7 months

Well, here is Elly at 7 months.  She is sitting up very well and hardly ever falls over, but I still like to have the boppy behind her just in case.  Now if we can ever get to crawling.  Whenever I put her on her belly to practice, she immediately rolls over.  She hates being on her belly.  I hope she learns to crawl soon, though, because she's not very good at entertaining herself lately.  She is bored with her usual toys. 

 

It is hard getting this girl to smile at me for pictures.  She smiles much more readily at Peter and Chris.

 

 

 

I recall trying to get her to smile in this picture, but she was clearly done with the picture taking.

Here's a big smile for Daddy.

She just lights up with Chris in the room.

And this one was when Peter was doing something she found amusing.  She smiles at Peter often.

She is a cute little 7 month old.  Now we wish she would start jabbering.  Still nothing.  Little coos, but mostly just silence.  I know she can hear really well because she's very responsive to sound, just not very vocal.  And she's oddly good at expressing her wishes, despite her lack of jabber, but she doesn't seem to want to experiment with sounds yet.  Although in the past few days she has been doing some raspberries.  We are a little impatient I think because Peter was saying all kinds of consonants and combining syllables at 5 months. 

She is doing crazy things with her sleep.  Sometimes she is up several times, and sometimes just once.  It was so easy to sleep train Peter because he was bottle fed.  Not proving so easy with a particular breast fed baby.  Hopefully she will adjust to a schedule sooner rather than later.     

Elly, five and six months

Here is our cute little angel at five months.  She started to get super interactive around this time.  She especially loves her daddy and Peter.  She smiles whenever Peter gets close to her or whenever he is also smiling.  So fun to see..  Although it has only been recent that he has taken an interest in her.  

She has not been babbling at all, which worries us a little, but she coos and is very social in every other way.  It's probably too bad that she has an older brother that was super advanced with his speech, thereby causing us to compare Elly with Peter all the time. 

She started rolling over at five months, but hates being on her tummy.  In fact, only at the end of six months did she learn to sit up.  We worried about that because she always hated when we would try to have her sit anywhere.  She always wanted to be standing or be held.  She has been a very particular baby so far. 

Chris and I have noticed that she is polar opposite from Peter in every way.  Girl.  Not a great night sleeper.  Great nurser.  Very sensitive and gets feelings hurt very easily.  Cries easily.  Won't take to solids.  Slow to speak.  Even though Peter is in his terrible twos, he is still fairly mellow, which does not describe Elly AT ALL.  I have a feeling I might understand what karma is when she gets old enough to be a dramatic young lady...

At six months she finally learned to sit up.  At the very end of six months.  She was just too stubborn to practice it.  She would always arch her back whenever you tried to sit her down, making it impossible for her to be sitting.  Thank goodness for the bumbo to give her some practice.  She couldn't arch her back out of that thing.  :)  But strangely, she didn't seem to mind sitting in it.   

She is chewing on everything, all the time.  At six months, she was content to chew on her teething toys, but now she is getting moody if we don't let her chew on non-teething items.  I guess she is bored.

Also I feel I should mention she transitioned from 3-6 clothes to 6-9 clothes at 5 months, and then just a month later to 9-12 clothes.  Somebody had a little growth spurt!  So now she is back on target with her growth from when she was two months. 

Sleep has been a real issue.  She was so great at five months, but lately she has been getting up at least three times a night.  I tried doing the cry-it-out thing, but that was disastrous and she just screamed.  The girl really likes to nurse for comfort.  I always put her down for naps and sleep when she's still awake, and she is able to fall asleep without any drama.  So I can't understand why she feels the need to nurse every time she wakes up at night.  I'm really hoping she gets better with her sleep, but I am feeling at the end of my rope sometimes.  SO TIRED!   

Whenever I try to take a picture of Elly, Peter always wants to be front and center in the picture.  Such a funny boy.  He has taken to giving cute little smiles for pictures again, so that is fun. 

It is also nice that he acknowledges his little sister now.  Although he doesn't like to get to close to her if she is in a grab everything mood.  She can scratch pretty well if I don't keep her nails trimmed.

Fun picture of the three of them.  Oh how I love my sweet little family.  I'll have to update more on Peter and Elly at 7 months later.  I need to get more pictures.  With two kids on my own, I am so very bad at remembering to take pictures. 

Elly at 4 months

Wow, I think I completely missed Elly's 3 month mark for the blog.  Probably because we were packing up and moving to Virginia.  Yes, it was kind of nightmare packing up our little apartment with Peter and a 3 month old baby, but with Dad's help, we managed.  It was a very stressful last day of loading and cleaning and driving a very old, huge diesel truck with bad breaks.  Glad it's over!  We love our new little townhome that we are renting.  I'll have to get some pictures soon. 

In the mean time, here are some pictures of Elly at 4 months.  She has grown, but has not kept up with her height growth.  She dropped from the 74th percentile to the 49th percentile.  Part of me wonders if this is because I can't get her to sleep during the day for more than two or three hours on a typical day.  Peter proves just too noisy to get a good rest.  Two to three hours for a 4 month old is not enough! Especially when said 4 month old requires being held and walked around for her waking hours to be happy.  Yes, Elly is proving to be kind of a fussy baby.  But with the constant teething and constant sleep deprivation, I can't say I blame her.  I just hope she learns to sleep a little bit better so that she can stay healthy! 

 This is how Elly looks whenever she is put down.  She gets all tense and wide-eyed and nervous looking and wiggles her arms and legs and calls out until she is picked up.  This girl does not make it easy to raise two kids 2 and under.  Thank goodness for Dad's help of late, otherwise Elly and I might both go crazy.

 Elly with Grandpa.  I've decided that Elly just prefers men.  She loves Dad and Chris.  She likes me, but I suspect this is because I am her food source.  :) 

I love how sweet her countenance becomes when her face lights up in a smile.  She can be such a sweet little angel sometimes.  I hope she gets a little more satisfied with life when she can sit up on her own and crawl around.  I feel badly when I have Peter and Elly with just me, because inevitably Peter is very demanding of my attention, and Elly gets the short end of the stick occasionally. 

Grandpa's and Peter's birthdays

 Dad's birthday was on the 27th. This would have been a much more fun birthday if Dad hadn't had a strange salivary gland infection that made chewing and swallowing excruciatingly painful.  Poor Dad.  He could only eat soft food, so I made him a tuna cheese grilled sandwich and tomato soup for his birthday dinner.  Not too exciting, but this is one of his favorite comfort foods. 

 And Peter's birthday on the 28th.  He was very spoiled this year and got lots of toys and a tricycle.  He has not figured out how to pedal consistently, so this trike has not proved very exciting.  Oh well.  Maybe a few more months.

 Peter requested pasta for his birthday dinner over pizza and Baja Fresh taquitos, which he also loves.  I love that a home-cooked meal makes him happy on his birthday.  And I love his messy face in this photo.  Don't so much love to clean up his messy face, but it's pretty funny nonetheless.

 And we splurged and got him an ice cream oreo cake.  I love the excitement in his eyes in this photo.  Very fun.

And another messy face picture post-ice cream cake.  Yes, he was a happy boy this year as he turned two.  Yikes!  I can't believe my baby boy turned two!  He has been such a sweet little guy and it has been fun watching him grow this past year and hearing him take off with his talking.  He has started singing a lot, which is so fun to hear.  Oh how we love our little Peter!

Elly's blessing

It's official.  Little Elly was blessed as Eleanor Marilyn Layton on June 3rd.  It was a lovely day and Chris gave her a sweet blessing.  It was nice to have my dad be in the circle.

I am not super thrilled with her dress, as it is a little to frilly and not a comfortable cotton one.  However, she looked cute, and she didn't seem to mind the material.  I'm not so sure about the bow on her head, but both Chris and Dad really liked it, so it stayed.

Peter has seemed to figure out that it's appropriate to smile for pictures.  Funny boy.

Elly is gaining like a champ, as evidenced by her chubby cheeks.  It's so nice to have a good nurser!  It is so much easier than bottle feeding!!  And tons easier than pumping and bottle feeding.  Thank goodness for my little nursing baby girl.  She wouldn't have been patient for me to pump, and Peter definitely wouldn't have been patient for me to pump.  

It's hard to get any pictures of here with her eyes open in the morning, but we managed to get a few.  She also just started to smile at us socially.  She's not as smiley as Peter was, but she'll give us cute little smiles every now and then. 

 

For the first 6 weeks of her life, I slept on the couch--that's how bad she slept.  But finally, it has started getting better and she is sleeping longer in her little cosleeper bed that we bought. 

She is a little higher maintenance baby than Peter was.  She has sort of fussy periods in the evenings where she wants to be either eating or being held while we walk around or bounce on the exercise ball with her.  This lasts from about 5 to 9.  Then I try to put her to sleep, but I can't seem to get her to go down for the night before 11:30.  But at least she sleeps for a few hours once I've finally put her down.

Now if only Peter would sleep in a little later than 5:30...

She is a sweet little addition to the family.  We love you Elly!

Elly's first month

 Newborn Elly in the hospital with Grandpa.  She hasn't had her bath yet, so her hair's a little messy.  The hospital was nice about postponing her bath so that we could have lots of bonding time.

Our stay in the hospital was a little longer than normal due to my not having had antibiotics at least 4 hours prior to her birth.  But thankfully they let us go the evening of our second day there so that we didn't have to stay another night at the hospital.  It's so hard to sleep with nurses coming in and out at all hours of the night.

Elly was very healthy from the start and only had a little jaundice.  Poor baby--they kept monitoring her bilirubin levels, and so they pricked her little heels about 6 times in the end.  She was not a happy baby for those times.  Because of the jaundice, the doctor wanted me to supplement a little to get the bilirubin out of her system faster.  I was very sad to have to bottle feed her, but I soon got an SNS to supplement her to allow her to get her supplement while breast feeding.  I worked with a lactation consultant also because of lots of discomfort, and the consultant was hugely helpful.  I also discovered that Elly was gaining really well and super fast, and that I probably didn't need to supplement her in the first place.  But such is the way with doctors--they always err on the side of caution.  Anyway, she has been such a good nurser that she was 7 lbs. 13 oz. at her two week appointment.  A full 13 oz. up from her birth weight.  Go Elly!  And I happily only had to use the SNS for a very short time, and she is solely breast feeding now.  Such a huge relief and feels like quite a feat after pumping all of Peter's milk for ten months of his life.  When I told the lactation consultant I pumped for that long, she told me that she'd never heard of anyone doing it for that long.  I thought it was more typical of women to do it that long, but I guess I was wrong.

Peter's present from Elly upon her arrival.  He was VERY excited to have this special train set, and I think it has distracted him a bit from the very big transition of welcoming a new addition to our family.  Peter was sort of an indifferent big brother in the beginning, not really knowing what to make of his little sister.

 Grandpa and Elly on her 2nd day of life.  Dad has been great at helping out with both Elly and Peter.  Elly has not been the best sleeper by any standards.  In the beginning she wouldn't sleep unless she was being held, but thankfully she will go down now.  After the first week or so, I realized that she has a little acid reflux problem.  So that means I have to keep her upright for about half an hour after she eats before putting her down.  Also, she has a dirty diaper just about every hour of the day and night.  This causes some diaper rash issues which also affects nighttime sleep.

So because I have to change her diaper every time she wakes at night, burp her for half an hour afterward, then she only sleeps for an hour and half at best in her little co-sleeper bed when the cycle begins all over again.  Sometimes she I have to change her twice in a waking, and then she's so awake it takes me an hour to get her to go back to sleep.  Ew.  I think I average about 4 hours a night.  It is not getting better, and I have been sick three times in her first month of life.  And that's with my dad helping me out during the day.  I'm not sure how I'm going to survive when he goes, but I sure am so grateful to have his help while he's here!

 Daddy with Peter and Elly. 

 These items were a gift from the people at Chris's work.  They are all very soft and cuddly.

 Two weeks old

So little!!

 A gift from my in-laws.  So funny!  But I must admit I do sort of feel like I have superpowers for being able to nurse her. 

This is about one month old.  Notice her chubby cheeks!

Peter has started to take an interest in his sister.  He enjoys pointing out her toes and nose.  And he's started saying goodnight to her before bedtime.  I think she's winning him over.  :)

Welcome Elly!

Little Elly right after birth.  See her squished little nose.  And for some reason, it looks like she's got really dark huge eyebrows.  But this is just a shadow from her brow, not actual eyebrows, which were barely visible at birth.

Now that Elly's over a month old, it's probably time I updated the blog.  First things first: the birth story.  And I don't know how to be brief, so this is a long one. 

             It was a different experience bringing Elly into this world from my experience with Peter.  This time around, I was ready for her to come.  I couldn’t wait to meet her and I prepared myself for her arrival, so all I was doing was waiting. 

            By 37 weeks, I had a prenatal appointment, and Elly’s measurements had not changed from one week to the next.  So, the midwife ordered an ultrasound.  This was exactly what precipitated all the nonsense with Peter’s arrival with the doctors wanting to induce me.  So, I was very fearful and frustrated by the potential that this might happen with Elly.  All I wanted was to go into labor naturally and have as relaxed a birth as possible. 

            After much consideration, I decided to go ahead and schedule the ultrasound.  But the offices were so booked, that they couldn’t see me until after my next prenatal appointment.  I felt at peace that Elly was all right and that I needn’t worry.

            At my 38 week appointment, she measured another inch in growth, which was encouraging.  However, my midwife still wanted me to keep the appointment for the ultrasound.  I was a little annoyed, and a little anxious.  I really wanted Elly to come before I had that ultrasound appointment.  I tried to get lots of good exercise to get this little girl to arrive.  I even climbed a very tall tower at Gettysburg hoping to get labor going, but it was not to be.

            As it turns out, I went in to labor at 39 weeks—two days before my ultrasound appointment, so I felt very blessed.  Up until I actually went into labor, I had had a few episodes of false labor.  I didn’t actually go to the hospital, but I thought I might on a few occasions where I had regular contractions.  I think my false labor episodes were part of the reason that I was so anxious for her to come and part of my anxiety was that I wanted her to be as early as Peter was (38 weeks).  The day that I went into labor, I actually decided to stop driving myself crazy with anxiety and just patiently wait for her to come.  Typical that I wouldn’t calm myself down until right before the big event! 

On April 23^rd, Dad and I took Peter to the mall.  I remember having some stronger contractions while I was having to chase after Peter.  Not so easy to run after a toddler during a contraction, it turns out.  Later that night after we put Peter to bed, we were all sitting down to watch an episode of “Missing” on ABC.  I started to feel some painful contractions in my back, just like I felt with Peter.  And they were coming every 5-6 minutes or so.  I got to the point where I had to use the exercise ball and counter pressure to make me more comfortable during contractions.  Dad and Chris both thought it would be a good idea to get ready to go to the hospital.  I agreed, although I kind of felt like this was probably another false alarm.  When I started to get things packed, then the contractions started to kick into high gear.  The more active I was, the faster they came, coming every 3 minutes, and they were continuing to grow in intensity.  I recall thinking, “This better be the real thing this time, because this is uncomfortable!”

I called the midwife on the way to the hospital and talked to her in the middle of a contraction.  We finally got there at 11:15.  That late at night, no one was walking about.  While Chris was parking the car, I was making my way to the third floor of the hospital, not stopping for contractions, even though they got more and more uncomfortable. 

I made it to the desk of the birth unit, and they had me fill out a bunch of papers.  Not such fun while I was having contractions!  I think I had about 3 of them during the time it took me to fill out all the papers, even though there were only two pages to sign. 

Chris came in and met me with all our bags.  A nurse came to meet us and took us back to telemetry.  I put on a hospital gown and slippers and they hooked me up to a monitor to see how Elly was doing and to see how far apart my contractions were.  I was only supposed to be monitored for 20 minutes, but because Elly was so still and sleeping, they wanted to monitor her when she was more active.  So they had me drink some apple juice and lay down for an additional 10 minutes.  Again, not fun during contractions, especially when I had back labor!  They slowed to about 4 to 5 minutes apart, but the intensity did not let up.  And every time I would get up and move around, I would get another contraction, no matter when the last one had come. 

Eventually my midwife showed up and checked my progress.  Only 4 cm!  All that pain and only 4 cm!  I was so discouraged because when I was in labor with Peter, I was at 4 cm before I even realized I was in labor.  And Peter came a full 18 hours later after I was 4 cm, so I was worried that I’d be in a lot of discomfort for a long time with Elly too. 

They gave me a hep-lock IV for antibiotics for Group B Strep right before they let me get up to move around.  Once I got up, the contractions kicked into high gear, getting closer together and stronger.  I had one really hard one and thought I wasn’t going to be able to endure hours and hours of that.  And I was shocked it was so uncomfortable when I was only at 4 cm.  During a painful contraction in the beginning, my midwife instructed me to let myself relax into the contraction and to let my legs relax apart and knees bend.  I had been a bit tense up to that point, so it was a good reminder to relax. 

My midwife asked if I wanted to get into the shower to relax, and I thought that sounded great because I was so uncomfortable.  Chris gave me counter pressure every time I had a contraction, which was a life saver.  Even though he was getting wet from the spray of the shower, he still faithfully gave me counter pressure when I needed it.  For the time I was in the shower, I leaned over for each contraction and tried to surrender to the contraction and just let myself experience it.  I didn’t want to get in the way of my progress. I also found that vocalizing was a huge help to me.  I felt like I needed to release something, and vocalizing was a way for me to let myself release.  I also remembered Ina May talking about the mind/body connection in her book and how many women were able to cause their own dilation by visualization.  So I tried to do this with all my might.  When I was able to fully relax into each painful contraction, I tried to imagine her dropping and myself dilating.  And maybe I’m crazy, but I felt like I could actually feel her getting lower and myself dilating.  And I also noticed that when I started to fear the pain, I didn’t feel any progression, and the next contraction was farther apart and less intense.  So, I really tried to double my efforts to relax, even though it was getting so intense. 

I was probably in the shower for less than an hour.  I remember really hoping that I was close to transition, because I was so uncomfortable.  But then I realized that I was only 4 cm an hour prior to being in the shower, and how could I possibly be in transition in such a short time?  I also remember thinking that I still had it together, so that I must not have been in transition yet.  I also could still talk to Chris to some degree, if only to ask for counter pressure.  When I was in transition with Peter, I was so out of it with exhaustion and pain that I think I zoned out for a while.  So, for all these reasons, I thought I probably wasn’t in transition yet, even though I was really in a lot of pain and discomfort.

However, at the end of the shower, I felt like I was getting a punch to the gut sensation at the end of my vocalization breaths.  My body was pushing by itself without intentional effort from me.  And I felt a lot of pressure.  I told Chris I felt pressure and that I was feeling pushing impulses.  He didn’t say much but informed the midwife.  Later he told me thought I was a little crazy and that I couldn’t possibly be to that point.  Lucky for both of us he didn’t say these words to me.  J

I vaguely remember drying off and heading to the hospital bed.  The midwife checked me and I was at 9 cm.  From 4 to 9 in less than two hours, hooray!  She asked me if I wanted to lie on the bed.  I lay on the bed in-between a contraction for a minute, but as soon as the next contraction came, I flipped onto hands and knees so that Chris could give me counter pressure.  And the urges to push got stronger and stronger.  I remember that I was barely aware of the midwives getting things ready for Elly’s arrival because I was focusing on the contractions.  And then I remember my midwife telling me to go ahead and push, which seemed only a few minutes after she told me I was at 9 cm.  So I started pushing at 1:42am, when my water broke.  I asked my midwife if she wanted me to get into another position, and she told me to push in whatever position felt right to me.  So, I stayed on hands and knees. 

I felt so different pushing this time than with Peter.  I felt so out of control with Peter, like the pushes were controlling me and overwhelming my body.  I was also completely exhausted with Peter because I had been at the hospital for 18 hours of continuous labor.  In labor with Elly, I still had energy as I began to push.  The midwife directed my pushing and helped me to back off and deliver Elly gradually. I felt completely in control and energized that I would meet our little girl so soon.  Chris told me later that once her head was born, they discovered the cord wrapped around her neck.  So the midwife quickly unwrapped the cord and I pushed her the rest of the way out.  She was born at 1:52am, with only 10 minutes of pushing.  I felt so relieved and felt that adrenaline and endorphin spike.  I was so happy and energized! 

I was a little disappointed that they didn’t let me take Elly right away.  She had some meconium staining when she was born, so they took her to monitor her breathing, which was a tiny bit labored as she tried to clear her lungs a little.  The nurse paged a doctor to come and look at her since there was meconium present in the fluids.  The doctor told me I couldn’t nurse her until he came back and checked on her.  I was a little frustrated and anxious because I didn’t want to disrupt our nursing or get off to a bad start, but I still felt pretty good and excited.  Chris stayed with Elly through her monitoring and through her evaluation and APGAR scoring (8). Elly weighed in at 7 lbs. even, and was 19.5 inches long.  Just a tad bigger than Peter's 6 lbs. 8 oz., and 19 inches. 

Chris mentioned that Elly looked exactly like Peter.  When I finally got to hold her, about half an hour after she was born, I thought she looked nothing like Peter, but looked like her own little person.  She had a squished nose for some reason, but the doctor assured us it was nothing to worry about.  But she was still a little cutie to me.  She was quite perturbed not to be able to nurse, and I was getting irritated that the doctor took an extra half hour to come back and give me the okay.  Elly’s lungs cleared quickly and she seemed fine.  She nursed very enthusiastically from the first, and has been a champion nurser ever since. 

I felt a little shocked that she was born so quickly and so easily.  I told Chris I didn’t feel like I had paid my dues to bring her into this world.  Even though I gave birth naturally, the pain was manageable through concentration and surrendering my will and body to the contractions.  And the high that I got after she was born felt so good after all that pain.  It was just a completely sublime experience and I feel so blessed to have gone through it so easily.    

A little dye and a new carseat

 

So, I felt kind of bad about Elly having a blue carseat. We didn't want to buy a new one when we had a perfectly good one still, so I thought I'd wander over to Michael's and bye some pink dye. So the result is a brown, pink, and purple carseat. It turned out better than I thought it would. So, it's like we got a new carseat for $3.99! Wahoo!  See this post for what the carseat used to look like: http://www.laytonfamiglia.blogspot.com/2010/10/two-months.html
 

Peter

Poor Peter hasn't had many pictures taken of him.  Such a shame, as he is a little cutie!  He is growing so fast and continuing to be sweet, smart, and active.  Although I haven't gotten pictures of any of our outings, we do try to go on a walk or go to a park every day.  He really needs this time, as he is so active.  He LOVES being outside.  He also continues to love reading, and we spend a lot of time reading every day as well. 

 Here is an eighteen month picture.  He always tries to get ahold of the camera lately, so all the pictures are fairly close up.  He had a good checkup at the doctor for eighteen months.  The doctor said he is pretty advanced with speaking still.  His weight is in the 69%, height in the 90%, and head circumference in the 79%.  So, he's a big kid still too. 

 I think these are 19 month pictures, but not positive.  One of my favorite things he said during this month was when we were having dinner.  Peter and I started eating early, as Chris came home a little late from work.  As Chris sat down with us at the table with his plate of food, he quietly said a prayer on his food.  Peter announced while Chris was praying, "Momma forgot to say the prayer."  Which was true, I am embarrassed to admit.  Peter and I had been eating food that wasn't blessed, and he picked up on it when he saw Chris praying over his food.  I was sort of hoping that I wouldn't have to admit that I forgot, but I love that my little boy keeps me honest!  And it was a little crazy that he was able to say that at 19 months too...Chris and I were both a little shocked.  Since then, he has been saying a few sentences here and there.  But a lot of the time he speaks in fragmented speech. 

 Peter loves time with his daddy.  We are teaching him primary songs, and one of his very favorites is Daddy's Homecoming, of course.  They are two peas in a pod. 

 Peter is also working on counting.  He enjoys counting the stairs.  I have heard him count from 6 to 13, but never starting at 1.  Although he knows what comes after each number because Chris and I will count and ask what number comes next.  But he doesn't seem to like to do it on his own yet. 

Peter with his new haircut.  I miss his other hair, but it was getting out of control.  Peter wasn't being patient for the scissors this time around (but at least no tears!), so a buzz cut it was!

Lately, Peter is also working on learning colors.  He is funny.  Sometimes he will get them, and sometimes not.  He is most accurate with colors of his mega blocks and cars.  But then other things, he doesn't seem to care or try.  His go-to colors are usually red, then blue, then orange.  If it's not one of those, he usually stops trying.  I'm not sure if he's trying to be funny or if he just doesn't care to be accurate right now.  But at least he's getting it some of the time. 

Another thing that Peter does often is to ask us to repeat things.  This is happening incessantly lately.  It seems that everything we say, he thinks is hilarious and wants us to repeat it.  So he'll say, "Again!"  And then he'll go on chanting whatever it was we were saying that amused him.  Today, for example, he has been running around chanting, "Indeed," and "I concur!"  Oh, what a little silly!!  I think the above photo showcases his sometimes goofy personality.  We love our little boy!!

Another of our favorite things of his is that he will say, "You know what?"  And then when we respond, "What?" he says, "I love you."  He is good at melting his momma's heart.  Such a sweetie! 

As for behavior, he is testing his limits right now quite a bit.  We have started giving him time-outs, to which he has responded pretty well.  Although sometimes it seems like he doesn't dislike the timeouts enough...  But usually they are an effective deterrent.  His "naughty" behaviors lately are screaming and general disobedience when I tell him he needs to stop doing something (like stomping on the floor).  I'm not sure what to do with the screaming sometimes, because when he hurts himself, he responds by screaming (anger seems to be his first reaction upon wounding himself, followed by tears).  I don't really feel right putting him in time-out when he hurts himself, but I do want him to understand that screaming is not an appropriate response for stubbing a toe.  We'll work on that.