Cookies, Peppers, and Ice Cream

No, I'm not pregnant.............just to clarify!

One random night, Trevor decided to make chocolate chip cookies. He then had the BRILLIANT idea to have Declan help him. Seriously, I don't know why we waited so long to experience this. Not that it was amazingly spectacular, but it was fun and good for Declan to help out and interact with us in the kitchen. We did this once a long time ago, but he was too young then to really do anything. This time he really got involved in almost every step. He's getting so big it's crazy!

P.S. The faces Declan makes in this post actually are amazingly spectacular!!!

So excited for cookies!!

Trying to help me with the eggs....hmm, not that easy!

Mmmmmm, chocolate chips.......

Stir.....

Stirring....

Stir crazy!

Abby's here too!

Sitting in the big girl chair!

Sadly, I did not get any pictures of him enjoying the cookies. Fail. But they were thoroughly enjoyed, I can assure you! :)

Then, a couple nights ago, while we were preparing dinner, Trevor thought he'd include Dec again. Onions and peppers needed to be chopped....don't worry, Trev did not subject Dec to chopping onions. :)

Declan is not always the best eater. Bribery is often used, and that night it was ice cream. I seriously love the chocolate on his mouth. It's very Spaniard/pirate looking!

You can almost hear in your head what it looks like he's saying:

"Heh heh....heh...."

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Months 4 and 5

Ok, really? This girl is 5 months old already? When did that happen?! I'm buying 6-9 month clothes for her already! This is just crazy. She is really getting big and her personality is totally starting to shine through. I have been saying her whole life that she is Declan 2.0. She has been working to change that. :) Declan was super smiley and friendly to every and anyone who held him. Abigail is wary and reserved whenever she meets new people. However, whenever I mentioned to Trev that maybe she's just not as happy a baby as D was, it was like she wanted to prove me wrong and would smile and flirt with whoever was in front of her. I have noticed that she is doing things a little later than Declan (sitting up, rolling over back to front) but I also think that's typical of a second baby, they just don't get the one on one focus the first/only baby gets. I really try not to compare them developing-wise, but it's kinda hard not to.

At her 4 month check up she was 14 lbs 2 oz. She is 50th percentile across the board. Fine with me, I don't need an overachiever. :) She also did something very different from Declan: she did not react well to the vaccines. Not a terrible reaction that will keep us from giving them to her, but definitely not something we were used to. Dec was always fine. Of course he would cry, but no fever and was chipper and happy the days after. Abby fevered for a couple days, had a red bump at one of the injection sites, and she just wasn't herself for about 4 days. It was weird, and I was not a fan. With D, we gave him Tylenol before his shots, but the nurse at this new (and now old) doc said the Tylenol would dilute the vaccines if we used it....or something like that. So we didn't. Hmm.....me thinks we'll go back to the Tylenol for her 6 month shots. My bro, the nurse, said not using Tylenol is dumb. I trust my brother thankyouverymuch. Ugh doctors.

Why is the doc now old, you may ask? We have not had much luck with pediatricians. Nothing life threatening, but we've never felt 100% comfortable with any of them. There was the first one that D had that would just talk and talk and talk and talk, and you really couldn't get a word in. Then we switched to the doc D had for the next 2 years. Who never said his name right. She wasn't so bad so we dealt with the lack of connection, but when Abs came along, I just felt it was time to find another doc. I blindly switched to a new doc, who we saw at 4 months, and who basically called me a liar. Well, that's a bit dramatic, but close. I told her D teethed for 2 months before anything showed up. She said "that doesn't make sense" and proceeded to tell me why that "couldn't have happened." Hmm. Needless to say we did not bond with this doctor. I then asked friends for their pediatrician's names. 3 friends LOVED their docs. Those 3 docs were all full, not accepting new patients. Boo. Finally, another friend suggested hers, and she was available. To be continued on how that goes.....I am hopeful!

She's still sleeping good, with only the rare early morning wake-ups. We finally weaned out of the Miracle Blanket....which is good, it's only sized for up to 4 months! I've tried rice cereal with her a couple times, but she just doesn't seem into it. She's closing in on 6 months so hopefully she'll be more open to it soon....

Declan LOVES his little sister! And she loves him right back! I used to say no one could make her laugh like her daddy can, but now it's her brother that she finds the funniest! And her basic laugh is kind of a squeal so it's really cute when the deep belly laugh comes out and you know she finds something REALLY funny! Seriously though, Declan has pretty much shown no jealousy. He sometimes wants to be held when we're holding her, but generally he shares us really well. I'm so proud of my big boy for loving his sister so much!

Our Summer sicklies have stuck with us into Fall a bit, and Abby seems to like the sound of her voice all croaky and crackly. If she's a singer, she may have one of those raspy voices. I'm ok with that too as long as it's Norah Jones style and not Macy Gray!

So I didn't take many pictures with my smaller camera this time, apparently only 5. But I've taken A LOT with my fancy camera. Those need to be edited, so a fancy camera blog should be coming in the future. For now, this is what you get! :)

Another D vs Abs difference: the swing was MAGIC with D. It was the go-to place for him to calm down, and usually sleep. With Abs....not so much. But here she is, sitting patiently in the swing. Sweet girl.

Computer time with Daddy.

Most mom's understand this: Abby comes to the bathroom with me. A: I can't leave her alone out front with Dec. B. She's not happy when I'm not in the room to entertain her. This time, I was showering. I could see that she was getting fussy, but I hadn't strapped her in because she didn't move much yet. I was ready to jump out and get her before she wriggled out of the chair, but she fell asleep before it really became a problem. This is the final position she got to. And yes, after this, she gets buckled in EVERY TIME.


Daddy with his babies.

See not much.....believe you me though, I got LOTS of fancy camera pics!

Brother

You've caught glimpses of him in recent posting, but I thought it was time to give Declan a post of his very own!

This kid....is two. :) We love him dearly, but he and God are working together to test and stretch our patience. To. It's. Limits. Despite the fact that he's two (which we have to remind ourselves of when we find ourselves asking "why would you do that?!") he is still a wonderful and darling child! We can go from pulling our hair out to complete wonderment at how smart and funny he is. He is REALLY picking up phrases and words, when we don't even know it too. He's a serious parrot. Here's a list of his current "sayings".

"Oh my gosh!"
"Awe, c'mon Abs! What's wrong?" (Something we said A LOT in the beginning when she would be crying and we were soooooooooooo exhausted!)
"Did you hear that? Do you hear it?!"
"No! I go in time out....NOW!" (I think he means to say he doesn't want to go in time out.)
"Never! Never! Never!"
"Where'd it go?" (You can substitute "it" for Thomas, Abby, car, fire truck, any of his cousins or friends, etc.)
"Oh, Der it is!!!!"

One of our favorite things he says, and we know we'll be devastated when he grows out of it: "I eeyou." That would be "I love you." Heart melter.

He also LOVES to sing. We sing with him every night. He'll sing praise songs and then ask for Backyardigans or Super Why. He'll even sing just while he's playing. And he makes up songs too....well he strings words together like mommy, daddy, Abby, Declan and says them in a sing song voice. It's really very sweet.

I love my kid, and it's still makes me sad sometimes that it's not just the two of us anymore (during the day that is) so tonight we took a trip to Target, just the two of us. It was nice just having Dec there and letting him run around....until he broke the glass jar of salsa.....but having time with just him was really nice. Hopefully we can have more "dates" in the future!

Picture time!

This is his "special train". We were given the advice to get a special toy that he could play with while I was feeding Abby, so he didn't feel left out and kept busy. That didn't last long. Apparently cartoons are a good (or rather NOT good) way to keep busy, too.....anyway, this toy was from his Godmama Bri. He loves his Special Train!

Oh yeah, he's cool.

You'll see a lot of sleeping pictures. He's just so darn funny when he sleeps! I let him go to nap with a book, and this is how he fell asleep.

I love this....."I wonder where my sticker went....."

"Oh! Der it is!!!"

Towel around the waist....like a big boy! :)

Again, funny sleeper.

So.....I started trusting Declan a little bit. Too much it seemed. I had fallen asleep on the couch with Abby, (for just a few minutes....I was just "resting my eyes".....) and when I woke up, Dec wasn't in the room with us anymore. After a quick check around the house, I found him in the closet. He had gotten into his "big trains" (box of tracks and THOUSANDS of train engines.) He had laid out tracks and was getting the engines out when I found him. Sneaky little devil.

We pile some stuff on the box to keep it "hidden"....guess we didn't "hide" it well.

He's asking me "help me get some more out!"

Cars. His second favorite movie.....currently.

This kid loves trains. And he loves making "trains" out of anything! Like his books:

Sometimes, he has a hard time going down for nap. When I can, I'll lay down with him for a bit, but a lot of the time, I have to feed Abby. Here, he had been calling for me and he fell asleep with his head practically against the gate. Kinda creeped me out, seeing his head peeking out from under the curtain....

I don't remember if I moved him, or if he did this himself. Check out his right hand. That's standard these days.

He did move between the last picture and this one, he curled up actually. But somehow came back to this. Funny thing, I came across this post tonight and realized how true it still is.

He LOVES his cousins. Here he is with Gemma.

FINALLY starting to climb. Like really climb, on playgrounds and stuff. Still a bit wussy about it, but getting there! ;)

Seriously cool.

Oh joy. He can take his diapers off now. Great.

Yeah, I don't know why he likes to chew on them....

Disclaimer: this is NOT a used diaper! I repeat, NOT USED!!

Again with the silly sleeping....

I love my BOY!

Somone ELSE is getting frisky!!

First, go back and look at this post. Looks like Abby is following in brothers' footsteps. I was cuddling her, rocking her to sleep and I heard her sucking. I knew she wasn't using the pacifier, as it was sitting next to me, so I figured she was sucking on her hands, which was a common activity for her at the time. However when I actually looked, she had been sucking on her arm and had given herself the world's LARGEST hickey!! Check it out:

close up:

That sucker lasted for almost a week. It faded of course, but it stuck around for a good long time. What suckers my kids are! ;)

Months Two and Three

Ok folks, are you ready for this? Abigail is 3 months old already! WHAT?! Yeah, that's right. In fact she is older than 3 months.....closing in on 3 point FIVE months! I can't believe it. While there are moments and days where it seems time is inching by, and I sit and daydream about being out of said moments and days, looking back I really can't believe that time has passed already. But isn't that always how it is? When you're in the moment and it's rough, it feels like eternity. But then all of a sudden, your little girl who Speedy Gonzales'd her way into this world has kept up her pace and is a 3 month old! (yeah, that's right, I turned a cartoon character into a verb.)

So here we are. I meant (as I always do) to blog at 2 months and give you the stats from her 2 month check up. We actually had the appt when she was 6 weeks old. For those who don't know, there's been a Pertussis outbreak/pandemic/epidemic (what have you) in So Cal, and because of this getting the pertussis vaccine asap is highly recommended. I got mine in the hospital. Dec has been getting his at all of his check ups so he was good. Trevor and Abby got theirs together. :) The......governing authority who decides when your kids are ok to get vaccines....declared that the 2 month vaccine could actually be given as early as 6 weeks. Hence. Really this pertussis thing is a big deal. There's even this RE-diculous commercial about getting the vaccine. But, I'll do what I can to protect my child.

The downside to this (because I'm crazy) is that I can't compare my kids growth........as easily......for this one period of time. I know it's soooo not a big deal, but......I'm crazy. :) I like to do that. It's not gonna make me worry or think either one is better, I just like the comparing. Whatever....I'm sure I'll survive! :) (I also like to make fun of myself. I think it's one of my more admirable attributes. ;) )

It's funny, when I look back at my posts for Dec, I've got all the stats: height, weight, head measurement, and the corresponding percentiles for D's numbers. I really only remember Abby's weight. Not even the percentile. Huh, my poor second child. Her blog posts are few and with less interesting info. Just random babble from mom. Two kids people. I've got TWO KIDS.

Anyway.......at 6 weeks old, Abby weighed 8lbs 8oz. She had such slow growth in her first month it was good to see a higher weight. Then at about 12 weeks, I had another lactation appt, and she weighed in at 11lbs exactly! WOOT! Big girl! Our next appt isn't for another month, but I'm excited to see where she's at. Perhaps I'll pay more attention and get more info for you. :)

Well, currently we are blessed again with a good sleeper.....mostly. She has been sleeping through the night (10 to at least 5 or 6) for a month now. And then when she wakes up, she can usually be rocked back to sleep for another hour or two. Or I'll cuddle her in bed.....which I used to be REALLY against. I still wish I didn't do it, for safety's sake. But some mornings I just can't handle standing and rocking when I know she'll fall asleep in our bed. I'm weak.

We attribute a lot of this good night sleeping to our use of Babywise and the Miracle Blanket. What's funny to me is that using the blanket goes against one of the "teachings" of Babywise (the use of a sleep prop). But that's what parenting is about: getting advice and finding a method that works, and using your judgement to determine what's best for your baby. While I'd like to wean the miracle blanket sooner rather than later, attempts to do so have brought on earlier wake times and grumpy parents. Not good.

Although the pics don't show it, this girl is a SMILER!!! Just last night, when she had her middle of the night wake-up, I started changing her diaper and she gave me the biggest smile. When I couldn't get her back to sleep and Trevor went to put her in the miracle blanket, she just beamed up at him and wiggled around in glee at seeing her daddy! As much as we loved it, we were also annoyed. A happy baby does not go back to sleep. :)

She is also a talker. From my memory, Declan was really quiet. But this girl likes to hear her voice! Perhaps she just wants to be heard over her VERY LOUD brother. Interestingly enough though, she is more reserved than Declan was. D was very sociable, would go to anyone really. But Abs isn't always on board with meeting people. I fear I will have a clingy one on my hands this time around. I'll try to enjoy it while I can before it gets to be too much! ;)

OK, on to what everyone cares most about....pictures! These start right from where we left off with the last post....

Is she not the most adorable thing you've ever seen?!?!?! The baby, not the mom. Definitely NOT the mom.

SERIOUSLY, Declan's doppelganger!!

We had a bit of a sickie summer. At some point we all were sick, some of us (ME), several times. Here, the three of us had been napping on the couch. I had that little space behind Abby. My sweet sick children!

You know how newborns (and dads) are, they just sleep all the time! :)

Tummy time. Declan likes to join in.

Then mommy feels left out so she joins in the fun.

Abby's a diva, she wants the camera to herself.

She sits! Or rather....she props up!!

Can we say precious! This is SO going in her wedding video!

Abby turned 2 months on my cousin Claire's wedding day. Don't we all look pretty!

Just like daddy...

Bumbo time!

"Sup?"

Oh the life of siblings.....

When Declan was 3 months old exactly, I took him to get his hand a feet ceramic'd:

And now it's tradition! :)

Being a 3 month old is tiring!!

I guess I didn't get a lot of pictures in her 3rd month. I also have the pictures from my fancy camera, but those get photo shopped, and who knows when I'll do that.....

P.S. Yes we still have Declan, as evidenced from his cameos in some pictures. I do have some pictures of just him that I'd like to post. Stay tuned for those as well. :)