Christmas at Our House

Sick kids, packing, and some Christmas cheer.

Seth is 6 months old!

Today, Seth is 6 months old! I can not believe how old he is getting. This has been a tough and busy month for Seth. Seth got the flu at the beginning of the month and was pretty sick - lucky, he got on TamiFlu and it was pretty short lived. But wow - you should have seen how they reacted at the doctor office - they all wore masks and we had to either leave via the back door or cover him completely with a blanket b/c it could be H1N1. Crazy. We had about a week off which was crazy between a study I was doing here, Katsu defending, and his defense party. And then, both boys got a cold and croup, but Seth definitely got croup relatively bad (not bad enough to go to the ER or anything, but he's still been pretty miserable). It's so sad to hear him cry with his hoarse little voice. I'm just hoping that the kids will both be well before we go to Japan on Monday ... but I'm starting to doubt it. Andrew has been sick for well over a week, now.

Okay, back to Seth. Seth sits now! It seemed to happen really fast, but the last couple weeks he sits perfectly and rarely falls over. This is my absolute favorite milestone of babies. He will sit and play with toys pretty well by himself and loves to play with all kinds of toys now. Andrew is still sweet and brings him lots of toys to play with.

Seth gives us kisses all the time, which I think is new, too. It is so sweet and I just love it. He loves to be kissed and held and his whole face just lights up.

Seth started on solid food this month. He was just so eager and mealtimes were getting too hard so we couldn't wait any longer. He likes rice cereal a lot, but is not so sure about peas or sweet potatoes yet (that's the only baby food we've tried). Since he's had croup, though, he has no desire to eat, so hopefully when he's better, he feel like it again.

Seth still naps well, but has been waking up a couple times a night. Not too bad - but I'm getting more tired. But there's no point in trying to influence this with the enormous jet lag we'll be getting from Japan and then moving two weeks later. We'll just throw all those sleep disturbers in right now.

Seth loves going on adventures. He gets so excited when we put him in the car seat and we are going somewhere. He still hates long car rides (like longer than about 10 minutes) and freaks out, but it's getting better (I hope). Whenever Seth gets excited, he kicks his arms and legs a lot and almost shakes. He gets very excited when Katsu gets home (from shopping or whatever, since Katsu doesn't have to go into work anymore!!!!).

Seth loves finger games, especially "Tommy Thumb" and loves doing airplane on my knees. He also still loves being in his sling.

We are excited to celebrate our first Christmas with little Seth!

Andrew is 31 months old!

Andrew turned 31 months a few days ago and I am just getting a moment to write a quick post. Andrew doesn't seem to change as much from month to month now, although his hair keeps getting longer. He is terrified of getting it cut and gets upset when I even mention it. Maybe when we're in Japan we can go to one of those cute kid hair cuts places and clean him up a bit.

The only other major thing is potty-training. But I am still relatively lazy on this. I would consider Andrew potty trained as long as we are at home and he is in underwear with no pants on. He will pretty much go all by himself with no accidents. But put a Pull-up on the kid or leave the house and he has 0 interest. It's not worth it to me at the moment to put him in underwear when we leave the house b/c he'll have an accident and I'd just rather wait on that, but in his mind Pull-up = diaper = freedom! Since we are traveling to Japan and then moving, I don't think it is worth pushing it.

Andrew is still a little character and full of energy. Katsu's coworker babysat the boys on Tuesday night so we could go out and celebrate Katsu's defense. After the 2 hours (or maybe less) that we were gone, his coworker was completely exhausted. It is really tiring to chase Andrew (and boy does he love to run away from you and hide) and also to try to keep him quiet and not wake up Seth. He is so loud!!!

Andrew is still an awesome brother. I can ask Andrew to "watch" Seth while I am doing something and he will talk so sweetly to him and bring him toys and play with him. I love it.

Andrew is fascinated with death. He talks about it often, especially about Jesus's crucifixion. I am trying to play up the resurrection bit, too, so he gets a more complete picture. This week as I was putting him to nap or bed or something, he says to me "Mom, when I am old, I will die. But then I will be resurrected and alive again". So, I guess he is getting it. But he always asks if/when he or me or Katsu is going to die. He also has associated ambulances with sickness and death (we do see/hear a lot of them since we live so close to the hospital, so we talk about them a lot). He will say kids die in ambulances, which I try to correct, but he is not really listening a/o understanding. When he plays with his toy ambulance, he will say that it is killing kids and hurting them. Not quite sure what to make of that.

Andrew uses this high pitched voice when he is pretending which is so cute. And he is pretending all the time. I swear, it takes the kid an hour to eat a meal because he eats some and then he pretends his food is people or cars or something and they are talking to each other and it just takes forever.

Andrew loves to sing now. He gets so excited about the ABC song, though he doesn't really have it all right. He always skips R-V and then sings "Double-E X Y Z. Next time won't you A-B-C". I should probably start teaching him letters or something, but I am really laissez-faire about the whole early learning thing. I feel like he will learn it eventually - why push it? Heck, he could just be finishing school when he's 30 just like his dad. Or when his kids are graduating high school like his grandpa? Lots of time there.

Andrew is loving Christmas and especially Christmas songs. He loves Jingle Bells and the 12 days of Christmas (I think he can sing through the first five days all by himself). He also knows most of the reindeer names. I guess listening to the Christmas station on the radio (there are 2 in Detroit) must rub off on him because I definitely am not teaching him this stuff. He is also especially excited about Christmas lights and Santa Claus. He asks almost every day if Santa Claus is coming. He loves the snow, too, and wants to play in it every day. If it were a little warmer than a high of 20, maybe I would be motivated to take Seth out with him, but right now that seems too cold for a baby.

We love Andrew.

Dr. Katsu

This morning, Katsu defended his PhD dissertation. From now on, he will only respond to Dr. Katsu. Just kidding, but we are very proud of him.

Seth is 5 months!

Seth is 5 months old, today. This will have to be kind of a quick post as it's kind of late (and I'm tired). Seth is still a sweet little guy but this has been a hard month for him. As soon as he turned four months old, he learned to roll over from his back to tummy and did it constantly. Between that and his four month shots (I can't decide which was more problematic), he decided to stop sleeping well for a couple weeks and began waking up several times a night wanting to eat or just be awake. No fun (although still a cake walk compared to Andrew at this age). That has mercifully gotten much better. He also has gotten quite fussy this month, especially late afternoons and evenings. He is happy some of the time but then all of a sudden he is horribly fussy and crying. He also wants to be held most of the time and cries hysterically if you let me down for just a minute. So, he has been spending lots of time in his sling and in my arms (which is really wearing down my back). But I'm probably making it sound worse than it is. He's really sweet and pretty happy ... as long as you hold him ... and it's not evening. His naps are unfortunately not as great as before - he still takes three-ish (sometimes only 2), with a long one in the morning and then short 30-45 minute naps for the other two.

Seth has also seemed to get separation anxiety the last week or so. He has been more clingy, and, to some extent, more attached to me and more reluctant of Katsu. We have been trying to make sure that Katsu spends more time with him (which is hard when he is asleep by 7 pm and sleeps till 7 or later most mornings). On Sunday, we both were teaching Priesthood / Relief Society, so a sister in our ward held Seth. He was fine for about 5 minutes ... and then, he fussed and she took him out and he cried hysterically and wouldn't be comforted for the rest of the time. I was hoping it was an anamoly except that he did it today at his babysitters. He did calm down with here after a bit, thankfully. I was hoping since he sees here about 2 hrs a week, that would help. Anyways, my boys sure seem to get separation anxiety very early.

Seth is way interested in toys. He has been making eyes at Andrew's toys all month - especially anything brightly colored. He really wants to play with Andrew's push toy. He tries to play with his toys, but it's hard since he still isn't really sitting at all much. I'm sure it will cause lots of tension once he can sit better.

Seth is also very very interested in eating. He starts crying / fussing whenever we are eating. If we hold him, he tries to grab our food or our plates. We haven't really started solids, but we try to placate him with whatever food on our plate seems edible for a baby. He loves yogurt, which he probably shouldn't be eating yet, but I don't really care. So different than Andrew.

Seth loves being outside, going on walks, his sling, cooing, being tossed in the air, Andrew, being tickled, baths, and being sung to. Andrew is his best little buddy and loves to go in when Seth wakes up and play with him and talk to him. He is really a very good helper and tries to keep Seth entertained and is so sad when Seth is sad.

Seth, when he is happy, is very happy and gives big smiles to everyone. He is pretty social and loves to make noises, though his coos are more like "kkkkkkkk" sounds now and trying to make raspberry like noises. His whole face lights up when he sees me which is so precious.

Seth is still not really sitting up, but he is getting much better at gripping things, grabbing objects, and passing them between his hands. He loves to "stand" and much prefers that to sitting. The first couple weeks this month he loved being on his tummy, but now he much prefers his back.

Well, that's all I can think of. We love our little Seth-man.

Andrew is 2 1/2!!!

This has been a busy month between sicknesses, Halloween, and a conference paper deadline for me. But we can't miss Andrew's half birthday ... I can't believe he is so old.

The biggest change this month was starting, for real, potty training. The first couple days were exasperating, but he has really seemed to get the hang of it. He loves the idea of getting candy and putting a sticker on the potty when he successfully does his business, so much so that one day, he was sitting and trying to actively push several times an hour just to get more candy and stickers. I actually think he likes the stickers better than the candy, which he holds and melts in his hand, and if/when it finally makes it to his month, it ends us in chocolate drool all over his shirt. Yuck - I have a feeling we are going to have to buy a lot of new 2T shirts for Seth. The only major problem with the whole potty training thing is that I feel like we need to stay at home, but we have so many places to go, but he's obviously not trained enough to go use potty outside of home, so I feel like we're only half doing it.

If we don't go anywhere all day, Andrew is begging to go to the park or just outside or anywhere. A day at home is much too long for him. He was very upset on Monday when we didn't go to the grocery store after the library (which I guess we must normally do) and he kept telling me things food he thought we need to buy. He is always asking "What are we doing (tomorrow, yesterday)?" He doesn't quite understand time words yet, and will always say tomorrow or yesterday when he means today. Or he will say next week or next month, but I don't think he really understands what that means. His favorite and must used expression now is "in two minutes". Everything is in two minutes. If he really wants to show us he is serious, he tells us to set the timer. Usually two minutes means more like never for Andrew, because he is always busy doing whatever he is doing.

Andrew is really so social. I think he would probably love being in day care or preschool (although, I think he would miss me a lot at day care - maybe day care with me along would be his paradise). He asks me to invite his friend over every day. And he will try to call on the phone himself if I don't do it. I hope we aren't overusing those friendships ... He would just be so happy having a playmate to play with all day every day. But he gets upset when his friends don't want to play the things he wants them to. They can't just be here for a playdate - they have to dance with him right now or play balls or go to his room or whatever.

Andrew is still the sweetest big brother ever. He loves to hold and kiss Seth and tries to comfort him and play with him. I hope it lasts, but Seth is already starting to eye Andrew's toys and I am not sure how Andrew will deal with that. He is already upset when I read "Andrew's" (according to Andrew) books to Seth. He already told me that our family should have another new baby. I told him Seth was a baby and one baby is way more than enough.

Andrew is really a touchy person and loves to touch, hug, kiss, and wrestle with other people. I am not a very touchy person, so sometimes I go crazy with how much he wants me to hold him or how much he loves to climb on me or cuddle next to me. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts, but my touch quota is always overflowing.

Andrew loved all the trick or treating. We did the Zoo, Main Street, the ward Halloween party, and around the neighborhood (with friends and on our own). It was probably a bit much, but I just think it is such a great holiday for kids. Andrew LOVED it. We are using his candy for potty training so I don't feel too bad about how much he got. Plus, there is a hefty parent tax and I put some aside for Christmas. Andrew must be going through a growth spurt lately, because his costume, which fit fine when I tried it a month or two ago, was a little small and he kept tripping. But that didn't stop him. He wanted to go to every place and run the whole way there. He would say "Trick or Treat" kind of quietly, but with much prepping, got a little louder. If they weren't fast enough, he would follow it up with an "I want candy!".

We prepped a lot for Halloween by reading Halloween books and watching a couple Halloween movies the whole month before. Andrew loved them, even the scary ones. He wanted me to read them, even though he would cover his eyes during the scary parts. He loved "Who Took My Hairy Toe" and also "T. Rex Trick or Treats" the best. We also carved a pumpkin. Andrew was really excited about pumpkins this year and got excited whenever he saw one.

And yes, he still loves cars. This week, his cars were "driving to church to read their scriptures" - where does he get these ideas. I love it. We love our 2.5 year old.

Halloween at the Toledo Zoo

We loved spending Halloween at the Toledo Zoo last year, so we went again for the Pumpkin Path - a trick or treating trail that takes you all through the Zoo. We brought along our friends. Andrew's best buddy is Jonas though it is definitely a love and hate relationship, but we were glad that they could come with us. They were real troopers, because it was not the best weather. It was cold and raining off and on. Probably, like in the 40s? We had to buy gloves at the gift shop because it was so cold. Luckily, our boys Halloween outfits are warm (Seriously, I don't know what Michigan parents are thinking who don't get fleece or other seriously warm costumes!).

We slowly slowly slowly trick or treated at 20 different stations throughout the zoo. We saw a magic show along the way, got pictures taken at the HP photo center, posed for many pictures on our camera, played on inflatables, and of course, saw animals! We also spent quite a bit of time at the new Children's center at the zoo, which was fun. Fisher Price had a section set up with cars for the kids to drive. Andrew was at the wheel, but I think he was a little shell-shocked, because he would not pay attention to me at all. I kept telling him to put his foot on the pedal to make the car go, but he did not listen. He did get it a little bit at the end, but I think we should wait awhile before teaching him to drive. Meanwhile, Jonas was mostly concerned that the car's radio was not working!

We got tons of candy (and we got even more candy today at a coworker's kid's birthday party from a pinata) - I have no idea what we will do with it all, though I am stashing some away from the Christmas stockings. Shoot me now, but I am all done with the kids' Christmas shopping! Yeah!

Okay, back to Halloween ... so, the zoo was great. And we stopped at my favorite restaurant on the way home (Abuelos) after only getting a "little" lost. It was an adventure with the boys - Andrew took many time outs at the restaurant, but we had so much fun.

We'll miss our friends when we move!

Seth is 4 months old!

I just can't believe that our little sweetheart is already four months old! The time is just flying by.

First, Seth is a great sleeper. Most nights he sleeps the whole 11-12 hours without waking. Lately, the first 3 hours or so after he goes to bed, he wakes up and fusses for a few minutes, but seems to comfort himself back to sleep without any intervention from us. Katsu thinks he probably does this all night and I just don't hear it because I'm asleep. Well, regardless, I think his sleeping is GREAT and I hope and pray visiting Japan and moving doesn't mess that up.

He takes 3-4 naps a day. Usually a 45 min-ish nap about 1.5 hours after he wakes up. Then, maybe a short catnap before lunch. He takes a longish nap in the afternoon (sometimes for 3+ hours) when Andrew is napping. At least, I try to get their naps to correspond, and they do about 1/2 the time. And then he takes a short-ish nap around 4. He is usually asleep by around 7 every night.

Seth nurses often, but I don't mind since he sleeps so well. He probably eats about every 1.5-3 hours. He is a pretty distracted nurser. He likes to smile and coo a lot, unless he is starving. And sometimes I feel like we are in a wrestling match trying to get him to nurse. But he seems to be gaining weight and is pretty chubby (though no where near Andrew, I think). He already outgrew Costco 1/2 diapers b/c he is so chubby. I just love cute chubby baby thighs.

Seth is very happy about half the time. He coos and giggles and laughs up a storm. He wakes up from naps and in the morning very very happy. He smiles a lot and just lights up whenever he sees anyone. He loves to "talk". He likes being held, or being on the floor, kicking around and trying to roll around. The other half of the time, he is pretty fussy and only wants to held, and usually bounced, too. Thankfully, he likes being in the sling and I carry him around quite a bit.

Seth loves to chew on his fingers. I think he will be a thumb sucker, but right now, he likes to chew on his three middle fingers. He likes to also chew on his clothes and my fingers and toys. No pacifier, though.

Seth likes to play on his activity mat and kick and hit his toys. He is less interested in the swing nowadays and we actually didn't ever use it that much, except as a mobile/mirror. Seth likes grabbing toys some, but is pretty content to just look and bat.

Seth likes to be on his tummy pretty well. Right after he turned three months, he figured out how to roll from tummy to back. He concentrated really hard, rocked himself and kind of tested it out, and then did it. Then, he had no interest, until a couple days before he turned four months, when he rolled over and over. Now, no interest again. I think he prefers being on his tummy and being able to look out over the world.

Seth loves people and pictures of people. I think he is really started to like Andrew, too, which is great because Andrew loves him. Seth loves being outside if it's not too windy or cold, especially looking at trees. He HATES his car seat. Thankfully, I absolutely detest using the car seat as a carrier (first, it is really heavy and also, it seems like people bring them places and just park their kid in them and then totally ignore the poor baby), but it does make car trips quite miserable. He starts out with small crying which then turns into huge hysterics and then the saddest cry ever (that unfortunately also sounds kind of funny and then Andrew starts laughing) before he finally wears himself and falls asleep. Seth also LOVES having his diaper changed. I don't know why, but it is his favorite part of the day.

Seth enjoyed getting to know his Grandpa Dick and Grandma Clo and Aunt Karen better this month, too. We went to the Botanical Gardens with them and to Frankenmuth. This month, we also went to the zoo for trick or treating, went to several parties with Katsu's coworkers, and had a friend visit from Boston.

Mostly, I would just say that Seth has such a sweet personality. It is hard to put in words, but he is just so sweet. I love holding him and cuddling him and when he falls asleep on my shoulder or in the swing.

I'll post stats after his doctor appt on Tuesday.

I just can't resist ....

Read the post about Andrew below (it's great), but I can't resist posting a couple pictures of laughing Seth. Enjoy!

Andrew is 29 months old

Andrew is 29 months old today. He is growing up so fast. He talks a mile a minute now and always says the funniest things. Today, he wanted me "to turn the sun off" because the sunlight was in his eyes. He always says the word "though", which is so cute - like, "I'm just going to do this a little bit, though". Sometimes I still have no idea what he's saying, but most of the time he speaks pretty clearly.

Andrew has a lot of energy, always running around and jumping. He LOVES to jump, all the time. When they do a "Crazy Dance Party" at the end of library story time, he just jumps and jumps and jumps. He likes to climb up on the moving boxes we have started to pack (which he is not allowed to) and jump on. I still am in disbelief that this kid has not broken a bone or gotten stitches. He falls and hits his head all the time, but he seems to be virtually indestructible. Andrew also loves to run around, and most especially to chase other kids. He gets this look of glee when he sees kids running and he is off.

Andrew is getting more picky about what he eats. His new favorite food is pasta, which he wants to eat all the time. I tried this new thing with kale where you oil, salt, and pepper it and cook it in the oven and it gets crunchy, kind of like chips. Andrew really likes it. I never thought I would see the day when I would hear my kid say, "More kale please, Mom", but he said it this week. He is starting to get a sweet tooth (my fault, probably) and loved helping make Halloween cookies this week. He practically had a meltdown when I said he had to wait for his friend to sprinkle them. Then, he kept sticking his fingers in the frosting or stealing cookies away when I wasn't watching ... sneaky boy.

Andrew is in full-fledged whine mode, which DRIVES me crazy. We count him on it sometimes and I also don't respond to him when he whines (most of the time), which helps a lot. But still - whining is one of the worst things. He also is more emotional. I think the theory that kids are emotional nutcases around their half-birthdays has some merit to it. He is learning to control himself, most of the time. He usually (but not always) doesn't hit, but he will get right in your face and kind of growl and almost hit you but not quite. Pretty intimidating for other kids, poor things.

I think having to discipline really stinks - one of the least fun parts of parenting so far, for sure (well, still WAY better than dealing with sleep). But it's nice to see that counting really works well. Andrew usually stops doing bad behavior when I say "2". Of course, by the time we hit 5:00 and I am cooking dinner and Andrew and Seth are both going ballastic, we spend half the time till Daddy gets home in time-out. So fun (not). Funny story - my grandparents were here last weekend, and my Grandpa tried to count Andrew and Andrew said "You can't say 'One'" or something to that effect. I guess only me and Katsu are allowed to discipline.

Andrew is most of the time really sweet to Seth and loves to be with him. He talks to him in sweet voices and calls him Honey and tells him it is Ok. He also laughs with him, which is really cute. Andrew loves to say all the time how they are brothers. He will say "Brothers" and then point to Seth and say "Little brother" and point to himself and say "Big brother". I love seeing them together as brothers and hope they will be great friends. They seem to be on a good start.

Andrew has this cute thing where he will always list every single person. As in, "Where is Mom and Andrew and Dad and Seth going?". He wants us all to go everywhere together and is very disheartened when Katsu has to go to work.

We are still trying to move in the direction of independence. Andrew has gotten good at washing himself with soap while Dad supervises. He is starting to want to do everything himself - even giving himself his medicine with his inhaler (sometimes this drives me nuts, but I try to let him help). He is getting better at putting on clothes, but still needs lots of help. He is really good at feeding Joe and doesn't make much of a mess anymore. He always helps me vacuum and dust. I think it's time to have him help me clean the kitchen and bathroom with something safe like vinegar and water.

Andrew really has a good sense of compassion. He has been very concerned about my finger this month and always wanted to look at it. And he always will say "Mom, you need to be careful, though". He also says that whenever anyone gets hurt. We were looking at a picture of the Crucifixtion this week and talking about it. Andrew saw the nails in Jesus' hand and said "He needs to be careful". He is most fascinated about this picture and will always say (in his one and only voice - loud - much too loud for church ... sigh), "Look, Jesus died". Another story - Andrew had a friend over and did something to hurt him (hit or shove, maybe)? After, he came out of time out, he went straight over to his friend and gave him a hug and said "I'm sorry". I was so proud that he did that of his own volition. We are working on the "Please" and he is pretty good at that. We are trying to move on to "Thank you" now.

Andrew still loves cars with an extreme focus and loves to line them up and park them on his car mat. He also LOVES to read. Between those two things, that is all he wants to do, especially when Seth is sleeping and he has my full attention. We also are trying to make sure that he has special time alone with me (Story time on Wednesday afternoons) and with Dad (his First Steps class on Saturday). I think that helps make the transition to having siblings easier.

Andrew is singing all the time now. Favorites are Happy Birthday song or songs he makes up. I thought it was so funny when he said he wanted me to sing "Jesus wants me to jump" (for the uninitiated, that would be "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam"). He also said his first night time prayer all by himself (i.e., he came up with things to say Thank you for). We were very excited. It is fun to see his excitement at church things. He really loves Family Home Evening - I think using the nursery manual really makes it so easy and so fun for him. He thinks that marching around the living room while I sing some song is an essential part of FHE.

Andrew had a lot of fun with my grandparents this month and also with our friend Christina and her boyfriend who visited from Boston. He loves meeting and hanging out with new people and will talk about them for weeks afterwards. He still asks about where Grandpa Dick and Grandma Clo and Aunt Karen went. And I can now anticipate many questions about Christina and Stuart. Ha ha ha. He just really loves everyone. He is getting a little shy when he first meets people, but he opens up in now time and wants you to play with him "right now". He is very good being left with babysitters (at Institute or switching date night with our couple friend every week) as long as we are there everynight to put him to bed. I can't imagine his tolerating us being gone overnight very well. His sleep troubles endure of course. I tried to bribe him with a toy car if he slept in his big boy bed all night all by himself. He told me "not yet". And repeats that every time I bring it up. ARGHHH.

We love Andrew and are enjoying every (okay, MOST) minute with him.