10 months

We had another great month with baby brother (but the monthly photo shoots are basically a disaster at this point!)

He is now fully mobile and bound and determined to explore every square inch of his house.  

He is cruising everywhere and has stood on his own for a few seconds.  He also climbed the entire staircase (with mamma close behind him) on his own!  Thus, the introduction of baby gates, toilet locks and cord channels!

Sleeping is still going great - most nights he is down from 6ish - 6ish.  We had a few rough nights that we think were caused by teething pain, but overall, we can't complain at all. 

Speaking of teeth, he now has 4 - 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom.  Those little teeth just kill me!

He really is the sweetest, happiest baby on the block.  He smiles at EVERYONE and if someone is in the room but not looking at him, he will yell to get their attention until they afford him the proper smiles and acknowledgement that he deserves! ;)  He is pretty laid back - usually happy to be along for the ride.  The poor guy probably spends 5-7 minutes alone in his carseat every morning as the rest of us frantically run around the house finding shoes/backpacks/etc and other last minute "out the door" activities.  He quietly sits in his carseat, playing with his toys and watching the commotion.

That being said, he is just like his sister in that he wants you to talk to/smile at/play with him, as long as mommy or daddy or sister is holding him.  Twice recently I was holding him facing away from me and he was around someone unfamiliar to him.  He must have forgotten I was holding him because both times he burst into tears, pouted his lower lip and screamed his little face off until I turned him around.

He was around the whole family at Easter and he was pretty comfortable with the grandparents/aunts, as long as mommy/daddy/sister are close by!

Eric has been showing us his likes/dislikes with toys.  He seems to love balls and "things that go" - trucks, trains, toys on wheels.  Being at Olivia's softball practices/games has really given him his first introduction to grass and being outside.  At first he didn't like to crawl around on the grass but after a few practices he got used to it and I had to hold him back from going on the field to crawl after the balls!

He also likes rattles and shakers - anything that makes a noise is very appealing to him! Much to his sister's dismay, he doesn't seem that interested in dolls - we have tried several times to introduce him to various babydolls without success.

Healthwise, we have had a great month.  No ear infections and, other than some teething pain, no real ailment of any sort.  SO THANKFUL! 

We are still working on food.  I wouldn't say there is any food he just loves.  He is pretty consistent on Cheerios and yogurt in the morning.  Recently I started putting fruits in these little mesh baby feeders and, if he's in the mood, he loves them - mango and cantaloupe were huge hits.  Chicken is another usual favorite, as well as cheese.  But honestly, it just depends on his mood - there are sometimes when it seems like days go by where he will just pick at the food and most of it ends up on the floor.  He has also been trying "school lunch" at school.  But same thing- sometimes he loves it (fish sticks are apparently a big hit, as well as meatloaf) but I still get the "refused lunch" report more often than not!

We still continue our daily "lunch dates" and as we near the 1-year mark, I really can't believe I was ever upset about having to go nurse him everyday.  When he started daycare and refused the bottle, I was so worried and anxious about making sure he was getting milk and drove myself (and I'm sure Matt/Olivia/Eric/our doctor) crazy trying every technique I could to force the bottle on him.  When I finally gave up and embraced it, nursing him has honestly become one of the biggest highlights of my day.  I never thought it would be - with Olivia nursing was a stressful, scary feat - never knowing if she was getting enough milk, having to excuse myself from work meetings to pump in my office and resenting the entire process because of it, and CONSTANTLY worrying about my supply.  With Eric, I initially felt the same stressful, uncertain feelings.  My "goal" of making it to 1 year nursing him was less about anything having to do with his health/well-being and more some internal made-up timeline that I needed to meet to prove something to myself.  In reality, with all the stress of Matt's knee injury, various family issues, work, and other daily life pressures, I just couldn't obsess about bottles anymore.  So I decided to just go over to his daycare and nurse him - 2x a day - and to make all the rest of it work around that.  And it did.  My co-workers adapted to my schedule and we made it work.   And I have grown to love those feedings in an unexpected and surprising way.  They have come to be my little sanctuary and a safe place where I can regroup and refocus.  I get a nice break from work, a little exercise (its about a mile walk round trip), and 10 minutes to chat with Matt during the day as I walk over.  Sure, there have been days when I literally ran over there and ran back in order to meet a deadline.  But I have started to view those 15 minutes when I'm holding and feeding my baby and surrounded by 8 other babies are a precious gift that I now know will be ending soon.  As soon as I open the door to his classroom, Eric crawls to me as quick as he can, he eats, and then snuggles up for some hugs (until someone/something catches his attention and then he crawls away to play).

He has also taken to waving to me as he nurses, which really just makes my heart want to explode into a million pieces.  I have also gotten to know his teachers in a way I never could have by just dropping off/picking up and have once again counted my lucky stars that we were fortunate enough to get into this school where the teachers know and love him (and all the other babies in the class) as much as they do.

So, I'm sure it will take me several times to learn this lesson: but with Eric (and life!) I am going to try and embrace the unexpected curve-balls that seem like challenges/failures and hope they really turn out to be blessings in disguise.

Plainly, I'm really just obsessed with this little guy!

But I'm not the only one.  The mutual obsession between sister and brother is still going strong!  We have had a few incidents of jealousy over mamma, with Olivia telling Eric that I was "her" mommy, but usually it's all love between these 2.  Especially when Eric does something crazy (start to scream for no reason) and Olivia dies laughing which only seems to rile him up even more!

And speaking of mutual obsession, this little guy loves his dada!

This is one VERY loved little guy and we feel so lucky that he's a part of our family!

Reading Celebration

This morning Olivia's class had a Reading Celebration for the parents. It was such a sweet morning where these excited 6 year olds shared strategies they use for reading and demonstrated how they are all "avid readers!" 

The teacher told us different "powers" the kids use to read and asked the class for their favorite power and why. Olivia raised her hand and said her favorite power was "voice power" because she can use her voice to give a character tone or humor and make it come more to life. Which is such an Olivia thing to say!  Then she proudly showed us her book bag which was stuffed to the brim with her favorite books and she feverishly read them to us as quickly as she could to make sure she had time to get through them all.

Each child drew a picture of their favorite character and Olivia chose Piggie, the character from the Mo Wilems books, Elephant & Piggie.

At the end each child gave their parents a present - a personalized book mark. Matt's has tennis balls on it and mine has hearts with a note saying she loves us.  It was such a lovely morning and a wonderful confirmation of the education she's getting that is nurturing and really meets each kid on their level.

Easter

We had a great time celebrating Easter this year, especially because it was Eric's first one.  

On Thursday Eric had his Spring Hat Parade at school.  He didn't seem to love his hat.

Good Friday was a little hectic because both Matt and I had to work in the morning.  But we tag-teamed on the kids and got a little help from some of our Kinkaid high school helpers to make it work.  By 3:00 we were both done so we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside with the kids and the bubble machine and then we headed to Lupe for some Mexican food, drinks, and sopapillas.

The weather was gorgeous all weekend so we spent a lot of time outdoors riding bike and playing at the park.  While baby napped, we tried out the Egg Mazing to decorate some eggs.  And, let me say, it was pretty cool.  No mess & Olivia loved it.  We wasted an entire dozen eggs which I had sort of mixed feelings about, but it kept her busy for an hour!

On Saturday night we set out some carrots for the Bunny.

(Olivia had very specific ideas on how the toys on the fireplace should be arranged)

The next morning we were all excited to see that E. Bunny visited our house and left eggs and treats for the kids

Despite having a basket of his own goodies, Eric was most intrigued by Olivia's bubble wand. 

To Olivia's dismay, baby Eric isn't really into "sitting still" while Olivia reads to him, but she always tries..

   

I'm pretty obsessed with these two little bunnies

And later in the day we hosted Easter Brunch at our house.  Olivia and I had fun decorating the table

 

And she took on the heavy task of seating arrangements for the meal.  I absolutely hate assigned seating generally, but given only 2 grandchildren and a whole gaggle of grandparents/aunts, its a necessary evil in my mind. Olivia was super aware of all the different dynamics at play and basically came up with a perfect arrangement.  I was very impressed ;) 

Again this year we played Pin the Tail on the Bunny.  This year Tutu and Olivia "tied" for first, so they battled it out in another game where (shockingly) Olivia emerged victorious.

The grandparents also brought over baskets with more goodies for the kids

Tutu continued the tradition of giving them these animated, singing animals which Eric thinks are just the best!

We had a yummy brunch if I do say so myself, complete with Dirt Cups for dessert, decorated by Olivia and Aunt Naz

It was a happy day spent with family