W,E,T updates

Ethan's first home bath

getting dressed after bath

Getting hair brushed

Tucker was being very gentle, contrary to popular belief held by Ethan

Picnic bottle

Best chalk footprint of Whitney's.  She stepped in wet chalk, then on the driveway.

Papa helping her foot get enough chalk

W:

Whitney likes to draw faces on the white board.  One day she was in the office and wouldn't "tell papa what I'm drawing".  She drew a pic of pokey Papa.  Jim has it on his Iphone.  Maybe I'll get it sent and connected to this post.  She draws faces and people all over the driveway with chalk, too.

When Tucker plays batman, she plays princess.

She generally likes baby Ethan.  The first day he was home from the hospital, though, was  a major awakening for all of us.  W commented that baby Ethan "is happy a little and cries a lot".

Once we started getting more used to having him around (and Grandma and Aunt Hannah were here to play with them), she started making comments like "He is SO CUTE!", cuddling his toes and rubbing his head.  Occasionally she wants to hold him.  She also noted his cute nails.

Baby Ethan gave them presents when he got home from the hospital.  Whitney got a magna doodle.  She really, really likes that thing.  She has spent hours drawing on it.  The first night she drew an "E for Ethan".  She came up with that on her own.  She also used the triangle magnet to draw spikes for a dinosaur. 

Another night they were playing trains with Papa. He made a figure 8 track using some plastic Tupperware to hold the track above the other.  Whitney grasped the concept and used her blocks to support the train tracks on either side of the container with the right amount of block.

One night before bed Whitney told me "Ethan loves us because we help him". 

I showed her how to not touch the part of the binki that goes in Ethan's mouth.  She totally honed in on the germ thing.  She is very careful in handling the binki.  She likes to give Ethan his binki, too.  One night I was trying to hold him off a few minutes so I could finish bedtime with the big kids.  I let Ethan suck on my finger.  Boy, was that a no- no.  I got told I was giving Ethan my germs.  Yep, you are right, Whit.

The first night I was home from the hospital, Whitney asked me to sing the "I'm so glad when Mommy comes home" song.  A little adapted to show that she missed me.
E:

A very good eater.  He can slurp down 2-2.5 oz bottles in about 5 minutes.  At his 5 day check up, he had only lost 1% of his birth weight.  At his 12 day check up he was at 7 lbs 3.5 oz.  Eating?  No prob, Mom.  He was in the NICU for a little less than 48 hours after his birth for a temperature, not breathing and no tone.  Apparently the only thing going for him was his heart rate.  Whatever.  I think he was just pooped from all that long labor business.  It's his own fault he was tired and didn't have any energy for anything else.  All that stuff he had, I felt I had too, with him.  He livened up quickly, though, and started drinking plenty of fluid (see above), so he was discharged about 9 hours after me.  Way easier than 3 weeks in the NICU. 

He is also a fairly good sleeper and a calm baby thus far.  Granted, he is a newborn and just loves sleeping in general, but he doesn't fuss when Tucker and Whitney want to snuggle him or play with his feet and likes to play "peek a boo" with them for short periods of time.   Halleluh!  I'll take it for however long it lasts.  Probably not long.

He also can have long alert periods, longer than I thought possible for newborns.  Thank heavens thus far they are usually during the day or early evening.  He usually goes back to sleep after eating at night.

I should have known he would have been born around 9 pm.  He was always the most alert between 8:30 and 9:30 pm when he was inside me, too. 

He's a good little snuggler.  Either he has lots of gas or already likes to make facial grimaces that look like smiles. 

He is good at going potty on himself, too.  Once he got himself in the eye.  Cried about that.  Another time he got himself in the cheek, but he was also hungry and so was mouthing his hand like crazy.  He accidently got some of the "moisture" on his hand and sucked it up thinking it was milk I guess, but was really mad about the new taste.  Don't blame him.  That was really gross, Ethan.

Once he got rested up from all that being born, he has been happy and healthy.

T:

Tucker has remembered the food and the visits.  He told me about how he got a lollypop the day he stayed with my friend while I was in labor.  Whitney told me about the braids she got in her hair.

He also remembered about a week later going to the hospital to visit me and baby Ethan.  He was looking at my drinking mug two days ago and pointed to it, "there is the hospital!".  He got lots and lots of treats while I was in the hospital.  But amazingly, Jeremy also fed them lots of healthy snacks, too, and kept them fairly well on their sleeping schedule.  Thank heavens!

The first time Tucker came to visit me in the hospital, he was getting over a cold, so he couldn't go see baby Ethan in the NICU like Whitney could.  No prob.  He walked into my room, said hi to me and then patted my stomach and said "Hi baby brother!"  Nothing like honesty.  Then we had to have a whole discussion about how baby brother is no longer in Mommy's tummy (even though it looks like it).  I showed him how he could press on it really hard and nothing kicked back.  So they smashed in their stomachs, too, to show there are no babies in it.  Although, Whitney seems convinced there is a baby sister in there now.

Tucker has only asked to hold baby Ethan once or twice, but likes it when Ethan watches him do stuff.  He also likes to smile at Ethan.

Tucker has started a new thing.  Blaming things on "baby Tucker".  If something got wrecked or drawn on, then it was baby Tucker that did it. 

Tucker got Fiery Flynn as an addition to his Thomas tracks from Ethan.  Um... No one is allowed to play with Fiery Flynn.  Jeremy noted that Thomas is like Woody and Fiery Flynn is like Buzz.  Yep.  Thank heavens for Thomas that there is Whitney.  Since Thomas got set aside by Tucker, Whitney now has a train to play with.  She plays with Thomas and another train (could be James one minute or Gordon the next) while Tucker plays with Fiery Flynn.  It's not Flynn.  It's Fiery Flynn.  No nicknames, please.

Oh yeah.  I also had forgotten all about the tree guys.  They came at their scheduled time, the next morning after Ethan was born.  Hah!  Apparently one more thing for Jeremy to do while home with the kids.  It ended up being great, though.  I had asked them to leave the wood chips for our yard.  Um, yeah.  Tucker and Whitney have been playing on that pile for the last two weeks.  For hours and hours.  I think Tucker might be a bit allergic, though.  It really set off his asthma for a few days, but he's adjusted.

Tucker also has had fun playing with water in Papa's SCUBA bins, making footprints with their barefoot feet wet in the water or with chalk on them, making circle prints with the sieve while wet, looking at catepillars while at the park or on Papa's shoulders on the back deck, throwing the Frisbee around, giving peanuts to the squirrels, and playing batman with his baby blanket Grandma Kim made.

W and T:

We had a first episode of things happening while Mommy is tied up with nursing.  There were dry erase markers out, unbeknownst to Mommy.  We now have a green Tucker drawing of lines and a green Whitney drawing of a face on the carpet.  Hmmmm.  Guess Whitney will have to move into her new room and her bed will always be in the same spot.

While they were at the park one day, they found a new game.  They were running barefoot, but with their jackets on.  A compromise of what is and isn't summer.  Anyway,  They took turns holding each other's hood like a leash and the other crawling around.   They were pretending to give their doggie a walk.  Pretty cute.

They also showed a park playmate the "button" game.  There is a large circle that has the brand name of the playground equipment brand at the bottom of the slide.  Tucker and Whitney always "push the button" and then the other other one slides down the slide.  They showed another girl how to play with them, so the three of them could take turns.  It was pretty cute. 

Papa got them more sand toys, including a plastic wagon each.  The thought was that they could help move wood chips to the back yard.  But they got otherwise distracted.  They have built ramps in the dirt pile, as well as steps and ovens to make all sorts of games.  They call the wagon game "red wobble"  I don't get it, but it does involve parking the wagon.

Once we ate at the hospital café as a family.  I was having a hard time moving then, so I wanted Tucker to come to me to share some of my food.  No success.  My own rules bit me in the butt.  They couldn't stand up in their chairs to reach, because that was dangerous.  They couldn't get down to come around and get a bite because that meant that their tummies were full and happy (something I enforce because I hate cleaning).  Aaggghh!  but I guess I'm glad they understand.

I think I'll upload pictures later because they are really slow in uploading right now, but there you have it.

Oh yeah.  My brother Scott was visiting the night I went in labor.  You can ask him about his adventures in navigating the roads around here.  But he didn't miss his plane, even though I was in labor when I was supposed to be taking him to the airport.  Details.