Beckett, Eight Weeks Old!

The big exciting news to report for you this week is:
(DRUMROLL)

You have moved up to size two diapers!

You will also be getting your first immunizations this week which consists of 4 (YES FOUR!) needles being poked into your chubby little thighs. UUgghhhh! I hate needles.

That is about all I have to report for firsts for your eighth week.

"Pway Gowf?"

This weekend we went to Beacon Hill Park to play golf on the putting green. It was a bit cloudy, but still a beautiful fall morning.

Ethan pulled up the hole numbers and chased squirrels - and got chased by squirrels. They are pretty friendly there...

I almost tripped on this one...

Then he got down to golfing. It was pretty fun. He liked placing the ball only inches from the hole (if not on the edge of the cup) to be sure he got it in every time.

He didn't do this because he is competitive - but because he liked the cheering part best. It's all about the HOORAYS! YEAHS! And fist pumping, of course. "Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods!", he exclaims. Daddy taught him that one.

Then a little girl named Elsie appeared on the green. He ran up to Daddy and RIPPED his putter away from him. To give to the little girl. Because he is so charming. It was really sweet.
Then he showed her how to use the club and put the ball right next to the hole to be sure it went in. "Like dis. See dat?", he asked.
Such a fun fall day.

Can You Say Mustache?

In the bad weather, Kindergym is a life saver! At Esquimalt Rec Centre they have a bouncy castle with a big slide you can climb up. Ethan has jumped in the castle before, but for the past couple of months he wouldn't go near it. Then suddenly, he wanted to jump inside of it AND climb up the ladder inside and go down the big slide. He could never make it up the ladder before, but now that he can he did it over and over and over...

Troy came home from work today and started playing with Ethan as usual so I can give Beckett a little one on one attention and cook dinner etc... They are always up to "boy" things such as sports, or climbing/rough-housing, playing with tools...
Troy decided he needed to shave off his beard and tidy up a little (see photo above) so he took Ethan into the bathroom with him so he could "shabe" with daddy. I heard some laughing and they came out of the bathroom and Troy had this crazy mustache going on:
"Mustache, mustache!", Ethan kept saying - so Troy got some tape and gave him one too! Ethan also remembered that someone else in our house has a mustache...Mr. Potato Head! So we thought we should include him in the photos as well!
Thank God Mr. Potato Head is the only one of the three to keep his mustache after the photos were finished!

Beckett, Seven Weeks Old!

No big items to report for your 7th week. Just been busy looking cute in bunny socks.

Goings On

Saturday morning, after coffee and lounging, we went to Beacon Hill Park to feed the ducks some birdseed. Of course, the day I forgot my camera, we were surrounded by seed seeking wildlife (including three peacocks and some squirrels practically eating seed out of Ethan's hands). I hate missed photo ops!

Then it was Saturday naptime - one of Ethan's favourite things to do is wake up his daddy by diving on him in bed afterwards. And sometimes he cuddles too.
Beckett had his first "big bath" with his brother. Ethan loves it that Beckett has a "peter" too. "Same!" he squeals right before this picture was taken (look where his right hand is).
Sunday morning was more hanging around and playing. I had a soccer game at noon and Troy had one at 2 (both our teams won). My mom came to hang out with Ethan for the afternoon so Troy took Beckett to the park to watch my game and then handed him off to me to watch his game afterwards.
We picked up Ethan and got pizza for dinner. Yum!

Back to Regularly Scheduled Programming...

Well, things have been better around here since I last posted...

Last Sunday I played my first soccer game since Beckett was born - which I forgot to mention. My legs got a bit tired and wobbly near the end of the game, but it felt really great to be back out on the field. Troy and Beckett came to watch in the beautiful sunny fall weather...

Wednesday was also a beautiful, sunny day and we spent the whole morning outside walking and playing - a much better start than the day before. Yesterday we visited Alex and Adam and Courtney and their new addition, Molly!

Today we took a nice long walk on the Gorge in the morning just before the wind and rain started and then met friends for lunch. Troy has just come home early from work for the weekend, and we are invited to my parents house for dinner so I don't have to cook!

All the advice I have gotten, and the parenting books I have read seem to emphasize the importance of routines - which I love. It is supposed to be especially important for Ethan now that he is two and has a new sibling... It is hard to be consistent with an infant in the house so we have tried to keep life as close to normal (pre-Beckett) for Ethan as possible.

.

Bedtime has been especially hectic because Beckett likes to eat right around 6:30 or 7 when we are trying to get Ethan ready for bed. So the usual routine has been disrupted or rushed, and Ethan - who is usually a great sleeper and OK with going to bed - has been mad and crying and taking a long time to settle down to sleep. This leads to him being short on sleep, and being a little "edgy" the next day. It is not terrible, but disruptive enough to make him not as cooperative and easy going as we are used to him being.

.

So the past few nights we have done things EXACTLY the same way, started the bath a little earlier, and spent a little more time winding Ethan down and tucking him in. The past few days he has slept great, been charming and cooperative, and happy to go to bed at night. And life has been that much easier...

Two Can Be HARD!

Today was a hard day. The hardest day I have had since Beckett was born. Beckett must be going through a growth spurt because he needed to eat every couple of hours. Beckett was also unusually unsettled and not sleeping in the morning. Ethan was restless and destructive because he was getting bored and I didn't have enough time for him. We did not get out for our morning dog walk (because I was getting tag teamed) and this made everything worse. I would even venture to say this was the root of our problems. I put coffee on and the two hour timer ran out and it turned off before I could get to it and pour a much needed cup! Friends came over to play but Ethan was acting up so there was constant refereeing and the house was a mess BEFORE they started playing - so you can imagine what it looked like afterwards...

During Ethan's nap time I got Beckett really settled and having a good sleep by 1:30. I was happy to finally have an hour to organize myself - time to tidy up, have a coffee, stop running around in circles. But NO! Today was the day that Ethan decided he needed to wake up from his nap early and be in a miserable mood. When I heard him screaming, "Mama, MAMA!" I honestly felt like crying. I knew there would have to be days like this, but it was still so frustrating when it happened.

It was going to be over an hour until Troy would be coming home. At this point it seemed like FOREVER! We usually wait for him to go out after nap time but we needed to get out of the house! So we packed up and headed for the park around the corner. Soon after we got to the playground it started pouring! We.Were.NOT.Going.Home. Ethan didn't really want to play on the slippery, wet equipment so I decided to go into the forest to take cover from the wet.

We slowly walked through the forest to Starbucks at the mall like we have a hundred times before. I had a latte and we shared a piece of pumpkin loaf. Beckett slept happily in the carrier. It stopped raining. By the time we got home we felt like ourselves again.

Beckett, Six Weeks Old!

This past week your biggest change in you is the strength and control you are getting with your head and neck. I don't give you enough "recommended tummy time", but you seem to be a strong active baby (like your brother was) so I'm sure you will probably develop ahead of the curve physically.

Almost caught you smiling...

You are also graciously sleeping 5 or 6 hours a stretch at night now, only it is from 7 or 8pm on so I have to go to bed pretty early if I want to get a big chunk of sleep in. Now that I have written that I am sure to have jinxed myself and you will start to be up all night every night from now on...

My Buddy, Alex

Today we went to Beacon Hill Park with Alex and his mom Courtney to play in the nice weather. Alex is going to be a big brother too - anytime now! Only he is getting a sister.
Alex brought along a couple of dinosaurs to share so he and Ethan could play. They had a great time ROAR-ing together on the playground. Ethan thinks that possibly Alex is the coolest and funniest person in the world. Whenever I ask him, "What do you want to do today?" he always replies, "Aless and Cornees house?".
I think he would go there everyday if he could.

Beckett, Five Weeks Old!

There are BIG smiles from you this week. They are few and far between, because you are such a serious little guy, but they are BIG when they happen. In fact, this morning, Ethan was sitting beside you as you "played" on the ground and you laughed at him! By laughing I mean you started to smile so wide that your eyes became squinty and your mouth couldn't open any more - than a coo-ey "uuhhhh" noise came out of you.

I wouldn't have called it laughing except for that Ethan said, "Betutt laffin, Mama!". It was cute. Way cuter than, "Betutt cryun, Mama!".

Suddenly, TWO!

Ethan,

Today you are two years old. Each month since last October you've changed bit by bit. You talked a little more, moved a little quicker, and learned a few new things every day. When I look back on this time I see that you turned from a baby into a boy in front of our eyes and suddenly you seem so grown up!

There is no stopping the passage of time. These thousands of moments with you strung together over the course of the year are so vivid and bittersweet. It has been thrilling to see how communicative and capable you have become. It is exciting to think about what is next and what kind of boy you will be while you are two and beyond. Still sometimes, I find myself wondering - where did my baby go?

Your soft skin and hair, "wuv-voo" 's, wet kisses and neck squeezes for hugs. When you grab onto my hand to drag me somewhere or run to me and wrap your arm around one of my legs for protection. The crazy infectious laugh that is sometimes preceded by a squeal when you are over excited. These are the moments I will try remember as time goes on. The kind of moments I want to capture and hold close to my heart.

I want you to know that you light up every room you enter. It is amazing to watch you with your friends and family. You are kind of pushy and dominant, but still sweet and funny. You are so eager to show and include people in everything you are doing - so you call to them or pull them by the hand in a forceful way to get them in on the excitement. This toddler zest for fun and new experiences has made our lives so rich and full.

You hear so much about the "terrible two's" and tantrums when you have a baby. While it is true that you can sometimes be a force to be reckoned with - most of the time you laugh, share and entertain. Everytime you reach for my hand, or call out, "Mama, MA-MA!", I know that I am in for an adventure. These new adventures, these experiences with you now being two - these are the moments I will look forward to.

Happy 2nd Birthday (*with all my heart*)

Love, Mama

October Updates

1. At one month old, Beckett is 11lbs 5oz with only a new, dry diaper on. Good work in the weight gain department, pal! It's hard to see where the new two pounds are because you are still so tall and thin-ish (it seems to me).

2. Ethan and Troy went and got pumpkins for the front of our house. I stayed home with Beckett because of the bad weather - so, no photos of us in the pumpkin patch this year... but our porch looks really festive. They also picked up a really cute lion costume from Winners for Hallowe'en. Welcome to the jungle!

3. Birthday party time for Ethan tomorrow. We didn't invite many people this year to keep it low key because of the new arrival and lack of time etc... Ethan has been busy talking about his "hap-uh bert-dey" party, balloons and cake. I think this year he will enjoy things a lot more and understand what is happening.

4. Tomorrow is also our six year wedding anniversary - which has been much overshadowed in the past couple of years by the best anniversary present ever! Our plans include cleaning up after the birthday party... SO ROMANTIC! Maybe its time to think about adjusting the date...

Beckett, Four Weeks Old!

I can't believe that almost a month of babyhood has slipped by! You have become more alert now during the day, but you still sleep really well. Yesterday at Kindergym you slept soundly for an hour in your seat while 25 toddlers ran around screaming and laughing and playing and throwing and driving and jumping...AMAZING how babies can sleep!
This past weekend you started smirking while you were awake - and today we saw a couple of timid smiles. There is nothing like your baby smiling at you for the first time! We look forward to a lifetime more of them...