Rolling over

This weekend Logan seems to have mastered rolling from his back to his tummy.  He gets over there very easily, then almost immediately starts to fuss.  Its pretty entertaining, because I've seen him roll from his tummy to his back, but he just would rather someone come save him.  He's also been rolling over and sleeping on his tummy, which doesn't surprise me too much.
Logan's 4 month check up went well, he got 3 shots and the Rotavirus stuff they squirt in their mouths.  He weight 15 lbs, 15 ounces and was 24 3/4 inches long.  He's not as big as James was at that age, but is still in the 75th percentiles, roughly.  James had a huge growth spurt between 2 and 4 months, but Logan hasn't just yet.  Either way, Logan is healthy and meeting all of his milestones!

Big brother

I feel like I haven't been updating on James very much lately, so I will take some time to give an update on the big brother.
Everyday, James amazes me with his wit and intellect.  I know I'm his mom, so I'm supposed to think he's smart and extraordinary, but maybe other's think that too?  Rhonda always tells me that James is pretty mature for his age.  He's very clear when he speaks and lets you know exactly what he wants.
James loves going to daycare and loves that Baby Logan goes with him.  When he was sick a few weeks ago and I kept him home, but sent the baby to daycare, you would have thought the world had ended.  James is a helpful big brother, but doesn't get overly involved.  He likes to help pick out Logan's clothes and buckle him into the car seat.  He likes to kiss the baby and show him toys that he's playing with.  I have a feeling things are going to get dicey soon, as Logan begins to move around more.
James is still fluctuating between wanting to be a big boy and wanting to be a baby and I can certainly see why.  Being a baby is kind of awesome, you hang out in a diaper and get fed and snuggled.  But we try to remind James of all the perks of being a big boy - eating marshmallow cereal (Lucky Charms to the rest of the world) and playing outside are his favorites right now.
We've let up on potty training James for now.  He's obviously not ready and I'd rather not cause him too much psychological damage at such an early age.  We'll try again in a few weeks and see if he's more receptive too it.  Summer is coming and we're hoping some naked time will help with potty training.
Even though he's a busy kid, always running around and making a mess, James is such a good boy.  He amazes me everyday, just when I feel especially fed up with "threenage" attitude, he'll come over and ask mom for a hug.  He's always been an affectionate kid and will still sit in my lap to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings.
So that's James right now, just a few weeks shy of being three years old.  I can hardly believe it!

Don't you dare try to keep me warm

Last night, it was my turn to take the overnight feeding shift.  We've been very lucky that Logan has been eating only once a night, so we can take turns.  If you wake up the feed the baby, the other wakes up to walk the dog in the morning.  This means that one day every weekend, one of us gets to sleep in.  Note that sleeping in around our house means 7 AM.

So last night was my turn.  Logan fell asleep around 8 PM and woke up around 2 AM, which is his usual at the moment.  He woke up squealing his happy squeals, I fed him, snuggled him, and watched him fall asleep.  Then I tucked him under his blanket (Oh no, a blanket in the crib, child abuse!) and turned the light off.  I walked to the bathroom and heard him wake up and start squealing his happy squeals again.  So I repeated the bedtime process a couple more times.  Each time I put him under his covers, walked away, and then he woke up.

After more than an hour of this process, I sent Adam in.  Adam wasn't thrilled that he was called in, but I'd been trying for awhile, so I figured maybe someone else would know what to do.

So Adam walks in, takes the covers off Logan, and watches the baby fall asleep in a matter of seconds.  Logan was mad that I was keeping him warm.  He was trying unsuccessfully to kick his blanket off and waking himself up.

Its time like this that make me enjoy children that verbally communicate.  Although, they aren't near as likely to snuggle.

4 month milestones

Four months already!  I would say that I can't believe it, but I can.  Logan is four months today and growing like a weed.  He has a check up next week, so I will update his stats for height and weight then.  The website I was using to get my milestones from changed things around, so I couldn't find the same chart.  But here is a list I found elsewhere.

What most babies do at this age:
[x] Smiles spontaneously, especially at people
[x] Likes to play with people and might cry when playing stops
[x] Copies some movements and facial expressions, like smiling or frowning
[x] Begins to babble
[x] Babbles with expression and copies sounds he hears
[x] Cries in different ways to show hunger, pain, or being tired
[x] Lets you know if she is happy or sad
[x] Responds to affection
[x] Reaches for toy with one hand
[x] Uses hands and eyes together, such as seeing a toy and reaching for it
[x] Follows moving things with eyes from side to side
[x] Watches faces closely
[x] Recognizes familiar people and things at a distance
[x] Holds head steady, unsupported
[x] Pushes down on legs when feet are on a hard surface
[ ] May be able to roll over from tummy to back
[x] Can hold a toy and shake it and swing at dangling toys
[x] Brings hands to mouth
[x] When lying on stomach, pushes up to elbows

After reading through all the milestones for this age, Logan is meeting almost all of them. He's a very social baby and really enjoys the other kids at daycare.  He smiles at everyone he meets and loves to play with the toys attached to his play mat.  Logan is especially smitten with his big brother and I love seeing their interactions when we're getting ready to leave in the mornings.  James is very meticulous about his baby's sun shade being up on the car seat and making sure Logan is buckled in properly, and Logan smiles and squeals especially loud when brother is near.  James loves to kiss his little brother and gives him a bedtime hug every night.  Its just about the cutest, most wonderful thing I've ever seen.  I do have a feeling that the brotherly love may be coming to a hiatus, as Logan becomes more able to "steal" James' toys.  James has been working on sharing a lot at daycare, so I hope that helps us out some in the next few months.

First rice cereal

The only milestone on this list that Logan isn't currently meeting is rolling from his tummy to his back.  He went from his back to his tummy for the first time yesterday and then was stuck.  This angered my little guy, but he was over it as soon as I flipped him back over.  

Logan is quite the eater, taking 4 to 6 ounces every 3 to 4 hours.  We tried some rice cereal over the weekend and I think we'll be trying vegetables soon.  He had a few weeks of sleeping for 8 to 9 hours, but that was fairly short lived.  He will still sleep for 6 or so hours at a time, so we can't complain too much.  Naps are still not quite his forte, but he has been sleeping a bit more during the day.  
In other news, we took our first trip to the Maryland Zoo and everyone had a great time.  James and Logan's godparents, Jackie and Rob came, as well as our friend Herb, and his two year old little girl, Aurora.  The kids were well behaved and the group dynamic was a lot of fun.  I am generally hesitant with other parents, but everything went well and I hope we can all do more group trips.

James LOVED the zoo

You know you're a mom when...

Normally a post like this might have some silly answers.  As parents, we do lots of crazy things that we never would have done without our children.  But other times, I really know I'm a mom when there's tragedy happening.
While I hesitate to make tragedies happening to other people about me, there is something about being those boys' mom that makes me feel far more sensitive to the sometimes awful world we live in.  I know that I have to raise them in this crazy world and that is a hard challenge to face when it seems evil is lurking around every corner.
On Monday, I went to the gym after work.  I hadn't seen anything about the bombings in Boston yet and when I got to the gym, my iPod ran out of batteries.  So I plugged my headphones into the gym TV system and every station had news about the bombing on.
I managed to get 15 minutes of working out/listening to the news done before I just knew that I couldn't stay away from the boys for one second longer.  So I went to Rhonda's early, scooped both of them up, and gave them an extra long hug.  My heart was aching watching the awful news, it was stretched as far as it could go when I gave in and left the gym.  They say that having kids is like having your heart outside of your chest and Monday I definitely felt that.
Having kids really has made me a more compassionate and more empathetic person.  Sometimes I wish I could shut that off, but in the end I know its not really a bad thing.

The virus from hell

Its been quite the week for our family.  We've been sick.  Really, really sick.  I am still really, really sick.
James started to feel bad on the Monday after Easter.  I took him to the doctor that day only to discover that he had a virus.  Now that's all well and good, but I'm the kind of mom that likes to throw antibiotics at everything.  Kill the germs!  But with a virus you have no choice but to wait it out.  James did okay the rest of Monday, but still had a fever on Tuesday morning.
After much debate, and maybe some loud verbalization on my part (I swear, I don't really scream that much, but it just seems like it on this here blog...) I took Logan to daycare and stayed home with James.  Tuesday was just a bad day for either Adam or I to stay home.  Adam had training for his Leadership Development Program at work and I had a job interview/tons of work at my real job.  But kids always get sick on days when we need them to be well, Murphy's law?
After a day of rest on Tuesday, James was feeling better.  My interview was rescheduled for Wednesday morning, so it wasn't a total wash.  On a side note, I am definitely not taking the job if its offered.  I would have to commute (I am so spoiled working less than 5 minutes from home), pay for parking, and wouldn't be able to telework.  Its a slight raise, but when I did the math, parking and extra gas would even things out.  But its always good to practice interview skills.
James was very whiny the rest of the week, Rhonda even called me to ask if it was alright to give him Motrin on Wednesday morning.
Then Adam started to cough.  And Logan started to cough little, pathetic baby coughs.  And of course, I started to cough.  Big, hacking coughs that rattle your whole body.  Add in congestion, runny nose, and a fever for me and you have one sick momma.
Saturday night, Logan woke up to eat (thank you 4 month growth spurt, this kid has been eating nonstop for the last 4 days) and I could tell something was off.  But my boy wanted to eat, so he ate.  Then Logan refused to go back to sleep.  He was not having it.  So downstairs we went, where I took my temperature.  It was almost 104.  Well no wonder I was so hot and no wonder the baby didn't want me to hold him.  I was making him hot.  So after two hours of unsuccessfully trying to put him to bed, I called for reinforcements.  When I woke Adam for help, I think I said, "He's been up for two hours and I have a 104 degree fever, please help".  So I told Adam he'd eaten 6 ounces, had a diaper change, and was not happy.  Logan then screamed for awhile and finally went to bed.
Adam let me sleep in until almost 9 AM on Sunday, fairly unheard of around our house.  And I tried to rest as much as possible.  That's pretty much a joke with two youngsters, but I tried.  I woke up this morning and still have a fever, but I am at work.  I am still coughing a lot and pretty much feel like crap, but am hoping to feel better soon.  This truly has been the virus from hell!

Easter

Logan's first Easter was a bit of a miserable failure from a mom's point of view.  I didn't have a chance to find a shirt that matched James' (matching outfits are actually the most important part of every holiday).  Mostly because Adam bought James' outfit at Sam's Club and didn't get Logan one that matched and then they ran out of said outfit and then the world ended.  Okay, not the last part.  And I didn't get any pictures of the boys together.  And the weather was bad so there was no outdoor egg hunt on either Saturday or Sunday.  And for the record, I'm not sure Jesus actually rose from the dead, but that's neither here nor there.
Anywho!  Now that that's out of my system.  Here are the two separate pictures that I did manage to get.  Note that James is wearing a long sleeve under his polo shirt because it was so cold!

Dirty O's hat...  Won't look at Mom.  Must be 2.

All business, all the time.