Matea's Two Months Old!

Two months old. Eight weeks. Wow! Our little girl has changed a lot in the last eight weeks (nine actually at the time of me writing this!). She's grown a lot first of all, which is expected of course, but our little girl isn't so little anymore!

At her doctor's appointment on Monday, her official weight was 10 pounds 4 ounces. She's almost doubled her birth weight! Way to go, Tea. She has also grown to 21 and 3/4 inches long (from the 18 inches she started at). So in just 8 weeks she has gone from 3rd percentile for weight and 5th percentile for height to the 50th percentile for both! She has little chubby cheeks now, and little rolls on her thighs too. Simply adorable.

Everything checked out well at the doctor's, and our doctor said that Matea has excellent head control. She hates being carried on anyone's chest but Daddy's so if I have her in that position she is constantly straining her head back. Nice to know all that straining is paying off in some way!

Matea still eats about every 3 hours, and goes one longer stretch one time a day. I'd like to say that stretch is always at night, but unfortunately it's not. And it's rare that she'll take 4 ounces of a bottle, it's usually 3 ounces or less. She's still packing on the pounds though, so I guess that style of eating is working for her, if not being that great for Mommy at night. :)

She had three shots and one oral vaccine at this visit, and has had the usual fever and uncomfortableness since then. No fever today which is good, but she has slept all day Tuesday and Wednesday and then been up all night those nights. I'm hoping that she'll get back to her regular day and night routine in the next night or two.

It's amazing to me to learn the ways that Matea is different than Eli was as a baby. I knew they would be different, but it's neat to see that she has a different personality and likes and dislikes, even at such a young age. She hates wet or dirty diapers and Eli never (and still doesn't) care, she has a harder time going poopy (I had to write that to embarass her when she's a teenager), she doesn't like to sleep or be held up on your chest (which I miss, since Eli loved to snuggle that way all the time), she is quite vocal when she's unhappy, and has a range and octaves that I've never heard Eli reach, that's for sure! When Matea gets mad you better watch out! Eli, even when fussy, was never this mad I don't think. Matea can really tell you what for. On the plus side, Matea loves her bouncy seat and the swing, which Elijah never really was fond of. She will fall asleep in both and stay asleep, and Elijah never did that. And Matea absolutely loves being outside. It's like flipping a switch - the crying stops instantly! The days we spend the afternoon at the park she is just happy as a clam, awake and alert and looking all around. If I don't know what to do to get her calmed down just going outside will do the trick. Matea also has a favorite spot on the carpet at Aunt Lori and Uncle Jeff's house. You lay her down next to the couch so she can see the couch and the big picture window behind it and she's content to sit and stare at them. I don't know if it's the pattern on the couch or being able to see out a big window to the outside, but she just loves that spot!

The most fun part of the last few weeks is that Matea is now smiling, and it's not just gas or when she's going through that twitchy I'm-falling-asleep-state that babies get in sometimes. These are actual I'm-so-happy-to-see-you-and-love-you-so-much-Mommy big smiles! And she's cooing and making noises back to us as well. We've had some great Mother-daughter conversations already! :) She also is getting in to batting and moving her toys. She's figured out that if she kicks hard in her bouncy seat she bounces too. So when she is awake and alert she is fun to interact with! And those precious smiles (the biggest reserved for Mommy) make all the nights not sleeping totally worth it! We love our little two month old Matea!

Matea posing with her stats!

I love my bouncy seat!

Daddy and his kids!

I'm a happy little girl.

Now I saw Mommy and I'm really happy!

Brother and Sister

The last two months have been an adjustment period for all of us, with a big change for Elijah especially. He’s done really well with Matea, and hasn’t sat/kicked/hit or otherwise endangered her. Most of the time he’s really sweet with her, only occasionally grumpy, and then he usually takes it out on Mommy and not Matea (discipline problems are up markedly!). Eli is interested in holding Matea about once a week (though if Noah or the girls want to hold her or stop her swing, etc. then Elijah wants to be the one to hold “My Matea”). He likes to play with her when she’s awake and alert though, and if she’s in her activity gym you can usually find Elijah right next to her, showing her toys and helping her make her hanging chimes play. Eli's also a big helper and can bring me diapers, her pacifier, etc. And he's in charge of washing Matea's hair at bathtime, which he takes very seriously (and is very upset if he doesn't get to do!). Here’s a sample of some of the things that Elijah has said about Matea over the last two months:

-“ Good morning, Matea. You look beautiful today!”

- “Hi sweetie. How’s my cutie?” (I think he’s heard this uttered to him a few times, can you tell?)

- After a particularly fussy day by Matea, and being told for about the 20^th time that Mommy couldn’t play because I had to walk/rock/feed/change Matea, Eli looked at me and said, “Mommy, this is not fun!” I agree, Eli, that day was not fun at all! On another fussy day Eli kept telling me, “Mommy, make Matea stop crying!” If only I had that power!

- Matea was lounging on a pillow and being our centerpiece for the table while we were eating breakfast one day, when she accidentally batted one of Elijah’s trains that he had on the table. A few minutes later she found Elijah’s face and was transfixed. I told Eli to talk to her, so he promptly leaned close to her face and said, “Matea, don’t play with my trains!” Uh oh, I think we’re going to have problems once she starts crawling and getting in to all his toys!

- After catching Eli pushing Matea in her swing and making her go too fast, I told Eli that he was Matea’s big brother and had to protect her and look out for her. He wasn’t buying that idea at all though, and told me, “I don’t want to be a big brother anymore.” I told him that he’ll be a big brother forever, and he seemed puzzled but then said, “Forever’s a lots of time, Mommy.”

-Despite some of his comments to the contrary, Elijah always needs to know where Matea is, and always comes to her after naps or in the morning and pats her head (gently, he’s really good at patting gently). And he usually gives her at least a few kisses every day. And he’s added her to the list of people that he says he loves. That list is pretty short – previously he only admitted to loving Mommy, Daddy, and Lexi and Tori. But now he says he loves Matea, and even tells her that! I’ve overheard him sitting next to her bouncy several times telling her, “I love you Matea,” or, “I love you sweetie,” or “I love you my sister.” Hopefully we’ll have love outweighing the fighting over the next years!

Happy big brother, holding a 2-day old Matea!

Showing Grandpa Bob how much I love my sister.

Watching Matea swing is fascinating.

Checking out Matea while she naps makes me happy.

Showing Matea a rattle. I love the word rattle.

Lunchtime with a Matea centerpiece for entertainment.

I'm showing Matea how you use the activity gym. It used to be mine you know. 

What are you doing on my bed, Matea! 

Can I hold your hand?

I like to help Mommy feed my sister.

Swimming like a fish.

This year we bought Elijah a new life jacket to swim with (we stopped monopolizing the jacket Jon's Mom bought for Eli to use on the boat and actually gave it back to her so she could use it for her other granddaughter, imagine that!). Unfortunately, the new jacket didn't seem to get a nice fit on Eli and wouldn't keep him afloat (even though he was in the correct weight and size range for the jacket). Nothing we did would keep him up on his own. Then I bought floaties and a Swimways vest that was on clearance at Target to see if something different would work.

Well, the floaties and vest were Eli's ticket to freedom! After not wanting me an arms length away in the pool, he now tells me that, "No, Mommy, I can swim all by myself!" He's swimming like a fish now and is motoring all over the pool, all on his own! It's neat to see your child learn a new skill and become more independent. He still won't jump in the pool without having you there to catch him, but at least he's jumping to us now and loving to do that.

Catch me if you can! I'm swimming by myself!

We went to the pool with Nathan and Andrew when they were here and Eli was fascinated by Andrew . . . look below and you'll see why!

Andrew put on quite the exhibition of belly smackers and cannonballs!

And even Matea is getting time at the pool this summer. And though she lounges in her bouncy in the shade and doesn't swim, she loves being outside and is happy as a clam!

Lounging poolside, staying cool, looking cute, and discovering my hands. What more can a girl ask for?

My happiest moment this summer though was when Elijah and I were swimming next to each other in the deep end of the pool and Eli looked at me and said, "Swimming is so much fun, Mommy!" I didn't learn to swim until I was seven, and I'm so glad he's starting to learn at a younger age than I did!

I'm so happy and proud I could burst!

Camping Fun!

Earlier this summer, at the end of July, we went camping for a weekend (well, cottaging really) with our family to Cran Hill Ranch, along with some of my cousins and aunts and uncle. They camped for real, while we stayed in a cottage right next to the beach – Jon and I, Elijah, Matea, Grandma, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lori, Noah, Lexi, Tori, and Nathan and Andrew. We had a great weekend, and it wasn’t as hard to travel with a baby as I thought it was going to be (of course, it helped that I had stopped breastfeeding by then!). The cottage was very nice as well, with a nice big yard for the kids to run all around the cottage and play.

Playing soldiers on the big stump outside. 

The ranch offered a “Buckaroo Basic” pass for the weekend which got the kids two ice cream cones, a tie-dyed t-shirt, a pony ride, and unlimited boat (kayak, rowboat, etc.) usage for the weekend when with an adult. Elijah loved the ice cream of course, but wasn’t too sure about the other things at first.

Superman ice cream makes my tongue blue!

I like chocolate too. :)

How exactly does a three year old tie-dye a t-shirt? Let’s see . . .

1. Start with a plain boring shirt in the correct size. Lay it on the table and look at Mom for help.

2. Watch Mommy fold my shirt and then stick rubber bands around it. Then swing the finished product around above my head (that’s the critical step).

3. Let loose with the dye!! And see how fast Mom has to scramble to keep up with a permanent-dye-wielding three year old!

4. Get the finished product back the next day and see that my excessive dye squeezing paid off! My shirt is awesome!

Elijah wasn’t too keen on his pony ride at first and though he didn’t say he didn’t want to go he also wasn’t jumping with excitement at the prospect. Then, at less than ¼ of the first lap he said, “I’m done Daddy.” He did get his full two laps in though, and said he liked his pony at the end. Her name was Ophelia, and now when we go to Meijers he insists on riding the penny ponies (he never wanted to before) and calls the horse Opehlia.

Pony spectating is more fun than pony riding.

Eli also held a bunny (reluctantly) and then just kept saying, “You hold the bunnies, Mommy.” He’s never been exposed to holding bunnies before though, so maybe next time he’ll like it better.

The look on his face says it all . . .

My Aunt Linda did a “Christmas in July” for the kids, complete with gifts. Elijah got a ride-on shark for the water and LOVES it! And he also got this light-up squishy ball with florescent “worms” inside. He loves his “wormy ball” as he calls it, though the texture grosses me out.

Slick and squishy! Eww! I love it!

Land shark!

Here comes Jaws! Better watch out everybody!

Jon and I took Noah, Nathan, Andrew, and Elijah on a rowboat ride, which was really fun. We even sang “Row Row Row Your Boat” to Jon. Cheesy, I know, but Andrew and Eli at least thought it was funny (I think Noah and Natey were rolling their eyes at me though).

And our whole family went on a hayride on Saturday night – we took up one entire wagon! Yes, that’s right, EVERYONE in the picture below is related to us!

Pepperoni! (Yes, that's what he was screaming)

Checking out the animals after the hayride. All those little buns belong our families kids!

We had a really fun time and maybe next year we’ll go for a whole week. It didn’t work out this year with the baby and all, but there was a lot to do and I wasn’t ready to leave when it was time to pack up. And we didn’t even roast marshmallows, so we need to camp longer next time!

Matea Pictures!

Things have been very busy since Matea joined our family 7 weeks ago today!  All of you "Little Bean Too!" fans out there may have noticed that this space has been somewhat quiet lately.  The following list of daily activities pursued by Missy and I (shown here in descending priority order) may help to shed some light on this state of affairs:

1. Take care of Matea.
2. Play with and take care of Eli.
3. Sleep.
4. Sleep.
5. Write blog posts!

Most days we manage to get (1) and (2) taken care of pretty well; the remaining items on the list, we're still working on.  I'm sure we'll get there in time!

In the meantime, here are few pictures of Matea selected by Missy: