Three months!

Ferdinand is three months today! Wow. I know I write this literally every post but things are so great when your baby doesn't have colic! I'm not even counting down the days until he is 4 months or 6 months or whatever magical age is supposed to be easier, because things are good.

I'm one of those incredibly lucky people for whom breastfeeding is easy, from the very beginning, and who fatten their babies up without trouble. This means that Ferdi is now slowly following in his brother's footsteps and is kind of big. Like wearing 6 month clothes big. I don't know how much he weighs but definitely not as much as his brother did at this time but definitely more then the average baby I think. I'll know next week at his next doctor's appointment.

He is cooing all the time which is pretty darn adorable. He is also drooling all the time which is less so. Especially because I am lazy and hate having to change his clothes all the time. I mean he wears pajamas two days in a row and during the day as well, because like I said I am lazy, and it isn't like he cares. Thankfully he never spits up so as long as he doesn't have an explosive diaper- speaking of which I totally forgot how awesome/gross newborn diapers are,every time he goes he gets this faraway glazed over expression and then sounds like he is having explosive diarrhea for a minute or two, which I guess he sometimes kind of is. Anyways it totally cracks me up but I realize it is probably a mom thing to think that which is why I won't be posting it on FB anytime soon or mentioning it here ever again. I promise.

He sleeps OK. In some ways I actually kind of preferred Teddy's sleeping because it went from sucking super hard, to being pretty great in comparison, to just actually being super amazing. Now Ferdinand can sleep alright by himself without any help from me which is different. For example if we put him down drowsy but not asleep he will often lay in his crib and then fall asleep. This is awesome. However his ideas about when he would like to be fed are not necessarily moving in the right direction. Although he has had a few nights where he has gone almost 7 hours between feeds (Oh my gosh what an amazing night that was, looking up at the alarm clock and seeing it was quarter to 4 in the morning...priceless!) he has also has recently expected to nurse every 3 hours which is not so enjoyable for me, and I think unnecessary for him unless he is going through a growth spurt. So now I am sort of trying to make a game plan (do I want to try dream feeds?, when do I ideally want his longest stretch?, do I want to introduce a bottle at bed time?,etc) because sleep is my baby obsession and I do believe that some of Teddy's awesome sleeping habits come from diligence and hard work on our part, and so I want to start helping Ferdinand get the best sleep he can. Right now he takes 3-4 naps a day without about an hour to an hour and a half wake time between the naps, and his bedtime is at 6-7pm depending on how naps went.

He and Teddy are so adorable together. Unfortunately he and Teddy are also sick together and it looks like the whole winter will be spent with illnesses being passed back and forth between all of us but they don't seem to mind too much. Teddy also will never stop giving him kisses, rubbing his face, and sticking his fingers all over him, (once even licking his face-eww) so I think it would be a waste of time to try and fight that losing battle.

Ferdi has great head control and can manage a few minutes on his stomach, head up, eyes alert before collapsing in defeat and starting to cry. Toys aren't too interesting yet but he is normally pretty calm if you talk to him especially in the morning.

So I've managed to write much more then I thought I would be able to about hitting the three month mark, as lets be honest he still really isn't doing much. But he is definitely being extra cute and helping me to see why some people like the newborn stages.

Oh and just like Teddy he rarely smiles and still has not giggled. Thankfully this time around it cracks me up instead of sort of worrying me that I got some serious sad baby who might be unhappy for life.

Saturday Morning

We're walking down the stairs to the stroller. I've taken Teddy's jacket, shoes, and hat hostage to ensure that he finally decides to come with instead of finding the 35th item which he suddenly needs to play with/look at/take down/ pull apart/take off. The baby is fussing/crying because he is tired and just wants to fall asleep which unfortunately isn't possible when I have to keep putting him down to convince his brother "to please just come down...now". We get downstairs and I realize that the double stroller hasn't been "winterized" yet and isn't set up for two, all this means is that I have to take the snow sack off the other stroller and put it on this stroller, take off the bassinet, and add the 2nd seat. Now altogether this should probably take about 1 minute but of course, because I am just trying to leave the house and go, and I am alone, it won't happen like that.

Teddy immediately starts trying to ride the neighbors bike which has training wheels, thankfully he is blocked by me taking apart the stroller. The baby starts screaming, wondering why in the world he is still not allowed to fall asleep yet. I try putting him down in the seat but then of course I have to take the seat off the stroller again because one of the buckles somehow is inaccessible and I need it to go through the snow sack. Teddy is currently trying to put his bigger seat on the stroller as well which means he might drop it on top of the baby at any moment. I put the baby on Teddy's jacket on the ground next to the steps, it looks completely uncomfortable and kind of dangerous so of course the baby instantly falls asleep. Teddy goes back to trying to ride the neighbor's bike while I sweat in my zipped up coat and try to stay calm. After about 10 minutes I've attached the 2nd seat with snow sack, the baby is buckled in, Teddy has a jacket, hat, and even shoes on, and his seat is also attached and we're ready to go. This is all that we have managed to do so far today and it is 10:30 in the morning. I've decided that breakfast, baths for both, and getting dressed don't count so i'm determined to get out of the house and run some errands, especially since Teddy has all of two diapers left and the stores are closed tomorrow.

Thankfully our morning after this point took a turn for the better. We got to all the stores we needed to, Teddy stayed sitting, the baby stayed sleeping, and I was able to get some exercise in by pushing the double stroller in the 36 degree weather. Speaking of which, thank you Germany for encouraging walking or biking to do the daily shopping, my body definitely appreciates the encouraged movement, and hopefully these baby pounds will continue to drop.

This morning when Teddy was doing his best to convince me not to like him at all, and the baby was just trying to cause early deafness I have to admit there were moments where I felt like crying because seriously do they not realize how difficult they can make simple easy tasks?!? But now this afternoon after enjoying a nice breakfast (we won't focus on the fact that it happened at 1:30 pm), watching the two of them "play" with each other, seeing them skype with grandma, and now enjoying the sounds of both children sleeping, I have to admit that I am more then ready for the afternoon to come.

Kind of Wordless Wednesday

Woah, when did I have a little kid and what happened to my toddler?

Growth Spurts

My husband likes to laugh at me when I talk about growth spurts, especially because during these first months they seem to be happening like every other day. However I had completely forgotten that growth spurts can turn normal babies into crazy little demon babies that are nothing like their normal selves. We just had our 3 month one (I think, guess, hope!) and for 4 days all Ferdi did was cry and sleep, and scream. It was....a special time. It totally brought back memories of Teddy and made me realize how much easier baby stuff is when you don't have to scream to be heard over the baby and how lucky, lucky, lucky I was to have a baby who wasn't normally like this. I never knew when Teddy was having a growth spurt because nothing changed whatsoever. This time it is totally different. Hey the baby wants to nurse a ton, is super fussy, and is sleeping less- must be a growth spurt. A few days later- hey the baby is nursing nicely, looking around pleasantly when awake, and sleeping nice stretches - must be my super awesome normal baby.

We just got back from our first vacation with both boys and it went great. I forgot the sun hood for the stroller so we had to improvise

and the boys were adorable and had a good time... except for that whole growth spurt thing.

As you can tell I am once again going against the German advice of never ever propping up my children before they can sit on their own. According to them this will lead to less intelligent children, serious back problems, and children who will probably not succeed in life. I'm such a bad ass. And a terrible mom. Who doesn't care- which I guess probably makes me even worse.