The Clayton Column: Lots of Updates

I've discovered that it's difficult to keep up with a blog when you have two kids, one of which really likes to be held a lot of the time. SO, here's my much belated update...

Charlie is almost 4 weeks old now and doing great. Jason and I think his cheeks get chubbier and his double chin more pronounced by the hour - love it! He's definitely a good eater - still averaging about every 3 hours but the last few days he's been sneaking in some feedings after just 2 hours - growth spurt maybe?? We've had a couple longer stretches at night - Friday night was the record at 6 hrs, 45 minutes - but then other nights he's still getting up every 3 hours. Last night marked his first night sleeping in his crib, 5 days earlier than the one month mark at which we transitioned Jack. Until now Charlie's been sleeping in a bassinet in our room, but as he kicks his feet he inches down and before you know it his feet are against the end. Our baby was ready for more space! He looks so teeny in his crib but he did fine all by himself in his big bed (and Mommy survived too).

As I mentioned above, during the day Charlie really likes to be held. He's not a fan of his swing and he will generally only do short stints in the bouncy seat before he wants out. I can usually get him to take a decent nap swaddled in his Snuggle Nest once/day, which is nice.

We think he's going to be a spitter like his big brother but hopefully not to that extreme. It doesn't seem like he's spitting up quite as much as Jack did, but we can't really remember when the excessive spit-ups started with Jack - we may not quite be in the clear yet.

He lost his umbilical cord last Wednesday, at just under 2 weeks old. This is a vast improvement over Jack's, which you may recall took 7.5 weeks to fall off! Charlie generally enjoys his real baths and doesn't fuss at all - much better than those lousy sponge baths!

Jack is doing great as a big brother - still showering Charlie with kisses and love pats. His favorite is helping me burp Charlie - what fun! He's still been going to day care on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Grandma & Grandpa Lang have continued to help out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I will keep him home with me some days, but really want him to maintain his day care routine so we're not back to square one transitioning again when my time comes to go back to work (which by the way I am NOT even thinking about right now!).

This time around I splurged (Note: I use this term loosely as each item cost about $20) and bought a few products I didn't have with Jack. The first is a nursing cover. With Jack I just draped blankets over me when necessary which was awkward and ineffective. I bought this cover this time and really don't know how I managed without! I love it. The other "splurge" this go 'round was this handy timer for tracking the last time I fed Charlie. With Jack I kept track on a notebook because in my exhausted state I couldn't possibly remember when he last ate. This trusty device is a great invention!

I had my first mini outing with the boys last Thursday. I needed a few things at the mall, so my parents met me there and my dad took Jack home to help him with yard work. But I got there about 30 minutes before them and bravely nursed Charlie using the aforementioned nursing cover while Jack played on the playground. I have to say it went very well!! We also tried out the sit & stand stroller I bought used from my family friend Sarah Saneholtz and so far Jack thinks it's pretty cool to stand or sit on the little jump seat. Hopefully the novelty doesn't wear off anytime soon!!

Here's Charlie enthusiastically cheering on his Cardinals in their big playoff game last night. It didn't work, so today he avoided wearing red (and they won - yay!):

We met two of Charlie's new friends this week. Yesterday we visited my friend Rebecca, who had her son Graham just 6 days before Charlie - aren't they handsome?

Today we met my friend Melissa and her daughter Reese, who is almost 4 weeks Charlie's senior. Rebecca, Graham and Caroline came as well. Luckily they have a private room at Fortel's so we could keep our baby paraphernalia out of the other patrons' way.

More Jack updates: he is quite the copy cat these days, as he has been for awhile. The other day he told Grandma she needed to go to her room and sit down and look at the wall (what we do for timeout for Jack). Here he is bouncing his baby on the ball just like Daddy:

I was bragging the other day about how since his transition to his big boy bed he's only gotten out of bed a couple times. Well, you know how they say not to talk about a no-hitter? Yeah, totally jinxed that one. Starting the weekend before last, Jack decided he should get out of bed, turn his light on and play rather than sleep. Here's how I found him during one nap:

This morning he was suspiciously quiet and when we went in he had emptied the bin with all his diapers and wipes in it and was liberally applying Desitin to his abdomen. Nice. The honeymoon period is over.

Jack is really into watching "ball," whether it's baseball or football. As soon as he notices a Cardinals game on TV, he runs into his toy room and gets his bat, ball and glove and then runs into his room to get his Cardinals hat. Too cute! He also looks at Daddy and puts his hat on either forward or backward depending on how Daddy is currently sporting his hat. Here he is watching the game. I love this picture because when we told him to put his bat on his shoulder he put his other hand on his shoulder too. Funny.