One Month

Wow, Hazel, you are one month old!  (... a week and two days ago.  Not off to a very good start with this!)

It's been an awesome month.  You met your big brother Oliver, both sets of grandparents, one of your uncles, and several of our friends.  You had your first Easter at three days old, and it was the day we came home from the hospital.  Your dad was home from work the entire month, which was fabulous! You got some good bonding in.

"Don't cry, baby!"

 In the last week or two, you've started focusing more.  You'll follow an object (a crinkly toy or a face) with your eyes.  You reach out to grab at dangly toys, but you're not very coordinated!  Just recently, you've started smiling a lot more frequently.  I still don't think they're quite intentional, but I love seeing those beautiful smiles!

I put on your last newborn sized diaper right about 5 weeks.  It was a little sad for me!

You're a pretty good sleeper, but an early riser.  Just last night (at five and a half weeks), you slept from 9:00pm until 4:35am!  But then you were awake again until about 7:15, when you finally dozed off.  This 7.5 hour stretch was a first, and probably won't be the norm.  But it was lovely!  (And it happened the night of Mother's Day, so I'd like to think it was your gift to me.)  Up until last night, you've been waking up sometime between 12:30 and 2:30, and then again usually between 3:00 (if the first waking was earlier) and 4:00. 

As for me, life with two children seems a bit hectic.  Last week, my first week alone with both of you, we had to get out of the house by 8:00 three days, and two of those three days we were gone for a while (as in, it wasn't just a quick drop-off and back home).  Getting both of you and myself ready and out the door by 8 was not easy!  I got up at 5:15-5:30, had taken a shower the night before, and barely got us out on time.  Eeek!  Hopefully, we'll get into a groove before I have to go back to work in August.

Oo, your stats!  One of those early days was for your one-month appointment.  You are 22.25 inches long (85th percentile) and weigh 9 pounds 5 ounces (50th percentile).  So far, you're long and slim.

And perfect.  You're perfect!

 

Two!

 Dear Oliver,

I can't believe it's been over two weeks since you turned two, and I haven't written this post yet.  Life has been busy!

It's also hard to believe two entire years have gone by since you made us parents.  What wonderful years they've been, too! 

At the farm

What is Oliver like at two?

You're an explorer.  You love pointing out birds and bugs and, most enthusiastically, snails.  You will find every snail (or snail shell) in our complex.  "Oh, snail!" you say, crouching down to greet each little shell.  "Hi, snail!  Daddy, look!  Snail!  Mommy, snail!  Bye-bye, snail!"  This ritual gets repeated with pretty much every snail we encounter.  Which is a lot.

Petting a goat

You're an environmentalist.  You pick up every piece of trash you come across.  Sometimes, that's wonderful.  Other times, it's pretty gross. But I'm glad you care.

Your language skills are increasing!  You really like the G/C sound, and start a lot of your words that way.  You have some definite Oliver-isms that I love. 

Truck = Guck
Sock = Gock
Blanket = Gankeck
Stuck = Guck
Jacket = Gackeck
Water = Wah-yay
Wall-E = Wah-yay (do you want water, or do you want to watch Wall-E?)
Daddy = Da-yay (sometimes)
Hazel = Ha-zheal
Sit = Shit (oops!)
Hand = Ond
Hat = Hot
Oliver = Ah-ver
Crow = Caw-caw!  (Actually, you give the sound an animal makes instead of its name for a lot of animals.  We just happen to see crows most frequently.)
Lawnmower = On-more!

First pony ride!  You were not a fan.

Trucks are your new favorite thing.  At the end of March and throughout much of April, they were re-doing the parking lot in our complex, and the trucks (a bulldozer and a roller and a water tank truck) were parked there for weeks.  We had to say hi to each truck every day on our walks, and now you point out every truck you see while we're driving. 

Easter egg hunt

The other big thing that's happened since our last update: you became a big brother!  You loooove your little sister.  You sit next to her bouncy chair and know how to gently bounce it.  You pat her head, kiss her all over, and can't go to bed until you've said goodnight to her a time or seven.  You worry when she cries and you get excited every time she comes into a room (in someone's arms, of course).  You're very helpful.  You throw diapers away, bring supplies, and try to give her a pacifier (she hasn't quite decided whether she wants one).  You love holding her on your lap when we sit on the couch.  You are a wonderful big brother! 

Big brother!

"Playing together"

It's okay, baby, don't cry!

First day Hazel was home.  So excited!

We didn't have a party for your second birthday because Hazel was only two weeks old.  Instead, we went to the park to feed ducks (the duck pond was closed for renovations, but there were still ducks hanging around) and play on the slides, and then after lunch we went swimming.  The pool was also closed, but the hot tub wasn't too hot, so you and Daddy "swam" in there.  During our evening walk you got to play with your friends, the twins.  I think it was a pretty fun birthday!  I made a small Elmo cake and mini cupcakes, which we enjoyed after dinner.  Happy birthday, Oliver!

Feeding the ducks

Fun at the park!

Birthday swim

Elmo cake and cupcakes

Playing with the twins (and Dad)

Love you, love you!!

~Mommy