Blossoming
One thing we have noticed about having two children is that blogging isn't as easy as it was with just one. Nick, poor guy, seems to be getting the short end of the stick. He gives us lots of time, but when he is asleep, Lux is usually awake, so we haven't been able to document his early weeks quite so extensively as we did his sister's.Nick is actually turning out to be a very easy baby. He doesn't fuss too much and usually can be calmed pretty easily. He eats well, and quickly, and naps well too. And in the past few weeks, he has been settling into a pretty good night time sleep schedule. He still dream feeds at around 11, although sometimes he just isn't interested and we don't force it. Either way, he sleeps until 4 or 5 am, eats quickly and falls back to sleep easily. Unfortunately, he had been waking again around 6 am, usually just fussy and not really hungry. We assumed it was gas or acid, and have tried putting him back to sleep in his bouncy chair rather than the bassinet, because the angle is more upright. That seemed to help some, but we've found in the past few days that it may not be necessary. It seems that he just needs a little comforting around that time, which would be fine, except that Lux generally wakes up a little after 6 am and want to come in to our bed for a cuddle, which lasts until 7 am or later. If Nick is fussy, however, it keeps Lux awake, and then we are all up by 6 am, which is just too darn early for us. So Susan has been taking Nick downstairs, and they fall asleep together on the couch until Paul and Lux come down. Then, depending, Susan might go back upstairs for an extra hour of sleep.
Nick's tracheomalachia seems to be improving already. He still breathes heavily now and then, but he doesn't seem to be struggling quite so much as he used to when eating. In addition, what seemed like reflux, and probably was, seems to be improving. Nick is spitting up less frequently too. He even drank a bottle of breast milk the other day without giving it a second thought.
Any fears we may have had about Nick's ability to thrive have largely been put to rest these past few weeks. Out of newborn diapers and into size ones in record time, he now fits well in the size twos. There are clothes he never wore and won't fit in, in spite of the number of clothing changes required by his spitting up. He is plumping up quite nicely, and honestly looks more like a rugby player than ever.
And now, as we approach the six week mark, we see a change happening. Nick is awake more often. He is smiling now, real smiles, not just gas. He sticks his tongue out at us. He can hold his head up pretty darn well for a newborn. We're still not sure about his personality, but he seems pretty easy going. We thought Lux was an easy baby, but Nicholas is really much easier than she was. He is flexible, and finds many different positions comfortable. He likes tummy time, and he likes his Gymini. And right now what he really likes is his swing. We had forgotten that we had it, as we hadn't really used it with Lux. It was a hand me down from our neighbors and we weren't sure it was appropriate for newborns, but the seat reclined and Nicholas really seems happy in it. The other day he napped in it out on the back patio while Susan worked in the yard and Lux ran around enjoying a warm spring afternoon.
Lux also likes the swing, which is surprising since she never liked it before. Of course, all of Nick's toys and accoutrements are very interesting to her. Since the swing is a hand me down, we're not sure what the weight limit is. We're hoping it is 30 pounds, since Lux is under that and we have been letting her sit in it. We have learned that it isn't, as we had thought, swings that she dislikes. What she seems to dislike is having someone push her in a swing. If she is in control of the motion, she has a grand time. She has also been enjoying the bouncy chair, and asks to be wrapped in a blanket while she sits in it.
Swim lessons have continued, and Lux, while still not rushing headlong into the pool, seems to be pretty comfortable. She can now get out of the pool without assistance, an important safety skill to have. And our first music lesson of the session went pretty well. Lux was a bit shy, especially in the beginning, but that is pretty typical. She began to warm up and very much liked all the play with instruments. Unfortunately, giving back the instruments at the end of a song resulted in a bit of a tantrum every time. Luckily they were short lived tantrums. Nick slept through some of the class, watched with interest during other bits and cried a little. Hopefully he will enjoy it more as the weeks continue.
The weather has been getting warmer and warmer and we have been spending more and more time lately at the park. Lux loves the slides and now can climb the equipment herself, with a good bit of effort. She loves watching older kids there and while Nicholas usually sleeps during our trips there because he is in the Baby Bjorn, we have often found other parents with little babies. This is good because we feel bad that Nicholas doesn't have the built in group of friends his age that Lux does with the Bradley babies.
Because we don't have any friends with babies the same age, we haven't really been able to compare Nick to his peers. But yesterday we went on our family excursion to see the cherry blossoms in bloom at the Tidal Basin. There we ran into a woman with a daughter two weeks older than Nick. She looked to be half his size, so we assumed that she had probably weighed maybe 6 pounds at birth. Nope, she was almost 9 pounds. Nick is a moose!
The cherry blossoms were not yet in full bloom, but the weather was so nice we couldn't resist. Last year when we made the trek it was about 45 degrees colder (seriously), so mid 70s with a nice breeze was wonderful. We tried, as usual, to get a few photos. Pictures taken of us at the cherry blossoms are never amazing works of art since we depend on passersby in order to get a family portrait, but Paul and Susan have been documenting themselves this way for years and we will keep doing it as long as we can with the kids.
The Lux who was our baby disappears more each day and the Lux our little girl is coming through loud and clear. She has more words each week, and her pronunciation gets clearer too. She has a terrific sense of humor and loves to play games. She is an amazing big sister, and always checks on the whereabouts of Nick several times throughout the day and gets on us if we let him cry for too long. Her answer to all his woes is to give him a Bubba (pacifier). She kisses Nick, even though won't kiss her parents. She starts each morning with "Hi Nick!". She seems happy enough to have a brother, which makes us happy too. She does, however, have her tantrums. Lately her new thing is spitting when she doesn't immediately get her way. We have been trying to simply ignore this, as disgusting as it is, and it seems to be working because the spitting has given way largely to a "Raspberry". Hopefully this too will go away as we give it no attention.
One last story we forgot to write about Grandma Paula and Grandpa John's visit. While they were here the door to the guest room got accidently locked. No one was in the room, but all their things were, and we didn't have a key to the door. The locks were simple, however, and only required some kind of stick to poke into the hole in the knob. Susan found a variety of possible tools, and had began trying them, with no luck. She turned to her open bedroom door to practice on until she could find the motion necessary to spring the lock, and Lux, who loves tools, picked up a screwdriver and gave the locked door a try. It opened immediately. So our daughter could have a possible career as a locksmith or a cat burglar. She seemed quite excited by her success and if she can get her hands on a screwdriver, or anything else like it, she tries her hand at the other doors in the house.
Coming up, visits from "Uncle Scott" and Grandad and Grandma Jane.
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