Merry Christmas from Team Smith! I hope you and yours had a joyful day.
Charlie Bear's first Christmas!
The $1 jump rope in Natalie's stocking proved to be the best present. Girlfriend NEVER tired of trying to clear the rope. (Note: she was only successful once, but kept a smile the whole time)
Hooray! We all survived your first month! (Not that there was any doubt, but still, it's nice to survive something as world-changing as a new baby).
I'm going to try really hard not to spend your recaps comparing you to your sister. Not that I would ever (consciously) do that in a negative light (NATALIE did this when she was a baby; why aren't YOU?), but I want you to have your own recap, with your own (embarrassing) stories. You've got a little grace period, however, because newborns hardly ever do anything embarrassing (... besides peeing on your shoulder. You did that, by the way. Daddy and I may or may not have laughed.)
Here are my observations thus far: You love being swaddled, you love your bassinet, and you love being outside. You don't like laying flat, so I'm wondering how moving you to your crib in your room will pan out. You are the sneeziest, snore-iest, snortiest, and hiccup-iest baby I've ever seen. You typically sneeze in triplicate and get the hiccups no fewer than twice a day. I think part of your sneeziness and snortiness might be due to your swollen nasal cavities. At your two-week checkup, Daddy and I mentioned how your nostrils seem small. She agreed and said they looked pretty swollen. We've started using nose drops on you in the hopes it'll open your nose up a bit. You eat a LOT. I'm not fighting it, because I don't think putting a one-month old on a feeding schedule is any kind of possible. But I'm hoping in the next month or so, you'll learn to be more efficient with your nursing. I try not to let you go more than 2 hours in between feedings during the day, trying to fill you up so that you'll sleep well at night. It doesn't work. You're like a teenager - you sleep all day and party all night. I feed you between 9 and 10pm and you can usually make it until 12:00am or 1am. That's your 'long' stretch. Har. After that feeding, however, it's anybody's guess as to when you'll be hungry again. Sometimes it's 2am. Other times it's 4am. (Side note: I know you don't know how to tell time, but 4am is waaaaay better).
You have reflux. Not even a hundredth of the degree that Natalie had (in other words, I'm not covered in baby vomit 24/7), but you seem to be in pain after every feeding. I'm hoping
Zantac will help reduce the time each nursing session takes (nursing + burping), because an hour is a wee much. Just a wee.
Your Daddy rocks (hopefully you're well aware of this when you actually read this). After your last feeding at night, I go to sleep in our bed while Daddy sleeps on the floor in your room. He does a great job at trying to get you to go a long stretch before your next feeding. He'll rock you, he'll turn on the hair dryer (side note: you're really comforted by the sound of the hair dryer), he'll put you in the swing, he'll do whatever he can think of just so I can get at least 3 or 3.5 hours of sleep in a row. See? He rocks. After the next feeding, Daddy goes back to our bed and I sleep on the floor in your room. Wearing earplugs. Because on my GOSH, you're so noisy. (I know I could sleep in my own room and just go get you when you start to fuss, but you sleep so lightly at night that you wake up a lot. So if I'm only inches from your basinet, I can stay half-asleep while I rock you. And I know I could sleep in my own room and move you to our room so that I'd still only be inches from your bassinet, but I want Daddy to get a long stretch of uninterrupted sleep since he has to go to work in the morning.) Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you just start sleeping 5 hours at night consistently. Then Daddy and I can sleep in the same bed and neither one of us has to sleep on the floor. Sound good? Good.
Instead of having your 2-week growth spurt in one or two days, you dragged it out for over a week. Survey says? NOT cool. I'd much prefer a rough 24-36 hr stretch instead of a rough 5-hr stretch every day for 9 days. Perhaps you could change your method for your 6-week growth spurt. I'd hate to have to return you to Baptist Hospital for being defective. I'll find the receipt, trust me.
I know you're a boy and you won't want to read something like this about your mom when you're older, but it must be said. So I'll just put three words. Mastitis. Thrush. OhmygoshohmygoshohmyGOSHpain.
Your head gets patted a lot by Natalie - it's her favorite thing to do with you. I'm not sure if she thinks a genie will pop out of your head or what, but your head is never lonely. It's actually pretty adorable and you don't seem to mind at all, so it's a win-win situation. She's a pretty great big sister - she's only yelled at you twice to stop crying. I had to politely remind her that yelling at you doesn't do any good. If it had worked, though, I might have given her $5. But, alas, it didn't.
I seriously can't wait for your first purposeful smile. You do a lot of milk-coma-smiles, and if your actual smile is even a tenth of the cuteness of your milk-coma one, I might, in fact, have a tiny heart attack. Your dimples are simply delicious. As are your feet. And your neck. And your belly. I thank God so often for you. You're simply magnificient, my sweet Charlie Bear.
Hugs and smooches, Mommy & Daddy
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Headlines for December 9, 2011
Secret Santas pay strangers’ layaway bills at Kmart
As if I was bad enough trying to get a weekly recap for Natalie done on time, I'm now combining Natalie's and Charlie's weekly recap into one recap. Hopefully their recaps will be done more than quarterly ...
Me and my baby boy
The new 4-membered Team Smith
Holding 'Baby Chaw-yee'
Charlie Bear!
Feeding Charlie some ketchup - such a good big sister
My dear sweet Big Sister o' Charlie Bear, You're all about schedules. You like to know what we're doing each day, and in what order we're doing them. Sometimes I show you a picture schedule; lately, though, I just tick things off on my fingers. Well you, my little master negotiator, have started ticking things on YOUR fingers to change the schedule. Case in point:
Me: Nat, it's time for a bath. You: What's after bath? (actually it's more like WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I don't WANT to take a bath!!! *continued wailing and gnashing of teeth for 10 minutes* THEN you ask what's going to happen after the bath) Me: (ticking off on my fingers) Take a bath, put on jammies, brush your teeth, read a story, go to sleep. You: (ticking off on YOUR fingers) Pway (play), bath, jammies, book, seep. We pway first and I don't need to bwush my teeth. Me: (glaring at Daddy because he's practically falling off the couch from laughing so hard at the exchange between us)
Your life is one big musical, with "Jesus Loves Me" as your theme song. Seriously, if there's a millisecond of quiet, you immediately fill it with song. I don't know if you're uncomfortable with silence or if you think Daddy and I are uncomfortable with silence, but it's like you feel every waking second of the day needs to be filled with talking, singing, or some other noise. Case in point, let's revisit the above scenario.
Me: Nat, it's time for a bath. You: What's after bath? (actually it's more like WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I don't WANT to take a bath!!! *continued wailing and gnashing of teeth for 10 minutes* THEN you ask what's going to happen after the bath) Me: (ticking off on my fingers) Take a bath, put on jammies, brush your teeth, read a story, go to sleep. You: (ticking off on YOUR fingers) Pway (play), bath, jammies, book, seep. We pway first and I don't need to bwush my teeth. Me: (glaring at Daddy because he's practically falling off the couch from laughing so hard at the exchange between us) Me: Come on kid, scoot it to the bathtub. You: (as you're walking to the bathroom) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! (cue tears, gnashing teeth, and general discontent) (2 nanoseconds later) You: JESUS YUHVES ME! DIS I KNOW! FOR DA BIBLE TELLS ME SO! (2 nanoseconds later) You: (remembering that you're mad about taking a bath) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! (2 nanoseconds later) You: YITTLE ONES TO HIM BEYONG. DEY ARE WEAK BUT HE IS STWONG! Me: (my head explodes trying to keep up with whether you're about to be mad or prepare for an encore)
Speaking of Jesus Loves Me, you like to change the lyrics to that song. Perhaps Daddy and I (mainly me, cuz I'm probably nerdier than Daddy) use too many grown-up words with you, but something I often say to you (like when you're in the middle of one of your AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! fits) is "Natalie, your attitude is completely unacceptable. Please act like a big girl." Well you, my little Creative License-r, decided to sing "DIS is unacceptaBLE! Dis is UNacceptable! DIS is unacceptaBLE! DIS IS UNACCEPTABLE", all sung to the tune of Jesus Loves Me. Mmmmm, this humble pie sure is tasty.
You like to sing the blessing before we eat - it's the song you sing before lunch at Mother's Day Out every Tuesday. It's ridiculously adorable. There's a part that goes "We will ask your blessing", but with your awesome lack of L-pronounciation, it sounds like "We will ask your be-yessing".
I almost feel like I've run out of things to teach you. I've actually felt this way for almost a year now. You picked up on shapes, colors, letters, and numbers so quickly that I'm not sure what's next. Algebra? The Dewey Decimal System? The 50 states in alphabetical order? I've been floundering for a while and then I remembered some advice from a friend who said to teach you my phone number and Daddy's phone number. Well it took a grand total of 30 minutes before you could easily repeat our phone numbers. The speed with which you can memorize something absolute floors me. You also know how to spell your whole name. Again with the flooring of your mother.
The biggest news this month is that you became a big sister. Wait, I take that back. You like to remind me that you've already BEEN a big sister for the past 9 months. (Excellent point, kid). I'll rephrase: This month, you became a big sister to someone who doesn't live in Mommy's belly anymore. You've done remarkably well for having your world turned on its ear. You're a great big sister to "Baby Chaw-yee". You like to tell Charlie 'good morning' when you come into the living room each morning, you like to point out his tiny features (specifically his fingers and nose), and you like to show him your books, toys, and stuffed animals. You also like to to tickle him - and you're totally impressed when he responds to your tickling (even if his response is just a snort or a wiggle). You don't like it when he cries, but Daddy and I try to remind you that Charlie doesn't know how to say "I'm hungry" or "I'm tired"; all he knows how to do is cry. Sometimes, though, when he cries, instead of getting panicky, you come up to his bassinet and say "It's okay, buddy! Don't cwy!" You're a great helper - you ask to throw his diaper away, you bring him a stuffed animal when he cries, you boop his nose when you feel it needs booping (which is often). Periodically throughout the day, you like to come up to Charlie, give his soft head a little rub, then continue on to your destination. Daddy and I are so SO proud of you. Seeing you with Charlie, interacting with him in your own perfect and unique way, makes our hearts so happy. You are the perfect big sister for Charlie.
This past month, you seem to have grown and aged by leaps and bounds. I was told by many people that as soon as Charlie arrived, you'd seem bigger to me. It sounded silly, but dude, it's so TRUE. You seem so ... grown up. Your hands seem particularly ginormous. Big kid hands. Hands that were the exact same size on November 8th, but somehow, on November 9th (actually November 10th, since that's when I first saw you after Charlie was born), your hands seemed like they belonged on a 2nd grader. I stopped picking you up when I was probably 7 months pregnant, so the first time I picked you up after Charlie was born, I was all "DUDE! When did you get so HEAVY!?" You were all "DUDE! You keep feeding me! I'm going to GROW!" Thanks for that little reality check.
As cool as I think it would have been for Charlie to have been a girl, I'm stoked that he's a boy. The main reason I'm stoked? I can still call you my best girl. I love you more than my heart can profess; I'm proud of you more than words can describe; you will always, always be my best girl. And I will always, always consider myself immensely blessed to know and love you.
Hugs and smooches, Mommy & Daddy
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Headlines for December 1, 2011:
School picks blackboards over iPads
Kanye tops Adele in Grammy nods
World-traveling sea turtle comes home
$13,000 stuffed in suit accidentally sent to Goodwill
Team Smith is comprised of a wonderfully wacky and charming fella named Lee and his equally-as-charming but not-wacky-at-ALL wife named Suzanne. The Smithkids are two wonderfully wacky and charming little squirts, Natalie and Charlie.
The $1 jump rope in Natalie's stocking proved to be the best present.
Puzzle time with Bob
I love him too
Not purposeful (yet), but still so sweet
Natalie was playing the Charlie guitar :)
