Summer Bucket List {2016}

Every summer I put together a little bucket list of things I'd like to do with the boys/as a family from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  Our bucket lists have grown and changed as the boys have grown, but I scaled it back quite a bit this year due to our newest little family member.  I can't be as ambitious as I usually am with an infant, so only "easy" things made the cut this year.  We've accomplished a few things already, and I'm looking forward to marking items off as we start our summer!

• Go see a movie 
• Family vacation
• Watch fireworks
• Play putt-putt
• Take family beach pictures
• Build a sandcastle 
• Go to a farmer's market
• Find seashells
• Go to a "new to us" park
• Try a new restaurant 
• Go to a concert
• Buy ice cream 
• Buy food from a food truck
• Make s'mores 
• Go to a splash pad
• Go to vacation bible school

Cooper's Last Week of Pre-K

Cooper pretty much missed the whole last month of pre-k due to being so sick, going back and forth to the doctor, and being in the hospital.  He was hospitalized the week before his pre-k graduation, and honestly, I really didn't think he'd be able to make it to all the "end of school" activities the last week of school.  He was released from the hospital late Friday night, and he felt well enough to go to field day on Monday, a full day of school on Tuesday, and to participate in his graduation on Wednesday.  All week long while at Children's, Andy and I kept telling the doctors our goal was to get him to his graduation, and thankfully, we were able to do that.  

Since Cooper is my first born, I was extremely nervous about sending him to an all day (7:45 - 2:15) pre-k program, but he loved it!  He had some wonderful teachers, and he learned so much this year.  He would come home every day just bursting at the seams with new knowledge, and it really amazed Andy and me.  He missed school desperately when he had breaks and while he was so sick, so this may be a long summer for him.  He also made a ton of friends, so I know he'll be excited to see them in kindergarten.  

Here are some pictures from his last week of school!

 This is my nephew, Max.  Cooper was lucky enough to have gone to pre-k with him, and they'll start kindergarten together in August!

Abel {3 Months Old}

Abel turned 3 months old on the 16th, so I know I'm a little late on this update.  He's growing and changing every day though, so here's what's going on with my sweet boy.

Personality:  Abel seems to be just full of personality these days!  He smiles all the time, and when he smiles, he smiles with his whole face.  It's the sweetest thing ever!  He laughs at the drop of a hat, and loves sticking his tongue out.  If anyone makes eye contact with him for a split second, he starts sticking his tongue out, and that's a definite sign he wants you to do the same.  He's really started watching people move about, and he loves kicking his legs like crazy anytime he's in his bouncer seat or in the tub.  He loves "playing" with his brothers, even when they're overbearing and in his face.  He's starting to notice toys much more too, so he's pretty content laying on his play mat and watching the toys above him.  He can get fussy pretty fast when he's hungry or tired, but for the most part, he's a really happy and laid back baby.

Sleeping:  Abel's doing pretty well on the sleeping front.  The last couple of weeks we've been out of the house a lot at nap time due to Coop being in the hospital, end of school activities, and just life in general.  He still sleeps great in his carseat, stroller, or carrier when we're out and about, but he takes such good naps at home in his bed that I always feel guilty when we miss nap time.  He'll usually take two good naps a day in his bed (plus when he goes back to sleep after his early morning feeding).  He naps anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours.  The boys love swimming in the summer, so I'm going to have to figure out how to do that and still get him some good naps at home.  At nighttime we put him in bed usually between 10:00 and 10:30 (we're trying to move that up a bit), and he'll sleep anywhere from 5am to 7am.  This morning he slept until 8:30, which is the longest he's ever gone.  We still swaddle him to sleep, but I have a feeling those days will be coming to an end soon, and we'll have some sleepless nights on our hands when that occurs.  If he falls asleep with Andy in his chair at night, he works until he has his head completely burrowed in between Andy's arm and the corner of the chair.  It looks like he can't breath, but he loves sleeping that way.  He's started fighting sleep a little, but if you can get him nice and cuddled up, rock a few times, and pat his bottom, he can't fight it long.

Eating:  On his 3 month birthday, Abel weighed in right around 11 and a half pounds, so he's definitely growing.  He is still 100% completely formula free, and he still nurses on both sides.  If he's awake, he'll eat every 3 hours or so, but if he's napping, he can go longer between feedings.  He's a slow eater, so we average about 30 minutes per feeding.  He still likes to snooze some when he eats, but he's come a long way in 3 months.  He's holding strong to his routine of nursing around 8pm and then taking a breastmilk bottle with cereal right after.  If he's really hungry, he can suck down 7 ounces with cereal like it's nothing.  He's still having projectile spit up episodes every day, but thanks to Zantac, they don't seem to hurt him.  I'm still not eating/drinking dairy products, but I've noticed he seems to tolerate small amounts of cheese ok.  

Likes:  Abel loves being held, playing in the tub, sticking his tongue out, people sticking their tongue out at him, being swaddled for sleeping, being pushed in his stroller, kicking his legs, standing up in mom or dad's lap, being worn in a carrier on mom, playing with this brother, cooing (especially with Andy), playing on his play mat, and smiling at anyone who talks to him.

Dislikes:  Abel dislikes being put down, not being swaddled for bed, having lotion put on, getting sleepy or hungry in the car, swinging in his swing for more than 5 minutes or so, and when we first starting rocking him to sleep.

Abel {2 Months Old}

My sweet baby is 2 months old today!  This month seems to have passed both slowly and quickly due to so many little issues we've been working through with Abel.  First we had to tackle gaining weight and supplementing feedings, then once he had a handle on that he became extremely fussy, was spitting up a ton, and had a bad rash on his face.  We determined that was reflux and eczema, so we've been trying to conquer that as well.  During this past month he's grown a ton, and has learned lots of sweet new tricks.  Here's a 2 month update on my precious last born babe.

Personality:  We've really seen his little personality come out this month, especially this past week now that he seems to be feeling better from his reflux.  He still loves to be held and cuddled on, and he's really started smiling at us the last few weeks.  He's also started laughing the past few days (the sweet sucking in laughing that doesn't last that long), and gets so excited when we sit and talk to him.  He's trying his best to "talk" back to us, and has started cooing some.  He loves when the boys play with him, and he's really started watching them anytime he finds them in his line of vision.  He seems to do more tricks for Andy than he does me, but he and I are still attached at the hip.  Since we started his Zantac on Monday, he's been so much happier and content.  I'm still not sure the Zantac is helping as much as something else could, but I'm glad he's getting some relief.  You can see a big difference in demeanor and personality now that he's not in so much pain.  I hate that it took us so long to get him to the doctor for some help - I could've helped him a couple of weeks ago had I known what was going on.  He's also done really well this week taking his Zantac and letting me put hydrocortisone cream on his eczema.  He doesn't fight me at all with either of those things.

Sleeping:  He's sleeping much better now that he's on Zantac.  Before we started the medicine, we couldn't get him to nap in his crib AT ALL, and he was up a ton during the night and really hard to get back to sleep.  He's actually been taking long naps in his crib this week (2-4 hours) a few times a day, and he's only getting up once during the night.  This week he's been waking anywhere between 4:15 and 5am, and while I prefer the 5am side of it, I can handle that.  Before this week he was all over the place, completely inconsistent on wake times, and it was exhausting.  He may go back to that, but I'm desperately hoping that was a symptom of his reflux and we're past that now.  We propped up one end of his crib with blankets underneath the mattress to help with his reflux, so we're hoping that's helping too.  We still swaddle him at night because he minute he moves his hands he wakes himself up.  He still sleeps pretty much whenever we hold him for long periods of time or whenever he's in his car seat, but he's definitely having longer periods of awake time during the day.  I'm also really trying to establish as much of a napping schedule as I can with him, so I put him down for a nap usually after breakfast and lunch.  He sleeps with a noise machine cranked up to help drown out the loud noise of his big brothers.

Eating:  His eating has really improved since his one month checkup.  He's staying awake more while he breastfeeds now, so I'm not having to supplement much at all.  I usually try to give him a couple of extra ounces of breastmilk during the day in a bottle to help him keep gaining weight, and he always takes a 4-6 ounce bottle of breastmilk right after he breastfeeds before bed.  We've started adding rice cereal to his bottles to help with his reflux, and that seems to help with his nighttime hunger and feedings.  If he's not napping in his bed, he still breastfeeds every 3 hours or so.  He usually nurses 15 minutes or so on each side.  He averages 6 feedings a day.  No matter what time I breastfeed him around dinner (6pm or 7pm), he's ready to start his nighttime breastfeeding session at 8pm sharp.  We started this schedule a few weeks ago just to try and establish a bit of a bedtime routine, and he's going strong with it.  He breastfeeds and then takes his nighttime bottle immediately after that.  He's still spitting up quite a bit, but it's not near as bad as it was last week.  He's still formula free, which I didn't think was going to be a possibility with the month we've had.  I just knew supplementing and reflux issues would put him on formula, but we've powered through.  I'm still pumping and have cut out dairy, so it definitely hasn't been easy on me, but it's been worth it.  I want to nurse him as long as I possibly can since he's my last baby.  He's still jaundice due to breastfeeding, but Dr. Meredith isn't concerned about that.  When he was a month old he weighed 7 pounds even, and today he weighed 9 pounds and 6 ounces with his clothes and diaper on, so he's doing really well now.

Likes:  Abel loves being held, bath time, eating time, cereal bottles at nighttime, talking to his daddy, watching and interacting with his brothers, being swaddled for sleeping, cuddling with mommy, swinging (most of the time), his pacifier and thumb (I think he may be a thumb sucker), riding in the car or stroller, and napping while someone is holding him, especially his daddy.

Dislikes:  Abel dislikes being put down, waking up in his bed and not being picked up immediately, sitting in his bouncy seat or swing when he's tired, and reflux tummy aches.

Here are some pictures of this sweet two month old!  I still think he looks like Clark, but we're hearing that he looks like Andy and Cooper more and more.  Dr. Sanders told me this week that he looks like me, which I never hear, so I was thrilled!