Theo Turns 5 Months Old

Oh, the third child. Forgotten, but not unloved. I guess my only excuse is that I'm so busy trying to soak up every moment with my children that I don't write them down. Look at him. I couldn't even be bothered to change him into a white onesie. You poor baby.

Eliot at 5 months
Malcolm at 5 months

So who is Theo now that he's 5 months old? He's lovely. He's happy and smiley and loving. He loves his family, particularly his brothers. He has 2 teeth - 2! That's the earliest of any of my boys. He has rolls that don't stop. He's ticklish and squealy. He likes it when I pretend to eat his toes. He rolls both ways. We call him Baby Theo, or if you're Malcolm Baby Tee-o. I just love having a baby around.

Eliot adores him. Malcolm is nice to him, but will not let Theo borrow his blankets. Nobody gets to borrow Malcolm's blankets though. Having Eliot around is awesome for Theo. When I'm making dinner Eliot can entertain him! These children are starting to take care of themselves....almost.

Theo is a little Malcolm look-alike. I literally can't tell their baby pictures apart. So nice we made him twice. Here are some pictures...it's the best I can do!

We love you Baby Tee-o.

Happy 2nd Birthday Malcolm

Who would've guessed that 2 years after your birth you would no longer be the baby? Certainly not me. But surprise, surprise here we are, and you are a big brother yourself less than 2 years after arriving in this family. I'm sure that being the middle of three children will have its challenges. But you. Oh Malcolm. I know a 2 year old personality is totally not indicative of your entire life but you are such a sweetie.

You are just...special. You've got a gentleness and openness that I envy. You're willing to walk away when you know you can't win, and you love to just do your own thing, whatever thing that is, that makes you happy. You're expressive - you have the most expressive eyebrows I have ever seen. You have a great little jumpy run that I will be so sad to see leave. This year you went from baby to toddler/little boy. Your language alone just exploded - you started the year with a couple words and ended it being able to say almost anything. We had some excitement - you are allergic to bees and had your first ambulance ride...lights and sirens and everything. I guess now we know but summers have a whole new feeling now that we know how you react to bees. You can also assert yourself pretty strongly. You throw longer fits than Eliot ever did, but most of the time you're more easygoing so who knows why that makes sense. You're also an easygoing eater - which thank goodness. It's nice to have someone to share food with. Although sometimes you'll only eat off of our plates which can be frustrating.

You're smart - you were picking up colors and letters before you were even 2. I love your snuggles, however brief they are for your busy-ness. I love how fearless you are and willing to climb and strive and try for anything. And I love you. I love everything about you - we all do. I love having you as my son. I love having you in this family. I can't imagine life without you and I'm so glad you're ours.

We love you Malcolm - I hope some of your 2-year old self stays with you forever. You're a beautiful person and I can't wait to see who you become.

Welcome to the World Theodore Thomas

Theodore Thomas arrived January 13th at 2:43 AM. He weighed 8 lbs, 9 oz and was 20.5" long. His labor was fast, once it got started. We arrived at the hospital at 12:30 AM and had Theo in a couple hours....so as I said, fast labor. I think we were lucky to get there on time! Unfortunately (this word doesn't even cover how I feel) I deleted all the pictures from his first day of life. Me meeting Theo, Theo getting weighed, etc. Irreplaceable. I cried angry sad tears but they're gone - and Theo is still here. So I'm moving forward.

I've forgotten about the awesome newborn grunts and noises. Theo sounds like a mix between a dolphin and a pony. I also love his faces - love that he raises his eyebrows when he's trying to lift his head. Like he can lift his head by the power of his forehead alone. He was also born with a freakishly strong neck - which actually makes feeding him more challenging because he thinks he can do it himself.

This feels like a slightly awkward reintroduction to blogging. I haven't mentioned my pregnancy, or even talked about Eliot's 4th birthday this past June! But I want to talk about Theo and his arrival to our family. Theo definitely completes this family of 5. In other words I never want to be pregnant again, and we feel happy with 3 kids.

Eliot is amazing with Theo. Always hugging him and talking to him. He's always calling Theo a cutie and talking about what a sweet baby he is. It's pretty amazing. Malcolm is helpful too - bringing Theo blankets and diapers and saying he needs milk when he's crying. Every morning he asks where baby Theo is - already knows he's part of the family.

We are so in love with this new little guy, and he's already so lucky to have 2 big brothers to dote on him and teach him things. It's definitely crazier around here - three kids is more than two, that's for sure. One hilarious thing I've noticed - any time I take all three boys out of the house there are people who bestow blessings on me. Apparently leaving the house with three children needs blessing! It's happened at least 5 separate times. When I think of it, it probably does need blessing.

It's great to be so much more comfortable as a mom with the newborn stage. I take the sleepless nights with a little more grace, although honestly they're harder now than they were with Eliot because I have 2 bigger, yet still so little children who don't understand their mom needs a nap. I'm also just more confident with the baby and feel like it's easier to leave the house. I don't worry about Theo screaming or needing to nurse or having a diaper blowout...because honestly who cares? He's an infant - these are things that happen with infants. It took me a few kids to get here but I am happy to be this comfortable. I wouldn't mind having one more hand for parking lots and car loading, but we're making it work.

Welcome to our family and the world baby Theo. I've learned is that love only multiplies. We are bursting with love, even if we aren't bursting with time or money. We are so excited to get to know you!

Well...Better Late than Never

So happy (belated) birthday Eliot. Did you know life has been crazy lately? Life has been crazy. Crazy in such a good way. I think this last year was the switch from you being physically difficult to parent to being more mentally difficult to parent. You are so much more physically independent, you can get dressed by yourself, go to the bathroom yourself, heck you could even put on your shoes by yourself if they didn't suck so much. You ask so many questions, why do we use our seatbelts? Where does dad work? What does mom do? Why do we have noses? And my personal favorite: Why can't we take our feet off?

You're awesome, you're still funny as ever, and you're so loving. You are so social, heading right up to kids and calling them friend and trying to get them to play with you. And you're so disappointed when they're too shy to do it. Hurt, actually. It's hard to see you put yourself out there and get shot down, but you don't stop. Which makes me so proud of you.

No video this year, I think 3 years is all I can handle. Can I just say you're awesome?  And I don't remember how I thought my life was complete without you? It's true. You are my light little guy, and I love you more than you'll ever know.

Happy 4th birthday Eliot.

In His Own Time

When Eliot was a baby our pediatrician was very pushy about getting him to sleep on his own. I always looked at her like she had two heads because the methods she talked about to get him to do this just wouldn't have worked with Eliot. They just....wouldn't. Eliot being my first I didn't know if I was doing it wrong or if she was just wrong. I never did push him, and I'm glad, because I see Malcolm and I know that she was talking about babies like Malcolm, who can sleep on their own with just a little push. With Eliot it would've been war, and truthfully he sleeps just fine now. I've learned to trust my gut.

Eliot still uses a "nana" (aka pacifier). I see other parents taking their children's nana's away, giving them to the nana fairy, forcing the issue. We slowly dialed back on where the nana could be used over the last few years. We got rid of it in the car (oh, the week of screaming that caused), daycare got rid of it for naps, grandma "lost" hers. I stopped buying more. We were down to one last nana. One nana that had begun to break apart and crack where he had bitten down on it. I was a little worried he would swallow pieces, and he couldn't suck on it any more because of the crack. He continued to use it and ask for it. Last night he was showing me the crack and telling me it was broken:

Eliot: See Mama? It's got a big crack, it's broken.
Me: Yup. It looks like it might be time to throw that nana away.
Eliot: Why?
Me: Well, it's broken and they don't make nanas for kids your age. You're getting pretty big for nanas and when you're ready you can throw your nana away.
Eliot: Oh.
Me: It's okay, you can do it when you're ready.
Eliot: I'm ready.

And then he gets up to go to the garbage. I kept calling after him saying he didn't have to be ready and then I realized I was crying. I didn't let him throw it in the garbage. We put it up on the dresser in our bedroom just in case. He didn't ask for it. He fell asleep with no problems and slept in this morning.

I don't know if I'm ready.

Happy First Birthday Malcolm!

Dear Malcolm -

What did we do without you!? You are a ray of sunshine, a bit of laughter. You're funny, you're fun, and you fit so well into our family. It's been a year since you were born, a year since I met your tiny, beautiful, bruised face. A year since another little person has been out in this world carrying my heart with them everywhere they go. Looking back on the pictures and videos I took from the year, I found many from your first few months where I would record 5+ minutes of me just talking and staring at you. Those lazy maternity leave moments between just the two of us of you cooing and me trying to get you to smile. Oh how I miss my tiny newborn Malcolm, but I love the you that is right now. It's all my favorite. You are brave and brazen and ready to do whatever your brother does. You love to run away from me and look back with a big grin on your face to make sure I'm following. You do things you think or know you shouldn't and then look at me with a satisfied smirk, waiting for my reaction. I love watching you figure these things out. You like to cuddle with blankets, you like to jump on the bed (with my help), you like to scale things you shouldn't, and open cupboards and drawers and just explore! You love it when I carry you facing out and we chase Eliot through the house and collapse somewhere all together. I wish I could get that smile on camera, your wispy hair blowing up in the breeze, laughter and pure joy on your face. These are moments I wish I could bottle up forever. You can say "hi," "uh-oh," "dada," and of course, "vroom." You may have said "mama" but you weren't looking at me. Mama's can wait. Your laugh is contagious. I cannot believe how much love I have for you.You're in a needy stage right now. A stage I remember with Eliot at about the same age. A stage where I cannot even put you down to make dinner without you putting your head on the floor and crying in frustration. I hate doing it to you, but dinner must be made. You've started to throw little tantrums sometimes, head on the floor and laid full out, or throwing your head back and screaming. Tantrums are so cute at this age, they won't be in about a year so I'm enjoying it while I can. Not that I delight in your frustration, but I delight in the fact that you have an opinion and that you are developing normally. You are my second son, but you are your own person in every way. I don't know why I expected another Eliot. You are Malcolm, you are your own you, you do things like you and only you can. I love getting to know you more every day. Happy first birthday my little peanut. I look forward to many more.

Music by Devotchka, The Winner Is

11 months with Christmas thrown in for good measure

 Eliot for comparison

 

Couldn't get these boys to stand still for anything.

 

I will cherish this picture forever. This is what Eliot looked like all night.

 Christmas pajamas!

 

 Nice family...

 That's better. 

Malcolm is walking! He took his first steps this month, then a few days later decided to walk from thing to thing and gets the biggest, proudest smile on his face when he is walking. He is so...unstable! It's so different to have a 3 year old running around to accidentally knock into him this time. They have so much fun together though. Malcolm loves following Eliot around and sometimes Eliot even looks at Malcolm as a playmate, and not just a destroyer of whatever toy he's set up. Although I do call him "baby godzilla" because he does like to destroy whatever he touches. It's not cute if you're 3 and enjoy things like Legos and train tracks and things that are easily destroyed. Sharing is still an issue, and Eliot still gets angry when Malcolm is around sometimes. Eliot told me that he likes when Malcolm is sleeping, because then he can just play. But the day before he was asking if Malcolm could put on his boots and come play out in the snow too.

Malcolm is a good sleeper, loves to eat on his own, and is very busy. He's always exploring something. His latest favorite is the bathroom, where he likes to throw open the cupboards and play with things like a humidifier and tampons. I'm pretty sure he's said Dada and meant it. Pretty sure. But he says Dada a lot, so who knows. For sure his first word was "Vroom." Just like Eliot's. These boys and their cars. He finally got some teeth - 2 are in and 2 more on the way. It's fast and furious around here.

 

Eliot had his first Christmas program at preschool and surprised us all by being the absolute star of the stage. He was funny, he was right in front, and I think he loved the attention. We had multiple parents come up to us and say how funny he was. At one point the kids were singing about sharing, complete with a hand motion showing how to share. Eliot screams out (have I mentioned how loud he is?) "No, mine!" Every time they said "Share." He had the crowd roaring. I asked his teacher if she set that up...nope! He ad-libbed that. I think that was one of my favorite days ever, it reminds me of how surprising parenting can be. It humbles me to think of the talents and needs that my kids have/will have that I feel so unprepared to help them with! Two of the biggest introverts in the world may just have made an extrovert...god help us.