More alert = less sleep

Adam has changed quite a bit over the last week or so. First of all, I have to report that I got him weighed and measured last Thursday (at 7 weeks) and he measured 23.5 inches long, and get this, 14 lb 5 oz! He's a porker! At this age, Lynsey was the same length but only 10 lb 2 oz! I couldn't believe that! I guess I should have guessed it - he does seem really heavy. He also went through a big growth spurt last week where he was eating crazy amounts. Anyway, back to how he's been changing. Nights have been the same, not great. He just can't seem to sleep longer than 3 hours at a time at night! I know last week he was really hungry because of his growth spurt, but the last few nights he hasn't been that hungry. He seems to have a lot of gas in the early morning, and I've been taking him into bed with me from about 4 am onwards. It doesn't really help him much, as he squirms and cries on and off until the morning, but at least I can sleep a tiny bit instead of sitting in his room with him while he squirms and cries. The change has come in his contentedness during the day:(. The last few days he has been having a lot more trouble sleeping long stretches during the day. As he gets more alert, the sleep is becoming more and more scarce. He is giving me some really cute morning happy time which is fun - he definitely started cooing this week:). I haven't gotten a lot of good pictures of him smiling yet unfortunately - I'm just not very on the ball with the camera these days. I was never this sleep deprived with Lynsey, and therefore thought about things like taking pictures a lot more.

Speaking of Lynsey, I need to update her progress! She is such a little girl now - talking in complete sentences, comprehending most everything we say. The other day, I was yelling up at her to stay out of Adam's room because he was sleeping (ironic, I know) - I was sure I heard her in his room. I went upstairs and Adam's door was still closed and Lynsey looks at me and says in the sweetest voice, "I not go into baby Adam's room, Mommy". She looked so forlorn, I felt so bad! She really loves Adam a lot and is becoming a bit more overbearing these days. She really just doesn't comprehend the concept of "gentle" yet. She is also quite the social butterfly. I go to a Mom and Tots group on Friday mornings, and she just loves all the kids there. The other day, she started running around and shouting, "Come on, everybody! Let's run! Come on, kids!". Eventually she got all the kids following her - so cute! I guess she's going to be a leader:).

So I've decided to buy a double stroller. I wasn't going to in the beginning, because Lynsey hasn't sat in a stroller properly for like a year, but she seems to have some renewed interest since Adam came along (she's especially interested when Adam is IN the stroller and there is no room for her!). It is not a true jogging stroller, but all the reviews say that you can jog with it casually (might not want to train for a marathon with it, but that's not an issue for me!) so I'm really hoping that will motivate me to get some exercise this summer. Lynsey is getting to the age where I can reason with her a bit, so I plan on telling her that she needs to sit in the stroller on the way to the park. We'll see if I end up spending a pile of money on a stroller for nothing!

My Growing Kids

Wow - time is really flying by! Brian went back to work last Tuesday, and I survived the rest of the week! It actually wasn't as bad as I thought - it's amazing what you can do when you have to. I actually think I thrive under a bit more responsibility. Last week was a bit rough sleep wise, so on Thursday, I took Adam to the chiropractor. He was having really bad nights, often waking up every hour or hour and a half - not fun. The chiropractor has really helped so far. Since I started going on Thursday, Adam has been sleeping a lot better at night. He still gets up at least two or three times, but he goes to sleep a lot quicker afterwards which was my biggest issue before. He often makes it until 3 or 3:30 before he needs to eat, although he still sometimes wakes up earlier - I am just able to soothe him back to sleep without feeding him. He definitely has his days and nights figured out now, which is a relief. I'm feeling a lot more optimistic that he'll start sleeping longer stretches soon. He is also a lot more relaxed during the day. He was good before, but now he is just a sweetheart almost all the time! He had a three hour nap in his crib this afternoon! I love having a content baby:). He is starting to like his baths and definitely smiling more, although not really cooing yet. He is starting to kick his legs a bit when he's on his back, so I think coos are coming soon.

Lynsey is really growing up. Her understanding of what's going on around her is increasing so much - today I noticed it a lot! She asked me "why?" for the first time today when I told her to do something - this could be the start of the era of questions! When Brian asked her what she had done today, she gave him a long report including quite a few details about her day - so cute! She has some renewed interested in the potty lately, but I'm not pushing it yet. I'm so hoping she will just decide one day that she wants to do it. We are really playing the "big girl" card, but having limited success so far - the odd time when she pees on the potty she talks about being a "big girl like Julia" so she is listening . . . we'll see if the interest keeps up. She can pretty much get dressed all by herself already, although she often gets her clothes backwards. She is learning that the picture on the shirt goes in the front, so I'm thinking she'll start looking for it before she puts the shirt over her head soon. She is such a sweetie:).

Road trip!

We left for Edmonton on Friday afternoon and hung out there until Monday morning. We got a chance to visit with some of Brian's friends this time, which was nice. Adam was a bit fussy that first evening we were there (probably from being in the carseat for so long) and I have to admit, there was a feeling of de ja vu. I felt a bit discouraged, thinking that maybe he was going to be fussy after all and it just took him longer to get there than Lynsey. However, he proved that theory wrong over the last week (thank goodness!).

We left for La Crete on Monday morning and the trip went really well! Adam did great, hardly crying at all, and Lynsey also did really well. That evening, Adam was a bit fussy again, but for the rest of the week, he was so good. We had a great chance to visit with my family and friends and he was passed around without a care in the world! It was so much more relaxing than when Lynsey was a baby! He started smiling while we were gone, although it's kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what day he officially smiled for the first time "on purpose". It certainly seems like he's smiling on purpose now, but who really knows with babies this young. On the way back (Friday), we stopped in Westlock to visit with Ryan and Ruthy, and then went on to stay at Brian's parents' for night. The trip back wasn't quite as good as the way there - I think Adam was just tired of the carseat. Lynsey did great, though - she made it all the way to Red Earth and didn't even ask for a movie! She just looked out the window and played with her doll etc. All in all, I have to say it was a very successful trip, and pretty low stress. I'm so glad my family got to meet Adam before he got too big, and that Lynsey got to play with her cousins and spend some time with both her grandparents. She just loves them! Grandpa Mark plays with her a lot, making him somewhat of a favorite right now, but she was also pretty taken with Grandpa Fehr - every time he left, she was asking about him constantly until he came back:).

On Tuesday, real life sets in - Brian goes back to work. I am sort of looking forward to trying to figure out life on my own with the kids during the day and getting my own routine going, but I know I will miss the tremendous help he's been, especially at night. Unfortunately, the little guy isn't doing great at night yet. He had some good nights and some bad nights while we were gone, but he has yet to have a REALLY good night. The longest stretch of actual sleep at night has only been 4 hours, which is okay, but that only happened once. Most nights, 3 hours is the max. It's hard for both of us to deal with so little sleep, but I know it's only temporary. He will get better, I just hope I don't go crazy in the meantime! Luckily, Lynsey has been sleeping until at least 8am for the last month, giving us a bit more sleep in the morning. I think she's going through a growth spurt again, because she is sleeping and eating more these days. Her interaction with Adam is about the same, sporadic. She does love him a lot, though:).