Growing Up Too Fast

So Griffin is growing up way too fast in my book. Seriously, he isn't a little tiny newborn anymore! He has hit some fun milestones this week starting with the first rollover on Saturday. The funny thing is that he has only done it for me so no one else has been able to witness this feat yet! On Monday when he woke up I caught him sucking his thumb for the very first time and he has continued to find it, which is fabulous in my book. I've been able to put him down drowsy, but awake a couple of times and he has gotten himself to sleep (it only took Tyler a year to do that!). Yesterday he completed his big week by reaching out for the toys on his bouncy seat for the first time.

Tyler also hit a big milestone this week when he finally put two words together and said "open door." I have to write these things down because someday when I can't get him to be quiet I'll need to remember the days when we celebrated putting two words together!

Other than that, we are just enjoying the warmer weather. Tyler has discovered fun outdoor activities like watering flowers with his mini watering can and has gotten really good at dribbling a soccer ball. Hmmm...wonder where he gets that from! I'll post some pics soon (I'm posting some videos to Smugmug as we speak!)

8 Weeks

It is hard to believe that Griffin is already 2 months old, but he is growing like a weed and hitting some big milestones so it must be true. He had his two month check-up this week and he weighs 12 lbs, 14 oz and is 23 inches long. He has the most adorable smile and is a chatterbox! J.C. claims that Griffin said "daddy" this morning. I don't think he is that advanced, but it seems like he likes the sound of his voice and likes to "talk" to us. He is also sleeping 7-8 hour stretches the past couple of nights so that is something to celebrate. He must like his crib, since we just moved him into his own room last weekend.

Tyler is also doing some great things. He has all of his molars now (whoo hoo!) and is really starting to put words together and trying sounds out that he did not try before. He repeats most of the alphabet to us and is finally starting to make some of the animal sounds that we read in books. Some of his new words are: down, sticky, slide, hat, beep! beep!, pee, and poop (have to have the important ones, right?)

We have been having fun getting outside and enjoying the spring weather and doing some pre-Easter activities...

My cute boys

Tyler decorating Easter eggs for the first time

Tyler got a hand-me-down mini Gator from someone J.C. works with. Here he is giving it a test drive while it charges up!

Tyler at our playgroup's Easter Egg Hunt

Wow, all I can say is that time is flying by! Griffin will be 6 weeks old on Wednesday and he is growing like a weed. It will be fun to go to his two month appointment and see how much bigger he has gotten. We have had our hands full these past two weeks though as Tyler's molars began coming in. In his typical teething fashion, he started waking up in the middle of the night and waking up early in the morning. All I can say about that is UGGGHHH. As if dealing with one night-waker wasn't enough?! He seems to be doing better and is sporting two new molars on the bottom. Am I a bad parent to wish that he would just never get the ones on top? :-) Griffin appears to be going through another little growth spurt and is toying with my emotions. This past Wednesday night he went a 5 1/2 hour stretch and then a 3 1/2 hour stretch between feedings, which was so exciting. The next night? Well, he woke up every 2 hours to eat. Seriously?! He has continued that trend the past couple of nights. J.C. was such a nice husband and cancelled his trip to Arizona this past week in order to stay at home with a limit-testing, teething two year-old and "the cutest baby ever" (as he refers to Griffin). We'll have to figure out how to make it up to him, but I am pretty sure having a sane wife is gift enough!

Cherie & The Boys

So I have been pleasantly surprised by how Tyler, Griffin and I are getting along on our own. One of these days the sleep deprivation is going to sink in and then I may struggle, but so far caffeine is getting me through!

Yesterday was a bit of an adventure. Griffin has started to have some pretty nasty reflux and the poor little kiddo had a few instances of spitting up through his nose :-( He also decided to surprise me by waking up for a couple of intervals during the middle of the day! Of course, one of those times was when I was trying to get his big brother down for a nap. There doesn't appear to be a manual for what to do with an awake infant while you are trying to read a billion books to your two year old!

Tyler was the star of the show yesterday though. First, he decided to play with his diaper (again!) and apparently pushed it down so low in front that he then peed all over himself. When I finally figured out what was going on, his pants were soaked in front all the way down to his socks. Once we got that taken care of, we attempted the nap mentioned above. He did not stay down the first time I tried, but Griffin was crying so I came down and tried to rock Griffin while watching Tyler on the monitor. Griffin was WIDE awake though, so then I put him in the swing downstairs and went up to try to get Tyler so settle back down. As I was walking up the stairs, I watched him jump up and down in his crib so hard that he hit something and fell back. Yep, we drew blood on our first day home by ourselves! Luckily it was just a bloody lip! I was trying to figure out what on earth I would tell J.C. if it was something that needed stitches.

The good news is that he did take a nap on attempt #2. The bad news for me is that Griffin stayed wide awake through nap time. Oh well! One of these days I'll get some sleep!

We'll see what these boys have in store for me the rest of this week!

10 Days as a Mom of 2

It has been a rollercoaster over the past 10 days, but life is good! Ten days ago on my birthday I had my ob appt and she scheduled an induction for Thursday, February 17th but also did a little procedure to try to get things moving and it worked! After my appointment she sent me to Labor & Delivery to have a non-stress test and ultrasound and while I was there my contractions started. I just kept praying they wouldn't become too regular while I was there because I really wanted to go home and have a good lunch and labor at home instead of at the hospital this time. I am happy to say that I got my wish! J.C. and I went to Arthur's for lunch and then went home and I tried to take a nap (it is hard to sleep when you are so excited!) and took a walk with my mom. Around dinner time the contractions started to ramp up, but I was able to hold off going to the hospital until J.C. got Tyler tucked into bed.

We headed to the hospital, my doctor broke my water and three hours later at 12:39 a.m., Griffin Reid Clark arrived! It was the exact opposite experience from my labor & delivery with Tyler and I was grateful that things were easier this time! People have been asking us where we got the name Griffin Reid. Griffin is just a name we ran across that we both liked. J.C. was a big fan because it is Irish. Reid is a family name on the Clark side of the family.

Everything was going great until I developed a terrible headache that progressively got worse while I was in the hospital. By Thursday, I could not sit up straight or stand up without a lot of pain. At first we thought it was a tension headache since I was having some muscle tension in my back and neck, but by Friday morning J.C. put together that I probably had a spinal headache from a complication with my epidural. Long story short (I'll spare the details), there is a procedure they do to stop the cause of the headache and I had that done Friday morning before I was discharged. It made such a huge difference! I went from not being able to sit and stand to showering and walking myself out to the car when I was discharged. I am so glad I got to enjoy the experience of bringing Griffin home and spending some time with Tyler.

Unfortunately, a day and a half later the headache was back, so we had to have the procedure done again. Thank goodness that the second time worked better than the first and I was able to put my headaches behind me!

So, other than my weird medical complications, things have been going really well at home. Tyler has had very typical adjustment issues, but is doing remarkably well considering we just rocked his world with a little baby that cries and takes up so much of his parent's time.

Griffin is a big eater and kept me up the first few nights every two hours on the dot, but has been a little better the last couple of nights. Of course Tyler has also been up a few nights and sounds like he might be getting a cold, so we are hoping that trend gets better soon!

J.C. goes back to work tomorrow and I will admit I am pretty nervous about navigating these two boys alone, but I'm sure we'll figure out some kind of routine and hopefully I will keep my sanity!

Tyler meeting Griffin for the first time

Tyler loves Griffin's mobile in his crib!

Tyler is not a big fan of Daddy holding Griffin. Griffin is not sure about Tyler either by the looks of this picture!

37 weeks = full term

Well I don't know where the time has gone since my last post in November, but I suddenly find myself 37 weeks pregnant and pretty darn uncomfortable which means I must be getting closer! I am officially full term and ceremoniously dropped off my pre-admission paperwork to the hospital today. I have my bag packed and newborn diapers bought so I feel somewhat ready. I have spent the last 4 weeks nesting like crazy in case this baby comes early, so now I am mostly just trying to keep everything in order "just in case."

Tyler has no real clue what is going on. Occasionally he will point at my belly if I ask him where the baby is, but some days (like today) he doesn't even awknowledge the word! He is doing well and getting ready to turn 2 in a few weeks. He has added a few words to his vocabulary lately, including "bye," which he will now use on the phone instead of just staring at it. He is a ball of energy and has taken to skipping naps every few days, much to my horror! Of course the days he does take them, he sleeps for 3 hours so I guess I will just take what I can get!

We had some pictures taken in January, so here is a more recent one of Tyler:

And one of Me and Baby. I am definitely bigger now, but don't have any good pictures to add yet. It is on my to do list!

Toddler Language

Tyler is continuing to add a few words/sounds here and there to his repertoire, but I am now wondering at what point on need to correct him on a few items:

1. A bus does not have a siren. Tyler has a great siren sound for fire trucks and ambulances, but he has also taken to making that sound anytime he sees a bus. Hmmm...not sure why he thinks they have sirens, but I think I'll let it go for now.

2. Just because Daddy drives a pick-up truck does not mean that every truck is "Dada." I had the worst time this morning figuring out what my hysterical child was crying for when I put him in the car. We were waiting for J.C. to finish getting ready and Tyler was sitting in the car crying and saying "Dada" so naturally I told him Daddy was coming in a minute. When the crying persisted I took one more look at the backseat to make sure I wasn't missing something and sure enough, there was a Matchbox truck that had fallen on the floor. As soon as I picked it up the crying magically stopped. Similarly at nap time today, J.C. put him down for his nap and a little while later we heard Tyler babbling "Dada" in the crib. How cute, right? He misses his Daddy... Well the babbling turned to crying turned to screaming and when I went up there to check on him he was standing in his crib, crying hysterically (again), pointing to yet another toy truck that J.C. had left in plain view. Apparently he hadn't been saying "Dada" because he missed his Daddy, but because there was a truck (a.k.a. Dada) that he couldn't reach.

Hey, at least he is trying to label things, right? Let's see, he also says door, hisses at snakes he sees in books (and occasionally at a window well that a snake was temporarily stuck in a month ago), attempts to moo (but it sounds like mama), can say the word "hay" although it sounds more like AY!. You just never know what will pop out next!

We have also graduated from having to rest our head on every cat that we see in a book (he has to put his cheek up to the page every time we come across a picture of a cat) but now we also do that for any bunny rabbits we might come across while reading. Adorable, but sometimes cumbersome if the book is large.

We'll see what adventures this week brings!