Baby Madness

In case you want to see some cute baby photos, here you go.

Jeremy really cracks us up.  He reminds us of baby Charlotte.  Notice the second and third pictures up from the bottom…this is classic baby Charlotte.  I like to tell people that she spent the first six weeks of her life looking at me with this expression.  Every time I would pick her up, she seemed to ask, “Who ARE you?”  Jeremy is the same.  He even has a line across the middle of his nose, already etched into that quizzical expression.

He’s a lot of fun.  He’s not sleeping that well yet, but that’s a story for another day because we have a diabolical plan…I’ll let you know how it works out!  And, no, it doesn’t involve hours of letting him cry it out!

Happy Birthday, Dear Elijah

On Sunday, April 25, we celebrated Elijah’s actual birthday.  Elijah is our child who loves a party and loves when a big pile of gifts are all for him!  He woke up that morning, and the first words out of his mouth were, “I want to open my presents!”

As my brother Zech and sister-in-law Alyse were coming for a visit that day, we talked him into waiting until after church when they arrived, to which he—reluctantly--agreed.  However, Charlotte asked if he could open her gift before church, which we OK’d.

 

On birthdays around here, everyone gets to pick one restaurant and one home-cooked meal.  Elijah, who is a pizza fiend, requested Papa John’s for lunch.  Trying to be efficient and get home as quickly as possible, Jeff ordered from the Papa John’s closest to church from his iPhone at the end of services, and we headed over to pick it up.

We got to the store 15 minutes after it was supposed to have opened, only to find a Papa John’s employee sitting in his car out front.  No lights were on inside.  After a few minutes, another employee with a key drove up, and the two entered the store.  Jeff went in after them, only to find out that the power had been off all morning and that the order had not gone through.

Grrrr.  Jeff placed a second order, the guy told him that he would cancel out the first one, and we headed over to Petco to kill some time while they fixed our pizzas.  (Charlotte wanted a brush for her guinea pigs.  Spotty sheds.  A lot.)

Finally, we picked up the pizzas and headed to the house, where Zech and Alyse were waiting for us.  They had come over to meet Jeremy and to celebrate Elijah’s birthday with us.  For those of you who don’t know, they are expecting their first baby in mid-July, which will finally give our kids their first cousin!  Everyone is very excited.

 

 

After our pizza feast, Elijah finally opened his presents!  He felt that he had waited FOREVER!  We had a Bionicles overload by the time he finished, with a couple of Wii games thrown in for good measure.

  

Then, we talked him into his cake, which he had picked out from the local grocery store earlier in the week.  For some reason, cake just didn’t hold as much fascination as those colorfully wrapped gifts!

 

Eight years old.  I can hardly believe it.

Eight Is Great!

Elijah turned eight this past Sunday.

Although I have another one now, it’s hard to think of him as anything other than my baby, and I cannot believe that it’s been eight years since he was as small as Jeremy.  For two months, I have an eight-year-old and a nine-year-old, and then Charlotte hits double digits, which is even more unbelievable.  Where does the time go?

We gave Elijah the option of having a small birthday party or taking a trip somewhere.  Charlotte wants to go to St. Louis to Six Flags and the zoo for her birthday, but, with Jeremy being so tiny yet, we tried to find something a bit closer to home for Elijah’s birthday. 

We’ve had several friends tell us about a small water park resort in Utica, Illinois, close to Starved Rock State Park, about an hour and fifteen minutes from our house.  In addition to the water park, Grand Bear Resort also has mini-golf, a big playground, an indoor amusement park, and a Chuck E. Cheese’s-style arcade.  When I asked Elijah if he might like to go there, he jumped at the chance, remembering the fabulous time he had at the Wisconsin Dells!

We headed up there this past Thursday morning.  Our hotel room was available after 1:00, so we picnicked at the state park and then headed to the resort.  As it was a school day, the place was virtually deserted.  (We love homeschooling!) We were offered our choice of room locations and picked one just up the hall from the water park entrance, which would make it easy to move between the two with Jeremy.

As the water park didn’t open until 4:00, we spent the afternoon playing on the playground and doing a round of mini-golf.  We just put a sleeping Jeremy in the Snugli and proceeded to enjoy ourselves.

      

At 4:00, we went back to our room, and Jeff and the kids headed to the water park.  While much, much smaller than the one at the Dells, there were no crowds, which meant the kids could do the slides as often as they wanted to.  The water park was open until 10:00 that night, and we stayed down there the whole time, with only a brief break for a picnic supper in the room.  (The on-site restaurant was only open on the weekends.)

The lighting in the water park wasn’t great for pictures, but here are a few of the kids on the small slide and in the wave pool.

Amazingly enough, Jeremy slept quite well in the hotel, only waking up to eat.  I think that the kids slept through all of his wake times that night, which was a real blessing.

The next morning, we had to check out of the hotel at 11:00.  As the indoor amusement park didn’t open until 4:00, that gave us a bunch of time to kill.  Unfortunately, the weather was terrible, which precluded any hiking at the gorgeous state park.  We let Elijah pick a restaurant for lunch (IHOP), and then we executed Plan B: a visit to a couple of visitors’ centers in the state park.

Our first stop was a center devoted to the I & M Canal System, which was constructed in the 1930’s and is now run by the Army Corps of Engineers.  This would not seem very interesting, which is why I didn’t even take the camera inside, but it ended up being a highlight of our visit.  The center is right next to one of many locks in this canal system, and inside is a real boat cab, complete with buttons that actually move things.

This visitors’ center is also THE prime location for spotting bald eagles, who winter on the islands at Starved Rock State Park.  Believe it or not, we saw an eagle in flight while we were standing out on the observation deck.  I had never seen one before, so that was really cool!

Afterwards, we headed over to the state park visitors’ center, where we walked through a display about the legend of Starved Rock, the Native Americans who lived there, and the French who attempted to colonize the area.

Then, it was time to head back to the resort.  Here is Jeremy, mad as a hornet as he waits for me to prepare his bottle!  (He gets like this a lot…very impatient baby!)  I sat in the car and fed him, while Jeff and the kids headed inside.

While the indoor amusement park boasted only about eight full-size rides, the kids had a blast.  I think they rode one called the Grizzly about 10 times, but I never could get a decent photo of them on it.  Here they are riding one of those rides that lifts you up and then drops you suddenly.  I HATE this ride, but not the kids!

Here is Jeremy’s reaction to the amusement park.

We spent a couple of hours here before hitting the road for home.  Honestly, I was rather dreading the whole trip because I wasn’t sure how Jeremy would do.  But no worries!  We all had a great time, especially our birthday boy, and I am relieved to have our first trip down.  I’m optimistic that, by June and Charlotte’s birthday, Jeremy might just be sleeping through the night!

Next time…Elijah’s actual birthday celebration, complete with a couple of special guests.

Remembrance of Things Past

So, as I wait to feed the baby one last time before I go to bed for a few hours, I thought I would share a few things that have quickly come back to me these past three weeks.

1. Laundry explodes exponentially with an additional family member.  For some reason, I can hardly stay on top of it.  I think it’s time to teach Charlotte and Elijah how to do their own laundry.  I’m probably past due on teaching them that particular life skill.

2. Sleep deprivation makes me slow and stupid.  And I’m not even as sleep deprived this time around as I was the first two, since Jeff is home and sharing the night feedings with me.  (We are bottle feeding.)  I think I told Jeff three different times that we could take his car somewhere when it was going to be in the shop.  The third time, he just kind of looked at me and shook his head.  I also suggested that he could pick up the car from the shop on his way  home from somewhere.  He asked how he was supposed to get two cars home by himself.  I told him that it might be difficult.

3. Sometimes, it’s not possible to soothe a baby.  We’ve discovered that Jeremy, just like his big sister, sometimes just needs to be put down and not handled.

4. Swaddling is like a wonder drug with a tired, cranky baby.  I didn’t swaddle either of the first two much, but Jeremy is such a jumpy baby that it’s been a lot more necessary with him.  He drops right off if he’s tightly bundled up.  But he’s also quite the escape artist.  He can not only get out of the swaddling, but he has also managed to push himself into the corner of his crib during one particular crying jag.  And he was asleep the whole time!

5.  I love pacifiers.  We bought two different kinds for Jeremy but discovered that the only one he’ll take is the Gumdrop one that the baby nurses gave him in the hospital.  Jeff accidentally broke that one.  Guess what I ordered this afternoon.

Well, it’s 10:00, and Jeremy calls.  Good night!

Adjusting to Baby

So, you might wonder, how have the big brother and big sister been doing with the new baby?

I won’t lie and say that everything has been a bed of roses as Charlotte and Elijah adjust to their new baby brother, but I can say that they have enjoyed him more than they have not.  In a wonderful example of God’s perfect timing, Jeremy was born on Good Friday.  Jeff was off work for the long Easter weekend, and it was also the first day of Spring Break for the local schools.

This means that, for the first week of Jeremy’s life, the kids also took a Spring Break and had all of the neighborhood kids home as playmates.  The weather was gorgeous, and the kids spent hours outside.  Because they were on vacation anyway, the fact that the routine got suddenly thrown out the window affected me a lot more than it affected them.

Charlotte will tell you that she had no idea the baby would require as much time and attention as he does, especially from me.  She will also tell you that she doesn’t much like it, although Jeff has been here to pick up the slack with everything, especially school this week as we resumed our studies.  On the bright side, Charlotte almost never turns down an invitation to take a walk with me, so we’re getting some time in that way.  Charlotte, however, is one for action.  She’s already pretty proficient at changing wet diapers (she’s not much interested in changing the dirty ones!) and holding her brother when I need both hands.  Jeremy hardly fusses anymore when I turn him over to his big sister!

 

Elijah’s actions tend to speak more loudly than his words, as usual.  He will tell us that he likes the baby and is doing OK adjusting to the arrival, but his behavior has taken a few hits.  We’re really having to reign him back in to meet his responsibilities.  At first, he spent a lot of time playing alone downstairs, when he wasn’t outside escaping.  But soon his natural desire for company overcame his desire to be alone, and he’s gotten social again.  After the first week, he started expressing a lot more interest in holding Jeremy, and he really likes to pat him on the back when I am burping the baby.  Elijah is also very affectionate with baby, as is also his nature.  He hardly comes by Jeremy without stopping to kiss him.  I have a feeling we’re in for a rough little bit here, but we shall see.

 

Have a good one!

Catching Up

I thought I would spend this post catching up on things that I previously promised to share…Charlotte and Elijah’s tae kwon do belt test and a furniture update.  We also had some newborn photos taken of Jeremy, our second sitting for the baby club I joined when I got my maternity pictures done.  You can check them out in the same place as those earlier photos: sonshineportraitdesign.com , where you click on “clients” at the top and type in “jeremy” minus the quotes for the password.  Christie, the photographer, just added them on to the maternity photos gallery, so you’ll have to scroll through those to get to the new ones.

We think Jeremy looks like a baby angel!  It’s going to be hard to pick what to order.

On March 27, the kids tested for their blue belts, which is always amazing for us to watch.  In the first couple of pictures, the kids had to kick targets higher than their heads.  Look at them catch some air!  And, as always, we hold our breath during their board breaks.  The kids had to do a jump kick this time, which was much more difficult than the previous stationary break kicks.  Charlotte broke her board on her third or fourth attempt; I think it took Elijah closer to six tries because he got worried about hurting his foot.  (Can’t say that I really blame him on that.)

 

 

The big deal about moving from green to blue belt is that the blue is a mid-level, rather than a beginner, belt.  So, from here on out, tae kwon do gets a bit more challenging, and we should have longer amounts of time between belt tests. 

I can only hope!

In other news, our furniture saga came to an end this past Saturday, with the delivery of two beautiful bedroom suits.  Six weeks after I ordered it, the furniture FINALLY arrived.  (If you remember, I was promised that it would be here in two weeks!)   Evidently, Elijah’s furniture had one piece that needed to be made, so instead of simply backordering it and shipping the pieces it had, the company opted to construct the piece and ship everything at once.  The salesman kept telling the guy at the furniture store the equivalent of “The check is in the mail,” much to everyone’s frustration.

Nevertheless, Charlotte now has a twin trundle bed and a chest of drawers.  Elijah got a new full bed, a chest of drawers, and a night stand.  Here are some photos, which also show a bit of their new rooms.  We don’t quite have everything organized yet, but this will give you an idea!

 

As soon as the delivery men left, I began emptying the baby’s room of the kids’ clothes, and we got them completely moved in to their new rooms downstairs.  At last!

Both rooms still need a bit of work.  Charlotte and Jeff looked at ceiling tile a few days ago, and we will be ordering that soon.  This will finish up her room.  Elijah’s room still needs black trim painted and put up, as well as ceiling tile.  But the rooms are now quite livable, and our kids are sleeping in real beds, off the floor, for the first time since we left the apartment in Peoria last August!  We didn’t quite meet my before-the-baby deadline, but we made it.

And that’s what else is going on here.  Never a dull moment!

The Newborn Ride

Well, we’re two weeks into this thing called parenting a newborn.  How much we forgot in eight short years!

Here are some high (and low) lights.

As with Elijah, Jeremy spent the first week or so sleeping…a LOT.  He would wake up to eat every two-and-a-half to three hours and drop right back off to sleep. Elijah did this, too, we thought we had gotten an easy baby, and then he woke up with a vengeance at two weeks.  So, we reserved judgment with Jeremy, and rightly so.  This past week, Jeremy did the same thing. 

The difference between him and Elijah is that Jeremy is not very consistent.  Sometimes, he eats, stays awake a bit, and sleeps great.  Other times, he goes four or five hours with no sleep whatsoever, which, at his tender age, is not good!

Of course, he IS only two weeks old.  He doesn’t know how to put himself to sleep or what to do when he gets over stimulated from being awake for too long.  Sometimes, he isn’t happy when we hold him, and he isn’t happy when we put him down.

Sigh.  I think this is the part of caring for a newborn that parents forget! 

That being said, we are greatly enjoying him, at least when he’s not fussing in the middle of the night!  He has started trying to track things with his eyes and is attempting to make some eye contact.  He has also started cooing a bit, which is just about the cutest thing ever, at least when it’s your own baby doing it!  During his first week, he had especially comical facial expressions; he would startle himself when he yawned, which resulted in a wide-eyed, open-mouth expression that never failed to crack us up.

Here are a few photos.  We think he’s pretty cute.

 

Jeremy had his two-week checkup on Friday.  He weighed eight pounds, 12 ounces, and had grown over an inch in length since birth.  So, he’s doing pretty well!  Our first two babies were major spewers…a feeding wasn’t finished until they had spit up at least half of it.  So far, Jeremy has only spit up when he’s overeaten or when we’ve gotten too vigorous on the burping.  One day, he actually stayed in the same onesie all day long, something that never happened with Charlotte and Elijah.

Jeff’s parents came to visit a few days after he was born.  Here they are getting acquainted with their new grandson.

 

Jeff started his family leave this past Monday, which was definitely a highlight.  Unfortunately, he caught a raging sinus infection over the weekend, which resulted in a fever, which meant that he couldn’t do much with the baby…definitely a lowlight!  On Wednesday, he headed to the doctor, who gave him a Z-pack since he “has young children running around.”  He’s feeling much better now.

I continue to be amazed at how quickly I have recovered from giving birth.  Other than sleep deprivation, I feel back to my old self.  I’m trying to walk a bit every day, which is fantastic after being on such limited activity for four months.  I’m waiting to be cleared by my doctor to start running again, but I’m really feeling good.

In other news, Elijah had his first soccer game (ever) yesterday.  This is the first time that Elijah has been involved in a team sport, and he had a great time.  Jeff is coaching his team, and, while they didn’t win, they definitely made a good showing.  The league here plays four, 12-minute quarters with the second and third graders.  That’s a lot of time to run around out there!  But I think that they all had a good time.  I’ll post some photos later on in the season.

Well, Jeremy calls.  Talk to you soon!