Lately...

This little guys is getting more and more adorable by the minute!  He looks so much like Tucker when he sleeps:)

He has been a busy guy lately...

Smiling:)

Having fun with baths!

 More smiling...and sitting in the Bumbo!

Playing on his mat

He is trying SO hard to roll from back to front! Front to back is doable, although not frequently, but he gets so frustrated that he can't go from back to front yet!

And more smiles!

Tucker is always entertaining and smily and laughing and keeping us on our toes while we're running/chasing him around!

The whole transition to a toddler bed has been going surprisingly well! WE kinda figured he'd try to escape more! Tucker has overall been very good about staying in his bed and calling for us instead of getting out.  He did get out twice (the first day and another day a week later) and thankfully he can't open his door yet-although he does manage to lock it...only a minor inconvenience:)

He's had a couple funny things happen though the past week.  The first, and funniest, I blogged about after we first switched him. Last week I woke up in the middle of the night to some noise and when I looked in the monitor I couldn't see T.  When I went upstairs to check on him, he was sleeping on the floor at the base of his bed! He must have been looking for something!  Then another night I heard another noise and I looked in the monitor and I see him standing up off the floor (he must have gotten out/fallen out and he was picking up his lovies.  Then he walked to the other side of the bed and got back in!  On Sunday, when we changed the clocks, I put him down at normal time for his nap (totally forgetting about the time change). I checked the monitor and I saw T sitting there with a book (which I did not leave in his bed) and he is rubbing it on his face! He had gotten out of bed and gone to get one of the touch and feel books that tells you to "rub the pigs nose with your nose!"

The last and scariest thing to happen so far happened last night.  I was lying in bed reading (thank God I wasn't asleep yet or I would have totally gotten freaked-Max was away!) and there was a HUGE LOUD thud and noise.  I looked in the monitor and saw that Tucker had fallen out of bed!  I ran upstairs and got to his room just as he was running for the door.  Poor kid fell out of bed and hit his head and totally freaked himself out. I'm still not really sure how he fell out of a bed that's only a foot off the ground and has bed rails half-way down the long side.  It made for some nice cuddle time after though:)

With all his sleepy friends before a nap...he decided he wanted some dogs in bed with him today!

Not to be outdone by his little brother...he had to sit in the Bumbo too!

We are SO ready for Spring!

We spent the rainy day playing with beans and making homemade shakers with awesomely colored Ducktape!

And we watched Nemo-and ate goldfish:)

Tucker is such a good big brother. He put a hat on Brayden before we went out last week. He was very proud of helping:)

They like to play together...just staring at burp cloths apparently!

Sometimes Tucker gets a little close...

...he dove over him onto the mat yesterday. I was not a fan of that move!

Out for a nice walk today! We want more of this weather!!!

 We had a fun visit from Matt and Kristen Scott as Matt began his month-long tour to promote his new album, Poets and Saints! (Check it out on itunes...good stuff!)

Our kids love playing with them! And they brought their awesome dog Stella, a silver lab.  And miraculously she didn't even bother my allergies! Tucker LOVED having her here:)

He was chatting it up with Stella before they left...he didn't want her to leave!

Big day!!!

Today was a big day! Tucker started to sleep in his toddler bed! We picked it up yesterday (it was my cousins which is kinda fun!) and tucker was SO EXCITED when max brought it in. We wanted his first time using it to be for a nap so we waited until today. He was very excited and went to sleep without getting out of his bed. Then when he woke up from his nap he proceeded to lie there for 5 minutes and then he got up. He turned on the light next to his bed, put his lovie, etc down and walked to the door (which he locked, I found out later when I went to get him). After I didn't come to get him, he grabbed a book and got back in bed to read-I was laughing so hard as I was watching in the monitor. He did get up again to to change the sound on his sound machine, but then he got back in bed and just hung out until I went up to get him. Hopefully he will sleep well to tonight! He went down great when max put him to sleep so we will see how the night goes. He was sprawled horizontally across the end of the bed with his legs hanging off when I went to check on him before I went to sleep, but whatever works!!

The pictures are of how I found him hen I walked upstairs at one point this morning, tucker all ready for his nap, and how I found him when I went to check on him tonight.

hahaha! This is how he liked to sleep in his crib too...hugging the "short-side" of the crib!

4 months!

Well we made it to 4 months! I am not one who dislikes the first 4 months, but I can't say it's my favorite stage.  Thankfully, Brayden has been much easier than Tucker was during those first four months.  He has become VERY interactive with both Max and I and Tucker.  It is so cute:) He smiles and giggles and he has really started to screech-those are my favorite noises.  He is quite the squealer!

He is a big fan of playing on his playmat.  He doesn't mind being on his belly, but is more content being on his back.  He can sit on his bumbo and play with toys on his tray, and he doesn't mind his bouncy seat either.  

Brayden had a great check up! He is 13.13 pounds and 25.25 inches, up from 23.75 inches last month.  He did drop from the 50th to just above the 25th for weight so I just have to be sure he's actually eating really well.  Tucker was actually a bit bigger at this age (14.4 lbs).  He has moved into 3-6 month clothes too:) 

He is such a joy and we LOVE him so much!

He can push himself up onto his elbows and he is half way there to rolling over from back to belly.  He gets stuck on his side-his arm is int he way:)  He definitely wants to get over though-he usually screeches when he gets stuck!

He started to sleep really well at night (11-12) hours a few weeks ago, which has been awesome!  His naps started to get better too-he wouldn't wake up 45 min in, and if he did, the binky would put him right back to sleep! Then a week ago hit....and all hell broke loose!  Night sleep was still great, but he was waking up after 40-45 min and it was almost impossible to get him back to sleep.

So we made the decision to do cry it out (CIO) with him to teach him to go back to sleep on his own. He will fall asleep awake in his crib but for some reason could not fall back to sleep if he woke up half way through.  We figured we'd break his swaddle habit at the same time.  Well after 2 days of him sleeping for the first 30-40 min max, and then SCREAMING the rest of the time, and never falling back to sleep, we put it on hold.  He had his 4 month check up on Friday and Saturday we were going to a wedding so he was with my mom all day.  Shockingly, back in his swaddle, he took AMAZING naps today, and slept most of the night with one arm out of his swaddle.  He's an anomaly! So we will tackle that again in a week or so.

He also suddenly refused to take a bottle Friday night, and then again on Saturday, and on Sunday! Saturday I fed him at 9:30 and then he didn't eat again until 3:30ish.  My mom called me to tell me that he refused his 12:30 bottle (he slept great though!) and then he ultimately downed his 3:30 bottle, thankfully.  But Sunday I had an event all morning and he refused to eat.  Not sure what's going on but I'm hoping it works itself out soon because I leave him with a babysitter once a week at least, and I'm going back to work in two months!

He's a little more flexible with his schedule than T was because we are out an about a lot more.  Typically he eats at 7:15, 10:15, 1:15, 4:15, 6:15 and then goes to bed around 8.  He is up for 75-90 minutes and then will sleep for about 90 minutes.  He still takes a 30-45 min catnap between his 4 and 6 feedings.  He usually wakes up between 7 & 730 (although today he was up at 8!) and then we go from there.

Silly Tucker

Everyone thinks that their child has a great personality...and we are no different:)  Tucker is such a bundle of energy and cracks us up.  I am finding that he is quite the social butterfly and will just walk up to other kids at My Gym and say "hi", or try to take the hair clip out of their hair-he needs to learn some boundaries.

He is saying quite a few words too and likes to tell us when he does something, even if we aren't watching.  

Most recently, I was in the kitchen while he was playing in the living room with Brayden.  He is VERY good with B so I can leave them alone for a few minutes and check on them from around the corner.  Well this time, he comes in to the kitchen saying "at, at" which usually means that he wants us to look at "that".  He brings me in to the living room with a proud smile on his face to show me that he just fed Brayden a HALF A GOLDFISH, or "peesfash" or something that sounds like that.  Begin panic mode! I may have mentioned before that I have an extreme fear of choking!  Well thankfully a quick fingersweep got the fish out and Tucker and I had a chat about how Brayden does not eat any food...scary stuff.  

The day before, he knocked the water bowl over at a friends house (for their dog) and came in the other room to tell me about his feat:)

A couple weeks ago we were treated to this, which I think is hysterical.  Not sure if anyone else will or if it's just one of those, "it's only funny because it's your own kid" things, but I like the end the best:)

Diagnosis!

After three+ days with a 102.5 fever and a cough that the prescribed meds weren't helping, we made a trip back to the doctor to try to figure out what was going on. Diagnosis: double ear infection and pneumonia! BAM!! Thankfully tucker was still pretty with it but he didn't have much of an appetite. I think he probably had 20 goldfish and 10 cinnamon life pieces. This morning though he was a little hungrier, and what did he want? Crackers! We tried to entice him to eat more by making him pancakes but he only got 5 bites in before he was done. We are so thankful his fever is gone and he is breathing better with these new meds but we can't wait for his appetite to return!

Brayden's eye

When Brayden was born his right eye would barely open.  It was a LOT better by the time we left the hospital and he spent so much time sleeping that most people never really saw/notice it.  I have an eye condition called strabismus so I am keenly aware of any "weirdness" going on with my kids' eyes, as it can be hereditary.  I have a slight droopy eyelid too, as does Tucker, but its not anything that is super noticeable.  Brayden's was DEFINITELY noticeable.  

The pediatrician told me it was probably just birth trauma, which made no sense because I had a C-section.  Over the next couple months it got a lot better, but his regular doctor suggested that I take him to the eye doctor sometime soon to get a baseline read on what was going on.  It has gotten MUCH better since that first day, as these pictures show, but it is still there.

I finally got around to making an appointment and took Bradyen to my doctor at Yale today.  Thankfully, his droopy lid is not impacting his vision at all. It amazed me with Tucker at 6 months and even more so with Brayden at 3.5 months, that the doctor can do an eye exam on an infant!
Brayden was a champ and had to get his eyes dilated and he didn't even cry!  (I might add that my kids don't usually cry with shots either...minor mommy "bragging" moment-if you can even brag about that!)  Thankfully his vision seems to be great too! So at this point, his droopy lid, which isn't even that bad anymore, is only a cosmetic thing and won't require any surgery as of now.  He has to get it checked a couple times a year at first, but all looks great! We are so thankful!

little guy knocked out after the drops

all dilated up! his pupils are huge!!! and so are his cheeks:)

Oh My...

"Oh my" is Tucker's new favorite thing to say...and we always laugh when he says it, which prompts him to say it often!  He is slowly recovering from whatever sickness he has-he's had a 102.5 fever now since Tuesday (almost three days!) but thankfully it hasn't slowed him down too much:)

Before he got sick, we celebrated my dad and grandma's birthdays this weekend.

I walked to the front door a couple days ago and I saw this...and I most certainly did not leave the shoes neat like this against the wall...Tucker is learning to organize already! I really hope we aren't creating a monster!

Tucker was not feeling great when he first woke up this morning and I needed to get ready so I gave him a little phone time (he has a few apps on my phone he likes).  Later today I went to look for a picture and saw these beauties that he took...apparently he learned how to take a picture also!