Hugs from big brother...
Friday, February 13, 2009
More Pictures...
A 'hug' from big brother.
Big brother is fixing Jacob's sock. We were jumping in the cushions.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Finally....
Finally! I thought after at least a month that I should finally give an update.... :)
After just over a month of being home, sleepless nights, tears, runny noses (we ALL had two colds), I feel like we are finally starting to get a groove as a family and starting to feel like a family. The other day Noah was awake before Jacob in the morning. We both just sat there and looked at each other like - what do we do now?
We are really starting to see Jacob's personality. He seems to be a pretty laid back kid and can be quite funny at times. He loves to play outside but can't move once we get him all dressed up in his snowsuit so ends up either being carried or pushed around in our little car with a handle. He loves a little toy lawnmower that we have and to carry a shovel. Now, I am not sure how he does this. He usually has on these huge mittens and his thumb is too small to fit in the thumb hole. Somehow he has figured out how to hold the lawnmower and a shovel.
He is jabbering non-stop. Yesterday it seemed like he tried to say almost everything that we did. He has a few words that he can say, but most of them still sound the same right now. I have found that the grocery store is a place for him to exercise his lungs because wow is he loud! Luckily we go to Meijers and it has high ceilings and no one really notices how loud we are. He also follows us around and mimics everything we do and everything that big brother does. He is quick to learn and figure things out. If big brother is stacking pillows on the couch then he is right in there doing the same thing. Their favorite thing to do together is to sit in a big pillow pile on the couch and face the back of the couch. They like to pop up and play with daddy back there. They just giggle and laugh the whole time. Jacob is starting to really like trains. I wonder if he likes them or if we just have so many that that is just the only thing that he can find. :) He will walk around the house trying to make train noises. He is pretty good. Last night he gave his big brother a 'zerbert' on his tummy after baths. Of course Noah loved this.
He is sleeping better.... We have only had a handful of nights that he has slept from nighttime until morning but we are hopeful. He seems to be getting more restful (not getting up so much or for so long at night) sleep as he gets more and more comfortable here. We have a good bedtime routine and he seems to know when it is time to go to bed. He typically falls asleep quickly as he is quite worn out from the day's play. When we put him to bed or when he wakes up at night we typically stand at the side of the crib and wait for him to fall back to sleep and at times we rub his back or head to soothe him. This is something that we have been encouraged to do until he is more comfortable here. He now sleeps or is in bed from about 8:30ishpm until morning which still ranges from 6:30-8am. When we first got home he was in bed by 7:30 but awake a lot at night for at least an hour at a time and then was up by 5ish... barely getting 9-10 hours of sleep. Now it is getting a bit better. Naptime is getting easier and as well. At first his naps were 35-40 minutes a day! Ouch... on top of no sleep at night and we were all worn out. Last week he bumped it up to about an hour and yesterday he slept 2 hours. So hopefully we are over the hump on naptime or at least we are getting better. He averages about an hour or a little over. When he is tired he likes to be carried a lot so when he is more rested it is nice to see him playing around more.
Playing is getting more fun. Noah is really starting to enjoy his little brother. We had a much better week this week than last. When Jeff went back to work it was an adjustment. It is much different here with two adults than with one. We went from pushing, yelling, kicking and timeouts to lots of hugs and 'helping'. I couldn't turn my back on them for one minute at first, but I remember the first time that they played together. I was in shock... I called jeff on the phone and said - "you will never believe it! They are playing together!" Now it is happening more often. We pulled the cushions off of the couch and were jumping into them the other day from the ottoman. Jacob loved it and Noah loves to help him. Funniest thing watching Noah trying to lift Jacob onto the ottoman and Jacob is just as excited. Noah seems to be so excited about Jacob but sometimes doesn't know what to do with all of that energy or how to engage Jacob in play. Sometimes or I guess lots of times he will just pull him over or tackle him or something. We are working on this. :)
Jacob eats great. He will eat anything that we give him. We are trying to keep it simple though. We found that anything too spicy or too grainy upsets his tummy a bit. He can eat with both hands - I mean with a utensil in both hands. He drinks milk out of a cup with no lid with no problem. He does great with soups... When I am making dinner, he loves to be held. I am not sure if it is because he wants to make sure that he gets to eat or if he just wants to see what is going on. He is always carrying a cup, bowl, or spoon around. I don't know why.. he just does. We have started slowly adding foods that Noah eats so that we don't need to make so many different things. So I will make a quarter of a peanut butter and jelly for Jacob to go with his soup or give him a piece of toast/pancake/etc with his oatmeal in the morning. Yesterday he decided that he was going to protest his oatmeal and just eat the other stuff. He just watches Noah plate and what Noah has, just waiting for a taste of it. Noah likes to put his bib on and 'help' him eat. He even helps him get a drink of his milk. Jacob seems to think it is funny and lets him do all of it. Jacob is learning to drink from a sippy cup. He will go find one in the drawer with a matching lid and then walk around with it until I put something in it for him. The kid knows what he wants. :)
He had a good doctor visit. We took him to our pediatrician. He looked him over. At first the pediatrician was skeptical - especially after seeing our referral video. Jacob didn't do anything in it and the referral had some medical terminology in it that is not used in the US. The doctor thought that he might have some problems and also spoke of all the delays that he would have. After our doctor monitored him playing and looked him over he told us that he looked like a healthy 18 month old. How cool is that! His motor skills are quite advanced. The only thing that he may have a delay on is his speech. He jabbers all of the time and is trying to say everything that we do so we are working with him quite a bit to see how he does. He weighs 27.4 lbs! Whew... my arms are strong now!
This is all for now. I will try to do better with updates in the future!
After just over a month of being home, sleepless nights, tears, runny noses (we ALL had two colds), I feel like we are finally starting to get a groove as a family and starting to feel like a family. The other day Noah was awake before Jacob in the morning. We both just sat there and looked at each other like - what do we do now?
We are really starting to see Jacob's personality. He seems to be a pretty laid back kid and can be quite funny at times. He loves to play outside but can't move once we get him all dressed up in his snowsuit so ends up either being carried or pushed around in our little car with a handle. He loves a little toy lawnmower that we have and to carry a shovel. Now, I am not sure how he does this. He usually has on these huge mittens and his thumb is too small to fit in the thumb hole. Somehow he has figured out how to hold the lawnmower and a shovel.
He is jabbering non-stop. Yesterday it seemed like he tried to say almost everything that we did. He has a few words that he can say, but most of them still sound the same right now. I have found that the grocery store is a place for him to exercise his lungs because wow is he loud! Luckily we go to Meijers and it has high ceilings and no one really notices how loud we are. He also follows us around and mimics everything we do and everything that big brother does. He is quick to learn and figure things out. If big brother is stacking pillows on the couch then he is right in there doing the same thing. Their favorite thing to do together is to sit in a big pillow pile on the couch and face the back of the couch. They like to pop up and play with daddy back there. They just giggle and laugh the whole time. Jacob is starting to really like trains. I wonder if he likes them or if we just have so many that that is just the only thing that he can find. :) He will walk around the house trying to make train noises. He is pretty good. Last night he gave his big brother a 'zerbert' on his tummy after baths. Of course Noah loved this.
He is sleeping better.... We have only had a handful of nights that he has slept from nighttime until morning but we are hopeful. He seems to be getting more restful (not getting up so much or for so long at night) sleep as he gets more and more comfortable here. We have a good bedtime routine and he seems to know when it is time to go to bed. He typically falls asleep quickly as he is quite worn out from the day's play. When we put him to bed or when he wakes up at night we typically stand at the side of the crib and wait for him to fall back to sleep and at times we rub his back or head to soothe him. This is something that we have been encouraged to do until he is more comfortable here. He now sleeps or is in bed from about 8:30ishpm until morning which still ranges from 6:30-8am. When we first got home he was in bed by 7:30 but awake a lot at night for at least an hour at a time and then was up by 5ish... barely getting 9-10 hours of sleep. Now it is getting a bit better. Naptime is getting easier and as well. At first his naps were 35-40 minutes a day! Ouch... on top of no sleep at night and we were all worn out. Last week he bumped it up to about an hour and yesterday he slept 2 hours. So hopefully we are over the hump on naptime or at least we are getting better. He averages about an hour or a little over. When he is tired he likes to be carried a lot so when he is more rested it is nice to see him playing around more.
Playing is getting more fun. Noah is really starting to enjoy his little brother. We had a much better week this week than last. When Jeff went back to work it was an adjustment. It is much different here with two adults than with one. We went from pushing, yelling, kicking and timeouts to lots of hugs and 'helping'. I couldn't turn my back on them for one minute at first, but I remember the first time that they played together. I was in shock... I called jeff on the phone and said - "you will never believe it! They are playing together!" Now it is happening more often. We pulled the cushions off of the couch and were jumping into them the other day from the ottoman. Jacob loved it and Noah loves to help him. Funniest thing watching Noah trying to lift Jacob onto the ottoman and Jacob is just as excited. Noah seems to be so excited about Jacob but sometimes doesn't know what to do with all of that energy or how to engage Jacob in play. Sometimes or I guess lots of times he will just pull him over or tackle him or something. We are working on this. :)
Jacob eats great. He will eat anything that we give him. We are trying to keep it simple though. We found that anything too spicy or too grainy upsets his tummy a bit. He can eat with both hands - I mean with a utensil in both hands. He drinks milk out of a cup with no lid with no problem. He does great with soups... When I am making dinner, he loves to be held. I am not sure if it is because he wants to make sure that he gets to eat or if he just wants to see what is going on. He is always carrying a cup, bowl, or spoon around. I don't know why.. he just does. We have started slowly adding foods that Noah eats so that we don't need to make so many different things. So I will make a quarter of a peanut butter and jelly for Jacob to go with his soup or give him a piece of toast/pancake/etc with his oatmeal in the morning. Yesterday he decided that he was going to protest his oatmeal and just eat the other stuff. He just watches Noah plate and what Noah has, just waiting for a taste of it. Noah likes to put his bib on and 'help' him eat. He even helps him get a drink of his milk. Jacob seems to think it is funny and lets him do all of it. Jacob is learning to drink from a sippy cup. He will go find one in the drawer with a matching lid and then walk around with it until I put something in it for him. The kid knows what he wants. :)
He had a good doctor visit. We took him to our pediatrician. He looked him over. At first the pediatrician was skeptical - especially after seeing our referral video. Jacob didn't do anything in it and the referral had some medical terminology in it that is not used in the US. The doctor thought that he might have some problems and also spoke of all the delays that he would have. After our doctor monitored him playing and looked him over he told us that he looked like a healthy 18 month old. How cool is that! His motor skills are quite advanced. The only thing that he may have a delay on is his speech. He jabbers all of the time and is trying to say everything that we do so we are working with him quite a bit to see how he does. He weighs 27.4 lbs! Whew... my arms are strong now!
This is all for now. I will try to do better with updates in the future!
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