Lucas: 8-week Appointment

Lucas' social skills are really blossoming at week 8. He's smiling, laughing, yelling, and cooing all the time. He's tracking our movements with his eyes--especially his sister. His eyes always get a little bigger when he sees Olivia come close, partially in fear and partially in delight.  He holds his head up well and prefers to be held and carried facing out. The pediatrician said he has phenomenal neck strength and is well ahead of his milestone. Lucas is very attached to his mommy and fusses when he can't see me or doesn't hear my voice in the room. I'm flattered, but Charm City Daddy is annoyed. tee he he. He's also wearing 3 month clothing and still has the most explosive bowels I have ever seen or heard in a baby. Even at 8 weeks to audibles still make us giggle.

Here are Lucas' 8-week stats:

Height- 23 inches (50th percentile)
Weight-12lbs 4 oz. (50th percentile)
Head Circumference: 39.5 cm (50th percentile)

Tiring Toddler

Some days I feel like I'm being volleyed back and forth between Lucas and Olivia.

Sometimes I'm successful with it. Sometimes I'm not. On those unsuccessful days the toddler usually gets into something while I'm tending to her brother....something like this...

 Now had she USED the potty before doing this, I may have jumped for joy. But no...she's still potty-shy.  And instead (pan out) I was confronted with this face...

Clearly she is concerned with the consequences of her actions. Not really.

We're Still Here!

Baby Lucas is growing like a weed (8 weeks old).

Olivia's vocabulary and development (21 months) is off the charts (the new thing is to tell us "I scurd.") Just last week she went on her first interview or "observation"-for nursery school (Age 2-6).

And Somehow Charm City Daddy and I are functioning on just a few hours of sleep a night--not because of Lucas, but because Olivia keeps getting out of bed to crash the party she thinks she's missing in our room. No such party--Real Housewives viewing, maybe, but no party.

Here are some other pics I've been meaning to post...

We're enjoying the warm weather and Grandma and Grandad's sprinkler system today! 

Sleep Thieves

I have not had a good night's rest in 6 weeks.  BOTH of my children are sleep thieves.

It's 2 a.m. and I am awake--and they are both asleep...only because I am holding the infant and Charm City Daddy is literally sleeping in bed with the toddler who has a death grip on his neck to keep him from leaving her side. Poor man--he's still in his work clothes. TANGENT: The other day, we were at a work event and he had a Gerber Graduates cereal bar in his pocket. I asked, "Aww, Daddy is that for Olivia?" He answered "No it's for me!"

Olivia has decided that hourly visits to mommy and daddy's room are FUN. There is a party going on in there with a TV and hey--Lucas is in there too! Last night the visits began at 11p.m. and continued until 3 a.m. MAKE.IT.STOP. We are considering utilizing the lock on her bedroom door. Look how far we've come as parents in a matter of days. First we had a hard time parting with the video surveillance and now we've totally gone "Flowers in the Attic" lock her little ass in there until morning. It's just the sleep deprivation talking, right? Please give me some assurance experienced parents.

Desperate for some rest, I even attempted some early "sleep training" with Lucas two nights this week, too. That means I forced him awake during the day every 2 hours. I gave him a bath, nursed and put him in his crib by 9 p.m.  He did well both nights for the first stretch of 4-5 hours and failed miserably between 2am-4am his new witching hour where he grunts, yells, moans, clears his throat, pants--basically makes every sound without ever crying but still conveying his discomfort and dissatisfaction with us as his caretakers.

As a baby--Olivia started sleeping in her longest overnight stretches by ten weeks, and while I know all babies are different--I am holding out hope that Lucas follows suit in 4 weeks or SOONER. With Olivia, however, I'm pretty sure I pumper her guts full of heavy formula at night--as a secret weapon. I nurse Lucas exclusively--so I may have to reserve at least one bottle of formula for him each night--just to get some sleep.

Until then little 2 to 4 hour stretches of sleep is all we get--if not interrupted by an Olivia visits.

Officially Offline

Dear Olivia:

Tonight you officially went offline and are no longer under baby monitor surveillance. This was not an easy decision for your mommy and daddy. We had hoped to keep you under video surveillance until you turned 18 and moved out for college. And chances are, when you came home from college on breaks, we'd probably tempted to hook up the monitor again--for old time's sake, of course. But nope...we're letting go and setting you free. No monitor and a closed door (We will probably regret that closed door in about 15 years).

Your mommy will especially miss stalking you during naps and at bedtime. She will never forget watching your little body slowly grow and fill up more and more of the screen. In fact for months your mommy contemplated having two monitors--one for you and one for your baby brother, Lucas, but she came to her senses when she realized that the frequencies and interference would probably render them both annoying and useless.

It is time for Lucas to take over with the video monitor now.  After all Olivia, you are big enough to climb out of your big girl bed and walk to mommy and daddy's room--and last night you did so--about 5 times between midnight and 3:30 a.m. It KILLS us. Actually it kills daddy because he's closest to the door and in charge of ushering you back to your room.  Last night, we were so tired--by your third visit--we didn't hear you come in and close the door behind yourself. You even shook daddy's arm with no success and then tried mommy's arm. She ushered you to bed and fell asleep in your bed with you only to be awakened minutes later by daddy to nurse your little brother--mommy's work is never done.

You may be going offline--but it doesn't mean we won't be popping into your room and stealing kisses at night and just peeking in to check on you.  And we will continue to do so---until you are 18! So live with it.

Love you baby girl!

Love,

Your Mommy and Daddy