the power of nursies

Avery, at 13 months, isn't talking yet, but he surprised me today. He was overtired and wanted to nurse to sleep, but I was trying to delay it for a little while, until Andy was home and could play with Caelan while I got Avery to bed for the night. I tried just cuddling with Avery on the couch, but he burst into tears, started grabbing at my shirt, and cried "Nur! Nur! Nur!" over and over!

Caelou

Caelan's new thing is wanting us to tell him about his day right before he goes to sleep at night. I did this for him while lying in his bed earlier this evening. It wasn't a particularly eventful day, but when I was finished, he sighed happily and said "It was a beautiful day. Good night, Mommy!"

New addition!

I forgot to mention here that we have a new addition to our extended family. Emma Grace Kreisher, the daughter of Andy's sister Lindsay and her husband Mike, was born on June 5th, 5 weeks early and weighing only 4 pounds. She was in the NICU for a bit but is now happy, healthy, and HOME with her mommy, daddy, and "big brother" Oliver, the family's adorable dog!















Isn't she beautiful? We're all very proud and cannot wait to meet her next month!

From my due date community over on livejournal - Happy Birthday to Avery Sam!

Avery Sam is ONE YEAR OLD today! He is a joyful bundle of trouble! He's crawling all over the place, causing disaster wherever he goes. He loves pulling things off of shelves, throwing aside things that are in his path, and destroying anything his big brother has taken the time to build. He has an infectious, albeit slightly maniacal, cackle and a true love of life. He says "Dada" constantly, "Mama" when he really wants something, and "Bi-bi-bi" when he's about to bite you! He can point to your nose, mouth, and sometimes other body parts. He has started pointing to things when he wants to go to them or know what they're called. He is a pro at peek-a-boo, loves rolling a ball back and forth with us, and enjoys any kind of toy involving stacking or putting items into containers. He waves "hi" and loves clapping for himself and others. He's still all about nursing but is getting more into solid foods, particularly any kind of meat and anything with a little zest to it, like guacamole. He's definitely more into savory than sweet. He's a little snuggle bug who loves giving hugs, especially to his big brother. I can't believe I've had a whole year with him. I feel so lucky to have him in my life and look forward to what the future holds!

Getting ready to go to the first of his two birthday parties, I had Avery and his brother Caelan pose together. This always leads to silly pictures like this one...


With Daddy at the party...


With Mommy at the party, while everyone was singing to him...


Birthday cupcake time!


We had a dual birthday party for Avery and his little best friend Lily, who turns 1 the day after him. Here's Erin (Lily's mommy), Lily, me, and Avery having cupcakes...


Avery particularly enjoyed making ME a mess!


The cake made such a mess that we stripped him for the rest of the party. Here he is finding my nose!


Happy boy with Mommy...


Finding Daddy's teeth...


Passed out after all the fun...


The next day, we had a small family celebration at my sister's house. Here are the Silly Brothers once again, getting ready to go...


Just the birthday boy, saying hello...


About to eat even more cake!


Yum!

From my livejournal - Caelou Update

Caelan is incredible. I can't even get over him. He's so imaginative and creative and smart. Conversing with him is just like conversing with an adult now... he knows and uses words like "actually" and "probably." It's weird when you go from counting the words they know to suddenly realizing they have a better vocabulary than some adults you know. I wish I could relay every conversation I have with him to you. He's thoughtful and sweet and chooses his words so carefully. He loves to help us, with cooking and cleaning and working on the computer. He especially loves to help Avery.

He loves animals... he doesn't seem to have any fear of them and has a great time at zoos, aquariums, and farms. He also likes going to the houses of people who have dogs! His love of animals goes beyond thinking they look cool. He wants to know the noises they make, why they look the way they do, their natural habitat, etc. He's also extremely musical. He has an amazing sense of rhythm and also loves making up songs. He can spell a few words already and can identify every uppercase and lowercase letter. He can count to 100 with a little help and can also identify most of those numbers. We knew he knew 1-20 and also 100, but he identified 40, 60, and 80 as well the other day. He knows tons of colors, including weird ones like magenta and turquoise, and tons of shapes, including octagons and diamonds.

He's constantly making up stories. He's really funny and silly and totally knows it. He loves making people happy and hates to do anything to make anyone sad or mad. He is getting a little more brave with physical things, like climbing playground equipment, but is still reserved when it comes to new things. He is not interested in carnival rides or bounce houses. He loves other kids on a one-to one basis and sometimes likes to observe older kids but tends to be a bit of a loner in groups. His eating habits are still driving us crazy, but we're still being patient and taking it a day at a time. He's really an amazing little boy, so we try not to "sweat the small stuff."

He's getting so tall and OLD looking. He has lost so much of his chubbiness in favor of looooooong legs. When I watch him doing things independently, I am just in awe of the fact that he's not a baby anymore. Seeing him standing on a stool at the bathroom sink, brushing his own teeth, spitting out the toothpaste, rinsing his brush... simple things like that freak me out sometimes!

I wish I could think of more specific little anecdotes to tell you, but I'm just too sleepy right now! I mostly just wish you could all get to know him. He's one of a kind!

On a computer at the library with Andy...


Playing with trains (as usual)...


Waiting for a reptile demonstration at the aquarium in Baltimore. I'm posting this because it KILLS me. He looks like it's his first day of kindergarten or something! He loves that backpack and wore it throughout our trip!


With Aunt Lindsay, excited about dolphins...


Waiting for the Dora and Diego 4D show at the aquarium...


Drumming at the airport, waiting for our plane...

From my livejournal - Avery Sam Update

I haven't talked much about Avery lately. What can I say? He's really joyful and hilarious! He finally started crawling about a week and a half ago. He's super fast. As soon as he got the hang of crawling, he started attempting to pull up on things. He hasn't been particularly successful in getting himself upright, but it does mean he can pull everything off of whatever it is he was trying to pull up on. He loves reaching up onto the train table and pulling Caelan's trains onto the floor. He also spent some time today pulling down some laundry I was folding on the couch. He's seriously Godzilla Baby. He loves nothing more than to make giant messes and destroy things. Now that he's mobile, Caelan really has to watch it if he's trying to build a tower of blocks or an elaborate train track. Avery will just crawl on over and rip it all apart if we don't catch him in time. If you put him on the floor in Caelan's room, he will crawl over to this shelf thing we have full of baskets of toys and just start pulling out all the baskets one at a time and dragging all their contents out all over the floor. He finds it absolutely hilarious and cackles wildly and claps while doing it!

He worries me a little because he doesn't say any real words yet. He sometimes says Dada with seeming understanding, and he does the "MAAA... MAAA!" cry when he wants me, but that's about it. I think it's actually normal, but my perception is all warped because Caelan was saying something ridiculous like 15-20 words by one year old. He is extremely vocal, trying out new sounds and trying to imitate us. He also understands a lot of what we say, so I don't believe it's actually cause for concern. He seems more interested in physical milestones than Caelan ever was. He likes to roll his cars around, roll a ball back and forth with us, and take things out of containers then put them back in. He can identify your nose (but not his yet!), the fan, and sometimes some other stuff. He's getting better at that kind of stuff. He's learning to point to things and we're trying to teach him to wave. He loves giving hugs and is the snuggliest baby in the history of babies. He is just a giant cuddle monster! He loves tickles and has an infectious giggle. He also has the sweetest voice ever when he babbles. People instantly fall in love with him!

He hasn't taken to eating solid food at all. I can't decide whether I think it just hasn't clicked for him or he actually has a mouth/tongue issue. I thought for a minute he might have a slight tongue tie, but I'm just not sure. One of the main reasons he doesn't eat a lot of solids is because he tends to throw up after a couple bites. He has trouble working the food around his mouth and he doesn't like to swallow. He'll try to get the food back out of his mouth using his fingers, then he gags himself and throws up. We talked to the pediatrician about it last month. She couldn't see anything wrong with his mouth but said that if he isn't eating solids by 15 months, she will refer us to an occupational therapist to see if he has any issues. In the meantime, he's obviously thriving.

I'm planning two first birthday parties for him! One will be a joint birthday party for him and a little girl from our playgroup who was born the day after him. That one will be bug-themed and will be at a local park. The day after, we're planning a small family party at my sister's house. That one will be cupcake-themed. I'm having a lot of fun! I can't believe it's been almost a year since he was born. I can't even imagine our family without him. I wish you could all meet him. He's just SO SO special... you would truly fall in love with him!

At the library, practicing crawling...


At the mall in Maryland with Andy...


A couple with me at the airport...




In his little monkey suit...

Lessons

Andy and I were pushing Caelan and Avery on the swings at our neighborhood playground today. At one point, Andy was pushing Caelan from in front of him and I was pushing him from behind him, and we started goofing around, saying "I want Caelan," "No, I want Caelan" as we pushed him. We did it for a while and he was laughing the whole time, but eventually he interrupted us to say "Mommy, Daddy, you have to SHARE!"

Silly boy

Caelan is a really picky eater but will usually eat something healthy if he's promised he can have pretzels when he's finished. However, lately he's had a tendency to agree to a healthy snack but then just sort of sit there holding it while watching a show without actually eating any of it. After holding it for a while, he asks for pretzels, as though just having had the healthy food in his presence should be enough to earn him his favorite snack. We had the following discussion earlier today...

Caelan: "Mommy, could you please get me some pretzels?"
Me: "First you have to eat something that's healthy for your tummy. Do you want a smoothie or grapes?"
Caelan: "How about cheese?"
Me: "If I get you cheese, are you going to eat the cheese or just hold the cheese?"
*long pause*
Caelan, resignedly: "Juuuuust hold the cheese."

Avery Sam Sam Sam

Avery Sam is almost 10 months old already! He is an absolute joy. He's roly poly (around 27 pounds) and very funny. He loves to laugh, especially at Caelan. He's trying very hard to crawl but gets tired and frustrated before he manages to really get going. He rolls wherever he needs to go and sometimes creeps backwards while on his back! He loves to try to grab the cats. My mom went into the bedroom to get him after a nap the other day and found Avery in the middle of the bed awake and giggling, with Malley on the edge of the bed looking offended. When she picked Avery up, he had a handful of orange fur!

He also likes practicing different motions with his hands, like putting toys in a basket and taking them out, flipping switches, or pressing buttons. He still mostly babbles... he does "Dadadadada" excitedly when playing with Andy or when Andy comes home. He does "Mamamamama" in a desperate little voice when he wants me. The other thing we think he might be trying to say is "Bite!" He's teething HORRIBLY right now, and he likes to bite things to make himself feel better. He thinks it's funny to bite us, mostly on the shoulders when we're holding him. If we say "Avery, no BITE!" he tries to mimic the sound and says "bi-i-i" or "buh-buh-buh." He really seems to have a sense of humor!

He seems to have a good grasp of language, in terms of what we say to him, even though he's not really talking yet. He kicks in the bathtub if we say "Kick!" and claps if we say "Clappy clap," "Yay," or "Pat-a-cake." He LOVES music. It makes him squeal and dance. He likes sitting with us and watching us do little songs with motions, like "Eensy Weensy Spider." He's starting to enjoy being read to but still enjoys grabbing the book and putting it in his mouth more. He loves chewing on things in general. He helps us get him out of the carseat by taking his arms out of the straps when we unclick them and reaching up.

He's not big on solids yet but does enjoy Cheerios, banana, sweet potato, and the occasional fry off Big Brother's plate. He's still a good nurser but quite distractible. God forbid he hear The Map on Dora when he's supposed to be eating! He's a great sleeper when not teething, but he won't go to sleep if he can hear Caelan at all, because he doesn't want to miss out on any fun.

He HATES being messed with in any way, like getting sunscreen on or having his nose or ears cleaned. He hates getting dressed and undressed. He hates getting new teeth and really seems to be suffering when teething.

He loves baths, drinking straws, his vibrating teether, and stealing Caelan's most beloved toys. He loves people but has gotten a bit of stranger anxiety lately. He's close with all his family but has a really special bond with my sister Janine. I like to think it's because she was there for his birth. He's a big hugger and needs to hug me if someone else is holding him and suddenly I'm in view. He makes me feel very loved.

Avery Sam is absolutely wonderful, beautiful, and perfect. We all love him so much and couldn't imagine our family without our littlest boy. We are so thankful to have him. His mellow demeanor and love of life are teaching us what's important and making every day more precious.

Recent pictures can be found here!

Storytelling

Caelan LOVES for us to make up stories for him. It's what we do every night at bedtime. He is starting to really understand storytelling and now likes to do it himself. Recent spontaneous stories from Caelan...

"Once upon a time there was a blue train named Thomas and a green train named Percy. They were having fun. The end."

"Once upon a time there was Thomas and Bertie. They had a race. The end."

Of course his stories tend to be about his favorite friends from the Sodor Railway!