donuts with dads

Emilia’s school had their annual “Donuts with Dads” day on Monday and Tuesday.  Basically it’s a nice little event the preschools use to lure the dads to sit in those itty-bitty-hard plastic chairs (preferably while all dressed in their business attire for the day) offering them donuts (sadly Marcus reported, not the Krispy Kreme kind) and the chance to see their kidlets in action.  Emilia has been SO excited about this day.  Seriously she’s been talking about it for a week and went to great lengths to pick out her outfit (one papa would like) and explain to Marcus exactly what was going to happen. (“First Papa you go in and you have to hang your bag in your cubby…”)  I l.o.v.e. Marcus that he actually went to this and recognized just how important it was to our girl and, as Ms. Paige described, Emi was “beaming” with pride.  Some quick shots.

nice face marcus – he looks like he’d rather have a root canal. 

not the outfit I was hoping E would pick out, but whatever.  you can tell she thought this was a big deal because she let me put a bow in her hair.

nice fake smile.

I sent Marcus to school with the camera in the hopes that he’d come back with some cute pics. This is what I got.

again with the dress up – Jackson H., and Elliot.  Love Elizabeth and her dad in the background.

classmates – Jackson H., E, Lake, Olivia, Elliot, Elizabeth, Charlie and Will.

card made at school.

In an unrelated topic this morning I’m taking Javier to the pediatric GI doctor to see if we can get his reflux/heartburn/general tummy upset under control.  Perfect example… I’m dressed for the day, he ate at 6:30 and has cried and spit up all over me.  It’s now 8:10 and both he and I need outfit changes before we leave and he’s passed out asleep.  Poor boo. 

And in another installment of ‘this-is-where-he-fell-asleep’…

I have mentioned that he only naps in swings or in his car seat.  In my mind it’s because a) he likes to be kind of snug and cozy and b) he likes to be kind of sitting upright because of his tummy.  Last week when I came home from my ‘morning off’ when Ms. Anne was here he had finally (at noon) fallen asleep for his nap in the swing in the kitchen, going at ‘full speed’.  He napped here for almost 3 hours (I did cover him with a blanket and turned the swing off).

Sorry Andres… I’ll get you next time.

javier–4 meses

Baby B…

Here are his stats:

• Weight: 14 pounds , 1 oz. (45th percentile – up 2 pounds, 7 oz since last visit!)
• Height: 23 1/2 inches (10th percentile – up 2 inches)
• Head Circumference: 16 cm (10th percentile – 1 cm growth).

do you see his hair?  it’s got some reddish tint to it and look at how it stands up.  want a closer look?

I’m considering putting in a little hair product to smooth it down.

I was most concerned at this visit with Javier and how he’s doing.  His acid reflux/heartburn really seem to be doing a number on him and he appears to be so uncomfortable and unhappy a lot of the time.  I don’t think it has to do with his personality; rather, he truly feels uncomfy poor baby.  Dr. W has upped his Zantac dose to kind of the ‘maximum’ of 1.2 ml up to 4x/day and that’s definitely helped for the time being.  However, the concern is that he’ll develop a tolerance for it again and it’ll loose its efficacy.  The next medicine he could try is Prevacid, however it’s not recommended in patients under a year, so before starting him on that Dr. W wants him to see a pediatric GI doc, just to get the green light on it.  I worry that he’s always hungry because out of a 6 ounce bottle probably 2 ounces end up on him/myself/the floor because of his spit up (even when I stop every two seconds to burp him) and we’re going through at least a couple shirts a day for him due to spitting up as well.  He arches his back, twists and turns and cries.  It’s so sad.  So we’re holding off on taking him to the specialist since he seems to be much better now on this new dose of the Zantac… hopefully he’ll outgrow it soon.

His photo shoot pics…

I had wanted to take pics of the boys in matching outfits but he’d spit up all over his and it was late so he was in his pjs.

Javier is a champion roller.  He rolls over from tummy to back regularly and has made it from his back to his tummy a couple times as well.  Not to be outdone by big brother, Javier has, much to our surprise, already cut his first tooth (lower right).  Ouch!

He’s also gotten much better at sleeping.  He regularly goes down between 7:30 and 8 (a bit later than A) and will sleep until 4:30 – 5 in the morning, nurse, then go back down until 7.  Not too shabby!  He’s taken to sleeping on his side, unlike his brother or sister.  Last night we found him curled up around one of the bumpers in his bed hugging it… I think I need to get him a good ‘lovie’ to curl around instead – far safer!  Naps are a struggle with him and the only place he naps well consistently is in the carseat or one of the little swings in the kitchen.  I think it helps that he’s sitting up and snug (he enjoyed being swaddled for quite a while).  As a result of his napping style he sometimes falls asleep in the oddest places.

in the jumpy – not the first (or last) time he’s fallen asleep there.

see? completely different outfit a few days later. don’t worry – we don’t leave him there.

andres–4 meses

I’ve decided, in the interest of my own sanity and in order to preserve their sense of individuality, that for ‘big updates’ (milestones and such) I’ll give each boy their own post.  It gets too confusing going back-and-forth.  Plus, they are their own individuals and completely different from one another and while comparisons are inevitable, I don’t need to start them here.

pictures from his 4 month ‘photo shoot’

The boys “officially” turned 4 months old at the beginning of the month but due to scheduling conflicts didn’t have their checkup with Dr. W until this past Monday.  Here’s the skinny on Baby A.

• Weight: 15 pounds exactly. (50th percentile, down from the 75th at their 2 month appointment). A 2.2 pound gain since their last appt.
• Height:  24 1/4 inches long. (25th percentile). He’s grown 2 inches in length.
• Head Circumference: 15 3/4 cm (10th percentile – oh no! Finding him a sun hat will be problematic!!) His head has only grown a quarter cm since last visit.

Dr. W and Nurse Tara were just tickled with my sweet boy.  He giggled, laughed, cooed, and flirted through the whole visit.  He’s definitely working on the two front bottom teeth, but neither has broken through the skin yet.  I mentioned that he looks rather longingly at the dinner table when he sees us eating, with a long on his face equivalent to “Hey, I’d like some steak Mama!” so Dr. W gave us the green light to start on a little brown rice cereal up to 2 times per day whenever we are ready.  I’m not exactly sure how that would work since it’s not like he sits up yet and I’m supposed to feed him with a spoon so we won’t be rushing in to anything just yet.

Andres is cheery and sunshine-y.  Far happier than I remember Emilia being at this age.  He loves to play in the jumpy, and has recently discovered his hands (bringing them together, bringing them to his mouth, etc).  Whenever Emilia is around him he just lights up – clearly loves his big sis.

‘sup ladies.

He’s also a champion sleeper.  Andres will take two good naps a day – at least a couple hours each (very much like Emilia at this age) and goes down easily – barely a whimper.  He only likes to sleep on his tummy though (which may explain why, when we put him down for tummy time or to practice rolling over he gets upset thinking we want him to go to sleep.  At nights he’s down at 7:30 exactly and many mornings I have to wake him at 8:30 in order to get us out the door in time to take E to school.

I’m kinda obsessed with baby feet which, really, are too delicious.  Look at A’s toes – they’re crazy long (very Glaser trait I think) and they are kind of ‘mushed’ together.  Delicious.

the one

I’ve been meaning to write a post about the one who made me a mama.  So much so I’ve been jotting notes down in my phone for weeks it seems, in case I finally have time to sit and write something coherent down. It’s kind of long-winded and boring-ish, but I feel like I need to document, right? 

There are a lot of changes going on. She’s officially a 3 1/2-year-old and can’t wait to be four.  Every day it seems like she asks when she’ll be ‘this many’ (holding up fingers) and wants to be measured on the kitchen wall (where we’ve tracked her height pretty much since she could kinda stand – when we move, that part of the wall is coming with me – I don’t even care what it would cost.  She’s gotten big too.. growing about an inch, maybe more, during the winter – to the point where her 3T t-shirts are s.n.u.g. and her pants are moving in to capri length.

hard at work.

Other notables…

• She replaces beginning ‘l’ sounds with ‘w’ – weprechaun, wittle and wake instead of leprechaun, little, and Lake (classmate’s name).
• Has such a sweet sense of humor.  Doesn’t really tell jokes (except for one: knock, knock, who’s there?, cow, cow who?, cow emi)?, but she makes up silly songs and stories for her brothers all the time.
• Incessant dancing – especially her ballet moves as of late. Anytime she hears ‘slow music’ (ie: classical music) she starts doing plies.
• Complains that she’s getting ‘dizzy’ or ‘tired’ when she doesn’t want to clean up or do something.
• Constantly asks to have playdates.  I admit I’ve been slack in this.  She’s desperate to have kids over and I’d love to, but with 4 month olds, it’s a little tricky and I’m terrified of a scream-a-thon with four kids here. Once the boys are in a more distinct schedule I’ve promised we’ll have kids over.
• Recognizes letters… she loves to do ‘homework’ in the afternoons – (we practice making letters and writing her name – kind of on an as-interested basis – nothing I’m ‘pushing’ obviously) consistently recognizes letters associated with particular names she knows – A, E, D, J, M, and her own name.
• Knows her full name “Emiya Catro”, her street “Od Chapel”, and the city “Sharyotte” (obviously that’s how she pronounces these things).
• Tries to figure out beginning consonant sounds (something they do a lot in school) – she’ll say stuff like ‘b, b, b, ball!’
• Plays “Guessing Game” with Papa, and “I Spy” in the car.
• According to Marcus (I have no idea) has some real skill when it comes to soccer.  She l.o.v.e.s. to play and I can’t WAIT for their nightly soccer practices to move OUTSIDE instead of in the playroom!
• Requires a snack IMMEDIATELY upon getting in to the car when I pick her up from school.  It’s like she’s honestly starving.
• Loves asparagus now (!), has started eating noodles (sometimes, but not really), apparently all meat for her is ‘pollito’ (chicken), and requires catsup with every meal (including and especially scrambled eggs).  Yuck.

her good-luck bracelet – courtesy A.

and a couple of snooze-y videos… the Captain singing to her hermanitos…

emi singing & counting from Denise Glaser on Vimeo.

and playing with her dollhouse (note the voices she makes up for the people…

dollhouse playing from Denise Glaser on Vimeo.

wordless wednesday–playgroup

welcome spring – zoe, morgan, mia, emi, maisie, (cole & liza in background)

wordless wednesday–this is how he fell asleep

guess who.

on a roll, part 1

Javier first rolled at about 6 weeks old, but hasn’t really done it since.  Yesterday he made it ‘official’ – after getting stuck for a bit the boy is now rolling like crazy.  He hates being on his tummy so every time you put him face down he rolls, in either direction, onto his back.  And then giggles.  It’s hilarious.

some encouragement from ‘big sister’ – he was stuck in this position for a while. I was about to move him, when he finally managed to roll.

javier - rolling from Denise Glaser on Vimeo.

tandem tummy time…

you can’t tell in this picture, but both boys have the ‘mancha de papapa’ – a little red mark at the base of their necks.  my grandpa had it and it must be some sort of weird genetic trait because we all have it.  it’s kind of our birthmark.  crazy how some of these things travel through the generations.

since andres sleeps on his tummy, when you put him down for tummy time he thinks you want him to go to sleep.  he wasn’t super happy about that.

not that you could tell.

day in the life, part 2–teamwork

The boys get a bath every other evening.  Really, they need it every night – the stereotypical ‘boy smell’ apparently starts early – but I haven’t gotten to the point where I feel organized enough to do it every night.

Marcus’ arrival at home at night signals the start of bath time, which is a two-man job.  I’ve done it by myself, but it’s so much easier to have an extra set of hands.

ready to hit the water – like their babylegs? I never had these for emilia – don’t know why.

javier hits the tub first – we still swaddle them in the tub – they love it.  I know he looks sad, but I swear he enjoys it.

look at javier – he’s in such a ‘tub coma’ – my andres ready to go.

while a’s in the tub, j’s getting his nighttime bottle with papa.

clearly, it’s time for bed.

don’t I know you?

Sunday evening was a milestone around here.  It was the very first time Andres and Javier actually made eye contact with one another and ‘recognized’ each other.  The part I didn’t get to document, because I was crying it was so sweet, was when Andres, in his 3-and-a-half-month way reached his little closed fist up to Javier’s face and touched him while Javier in his 3-and-a-half-month way leaned in towards Andres’ hand.  It was a.maz.ing. and over in a flash.  Suddenly Marcus was yelling “grab the camera” and of course I ran to get it and realized I’d left the battery charging downstairs so I’m racing to grab it and Marcus is saying “don’t worry, we’ll get it next time” but who knows when the next time will be, right? So I had to get it now even if my camera was on the wrong settings probably (definitely) and it was late and I was tired.  We couldn’t miss the magic of the moment.  We’ve tried in the past to get them to look at one another, but to no avail.  They just loose interest too quickly – one will look at the other and then they look away in an instant.  Sunday though, there was definitely the flash of recognition across both of their faces.  They knew. 

none of these pictures really do it justice.

love these boys.