Preschool plans

I am of the mindset that it is better to wait a little bit before starting kids in school.  I'd rather my boys be the oldest in the class vs the youngest.  They will be going to school for so long, and then working.  Why not leet them have a little bit more time being a kid, with less worries.  That being said, I think it's also a good thing to follow the lead of your child.  That is why I am going to start homeschool preschool with Tanner next week. I believe he is ready for a little something more. I have the next 2.5 years roughly planned out. 

Starting January 2015 I will be doing the plan from the ebook The Preschool Journey (written by Angela Thayer from teachingmama.org).  I feel like this is a wonderful way for both of us to get used to the idea of "doing school" at home.  It's very much play based. Crafts, sensory, games, etc.  She has everything planned out for me already, along with a list of books to incorporate.  I will add in a few extra activities here there to incorporate holidays and special events.  I also have a plan to incorporate Bible studying and "All by myself" boxes from 1+1+1=1.  Tanner really thrives doing sensory play (marbles, sand, rice, pouring water...). 

Starting in September 2015 I will do a mix of Carisa's curriculum (from 1+1+1=1) and Erica's curriculum (from Confessions of a Homeschooler).  And when Tanner is ready I will add in Becky's reading curriculum from This Reading Mama. 

This should be a good foundation for us all before getting into actual Kindergarten curriculum.  Each year will get progressively less play based and more teaching focused.  But like I said earlier, this is all roughly planned.  I know I will follow Tanner's lead and what works for him.  We will change things up if need be when the time comes for it.  

Homeschool

Homeschool.  What do you think of when you hear that word?  Is it a positive or negative thought?  Maybe extremely conservative and/or socially awkward children?  Eh, I never really thought about it much. Until I had kids of my own.  

I suppose it was only normal that I was headed in this direction after doing tot-school with Tanner.  I thought it was because I wanted to teach him his basics and incorporate play, you know, to prepare for school.  That morphed into thinking it was ridiculous to pay for preschool when I can teach him everything he needs to know. (And yes, I can STILL socialize my kid and not have to send him to a "structured" class setting).

And then I started researching.  Oh researching.  I feel like I've spent a quarter of the past 4 years doing that.  Along with trying to get a child to sleep and stay asleep, playing, and nursing...

I had gathered plenty of information to sway me more towards homeschooling my kids.  I'll save my reasonings for myself, because there are so many, and this post would be ridiculously long.   Until we visited our close friends I was probably around 80% sure I was homeschooling.  (Preschool was a definite 100%).  My friend's mom (a 30+ year experienced public school teacher and administrator) pretty much said "Do not send your kids to public school", in the nicest way possible, of course.  She completely validated every single thought I had and then some.  Every fear I had she just squashed it! I left our friend's house that day feeling like God was trying to send me a message.  For the few days before I was still trying to sort the pros and cons in my mind and feeling overwhelmed.  It was an incredible feeling!

For some reason I was worried about how Nick would think about it.  But he shares every thought I have on the topic, as well.  He knows the public school education is not the same as it was when we were in school.  And he knows how much potential our kids have to becoming something great.  We don't want them to lose that spark and the capability of becoming a leader.  My biggest fear was that I would fail my children as their teacher.  But a friend of mine said it perfectly-we believe public school will fail our children. So we will be a homeschooling family!  (I do want to add that learning the location we will be moving to next was a big player in this decision, as well. So in the future, if we were to move to a location with an amazing school system we may change our minds.)

Homeschooling has come a long way since the 80s and 90s.  More and more people are doing it because of personal beliefs and the government's Common Core curriculum. (Once again I am being fairly vague on this as to not "offend" anyone).  There are huge communities of homeschool families.  They have their own extracurricular activities, field trips, and even prom! I'm not saying we will homeschool all through high school, just that there are a lot of options out there.  

My next post will be on my plans for preschool.  We are starting a curriculum plan the first week of January.  I plan to document everything here (to have for memories and to reference back when Wesley is ready to start).

Maybe next year.

Today is the 3rd Squadron Holiday party (out of 3) that we've missed. I feel bad even thinking about being sad and feeling like we are missing out. I'm thankful for the reason I have to stay home. But I do feel sad. I miss a lot of squadron functions. 

Tanner is old enough now that I could potentially get a baby sitter for him. But there is absolutely no way it would work with Wesley. He is very high needs. He does not sleep well, and he still nurses a ton. He does not have very long stretches of time where he is happy. And he is difficult to lay down to sleep. 

There is no real point to this post other than to whine, I guess. Although I know this time in my life is so short in the grand scheme of things. Before we know it the boys will not be dependent on us at all. And I will long for these days again. Like right now...it's 1:10am. Haven't slept yet. And nursing the baby for the third time so far tonight. Thank you, Lord, for creating the coffee bean. 

Tanner's 3rd Birthday Photo Dump

Tanner's birthday isn't until December 8th, but with so many squadron parties and Christmas activities on base that weekend we decided to have his party on November 30th.  After going through a bunch of different party themes on Pinterest with Tanner sitting in my lap, we picked a car theme.  It was so much fun!  Here is what I've been so busy with the past few weeks!

Tanner has talked about birthday hats for months.  I knew that was one thing we HAD to have for him!

Pin the wheel on the truck (It was supposed to be a car but my drawing didn't turn out right.  So I improvised and made it a truck).

We had a "color the wooden car" station.  And then they got to race their cars on the track.

 He had fun, and that's all I could ever hope for his birthday party! I was so worried his friends wouldn't be able to come because it was the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, and two of his best friends have recently moved away. :( But it turned out great! I'm so thankful for everyone who came, and for Nick! He helped so much, even though he had so much to do with his schoolwork. 

He didn't want to blow out his candles.  He knew once he did they would be gone. So his friends did it for him.

And then he realized he wanted to do it after all.  So I relit them.

Darn camera focused on the wrong subject! This would have been a GREAT picture! hehe

A happy boy!

And it's always a dangerous thing when a toddler (ahhh!) preschooler disappears.  Especially in a rented facility.  Luckily he was just helping us clean up...

Happy almost birthday big guy!

Preparing for a new adventure!

I seem to have fallen behind again.  But really?  It's not really something new.  But to be fair, the past few weeks have been jammed packed with, well, everything. 

Halloween snuck up on me real quick.  I planned on making the boy's costumes and when I realized Halloween was in 1 week I panicked! I originally planned on making them Charlie Brown and Snoopy, but that idea fell apart rather quickly.  Tanner wasn't interested in learning who Charlie Brown was.  And Snoopy only has one spot (on his back) and knowing Wesley was riding in the stroller he would just look like a white dog.  So I just made him a white dog with black spots. I asked Tanner what he wanted to be.  He said, "maybe a monster! Or a dragon! No! A SPIDER!" So after a trip to Hobby Lobby and TJ Maxx, I got started on their costumes.  

What else has been happening? Tanner has been playing soccer.  I've been planning his third (WHAT?!) birthday party. Researching and planning Tanner's homeschool preschool (we will begin in January).  Wesley turned 9 months old. I've lost 20 pounds! Nick got his name on his jet. And possibly the most exciting news...

...we got our next assignment!

Nick received his list of possible planes and locations about a month ago.  We rack and stacked them, ranking them 1-26.  And HOT DOG (too much Mickey Mouse?)! We got our FIRST choice!  We are so incredibly excited!  

Ever since April of 2009 when Nick got his pilot slot we've been daydreaming about what plane he would be flying and where we would be living.  In 2011, when Tanner was born and Nick was in pilot training, we decided staying here and having Nick become an instructor pilot was the best for our family.  Thankfully we got our first choice then, as well.  And now that this assignment is almost over, our next adventure is going to begin. We still have several months, but we can start planning and imagining.  

I don't feel comfortable flat out saying where we are going or what Nick will be flying (yet), but we will be near some family.  AND THE OCEAN! Hallelujah, no more land locked state! We are so blessed.  And oh so thankful!

Today

Today was a hard day. 

It started out dark and early around 5:45 with Wesley waking up. Followed by a mouse running across the living room. A MOUSE! Ugh. 

Thankfully Nick was home to help get it out of the house (hopefully).  Nick was also around to help take the boys to the clinic for Wesley's 9 month check up. A few things:

1) Wesley hates being poked/prodded. Especially naked in a cold doctor's office. 

2) Three times now I've had an annoyingly bad experience with the airman who does the growth stats. 

3) Waiting for 45+ minutes in a cold room  for the (new) pediatrician (that I don't really care for) while Wesley screams as loud as he can, just barely keeping himself from vomiting sucks. Heck of a run-on sentence, huh?

Also, Wesley refused his morning nap and only slept barely a hour in the afternoon. He was so tired and grumpy today. Which reminds me...having an extremely temperamental, high needs baby is hard. Especially if that baby hates being cuddled or calmed. 

I sure hope teething is to blame. I'm tired. 

Weightloss and Running

A little back story/info: I was about 15-20 pounds overweight when I got pregnant with Tanner (a lot of that is boob weight, though-ha!). I gained 60ish pounds with Tanner's pregnancy, and was only able to lose 40 postpartum.  I breastfed, dieted, and exercised and I could not get past that plateau.  I could binge on food during the Holidays, and I wouldn't gain weight either.  It was incredibly annoying.

I got pregnant with Wesley at that same weight.  I only gained 20 pounds with that pregnancy and lost it all immediately 2 months postpartum.  I was right back at that number that I was stuck at for 2 years.  

When Wesley was 2 weeks old he started showing signs of colic (something I don't wish on anyone).  Around a month old I started giving him probiotic drops.  That seemed to help for the most part.  But it didn't get rid of the colic completely.  

Around 4 months old I cut out dairy because of Wesley's colic symptoms mixed with his green, mucousy, blood tinged poop.  3 weeks later I noticed a big difference in the colic, and his poop.  (He is still a very temperamental baby and has his angry moments, but his overall mood is better)

I noticed a difference in Wesley, and in myself as well!  I never realized how much dairy I ate until I couldn't have it anymore.  Not just milk, cheese, chocolate.  But whey and casein, too.  It was very hard at first, but after being dairy free for 4 months it's become normal. 

I also have lost weight!  I think I lost a couple pounds PAST my plateau mark from just cutting dairy!  I started couch to 5k in July and I've lost even more weight.  18 pounds.  It's still so shocking.  I was stuck for so long.  My first goal was to get back to the weight I was when I got pregnant with Tanner.  I have 5 pounds to go.  And then my next goal will be to lose 15 more pounds.  I will reevaluate then, whether or not to lose 5 more.

I've always wanted to be a runner.  So many people talk about how they love to run, how it's a stress reliever, and so on.  Every time I tried to start running I hated it.  Absolutely loathed it.  I couldn't understand why anyone wanted to do that for fun.  But back in July I just had this feeling.  A feeling like I might actually be able to complete couch to 5k.  

I finished the first week and felt great.  Finished the second week, and still felt great.  Each week that passed, I was feeling awesome and proud of myself for sticking with it.  I was so excited (and nervous) to run my first stretch of 2 miles.  I had only done that 2 times in my life (once in high school and once in college).  I did it.  Over and over!  And I've run 3 miles straight!  My last run was a spur of the moment thing with Nick and the boys in the stroller, and I HAD FUN!  What has happened?  I don't know but I love it!

I'm in my 4th month of running, It's not really something new anymore.  It's habit now.  And I'm so happy! 

Wesley!

Hmm.  Where to start?  I've got a lot to talk about!  Tanner update, Wesley update, weight loss journey, new assignment, homeschool preschool...

I think I will start with Wesley, since he's the one changing so much, and I'm not documenting it.  

I last posted these pictures.  It was April, and Wesley was just 2 months old.

He's so itty bitty there! It's crazy to see!  He's changed quite a bit since then. See?

This last picture is blurry because he just wont stay still anymore.  It's become tremendously more difficult to take pictures!

A lot has happened since I last updated about this sweet, often grumpy, never naps, squish.

April-
*Rolled from his back to his belly (4.29.14)
*He started laughing. (4.30.14)

May- 
*He slept through the night for the first time (this does not happen often).  (5.14.14)
*It took him just one night to break the swaddle.  I literally took him out of it and that was it. (5.28.14)

June-
*Rolled over from back to belly. (6.17.14)

July-
*Sat unassisted. (7.12.14)
*First food (Apple, carrot) BLW method (7.28.14)
*Said Dada (7.31.14)

August-
*First plane ride (To NC) (8.16.14)
*First time swinging (8.23.14)

September-
*Gave first kisses (to me!) (9.4.14.)
*Said Mama (9.8.14)
*First sickness (a cold) (9.13.14)
*Tooth #1, bottom front left (9.29.14)

Poor sick baby

October-
*Figured out the sippy cup (10.11.14)
*Went from all fours to sitting (10.12.14)

There are three major things about this boy. 1) He has a sensitivity to milk protein, so I've cut all dairy from my diet.  Hidden dairy, too (whey, casein). It's been fabulous for losing weight! I'm hoping he will grow out of it by the time he's a year old.  A lot of his colic was caused by dairy.  It all make sense now.  I stopped eating dairy when he turned 4 months old.  I never realized how much I ate.  But it's worth it, and the weight loss has been pretty nice.

2) He hates sleep.  Really.  The boy will not nap.  He will usually sleep about an hour a day on average.  He pretty much refuses to take a morning nap.  He will sleep maybe one time during the week, if I'm lucky.  And his afternoon nap can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half.  It's so different coming from Tanner who would sleep about 4 hours during the day, and still sleeps 2-3 hours a day.  He will usually sleep pretty well during the night, probably from being exhausted.  (and PLEASE don't tell me that it's better to have a baby who sleeps at night and not during the day, than one who sleeps during the day and not at night.  That's not true when you have a toddler who needs some one on one time and can't have it because the baby is screaming all day long.)

I'll spare you the hundreds of pictures I have of him nap striking.  I have a ton.  What a grumpy determined little guy!

3) He is completely, 100% the polar opposite of his brother.  Well, except for nursing.  They both were/are boob obsessed.  Everything from sleep, shape, coloring, temperament, food preferences...and the list goes on and on. Heck, even their pregnancy's were different. (I predicted it, too!)

He very much loves his food! He will eat almost everything.

He has two moods.  Super happy and smiley.  And angry baby.  But boy is he sweet when he wants to be!

Knock knock...?

Is anyone still out there?  I know my last post said I wasn't going to blog anymore. It said I was going to make videos and post them on YouTube. Well, I did for a little bit. 

But then some things happened across the world. You know what I mean, you can hear about it on the news everyday. After hearing  some "terror"fying stories from close friends, relating to events and social media, I backed away from everything for a while. I beefed up security on Facebook and I made this blog private. I've since made it public again. But that may change again. I am going to be a little more discrete about things I post, though. 

I found myself looking back at my old posts and rereading stories about Tanner as a baby. And our travels. And I got so sad. I haven't done an update on Wesley since he was 3 months old (on YouTube-and even longer here on the blog). It's not fair to him. Don't get me wrong, I'm taking tons of pictures, I'm just not capturing the stories behind them. 

I really loved making videos and watching them back. But I feel more "out in the open" on YouTube vs here on my little ol' blog. So I'm starting it back up. I may still make videos, but I will probably only link them here and make them un-searchable on YouTube.

We have way too many things going on not to document it all to remember. Especially the adorable little things Tanner says. I can't promise I will post everyday. Or even every week, but I know I definitely miss it. And I've got a lot to talk about! :) 

I am not blogging anymore...

For millions of reasons I stopped blogging.  I'm not going to make excuses.  I just got burnt out, I guess.  I don't want to do it anymore.  

A few months ago I created a Youtube channel.  I started it so I could actually document my kids, and my life, on video.  Pictures are great, but they aren't video.  I can't hear my sweet boy's funny words/conversations, or my babies coos.  

I've watched other mom vloggers for years, way before I had Tanner.  I've watched their kids grow up in video.  I want to have that for me to look back on.

I'm also making weight loss videos.  (Yay! I'm losing weight!) 

I've met so many wonderful mommas out there in the blog world, so I don't want to lose that.  If you want to watch my videos, and keep up with me, you can!  My youtube channel name is ElleAyeEff (think LAF-my initials).

My youtube channel.

I'm going to post this on Facebook, too.  I know I have a lot of friends and family who read this blog and enjoy seeing updates.

I'm also on instagram-linzalif.

Thanks for hanging around, guys!  I may or may not get back into blogging at a later date.  I'm really thinking I'm going to prefer videos.  

I love you guys!

-Lindsey

Wesley: 2 Months

Wesley turned 2 months old on Friday.  My little guy is growing up!

STATS: He was 9lbs 12.8oz and 22 inches long on Friday.  He's still my little peanut.  I read my 2 month post on Tanner and saw he was only 9lbs 7oz, 21.75in at 2 months. So he's bigger than Tanner was at this age. I'm hoping those stats are correct.  The airman measuring him was new.  And that's all I'm going to say about that...

CLOTHES: I have officially packed away all of his newborn clothes. Tear! He is so long and has such big feet that the torso part of the clothes still fit but the pants, especially footed pants, were definitely not working for him.  He is wearing mostly 0-3 month clothes now, although the 3 month sleepers and footed onesies fit better for his length. He is wearing size 1 diapers.

NURSING: He is doing excellent in this department.  We have had no issues whatsoever since 2 weeks! 

SLEEP: We started a bedtime routine for Wesley this month.  It wasn't until close to 5 months before we started one with Tanner.  We would give him a bath (every other night) and swaddle and nurse him until he was full, or fell asleep.  I would put him in his crib to sleep until we decided to go to sleep.  I would wake him up, change his diaper, and then nurse him in bed and then put him in the co-sleeper.  About a week ago I decided to see what would happen if I left him in his crib until he woke up to eat, instead of waking him when we went to bed.  He slept until 1:30.  I decided to nurse him in the glider in his room because it's easier to nurse him there than sitting up in my bed (I can't nurse him laying down, it just doesn't work yet). He ended up falling asleep after 20 minutes and I decided to just put him back in his crib to see what happened.  Needless to say, he's been sleeping in his crib ever since.  He makes so much noise during the night, just moving around and getting comfortable, that I think I would wake up and be so tired I though he was hungry.  I'm sure hearing me roll around in bed would wake him up too.  So it's been great for both of us.  I still have anxiety about it though.  Tanner slept in our room until he was 7 months old.  

He goes down to sleep without any issues at night, but never during the day. Naps are really hard.  He gets so tired, but just protests sleep until he flat out passes out around 2pm.  

OTHER: His colic is GONE!  Probiotics, for the WIN!  He gets his drops every 3 days.  The only time he cries now is when is tired.  Which lately has been a lot. 

He is also starting to take after his brother.  He spits up all day, every day.  Lots, and lots, too. 

And he still will not take a paci.  :-/

(His signature move)

Getting there!

My last post was pretty negative. So I need to just say something positive.  It may not seem like much, but it's huge to me! Yesterday was Thursday. My last post was talking about last Thursday. I can say yesterday went so smoothly! I was able to get both boys fed, bathed, and ready for bed by myself.  Typically I would have skipped a bath or something like that.  But Wesley was due for a nice soaking bath and Tanner was covered in sand.  

I felt so productive!  And maybe things are starting to turn around! I'm really trying to go with the flow more and step out of my comfort zone.  So what if I'm out in public and the baby starts crying and tanner tries to run off.  I'll deal with, right? I'm trying!

Chatty post

Do you ever have those times where the day starts off nicely and then something snaps in your happy children?

It may start off with a nice play date outside and then the newborn starts screaming because he's overtired. You also have a super dirty toddler because he was playing in dirt and mud (think dirt in his hair). You're trying to get dinner started, and juggle the screaming newborn into the ring sling while washing the toddler's hands and face in the kitchen sink. He starts crying because he wants to play in the water, and since you have your hands full and your mind and thoughts are all scrambled from all the noise, you let him. The newborn finally fals asleep but the ring sling isn't on correctly and it hurts. But you don't dare try to fix it and wake the baby. You notice dinner is boiling over and the toddler has water all over himself and the floor. So you quickly fix the dinner situation and strip the toddler down. At this point he's crying again because you turned the water off. And what do you know, you smell poop. So you somehow get the toddler onto the changing table while holding the sleeping baby in the awkward sling. You change the diaper and while wrapping it up a little turd falls out and falls behind the dresser that is mounted to the wall. Luckily you can jimmy the drawers off to retrieve the turd. You wash your hands and turn the tv on for the fussing toddler. And finish dinner. And all is well. Or is it? The toddler trips and falls over his stool by his chair and starts crying, which wakes the baby and gives you a massive headache and a cold dinner.  This happens to other people, right? It was almost comical. I was thinking, "what's going to happen next?"

I can't ever get the fabric to fit on my shoulder right. And the rings are way too low. But he was sleeping, and there was no way I was going to compromise that!

I'm trying to get this "mothering of two" thing down, but it's just not there yet. I'm thankful Wesley's colic is mostly gone, but I'm trying to get him to nap in his room where it's quiet, and that's been tough.  Timing things is where it gets hard. The boys typically wake up at the same time. Tanner wants to eat and so does Wesley. I'm not one of those lucky people who can nurse while walking around. So I'm sitting down for at least 20 minutes each time Wesley nurses. So he ends up crying while I get tanner situated with his breakfast. And sometimes I'm still nursing Wesley when Tanner is done and wants down from his high chair. This happens at nap time, too. (Like right now. I have a nap striker, and Wesley is nursing so I can't get up and tell Tanner to get back in bed). Typically it's not as bad at bedtime because Nick is usually home.  

Most morning (definitely not all) I wake up feeling great. I want to clean the house and do chores. But after Tanner plays a while, and especially is we have friends over, the living room becomes a disaster area. So after trying to get Tanner some lunch and ready for nap, and Wesley nursing, I'm exhausted and don't feel productive anymore. I'm sure it will get better when Wesley can do more and not get upset when he isn't in my arms. 

It's really hard to complain too much, though. Although Tanner whines and fusses a lot (what two-year old doesn't?), he's really a great kid. He has no jealousy towards Wesley, and his "terrible twos" are not that terrible. 

Once these brand new newborn days are over things will be great. I hate thinking that, because I want to enjoy Wesley at this age. It's just a hard age. Not for everyone, some have it really easy. That's just not my case. But I do know I'll look back on this time with a smile. 

Organize all the things! New beginnings.

The two year old is napping and the newborn finally let me lay him down in the swing to sleep. He has been fighting sleep all day (6:30am-1:30pm), but today has still been better than our "normal" days. This is the third day in a row like that, too.  Probiotic drops, for the win!  Maybe we are on our way to a new normal? 

Anyway, I was sitting here on the couch and was able to look around the house. And for the first time in months, I was able to see it.  Maybe it's the change from colic to happy baby, or the warmer weather, or just the quiet, but I feel great! (I even only got a couple hours of sleep last night!) I feel my normal self coming back.  I want to get on Pinterest and gather ideas.  I want to deep clean.  I want to organize my kitchen, living room, closets, bedroom.....(I'm sure Nick is super excited to read that. I loooove you, Nick!)

I want to make my house pretty.  I want to make myself pretty.  I'm looking forward to starting a new healthy lifestyle, and exercising again. I was looking through old pictures yesterday for throw back Thursday and I found these old pictures of me.  The Lindsey in those pictures is how I still see myself.  It's a completely different person from the stranger I see in the mirror daily.  

So I am going to start living again...once I get this having-two-kids thing down a little better.  I'm going to start making an effort to start liking myself again. I also want to write about it all.  I always feel better after I post something new.  I may be pushing it a bit right now, because who knows, colic could come back and bite me in the butt. And if I'm honest with myself, there are days where I'm trying to rock the screaming baby while sitting on the floor putting a puzzle together with Tanner, with Mickey Mouse playing in the background. And I try to remember the last time I was able to go pee.  But it has to get easier as the days go by.  It's an adventure! One I am striving to enjoy thoroughly, and want to remember forever! Let's see how it goes! 

Wesley: 4 and 5 weeks

This was originally supposed to be a 1 month update, but it's taken me a week and a half to write it. So it will be a 4 & 5 week update.  That happens when you have a toddler and a baby with colic...

Wesley turned a month old on March 4th.  It seems like it's flying by and moving at a snails pace all at the same time.  I've mentioned several times when I was pregnant that I bet Wesley would be completely different than Tanner because my pregnancies were polar opposites.  And oh boy was I right!

STATS: We had a weight check on March 4th.  He was 7lbs 11oz.  So he FINALLY got back to his birth weight (7lbs 10oz).  He also grew an inch and a half, so he's not filling out yet, just stretching out.  

CLOTHES:  We've had to retire the newborn size halo sleepsack because his legs are too long in it. But he is in all newborn stuff besides that.  We are putting him in more 0-3 months stuff now because his legs are long, but it all swims on him.  So I'm really liking the footless newborn clothes.  Speaking of feet, his are big!  He is still wearing newborn size diapers.

NURSING/SLEEP:  It's going wonderfully! He's eating ALL THE TIME.  And that's mostly because he won't take a paci.  He really wants to take one (and he's getting close) but his tongue thrust keeps pushing it out of his mouth. He's also trying to figure out how to suck on his fingers, but they don't cooperate with him most of the time and he gets mad.   He's eating every 2 hours around the clock.  I can sometimes get one 3 hour stretch during the day and one at the beginning of the night.  Starting at 5/6pm, he eats every hour-90 minutes.  And around 3/4am it's every hour and a half.  I'm looking forward to him stretching his feedings out a little, but I know he's adding on the pounds and it's good for him at this point. 

OTHER: The first 2 weeks he was a good little baby.  He slept all day and night.  I would set my alarm for every 3 hours to feed him.  And you already know the issues we had breastfeeding from my last post.  But as soon as family went back home and Nick went back to work the dreaded colic showed up.  Super!

I can honestly say Wesley has cried more in his 5 weeks of life than Tanner ever has in his entire life.  It breaks my heart.  He cries when he is sleepy, he cries when he has to poop, and sometimes he cries just because.  And when I say cries, it's more of a scream.  We've barely gone anywhere because I know Wesley will just scream.   I'm afraid to say it, but I will.  We started probiotic drops a week ago.  Today was day 7 of giving them to him.  And today is the second day in a row that he has acted like a normal baby.  FINGERS CROSSED this is how it will be from now on.  He just had some issues with his gut.  Poor guy.

Tanner is an amazing big brother.  He hasn't shown any signs of jealousy or any resentment towards him when he's crying all the time and has a lot of my attention.  I try really hard to include him in everything I'm doing.  And I talk and read books to him while I'm nursing.  He really loves his little brother.  Anytime he's on the floor doing tummy time Tanner is right there laying next to him.  And he worries about him when he cries.  The other day when Tanner woke up from his nap, heard him over the monitor talking about "Baby Weddy".  

You have no idea how long it took for us to get a picture of him NOT screaming. 

Nick had to do this over and over so we could try to get one good picture.  He's an angry baby.

I had to add this picture because this is the normal Wesley.  For this anti cry-it-out momma, having a colicky baby is so hard!

And because we love our Carolina Panthers, I had to add this comparison picture.  :)