Sunday, July 31, 2011

A Day with the Big Girls at Marbles

On Friday morning, Nina, Papa, and I took the girls to Marbles for a "big kids only" day, since we don't have many of those since the addition of Brycee-boo to the family. To convince myself that it was okay to take B to school to hang out with Miss Linda, Miss Lisa, and Miss Marie, I told myself that he would probably have more fun there watching the other babies than he would have had with us in his stroller, anyway.

With the three-adult-to-two-children ratio, I decided to bring the camera along. So here are a few (or, actually, a lot of) pictures, as well as a couple of videos taken with my trusty Flip, of our fun day.










































Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Saturday, July 23, 2011

A Slice of Bryce (#9): Three Months!!!

Three months! Wow. It sure has gone fast. In another week, I'll be going back to work full-time, and the Herman family will attempt to find a new "normal" with two full-time working parents, a kindergartner, a 3-year-old, and an infant. Five people that have to go to four different places in the morning, including one that will get sent to the principal's office for a tardy slip if she's late. Knowing her personality, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go over very well. Should be interesting.

For now, though, I'll just stay in denial and concentrate on the coolness of 3-month-olds. Because right now, Bryce is pretty awesome. Let me point out some of the ways:

1) He's been "sleeping through the night" now for a couple of weeks. And I don't mean 8 hours. I mean 10 or 11. He eats before bed between 7:15p and 7:45p, falls easily to sleep afterward, and then wakes up on his own, generally happy, between 6:15a and 7a. There have even been a couple of times when I've had to wake him up to start our day. Ahhhhh. (Now that I say that, he'll probably wake up at 3a tonight...)

2) He's not scared to give you a huge grin, and even an occasional giggle, just for leaning over and saying "Hi!".

3) He absolutely adores his sisters. And the feeling is mutual. Ivie, in particular, could not be any sweeter. The love in her eyes and voice when she talks to him is so apparent that it just melts my heart every time. And there's not much cuter than hearing Macie say, "Brycee, I wuv you." This, my friends, is what having siblings is all about. (Dale, wanna have another?!?)

4) I think we're past the super-fussy days. If he's upset, it's generally because it's time to eat or it's time to sleep. And he is quickly calmed by a snuggle with Mommy (which is why there's no greater title in the world).

5) Our routine is set, and he's latched on to it hook, line, and sinker. If it's past 7p and we haven't started his bedtime routine (like tonight as we drove home from Sweet Frog), he lets us know about it. While I understand that this will make for difficult times on those rare occasions when we have to be out late, I also am a firm believer that his routine is the reason why he's a great baby and a great nighttime sleeper. I'll take that trade-off every time.

6) His favorite place to chill is in his swing. It's also his favorite place to nap. He will sleep there for hours, literally.

7) If he's awake while he eats, he's a great burper and seldom will have projectile vomits. But if he's eating in his sleep (happens fairly often at bedtime!), the burps don't come as easily. And if I get tired of waiting and just keep feeding him, I pay for it afterward. Definitely going to have to get the carpet cleaned in his room when we're through this stage...

8) I wish I could say that he's a star with tummy time. But we only work on it about once a week, so he's not a fan. The girls hated it, so I didn't do it much with them, and they both turned out okay. So I've decided not to even subject B to it. My take? It's overrated.

9) I'm pretty sure that we're going to have to switch him to a regular car seat soon. Lugging him around in the infant carrier is getting uncomfy, though I'm pretty sure we had the girls in it until at least 8 months. Let's just say the B-man doesn't get cheated when it comes to eating.

10) Speaking of eating. My freezer is officially out of room for breastmilk. Just for the heck of it, today I calculated how much I have frozen. 474 ounces. Enough to feed him for about 13 days, since I estimate that he drinks about 36 ounces a day. Dale and I were going to go shopping for a deep freeze this evening, solely because of the breastmilk storage situation, but the Devers have offered up their garage freezer for overflow, so I should be good for, oh, another couple of weeks before I fill up theirs, too!

Well, I never thought I'd make it to 10 points, but I have, and it's getting late, so I think I'll sign off.

It's been a great 3 months with you, Bugaboo! Here's to many more...