a DAY in the life: September 2011

Saturday, September 24, 2011

4 months

Dear Chase,

One year ago today we found out we were pregnant with you. It was one of the happiest days of our lives. For the past four months we've been blessed to have you in our arms. You are an absolute joy. Yesterday mommy took you in for your 4 month check up. You weigh 13 lb 15 oz (20%) you are 24 1/2 inches tall (24%) and your head is 16 1/2 inches around (67%). You got two shots that you weren't really happy about but Dr. Leonardo thought you were doing great. She was impressed with how well you were sitting up in mommy's lap and how smiley you were. She wanted us to work on laying you on the left side more to help with your flat head but she thinks with a little work it'll work itself out in the next month or two. She also said we could start rice cereal anytime. That'll be a real treat!

This last month you've been up to so much. Here are a few of the things...

You are a smiley, happy, laid back, easy going little guy.

You love your binki and you usually have a "binki ring" around your mouth from sucking on it so hard. The past few weeks though you have been sucking on your hands/thumb. While your laying on the floor you roll to your side and suck away at your thumb.

You love being held. You sleep the best during the day when you're being held. You like to lay down and be held but a lot of the time you like to sit up so you can see the world around you until you drift off into dream land.

You have been sleeping in your swing from about 9:30 or 10 to 7 or 8 in the morning. The past two nights, you slept in the pack and play in our room and you slept through the night. Night one you slept from about 10:30 to 6:15. Last night you slept from about 10:00 to 5:30. The first night you twitched and moved around a lot waking up for your binki a lot but last night I only got up a few times to put your binki in.

You have found your feet.

You blow bubbles and drool, a lot.

You love love love TV. Especially football.

You like to hold on to things. Not necessarily toys or rattles but our finger or shirt, your onsie, your toes, etc.

Your right hand hand goes up to the right of your head all the time; whether you're sitting up or laying down. I think its a comfort thing.

You love bath time.

You are on a pretty good feeding schedul. I usually feed you between 7 and 8 am. Then you eat every 3 hours through out the day. At night I always feed you at 7:30 and 9:30.

You are napping less during the day.

You are starting to gain more control of your head.

You don't like tummy time and a lot of the time you just lay your head down and suck your thumb.

You are wearing size 2 diapers (not for long though).

You wear mostly 6 month clothes. You still fit in some 3 month and most of your PJs are 6-9 month.

Your hair is getting thinner and lighter but you still have more hair than your brother did his first two years of life!

You go to Nanny's two days a week and while you're there you have two 4 to 5 oz bottles.
You adore your big brother. He makes you laugh, a lot.

You follow everything with your eyes. From little tiny objects to mommy daddy and your brother walking across the room.

You can hold your head up when you are pulled up.

You "talk" coo and laugh all the time.

You have the best "belly laugh". You laugh at your brother, when you're tickled and when mommy says "aaaahhhh boo!"

We all love you so much. I can't say that enough. Your daddy and I hope you know how loved you are and how incredibly special we feel to be your mommy and daddy. You're amazing.

Love, Mommy

Friday, September 23, 2011

Last night

Last night Chase moved from his swing, in our room, where he's been sleeping for the past three months, into his pack n play. It was a move I've been dreading for a while now but it had to be done. Chase has never been a back sleeper. Ever. When he was first born he would sleep on his back while tightly swaddled but since we stopped swaddling him he has hated sleeping on his back. He will play for long periods of time on his back during the day. He loves looking around and watching everyone but as soon as you put him in some sort of a bed, where he can't see around him, he flips out. So, for the past few months hes been sleeping in our arms, the bouncer, swing, or car carrier. At night, he's slept about 9 or so hours in his swing and it's been great getting a full night of sleep. But, like I said, it is time.

For the past few weeks I've been trying to get Chase to sleep on his back. Then the past week I've really buckled down on laying Chase down to sleep for naps.

He started out in the top of the pack and play and worked his way down into the bed of the pack and play.

It was hard. He cried, a lot, and I just wanted to pick him up and hold him but I knew he had to get use to his pack and play. All week he's slept on his back for naps. Most of which were only 10 to 30 minutes long but he was definitely getting more comfortable with being on his back.

Yesterday, he was up most of the evening and didn't fall asleep after his 7:30 feed so I knew he'd be really sleepy when I put him to bed. I figured there was no time like now to just buck up and get him in a bed. So, I pulled the pack and play into the bedroom and laid him down at 9:40 after rocking him. He immediately cried. So I rocked him again and laid him back down at about 10 something and he stayed asleep! Through out the night he moved around and fussed a bit so I got up and put his binki in. He would calm down and fall right back asleep. (He did this in his swing too.) I probably got up about 20 times last night. It felt like even more in the night but a few of the times I got up he was just making noise and wasn't even awake. He slept til about 6:15 this morning when big brother came in. I put him in the swing around then and he watched everything going on around him and eventually fell back asleep.

I consider last night a huge success! Last weekend I tried, cold turkey, to put Chase in the pack and play and it was NOT a success. He cried for two hours before I gave in and put him in the swing. We're going to take this day by day but I feel proud of both of us.

I'm working on not stressing about the little things. This though, I admit, has been a stress. I learned with Colton that if it's not one thing it's another. Once you figure out one issue another arises and every time they work themselves out. I found this bible verse the other day and it words for me to live by, as a worrier.

Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Phil 4:6

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Have you ever...

Have you ever seen two more precious kids?

Gosh, I love these kids!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

"Do you hear that?"

As you probably know, from previous posts, one of Colts favorite places to be in the whole world is The Bass Pro Shop or as he calls it..."The Boat Show." On Friday we told Colt we'd take him to "The Boat Show" before we went to Gaga and PawPaws on Saturday and he was so excited. He talked about it all day Friday. Early, early, early Saturday morning (around 5am) he came running into our room saying, "Lets go to the Boat Show. Its time to go to the Boat Show." Since it was still dark out we convinced him it was much too early and that the Boat Show was still closed. He crawled up into bed with us and feel back to sleep. At about 7 am I woke up to him whispering "Mommy, do you hear that?" I had no clue what he was talking about so I told him it was the cat and to go back to sleep. He said, "No mommy, listen. That's the sound of The Boat Show opening!" This little guy sure does love his Boat Show!!!

Here's our Boat Show trip in iPhone pics!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Exactly Alike or Totally Different?

I have people telling me all the time that Colton and Chase either look exactly alike or totally different. I go back and forth on how I feel about the matter. One day I think they look and act just like one another and the next day I see no resemblance. I thought it would be fun to go through and compare a few pictures of the boys at the same ages. I have enjoyed looking through all the old pictures but I have to tell you, this has been one of the toughest blogs I've ever done. I've spent hours finding pictures and getting them organized. (Blogger is no help!) Looking through all of these pictures has brought back so many happy memories but after going through all of them, I'm still on the fence. In one picture I can't tell the difference between Colton and Chase and in another they look like total strangers.

So... see for yourself and tell me what you think!

Colton at 3 months