Lets train

Wow, eight weeks seems pretty old, doesn't it? Baby girl does not look like a newborn anymore and life is feeling a lot more settled. I think I'm already forgetting how hard those early weeks really were for us:)



Sister is just so stinking adorable I can hardly stand it. Observe:

She is just so much more predictable now, although still wildly UNpredictable occasionally:) I don't feel as nervous about taking her out of the house in fear that she will have a complete meltdown in public. I think I'm reading her cries a little bit better, figuring out when she is hungry versus just tired. Evenings are mostly good around here, too. She's still falling asleep around 8:30 or 9 and will last about 4-5 hours, then is up every 2-3 which means I feed her twice in a night most nights (but sometimes it's 3-4 times. Sigh). She still does at least one huge 3 hour nap each day plus a bunch of 20-45 minute ones throughout the day. And she still loves to nurse about every 2-3 hours. We won't even discuss how much she hates the bottle. :)



One big thing for Cecelia this week was her first baby massage! Nate's coworker, who is a PT that works with pediatrics, offered to see Cecelia for an hour long infant massage and we totally took her up on it. I got to see Nate's office for the first time (finally!) and meet a lot of his coworkers. Of course they ooh'd and aahhhh'd over Cecelia appropriately and she put on a show for them, too. The massage itself was amazing---she was obsessed with having her legs, arms, and back worked out with oil and love from both mommy and daddy. She absolutely freaked out when we tried to do her tummy though, I think because she really had to poop. I guess I wouldn't want people pushing on my stomach if I had to do that, either:) But we came home with a bottle of oil and some really nice handouts on the massage routine. I hope to give her a little baby spa appointment from mommy a few days a week right now because it's so much fun to interact with her in that way and her blissed-out state afterwards (complete with some AMAZING sleepy hours) is totally worth it!

As a side note, after her massage and big day meeting all of Nate's office she was SO tired she couldn't deal with being in the car. So we only made it about 20 feet in the parking lot as we left before I decided to pull over and let her nurse in the back seat. SO hot and squished back there that it really makes me want my mini van. I think I'm wearing on Nate for this battle and perhaps someday I will be that soccer mom carting her kids around in a van! Cannot wait.

Another quick thing about me: I thought I was coming down with mastitis this week and was completely freaking out about it. I had the big M three times with Truman and it was pure misery. But each of those times it seemed to come out of nowhere, without any warning, other than a suddenly painful and red boob plus a fever/chills. This time I think I actually had a clogged duct that I must have caught early enough. I noticed that my left bottom part of my boob was super sore to touch and whenever I moved my arm. It felt bruised and when I looked I found a big red stripe across it. So I started massaging the heck out of it and made sure to nurse CC even more often on that side. And hooray! It went away and never turned into the big bad M. Whew.

Cecelia is growing up a storm, you guys. Everyone who sees her is stunned by how long she is getting and how big she seems. I am even using our 3-6 month onesies for nighttime now because the 0-3 ones are getting too short. Of course, most of her 3 month outfits fit fine for now but those darn onesies are always going to be the thing she outgrows first. Cloth diapers don't help matters and surely make her seem even longer/bigger. I will be interested to see how she has grown when we have our 2 month appointment next Monday. NOT looking forward to her first shots, though.

And now it's time for pictures from the week!

My crew, 'booping' Cecelia's nose one day. She loves being the center of attention, of course.


Is this Truman or Cecelia? Can't tell!! But look at the rolls starting to form.
 



Very unflattering high-waisted outfit that makes me laugh. So cute.




The lady in red---which makes her hair seem SO red!





Truman's eight week post made me laugh, yet again, not only because he was seriously SO huge with a giant face, but because these kids are so much alike at this stage. Truman was smiling a lot more easily at this point and so is his sister. I was contemplating a move to the crib with him and I'm still thinking about it with Cecelia. But poor dude did have his first cold this past week and luckily we are in the clear with that for now---probably helps to be a summer baby this time around! Oh, and this is the week when I noticed Truman's already-sparse hair falling out in odd patches. I'm pretty sure Cecelia's is staying put but there are definitely some suspect areas that seem pretty thin now. Like her temples and sides of her head, and maybe a receding hairline?





































But regardless of her slight hair loss, she is still rocking the reddish locks like a champ. She still needs a bath or a semi-head-face bath every day because her hair still gets sweaty and greasy. Love it so much.

iPhone pictures from last week:

'We love maternity leave'-the girls of the house. (also love C's stunned look here)



smooshy baby lips = the best


Failed attempt at a paci, as always. Pretty funny though.


Doing her morning stretches


Big brother holding a fussy baby's hand on a BOB ride---which worked to soothe miss fussy pants. And now he wants to hold her hand all the time in the BOB. Swoon.



So miss Cecelia is 8 weeks old! I love watching her grow, watching her little personality emerge, and cuddling with her while she will let me.

Love you so much, baby girl!

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If I don't post about our fun Memorial Day weekend soon, I will never do it. Which, I'm sure most of you do not care at all about recaps like these, so feel free to skim the (crazy amount of) pictures and move on. I mostly want to record this one for my future self so sorry if this is not your thing, and sorry if I break your computer with a ridiculous number of pictures. Can't help it!

As I said before, Erin did an awesome recap post of her own that I will never top. In fact, I think I will keep the descriptions to a bare minimum and go with visual evidence of the fun instead.

I worked until about 11:30am that Friday, then picked up the kids from Lori's and put CC down for her nap at home. Erin, Ben, Annie, and Luke arrived a little after noon and we all had lunch together here. We hung out in the backyard and let the kids (minus napping CC) play, and when Nate got home from work around 1:30 Erin and I booked it out of here to get our pedicures. LOVE girl time/pampering time.

Once we got back home we started gearing up for our dinner of take out pizza at the local beer garden. We met Dizzy and family there, plus some of our neighbors, and the kids all had a ball. Eating outside in the summer is pretty much the best thing ever, right? Especially when getting frozen yogurt after dinner outside? Yes.




Peeking through the bean bag toss game.


Brain freeze!




Not tired at all after the walk home with the dads (moms took the van with little kids, duh).


The dads ended up staying up late for drinks by the fire pit this night, but us moms and kids went to bed at a reasonable hour. Our visitors stayed at our old stomping grounds---the upper duplex at my in-laws place! It provided a lot more room (two separate bedrooms and a whole living area) than we could have made for them here....although the basement was SUPPOSED to be finished by now, which would have been pretty sweet, too. Oh well. Someday.

Saturday:
Truman informed me, 'I slept in!' at 6:40am when he walked in our room this day, so I'm sure he sat there and watched his clock stay yellow for a solid 10 minutes before waking us up. Ha. Erin and Ben's family was also up bright and early, so as soon as they came to our house Erin and I took it upon ourselves to walk to brunch alone and put our name in at Blue's Egg. We knew it would be a crazy wait, as always, and it ended up being 1.5 hours instead of the 45 minutes they quoted us....but coffee and sunshine helped. The kids and dads came and waited with us for the last part of it and brunch itself did not disappoint. I knew we had to attempt one brunch out with our guests because they are such foodies and seem to bite the bullet dining with their kids a lot in Minnesota. Always a feat but worth it!











The dads then went on a brewery tour downtown, while Erin and I took the kids across the street to the school playground. So adorable. I sat in gum on a bench but otherwise all was well.




We convinced Truman to take his first nap at home in....months? so that the other kids and Erin and I could also sleep. It was fun to have four kids sleeping in two bedrooms upstairs and they all napped like champs--Erin and I not so much, but we ended up going outside to chill/chat. The boys came home and us adults all hung out a bit before the kids woke up and we started getting ready for the BBQ. This was basically just a chance to get everyone together to see Erin and Ben and it ended up being SO much fun. I love hosting parties/BBQs at our house and this time was no exception. Everyone stayed late enough for s'mores by the fire and the kids were happy, messy disasters by the end.



Little girls.


So many kids and this isn't even all of the rug rats!






Bubbles were a huge hit.


S'mores!

Love this one.


Nate putting three kids to bed = heart melted. This was right before Truman saw Annie sucking her thumb, he stared at his own, and tried to figure out how to recreate for himself. Ha! And Annie asked Nate to put his arm around her. Awwwww.


Once the kids were down at our place, the four remaining adults went back outside by the fire and chatted until the wee hours. Mostly we were planning a Mexico, adult-only trip for next year and I cannot.freaking.wait. I took the R family to the duplex maybe around midnight---such a good designated driver, I am;)

Sunday:
Up and at 'em at 6:40 again! Our family got ready, Nate picked up donuts, and then both of our families went down to the Lakefront for Collectivo and the beach.



Thanks, Ben!


I thought the playground by the lake would be a big hit but the beach was definitely favored by all. It was sort of dirty at the McKinley area so we trekked up to Bradford beach instead. So hot this day and so much fun. Big camera came out to play, of course.








Family shots!




Random stranger nailed the group shot for us!


My kids passed out in the van on the way home, and then Cecelia wouldn't nap after that and pretended to be super happy/energetic. Note that I say 'pretended'. But Truman, my child who never naps at home, slept and slept for at least 3 hours. Woah. The adults sat outside a bit, ate lunch, and then we started getting ready for our fancy dinner out. Cecelia finally crashed for her nap at 3:30 which is REALLY late and crazy, but I could not ask Lois to watch her in that state. I guess she ended up sleeping for three hours, too :/ Lois came over to watch our four kids and we went to Erin and Dave's house for a bit, before meeting Andrea/Jim and Dizzy downtown at the Harbor House. I hadn't eaten there before and love seafood, so it was delicious and a much needed 'adult only' activity. Plus, carting around six adults in the mini-van? Yes. Again: I'm a good DD.










Dinner took awhile and we were a little nervous to walk into pure chaos with Lois handling four kids alone, but it seemed to go well! We put them to bed, the guys all went out to a nearby bar, and myself with the two Erins hung out in the family room for girl chat. I believe the guys got home slightly after their curfew of midnight and I was surprised that I didn't feel exhausted for being such a night owl, two nights in a row!

Monday:
Our visitors packed up and came over to our house for coffee and a little bit of breakfast. Then we walked to the Tosa Village for Starbucks, then to Hart Park for playground activities (ie get your energy out before you are in the car for 5+ hours, kiddos!). A train went by so every child was in heaven. And we managed to get one big group shot by a stranger again.




Note my horrible posture--must be getting tired.


We walked back home with Erin and Ben, ate a quick bite, and saw them off for their drive home. Cecelia had already begged for her nap, but Truman was up and seemingly fine when giving Annie her hug goodbye. But he stayed inside while Nate and I went out to say goodbye, and when we came back in T was sobbing on the couch saying he was going to miss Annie. He said he wanted to say goodbye again, so we ran him outside to give Annie another fist pound. Poor, sensitive boy. It's hard to see a fun weekend come to a close! I feel you, buddy.


We spent the rest of the afternoon regaining a bit of a routine. It was Memorial Day and really nice outside again (kind of hot but you will not hear me complain!), so we got a few really cute pictures of our little family.



I believe I did about 8 loads of laundry, we cleaned, meal planned, and kept saying what a fun weekend we had. We are still saying the same thing, nearly two weeks later!

I might try to see Erin in September when she is in Chicago for a trip, but otherwise it might be awhile for us all to get together again. It's our turn to make the trip to MN again--last year we went up there for the Fourth of July and had a ball. As always: thankful for the blog and internet-friends-turned-real-life-friends!