Swimming, Running, and Mommy Attachment

Owen had swimming lessons this morning. He's been taking them at Lebanon Valley College since he was about 5 months old. He's at the age where he just wants to play in the pool and jump in rather than listen to the teacher talk. It's good for him, but a little tiring for Mike, who is the one getting in the pool with him since I refuse to until I no longer look 6 months pregnant!
Speaking of still looking pregnant.... I started running this week. The first time was rough, but today went much better. I am starting out VERY slow since my body forgets how to run and I am carrying around a ton of extra weight! My goal is to run in the Harrisburg Half Marathon in the fall. Mike and I are going to do it together. I really have no excuse since I am not working. The only thing that would hold me back is if my milk supply would decrease, which I hope does not happen.

Here's some pictures from Adam's bath tonight. Mike loves making mohawks, mustaches, and beards on the boys with soap suds.

Adam is starting to become very attached to me. Up until now he really did not mind who held him when he was upset. Today, while I was trying to take a nap, I heard him crying downstairs and Mike was trying to get him to calm down. I finally came down and held him and he went right to sleep on me. He watches me wherever I go and has started to get upset when I leave the room. We try to give him a bottle now and then and tonight Mike was going to give him one. He has given him a bottle pretty many times and Adam has been fine. Well tonight he screamed and screamed until I came up and tried and he took the bottle right away. We'll have to work on that or I won't be able to go anywhere for more than a couple hours for a long time! I remember Owen went through the same thing (not with the bottle though). It lasted for a while and Mike would get upset. Now they are inseparable!

This Week....

Adam and Owen both were at the doctor for their well child visits. Owen is in the 35-40th percentile for height (27 inches) and weight (31 lbs). Adam is in the 50th for height and the 75th for weight. We are going to have Owen "evaluated" by someone from early intervention to see if he qualifies for speech services. He has a very extensive vocabulary, however he is hard to understand. We don't notice it that much since we are around him daily. I think he is behind in some of his sounds because he had so many ear infections when he was a baby. All the important sounds he was supposed to be hearing probably sounded muffled. I am not sure if he will qualify for services, but the resident doctor that we saw before Dr. Schaffer suggested we look into it. Maybe she overheard him singing "Wain wain go away" at the top of his lungs while we were waiting for the doctor to see us.

Adam is doing MUCH MUCH better now that he is on Zantac. I did not realize how much he screamed while he was eating until he stopped and could go through a feeding without getting so upset. I hope it keeps working!

I finally took Adam's two month picture.Here is Owen at two months. I don't think they look anything alike in these pictures.
We've also been having fun planting seeds and watching them grow.

Painting with water.Feeding Elmo.
Playing hockey.
And taking colorful baths!

Happy 2 Month Birthday Adam!

Dear Adam,

Today you are two months old! Here is what you are up to:

- You weigh 12 lbs 15 ounces and are 23.5 inches long. You wear 3-6 month clothes.
- You are finally getting hair on top of your head and it is blond. You look cuter everyday!
- You are smiling a lot more now and even starting to laugh. It melts my heart when you smile at me. You are very chatty and have a lot to say. We even think we've heard you say "Hi" a few times!
- Your hands are becoming unclenched. You enjoy sucking on your fist when your pacifier falls out.
- You are beginning to fall into a schedule. You go to bed around 7:30 or 8 at night. You take a morning nap about an hour after you wake up in the morning and an afternoon nap around 1ish. You nap a little in the evening too. Last night you slept almost 8 hours through the night (7 hours and 41 min. to be exact)!!
- You enjoy baths.
- You like to watch your big brother play and you love when he talks to you. He is always sharing his toys and blankie with you.
- You went on your first trip to the beach.
- Unfortunately you are having some issues eating. This past weekend you started screaming everytime you ate. The doctor said he thinks it is reflux and prescribed medicine. We are really hoping it works because it breaks our heart to see you in such pain when you eat. I just love all your yummy rolls and if you don't eat well they might go away!

We love you so much!

Love,
Mommy

My Little Lactator

I thought Owen breastfeeding Elmo was a once and done thing, but I was wrong! Today he decided his "bebe" was hungry and he wanted to feed and burp him. I made sure to get pictures this time!

I got up to get the camera and when I came back he had the boppy in his lap. Breastfeeding is hard work! I offered him a bottle instead. I tried to tell him that only mommies can feed their baby that way. He gave the bottle a try. But in the end, he went back to breastfeeding, or a combination of the two. Don't forget to burp your baby!

Buddies

We decided not to have a birthday party with friends this year for Owen. It was just too much with a new baby and going to the beach. Instead, he had two friends (Aiden and Levi) come over to play for a couple hours. They had a great time!!

Some Pictures

Adam being cheerful.

A big yawn.

Daddy reading to Adam.
Owen's trains. This is not even all of them. I think he has enough:)

April Beach Trip

On Sunday morning we left for our first vacation as a family of four to Rehoboth. We were really looking forward to getting away for a couple days. I wanted to leave around 6am, but we only ended up leaving around 8:30. That seems to be how things go lately. The trip down was great! It only took us three hours and Adam slept almost the entire way. Owen was awake, but quiet, which was surprising! He wore his birthday crown and sunglasses for most of the trip.We had lunch at the Dogfish Brewery as soon as we arrived and then checked into our hotel for naps. We stayed at the Avenue Inn and Spa. It was such a nice, clean, hotel and we had a balcony overlooking the main street in Rehoboth. We were one block from the beach, but could see the ocean from our balcony At night, when all the hustle and bustle died down, we could even hear the waves crashing on the shore. The people that worked at the hotel were probably the friendliest hotel workers I've ever met! They had a great complimentary breakfast in the morning. Wine, cheese, and crackers were served from 5-7pm and chocolate chip cookies by the fireplace were served at 8pm. One of the reasons we chose this hotel was because it had an indoor heated pool and I knew Owen would love that!

Another reason we decided to go to Rehoboth is because it is not too far from Paige. She, Ella, and Samantha came to visit our first night and we had dinner at Grotto's. Not too much of an Easter dinner, but we figured it was easiest with four kids. The next day, we went to their house to visit. Owen had so much fun playing with Ella. We made sure to get a picture of the kids... how quickly we have multiplied!
Our room was very nice. It had a king sized bed and a pull out couch. Adam slept in the pack-n-play and Mike, Owen and I were going to sleep in the bed, however Owen was all over the place and pretty much kicked me off the bed in the middle of the night. Who would have guessed a king sized bed was not big enough for the three of us?!

The first night we were there, Adam did not sleep well. He had a stuffy nose and was tossing and turning most of the night so I only got a couple hours of sleep too. Mike took Owen the next morning while Adam and I tried to catch up on some sleep. They had fun playing and drawing in the sand, playing soccer on the beach, and going to breakfast together. Look at the picture Owen drew in the sand! He said it was a choo choo track.... doesn't look like that to me!
Monday, after we got back from visiting Paige, Barry, Ella, and Samantha we went to the beach to fly Owen's Thomas kite. It was pretty windy and there was a very cold breeze coming off the ocean so we did not stay out too long. The kite worked really well! It was so funny watching Mike try to fly it. You would not know it from the pictures, but he is scared of flying kites... something to do with the height and looking up.

After that, both boys were exhausted so we put each one in a stroller and went for a walk. Owen and Adam fell asleep for about 45 mintues so we were able to take a really nice walk around town through some shops and through a cute neighborhood. I showed Mike the house I used to stay at with friends when I was in highschool. We also talked to the sweet lady that lives next door that I knew.

We ate at a really good Mexican place for dinner and then headed home to watch DWTS, but not before enjoying some home-made chocolate chip cookies!

We had so much fun and will definetely be going back!

We made it home around nap time today. Mike and I decided we ate way too much unhealthy food on our trip so we took the boys on a walk after dinner. Here's Adam in his cool shades ready for a walk.

Owen's Special Day

Today was Owen's birthday so we tried to make it a very special day for him. Mike and I both climbed into bed with him this morning and made a big deal about today being his special day. He picked out what he wanted to wear (and even decided to wear underwear for a bit, until he had an accident) and then opened a gift from Mike and I. Then we went to breakfast at the Quentin Haus. The waitress put a candle in his pancakes and we all sang "Happy Birthday". He loved it! After that we headed over to Papa and Finny's house for an egg hunt. Afterwards, Aunt Beth, Eric, and Lala came over to bring Owen presents. He had so much fun playing outside since it was a beautiful, and warm, day outside. After his nap, we played outside some more and opened another present from Mike and I (really loud drums that will be staying outside- I don't know what I was thinking!). Then, we went to Sonic for dinner and ate in the back of daddy's truck.

Happy Birthday Owen!

Dear Owen,

Today you turned 3 years old! You have been looking forward to being three for the longest time because some of your best buddies are 3. I, on the other hand, would not mind if you stopped growing up so fast. Here are some of the things you are doing right now...

- You still love Thomas and you have a ton of trains
- You love to run and are extremely active
- Soccer is your favorite sport and you would play all day if you could
- You have a great little jump shot (better than mommy) and enjoy playing basketball in the driveway
- You can finally pedal your tricycle and have started going on bike rides. In fact, you like to go as fast as you can and then you go to turn and wreck, but you get right back up on your bike and keep going
- Your favorite foods are pancakes, bananas, broccoli, pizza, hotdogs, chicken, pickles, fruit snacks, and ranch ( you put it on everything!)
- You still take an afternoon nap most days and you go to bed between 8 and 9 and sleep till around 7am
- Your favorite movie is the soccer movie
- Your favorite TV show is Caillou
- You talk ALL the time and have a huge vocabulary, however you are still hard to understand at times. You say fu*k for truck, dumb for dump (you can imagine how it sounds when you say dump truck).
- You are very attached to your blankie and still suck your thumb
- You are still in diapers, however you are starting to sit on the potty. Today you wore big boy underwear for the first time, until you had an accident in the living room.
- You are very social and will talk to anyone that will listen to you.
- You can count to 20 and say your ABCs.
- You can write your name.

I could go on and on and on about all the things you can do, but I will end there.

We are most proud of the fact that you are a sweet boy with a very big heart. You are kind and caring and not a day goes by that daddy and I don't say to each other, "He's just the greatest!" You make us so happy. We love you so much and can't wait to see all the great things you do and become!

Love,
Mommy