My last week on maternity leave

I can't believe that twelve weeks has gone by so fast! I am back to work next week. It will be good to be a (financially) productive member of the family again but I am really sad to be going back so soon and leaving Matthew and Dylan in day care for 9+ hours a day/5 days a week.

I actually started the boys in day care this week to help Joe and I acclimate to the new schedule and dynamics of getting up and out of the door with two kids by 8 am, and also help the boys transition to the new day care. Dylan is doing really well and seems to be enjoying it. He hasn't had any issues with the new teachers, kids or schedule. The only challenge we have had with him is getting him up at 7 am, which really kinda ticks me off because he has wanted to get up by 7 am for the last 3 months and now that we need him to get up early of course he wants to sleep in till 8 am!

Matthew's entry into day care has been a little harder. He is still having a difficult time taking a bottle. They tell me that he cries for at least 15 minutes and gets really angry and frustrated before finally taking a few ounces. Today was an especially bad day for him because on top of not taking a bottle he wouldn't nap either. After we got home I nursed him and he fell straight to sleep. Now he will probably be up all night wanting to nurse around the clock. How am I going to manage this and work full-time?? I know that time will eventually solve everything.

The day care ladies have been patient and have taken the time to talk to me, suggest ideas and come up with a game plan for the next day. We are all under the agreement that I need to make a decision to either pump and feed him breast milk exclusively by bottle or switch to formula exclusively. I am going to do the latter and starting tomorrow they are going to start mixing breast milk with formula until he is tolerating 100% formula. Hopefully, it won't take more than a few weeks to accomplish this. Also, I am going to try a different style of bottle and nipple to see if Matthew prefers something other than Advent nipples. Of course I feel a little guilty for giving up breast feeding so early, especially since I nursed Dylan for 13 months, but something has to give and I really think this will be better for everyone in the long run.

So this is my last week of "freedom" and I took the opportunity of having a little free time sans kids to go to all of my doctors appointments, get my hair colored and cut, brows threaded and other miscellaneous errands. Here are some photos of my doings around town.

Lunch on a -25 degree (with the wind chill) day: Shio Ramen, yummy!


Dylan at the playground.




My friend Nicole gave me some paper whites for Christmas and here they are in bloom, aren't they beautiful? They smell great too. I can't wait to see the first daffodil - a sure sign of the winter thaw and that spring is sooner than later.

Da plane, da plane

Quyen picked me up from O'Hare airport late Thursday night with the kids sound asleep in the back seat. Later pulling into the driveway, I anticipated waking up Dylan to hear the two words I look forward to hearing each day when I get home from work: "Daddy's here!" Usually Dylan, with open arms, will run to me and give me the best bear hug his little arms can give. I then pick him up and ask him about his day.

Well, it didn't go quite like that after arriving home from the airport.

As I unbuckled the car seat, he woke up from a nearly 90-minute nap. He looked at me, began craning his neck to see where he was and then proceeded to have a meltdown because he wasn't at the airport. He didn't want to see me, he wanted to see planes.

I tried to console him, but he didn't want anything to do with me. The only way to console him was to tell him that we'd go to the airport tomorrow (Friday) to see the planes. Luckily, we live only minutes away from the Lansing, Ill., airport.

On Friday, while Quyen took Matthew to visit her office for the first time, I took Dylan to Shannon's Landing, an Irish pub and restaurant, provided the perfect place for lunch with a view of the tarmac. Though we didn't see a plane take off or land, a few planes taxied to a hangar on the far side of the airport.

Dylan was now satisfied

(I'm having issues uploading pictures, so look for them later.)

Matthew is Two Months Old

We had a busy day today. Matthew had his two month check-up and then we went to Joe's office in Downers Grove for a visit and lunch. Man that drive is a long one. Poor Joe for having to do that everyday. Ugh!

Matthew has gained another 3 pounds and grew another 1.5 inches in the last month. That makes 6 pounds and 2.5 inches since birth. Wow!

He is almost in size 3 diapers. A shout out to Jill for the supply of size 2 diapers, we blew through them faster than you can say Fuggeddaboudit!
Overall, he is doing well. The crying spells are getting shorter, he is sleeping better at night and naps well during the day when Dylan isn't too loud. He is less gassy now, his baby "acne" is slowly clearing up, he is smiling more and when awake is very alert. He loves to be walked around and around so that he can see everything. The Baby Bjorn carrier is getting a workout with this baby (thanks again Eric and Di for that gift!).

Today he had 3 shots (vaccines) and has been crying off and on all day. He was hysterical when the nurse jabbed him in the thigh (do you blame him!). Very different from how Dylan reacted with his shots, he would cry for a minute and then pass out for the rest of the day. Matty is a much more vocal baby.

Dylan, Matty and I went to Nana B's for a visit yesterday. She gave Dylan a haircut and he looks super cute. We are trying to grow it out, going for a surfer boy look eventually.



It is suppose to be bitter cold again this weekend (they are calling it the Siberian Express, sounds uh.. refreshing), so we will probably hibernate and be total bums (ie stay in our pj's all day and not brush our teeth).

Here is a cute photo I took of the boys, a "reject" from the announcement card photo shoot. Matthew was 5 weeks old in this photo and Dylan 3 years old.

Play Date

Joe's brother, Jim, came over with his son James for a play date.

Here is James and Dylan at the end of the night watching Peter Pan. Too bad Dylan passed out, what a party pooper! He takes after me, I can't stay awake when watching a movie in bed!



Here are the big boys playing Nintendo Madden football. Boys will be boys!

A Day at the Aquarium

We have a family membership to the Shedd Aquarium so I took Dylan and Matthew today for Tot Tuesdays. It was Matthew's first visit (duh) and he pretty much slept right through it, which was fine by me!

Everyone looked at me like I was a crazy woman, taking two boys to the Shedd by myself. It was very manageable, I had Matty in the Bjorn carrier and Dylan in the stroller (when he wasn't running around looking at the fish). Dylan was very well behaved and a total cutie. The only tricky time was when we went to the food court for lunch. It was a little difficult pushing a 60 lb stroller with one hand (with Dylan in it) and carrying a tray full of food with the other hand while working my way through the crowd. I managed fine and we had a really fun day.

Dylan was super excited to see everything. He even made up a "we're going to see the dolphins" dance for me in the elevator on the way down to see the dolphins and whales. The kid loves to dance!

Here are a few photos. It is hard to get a good picture because they don't allow flash photography.

By-the-way, this stay at home mommy thing pretty great. I love being at home with the boys. Dylan has become really attached to me, he follows me around the house all day long. And we have both really enjoyed getting to know Matthew, we talk to him in baby talk all day long. My boys are the cutest!

Dylan & Matthew

Dylan is very good with Matthew. Here he is trying to show him how to work the Jumperoo, and even got a smile out of him. I had to prop Matty up with a pillow, he is still too small for the thing, but momma got desperate. If he isn't walked around, he cries and cries. The kid doesn't want to sit still. It is hard work walking the kid around for hours on end. At least my biceps are getting a good workout. Now, if I can think of an exercise for my stomach and butt that incorporates carrying around the baby..

Yours truly is 39 today!

This is what I woke up to this morning. Isn't Joe so sweet to me! I am totally spoilt because I also got beautiful Tiffany jewelry from my boss. Thanks so much Leslie! I love the bracelet and matching earrings.

Happy Birthday to me!

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Joe took Dylan sledding for the first time yesterday. Here are the photos of him on his sled (a gift from Nana B) and drinking hot chocolate. Can't you just hear Dylan proclaiming "I LOVE hot chocolate"!

Dylanisms

Here are some gems from Dylan:

While role playing with his little cars (his cars are always talking to each other). The little car says to the big car "hold me, hold me". The big car replies "I can't right now, I am holding the baby."

We are having dinner and Dylan asks me what I am drinking. I say juice and he asks for a sip. Right before the cup touches his lips he stops, turns to me and asks "It not broccoli?" He asks that question every time he tries something for the first time. He kid does not like broccoli!

We are leaving Walmart where I'd just bought him some more cars for his Cars (the movie) collection and as I am buckling him into the car seat I say, "isn't mommy a good mommy? I buy you toys, and we had some candy, you had a cookie for breakfast.." he stops me and says very seriously "I love candy. I can eat them all".
He says "I love...______" fill in the blank with anything sweet; candy canes, ice cream, cake etc. It is like he wants us to know, incase we couldn't figure that out ourselves.

When Joe and Dylan play hide-n-seek, Joe gives Dylan a clue of where he is by yelling out "whoo hoo" from his hiding place. The other day Dylan was doing #2 on the potty and I told him to let me know when he was done so that I could wipe him. Next thing I hear from the bathroom is "whoo hoo, whoo hoo". I really got a kick out of that!

Dylan likes to talk to Matthew in a high pitched baby voice "Isn't he so cute? Tickle, tickle." as he is gently tickling the baby's forehead.