Little man

Eventually I will get around to writing up a birth story. But for now, a few facts and some pictures.

Triton Jaune (his blog name, clearly. It means yellow newt! Ha) was born July 15, 8:41 pm, weighing 9lbs 11oz.

He's 2 weeks today and we all love him to pieces.

So far (everything about newborn "habits" should be prefaced this way since he's still so new and anything that happens more than once seems "habitual" but could very well change tomorrow)...

...he loves to eat...and yet somehow is not gaining weight. As of yesterday he was just 9lbs 1oz, not up to his birth weight like we want. Which is just odd to me; all signs indicate a champion eater. He latched on moments after being born. He's happy when he's awake. He sleeps well at night. And we have no latch or let down problems. He prefers the right side, but that hardly seems problematic enough to explain his lack of growth. The doctor is not too concerned, jus said to feed him lots and we'll check his weight again next week.  It seems even when they start out huge, my kids are not destined to be chubby. 

...he's a wonderful sleeper (for a newborn of course). He has a fairly consistent 5ish hour long stretch (which now I have to interrupt to make sure he's not getting too hungry) at night and sometimes a second 3 hour long stretch right after. 

...is generally very chill when he's awake. 

...is loved to bits by his sisters. They are constantly asking to hold him, hug him, give him kisses, etc. and for the most part they are very gentle with him. They interpret his crying for me, using their best baby-voice to say things like, "he says, 'I need some breakfast,mommy'l

Papillon doesn't like it whenhe cries and insists that I intervene at even the slightest sad noise.

In terms of their adjustment it's been pretty smooth. Napping has become a battle and Hibou fights bedtime as well. But considering what a big change a new baby is, I'd say they are doing great!

....is already growing up to fast. Two weeks in and I find myself getting nostalgic for those precious first couple days where my tired, achey body kept me from doing anything but sitting and enjoying my Little Dude. Things are hardly back to full swing, but they are busier than they were two weeks ago which is a good thing that I am also enjoying but time is really rushing by. 

I think this is my favorite picture of Triton to date.

Big Sister Sweetness

He's here! Arrived on Tuesday and now we are all home and loving on him. The Big Sisters are very very much in love. 

Papillon is conscious of his fragileness so she is a little cautious with her love.

Hibou loves every part of him, including his hands.

She just holds and stares.

She really wanted to share her ball, but also wanted to make sure that her knew it was hers!

Gentle tickling!

Papillon turns 4

Papillon officially turned 4 this past Thursday. On the one hand it's like "wow, she's 4 already!?", but on the other hand, I've thought of her has 4 for a while now so it seems perfectly natural. Papillon was very excited to have it be official though. She reports that she decidedly feels taller and older.

We were at Nana and Grandpa's house for the first part of her birthday, so we enjoyed some Birthday Donuts!

Nana took her shopping at an accessories store (now officially referred to as "nana's store) to buy some fun accessories for her birthday. She picked out some sparkly headbands and some rings. 

When we got home she had a few more presents to open. 

Curlers were one of those presents. She loved the idea of them and sat very patiently while I put them in. But sleeping on 13 little curler "pillows" wasn't as fun in actuality. So no curls for now.

Papillon is a sweet, sensitive, cautious an curious little girl.  

She loves to play with her little sister, loves to read books, loves to dance around while singing her own dance music, loves to color and is incredibly meticulous about details.

She hates trying new things. Hates watching full-length movies (most specifically Disney movies) because they scare her (though she will sing all the music). 

She is very sensitive. She tends to take word and even harsh tones very personally, weeping when Hibou even pretends to be grumpy with her (which Hibou has figured out and will often do for her own amusement).  Scrapes and other such boo boos (or even the thought of booboos) can send her into hysterics. 

She is also very sensitive to others feelings. When I groan for some pregnancy related complaint or another, she is quick to check on me and careful to make sure I am truly ok. One time while she was coloring in the living room I fell asleep on the sofa; without making a sound he moved her coloring to the other room so he wouldn't bother me.

Her sensitivity, I believe will be one of her greatest character assets...and also one of her biggest struggles as she continues to grow.

 She is a rule follower. For example: we celebrated cow appreciation day at chick il a which I explained meant you had to wear a cow costume in order to get some free chicken. When she saw some folks get out of their cars at CFA not costume she was very concerned that they wouldn't even be let in!

She is eager to learn everything about everything. She is toying around with adding and gets excited when she figures something out ("do you know what 2 and 2 is, mom? It's 4!!!") She has asked me to show her "how the letters in a book tell you what to read" so we are going to start teaching her to read very soon. In the mean time she keeps memorizing the books we own and "reading" them to me.

She cares for her Little sister so well. Sometimes the mothering goes a little overboard but for the most part she means well and Hibou responds well to her advice, cautions and instructions. At this point, the two are inseparable, and I love it!

Happy 4th birthday, papillon!

Exploring our City

Yesterday, instead of siting around waiting for Baby to arrive, or trying to accomplish more things off of the pre-baby checklist, we decided to have a few adventures in this city we call home.  

Our adventures began at the Science Center. And if course the first thing we did there was dig for dinosaur bones. 

Then Hibou learned a bit about how lungs work...

And papillon drew a self portrait for the How am I Growing station.

We all very much enjoyed the paper cup tower building station. Papillon caught on pretty quickly to how it worked.

Hibou was quite proud of her self for no if cups from one tower to the next! 

Mon Amour made a pretty impressive tower!

Then we did a little spin art.

Then we headed outside and paid an impromptu visit to the fountains by the harbor. This was a blast! Papillon was fairly adept at avoiding getting squirted directly, so she remained manageably dry.

Hibou was surprised on a number of times by a sudden spurt of water in her face and all over. She was soaked!

Just for kicks we ended our day with a stop at Wegman's (we needed a car nap after all that fun, so we drove a little more than we needed to) It was a quite an experience!! A lot to take in for those of us who primarily shop at Aldi!

Such a fun day!

Papillon's 4th birthday

Papillon turns 4 next week. But we celebrated this past Monday with a little Princess Party. Around Hibou's birthday, papillon had thought she wanted a train themed party. But as the day grew nearer, she decided that a princess party was the only way to go.

We started with a little coloring craft because papillon loves to color.

We hung out with some fun friends!

Played outside in the gorgeous weather, playing on the slide and in the pool, and eating some tasty snacks.

Then it was cake time! A good friend made 13 princess cakes for the occasion!  Every guest got half a princess, and every guest under 6 years old had to think really really hard about exactly which princess thy wanted - it was obviously a big decision!

Papillon has found a friend who is as meticulous about coloring as she is; so after the party they had a little more coloring time.

Happy 4th Birthday, Papillon!

37 weeks - new things

This past Sunday was officially 37 weeks. Baby Boy is officially allowed to come whenever he wants. If he wanted to be as early as his sister (hint hint, Little Man) he would come tomorrow. 

With Hibou I wasn't anticipating or hoping she'd be early; it was a total surprise. But she set a bit of a presciident, and that, combined with my over all impatience of late has made me very anxious for his arrival. Sunday afternoon my motivation to do anything at all simply disappeared. I just want to have a baby. I just want to go into labor. Let's do this thing, already! 

So yes, in terms of new experiences, this terrible impatience is certainly one. I don't like it. I wish I weren't wishing these final weeks away. But I also seem to have lost the ability to veil my feelings, so my honest impatience just kind of flows out of me. Apologies to all those who must put up with my whiny self in person. 

In addition to the impatience, this pregnancy has brought with it quite a few new experiences, including;

-record weight gain. Blarg. My ankles swelled up a couple days ago; and I also discovered that not only do my rings not fit (haven't for a while) but I also can't get Mon Amours rings on anything but my pinkie. Double Blarg. But enough about that.

-an "outie". Probably because of the weight gain, but my belly button has definitely taken on a new shape for the first time.

-pregnancy induced carpal tunnel. I didn't know that was possible but it started about two weeks ago with 2 stif fingers. I figured I just used them funny and sprained them. Then the next day, it was my whole hand; the day after, it was both hands. Now my hands are routinely tingly and 'asleep' when I wake up and they are perpetually stiff. Seems this is a fairly normal pregnancy symptom. Who knew. 

-snoring. This is actually not new; I snored at the end of my pregnancy with Hibou. But if you ask Mon Amour, he would attest that the snoring has achieved a whole new level.

Not all the new experiences are unpleasant though. Possibly one of the coolest parts of this pregnancy is how interactive Baby Boy is. I don't remember ever doing this with the girls or even being confident that I knew exactly how they were situated in side me. But this Little Boy is decidedly head down, with his back and bottom on my right hand side. This means pretty much all the kicking and punching is on my left. The fun part though is that when he stretches, and his back is pushing against my side, I can tickle him. I run my finger down his spine and I can decidedly feel him shiver and stretch in response. It never gets old! I love this kid!