Elan . Month 3

Our little man has quickly learned that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Accordingly, his vocal development has been the big breakthrough this month - with command over gurgles and coos all the way up to attention grabbing decibels indicating we've pushed the milk breaks out too far or being put down isn't a viable option, in his opinion. And he has let us know more and more he has opinions that need to be heard.


His hands also found his mouth this month. Taking matters into his own hands and fingers, he sucks on his fingers with loud lip smacking sounds that are almost comical. A few times he has opted for sucking on his own fingers than his pacifier, so we may have a thumbsucker in the making.



Tummy time has not been as successful this month. When time is specifically set aside for tummy time (which has been few and far between in this distracted household), Elan seems to melt into the ground. He does tolerate it for a minute or two with me cheering him on and him smiling with his face mashed into the blanket on the floor. Soon the smiles give way to grimaces and then whimpers until tummy time is officially over. Over at my mom's house during the day, the whimpers and cries do not fall on deaf ears - Elan's little mommy (cousin Ruby) repeatedly admonishes against tummy time because "he doesn't like it." Oh, I have a feeling this little guy is going to get away with a lot...

His stats:Weight: (no Dr. appointment this month for official standings)

Momma Loves: Walking up to his crib to see a great big smile on his face - our little guy rarely gets up on the wrong side of the bed and his excited expression makes me feel like I just hung the moon for him.

DaDa Loves: His abundant smiles.

Elan . Month 1

	You are the second son and will always be compared to your older brother. Based on Indio's performances a set of expectations are in place that he must always live up to. Although others might expect it, you are not bound to meet his expectations, but rather you are free to be you. However, you may be labeled "day and night" which is not stigmatizing since you don't know who is day and who is night. --The Book of Bernard, Second Son Society
This has been a month of comparisons - from birth our little Elan has constantly been compared to his older brother Indio. Pobrecito second child. He hadn't even been bathed or weighed before the comparisons starting flowing and I swear he seemed to give a disgruntled squeal at each comparison.

But let's not feel too bad for our post's protagonist: he has settled in quite nicely during this first month. Having been on the smaller side at birth (20% for his weight) he seems to have feedings down and has dined magnificently on milk, gaining 4.5 lbs and surprising everyone at his one month doctor visit by his new weight class. He has also enjoyed lots of snuggle time from aunts, uncles, grandparents, Momma, DaDa and great-grandma Bubba. He prefers to be held or perched in his swing for his naps, but has done wonderfully in his crib during the night. Daniel and I fully realize this model baby behavior is rare and usually short-lived. We will take it as long as we can get it and be thankful for another beautiful son.

His stats:
Weight: 11 lbs., 2.5 oz. (75th percentile for his age)
Height: 21.34 inches ( 34th percentile for his age)

Momma loves: His half-smile (an adorable little smirk, really) he does while in a state of milk bliss. I know it is probably just gas, but I choose to believe it is a real smile.

Da Da loves: Elan's amazing ability to sleep through anything - including (and mostly) his brother's war cries.

Signed, Sealed, Not Delivered...

Today we had an appointment to find out the sex of little bambino number two. This was a big deal because we didn't find out with Indio and it drove everyone crazy. Totally crazy. No one likes to buy sage or buttercup yellow outfits apparently. Thinking that knowing the gender would be cool and practical for this baby, I thought finding out and throwing a simple little gender reveal party for our families would be fun. That was before discovering that schedules didn't jive and we were looking at a June reveal. With the prospect of not finding out sooner I was threatened with physical harm and called nasty names if I actually held out that long before simply revealing it over the phone (seriously, what kind of people do that? Our families.) So today we took in an envelope and decided not to find out ourselves until we had a resolution to this silly little quandary.

The only picture that gives away the gender is in that envelope...sealed and stapled.

Here's how the prediction methods are going:

• Chinese calendar = girl
• Mayan predictor = girl
• No morning sickness = boy
• Indio = Tells us about his baby sister (he doesn't even know about the baby yet, so not sure what he is talking about)
• Wives tales = Mixed, but similar to my first pregnancy, so we'll call that for boy

Or we could just open up that envelope and know for sure.

Photojourna.list: There's something about Ruby

Ruby (my niece) woke up with this awesome hairdo. I couldn't help but snap a few shots.

Photojourna.list: Outsmarting Momma

Indio had the remote and was playing with it. Like most things, he tried to put it in his mouth and I told him, "no." He promptly turned away from me and put it back in his mouth. Indio: 1, Momma: 0

Indio . Month 10

This month we learned a valuable lesson in 'location, location, location': we were outside in the yard and Indio started crawling on all fours like he'd been doing it for weeks (I thought 'years' would seem overly dramatic). It turns out that the army crawl doesn't work so well on grass and dirt. While he wavers between crawling on all fours and an army crawl, the progress has me beaming with pride.



My sweet little Indio now doles out kisses, which are really him falling towards your face with an open mouth. It is usually followed by the recipient wiping the drool off their face, with the exception of poor Ruby (Indio's cousin), who is defenseless against being slobbered on (see above). These open-mouthed face plants are a little risky now that the lone tooth has a partner, bringing the official tooth count to 2, but no injuries have been reported to-date. With our safety record intact, I hope our Casanova continues with his generous dispensation of kisses.

One of our biggest achievements this month has been getting Indio to sleep through the night. We finally stepped up and really worked on sleep training - leading to a few brutal nights - but ultimately giving everyone in the house much better nights of sleep. It was about time, right?

...An interesting development - and by interesting I mean I wouldn't be heartbroken if he stopped - is his stink face. He scrunches his nose, furrows his brow and generally looks like something offensive has reached his delicate olfactory system. Often done in the presence of strangers just a little too close for his comfort, it isn't quite the classically adorable look I was hoping he'd cultivate. It is a face only a mother could love, so here I am.



His stats:
Weight: 21.7 lbs

Momma Loves: When Indio goes 'fishing'. This is when we are in public and he decides that strangers need to fawn over him. He usually achieves his goal by staring the selected party down, most often with a toothy grin, until they look his way and give the little man his due. I could be giving him too much credit, but I think he singles out parties of women with graying hair...brilliant! Also, (I'm allowed two) Indio started clapping his hands together this month, so pattycake has been a big hit around the house.

DaDa Loves:  Playing in the yard with him - especially the way he pulls up handfuls of grass and then lets go so they sprinkle down on and around him.

Indio . Month 9

A few big milestones this month took Indio from horizontal to vertical: positioning himself to sitting up and pulling himself up to standing. Now strong enough to maneuver from a crawl to sitting, he often does it to inspect a toy, read a book, or become entranced by Elmo on TV only to roll back down on his belly to army crawl to the next thing. To top that, Indio pulls himself up on everything, if only to reinforce the adage: What goes up must come down. Hard. And often at great peril to his head and limbs (or so I think as I cringe after the *thunk*). But he is persistent and usually goes right back to pulling himself up until gravity again wins out. Gravity may win the battle, but he will win the war.

This month all that drool amounted to something as a bottom tooth popped through, making the official tooth count = 1 and making his mouth a weapon. If you had any question about sticking your finger in or near his mouth I can assure you the answer is: you shouldn't. That little tooth may not look like much, but his bite is worse than his bark. He also figured out how to click his tongue against the roof of his mouth and, for those who fall in his good graces, he will vie for your attention with a few clicks and then flash you a devilishly cute smile. And then do it again...and again...and again.



His stats:
Weight: 22 lbs, 3 oz.
Height: 29"

Momma Loves: That little nub of a tooth showing when he smiles...or screams at the top of his lungs. Preferably when he smiles.
DaDa Loves:  The noise he would make as he crashed onto his butt from a stand. It went a little something like *thud* - brief pause - 'WUUUH-OOOF'

Indio . Month 8

Forward progress! No longer is rolling around Indio's main means of getting to his choice destination as he can officially creep. No cats, cords or stacked blocks within 1 foot of the floor are safe and all pillows have been repurposed as barricades, making them precious commodities. Outside of terra firma, Indio started swim class at the Y. So far the best thing are the rubber ducks, but we think he'll like more things -- like the water -- as the class continues. Is it wrong of me that I think this picture is adorable?


We are also getting some quality babbling from Indio. His first 'recognizable' word also came this month; I am resigned to report it was "Da-da." Although Daniel is so proud, he must be feeling guilty as he has now switched to coaching Indio on the word "Ma-Ma" equally. One word very clearly not in Indio's repertoire is "no." Mostly after grabbing at cats, pulling cords or sticking whatever he finds in his mouth he gets a stern "no", which he smiles a wickedly innocent smile and continues on doing the same thing.



His stats:

Weight: unknown.

Momma Loves: Indio loves to roll himself up into his play blankets and then squirm his way out of them. Once out he gives a proud grin like he conquered something big. Also, this footage of Indio playing with Chihiro (the cat)

DaDa Loves: "DaDa" being his first word.

Indio . Month 7

Indio loves bathtime, but hates putting on pajamas after his bath. Indio loves bananas, doesn't do pears or peas, and tolerates butternut squash and carrots. Hates wearing a bib. He loves being chased up or down the stairs and when his DaDa is around he prefers to be held by DaDa. Indio loves long walks, but not on the beach. He fights the good fight against naps, but can be convinced to take one with a good cuddle. Likes when the cats or his reflection catches his eye. Hates putting on shirts. Loves to go where he shouldn't go when let loose. Doesn't like loud laughs or strangers trying to hold him. Likes T.V., the computer or anything with buttons or a screen (this one worries us).



His stats:

Weight:

Momma Loves: When his wheels turn. You can watch him play with toys and actually see him slowly figure it out. At first he dons this serious face with furrowed brow and then his eyebrows shoot up, he smiles and *voila* he gets it...or at least he figures out how to shove it in his mouth and bang it on the floor.

DaDa Loves: His smile. Smile at Indio and he readily returns a big toothless grin flanked by those chunky cheeks.

Unlisted: Ruby

Today is the official due date for my first niece, but she decided to crash the party a wee bit early and was born on March 7, 2011 at 10:51pm weighing 7 lbs, 13 oz and measuring 19.5 inches. She has dainty little fingers and toes, full lips, a head full of hair and is precious as can be.

As her aunt, my first order of business is to smother her with little kisses. My second order of business is to teach her what 'fashionably late' is all about. Indio is still learning how to share the limelight, but I think he'll get the hang of it and these two will be thick as thieves.

Indio . Month 6

Doesn't he look so grown up?
It's been six whole months since Indio made his grand entrance into the world and he officially has us tied around his little finger. Okay, that happened on day one. At this point we are pretty much double-knotted around that little finger of his and just hope it doesn't lose circulation. So far, so good.

This month started off with a trip to Los Angeles -- Indio's biggest adventure to date. He handled traveling like a seasoned jetsetter, all while flirting with just about anyone who looked his way. One thing we discovered is that Indios do not like oceans. This landlubber will take crickets over waves any day, thank you very much. It was during this trip that we really began seeing a hint of Indio's personality - it is so exciting to see this gradual transformation as he interacts with his surroundings more each day.


Back in land-locked territory Indio has been working on his mobility: rolling is his preferred means, but the backwards crawl makes an appearance when he really wants to pull out all the stops. A forward crawl seems to be in the near future and Daniel and I are happily resigned to reacquainting ourselves with how to work the vacuum and childproofing the house. He outgrew the beloved swing this month so a bouncer was quickly purchased to fill the void. Fortunately, he loves hanging out in the 360 degree command center bouncing wildly as the William Tell overture (the song that you sing when you bounce a kid on your knee) clangs out of the little piano.


These past six months have flown by in a blur of late nights, early mornings and magical moments spent as a family. I imagine I will be sitting in the same location six months from now wondering where a whole year went and looking back on all the wonderful memories. Here's to the next six months!

His stats:

Weight: 20.0 lbs according to Wii Fit

Momma Loves: His singing. Recently Indio has become a little crooner - singing little melodies to himself when the mood strikes. These softly sung melodies are so unexpected and sweet that they put a big, dopey grin on my face.

DaDa Loves: Bathtime. Our new nightly ritual of baths is, quite possibly, what everyone in the household looks forward to all day. Indio seems to love splashing around (some nights it is more of a lounge) in the warm water and we love the together time of the routine.

Alyse's Baby Shower

This weekend I hosted a baby shower for my sister, Alyse, who is expecting a baby girl in March (hooray!). I took the job of ushering in my first little niece very seriously and thought the whole affair went off marvelously. Sure, a few hiccups here and there - like not being showered or dressed when the guests started to arrive - but our guest of honor looked great and our guests were spirited. Here is the breakdown:

The theme. Currently their first choice in names is Ruby. After getting permission to use this top-secret information, the party scene was set with all things pink, red and sparkly as we celebrated Alyse's 'little gem'. Acrylic gems adorned the table top, sparkly cardstock signs announced the obvious, ring pops shimmered in candy dishes and pomegranate jewel ice cubes provided practical garnish at the drink station.

The menu. Standard Midwestern finger foods were the fare of choice. Small croissant sandwiches, a fruit platter, dip with an array of veggies and a cheese and cracker tray rounded out the savory portion. For sweets we had pockets o' lemon cake and mini cupcakes in vanilla with buttercream icing, sea salt caramel with dark chocolate icing and chocolate with buttercream or chocolate icing. For drinks the guests could select from baby bellinis, ruby punch (a random mix of orange juice, 100% cranberry juice - the tart stuff, and ginger ale in a sugar rimmed glass), decaffeinated iced tea (all pregnancy friendly so far) or wine (for our non-pregnant adult imbibers).

Games. All showers must have games, it's in the rules book. I stayed away from the 'guess the baby poop' candy bar game (yup, its a real game) and kept things tame with a few pop quizzes. A fill-in-the blank birthstone game was a nod to the gem theme and guess the belly size is obligatory (46 inches!). To keep people engaged in the goings-on we played baby shower bingo and awarded prizes to the gift giver if a timer went off when their present was opened. I also created a game by morphing pictures of Alyse and Joe with each other and celebrities and the guests had to guess which baby was Alyse and Joe's (turns out that always selecting the cutest baby was the way to win the game).

Decor. I really obsessed over the decorations...what can I say, its my nature. I was hell-bent on making some kind of garland to hang above all the food. I went through several iterations of pathetic looking little flags until I struck upon a nice balance of festive and sweet, if I do say so myself, using patterned scrapbook paper and stringing the flags on simple, white ribbon. To personalize the garland, I ordered small prints of Alyse and Joe as youngins' and attached them randomly in front of the flags. The magnetic wall in the hallway showcased pictures of Alyse and Joe posing together (my sister is the queen of self-shot portraiture) that I downloaded from her flickr. I added a sign below the collage stating, "baby makes 3" in sparkly pink paper to help tie in the baby theme and alleviate any stalker feel the collection of photos (may have) had before. At the end of the day, all the photos came down and went home with Alyse as a parting gift. Oh, and I made little paper flags like I was Betsy Ross - the sandwiches had flags, the cupcakes had flags -but I stopped short of making flags for the veggies.

Tips from the pros. I scoured the Internet for theme ideas and menu options and took away a few good ideas on remembering the little things.

• Be sure to have pens or pencils at the ready if your games require writing.
• Near the gift table have trash bags, paper and pen ready for the gift opening.
• Give the guest of honor thank you cards stamped and pre-addressed with the attendees information. This makes getting the thank-you cards out a lot easier, which every momma-to-be needs.

Alyse has shown so much love and affection in her role as an aunt that I know this little baby of hers is going to be loved, loved, loved and Alyse is going to make a wonderful mother. I am so thrilled that we are going to be able to share our experiences as parents and raise our children together. Last, but not least, I am going to have a little niece to spoil...bring on the cute clothes! Ahem, and also science-y stuff so she isn't pigeonholed into girly things.