Leo and Mommy Morning

On Sunday morning, Leo and I had some special Mommy and Me time.  After breakfast, Leo and I decided to brave the gross weather and head to the Science Center for a couple of hours!  Brad and Gavi hung out at home where Gavi slept, had a snack, and Brad went a mile a minute getting things done (raise your hand if you're surprised).

We had a ton of fun in such a short amount of time!  We spent time upstairs in the little kid section where he played on the water table, did the stairs and bridge all by himself, played with the "tomato" sorter, had a snack, and more.

Can you find Leo?:

Then we headed downstairs (watch this adorable video of him running downstairs to the robots - I can't get enough of his bouncy little run!):

We visited the trains like Thomas.  No wait, what is that?  It IS Thomas.  Oh my gosh, THOMAS!!!  Leo was so super excited.  Once we found Thomas' route we sat and watched him come around the track again and again and again.  The funny thing is Leo would see him coming, should "Thomas!" and point, and as Thomas passed in front of us, Leo wasn't even looking at him - he was looking at me saying "again!".  I guess the exciting part was waiting for him to come and pointing him out.  It was so funny.  Every time he passed and Leo shrieked with excitement, people around us would laugh.  Boys and their Thomases, am I right? 

Then on the way out, Leo wanted to play in the big kid section so we launched a couple air rockets and tested gravity with blowers - he loved it!

I can see how taking 2 hours of one-on-one time is so important, especially for Leo who is a little mama's boy.  I'm trying to balance giving him attention while not giving into his every whim and request (and demand) - teaching him that he can still have my attention and affection but Gavi also gets it.  I'm sure this will be an ongoing challenge but so far I think everyone's pretty happy!

Gavi is One Month!

Well, we did it, we made it to one month!  Happy first month Gavi!  

What have we been doing in this time?  Well, we've been doing a lot of nursing, a lot of napping, a lot of spitting up and a lot of diaper and outfit changes!  As I sit here and type this, Gavi is happily in between awake and asleep in the mamaRoo.  She's so sweet and quiet and squishable!  We love dressing her in flowers and girly things - somehow she has so many bunny things!  Alissa gave us a lot of Lucy's tiny girl clothes so Gavi has a nice wardrobe already.  But let's be honest, she basically wears the same handful of onesies that we wash over and over.  The softest ones with warm feet and zippers - those are the best.  She's happy, I'm happy, she spits up on them, Brad washes them, and repeat.  

It's funny to see the differences between Gavi and Leo in this stage.  Leo needed to be held pretty much all the time.  If we held him, he happily snoozed away but the second we put him down he would burst into tears.  Gavi is pretty relaxed during the day and will happily sleep in our arms, in the mamaRoo, in a bouncy chair, etc.  

But at night, ooooh at night is when she shines.  We've been telling people she likes to sleep all day and party all night.  The first couple of weeks she was nursing every hour and a half - then since she's been spitting up a lot we keep her upright for a long time after she eats, so basically we were sleeping in about 45 minutes spurts all day any night, every day.  That's pretty exhausting.  But hey, no one ever said having a newborn was relaxing.  Luckily over the last couple of weeks things have gotten a bit more manageable.  She is sleeping for a bit longer spurts - our longest one has been 4 hours!  Sure, it was only one time, but we'll take it as a win.  We ended up getting her a rock n play to sleep in at night in our room instead of the bassinet because it keeps her inclined so she doesn't spit up as much, and it rocks all night long which we think she likes.  Hey, it seems to help!  

Here are a couple of funny little anecdotes on Leo and Gavi so far, in her first month:

• Leo has been really into putting things in the trash lately.  He'll find something - a fuzz ball, a piece of paper, etc. - he'll hold it up purposefully and say "trash?" and we say "yes" and then he runs (pitter patter, pitter patter) into the kitchen, lifts the lid to the garbage can, throws it away,  and runs back to us victoriously, having completed his task.  It is absolutely adorable.  When Gavi was about 2 weeks old, she had some bubbles forming on her mouth.  Leo plucked one of the bubbles, held it up and said "trash?" and I said "eh" and he ran into the kitchen, I heard the garbage can lid open and close, and he ran back into the living room, very proud that he completed his task.  It was amazing.
• For some reason Leo picked up one of Gavi's burp clothes.  Maybe he was bringing it to her or to us, I can't remember.  When he picked it up, he put it on his shoulder and put his chin down on it to make sure it didn't fall off while he was walking.  Brad and I silently burst into laughter because Leo had clearly seen both of us use our chin to hold the burp cloth in place with our chin while burping Gavi.  He's watching and picking up on everything we do.

A few days old, once we were sprung from the hospital and came home:

1 week old:

1.5 weeks old, these are outtakes from Gavi's newborn "photo shoot":

Gavi's first bath:

2 weeks old, first family shabbat:

Lounging at home:

Please note our favorite wardrobe choice, butt ruffles:

 

If you don't understand the reference of these awesome shirts our friend sent us, watch this 4 second video from the movie Stepbrothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzBmQMyYDBk

Please check out this fun little anecdote.  Now that Brad is back at work, sometimes we have mornings like this.  If you're a parent, you'll be able to relate.  If you're not, this is a reality of parenthood:

3 weeks old, getting her handprints and footprints in clay:

Almost one month old, celebrating Valentine's Day:

1 months!  Outtakes from her one month pictures.  You'll want to look at these in full size to see them in their full glory.  

And finally, Gavi's 1 month doctor's appointment!  She is 9 lbs 1 oz which keeps her consistently in the 37th percentile, and 22.5" which is the 89th percentile.  The doctor said she's growing beautifully and everything looks like it's on track!

When I had Leo, I thought I would get so much done during maternity leave.  I thought I would get so many projects done, keep the house super clean, prepare a lovely dinner each night, do meal prep for myself, etc.  That didn't happen.  Turns out caring for a newborn is a full time job.  This time I was hopeful that since I'm a pro, I would actually be more productive.  I understand newborns and know how to get stuff done.  How's in going?  Well, I've been working on this blog post for 2 weeks.  Since I committed to finish this post this morning morning, I took a break to nurse Gavi and I've stopped to change her diaper not once but twice.  Her outfit has been changed because of spitup, my diaper has been changed because of spitup, and I've popped her pacifier back in her mouth countless times.  I took a snuggle break because she wouldn't stop crying (gas).  I've adjusted her rocker so the sun isn't shining directly into her eyes.  My coffee has been microwaved twice and has been long forgotten.  I can't even remember what I write at the top of the blog post since I wrote it 2 weeks ago but I'm too tired to go back and read it so I hope it all goes together.  So have I been productive?  No.  This is the reality of taking care of a newborn.  It's been a fun, exciting, loud, exhausting 1 (and a half) month(s) with this little nugget in our lives.  Happy first month, Gavi!

Leo is TWO!

We have a two year old!  Can you believe it?  I can't.  We've had two years of snuggles, two years of playtime, two years of naps, two years of fun.  Of course it's not all sunshine and rainbows but when I think back over the last two years - our time with Leo - it has been nothing but magical.  We love that little boy so much I just want to drive to his school right now and give him a squeeze!  But I'll try and resist because I don't want to embarrass him in front of his friends.

How did we celebrate Leo's big birthday (or as Leo says "Leo buhdday!)?  Let me count the ways...

Brad made cupcakes for Leo to bring to his class!  Of course, they needed to be taste tested the day before to make sure they were okay for the class to eat:

Leo's friends at school celebrated by enjoying the cupcakes and singing Leo happy birthday!  He was feeling a little sick (cough, runny nose, etc., so he doesn't look that happy but he enjoyed his celebration):

BiBi and Zee came over to celebrate!  We had dinner and cupcakes and then opened a few presents from family!  He got so excited by EACH card and EACH gift that he didn't want to move onto the next one.  Why would you put down a spaceship birthday card?  Oh, to open a present that's an Elmo book?  Why would you put down the Elmo book, oh to open another book?  Wait, why would you put that down when...wait, a Frozen card?  A Thomas train?  You get the idea... 

Brad and I got him a vacuum!  That's right, they make little Dyson vacuums that look just like the big ones.  And yes, it does actually suck a little and even has a little compartment that you can empty out.  Boy does he LOVE it!  Any time he's in the living room he takes it out to play with.  He turns it on and vacuums the living room and sometimes brings it into the dining room.  Way to go, Brad, for finding this perfect gift for him!

What's that you say, you think we're bad parents promoting all cleaning and no fun?  Please hold your judgements until you watch this video:  

Gavi gave Leo an Olaf card and a real, working Thomas train!

And then it was time to party!  On Sunday, we rented a room at the Mt. Lebanon Recreation Center and turned it into a Sesame Street party!  When Leo showed up he was so excited.  Elmo!!!

We had play dough, we had make your own character masks, we had coloring books and stickers, we had bubbles, we had Sesame Street music, we had homemade decorations (even though I told Brad I wouldn't make any - hey, when the the urge to craft strikes, you have to craft, even if you have a 2 week old baby!).  

We had all of Leo's favorite snacks - clementines, cheese sticks, goldfish, and of course, what Sesame Street party is complete without coooookieeeesssss (nooooom nom nom nom noooom).  That's Cookie Monster, just in case you didn't catch on.

So don your favorite Sesame Street shirt and see what fun we had!:

We couldn't seem to get the bubbles out fast enough.  Brad handed a bubble tube to everyone not holding a child so all of the sudden there were about 8 people blowing bubbles for the kids.  Kids LOVE bubbles!

Our official Gavi holder.  And yes, Gavi was also wearing a Sesame Street shirt that Leo picked out.

And of course, no birthday is complete without a cake:

Yes, Zee was there too:

Although Leo wasn't feeling great, we think he had a nice time at his party, celebrating with his friends and cousins:

He even was on clean up duty.  And again, we didn't force him to clean.  At one point Zee put the broom away and Leo started bawling saying "my broom!  my broom!"  You know what, we'll take it!  Thanks for cleaning up from your own party, Leo!

Photo credit to our fantastic, multi-talented photographer, Zee!: