Silas' 2 Month Appointment

Yesterday was Silas' two month Dr. visit. The visit itself went well-- he's just doing great and we didn't have a lot of questions or complaints. The weigh-in was probably the high-point of the visit-- he's up to 13 lbs. 2 oz! Then the lowpoint was the four shots and one oral vaccine that he had to get. He was a trooper and quieted down pretty quickly after getting the last shot. He was running a very mild fever last night and today but Tylenol seemed to help. He was pretty sleepy last night and a little fussy this afternoon, but we still made another IKEA outing and except for the last few minutes, he did great.

Henry has been as happy and energetic as ever, but getting to sleep isn't quite as easy as it was before. I think he would definitely still be considered a good sleeper, but i think it's taking him longer to fall asleep and he'll whine and cry out with all kinds of "another drink of water" requests. When you go in and ask what's wrong he'll tell you it was the dogs barking, but really that's a ploy and a lead-in to one of the many things he really wants to talk about-- his bubbles, drawing with chalk, reading books, etc. We'll go in once or twice and tell him that we can do all those things in the morning, and then we tell him he has to go to sleep and not to call out anymore. Most of the time that works. He's done great in his new bed and still stays put in the morning when he wakes up-- calling out for JT or I until JT goes and gets him.

9 Weeks/ 2 Years, 1 Month, 1 Week, 5 Days

I know you're all dying to see our new patio, but i'm going to hold off taking a picture until probably Thursday or Friday. By then i hope to have the new tables bought and maybe even a few potted annuals to spruce up all the green perennials that are growing but not flowering yet.

We enjoyed the three-day weekend very much and were lucky to have nice weather yesterday to enjoy a bbq at Tiffany and Mike's. Henry had a blast playing with Helen and Carys and being chased by Uncle Mike and Troy. Today i bought a new little swimming pool which i'm sure we'll break out as it gets hotter this summer. Last summer Henry found the water a bit too cold for comfort, but then again he didn't like to walk in the grass either, so we'll see how he does in the coming months.

We've got Silas' 2 month appointment tomorrow afternoon. Goodness knows how much he weighs now, but i definitely don't have to worry that he's getting enough to eat. He's doing well holding his head up and really starting to fall into a routine-- if not a schedule with sleeping and eating.

8 Weeks, 5 Days/ 1 Year, 1 Month, 1 Week, 3 Days

We pretty successfully tackled our first major "diy" home project. This weekend, with the extensive and gracious help of our friends Corey and Troy, we put in a paver patio in the backyard. I don't think anyone would mistake us for professionals, but i think it turned out really nice, and certainly good enough for us to put the grills and a table on. We did learn that the old adage "measure twice and cut once" also applies when you're digging. We made a mistake with the dimensions of the space we dug but managed to find a pretty easy way to fix things up. I'll try to take some pictures of it soon to post. It was extremely hard work, but we managed to wrap things up by about 4 yesterday and go for an early dinner.

Today we had to head back to home depot for a few more supplies and did a bit more yard work. Although we've planted perennials that over time will make the backyard gardens pretty lush, right now they're fairly lackluster, so i think this week i'm also going to pick out a few annuals to brighten things up.

We couldn't have asked the boys to be any better. Silas slept most of the day away in his bouncer outside while we worked. Corey kept Henry entertained inside most of the time as it was sprinkling on and off and Henry wasn't too keen on getting wet.

We're hoping to head to a friend's house for a BBQ tomorrow, and then hopefully we'll be able to have people over next weekend to inaugurate our new patio!

8 Weeks, 2 Days/ 1 Year, 1 Month, 1 Week

Henry had his 2 yr. checkup yesterday and the Dr. thinks he looks great. He's around 50% percentile for weight at 27 lbs. and 75% percentile for height at 35.5 in. We talked to her at length about his physical "delays" and about the appeal that's still pending with the insurance company. She said that she thought his walking gait looked fine and that not jumping at 2 years old is not really a problem-- she said it's the low end of normal, but that if he's not jumping by 3 years then we'll worry. She said the encourage him to jump and bounce and use a trampoline if possible-- she also recommended getting him into a gymnastics-type class if at all possible. I had planned to do that in the fall, so now i'll just see if there are any available later in the summer.

Speech-wise she said he was doing great-- especially since he was low on the speech curve at his 18-month appointment (he had about 5 words at that point.) We've counted around 80 words at this point that he uses spontaneously and she said he was doing a great job of putting words together-- i think he was talking about "new Ralph" and "blue shoes" when she came in the room. He had to get a Hep-A shot and a finger prick to test for lead (which was negative) but he did really great with both. He talked the rest of the day about his "boo-boo" but i think it was mostly because of the sparkly bandage he had on.

8 Weeks/ 1 Year, 1 Month, 5 Days

We seem to be stuck at about 5-6 hours of sleep for Silas' longest chunk. I know i shouldn't be greedy, and if this is a normal progression towards sleeping all night, it's fine. It's just that since Henry's sleep deteriorated so badly about this time (struggling to get him to sleep for an hour-- asleep 30 minutes... repeat) i'm worried about "messing Silas up." I think we're going to start trying to put him to bed earlier, and see how it goes. I also think i need to consider being home more during the day so that he can nap in his bed a bit more instead of always on the go.

That said, we accomplished another fun outing today with Silas' best friend Kerala-- we went to the mommy matinee at the theatre by our house. The babies were really good and it was the first time i had been to a movie in the theatre since Brokeback Mountain was released. Prior to the movies Corey took me out for my birthday and the babies were as quiet as could be during the whole meal.

Eureka!, we found a babysitter that Henry is excited and comfortable about that isn't family. Lauren came back tonight for her bi-weekly babysitting gig and Henry did the "bye bye" act even before we were really ready to get out the door. She said he was totally happy and about 7:30 wanted to read books in his bed and then go night night with "new Ralph."

Frequent readers of Good Intent will remember that Ralph has been Henry's best monkey companion since he was several months old. We had been looking for a back-up Ralph ever since original Ralph became so important and this winter Henry's Oma scored us two identical new monkeys. Until just recently they were kicking around with Henry's toys without a whole lot of attention paid to them. Now "New Ralph" (which is honestly what Henry calls him) has become Henry's pillow at night, and occasionally when Henry wants to take someone along to Brenda's it's been New Ralph. As we just finished listening to the Velveteen Rabbit, i'm feeling personally responsible for "old" Ralph and make sure he gets into bed with Henry along with New Ralph.

7 Weeks, 4 Days/ 1 Year, 1 Month, 2 Days

So the big news is that Henry slept in his new bed just fine last night. He didn't have any trouble going to sleep and we didn't hear him at all in the night. He did wake up right at 6 am which is the early side of his wake-up range but he just called out for us until JT went down to get him. I had put pillows on the floor next to his bed in case he fell out, and JT said he was lying on those pillows. So, we don't know if he fell out during the night or had gotten out when he woke up. Either way he wasn't unhappy and got a good night's sleep. Naptime today however, did not go as smoothly. He didn't want to take his nap and he kept getting out of bed. After calling out "mommy" for about 15 minutes he did finally fall asleep, but he only slept an hour. So, at this point i think things have gone pretty well. Tonight he went straight to sleep no questions asked so it might just be naps that are more difficult. We'll see how he does with the babysitter tomorrow-- that might be interesting.

I changed the format of the blog a tiny bit, so you'll find a few new fun features on the right-hand side of this page. Silas is sleeping pretty well at night, but it's amazing how quickly you get adjusted to whatever longer amount of sleep you get-- and frankly it's never enough until it's 8 hours straight and i'm asleep during that same time. I think Silas is making his way towards the 8 week fussy peak-- he's pretty calm during the day but in the evening he's pretty fussy and wants to be held and actually walked a bit. I think i'm going to try to start taking him on a walk when i can in the evening to help make sure he gets a little cat nap. It's just difficult since it's the time when dinner is happening and Henry gets a bath.

Well, speaking of sleep, Silas is getting close to being down for the night so i'm going to wrap this up. Happy 32nd Birthday to me tomorrow! We'll let you know how the Sox do!

7 Weeks, 2 Days/ 2 Years, 4 Weeks, 2 Days

Yesterday Silas and i attempted an outing that i would have never dreamed of with Henry-- we journeyed to IKEA which is in what i consider the far-reaches of suburbia. I believe i mentioned we're planning to convert Henry's crib to a toddler bed this weekend, so i headed to IKEA to get him some new sheets a grown-up comforter and a pillow. While i was there i wound up getting several other things as well including new duvets for both our bed and the guest room and a really cool tent that goes over Henry's bed. We went ahead and assembled that yesterday and although it's not really made to go on the crib (getting in and out is a little tricky) he was so excited about it and wanted to go to bed before i even asked last night. Hopefully the transition to his new bed is as exciting for him.

This Sunday is my birthday and JT managed to score tickets for us to see the Cubs/Sox game. He got them kind of last minute, but we actually managed to get a babysitter as well, so this will be the first time we leave both Henry and Silas with someone other than a family member. Our babysitter Lauren has sat for Henry a few times and starting this Tuesday, she'll be providing us a bi-weekly night out which i'm very much looking forward to!

6 Weeks, 6 Days/ 2 Years, 3 Weeks, 6 Days

It's hard to tear myself away to write this entry because Silas is sitting next to me just smiling away. Really big smiles. This is pretty cool because he's still been a little scare with the smiles most days. These are super big smiles, almost like he's trying to laugh!

We enjoyed a nice weekend mostly at home and now we're heading into a busy week. We've decided to try to install a paver-patio with the help of our friends Corey and Troy, so today i'm hoping to head to Home Depot to see if we can order and have delivered all the necessary materials.

Yesterday i mowed the lawn for the first time this year and learned that although Henry is a fan of his toy mower, the real thing is a little bit too scary for him. I knew it would take me awhile to get the mower started, since it hadn't been used in many months. So Henry was outside with me while i was working on it. I was talking about what the mower is and how noisy it was. Once i got it started i told him again it was noisy and started to make the first turn around the yard-- i looked back to check on Henry and saw him screaming, tears streaming down his face. Off went the mower and i went over to comfort him. After he calmed down i took him over to show him what the mower does and how it cut some of the grass shorter. Then i asked him if he wanted to stay with me and play with his bubbles or go inside with dad. He was pretty clear he wanted to go "side."

Not to make it seem like all i did was work on Mother's day. JT made me breakfast in bed and let me name my wake-up time-- both very much appreciated gestures.

6 Weeks, 3 Days/ 2 Years, 3 Weeks, 3 Days

The other morning Silas had finished eating and was laying contentedly and lazily in bed next to me. When i started to talk to him he turned his head towards me and smiled. That was a great moment, because prior to that he's mainly smiled at his mobile (see pictures) or the ceiling fan.

I'm sure i'll jinx myself, but for the last three nights Silas has slept 6/6+ hours which is a totally welcome sleep reprieve. Perhaps he'll add an hour for each new week he gains and really make me happy! Continuing his life as an "easy" baby, Silas and i and Corey and Troy met JT and another friend for lunch downtown yesterday and then spent 2 hours shopping. I remember when i took Henry out for a quick trip to Old Navy and was elated that it went okay. We were gone about 5.5 hours yesterday and i didn't even give it a second thought-- see the difference?

We're thinking about converting Henry's crib to a toddler bed soon. I don't think he would try to climb out on his own, but in the morning when JT goes in to get him he's been standing on his monkey crib toy as he attempts to climb out. The big hurdle is finding the IKEA directions for converting the thing-- for some reason they don't post them online like every other manufacturer. I don't know quite what to expect, but he's done well with his cot at daycare and i doubt he would get out of bed very much-- although who knows-- the lure of his books may just be too much. I'm going to get a bedrail at target today so that we're prepared-- we definitely need to make the transition on a weekend.

6 Weeks/ 2 Years 3 Weeks

Things are moving right along here in our household. Silas has started smiling a little bit more and as of the past few days he's staying awake and alert for much longer stretches. I'm still careful to get him back to sleep within 2 hours, but he's pretty good at letting me know he's tired, and then going to sleep without much help. The past two days we've both slept in the mornings and then been on the go all afternoon. Yesterday, Corey and I took a 5 mile walk with the babies. We were gone ALL afternoon and definitely think we made a dent in those post-pregnancy pounds. Today i had my 6 week midwife appointment and then stopped by to see Jessica and Marc and their two-week old son Gabriel. I've started trying to keep Wednesdays free so that i can run errands and take care of chores and projects like paying the bills and putting together a memory box for Silas.

I think we might be moving towards actually potty-training Henry. Brenda told us that he's actually used the potty the past few days so i'm thinking we might at least start to get slightly more serious about it. Henry's been talking more and more lately and picking up new words right and left. We've been spending more time in the backyard lately and it's great to see Henry confident enough to traipse all around the yard without holding on to one of our legs. I know that doesn't sound like much, but JT and i were remembering that at this time last year Henry would stand in the grass like a flamingo with one leg up, because he didn't like the feel on his legs. We're planning on putting in a paver-patio in a couple weeks and if things go remotely as planned, we should get even more enjoyment out of our back yard in the next several months.

5 Weeks, 5 Days/ 1 Year, 2 Weeks, 5 Days

I believe that i forgot to mention the results of Silas' 1 month check-up last Tuesday. He was up to ... 11 lbs. 12 oz and 22 3/4 in. long. I don't remember his head circumference, but he was 90% percentile for height and weight and 50% for head circumference so we've had fun with lots of "dumb jock" jokes. Henry was scheduled for his 2 year check-up on Friday, but do to a scheduling snafu, it won't be for another week or so.

Silas hasn't repeated his 7 hour sleep stint, and as predicted the very next night was pretty terrible. He did atone by sleeping for 6 hours last night which was a very welcome gift from baby Silas.

We've had a pretty relaxing weekend, mostly spent at home tackling projects. We had Corey, Troy and baby Kerala over for pulled pork yesterday that JT smoked for about 7 hours. It was actually delicious even though typically i'm not a huge BBQ fan. JT took both boys to the grocery store yesterday morning while i got to sleep in. This was also a welcome development-- perhaps i should consider it an early mother's day gift!

We've got a busy week of Dr. appointments and social outings. Having two friends with new babies in the same neighborhood is amazing and has made maternity leave such an enjoyable experience-- Silas' calm demeanor certainly helps as well. I put together a matrix before Silas was born of maternity leave to-dos that would help keep my occupied. I remember feeling a bit of cabin-fever when i was home with Henry so i put together three columns-- projects i could do at home, short outings in the immediate vicinity, and big outings that would be a real undertaking. The idea wasn't that i would accomplish them all, but that i already had thought up a ton of great ideas in case i was feeling stuck. With all my social engagements i have to say that i'm working on the projects and i've done some of the local outings, but i haven't felt the need to tackle any of the major outings because i've stayed so busy.

Real Sleep! 5 Weeks

Last night, when Silas turned 5 weeks, he slept for 7 hours! Holy sleep batman! In a rare cosmic alignment, i was also able to sleep about 6.5 hours of that. Silas went to sleep at around 10:30 and i woke up at 5:30 a little freaked out. I'm not much for checking on him when he's sleeping (subscribing to the "let sleeping babies lie" philosophy) but this time i did get up to check that he was breathing and shortly thereafter he woke up on his own. I'm feeling quite decent, and perhaps last night will start to make a dent in the dark circles under my eyes. The one thing i know not to expect, is an instant repeat tonight. Hopefully we're on an upward trend, but in general it seems like as soon as you get a taste of the good sleep, babies pull the rug out from under you. In that vein Silas has been fussier than ever today with some actual crying jags that aren't soothed immediately by picking him up.

Oh, in addition to the sleep, which is clearly the most important first in my book, Silas also smiled his first social smiles last evening. He did it when JT was around as well so i have a witness that he was actually smiling at us-- or at least the light. It's not like he's been smiling non-stop, but boy does his face light up when he does crack a smile. We're definitely looking forward to more of these in the coming weeks.

Henry is as energetic as ever and is going through a renewed book phase. He often tells us "bye-bye" so that we'll leave his room and let him read his books in peace. He has to have them in the car while we go to daycare and often tells you he doesn't want to eat or get changed or whatever chore because he wants to "read book." He's also talking more than ever. I've been trying to keep a running list and i think i'm doing a passable job, but it's definitely harder has his vocabulary expands. He's finally putting two words together more frequently (other than "no kitty!") which is a nice development. He seems to be making real progress with his colors as well. For a long time he was very accurate with blue and yellow but now he's added red, white and occasionally green to his stable of correct answers.

By the way, i put up new pictures-- a folder called 23 months from before Silas was born and then one under the new labelling system called "April 07."