Not a Single Drop

As of this past week Wesley is no longer nursing. My goal was to nurse him for a year, just as I had done with Xavier. Wes starting drinking whole milk in a sippy cup just before his first birthday and he loves it. So, once I new he was established on milk, I slowly weaned him over the course of about 6 weeks.

I am thrilled to have made it to a year and even more thrilled to say that Wesley has not had ONE DROP of formula. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, that I am not against formula. This was more about me achieving a goal that I had set for myself. Having so many struggles with nursing, and supplementing, during Xavier's first year, I really wanted to be able to exclusively breastfeed Wesley.

Nursing my second child was a completely different experience for me. I felt that I was armed with so much more knowledge, not to mention and an entire year of experience. It wasn't the blind leading the blind this time. I was able to help Wesley learn to nurse, be able to read his hunger clues better, trust my intuition, and just be more relaxed about the whole situation. It's not to say we didn't encounter any problems, but I knew how to respond to them.

It's pretty neat to think that for his first 6 months of life I completely sustained Wesley with no outside food source. That has to be one of my greater accomplishments.

And I'll get to do it all over again in just 5 short months - OY!!  (Is it really that soon???)

Where Did He Go?

Wesley loves to play peek-a-boo. On this day the laundry room door provided his cover! ("Isa" is one of Wes' nicknames - you will hear X say it several times)

Wes is a Mess

My poor little Wessa is having such a rough time. After another night of fevers I took him to the doctor this morning to find out he has his first ear infection.....and probably a flu virus. So right now he has a fever, an inflamed ear, a very snotty nose, a nasty cough, a sore throat, a wicked sneeze, and eyes that just won't stop watering.  I'm literally chasing him down with a kleenex every 4 minutes. He's lost 10 oz since last week because he will not each much beyond fruit and cheerios. Thankfully I did get him to drink more today than yesterday.

And he's not sleeping well. AT. ALL. Which of course means neither am I. I'm starting to think I will never sleep through the night again. It's been over a year, and with another baby coming it's not like it's gonna get any easier (insert my personal pity party here).

I miss my happy go lucky little boy that's fascinated with coffee cups. Wes, get better soon buddy!

Snow Day

We got a huge dumping of snow overnight and had a good old fashioned snow day around here today. Even Walter got a snow day - that has NEVER happened the entire time we've been married. It was fun to have him here for the day and I enjoyed the extra help.

I volunteered to shovel the driveway this morning. That was my "alone time" for the day - ha! Walter, the good dad that he is, made everyone pancakes while holding sick little Wesley. Poor baby has been running a fever off and on for days and was pretty miserable this morning.

After breakfast Walter and X tried to sled, but the snow was too powdery so they just played in the yard and watched the snow plow.

Me and Wes watched from the front door. I would have loved to get him out in the snow, but not while he's sick. Bummer!

Xavier was kind enough to shovel the front yard for us.

All bundled up you would think he'd be miserable, but he LOVED it out there and played for an hour.

 After a PB&J lunch and a good nap, we broke out the finger paints. But, someone had an aversion to getting paint on their fingers so we had to use brushes and stamps. Funny kid!

I made potato soup for dinner, we played playdoh, the boys took long baths, I did 5 loads of laundry, and Walter cleaned the bathroom. It was a good day. I'm a little worried about tonight though - Wes became more congested this afternoon and I have a feeling he's going to have a lot of trouble sleeping. We'll see....

As Seen In....

My bedroom

My bathroom



 My hallway (only cause it's winter and I'm desperate!)

My Sink



{on} My Fridge



{on} My Couch





It's official......the kid stuff has taken over!

Mia

My maternal grandmother, Mary, passed away last night at age 93. I had the privilege of being right by her side, something unexpected, but for which I am very thankful. She was known to our family as "Mia". My brother, the first grandchild, gave her this name when he learned to talk and the name has stuck for more than 30 years.

I have spent countless hours with my grandma and she will be greatly missed. And while we are of course sad, we are celebrating the long and full life that she lived, as well as being happy that she isn't in pain anymore.

I am so thankful that Mia was able to be a part of Xavier and Wesley's lives too. She would light up the second they walked in the room!  And we will be sure to tell Baby #3 all about her in the years to come.

I love you Mia, and I hope you're having a great time with Jesus!

Mia and Wesley - Jan 2010

16 Weeks

I realize I haven't posted much about Baby #3 so I thought I'd give him/her a little blog time. Frankly, when it's your third time around you don't chart the milestones quite so closely. Plus with 2 other kids to chase there are times when I actually forget that I'm pregnant. Sorry baby!! I am determined to get more belly pics this time though. I only have a few from when I was pregnant with Wesley.

X brought me a book the other day and asked me "Mommy, is this my new Bible?". Turns out it was actually a week by week pregnancy book (easy mistake since they both are fairly thick books, ya know). Anyways, here's a little of what it says about the baby's development at 16 weeks:

Your baby is about 4 1/2 inches long and weighs about 2 3/4 oz.....fine lanugo hair covers your baby's head. The umbilical cord is attached to the abdomen....fingernails are well formed.....legs are longer than arms now and the arms and legs are moving.

I'm not sure if I've felt the baby move yet. I think I have, but it's hard to tell. I'm sure in the next week or two it will become more apparent. Thankfully I haven't been very sick with this pregnancy, just a few times here and there. I'm mostly just tired, but that is more attributed to my other kids I think :)

I'm starting to bust out the maternity clothes again. So far I've worn maternity jeans twice and 1 top. I hate this stage where you just look like you have a beer gut and nothing really fits. (which is exactly what I look like in the picture below!) Regular clothes are a little tight but maternity clothes are too big. My friend Ruth blessed me with a huge bag of clothes the other day so I'm excited to go through it and see what's going to be in my new wardrobe! This time around I'm pregnant in totally opposite seasons so I'm not going to be able to reuse some of my maternity clothes.

To date I've gained about 5lbs. I'm determined to do better than I did with Wes. I gave in to cravings for donuts waaaaayyyyy too often last time :)

We are starting to throw out some names and once again I'm realizing it's going to be quite a challenge to agree upon something. Good thing we still have some time!

So here's a quick pic of me and Baby #3.

The Stats

This morning I took the boys to the doctor for their 3 year and 1 year checkups. They did fabulous. X loves going to the doctor because they have a fish tank, cookies, and stickers. Really, what more do you need? X was thrilled to stand on the scale, get his blood pressure checked, listen to his heartbeat, measure his head, touch his toes, etc. I laughed when the nurse gave me a gown for X to put on over his underwear and socks. The child has no modesty yet so we just left the gown on the table and he strutted his stuff in the exam room with his racecar underoos on! He got his first shot in over a year so he had no idea what that was, but he did awesome and the nurse was great at distracting him. Plus, once he saw that he got a bandaid he was in heaven - he LOVES bandaid.

The boys are growing well. Xavier is 37 lbs and 40 inches tall. He is in the 90% percentile for weight and height. Wes is 22 lbs 10 oz (44%) and 30 3/4 inches tall (75%). He's a little smaller than X was at this age I think (but I'm too lazy to actually go get the baby book and look it up).

While we were at the doctor I asked if I should have X's hearing checked. It seems to me that X's normal voice is soooo loud! And he really struggles with the concept of talking softer. So the nurse checked him (with this awesome little tool that looks like an ear thermometer - so quick!) and told me he's just fine. Really?? Our doctor just laughed and told me his loudness will come in handy when he's partying in college. Gee, thanks!

Great Ways to Spend your Birthday

First take a nap.

then run around the expansive aisles of the Home Depot lumber department while your big brother makes a craft.

Then have lunch at O'Charleys (where kids eat free) and try your hand at a little coloring...

while your brother peruses the adult drink menu :)

Finally, enjoy your Mickey birthday cake hand-lovingly made (with your name written crooked) by your mama.

It was a good day!

Fashionista

Exhibit A: Camo Slippers, Tractor PJ Pants, and a Soccer Ball PJ Shirt...showing a little shoulder just for kicks!

Exhibit B: Navy Boots, Black Snow pants, Brown Winter Coat, Navy (too small) Snow Gloves, Black Scarf, and a Red and Gray Hat......gotta love a collection of hand me downs!

This ONE is ONE on O-ONE O-ONE

Happy First Birthday Wesley!!!!!

We love you so much and have enjoyed this past year having you in our family. What a great way to start off the New Year by celebrating that you are ONE year old! And it's wild to think that you are already going to be a big brother :)

So, what are you up to these days??

You have gone from 7lbs 13 oz to about 23 lbs in your first year. You started walking around 10 1/2  months and have pretty much given up crawling all together. You have 7 teeth: 3 on bottom, 4 on top.

Most days you have an appetite like a 5 year old. You are pretty good at feeding yourself with your fingers. I just started putting things on a fork occasionally and you can get the fork to your mouth 90% of the time. Some favorite foods are oatmeal, yogurt, bagels, most fruits, peas, pumpkin, meats, Cheez-its, ravioli, and pancakes. You recently discovered scrambled eggs and jello and have taken a love to those as well. We are giving you whole milk at breakfast and dinner and you seem to like it. You are nursing 3-4 times a day and mommy is slowing weaning you, which you don't seem to mind.

I'd love to post that you are sleeping through the night, but it's still not happening. It happened once a few weeks ago but was a fluke. You usually get up once a night but are sleeping about 11-12 hours. Before Christmas you got a sinus infection and were up 3-5 times a night for many nights. We are working our way back to better sleep now that you are feeling better. Right now you are transitioning to just one nap a day for 2-3 hours. You have been waking up later in the morning so this is working well, but if you get up super early you still need 2 naps.

 Wesley, you are in love with your brother Xavier (most of the time). You like to follow him around, do what he's doing, and give him kisses. You do NOT like it when Xavier tries to hold your hand and lead you somewhere. You want to go on your own terms! You enjoy a good game of  "cart and truck" around the house with him, playing racecars together, and standing on the step stool together at the bathroom sink!

Some other things you love are coasters and vaccums. You love to carry shoes around the house, yours, or anyone else's. You are very interested in putting things in containers and then taking them out again. You like music and will sway side to side or bounce up and down to the beat. You have figured out that a phone goes up to your ear and you try to "talk" into it. You LOVE to be held, especially by your daddy, and are quite the snuggler. You like to hide under things and have us yell "peek-a-boo". Recently you've shown an interested in basic puzzles. You LOVE taking baths and being naked. When you see the dishwasher open you come running as fast as your chubba little legs will go. It's pretty much impossible to load the dishwasher with you around.

We have a zillion nicknames for you and you respond to most of them. Hopefully we are not confusing you too much :) It's getting harder to take pictures of you because you have started to charge for the camera when  you see it. Case in point...

For the most part you are not afraid of much. You like people, animals, and climbing anything in sight. I feel like your motor skills are more advanced than Xavier's at this age because you are always watching him. You seem to figure out how to get in, on, or over something much quicker (keeping me on my toes!) Mommy gave you your first full haircut about a month ago and you look adorable.

Verbally you are a busy boy. You don't say many actual words, but you "talk" to us all the time and respond back and forth in conversation. Here's how you feel about turning one:

A little then and now.......

Happy First Birthday Wessa Blessa!