Mom and the herd of kids

Peter meets cousin Jordan

My cousin Jordan swung by on Monday to meet Peter. Check out how teeny PJ looks in the arms of such a tall guy!

Tummy time

Whenever I say "tummy time", Charlotte corrects me and says "belly time". I have no idea why. She also corrects me when I sing the line "Brother John" in the song "Frere Jacques". She tells me it should be "Brother Peter". She's such a nutburger. Anyway, here is little Brother Peter doing his "belly time" in a ridiculously cute pair of jammies selected for him by -- who else? -- his Grandma JoJo (the math teacher). Peter shares his sister's distaste for tummy time after just a few minutes of it, can't you tell?







On his back again - whew!!

Football!

Charlotte's favorite sport to watch on TV is football. She absolutely adores it. So when she saw our Vanderbilt football helmet chip 'n' dip, she just about lost her mind. We helped her try it on, of course.

More bathtime for Bonzo!

As of about a week ago, Peter weighed 10 lbs., 5 oz. That's more than a three pound weight gain in six weeks! Crikey. He still seems super teeny compared to his older sister, and she seems like a moose compared to him. Check out how Peter is filling out in these most recent bath photos. And yes, Charlotte was SO helpful during the bath. (I would have used the "sarcasm font" for that sentence if it existed.)

Grandma JoJo and her little Bubba

I'm not sure why he's fussing in both of these photos, but trust me when I say that Peter loves his Grandma JoJo. I was looking back through the myriad photos we took over the past five weeks that we haven't posted and these two jumped out at me as necessary for publication. My mom has got to be one of the cutest grandmas in the country!

Bath time for Bonzo

Peter's Auntie Ernie came for a visit last weekend and took some bath photos to horrify him when he's older. I artfully cropped some of them because they are too cute not to share.

Super cute great grandparents!

I just received copies of baby/toddler photos of my grandparents (Peter and Charlotte's great grandparents) Tony and Jane. The photo of Jane is from when she was eight months old, and Tony was about two years old. I can't believe how much hair Grandma Jane had -- I don't think Charlotte will have that much hair until she is 10. As for Grandpa Tony, is there ever anything cuter than a toddler in overalls? I don't think so! Thanks so much for sending the photos, Grandma and Grandpa!

Peter and the Traverse City crew

A couple of weeks ago, Peter was lucky enough to meet his Great Uncle Dave, Great Aunt Lisa, and Ellie.



Don't you think Ellie should be called "Great Cousin Ellie" since her parents get to be "great"? ANYWAY, Charlotte of course fell in love with them (especially Ellie) and tried to dominate their time. Ellie was able to steal a few moments away from CJ to feed Peter a bottle.



At one point, Ellie turned to her father and gestured toward Peter, saying "I want one of these!" Uncle Dave turned pale and began stammering incoherently. She promised to wait about 15 years or so.

Nuts on parade

Connie the dog and I took Charlotte and Peter for a walk today in the double stroller! We had to celebrate the fact that the temperature actually reached 50 degrees today. It's been a pretty cold January so far. Charlotte, however, refused to sit facing the proper way. Oh well -- it kind of worked. She also got out and helped push for part of the walk. Connie may have been annoyed at the slow speed of the walk, but she was probably just glad to be out of the house for more than just a quick potty break.



Peter was all bundled up in a fleece bag thingy handed down from his cousin Quinn. It worked in Minnesota, so it had no problem keeping PJ warm down here in the South!

Cheese!

Yes, my finger is tickling Charlotte's armpit, but it's the only way I can get her to smile for a picture!

Hungry hungry hippo

Um, we found out today that Peter weighs nearly 9 pounds, 9 ounces. That means he has gained two and a half pounds since he was born (he was one month old exactly as of yesterday). HOLY COW. I see him every day, so I don't notice the gradual change so much. He still feels light as a feather compared to Charlie Jo, but suddenly I'm not worrying so much if he doesn't finish every bottle. And I'm starting to understand that eating every two hours like clockwork sure is going to pack on the weight fast. I'm pretty sure he has a watch hidden somewhere in his crib, because he wakes up EXACTLY every two hours as if an alarm has been set. Sometimes we get longer chunks, but not very often so far. We'll see what happens when he reaches the "magic" weight at which babies tend to start sleeping through the night (some moms claim this is 11 pounds, some say 12). At this rate, it might be next week!

Being cute really wears a guy out

(Outfit courtesy of NanaB and Granddad, socks courtesy of cousins Erin and Katie T.)

Full house

Good thing we're probably not having any more kids -- I don't think there's much more room on Granddad's lap...

Peter at 4 weeks

Peter's eyes are still blue, but who knows for how much longer! He's such a sweet little guy, but we're still trying to figure out how to get him to sleep a wee bit longer at night. We're half-way through our eight week quarantine and have nearly run out of house guests to keep us distracted. Good thing Auntie Ernie comes for a visit next weekend! Here are some glamour shots his NanaB took a few days ago while Charlotte and I were out and about somewhere.

Peter update - 3 weeks old

Yesterday, Peter turned a whopping three weeks old! He's practically an old man now. He is currently enjoying a visit from his NanaB, Granddad, Great Granny Taylor, and Great Grandpa Taylor. NanaB will be staying for the week, but the rest of the crew will head back to Michigan tomorrow. Granddad will come back at the end of the week again though, so there's another opportunity for us to take the official "three generations of Stringer men" photo that we neglected to take today.

Peter is awake more now on some days, and super sleepy on other days. He's definitely not as good of a night sleeper as his big sister was at this age, but just like her he vastly prefers sleeping in someone's arms during the day rather than being put down for naps. He slept for over three hours in his Granddad's arms today. Will he sleep for that many hours in a row tonight? Possibly for one chunk, but probably not for two.

Peter is definitely more laid back than Charlotte was as a newborn, but he can really let rip a good howl when he's ticked off. He's still too young for us to determine any behavior patterns in terms of sleeping and eating, but we're constantly trying to figure his personality out. We're still struggling a little with getting nursing to work, so I'm pumping a few times a day and we give him a bottle or two each day to supplement when he's not satisfied and to ease our fears that he's not getting enough. How is it that we don't have another appointment with the pediatrician until he is two months old? It's going to be a stressful next few weeks for me until I get that reassurance I crave from Dr. Hood.

Charlotte absolutely adores holding Peter and doesn't seem to care whether he's quiet or crying. She plops right down and sticks her legs out in what she thinks is the perfect baby-holding position and demands "Peter please?!?!?" You have to anticipate her mood though -- once she's ready to be done holding him, she doesn't waste any time trying to shove him off of her so she can resume her play. But she also has a fit if we take Peter away before she's had her fill. Sigh. There's not a lot of jealousy per se, but Charlotte is definitely a little crankier lately. She is nearing her second birthday, but I'm sure the diminished personal attention is wearing on her as well. Thank goodness she doesn't seem to turn that frustration on Peter (yet!).

I feel healed from Peter's birth but I'm still not back in my old clothes yet. I'm going to ask Corey to pull some of my stored clothes out of the attic (I was banned from the attic after I just about fell through the ceiling when I forgot to make sure I only stepped on rafters instead of the drywall -- whoops!) tomorrow evening and I hope that there are some fat pants that may fit me. I'm trying to be patient. I have lost over 20 pounds since I checked in to the hospital the night of December 11th, but somehow those pounds don't seem to be coming from the parts of me that would enable me to fit into non-maternity pants. Pooh. I starting to get more than a little sick of wearing the same three pairs of pants over and over again.

I had a minor victory last week when I was able to get myself showered and dressed while taking care of both kids on my own. I have been so lucky to have Corey's mom and my parents visiting not to mention unbelievable support from angels like Joslyne and Kate (one day they brought me Thai takeout AND watched the kids for me while I got myself cleaned up), so I haven't really needed to push myself to figure out the logistics of things like bathing or preparing meals (beyond heating something simple up). This week, I'm going to luxuriate in my last few days of having a second pair of hands and eyes and then bite the bullet once I'm on my own again.

I'm forgetting a ton of things I wanted to write about, but that can't really be helped when I'm operating on so little sleep. How on EARTH do single parents survive these newborn weeks? Without Corey's help and support, I would probably be in the loony bin by now.

First swim in the tub

Peter's umbilical cord stump fell off the afternoon of Christmas Day, and by the 29th I decided his belly button looked healed enough for me to give him his first official bath in the tub. He didn't seem to mind it too much. My biggest fear was that he would pee all over me while I bathed him, so I took advice from experienced parents who told me to use a wash cloth to block the potential problem. Here's Peter looking a little disturbed by his nudity and the bathing process in general:



Today we gave him his second tub bath. He was NOT pleased. His Great Granny Taylor (Corey's mother's mother) was there to giggle at Peter's protests. Thank goodness Peter didn't decide to pee during the bath because I made the rookie mistake of forgetting that whole wash cloth defensive maneuver.

Kidsploitation, Peter style

A few nights ago, we decided Peter's napping position reminded us a little of the Amazing Carnac (an old Johnny Carson character from the "Tonight Show")...