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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

He's Tall!

Those were the words I heard when Jack was following the nurse down the hallway to his doctor's appointment this morning.  I guess since Matt wasn't there they couldn't see the other half of his gene pool, so yes, he is "tall" compared to me.  Over half my height at 20.5 months to be exact.  We got a new pediatrician this time around because our last pediatrician left the practice we go to without any notice to us.  When she asked me how many words Jack was saying, I blanked... "Umm, 40-50?"  Gosh, he's probably saying more than that... he says a new word or phrase every day or every other day.  His latest funny phrases "O.K." (similar to how a Little Rascal would say it), "Oh no" (which sounds much more like "oh mo"), and "I got you" when playfully reaching towards Matt or I as if he couldn't reach us.

Jack weighed in at 27 pounds 10 ounces and measured at 34 inches tall/long.  Both height & weight are between the 50% and 75% percentile for his age, a bit higher than he's been at the past so he seems to have had a bit of a growth spurt!

Here's my beautiful "baby" boy these days:

Playing with a lightsaber at Matt's grandma's house... Matt was SO proud!

Real boys wear pink bowls on his head and say "cheese" for his "mama"

Happy Monday everyone!

Big Day!

Jack had his 15 month check-up (and yes, he's practically 16 months) but here are his stats:

• 25 lbs. 10 oz. (50th percentile)
• 31 inches tall/long (50th percentile)
• 18 inches head circumference (I don't know if I got this right)

I don't know how accurate his height is because he was extremely wiggly when Matt and the nurse was holding him on the exam table to get his height (really measured by how long he against essentially a yardstick on the table).  I am looking to buy a cute growth chart and maybe he'd be more cooperative to just stand and be measured.  We had them growing up and I'd love to keep up with one for Jack now that he's walking/standing.  Let me know if you know of any stores that carry super cute ones!

Our pediatrician mentioned that this appointment & his 18 month appointment are two of the hardest because of how aware little ones are at this age.  Boy, was she right!  He fought being measured... and the shots!  I am just very glad that Matt goes to the doctor's appointment because he can help hold Jack MUCH better than I can.  The nurse & doctor both said he's got really strong legs... I guess they found out because of how hard my son was kicking them.  Ugh... I do hope that it gets better!

Along with the doctor's appointment, Jack got his 1st haircut today!!  I kept debating and was so scared he wouldn't look like my baby boy anymore, but I am glad we did it!  I'll let the rest of the story be in pictures:

Before: Crazy wispies!



Getting settled into the car seat with Thomas the train on the TV in front of him... Loved getting to drive!



Playing with the basket of cars & toys the hairdresser put in his lap to distract him!

Getting a little annoyed with the hairdresser holding his head.



"Okay, I'm not having fun anymore" (notice Matt's hand trying to play with the trucks with him)



Playing on the play set at Cookie Cutters after his haircut!

Happy boy going down the slide!

He also got a cute little certificate with a GREAT picture of him smiling after his haircut, but I can't get it to load today!  All in all, the 1st haircut went WAY better than expected even with the minor breakdown.  I really liked our experience at Cookie Cutter's and it worked out perfectly for Jack's personality!