Last spelling installment

Owen is taking off with this spelling thing!  Here's a note he went off and secretly wrote to Mommo today, and then hid under her pillow (Awww).  I promise I won't post every one of these, I am just so intrigued by the onset of this skill!

Here's the message:  IHOPYUCANCOMTOMIBRTDDAFOMOWENTOMOMO

Can you figure it out?

"I hope you can come to my birthday.  From Owen, To Mommo."

Is that awesome or what?!  Perhaps I am easily impressed :)

Spelling

Well, Reuel and I were just blown away by hearing that the kids' cousin Miss Z (who is roughly Owen's age) was spelling phonetically and doing a bang-up job of it.  Genius! And then, lo and behold, Owen spontaneously tried it himself today.  This mom did not know he had it in him, so I was very excited and impressed to see that *some* of the work with reading we attempt must be making it through a sometimes stubborn noggin' :}  For the online baby book...Owen drew three pictures of himself on three post-it notes, and labeled them, 'Baby Owen', 'Toddler Owen', and 'Big Boy Owen'.  Except, he thinks the word Toddler is Tobbler.  And I don't correct him, because it's cute :)

'BAB OWEN'

If you're in the mood to decipher, you can see 'TOBLR' (well, Owen's version of R), and then his name 'OWEN'

 

This one says, "BIG BOEE OWEN'

I think Owen accurately captured a similar look for himself throughout the stages of his childhood, don't you?  :)  For some reason he's not big on drawing arms.  Or hair.  Just blobs and legs!  Having a dot for a nose is a recent innovation.  In similar news, he's started attempting to color in the lines, and uses different colors for different parts of a picture.  Apparently there is some healthy competition in his preschool class and the kids accuse each other of scribbling like babies, and this has prompted Owen to move his coloring up a few steps.  Nice!  (He used to be very content with taking one crayon, swiping it across the entire picture about 5 times, and pronouncing it 'Done!')

Fun to watch the kids grow and develop every single day.  Asher's hot on his heels...but that's for another day.

Eden, 1 month+3 days

Height: 21.25", 59%ile
Weight: 9lb 8oz, 60%ile
Head: 36cm, 24%ile
BMI: 15

Eden gained a few ounces shy of 2lb.  in 3.5 weeks...wow, babies grow fast.  But, hard to believe Eden is still smaller than Owen was when he was born!

Breastfeeding around boys...

[Mom is nursing the baby on the couch, Asher walks up and lifts up his shirt, baring chest]
Asher:  I got milk!
Mom:  [pretends to take some milk, puts in mouth and says yum, yum, yum]
Asher: [lifts other side of shirt]  I got carrots!
Mom: Ooh!  Yum, yum, yum.
Asher:  [back to the other side] And 'tatoes!
Mom:  Mmm, what a good lunch.
Asher:  Yeah, got yummy food in *my* moles!

Pretty in purple

Glamour Shot

Here's what a fractured fibula looks like (and a really super-swollen foot and toes...just when I thought I was done with swollen feet!!).  Gross.

Eden's first day at church

Photo shoot, if you can call it that (more like snap-pictures-as-fast-as-you-possibly-can-these-moving-targets-are-harder-to-catch-than-gazelle-on-the-Serengeti) from Eden's first trip to church this morning!  (Yeah, so she was a little tired and not really in the mood for pictures.  Too cute to pass up, though.)

Thoughts on sister

Me: Owen, do you see how Eden's little eyes are moving around and her mouth is twitching?  Maybe she's having a baby dream.  Isn't that cute?
Owen:  What is she dreaming about?
Me:  Who knows...probably she's dreaming milk...Milk...MILK!
Owen:  Or...I think maybe she's dreaming about how happy she'll be when she finally gets a mouthful of teeth!

_______________________

[Asher walks up and pats Eden]
Me:  Hi Ash, how are you?  Are you saying hi to Eden?
Asher:  Yeah.  Say hi baby.
Me:  She's your little sister, and you're her big brother, isn't that great?!
Asher:  Yeah.  He's my SIS-ter.  So TINY.  [pause.  pause.]  Put him back in mommy's big tummy?

_______________________

Owen:  Can mommies with babies in their tummies not use scales because they would break them?

_______________________

Asher:  [in car; baby's wailing]  Ba-ey Eden QUIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEht!

(The irony of that last quote is astounding if you've spent *any* time with Asher :} )

Quick snaps

Cool Whip Crime

Owen:  Mom, what is that stuff?
Me:  Cool Whip.  It's sort of like whipped cream (but not quite as good).
Owen:  Can I taste it?
Me:  OK, you can have one finger-full.
Asher: [walks into room] Taste it?
Me: [puts finger-full of Cool Whip into Asher's mouth]  OK guys, let's save the rest for dessert. [Walks out of room.  Returns in short order to room to find two boys on stools, up to wrists in Cool Whip, mouths coated, and formerly third-full tub licked nearly clean.  Gets camera.  Tells boys never to do that again.]

Update

Eden's done a little better the last couple of days!  At least, I can put her down for naps after she's deep.  Still have to find a way to get her to that point multiple times/day while taking care of the boys after mom leaves...that will take some luck...but getting some sleep under her belt has helped with the needing to be held for the whole nap.  Yay!!  At night I've been unusually permissive and need the sleep badly enough that I've let her sleep in the crook of my arm for one session of the night.  Funny, if she's in the baby bed (which is inclined, fuzzy and quite cozy) she might sleep for 2 hours.  Last night, I tucked her in my arm at 2am and didn't hear from her til 6:30am.  Wow, that felt good!!  But how can she tell she's next to me?  Is is just the warmth?  She's not near enough to hear my heartbeat...interesting...

Commence spoiling of youngest child :}  Actually, not so different from Asher at this point (of course, he's arguably pretty spoiled right now too...)

Eden, Eden, Eden...hmm, girlfriend.

Well, I knew it would happen, but it happened really quickly this time.  Either I'm losing patience as I age, or this one's an *even* smarter cookie than the first two...SLEEPING ISSUES at 2 weeks!!  Ugh, Eden is so addicted to being held/walked to sleep that she wakes instantly, or after 15 minutes at most, upon being laid down...even if she's thoroughly, completely, long-time asleep.  In arms...nice nap.  Today I got two 20 minute naps out of her between 11am and 7pm.  That is not enough sleep for a newborn (in case you didn't know).  So now she is wildly overtired and won't sleep more than 5 minutes, even in arms, without waking up crying and irritable.  So how do you get past that with a 2 week old?  I am just not in the cry-it-out camp for babies this little and don't believe it works...believe me as soon as we hit the 10-12 week zone I'll be parking her in the crib and shutting the door.  But I CAN'T be in the carry-24-7 camp because I have two other kids to take care of (and sanity to preserve!!!).  The magic swing that largely solved the issue for Asher works no magic for her.  I am stumped, and 1 day of it was all it took to drive me to the brink.  I tried for two hours to get her to go down in the cozy little newborn bed tonight with some BabyWhisperer shush-patting, but she knew exactly what was going on and wanted no part of it.  Took two hours to break me.

How can I not know how to handle newborn sleeping on my 3RD kid?!!!!  Do I have crazy non-self-soothing children, or do other people just not complain about this?  So stumped.  The scary part?  MOM'S STILL HERE!  How does one do this on one's own? 

In an attempt to remember that she's totally worth it and that I don't regret having another baby, here are today's snapshots :)  Aww, she is sweet isn't she? 

p.s.  Oh, did I mention Owen had a 24 hour fever/vomiting bug yesterday/last night?  When it rains, it pours!  I'm not going on much sleep here, so give me some grace for the dramatic post.

Compare

Always think it's interesting to look back at pictures of the kids at the same age:

Owen ~2wks

Asher ~2wks

I don't think they really look like their current-day selves much at this age.  Just hints of it.  It's so interesting waiting to see what who your child is becoming!

Eden faces

 "Mom, take my picture with baby Eden!"

 Fresh after a bath...this time with heater...cold New England newborn sponge baths not appreciated by her highness, can you blame her?

Say wha?

Initiate mission:  Wrap Daddy around finger!