Sharing 2.0

Last of the summer fun

I loaded up at the Regional Market this morning, buying swiss chard, leeks, red leaf lettuce, blueberries, plums, a loaf of bread, and two mums.Theo and Beckett had to help out carrying everything back to the car.

After missing his nap this afternoon Theo held on like a champ. But after eating about a cup of thawed frozen berries and a bunch of macaroni and cheese, he just slumped over and snored his way through the rest of dinner. After about 10 minutes Beckett looked over at Theo, looked at me, said "mama!" and pointed at Theo. At least he noticed.

Two is harder than one: Part Deux

I have two babies teething right now. To clarify: I have two babies, each of whom have SIX teeth emerging in their mouths, including four each of heavy duty grinder molars. Plus since Beck gets diaper rash when he is teething we have a monster diaper rash/fungal infection that is making Beck even more uncomfortable. Mama and Daddy Lovebo are getting very little continuous sleep these days. It makes me mad even to think about it, so I choose not to recount the number of times I was up last night and for how long. What I do know is that I'm going to bed now, at 8:15pm. I'm hoping I will get at least three or four hours continuous before the boys wake up. The new strategy is going to be to change Beck every time he wakes up, since the wet on the diaper rash I think makes him very uncomfortable. I also have a twin air mattress set up in their room if I need to sleep with them to help them get to sleep, because I think some of the problem is separation anxiety. I have to keep repeating: this too shall pass, this too shall pass....

For reference, the ones they are getting are the first molars, top and bottom, and the top canines.

Sensory stimulation

Great article on providing sensory stimulation (here, for an autistic child, but it could work for anyone).

Four Years of Team Lovebo

Jeff and I celebrated our four year anniversary yesterday. Which officially makes our marriage Jeff's longest. Record-breaking marriage, everybody! Can we get some love up in here?

The Parent Rap. Just saw this today and it made my day. Favorite part is when Dad dumps Candyland on the floor.

Theo getting right into the closet to see what goodies we're hiding in there.

 SWIFFER!!!

 Theo wearing both tutus at once.

 Double tutu wearing, this time with their fire truck and track excavator shirts!

We made our own video of bathtime yesterday, which was particularly rambunctious, especially on Theo's part.

This week's highlights

1) At the cottage on Sunday, Beck fell off the dock into the lake. He was pushing a folding chair along the deck with me just behind him. I thought I'd anticipated his speed appropriately and that I would catch the chair before it went in the water. I obviously misjudged, as the chair went in with Beck right behind it. There were six adults standing within two yards of where he fell in but I was in the best position to jump in after him and honestly didn't even think about it and jumped in next to him, kind of on top of the chair. I grabbed him, handed him to Jeff, and was out of the water to take him back before I even really knew what had happened. Beck appears to have experienced no ill effects from the fall. He was probably in the water for 1-2 seconds before I grabbed him. He did scrape his chin on something at some point that day, maybe during the fall but I'm not sure on what. Theo and Beckett definitely have depth perception and would not purposely walk off the dock but they certainly can misjudge time and space (as can their Mama) and are certainly capable of accidentally falling in. Good lesson for all of us.

2) Grandpa Stu has been painting our new deck! He came Monday to do a first coat, and I thought it would be a fun treat for the boys to watch him paint like it was to watch the machines outside on the road or the contractor build the deck. But in fact, because they know and love Grandpa Stu, they could not STAND that he was on the other side of the glass and wasn't hugging and cuddling them. So we had to leave the house and go to the park to let him work in peace, away from babies screaming to be let out to their Grandpa.

 3) Auntie Tara came over for a walk Monday afternoon and before it stopped raining we took some pictures of Theo with his favorite blonde aunt.

 4) The boys are both confidently going up and down stairs. Beck's preferred method is the butt-scoot, which is slow but secure. Theo's more of an improviser, holding on to the railing and walking down when he can and going down backwards (very quickly) when all else fails.

Teething

For the past several weeks, the boys have been teething. The emergence of some monster grinder molar teeth on the top and bottom on both sides unfortunately coincided with our attempt to introduce night weaning, which we have now abandoned. Some nights one or both boys wake up two or three times. Tonight we luckily muted the television show we were watching at 8:30pm and heard Theo screaming. By the time we got upstairs, Beck was crying too. I have no idea if he just had a bad dream, or if his teeth were bothering him, but I decided to give them both tylenol. As always, most of the tylenol ended up on the floor, my clothes, my arms and legs, their necks and faces and arms and legs and bellies and diapers, and the bedside table. Then we went for a walk around the block in our Ergos, with them wide awake and looking out at the cars and streetlights and people out for strolls. When we got home, we put them down in their cribs and they curled up and went to sleep.

 On a day a few weeks ago when Theo woke up early and cranky from a nap at the lake, Grandpa Stu cuddled and rocked him for a good long while so he could at least have some rest time, if he wasn't going to sleep.

More photos from Tamaleaa weekend

 Jalen and Beckett reading a book.

 Grandpa Stu and Theo reading.

 Jeff and Jared, who beat Jeff (twice, but who's counting) at chess over the weekend.

 Grandma Joanie demonstrating the natural instinct to gloat when one has something coveted by others. For example, in this photo, she is gratuitously enjoying her root beer float, procured on a trip to the grocery store with Jordan (who also got a root beer float).

 Theo gloating over his having procured the baby cell phone given to the boys by Grandma Joanie.

Grandpa Stu and Jada fishing off the dock.

Stu and Mark--he who is never photographed!

Weekend at the lake with the Tamaleaas!

This weekend we brought our friend and the boys' babysitter Mindy and her family to the lake with us. We had beautiful weather all weekend though it was COLD at night and breezy during the day. We also brought them to the Sim Redmond Band concert with us Saturday night, which was awesome. Everyone pitched in to make and clean up meals, and everyone had fun entertaining the babies. It was a really great, easy weekend!

Babies' first art!

I bought some newsprint and some chunky crayons at an art store last week to try out with the boys, and we just got a chance to try it out Monday afternoon. The tile floor got some crayon marks and there may have been some crayon ingested by one or both boys but it was a fun first attempt. I think we'll wait another month or two before bringing them out again.

Visit with P Man!

Between fighting over Preston's juice and Theo getting a fat lip, Theo and Beckett enjoyed a great visit with friend Preston. Note: Preston is only four months older than T &B but is quite a bit larger....

Luckily Daddy Lovebo arrived home at the exact right moment, as Beckett was careening toward the road and Theo was thrashing in the stroller, bleeding from the mouth and screaming. Beck and I joined Sara and P-Man at the park to play in the fountain, swing on the swings, and run around the playground.

Case in point

Theo decided not to nap today. So we spent the hour Beckett napped making as much noise as possible.

To sleep or not to sleep

That is the question my boys ask themselves every night, and every nap. About two weeks ago we thought we had night weaned, for which we patted ourselves on the back. Then it seemed like nights were getting very difficult again, with multiple wakeups, and difficult calculations of whether the boys needed to be attended to or whether they were only briefly awake and would put themselves back to sleep. All of which resulted in very little sleep for the Parents Lovebo. Inspired by Sarah at a visit this weekend, I decided to resume night nursing if the boys awoke. Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights have gone much better, with one brief wakeup and then otherwise uninterrupted sleep for all. The boys are nursing at 6:45 or 7pm and then waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning, so I figure they're going 9 or 10 hours straight sleeping, so maybe they really are waking up hungry in the early morning hours. So far we're all getting more sleep, so I think that's a sign we're doing something right.

Sunday Theo decided he was not going to have a nap, which turned out to be okay because the Parkes came over for a great afternoon which kept Theo and Beckett entertained until bedtime.

 These ginormous trucks, tractors, road saws and other vehicles of destruction have been parked in front of our house, on the lawn, and in the street for nearly 8 weeks. The least we could do was get some pictures in the cabs before they left (yesterday, finally!).

 I brought out the bouncer chair for Naomi when the Lewises visited Tuesday, and Theo enjoyed climbing in it and stretching the limits of its bounciness. For reference I thought I'd dig up a picture from last July of Theo in the same chair.