Baby love

Theodore is 5 weeks old now (!!!) and he is so much more alert now than he used to be. He's also thisclose to smiling in response to us. It's the cutest thing -- we'll smile at him, and he'll gaze at the top of our heads, crinkle up his eyes at us, and he'll open his little mouth like he's trying SO hard to smile! Sometimes he'll get one corner of his lip up like a mini Elvis impersonator, ha ha. Just so precious. :-)

Oliver and Buttercup are still his #1 fans, of course! Buttercup is constantly stalking him (ha ha!) but what's really sweet is how much Oliver loves him and wants to be around him. It's so nice to see, especially after how things were after Buttercup was born. What a difference 2 years makes!

P.S. Many thanks to Grandma for the blankets!!!

Even more Lego creations

Oliver has been hard at work again, building all sorts of things with his Legos.

Like this fabulous "bad police" station:


I asked him -- "Is it a police station where bad police work, or is it a regular police station where the police bring the bad guys?" He said, "Yeah." Ha ha!! So I'm not sure what exactly it's for, but it does include this "fire guy" with a "fire torch" (and he's not a firefighter, in case you were wondering):


There's also this guy, who stopped at the cafe on his way to work:


And these guys, hanging out in the "Droid Department":


And let's not forget this guy, who is in charge of keeping the bad guys out:


Oliver asked me to take pictures of all of this to share with Granddaddy, Grammy, Grandma, and Grandpa. I said, "They'll probably want to see a picture of you, too!" and he said, "Not now, Mama, let me finish this up first."

So here he is, working on the next project. :-)

It seemed like a good idea at the time . . .

Ever have one of those moments where you think you're doing something really smart, and it turns out to be the total opposite? I have those moments every day. And now that we have a newborn baby, I have those moments at night, too!

Last night I was up feeding Theodore around 11:30pm. He needed a diaper change midway through his feeding, so I got a new diaper ready and cleaned him up, like always.

Then, as I was reaching for the clean diaper, I realized that he was about to poop again.

And for some reason, I thought to myself -- and this is the not-so-smart part -- Hmm, I shouldn't waste a clean diaper.

So I caught the poop. In my hand.

And in the process of cleaning up, I got poop on the changing pad cover, Theodore's clothes, the dresser, the wipe container, and on my shirt.

Sigh.

But at least I didn't waste a clean diaper.

One month

Sweet baby Theodore is one month old today! As my friend Heather said -- we made it! Ha, ha. :-) It's hard to believe that it's already been a month. I can only imagine that the next few months will also fly by!

At one month old, Theodore is about to bust out of his size 3 month onesies:


And he's also reaching maximum capacity on his Swaddle Me wraps. He's currently in the largest size, which means that either 1) his mama is going to have to become more proficient at swaddling with a regular blanket, or 2) Aunt Anna is going to have to move into our house to properly swaddle him every day and night with a regular blanket, or 3) Theodore will have to get used to sleeping without being swaddled. :-)


He's so pretty. And squishy. Love those smooshy cheeks! :-)



I love smelling his sweet little head!!



Hi!



Just look at that belly! I think we're going to have another Oliver on our hands. :-)

More random thoughts and cute pictures

Today Oliver is spending the day at Grammy's apartment (thank you, Mom!). Buttercup, Theodore, and I dropped him off around 9:00am, and Hubby will bring pick him up after work and bring him home after his swim lesson tonight. I miss my big boy, but I'm having fun spending time with my big girl and baby boy, too. Theodore took a short nap in his crib after we got home this morning, and Buttercup and I got to play outside in the cooler (!!!) weather, doing all of the fun things that she likes to do (mainly decorating herself with chalk and riding her bicycle in circles on the driveway).

I will admit, though, when Oliver asked if he could have his nap at Grammy's apartment, my first thought was, "Oh yay, I can run 6 miles on the treadmill while the other 2 are napping!!" (Oliver rarely takes a nap these days, so my naptime runs are usually around 2-4 miles.) I was really looking forward to getting Buttercup and Theodore down for their post-lunch naps. It looked like everything was going to be perfect -- Buttercup was yawning and being very disgruntled after lunch, and Theodore had been awake since 11:00am. I had them both in bed by 12:15, but strangely . . . Theodore started crying. I tried to give him his pacifier, but he wouldn't take it, so I rocked him for a few minutes, put him back down, ran back to my room to get on the treadmill, and . . . he started crying again. Really strange that he was crying again! I rocked him again, gave him his pacifier, put him back down. Walked back to my room, and he started crying again. This time, I went in the kitchen to make him a bottle, and by the time I got back to his room, he was quiet. And asleep. (Whew!) By this time, it was 12:40. I got my running shoes on, and was about to start the treadmill, when Buttercup started crying. She was hysterical about something (I think she'd had a bad dream?), so I rocked her and calmed her down, and left her room around 1:00. Went back to my room, looked at the treadmill, then . . . folded it up, took off my running shoes, and took a shower. Without running. Sigh. Oh well. Maybe I need an extra day off. Or maybe I'll try again later. :-)
Other random stuff -- my wonderful sister spent the better part of an hour in our hot (over 100 degrees) garage yesterday afternoon, re-installing the kids' car seats so that they can all fit in the middle row. They tested out the new arrangement this morning, and no one cried or threw a tantrum, no one poked the baby, and everyone seems happy. So far. ;-)

And lest I dare write two blog posts in a row without including pictures of my sweet babies (the audacity!!), here are a few pictures from this week. :-)

Updates

We are having a fun summer! Hard to believe that June is almost over already -- time is just flying by.

Oliver:
He is still obsessed with Legos and Star Wars. Actually, he's much more obsessed with Legos than with Star Wars. I know I've said this before, but it astounds me how he'll sit and build quietly for hours and hours, when nothing else will hold his attention for that long. I was telling a friend this morning that I would love to thank whoever invented those little plastic bricks!! They're such a great toy -- building imaginations, fostering creativity, giving Moms peace and quiet . . . :-)

He's also turning into quite a swimmer. He's almost finished with the Level 3 swim class, and after he passes Level 4 and the swim test, he'll be eligible to swim in the 4-6 year old club team at our YMCA. How cute is that?? He'll also be able to go down the 3 story water slide at the YMCA after he passes the swim test, which is something he's really excited about.

Buttercup:
She is still such a social little girl, and she's really looking forward to starting Mother's Day Out (we call it "preschool") in September. I think she really misses our old Tuesday and Thursday routine of dropping Oliver off at preschool, then going to the YMCA where she would play in the Child Watch (aka her "YMCA class"). About twice a week, she reminds me that, when she's 3 years old, she gets to 1) go to preschool, 2) go to the "big girl" room at the YMCA Child Watch, and 3) take swim lessons. Apparently, a lot of good things happen when you're 3! :-)

She's also still our feisty firecracker, and most days she cries approximately 50 times more than the baby. But we still love her anyway and wouldn't want her to be any different than she is. :-) She's such an awesome little girl and is the SWEETEST thing in the world when she wants to be.

She's doing pretty well with swimming, too. I took her and Oliver to the family pool at the YMCA last week, and she's started doing her own freestyle stroke (and propelling herself forward in the water!), so I have no doubt that she will be ready for swim lessons in September! We could sign her up now, but because of her age she's only eligible for Mommy & Me classes, and we think she'd be better off in a class with no mommies and just peers. ;-)

Theodore:
He is just the cutest, sweetest little baby. I looooove his fuzzy, warm head, I could just eat it up!! He is such a good baby, and is happy most of the time, but he definitely has some strong opinions about his likes and dislikes! So far he doesn't like 1) diaper changes, 2) his car seat, and 3) being put down (most of the time). But thankfully he likes sleeping and eating. :-)

He also loves watching Oliver and Buttercup play, especially when they dance in the living room. I'll hold him in my lap and he'll just watch them with his eyes wide open, like he's trying to figure out how he can do that, too! Just too cute. :-)

We are so thankful for all 3 of our beautiful, healthy babies!

Ick.

Maybe I should clean out the fridge more often.