Our daffodils came up so pretty this spring! I snapped this picture while Summer and I were out playing this afternoon. Colton has been napping about 12:30, so after lunch Summer and I get an hour or so of Mommy/Summer time :)
Summer asked me to take a picture of her next to this tree (lol!). I made Tucker sit for the pose as well!
My View: Colton snoozing in our Baby Bjorn as we wait for the student I am tutoring to come! Tutoring = amazing job!
We are now in Colton's third week of life (wow!) and we are finally starting to settle into some sort of routine as a family.
This past week was a tough one, as Colton had his nights and days turned around. He would sleep during the day, and then be up crying between 8pm-11pm, and then again from 2am-4am. He also had trouble going to sleep after his night time feedings unless I was holding him, which meant that I didn't get a lot of sleep! Additionally, he has had a bit of a stuffy nose, which gave him a harder time sleeping while lying on his back. He would get so fussy that he would be too burpy to either eat or sleep!
I'm not sure if it was people's prayers, the good advice of friends to follow the suggestions Baby Wise, or a combination, but we turned a corner Saturday night! I slept in our bed for the first time in many nights and Colton actually slept after his nightly feedings! YAY!
I have experimented with several different ways/orders of getting both Colton and Summer bathed, fed, down to bed etc...without getting anyone too hungry or too overtired, etc. I finally settled into a routine that has worked well two nights in a row. Here it is!
7:00pm: wake Colton from his evening nap, and feed him
7:30pm: Give Colton a bath to get him some good awake time so he is tired for bed and get him nice and awake for a final bedtime feeding
7:45pm: Feed Colton a final bedtime feeding
8:00pm: Colton's bedtime
8:00pm: Give Summer a bath (Colton can cry himself to sleep a bit and it won't keep Summer awake, and then Summer gets one-on-one time with Mommy)
8:20-8:30pm: Summer's bedtime
With Paul's test looming next month, he needs evenings to study, so this bathtime/bedtime routine allows me to get the kids in bed before I tutor (which I start back up again tomorrow). My availability is a bit changed for tutoring, as I used to tutor between 7pm-10pm. Now I will do between 8:30-10pm. Because both kids are such great afternoon sleepers, I will still tutor between 2:30-5pm in the afternoon. We will see how it goes this week!
Summer is also settling into a routine of having a baby brother. She is doing a great job of independently playing when Mommy needs to nurse Colton and being patient when Mommy can't do something right away. She has learned what it means to whisper and talk in a "quiet voice"! She has helped mommy give Colton a bath, pick out Colton's PJ's, count Colton's toes, and put Colton's pacifier in his mouth. I love having her around!
Here is a little video of her "helping" to rock Colton in the swing tonight....
Other Summer things I want to remember from this week...
-She loves to say "Howda bout dis" (How about this.....)
-She had the cutest grin on her face when halfway through mowing the lawn, I saw her "spying" on me when she should have been napping ;)
-She will often start "reading" a book by saying, "Let's see...."
-She learned "sun came out" when the sun came out while we were playing at the park and loves to say that whenever we refer to that particular park!
-Summer will sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" but in place of "down came the rain" she always says "down came the waterfall" ????
-After we read her Bible story in the morning she always says, "Find an angel!" So we flip through the pages of her picture Bible and find all the pictures of angels. Not sure why she has such a fascination with them, but this "find an angel" thing has been going on for over a month!
-Summer was sitting on my lap this morning and my stomach gurgled and she said, "Mommy pooping"!
-Summer now really likes the cereal "Frosted Mini Spooners" (Malt-o-meal's version of Frosted Mini Wheats). She woke up this morning requesting "Mini Wheats"!
While I don't splurge on clothes there myself, my Aunt Nancy knows how much I love Baby GAP and she gave Summer a little GAP sweatshirt when she was 3 months old. She wore it all the time!
Summer at 3 months
When Colton was born, she gave Colton a little red GAP sweatshirt too!
Colton at 2.5 weeks
Summer outgrew her pink sweatshirt, so last Christmas Aunt Nancy gave her a bigger size grey one. Here are a few sibling pics of Colton and Summer in their "matching" zip up hoodies. ;) Thank you Aunt Nancy and Uncle Paul! Colton's face in the second picture makes me laugh out loud!
Hi little brother!
Hi big sis!
Today it was too chilly for the park, so we went and played indoors at the mall with Summer's friends Addison, Adry, and Adelyn. It was our first time using our new double umbrella stroller from Grandma and Grandpa T---it is awesome!
At the mall
All four girls in this picture will be big sisters before the year is up!
Daddy pointed out that Colton looks "thrilled" to be at the mall....like father like son ;)
Summer is LOVING her new "special" spot in the back of the cart at Walmart! (Colton is up front) Thanks Jessi for the great suggestion! We can fit lots more groceries in the cart this way!
Mommy can carry Summer again
My doctor is the same as Colton's, so at Colton's 2 week appointment my doctor told me that I could carry Summer again! (We were told I wasn't supposed to lift over 25 pounds while I healed from giving birth, and Summer is right about 25 pounds). It was VERY hard for both Summer and me to have me not carry her, as I did so all the time before Colton was born. I explained to Summer that "Mommy has an owie and when Mommy's owie is all gone, Mommy can carry you again." At the doctor appointment, when my doctor said I could carry Summer again, I told Summer the good news and she exclaimed, "Mommy owie all gone, mommy carry you again!" Here is a "re-enactment" :)
Summer "reading" to Mommy
Summer has an amazing memory, and will "read" her books to me, memorizing words on each page from when we read it last. It surprises me because the words she remembers are not necessarily words that are pictured on the page. For example, one of her favorite books right now is called "Sticks". Here are the words on the first few pages, and then how she reads it...
"Trees hold their branches in the air" "AIR"
"After branches fall they are sticks" "FALL"
"I like sticks" "I LIKE STICKS"
"Sticks are for exploring" "STICKS FOR EXPLORING"
"Sticks are for walking" "STICKS FOR WALKING"
"Sticks are for carrying" "CARRYING"
etc,etc, etc.....
Of course when I have the video camera out, she doesn't do it the same as she does when I am not video-ing (!), but her are two clips of her "remembering" words from the pages in her library books.
Colton's first tummy time
Now that Colton's umbilical cord fell off, he can spend time on his tummy to strengthen his neck muscles. Summer hated tummy time and would cry right away if I put her on her tummy, so I was pleasantly surprised when Colton really enjoyed it! I was also surprised that he can already lift his head up all the way all by himself. I snapped two fuzzy cell phone pictures, but wasn't able to "catch" his head all the way lifted. Never-the-less, they document his first tummy time!
First Run
Summer, Colton, Tucker and I went on our first run since Colton was born yesterday. It felt so good to get out, and Tucker really needed the exercise! I love my new double jogger! We went running with friends Rachael and Adry, and they stuck around to play "sticks" in our backyard and collect dandylions. Summer and Adry were wearing the same coat and both had blond ponytails, and looked really cute together, so Rachael snapped some cell phone pics and let me "steal" them!
"Twins"
We both have orange sippy cups!
Rachael and Adry holding Colton (Adry will have a little brother in August!)
Colton will be two weeks old tomorrow! We went in for his 2 week check-up today. He is 20.25 inches tall (36th percentile), 7lbs 12.8 oz (36th percentile), and head size 34.9cm (25th percentile). Now that his umbilical cord fell off, he can take a tub bath instead of a sponge bath! Here are two little videos and some pictures of his first tub bath.
The first of Summer's friends turned 2 today! Mommy, Daddy, Summer and Colton had fun celebrating with Adry this afternoon. The party was so much fun, including an Easter egg hunt, lots of bubbles, a ball pit, sidewalk chalk, tie-die t-shirts, and ice cream cake! What an afternoon! Summer had a blast!
Grandma and Grandpa Tommerdahl drove down from Fergus Falls to visit on Saturday, and they brought along Great-Grandma (Gee-Gee) Sandy! Here are a few pictures....
Thanks for coming to visit us!!!
Gee-Gee Sandy meets Colton!
Grandma T and Summer
Grandma T and Colton
Summer and Grandpa T having a tea party
"stirring" in the sugar!
Grandpa T and Colton
Summer giving Gee-Gee Sandy some "fried chicken and ice cream"!
Grandpa stopped by after work on Friday to see the kiddos! Grandpa cuddled with Colton and then played with Summer and took her to the park. Here are a few pictures....
Grandma came over yesterday!! It was rainy and cold so we went to the mall to walk and play in the indoor kiddie area. Here are a few pictures of Grandma and Summer playing and Grandma and Colton cuddling!
Summer, Colton, and I went to Mom's Club yesterday morning, and had a blast chatting, playing, doing a craft, and going on an Easter egg hunt. Shout out to Melissa for taking some really cute pictures! I stole a few from her to post here. Also thank you to Melissa and Andrea for planning everything!
One of Summer's favorite library books is called "The Noisy Counting Book" (She calls it "GaDunk"). When we returned it to the library, Summer kept looking for it, so Daddy bought her her own copy off of Amazon. Fun that it came the same day that Colton came home from the hospital! Here is a video of us reading it together....
Other funny things she has said this week...
*We were in Target shopping for an undergarment for Mommy and she picked one off of the rack and exclaimed, "Cuuuuuuuuuuute!"
*We were at Walmart and she said hi to the clerk (who happened to be named Jessi). We were in another store today and she said "Hi Jessi!" to the clerk...She has a crazy memory for names!
*I crack up every time she "jumps"! Here is a little clip of her jumping!
**I usually eat every 3-4 hours during the day (but am pretty flexible about my daytime eating if I have a pacifier) and every 3 hours during the night. I will often "skip" a feeding in the afternoon (mommy can't wait until I move this to night time!)
**I sleep a ton and love to be swaddled. I sleep in my crib at night and usually fall back asleep pretty quickly after my feedings. I sleep in the pack n' play in the morning in the family room despite my noisy sister ;), and will sleep in the carseat, stroller, swing, or mommy's arms throughout the rest of the day.
**I like a pacifier a lot more than my sister did and will often fall asleep sucking on one.
**I hardly ever cry...and when I do, I sound like a little piglet!
**I really don't like diaper changes or sponge baths.
**I love being held and will fall asleep almost immediately if you hold me close :).
**I am very easy going, and a LOT easier baby than my sister (according to mommy!)
Thanks for all your visits, presents, cards, and prayers for me and my family. My life is pretty good right now!
Paul went back to work today....as much as I wanted him to stay home, I think it was even harder for HIM today after a great week of bonding as a family of four. I wasn't sure exactly how things would go today as Paul has been a constant amazing teammate with two extra hands helping out EVERYWHERE---keeping laundry going, helping with both kids when they both needed something at the same time, etc. Yesterday we did a 3 hour trial run as Paul did his volunteer work at church for a few hours in the morning. Things were a bit crazy...several times both kids were crying at the same time....I think it has been a bit harder than I anticipated it would be for Summer to adjust to "sharing" Mommy, which has resulted in a bit more tantrums than I have seen in a while.
Never-the-less, I know many people were praying for me today and God SO answered those prayers! It has been such a smooth day, and Summer has been better today than all week! I think it is really good for her to get back into a "normal" routine of how life will be after we had such a crazy/amazing/different/stimulating week with both grandmas and grandpas playing with her while Mommy and Daddy were in the hospital, Daddy home being home this week, getting used to a new little brother, etc. So, today we did just that: had a "normal" day.
Summer usually wakes around 7am, and Colton has been waking closer to 8am, which allows me to have a bit of "normal" time with Summer to get her up, read her Bible story, get her dressed, and have breakfast. We chatted through breakfast like "normal" and then I got Colton and fed him. We talked about what we would do for the day, and she was excited that she would get to see some of her friends! After Mommy showered and got Colton dressed, we headed out to Walmart on our first errand together. I got a great tip from a friend...park near a cart corral and then use the cart to bring the kids inside the store--great tip! Here is a picture of our first Walmart trip :-)
Not sure where I will put all of my groceries when we do a bigger trip, as my kiddos fill up the cart! Maybe it will keep me from buying too much ;)!!
After Walmart, we went to story time at the library. Summer was so excited to see her friends Sydney, Lilly, and Leyla again. Colton slept through the story time, so Summer got Mommy's lap all to herself as we sung songs and played.
We came home to feed Colton and Summer did a great job "reading" books to Mommy and Colton. Then Summer and Mommy had lunch.
After lunch, we got to try out the new double jogger and go for a walk to the park with Mommy's friend Rachael and Summer's friend Adry. Here are a few pictures.
Awesome double jogger I got for Christmas...can't wait to take it for a run sometime soon!
Summer LOVES sticks!
Colton sleeping in the stroller
Summer petting Tucker
Hey look, a "flower"!
Making flower and rock piles together :)
We got home from the park in time for Summer's 2pm nap, and Colton fell asleep in the stroller, so I got some amazing quiet time to spend with the Lord reading Ephesians and thanking him for his blessings. He has been SO good to us. Praise the Lord! To top it off, a friend from Mom's Club just dropped of dinner for tonight. I'm feeling very blessed!
