We're all doing pretty good these days...finally in a pretty good groove, but as I say that, there are still days like the other day where I swear the boys conspire together to take turns being clingy and extra needy and take terrible naps! That morning Noah was in rough shape, not eating well, not sleeping well, and just generally not happy with the world, but we made it to my glorious joint nap time (where both boys are sleeping at the same time!). Then Joshua woke up crying about an hour earlier than he usually wakes up (normally happily!) and was just out of sorts and nothing would make him happy...he couldn't communicate what he wanted and I think he really didn't know what he wanted so he was really frustrated! Anyway, I ended up having to stop feeding Noah and have Joshua sit in my lap, read a few books, then cooked dinner with him in the carrier on my back! It was really weird because he never wants to be in the carrier and he usually never wants to snuggle more than 30 seconds but for some reason, he was extra clingy! But, thanks to Bobby's extra help, we made it through till bed time!!
Days like that make me really thankful for the "normal" days! And it could have been worse...I could have been alone with TWO clingy boys! Recently God has been doing a lot of work in my heart, helping me to genuinely enjoy being a mom, and truly serve my family. There's still a LOT of work to be done, but I really feel a difference in my heart and I've been a lot more thankful and grateful. I don't really know why, but I just feel extra blessed...extra aware of how "good" I have it, with two "normal", healthy boys, who are great sleepers. There's so many moms out there with children who have special needs, have no help, and have terrible sleepers...and keeping that in mind has really helped me be more grateful.
Anyway, on to the updating...
Noah is sleeping through the night and has been for about a month now (though last week we had a bit of a regression for an unknown reason!)...it's amazing what a difference that makes! He eats pretty well (pretty easily distracted though and hates nursing with a cover!) about every 3-3 1/2 hours. I think he's average weight. I don't have his stats at the moment, but I think he's pretty close to the same as Joshua was as far as weight and height which would put him in the average category I believe. I always wanted chunky babies, but I guess that's not in the cards for me! ;) He does have some pretty good arm rolls though. :) He naps 3 times a day for about 1 1/2-2 hours (sometimes more, sometimes less) with the occasional cat nap between dinner and bedtime. He rarely manages to stay awake longer than 2 hours max!
He's what I would consider an easy-going baby, and deals well with the chaos of life with a two year old big brother pretty well! When he's upset, it's almost always because his diaper is dirty or he's tired...and he doesn't hold back letting you know he's upset! He loves watching Joshua and Daddy play and I think he's looking forward to being able to get in on the action! The last week or so, if he can stay awake long enough, he's been joining in on Joshua's pre-bedtime snuggles with Daddy and Joshua sits there and holds his hand...it's the cutest thing ever and makes my heart just melt!
He loves putting anything and everything he can get his hands on into his mouth and actually gets frustrated when he can't get something in his mouth...like his O-ball! I thought he might be teething, but still no evidence yet. He seems to be our little extrovert...he absolutely loves when you get close to his face and just talk to him...he talks right back to you and gives you the biggest smiles! Super interactive!
We have suspicions that he is going to crawl a lot earlier than Joshua did...he is constantly moving and never in the same place we leave him in when we put him on the floor or in his bed! He's already poised to start scooting soon as he looooves tummy time and sleeps on his tummy too. I think I'm going to have my hands full soon! (J didn't 'officially crawl' until he was almost a year old, though he had his ways of getting around! He hated being on his belly, but he did sleep on his tummy too)
Joshua is in love with the movie Cars these days, and he rarely goes a day without watching either the first Cars or the second one. (These days he likes the second one better than the first) We've gotten him several different matchbox cars of the characters and he adores them! They have changed my world too in that he actually plays by himself now! He will often play with them in the kitchen while I'm doing the dishes or cooking and almost always has a least one in his hand throughout the day. I love seeing how excited he gets anytime he sees something with Lightening McQueen on it! He has the eyes of a hawk when it comes to spying McQueen! They have Cars things here, but I suspect not as much as North America so I can only imagine how fun taking him shopping with us will be when we're there! ;) and as every parent knows, it sure will be hard to resist giving in to him and buying him all the Cars memorabilia because it is so fun making him so happy! ;) Yesterday when I got him up he remembered that I told him he could wear his McQueen shirt the night before and the first words out of his mouth were "QUEEN DAY!!!" (Translated to "I get to wear my McQueen shirt today!") He calls McQueen "Queema" or "queen" and Francesco is "Sir CoCo"!
He is a pretty...well, how shall we put it...selective? eater. He loves Macaroni and cheese and french fries. And breakfast every morning is Peanut Butter toast! Anything else is a pretty big struggle...but sometimes he can be convinced to eat something if he gets to eat it with crackers ;) it's been hard for me, but I'm realizing more and more how normal this is...and just keep doing my best to offer him a variety.
He's starting to talk more (aka repeat EVERYTHING!) which has been fun. It is so amazing to watch him learn and understand more and more things...kids are fascinating! One of my favorite things he says is "I love you" which comes out more like "I youuu"! :)
We've had a pretty quiet summer so far...hotter than usual and super thankful for air conditioning in this lovely humidity! (And in spite of running the a/c without holding back, our electric bill was shockingly low, encouraging us to throw away any guilt for running them so much because it's just not worth it to "suffer" in the heat. I don't know about you, but I am absolutely useless when I'm hot...tired, grumpy and miserable to name a few attributes that come to mind!
I've dipped my toes back into language study...pray for me!! I still have some requirements (mostly related to religious language) to complete in order to move out of my "full time language student" status, and our goal is to come as close to finishing as possible before we go on furlough in November, so I've got my work cut out for me.
I think that's all I can think of as for updates. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but since I've been writing this blog post for about 2 weeks now, I think it's better to just publish it now!
For fun, here are Noah's monthly pictures...
And for even more fun, here's a comparison picture of J and N at 4 months :)
