Happy 3rd Birthday!

This year we wanted to throw a big birthday party for Big Brother. We finally finished our backyard and thought a birthday bash would be a good excuse to invite friends and family to our home. We also thought that we were going on a cruise the first week of January, and possibly a weekend trip to Monterey this month. We thought that Christmas weekend and Big Brother's third birthday weekend I would be awake more hours than I was asleep. We were wrong. The last few months various forms of the plague have been released upon our house.

On Friday evening we had dinner with my mother and came back to the house for cake and present opening. I put up a Spongebob Squarepants banner, The Daddy got a few balloons, and I arranged them on our table. I made a gluten free dairy free cake, and put Big Brother up on the table for a party picture in his favorite Batman t-shirt, jeans, and blue tu-tu.

Apparently when you're three years old, A Party is about eating a somewhat crappy homemade cake and opening presents that your parents forgot to give you at Christmas. Hopefully Big Brother doesn't remember that I spent the whole weekend throwing up his birthday dinner.

Something Rare

Not only did I get a picture of The Daddy and Little Brother, but they are smiling!

Picture taken on November 20, 2011 in Santee, CA.

Almost Five Months

At almost five months old Little Brother weighs 17.5 pounds. He is strong, but not rolling over or even thinking about it. That is probably because he strongly objects to being put down for more than a moment or two. He talks to Big Brother in baby babble, and Big Brother talks back to him in their own language. The funniest thing his world is Big Brother.

His napping has turned into several fifteen minute cat naps and one long one in a classic four month sleep regression. He'll sleep in his swing, next to me in bed, and occasionally in the co-sleeper. He will take a bottle of pumped milk but still hates any pacifier. Little Brother is still pretty grumpy but easier to soothe. He has started to prefer a side carry in my favorite carrier so he can see what is going on in the world. He likes to flirt with people and then bury his head in me in mock shyness. It's adorable.

Brothers

Little Brother is four months old. He rarely laughs at anyone other than Big Brother. They're enjoying each other a lot.

August Portraits

(Note: Normally I post full resolution pictures for ease of printing. These are copies of screen shots for viewing only.)

Big Brother is two and a half years old. He is so darn cute.

Little Brother is two months old.

Little Brother was back to birth weight at five days old. At six weeks old he was about twelve and a half pounds. At two months old he weighed thirteen and a half pounds. Between his love of eating and the cute cloth diaper butt he is almost out of 3-6 month clothing. Tomorrow I am washing the last load of small (yellow trimmed) prefolds and covers, as his thigh rolls are too much for them. 

We're still hoping that he will take a pacifier some day, and today I bought a preemie flow bottle. It would be great if Little Brother would take a bottle of pumped milk occasionally, but regular newborn nipples flow too quickly and he chokes. Hopefully the preemie nipple works!

Big Brother

The Baby is a Big Brother now! Little Brother was born at home on Thursday, May 26th at 9:04pm. He weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and is 21 inches long. Big Brother is thrilled to see the new baby and enjoying the attention from all the grandparents.

Easter Weekend

This morning we went to get an ultrasound. Late last week The Fetus decided that all the cool kids hung out sideways (transverse) instead of head down and we wanted to see which end was up. It's easy to tell when a baby is transverse because it's like swallowing a huge pill sideways. I'm happy to report that The Fetus is once again head down. During the ultrasound I asked about the cord, as The Baby was born with his cord wrapped around his neck three times. There was no sign of the cord around The Fetus' neck, and it is all bunched up in front of his face. I guess neither of us can see our feet at this point.

This afternoon we went to my mother's church in San Diego to attend their annual Easter Egg Hunt. I started bringing Chicken to this event in 1999. It starts with a bunch of crafts and ends with an egg hunt. They let the three and under crowd hunt for eggs first, which keeps the big kids from grabbing all the eggs. The Baby decorated a bag for collecting eggs and made a butterfly with jelly beans, a snack sized bag, and a pipe cleaner. When it came time for getting the eggs, The Baby wasn't sure why we were yelling, "Pick up the eggs! And that one! Grab that one!" Until one egg had an m&m wrapper around it. He knows what m&m's are because he gets one after he uses the potty. After that he gleefully grabbed a bunch of eggs until the area was picked over by the big kids.

All of us after the Easter Egg Hunt! Chicken did not attend the festivities because teenagers are too cool for crafts and egg hunting. Of course he'll be helping The Baby eat all the goodies he got today.

This is the key moment when The Baby figured out why we were so excited about picking up eggs. If you've spent any time with him lately, you probably know that he was saying, "OOOH!"

After two big events today, tomorrow I am celebrating Easter by sleeping. Chicken is going to have Easter dinner with a good friend, and The Daddy and The Baby will do manly stuff. I'm 34 weeks along, and nothing sounds as fabulous as a day of rest with breaks to eat.