Graysen - 3 Months Old

Our little Graysen is 3 months old now. As of this week, she is now 12 lbs 2oz. She is such a happy baby and she is interacting with us more each and every day. She has really start to coo and talk more over the last couple of weeks. She is also holding her head up very well and we even let her try out her jumperoo last weekend and she seems to like it already. We area really looking forward to the coming months with all her "first" holidays. Halloween is just around the corner now and Graysen is going to be dressing up as a butterfly.

Preschool

With Logan starting preschool this month, I thought that I would take the chance to write about it. He is going to preschool at his daycare two days a week. His daycare provider, Camille, seems very excited to start "teaching" the 2 and 3 year olds. I think that she is going to do a great job with the kids and I'm sure that Logan will enjoy it and really take something away from it. She has been sending home the little projects that he works on and also sends home a weekly and monthly handout about what they are learning. It really helps me to see what he is working on so that I can emphasize the same things at home around the house and when we go out.

Before Camille had told me that she was going to be starting a preschool program, I wasn't really sure if I was going to enroll Logan in a formal preschool program or not. I know that there are a lot of benefits to it, but at the same time, he is only a kid for so long and I want him to be able to enjoy it. I like the way she has set it up for only 2 days a week right now and they only spend 1 to 2 hours learning on those days. I really like that they are able to learn, but they are also still able to play and just be kids.

I am interested to see how Logan adjusts to preschool over the coming months and to see if it helps with his speech. I have already noticed an improvement in his speech over the last couple of months and hopefully this will give him the little extra "push" that he may need to really start talking more.

Graysen - 2 Months Old

I can't believe Graysen is already 2 months old. She had her 2 month well baby check today and she is 10lbs 15oz (55th percentile) and 23 1/4 inches (90th percentile). She is growing way too quickly for me. She is such a happy baby and smiles all the time. She has also started rolling over from tummy to back and has excellent head control already. She loves to just be checking out the world in her bouncy chair or on her playmat. She also started going to daycare with her brother last week since I have gone back to work. I bet she is going to have so much fun with the other kids as she starts getting bigger and playing with them.

Logan - September 2009

Logan is 28 months old now. I still can't believe how quickly he is growing up. He has really blossomed this summer and we just love seeing all the new things he does. We went up to Okoboji to see Aunt Minde and Uncle Curt this month and Logan had a blast. He even got to help Uncle Curt drive the boat. His newest interest this month is the movie 'Cars'. Up until a couple of months ago, he really didn't watch much tv at all, but since he has discovered this movie, it is all he wants to watch. He already knows all the characters in the movie too. His speech is also starting to improve and he has a new favourite phrase; "No way". Logan also started preschool at his daycare today. He was very excited that he got to use his Elmo backpack. They are learning about the colour red, the number 1 and shapes this month. His first school projects were a fall themed crown and planting a small tree.

My Little Copycat

When I was pregnant with Graysen, my mum (Nana) bought Logan a baby doll to get him used to the idea that he was going to have a baby at home soon. At first he was pretty rough with the baby and would do things like run it over with his toy shopping cart. I kept showing him how to be gentle with the baby and he eventually picked up on it and started to place his baby in the seat of the shopping cart and push it around.

When we brought Graysen home from the hospital he was very gentle with her at first and then the jealousy kicked in a little bit since I was not able to always be available to his needs. I tried to make sure to include him in things that I could use his help with and have him be my helper. That seems to have done the trick too. Lately I have noticed that he is starting to mimic some of the things that I do with his baby sister.

It all started with him bringing me his Grover and blankie and asking me to "wrap" blankie around Grover just like I had been swaddling Graysen. It was so sweet and he would walk around the house with them and cuddle them and then place them in his bed and say "shh..night, night". The next thing I noticed was that he started to give me Grover to "nurse" while I was feeding Graysen and he would make slurping sounds and then say "all done" and he would go off and do his own thing. And now in the last couple of days I have caught him "nursing" Grover himself and then "burping" him afterwards. I really wish I was able to capture some pictures of this, but I never seem to have the camera handy.

I am very proud of my little boy for becoming such a little nurturer. He really does love his little sister and makes sure to give her hugs and kisses all day and he now won't go to bed without having story time with his sister followed by cuddle time in his bed and once last kiss good night.

Siblings

I have to admit that I was a little bit nervous about having two kids 2 and under, but I have quickly come to find out that it just takes some adjustments to our daily schedule and working with the ups and downs of a 2 year old to make it all work. It took us a few weeks to find a routine that worked for us and we have made some small tweaks along the way, but I think that I have it mostly figured out. I'm sure that they are going to throw some curveballs my way, but change is becoming easier to deal with now.

I love that Logan and Graysen are going to be able to grow up together and I look forward to watching them play with each other and see that bond that only siblings have. Logan already loves his little sister and is constantly wanting to give her hugs and kisses. I'm not sure what Graysen thinks of all this just yet, but she just lays there and lets him get his cuddles in for the most part. I am really looking forward to the day when Graysen can start to interact with Logan more. I know that I should enjoy her being at this stage, but I still can't help but look to the future.

First Smiles

Graysen started to smile when she was around 4 weeks old, but I hadn't been able to catch them with the camera until today. I have been working on getting her birth announcement together and decided to take some new pictures of her since I couldn't find one that I really liked. She didn't smile much at first, but then she finally started to and thank goodness I caught a couple of pictures.

She has also started to coo in the last couple of days. She only does it every once in awhile still, but it such a sweet sound to hear.