today I am…

Stats- (let’s face it, I really should only put stats on the posts that we go to the doctor for since I can’t seem to get my act together enough to get them at home)

Weight- Honestly, we really need to get our scale fixed because otherwise I have no idea how much this chunk of love weighs… I will try to do that soon I promise.

Height-

Teeth- Still none, although he is working on that

Things of note-

*Sleeping- He has been in his own room for about a month now (maybe more) and generally sleeps through the night.  We did have him on his back for the first little while he was in there and bless his little heart he just couldn’t sleep that way.  I am pretty sure it bothers his acid reflux so now that I have flipped him to his tummy (like he sleeps for his naps) he is doing much better and sleeping more soundly.

*Acid Reflux- We are still battling the acid reflux with Charlie Man.  Unfortunately, within the last week or so it has really been bothering him and he has been spiting up more than usual.  We do have a new medication that we are going to try with him (it is possible that he out grew his last dosage or it doesn’t affect him as well anymore) and we have started giving him a little rice cereal last weekend in hopes of helping the food stay down a bit better.  I found a lot of info after researching alternative treatments that a little bit of solid food in the tummy with help ground the food.

*He is grabbing at everything these days.  Nothing within an arms reach is really safe anymore-it’s all fair game!  Oh and anything he actually does get his little hands on goes straight into his mouth.

*Teeth- While he still doesn’t actually have any his gums are really tough and man is he chewing on things something fierce!  Whether it be paci, hands, toys or other random objects they usually go straight to his mouth.

*Food- we have been giving him a tiny bit of Rice Cereal every day for a little bit now.  And while he is still exclusively breast feed outside of this he is getting one bowl (about a tablespoon) of cereal a day.

*Paci vs. Thumb- he is shall we say ambi-suckstress.  He slightly prefers his thumb to a paci; however, he is pretty content to use a paci if it is there and given to him.  Within the last week or so he will do anything to get the paci into his mouth if he sees it in the crib and to his credit he gets it in a good percentage of the time.

*Talking-  He talks frequently and to many people.  It is really adorable to watch since he is already so animated when he speaks- he laughs and giggles throughout the whole conversation.

Likes:

*Being woken up by the bird.  Frequently Charlie wakes up when I am in the middle of doing something (dishes etc) so in the time it takes for me to come to a stopping point Jay has gone into his room to check on him and crawled into the crib with him.  I know that I should be mad at Jay for doing this and stop it; however, Charlie really loves to be woken up this way.  He smiles, coos and watches his brother the whole time they are in the crib together.

*Jay Bird-  Their relationship is a post all in itself.  But man-o-man do these boys adore each other.  Jay is always checking up on him, wanting to know how Charlie is and helping in whatever way he can with anything Charlie.  Charlie on the other hand watches Jay’s every move, looks up to him already- you can already see the admiration that he has for him and Jay is the one person that he without fail will reward with his full on belly laughs.  The moments between the two of them make all the crazy that is having two very young kiddos so, so worth it.

*His feet- he can’t get enough of them right now and is frequently grabbing on them and chewing on them as well.

*Rolling over- He has been able to roll for the last month however, he has really gotten good at this within the last two weeks or so.  If you put him down, over he flips without fail.  Also, he can flip from his tummy to his back now too- which ticks him off it he does this when he is in the crib and just waking up (again, I think it is an acid reflux thing).

*Being Outside- this is nothing new for any of my guys really- they are all happiest when they are outside.  A week or so ago I put a blanket down in the grass and Charlie loved it- his little toes danced around in the grass and he giggled the whole time (I can’t wait to post the photos I got of him during this- SO cute!)

*Sitting Up- the boy loves it!  Honestly, it is probably his favorite position to be in these days.  Lying down bothers his tummy and he doesn’t get much freedom to move when he is being held.  Sitting however allows him to see most everything that is going on around and to play!  He can sit up on his own for a good bit without assistance however if he has the assistance (a boppy pillow or someone’s legs around him he can go for much longer.

*The exersaucer- It’s almost as good as sitting up AND it has toys attached, enough said :)

*Nursery Rhymes and Songs from Mommy- he’s still a fan and they usually make him smile.  Singing to him is my go-to mood changer if I have a sad/fussy little boy on my hands.

*Books- the amount of time that I have available to read to Charlie is far less than I had with Jay.  However, he is frequently included while we read with Jay and he can make it through 3-4 shortish books or 1 longer one  before getting to antsy.  Lately, he has also really taken notice  (and in my opinion enjoyed) looking at the illustrations that accompany the books we read.  This is a big for us- we LOVE how much Jay Bird likes to read and we hope that Charlie will be the same way too.

Dislikes:

*Loud noises- In particular when his brother yells really loudly and more specifically when he yells really loudly in his face.  It startles him and he starts screaming.  Not fun and not especially easy to explain to the Bird.

friday from the phone

just a peak at our Friday cause I have it ;)

what I came in to find after walking Daddy out to the car in the morning… when I asked Jay what he was doing he mater of factly told me that he was watching baby Charlie (Charlie was in his bouncer on the floor in the kitchen)

drinking from a big boy cup

even with Super Jay riding along we didn’t get in and out of publix in under an hour… honestly, the only thing that would make me happier than the public cape appearances is if he had a pair of rain boots too :)

happy baby

what Jay’s bed usually looks like in the morning and after naps… not sure how he sleeps with all of that stuff in it

not a super happy baby- his acid reflux is bothering him still and he’s getting teeth to boot!

my view is pretty sweet though…

supper prep- look here for the super delicious recipe

after supper outside playtime

super weekend

We had a super weekend- lots of great family time, lots of things accomplished and checked off of our list, lots and lots of fun!

Jay has been wearing the Superman Cape that my Dad gave him pretty frequently these days (it’s fantastic and I LOVE that he asks to wears it out in public- it usually gets a lot of smiles from strangers too).  On Saturday he wore it to lunch at Hot Dog Heaven.  He had a great time flying with Daddy after lunch and I was lucky to capture a few of these gems.

*Note… if you are faint at heart you may not want to scroll down too far for there is most definitely children “flying” the air ;)

 

And just so Charlie didn’t feel left out, he got to fly too!

Both boys LOVE this by the way and none of the photos were Photoshopped ;)

good bye highchair

For the last few weeks I have been letting Jay sit with me at the table and have lunch.  I wanted to slowly transition him out of the highchair before Charlie needed it so he didn’t feel like he was being kicked out.  However, he has done so well it’s kind of become a regular thing.  He crawls up on his own and buckles himself right in.  He’s getting to be such a big boy these days; honestly I am afraid to blink too long for fear of missing any of it.

and yes the majority of his plate is filled with fruit… not a battle I want to fight these days ;)

all before noon

Such an exciting day we had and all before noon…

We prepped dinner and sampled the “goods”…

We were sure to share with our friends…

We watched cars dive from great heights and then dove a little ourselves…

We watched race cars race at “very fast” speeds…

We took airplanes for rides and did loop-de-loops…

We hauled bricks, loaded trains and used a crane…

We took our friends to the train and saw them off on an adventure to “hot dolphin” (aka Hot Dog Heaven)…

We read a half dozen stories- The Lorax, I love You this Much, Little Blue Truck, Curious George and many others…

We met some new friends and attended to all of their needs…

We caught sight of an extremely adorable squishy…

And we had guests for lunch…

I don’t know about you but our day has been full, really full… gloriously and wonderfully full ;)

our chalkboard wall

In a moment of insanity I decided that it would be a good idea to redecorate our home… this moment came sometime after Jamie went back to work after Charlie was born and probably after days of not getting out much.  I told Jamie that it had never really felt like ‘our’ home (we were younger when we moved in and painted every wall in the house and I most certainly would not pick the stuff that I picked out then again) and that I really wanted a change. Surprisingly, he agreed to let me change things up and I haven’t looked back since.

If I had my way we would be able to do it all in one fell swoop (I hate the in-between stages of projects); however, our budget says otherwise and we are doing it little bit by little bit after saving and budgeting for the changes… it’s what we can do right now so it works ;)

I am nowhere near being ready to share any before and after photos with you all (like I said it’s been a process); however, I do want to show off one of my favorite changes so far- our kitchen chalkboard wall!  We took the simple green wall in the kitchen and turned a 4×8 section of it into a massive chalkboard!  I was desperate to find something to entertain my super busy toddler during the last hour before Daddy gets home- you know the hour when he is tired, hungry and cranky AND I am trying to make dinner and entertain my littlest chunk of love.  We needed something that would allow for both of us to be alive and in one piece when Jamie walks through the door and we hit the jackpot with this addition.  Our little bird loves it and it proves to be a great conversation piece after Daddy gets home and we sit down for supper.  I am sorry but I really don’t have any great tutorials on how to make one of these for yourself and I certainly didn’t take any photos of the during process; however, if you really would like more info feel free to leave a comment and I will try to answer as best I can.

couldn't resist

Jay is on a dinosaur kick right now so this is commissioned work... (don't judge the artist too much!)

almost a week ago I was…

A day late but not a dollar short that’s for sure… here’s the update on my sweet little one.

height- 23.5 inches long (the exact same as Jay at his age)

weight- a whopping 16lbs 6oz!! (more than 2lbs more than Jay at his age)

Things of note:

-To begin with Charlie is probably the sweetest happiest baby around.  I know that he is mine and therefore I am biased but this child is the picture of patience and so genuinely happy all of the time; I sincerely can’t get enough of him.  It seems as though he has gotten Jamie’s laid back/whatever attitude in combination with my happy-go-lucky and it makes for the most wonderful little boy.

-He has been laughing for more than a month now.  It is the sweetest sound around :)

-He is also a little ticklish… not a whole lot but from time to time if you get his belly, neck or the top of his legs just right you can hear that sweet baby laugh.

-He started rolling over on Saturday.  He goes from his back to his front (which I understand to be unusual; however, both of my boys have gone back to front first).  He has done it a few times since then and is marginally happy when he gets there but you better help him out soon since he still isn’t a fan of being on his tummy for too long.

-He is an absolute angel as far a sleeping goes.  He has pretty much been sleeping through the night since he was 3 months old.  I honestly believe that part of this has to do with his personality but there is also a portion of this that I attribute to the sleep training work that we have done with him since he was two weeks old.  He has a bed time routine and has had for months now and I think it really, really helps.  He is also a pretty good napper; frequently, he will fuss a tiny bit then just crash so he can be placed in his crib on his tummy (oh the horror, I know- but it works).  Lately, he has been fighting a little harder to stay awake between naps (I think it’s because he is aware of things more and is starting to not want to miss out on anything) so I have been putting him down while he is still awake and while he fusses a little bit he usually gives in and goes to sleep on his own.  Like I said- angel :)

-He has really started paying attention to the things around him.  He has been watching Jay from quite early on (however, I would have concerns if he wasn’t.  Jay can be a whole lot and also pretty in your face) but now he has also noticed Piper and Dolce (Bella doesn’t stick around the littles long enough to be noticed).  He will turn your way when he is called and flash you a huge smile as soon as he sees you.

-Teething has started.  We have a randomly cranky boy (screams out of nowhere for no reason), he chews on anything that he can reach and we have tons of drool.  So, yes we are teething; we’re just hoping that he doesn’t take as long as Jay did to cut teeth.

-He has found his feet.  He doesn’t get them every time he tries but when he does he is pretty darn proud of himself for grabbing them.

Likes:

-Bouncer chair.  While he is quickly outgrowing this chair he still enjoys it quite a bit and for that I am really glad!  It has saved me quite a few times when I have needed some place to put him.  We are looking into getting a bumbo, even though we think they are pretty silly looking, since he likes sitting up so much.

-Exersaucer.  He is a tad too small for this yet; however, he does enjoy it quite a bit and is wanting to stay in it for longer and longer periods of time.  The only challenge I have when he is in it is getting Jay to not spin it around and around.

-Tick tock.  I am pretty much guaranteed a huge smile and sometimes a laugh if I hold him up in the air and swing him back and forth like the pendulum on a clock while saying “tick, tock, tick, tock”.  It’s such a silly game but he loves it. (editor’s note: for the worried grandmothers, the pivot of the pendulum is his shoulders/neck, so his head stays relatively stationary during the tick tock)

-Nursery rhymes and silly songs.  He loves to be sung to (he isn’t as picky as his Daddy is about me staying on key) and loves when I swing his arms along with a song or a rhyme.  It’s can almost always get a smile out of him.  Some of his favorites are Patty-Cake, Do your Ears Hang Low?, and Tony Knows (Toe, Knee, Noes).

-Crinkle toys are his favorite although he does enjoy a few of his wooden HABA toys as well but the crinkle ones are his favorite.  He loves to grab them and smash them into his face and eat the ribbon tags on them.  Honestly, I love that these are his favorites since two out of the three that he has are ones that I made for him ;)

-Muslin Blankets.  He has really taken to the muslin blankets that he has.  They are super lightweight and very soft.  He loves to eat them, ball them up with his fists, kick them with his fists, curl up on them and fall asleep on them, suck on the edges- you name it he probably does it with these blankets.

Dislikes:

-The only thing that comes to mind right now is he is not a huge fan of when Jay yells really loudly.  It’s a little too much for him (it usually startles him) and he is quick to cry after it happens.  However, other than that he is pretty much a wonderful baby so I don’t really have a long list of dislikes…

I guess that about sums him up at this age.  Enjoy the rest of the photos of this super sweet little one and although he smiles all of the time  face to face he usually makes funny faces at my camera so catching a really good Charlie smile can be hard to do.

usually the face I get from him when he first sees my camera- I know it's big but really!

not a fabulous photo since my camera strap is in it BUT you can see a pretty great Charlie smile if you look hard enough