The softness of a horse's eye...

... is enough to warm even the coldest of hearts.

I suppose this is going to be kind of a wordless Monday; I had an idea for a post but a certain baby whose name rhymes with barley decided to get up every other hour all evening, so I never really got a chance to sit and think long enough to really accomplish anything.  Oh well, there's always next time!

A status update from Sammy

I just realized that I am horribly overdue on telling you guys what's new lately with my favorite resident toddler.  Sammy is now a whopping two-and-a-half-years old and fully entrenched in the oh-so-aptly-named terrible twos.  There's no other way to describe it other than it's like living with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--one minute, he's my sweet, polite and well-spoken little gentleman and the next he's screaming at the top of his lungs, throwing whatever he can get his hands on and bawling his eyes out.  Fortunately (ha!) Sammy saves most of his rotten behavior for the confines of our home, so at least I haven't really had to deal with a thrashing, yelling mess of a kid while out in public.  That sound you just heard was me frantically knocking on every wooden surface in my house.

Sammy's had another growth spurt recently and is at least 38" tall--all of his 4t pants fit him in length perfectly now and things that used to be out of his reach far back on the kitchen counter are now fair game.  He is also wearing size 10 1/2 shoes--there's no doubt that Sammy takes after me in that department.  Sammy is now the proud owner of a full set of teeth--all molars are present and accounted for.  Now if I could only get him to brush them on a regular basis.

This kid.  Never.  Stops.  Moving.  Seriously, it's like watching a whirling dervish.  He's also something of a chatter box--Sammy's now talking in full sentences and slowly dropping the whole third-person thing.  I still have to translate for him every now and then, but he's pretty easy to understand for the most part, but then again I get to spend every day with the kid so I might be a bit biased.  While there are days when he makes me want to rip my hair out in frustration, his positive attributes far outweigh the negative ones, especially when he's being sweet with Charlie--Sammy's definitely on the fast track to becoming the world's best big brother.

Charlie's five-month update

I am now the mother of a five-month old and a two-and-a-half-year old, people.  This realization pretty much blows my mind every day.  Anyway, on to Charlie's stats--he's basically a giant.  This kid is at least eighteen pounds, although I'd say he's probably closer to twenty about now; some of his twelve-month clothing is beginning to get a little tight.  Strangers typically do a double take when I tell them how old he is, expecting to hear that he's at least nine months old.  What can I say--I make big babies.

Charlie's settled into a pretty stable nap routine and takes a morning and afternoon nap every day; some days, I can even get him and Sammy to nap at the same time, and those days are pretty much awesome.  Charlie still hasn't fully rolled over but he's able to roll onto his side pretty easily and he's *this* close to sitting on his own.  He also loves to spend time in his Johnny Jump-Up and has begun to scoot around a bit in his walker.  As I was going through some of my recent photos of him, I noticed that Charlie has started to suck on his bottom lip a lot, which tells me he might have some teeth making an appearance soon (the fact that he's also turned into a drool factory bolsters my theory).

Charlie's still exclusively breastfed and doing pretty well in that department aside from being so easily distracted by anything and everything.  He's also very interested in what people are eating these days, although I think I'm going to hold off until the six-month mark to start introducing solid foods.  Now that he's kicked his double-ear infection, Charlie's back to his sweet, cheerful self and I'm back to some semblance of a full night's sleep.  And last but not least, Charlie just adores his big brother, and so far it appears to be a mutually shared affection; it makes me so happy to see the two of them loving on each other.

So I'm a little late...

Happy belated New Year!  And if you're thinking to yourself that, boy, the baby in this picture looks a lot like Sammy, it's because it is Sammy--from 2011.  I had been hoping to do something similar with Charlie for this year, but he was too busy being sick.

We spent a good chunk of time in the emergency room last Sunday thanks to Charlie having a fever just shy of 104, which is when I learned that the nasty head cold he had been fighting since right before Christmas had provided the perfect breeding ground for a nasty double ear infection.  Fortunately, the ER staff were able to bring his fever down and prescribe him some antibiotics to clear up things.

Charlie's fever returned with a vengeance the next day, but some infant Tylenol, a lukewarm bath, and one of those Be Koool gel sheets had him feeling better in no time.  He's got a few more days left of antibiotics to take (I'm beginning to think it's easier to pill a cat than it is to give an infant nasty-tasting medicine twice a day), but he's just about back to normal.  Unfortunately, this also means Charlie's back to waking up two to three times a night to nurse...oh well.  Can't win 'em all.

Feliz Navidad!

 

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Charlie's four-month update

It's official--my little boy is not so little anymore.  Charlie turned four-months old last Wednesday and had his four-month well-baby appointment the next day, which is when I learned that he was now topping the charts at seventeen pounds and twenty-six inches long placing him in the 95th and 90th percentiles, respectively.  I looked up Sammy's four-month stats to see how the two boys compared since I recalled Sammy was pretty big for his age.  Well, Sammy was two pounds lighter and an inch shorter.  Yowza.  Charlie seems to have skipped the 6-9 month sizes of clothing and jumped right up to twelve-month stuff. 

During the day, Charlie is a super laid-back and easy-going baby.  But nighttime is a completely different story ever since last week.  My formerly good sleeper is now getting up almost every 1-2 hours after I put him down for the night and I am completely frazzled/exhausted as a result.  I really, really, really hope that this is a short phase/developmental stage.  Speaking of development, Charlie has become a champion raspberry blower and also recently discovered that his thumbs fit perfectly inside his mouth.

Charlie's getting pretty close to being able to sit on his own, although I'm hesitant to let him try thanks to our complete and utter lack of carpeting to cushion his fall should he decide to face plant on the floor.  He's also been supporting his weight on his legs for about a month now and can stand while holding onto my fingers.  Charlie absolutely adores his big brother and watches everything that he does--fortunately, Sammy seems to be just as enamored with Charlie and goes out of his way to make him laugh by making silly noises (a new favorite of the two is fake sneezing).

My get up and go has got up and went

Wow, it's been awhile, huh?  It's not that I've been incredibly busy since my last blog post, although the boys and I did manage to travel a total of 6,000 miles over the course of sixteen days last month.  (Sammy and Charlie are excellent travelers by the way.)  We visited with family and spent some time with friends that I haven't seen in a year and the sad thing is that I didn't even come close to seeing everyone that I wanted to...I guess there's always next year, though.  As per usual, I took approximately a gazillion photos during our trip that I'm woefully behind on editing and uploading...the last time I added to my Flickr stream was in October.  Yeesh.

I remember when I couldn't wait to write about our adventures here on the blog but now it seems that there's just not enough hours in the day.  I can't even recall the last time I was able to visit everyone's blog and, I know this is going to sound nuts, but I miss you guys; I miss reading about all of the fun and exciting things you've been up to and looking at your lovely photographs and your creative crafts.  Who knew that taking care of the two boys' wants and needs, maintaining the house (or, rather, keeping it from descending to a Hoarders level of disarray) and finding a few minutes here or there to hang out with Captain Husband after the kids are down for the night would be so incredibly time consuming?  The things that I used to find so enjoyable, like photography, just seem like another chore that needs to be done.  Hopefully I'll break out of this rut soon--any advice?

Charlie's three-month update

Charlie turned three months old last week and I just can't get over how fast he's growing.  Thanks to our trip to the emergency room for his recent bout with croup, I have a general idea as to his stats, which has him weighing a little over fifteen pounds and measuring approximately twenty-six inches long.  Charlie's currently wearing mostly six-month sized clothing, although I have to put him in nine-month sleepers at night in order to accommodate all of the junk in his trunk thanks to his giant night-time cloth diaper.  Speaking of night time, Charlie's back to waking up once or twice a night for a feeding--I accredit his recent sickness and all of the traveling we've been doing lately with this change in his sleep schedule and I really hope he gets back to sleeping through the night soon as I miss REM sleep.  In other news, Charlie's starting to support his weight on his legs and can sit up with only the smallest bit of assistance.  He's also mastered grabbing and can pass his toys from hand to hand when he's not putting them in his mouth; he's also discovered his fingers and will snack on them from time to time.  If I had to describe his personality with only one word, I'd have to go with sunny--he's almost always smiling and happy and can usually be found charming the pants off of the nearest person around.  Charlie's very ticklish and will laugh out loud whenever his neck or underarms are tickled.  He loves to watch his big brother play and will stop whatever he's doing in order to focus all of his attention on Sammy whenever Sammy's around.

Always juggling

Some days I feel like Super Mom, like when I've successfully managed to get both boys dressed, fed and out of the house without anyone having a major meltdown (myself included) and I'm able to take care of errands, put the laundry away and get dinner on the table before Captain Husband comes home from work.  And then there are the days when everyone is still in their pajamas at three o' clock in the afternoon and Nick Jr. has been playing non-stop because that's the only way I can get Sammy to take the whining down to a level that doesn't make me want to scream while I'm stuck on the couch with Charlie latched on to me every half hour...this sort of day happens more than I'd care to admit.  Of course, it doesn't help that there's a huge part of me that's convinced that I'm neglecting the boys in some way, so I just hope that at the very least I'm neglecting them equally.  Gotta keep things fair, right?

I've got so many balls in the air and I know that unless things change in some way I'm in serious danger of dropping them all; I spend so much time taking care of the boys' wants and needs that there's really no time for myself.  And don't get me started on my relationship with CH: to say that it's strained would be pretty accurate and the demands of his job haven't exactly made things any easier.  There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to satisfy everyone and since Sammy and Charlie still can't really fend for themselves, that means CH drops to the bottom of my priority list...well, actually I'm at the bottom of my priority list, which really isn't much better to admit.  If anyone has any advice for me, I'd really appreciate it.  I'm trying to find a sitter (the sitter that we loved moved back to Michigan this summer) and am looking into daycare options that would at least give me a morning or two when I'm down to only one kid to look after, but so far that's all I've got.

Charlie's two-month update

Charlie turned two-months old on the twelfth but thanks to a combination of procrastination and forgetfulness I wasn't able to take him in for his well-baby appointment until last week.  I knew he had been growing but even I was rather surprised by his stats: 14 pounds, 7 ounces and 24" long (I think I can now say with some certainty that breastfeeding is going well).  Now I know why he's barely squeezing into his 3-6 month clothing!

Charlie is such a happy and easy-going baby; he always greets me with a big gummy smile and coos of happiness.  He's recently started laughing out loud and seems to enjoy being tickled and surprised.  One of Charlie's favorite things in the whole wide world is watching the ceiling fan followed closely by some good ol' fashioned nekkid time whenever he gets his diaper changed.  Charlie has also recently discovered how to splash in the bath and has started to grasp for toys and such just within his reach.  In other news, Charlie has been sleeping through the night since he was about five and a half weeks old and has recently given up night feedings entirely, which is awesome albeit kind of uncomfortable for me as I usually wake up feeling like a soggy Dolly Parton impersonator.

Grandpa to the rescue

Due to a tragic accident involving one of Captain Husband's soldiers two weeks ago, CH had to attend a funeral out of town for four days last week, which meant I was going to be on my own with the two boys.  I've got the day-to-day routine of juggling the two of them at once down pretty well, but I admit that I am far from confident in my abilities to handle both boys on my own once the evening rolls around--that's when CH and I deploy the divide and conquer tactic; he tackles the toddler while I handle the baby.  Thankfully CH's dad had some vacation time burning a hole in his pocket, so he offered to fly down and help out around the house while CH was gone--plus it gave him the perfect excuse to come and meet his new grandson.

Sammy immediately warmed right up to his Pop-Pop and was very happy to have someone to play with while I was dealing with Charlie; and Charlie definitely seemed to enjoy all of the attention that his grandfather lavished upon him, especially whenever Grandpa would sing or speak to him in Italian.

The four days were up before I knew it and soon it was time for my father-in-law to return to New Jersey; CH returned home Saturday afternoon and his dad was leaving Sunday morning, so they didn't have a lot of overlap time to spend together, but I was at least able to grab a few photos of the three generations before my father-in-law had to leave for the airport.  With any luck, we'll be able to visit with CH's grandparents over Thanksgiving and then I'll be able to take a photo that captures four generations all at once.

The first glimpses of Fall

The temperatures are finally making their long-awaited dip downwards around these parts and the days are getting shorter, which means that fall is almost here.  I don't know about you guys, but fall is my favorite season of all; there's just something about that crisp feel to the air that I can't help but love.  We don't get a lot of fall love here in El Paso--it's a very short season and it won't be long before things have transitioned completely from summer to winter, so I'm trying to make the very best of the short window of gorgeous fall days that we have (though to be perfectly honest, the winters are pretty nice, too).

The cooler temperatures means breaking out the warm footie pajamas for the boys and spending most of the morning lounging about in them while the house slowly warms up from the previous night's chill.

The rose bush in the backyard is making one last colorful hurrah before it hibernates for the winter.

And of course there's an abundance of fall produce, like these Granny Smith apples that a sweet friend was kind enough to share with us.  I tried my hand at making apple crisp from scratch last night and while it was a bit labor intensive (I definitely need to invest in an apple peeler and corer if I ever want to make it again), it was definitely worth every minute spent slaving in the kitchen.  Has fall arrived in your neck of the woods?

Our first rodeo

The rodeo came to town last week so Captain Husband and I decided to round up the boys and check it out; I had never been to a rodeo before, so I was pretty excited to see what it was all about.

The horses managed to hold Sammy's attention for a bit, but he was soon distracted by all of the other kids in attendance and spent the rest of the evening trying to play with them; as for Charlie...well, he slept through the entire thing, which made it easier for me to wander around and take some photos of the action.

We wound up leaving after only an hour (it was past both boys' bedtimes at that point), but it was a nice introduction to the world of rodeo nonetheless.  Now all I need to do is find the boys some cowboy boots so they'll be appropriately attired the next time the rodeo comes to town.

Puddle jumping

These photos were taken a few weeks ago (shows just how far behind the eight ball I am these days) before my mom returned to Pennsylvania, but they're just too cute not to share.  We'd been hit by a big rainstorm one afternoon, so my mom took Sammy and Charlie outside to do some puddle jumping, something that Sammy doesn't get to do too often on account of us living in the middle of the desert and all that.  Sammy had a blast as you can see and I had a great time photographing him having fun.