Tyler - All Smiles

Tyler, you just have the cutest smile!!  You are such a happy baby, I love it!  You are content to look around and smile at anyone who looks at you, and then you turn in a shy kind of way.  It makes me so happy to see you smile like that, I hope you never lose that trait, my smiley boy!!

Aysia - Big Sister!!

It's been a while since I've posted, but Aysia, you are a wonderful big sister to Tyler!

You are protective of Tyler, and always want to to keep other children away from him at school.  You go visit him in the baby room at school, and the teachers say you are very cute with him.  At home, you always insist on helping with his diaper change and with his baths.  You always want to touch him and rock him, and YOU control his vibrate / music on his bouncy seats!!

I was afraid that you would be jealous, and you are a little bit, but not tremendously so.  I do see how my having to split up my time has affected you, and I feel bad about that.  You thrive on routine, and the regular routine has been disrupted, so that bothers you.  You have become more sensitive and needy, and at the same time, more stubborn and susceptible to temper tantrums.  Not sure how much is Tyler and how much is "terrible twos".  But we'll get through it!

Meanwhile, you are so impressive - reading polar bear, polar bear, and talking to people at school.  Everyone tells me how smart you are.  And I just love you so much!!

Last weekend we took you to the carnival and you had fun.  You liked winning toys!  But you did not like the fun house.  One look in the mirrors and you had enough!  In the end, you didn't want to leave, but it was getting close to bedtime so we left.

Your latest bedtime thing is to have me read the llama llama books to you, and then daddy puts you to sleep.  I like that routine!

Tyler - Welcome!

Well, it's been a while since I've posted.  Tyler and Aysia, you guys have been keeping me busy!  Tyler, you were born on 2/2/12 as planned. All went well and now you are almost 3 months old!  There's so much that has happened since you were born, I'll try to catch up here, then continue with regular posts...

• You were 8 pounds 1 oz at birth (20.5"), lost about a pound in the first day, but easily gained it back.  No supplementing or stress!  My milk came in much easier, and you got the hang of nursing pretty quickly.
• You were born at 12:58pm.  There were some delays getting us back together after my recovery as they didn't have a room ready!!  I was stressing that you were hungry and I wanted to see you, not be sitting in recovery for no reason.  But you looked great when I was finally with you.  We asked for no visitors on your birthday so we could have some family bonding time, and some skin to skin to skin time.  I'm glad we did it that way - it was so nice to just be able to focus on you.
• Your sister Aysia came to visit you twice.  She was very taken with you and wanted to hold you and touch you.  To this day she loves to interact with you. We have to hold her back sometimes!!
• We had to have you in the nursery at night as you were spitting up mucus and they wanted to be sure you were monitored so you didn't choke.  But I had you with me all day (and the night they sent you back because you were crying, not sleeping!)
• We had a scare - they thought you might have had a heart murmur, but after doing further testing, they saw that you were fine.  Whew!
• Your grandparents (all 3 sets) came to visit at the hospital several times (and Deirdre came, too), and then we left a day early to be at home with you and Aysia.  We came home on Superbowl Sunday, so we dressed you in a Steelers outfit.
• You were very gassy, and grunted and spit up CONSTANTLY.  It made it hard for you to be comfortable, hard for you to poop.  we put you on Zantac, and Mylicon.  I took you off Zantac as it didn't seem like you had reflux, but the Mylicon seemed to help a little. 
• Because of your discomfort (and constant spit up), we didn't use the pack and play bassinet at night.  I mostly held you while you were sleeping.  But then we used the elevated rocker, and that helped.  Now the gassiness has gone down a bit, and the spit up is MUCH less, so you are in the co-sleeper, flat on your back.
• Still not sleeping great.  3-4 hour stretches at most.  Once or twice, you did 5 hours.  The co-sleeper is so convenient for night time feedings, so I'll keep you in our room until you start to sleep through the night.
• Despite the gassiness and discomfort, you gained weigh like crazy.  14 pounds at your 2 month visit (95%) and 23.6 inches (75%).  Now, at nearly 3 months, you are into 9 month clothes.  Yikes!
• You are such a smiley boy!  It's really easy to get you to smile, and you seem to enjoy it, too!  You smile a lot at Aysia and she loves it.
• You are very easygoing and you only really cry when you need something.  You are happy to stay in the bouncy while I eat dinner and watch what's going on.  I'm so glad you are a happy baby!
• They love you at daycare.  They have even heard you laugh out loud - I can't wait to hear that myself.
• You didn't like the bath at first, but now you really like it and never cry.  Aysia helps sometimes, and she loves doing that!
• You always fall asleep in the car and taking walks in the stroller.  I took you out shopping a lot when I was home and you always cooperated - thank you!
• You also are good in the restaurant after daycare on Fridays.  I love that!  Usually, you sleep in the stroller.
• You are also good in the morning, making it easy for me to get me and you ready and out the door.  You're always sleeping when we get to school, making the dropoff much easier.
• You don't want to take the binky.  Just like your sister!  You also wouldn't really take the bottle at home with grandma or daddy, but you do fine at daycare.  Thank goodness!  I was very nervous the first day and only left you there for 4 hours. 
• I've been back to work for a week and I watch you on the camera a lot.  I want to make sure you are being cared for well!  I like your teachers, except for Helen, and I made sure she will never be in your room (or Aysia's) again.
• I will always cherish our time together during my maternity leave.  You slept in my arms a lot and we had lots of cuddling time together.  I miss that during the hussle/bussle of everyday life.  Sometimes I still hold you for a few hours while you sleep at night!

Aysia singing

Aysia, you have the sweetest singing voice! And you love to sing...

You listen to songs carefully, and then start singing them as soon as you know some of the phrases. Most of the words are wrong at first, but you get the sounds right, and keep listening and singing. You have a great feel for the tones, and can really carry a nice tune (unlike your mom!!). This morning you were singing Humpty Dumpty and it sounded so sweet!

I love that you sing!

Aysia the girly-girl

Well, maybe not completely, but we went to a bday party yesterday at a beauty salon, and you got hair glitter, a tiarra, a heart on your cheek, and your nails done! Yellow polish with glitter. you sat there s cute with your hands out an let them paint your nails. i was so surprised. It was adorable! You really had a good time at the party, and I thought it would be too old for you. Silly me!

You also had a great time playing with all the older girls afterwards at the house. It was nice to see you interacting and doing so well with them. A little tussling, but nothing too bad.

Tyler- a little peek

I went to the doctor today and got an ultrasound - got to peek in on you. Although because you're so big now, it's hard to see you. The doc had to point out your head, heart, legs, etc. But I could see your heart beating, and I can feel you moving all the time. :)

Aysia high tech!

So, this morning as we were getting ready to leave, you were playing with my ipad. Of course, you totally know how to use the icons, get to where you want, play videos, etc. but you also know how to play Angry Birds. It's so funny! And you cleared several levels this morning. You are too funny!

Aysia and school

Sigghhh. You have been getting so clingy and upset at school dropoffs lately. Even before moving from toddler to two's, you have not wanted to let me go, heading into a full blow cry-fest, holding onto my legs... the teachers have to pick you up so I can leave. It breaks my heart. :( I hate to leave you but I have to go to work.

I wonder if it's the new baby coming that's making you insecure? Or maybe just this age? Some of the other moms say the same thing, so I'm hoping it's just a phase.

Meanwhile, I absolutely love your new two's teacher. She is very motivated and energetic, she also doesn't believe in sugar, juice, etc., and she has a lot of good structure and activities in the class. You also now go to the big playground, and get to go to old town at the end of the day which you LOVE. So I know the school day is a positive thing for you, but the dropoffs are so hard. I hope it gets easier for you

Aysia on the phone

On Saturday, you had your first real phone conversation! And it was with me :) You were with daddy and I called. he put the phone on speaker, and we exchanged about 3 or 4 sentences. Daddy didn't have to prompt you or translate for you. It was pretty cool!

Aysia's 2 year doctor appt

You were great at the doctors! You actually like going to the doctors and want them to look at your eyes, ears, mouth (and toes!). No crying, no squirming, it's great. And it helped this time that there were no shots!

Here are your stats:

Height - 33.5" (50%)
Weight - 28.5 (75%)

Growing right on track and very healthy!

The doctor was very, very impressed with all your talking. She commented about your full sentences, and that you talked about using the potty. You had her laughing! People notice how smart you are pretty quickly, it's really great to see. You are very talkative and very expressive. I love it!

You also had a first in the waiting room. They have a lot of toys there, and you wanted one that another girl was playing with. I told you to say to her - can I have a turn please? You were hesitant, but you did it, very shy-ly, and she said ok and gave you a turn. That was great! And it happened again, I told you to ask, and it worked again. I was very proud of you!

Tyler Update

I had a doctor appointment today and you are measuring on track and heartbeat is a solid 145. Everything is progressing perfectly with the pregnancy. Although my weight gain is really inching up there. I've gained about 28 pounds so far and have 4 weeks to go! Yikes! But you're healthy, and that's what matters most.

Can't wait to meet you!

Aysia and the car seat

Well, every day can't be perfect, can it?

You definitely tried my patience last night, my little one! I came to get you at school, and you were having a good time in the classroom. We bundled you up, and it was freezing and windy out, and I didn't have any mittens for you, just a coat and a hat. So when we were about to go outside, I picked you up so we could get to the car quickly. Mind you, I'm 8 months pg, so I love for you to be independent and walk, it's getting harder and harder to pick you up, but with how cold it was, getting to the car quickly was first priority.

Well, you wanted to walk. You started to throw a tantrum while I was carrying you to the car, but then as I was trying to get you in the car seat, you just wouldn't let me. You squirmed, arched your back and screamed. For 10 minutes. While I stood outside trying to wrangle you into the seat. Oh boy, I wanted scream!!! But I kept my calm, and finally I guess you got tired and I got you in the seat.

You sure have a strong will, little girl!

So later that night, even though you've been preferring to have daddy rock you to sleep, I insisted on doing it so we could have some snuggly, cuddly time together. I love that!

Aysia on New Year's Eve

We had a little party on NYE with your friends Sophia, Cassandra and Emma. I think you had a great time playing with them - in your new kitchen, down in the new playroom... Although it might have been a bit hard for you watching all the kids play with your toys. A few times you grabbed things from them, and had a real hard time sharing. But you're a bit young for that now.

You really enjoyed staying up late with the girls and making an area with blankets and pillows on the floor while we watched the video from your party, and an Elmo movie. The other girls had their teddy bears, so you wanted "munchkin" and that's now become your bedtime teddy, so cute! It's really nice seeing you interact with other kids. You hold your own, and defend what's yours. I like that, as long as it doesn't go too far!