Ninetieth Percentile

My 2 mth old chunky monkey!

This is the face Bryson usually makes at the girls. Amused. This is close to what Addie's "rough face" is, and I say, "Addie can you put on your gentle face to show your brother?"

Silly girls bundled up for a sunny morning at the zoo with Bean-Bean! Sorry East Coast it's been 60 degrees here this week! We have taken full advantage of no rain going outside.

Today Bryson has his 2 month check up.

Wt: 14lb 7oz 90%
Ht: 23.5in 70%
Head: 39cm 25%

I've never had a baby who was 90% ANYTHING. Lily is around 50% and has been since about 6 months. Addie is around 5% and has been since around 9 months. NINETY! I knew he was heavy, but jeez. I love my little load. He hated his shots, but I found that after the colic and all the screaming I went through during that time, hearing him scream didn't break my heart the same way as it did with the girls who had never cried that hard. Anyway, he stopped crying, nursed, then took a short nap in his car seat on the way home. When we got home, he nursed and took a 2.5 hr nap (and I napped an hour of that, YAY!). He woke up a little fussy this evening, ate and went back to sleep after some Tylenol.

I hate that there are people out there who would have me feel guilty about vaccinating my children. I do not judge anyone for NOT vaccinating theirs. I understand reasons for both sides, I've read Dr. Sears' The Vaccine Book, and we've chosen to vaccinate. For our family this is the right choice, the only choice. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if we were all a lot less critical and a lot more tolerant that other families will make different choices than your own, and that it can still be a RIGHT choice for their family, we would all be better parents and more confident parents. The most confident mom I know does some things much different than I, and she never ever makes me feel like my way is wrong. It's because she is confident in her choices, doesn't feel the need to push it on anyone else, and she understands that different things work for all of us.

Anyhoo...so as for my blog, it is not open to anti-vaccine comments, okey dokes? That is not so say I'm not interested in others way of doing things and understand how they came to a decision about what to do. But there is definitely a way to do that without belittling me. Can you tell I had a bit of a run in with insult today????? Moms, let's just STOP judging each other! Pretty please.

That outta do it.

Now back to my little two month old chunky monkey. He can roll from his belly to his back, did that for the first time on Sunday, at exactly two months. Now it is his favorite trick during tummy time. Speaking of tummy time, the dr was impressed with his upper body strength and muscles and how well he held himself into a push up. Although he doesn't sleep long enough for my liking she thinks he is sleeping great for a 2 mth old, which I know. Sometimes he eeks out a 5 hr stretch from 11pm to 4am, and THAT is awesome. Usually he is every 3 around the clock. He goes to bed between 7-8, I wake him at 10-11 for a "dream feed", then he wakes me at 3-4 for a snack, then he is up at 7. Sometimes he'll nurse back to sleep when I bring him to bed with me, and on the days that I have Sabine start at 7am, that is awesome because I can doze back off with him while she feeds the girls and hangs with him. I savour those mornings because I know they are short lived. I only have a few more weeks of them before I'm back at work. So on days when he and I nurse and sleep from 7-9am I don't feel guilty about the schedule or rolling out of bed at 9am (because really, I WAS up in the night!), or about not eating breakfast with the girls. I just revel in the fact that I CAN do this, while he is small, while I have my girls loved and cared for so early in the am. It is really the sweetest time.

He smiles at me nearly every time I talk to him. He smiles a lot at the girls too. And at the stripes on his wall. He's a smiley little guy. Lily and Addie announce it every time he smiles. When Addie does it, it is SO cute. I wish I could get it on video. She yells in her squeaky little voice, "Mama, he mile-ing at ME" And since his smile is so open mouthed, she looks back at him with her mouth so wide open trying to imitate him.

Lily has fed him a few bottles and holds him occasionally when it is actually HELPFUL to me. Holy COW! This is awesome because she is giving me some hands free time. I mean, I don't leave the room, but I can fold some laundry or put groceries away while she holds him or feeds him. And for her, she loves it. She told me the best part of being a big sister is holding Bryson.

Argh, I'm constantly in a battle with her strong will and her sweet heart. I'm sure I expect too much out of her - she is such a great sweet help, and it is only when I see things that I would call "character" type misbehaving that it gets under my skin. I understand that she doesn't transistion well, or that she likes to boss everyone around and tell you how to play a game that you already know how to play. But it's when she acts ungrateful or talks hatefully to someone or is sneaky/greedy that I lose my cool. Then in the next moment she is so sweet to Addie or Bryson I could cry. She told me that they are her favorite people in the whole world. Her sweetness in general just gives me so much joy and I often kick myself when I am hard on her about the other stuff. Especially in the evenings, when it is quiet and I have time to reflect on the day, her actions, my reactions, my actions, her reactions. And yet. She still thinks I hung the moon. Incredible.

Today when I told Addie to be gentle with Bryson's thigh because he had 3 shots, she started to cry saying, "I don't want that to happen to he". Awww. She definitely has a tender heart too, though not quite as big as Lily's yet. She loves Bryson, but is still a little too rough on grabbing his limbs and pulling or poking his tummy, etc. I try to be careful about jumping on her about it and try to remind her to be gentle and show her how gentle touching feels. Sometimes you can see on her face that she is coming in for a smashing, so I like to tell her to get her "gentle face on". The funny thing is, she knows what that means.

Today at the dr appt they ask me how Bryson's parents health was and how the emotional temperature of the house was. Despite all the small stuff (which my sister-in-law often reminds me not to sweat!) I was very pleased to answer the question that Bryson's home and parents are very very happy! :)

And....that his mom got on her blog to post his stats, then hit the sack, but she can't write just a little so, there ya go, you have the whole story. For today.