Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

Just tap and say "Mama"

Sam has recently taken to running up to me and gently pushing/batting me with both of his hands. It's not very hard, but I don't want it to turn into hitting. I had a theory that maybe he was just doing it when he wanted my attention so I decided to teach him to tap me on the shoulder or leg with one finger to get my attention. When he came up to me as I was finishing dinner and pushed my leg with both hands, I took the opportunity to stop him and say that if he wanted my attention, he should say "Mama" and use one finger to tap me. I demonstrated this by saying "Mama" and tapping his shoulder gently with one finger. I went through this several times and it appeared he was starting to get it. He decided to repeat it back to me to show me he understood it. So he said "Mama" and gently with one finger tapped his own shoulder. Of course I meant for him to tap me like I was tapping him, but being the literal toddler he is, he thought he just needed to tap his own shoulder and say "Mama" to get my attention. Needless to say, Dave and I had a good laugh over that. :)

My burgeoning web programmer

Note how Sam has arranged the letters JSON in his blocks. Coincidence? I think not!

Too tight!

Sam was wearing Andrew's shirt - we thought it was just a little small....

First bath!

Three weeks for a bath....does that seem wrong?

I could get used to this

Jose and Andrew get some quality time together.

One on two

This was my first week alone with the boys starting on Wednesday. So far I've survived and it hasn't been too bad. It has been lots easier because friends have brought over dinners this week and I haven't had to worry about cooking or grocery shopping. I'm learning the art of timing their sleeping so I can nap. Ideally I nurse Andrew and get him to sleep around 11:30am, just before I put Sam down for his nap so I can sleep for as much of Sam's two hour nap as possible. So far I've managed 0 minutes one day, 1 hr the next and 45 minutes today. The nights are still rough (asleep 2 hrs, awake 1-2 hrs, asleep 2-3 hrs, awake 1 hr, then Dave lets me sleep in 1 hr and I'm up for the day), but I'm managing alright.

Adjusting to brother

The most common question we get about Sam these days is: "How is he adjusting to being a big brother?" All in all, Sam is doing quite well. He likes to give Andrew kisses and give him his blanket or pacifier. He alerts us when the baby makes noises and says "uh oh" when Andrew loses his pacifier. He's learning the art of gentle one finger strokes of Andrew's hair and to leave the baby alone when he's sleeping or nursing. However, Sam is pushing up against boundaries more and I feel like I'm saying "No" much more often. He's reverted back to biting when he's excited, experimenting with standing on the arm of the couch, climbing the back of the couch and head-butting. Some of it is also his age and the excitement of having Grandma and Grandpa come visit. I try to be sure we have some good one-on-one time and that he knows sometimes the baby has to wait while I finish taking care of him. We'll see how things change as Andrew becomes more interactive and also demands more of my attention.
-Christine

Houdini Pee

Andrew has mastered the art of leaking pee out of the middle of his back. Don't ask me how, but often just after you've finished changing his diaper, you go to pick him up and "Pow!" he's wet all over the middle of his back. Makes for lots of laundry...

I guess they are brothers...

...the resemblance is a bit uncanny.

Good name...

All tucked in and tuckered out

Sam generally is very good as we are reading him books and getting him ready for bed, but after we put him in and say it's time to sleep, he usually lets out a cry and stands up. Now, he only lasts about 5 minutes and then quiets down. The other day Dave experimented with tucking Sam in under his blanket and it worked like a charm! No getting up and no crying. Was he just waiting all this time for us to figure out he likes to be tucked in? We don't know, but it seems to work so we're sticking with it.

One Dimple

I'll try to get a picture of Andrew smiling in his sleep, because one of the cutest things is he's got one little dimple in his right cheek, but none in his left. He's just charming when he smiles and flashes that one dimple.

Bursting Forth

Sam has started to try out all sorts of new words in the last month and even just this last week: yogurt, off, on, Andrew, carry, mine, grandma, train, plane, go, stool, please, thank you, hello, up, raisin, bib. Most are just one syllable renditions of the words...but still his communication skills are just growing by leaps and bounds.

Adjusting to baby brother

Sam is in an adjustment period right now, getting used to finally having the baby home (it's been 6 days) and learning what that's like. In some ways he's helpful and quite observant. He's always bringing me Andrew's pacifier when he finds it somewhere and says "Baby, baby." He also likes to bring Andrew his blanket and offers up his toy cell phone to him to talk on. He goes around labeling all the things that belong to baby (car seat, chair, bassinet, changing table) and alerts us whenever Andrew starts crying by shouting choruses of "Baby, baby." On the other side, he's testing out limits with Mom and often does things he knows he shouldn't just to get a reaction (climb up the end of the couch, stand on a chair, bite, head butt). He started experimenting with doing these behaviors while Mom is nursing, to see if she'll actually put baby down and stop Sam (answer is yes, she will, so don't think she's immobile). I'm trying to make sure to put in quality play time with him and he's getting lots of attention and outings with his grandparents as well. Luckily the baby is sleeping so much he doesn't require a lot of attention right now, so I can spend time focusing on Sam too. One thing that warms our heart is he's learning to say Andrew's name: "Ah-ew" and enjoys gently stroking his hair or foot (with one finger to ensure gentleness).

Ice! Cars!

A few weeks ago Sam bumped his head in a tumble down the stairs. He survived just fine (phew!), but I wanted to avoid a big goose egg between his eyebrows, so I told him we had to ice his owie. In order to sweeten the deal (normally icing lasts about 20 seconds with a toddler), I said we could watch the movie Cars while his forehead was being iced. I made it clear, though, that if the ice came off, the movie went off to. Well, we iced for 20 minutes! He was enthralled with the movie and decided anything was worth enduring to watch. This week he made me laugh because several times he's gotten small owies which are followed by a request for ice and then a request to watch Cars. Apparently he remembered the treat he got and is looking for opportunities to get it again. Too funny.

No diet for me!

Today Andrew was weighed at the doctor's and he's managed to regain his birth weight (8lb 9oz or 3.885kg) in 9 days. They usually want to make sure they do so by 14 days, so he's doing really well! It made me feel reassured because he has turned out to be a super efficient nurser. Babies take anywhere from 1o minutes to 45 minutes to complete a nursing and Andrew knocks them out in an average of 7 minutes. Sometimes he'll eat often, every hour or hour and a half, but other times he nurses for 7 minutes and then sleeps for three and a half hours! Not that I'm complaining, and apparently he's getting what he needs to grow. He's also a champion sleeper (knock on wood) and spends much of his day and night sleeping, with minimal fussing. So far he's been a really easy baby to care for, which is a blessing as I'm learning to balance caring for Sam and Andrew.

Sweetpea & Daddy

I get such a feeling of peace and inner joy holding either of my children when they are asleep.

Cute...and part Klingon?

Is it just me or does he look a little like Worf?

Homeward bound

Andrew is coming home with us!

Real clothes

No IV, no wires, no UV lights...
Woohoo!!
Just a hearing test to go.

Biliruben no more!

No more club ICU for Andrew!

Coming home!!

Biliruben at 11.5!
Its time to blow this popsicle stand!

Bililrubin is down!

Bilirubin level is 11.2 - low enough!

Now we wait to talk to the doctor and see if he gets discharged this AM or PM. Yay!!

Goal 2 met, but struggling on Goal 3

Andrew ate enough breastmilk through the night to significantly decrease the sugar solution they were feeding him through the IV, so he met Goal 2! However, his billirubin level was 15.2 this morning (he needs to be below 10), indicating he's still struggling with jaundice. So he won't be released today and they'll move him under the big lights in his own incubator. This is the "baby club med" that his brother Sam also visited in the NICU in his early days. The good news is I can start breastfeeding him in addition to the bottles and they'll take his billirubin levels again tomorrow and hopefully they are low enough they can release him.
-Christine