This week

The past few days have been busy, not with anything major, but just with the everydayness of living life at home with an infant who nurses every other hour (and often more than that) and an extremely adorable but incredibly energetic 2 year old who is loving having Mommy home with him every day. I'm torn between exhaustion and guilt, wanting to play with Zach but not neglect Lucas and wanting to snuggle Lucas but not neglect Zach. Fortunately Zach is very self sufficient and plays nicely on his own pretty well -- he has full out conversations with his stuffed animal friends (and they all have "voices") and they play with him. When Lucas is somewhere other than in my arms, Zach and I do get to play together as well, but for the most part that's not happening too much now in these early days. Still, it's nice to be home with both boys and to see how they are together and separately and how they both have their own little personalities.

Lucas is 11 days old today and still a little snuggler. He will cuddle right down on my chest with his feet pulled up under him and his hiney in the air and stay sound asleep. He's got such a cute cry, not one of those annoying cries or a sad cry, but a really cute one. I'm not just saying this -- my other kids cries weren't this cute! I just think everything about him is adorable, including his wah wah wahs. He's starting to nap for a little longer and longer now, a nice change from his 15 minute catnaps of the previous week. And he's getting better about going into the swing or car seat for a change of pace. I still can't get him to sleep in his bassinet for more than 5 minutes at a time. I really need to work on that this weekend when Kevin can hang out with Zach and I won't feel so guilty about Lucas crying. I know you can't sleep train a newborn, but I would like him to sleep in the bassinet. He can't sleep in his car seat forever.

There is nothing like having another child to make your older child suddenly seem grown up. I know she was already a teenager when I had Zach, but I did go through this with Emily as well. I think I babied her for a really long time although I like to think of it as being a protective parent. But now with Zach being a big brother, I am surprised and happy to see that he is also thinking of himself as being older and more responsible. He will help us with the baby, and he's better about not having to be carried all the time but will walk and hold your hand better now. He is even sort of trying vegetables -- in an effort to "get big and strong". It's cute, and he's amazing. He has so many cute and funny sayings. I need to write them down or video him because he's hilarious. One new one -- the other day he asked me where my fairytale was. I said "my fairytale? what's that"? And he patted the back of my head (my hair was down) and said "you know, your fairytale". He meant my ponytail! Too cute, that kid!

So we bought a double stroller the other day. It's called a sit and stand -- the baby sits in the front either in the infant car seat or just in the seat, and the older child can either sit on the small seat in the back facing the parent, or can stand and look forward. Zach loves it! We've taken the stroller out a few times already and it's already earning its money. I like that I can get both kids out of the house without it being too crazy, and that we can walk down the street and they are safely in the stroller together.

Zach and I had some quality time with the finger paints the other day. He has been begging to paint for ages and we finally got it out for him to play with. He likes to do things with his hands and had a alot of fun playing with it! I need to get a bigger role of paper for him to paint on, also some that we can dry and save because of course he painted a masterpiece, but we rinsed it so that we could reuse the paper (basically it was a sheet of plastic). I think we'll play again tomorrow. He also enjoyed painting his arms when he was done with the paper.

Yesterday was Earth Day and we didn't do anything to celebrate other than to spend a little time outside, but then I remembered that we had a tree to plant! What is funny is that I've been joking that all I want to do for Earth Day is chop down the big pine trees in our yard (very non-PC, I know). But we got as a baby present a tree for Lucas! I love this idea and have actually done this before with a few friends -- send them a tree to plant the year their baby is born. Then this is that child's tree and it will always be in their yard. Anyway, the tree was from Scott, Rachel, and Kylie, and you are supposed to plant it in a flower pot and keep it indoors first, then transplant it outside when it's a bit bigger and stronger. This works out well because we are hopefully knocking down some of those pine trees in our back yard this summer. The new Lucas tree is an oak, very appropriate since oak trees are so sturdy and strong. Anyway, Zach was very interested in helping me plant the acorn into the flowerpot and water the dirt and moss. He is such a little gardener! Lucas napped in his car seat while Zach and I planted his tree. It was a sweet moment with Zach and I was glad he could help participate in something that was really for his little brother.

 

Today we had an appointment to take Lucas in for a weight check at the doctor's office, to be sure he's gaining. And...of course he is! This little hungry man has gained more than half a pound in a week and is looking good! He's now hit the 9 pound mark. So now he doesn't need to go back until he's around a month old. The doctor said he looks perfect. Zach scored some more stickers at the doctor's office and gave both Dr. Pam and the nurse shots with his doctor's kit and charmed the whole office with his dimples and laugh.