Riding in Style

I was going through our old videos and found this one demonstrating how we used to travel before we got the Sit and Stand stroller. Yes, we Weavers are a classy bunch.

Crazy Snow

We're almost 24 hours into a large snowstorm with at least 20 inches of snow on the ground. Brody woke us up this morning by running into our bedroom and announcing "SNOW'S HERE!!" We finally let him out in the afternoon and he spent an hour or so playing in the snow. It's still falling and Logan and I spent our entire day inside in our pajamas. Here's a video of the most exciting part of our day... and why it's great to have two young kids close in age.

Brody's big boy room

Brody moved into his big boy room in early November. He has a red bed, a quilt he chose, and a dump truck on the wall. It's a pretty cool room. He had a very easy transition. We'd tried him out in big boy beds on a couple of vacations and he seemed ready. He knew to stay put and didn't wander at night. He went to the cabin with Jacob and Paw Paw one weekend while Logan and I worked hard on his room. Well, Logan laid in the middle of the room as I worked very hard. :) When Brody came home we unveiled his new room and he started sleeping in it immediately.

He was so proud of his room and liked to show it off to everyone that came by. He pointed out the dump truck that I painted, the picture from Mamie, the cross stitch from Katie (K to the T), and then jumped on the bed for everyone to see.

A couple of weeks passed and Brody discovered something... he didn't have to stay in bed. Suddenly we have a wanderer. He has come into our room a few nights in the middle of the night and just whispers to himself. We get up, send him back, and go back to bed. He's also started a trend of getting out of bed around 10pm and laying down on the floor in the hall outside our door. He was almost stepped on by both of us on different occasions.

Now, he's not napping. He has toys in his room, so when we put him down for a nap, he considers it playtime. We let 2-3 hours pass, then let him come out. He's not napping, but he's not overly grumpy either. As long as we continue to get our quiet time, I'm ok with him not napping.

New party tricks

Logan is finally sitting up on his own. He's been proficient at it since just before Thanksgiving. We can sit him surrounded by toys and he's happy to entertain himself as long as Jacob or I am within his viewing distance. We still have random instances when he'll be sitting on his own and we'll hear a thud followed by a cry as he's fallen sideways or backwards while reaching for something. Logan calms quickly though so once he's picked up and snuggled for a second, he's usually ready to get back to his toys.

He also started clapping this month and will perform when asked. Brody is learning from us to be completely geeked about silly things like clapping and will say "Look! Logan's clapping! Yaaaaay Logan!", which just makes Logan smile and clap more.

Logan is also teething. We can see two small teeth coming through his bottom gums, which haven't seem to have affected his moods during the daytime at all. He continues to be a happy baby during the day. Nighttime, that's a different story. Logan is waking often and screaming. He screams until we acknowledge him, then calms for a little bit until something sets him off again and the screaming picks back up. He's not feverish or rashing, he's just ANGRY. I forgot how much teething stinks. For the kid and for the parent. I'm excited for these teeth to pop through and hope we get a breather before the next set comes to the surface.

Last night we took Brody and Logan shopping. On a Sunday evening. At the outlets. We knew we were in trouble when we pulled up and there were cars parked in the grass around the back of the shops. Luckily it wasn't as packed as we expected although there were a lot of people there. I had the sit and stand stroller and Logan sat happily in the front while Brody sat, stood, ran around in circles, and "fell", which means he slowly laid himself down on the ground and said "Oh no, I fell down". He climbed through clothing displays and hit mannequins, then laughed hysterically. I'm sure we were the family that others gawked at, wondering what we were thinking to bring two kids and a gigantic stroller to the outlets on a Sunday evening. Oh well, I guess that's our life now. We were surprisingly successful in our shopping and I think Brody had a good time.

Happy times

We have a good thing going right now. Logan laughs at Brody's antics and Brody loves to make Logan laugh, so the two of them have some crazy moments. Brody's imitation of random noises will trigger Logan's giggles, which just makes Brody do it more. Logan loves Brody's attention, so he laughs harder, which makes Brody perform more. For now I can say that the lovefest continues in the Weaver household.

Brody's Caterpillar

Brody and I were out walking Foster one morning when he came upon something on the sidewalk. He said "Look Mama, a caterpillar!" I checked it out and honestly couldn't tell if the shriveled up black thing was a very dead worm or bird poop. I said, "Are you sure that's not a worm?" to which he confidently replied, "No Mama, it's a caterpillar." I said ok and kept walking. Brody waited two beats and announced "It's DEAD."

Rough nights

Logan is at the end of his first cold and struggling with a cough that wakes him up at night. And when he wakes up... so do we. This week has been brutal. Last night he was up three separate times for at least half an hour each instance. This morning Jacob and I were zombies, but Logan was happy as can be- alert and smiling.

Finally, a family vacation!

It's been over a year since we last took a family vacation. We decided to skip the Plummer family beach trips this spring and summer because travelling with Logan would be tough while he's so young. Jacob and I were itching for a beach trip and in August we finally decided to make plans for a weekend getaway to Ocean City. Brody was as excited as we were, telling everyone that we were going to the beach even though our trip was still a month away. He knew that at the beach he was going to play in the sand, eat pizza and ice cream, and ride rides. He also knew that he would get to wear sunglasses.

This past weekend was our long-awaited trip. The car ride was a surprise. Logan was a dream. Even with a cough and cold he slept or sat quietly in his car seat for almost the entire trip there and back. Brody was... talkative. He wasn't cranky, although he missed his nap both travel days. He was just very, very chatty and rather demanding. He wanted certain toys that he couldn't reach or he wanted me to hold onto some of his toys when his hands were too full. Every time he heard the crinkle of paper, he'd quickly say "Mama, what are you eating?" He caught me every time I tried to sneak some candy or road trip munchies and asked for some of his own. Brody's mile-a-minute talking caused the car ride to be tiring but it could have been much, much worse.

Once there, both kids had a great time. Logan was happy to be pushed around the boardwalk, carnival, and arcade in his stroller. Brody was everywhere and did everything. He played in the sand. He ran from the waves. He walked the boardwalk like a champ, checking out the sights. He rode a ton of rides at the carnival. He ate pizza, boardwalk fries, chocolate covered oreos, and caramel popcorn. He tried to win tickets at the arcade then watched as Mamie and Jacob cashed in dollar after dollar for more quarters in their attempts to win him tickets that he could turn in for prizes. He had a blast and we had a blast watching him.

This weekend was also Brody's first time sleeping in a big boy bed. We took a twin mattress off the frame and laid it on the floor next to our bed. The first night he seemed a little confused but didn't consider wandering downstairs to find the rest of us. By the time we came to bed, he'd passed out and slept soundly through the night. Nap time was interesting as he didn't immediately fall asleep and was left to wander the room. We listened to him talking to himself through the monitor then he eventually fell asleep on the floor next to his mattress. We're starting to look into getting him a big boy bed at home and this weekend showed us that he's ready for it.

Do all kids stutter?

Brody has talked in circles as long as he's been able to string together words. A typical sentence will be "Brody go to pool and Dada go to pool and Brody." As he's nearing two and a half his sentences are becoming more concise but we're starting to notice a new trend- a stutter. He often repeats the first word when he's excited and struggling to get the rest of the sentence out, but that's not what I mean by a stutter. Over the last week he's developed a true stutter where just the first sound is repeated. I wonder if this is common and if all kids stutter a bit while they're learning to talk. I'm interested to see how this changes as he becomes more comfortable with his words and his ability to communicate. For now, we'll just keep watching and listening.

My little motivator

Last night was my first bike ride with Brody in tow. In hindsight, I probably should have reacquainted myself with the bicycle before I hooked my child to the back, but we survived. Jacob said I came close to hitting a tree at one point and I definitely had a couple of wobbles as I tried to check on Brody behind me while continuing to pedal.

Brody was quiet for most of the ride. I wasn't sure if he was enjoying himself or if he was bored or even scared. At one point the bicycle started making a funny noise so I slowed down to check it out. As I came close to stopping I heard a quiet voice behind me say "Go mama, GO!" I turned around to check on him and he was dazed but looked comfortable. I asked if he was ok and he said "GO!" So I sped off again ignoring the noise of the bike, which eventually went away.

A little further into our ride I hit an uphill that slowed me down quite a bit. Again, a little motivating voice came from behind me "Fast mama, GO FAST!" I did my best, but I don't think I could hit a speed that satisfied him at that point. My legs were rubber. If I were all alone I may have stopped at that point but with Brody behind me I knew that wasn't an option. My little motivator, aka drill sergeant was back there to keep me moving all the way home.

Our good little eater

Brody has the craziest sense of taste. Since infancy he's been drawn to sour foods like lemons and limes. I've never seen him pucker up at the intense sour taste. He will chew on a lemon slice until only the rind remains, then keep chewing on the rind until someone asks him to spit it out. He also loves spicy foods and will continue eating them while he sweats and his eyes turn red and watery. He's a big fan of Anita's salsa and likes to dip his chip over and over again, licking off the salsa after each dip.

At Mamie's he's an eater of unusual vegetables. He can finish a bowl of raw radishes all by himself. Last night he couldn't get enough of the raw onion soaked in vinegar. While I ate them with pot roasted beef and potatoes, Brody ate them alone. Then asked for more. And more. And more. The kiss I received from Brody as I left for work this morning was rather unpleasant. I hope toddler toothpaste is strong enough to take care of his onion stinkbreath.

County Fair

We met up with Mike, April, Kylie, Katie, and Evelyn Wednesday night for the Prince William County fair. We told Brody about the animals and rides we'd see at the fair so as soon as we parked the car he was practically running to get... somewhere. I don't think he really had any clue where he was going, but he knew it was going to be exciting so he was moving fast. I have never seen him walk with such long strides. He took the lead and Jacob, baby Logan, and I did our best to keep up with him.

After we toured the animal paddocks we went to check out the amusement rides. I think Brody is at that perfect age when he enjoys a lot of things but doesn't yet realize the things he's missing. Of all the rides at the fair, Brody was tall enough to ride only three. He wasn't upset that he couldn't ride the others; he was very happy to ride the three he could. First he rode around an oval track in a train that had cars that looked like bulldozers. Considering Brody's love of construction vehicles this ride was practically made for him. Next he rode down a big slide with Jacob. I thought he might be scared, especially when the kid before him came down kicking and screaming... literally. But Brody wasn't scared at all. He had a huge smile the entire way down. Brody's third ride was the carousel. He walked half way around, examining each horse before he found his choice. We have no idea what drew him to his horse, but he was happy.

After rides we ate dinner and dessert then attempted to watch the demolition derby. Brody probably saw more than the rest of us since he was able to get up on my shoulders. I heard him say "oh! They crashed!!" a couple of times so I think he must have seen a little. After a few minutes he grew bored and spent the rest of the night chasing cousins Kylie and Evelyn around in the grass. That was probably the highlight of his night. Well, that or the chocolate ice cream cone, which he came close to finishing all by himself.

Logan is 4 months old

Logan is now 4 months old. He's consistently sleeping through the night- roughly 10pm-7am. We've enjoyed 2-3 weeks of this schedule and keep our fingers crossed every night, hoping that it'll continue. Every once in a while he'll wake around 4am and talk himself back to sleep. We haven't had to go into the room to soothe him in quite a while.

He's not really on a nap schedule yet and probably not getting enough sleep during the day. We're still trying to figure that out.

He's 15lbs (50th percentile) and in the 90th percentile for height. He's holding his head very well and on Tuesday of this week he rolled from his tummy to his back for the very first time. I haven't seen it yet, but Jacob was there to witness the first roll. He's a strong little boy, I'm not surprised that he's able to move around.

He continues to be a happy and easy baby. He is not a fan of the car seat right now, but otherwise he is a perfect little boy.

Brody the tomato eater

I plant tomatoes every year. In the past our cherry tomatoes have always outperformed our full size tomatoes so this year I only planted a single cherry tomato plant and planted 6 of the larger varieties. As of mid-August we haven't had a single cherry tomato make it into the house. The plant isn't producing like they have in the past, but that isn't the only problem. Brody is an addict.

One of the vegetable gardens is right next to the deck and we pass it every time we walk between the house and the car. Brody won't let a red tomato sit on that plant. He checks it every time and if any tomato is red or almost red, he picks it and eats it right off the vine. I'm lucky that he can distinguish between the green tomatoes and the red ones because otherwise there wouldn't be any fruit left on the plant.

Granny and Poppa have chicken wire around their plants in an effort to deter the deer. The wire is no match for Brody.

fuzzy head

I love when babies start growing new hair and have fuzzy heads while the hair is short, soft, and sticking straight out. Logan is just starting the fuzzy head stage. It's still short enough that he looks bald from afar, but up close you can see the short baby hairs.

Brotherly Love

When Logan was a newborn I was telling Debbie how Brody seemed to love Logan a little too much sometimes. Debbie asked me if Logan had learned to turn his head away from Brody yet. She said that her own baby lover Wilson would get so close to Jackson's face that he eventually learned to turn away from Wilson. I was amazed that a newborn could have such a strong survival mechanism so I looked for the same behavior in Logan but never saw it. He wouldn't look towards Brody but he wouldn't look away either. He seemed indifferent unless Brody was crying, in which case Logan cried too. Of course, this wasn't specific to Brody, Logan cried whenever he heard anyone else cry.

Now that Logan's almost four months old I can tell that he's not going to turn his face away from his brother. When Logan hears Brody's voice he looks at him and smiles. Brody thrives on this, so he tries to do whatever he can to make Logan happy. When Logan cries, Brody shouts "he needs pacifier!" and races to find one. When Logan is in a happy mood, Brody tries to make it even better with big smiles and laughter. I have already written about their gigglefest, which was repeated last night at Granny and Poppa's house.

Brody also has a calming effect on Logan. When Logan cries, I often ask Brody to sing to him. He'll sing Baabaa Black Sheep or Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light or You are my Sunshine until Logan is happy again. Last night as we were driving home from Granny and Poppa's and nearing the boys' bedtime, Logan started getting fussy. Without prompting, Brody started singing his ABCs. Logan began to calm down but started crying when the song ended, so Brody kicked off round two of his ABCs. This time Logan calmed, but started whimpering again during Brody's last sentence "now I know my...". Instead of finishing the last bit of his song, Brody started right over with "ABCD...". I think he went through 4 or 5 rounds of his ABCs before Logan drifted off to sleep and slept through almost all of our car ride home.

I've heard other parents say that they were afraid having a second child forced their first child to grow up too fast. I don't think we have that problem in our home. Brody was ready to be a big brother and luckily for Logan, he's really good at it.

Brody the bully?

For as long as I can remember, Brody has been bullied. Kids at day care picked on him, cousin Evelyn overpowered him, the neighbors' kid called him a baby... the list goes on and on. He's submissive and he's sweet. He just takes the abuse from the other kids and doesn't retaliate, which makes him an easy target. Once, when Jacob was dropping Brody off at day care a slightly older kid (Nicholas) approached him and Brody instinctively backed into a corner. Whenever we asked about a new booboo received at day care, Brody always told us that "Nicholas did it", which we know wasn't always true.

Soon after Logan was born we moved Brody to a new daycare that has children ranging in ages from infant to 3.5 years old. Brody seems to have adjusted well. He plays well with most of the children and loves his new teacher, Miss Shahnaz. However, by combining children of all ages we've created a situation where there are kids smaller than Brody. Suddenly, Brody isn't bullied anymore, he's the bully! He has chosen 9 month old Kate to be the victim of his stored aggression. Jacob saw Brody shake Kate's highchair while she was eating breakfast and push her down when she approached him. The teacher told us that Brody gets along with everyone except Kate.

What happened to our sweet boy? Why is he picking on the little 9 month old girl who just learned to crawl? Is 2 years and 5 months too early for a kid to learn to pick on someone his own size? Or is Kate's 3 year old brother Alex going to have to seek revenge for his sister? Alex is huge so it would certainly teach Brody a lesson. Although Logan may be able to protect him.

Gigglefest

Last night Logan and I sat next to the bathtub as Brody took his bath. Brody was cranky and having a "no" kind of day. He has a new molar that just cut through his gums so he's not exactly a joy to be around. (He keeps telling me that he has a "boo boo in his mouth"- too cute!) Out of the blue, Brody reached over and touched Logan's knee saying "tickle, tickle, tickle". Logan smiled at him, so he did it again. This time Logan did a half laugh. Brody beamed and looked up at me and said "he's smiling at me!" When Brody did it a third time, Logan let out a gurgling, hiccuppy laugh, the kind that only Jacob had succeeded to extract from Logan. It made Brody's night. He tickled Logan's knee 8 or 10 more times, each time causing Logan to laugh harder, which in turn made Brody laugh harder. Eventually this gigglefest induced a case of hiccups in Logan and the boys calmed down. By the end of the bath Brody was back into a cranky mood, but it was nice to have those minutes of sunshine when everyone was happy and the boys were in their own little world.

We have a thumb sucker

Logan continues to find his own ways to soothe. Last night I set Logan on the big bed to stare at the ceiling fan while I cleaned myself up for bed. By the time Jacob came into the room with Brody, Logan had gotten his thumb into his mouth and curled his forefinger over his nose. He lay there happily, sucking away. Let's add this to the list of habits that we'll have to break later.

We see fire

We took the boys to a Japanese steakhouse Saturday night. I'd suggested this in the past, thinking that Brody would have a good time and Logan is easy anywhere right now, but Jacob was hesitant and finally warmed up to the idea this weekend. Before we arrived we tried to explain to Brody what we were going to see so he wasn't overwhelmed when we sat down. By the time we got to the restaurant he was telling us that "the man cooks the meat" and "we see fire". I'm sure he had no idea what that meant, but at least he was a little prepared.

I think Brody decided he loved the place as soon as he sat down because they immediately brought him soup and salad. After a few failed attempts to eat the soup with a spoon he fished out the noodles to eat them without the hassle of all of the broth. The waitress put a paper umbrella in his drink and the hibachi man payed special attention to Brody throughout the meal. Brody even opened his mouth to try to catch a lump of rice thrown by the hibachi man, but it hit him in the chest instead. Brody ate like a champ, he loved the fried rice and dipped his chicken in the ginger sauce. He even finished all of his ice cream. Our dining companions commented on his appetite, which was particularly strong because Brody was starving.

Logan sat content in his car seat for the first half of the meal. He was watching all of the activity around him and listening to the sounds of the restaurant. As we started eating our main courses, Logan's eyes became heavy. He didn't fuss at all but blinked a few times and went to sleep. He didn't make a peep for the entire meal, even with the fire flare-ups.

It was a perfect dinner and left me smiling for the rest of the night. I'm so lucky to have these two sweet boys in my life.

Logan starts day care

Logan started day care on Wednesday with his big brother at Miss Shahnaz's house. The first two days seemed to go well. As I dropped them off Wednesday Brody was a little territorial, pushing the other kids out of the way as they came in for a closer look of the baby. At the end of the day Miss Shahnaz said that Logan ate and slept well, crying only when the other kids made loud noises, which is typical of Logan. Once in the car Brody said "Logan cried a lot". It's nice to have our little spy there with Logan but I wish he could tell us details, like what does he mean by "a lot".

When I picked up the boys at the end of day two I found Logan rocking happily in a baby seat, watching the big kids run around. He was clutching his taggie blanket and a hand towel in both hands. We can already see Logan's tendencies to hold onto security blankets. He definitely soothes differently than Brody, who never took to pacifiers or blankets. Logan loves both.

As I picked Logan up from the rocking chair I found a toy car and a small dinosaur stuffed under his legs. Miss Shahnaz said that the other kids like to share with him and were giving him toys all day. To make her point, one year old Alex toddled over and put a duplex block in Logan's carseat. Logan is the only non-crawling baby at Miss Shahnaz's house and I love to see that he's being doted on by the big kids. I think he's going to do very well there.

Fish not working

When we drive past construction vehicles that are parked and not in use Brody typically tells us that they're "not working". For instance, "backhoe not working". On Sunday night I heard that term used in an entirely different manner. As Brody and I went to feed his fish before bedtime, Brody said "oh no, fish not working!" Sure enough, one of his fish was parked- laying on it's side at the bottom of the tank. 10 days after we received the fish one was already dead. And the other two looked like they were struggling.

Brody helped me find the net and we put his poor fish in the toilet. Brody asked me to close the lid then he flushed his fish to its final resting place. He didn't seem traumatized. When I told him the fish was dead, he said "like the bugs" that he had stepped on no more than an hour earlier on Mamie's porch.

In the morning my fears of a mass death were confirmed. Brody's two remaining fish were floating at the top of the tank next to the filter. Brody said "put fish in potty" and I let Brody and Jacob to take care of it. I hear they watched the fish swirl down the drain this time.

Brody seems to understand that the fish are gone for good. He hasn't asked about them or about his empty tank. He hasn't tried to feed them, which he loved to do while they were alive. I can't say that he understands the concept of death but he handled it much better than I expected. Jacob and I are going to wait a while before replacing his fish. We have a beach trip coming up and it'll be nice to have one less animal to cover with interim care.

ABCs, Brody style

Brody mastered his ABCs soon after he turned two. He loves to perform and will repeat them over and over again for friends, family, and video cameras. He's pretty consistent with his delivery, which is good because he has customized them in a way that cannot be described in words or writing. Pay special attention to the letter that follows K and preceeds P. When he's feeling dramatic he'll drag it on for quite a bit.

Brody's first hockey injury

It's rare for Jacob to have a hockey game while the kids are awake, so we try to attend every 7:45 game to watch and support him. Brody loves going and often brings his Diego hockey stick and puck to play in the stands while his Daddy is on the ice. On Sunday Jacob took Brody early and he wowed the guys in the locker room with his slapshot, which is surprisingly accurate for a two year old.

Halfway through the game, as Logan was sleeping peacefully in Judy's arms, Brody was running up, down, left, and right in the stands. He was everywhere and having a great time. At one point he ran up to the enclosed viewing area and I followed to make sure he didn't get into any trouble. Of all places in the ice rink, this is the safest. It's carpeted and climate controlled. There are no stairs. It's enclosed in glass. Yet, this is the place where Brody managed to get his worst injury to date.

Brody was running towards the glass overlooking the rink to watch Jacob play and in his typical graceful style, tripped over his own feet. This is normal and happens often. However, this time there was a row of chairs in front of him, set up so fans can watch the action down on the ice. Brody pitched forward and hit his head on the bar that connects the chairs together. As he started to cry, I picked him up and apologized to the hockey mom sitting nearby while consoling Brody as best I could. When I got my first look at his face, I couldn't believe what I saw. All I could say was "ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh" as I ran out the door waving frantically for Mamie to come. Brody's entire right eye was covered in blood. I couldn't tell where he was cut or how badly he was injured. Once we were in the bathroom I sat him on the counter and held onto him while Mamie and Amy took care of his injury. Thankfully, as they wiped away the blood it started looking less and less serious. We found a cut that went along his eyebrow, a little less than an inch long. He'll probably have a scar but it wasn't nearly as bad an injury as I first feared. He's excited to wear Diego band-aids and will be able to call it his first hockey injury as he gets older. I'm sure it won't be the last.

Anna Kate, Taylor, and Fish

Jacob and I attended a beautiful wedding Saturday, the wedding of Anna Kate Patton to Tom Murphy. Anna Kate, her mom Amy, sister Taylor, and grandparents Judy and Don are long time friends of the Weaver family and Brody thinks of them as part of the family. Often when we visit Mamie and Paw Paw's house and ask Brody who we'll see there, he will include "and AMY!" in the list along with Mamie, Paw Paw, Mo Mo, Cabey, and GG. I think Amy is as big a fan of Brody as he is of her.

Anna Kate and Tom incorporated live goldfish in their wedding decorations. There were three swimming among the flowers and candles in the centerpiece on the place card table. I asked Mamie what their plans were for the fish because I thought Brody would love to have a pet of his own. Mamie returned within minutes and said the fish were ours as long as one was named Anna Kate and one was named Taylor. Deal.

Amy brought Brody his fish Sunday morning and he was so excited. He named the third "Fish" and would happily point to them individually as "Anna Kate, Taylor, and Fish". As Amy left that morning, Brody walked away from the front door smiling and said "fiiiiish" under his breath. He couldn't stop watching them swim up and down the glass. They're active little guys!

We went out later in the day to get them a tank and put it in Brody's bedroom, right next to his crib. He can see them as soon as he wakes up. He knows that he feeds them in the morning and at bedtime and looks forward to those times. Every night before he goes to sleep, he turns off the tank light and says goodnight to his fish.

My childhood memory of goldfish is that they live very short lives. Lucky for us, Anna Kate, Taylor, and Fish are your typical orange goldfish with no distinguishing markings. I have a feeling Brody will have three fish in this tank for a very long time.

The best laughs induce hiccups

How is our baby already three months old? It happened so fast. Suddenly he's an interactive little boy, smiling often and sleeping for longer durations at night. He's slept from 10pm-6am six times now. Just as Jacob and I started getting comfortable with a full night of sleep, he switched it up with a bad night, waking at midnight, three, and six am. Then the next night was smooth sailing again. We're thankful for the nights we do get sleep and look forward to many more of them in the future.

Yesterday Jacob triggered Logan's first true laugh. It was hiccuppy and repeated several times as Jacob shook his long, out of control hair above Logan's head. It was such a great sound- one of the best a parent can hear. After three months of little sleep and little interaction, our baby is laughing. What a great day, and a great birthday present to me.

Smiling: check.

Logan's first big milestone was completed today. He consciously smiled for both Jacob and me as we tickled his tummy. I got the first smile in the morning. Jacob got another in the evening. Both were big, crooked, open mouth smiles and they were fantastic. It was a good day.

Our little enforcer

Brody is our sweet, passive child. For these first two years of his life, he's let other kids walk over him. He's constantly beat up in school- we frequently receive incident reports for him as the victim of bites and hits. He's small and sweet; a tough combination for a kid.

Before Logan was born we already sensed that he would be our little fighter. At birth, when we saw our 8lb 11oz baby with the length and feet that suggested Plummer height, we thought Logan would some day stick up for his older brother. We even thought he had a chance against his older cousin, Evelyn the Giant.

Today Logan had a chance to fight back against someone that caused him pain and he relished the opportunity. Logan had an appointment with the urologist to fix a problem resulting from him circumcism. The doctor sent us out of the room for the procedure, but it was quick and resulted in blood and Logan screaming. Logan let the doctor know what he thought of him- he peed on him. Logan hit the doc right in the middle of the chest. He managed to get the doctor's shirt and tie wet before the doc had a chance to cover Logan up. I thought it was fantastic. Our little tough guy stood up for himself before he could even hold his head up.

M and M and M

Brody cried Monday night when he wanted "m&m&m"s and I didn't have any. Then yesterday, he offered me m&m&ms in another game of pretend. When I asked for peanut m&ms, he responded "blue". We're still working on communication in the Weaver household.

Five weeks and counting

Logan is five weeks old today. He's still a fantastic baby. He's predictable at night; he goes down easily at 10pm and wakes between 2-3am and 5-6am for feedings before waking up for the day between 7-8am. He had one night this week when he woke for a single feeding. Of course, that was the night that Jacob was on duty.

He's a big boy and passed 10lbs at 4 weeks. He's not a chunk, but is very long. He has long, skinny legs and can't put much weight on them yet, but he's become proficient at kicking. He's starting to be more alert and will focus his eyes on the things around him. If I move out of his field of vision, he'll turn his head to look for me. He's also beginning to bat at objects with his hands. I have two scratches myself where Logan surprised me with his hands. He's gotten himself a couple of times in the face too.

It's hot, mama

Tonight was not easy. I'm operating on less sleep than I'd like, Logan is still figuring out how to make it through the evening hours without screaming, and Brody wants a lot of attention. I was rather short with Brody after he dumped the contents of a cabinet and then bit me when I told him he couldn't have any of the baby biter biscuits. I used to have so much patience with Brody, but now all of my patience seems to be allocated to Logan and poor Brody is forced to be a big boy all the time. It's usually on nights like this that Brody will do something so adorable that makes the rest of the evening disappear. Tonight, for the first time that I'm aware of, he initiated a game of pretend.

During bath time as I was sitting next to the tub and baby Logan was sleeping in my lap, Brody held up pinched fingers and announced "toast". I had no idea what he was talking about, but then he reached into a cup of water and held up pinched fingers again, saying "toast, mama" and pretended to eat from his fingers. After that he pulled out pizza, fruit, juice, and corn. With the pizza, I asked what kind it was and he told me pepperoni. The fruit was peaches, he explained, and the juice was orange juice. As I began to "eat" the corn, he quickly said "It's hot, mama, hot." Then we both blew on my corn to cool it down before I proceeded to eat it typewriter-style while he watched and smiled.

Dumptruck, Backhoe, Bulldozer!

Brody is obsessed. If he catches a glimpse of the yellow that's so often used on construction vehicles he must crane his neck to determine what kind of dirt mover it is. Lucky for us (?) our area is full of construction zones. Anywhere we drive, we're sure to pass a bulldozer or a dumptruck. All car trips are accented by a loud voice in the back, shouting out BACKHOE! BULLDOZER! MORE BACKHOE!! He's started to learn where some construction zones are located on our normal routes and will call out the vehicles he expects to see before they even come into view. It's hard to not get excited with him. I find that when I'm in the car alone and see a backhoe scooping dirt into a dumptruck, I want to call attention to it or pull over and watch. Before Brody and Logan I would have just driven by, perhaps even been frustrated by the traffic caused by the construction. Now I'm happy for the traffic because it allows me to drive slowly and give Brody a good view of the activity without getting honked at by the other cars that must not have kids sitting in the backseat.

Big Brother, Little Brother

Jacob and I spent the last nine months explaining to Brody that he was going to be a big brother. He never seemed to understand. As we were decorating the new nursery, Brody became attached to a little stuffed sock, calling it "baby". I'm fairly certain that Brody thought the nursery was for his baby. When we would go into the room, he'd toss "baby" up and over the crib railing, putting baby to bed.

We decided that it was time to name the real baby, distinguishing it from Brody's baby. Jacob and I had a solid list of 6-7 names that we couldn't narrow down. One night before dinner I was going through the names with Brody and when we got to Logan, he pointed at my belly and said "Baby Logan". From there, it stuck. Brody named our second child. With two indecisive parents, it's nice to have a 2 year old that can make decisions for us.

As we started talking about baby Logan, I'm still not sure Brody got it. He would put his hand on my belly and call it baby Logan, but then I'd catch him in the bath, spreading the washcloth across his "baby Logan". We'd introduce him to other babies, but I don't think he was making the leap from my belly to live baby. I started to wonder about the transition Brody would make from being an only child to the older brother. I looked forward to his visits in the hospital when Brody would finally get to meet baby Logan, but unfortunately because of Logan's stay in the NICU, Brody wasn't able to visit with his younger brother.

When Logan was released from the hospital, I went to pick Brody up from day care while Jacob took Logan home. I told Brody that Dada was home with baby Logan and that he was excited to meet his older brother. As we came inside and found Logan and Jacob on the couch, Brody immediately went in for a closer look and declared him "baby Loooogan".

Logan brought presents for Brody, so any remaining hesitation was lost when Brody saw the new Thomas train cars.

Now, as Brody wakes up he asks for baby Logan. Before he goes to bed, he must say goodnight to baby Logan. Brody is in love with his little brother and Logan seems to tolerate Brody as well. He hasn't fussed about Brody's attention yet, accepting the kisses, the finger pokes, and the toys that are lovingly thrown at him without complaint. I wish I could say that I expect this lovefest to continue, but I acknowledge that with two boys so close in age our house is going to be host to many wrestlemania-style battles. All that I can hope is that their love endures those fights and as they grow up they become the best friends that we hoped they'd be.

He tricked us again

When I was 20 weeks along in Logan's pregnancy both Jacob and I were convinced we were having a girl. How else could we explain a pregnancy that was so drastically different than my first? At our 20-week ultrasound both of our jaws dropped as we learned that we were having another boy. It didn't seem possible.

Well, he tricked us again. My pregnancy with Logan was awful but I'm happy to report that as of day 5 he shows no sign of the trouble we were anticipating. It's too early to let our guard down and breathe a sigh of relief, but we've had five blissful days with him. He eats well, sleeps well, and heals well. He spent 4 days in the NICU repairing a tear in his lung that was caused by a quick labor that didn't provide the pressure needed to flush his lungs of fluid, but even that resolved itself without intervention.

I retract all previous comments and thoughts I had about Logan being a trouble child in the making. He's far from it and we're so lucky to have him home with us.

Trouble is brewing

I think we're in for an interesting experience with baby Logan. He's made us worry, made me sick, made my ankles swell, and now... he's making us wait. I'm officially overdue and noticably waddling. I look forward to meeting Logan and seeing if his personality outside of the womb matches our impression of him during this pregnancy. If it does, we're in big trouble.

Bye bye frog

It's amazing how much a kid's brain will retain. We had no idea how much information was sinking in with Brody until he started talking. As I said in an earlier post, Brody was a late talker. At his 15 month checkup Brody wasn't using a single word consistently and the doctor asked us to have him evaluated for a speech delay. Jacob and I decided to wait and see how he was doing at 18 months, knowing Brody is slow to start new skills but then catches up quickly. At 16 months he started using Dada consistently for Jacob (previously Dada meant everyone, including strangers and dogs), which was quickly followed by Mama and bye bye. By 18 months he had approximately 30 words and at 2 years Brody was stringing together 3-4 words and knew the difference between a pentagon and an octagon.

Over the summer of 2008 when Brody was just over a year old we had a frog that lived under our gutter output. Whenever I was watering the lawn, Brody would come with me and I'd show him the frog. He never initiated the trip to see the frog and I wasn't sure he even cared about it. As Brody began talking, the weather turned colder and our frog disappeared. Months had passed since we'd last seen him and I'd stopped checking. One day over the winter as I was loading Brody into the car to go to daycare, he randomly said "no more frog." I let him walk over to the gutter spout and he lifted up the drain plate, saying "bye bye frog". Little things like this are great, not only to see Brody communicating but also to see how our actions over the past two years have made an impression on him. He's retaining information that we didn't even know he understood. He's also quietly remining us that his brain is a sponge and we really need to be watching what we say and do in front of him.

Nesting

I know Logan is on his way. Why else would I spend my precious moments leading up to Brody's bath ripping carpet out of the baby's room? Nesting is a crazy thing. I've had 39 weeks and 4 days to prepare for Logan's arrival, but tonight is the night that I decide the foul-smelling carpet in the nursery closet needs to come out... AT PRECISELY THIS MOMENT. It was an easy task. Tomorrow I'll pull up the tack strips and then for however long we're in this house we'll live without carpet in that closet. Because while I'm really good at starting tasks, I'm awful at completing them and I have no doubt that I won't lay new carpet in that closet until it's time to sell.

Nesting is a crazy thing.

Brody's first Easter egg hunt

My Mom was made to be a Granny. She's a great Mom too, but I can really see her love of kids now that I'm older and watching from the outside as she interacts with her six adoring grandchildren. Easter came on the last weekend of tax season this year. It's a very hectic time for my Mom and I know she has a lot of work to do. But as Jacob, Brody, and I arrived for our family Easter gathering, Mom was running the stairs hiding clues throughout the house for a personalized scavenger hunt for each of the bigger kids. She'd already spent the morning filling and hiding eggs for two separate outdoor egg hunts- one for the big kids and one for Brody and Evelyn, who were first-timers. I'm fairly certain that as I'm writing this blog entry, my Mom is back at her accounting work trying to finish up her remaining returns for the April 15th deadline. I have no idea where she finds the energy.

Brody loved the Easter egg hunt. His daycare had a small egg hunt earlier in the week so he wasn't completely unaware of the concept. He and Evelyn ran around the yard with their baskets, pulling eggs out of bushes, trees, flowers, even the mailbox. After the hunt Brody opened each egg with Jacob, excited to see that the eggs contained coins and that he'd gathered quite a bounty.


After the Plummer gathering we joined the Thomas family for the Weaver get together. Brody and I took at walk down to the lake after eating and on his way down the path, he found an Easter egg hidden in one of the plants. I suppose it was left over from earlier in the day, but Brody now has the impression that plants and trees grow Easter eggs- and a lot of them contain coins! I'm envisioning many walks in our future, during which Brody will spend time investigating the contents of every plant we pass.

That's my boy

Brody is obviously his father's son. Since he was just a few days old Jacob's family has commented on how much Brody looked like his daddy. I can't deny it; the kid has very few features, if any that I can claim to have contributed. Even his blue eyes are far too blue to have come from my blue-gray eyed side of the family. I think Brody's bright blues are a product of his Mamie, passed down through Jacob.

Looks aside, I do see a few personality traits in Brody that I think have come from me. For one, he's slow to attempt new tricks. He was a late crawler, late walker, and late talker. However, once he decided he was ready to try any of those skills, he excelled at them. It's like he needs to watch those around him and study their movements before he tries something himself. He wants to make sure he has as much information as possible before leaping into a new activity. I think that comes from me.

Like his mother, Brody also has a love of sweets. He likes chocolate, cookies, cake, sugar candies, everything. He knows the crinkle of a candy wrapper and without even seeing what's inside he'll quickly say "I want some!" Tonight was a milestone for a new candy lover. Brody had his first Cadbury creme egg. They're my favorite treat for the Easter holiday and usually I guard them with a vengence. Nobody lays a hand on my creme eggs. But as I was rushing to get ready for Lindy and Steve's wedding rehearsal, I accidently left one, my last one, out on the table. When we came back from the dinner, Brody hoisted himself up on the chair and picked it up. In an attempt to not lose my last Cadbury creme egg, I tried to convince him that it was a ball, but there was no chance. He must have smelled the chocolatey-goodness. He started the peel the wrapper and had such a look of excitement as he realized it was chocolate underneath that I couldn't take it away from him. He looked at me with huge eyes and just said "oh!!" So, tonight, at just past 9pm, Brody and I shared his first Cadbury creme egg.

Most two year olds would have crushed the egg and gotten the creme filling everywhere, making a mess and eating very little of the egg. Not my Brody. He was very gentle with the egg, taking in equal parts chocolate and creme with each bite. He savored it. I couldn't help but watch and think: that's my boy.

Confession Time

Brody is two years old. Logan is due any day. Other than pictures, I have nothing to record the first two years of Brody's life. There are so many things from Brody's first two years that made me think: I hope this lasts forever. Of course, nothing ever does. Suddenly I have a toddler and struggle to remember the adorable sigh Brody would make after a good sneeze or how he used to tremble just before he peed, warning us to take cover. I don't want to forget those details and I know it's only going to get harder to hold onto the memories after Logan is born and we have to keep up with two boys.

Obviously I failed at scrapbooking. Brody's baby book has 7 or 8 pages and doesn't include the detail I'd like to record. I gave up on the book when he was 8 weeks old and instead created an electonic scrapbook for his first year. It's nice, but the focus is on pictures, not the silly details. I want a place to record the little things- like Brody's mispronunciation of the word ketchup (keppers) and downstairs (dinosaur) and the first time he locked the car door on us and smiled from the inside of the car saying "Hi Mama! Brody lock door."

My grandfather kept a daily diary. He wrote about the family, the town, his job, the weather, everything. He has books and books that my Dad is now pouring through. Even the uneventful entries are interesting because he's written about little things that would have otherwise been forgotten. So, what's an updated version of the daily diary? A blog. And that's how this got started. It's my attempt to take a lesson from my grandfather and start recording the little details that make every day with my family interesting- even when we aren't doing anything special. Hopefully one day Brody and Logan will see this and read it with the same interest that my father has in my grandfather's diaries. Even if it doesn't last that long, I'll consider it a success if it helps me remember the little things that make me love my boys more than anything else in this world.

Weaver Family, Winter 2008: