Happy Thanksgiving!!

Naked Legos

What??  Doesn't everyone play with Legos butt naked before their bedtime bath?

 

Late Night Ride

Someone is super excited about the new Benny the Bull Grandpa Joe and GiGi gave him.

Ryan set it down on our way in from the car so he could lock the garage door

and turned around to find this...

It may be way past bedtime and below freezing out, 

but it seems like the perfect time for a late night bull ride.

Brotherly Love Part 2

The hugs continue.  Isn't this just the sweetest thing ever?

For no reason at all, Owen will stop in the middle of what he is doing, come over to Joe

and wrap his arm around him for a nice big hug.  My favorite part is that we never prompted him

to do it.  He started doing it all on his own.  Sure I might have to play defense 90% of the time to

block Joe from the flying toys coming his way, but that other 10% all Owen wants to do is love

on his brother.  So cute!  I have a feeling this is the start of a lifelong friendship. 

Stroller Trouble

This is a first for me....

A flat tire on the stroller. What??  "Uh, AAA, is the stroller included in our plan?  If so, 

can you please come change the tire on our double Bob?"

 

I tried to be very independent and change the tire on my own.  I bought a new tire tube, took

the wheel off the stroller, and then I was stuck.  I couldn't get the tire off the wheel to replace the

tube.  A short drive and $17 later, the bike shop had my stroller back on the move.  

Hey, at least I gave it a try.  ;)

 

 

 

Look Who's 1 Month Old!

Who is the cutest 1 month old around??

You guessed it.  Little Joe Kalita, that's who!

 

Although "little" might not be the best word to describe him.  Weighing in at just over 10 pounds

at his one month check up, he's proven to be quite a good eater.  He put on one pound per

week in between his 2 week and 1 month appointments, which is double the typical average

for a newborn.  Truth be told, I couldn't be any happier.  After having a hard time nursing Owen

and essentially pumping for a full year, Joe's nursing success is one of the best things going.

One Month stats

Weight - 10 lbs 2 oz (50th percentile - a 25% jump from his 2 week appt)

Height - 21.5 in (25th percentile)

Up until this point Joe has been very calm and easy going.  His day consists of eating, sleeping

and a few awake periods here and there.  My family jokes that every picture they get of him he

has his eyes closed, but he's staying awake more and more these days.  I actually got my very

first two intentional smiles yesterday and today, which is super exciting.

 

As far as his sleeping, he gets up to eat anywhere between every 2 to 3.5 hours.  If he

makes it 3.5, that is a good night.  I feed him right before we go to bed around 11:00PM, he'll wake around 2:00AM, and then again around 5:00AM.  Most of the time he'll fall right back asleep, but we definitely have our fair share of nights where getting him back to sleep is a 

little more of a challenge.  I think I'm doing rather well handling the lack of sleep, but the middle

of the night is always the hardest time for me.  I get so tired I can hardly stay awake to feed him.

I can totally see how sleep deprivation could be used as a form of torture.  It's the worst!

I'm really looking forward to our nights of 4, 5, and 6 hour stretches of sleep. If he

keeps eating the way he has been, hopefully those nights aren't too far off.  :)

I'm really having a hard time believing this little guy has already been with us for a month,

but here are some pictures we've taken along the way.

Oh, and of course there are the monkey outtakes.  ;)

 

"Mom, check out my monkey noises"

 

"Ok, I'm really starting to get tired of all this posing."

 

     "That's it. I've had enough.  Give me something to eat!!"

 

 

Brotherly Love

Recently Owen has started to take a much bigger interest in his little brother.  As soon as he

hears Joe's little cry, he runs over to the bassinet to peek in and check on him.  There is nothing

quite as sweet to see as a little brotherly love.

This is how Owen gives his hugs. Leans in, head first, no arms.  :)

  

I'd like to think he's giving Joe his best little toddler advice.

The Time Out

Recently Ryan and I started implementing "time outs" with Owen.  We figured it might

help to curb some of the unwanted behavior we've been seeing lately.  Or at least slow it down

a bit.  He is a nearly 2 year old,100% all boy, red headed toddler with a brand new baby brother
in the house after all.  We'd be foolish not to expect a little bit of craziness.  ;)

We realize consistency and being firm are key parts to effective discipline.  Unfortunately Owen
makes it difficult on us and tonight was a perfect example of that.  After Owen so sweetly
smacked his baby brother on the head, I very sternly carried him over to the couch where he
takes his time outs.  We both sat and watched him as he threw all four pillows off the couch
and onto the floor.  Then, without skipping a beat, he did a full on superman dive
off the couch and onto the pile of pillows.  

Now I've scolded Ryan before for laughing at Owen when we're supposed to be angry, but after his swan dive we just couldn't help ourselves.  We both buried our faces in our hands and did
our best to muffle the laughter.  So apparently Owen doesn't quite fully understand the purpose
of a time out yet, but at least he's making it entertaining for us.  

    

Family Pictures

When Joe was born I told Ryan I wanted to have someone take some nice family

pictures of us.  We have candid shots from parties, etc, but we have never had them

done professionally.  Thankfully my friend Priscilla is a photographer and was more

than happy to work with us.  She gave us a great deal and got amazing pictures.  I am 

so happy with how they turned out so I wanted to share a few on the blog.

She took some newborn pics of Joe,

  

A few of Owen,

A couple of them together (which took some major bribing with licorice),

 

Some of us goofing around with Owen,

And of course some family pics.

I love them all and are so happy we did this.  Thanks Priscilla!