One month of Theo

I can already see that my time is going to become even more limited than it already is, but I have lofty dreams of being able to post multiple updates on Theo's development, as well as our life as a family. So here it goes...

Theo is officially a month old today. It is hard to believe it, as the time has flown by. We are so lucky that he is a good baby - an excellent sleeper (I actually got a 5 hour clip of sleep last night- highly needed) and a good eater. Though on the eating side, each feeding takes close to an hour. During the day, not so much of an issue, but at night...sigh...it's a bit much. But hey, if that is what it takes to get long bouts of sleep, I'll take it.

He happily sleeps in the bassinet, a pass me down from one of my closest friends Colleen. It has circulated through at least 5 children in her family, so it's got some good sleeping karma to it.
Theo is getting bigger every day - we have his 1 month check up next week. Weight gain was a big issue with Sophia in the beginning. Happily, I think we have most of the eating figured out, so we won't have to worry about that this time around. He also doesn't spit up hardly ever. But he certainly likes to fill a good diaper up and makes quite the face (which I've nicknamed the Mr. Frumple face, after the Richard Scarry character that Sophia adores) while making it happen.

The first thing everyone comments on when they see him is his hair. He still has his amazing mop of dark hair. No sign of it falling out (to quote the nurse at the hospital "It'll look like a rat molted in his crib! - thanks lady!) but I do see blond hair coming in underneath.Bath time is my favorite as he has clearly inherited the ability to create greasy hair in about 10 minutes from me. After bath he has gorgeous, soft brown hair with some curls (definitely taking after my dad in that department!) I've tried to catch a picture of it, but to no avail.

A rare shot of Theo awake.

He is just a relatively easy going baby. I'm not sure if it's because he's a boy and is not as piercing in his cries, because he's #2 or because my nerves are more accustomed to dealing with Sophia's constant toddler needs that his non-urgent cries don't affect me nearly as much as Sophia's did. For him, it's more like he's saying, "If you don't mind, when you have a minute, I'd love some food. But no rush..." versus Sophia was more in the, "Get me some F*ING DINNER NOW!" type of cry. I'm sure he'll have his moments, but for now, the low-key is great.

Here's a shot of the partners in crime...playing well together. Sophia is in love with her baby brother and, all in all, I couldn't have asked for a better transition. I'm very very thankful.

I forgot...

A lot has happened since my last post - I gave birth to Theodore Joseph Ahouse, thus making Dave and I parent of 2 and Sophia a big sister.

I'll post more about the actual birth and good stuff, but right now, it's all about the "new" life. Things I totally forgot about, in terms of having a newborn, and assumptions I made:

1) A toddler is FAR more work than a newborn. Physical energy required at all times. A newborn may not sleep all that much, but once he's fed and in his swing, he has no issue if I make a phone call, jump on the computer or read a book (that doesn't have pictures.) The same is not true for toddlers.

2) I can survive on minimal amounts of sleep. I don't like it, but I can. And I have been spoiled by the fact Sophia has been an amazing sleeper for most all of her life.

3) Newborns are not breakable (well, without trying anyway) but they are still intimidating. I've gotten so used to manhandling Sophia (diaper changes, wrestling on socks & shoes, etc) that all of a sudden, this tiny, 7lb being seems so fragile. Until he's really wailing for his diaper to be changed and it's 3am. Then, common sense kicks in.

4) I forget what I was going to write...oh yes, walking into a room and forgetting why I was going there in the first place! (Thank god for Sophia reminding me to change Theo's diaper!)

5) Showering is good and necessary. A friend who is a nurse mentioned when patients don't want to shower, its a really bad sign. I have luckily managed one most every day.

6) It really does take a village - giving in to the fact I need help was a big hurdle to overcome. But between Dave, my mom, Lidiana, the neighbors and friends, we've managed to keep life fairly normal for everyone. See #7

7) The sun doesn't rise & fall completely on Theo's "schedule" - with Sophia, everything was about her sleeping & eating: at the right time, the right amount, not crying or whining. With Theo, I've quickly learned the importance of taking care of his needs but that the impatient toddler who really needs play doh also gets Mama's attention too.

8) Healing is hard work. I gave birth, it may have been quick, but it certainly isn't easy. Sleep for me is really, really important too.

9) How quickly 2 hours pass. 1 hour to eat and get diaper changed, about an hour of sleep and then rinse, repeat. Wow, the leash is short!

10) How easily Sophia would adjust to being a big sister. It wasn't looking good pre-baby. She's whine and cry and tantrum if we held someone else. Now, the first thing she wants in the morning is to see Baby Brother and give him a kiss. She makes sure to keep her voice down if he's sleeping and she's all about offering him Cherrios (happily, we've gotten the - he has no teeth but thank you for sharing -piece down really well).

11) How amazing my husband is and how he offers such great perspective. There is absolutely no way I could (on so many levels) ever do this without him.

Waiting, and waiting...

I'm sitting here the night before "Nugget" as we have affectionately been referring to him, is due to be born. Not sure if he's actually going to show up tomorrow, but hopefully this weekend at least!

It's been a very quick as well as a very long 9 months.
Being pregnant the second time around is far different than the first time. Some major differences:
1) Didn't really start paying attention until month 5. For a number of reasons - it was summer, life was busy, Sophia is running around and I wasn't really showing much.
2) We didn't tell people until around then either. Again, for a number of reasons, but it worked the best for us. We were (and are) very excited, but life chugs along. And when you only have 4 months to go, it happens much quicker than the whole 9 months!
3) I am working full-time and caring for Sophia. When I was pregnant with Sophia, I had just been laid out, so life consisted of working as a babysitter and dog walker. I definitely put in my fair share of hours, but that also included nap times when the kids were napping or being outside a ton. And, I could come home and just veg at night. Or take yoga. Totally different this time around. Good general energy, but the desire and time available to focus on me was far less. Dave was excellent about making sure I got out and about during the week, especially once I stopped running (around December) so that I didn't lose touch with friends/life after the sun goes down! :)

Some funny things about this pregnancy - I'm carrying differently and likely smaller than I was with Sophia. The smaller point is something of note, as everyone (from the pregnant lady next to me in yoga to the cashier's at Dunkin' Donuts) feels the need to comment that I'm not gaining enough weight clearly and/or tell me that I can't be XX weeks/months pregnant. To which I reply, "No, I really am. Trust me." In reality, I'd rather kindly smile and reply back "Funny, because you look morbidly obese. Maybe you're gaining too much weight?" Not appropriate, I know, but neither is their commentary. I wouldn't ever have the guts to say it, but it makes me smile in my head.

People also seem to ask a lot if Dave is really excited to have a son. He is, I'm sure, but really, he's just excited to have a baby and be a Dad to two. Maybe after the little guy comes out, there will be some "father/son" bonding thing that is gender based, but for now, he's just psyched to be a dad x2. He is so head over heels for Sophia (Definitely daddy's little girl) and has a blast roughousing with her that I don't actually expect it to be much different when little man comes.

Sophia seems really excited to be a Big Sister. You ask her who's going to be a big sister and she proudly replies, "Sophia!" I'm not sure knows what this means exactly, but I think somewhere inside, she gets it. Our top books for her have been: Julius the Baby of the World, Hello Baby, and I'm a Big Sister. All of them have totally different flavors to them, but she really enjoys them and I think they have (will) help the transition along. Either way, I'm betting she asks to return him at least twice.

Well, hopefully this is the last post as a family of three. Look for updates in the near future on the family of four.

Sophia singing in the bath

I shot this video (sorry for the poor quality - phone camcorder) of Sophia singing in the tub.
We have Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider. You may need to turn up the sound.

What are you up to these days?

It's been quite awhile since I've blogged - with "Nugget's" impending arrival (due date is tomorrow...we'll see when he shows) we've been trying to get as much one-on-one time with Sophia as possible.
A quick report of what she is up to -

• She's growing like a weed. We definitely just had another little growth spurt where she ate and slept a ton this week.

• Vocabulary is expanding by leaps and bounds. She seems to have most of her books memorized (I guess we read them all enough) that she fill in the words as you read along. Sometimes, I will over hear her reciting part of them to herself when no one is around. It's pretty adorable.

Her favorite books are constantly evolving. Recently some of her tops include:

• The Little House
• A Bedtime for Bear
• Muddy Paws
• Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever (she is kind of obsessed with Mr. Frumble - or "Frumple" as she calls him!)

It's kind of fun to moving on to new, longer books. While the Sandra Boyton collection will always be near and dear, the longer form stories are fun.

One of my favorite things that has happened was actually her repetition of a phrase she picked up from "A Bedtime for Bear." We were having a conversation and Sophia interjects with "How Interesting..." in almost the right context. I about burst out laughing, because really, there is nothing funnier than having your two year old comment "how interesting" on something you were saying! (It's also a line from the book from the mouse to the bear...)

That's about all of it on the growth and development charts. She's definitely getting to be a big girl now before our very eyes!

Pajama Party

Sophia was invited to her first pajama party this weekend - by our downstairs neighbor Eleanor. At 5:00p, we headed down, Sophia in PJs, to meet up with Eleanor and Zac, from across the street.
Story time, popcorn and some mac 'n' cheese after a dance party were everything she needed to make the night complete!

The kids played, the adults got to talk - and we have some great photos to boot!

Storytime (Sophia was more interested in popcorn)

Dinner

The Three Amigos

Preparation for Nugget

It's been a great start to the New Year with all of us finally getting over our Christmas/winter colds and finally feeling back to normal.

We also realized with far less than 6 weeks to go until "Nugget" (as we have been affectionately referring to the baby as) arrives, we had better do a little something to prepare for his arrival.
His room (formerly known as the walk-in closet room) was in need of transformation. Priority one - minimize Dave's clothes and shoes (he has far more of both than I do). Then, painting was in order, as well as reorganizing the rest of the house to accommodate the overflow.

Dave tackled the painting straight away:

(Don't mind the scowl - I was interrupting Sports Radio to take the picture :)

The finished product.
(There may be some stencils/clouds that go up later, so we'll call it semi-finished.)

So the cleaning out of clothes will come...we're waiting to get some built-ins installed in our room. But the changing table is there and the organization of the other rooms has commenced.

Of course, through it all, Sophia did what she does best - play and climb on anything available! :)


Happily, all of this is or will be relocated and put to good use. (Not that an indoor jungle gym isn't good use!)

And if you ask Sophia her current knowledge on "Baby Brother's" impending arrival - she'll point to my tummy and kiss it. When asked if who's going to be a big sister, she'll happily proclaim "Sophia!" And, when asked if she's excited to meet him, she promptly replies, "No."
Ok, I guess we'll take 2 for 3, right?