Thankful

Mike has been gone at SERE, an Army training school, for the last 3 weeks (no communication allowed) and I've had a very rough time with a certain toddler. Elise has always had a hard time with change, and this has been no exception. He comes home TOMORROW and I thought it would be good for me to take a quick break from being frustrated and focus on the good things. In no particular order...

- My two precious children are both taking a nice long nap right now.
- My husband is absolutely wonderful and is the perfect fit for me. I have learned that I will never take him for granted. I cannot imagine life without him and I'm so thankful that we're looking at at least 6 years before he can deploy again.
- In less than a month, we'll be settled into our new home in Baltimore.
- Jack has been such an easy baby and is nursing and sleeping well. He is now going to bed around 7-7:30 and sleeping until 5:30, then eating and going back to sleep for a few more hours. He sleeps the same in the pack and play and crib, which should make our upcoming Texas trip go smoothly. His smiles melt my heart and his curls make me laugh.
- Elise is so creative and imaginative and is learning so quickly. She is easily entertained by her puzzles or duplos. She can go from screaming to happy in a matter of seconds (if she wants to). She loves to cuddle, which is great at the appropriate times.
- My mom has spent the majority of the last few weeks in Alabama, and she is tireless when it comes to helping with/playing with/consoling her grandchildren. We might not have survived without her. Thanks again, Mimi!
- Bryan and Michelle came to visit during a particularly rough time with Elise, and I think they will still have kids someday. The highlight was probably Elise screaming "I want to hold you, Mommy!" from 3 am to 4:15 am during one of the nights they were here. For the record, I did go check on her, rock her for a minute, and put her back in her crib before the marathon screaming session began. Thankfully, Michelle took some adorable pictures that captured her sweet side that you can look at here.
- My dear friend Laura and her son came to visit us and provided a much needed playmate for Elise and girl time for Mommy.
- I had a terrible idea that involved taking both kids to the zoo (1 hour and 45 minutes away) and I learned that it was a GREAT idea to fly with the kids to Baltimore rather than drive for 900 miles while dealing with nursing stops/food stops/potty stops/crankiness/hotel room with 2 kids and a dog/time in empty houses without cribs.
- I am excited about taking the kids to Austin to get out of the way of the packing/moving process (and then flying nonstop to Baltimore after our household goods are delivered). I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of friends and family. We'll be there July 26-August 8 and would love to hang out with anyone who wants to come see us!
- We have gone to a wonderful church while living here and have been looking at several churches in the Baltimore area that we are excited to try.
- In Baltimore, we will be living less than a mile from The Cheesecake Factory, Starbucks, PF Changs, Panera, Chipotle, babyGap, Loft, Target, and many other fun stores and eating establishments. This is good and bad.
- God has reminded me that I have surrender DAILY to Him. Sometimes it is hard to remember this when things are going well. There is more to life than dealing with toddler temper tantrums, and this is just a season (hopefully a very short season).
- Mike is coming home TOMORROW and Elise is so excited to see him. I told her that we will pick him up after church and she asked if we could go get him before church instead. I'm praying that Elise will quickly return to her pre-SERE school self. We had some great weeks with her right before he left.

Giggling video

Here's a video to go with the 2 month post below. Sorry about the bad angle... I was holding the video camera up with my shoulder.

Jack giggling from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.

Jack is 2 months old!

Jack has changed so much again! We're starting to really be able to "play" with him. Here is a bullet list of what he's up to right now. This may be the only time with 2 kids that I get the monthly post done ahead of schedule (1 day early!). He is a sweet, easy baby as long as he is fed on time, burped, and put to sleep on time :) We love our Baaaybeee Gak!

At 2 months, Jack:

-wears mostly 3-6 month clothes (the 0-3 are just too tight with the diaper and difficult to get on) and I'm guessing that he weighs around 12 lbs. His 2 month appointment is later this week.
-goes to bed around 7 and wakes between 7:15 and 7:30. eats once during the night, usually around 4 am. I swaddle him with the miracle blanket and that has helped him take longer naps in his crib. His longest stretch of sleep has been 10 hours, but he usually does more like 9. The last time he woke up more than once at night was during his 6 week growth spurt.
-takes 3 longish naps during the day and one short catnap in the evening. Naps at home are in the crib (and he sleeps best in his room... does not sleep well anywhere else in the house. If we are out, he will sleep in his car seat, but not guaranteed to sleep for a full nap. Sometimes at home he will also wake up early (called the 45 minute intruder) but I can usually get him to go back to sleep as long as there are no distractions (read: as long as Elise is also sleeping).
-is still an excellent nurser and we're at a very easy stage because he is efficient and I rarely have to wake him to finish eating. He also won't nurse unless he is hungry (read: doesn't try to use me as a pacifier), which is ideal except for the occasional time where I would like for it to put him to sleep! We have the Dr. Brown's bottles and he likes them, but in the time it takes me to thaw milk and put the bottle together, I could be almost done nursing him, so we just stick to that unless I'm leaving him with someone.

-has the eat/wake/sleep thing down
-is still a little stubborn when it comes to burping, but this is getting way better
-deliberately touches/hits objects instead of just randomly batting at them
-likes looking at people and smiling back and forth with them
-has started giggling, especially at the pat-a-cake game
-likes to ride in the Beco carrier, which is GREAT
-still uses the cloth diapers on the lowest setting. They are also fantastic. I have been using a disposable on him for the long stretch of sleep and will probably continue to do so.
-isn't crazy about trying to do anything while on his tummy (other than chew on his hands). he isn't unhappy on his tummy unless it is too close to nap time.

Here's a sample schedule:
7:15/7:30 - wake up, eat, change diaper/clothes, play
8:45ish - nap (usually this one is in the car seat because we often have activities/errands in the morning)
10:15 - eat, change diaper, play
11:30ish - nap
1:00 - eat, change diaper, play
2:00ish - nap
3:45 - eat, change diaper, play
5:00ish - short nap, usually not in crib because I don't want him to sleep for a long time
6:30 - eat, in bed by 7:00

(plus the 4:00ish middle of the night feeding... Elise started sleeping 12 hours a few days after she turned 2 months old, so we'll see what happens with this little guy!)

Mike has been gone for the last 2 weeks and we haven't been able to communicate with him, so I am very anxious for him to see how much Jack has changed in that short amount of time. We've got one more week to go. I'm very thankful for the company and extra sets of hands that have come to visit us! Here are a few pictures. My sister-in-law, Michelle, is a photographer and took some really cute ones of the kids while she was here. I will be sure to post them when I get them!

In this one you can kind of see his "curls"... his hair gets a lot of them after every bath!

If you have a lot of extra time on your hands, you can check out my inaugural post... Elise's 2 month update!

Funny video

I have a lot of videos that I haven't gotten around to posting, so here is the first one! Enjoy.

Untitled from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.