We have had a whirlwind winter!
December - Daniel did his DOC band (helmet treatment) and finished right before Valentine's Day. His head looks really good and shows a huge improvement. He had a great first Christmas and started eating baby food. He also started daycare on December 26th. John had a wonderful Christmas. Santa brought him a "superhero playset" in the form of a BatCave, and a CuddleUppet (blanket and a puppet). He had a great time in the Christmas show at his preschool and in the Christmas pageant at church. His best quote from this month was "If you ever go to the North Pole, be sure to find Santa and tell him thank you for the CuddleUppet!!!!!!!"
January - Kate, Steve, and their three kids came to visit. Daniel stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, and John and Andy and I went to Disneyland with the Noons! We had a fantastic time, followed by a fun time in Phoenix with them, especially at Rawhide. Daniel started sitting up on his own at 6.5 months.
February - All of us were sick. Daniel had RSV, John had pinkeye, Andy had strep, and I had allergies that turned into a sinus infection. I finished my dissertation and turned it into my committee on March 1st, and also rehearsed and started performing in Die Fledermaus. Daniel got his first tooth at 7.5 months, and is now working on his second tooth at almost 8 months. This has made him a little cranky but he is still pretty happy in general. He is now eating sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, green beans, apples and pears in addition to rice cereal. John has had a bit of a rough time at school with his behavior, but he is working hard at listening and minding. He is very sweet at home and so gentle with his baby brother. He is so excited for kindergarten in the fall. He is doing special math worksheets above and beyond the rest of the class so we are very proud of him!
Daycare newsletter for February-March. (This is our first newsletter with both boys in it!) "Daniel has adjusted nicely to the nursery. He is always such a happy baby and he loves to roll around discovering all kinds of cool toys. He enjoys interacting with his friends and jumping in the jumpy. We are happy to have him with us! . . . John is very smart and is always very eager to learn. He enjoys playing with all his friends and he has a lot of energy!"
March is going to be a great month. Andy and I celebrate our 9 year anniversary, I am receiving my doctorate after my defense on March 22, and we are having the Borkowitzes to visit. We will also have a great Easter!
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
So much going on this December!
Daniel is 5 months old, and was baptized on December 2nd. Paul, Tracy, and Leah traveled to Arizona to be his godparents. We are so happy they were able to come!
I was in "Sounds of Christmas", and Andy and John came to see it. After the show, John was pretty excited about the new joke he learned "Knock knock, who's there, Mary, Mary who, Mary Christmas!" He also got another joke wrong but it turned out pretty funny: "What happened when Rudolph ate all the Christmas decorations? He got a sore throat!" (actual punchline: He got tinsel-itis). We also went to see A Christmas Carol together and had a great time.
Daniel is learning lots of new things. He is still rolling a lot, though he is much better at back to front than front to back. We often have to go to him and roll him over when he gets stuck on his tummy. He is learning to use his hands, and is reaching out to touch our faces and clothes, and is playing with toys and rattles. He got his first food last week, rice cereal, and he loves it. We tried sweet potatoes on Monday and his tummy didn't seem to like them so we'll hold off on those for a bit. He is also starting to babble, with sounds like "yeah", "nyah" and "na" (all short a vowels).
John is chatting up a storm and is very friendly with everyone. He loves talking and answering questions and making up stories. He is writing some words (John Will, Mom, Dad, Zoo) without asking how to spell them, reading some words (exit, open) on his own, and is always wanting to make lists and write things down, asking us things like "How do you spell "Who is coming to the Christmas party?" He loves playing pretend too, and always enjoys sitting down and doing worksheet-type activities, though he still needs to run and play most of the time.
John and Daniel are getting along great. Daniel loves to see John and smiles at him all the time. Watching Daniel watch John tell a story is just the greatest thing, as they are both so animated. John also told us the other day "It's true! Danny IS going to like all the things I like, because I like looking out the window while we're driving, and Danny likes looking out the window while we're driving right now!!!" Danny will usually calm down if John sings to him. It's adorable.
We're getting ready for Christmas and having a great time. John loves singing Christmas songs, and he knows all the words to several songs (Rudolph, Silent Night) and some words of other songs ("Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, kiss her once a year!" and "Snowing Christmas songs and cookies, fa la la la...") He was so excited to decorate the tree and wanted to sing Christmas songs while we did it.
Danny has had his helmet for about 2 weeks and we are already noticing a difference! He has a bunch of straight light blonde hair growing in, and it's really cute. He's just such a happy baby who smiles at everyone and everything, and we're just so blessed with our two precious boys.
I was in "Sounds of Christmas", and Andy and John came to see it. After the show, John was pretty excited about the new joke he learned "Knock knock, who's there, Mary, Mary who, Mary Christmas!" He also got another joke wrong but it turned out pretty funny: "What happened when Rudolph ate all the Christmas decorations? He got a sore throat!" (actual punchline: He got tinsel-itis). We also went to see A Christmas Carol together and had a great time.
Daniel is learning lots of new things. He is still rolling a lot, though he is much better at back to front than front to back. We often have to go to him and roll him over when he gets stuck on his tummy. He is learning to use his hands, and is reaching out to touch our faces and clothes, and is playing with toys and rattles. He got his first food last week, rice cereal, and he loves it. We tried sweet potatoes on Monday and his tummy didn't seem to like them so we'll hold off on those for a bit. He is also starting to babble, with sounds like "yeah", "nyah" and "na" (all short a vowels).
John is chatting up a storm and is very friendly with everyone. He loves talking and answering questions and making up stories. He is writing some words (John Will, Mom, Dad, Zoo) without asking how to spell them, reading some words (exit, open) on his own, and is always wanting to make lists and write things down, asking us things like "How do you spell "Who is coming to the Christmas party?" He loves playing pretend too, and always enjoys sitting down and doing worksheet-type activities, though he still needs to run and play most of the time.
John and Daniel are getting along great. Daniel loves to see John and smiles at him all the time. Watching Daniel watch John tell a story is just the greatest thing, as they are both so animated. John also told us the other day "It's true! Danny IS going to like all the things I like, because I like looking out the window while we're driving, and Danny likes looking out the window while we're driving right now!!!" Danny will usually calm down if John sings to him. It's adorable.
We're getting ready for Christmas and having a great time. John loves singing Christmas songs, and he knows all the words to several songs (Rudolph, Silent Night) and some words of other songs ("Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, kiss her once a year!" and "Snowing Christmas songs and cookies, fa la la la...") He was so excited to decorate the tree and wanted to sing Christmas songs while we did it.
Danny has had his helmet for about 2 weeks and we are already noticing a difference! He has a bunch of straight light blonde hair growing in, and it's really cute. He's just such a happy baby who smiles at everyone and everything, and we're just so blessed with our two precious boys.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Early November
Daniel is 4 months old, and weighs almost 18 pounds. At his four month appointment, he was 75th percentile for weight and height.
This week, he learned to roll from back to front. We had to stop swaddling him because I just didn't feel comfortable restraining his arms in case he rolled over in his sleep and got his little face stuck in the mattress. The first night unswaddled, he slept all night! The second night, he was up often, so we're hoping the third night will be better, though it doesn't look good so far!
Two days after rolling back to front, he figured out how to roll from front to back! He has also moved from a 3 hour schedule to a 4 hour schedule.
He is still really smiley and communicative - he is very good at letting you know what he wants. He still has a flutter in his right eyelid that we're keeping an eye on. He will be getting a DOC band to reshape his skull on December 5th, and he really needs it because his head is horribly flat in the back and bulging on his right forehead.
John is doing really well. He had a few rough weeks, behavior-wise, but we think he is coming out of it. He is doing a great job at school. He works really hard on his classwork, and loves drawing pictures and doing other art. We are just loving his vocabulary lately - lots of grown-up words and expressions.
This week, he learned to roll from back to front. We had to stop swaddling him because I just didn't feel comfortable restraining his arms in case he rolled over in his sleep and got his little face stuck in the mattress. The first night unswaddled, he slept all night! The second night, he was up often, so we're hoping the third night will be better, though it doesn't look good so far!
Two days after rolling back to front, he figured out how to roll from front to back! He has also moved from a 3 hour schedule to a 4 hour schedule.
He is still really smiley and communicative - he is very good at letting you know what he wants. He still has a flutter in his right eyelid that we're keeping an eye on. He will be getting a DOC band to reshape his skull on December 5th, and he really needs it because his head is horribly flat in the back and bulging on his right forehead.
John is doing really well. He had a few rough weeks, behavior-wise, but we think he is coming out of it. He is doing a great job at school. He works really hard on his classwork, and loves drawing pictures and doing other art. We are just loving his vocabulary lately - lots of grown-up words and expressions.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
October
Daniel is 3 months old, and 14 pounds according to our home scale. He is very happy and smiles almost all the time when he's awake. He's also really communicative and manages to make his needs crystal clear. He has been sleeping from 10:30 to 7:00 or 7:30 for several weeks now. He's just so easy and happy!
We went to Mexico for my 35th birthday. It was a lovely trip! John had a great time playing on the beach and in the pool. He also enjoyed spending time with the family and was talking a mile a minute. In fact, one night at dinner, he remarked with surprise "I haven't talked in a long time!"
John is doing really well at school. His writing is going very well; he has brought home worksheets this week with "John Will" (proper capitalization) on them, and has been writing long words like "octagon." He is reading a little bit - sight words, making educated guesses, and sounding things out. He loves singing, especially "You Are My Sunshine" and "We Built This City".
He also has an amazing memory. Tonight I was singing "I Cain't Say No" from Oklahoma, timing out the song's length for a student, and John said "Are you practicing, Mommy?" I said "Practicing what?" He said, "Practicing for your show, at Broadway Palm." Well, that show was back in February and he saw it ONCE. Can't believe he remembers it still!
Another good one was when we were talking about the new movie "Brave" and John wanted to know why "she wanted to change her feet." Guess the accent was slightly misunderstood.
We went to Mexico for my 35th birthday. It was a lovely trip! John had a great time playing on the beach and in the pool. He also enjoyed spending time with the family and was talking a mile a minute. In fact, one night at dinner, he remarked with surprise "I haven't talked in a long time!"
John is doing really well at school. His writing is going very well; he has brought home worksheets this week with "John Will" (proper capitalization) on them, and has been writing long words like "octagon." He is reading a little bit - sight words, making educated guesses, and sounding things out. He loves singing, especially "You Are My Sunshine" and "We Built This City".
He also has an amazing memory. Tonight I was singing "I Cain't Say No" from Oklahoma, timing out the song's length for a student, and John said "Are you practicing, Mommy?" I said "Practicing what?" He said, "Practicing for your show, at Broadway Palm." Well, that show was back in February and he saw it ONCE. Can't believe he remembers it still!
Another good one was when we were talking about the new movie "Brave" and John wanted to know why "she wanted to change her feet." Guess the accent was slightly misunderstood.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Daniel is 7 weeks old
and weighs 11.3 pounds, up from 10.2 pounds at 6 weeks. He is getting so chunky and big! He smiled for the first time at 6 weeks old, but hasn't done it very often!
He is also sleeping very well. He first slept through the night (8 hours) at 5 weeks old, and it was hit or miss for the next two weeks. Some nights he'd go as long as 8.5 hours, but then I think he hit a growth spurt and was back to 4 hours. For the last few nights, he has been fed around 10-10:30, and slept until 6am, and this morning he even slept until 7am! This is making a big difference. In everything!
--
Daniel's good sleeps did coincide with the week Andy had to go to Mexico City for work, which was so helpful. I was very worried about handling both boys by myself for the first time, especially with Danny still so little. But John had it all figured out. When he heard Andy was going to be gone, he told me "Mama, we won't be sad while Daddy is gone. God expects little boys named Johnny to take care of mommies and babies. So we will be happy." He is such a little sweetheart.
--
Whenever Danny fusses in the car, John will sing to him. Current favorite is "You Are My Sunshine", complete with customized final line "Please don't take my Danny away." So sweet.
--
Apparently John was watching Alice in Wonderland at school, and he wanted to finish it at home, starting at "the part with the two guys. (pause) Hum-Dee and Hum-Dee-Doo".
--
John has been really into Smurfs lately, and he says his favorite Smurfs are Handy Smurf, Jokey Smurf, and Clumsy Smurf. He may not realize it, but he picked those three because they are just like him!
He is also sleeping very well. He first slept through the night (8 hours) at 5 weeks old, and it was hit or miss for the next two weeks. Some nights he'd go as long as 8.5 hours, but then I think he hit a growth spurt and was back to 4 hours. For the last few nights, he has been fed around 10-10:30, and slept until 6am, and this morning he even slept until 7am! This is making a big difference. In everything!
--
Daniel's good sleeps did coincide with the week Andy had to go to Mexico City for work, which was so helpful. I was very worried about handling both boys by myself for the first time, especially with Danny still so little. But John had it all figured out. When he heard Andy was going to be gone, he told me "Mama, we won't be sad while Daddy is gone. God expects little boys named Johnny to take care of mommies and babies. So we will be happy." He is such a little sweetheart.
--
Whenever Danny fusses in the car, John will sing to him. Current favorite is "You Are My Sunshine", complete with customized final line "Please don't take my Danny away." So sweet.
--
Apparently John was watching Alice in Wonderland at school, and he wanted to finish it at home, starting at "the part with the two guys. (pause) Hum-Dee and Hum-Dee-Doo".
--
John has been really into Smurfs lately, and he says his favorite Smurfs are Handy Smurf, Jokey Smurf, and Clumsy Smurf. He may not realize it, but he picked those three because they are just like him!
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Early August
At just under 4 weeks old, Daniel has gained weight, and is up to 8.5 pounds. Grow, baby, grow! He is growing out of some of his size newborn clothes, and is sleeping 4-5 hours at a stretch at night. He is still very sleepy most of the time, but when he wakes up, his eyes are focusing and tracking really well, and he's starting to take in the world around him. We can't wait for him to meet Aunt Robyn tomorrow!
John is very helpful on the rare occasions Daniel gets fussy when we're in the car. Here is a little song he sang last week: "Don't cry little baby, renember don't cry, renember don't cry, renember don't cry. Renember don't cry little baby, renember renember, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. (2 beats) Sh sh!" The ending was very musical. :)
I was talking to John about talking to our friends when they say hi to him, and he said, "SPEAKING of what you're talking about, Mommy, we are learning about that in school. Manners." "What manners are you learning about?" "Kind. Respect." It's so funny to hear terms like "speaking of" used transitionally and correctly in his little four-year-old voice.
John is very helpful on the rare occasions Daniel gets fussy when we're in the car. Here is a little song he sang last week: "Don't cry little baby, renember don't cry, renember don't cry, renember don't cry. Renember don't cry little baby, renember renember, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. (2 beats) Sh sh!" The ending was very musical. :)
I was talking to John about talking to our friends when they say hi to him, and he said, "SPEAKING of what you're talking about, Mommy, we are learning about that in school. Manners." "What manners are you learning about?" "Kind. Respect." It's so funny to hear terms like "speaking of" used transitionally and correctly in his little four-year-old voice.
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