Brecken | Week 10

Brecken, you continue to have a mellow attitude. When you are awake, you play with toys on your own (look at them and bat your hands at them). You do have a fussy period from around 7pm to 10pm, but as long as I hold / bounce / shush you, we can typically get you to relax. 

You are smiling a ton and starting to coo / talk more and more. It is so fun :) 

You also seem to have some acid reflux going on, so holding you upright for a bit after feedings has made you a much happier kid. 

At night, you've been consistently giving me a 5-6 hour stretch after you first night feeding (starting somewhere between 7:30 and 10pm). Now if I would just go to sleep right after feeding you, I would actually be getting some good sleep! But I don't...After that longer stretch, you continue your typical three hour feeding schedule. Other then holding you upright after your nighttime feedings, you are now pretty content in the middle of the night [thank you!]. And during most days, you still sleep a ton!! Love you sweet baby Breck!

Maternity Leave

One thing I love about being home on leave is being able to get together with family and friends a little more.

On Tuesday, we got together with our friends Alison and Claire. Claire (3 wks) and Brecken (10 wks) were perfect during our mall walk and lunch date. They ate at the same time, and slept quietly through lunch :)

We have also had daytime visits with Grandma D & Auntie Mikayla (KK):

And Grandpa Bob:

And Nana:

We have also played with Jen, Cora & Mari - I wish I took a picture of Mari and Brecken together!! Guess we have to see them again soon :)

Freaky Friday

I know some people think 3D ultrasounds are creepy. But I thought this one was pretty cool. As I mentioned in his 2 month post, Brecken loves to sleep with his hands up by his face - both before birth and after birth:

Brecken | 2 Months

Brecken, you are two months!! It has been a relatively short time, but I already can't imagine our lives without you. Here's a little about you at this age:

- You have started to open your eyes while you eat. At least to start...

- You have a wakeful period about once in the morning and once in the eveing (this seems to be increasing every day now)

- You started to focus this month! So now you actually look at us and at your toys :)

- We started the Babywise 3 hour routine (eat, play, sleep, repeat)

- You started smiling this month! So fun! Your first smile was at 7-8 weeks.

- You love to be swaddled and have from day 1. 

- You are not really a nuk kid. But we're working on it because you seem to enjoy it when we can get you to take one (it soothes you when you're fussy and at night when you wake before you're due to eat). You will typically only take it with ease when you're hungry.

- You like to sleep with your hands by your face. Just like the ultrasound pic I have of you :) You sneak your hands out of your swaddle and tuck them up by your chin.

- We just moved you from your bassinet to the crib. We had pushed the bassinet into our walk-in closet a few weeks ago, but I wasn't ready to move you down the hall yet. I think it's been 3 nights in your room so far and it is going well. Shawn sure appreciates it, too ;)

- Your longest night-time stretch has been 6 hours. You have only done it a couple times at this point. If I give you a 4-5oz bottle around 9pm, you seem to do the 5-6 hour stretch. If I nurse you, you eat just enough to get to the next 3 hour feeding.

- You are growing out of your newborn clothes. This is the one proof to me how much you have grown!

- You have met many neighbors, co-workers, and friends.

- We had our first overnight away from home (all together). Last weekend, we spent the night at Grandma D's. You did pretty good. And I enjoyed getting out to the bonfire and relaxing in the hot tub while you hung out with Auntie KK :)

- At home, you are starting to wake to noises, so you nap better in your crib than the pack-n-play in the livingroom. 

- You spit up a lot 

- You slept through the entire lunch with my co-workers, the entire 2.5 hour visit at my office, the neighborhood Halloween party, and every other group event you have been to (thank you!)

- When you are awake, you are very content. The pediatrician even commented on how he could tell you have a mellow demeanor. You were so patient and cooperative with your 2 month exam, are content during bathtime (you don't even cry from being cold when I take you out!), mellow when I wash your hair in the sink, when your brothers mess with you...Lets hope this sticks ;)

He was smiling, but it's tough to make him smile and take his picture at the same time!

First smiles

Playtime

Sleeping in your crib!

Just for fun, your stat comparisons with your brothers:

Ryder at 2 months: Height - 23" (50%), Weight - 12lbs 15oz (75%), Head - 16" (75-90%)

Logan at 2 months: Height - 24" (85%), Weight - 12 lbs 11.8oz (50-75%), Head - 40.2cm (75-85%)

Brecken at 2 months: Height - 22.6" (33%), Weight - 10 lbs 13.6oz (19%), Head - 15.43" (56%)

I LOVE your newborn snuggles, but it is also so fun to watch you grow!! Looking forward to the remaining month and a half of maternity leave together :)

Ryder's Art

Ryder loves to draw. If you give him markers and paper, he will entertain himself for hours and hours! Lately, he's been drawing lots of football guys and lots of ninjas (Lego Ninjago guys).

He is very particular about the teams he draws and often includes scoreboards. Then he'll describe the details of who won and why, the penalties, the game winning catch, etc. Such an imagination!!

Vikings vs Green Bay (above)

He also turns generic coloring sheets into specific sports teams - Detroit Red Wings (above). It's fun to see how the logos look from his memory.

When he is not drawing sports guys, he is running plays with a foam football inside or a junior sized football outside. One of my favorite memories from this fall was running plays with him in our front yard after school. One of us would be the QB and the other the receiver. So fun to be able to run, dive and roll around on the ground now that I'm no longer pregnant or recovering :) While we ran plays, Logan played golf. I was able to help / cheer him on as well. These boys are so fun. Brecken was sleeping in his carseat during all this, but soon he'll be joining in on the energetic fun :)

Back to art....

From time to time, he also draws pictures of / for his girlfriends. He tells me about his 'ex-girlfriend' (his summer crush) and his current girlfriend. I think I liked this picture because I hear him talk about liking girls and about them chasing him at recess, but I have no idea if he's making it up. When he brought this picture home, drawn by his 'girlfriend', it validated some of his stories (for better or worse!) He is the boy in black, she is in red (below). 

Since we're on the topic of girls...this past weekend, Ryder had a cough. He said, 'Mom - there are 2 reasons I could have this cough. One is all the kissing.' What?! We had to stop and talk about this for a bit to make sure he wasn't making any of the girls at school uncomfortable. Plus, he's 6! He shouldn't be kissing girls! Shawn had a talk with him at the beginning of the school year - high fives only. No kisses or hugs. Funny that we've had to set boundaries like this for him already! Lol! As it turns out, they had kissed him. When I asked where, he said 'Under the table at school.' But I meant where - on the cheek? One was on his ear, one was on the neck. Ok - not cocerned...and not the reason for his cough.

When I asked what the second reason was for his cough, he couldn't remember. Silly kid.

Halloween

Right now, Ryder & Logan are so into superheroes. They love to dress up in their costumes and run around the house, jumping off of things, pretending to fly. Since Ryder was Spiderman and Logan was Superman, I thought Brecken would like to be a superhero, too. (Of course, I decided this on Halloween, so I had a busy afternoon buying fabric and creating his costume over naptime so he could wear it at the neighborhood party that day!)

My 3 little superheroes 

Baby Batman - though he pretty much slept on the job all day / evening, and like a true bat, he was up much of the night ;)

Neighborhood party:

Brecken and I stayed back at the house handing out candy while Shawn and the big boys went out trick-or-treating with the neighbors:

Sounded like the boys loved trick-or-treating. Logan was telling everyone 'Thank you. Have fun trick-or-treating!' So cute. And not only was it awesome to have it on a Saturday, but it was in the 50's as well. Warmest Halloween since our kids have been out (I think).

I took advantage of the holiday weekend to use the pumpkin costume that Ryder wore on his first Halloween:

With Auntie Laura

With Grandpa Bob

Grandpa Bob and my 3 boys :)

My little pumpkin...having some sweet dreams :) I just love when he smiles in his sleep :)

This was also the first year we carved pumpkins with the kids. In the past, I have just let them use paint. 

Ryder's pumpkin was a Vikings horn.

I didn't get a good picture of Logan's, but he wanted to make a 'dog-o-lantern' so his was a puppy face :)

Comparison: Ryder (left), Brecken (right)

Friday Fun

For our Friday activity today, Logan, Brecken and I went to the community center pool. Logan came up with the idea, wanting to go to the 'green slide place'. 

Logan smiled and giggled the entire time. And he didn't stop moving once. He was even a good listener (yay!). In contrast, Brecken slept limp in my arms the entire time :) One super happy kid and one super snuggly kid. Great Friday :)

Breck woke up just in time to leave - lol!

It was pretty fun to just take the two youngest because they [Logan] are still impressed and excited by the smallest things. I don't hear words like 'boring' and 'not cool' from them. Ryder is well behaved and sweet, but he is growing up  (and I think picking up some things from the kids at school).

Looking forward to a couple years of Fridays with these two :)

Exploring

This afternoon, Brecken, Ryder and I picked Logan up right after Ry got off the bus. I'm guessing today was one of the last nice days for some time. (We were in the 60's today & low 70's earlier this week!)

I grabbed them as fast as I could and hit our new local playground. It.is.awesome. I realized it was open earlier today while on a walk with Brecken and wanted the big boys to enjoy it!

Spending a little time in the warming house - the temps dropped quite a bit since noon!

Can't wait to spend more time here on a warmer day (was a bit chilly for Breck today).

This was also the same park we hit up on the last 'hot' night of the season and we spontaneously allowed the kids to run through the interactive fountains:

Went from an ordinary night to a super memorable evening :)

I love this city :)

Brecken | First Smile

It's a day of firsts!! Brecken has started to smile!! And ohmygosh, I love it sooo much! Poor kid - now all I try to do is be silly to get him to do it over and over! :)

He's also currently taking his first nap in his crib :) With how he's been sleeping, I think we're about ready to move him out of the bassinet and down the hall!