The BIG boy and his 6 month brother

I will start with the Big boy in our house, Matthew. We are so proud of him and his accomplishments with potty training. We are successfully out of diapers!! I was pumping him full of fluids, setting a timer and then sitting on the toilet until "it" happened. That was not working and just causing more headache and tears. So I just gave up on that after a week and decided that he was going to go naked. I figured that we have a new carpet cleaner and it will get a lot of use. I started last Monday when he woke up and took off his diaper and showed him where his little potty was and the seat on the big toilet. To my amazement he just went on his own! He must have drank five bottles of water that day and only had one accident the whole day (after peeing about every fifteen minutes for the entire day). Since that day he has only had a couple of accidents. He is waking up from nap dry as well as his night sleep (he still wears a pull up as a precaution at night, but really doesn't need it) . Also as a precaution I still, sometimes, have him wear a pull-up to the grocery store or if we are out and about for a long time, but he won't go in them. The reason I do this is because he still won't tell us when he needs to go. He likes to sneak away and do his business and then come and tell us.

Speech is going good too and Matthew is now going back with Ken without Ryan and I. Matthew threw quite a fit about it last week and there were a lot of tears, but once he was back in his room he was fine. He is telling us longer sentences like "I want crackers, Mommy" or "I see the gross drain" (an all time favorite game for Matthew is to find every "gross" drain in the street) or "Look Daddy, a John Deere tractor" as he points at the tractor in the field. He always has to state the person's name after everything and if you don't respond right away he will talk a little louder until he is yelling and you finally answer him.

We just finished our first week of swimming lessons and will have the rest of the class next week. Since the class is the same three boys from last year we are able to do more things. Matthew LOVES kicking in the water and is starting to get the arm movements down and learned how to pull himself in the water (with me holding him of course). He loves going underwater and riding the water noodles like a horse. Ryan and I are going to take him ( and leave Andrew home) on a special trip next month of Great Wolf Lodge up in Traverse City to celebrate all of his accomplishments and have a special "Big brother" weekend.



Now our sweet, little Drew. He doesn't have a bad bone in his body and seriously is never mad or crabby. He is always smiling and laughing at things and just goes with the flow of things. He is sleeping for 13 hours at night and a few naps during the day. We are starting him on solid food tonight and weening him off breastmilk and onto formula. I have been nursing five times a day this whole summer and not producing anything close to what he needs. This is the same time that my body stopped with Matthew and I am more than fine with it. He has lost all interest in nursing and it is difficult for him to stay eating for more than one or two minutes. He just likes looking around at everything instead. I just took Drew to his 6 month checkup and he is much bigger than Matthew was. Here are his stats:

Weight: #16.15 (50th percentile)

Length: 27" (50th percentile)

He is shaping up the be the bigger, little brother. He got five immunizations at his last visit; one oral and two shots. Luckily the combine some of the vaccinations into single shots for less pokes to the chubby little legs. Remember that happy boy I was talking about...well he screamed when they poked him in each leg and then within ten seconds was laughing at himself in the mirror and back to being happy. He did get a little crabby that night when Norm stepped on his legs, but wouldn't you?!

He is sitting up amazing well and doesn't need supports of any kind. The part that we are going to have to get ready for is his crawling! He has mastered the belly spin to get to ab object, but now he is getting up on his knees and starting to push himself forward. He is all over this house and he is getting quick! Still only two teeth, but he has been gnawing on just about everything, so I think a few more will appear in no time. I think that is it for now, but will post some new pictures of Drew's eating adventures soon. In the meantime, enjoy the most recent albums on picasa.

Busy as a Bee

The past month has just flown by in our house! Ryan has been working a ton (about 70-80 hours a week!) so I have been getting some quality time with my boys. Originally we thought Ryan would have a four day weekend over the 4th of July holiday, but things changed with the current job they are working on. Instead he worked twelve hour days, with the exception of only eight hours on Sunday and had Monday off (Monday was his second day off of work since Memorial Day). Unfortunately that seems to be the trend lately with his type of work. Either they are laid off with no work for months or they are working twelve hour days, seven days a week. Because he only worked eight hours on the 4th of July, we were able to spend some time at the lake at our Aunt and Uncle's house, which was nice and relaxing. Matthew loves boats and was asking for a ride from the moment he woke up that day.

Speaking of Matthew, he is testing my every ounce of patience right now, especially when I am feeding or giving Andrew any kind of attention. He is going through some hard times right now and doesn't know how to express himself yet. In addition of being jealous of Andrew, he really misses Ryan while he is at work. The days get hard when Ryan is gone when Matthew wakes up for the day and Ryan is not home yet when Matthew goes to bed. We are planning on taking Matthew to Great Wolf Lodge in August, just the three of us, for some "Matthew time". Swimming lessons (same place and class as last year) also start in a few weeks, which he is very excited for! The weather has been great for us this summer (with the exception of this recent heat wave) and we have been spending a lot of time outside playing in the backyard. Matthew is fascinated with sports in general. He likes watching World Cup soccer, baseball, basketball and football on ESPN. He has quite the arm when throwing a ball, loves kicking the soccer ball in the net and shooting hoops on his basketball hoop. Soccer for his age is only indoors at this point, so he will start it in November.

Andrew is doing great and will start eating solid foods in a few weeks. It has FLOWN by! He goes to the pediatrician in two weeks for his 6 month check up and then we will start solids. I am eager to get to the farmers market to buy fresh fruits and veggies to make his homemade baby food (which is SUPER easy and much, much cheaper than buying it at the grocery store). When Matthew started eating solids it was winter so we missed out on the freshness at first with him. Andrew also continues to grow like a week and is much longer than Matthew was at this age (about 2 inches). His six month clothes have fit since he was four months old where Matthew didn't wear six months until he was about nine months old! He may have gotten the Chenery gene and be tall like the rest of the Chenery guys.