A Day in the Life of Ari

Well, not exactly since these videos were taking on different days. It's been a while since I've posted any videos and these are too good (we think so anyway). Unfortunately my memory card was full for the phone video so it was cut short. He talked to Auntie Jill for over 15 minutes! Oh and please excuse his mis-matched pj's in the last video - Daddy picked them out ;)

Playing in the kitchen:


Talking on the phone:


Singing himself to sleep a.k.a. bedtime delay tactics:

Hey...Are you following me?

Don't worry...I don't mind! I'm just testing out this new blog gaget. Check out the right-hand side of the page and click on "Follow This Blog" and you'll be added to the list. It'll be fun to see who's "checking into the Roach Motel."

2 Years Old!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy - he is 2 now!

We have had quite the week. Wednesday we had a party with our home group friends including burgers, hot dogs and a choo choo cake. Ari received some fun gifts and got to stay up late testing them out.

Thursday Grandpa, Bobo and Auntie Jill arrived from Denver and that evening Daddy brought home his teeter-totter! Friday we went to have his official picture taken and to exchange a part of his new toy. That night we all tested out the teeter-totter. This morning we all went to the Ft. Worth Zoo and had a great time. There were so many animals to see including a roaring lion, but Ari's favorite part was the spraying water tower in Texas Town. I think it reminded him of the water park. We ended the outing with some ice cream and Ari quickly fell asleep in the car on the way home. Tonight may be BBQ at Red Hot and Blue and more cake!

Here are some pictures so far. It was hard to pick just a few! :)

2 Months Old (A Few Days Late)

 

Keira's 2 months old now! Things have been busy this week preparing for Ari's 2nd birthday party and a visit from Grandpa, Bobo and Auntie Jill so I'm a little behind.

Keira is doing well and getting bigger every day. Her spitting up has subsided although she's still pretty fussy in the evenings. She's settling into more of a routine eating every 3 hours during the day and sleeping at least one 5-hour stretch at night. She loves to smile and coo when she's happy and that makes up for all the spitting and crying in my book :) We still working on the bottle, but that's improving as well. I just have to catch her before she's too hungry and upset.

I'm taking both kiddos for their check-ups next Friday so I'll have an update with stats then. I'll also have an update tomorrow from our birthday boy!

Bottle Help

Let me first say that I do enjoy nursing - especially all the perks that go with it (convenience, nothing to wash). However, I also really enjoy the flexibility of a bottle (others can help feed, I can go places alone). Since Ari was in the NICU for 2 weeks, he came home on a bottle and we had to introduce breast-feeding. He took to it quickly and went back and forth easily. This is not the case with Keira. This could get long, but I'd appreciate any suggestions so I'll give the back-story.

I started introducing a bottle around 3 or 4 weeks. I tried the Avent brand since that's what I have. She did ok with it, but couldn't quite seem to "latch" well. She also did better if Keenan fed her (which is fine. I just wanted her to get used to it then she could learn to take it from me). We tried once a day for almost a week then we had to skip a day. That next day she refused the bottle and screamed for a good 20 minutes (which did not help my sleep-deprived nerves). On the advice of a friend, we tried the Playtex drop-in bottle. Keenan gave it to her and she took right to it drinking 3 ounces! We did that for a few days then I decided to give it a go. Once again she out-right refused and screamed. Now she won't take it from Keenan either.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about this now. According to the book I have "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems", she suggests trying the bottle for 5 minutes and if it's refused, wait an hour and try again. Repeat the process until the baby takes the bottle. No giving in and nursing. At this point I'm prepared for a day of crying, but I'm also wondering if there's another way. So, faithful blog readers, if you care to share your experience and/or advice I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks in advance :)