Ford Future

I see lots of cars in his future. Fords, if he's anything like his Daddy.

Belly Laughs

Lucas started laughing a few weeks ago. It was pretty cute.

Then a few days ago Adam made a funny face at him and Lucas responded with a deep belly laugh.

Absolutely adorable. I love baby belly laughs!

Happy Birthday "Ama"

Ryan has started calling both his Grandmas "Ama" since he can't say the full word. Yesterday was my mother-in-law Jan's birthday.

Ryan and I decided to make her a big chocolate cake. He helped me by preparing the butter, as you can see in the video below. Can't you just imagine him doing his own cooking show some day?

Happy Birthday "Ama"!

Weighty Wednesday: Meal Rut

2 more pound lost this week! I'm not quite sure how this happened, but I'll take it! Among the foods I ate this week were bacon, garlic fries, funnel cake, a deep fried navajo taco, and cinnamon rolls. Good grief!

Week 12
Lbs Lost So Far: 14
Lbs Left to Lose: 11

Goals:
What I eat for breakfast definitely seems to dictate how I eat for the rest of the day. If my morning meal is missing fruit or not very healthy, I tend to eat poorly throughout the day. But if my breakfast is healthy, it just seems easier to carry those good habits into the next few meals.

My "go-to" breakfast is a piece of whole wheat toast or a multi-grain waffle, covered with peanut butter and sliced banana. Oh and of course a cup of coffee. Every once in a while if I'm feeling wild I'll eat a boiled egg with toast and fruit, or maybe oatmeal. Lunches are always leftovers if they are available. If we don't have leftovers, I have a hard time coming up with lunch.

My goal this week will be to come up with new meal ideas that are healthy and filling, particularly for breakfast and lunch. Any ideas?

I'll leave you with a picture of my dinner from last night. I never have a problem coming up with new dinners. I rarely make the same thing twice! (Most aren't this fancy though. Many nights I can barely pull together spaghetti)

This is Cod served over brown rice, cooked with tomatoes, garlic, onions, white wine, broth, parsley, lemon juice and slivered almonds. Served with brussel sprouts and a salad. It was good until I stood up halfway through dinner to get something for Ryan and the dog started licking my fish.

Fruit of the Spirit

I joined a women's Bible study at my church last week. We are reading A Woman's Walk with God: Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
Galatians 5:22-23

I've been thinking a lot about how these words apply to my everyday life as a Mom. Just the other day I was incredibly frustrated. Lucas and Ryan both needed a nap. But the baby was screaming and resisting sleep and Ryan was chasing the dog around the house. I decided to put the dog in our bedroom in the hopes of calming down Ryan without the dog around to excite him. But as soon as I turned my back to tend to screaming Lucas, Ryan went and let the dog out. I firmly told him not to do that. He understood me, but did it again. And again. 

At this point I was getting angry. The baby's crying was getting louder and I was making no progress towards getting either boy to sleep. I could literally feel my blood pressure rising as I locked the dog away for the 3rd time and chased after Ryan, yelling at him while carrying Lucas on my hip. Just as I finally caught up with Ryan and grabbed him harshly by the arm, I heard a quiet but distinct voice in my head.

"Gentleness"

That's all it was, just the one word. But I instantly knew it was God telling me to calm down and be a little gentler with Ryan.

I'm having a hard time finding a balance between being gentle and patient, while still being firm enough with my discipline. I feel like I'm either too easy with Ryan, or too quick to get angry and yell. How does a parent remain "fruitful" amidst the frustrations of disciplining a toddler?

Brotherhood

I am really looking forward to the day that my sons start playing together. I think it's going to be fun to watch them interact and learn how to be brothers and friends. Just this week they were able to do a few things together. First up was testing out Ryan's old exersaucer! Not exactly playing together....more like Lucas just sitting there while Ryan showed him how all the toys work.

Then yesterday I took the double stroller for a spin! I was super excited about this. I bought it at a garage sale when Lucas was just 10 days old, and have been anxiously waiting until he was strong enough to sit up in it. Ryan was also really excited when he realized that baby would be sitting next to him. Lucas was pretty indifferent about the whole thing until about 5 minutes into the walk when he started crying. I'll keep trying, though. He's going to learn to love taking walks with his big brother!

Next on my list is giving Ryan and Lucas a bath together. I'm getting a little bath seat that Lucas can sit in soon. Let's hope they play nice in the water!

Bad Sleep Habits

I've developed a few bad habits lately with Lucas. Bad habits that I clearly remember forming with Ryan. You see, Lucas wakes up a lot at night. The first couple of times, I can usually rock/bounce or nurse him back to sleep. But as the night progresses I get more tired and I lack the energy or motivation to put Lucas back in his crib. I want to go back to sleep. So I do the easy thing.....I bring Lucas into bed with me. Every time he wakes up next to me, I just nurse him back to sleep. We both get some sleep, and I don't have to leave the comfort and warmth of my bed.

I've been noticing lately that Lucas doesn't show as much interest in nursing during the day. I try to nurse him every 3 hours, but after 5 minutes he loses interest and seems satisfied. He's nursing less and less during the day. This week I suddenly realized why this is happening. He's getting more calories at night! All those little sips here and there in bed next to me are adding up. Another clue that tipped me off is that he's waking up in the morning covered in peepee. Too much milk at night and not enough during the day.

So I'm trying to reverse these bad habits. I can't force Lucas to nurse during the day if he's not hungry. So I need to start nursing him less at night. I started Tuesday night. Here's how it went.

7:30pm: Nurse and rock Lucas to sleep.
8:00: He's asleep! Finally some time to put away all the laundry and perhaps relax a little bit before bed. (Adam is putting Ryan to sleep)
8:02: Lucas is awake and crying a little bit. I give it two full minutes but he is only getting louder.
8:04: I go in and bounce/shush him back to sleep, which takes just over 5 minutes.
8:10: He's asleep!
10:00: I go to bed
11:45: Lucas is awake. I go in and pick him up, and he's immediately rooting around, acting hungry. He nurses for a full 10 minutes on one side, then falls asleep on the second side. I spend the next 30 minutes bouncing/rocking him back to sleep.
12:30: He's asleep!
1:00: Ryan wakes up and climbs into our bed. Kicks around a while before going back to sleep.
1:30: Lucas is awake again. I know he can't be hungry again, so I try walking and bouncing him. I'm cold and tired and he isn't calming down.
1:45: I give up and take Lucas into our bed.
3:00: Lucas is awake again. I nurse him back to sleep in bed.
4:30: Same
5:30: Adam is up for work, which wakes up Lucas and I. I quiet him with nursing, so that Ryan doesn't wake up. (Ryan, by the way, is sleeping partially on top of me at this point)
6:30: Say bye to Adam, nurse Lucas a little more.
6:45: Ryan is awake, so me and the boys get up for the day.

To be honest, I've really been beating myself up about the whole "giving up" part that always happens in the middle of the night. I know that what I'm doing is leading to bad habits. But I'm just so tired at 1am and I'm too lazy to stick with the plan.

I think I need to just accept the fact that I'm going to have to miss some sleep in order to teach Lucas some good sleeping habits.


*As I sit here typing this on Wednesday night, Lucas has already woken up 3 times between 8 and 9pm. 

Weighty Wednesday: Twice as Nice

2 pounds lost this week! I am so happy to see a difference greater than one pound. My eating this week included a lot more fruits and vegetables. We ate raspberries or grapes for "dessert" after dinner most nights this past week. Adam has surprisingly been okay with it, so I think it's a habit we will try to continue.

Week 11
Lbs Lost So Far: 12
Lbs Left to Lose: 13

Goals: Just keep doing what I'm doing. Walking most days, eating more produce, and limiting sugar (and dairy, which I'm still not eating because of Lucas).

Playing Catch-Up

Life with two little boys leaves me little time to myself. Therefore I constantly feel like I'm trying to play catch-up with a lot of things. One of those is blogging. So here is a quick recap of the last week or so.

-My nieces and nephews came to visit on Saturday! Here is my oldest nephew Josh, spending a little quality time with his newest cousin.

 -Turns out that Lucas isn't exactly the type of baby who can be put down and expected to sleep for a significant period of time. Case in point: Last night he was up 4 times between the hours of 8pm and midnight. You can do the math.

-MOPS started today! I love MOPS.

-We rearranged our family room on Sunday. This led me to organize Ryan's toy shelf. Which led to moving some toys into his room. Which led to moving his books. Which led to breaking down his toddler bed and just accepting the fact that he's never ever going to sleep in it. I will try to take pictures of the "new" rooms this week for you all to see.

Me and My Monkey

Weighty Wednesday: Walking Along

Here I am at week 10, with 10 pounds lost! Yep, another week with a 1 pound weight loss. Maybe I can shoot for 2 this week? I did so well with my walking this week. I took a couple small walks last week. Then on Sunday I walked 1 mile home from the grocery store while wearing Lucas. Tuesday I walked for 1.5 hours (the boys were asleep....I couldn't stop!) And today I walked 2.5 miles. Lots of walking!

I did pretty well with my goal of smaller portions last week. I have also given up dairy, and that has been a bit challenging. Meals and snacks that I would normally eat have to be re-thought. I can't just grab some cheese and crackers or a bowl of cereal!


Week 10
Lbs Lost So Far: 10
Lbs Left to Lose: 15

Goals: Both Adam and I are trying to eat more fruits and vegetables. So my goal this week will be two servings at dinnertime. It could be as simple as some broccoli and a salad, or maybe a veggie with dinner and fruit for dessert. Tonight we had bell peppers with dinner, and watermelon for dessert.

Deciphering

Ryan has been in speech therapy for about 5 months now. He's learning new words every week and putting many 3-word phrases together. It is so much fun to listen to him talk! Most of the time he is pretty easy to understand, although he does have a few key phrases that definitely take some deciphering to figure out. Here's what he's been saying lately:

MommyDad or DaddyMom: He recently started referring to Adam and I as one of these two names. We're not quite sure why he's combining our names. It's like he doesn't want to stop to see who he's talking to, so he just says both names in hopes that one is right.

Shhhhh a Baby: This is definitely something he picked up from me. I am constantly telling Ryan to be quiet because the baby is sleeping. Now he says this back to me, and even to the dog when he barks!

Ssss-Ahhh Big Gung-Gung: First off, it's important to note that the "gung-gung" is a soft G sound pronounced without really opening his mouth. Got it? "Sss-Ahh" means "stuck" in Ryan language. The "gung-gung" sound is what Ryan does when he's referring to a car or truck. So he's telling me that his big car is stuck. He was recently given  a really awesome used Peg Perego John Deere Car by some very kind neighbors of my parents. Unfortunately that battery died shortly after we got it and we can't get it to work anymore. Therefore Ryan's big car is "stuck". The poor little guy asks about it approximately 100 times per day.

I Birth Criers

I'm just going to say it. I feel like my kids cry more than other kids. There, I said it. I was whining to Adam the other night about it and he said to me "Just face it Stephanie. You birth criers".

Lucas has generally been a happy baby but his true colors have started to show. And those colors? They're reminding me a lot of Ryan's colors at this age.

Don't get me wrong, I love my first son dearly. He's adorable and full of energy. But his baby days were not fun for anyone involved. And I don't want history to repeat itself with Lucas.

I have no idea why Lucas has been crying so much lately. Is it teething? Lack of sleep? Something I'm eating? Excess gas? Colic? Just a phase? A full moon?

I have no clue. But I need to feel like I'm at least doing something to fix it.

So I'm going to stop eating dairy. I did it when nursing Ryan and within 1 day I saw a huge difference in him.

Let's hope it works again.

Potty Talk

Ryan has a bit of a potty mouth these days. No, he doesn't use inappropriate language. Instead, he likes to talk about the potty and all things associated with it.

Every time he poops in his diaper he tells me "Poopoo Me".

He also talks a lot about peepee. Unfortunately it's always after the fact, or when he's stalling before going to bed.

The other day he took off his diaper and peed on the couch.

The next day, after I had to discipline him for something, he took off his diaper and peed all over my bed pillow. Take that Mom!

Ryan also likes to stick his finger down the back of our pants. Maybe he's checking to see if we need a diaper change?

So yes, lots of potty talk. Not much potty action though!

Weighty Wednesday: Steady But Slow

I don't really trust my bathroom scale. I always weigh myself a few times each Wednesday morning just to make sure I get a consistent reading. Today it wavered between me losing one and three pounds. I'm going to stick with one, since that's the most conservative amount.

It seems that my body has decided one pound per week is a good amount to lose. And I'm OK with that. I'd like to lose the weight more quickly, but as long as I'm losing and not gaining, I'm happy. But 16 more weeks feels like such a long time to wait to see my goal weight!

Week 9
Lbs Lost So Far: 9
Lbs Left To Lose: 16 

Goals: One of my goals this week is to focus on slightly smaller portions. I'm talking about leaving a bite or two on my plate at dinner. And cooking smaller portions for meals so that we aren't tempted to eat everything just "because it's there".

Lucas: 3 Months

You are 3 months old today Lucas! This is an important milestone because 3 months is often referred to as the golden age, when babies stop crying so much and become much happier and easier in general.

You seem to have things a little backwards. I still would not call you a very difficult baby, but this past month there has been a lot of crying and fussing going on around here. You are always happiest first thing in the morning after you have nursed. But as the day goes by, you become increasingly fussy and needy.

Those morning happy hours sure are fun though! You are becoming so responsive and trying to communicate with us. When I talk to you I get lots of coos in return. It is really like you are trying to talk to me!

You are tipping the scale at 13 lbs, 12 oz, according to our baby scale at home. (2 pounds heavier than Ryan was at this age!) You are growing so quickly! Every week I have to put more clothes away in storage because you have outgrown them. You are already starting to wear some 6 month clothes.

You have developed an intense hatred for your carseat. Every time you are in it you scream and cry. It makes driving anywhere a bit stressful for me. I hope you outgrow this quickly, because there are so many places I want and need to go!

Your sleeping habits are pretty good, but I see room for improvement. I nurse and rock you to sleep at night and place you in your crib, swaddled and with the sound machine on. When I first started doing this a few weeks ago you would sleep for about 5 hours before waking to nurse. Now you're up again within 30 minutes, and often again once or twice before settling down for a 3-4 hour stretch. During the day it can be really hard for me to get you to fall asleep for a nap. The second I lay you down you wake up and cry. I know what the books say to do to remedy this.....(put you down sleepy but awake so you learn to fall asleep on your own, and repeat as necessary) but I just can't spend all day doing this when I have a toddler to watch! You average 3 40-minute naps.

You can now roll over from your tummy to your back. You usually do it out of frustration because you don't really enjoy tummy time. You often try to sit up and you love standing up with a little support. You already seem like such a strong boy!

Your hands are in your mouth constantly. You drool so much I can't help but wonder if you will get your first tooth soon!

Happy 3 months sweet boy!

Saturday Morning Cartoons

(Caillou is a favorite around here)