Bye-Bye Pacis

Today Coleman said goodbye to his pacis. Well "bye bye 'bapa'" as he has called them for some time now. We've been telling him for a little over a week now that when he gets a big boy pillow he will have to say "bye by"e to his pacis. Today we went to choose a special pillowcase for his new pillow and he chose blue. I'm hoping to find one with puppies or sports balls on it to match his room decor, but blue will do for now. After lunchtime, I put the pillowcase on his new pillow and made a big deal about how "cool" it was to have a big boy pillow. I let him walk around the house with it while I continued to explain what was going to happen at nap. He ran to his room and grabbed a paci from his crib (they have only been allowed in his crib for nap and nigh time for some time now), and he walked around the house with his paci and his pillow.

I had to snap a picture of the last time he would have his beloved paci:

We went to his room and I put him in his crib and had him gather all the pacis and put them in a baggie. He said "bye bye paci" to each one, then finally we had to find the last one (in his mouth), he took it out with no problem and put it in the bag. I gave him his new pillow for his crib and his puppy....30 minutes later he was asleep and has taken his usual 2 hour afternoon nap! Happy Mama! I'm hoping tonight will go just as well - but I'm prepping myself for some upset if he wakes up in the middle of the night. What's the rule - 3 days of tough times, then it gets easier? So hopefully by Monday we'll be all set without having our paci.

The biggest challenge is going to be at church when we drop him off in his nursery room. He's been doing great the last 4 weeks, but he always has his paci. Guess I'll have to start prepping him for that one when he wakes up!!

I don't know why I picked today - I just did. Maybe I did it so abruptly so I wouldn't be sad over this big milestone in my Coleman's life (or more of a milestone for me, signifying that he is really starting to grow up and isn't a baby anymore). Yay for no more pacis!! Next step - big boy bed (i.e. taking down one side of the crib)

Brekan - 2 months

Brekan @ 8 days old. Check out our amazing photographer!

It's hard to believe that Brekan is already 2 months old. I loved what I did for Coleman during his first year with highlighting all the fun changes that happened each month that I just have to continue it for Brekan. I just wouldn't be fair if I only documented Coleman's milestones and not his younger brothers.

2 months old!

Things have been super busy around here (hence my lack of posts) and I'm still trying to figure it all out with two kids. But that's a whole blog post in and of itself on how I'm struggling to juggle two kids, a house, be a good wife, and find time for myself. Oh well, I wouldn't have it any other way. We are SO incredibly blessed to have 2 wonderful boys.

This is my AWESOME double stroller - I LOVE it!

It fits through doorways!

Now for Mr. B. - Brekan - Little B - Brecky-B - little brother - "de-teh" (Coleman's word for Brekan) These are just a few of the names he has gotten since his arrival.

For the first few weeks our little b had his days and nights mixed up. This was tough on me because, unlike with your firstborn, you can't nap when the baby naps during the day because there's a toddler to take care of too! It was a LONG couple of weeks. I'm happy to say that it seems to be switching around finally. We are now putting Brekan to bed around 9ish and he's up about 2 times to each each night. Thankfully, Justin and I are taking turns with the feedings, so we each get up once, giving the other a decent "4 or 5" hour stretch of sleep. Most of the time, this works out great...but sometimes Coleman is up and then we are both up a few times at night. I have hope that someday I will get to sleep for 8 hours straight again....hopeful.

The last few weeks Brekan has really started to become much more alert and happy. He is very smiley when he's awake and his new favorite thing is to watch the ceiling fan. This brings loads of smiles and coo's.

Brekan has a very "chill" demeanor. We are SO thankful for this as we remember Coleman not being so "easy"...but maybe that's because he was our first. Brekan is very relaxed most of the time. He doesn't fuss unless he needs to be changed, is hungry, or tired. Many people have commented on how he is such a "good baby" and we couldn't agree more.

Today we had his 2 month check up and I'm happy to say that he got a great report! Brekan weighed 14.1 pounds which put him in the 92nd percentile for weight. He's doubled his birth weight which is awesome! He is average in height and head circumference. He also had to have a shot today, but being the "chill" baby that he is, he cried for about 8 seconds then stopped and was happy again. Happy Mama!!

Brekan has brought us so much joy the last two months. We can't imagine our lives without him and are so happy he is finally here!

His shirt pretty much sums it up :)

I love this photo - it looks like Coleman is saying "Who is this?"

Now - I can't NOT comment on his older brother because Coleman will be 22 months tomorrow! Holy Cow where did that time go, he's almost 2!! My little man is a ball of energy these days and is definitely showing signs of being "two". He is quite the talker too. He knows LOTS of words and LOTS of animal names along with their sounds. We were singing "Old MacDonald" yesterday and he likes to finish parts of the song for us. When we said "on that farm there was a porcupine" he goes "E-I-E-I-O", we say "with a" and Coleman fills in the blank...for porcupine it's "Ow!" because we taught him that porcupines are sharp. We were laughing so hard when he did this! The past week, Coleman has begun to put 2-3 words together in small sentences. If we are going downstairs instead of just "mommy", it's "mommy too". He's pointing to things like Justin's truck and saying "daddy truck" "mommy chair", etc. It's really neat to see. The other morning he woke up and when he came into the living room he said "hi de-teh (Brekan)". SO SWEET! He is ALL BOY too - he loves dirt, rocks, trucks, tractors, and getting dirty. However, he is not very adventurous at trying new things....something to work on I guess. He makes us laugh each day and tests our patience, but we love our little monkey. He is a great big brother and although he doesn't want to hold or help with his brother, he is very protective of him around other people. He loves to give him kisses and hugs (and sometimes hard pats and squeezes)...they are going to be such good buddies!

Happy 22 month old!