2 months

Two Months!

Sorry for the delay..... we've had an issue the last week, our yearly bat in the house turned into 2 this year with the first one being discovered after Nate had left for work with me alone with the kids! Poor Max ran out the front door with me with a wash basket over his head. The second spotting in the same week was luckily just in the basement and we kept him down there. We have someone from animal control coming to take care of the problem once and for all. Its just not something we can deal with, even occasionally, with kids in the house. The computer that I do the pictures on is in the basement so we finally figure the one from last week is either back out or dead so its probably fairly safe if we go down during the day.
2 months are going well. Max is much more into his sister but except for the occasional "be gentle" he's not too rough with her and its cute. She is pretty much down to only waking once at night to eat, anytime between 1:30 and 4:30 but then back to sleep again till morning. Sometimes she wakes a little early but if I bring her to bed with me she goes back to sleep without having to feed quite yet. Otherwise she eats around 7am, 9:30am, 12:15pm, 6:15pm, 3:30pm and 8:30pm. She isn't on a napping schedule yet but sleeps most of the afternoon and then just cat naps the rest of the day. She's usually awake most of the evening (I think partly because Nate's home and there is a lot going on) but we prefer that to be her awake time so she sleeps all night. The only issue we have is her tummy, she spits up a lot and sometimes if its bothering her it can take hours to get her settled (either before bed or after her middle of the night feeding). At her check up the Dr told us to incline her mattress which has helped some. I also use the tummy drops at night a lot too and I don't know if its because of them or not but it seems to help her settle better.
She still gets at least one bottle a day, 3.5oz. She's still in 0-3 clothes. She weighs 10lbs 6oz (39th%) and is 22.5inches long (54th%). This really amazes us because we feel like she's so much bigger than Max was (which she was at birth) but at Max's 2 month he was actually 23 inches long and weighed 11.5lbs. She's a big squirmer. I try to swaddle her bottom half sometimes but she still breaks out of it and pushes her sleep positioner to the bottom of the crib. At about 7 weeks we put her in her own room because she's such a noisy sleeper I wasn't getting any sleep so now I only hear her if she's really crying (of course she's right across the hall but we use the video and sound monitor!). The best part of this month you can see below...

We're all smiles these days, even a laugh sometimes. I can't get enough of it!
Of course, not to be left out....

Notice Max's hand and the green truck...

Max's first shaving experience. I used to love watching my dad shave and he'd put a drop on my nose, apparently Max wasn't as excited about the experience...

Grandma Diana's 60th B-day party...

Uncle Josh with the sweet pea

The boys playing with rocks and dirt as usual!

Make a wish!

They found a gag blow up walker that Max took quite a liking too!

Limbo contest!

They also had a dance contest. Max got right in there and showed off his moves. It was literally the cutest thing I've ever seen. We have video so I hope we can convert it and I can post on here.

Playing the next morning with the cousins!

And a quick visit with Mom-mom Paul and Aunt Julie on the way home. Aunt Julie brought him an awesome little trike he can ride now so we'll get some pictures and post them separately!

Passing time...

The summer is moving quickly....Only one more month till I'm back to work and the fun is over! We did have luck finding a sitter for Max which is a great blessing. We found a wonderful Christian lady who watches one other boy and has two daughters at home (Max's cousins ages) who she home-schools in the evening so he will be thoroughly entertained! He'll go all day on Tuesdays so my mom will just have Aliyah for Tuesdays and then both of them Mondays and Wednesdays (good luck mom-mom!!!!)
We have been having a great summer....some really hot days that are testing the limits of AC window units but we're thankful for them anyway. Aliyah is doing great. Some nights are good, some are not so good but if I'm lucky I can get 3 hours of sleep in a row sometimes.... I loooong for a good 4 or 5 in a row but you take what you can get and enjoy afternoon nap time for everyone (even daddy if he's home:))

Some picture updates.... Nate's friend found this bike for him and being such the good provider that he is, he fixed it all up and sold it but had to at least have a photo memory of it to show the baby girl what she could have had (can a kid actually ride those things???).... We still need a 4 generation girl's picture but here is mom-mom mom-mom with the sweet pea and how blessed are we that they got to meet each other after the year she has had!

Our new favorite thing is "wash" we could play with water allllll day long in some form or another!

I just have to be careful not to have any knives in the dirty bin or dish drainer!

Happy sweet pea!

Some days its too hot for clothes!

Catching Up

Two weekends ago was the firetruck "thing" down on the river. They do this to clean out their hoses, or that's how it started anyway but now its more a spectator sport. Grandma Melody made sure she was off so they could all go down. The weather was iffy so Aliyah and I didn't go but I'm so glad Max and daddy went down, it looks really cool and of course Max just loved it. He came back with his own fire helmet and new firetruck!

Aliyah is smiling! I kept trying to get it on camera today and missing it and just as I was getting ready to come downstairs and load these pictures on she was doing it, of course she was in my arms so its a rather CLOSE up weird shot but still adorable!

She likes to hang out on her play mat and look around now that she can see more.

Max doesn't want to feel left out but can't ever adjust himself to lay "next" to her... notice her watching him too, she's starting to really do that a lot.

This is a teether on there, I figure he's the one still getting teeth so chew away buddy (you pick your battles when you're home with two wee ones!)

Does this count as crawling, she started MUCH farther back obviously!

Max was kind enough to share one of his food baskets with her (or he thought she looked hungry).

Of course she loves tummy time. She'd spend all day like this is she could (if only she was allowed to sleep like this!)

We're doing good other wise. Its been a hot summer but this week we did get to swim twice. Max loves the water, we just can't find anything proper fitting for him to wear but we use various things and he still likes it. He is still teething poor thing but we're getting there.

He is down to one long afternoon nap but still takes a morning "rest" at about 9:30am for about a half an hour. We just have to watch on the video monitor that he doesn't fall asleep or it really messes up the rest of the day. The rest helps him from being super cranky by lunch.

Aliyah is doing great. We had a few nights where she was only up once to eat (goes to sleep between 9-10pm) and then I get her up to feed her around 6:30-7am, working a shower and feeding in before I get Max up at 7:30 (he usually wakes up around 7ish but likes to lay around for a while). Most nights she is up twice to eat and maybe a few other "fuss" times. But she is good about settling herself sometimes. You can lay her down awake without rocking her and she'll settle to sleep at night which is nice. She eats 7-8 times in 24 hours (depending on how many night feedings) and is somewhat on an eating schedule. She's on no sleep schedule yet, just as long as she sleeps with me in the afternoon during Max's nap I don't care too much! We also have to keep her awake in the evenings so she goes to sleep at a reasonable hour. We do have an issue with her breathing/snorting/grunting at night; she's just loud sometimes and it keeps me awake more than it does her but she's not sick or anything so I guess its just the way she is. We'd move her into her nursery but it means another AC unit to run all night so she may stay with us a bit longer than Max did. She is still taking a bottle fine (3oz) and nursing well (we don't have to struggle to keep her awake to eat anymore!). We don't know her weight, we don't go back to the Dr's till her 2 month (though we had Max in last week for some eczema and he weighs 24lbs).

Otherwise we're doing great. Its really nice to feel the family being complete!

Side note: You may notice in every picture Max is holding a little green truck. He has about 50 matchbox like cars but a few weeks ago he starting taking a big liking to this one green pick up truck he snagged from Grandma's. He never puts it down. He'll play for hours with one hand so he can hold his truck in the other without even realizing it and of course it goes EVERYWHERE (except the crib!) with him like a security blanket. He does have a blankie to sleep with but this is daytime luvie!!!

One month old and 4th of July

My cousins who stopped up last week brought Max this hat. He didn't think much of it until a day or two ago and now he wears it all the time, even out to a play date we had yesterday....


My uncle and aunt had a 4th of July picnic, Max had fun on the John Deere!

His happy 4th of July outfit from Aunt Julie (Ally's is below is from her too, how adorable!)

ONE MONTH OLD!!! I can't believe we've had her that long but we have. She's doing great. I feel like she's getting so big. She's pretty good, she sleeps a lot and has gotten pretty good at sleeping at night. We still have some moments but she usually settles pretty well. She eats around 8:30 or 9pm and then usually sleeps till 12 or 1am and wakes again around 4:30ish and then I wake her around 7am to eat before I get Max up. Its not a set schedule but that seems to be a general pattern. She eats about 8times a day and I make sure she gets a bottle every day (3oz) so she stays used to it. Again, its just amazing cause she eats so quickly so I have SOOO much more time on my hands. I feel like I'm torn between which one to hold and play with but they're both pretty easy going most of the time. Aliyah cries if she's awake and wants her paci (even though she keeps spitting it out, she really does want it) but she is sleeping more than half the time anyway. I'm very glad I did have them this close while Max is still napping because afternoons are nap time for all. I can't imagine if I had to stay awake all day every day. Max is good still, he's adjusting. On top of the new sister he's gotten about 6 teeth in the last month or so and still more coming and we're adjusting to just one nap most days (I still put him down for a morning rest even if he doesn't fall asleep, which he still does sometimes anyway) so we have good days and some not as good but all in all he's been really good with her still.

We've had a REALLY hot week and are looking forward to a cooler one where we can be outside again~

Settling in....

So we're settling in here in the Swanson household! Max is adjusting well, a few temper tantrums but they're short lived and those phases don't usually last too long. Its been so nice having lots of visitors to distract him but it also makes him very sad when they go. He is liking his sister more and more. He especially loves her toys, the bouncie seat (which he can get in and out of on his own, even with the play bar on top) and now the swing. He has also started to put her paci back in which could be helpful except he still tries to shove it in when she's sleeping or doesn't want it. He's so good at playing on his own though that we don't really have an issue while I'm nursing or anything. I get a little torn dividing my attention but we work it out. He is starting to give up the morning naps finally but I still put him down to rest for a little while and every once in a while he still will take a nap. The hardest time is the middle of the day when I want him to play outside if she needs to eat or something but we're getting better at managing time and having her outside on a blanket in the shade. It is funny because I feel like I never put Max down and with a second I'm much more relaxed to leave her be for a little. She is doing well too. For most nights she sleeps well and just wakes up a few times to eat (with a few awake nights mixed in) and usually sleeps well in the bassinet which is a nice change from Max who slept on me or in his swing most of the time because he hated the cradle for some reason. I would like someone to invent a devise to keep the paci in and I'd get more sleep but we do ok. I feel great, its amazing how much easier this was from the labor to delivery to recovery even the IV in my wrist hardly hurt (and took weeks to heal with Max). Also, the fact that she nurses for 15 mins as opposed to 1 1/2 hours like Max gives me a LOT more time in the day! The Dr. wanted us to start the bottle at 2-4 weeks so I started right away and she takes it very well which is great. So besides the box of diapers miss poopy pants goes through a day we're all doing well and looking forward to a long holiday weekend ahead!


Wednesday Kate and Noah came to visit. It was fun to see the boys together. It took a while for them to warm up but they had fun!

Monday the Richmond Mogels were passing through and stopped to see their cousins!

Friday was our first big outing... we had a going away party for a couple at church (who will be truly missed!!!). My mom had bought them matching outfits so we had to show them off! I didn't get any pictures where both of them weren't crying but this was the best I got. (I was also by myself so next time they wear them we'll try for something better!)

Ellie's 2 week photo shoot

Aunt Ellie does it again, just a quick fraction of her amazing work!!