St. Patrick's Day 2014

We went to the parade.

We made some crafts.

We ate shepherd's pie.

And we wore green!

DITL February 26th

I have always wanted to do a day in the life (DITL) post, but never could pick a day. I finally realized no day was going to be the perfect day so I needed to just pick one! I think it will be so neat to look back at this some day and remind myself what it was like with two little boys at home. This DITL was on Wednesday February 26th. Wills is 2 years 7 months old and Ephram is 4 months old.

6:45 My alarm goes off and I pump. Wednesdays are my day off work, so it is set a little later than usual. Both boys are still asleep, which is shocking for Ephram.

7:00 Charles is home from the gym. He comes home about once a week between the gym and work. Ephram wakes up for the first time since bedtime last night! This is awesome, because it has been 5:45 on the dot lately. Charles goes in there twice to comfort him and ends up changing his diaper and reswaddling him. I am still pumping during all of this.

7:15 Charles leaves for work. Must be nice to be a man and be able to shower and be ready in less than 10 minutes! Both boys are still in bed. Ephram is back asleep and Wills is awake playing with his trains. I take a few minutes to check facebook, email etc.

7:30 I get up and make breakfast and a bottle

7:45 Ephram is up for real now. I check his diaper and change his clothes. Seems like the poor kid is constantly sick, so he gets some benadryl. I put him in his bouncy chair so I can go get Wills up. He gets a diaper change and then we all sit down for breakfast.

8:30 Ephram and I are done with our breakfast, but Wills is still going. I put Ephram back in the bouncy chair so he can keep Wills company. I start diapers (we cloth diaper and it is wash day) and pack our bag for the day.

8:45 Wills is finally done with breakfast. He plays with his trains and I move Ephram in his bouncy seat over to the train table so he can watch. I go get ready.

9:00 Change both of their diapers (they are on the same poop schedule right now), get Wills dressed, jackets on and Ephram in his car seat.

9:15 We are out the door. My goal was to leave at 9:15, so I am pumped that we are on time. I go to put Ephram in the car and the base for his car seat is missing! I have never put him in without the base, so I have to read the directions to figure out how to put it in using the seat belt. Now we are 5 minutes late. Heading to Edmond for Ephram's 4 month pictures. He naps in the car on the way there.

9:48 Only 3 minutes late! Ephram does great for his pictures and Wills is happily occupied with the iPad.

10:40 After pictures, we swing by my office since we are in Edmond. Wills loves my office. We have a train table and a Mr. Potato Head that he really likes playing with.

11:30 We leave my office and head for lunch. Wills said he wanted Chik fil a because he wants to play, but by the time we get there it is way too packed. I feel guilty because I already said yes, so we head to McDonald's instead because they have a play space too. We all eat and then Wills plays for a while.

1:10 We get home and I move the diapers to the dryer and then start some of our laundry. The boys play for a little bit.

1:50 Ephram goes down for his nap. He is asleep almost immediately.

2:05 Wills goes down for his nap.Takes him about 20 minutes to wind down and fall asleep. Both boys asleep! It's time to see how much I can accomplish until someone wakes up. I pump again, do more laundry, workout, take a shower and then I sit down for what seems like 5 minutes.

3:50 Ephram is awake. This was a great nap for him! He is ready to eat again though. Change his diaper and feed him.

4:20 Wills is awake and playing with trains in his bed. Ephram is taking his sweet time eating, so Wills gets to hang out in his bed a little longer.

4:40 Get Wills up and offer him a snack. He turns it down, says he wants to play.

5:05 Wills decides he does want a snack. Tells me he wants pretzels, a fruit snack and "cold milk". He has never had anything but cold milk, so I have no idea why he always makes sure to tell me it needs to be cold. It's pretty cute though. We FaceTime with Grammy and Papaw during snack.

5:20 Snack is over. More laundry, we play some more and Ephram hangs out on his activity mat.

6:20 Get everybody ready to head out for dinner. We eat out with friends every Wednesday night and tonight we are headed to Taco Bueno. Charles calls while we are in the car to let me know he won't be making it.

7:40 Home from dinner. Ephram gets a bath and a bottle while Wills watches an episode of Curious George.

8:20 Ephram in bed and now time to get Wills ready. He sits on the potty (nothing happens), gets a quick bath, brushes his teeth, puts on his PJ's, we read one story and he is in bed by 8:50. Wednesdays are always a later night for bedtime since we go out. Even later than usual tonight since I was solo.

8:50 I pick up the house and get Wills' backpack ready for school tomorrow.

9:30 Charles gets home from work. I do more laundry, watch some TV, play on my iPad and pump one more time.

11:15 Lights out!

Ephram at Four Months

Ephram has had a bit of a rough go in his fourth month of life. This month we had to go in and see Dr. Smith for a steroid shot on his lip scar because he was getting a keloid. We had to swaddle him up and they gave him the shot. He was definitely not a fan. Poor guy also came down with RSV this month. RSV has caused him to have a pretty strong cough, which in turn causes him to vomit up all his food. Not great. Here is hoping he will be healthy in month five!

We did follow through on our plan to move Ephram to his own room and to sleep train this month and it started out pretty successful. Then he got RSV and it kind of got pushed aside. He is still sleeping really well all things considered. He naps for 30 minutes to an hour in the morning sometime between 9:30 and 11 and he sleeps for 1 to 2 hours in the afternoon sometime between 1:30 and 4. He also takes a little cat nap most evenings, usually around 6. His bedtime is the same as Wills' and they go to bed between 8:15 and 8:30 every night. Ephram's wake up time is so variable. It is any where from 5:30 to 7:30. You just never know! The earlier it is, the more likely he is to go back to sleep after some cuddles, otherwise, he is up for the day.

Considering all he has been through so far in his short life, Ephram is a really happy baby. I am still missing his cleft smile. This article in the NY Times blog takes the words right out of my mouth. Especially when she says "But I’ll always carry with me this ache in my heart that wonders what he would have looked like (and what his life would have been like) if we had not changed him.". There is no doubt having the surgery was the right thing, but still... His new smile is beautiful and his smiles are easy to get and his little laugh is just too precious. He still loves having the aquaphor rubbed on his cheeks. He is starting to tolerate the lip massage a little better. He doesn't start screaming immediately anymore, which is nice.

Ephram is definitely a people watcher, particularly Wills or anyone that has food. I am not sure we will be able to hold him off for too much longer when it comes to our food. He definitely stares you down and follows the food from the plate to your mouth. He is doing great with tummy time, but hasn't quite mastered rolling over yet. I am sure it will be soon though!

Four Month Stats:
Weight: 15 lbs, 11 oz (46%)
Length: 26 1/4 inches (84%)
Head: 43.7 cm (92%)
Clothing Size: 3-6 months, some 6 months
Must Haves: The Lillebaby carrier is still a must. It gets used a ton by me, Charles and our nanny. So much so, that Ephram actually doesn't like the stroller very much because he isn't used to it! Pacifiers are still very important, as are his fingers.

Brothers side by side:

Wills                                      Ephram

Wills is doing better with Ephram. He has quit telling other people to take care of him when he cries. At bedtime he tells Ephram goodnight and that he loves him. Just melts my heart when he says it!

Valentine's day 2014

I was able to go to Will's school Valentine Party on the Thursday before Valentine's Day. They did a little music program and then had snacks and treats. He does not really participate when I am there. His teachers assure me when I am not there, he is really involved.

Since this is our first year in school, this was his first year to do Valentines. He is really into Thomas the Train and Star Wars (Aunt Janice gave him a Star Wars book for Christmas and we read it multiple times a day). I couldn't bring myself to do Thomas Valentines this year, so I found some cute Star Wars ones and went with those. 

Wills and Ephram made Valentine hats with Miss Michelle.

On Valentine's Day, I made Wills an all pink breakfast and he had his Valentine gifts at his high chair. Ephram had his on his bouncy chair.

Strawberry yogurt, strawberries and grapes, and cherry kringle

He was super excited about getting Belle the train, because she has water cannons!

We went to Arkansas for Valentines weekend.

This is Wills on the monitor. Saturday morning, he pulled his glasses and a book into bed with him so he could "read" while he patiently waited for someone to come get him up. This made me so happy!

Impossible to get all 3 looking at the same time. Or without one crying (It was Wills, because he was having to sit by Ephram)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!