The Many Moods of Charlie

"What?? You're not holding me anymore?"
Charlie cries as he realizes I set him down after he fell asleep in my arms.

Offended, he kicks and screams......and doesn't stop until he's picked up again Later, I manage to make something for us to eat for dinner while Eli entertains Charlie by giving him kisses - so sweet. Charlie's 5 weeks today! Yesterday he weighed 11 pounds at the doctor's office - he's getting chunkier by the day. I need to get a picture of his many leg/tummy rolls that are developing - they are pretty cute. He's wearing the other onesie from Stacy that says, "If you think I'm cute, you should see my blog." Pretty funny! I really need to update the blog so it's not just Eli Love. But that takes more brain power and time than a quick post... (last night it was the old routine of Charlie waking/eating every three hours, so it wasn't as glorious as the night before, unfortunately)

Anyway, it will get done... at some point. I just barely updated our phone's voice mail to have all four of us on there. We love you Charlie!

Quiet Afternoon at Home

Charlie had his 1-month shot today (for the Hep B vaccine), so he slept for a while in the later part of the afternoon. These longer chunks of sleep are rare for this guy!

Eli took a short nap and was grumpy when he first woke up, but soon perked up to his normal self.

We talked on the phone with Davey (Uncle Munkle) -
Colored on some junk mail (sorry Garnett Hill) -
Put crayons in the dump truck and dumped them back out -
and had some fun one-on-one time, which I think we've both missed.
As much as I dislike having this table in my house, it's so cute to see Eli coloring, playing, eating, etc. I'm glad it makes him so happy. I can't wait for spring when we can enjoy it outside on the deck...

And speaking of happiness, last night Charlie slept for six hours! I woke up after about four hours and then kept waking up every half hour, worried that something was wrong with him, but he was fine. I'm not counting on him doing this consistently every night yet, but it was nice to know it's possible! Good job Charlie :)

This is What Reflux Looks Like

Pretty much anytime Charlie is laying flat, he looks like this - (UNHAPPY):

So he sleeps in the bouncy seat. Sleeping upright also helps with the constant congestion that keeps him from breathing very well at night. On a brighter note - isn't his onesie cute?? My friend Stacy made it for Charlie and I love it!

Yesterday I had a bout of food poisoning or a stomach bug. I'm not sure which, but either way, it was miserable! I'm not fond of throwing up or any other gastrointestinal distress, and this lasted all day and into the night. My mom came over today to help since I was still feeling wiped out. Charlie is a much happier child when he's upright in someone's arms, so it was a huge help to have her here! Eli had fun with grandma around too. I feel much better tonight, though I'm still pretty tired.

And here is a shot of Eli with his new favorite bath toy - Sesame Street bath finger paints! He took the LONGEST bath ever and threw a huge fit when we finally dragged him out. This was a gift from our friend Karrie and it was a hit!

Tonight I cleaned out and updated our filing cabinet - it was a huge project and I feel SO good that it's finally done. It's so satisfying to knock that one off of my to do list. We had papers piling up on the dining room table over the last few weeks and it was driving me crazy. It's amazing how hard it is to keep up with things with a newborn and a toddler consuming my days and nights!

Charlie at 1 Month and Eli at 21 Months

These are some pictures from yesterday, when Charlie was wide awake...

I on the other hand, was barely awake. This kid woke up to eat at 1 a.m., 3 a.m. (and stayed up for an hour), then 5:30 a.m. two nights ago. The thing that has saved me this week is that I hired a babysitter to come every weekday morning from 7 to 9 a.m. so I can go back to sleep. It's kind of a random thing and she's only available this week and next week, but I'll take it!! Hopefully after that, Charlie will be going longer stretches at night. Last night he did a much better job and was up at 2 a.m. and 5:45 a.m.

Here is my long, round, almost one-month Charlie (tomorrow is the official one-month mark)
He's losing his hair, poor guy :)



Here he is with some clothes on:
Eli was very sweet with him and read his favorite book, I Stink! to Charlie

And here is 21-month-old Eli, working on his alphabet puzzle:

stuffing veggie booty in his mouth:

drinking some milk in the sippy cup:
At 21 months, Eli is saying and doing so many cute things. He loves to copy us, especially when we're on the phone. The other night we were talking with Ben's brother Caleb and wife Elizabeth, and they told us something annoying with their health insurance - I said, "That's awful!" and Eli kept repeating, "Awful! Awful!" He also loves to say, "Nice!" because Ben said it the other day at dinner, I don't remember what the context was.

Eli likes to sing songs, and knows most of the words to Happy Birthday, ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, You are My Sunshine, Mr. Golden Sun, I Love You (the lovely Barney song), the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the Backyardigan's Pirate song. When we're driving in the car and a song comes on that he doesn't want to listen to, he says, "No no no" over and over until we skip it and go to to the next song on his CD.

I was pretty anti-television with Eli before Charlie was born, but now I will let him watch one show a day. He likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Bob the Builder, and Little Einstein's. His favorite DVD is the Laurie Berkner Band music DVD - he loves the "Oohhh Ahh" song. If he takes a nap, he gets to watch a few Sesame Street clips on YouTube - his favorites are "Elmo's Song," "C is for Cookie" and "Do De Rubber Duck."

Eli loves coloring on paper and in coloring books, playing with trains, sliding down his slide in the basement or pushing cars/trains/balls down the slide. He has been a good sport about being cooped up this winter! We can't wait for nicer weather (it's not coming anytime soon, unfortunately) so we can spend more time outside.

Charlie at 4 Weeks

Charlie is 4 weeks old today! He surprised me with going 6 hours last night from the time he ate (around 9 p.m.) to the time he woke up next to eat (at 3 a.m.). He stayed up for an hour after eating, but I was so happy about his long amount of sleep that we just enjoyed the hour watching American Idol on the DVR.

For some reason, I didn't think to take pictures of Charlie when he was awake, so I just have sleeping pics today.I took Charlie in to the doctor yesterday because he STILL has the lingering cold more than two weeks later. It's so sad hearing him try to clear his throat and cough, especially at night when he's sleeping. His pediatrician thinks he may have reflux, so now we're giving him a prescription antacid three times a day. At about four weeks old, Charlie weighed 10 lbs 1 oz (75%), is 75% in height and 50% in head circumference. I love his chubby, chubby cheeks! It's funny - new babies are SO sweet when they're asleep in your arms... you almost forget how hard it is when they're awake, fussy, and hard to please. I'm happy we've made it to the four-week mark - it will get more fun (and hopefully a little easier) as the weeks continue! We're so grateful Charlie is a part of our family.

Matching

Last night we put the boys in their matching pjs from Ben's mom - they looked so cute!

Eli had crazy hat hair by the end of the day... he loves wearing his striped beanie around the house.

Today the boys wore their matching t-shirts from the Blums - I was so excited for their first matching outfits! Eli loves the heart on the shirts and he thought it was neat to match his baby brother.

Charlie seems bigger every day. He's busting out of his newborn diapers and some of his 0-3 jammies are getting snug! Crazy. I think it must be because he has a long torso - he still has plenty of room in his 0-3 month pants.

Tonight we played Candyland for the first time with Eli - I don't think he completely understood what was going on, but he liked flipping the cards over and saying the color (he didn't always get the color right, but that's ok - he knows red and blue well, but yellow, green, and orange not so much). Ben had the day off for President's Day, so we had a fun day together as a family.

Valentine's Day

This is for you Danielle... our attempt at a picture of all four of us :)

It wasn't super successful! Eli was squirmy and hyper, Charlie was fussy, and Ben and I were tired. But I'm happy to have a few pictures of all four of us, even if they're just so-so...

My parents and Davey came over this afternoon to watch the kids so Ben and I could go out for an early Valentine's dinner - it was really nice to go out! We also stopped by a furniture store to look at a couch for the living room, but we left feeling unsure... we are pretty indecisive.


Earlier in the day, I tried to get some pictures of Charlie, but he wasn't in the mood for my camera in his face. We seem to be on an every other day good/bad schedule with Charlie - he has a decent night (where he'll fall asleep after eating one of the times in the night), and then the next night he is up almost the entire night. Last night was awful - he was up a ton and really fussy. Ben took over from 4 a.m. on so I could get some rest - I'm so thankful it's the weekend!

On a happier note though, Charlie is such a snuggly baby. He loves curling up in my arms and being cheek to cheek. We love this little guy - but can't wait for the nights to be a little easier (I don't mind waking up to feed him, but I will be so grateful when he consistently goes right back to sleep afterward).
Eli had fun today busy playing with his toy guitar
and stacking blocks
Poor Eli hasn't left the house since Wednesday. But despite the fact that he's been cooped up, he has been so wonderful! He stays busy coloring at his little table, playing with toys, and learning/spotting letters of the alphabet (he likes that the boppy pillow is a "C" shape and finds "O" all over the place) - Eli has an alphabet puzzle and a leapfrog alphabet toy that he really enjoys. It seems like he learns a new letter every day - this is such a fun age!

3 Weeks Old

This picture is from yesterday, but today Charlie is three weeks old! He is still sick and congested, but he's slowly getting better each day.

I will be honest...the first three weeks have not gone by very fast. But last night was the first that Charlie actually went back to sleep after eating (and this just happened once, but that's ok) - I was SO happy!! The night before had been pretty awful - Charlie was up quite a bit and fussy, and I finally had to wake Ben up for help because I couldn't stay awake any longer (I really don't like doing that when he has to work so early the next day, but I felt like I was going to throw up - Ben was happy to help...).

Eli has been in a great mood the last few days, though he was a bit of a stinker and didn't nap yesterday. I left him chattering in his crib anyway and took a nap so I could function the rest of the day :)
Now that Eli is mostly healthy again, I tried getting a picture of the two boys together... but it would have been easier with another adult around to help.
Yesterday was another strangely warm day - 60 degrees isn't very common in February around here! I put Eli in the stroller and strapped Charlie into the Baby Bjorn and off we went on an hour walk through our neighborhood. I decided I was in dire need of my favorite blueberry muffin from a yummy place not too far from here, so that was a good destination (though I was pretty exhausted by the end). It was a fun first walk with the boys!
Here is a quick video of Eli playing with Charlie - I thought it was very sweet. He is genuinely interested in him and loves waving at Charlie. I think they'll be good friends in no time :)