Thursday, February 23, 2012

Finally!

Babies change so much in their first year of life. Every few weeks it's like you have a new child. Just in the last week Sam has discovered his hands and they are the new loves of his life! Last time I did a Sam update he wasn't smiling too much, but in the past month he's become a really smiley guy. But I hadn't been able to snap a picture of him smiling because every time I got out the camera he would give it this hard stare, like he was trying to figure it out - Until today! I managed to catch him smiling, though he refuses to be parted from his hands (ha!), so they make guest appearances:



True Love

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Bubble = Burst

When we first brought Sam home, Ben's Daddy Favoritism flared up again really badly, but it's waned to a tolerable amount in the last three months. And last week when Heath was on a business trip Wednesday-Friday Ben was a lot more affectionate with me than normal. I knew it was just because Heath was gone, but I still enjoyed it.

However, the specter of Daddy Favoritism is always looming above our heads. On Friday morning we were in the car and the following conversation took place:

Me: Ben, Daddy will be home tomorrow!

Ben: Yeah. I wish you were gone.

Me: What do you mean? You wish I was gone instead of Daddy?

Ben: Yeah.

Ouch.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Somewhere in my youth or childhood I must've done something good

Today is an historic day. Last night our second born, Samuel Donald Borders... SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! It wasn't even the wussy 5-6 hours "sleeping through the night" that baby books count. It was full on 9pm-7:45am sleeping through the night! At three months! Yes! *fist pump*

Now I'm about to do that comparison thing I'm so iffy on, because sleeping was our biggest issue with Ben when he was a baby. Ben didn't sleep through the night once until he was five months old. Then it was four more months until he did it again. Nine looong months of waking up multiple times a night, long after almost everyone else's kid slept through the night.

I'm so glad I had the hard one first, because I'm soooooo grateful for Sam's good sleeping habits. He might not sleep through the night every night from now on, but I don't think it's going to be the fight it was with Ben.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

World's Best Brother

Even though we had a pretty rocky start, with sickness and moodiness, I'm so happy and proud with the way Ben has adjusted to Sam's presence. Even in the very beginning he never took his negative feelings out on Sam. Ben has loved him right from the start.

At first he liked helping us wash out the bottles, but that ended pretty quickly. However, he hugs and kisses Sam all the time, tells him, "It'll be okay, Sam," when he's crying and introduces Sam to his various toys. Naturally there are still times when he feels jealous and tells us to put Sam down and play with him. I've tried to explain to Ben that after he wakes up from his nap and Sam's still sleeping, that's the time I can give him my full attention. He hasn't quite grasped that concept yet, though, and always asks to watch TV during that time. Then later he gets mad when I can't play trains because I have to feed Sam. We're working on it.

The cutest thing happened a few weekends ago, when we took them both to the YMCA nursery for the first time. Apparently the entire time they were in there Ben was protecting Sam and telling the other kids not to touch him. He's looking out for his little brother.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Boy

The other day Ben asked to use the camera. I thought the results were rather interesting. I could see things from his point of view.

There were a lot of pictures of the kitchen cabinets:


And a lot of the lower half of my body:



Creations with blocks:


I think this one's kind of nice:



But the best one is the self portrait:

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Big and Tall store, here we come!

After Ben was born I wanted to start a Christmas tradition with him. A lot of people get a new pair of pajamas every year, but that was too typical and I wanted to do something more meaningful to me. So I decided to buy him a new pair of Converse shoes every year. I always buy them a little large, because his feet grow so quickly. So far he hasn't made it through an entire year with his Christmas shoes. Usually he doesn't even make it through the summer. Here are this year's shoes:


That's MY foot. He's three years old and his shoes are almost as long as my foot! He's going to be bigger than I am by the time he's nine.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Such a sucker

Ben: Can I watch Backyardigans?

Heath: No.

Ben: But if you don't let me watch I'll be sad. If you do let me watch I'll be happy.

Me: Ben, that's emotional blackmail.

Heath: Ben, you made a reasoned argument without whining. You can watch Backyardigans.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Comparisons

I suppose this is a problem all parents of two or more children have, but I'm having a tough time talking about Sam without comparing him to Ben. Sam dislikes wet diapers; Ben never minded. Sam hates the car seat and often screams on car trips; Ben always fell asleep. Sam weighs 12 lbs at two months; Ben weighed 16.

It's almost impossible not to compare. Ben's the only other infant I've had prolonged exposure to, so it feels natural to think about his milestones as Sam reaches them himself. I don't think any of it is judgemental, but it doesn't seem like a good habit. I don't see myself becoming the, "Why can't you be more like your brother?" mom, but you never exactly know what kind of parent you'll turn out to be.

Part of the reason it's so hard not to compare them is because I can already tell they're different. It's amazing to me that two kids from the same parents could be so different. Obviously I know it's true because my brothers and I are all different in significant ways. But it seems stranger when it's your own children. However, it's been so fun to watch the mix of Heath and me emerge in Ben. It'll be interesting to see what our second mixture is like.

But look at these pictures:

Ben at three months

Sam at almost three months

Same outfit, same chair, same withering stare. They look like brothers.