Potties and Placemats

Things have been crazy busy of late! But I thought I’d try to get in one more blog before Chris ships out. Maybe Chris will even write one before he leaves…

Thankfully, Luke is over his nasty cold. Will is still fighting his, but his lungs have cleared – praise God! He still has sinus congestion and some fluid on his ears, but he’s definitely on the mend. Chris and I are almost over ours…I pray that we don’t get sick again anytime soon…I’m not sure any of us could handle it! =)

Chris will be leaving soon. We don’t have a date yet, but we have a window. We have planned to spend this weekend just being together. I think we may even get to take Luke to the zoo tomorrow. I’m so excited to see how he reacts to seeing animals up close and personal!

Here are updates on the boys:

Luke – Luke thinks his name is “you” now. When we’ve shown him pictures of himself, we always tell him, “That’s you!” or “Who is that – it’s you!” Now he thinks “you” is his name. Now when we ask him, “Who is that?” he says “You!” We’re trying to make a conscious effort to say, “Luke” instead!

His vocabulary continues to blossom. I keep meaning to get a short video of him saying words to post. Maybe I can get one this weekend.

Thankfully with his returning health, his tantrums have lessened. Don’t get me wrong – he still has them, but at least not every other minute.

We got him a potty. I’m not going to start training him in earnest until Chris is gone and Luke has adjusted. However, I figured I would set it in the bathroom and let him take his own initiative if he wanted. He really likes sitting on it. He has yet to go potty in it – but he almost did tonight. He’ll usually tell me if he’s gone poopy (or “poot” as he puts it) but tonight he told Chris “potty” so he took him in to see if he would use it. He went pee-pee on the floor…but it was inches from the potty…so close!

Luke is still doing really well with Will. He’s shown a bit of jealousy here and there lately, but overall he still loves having Will around. I think I say, “Gentle” a million times-a-day though. He just doesn’t realize Will is still a bit fragile. I can’t wait to see them play together – it won’t be long!

I still think his favorite thing to do is read books. I think he could look at books all day long. We bought him some flash cards the other day and he enjoys going through those too. He’s getting better and better at doing motions to songs. In fact, the other day at playgroup when we were singing action songs, he grabbed Will’s arms and started helping Will do the motions. It was so sweet!


Will – Will is growing up so fast! He had his 2 month well-baby appointment last Monday. I was completely frustrated with the techs – but I won’t go into that…it only gets me steamed up. After asking the doctor, I finally found out that he weighed in just shy of 15 pounds and was 25 ½ inches long. The doctor said he was in excellent health and doing well developmentally. He also got his 2 month vaccines.

He is cooing so much now! It’s so precious. It sounds more like a very contented sigh. He’ll have a whole conversation with you too. Even Luke has started to coo back and forth with him. I know in a few months, they’ll have a language of their own!

Will is sleeping pretty well at night. He wakes up to eat, but unless he’s to congested to sleep (we still have a few of those nights) he sleeps – eats –goes back to sleep - eats - goes back to sleep…and so on. We are co-sleeping right now, but I’ll probably start moving him to his co-sleeper bassinet soon.

He still wants to be held constantly. He’s not very fussy…unless I put him down. I have my Moby wrap, but the bigger he gets…and the more weight he puts on – the harder it is to maneuver around with him - Hehehehe! I think maybe I need to start working out!! I am very pleased with the Moby though. It’s perfect when I take Luke to playgroup or the playground or out for a walk. I can just wrap Will up in the Moby and be hands free for Luke. It also works for light housework. I would definitely recommend it.

Will really likes his play gym – he’ll sit or lay underneath it and stare or bat at the toys. He also loves his Winnie the Pooh mobile on his swing. He’ll stare and stare at it. He loves to look at our faces. He’ll just stare up into our eyes – it’s priceless! He has such a sweet smile and we heard him laugh for the first time Sunday night! Chris was tickling his feet and the sweetest burst of happy sound rushed out of his mouth. It was so beautiful! I’m so happy that Chris got to hear his first laugh before he leaves. He likes it when we sing to him – and is very alert to new noises and sounds. He’s such a sweetheart!

Post-partum update:

I had my post-partum check up last week. Everything checked out ok except for my thyroid. This isn’t a new problem. Though I’ve had tests on it before, nothing conclusive ever shows up. However, the doctor felt it was too enlarged to just ignore and wants me to see a specialist. I’m hoping I can see someone at Landstuhl – but they are normally short staffed and will only see Active Duty members. I’m not sure I want to be referred out.

I’ve had a really hard time getting the weight off this time around. With Luke I had a hard time with the last 10 pounds – but this time I’m having trouble with almost half the weight I gained. I plan to start working out and dieting…I may even start a weight loss blog. I’d like to be back down to pre-pregnancy weight by the time Chris comes home on R&R.

I’ve been slowly adding a bit of dairy back into my diet. I have yet to have a glass of milk or bowl of cereal, but I think that’s my next step. Thankfully I can drink my cup of coffee in the morning again – YAY! That’s a big praise!

Alrighty, that’s all for now. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get an update up – I’ve been really behind with blogging and e-mailing lately. Once things settle down a bit, I hope to have more time to remain more consistent.

I have a TON of pictures to post; I’ll post a handful in this blog and then try to get more up soon.

Tummy Time!

Let's go for a wagon ride!

Luke likes to lay on your legs (if your arms are full) in the rocking chair...

Me and the boys...

Daddy and Will...

This picture cracks me up. Can you tell that we've had to use the saline bottle up Will's nose a lot lately?! Luke also likes to put the aspirator (a.k.a the snot sucker) up his or Will's nose as well. He also tried to clean out Elmo's nose today. We gotta get over these colds! Anyway, the picture was originally suppose to show Luke's Presidents place mat. He likes to point out the different presidents. On a good day he can point out Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt (Teddy), the two Bushes and Clinton. It's been awhile since we've taught him a new one. My goal is for him to know them all when Chris comes back on R&R.

Luke reading on his new potty! Don't worry, we did put the potty in the bathroom. This was taken right after we had taken the potty out of the box. =)

Luke is potty training his Chicken Elmo...

Will eating his fist (yummy fist!) and gazing at his play gym...

Bath Time!


Luke loves to say, "Will!" He'll laugh and say it at the same time - it's a sweet sound!

What a sweet smile!

Wearing daddy's headphones...he likes to stick the adaptor up his nose...I guess he doesn't know it plugs into the computer...

This is a rare sight...Will sleeping on the boppy on the couch!

PT's!

Will likes to be propped up so he can see what's going on around him...

Luke loves wearing hats! This one should make Uncle Randy proud!

Cake!

Our newest family shot...


Awwwww!