Naptime

Poor baby David is fighting some of cold and has a low grade fever.  All he wants to do is be awake for an hour, fuss a bit, drink a bottle of milk and then pass out.  Mostly on daddy. At least it's a dreary rainy day so perfect for this sort of thing.

The best sound

Daniel's nickname daycare was "happy boy" David's is "guapo"...they both have the best laughs ever. And David is really perfecting his big belly laugh often triggered by a funny face or "peekaboo"...or mommy giving him eskimo kisses like I was doing in this video...

A still shot of the same thing but this time with a diaper

Recent photos

Don't have much time to write but wanted to post some recent photos of our adventures as spring slowly creeps back into the DC area.

On the playground with friends...not really understanding the physics of the see-saw.

Morning selfie!

Sweet potato mash is delicious!!

Enjoying the sunshine on the deck.

Baby jail

Someone started to get a little too efficient at pulling up to standing and almost toppling out big head first.  Time to lower the pack and play and put baby David in "baby jail"

Nine month stats

Poor second child syndrome strikes again. I was googling 9 month sleep patterns to confirm that David's lack of sleep was in fact an issue, he should be sleeping through the night and not needing to eat and I came across notes about baby's "nine month check up". Oops. So I scheduled it and we went in to get David's vaccines (Hep B and 2nd flu). I also wanted to see his stats to see how he was tracking growth wise. I think David's weight is down a little bit from what we have been measuring at home, but he's also starting to crawl with a vengance and probably burning more calories. We also got confirmation that he SHOULD be sleeping through the night and time for some tough love and cry it out. Get ready daddy.

David's vital 9 month stats.
Developmental milestones: sitting unassisted (big time check), creeping/crawling (check), pulling up to standing (photo evidence below), grasping with two figers (and yanking too? check), putting together sounds like "mama" (with gusto, check), afraid of strangers (unfortunately, yes)
Weight: 8lbs 12 oz (32%) big brother was at 19lb 9 oz at this point. If he follows the same trend he's going to fatten up a LOT in the next three months
Height: 28.5" (54%)..exactly the same as Daniel
Head: 18.25" (85%)...slightly bigger than brother and still a cabezon

Withing with David at the doctor, selfies for entertainment

pulling to standing....check

Fashionable brothers

Daniel has (strong) opinions about dressing himself. I had wanted to dress him in a cute airplane button down shirt and cords but no, he wanted an outfit like daddy with a black shirt and spiky hair. His black rock n roll shirt even had to be on inside out to be all black.  He's my little rocker boy.  Baby David on the other hand has yet to form fashion opinions so I got to dress him all preppy in his Janie and Jack pinstripe onesie.  He then proceeded to get carrots all down the front of it. Oh well.

9 months

David has officially hit the mark of being out longer than he was in and boy does he have a big personality! And while it's hard to not compare the two boys, they are definitely different. Here are nine milestones from this past month.

1. David is army crawling. The babyswiffer is in full force. He can get from the living room through the dining room and into the kitchen fairly quickly. He hasn't shown interest in the stairs yet, but the gates will most likely go in soon.
2. He loves his paci. We thought it might go for his thumb like Daniel, and while sometimes he chomps on fingers, paci it is.
3. He loves to chew on noses. Big wet hard-gummed nose kisses.
4. No teeth yet! I think Daniel had four at this point and while David has cranky times I'd like to chalk up to teething, he's not all slobbery yet.
5. David doesn't sleep well through the night. Up twice is normal...5 or 6 times is a bad night. We'd call these times "Gitmo nights" with Daniel. It's hard to remember that they do pass. But "cry it out" is not an option when they share a room.
6. Even after my exhausted hormonal post last week, David is pretty much done with nursing. Much to my dismay, my production was down and he is not a patient boy. When he wants food, he wants it now. No time for let down or even possibly being distracted. I pumped while I was away last week, but didn't get much. He nursed once yesterday, but I may just try to nurse in the mornings and if not pump.
7. In addition to being a demanding eater, he's also very particular. Little man only likes his milk warm. He'll gag if it's room temp, scream if it's cold. Hard for on the go, but we'll figure out a new routine soon.
8. Boy has hair! He's starting to get little cowlicks over his ears and a ducktail in the back. I love it!
9. It's hard to get much done, but David is a snuggler. It may be why he's not as crawly-climby as Daniel was, but a side effect of not getting much sleep, we often bring him into bed with us to keep him happy for a little bit longer (so we can get some sleep). He loves it.

All smiles and easily entertained!

Socks are no match for David. Off they come.

Holding still is for wimps, time to roll and check out the world.

48 hour strike and a 3 hour nap

Something is going on with sweet baby David. This week has been a rough sleep week for everyone in the Upham house. After a three-night session of "cry it out", Daniel was sleeping through the night at around 6 months. It's harder with David since they share a room, but after this week we have to find a way. And then Thursday night happened, David refused to nurse. I chalked it up to being overly tired and a little stuffy, so I gave him a big bottle and hoped it would help him sleep through the night. No dice. He was up at 1:30 (his normal "first call" time) but wouldn't nurse so Chris got him a bottle, he was up a few more times, but just wanted the paci. Seemed strange, but I was so exhausted I didn't care. Then he refused to nurse Friday morning, weird and painful and so I pumped. I hate pumping. My production is getting so low that I was starting to think about cutting back from two to one (or even no) pumps at work. But David would take one look at me, literally push me away and scream his head off until he got a bottle. And then again Friday night and Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Saturday night we had an hour-long cry-fest and nothing. I gave in and he got a bottle. He only woke up once for his paci, but he slept. But then this morning I tried again, sure it would fail, he nursed. A little distracted, but he did it. And now he's about to hit hour 3 of his afternoon nap. I tried to nurse him this afternoon, but he didn't want it and only drank a few ounces from a bottle. Of course the internet is FULL of ways to get through a "nursing strike" and ways that they are caused (paci, bottles, not feeding enough or often). Thankfully there was one funny blogger that was a bit of a relief after the hour-long cry-fest last night, but everything else was mommy guilt upon mommy guilt of all the things we do wrong to cause strikes.  But it made me realize that while I may be done with pumping and am fine with supplementing, I'm not done with nursing. And if for some reason David is the last of the Upham babies, I'm not ready to finish that baby-mommy time. Not that I've ever been into that glorified "it's so wonderful" side either, but I appreciate being able to give him that nourishment. Even if it's just a little bit longer, I just want to be better prepared. And as for the three hour nap...I could get used to that. But only if he still sleeps through the night. Again...thank goodness he's so cute.

Negotiating with a toddler terrorist and the Trifecta of Parenting Wins

Yesterday was a long Sunday. Chris was pulled in last minute to play at the morning service so that means he's gone from 7am until about 2:30pm. Daniel got up early when he heard Chris getting ready and whined and cried to go with daddy. I knew that wouldn't be a good idea so even as Chris was getting Daniel ready to go with him, I said "no, I'll get him". Mistake. Here's what two hours of negotiating with the two year old terrorist looks like: First, he refused his favorite peanut butter waffle because I folded it the "wrong way" and proceeded to smear it all over the couch, shirt and pants though I ended up letting him wear the shirt to Sunday school since I didn't want to fight the battle of trying to change him. I also let him bring his real guitar in the car and gave up my breakfast bar since he was still hungry, crumbs from said bar have made it into the guitar. Then once at church I gave in and carried both boys into church nearly dropping David as he slid down my side as he went into the "limp noodle" tired state. Toddler terrorism.

But the trifecta of parenting came after church. Even though we survived a target run (hallelujah) I was starving since I had bribed the toddler terrorist with my breakfast. So we make a stop of McDonald's since I may or may not have been using the bribe of possible french fries to get through the Target run. I knew full well we had healthier food at home, just didn't want to make it. Parenting win #1 When we got home I decided to clean out the nasty messy car and set the boys up on a blanked to have a "front lawn picnic" so I could watch them as I cleaned. Daniel yells "I have to go pee pee!" Not wanting to rush him to the potty and move a happy baby, I say "go pee pee over behind the trash can" So he does pee pee in the front yard in front of a bunch of neighbors and people driving by. He then follows that with running around with pants and undies around his ankles. Parenting win #2. Finally we moved the nudity inside and get going with breakfast. Connor had helped himself to about 6 or 7 containters of David's baby food, chewing through the plastic and leaving bits of foil and plastic all over the living room and dining room. I tried to avoid the mess so I put David into the highchair for lunch, but as soon as I gave him his appetizer of puffs he started to gag and choke and turn red. I did a finger sweep and pulled out a puff, thinking that I got everything but a few puffs later he did the same. But I didn't feel anything with the finger sweep. I pulled him out of the high chair flung him over my arm and pounded his back. He threw up a bit and out came a piece of the stray foil. He must have picked it up in the few minutes that he was on the floor. Ugh. Last week he ate a leaf and threw up all over as he spit it up, this week foil. Parenting win #3, for the trifecta: bribery, nudity and near death experience. Here's hoping that the snow day + trying to work from home is a little bit better.

I do it myself

Daniel has been saying this a lot but now David is getting in in the action.  He sort of slept through the night last night...in bed with us but never woke longer than a short cranky bust. Maybe tonight he can it again...in his own bed.