Lydia and her bears

Lydia has been sleeping in a Pack'N'Play in our room. The PNP has a mobile with 3 little bears hanging from it. Lydia LOVES looking at these bears. She gets so happy and excited to just stare up at them as you can see in these pictures and video.

Welcome Back Amy!

My former roommate Amy has moved back to DC! (I've lived here long enough now that friends are actually moving back!) Can you tell I'm a little excited about this? The photo was taken a few weeks ago when Amy came to visit and meet Lydia while she was in town house hunting. She will be a homeowner soon. In exchange for financial and home buying advice, Amy has helped me speed up my computer and has almost convinced me that I need a new cell phone (my current phone is pushing 5 years old). She is my technology advisor and gives me common sense when I so often lack it. Welcome home Amy!

Our good little sleeper

In loving memory

On December 31, 2008, two days before Lydia was born, Martin's grandmother was called into etnernal life. She was 91 years old and lived a very full life. She often said she was ready to go home. We will miss her wit and charm and loving service to her family. We are thankful for those things and for the God of Grace blessing our family with new life as we mourned her death.

Last Monday we went to her memorial service in Havertown, PA where she served with her husband at Trinity Lutheran Church. Below is a picture of Martin's oldest brother Matt spreading Grandma's ashes at the church where we spread Grandad's ashes 5 years ago.

Below are the most recent pictures we took with (Great) Grandma last summer.

We love you (Great) Grandma!

More pics from Grandma and Grandpa's visit

STTN?

Lydia has slept through the night (10:30pm-6:30am, so the real thing not the technical definition of 12-5) the last three nights. I thought Tuesday was just a fluke since we had been away but apparently not. Wow. I'm just wowed. What a blessing. That would be really cool if this continues, especially when I go back to work in 3 weeks but I'm trying not to get too used to it in case it doesn't stick. Lydia is such an easy baby. The other day I put her in her crib so I could go to the bathroom or something quick and I go back to get her and she fell asleep ON HER OWN!!! Amazing. I remember with Dylan it was this 3rd month of life that was the hardest for him (and us). I imagine Lydia will have her own struggles but she is doing soo well these days. Praise the Lord oh my soul.

Lydia and Mommy Update

Lydia had her 2 month check up yesterday. She weighed 10 lbs 9 oz (25%) and was 22 1/4 inches (55%) tall. She's bigger than Dylan was at this age but by less than I thought she would be. The doctor said she was strong and had good head control and good focus. Everything was normal. She received 3 shots (they've combined two since Dylan had his) and the rotavirus vaccine drink. I asked the doctor if he had any suggestions on how to minimize spitting up since Lydia seems to be doing a lot of that. He just said to burp her a lot including before feeding her and to hold her upright after feeding her.

At my post-partum appointment a couple weeks ago, I was down to 8lbs more than my starting weight which is about where I was at that point with Dylan. However, this time in contrast to last time, my jeans and khakis are not fitting. I can get into my dress pants which have a little more "give" but not my tigher fitting clothes. So the weight must be less favorably distributed this time around. I guess that means I need to do sit ups. I actually did exercise a little yesterday for the first time (aside from some walking I've been doing randomly). I did two 20 minute exercise videos - Dylan did them with me! One was called "Yoga Walk" and Dylan kept asking later to "watch, yogurt." The other was a post-partum video. Both were very un-challenging but I guess I needed to start slow. I've feeling very inflexible right now also so I think I need to prioritize and work on abs and flexibility. But I'm feeling great. Ask me again on April 3rd.

Pictures from Lydia's seventh week

I was able to take some great pictures of Lydia smiling! Here they are...

Six weeks was a big milestone for Lydia. She started sleeping about 5 hours at night instead of just 3-4, she grew out of her newborn clothes, and she started going longer stretches between feedings. It's been such a blessing. I don't remember Dylan been like this until much later on. It's so manageable now. It was just that first 6 weeks that was really hard. But I guess we're not totally out of the woods yet. I've been told that 3 months is really the peak of fussiness and then of course I still have to go back to work. But right now I'm going to enjoy life and my little girl's wonderful smile!

Dylan update

Martin and I continue to be amazed and the things Dylan says and does and understands. The latest cool thing is that after hearing us read him the book Green Eggs and Ham maybe half a dozen times at most, Dylan picked up the book and says "would you, could you, in a train?" using the same exaggerated inflection in his voice as we do when we say "a train?" Now he asks "would you, could you, in a " and then fills in the blank with whatever he is thinking at the moment. It's so cool. He also says "reading....fun."

Dylan is also taking a music class with Miss Kathryn now. So he's learning lots of songs. He really likes Pop Goes the Wessel and Ring Around the Rosie. At Christmastime, his favorites were Jingle Bells (Hey!) and Angels we have Heard on High (especially the Gloooooria part). And he still likes his old favorites, This Little Light of Mine and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Miss Kathryn always says to the students, "Be my Echo..., Ba Ba..etc." Dylan likes to say that, again with the same inflection in his voice as Miss Kathryn.

In the last few months Dylan has finally learned the opposite of "no." He started out saying "okay" and now has a clear "yes" but most of the time it's "uh-huh." We're working on getting him to "yes" more often. Other things we are working on - not saying "shoot" or calling Mommy and Daddy by their first names. Not sure where/how he picked these up.

Dylan must have a great sense of direction. He knows exactly where we are when we are driving in the car and usually guesses where we are going based on where we are whether it be Bushra's, church, Oliver's, Richie's, CVS, the gym, or the gaygound (playground). He will even tell us which way to turn ("turn left!") and gets upset if he thinks we are going the wrong way.

Dylan also has a great memory. He often talks about things that happened in the past. Particularly if they involve other kids, dogs (like Murphy and Puff - even though he was scared of him), his grandparents, or Mommy and Daddy's single friends (Mister Jonathan, Mister Mike, Miss Amy, etc.) He also remembers very well the day that Lydia was born - he remembers that Pap Pap couldn't open the door to his house when he went home to his house with Grandma and Pap Pap. ("Pap Pap, door, stuck.")

We try to capitalize on this great memory by trying to get him to memorize the children's catechism and answers to other questions like "who's the president?" I've found that kids love saying the name "Obama." We've also taught him "who's the secretary of state?" to which he replies "kin-ton." He's got the first three questions of the catechism almost down now. However, when I start asking the questions he replies with "own gooooory....aaaall tings." Basically, he jumps the gun by answering question #3 and then #2. At least now when we ask how old are you, he says "two" and not "God."

Dylan continues to be a great big brother to Lydia. He always asks to hold her (making sure to get the burb cloth from us beforehand). He shows Lydia his toys and often asks where she is or gives us a status report as to what she is doing. I'm amazed at how quickly he has accepted her as part of our family. He hasn't once asked to take her back to the hospital or put her back in Mommy's belly.

Dylan is also really good with names. He knows every Thomas train and every Cars character. He remembers names of people too.

We have used the Thomas characters to our advantage in trying to get Dylan to eat. As you probably know, we've struggled his whole life to get him to eat more. Sometimes we just don't know how he has the energy to be so active when he eats so little. Everything I've read/heard said there's nothing to be concerned since he's perfectly healthy so we're not terribly concerned, I guess just more annoyed. One thing we do to get him to eat more is to say "take a bite for" and then proceed to list every Thomas train we can think of. It has actually worked really well to get him to eat at least a little more. But I'm still basically spoon feeding my 2 year old. It would be really helpful if he could be a little more cooperative in the eating department so Martin and I could have more peaceful dinners (i.e., get to finish our meals) but maybe we are just expecting too much.

Last summer I remember talking to Laura B about the "terrible twos." She said someone asked her how to tell when your child reached the terrible twos. She said "you'll know." At the time, I couldn't say for sure Dylan had but shortly after that conversation, I remember thinking "we're there." Here are a few of the signs - demanding that he wears a certain bib/PJs/shirt (you name it) especially when it's in the washer and you can't let him wear it; making sure that the milk sippy cup goes on the left side of his tray and the juice sippy cup goes on the right; dumping toys out; trying to boss Mommy and Daddy around (Mommy sit here!); etc.

I already blogged about Dylan's sleep habits, so I won't say anything more about that except that the tent is still working great!

Even though these days are said to be the terrible twos, we are thoroughly enjoying them because Dylan is so fun and talkative and outgoing and smart. He is such a delight.

Here are some recent pics of our big boy:

Studying different train track configurations. He set these pictures out in a row like that himself.

Dylan as the green monster:

Doing the thing he asks to do everyday "watch Thomas."

Pictures from Lydia's sixth week

Here's the first pictures we got of Lydia smiling. I think she started smiling around 3-4 weeks though, if that's possible.

Grandma and Grandpa's visit

We didn't take many pictures from the visit with Martin's folks (they were taking a lot of pictures which I'm sure we'll get copies of) but here are the pictures we did take. During their visit, we went to the American Indian museum downtown.

The ladies taking a break....

Dylan and Grandma making cards:

Charlie and Jamie's birthday party

Laura H. had a combined birthday party for her two boys this year who turned 4 and 2 in January. The party was at Monkey Business which is an indoor playground/music fun place. Martin's parents stayed with Lydia and so we both got to go to the party with Dylan. He had a blast and really participated in the music program. Thanks Laura for a great time!

The Crib Tent

My brother recently blogged about how he thought swaddling babies was some form of child abuse. I think this was after he saw my facebook photo with Lydia in my arms all swaddled up. Well, he's probably going to call child and family services on us for this one....

It's a crib tent. If you were unlucky enough to hear me lament about Dylan's sleep issues, you know that since he turned two Dylan had been climbing out of his crib. We would keep taking him back to bed which sometimes went on for 2 hours before naps and one hour at bedtime. We struggled through that but once he continued this pattern after Lydia was born we knew we had to take some more drastic measures. Thus, the crib tent. Yes, I paid $70 (got it from Amazon) to cage my child and I think it was worth every penny. Dylan, as you can see, actually likes it, most of the time. There have been a few times where he has screamed about it but generally, as you can see above, he likes it. We talked it up - "oh wow, you get to sleep in a tent, Dylan!" which helped, I think. He calls for us when he's up from his nap and ready to "GET OUT" as he says. Interestingly, it's the Crib Tent II. Apparently, 2 year olds outsmarted the manufactures the first time and escaped from the Crib Tent I, hence the need for Crib Tent II.

The plan is to keep Dylan in the crib until we move this spring so he might only get 3 months use out of the crib tent but it was still worth it. We'll see what happens when he's in a twin mattress on the floor. I guess we'll put a gate at the door but if that doesn't work, I'm not beyond locking him in the room. As long as Justin doesn't call the authorties.

Pictures from Lydia's fifth week

Here's Lydia in her bouncy seat, which used to be Dylan's toddler chair, which used to be Dylan's bouncy seat. He has been okay about giving it up.

Lydia with Grandpa. Martin's folks came up for a long weekend to meet Lydia. I'll be posting some more pictures from their visit.

When Daddy has sound duty at church and has to be there at 7am, Mommy gets to dress the kids for church in whatever she wants. :) All Steelers gear, none of that Eagles stuff...:) Just kidding, I like the Eagles too. This was Super Bowl Sunday and only of one this family's teams was in the big game so we had to go with the black and gold.