighed in at a peanut size 6 pounds 8 ounces (the exact weight I was at birth), which is substantially less than I expected after his big brother was 8 pounds 2 ounces.  (It's also more in line with what size baby I thought I would have before Jack was born.)  He is 20 inches long and his head is 13 inches in circumference.  He also has a full head of DARK hair... I think the first thing I said when they put him on my chest was "Look at all that hair!"

He's breastfeeding like a champ, everywhere from 1 to 3 hours between feedings. (I'm sure we can all guess when he decides to eat more frequently, *hint* the sun is not up when this happens.)  We had his 5 day check-up with our pediatrician today and he was already back over his birth weight at 6 pounds 9.5 ounces.  Granted, he was weighed and then decided to poop... so he's approximately over his birth weight.

Jack peeking at his baby brother after Christopher's bath... he was already in love!

Holding his baby brother, with a bit of help.  The hospital setting was a bit overwhelming for Jack and he wasn't so sure about everything while we were there.  Plus, he was really interested in all of the new things to look at!  (You can also see Christopher's dark hair!)

"Baby's nose" - Jack loves to play name-that-part on Christopher... its quite adorable.  You can also see Christopher's beautiful baby blanket crocheted by my mother-in-law.

Jack with his big brother present, a real digital camera!  He took pictures of everybody and everything while we were in the hospital... including the IV stand and himself.

Jack is a wonderful big brother!  He loves to "help" with diaper changes by showing Christopher toys and has only had a few moments of acting out.  I can't say that the acting out is really because of his new baby brother though, it is all pretty standard 2 year old behavior!

Christopher in his first cloth diaper as we were getting ready to go home... if I knew I was going to have more of a peanut I probably would've gotten more of these Rumparooz Lil Joey's.  So far, they're Matt's favorite!

My beautiful family!

I thought it would be appropriate to make my first "thanksgiving" post in November about Christopher... I am so blessed to have a second little boy to love!