Airshow, Pumpkin Patch and Visitors!

We were busy last weekend! The airshow took place on Saturday and Sunday, and we live really close to Ellington Field. So we heard the planes all day, although it's hard to see much from our backyard. But when the Thunderbirds performed, we climbed up on our playground equipment and were able to see quite a bit. It was awesome!! Grant got scared a few times when it was really loud, but mostly wanted Dean to keep lifting him up so he could see more. He kept saying, "big jet", "loud", "take off" and "awesome" while it was going on!

Drew slept through the whole thing!
Also, my friends Karen and Margaret both came to visit on Sunday. It was so great seeing both of them.....Margaret's little boy David just turned a year old and is precious!! Grant and David enjoyed jumping into Grant's ball pool in his room. And Margaret made a wonderful chicken spaghetti dinner....it had a lot of vegetables, but they were all blended up! Grant ate a bunch of it.....ignorance is bliss, right??? Which reminds me.....my friend Jennifer gave me a copy of the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook that's supposed to give you ways to sneak veggies into your kids' meals. I'm excited to try some of them......

Karen and Drew:

Margaret, me and all of our boys!
And last.....on Monday, I took the boys to the pumpkin patch at a church down the street. It was a beautiful day but COLD and very windy! Grant had fun looking at (and trying to tip over) the pumpkins. He ran all over the place! And poor Drew was trying to sleep in his stroller but the wind kept waking him up!Bending down to give Drew a kiss (while he was crying):

NEWS!!! .....and Drew's 1-Month Update

First......I am finally learning what it's really like to be a mom of two kids.....I feel like I have NO free time! Before I write about Drew, I want to share this fun news, which I've been meaning to do since last weekend but haven't had time to sit down at the computer for more than a couple of minutes.

Dean's sister Corie and her boyfriend Pat got engaged last Friday!! We are so excited for them. Pat came here last Thursday for the day (from Alabama!), so we were able to see the ring. It's absolutely beautiful, and looks exactly like something Corie would pick out (which apparently she did, without knowing that Pat knew!).

Pat said he might propose over the weekend, but apparently he couldn't wait......Dean called Corie on Friday afternoon and Pat had already popped the question! If you want to read the full story, click on Corie's blog from our Links List (Bluebonnets and Bouncy Balls.....see her post from Oct 26).

Congratulations, guys!!!!! Here's a picture of Corie and Pat with Grant when he was about 5 months old:

Like I said before, things seem busy now! My mom came into town two weeks ago (and stayed the week), then Dean's parents were here last week. It was so nice having them here to help watch Grant.....and he loved having so many people to play with! So this Monday was the first day I was alone with the two boys in a couple of weeks. We haven't had any catastrophes yet, but it takes us a lot longer to get out of the house than it used to! And it seems like every time we go out, I inevitably forget something I really need (like a burp cloth, pacifier, one of the boys' diaper bags, etc).

But we are doing well.....Drew still sleeps a lot, and he is getting so much bigger! People still say he looks tiny, but I think he probably weighs over 11 pounds now (just a guess, but it's been three weeks since he weighed a little over 9lbs at two weeks). I look at him and I think he looks pudgy and SO much longer!

And he LOVES to be held.....in fact, many times he has a hard time sleeping if he's not in someone's arms! This can get a little bit frustrating.....he'll be sound asleep when I lay him down, and many times he'll stir and wake up after a few minutes. And he doesn't sleep nearly as well as Grant did in his carseat. When Grant was this young, I could take him out to run errands and he'd sleep for hours in his carseat/stroller. Yesterday Drew and I went to the mall, and I ended up carrying him around with me for most of the trip! But I do still love holding him.....I am enjoying my little guy so much!

At five weeks old, there aren't a whole lot of milestones to report! But he can hold his head up fairly well now.....he really looks like a bobblehead doll! And he's increasingly alert when he's awake.....he turns his head and gets fascinated by the TV (for a minute or so!). And he hasn't smiled yet, but he'll make some cute cooing noises and gets visibly more excited when you make eye contact and talk to him.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the past two weeks, while Grandma, Nana and Papa were visiting:

23 Months.....wow!!

First.....today is Drew's one month birthday!! I can't believe it! I will post a few pictures of him later, but I want to finish this post that I started yesterday about Grant.....

It's been a few months since I wrote a list about things Grant has been doing. What a silly little boy he's becoming! And it's obvious that he's almost two.....of course we've been having terrible-two-type behavior since shortly after his first birthday, but now the huge mood swings are even more glaring. One minute, he'll be a perfect, sweet little angel, saying cute things and trying his best to be charming! The next, he'll get angry over something (usually very unimportant), and he'll start screaming and throwing himself all over the place! He really likes to bang his head on the floor now.....and that makes him cry even more!

But it really has been a good time.....and at least he hasn't gotten any worse since Drew was born! I am always just in awe at certain things he'll say....he'll say words and name objects that I've never taught to him! And he repeats almost everything we say. He's getting to the point where he knows he's being cute. He'll say something that makes us laugh, and it encourages him to do it more!

Some things that define Grant these days:

- He has become possessive over his stuff. When he's holding his trains or pretty much anything else, he'll say "my choo-choo," or "my milk," etc. He even holds the object up against his tummy as if someone is trying to take it away from him (when we're not!). He's even started using "my" with things that don't make sense. For example, yesterday he said "my wash hands," and today he said "my night-night" (he pretends he's going night-night by laying on the couch or bed and covering himself up).

- He LOVES to wash his hands now. We used to keep his stool in the downstairs bathroom, and he'll decide he wants to wash his hands at random times. He'll open the door and turn on the water......then he tries to make a huge mess! The whole time he's in there, he says "wash hands" over and over. But this led to one too many messes, so now his stool has been removed!

- He has learned to say "bless you" and loves saying it when people sneeze.

- I try to ask him questions about school when he gets home. I can tell that he's thinking, but he rarely answers my questions with real answers (except saying yes or no). But he learned his teacher Lisa's name, and now he'll say "Lisa" all the time! Once I asked him what he ate for lunch, and he said "Lisa." Again, he figured out that this made us laugh.....so now he'll just randomly say "Lisa" and he laughs because he thinks he's so funny!

- He demands to use a fork when he eats. And he doesn't even like his little boy fork....he wants to use ours. He's pretty good at it too!

- He does something we call his "funny walk." He'll squat as if he's about to sit, then he'll take small steps while he's still squatting! Now he will do his funny walk on demand when we ask him to do it!

- He will smile and say "cheese" (sometimes) when I take his picture.

- His taste of books is changing. Now he prefers books with lots of detail in the pictures. He never used to like Goodnight Moon much, but he loves it now because there are a lot of small objects he can find and point out. Hopefully this means he'll be open to reading library books again. He'd gotten to the point where he only liked certain books and would squirm and fuss when I tried to read something he wasn't familiar with.

- When he's about to get a spanking, he starts calling out towards anybody in the room who he thinks might save him! He'll call "mommy" to me when Dean's about to spank him, and yesterday said "Nana, Nana!" when I grabbed him to give him a spanking. It makes it more gut-wrenching to spank him when he sounds like he's about to be tortured!

- He calls me "mommy" more and more now, instead of "mama." But he will say goodnight and goodbye to me pretty easily now.....it's a little sad! It's much harder for him when Daddy leaves than when I do.

- Speaking of Daddy, he's REALLY attached to Dean now. When Dean leaves for work, Grant has a hard time and throws a fit on the floor. It's so sad!

- A few days ago when I put him down for his nap, he laid down before I left the room, looked at me and waved, and said "night-night." He didn't cry at all or throw his pacifier. Amazing! Then last night, I put him to bed (which is rare now), and he copied me when I said I love you, night-night, and see you tomorrow!

What a big boy!!!

Rob, Leah and Evan's visit

My mom has been here all week.....it was SO nice having her here to help! Now Grant and Drew are both sleeping, so I'm catching up with pictures and blogging.

Rob, Leah and Evan came from Austin last Saturday to visit for the afternoon. It was wonderful seeing them!! Leah brought a lasagna for us to cook later, and they stopped to get lunch for all of us on their way over. I'd had my little surgery the day before, so this was VERY helpful. Thanks so much again, guys!!!!

Grant and Evan had a lot of fun playing with each other. Grant took a nap shortly after they came, and Evan kept asking for him! When he woke up, they played pretty well together and never fought over toys (at least that I saw!). This is pretty impressive for Grant these days...he usually gets possessive over his toys when other kids come over.

Here are some pics:

Uncle Rob with Drew (one of the few moments he was awake!):

I love this picture.....it would have been perfect if Grant didn't have his paci in his mouth!
Evan and Drew.....Evan wasn't too sure what to think of his new cousin! At one point, he came over and stared at him while I was holding him. We asked him to touch Drew's hands, and instead he said, "bye," then turned and walked away!
Grant, Evan and Drew!
Evan and Grant playing together.....

Three-week update

Everyone is asleep but I wanted to write a quick update about how things have been going in the past ten days or so. I'm just loving having my sweet little Drew.....I spend so much time holding him (maybe I am spoiling him, but I don't really care!). He is still a fairly easy baby.....he eats well, still sleeps A LOT (more than Grant did at three weeks, I think), and makes so many funny noises! He loves to be held and would sleep in my arms all day (with breaks for eating) if I let him!! In the past couple of days, though, he's had quite a bit of awake/alert time.....and when he's awake now, he looks around and is much more observant than he used to be. Like I said, he loves to be held.....but sometimes when I need to do something, I'll lay him down in his swing or Papasan chair after he falls asleep. Many times he wakes up only 20 minutes later, or sometimes sooner! Then almost as soon as I pick him up, he's out like a light! So like I said, maybe I am spoiling him by holding him a lot. But right now, I just love holding him....and I know that I didn't even really enjoy Grant's newborn stage because I was always so worried I was doing something wrong! So right now I'm just enjoying holding my little guy as much as I can.

We've started using the pacifier a little bit....sometimes when he's awake before it's time to eat, he gets uncomfortable and fussy, and a pacifier usually seems to help. But he still rarely cries.....he usually fusses when he needs something or is uncomfortable, but he has to get really angry before he starts wailing!

Here is a picture after bathtime about a week ago.....trying to suck on his hand: Asleep after his bath....his hair only looks this nice for about 2 hours after his bath before getting greasy again!
He's awake!!


Asleep on Mommy.....his favorite pasttime!

Grant has been handling his new little brother MUCH better than I'd expected, although he still isn't too sure whether he likes him or not. Sometimes he wants to be a good helper.....he'll try to stuff Drew's pacifier in his mouth, or he'll try to give him a piece of candy or one of his toys. But other times (when he's already in a bad mood, especially), he'll pull Drew's blanket off or try to take a slap at him. And I don't understand this one.....for some reason, whenever Drew is propped up with pillows on the couch, Grant will come up and pull the pillows out from underneath him! But many times, he'll grab his hand and hold it, or he'll want Drew to lay down next to him. Those moments are really sweet!

Grant has also been doing SO well at Mother's Day Out! He didn't cry at all on Tuesday when my mom and I dropped him off....he waved good-bye to us! His teachers say that he always does well and that he loves to be the class's line leader.....I would love to be a fly on the wall in his classroom sometimes! He has apparently been sleeping during naptime (amazing!). And they always remark about how touchy he is.....he's always rubbing on someone's arm or hand, especially when he's tired. His teacher Lisa said that even in the buggy ride, he'll reach over to the kid sitting next to him and rub on their arms while they're riding in the buggy!

He also continues to be very mischevious.....about a week ago, he found my nail polish and painted the dining room floor with it. Thankfully none of it got on the dining room chairs. But after Dean discovered him, he kept saying "oh no!" over and over again!

And here are a couple of pictures in his Halloween costume......Grant's friend Andrew wore it last year, and we tried it on him a week ago. He loved wearing it.....he thought he was dressed up as Super Why (his favorite TV character)! It's VERY tight, so hopefully it will still fit in two weeks!
He's still not crazy about sunglasses, but will put them on for about 2 seconds, and he says "cool!" when he wears them.

Just a quick post to say that I won't be able to update more pictures for at least the next couple of days, as I said I'd try to do. Last weekend, I noticed that my pain had gotten a little worse and that one of my stitches had come unattached (yuck!). I finally got in to see my doctor yesterday afternoon, and he said he needed to stitch it back up. I expected that this could be done in his office (after all, all he used to stitch me up the first time was some local anesthetic). But instead, he had me come to the Surgery Center (next to the hospital) this morning for the procedure. I was put completely to sleep, which I guess was good because I didn't feel anything this time (and I hate the feeling of being stitched up!). This afternoon, though, I have been SO sore.....right now I am sitting on my knees on the floor checking email and writing this, because I don't want to sit at the computer chair! I feel like I'm starting all over again, but hopefully this time it will only take a few days.

Dean did so well with the boys today.....he dropped me off and came home with them, and was by himself with them for a couple of hours before coming to pick me up. Poor thing.....he is so tired these days because he spends a full day at work (which is fairly stressful these days), then comes home and has almost full responsibility for Grant for the rest of the night. And today he was taking care of me AND Grant (Drew still sleeps for most of the day, so I was still able to take care of him when he needed it). Anyway, Dean has been such a good help and I am so thankful for him!!!

Hopefully I will get to work on uploading pictures again in the next few days.......

Two Week Checkup

This is Drew's crying/fussing face.....I thought it was an appropriate picture for his first doctor's checkup. He only got one shot (in his heel), but he still didn't care for it too much!

Here are his stats and percentiles:

Drew:
Length: 21.5 inches (78%)
Weight: 9 lbs, 3 oz (61%)
Head circumference: 14 1/4 inches (29%)

I thought these measurements were similar to Grant's at this age, so I looked in Grant's notebook when I got home and found his two-week measurements:

Grant:
Length: 22 inches (88%)
Weight: 9 lbs, 3 oz (61%)
Head circumference: 14 1/4 inches (29%)

Crazy!! I remembered that Grant's head was small for his age at this point too.....it's so funny that they measured exactly the same, except Grant was 1/2 inch longer. I guess it's good that my babies have small heads at birth, or else I probably would've torn even more than I did!

Our doctor was very happy with Drew's weight gain....he already weighs almost a pound more than his birth weight! She said everything else looks good. This seems like a rerun of Grant's first couple of weeks.....I've noticed Drew choking and gasping for air at times while he's eating (or shortly afterwards), so I asked her about that. Sure enough, she thinks that he probably has some reflux issues just like Grant did. With Grant, we never put him on any medicine (like Zantac) because even though he spit up a ton, it never seemed to bother him. And the same seems to be true with Drew.....he gags and spits up some, but it doesn't seem to irritate his throat at this point. So she told me to keep him upright for 15 minutes after eating, just like we did with Grant.

I will try to post more pictures tomorrow.....Grant has been doing some very cute (and some very mischevious) things lately! And he's been enjoying Mother's Day Out so much.....but more about that later......

Thanks to everyone for all of your nice comments and emails!! I am finally feeling less sore and am able to sit at the computer desk for longer periods, so I will try to return them soon.....

2 Week Update

It's hard to believe that Drew is already two weeks old!! We're still having a wonderful time and he still seems to be a fairly laid-back, easy baby. I've just been telling people that I feel like I'm constantly in survival mode (when Dean's at work and I'm alone with the two boys). When I'm not feeding Drew or carrying him around, I try to spend time with Grant. And when Grant sleeps, I try to hold Drew and spend time with him. I think it will be really hard for me not to feel guilty that I'm not spending good time with each of them.

But I've been so thankful that Grant has taken all of this very well. We have our bad moments when he decides he doesn't want me to hold the baby, but overall he hasn't been resentful to me (which I was scared of!). He has really attached himself to Dean (the other night he wanted Dean to put him to bed when given a choice, which made me kind of sad!), but he still is always happy to play with me. And the past few days, he has asked for Drew to lay down next to him on his couch....he lays there and holds his hand and stares at him.....it's very cute!

This weekend was crazy......Grant got a cold last week, and Dean and I both woke up feeling bad on Saturday. Then on Saturday night, Drew started sounding really congested. He's sneezing and having a hard time breathing at times, which is so sad for a two-week old! But he's handling it better than I expected. We'll go in tomorrow for his two-week checkup.

One of the things I've realized in these first two weeks is that it is MUCH harder to find time for myself now that I have two kids! I have so much more respect now for moms of multiple kids....I don't know how you all have time to blog and email and do anything on the computer for longer than 5 minutes at a time! If not for Mother's Day Out, I don't know when I'd have time for anything!

Our first family picture.....taken on Friday, Sept 26. Grant still wasn't sure about Drew and wasn't in the mood for a picture!

Cute picture of Grant.....he runs across the yard and falls on the ground (on purpose)....so fun!
Daddy and his boys, dressed up for Alabama football:
Drew's first bath, on Saturday, Sept 27 (he obviously didn't enjoy it much!):

Grant admiring his little brother.....like I said, he likes for Drew to lay down next to him on his Elmo couch!Not quite holding him, but close!!
Grant eating a cereal bar and checking out his little brother again:Giving Drew a kiss the other night (after being prompted, of course!)