Almost 6 months!

I have read before that with kids the days can be long but the years are short and it is so true, and right now even the days are flying by.

I have two wonderful little boys and a great husband that take up most of my time and they are all helping to make this current phase of my life really enjoyable.

Teddy is doing so good. He transitioned to KITA- which is short for "Kindertagesstätte" or Kindergarten but would relate most closely to our American pre-schools or structured daycare. He went from being around only 3-4 other children for 5 hours 3 days a week to going to a big old villa with 3 stories, and what will end up being about 50 children altogether (although they will be separated into groups of 8-12). However this Kita has just opened so when Teddy started in January they were just 8 children which has made the adjustment go even smoother. They do such a fantastic job and we are really happy that we were able to get him in, as finding spots in the city can be quite difficult. One of my favorite parts is that they have a male teacher who is just wonderful. He actually is a qualified sports grade school teacher which fits perfectly with Teddy. All of the teachers are also very young and dynamic and never seem to let all the little ones phase them. Needless to say Teddy seems even more like a "big kid" now, as his vocabulary expands every day, and as the way he interacts with others becomes more and more cooperative.

Ferdi is just the sweetest thing ever. He rarely cries, he loves to just look around, and he just fits so well into the family. Two weeks ago I also started feeding him solids thinking it would take quite awhile for him to get the hang of it and he is already eating 4 meals a day! He eats a milk-rice porridge morning and night, and has a veggie/carb (but no grain) meal for lunch and often times a snack of fruit in the afternoon. The fact that he is eating so well has also allowed me to feel comfortable weaning him for the night so he is now going as long as 11 hours in the night without breastfeeding. He still wakes 1-2 times often in the night but just going in and giving him a pat is enough for him to fall back asleep. I'm hoping to work on the night wakings in the coming weeks and have him truly sleeping through the night very soon. I know from Teddy that a full night's sleep is the most important thing for me to get my energy back and to start truly feeling like myself again, so it is definitely a priority for all of us. Although so far he has made things so easy for us that I can't complain and don't imagine that the day where I get a nice 6 or 7 hour stretch of sleep again will be so far off in the future. He still nurses during the day and I think with the milk meals in the morning and night he should be getting more then enough milk altogether. His face and body have chubbed out considerably so I think it was definitely a good choice for us to make.

The weather is cold, rainy, and gray here so we are all really looking forward to spring. Teddy's birthday is coming up and now that one of his teachers plays a guitar and sings every morning at Kita he wants only a "eetarre"="Gitarre"="guitar".

Me with my boys

Hanging out in Ferdi's bed

Teddy dressed up for Carnival!

A few awesome things according to Teddy

A few awesome things according to Teddy.
Teddy is a little over two and a half years old now and I feel like I should mention a bit of what he is up to.

-Construction Sites
This one has been popular for a while now with no signs of diminishing in popularity. Have you ever watched construction workers at a site for over half an hour a few times a week? I have. So have Teddy's babysitters. The best items are cranes (Teddy delights in being a crane while doing normal day to day activities as well), diggers, and people hammering (BANG BANG).

-ROARING
Teddy isn't into animals. At all. I know this because we have a yearly zoo pass and he literally only wants to go to the playground there, play with the real safari jeep in one of the food areas, and talk about riding the antique cars which he never gets to ride. He has never once asked to look at an animal, take a closer look at an animal, or not leave an animals area- in fact his most frequent comment is "weitergehen" (roughly translated: lets keep going) However he does like animal sounds due to some books he has- and all animals roar. Now he does the right sound Woof Woof, Meow,etc but he somehow makes it into a roar- it is awesome.

-Telling us what we are doing right at this very moment and then repeating it over and over again until one of us confirms what he just said by saying, "yes you are right that is what we are doing".
This happens literally hundreds of times a day. Some favorites "nicht dünkel" "nicht dünkel" "jetzt nicht schlafen gehen" (not dark, not dark, now it isn't time to sleep-this isn't said in a negative way just as a statement which must be confirmed) "baby weint" (the baby is crying- always fun to confirm this over the baby's high pitched screams).

-Na?
A German phrase which basically means "well!/?" but which Teddy constantly uses after every phrase. It is very cute and I am hoping it naturally goes away because no one uses it as much as he does but he definitely isn't aware he is using it so I don't know how in the world I would teach him to stop.

-Laufrad
Riding on his balance bike is one of his favorite things to do and he is really good at it. Like I can't watch because I am sure if he goes down that skate ramp any faster he might die, good.

-"Monkey show"
For a long time Teddy would only watch the show "Max and Ruby" . This was annoying for me because I have only been able to find two seasons of it, so I was stuck watching the same episodes over and over and over again. Now Teddy likes "Curious George" which he calls the "monkey show" and I get to spend time watching one of my favorite childhood characters on the little screen. If I am going to be watching toddler TV this is one show I don't mind.

- Gummy bears, fruit snacks, cookies, cake
I don't know how it happened, if it is related to personality, or what, but Teddy really likes sweets. If he sees some he wants them and will actually try to take a piece of your cake from your plate if he has already finished his and you have some left. Not so amusing in front of company.

-Trains
Trains are still one of the greatest things ever and thankfully since we live in the city, subways are also considered trains. He loves riding trains, talking about trains, playing with his train table,etc.

-My husband and my husband's friends
Spending time with daddy is one of the best things ever. He delights in shutting the door in my face "Tschüüüüüsssss mama" (bye mom) and doing super secret awesome things with his dad. We also have a good friend who has come over to play with him a few times, and last time he actually started crying when he had to leave. I am clearly not first choice when it comes to playmates.However I also am no good at building forts and often veto things citing reasons such as danger and bodily harm so I understand. I'm still the only one who can bake cookies with him which assures that I will never fall too low in the rankings.

-Skyping with grandma
When we first started doing this, he really didn't know what was going on, but now he really enjoys talking to grandma and actually requests to skype with her sometimes. I find this to be super cute and I know it is great for their relationship.

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.