There are few things that are cringe-worthy. Few things that make you groan and slunk under the sheets with the wish of death to come upon you.
Take the sound of nails on a chalkboard. That sound makes one shudder; it's a popular analogy in movies and books. But really, who walks around with a chalkboard just to run your nails on it? It's not cringe-worthy. It's a horrible sound, but not cringe-worthy.
Or the phone ringing and seeing that it's someone you really have no desire to talk to. That's roll-your-eyes-worthy, but not cringe-worthy. You don't throw your phone across the room and hide; you just hit "ignore" and go about your day... and think of an excuse for not answering said phone call when you know you'll be asked about it later.
Even the sound of a poosplosion isn't cringe-worthy. You know the type; when you're finally ready to leave the house for a day at the zoo or the mall, and your baby, all dressed up and ready to be put into his carseat grunts and POOF! you hear that sound. You yell, "NOOOOO!!!!!" in slow motion, hoping that you can stop it before it shoots out the sides of the diaper. You're always too late. Your baby is sitting on the floor, smiling at you, with poop half-moons soaking through his pants right onto the carpet. You hang your head, defeated, texting your friends "I'm going to be late..." and you haul ass upstairs to change said diaper before it leaks out even more so that when you take the pants off, you get poop streaks down the legs. You're always too late - those poop streaks will be there. Guaranteed.
But there is not much in this world that is truly cringe-worthy.
Except: your child waking up too early in the morning.
I'm not talking about 3am feeds, or 2am potty time. I'm talking about 5:30am whines coming from either bedroom.
I'm talking about hearing your 3-year old's door open, only to look at the clock and seeing it's only 5:55am.
I'm talking about hearing your baby cry out at 6am on the nose. You know it's going to take a good 15 minutes to get either child back to sleep, only to go back to bed to be woken up by your husbands alarm clock in 15 minutes. Your sleep is ruined. You're up for the day.
Cringe.
You know they're not hungry. You know they're tired. But they're awake. And now you're awake. And your dog is awake (and licking himself in the most annoying way). And if it's your baby awake, pretty soon your other kid will be awake. There's something about a baby's cry that wakes the older child up. And your husband is awake, whispering, "Are you going to go get him?"
YES I'M GOING TO &^$*#%@ GET HIM!!
You could easily have gotten another hour of sleep. But now you have to get out of bed, walk over to his room, feed him quickly to put them back to sleep, only he won't. He's cooing and gaaing at you, slapping your face, and kicking your arm to get your attention. You try to ignore him, but he has a knack of getting your attention, only to smile and show you just how awake he is.
And you're cursing him. You smile back at that goofy toothy grin, but really, inside, you're imagining laying in bed, with the covers over your head, and a sweet sleepy smile across your lips. And you start bartering with God.
Please, God. If you put him back to sleep I promise I won't swear in my head today. I promise I'll go the speed limit. I promise I'll watch Billy Graham instead of Ellen.
He does not go to sleep.
(Like I wasn't going to watch Ellen.)
Then you hear the second gringe-worthy sound.
The bedroom door opening. The bedroom door belonging to your other child.
Now, at 5:50am, both kids are awake.
Cringe.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Breastfeeding a Little Devil 101
Don't worry. This post won't be graphic or make you uncomfortable.
But it is, however, about breastfeeding. And in particular, breastfeeding one of the most difficult babies in the world.
Aryn was a statistically easy nurser. She loved to eat. However, she would eat every 2 hours, like clockwork, and then proceed to vomit everything she just ate... which, in turn, made her hungry quickly, hence our 2-hour schedule.
I had it down pat. Aryn cried... I nursed... I picked her up and BAM. Vomit. And she had a knack for projecting it far enough away that it would miss me, and hit whatever was directly expensive.
We had towels littering our floor all over the house to catch said vomit. We cleaned our carpets more times than I'd like to admit. It was a daily thing. People cringed when I was finished nursing her at their homes, because everyone knew - in just a couple minutes, they would hear the *splat* sound hit their brand new carpet, or leather chair, or suede sofa.
It wasn't until she was 6 months old when I went to a breastfeeding clinic to receive some support and help that I was instructed to nurse her sitting up so she was straddling me that things started to get better. Her reflux made her milk upchuck and sitting up allowed it to be ingested.
When Ryan and I got married, we splurged and bought a beautiful sage green sectional at Ashley Furniture. It was expensive and extremely comfortable. No one was allowed to put food near it, and should something have spilled on it, we were instantly there to dap it up and make sure our beautiful couch was clean.
Then Aryn came along.
Our beautiful sage green sectional is no longer clean. There are stains from milk, water, poop, pee, Bauer (he licks the couch.... soooo weird), crushed goldfish crackers, strawberries, chocolate milk littering our couch. Where once we'd gasp in horror that something foreign touched the fibres of the couch, now we shrug and respond with an "oh well."
My, how things have changed.
But despite this, Aryn was an easy nurser.
I nursed her for 18 months, and all in all, I loved every minute of it.
And she gave me this false feeling of "Breastfeeding is easy!" I thought, once you do it once, you can pretty much do it. There's no science or work involved. You have the parts, you feed your baby. Easy peasy.
Then Lukey came along.
When he was first born, he was so easy. I sang his praises, "He's such an easy nurser!" My expectations were met - breastfeeding was easy once again. And Lukey never threw up! Praise the breastfeeding gods! I couldn't wait to do this for another 18 months... or longer, if he wanted!!
Then... something changed.
Now, I mentioned before how different Lucas is compared to Aryn. They are opposite babies. Aryn would just sit there, planted in place, and didn't bother to try crawling until she was 10 months old. She loved purees, she was generally happy, she was easy to sleep train (eat-wake-sleep cycle). She even went to sleep on her own - put her in her crib wide awake, she's go to sleep.
I blame Aryn for all of this. She gave us a false sense of security.
Lucas.
That kid.
He is crazy. He is doing his very best to start crawling. He's not even 8 months old. He gets onto all 4's, he pulls himself onto his knees, he pushes himself forward with his knees, he will NOT, under any circumstance, eat purees when there's perfectly good grown-up food within eye sight, and he's a pain in the ass nurser.
Sorry for the swear. But it's true. He's extremely frustrating.
Let me paint you a picture.
.... not a graphic one.
Let's start with the first feed of the morning. Now, Lucas wakes up anywhere from 1-3 times a night. Yeah. It sucks. So, for the purpose of this story, let's say the last time he woke up was 2am.
Then, let's say he wakes up for the day at 7:30am.
So I try to feed him and he will NOT eat. I try, and he just wants to babble and stick his hands in my mouth and pull my teeth. He's weird.
So I give up, and bring him downstairs, where he tries to eat everything I'm having for breakfast. Eggs. Toast. Coffee. Banana. Strawberries. He wants it all. So I put little bits on his tray. He doesn't want little cut-up bits. He wants the entire thing I am eating.
Grr.
Two hours later, he's tired. He wants to nurse. But I want him to learn to go to sleep on his own, and not need to be fed to go to sleep so I try to keep him awake while I feed him.
So he slaps me in the face to shut me up.
Grr.
So he sleeps for 2 hours. Yay! Then he wakes up, and I again try to nurse him (you know, cuz I'm really trying to get that eat-wake-sleep cycle set up). He doesn't want to eat. He wants to see Aryn, and his toys, and Bauer. And eat whatever everyone is eating. Not mama's milk. Real food.
Really, anything other than me.
This goes on the rest of the day.
Then it's night time. The most frustrating nursing time.
He's soooooo tired. He starts to eat, then pulls away. Then bites me. I scream. He smiles. Then bites me again. I say "NO!" He smiles. He closes his eyes. He tries to snuggle. I try to get him to stop snuggling and eat, so that we're not up an hour later to nurse. He refuses to eat without biting me. I get frustrated. He smiles. He then tries to snuggle again.
Stop snuggling! Eat!!
This happens. EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT.
Then he falls asleep, so I give up and put him in his crib. He's fast asleep. I slowly try to leave. Then I hear the nails on the chalkboard.
"Gaaaahhhhhh!"
He's awake. He's kicking his legs in happiness. He's wide awake.
Do I cry? Do I scream?
Yes.
So we do this aaaaaalllllll over again. Complete with biting and raspberries, and arching his back, and getting mad at me, and flinging his arms around like he's having a seizure, and me holding his arms down in place, and him pinching me, and sticking his hands in my mouth and pulling my teeth.
Every. Single. Night.
Finally, he drifts off to sleep and he starts dream eating. Finally.
Ready for a night of getting up 1-3 times. To feed him for anywhere from 1-25 minutes. Yes. Sometimes he wakes up, yells for me, only to want to snuggle. Not eat. Snuggle.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE snuggling with this little guy. He's my son, and I would snuggle him all day if he'd let me.
But the key word in that - all day. I don't snuggle at night. I want to sleep. I don't need to get up 3 times a night to snuggle you. I'll snuggle you when the sun is up. Not the moon.
I've let him cry it out, but he wins every battle. Especially when Ryan starts with the "I have to work in the morning" or the "He'll wake Aryn up!" or when Aryn actually does get woken up, which then leads to her having to go to the bathroom, and then I'm up with 2 kids.
And then I finally get Lucas back to sleep. And then those beady little eyes pop open and he smiles at me. And he has a beautiful smile. A squishy, one-toothed goofy grin. Oh that smile makes my heart melt.
But at 3am, it's the worst thing to see.
And then the battle starts again.
Every. Single. Night.
But it is, however, about breastfeeding. And in particular, breastfeeding one of the most difficult babies in the world.
Aryn was a statistically easy nurser. She loved to eat. However, she would eat every 2 hours, like clockwork, and then proceed to vomit everything she just ate... which, in turn, made her hungry quickly, hence our 2-hour schedule.
I had it down pat. Aryn cried... I nursed... I picked her up and BAM. Vomit. And she had a knack for projecting it far enough away that it would miss me, and hit whatever was directly expensive.
We had towels littering our floor all over the house to catch said vomit. We cleaned our carpets more times than I'd like to admit. It was a daily thing. People cringed when I was finished nursing her at their homes, because everyone knew - in just a couple minutes, they would hear the *splat* sound hit their brand new carpet, or leather chair, or suede sofa.
It wasn't until she was 6 months old when I went to a breastfeeding clinic to receive some support and help that I was instructed to nurse her sitting up so she was straddling me that things started to get better. Her reflux made her milk upchuck and sitting up allowed it to be ingested.
When Ryan and I got married, we splurged and bought a beautiful sage green sectional at Ashley Furniture. It was expensive and extremely comfortable. No one was allowed to put food near it, and should something have spilled on it, we were instantly there to dap it up and make sure our beautiful couch was clean.
Then Aryn came along.
Our beautiful sage green sectional is no longer clean. There are stains from milk, water, poop, pee, Bauer (he licks the couch.... soooo weird), crushed goldfish crackers, strawberries, chocolate milk littering our couch. Where once we'd gasp in horror that something foreign touched the fibres of the couch, now we shrug and respond with an "oh well."
My, how things have changed.
But despite this, Aryn was an easy nurser.
I nursed her for 18 months, and all in all, I loved every minute of it.
And she gave me this false feeling of "Breastfeeding is easy!" I thought, once you do it once, you can pretty much do it. There's no science or work involved. You have the parts, you feed your baby. Easy peasy.
Then Lukey came along.
When he was first born, he was so easy. I sang his praises, "He's such an easy nurser!" My expectations were met - breastfeeding was easy once again. And Lukey never threw up! Praise the breastfeeding gods! I couldn't wait to do this for another 18 months... or longer, if he wanted!!
Then... something changed.
Now, I mentioned before how different Lucas is compared to Aryn. They are opposite babies. Aryn would just sit there, planted in place, and didn't bother to try crawling until she was 10 months old. She loved purees, she was generally happy, she was easy to sleep train (eat-wake-sleep cycle). She even went to sleep on her own - put her in her crib wide awake, she's go to sleep.
I blame Aryn for all of this. She gave us a false sense of security.
Lucas.
That kid.
He is crazy. He is doing his very best to start crawling. He's not even 8 months old. He gets onto all 4's, he pulls himself onto his knees, he pushes himself forward with his knees, he will NOT, under any circumstance, eat purees when there's perfectly good grown-up food within eye sight, and he's a pain in the ass nurser.
Sorry for the swear. But it's true. He's extremely frustrating.
Let me paint you a picture.
.... not a graphic one.
Let's start with the first feed of the morning. Now, Lucas wakes up anywhere from 1-3 times a night. Yeah. It sucks. So, for the purpose of this story, let's say the last time he woke up was 2am.
Then, let's say he wakes up for the day at 7:30am.
So I try to feed him and he will NOT eat. I try, and he just wants to babble and stick his hands in my mouth and pull my teeth. He's weird.
So I give up, and bring him downstairs, where he tries to eat everything I'm having for breakfast. Eggs. Toast. Coffee. Banana. Strawberries. He wants it all. So I put little bits on his tray. He doesn't want little cut-up bits. He wants the entire thing I am eating.
Grr.
Two hours later, he's tired. He wants to nurse. But I want him to learn to go to sleep on his own, and not need to be fed to go to sleep so I try to keep him awake while I feed him.
So he slaps me in the face to shut me up.
Grr.
So he sleeps for 2 hours. Yay! Then he wakes up, and I again try to nurse him (you know, cuz I'm really trying to get that eat-wake-sleep cycle set up). He doesn't want to eat. He wants to see Aryn, and his toys, and Bauer. And eat whatever everyone is eating. Not mama's milk. Real food.
Really, anything other than me.
This goes on the rest of the day.
Then it's night time. The most frustrating nursing time.
He's soooooo tired. He starts to eat, then pulls away. Then bites me. I scream. He smiles. Then bites me again. I say "NO!" He smiles. He closes his eyes. He tries to snuggle. I try to get him to stop snuggling and eat, so that we're not up an hour later to nurse. He refuses to eat without biting me. I get frustrated. He smiles. He then tries to snuggle again.
Stop snuggling! Eat!!
This happens. EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT.
Then he falls asleep, so I give up and put him in his crib. He's fast asleep. I slowly try to leave. Then I hear the nails on the chalkboard.
"Gaaaahhhhhh!"
He's awake. He's kicking his legs in happiness. He's wide awake.
Do I cry? Do I scream?
Yes.
So we do this aaaaaalllllll over again. Complete with biting and raspberries, and arching his back, and getting mad at me, and flinging his arms around like he's having a seizure, and me holding his arms down in place, and him pinching me, and sticking his hands in my mouth and pulling my teeth.
Every. Single. Night.
Finally, he drifts off to sleep and he starts dream eating. Finally.
Ready for a night of getting up 1-3 times. To feed him for anywhere from 1-25 minutes. Yes. Sometimes he wakes up, yells for me, only to want to snuggle. Not eat. Snuggle.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE snuggling with this little guy. He's my son, and I would snuggle him all day if he'd let me.
But the key word in that - all day. I don't snuggle at night. I want to sleep. I don't need to get up 3 times a night to snuggle you. I'll snuggle you when the sun is up. Not the moon.
I've let him cry it out, but he wins every battle. Especially when Ryan starts with the "I have to work in the morning" or the "He'll wake Aryn up!" or when Aryn actually does get woken up, which then leads to her having to go to the bathroom, and then I'm up with 2 kids.
And then I finally get Lucas back to sleep. And then those beady little eyes pop open and he smiles at me. And he has a beautiful smile. A squishy, one-toothed goofy grin. Oh that smile makes my heart melt.
But at 3am, it's the worst thing to see.
And then the battle starts again.
Every. Single. Night.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
We have a tooth!
There is one thing my 2 kids are exactly alike in: when they teethe, they are exactly alike.
After one night of Lukey waking up 4 times, and the next night Lukey waking up every 20 minutes-1 hour and only sleeping if being held, we woke up Saturday morning (December 7) to a tooth. It was a beautiful tooth.
Teething is the worst. Seriously.
After one night of Lukey waking up 4 times, and the next night Lukey waking up every 20 minutes-1 hour and only sleeping if being held, we woke up Saturday morning (December 7) to a tooth. It was a beautiful tooth.
Teething is the worst. Seriously.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Aryn's 3rd Birthday - The Ice Cream Party!
*DISCLAIMER: Aryn's birthday was in September. It is now December. I am fully aware that I am 3 months late writing this blog. But better late than never, right? RIGHT??
Aryn loves ice cream. Ok... who am I kidding... she loves all sweets. There's not much in the junk food 'food group' that she doesn't love. But ice cream... ohhh this kid loves ice cream.
Her party was a toss up between a strawberry theme and an ice cream theme... and ice cream seemed much more fun. The kid loves her some strawberries... but if she had to choose between an ice cream cone and a bowl of strawberries... ok, I don't exactly know what she'd choose but I would suspect she'd go with ice cream.
So I set off looking for ice cream theme ideas. Pinterest is my new best friend, and many of my ideas were taken from there. I am partially hoping to find some of these photos on Pinterest!
First, the invitation. I made it in photoshop, from scratch, taking ideas from a few other invitations I found on Google. It took a few weeks to make, and I was extremely happy with it!
We had water bottles with flavour water squirts available for everyone. We decided not to buy pop or make punch for many reasons (extra expense, would need too much variety, takes too much time to make punch, punch is really messy, etc.) and this way I got to use up some of the flavour squirts in our pantry!
Instead of giving kids a bag with breakable toys and loud whistles (which all kids love, but let's face it - parents do not haha!), we decided to give ice cream cookies that I had made by a lady here in town (Out of Chaos Comes Cookies). They were $1.25 each, which I thought was good considering anything from the dollar store would end up being more. They were 2 cookies baked together, with icing made to look like an ice cream cone, the 'waffle cone' was icing as well, and a number 3 in icing. There were 4 different colours of ice cream cone, and they were seriously delicious.
Frames from Target. 4 for $1!!
We had an ice cream toppings centre. Unfortunately, it was really warm that day and the chocolate chips melted, but everything else worked great! They were a huge hit.
Again, this frame is one of the 4 for $1 at Target!
We had bowls, ice cream cones, and waffle bowls for the ice cream. The waffle bowls were apparently disgusting... I didn't taste test them first. Whoops!
One very happy 3 year old!!
Hair clip & tutu made by my amazing friend at AnnaLuv Designs.
I made the shirt... just a regular white shirt, green tule made into ice cream, and fabric paint making the cone.
Borrowed a bouncy house from a friend. Yay!
Lots of toys for the kids outside to play with.
The very interesting ladybugs came free... there were a billion of them, and really stole the show.
Ok... please keep in mind that I had just had a baby... this is not my best look. Seriously...
And for the birthday girls' birthday cake, we took ice cream cones, baked cake mix in them, topped them with icing, and a Smartie on top. We had vanilla and chocolate cake, and they really were delicious.
I forgot to grab a "before" photo!
We had messages left after the party saying it was one of the most fun birthday parties they'd ever been to. That made my day! That's all we ever want - for people to come, celebrate our little girl, and have a great time. It really was an extremely fun day. Aryn zonked out quickly afterwards! We were so grateful that her great grandma, grandma, aunt and 3 cousins were able to make the trek out as well for the party! More people to celebrate our special girl!!
Lukey's birthday is in 5.5 months... I'd better start planning... ;)
Aryn loves ice cream. Ok... who am I kidding... she loves all sweets. There's not much in the junk food 'food group' that she doesn't love. But ice cream... ohhh this kid loves ice cream.
Her party was a toss up between a strawberry theme and an ice cream theme... and ice cream seemed much more fun. The kid loves her some strawberries... but if she had to choose between an ice cream cone and a bowl of strawberries... ok, I don't exactly know what she'd choose but I would suspect she'd go with ice cream.
So I set off looking for ice cream theme ideas. Pinterest is my new best friend, and many of my ideas were taken from there. I am partially hoping to find some of these photos on Pinterest!
First, the invitation. I made it in photoshop, from scratch, taking ideas from a few other invitations I found on Google. It took a few weeks to make, and I was extremely happy with it!
We had water bottles with flavour water squirts available for everyone. We decided not to buy pop or make punch for many reasons (extra expense, would need too much variety, takes too much time to make punch, punch is really messy, etc.) and this way I got to use up some of the flavour squirts in our pantry!
Instead of giving kids a bag with breakable toys and loud whistles (which all kids love, but let's face it - parents do not haha!), we decided to give ice cream cookies that I had made by a lady here in town (Out of Chaos Comes Cookies). They were $1.25 each, which I thought was good considering anything from the dollar store would end up being more. They were 2 cookies baked together, with icing made to look like an ice cream cone, the 'waffle cone' was icing as well, and a number 3 in icing. There were 4 different colours of ice cream cone, and they were seriously delicious.
Frames from Target. 4 for $1!!
We had an ice cream toppings centre. Unfortunately, it was really warm that day and the chocolate chips melted, but everything else worked great! They were a huge hit.
Again, this frame is one of the 4 for $1 at Target!
We had bowls, ice cream cones, and waffle bowls for the ice cream. The waffle bowls were apparently disgusting... I didn't taste test them first. Whoops!
One very happy 3 year old!!
Hair clip & tutu made by my amazing friend at AnnaLuv Designs.
I made the shirt... just a regular white shirt, green tule made into ice cream, and fabric paint making the cone.
Borrowed a bouncy house from a friend. Yay!
Lots of toys for the kids outside to play with.
The very interesting ladybugs came free... there were a billion of them, and really stole the show.
Ok... please keep in mind that I had just had a baby... this is not my best look. Seriously...
And for the birthday girls' birthday cake, we took ice cream cones, baked cake mix in them, topped them with icing, and a Smartie on top. We had vanilla and chocolate cake, and they really were delicious.
I forgot to grab a "before" photo!
Then it was present time. All the kids helped Aryn open her many gifts. She was so spoiled by so many people who love her. It made my heart happy.
We had messages left after the party saying it was one of the most fun birthday parties they'd ever been to. That made my day! That's all we ever want - for people to come, celebrate our little girl, and have a great time. It really was an extremely fun day. Aryn zonked out quickly afterwards! We were so grateful that her great grandma, grandma, aunt and 3 cousins were able to make the trek out as well for the party! More people to celebrate our special girl!!
Lukey's birthday is in 5.5 months... I'd better start planning... ;)
Lukey update & kid comparison
As Lucas gets older, I find myself going through every old post on this blog from when Aryn was the same age and reading up on what we were going through at that time. And with every post I read, I am left with 2 prominent thoughts:
1. How different both of my kids are.
2. How I have written down NOTHING about Lucas.
With Aryn, we knew we'd have another kid, and I wanted to document everything about her growth for reference purposes, and to one day make a little book for her that wrote out everything she did as she grew up.
I haven't done the book yet. And I haven't written down (hardly) anything about Lucas. So... here we go.
As of today, Lucas is 6 months and (almost) 3 weeks old. Last week he got his 6 month shots, and he weighs 16 lbs 13 oz and is 27" long.
For those of you keeping track, Aryn was 17 lbs 11 3/4oz and 26" at 6 months. So Aryn was about 1 full pound and 1 inch shorter than Lucas at the same age.
Lukey is pretty much the exact opposite of a baby as Aryn was.
Aryn loved to eat - both milk and solids.
Lucas needs to be forced to eat sometimes. He does not particularly like solids, and he'll shut his mouth tight after a couple spoonfuls. You cannot shove more food into his little mouth. When those lips close, you're done. Even if it's only after 1 small bite. This is strange because he's constantly reaching for food. He just doesn't seem to want 'baby' food. He wants grown-up food. But I'm just too nervous that he'll choke or react to it so I keep trying to give him puréed food!
Aryn loved bananas.
Lukey HATES bananas. He even gives me the ol' fake gagging face.
Aryn had a little eczema at this age, and I rushed her to the pediatrician to get it looked at and taken care of. She was given minor steroids and I remember being so frustrated that the doctor said that "it was nothing to be worried about."
Lukey has the worst case of eczema the one doctor I took him to has ever seen. Ever. I don't know what sets it off, but as of today, he has been off grains for a couple of weeks (no oatmeal or rice cereal) and I still don't know if that's the culprit. I am waiting to see a pediatrician.
Aryn didn't really "roll". She rolled from her stomach to back, and she spun around to get closer to things. Like... she'd be on her stomach and she'd spin... on her stomach... to slowly reach things. She did this for months.
Lukey rolls. He rolls like a crazy rolling machine. He goes from one end of the room to the other. It's insane watching him. Nothing is safe. He never stops moving.
Aryn was a hilarious character. She was giving us the cheesy grin at 6 months.
Lukey is very serious, despite his constant smiles. He has an "old soul." He smiles for everyone, seemingly all day, but it's a sweet loving smile. Not a joker trying-to-make-you-laugh smile.
Aryn was solid. Rolls, chunk, solid.
Lukey is slim. And extremely long, with short little legs.
Aryn had a bright red mohawk.
Lukey has a full head of very light blonde hair.
Aryn needed a bib all day to keep her clothes dry.
Lukey gnaws on things, but no drool yet!
Aryn got her first tooth at 6.5 months.
Lukey HAS to be getting one soon, because he's been sleeping nonstop, his cheeks are bright red, and he is miserable.
Aryn was happy. She was just generally happy. She was a very happy little girl. Especially in public - strangers would come to us and tell me how sweet and smiley she was everywhere we went.
Lukey is very smiley. He will smile for anyone. But after his afternoon nap, he whines. And he doesn't stop whining until he goes to sleep. I even knocked his bedtime up an hour because the whining got too much haha!! He doesn't cry - he just frets and whines, like he's annoyed that he's awake or not being taken care of the way he really thinks he should be!
Aryn slept. She went down at 7pm, I dream fed her at 11pm, and she slept until 7am the next morning.
Lukey doesn't sleep as fantastic. He wakes up anywhere from 1-3 times a night. Which really isn't bad. Sometimes he wakes up once at 1:30am. Sometimes he wakes up at 11pm, then 4am. He really hated being dream fed, so that didn't last longer than the week I allotted.
When Aryn was this age, she had gotten hives from a few things already. We had even been to the hospital like a dozen times by now!
Lukey doesn't *seem* to be allergic to as much, except for whatever is causing the eczema (if that's an allergy...). And we've only had 1 trip to the hospital for croup. Turns out both of my kids are susceptible to croup! (Aryn got it a total of 4 times in her little life!)
Lukey has already had a surgical procedure done!! After 5 months of painful and frustrating nursing, it was discovered (by a friend of mine) that Lukey had a lip tie. Upon further investigation, it turns out he had a tongue tie too! We saw a specialist in Calgary who has been doing this procedure for 35+ years, and she was amazed that we were nursing as well and for as long as we were. The procedure took 5 minutes, and she cut both his tongue and lip (the lip was classified as "prominent"). He cried a lot, but fell asleep about 10 minutes after the procedure and it didn't seem to bother him again after. A month later, he's a nursing champ, and really put on more weight since getting it done.
Aryn was sitting up on her own at 6 months on the dot.
At 6 months and almost 3 weeks, Lukey has just started sitting up... and is very wobbly! Obviously every child does things at their own time, and Lukey
What else... Lukey seems to want to crawl right away. Aryn didn't start crawling until 10 months, and Lukey is already getting up on all 4's! Aryn was very cautious about things - Lukey is constantly kicking his toys over, opening doors, rolling under the Christmas tree... he's going to keep us on our toes!!
We have thoroughly enjoyed the last 6.5 months of little Lucas' life. He's ridiculously sweet, always holding my face in his hands and snuggling his face in my neck. He is definitely a mamas boy, whereas Aryn has always been a daddy's girl. You know those pictures of kids with food everywhere, on their face, their hair, all over the high chair? That's going to be Lucas. He's an animal and definitely much more adventurous than his older sister.
One thing they have in common? They both love each other. Ohh how they love each other. The first thing Aryn wants to do every morning is to "say hi to Lukey Pookie Man!" and whenever he sees his big sister - he gets so excited and squeals with delight. It's my favourite thing in the world.
Quick story: on Saturday, Ryan and I went shopping (with Lukey). Aryn stayed with my parents, and stayed over night at their place. We went to their place on Sunday at lunch to get Aryn and have brunch there. Well, when Lukey saw his sister for the first time in over a day, he reached out for her, gave her a big hug, and squealed with delight. He was so excited! This went on for about 5 minutes, of him just giving her hugs and snuggles and her giving him little hugs and kisses. I regret not videotaping it! But I hope that image is engrained in my brain forever.
And that's about the life of Lukey as of today...
1. How different both of my kids are.
2. How I have written down NOTHING about Lucas.
With Aryn, we knew we'd have another kid, and I wanted to document everything about her growth for reference purposes, and to one day make a little book for her that wrote out everything she did as she grew up.
I haven't done the book yet. And I haven't written down (hardly) anything about Lucas. So... here we go.
As of today, Lucas is 6 months and (almost) 3 weeks old. Last week he got his 6 month shots, and he weighs 16 lbs 13 oz and is 27" long.
Both kids at roughly 6 months... wearing the same shirt... in the same chair!
For those of you keeping track, Aryn was 17 lbs 11 3/4oz and 26" at 6 months. So Aryn was about 1 full pound and 1 inch shorter than Lucas at the same age.
Lukey is pretty much the exact opposite of a baby as Aryn was.
Aryn loved to eat - both milk and solids.
Lucas needs to be forced to eat sometimes. He does not particularly like solids, and he'll shut his mouth tight after a couple spoonfuls. You cannot shove more food into his little mouth. When those lips close, you're done. Even if it's only after 1 small bite. This is strange because he's constantly reaching for food. He just doesn't seem to want 'baby' food. He wants grown-up food. But I'm just too nervous that he'll choke or react to it so I keep trying to give him puréed food!
Aryn loved bananas.
Lukey HATES bananas. He even gives me the ol' fake gagging face.
Aryn had a little eczema at this age, and I rushed her to the pediatrician to get it looked at and taken care of. She was given minor steroids and I remember being so frustrated that the doctor said that "it was nothing to be worried about."
Lukey has the worst case of eczema the one doctor I took him to has ever seen. Ever. I don't know what sets it off, but as of today, he has been off grains for a couple of weeks (no oatmeal or rice cereal) and I still don't know if that's the culprit. I am waiting to see a pediatrician.
Aryn didn't really "roll". She rolled from her stomach to back, and she spun around to get closer to things. Like... she'd be on her stomach and she'd spin... on her stomach... to slowly reach things. She did this for months.
Lukey rolls. He rolls like a crazy rolling machine. He goes from one end of the room to the other. It's insane watching him. Nothing is safe. He never stops moving.
Lukey is very serious, despite his constant smiles. He has an "old soul." He smiles for everyone, seemingly all day, but it's a sweet loving smile. Not a joker trying-to-make-you-laugh smile.
Aryn was solid. Rolls, chunk, solid.
Lukey is slim. And extremely long, with short little legs.
Aryn had a bright red mohawk.
Lukey has a full head of very light blonde hair.
Aryn needed a bib all day to keep her clothes dry.
Lukey gnaws on things, but no drool yet!
Aryn got her first tooth at 6.5 months.
Lukey HAS to be getting one soon, because he's been sleeping nonstop, his cheeks are bright red, and he is miserable.
Aryn was happy. She was just generally happy. She was a very happy little girl. Especially in public - strangers would come to us and tell me how sweet and smiley she was everywhere we went.
Lukey is very smiley. He will smile for anyone. But after his afternoon nap, he whines. And he doesn't stop whining until he goes to sleep. I even knocked his bedtime up an hour because the whining got too much haha!! He doesn't cry - he just frets and whines, like he's annoyed that he's awake or not being taken care of the way he really thinks he should be!
Aryn slept. She went down at 7pm, I dream fed her at 11pm, and she slept until 7am the next morning.
Lukey doesn't sleep as fantastic. He wakes up anywhere from 1-3 times a night. Which really isn't bad. Sometimes he wakes up once at 1:30am. Sometimes he wakes up at 11pm, then 4am. He really hated being dream fed, so that didn't last longer than the week I allotted.
When Aryn was this age, she had gotten hives from a few things already. We had even been to the hospital like a dozen times by now!
Lukey doesn't *seem* to be allergic to as much, except for whatever is causing the eczema (if that's an allergy...). And we've only had 1 trip to the hospital for croup. Turns out both of my kids are susceptible to croup! (Aryn got it a total of 4 times in her little life!)
Lukey has already had a surgical procedure done!! After 5 months of painful and frustrating nursing, it was discovered (by a friend of mine) that Lukey had a lip tie. Upon further investigation, it turns out he had a tongue tie too! We saw a specialist in Calgary who has been doing this procedure for 35+ years, and she was amazed that we were nursing as well and for as long as we were. The procedure took 5 minutes, and she cut both his tongue and lip (the lip was classified as "prominent"). He cried a lot, but fell asleep about 10 minutes after the procedure and it didn't seem to bother him again after. A month later, he's a nursing champ, and really put on more weight since getting it done.
Before
Aryn was sitting up on her own at 6 months on the dot.
At 6 months and almost 3 weeks, Lukey has just started sitting up... and is very wobbly! Obviously every child does things at their own time, and Lukey
What else... Lukey seems to want to crawl right away. Aryn didn't start crawling until 10 months, and Lukey is already getting up on all 4's! Aryn was very cautious about things - Lukey is constantly kicking his toys over, opening doors, rolling under the Christmas tree... he's going to keep us on our toes!!
We have thoroughly enjoyed the last 6.5 months of little Lucas' life. He's ridiculously sweet, always holding my face in his hands and snuggling his face in my neck. He is definitely a mamas boy, whereas Aryn has always been a daddy's girl. You know those pictures of kids with food everywhere, on their face, their hair, all over the high chair? That's going to be Lucas. He's an animal and definitely much more adventurous than his older sister.
One thing they have in common? They both love each other. Ohh how they love each other. The first thing Aryn wants to do every morning is to "say hi to Lukey Pookie Man!" and whenever he sees his big sister - he gets so excited and squeals with delight. It's my favourite thing in the world.
Quick story: on Saturday, Ryan and I went shopping (with Lukey). Aryn stayed with my parents, and stayed over night at their place. We went to their place on Sunday at lunch to get Aryn and have brunch there. Well, when Lukey saw his sister for the first time in over a day, he reached out for her, gave her a big hug, and squealed with delight. He was so excited! This went on for about 5 minutes, of him just giving her hugs and snuggles and her giving him little hugs and kisses. I regret not videotaping it! But I hope that image is engrained in my brain forever.
And that's about the life of Lukey as of today...
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