Why He's Still Little?

To help prepare the kids for Blake's birth, we talked about babies a lot. How small he would be, how they could help us feed him and change him and play with him. Whenever we saw a baby, we pointed it out and talked about how we were going to have a baby like that. What I did not realize that most of the babies I pointed out to Campbell were several months old or were already toddlers. When Blake was born she understood that he was a new baby and that he was very small. When we brought him home she thought he should be a little bigger. Now she wakes up every day and asks Why he's still little? Why are his feet little? Why does he have little pinkies? When is he going to grow and play? She has no concept of time and when we told her she was going to have a baby brother to play with she thought it was now! I am sure that as soon as he is old enough to grab her toys she won't be so happy about it, but for now she is ready for him to grow up. I think I'll enjoy having a tiny baby for as long as I can.

Campbell's New Song

Campbell loves to sing and often makes up her own songs. If she does not know you are watching she will sing to herself or to her dolls. She makes up songs about what she is watching, what she is playing, anything she can think of. One of her favorites is "I'm so pretty". She repeats "I'm so pretty" over and over. Over the past couple of weeks I have noticed a new song. She walks around the house singing it, sings it in the car, while she watches tv, while she takes a bath, sits on the potty, whenever it strikes her. The song? The Wedding March.
She has never been to a wedding and to my knowledge, has never seen a wedding on tv or anywhere else. I have no idea where she heard the song, but she sings it perfectly. Are girls automatically preprogrammed to know the wedding march? At three? What are we going to do at fifteen?

Praying Hands

I can only hope he was talking to angels...

Blake's First Bath

Blake was finally ready for his first bath last night. He really needed it too, he was beginning to get a little stinky! He enjoyed it about as much as Brandt and Campbell did when they had theirs. Here are all the pictures..


Blake


Brandt


Campbell

Blake at Two Weeks

Blake had his two week check up on Tuesday. He is up to 8 pounds 9 ounces and is 20 5/8 inches long. So in two weeks he has grown 1/8" and gained all of his weight back, plus one ounce. Dr. Diaz was pleased and said he was doing great. He is in the 50th percentile for height and weight and the 25th percentile for his head size. Brandt and Campbell were never this small.
Comparatively at two weeks, Campbell was 9 pounds 13 ounces and 22 inches. Brandt was 10 pounds and 21 1/2".
Overall Blake is doing great and Brandt and Campbell seem to be adjusting well. They love to smother him with kisses and run to find find me the second he makes the slightest noise. They can't stand for him to cry and want him to be picked up immediately. Campbell is anxious for him get bigger and play with her. She keeps asking why he is still little. She is back to her binky all the time, but right now that is okay.

On a side note - congratulations to my dear friend Michelle on her new little boy Jake, who weighed in at 9 pounds 14 ounces! I can't wait to meet him!

Now for some Blake pictures...

Han San

Our kids are not the best at washing thier hands. They usually use too much soap, make a mess with the water, shake their hands on the floor instead of using a towel and still need help getting all the soap off when they are finished. Instead of constant hand washing before they touch Blake, we opted for hand santetizer. Brnadt uses it at school and Campbell has used it at Pump It Up and the mall play area, so I thought they would catch on pretty quick. We put it on the counter behind the kitchen table and explained to the kids that they needed to use it before they touched Blake. It is Campbell's new favorite thing. She uses "han san" all the time and patrols everyone who comes into the house to make sure they have used it to. Way to watch out for your "baby bruder", Campbell. Now let's work on remembering his name!

Party of Five

We are quickly settling into our new routines as a family of five. The kids are adjusting to Blake really well. They want to kiss and touch him all the time. Campbell does seem to need a little more mommy time, but I expected this. She was so accustomed to it being just the two of us all day, that I knew she was going to have the hardest time.
Time does seem to go really quickly. Even as I write this, Campbell is still wearing her nightgown. I brought her clothes downstairs hours ago but she is not inters ted in getting dressed. Hopefully we can get clothes on before we have to leave for carpool line! I don't think either of us have brushed our hair today. I know I meant to, but something else happened and I got sidetracked. We did manage to get Brandt to school on time, with his lunch and backpack, hair and teeth brushed and clean, matching clothes on (and I did not wear pjs), so I felt pretty accomplished!
Here are a few pictures from the past couple of days...

Blake is Here

Blake Carter arrived on April 7th at 1:08 pm. He weighed 8 pounds and 8 ounces and is 21 1/4" long. Here is a link to his birth pictures:

http://rebeccaboenigkspictures.shutterfly.com/

We are home now. I'll post more pictures and his birth story after we rest and settle down a bit.

Four Becomes Five

So the time has finally come. I had my last appointment this morning. Doctor Thurston gave in and we are going to the hospital at 11:00 pm tonight to be induced. I made it to 2 cm on my on which is more than either of the other two kids. All the whining, contractions, pain in my hips and back - 2 whole cm. Oh well.
Sometime tomorrow we should have Cuckoo (who still does not have a definite name). I'll post details and pictures sometime later in the week, when we are a family of five and officially parents of three.

Springtime Weather

The weather was so nice the end of last week that we spent as much time as possible playing outside. Campbell loves to go on bike rides and take her babies for walks in the stroller. She also loves to play with sidewalk chalk. Here are a few pictures of our fun!

When Boys Play Girl Games

Tonight Campbell came downstairs with two Barbies looking for a playmate. Brandt agreed and for about a minute played by her rules. The next time I looked up, Campbell's Barbie was happily practicing her arabesque, pirouette and passe. Brandt's Barbie, on the other hand, promptly shot her with her hand, bent over and tooted on her and then flew away Superman style.
Campbell's Barbie still has perfect hair and all her clothes on. Brandt's Barbie's hair is now beyond help and her dress is pulled down to show off her chest.
Maybe next time I should be more willing to play Barbies with her! Some toys are just not for boys.

The Third Nine Weeks

We are three nine weeks into kindergarten and once again Brandt got all checks on his report card. I can't believe that in less than two months our first baby will be finished with kindergarten and will be a big first grader. He has learned so much and is doing so well. He is learning to tell time, reads chapter books, adds, subtracts and I think his spelling may be better than mine!
We are very proud of you B!

The Simple Things In Life

Today on Facebook one of my high school friends posted that he was at Tanglewood Park in Bryan. This immediately brought back a flood of childhood memories. I grew up just a couple of blocks from this park. When I was very young, (and before we lived in Bryan), I was lucky enough to spend two weeks of each summer with my grandparents. Everyday I got to choose what we did and many of those days were spent at different Bryan parks, one being Tanglewood. At the time this park had a wading pool, metal slides with chain ladders, metal merry go rounds and tons of others great 70s toys that are now banned for safety reasons. One of the slides was so tall and was red and white striped. I remember being so scared to climb that shaky chain ladder and slide down that hot metal slide. I could always depend on my Nanna to climb right behind me the first couple of times and slide down with me.
I hope that my kids will have great memories of the times we spend at the park. I hope that the days at the park will be remembered just as fondly as the elaborate outings that we work so hard to plan.
Thanks Murray, for bringing back some great memories!