Catching Up on Sleep

Sorry I missed yesterday, I opted to take a nap when the boys did instead. It was a perfect day for napping--snowing outside and overcast so it wasn't too bright, ideal weather for snuggling under the covers with my fat baby boy. The nap itself wasn't as great as I had imagined due to my very loud sleepers--Dalton is always loud as you've read and Easton is sick so he coughed a lot through the baby monitor. Oh well. I got a little rest which was nice. And the snuggle time with D was nice too.

Let's backtrack a bit, though...the other day while Dalton napped Easton and I did bubbles for fun:


That afternoon it became clear Easton was getting sick--his nose was starting to run and I was nursing Dalton so I verbally walked Easton through going into the bathroom, ripping off a piece of T.P., and bringing it to me to wipe his nose. Later as I put Dalton down for nap I came back down to discover this:

Ugh.

And Dalton did end up getting his first bath in the infant tub that night. But, before his bath we had to wake him up which was hard to do. He was sleeping so sweetly:

When he finally started stirring look what he did with his little hands:

Awwwww...

And then we have Dalton's first montage, his first bath:

Did you notice how he really smiled? In his bath he was alllll smiles and "talking"...you can even hear one of his coos in a clip. I love it. He is a super happy, smiley guy. Easton was a "high needs" baby, not Dalton. He's relatively easy going which is a nice change and nice as Easton is still a little high maintenance at times, he is a toddler after all. You saw the toilet paper fiasco.

Yesterday morning we went to Gym, even with Easton's sniffles. Easton actually fell sound asleep in the car on the way there--it was, like, 9:45 a.m.! He didn't wake up when I stopped the car, nor when I unbuckled him and dropped one of his arms. He didn't wake up till I had him outside in the snow! My mom and Lauren are on Spring Break so they met us at the gym. The class only had 4 kids in it, all boys, and Easton was the oldest one. It wasn't as fun. But, they did separation time and Easton did just super. He got a little nervous and whined, "Mama" when he saw them breaking out the separation time toys but I gave him a tambourine and told him we'd watch him from the other side. He did lawn mower racing with Mr. Ken instead. I was so proud of him and told him so. After Gymsters we all went out to lunch at Panera. Mmmm. I packed a yogurt for Easton to eat there so we could come home and just go right down for a nap. Which we all did. Yay!

Last night was awful as far as Dalton and sleeping are concerned. I stayed up too late watching Survivor on TiVo and chatting with my hubby. Then I went to bed. Well, I tried...Dalton was being so loud as usual (keeping me up) so I decided to feed him at 11:30 hoping to buy some more sleep time till he woke again...a "dream feed" as our "friend" the Baby Whisperer would call it. Well, I didn't buy myself any time. He was up an hour and a half later, then an hour and a half after that, and then an hour and half after that when he was awake for about an hour and a half being kinda cranky and louder than he would be if he was sleeping. Poor guy. And us. Once Dalton went back to sleep Easton woke up for the day. Grrr.

As I sit here with the boys asleep I'm trying to figure out how to get two seperate baby monitors to work for each kid without too much interference or feedback or other annoying sounds. The first round made it so I couldn't even hear Easton...I actually heard his coughing through the base montioring Dalton. I might need J here for this little experiment. But, we're going to move Dalton this weekend and see how it goes, I guess. :( Luckily he's still at the age where he'll sleep just about anywhere:


Today we have no plans. Max's mom is sick so they had to cancel our play time. Good thing with Easton being sick. He is a bit of a handful this morning too.

Instead of eating breakfast I tucked him in on the couch where he watched Pablo.

Eventually he ate some Teddy Grahams and raisins...and then his pre-nap yogurt. You can tell he's not feeling his best and that he's not getting the most quality sleep. I hope he gets over it soon. I've got a bit of a sore throat myself the last few days but that's it (so far) and, as I told Jason, it's not affecting my performance. Hopefully Dalton will stay healthy...thank goodness for breastfeeding, eh?

I don't think we have any plans for the weekend other than setting up Dalton's little room which really just involves rearranging it and taking the guest bed out now that our visitors are all gone. I have no clue what we'll do the next time we have overnight guests. Figure it out then, I guess.

Gosh, with both boys sleeping I think I might try another little nap myself...but maybe on the couch so Dalton isn't too loud for me. We'll see...have a good weekend, my friends!

Smiling Already?

Dalton had a big photo session yesterday while Easton finished napping. If the boy wasn't only a month old I would swear he was smiling already. Real smiles...like where you can see it in his eyes and it's at appropriate moments. See:

And a couple almost smiles:


Whatchya think? Other than he's very fat. I took a mad picture too:

And a full body one:

And made this one of his little toesies:


So, that's all for the pics...Easton refused to be in any when he woke up. Oh well.

Anyhoo, moving right along to today...we had a good morning. Easton might be a little sick. He woke up coughing and was a little raspy sounding when he called for me. He seems mostly fine, maybe a little crankier and clingier but we headed to Circle Time anyway. Then I glared at the woman who brought the kid hacking up a lung. She kept "wondering" outloud to herself, "How long do allergies last here?" for everyone to hear that she wasn't bringing a sick kid out in public, it was mere allergies...Shyeah right. I have such a double standard, don't I? :)

We didn't get any new books today and I returned my 2 sleep books. To AJ who was wondering my "reviews". Well, I decided not to read the toddler No Cry Sleep Solution as there is nothing to "solve" right now with Easton. He is doing sooooo awesome with both bedtime and naps. I didn't want to get any ideas in my head to try to fix what wasn't broken so I'm very proud of myself for simply deciding to return it. I'll get it again someday if I need to. And with Baby Whisperer, well, I think it's not for me. While she has some nice ideas I just can't personally be that extreme. First, she advocates a 3 hour cycle of feeding, then activity (so don't fall asleep eating), then sleep. Fine...I actually like those ideas, especially for bedtime as not nursing to sleep made the difference with Easton finally sleeping through the night. However, I guess I'm also too stupid to figure out how her plan accommodates growth spurts and such when babies naturally feed more frequently and for longer periods (to both take in more calories and increase your milk supply to keep up) and babies sleep more during these periods too. I don't let Dalton (or even Easton) nap for too long but if I tried to wake and feed Dalton and he's just not ready yet I let him go back to sleep for a bit. Roughly 3-4 hour cycles seem fine and she claims she's not strict about it but I get the sense that she is. As I've mentioned I'm a fan of feeding on demand (for the most part). Mind you, on demand does not mean every time he cries...it means every time he's hungry. Sometimes I admit I feed him even if he's not quite hungry yet...like before we left the house for Circle Time and Sam's Club today. He'd have been ready to eat in the midst of it all and since I don't love nursing in public, especially trying to keep track of Easton I fed him before we left. So that's what I meant by "for the most part".

Ms. Baby Whisperer is also different from me because she really advocates putting your baby down if they're not crying. Well, I love holding my boys. Both of them. I won't always be able to. I relish the simple pleasures of holding my sleeping baby or occasional co-sleeping. I soooo miss that with Easton and he's only 2--imagine how much I'll miss it when he's 22. So, while I understand her points I think it's okay to selfishly savor some of these experiences while I still can and not be in such a rush to have them be so independent already. Even if it means a little less sleep for me right now. All those special moments and memories far outweigh the temporary sleep deprivation. But, that's just me. Good thing we can all do things our own way, eh?

So, if I'm going to refer to a sleep book, the No Cry Sleep Solution is a little more up my alley and even then I've got issues with it too. I just pick and choose what works for me and then I fill Jason in. Ha ha ha!

But speaking of co-sleeping and all that, I think our little roommate might have to go. He is sooooo loud. Part of me feels bad because I worry he's uncomfortable or something but the other part of me says, "hey, he's asleep so it can't be that bad". Basically he's asleep, we're not. He is very loud, trust me. Easton was loud at times too but Dalton is worse. We were talking about getting his little room set up anyway now that the visitors are gone. I wanted him to be able to nap in there and such and maybe do his first stint of the night in there. We'll miss him--it was hard when we moved Easton too. But, it was best for everyone in the end and that's what we're going for: parenting where everyone wins. I'll totally still sneak him in with us, he's still such a part of me. He spends much of the night asleep on my chest. He's in his little Pack & Play next to us till he first wakes then I feed him and prop myself up with him on my chest. With his reflux he needs to be somewhat elevated for about 30 minutes but then I fall asleep and he's still there. I actually love it. I'll wake up to him bobbing his head around looking for more food several hours later. Sometimes I try to have him next to me in the bed but if he is flat it's when he's the noisiest. But it's so cute to see him in the big ol' bed. We'll figure something out but don't be surprised if this weekend you see pictures of Dalton's new room.

Easton's calling for me so I've gotta run...

If Dalton Keeps Going Like This...

...he'll outweigh Easton in just a few months. We just got home from D's 1 month well-baby visit at the doctor (he is 32 days old today). He has continued to pack on the pounds and weighed a whopping 11 pounds, 10 ounces today. This is on an empty stomach. I always try to time them that way...the NICU pro in me I guess. I show up with a hungry guy and feed him after the "nurse" is done while we wait for the doctor to come in. That way I feel like we get a more accurate weight. The NICU always used to weigh Easton right before a feeding for the same reason. Of course he continues to be off the charts for weight and now height. However, I don't trust the crazy way the medical assistant measures him. I doubt he's really grown 2 1/2 inches since birth. Next visit she'll probably having him shrinking--she's done it before. Luckily we can trust the weight as it is on a digital scale and requires no special skills on the part of the M.A. I can't believe Dalton is already more than half of Easton's weight! Crazy. Surely at this poundage he should be sleeping through the night, right? I'm in no hurry for him to sleep completely through the night yet. I don't want him growing up too fast. One feeding a night would be fine, though. ;)

Easton is doing his best to stay ahead of Dalton now, though. Switching to soy and switching to E's least favorite cups (drinks less milk) seem to be helping. The boy is really being a good eater lately. For him, anyway. He still doesn't do much variety but he's getting there. Yesterday he had 2 yogurts. And he ate a good amount of cheese with dinner. Plus other stuff.

We went out to a breakfasty lunch with Jason after the appointment today and Easton put away large amounts of J's waffle. Plus, he'd already eaten a good breakfast with me: half a banana and about a quarter of a mini bagel with cream cheese. That's great for Easton...especially for breakfast. I'm really hoping our adjustments are doing the trick for his iron level too...not just his appetite.

Both boys fell asleep on the car ride home from Boulder...well, Dalton was already asleep. I carried Easton up to his bed and laid him down and he told me, "More song" so I sang his song and he went right back to sleep. He is already being so much better behaved than he had been while we had Jason and then visitors here 24/7. I like having him back to myself. We're having fun again...a different kind of fun than he has with Daddy or all his grandmas but fun all the same.

Yesterday we took a trip to Babies R Us and stopped by the Wild Oats near there. We don't have one of those fancier organic type grocery stores too close to us. I wanted to get Easton some different yogurt so we made a quick trip. Normally for the grocery store I've been putting Dalton in the Snugli and Easton in the cart. But, for a super quick trip with a sleeping baby it seemed silly to put D in the Snugli. So....what to do with Easton?


He rode that way pretty much the whole time with the exception of helping to pick out his yogurts. I asked if he wanted a break (he held on soooo well) and he said yes but got right back on without really taking a break. He was so cute. Hope he doesn't expect it at Wal-Mart now too.

When we got home we did some floor time for Dalton and yes, he can still support himself while lifting his head like he did on the bed yesterday. He just can't do it for as long:

Some other cute pictures from the session:




And check out this picture of Easton:

I couldn't get that "effect" if I'd tried. He was dancing with the Doodlebops on TV and our shutter speed is always a little slow in that darker room.

Last night Dalton went to bed shortly after nursing but didn't fall asleep while nursing. Perfect. That's exactly what I'm looking for. I went right to bed then too and we slept 5 hours, I think. Nice, eh? Today the doctor checked to see if his belly button was all the way healed yet and said that we could put him in a tub now. Yay! Bath night's not till tomorrow, though.

Tomorrow is also Circle Time and Thursday will be our make-up Gymsters since we had D's appointment today. Friday Max is coming over. This morning Easton ran into the living room and said, "Max!" and I said, "No, not today honey" and he said, "Friday". Hee hee. He's so cute. He slept in his guitar jammies for the first time last night. This morning I was taking pictures of him in them:

I was getting "winner" after "winner" so I kept saying "again" and he'd do his impression of a guitar and then pose so I'd snap the shot. I guess he got tired of it because he did what we do: when it's time to wrap something up we'll warn him "10 more swings" or "1 more time" so he knows the end is near and then he doesn't throw a fit when we're all done. So, anyway, after telling him "Again! Again!" he told me, "One more":

And then we were done. I had to laugh at that.

I think we'll run to the bank in the grocery store after the boys are up from their naps. And then we'll wait around for Daddy to get home. That's all for now...

Edited to add: Okay, I went to my favorite growth chart calculator and I think maybe the doctor is whack. I dunno...this is what that site says:
"At 1 months

your child is 11.625 pounds, and that is
at the 72th percentile for weight.

your child is 22.5 inches, and that is
at the 58th percentile for height.

your child has a head circumference of 15.5 inches, and that is
at the 54th percentile for head circumference"

Which is nice as Jason was worried that is head was abnormally large, but all babies have heads out of proportion with their bodies and Dalton's head sounds pretty average now. Super. Hmmmm...I wonder which chart is more accurate? I do know that most charts are based on formula fed babes and they tended to weigh more on average than breastfed. Well, whatever. He's healthy, right?

Okay, the end--again.

Man, I'm Getting Good at This

Both boys are asleep at the same time again, I've fed myself, and I've got time to blog. I should do this for a living. Oh wait, it is my job...I just don't make a living at it. Oh well.

We've already been to Wal-Mart for the groceries today which means I'm showered and everyone is dressed. The bed is made. Laundry is laundering. Easton's eaten well (with the exception of our Pop Tart breakfast). Look at me go!

We managed a pretty good night's sleep last night too. First, remember that we went out to dinner with Lauren. Here is our little stud before we left:

That's his new "versatile" hat from The Maws.

And me and little stud #2 when we got home last night:

Yes, I did enjoy a margarita last night. A frozen peach one. My favorite part of the meal. And that's saying something considering the 3 of us shared 2 desserts (no we did not finish either of them). Easton got his own meal again. Cheese quesadillas and french fries. Those kids meals are a pretty good deal. And he did okay with it. Mostly eating french fries and of course his ice cream sundae.

He got to bed about half an hour later than usual but it was okay. His wake up time was the same as it's been lately: 7-ish (usually). Then Dalton and I did our bedtime stuff too. He still stays awake for quite a long time after his bedtime feeding. I fed him starting at 8:30, he finally went to sleep at 10 and didn't wake till nearly 2. Yay! Even then I think I popped him on to eat without deciding if he was really hungry. He didn't really ever latch on too well and promptly fell asleep. I put him back in the Pack & Play for another hour and a half! Go Dalton go! He woke up one more time to nurse before waking for the day. I can do this!

The boys today:



And, holy cow, the boy is barely a month old and look what I discovered he can do:

Granted, he is on a pillow on the bed instead of flat on the floor but he stayed like that looking around for a LONG time. I will have to try it on the floor later and see.

Before we left for Wal-Mart Easton worked on buckling Dalton in his seat:

He buckles it all the time when Dalton's not in it but it proved to be a little too difficult when D was sitting there with his clothes getting in the way. Oh well, he gave him a kiss instead:


And that, my friends, was our morning. We came home from The Mart, Easton begged to eat some of the strawberries we bought. So he did. Then he had his yogurt. Afterwards I went to clean him up and he had a total meltdown. Normally (abnormal toddler that he often is) he is so good while we wipe him down after a meal. He'll willingly hand you his hands and let you wipe his face, sometimes reminding you to wipe his gooby eye but today he threw a fit. I asked him if he was already ready for his nap (Little Einsteins was still on!) and he said yes. I put him to bed and he went right down. Hopefully he'll get a good nap. Dalton too.

Not sure if we'll do anything this afternoon or not. It is a beautiful day outside so maybe we'll just walk along our street and look for bugs and throw rocks. We've been doing that lately. It's a boy thing, I guess. And I love my boys. I'm such a lucky mommy to have such great kiddos that I get to stay home with...I've got the best job in the world.

Catching Up

THURSDAY
Easton got his very first kids meal at a restaurant. After his awe inspiring performance at Macaroni Grill we opted to get him his own food at Black Eyed Pea. He got a lemonade (I drank most of it) and then macaroni and cheese with a side of fries. He did sooooo well. The floor got quite a lot of it too but it was paybacks for the bus boy that paid no attention to Easton calling out "hello" anytime the guy passed by. We were quite proud of him and he got to eat his sundae that came with his meal. Actually some lame thing called "Bears in the Sea" came with his meal: blue jello, gummi bears, whipped cream. Ick. We begged for a sundae instead. Much better.

Photo courtesy of G-Ma

Other photos from G-Ma's camera, from days other than Thursday:
An action shot jumping into the ball pit at My Gym:

Dad and his boys:


FRIDAY
On Friday Dalton turned 1 month old. Wah! Since he was born in February it's the only instance where 4 weeks and 1 month are the same thing. I can't believe it's already been a month. It also marked 1 week since he started the Prevacid for his reflux and the doc said it'd take a week to kick in. Well, somehow he actually pukes more. Hmmm...he wasn't spitting up all that much before the Prevacid but had other symptoms of reflux. Well poo. He has an appointment on Tuesday so we'll discuss then, I s'pose.

We did take some pictures to mark Dalton's 1 month birthday, here he is with his Daddy-O:

And just looking cute:

Enamored with the lights in the bathroom just like most babies would be:


SATURDAY
We didn't do much of anything. It was the Maws' last full day with us. We took a picture of Dalton bearing his weight on his legs:

If you look real close you can already see the floating Bourg toe. As G-Ma said, it's apparently a very dominant trait. :)

Easton likes to learn about opposites. He loves to tell me "loud" and "quiet" while I sing him his songs at bedtime. Or his new one is asking us to do "happy" and "sad" faces. Then we added mad. Here is his:

Pretty convincing, eh?

What else? Oh...we've been letting Easton pretend that he's a baby sometimes so that he can get some of the same attention Dalton gets. It's probably a mistake but hey, he's our kid and we can screw him up however we want to. That's a joke, people. We're just trying to be sensitive to Easton and have turned this "baby" thing into a bit of a game. See:


He knows to be big sometimes too...still loving to hold Baby Dalton:


And he can definitely be a big boy when it means getting a treat. He climbed all over the Maws and the couch begging "please" and performing tricks on demand to get more of their brownies a la mode.


SUNDAY (TODAY)
The Alabamaws headed back home to Alabama (duh!) this morning. Now I'm really on my own. Eek! I think we'll do okay but it was nice having help to at least entertain Easton...and boy was he entertained. And fed. I'm looking forward to getting Easton back on track as far as discipline goes. He knew he could push me a little more with visitors around. And he's such a weirdo that he was looking for our guests to tell him no too. He did it with Lauren last week as I saw him pulling on our floor lamp:

Me: No lamp, Easton.
E: No lamp, Luh-nun
Me: Yeah, Lauren doesn't want you to touch the lamp either.
E: No lamp, Luh-nun
Lauren: No lamp

And finally Easton can move on...what a goofball. He'd pull the same stuff with his Maws. What's with that? He want's them to tell him no? Doesn't he know Grandmas are allergic to saying no? ;) Easton hasn't had (or really needed) a time-out since before Dalton was born but I can sense some acting out happening this next week as we try to figure things out as just the 3 of us.

As always, the blog will keep you posted on all the happy haps 'round here. This afternoon we're off to pay a visit to my mom and sister and take my sister out for dinner. I think I'll be enjoying a margarita...there's enough pumped milk in the fridge for Chunky D to have a bottle. It's becoming a weekly occurence for the kid...no matter...I want him to be willing to take a bottle. He is. I think he might take just about anything, the little Pudgemeister. I'm curious to see how much he weighs on Tuesday. I doubt he's packing on as much lately because of the puking but you never know.

Anyway...you're all caught up on pics and such. I'm out...

Back for More...

So last night went pretty well as far as Dalton and sleeping is concerned. After Easton went to sleep I fed Dalton and he had his sponge bath (yes, still doing those). He was asleep just after 9 and Jason and I were able to have some time to ourselves to watch Survivor. Yay! Then we went to bed and didn't hear from Dalton till after 1:30. Not too bad. But still...he's awake for a very long time after his feedings. Strange.

To help with all this I picked up a couple of books while we were at the 'brary for Circle Time yesterday. For Dalton:

Now, I don't completely subscribe to any of these sleep training type books, however, some of them do have some nice ideas and I like to pick and choose what works for us. I can find problems with any of these people and their ways to "solve all my problems" but, they have some good information at the same time. So, Baby Whisperer it is. I still feed Dalton "on demand" which goes against what this and most of these type books say. But, "on demand" is not just whenever he cries...it's when he's hungry. If he's hungry, feed him. That's my theory. One thing I've learned from these many books (I read or at least glanced at 'em all when Easton was a wee babe) is that you don't want your kid to need to "suck to sleep" whether it's nursing or a pacifier. Well, many folks don't want that, I guess some do...but not me. That's what made the difference for Easton sleeping through the night and that's what seems to be Dalton's plan, too.

For Easton (who's not really currently having sleep issues, but did before Dalton came, remember?) I got:



I liked the infant version for Easton so I'll take a peek to see what she has to say for toddlers. Luckily he's doing okay right now but Easton is always going through phases. Like the last few days he's being a baby. A bratty one. I need to figure out how to get him through it to be a big independent boy again. Phooey.

He is a sweetie at the same time. Yesterday I asked him to help me wake up Dalton to eat (can't let him go too long during the day I've found or he gets his days and nights mixed up). Anyway, we go into find a sweetly sleeping boy:


Easton climbs up and says, "Hungry? C'mon brother" and lifted him up at the waist!

I think he would've heaved him all the way out if I hadn't stepped in. Pretty cute, though. Then he wanted to hold brother. Notice how Dalton is sooooo much less yellow now?


Anyway, things are okay 'round here. The Maws went up to the mall for the afternoon so I've got both boys here with Easton playing the role of Bratty McCrankypants. Blah! I need to snap him out of it. He woke up from his nap and wouldn't stop whining/crying and I asked him if he needed to go back to bed. He said yes. I put him down and he's whining and crying more. I asked him if he wanted me to leave so he could cry. He said yes. I told him when he was done he could call for me and I'd come get him and we'd be happy friends. So far he hasn't called. I don't think he understood. Not that I really expected him too. Good thing Dalton still sleeps through most anything.

Well, I s'pose I should see if Easton's done yet...maybe he just forgot to call for me? Grrrr. Two year olds. Every day brings something new. I really do love my job even if it doesn't always sound like it. :)

Guilt

Oh so much to feel guilty over these days. First, is poor Easton. I expected a little regressive behavior from him with Dalton's arrival. Although, this week is the worst it's been, in my opinion. He is whining and kinda clingy, he really wants his milk (even more than normal). I'm trying to be sensitive to the fact that his world has been turned upside-down by being a big brother but it's getting old at the same time. So, I have some guilt over not giving him a choice in the whole big brother role (he's still so sweet to Dalton) and I feel guilty that I can't divide myself for both of them. Sweet baby D sat wide awake in his carseat while I cuddled Easton after his nap yesterday. I was rocking Dalton's seat with one hand and Easton told me, "No brother" (as in, stop rocking him just pay attention to me). :( Good thing Dalton is a sweetie unless he's hungry. Then he's just normal. I think once we're done having visitors and can settle in to our own daily routine Easton might be a big boy once again. We'll see. He loves having people around to entertain him and show off for, but it's out of the norm as well which can be hard when you're only 2, ya know?

Anyway...more guilt. How sad is it that even though Dalton went 6 hours between feeds last night I want it to be different? Typical greedy American that I am, I want more...I want Dalton (and therefore ME) to be asleep for more of those 6 hours. The night before he went 5.5 hours between nursings. I know I am really lucky for having a 3.5 week old that can go that long between feedings at night. But, he's awake for 2 of those hours and so am I. Hence, the guilt. A mom at Gymsters yesterday told me she was feeding every 3 hours (her newborn is a week older than Dalton). I kind of made a sympathetic face I guess and she was like, "No that's good! We had to work to get him to every 3." Oops. How quickly I forget. Here I am bummed that I nursed Dalton at 8, got him to sleep at 10 and didn't hear from him until 2. What's wrong with me? I've got to remember how lucky I am that I'm even getting 4 hours of sleep, let alone 6 hours between nursings.

That same mom from Gym yesterday looked at me and said, "Are you wearing jeans? Are you zipping and buttoning them?!?! I can't button!" So, that led to a confession that through pure luck I lost all of my "baby weight" by 2 weeks postpartum. Obviously it is through no doing of my own...I'm taking my doctor's orders not to exercise for 6 weeks seriously (not that I'd be doing much exercising anyway) and I'm by no means dieting--I've got El Chubbo to feed. I know it's not fair. I actually feel guilty that I've had it so easy. That's why I hadn't shared it on the blog...till now. I currently weigh less (slightly less, mind you) than I did before I got pregnant with Easton. See...I feel guilty. I really do. It's not like I'm some Hollywood type working my arse off to get back in shape for my next role, hiring personal trainers and chefs and such. It is pure good fortune and I know it. Not that I'm not happy about it at the same time...

Wanna know what else I'm happy about? And I feel no guilt over this one--Easton ate a ton of food at dinner last night. Jason and I were so shocked. We went out to eat at Macaroni Grill with the Maws. Before we left Easton asked for a banana and ate nearly all of it. He probably would have eaten it all if I didn't distract him with doing laundry. Anyway, we got to the restaurant and I was armed with my usual: partial bag of Goldfish, half eaten box of raisins, 20 Cheerios...he ate them all. Plus the grapes I brought. And he enjoyed eating and dipping the bread they serve. Then he asked for more and more bites of mine and Jason's noodles! He ate so much. J and I were even able to disguise bits of meat in the mouthfuls of noodles! It was amazing. Jason told him we could get ice cream because he ate so well. So he ate tons of that too...he sampled quite a bit from me and The Maws'. Mostly he wanted the nuts on our sundaes. It was so awesome to see him eat like that. Yay! And to top it off he slept in until 8 today! Woo hoooooo! The trick was probably switching to his least favorite cups again:

(By the way, Maura (a commenter) was right and Easton does pretty much have the hang of the hoppity now).

And today Dalton tried out his swing for the first time:

It didn't overwhelm him like it did Easton. He seemed to like it. But I felt bad that he was wide awake in it so I took him out for some floor time. He really liked Tony the Tiger:


Well, Easton is up from his nap now...I should run and give him some undivided attention while D sleeps. Ta ta!

Check out Easton's Saint Patrick's Day present:

Okay, so it wasn't for Saint Patrick's Day. It wasn't for any special occasion, really. He just happened to get it on St. Pat's because that's when Jason blew it up with his new air compressor. He can't quite bounce on it properly by himself yet...he's a little too short. But, he loves it anyway.

The Maws made it here safely that afternoon and met Sweet Baby D:

They brought the whole family all kinds of goodies. Easton was the lucky recipient of a whole slew of kitchen/food toys. He has been loving playing with it all and serving us. Very cool. Those Maws pay good attention to past blog posts and make note of things he likes (his pals with kitchens and tea sets). Way to go, Alabamaws!

The Maws are so named because they go by G-Ma and J-Ma. However, Easton has been calling J-Ma by her actual name. He says it so perfectly I think we might be giving up on the J-Ma thing. We'll see.

Easton loves having them here. He's a fan of showing off for visitors. He likes to show what a good big brother he is:

And he likes for G-Ma to help him on his hoppity:

Sorry it's blurry, our camera and lighting situations aren't optimized for these kind of action shots.

A good shot of Dalton's eyes, just since it was in the batch of pictures:


Yesterday afternoon we all headed down (it takes 2 vehicles) to my mom's house for a yummy dinner. I made Auntie Lauren hold Dalton for the first time. She looks like an old pro:

I didn't give her a choice this time, just plopped Ol' Pudgy on her lap. Surprise!

Things continue to go well for us here. Sleeping has been slightly better for me and D but I just have to say that he is a strange newborn. Seriously. I cannot believe how long he can stay awake, even despite my efforts to put him to sleep. Sometimes (last night) it can get quite aggrivating because I'm more than ready for sleep even if he's not. The kid continues to have his alert time before bed. This was when he was most active in utero, too. Anyhoo, last night for example, I nursed him around 8. I know in the long run I want a kid who doesn't expect milk in order to fall asleep (key to sleeping through the night, I think). Anyway, I nursed him at 8 and then tried for the next 2+ hours to get him to sleep. As each block of time passed I remember being increasingly frustrated that once he did go to sleep it wouldn't be for long because he'd be needing milk again. Yesterday he nursed every 2 hours, for the most part. And, I wholeheartedly believe in feeding "on demand" at his young age in order to establish and maintain a good milk supply. I think I'd do it anyway, but whatever. But back to bedtime, since it had been 2 hours and Dalton was still WIDE awake I called in Jason to take over for a bit so I could get myself ready for bed. Eventually I got D to nurse again and finally he went to sleep for 4 hours. I wish he had an earlier bedtime. I don't know how to change it. Anyone know? You can't force anyone to sleep and if we try putting him to bed earlier he still likes to be awake for a couple of hours in there. That's one benefit of having a kid in the NICU...once Easton came home he knew night/dark time was for sleeping. He'd wake up to eat and go right back down. Not little Dizzle. We'll work on it. I think I'll get a book for help. But not one of the scary extreme ones. One of the gentler ones.

This morning the boys, The Maws and me all headed up to Wal-Mart. The Maws treated Baby D to a new swing! Woo hoo! Thanks, Maws! Hopefully he'll like it. Easton couldn't tolerate swinging till he was about 5 months old. Now he loves it. Go figure. I'm not above trying out the swing for bedtime stuff either. Not to make it a habit but to get a few extra zzzz's. With his reflux, being upright in a swing might do him some good, not to mention the whole swinging part... We shall see.

This afternoon I fed Easton his yogurt and he amazingly went right down for his nap. G-Ma offered to help with Dalton during it all but I thought D would go to sleep too so I declined. Turns out D didn't go to sleep so I dealt with both boys all by myself again and got E to nap without incident. Yippee! Then Dalton went to sleep after that. Both boys napping at the same time, I should really take advantage and nap myself but instead I'm here talking to you fine people. Oh well. Next time I complain about how tired I am you can remind me about today when I neglected to nap. And on that note...