An Update (they're few and far between for obvious reasons)

Adventures are commonplace in my home. Gerret spits up a thousand times more than I remember Nolan spitting up. In fact, assuming that my memory isn't faulty, I only remember two or three instances when Nolan spit up significantly (as in more than a little dribble/borderline projectile vomiting). With Gerret, I can count on at least once a day, often more. This means... wow... I have never known laundry like I do now. I'm starting to catch on to the tricks that help lessen the blow, like don't sit him up in a certain position immediately after eating, and make sure he burps, but it's still very very bad.

Don't assume that all of my adventures involve spit up. Lunchtime with Nolan is an adventure I can count on every day. Nolan will eat just about anything, but you have to be smart about presentation. He's kind of finicky about the way things are cut up or not cut up, whether or not I let him feed it to himself (sometimes he'd prefer to have me feed him, though most of the time he likes to feed himself), the temperature, and most of all the order in which I feed him different foods. The order is a big deal because if I offer him something he likes more than something else, he refuses to go back to the food he liked least in the same meal. This means I order his meal from least to most favorite. With new foods, it's guesswork and sometimes I get it wrong. Another big thing is if he sees sweets on the counter or table or in someone's hand, he won't eat anything (well he would gladly eat that sweet if I let him). Instead, he will point at the sweet and whine. Even if you remove it from his sight, he will remember it and continue to refuse real food. He has the worst sweet tooth (I don't know where he gets it from) and that can cause the biggest problems. Another silly one is if he sees croutons. Croutons are like sweets to him; it's the same deal.

This will sound terrible, but I was avoiding giving Gerret a real bath until Patrick had a Saturday off and could help me. It would have been this past Saturday, but on Thursday he had a spitting up episode that facilitated the necessity of a real bath. Unfortunately, Nolan was awake and ready to help. I can't fully recount all that happened during this first bath, but let me detail the highlights of the experience. The highlights all occurred after the actual bath. I pulled the plug then turned my back on the tub as I began to diaper the baby, but I didn't get him fully diapered before I heard a splash and turned around to find my sweet little boy sitting in the tub soaking up the water with his pants (those pants have some amazing sponge-like qualities). As I tried to encourage Nolan to get out of the tub, I started to feel wetness on my arm and turned again, this time to find my other sweet little boy peeing on his freshly bathed body. It shot straight up and sprinkled back down on his stomach, shoulder, and most mention-worthily, his face (and also my arm, the front of my shirt, and his clean set of clothes). "Fine, you just stay in there," I said to Nolan as I ran out of the bathroom to get Gerret situated in a different diaper. This could have been the end, but as I was dressing Gerret, in walks Nolan with a small stream of water flowing from him. Ahhh yes. I'm a mother.

Adventures abound. Getting a dinner on the table is an adventure. Feeding the baby is an adventure every three hours (because it is always a time for Nolan to take something apart or dump out his blocks or unload all of his crayons). I could go on and on, but let me just say that these two boys make my days pretty exciting. I'm loving it. I am constantly provided with opportunities to laugh.

Gerret had his two week well visit last Tuesday when he was actually three weeks. As of then, he weighs 9lbs. 8oz. and he grew half of an inch. He's doing well. He sleeps well. I can count on 6 hours every night, sometimes a little more. He's started to be more awake when he's awake during the day, if that makes sense... I guess just more alert and aware of things, though he's still more interested in lights than anything else. He is pretty smiley. I don't know if I'd count any of his smiles as "his first smile" because he has never made eye contact while smiling, but it's coming soon. Unlike his brother, Gerret doesn't mind (and sometimes even enjoys) being on his stomach. He's a wonderful little baby and I'm expecting great things of him.

And how does Nolan handle being a big brother? He's good at it and I think he likes it too. He gave his first kiss to Gerret on Gerret's first day home. He enjoys waking the baby up. He just likes to look at and poke (though I try to discourage it) the baby. It is so cute to watch him with the baby. Sometimes it's scary too, but that's not on purpose. I hope that as Gerret gets older, the two of them will become good friends.


And now I will leave all you good folks with a couple of home videos. Enjoy. I'm signing out until next time, which could hopefully be in a week.