Baby Photo Shoot

I'm not the best photographer, but I do enjoy taking pictures.  So I thought I would try for some cute "newborn" pics while Aramis was sleeping the other day.  Tristan and Lilly were fascinated, and so they wanted to get some as well.  As soon as I put Aramis in his bouncer, Tristan had taken his spot.  And when Tristan moved, Lilly took over.  They are pretty funny.  The blue blanket he is laying on is the one I made for him.

Be careful what you wish for

I always wondered what it would be like to have a cuddly baby.  Now I know.........

The problem is he ALWAYS wants to be cuddled.  You put him down, even if he is fast asleep, he wakes up and starts screaming so hard he can't even scream.  This happens to be worst in the middle of the night when I am dead tired and wanting to sleep.  I've been trying to ignore him, hoping he will get a clue and figure out how to self sooth.  But, I have a hard time letting him go too long because he is still using a lot of his accessory muscles to breathe. It hurts me to see him have to work so hard.  So I end up doing everything one handed..........

But on the positive side, he is growing.  Finally his newborn clothes fit, he's no longer drowning in them.  He's also eating well, out of a bottle.......anytime I try to breast he gets mad.  So I guess he's not unlike Tristan in that.  It took me and Tristan about 3 months to get that whole thing figured out, so I'm assuming Aramis will be the same way.  At least he is eating and gaining weight, so it seems.  I just hope his breathing gets better soon.

How is Tristan you ask?  Brattier than ever.  Don't listen to anyone who says he's a sweetie.  Sure, he's a doll to everyone but us, well, and my parents, he's pretty rotten around them too.  He's been amazing with Aramis, which I was most worried about.  But he has turned into a sour brat!  Never listens, always throwing tantrums, getting into things he shouldn't (like the stake knives.......) and telling me no every chance he gets.  I'm really hoping this wears off, for his own safety.  Because if he doesn't kill himself with the sharp objects he is stealing, I'm going to beat his little butt.  Not that that will do anything anyways, he seems to like getting spanked........

In other news, I got my root canal finished.  And man, anyone who says those are awful is lying.  I didn't feel a thing and he didn't even have to use the anesthetic, just a quick numb that wore off the minute he finished.  Now, this morning was another story.  I went in to get another filling done, which from xray didn't look too bad, so we used the quick numb again.  It wore off too fast, and the decay was deeper than the dentist thought, so long story short, awful, painful, lots of shots, near panic attack, half hour over appointment time, and a possible root canal.  I went home in tears.  My face was numb for hours.  Let this be a lesson to all of you!  Go to the dentist every 6 months!!!!  I don't even chew my food and I have rotten teeth (probably just bad genetics to be honest, oh well).  And I still have one more appointment, on Monday.  Hopefully my last. If I can go the weekend without any pain in that tooth from today, I won't need a root canal, so here's to wishful thinking and I'm crossing my fingers.

Geez, isn't parenthood amazing?  You get absolutely no sleep, and still have to watch kids and cook food.  Which is why we have been eating spaghettios and peanut butter sandwiches.  And the stress of moving is starting to creep up on me.  We only have a month before we go, crazy huh?  And I haven't even thought about packing yet.

Man, I want to take a nap

The Sleepy Smile

I was able to catch this on video before my camera died!  It's way cute, I love the faces babies make when they are sleeping

Things we do now

Ever since I pulled out the baby stuff, Tristan has been a little, well, I wouldn't say jealous, but possesive.  All of these things used to belong to him, and he remembers what they are for.  When I got out the baby bathtub, he immediately hopped in and asked for "bap! bap!"  That means bath.  Lilly has been a little funny as well, sleeping in the bathtub and on the baby blankets, and trying to lounge in the bouncer.

Whenever I have Aramis on the floor, Tristan likes to come and lay next to him.  He even will imitate what Aramis is doing, stretching, yawning, making little baby noises.  He loves to rub his tummy and back.  It's funny, I thought Tristan would try and smash Aramis the first chance he got, but he's actually been surprisingly sweet with him.  It's everyone else he's a pain for!

Sunday was a beautiful day out, and the day after Nana (Nick's mom) had gotten here to spend the week with us.  We took Tristan to a nice park up in Orem where they have a field, playground and duck pond.  The ducks are not afraid of people at all, and would follow us around.  Tristan was a little wary of them though, so he kept his distance.  He also got to run in the field with the bubble wand my dad got for him, and thought it was the coolest thing ever.  Too bad it was so hot, we didn't get to stay for super long.

Nick's mom had a great idea.  She said we should get Tristan a little blow up pool, so he could splash around on the patio.  We didn't fill it up very full, so he wouldn't make a huge mess or drown himself, but he was having a blast!  Until the neighbor's kids came over with their mouths hanging open, holding dripping popsicles.  We told them very plainly to go away and let Tristan be, but they just kept standing and staring.  The mom was sitting on the patio as well, but she didn't say a thing to her kids, just let them be rude.  I tried to tell them this was in front of our house, it was our pool, and it was our family time.  They just didn't get it.  They also started dripping popsicle everywhere, including on Nick's mom's pants, and sticking their feet all over the cooking pot we used to fill the pool.  We ended up going right back inside, much to Tristan's dismay.  I felt bad, he was having such a good time too.  People need to teach their children better manners, and kids shouldn't be so bothersome.  We asked them to go away, and they just ignored us.  I'm so glad in Iowa we will have our own house.  No more rude neighbors.  

The good thing about newborns is they sleep A LOT.  Except of course when you want to be sleeping......Aramis isn't too bad, but at least once a night be will not go back down in his bassinet, and ends up sleeping next to me in the bed.  I wouldn't mind too much, but it makes it pretty much impossible to get comfortable.  He is a really sweet snuggley boy though, so it's nice that he loves to lay with us.  That and our bed is probably way more comfy than his bassinet.  Nana got him a couple new swaddle-me wraps, and Tristan picked out which ones.  We ended up with a cute set of zoo animal printed ones, and thankfully they help the little guy stay asleep longer!

A few pictures

Being nice to baby brother

Chillin on the  blanket

Snuggled up

Sock hands

Wide awake!

Little froggie baby

Tummy time!

Blue berries, favorite snack

I asked him to smile and say cheese

Tristan drinking my Sunny-D

Pushing all his toys around

Chunkie cheeks

Home update

Well, I'd say that first week went pretty darn well.  True, part of it was spent in the hospital with nurses' help, but! once we were home, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy things were.  I was afraid I would be super overwhelmed, not able to care for two kids adequately, too sore and tired to function.

By my second day in the hospital, I was walking downstairs to the cafeteria with Nick.  By my first day home, I could get out of my own bed without any help (yeah, I was doing that just fine in the hospital, but my bed at home is way higher up!).    By my second day home, I was going shopping! ( I needed a prescription and didn't want to sit in the car.)  So the recoop has been a million times better than with Tristan.  Probably because I knew what to expect, so I knew how to deal with it, and I was better about actually getting up and getting around.  And, I might add, all accomplished on ibuprofen!  That's right, go  me!

Doing things one handed hasn't been too bad either.  While holding Aramis I have made sandwiches, done dishes and laundry, changed Tristan's diaper and put on his shoes, and fed myself.  It's amazing what you can do when you have to.  And he is such a chill baby, he doesn't mind loud noises (aka Tristan) or me taking care of things while holding him.  I couldn't have asked for a better baby!

Tristan has still been a little dramatic and sensitive.  You tell him no for anything, and he has a complete meltdown.  Add that to his selective hearing, and it's a disaster.  I'll be trying to feed Aramis and he'll start doing something naughty, but he doesn't stop until I actually get up and raise my hand like I am going to spank him.  Two seconds later, he is back at it!  I'm going to attribute it to all the change, Nick was gone for a week, I was gone for almost a week, he spent that time with my parents, and now there is a new baby at home.  I'm hoping as time goes he'll learn to cope better and stop being such, well, a little girl.   When he's behaving, he's a sweetheart, and he loves to help me do things like change Aramis' diaper, get him a binki, watch me feed him a bottle, give kisses.  So I feel really bad having to yell at him all the time.  But when both my hands are tied up, not much else I can really do.

In other news, we have transitioned Tristan to a toddler bed.  Basically, since his crib converts, we just took off the front railing and put up a toddler railing.  So now he can get in and out of his own bed.  Good for me who can't lift him, but bad for me because putting him to bed takes hours.  He keeps getting up and playing with his toys!  It may take a few days, but I'm sure we'll get that one down as well.

Aramis is doing fantastic.  Still having problems with feedings every so often, but I have been vigilant.  We'll keep trying for an hour if we have to, and sometimes that's just what we end up doing.  He has a really hard time with the bottle, because even the slow flow is too fast for him and he chokes, so I only resort to that when he absolutely will not breastfeed.  He prefers to breastfeed, but I don't know, the minute I get him going, it's like he's drinking valium and out he goes.  I'm assuming as he gets bigger and stronger, that will get easier for him too.  Other than that, perfect little angel, and I adore him!  I hold him all day just because, hehe, he's just so sweet I love it!

And that's how things are going for us right now!  Not too bad, right?

Sharing his monkey, cute huh?