Crawling and Sleeping and Talking, oh my!

I was just about to write that the boys are flourishing, when Jack just had a coughing/gagging fit, which reminded me that the first winter cold has hit our household. We're all surviving it with minimal hoopla, although Javier did have to take a day off last week because he felt so lousy. Poor Jack has had it the longest, but at least his nose has stopped running like a faucet.

Time seems to be moving more quickly... Declan turned 6 months last week. He's changing like crazy, although you'd never know if by looking at him, since he is still a baldy. But his latest and most exciting update - he's pretty much crawling! I say pretty much because it's more of an army crawl - he moves on his forearms and knees. It's fun to see him crawl after what he wants - it's that first insight into what he's thinking and interested in. Declan will often go after some of Jack's toys, and Jack looks wary, but then Jack will move on without making much of a fuss.

We've had some improvements on the sleep front, although last night was a relapse. On a positive note, Declan can fall asleep on his own, with minimal crying and fuss. Our general rule is two five-minute sessions of crying before we intervene with a rocking or feeding. For a long time, Declan was getting up two times a night, waking up after 4 hours of sleep and 3 hours of sleep. Then three nights ago he woke up at midnight (4 hours) but put himself down to sleep for another 3.5 hours - so he went 7 1/2 hours! YAY! This is big. So I did feed him at around 4 am, but I can live with that. The following night it was similar, but then last night Javier and I caved a bit with the crying. Big mistake. Tonight Declan will be putting himself back to sleep!

Declan also had his 6 month Dr. appt on Monday - he's 18 lbs, 12 oz (75th percentile) and is 26.75 inches long (60th percentile). He had his vaccinations which is always sad, but he recovered about two seconds after the shots were given. I feel good about him getting vaccinations - it makes me crazy when other people don't get their children vaccinated and put my children at risk.

As for the Jack-Attack... he's good. He runs circles around the downstairs and chats up a storm. His vocabulary is growing, but only when he's in the mood to talk and he likes the topic, which means if it's about Dora, The Backyardigans, or an animal, he's likely interested. His favorite word for awhile was zebra (zah-brah) but he also says giraffe (jeh-aff) and bear (beh-r) and a bunch of others. He can also do his colors and has mastered red (reh!) blue (boo!) green (gnnn!) and orange (or-ahge) - I use the exlamation points because he's usually screaming at the name of the color and then clapping like crazy for himself. No exclamation point after orange because he always says that one softly.

Our Fall Weekend

Ahhhh, Tuesday morning and we're enjoying our new basement. I love that the boys can play with their toys and I can be on the computer and keep my eye on them at the same time. (Of course as I just turned around to check on them, Jack was taking all the baby wipes out of the box and Declan has a (clean) diaper in his mouth.)

We're taking it easy this week - Jack has a cold and I'm guessing a sore throat and aches from the way he just bursts out with an unhappy sound every now and then. Yesterday I made a huge pot of chicken soup (thank you Alma!) and I've just been pumping him full of chicken soup and orange juice. His nose had two streams of snot coming down (where are those baby wipes?) because it's hard to get him to blow his nose, so it's always running.

We had a really relaxing weekend. We took a tour of NJ to see some new sights and take in the fall foliage - a little early, but it was still a beautiful drive. Let me just say, these things are fun, but you forget how tricky it can get with kids. We drove west to a winery by the Delaware River - the Alba Vineyards - it was in a gorgeous part of the state and we got to see how realistic it is to run a small winery, and Jack got to run around among the vines - but unfortunately we didn't get to do a tour or tasting because Jack's patience was limited. Declan was content as can be in the Baby Bjorn taking in the sights and laughing when Jack would run around like a madman.

After that, we drove down a small road next to the Delaware River (so small that it was one lane, despite two-way traffic which was nerve wracking) to a small town called Milford. Really cute town, but Jack was getting hungry and antsy from being in the car (Declan was sleeping, bless him) so we got lunch and directions to a park. Unfortunately when we got to the park, there was a bright red sign that announced a high risk for lyme disease with two big ticks on it, and directions to check your body for ticks when leaving. Boo. So we skipped that park and continued our drive to Lambertville.

Our hope was that Jack would sleep in the car, but no. So in Lambertville we went to a park for awhile, fed Declan, and drove around the town. Javier and I will have to go some day when we can leave the boys with mom and dad (sorry boys!) so we can walk around the cute town and art galleries, and walk over the bridge into New Hope PA. We went on to East Windsor and that night Javier and I went to dinner - the first time out to dinner since Declan was born! - and we had a wonderful time, great dinner, and a bottle of wine from the Alba Vineyard... it was a glimpse into what life will be like again someday when the boys are a bit older. But it also makes it easier to look at the boys and appreciate where they are and savor this time while they're little.

And to be filed under "Cutest Thing Ever"...

(Video clip of Jack's ready, set, go in Jersey City)

A couple of days ago I had to take the boys to the mall to do a quick errand - Jack is very happy to go because he gets to run around like a mad man. He does his version of "ready, set, go" only it's deep squat, "sssss", "GOOOO" and he's off and running. But that's not the cutest thing ever.

No, the cutest thing ever is when he was running by Abercrombie and Fitch, which was blaring out music. Jack screeched to a halt when he heard the music and started dancing. And dancing only the way Jack can dance, with his little bounce and his arms going up and down, and his little fingers wiggling as he pretends to snap his fingers, all while turning in circles. Jack just danced for about 5 minutes while the shoppers maneuvered around him, and Jack smiling up at them like the Mayor of the Short Hills Mall. Yes, that was the cutest thing ever.

Reclaiming the night!

Pictures: Jack feeding the goats and discovering mud puddles at Windsor Farms. Declan holding up his head. Jack and Declan in the green car at Memorial Field Park.

So it's 9pm, both boys have been sleeping for one hour. I'll be in bed soon and plan on getting at least some sleep before Declan wakes up. (Hopefully. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully.) I'm so excited to have a bit of down time before crashing into bed. I really feel like this is such a big step in reclaiming life after the itty bitty infant stage.

This great change has happened right after a few nights of the worst sleep ever - Declan was up every 1.5 hours and would need to nurse to get back to sleep. I figured that he was waking up at the end of each sleep cycle and had no way to get himself back to sleep without help, so I knew we had to let him figure out how to do it on his own (aka, protest and cry). On Monday's nap (at mom and dad's) I resolved to let him cry for two 5 minute segments, and then do whatever it would take to help him sleep. He fell asleep in the second 5 minute interval and I felt like a new person. Thanks to mom and Mrs. Kulina for keeping me company during it all. So now we're easing into the "Ferberizing" stage, and so far Declan hasn't really cried for more than 10 minutes without being able to go to sleep, sometimes with some patting and back rubs, but no rocking or nursing. Say it with me: Yay! Last night he slept 9 - 12:30, 12:30 - 1:45, 1:45 - 5:45, and 5:45 - 8am. That was our best night in a long time and I feel like we're getting close to even longer stretches.

I'm pretty sure Declan is teething - he's gnawing on everything he can get his hands on. And he can get his hands on quite a bit because he's semi-mobile. He can shimmy on his belly to get to something he wants - he's a very determined little baby. I see him getting up on his hands and knees more and more often. He continues to be a very smilely guy.

As for Jack - he's so cute with Declan. When he finds one of Declan's toys on the floor (and let's face it, they're always on the floor) he brings it over to Declan and holds it out to him saying "Sssss." (Jackenese for "share"). For the most part Jack doesn't take much notice of Declan, although he is very careful not to step on him or fall on him when he's tearing around the house.

I've been staying busy these past couple of weeks - trying to get out walking with the boys every day - I love the fall. My best days are when I walk downtown to the Y, drop the boys at babysitting and have a workout, and then walk home. We have play group almost every Friday, and last Friday I was finally able to host now that we have the basement finished. The picture of the group of kids on the stairs is from last Friday - Jack's not in the picture because he was holding my leg, crying to be picked up. Sigh.

Off to relax a bit more before bed....