Keeping up with the Wears...

It's only Wednesday and I gotta say, it feels like it should be time for a weekend!

Matthew's appointment with our family doctor on the weekend was fine. She isn't necessarily worried about his weight as he looks quite healthy, but he has fallen a little bit below the 25th percentile for weight and at birth, he was just above it, so she wants to make sure we keep an eye on it.

Matthew is now getting three bottles a day and five (approx.) nursing sessions, so he is well on his way to being weaned completely. Benjamin wasn't fully weaned until he was nine months old, but Matthew doesn't seem to enjoy it nearly as much as his older brother did and I'm finding it completely exhausting trying to force him to nurse when he clearly isn't interested. It doesn't help that when his older brother is around, he is way too distracted to nurse efficiently or effectively. I figure by 6 months old (one month from today!), he'll likely be fully weaned, except maybe one nursing session first thing in the morning. He is still feeding every three hours around the clock...I'm pretty tired from continuing to feed him every night at 10 pm., 1 am, 4 am and then up for the day around 6 am with Benjamin.

Benjamin was home with us yesterday and refused to take a nap again. They say he's napping fine at daycare, so it's just at home with us that's proving difficult. If he could skip his nap and be happy and awake the rest of the day, it'd be fine - but when he doesn't nap, by 4 pm, he is miserable and it makes the dinner/bath/bed routine so much harder. He's at home tomorrow and Friday and I'll keep my fingers crossed that he naps, at least a little bit, both days  (but I'm not holding my breath!).

Nana and Grandpa arrive on Sunday night and will be here for just over a week - it'll be so nice for David and I to have some extra help around here, especially when David is at work and I've got Benjamin and Matthew. I'm sure Grandpa and Benjamin will tire each other out!

Until next time,

The Wears

So, Matthew had his four-month immunizations yesterday afternoon and he was a real trooper! The first needle didn't bother him at all, but he was definitely worked up about needles #2 and #3. But, he only cried for 30 seconds or so and wouldn't even nurse for comfort after they were done. He was a little fussier throughout the night, but all in all, they went pretty well. He was warm, though, this morning when he woke up so we've given him some baby Advil and will continue to do so as long as he seems warm or bothered by the needles.

The nurse weighed him as being 14 pounds 1 ounce and about 25 inches. He's stayed on the same growth curve since birth (between 10th and 25th percentile), which is good, but he still seems so small to me and he's such an erratic eater. He sees his regular doctor later today just for a little check up and we'll see what she has to say.

This morning we took the boys to a family event commemorating 125 years of the Calgary Fire Department. They had a bunch of fire engines and apparatus on display. Benjamin really seemed to enjoy seeing all the "big fire trucks."

Funny story about Benjamin...last weekend David did a few groceries. He told me he bought ice cream sandwiches. Well, when I looked at the box, I quickly realized he actually bought frozen "tofu" sandwiches - non-dairy dessert! Thankfully, Benjamin doesn't know the difference and has been enjoying his "Tofutti Cuties" as a treat all week. Ignorance is bliss.

Until next time,

The Wears

I'm afraid I'm going to be a bit of a Debbie Downer tonight as it has been a couple of very long, largely frustrating, days around here.

It was just Matthew and I yesterday, but his teeth seem to be bothering him again (or still?) and he was pretty fussy all day yesterday and didn't have a great night last night. Today, it was Matthew, Benjamin and I, and neither child was particularly cooperative.

Matthew cried and screamed for an hour this morning as I tried to put him down for his morning nap, which isn't usually a problem. I almost had him down at about the half-hour mark when Benjamin barged into the room demanding a hug. Cute, but I still wasn't impressed. I finally got Matthew down for a nap, but even then, it was only for 30 minutes and he woke up pretty unhappy and still tired.

Benjamin wouldn't nap this afternoon either. He was in his room for about an hour and a half, but still no nap. Eventually I took all of his stuffed animals away as a sort of punishment for misbehaving (he was moving his furniture around and playing instead of napping), but even that didn't convince him to lay down and go to sleep. During this process I was, however, able to get Matthew down, but again, it was just for 30 minutes.

Overall by the end of the day, both boys were pretty overtired and miserable. David is upstairs right now trying to get Matthew down for the night (I hear lots of whining), but Benjamin has been down for about a half hour (thank God!).

Benjamin is at daycare tomorrow and Matthew has an appointment for his four-month immunizations tomorrow afternoon. We also have a doctor's appointment for Matthew on Saturday afternoon with our regular family doctor, who is back from mat leave, to discuss some feeding difficulties I'm having with Matthew. Some days I swear he barely eats anything and I definitely don't think he has enough wet diapers a lot of days. I'm really interested to hear how much weight he's gained in the past few weeks - or, how little.

Until next time,

The Wears

So, this story of a non-napping toddler goes something like this. Have a great morning with said toddler (let's call him Benjamin) and then begin the lunch/potty/naptime routine. Everything is going perfectly fine until the final step in the lunch/potty/naptime routine - the nap itself. Spend 1.5 hours trying to force Benjamin to take a nap. Give up. Throw arms in air and allow Benjamin to resume playing on the main floor of the house, thus abandoning all attempts to get Benjamin to nap.

As a result of the above noted nap avoidance, Benjamin was TIRED by the end of the day. And along with that fatigue came many many meltdowns and temper tantrums, and those in turn resulted in some timeout time for our oldest.

Unfortunately, Matthew wasn't in much better shape than his older brother by dinner because while trying to get Matthew to take a late afternoon nap, Benjamin kept barging into the room and flicking the bedroom light on and off. Don't worry, though, Benjamin has great manners and was sure to apologize for his behaviour - but it didn't stop him from continuing to do it! Grrrr.

On the upside, though, both children are in bed now and have been for about 20 minutes. Hopefully Benjamin is down for the night and hopefully whatever has been bothering Matthew the past few nights (teething?) is better and we all get a decent night of sleep.

Fingers crossed!

Until next time,

The Wears

Not so long ago, this blog would have been all about everyone's favourite toddler - Benjamin! I mean, let's face it, the blog is called "Keeping up with the Wears...", but most people who visit this blog do so to find out what's been happening with Benjamin. Well, as pretty much everyone knows by now - Benjamin is now sharing the spotlight with his very cute little brother, Matthew.

The fact that I actually started writing this post more than a month ago should give you an idea of how life is with two little people in the house - busy!

To bring everyone up to speed, David, Benjamin and I welcomed Matthew David into our lives on March 25, 2010, when Benjamin was just shy of 28 months old. Benjamin is truly taken with his younger brother - and Matthew's eyes completely light up whenever he watches his older brother "playing cars." Though we're sure there will be a fair amount of sibling rivalry in the future, we're enjoying that for the time being, there's nothing but love between the two boys now.

David is still hard at work at Shaw, and I'm in month five of my anticiated one-year maternity leave. Benjamin was in daycare full-time until the beginning of July, so that I could devote myself full-time to mothering a newborn. Now, though, Benjamin attends daycare part-time (Mondays, Wednesday and every second Friday) and spends the rest of the time at home with Matthew and I. It's win-win for all of us, really. Benjamin loves daycare and loves the interaction with lots of other children. His daycare days give me a chance to spend quality time with Matthew and maybe do a little bit around the house because, Lord knows, on days when Benjamin is at home - nothing gets done - but there is lots of fun to be had. We think it's important that Benjamin gets the "extra" time to spend with Matthew and I, and hopefully it'll help foster a great relationship between the two boys.

Other than *all* of that, there is relatively little else going on with us. Adding a second child to the mix is the only big change for the time being - and we're looking forward to more fun times as a family of four...and we are going to make an effort to update his blog more regularly.

Until next time,

The Wears