Elektra's 1st bath

She hated it.

She was fine with being naked. That was all fine and good. But being laid down in the infant tub was a whole other story. She started to cry... not fuss, cry. I quickly put warm water over her, and although she stopped crying, she still fussed. We didn't have her in the tub 5 minutes and she'd already started crying again. :-( Yep, she hated it. And of course, we have pictures. ;-)




We'd been able to get away with not giving her a full out bath for this long because she's been a really clean baby overall. Little sponge baths have been more than plenty for her.

Then, this morning, I spilled an entire bottle of milk on her. I had to change her outfit and wipe her down with a wipe all over so she wouldn't be sticky. Then, I got a call from Eleanor that she'd blown a diaper up the back and spit up down her front at the same time so she was in yet ANOTHER outfit.

So much for having a clean baby. No more baths any time soon if this is going to be my luck!!!

DJ update

DJ went to the doctor yesterday. While in the waiting room, DJ enjoyed watching the fish and the bubbles in the fish tank, and he'd also say "rock" which came out as "ock". He also watched all the other kids intently, especially the ones who were causing a ruckus, looking at them with studious concern. Despite being so incredibly tired because Steve had to wake him up from a nap to bring him to the doctor, he was a very good boy while we waited.

Once we were called back and DJ was weighed (29 pounds, 13 ounces!), we let him run around the examining room to his heart's content. When the doctor came in, he was fine until it was time to look in his ears and mouth. That's when the tired DJ came out and he did all he could to keep the doctor from getting a good look.

Dr. Nguyen said she didn't see any signs of infection, so no antibiotics for him, though clearly he's fighting something off. This is a good thing as he's building antibodies. She said that she's been seeing a lot of what he has, a fever for 3-5 days, and then potentially break out into a rash when the fever breaks. Apparently, it's a baby/toddler thing, and even my dad had mentioned it on Sunday night that this might be what would happen. We are to keep giving him Tylenol (and we get to up the dosage since he weighs 30 pounds effectively) to help keep him comfortable more than anything. Besides, we think he's also teething his last teeth, his 2 year molars, so the Tylenol will help with that, too.

Since he effectively had no afternoon nap, he went to bed at 6:30pm, and slept 12 hours. He woke up crying once or twice in the middle of the night, but went back to sleep pretty quickly. I got up at 2:45am to check on him, and he wasn't exhibiting any signs of a fever. So I didn't wake him to give him any Tylenol then.

This morning, he still didn't feel warm to me, though the thermometer said low 99. I gave him some Tylenol and took him to day care because I know he'd love to see Grace. Naturally, with it snowing today, schools are closed, so Jeff kept Grace home with him. At least DJ gets to play with his favorite Sonny and Eleanor. I'm hoping he naps a couple of times today because he still looks very tired, and is still a little fussy and willful. He was eating a good breakfast and sucked down his milk so I think that'll help his mood, too.

Feeling hot hot hot

Saturday night, Steve and I went to the WDCR Awards banquet for the 2008 racing season. It's always a good time, getting back together with friends we haven't seen in months, talk racing, and get excited for the upcoming season. Plus, with my being a member of the Board of Directors for the region, I have some politicking to do (shake hands, kiss babies, as it were). This would be impossible to do if we brought either (or both) of the kids. Thankfully, Grandmom came to the rescue! She came over at 3:30, and watched the kids for us while we were gone.

At 9pm, the banquet ceremonies had just ended and steve got a text from his mom... Call now. Uh-oh. DJ had a fever of 100, and he was wailing. We left immediately. By the time we got home, the Tylenol must've kicked in because his temperature was reading normal and he was back to sleep. Whew. Tyelnol FTW.

DJ slept the rest of the night but Sunday when he woke up, he had a fever near 100. Administer the Tylenol. Check. DJ ate a good breakfast, and played for a little while. But then, out of seemingly nowhere, he melted down. He was inconsolable. After about 5 minutes, I picked him up, and carried him to his crib. He laid down, and we didn't hear another peep out of him for an hour and a half.

He woke at noon unhappy. We tried giving him some lunch, no go. Fever was back up to 100, administer Tylenol. Steve put him back down for another nap. He lay in crib for probably half an hour and then wanted out. We let him play until around 3, and then put him back down for another nap. He slept until 6:30pm.

At that point, he was burning up. There was no mistaking that he had a high fever. Sure enough, it was in the high 102s. Administer Tylenol, now now now. Cool washcloth to his forehead. No panicking yet, it's not 104. Called Dad... do I need to panick yet? No, not until his fever hits 104. Try giving him a cool bath. Good idea! So after dinner, DJ got a cool bath. That brought his temperature down to normal. So we let him play for an hour, and he was clearly feeling better. His temperature was back up to 100 when we put him to bed, but I think that was because he was climbing on and off the couch during that hour of play.

I checked him at 11, before I went to bed, and no sign of a fever. Whew. Set an alarm for 2:45am. Checked him, 101. Dangit. I woke him up to give him Tylenol and being the good little boy that he is, took it and went back to sleep.

At 5:45am, he felt fine, but I didn't take a reading. At 7:15, he still felt ok. But we decided to keep him home from day care, much to Grace's (and Eleanor and Sonny's) disappointment because she didn't get to see him most of last week.

Steve is home with him right now, and he had a temp of 99.8. Tylenol. Check. I called the pediatrician, and he's supposed to go at 2:50 today. I was concerned as that's right during his normal nap time, but.... Steve already texted me to tell me that by 9:15, DJ was already back in bed and napping. Poor little guy definitely isn't feeling well.

Roll roll roll your boat....part 2!

Elektra was getting some all-important belly time on Sunday, watching DJ play in front of her and, as always, keeping an eye on the TV whenever she could. Then, all of a sudden, she rolled over from her belly to her side in one fell swoop! I was surprised that *she* wasn't surprised to find herself in a different position. In fact, she just continued to play, reaching out for a toy and trying to put it in her mouth.

I put her back on her belly to see if she'd do it again, but no go. By that point, she effectively face planted, being tired from the amount of belly time she'd already gotten.

As I mentioned in an earlier post about baby rolling, it's no surprised she rolled from belly to back first as it's easier for the baby to tuck their shoulder under the from that position to start the roll. Yay Elektra!

Laughter!

Last night, while I was changing Elektra to get her ready for bed, I tickled her under her chin. I was rewarded with a full on laugh!

One, two, TEEEE!!

Eleanor has told me in the past that DJ likes to count 1, 2, 3, but I didn't hear it for myself until a couple days ago. They were walking down the stairs together and Eleanor would count each stair, "one... two..." and DJ would squeal in delight, "TEEEE!!!!!" So now we count 1, 2, teeeee! whenever we can.

Last night, I taught him what a watch says. Tick tock! :)

Tis the Season for sickness

It is most certainly winter, and that means sickness. The whole family caught something ugly and passed it on to both the Boyers and the Cheevers.

DJ and Elektra started with colds last Monday. That Tuesday, I caught a 24 hour stomach bug (evil!) and by this past Sunday, both DJ and Steve had caught it, too. DJ must have felt better the next morning because he was happy, energetic and had good color in his face. Steve, on the other hand, was laid up on the couch the entire day, sleeping close to 18 hours. As for Elektra, you'd have never known she wasn't feeling well because she was a happy girl no matter what. She slept a ton over the weekend, but she's still a little stuffy. I still have a cold and my appetite hasn't fully returned, but I'm definitely past the worst of it.

Then I found out yesterday that on Monday night, Grace caught was DJ had the night before and then gave it to her mother. I feel badly for Nadia... expecting to deliver her baby any day now and vomiting.... ugh! That's horrible. And to top it all off, DJ and Sonny caught the rest of the stomach bug yesterday and Eleanor caught it last night. DJ was so worn out yesterday, apparently, that he curled up in Eleanor's lap in the morning and fell asleep in her arms. And then he took an afternoon nap later. He hasn't taken 2 naps in 3 months! Despite all that sleep, he was rubbing his eyes during dinner, so I gave him a long hot bath, and he went right to bed. He woke up 12 hours later.

I hope we all get past this ugliness soon... makes for misery!!

DJ and the Munchkin and his hat

On January 3rd, we celebrated Dave's 40th birthday with quite the bang. In the morning, we attended a brunch at my mother-in-law's house and that evening, we feasted on some of the best crabs I've had in a long time at Uncle Kenny's. Many thanks to Yiayia and Papou for watching the kids while we feasted at Uncle Kenny's! There's no way we could have picked crabs and kept up with kids!

While at Carole's, Elektra was immediately scooped up by someone to be held while DJ started wandering. The next thing I know, I saw DJ holding something in his hand. It looked like a ball, a white powdery ball. Hmm. I went to investigate. I discovered it was a powdered sugar Munchkin (from Dunkin' Donuts), and DJ was carrying it around like one of the plastic balls from his ball popper toy at home.

So I picked him up, showed him the "ball" in his hand, and told him to take a bite. He looked at me, confused, like "Why would I take a bite of a ball, Mommy?". So I told him to take a bite again. He slowly put it to his mouth and then got a taste of the powdered sugar. YUMMY. He quickly took another bite and shortly thereafter, the ball was gone. And there you have it, DJ's first donut.

This morning, it was very cold outside... 18 degrees or something ridiculous like that. Ok, so Minneapolis had it way worse, like -40 degrees or something but for us, 18 degrees is as cold as we usually get with no end in sight. DJ doesn't know that it's cold outside. But he asked for the red cap with the pompom on the top that his cousin Spiro gave him. He pointed at it and talked to it. So I confirmed, "Do you want to put on your hat?" DJ got excited, his sign for "Yes!" And on it went, and it stayed on the entire car ride to day care. I thought that was really cute that he wanted to wear the cap. :-)

Squeal!

During dinner, while DJ is in the high chair, Elektra is sitting in the swing facing him. Last night, DJ was squealing and lo and behold, Elektra would squeal back!! I couldn't believe it!! She was really trying to communicate with him!

You can tell that she's matured because behind those bright eyes of hers, you can see that she's so much more aware of what's going on around her and wants to absorb it all (as well as be involved in it!). She's also trying to grab things that are hanging in front of her and her intensity while doing so is really impressive. She was very busy trying to grab at stuff when I went to pick her up from day care today; she was doing that for at least 20 minutes and she still wasn't done playing with that when it was time to go. Good stuff!!

Roll roll roll your boat....

Elektra has been working on rolling over this last week. I noticed it on Sunday while we were watching the football game. She was on her back, on the playmat, with her head on the playmat's pillow. Next thing I know, she's nearly on her side, but not quite.

Eleanor and Sonny both said that she was trying to roll over at day care yesterday, too.

This morning, she had her neck craned to look behind her at the light near the changing table. In the process of doing that, it nearly put her on her side again.

Typically, a baby learns to roll from tummy to back first because it's easier. This little girl has no interest in trying to roll when she's on her tummy, at least she hasn't so far! Either way, at least she's trying! Hooray for a developmental milestone on its way!

Sucker!!

Ok, so that title sounds much more sinister than it's meant to be.

Last night, Elektra slept in our room in the pack-n-play and DJ slept in her crib so that he could get a full night's rest. At 3am, we woke to the sound of fussing and then mumbled fussing. Steve was concerned at the second sound and relaxed when I said, "She's sucking her thumb." It's actually to the point where she really doesn't want the pacifier, she wants her thumb instead. She woke up again around 5:30am, no fussing, just thumb sucking. Unlike DJ, she'll probably be able to put herself back to sleep without my needing to go into her room. We'll see.

On another note, she fussed about going to sleep last night. At first we tried feeding her. Nope, wanted no parts of the bottle. Then we tried the swing in front of the tv. Nope, wanted no parts of that either. Laid her down in the pack-n-play, was fine until we left the room. So I picked her up, and sat down on the living room couch with her, with her facing the tv. Insta-quiet. In fact, she fell asleep within 10 minutes. So she wanted to watch the tv, but she wanted to be held by one of us. Go figure!

Happy 2009!

Holy moley, it's 2009 already!

Last night, DJ went to bed early. With no nap, he was a really tired boy. I didn't even get a fuss of protest when I left his room. He actually got to sleep in his room because Dave and Nancy went to a friend's house in Annapolis to spend New Year's Eve, and they stayed there overnight. If he didn't sleep there, he was going to go in Elektra's crib because there was no way he was sleeping in our room again, Mr. Oh Look, Mommy and Daddy Are In The Room Now So It's Time To Play!

Elektra, on the other hand, wanted no parts of going to sleep. At least not at 8pm. Or 9pm for that matter. Finally, I decided to put her in the swing so she could watch some tv (college basketball). She spent the first 20 minutes talking to it, and then out like a light! She woke up for some reason about 40 minutes later, talked to the tv again, and then out like a light, again. The transfer to her crib was uneventful.

We were in bed before the new year rang in, though we were sure to know it was 2009 with our next door neighbor, Steve, blowing off fireworks in style. He's hilarious when it comes to fireworks. A complete pyro!

I woke up at 7:30 (so much better than 6!), and DJ was already squealing his head off. Time for me to go get him and start his day, I suppose. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May it be a healthy and happy one!

Dave and Nancy are here!

The East Coast Steaks welcomed the West Coast Steaks yesterday! They are here for the week and we're happy to have them here with us! We're sorry they couldn't bring Brillo. He would have given our weather wimps a run for their money!

I picked up Dave and Nancy from the airport after work. Carole was already at the house and Don arrived right after we did. I immediately started preparing the big old chicken I had bought for dinner while everyone else helped to watch the kids.

As the chicken finished roasting, many renditions of Rock Band were played. Steve and I had downloaded a compilation of The Cars tunes, but I think it's time to download some more fun stuff. What a ball!

We didn't eat until after DJ went to bed at 7, and that was after putting him in the pack-n-play in our room so that Dave and Nancy could have his room. I feel bad... I'm not convinced that air mattress is all the comfortable, but we gave the bed set to Carole so that DJ could have his own room... Oh well.

We opened gifts after dinner, and hit the hay at midnight. We had just settled down to fall asleep when we heard... rustle... rustle... stand up... Daddy!

Oh boy. Literally.

So Steve picked him up and laid him down in the bed between us even though we know this doesn't work, ever. DJ lay there quietly with us, occasionally kicking me gently and sucking on his pacifier. Then I felt his little hand reach for mine. I held his hand until he pulled it away to then start tapping Steve on the shoulder. Tap... tap... tap tap... tap tap... tap... tap...

Although amusing, it was time to put a stop to this. "DJ, it's time to go nee-ta-ta (night night), so Daddy is going to put you back in your crib (well, pack-n-play), ok?" I gave him some time to absorb that, and told him again, just to emphasize it. That's when he rolled over and decided it was time to play. Yeah... no.

Steve laid him down in the pack-n-play, and we got resettled under the covers. Rustle... rustle... rustle... stand up. Of course.

We try to stay very still hoping that he might decide to go back to sleep on his own. Then I feel him start patting my feet and he said, "Mama." How did he know those were my feet?! He repeated this a number of times trying to get my attention. I didn't react and eventually he laid back down on his own.

But then he started talking. It figures. "Daddy do." "Mama" and a whole lot of babble. Eventually he fell back to sleep and we finally got to sleep. I have no idea how long that was, but I definitely got less than 6 hours of sleep last night!

Look who's talking!

Elektra!

The Little Girl has been sleeping a ton lately, and I figured it was just a growth spurt. It still may well be, but yesterday she broke through with making noises with various pitches in one string.

She talked a ton yesterday, trying out her new "toy" and boy did she get a reaction from me. And in return, I got tons of smiles and talking.

AND, the best part, Ii heard a laugh!! She hasn't laughed again yet, but that was a preview of what's coming!

Christmas 2008

It's come and gone in a hurry. I swear it was just yesterday that I was still shopping. Oh wait, I was....not for gifts but for sugar.

I knew I had to make two desserts for each of the houses that we'd be visiting on Christmas, Yiayia's marshmallow cake and baklava. I had the butter out to soften for the cake and I started to measure out the sugar for the baklava syrup. That's when I realized I might not have enough for both desserts. Uh-oh. Even if I had figured it out Christmas Eve, no one was open after 6pm, so I'd have been in the same bind.

So DJ and I went out in search of sugar. I knew the Kleins Supermarket would be closed on Chrismtas Day but I thought that maybe the Safeway might be open for a few hours. No such luck. But sometimes, a 7-11 has odd things other than snacky-snack-type foods, and our local 7-11 had a few boxes of sugar. Perfect. The men that were hanging out in the 7-11 were drinking coffee, shooting the breeze, and all marveled at DJ's hair wishing they all had hair like that and reminiscing of the time when they did. All in all, pretty hilarious. 7-11 FTW on Christmas Day.

When we got home, it was time to open gifts. DJ hasn't quite figured out what opening gifts is about, so I spent time trying to show him that he can rip the paper off. He did enjoy taking the tissue paper out of the gift bags and then stuffing it back in them. ("What has baby found? Another piece of tissue paper! Wave it all around! " from the Wrapping Paper Romp book) On a side note, DJ also knows that Santa says "Hoooh!", and we read a picture book about Christmas a number of times this month. I'm hoping that he'll get what gifts mean by his birthday in March but I think he'll be all about Christmas in 2009.

Elektra, meanwhile, hung out in the swing watching us open gifts. Steve spent most of his time taking DJ's toys out of the packaging. What is it with packaging these days that requires brain surgery to extract the toy?? Didn't the old addage use to be that the choice words were dropped in toy assembly, not toy extraction from its packaging?

After toys were unwrapped, we watched Wall-E on blu-ray. Boy is Pixar making a statement with that movie but very good nonetheless! Anyway, DJ sat, literally sat on the floor, and actually watched the first half an hour of Wall-E. He never has an attention span for TV, so this was quite remarkable! During the parts of Wall-E I had seen, I prepped the baklava and after the movie was over, baked the cake.

Both DJ and Elektra had lunch and went down for naps early. I finished the cake and the baklava and sat down to take a breather before all the real craziness would begin. Sure enough, DJ woke up early from his nap, so let the craziness begin.

We got to George's house an hour late. This was after the baklava leaked on me in the car. ARG! I had wanted to drop it off to Tim's on the way to George's for exactly that reason, but we couldn't reach Tim by phone to confirm that we could do that. At least it was a tasty ride to George's.

George had a great feast prepared. Deep fried turkey (which was prepped in a brine the night before), spanakopita, ham, new england clam chowder, salad, Greek potatoes, cranberry sauce, asparagus, bread and Greek stuffing, and hors devours, including garlic stuff kalamata olives. Awesome! Everything was delicious, especially the deep fried turkey! YUM! Dessert included pumpkin custard, marshmallow cake and assorted cookies.

Gifts were exchanged by all and then Steve and I were off to Tim's house with the leaky baklava and all. Unlike George's, Tim's house was a zoo of people, as to be expected with this family! DJ and Elektra got tons more gifts! By 9:15pm and 4 million flights of stairs later, DJ was exhausted (but he still wanted to continue to climb the stairs!). We packed the kids in the car and headed home. Both children went to bed without nary a fuss, and both were still sleeping when I left this morning. I hope they're being good for Steve today!

The day was exhausting but wonderful. Merry Christmas!

Reaching, grabbing, and laughing?

Last week, I heard the toys on Elektra's car seat toy rattle. Since the carseat was sitting still on the kitchen table, I assumed that she was waving her arms around and haphazardly hitting the hanging toys.

Well, you know what they say about assuming. ::sigh::

It's clear now that she's *trying* to reach and grab for stuff. We saw it when she was in her carseat, but we've also seen it when she's in her crib. There are toys hanging from the crib rails that she can reach. When she goes to bed at night, she's not always asleep when we lay her down, so we'll hear her rattling the links until she goes to sleep.

We also think that she's trying to not just make cooing sounds to get our attention, but she's trying to have a conversation with us. She's already trying to imitate how our lips move and make noise at the same time. To boot, she's close to laughing. Laughing comes around the 4th month, so it won't be long before she not only smiles at us but also laughs. Can't wait!

Overall, this little girl has been so incredibly pleasant. She rarely fusses unless she's beyond hungry or wants help getting to sleep. Her "I want attention" fusses are little short "bwah!" sounds, and they are quite cute.

DJ still loves his little sister. "Baby" as he calls her, is very much on his mind. The first word out of his mouth in the morning when I go to get him out of his crib after "Daddy" is "Baby". He doesn't pay attention to her that much when he's playing with his toys but if she fusses, he'll come over to see what's wrong. He'll also give her some of what he's "cooking" to taste if he's being a chef. Meanwhile, she loves to watch him. Her eyes follow whatever he's doing if he's close enough for her to see him. She's been smiling at him unprompted. It's very cool.

BIG Train

Today, I met Damian, Jenn, and Leo at the B&O Railroad Museum. DJ was quite wide eyed at first and then I heard "ooo ooo!!" like the sound a train makes. Good boy, DJ!

The B&O had a nice train garden, sponsored by two local model train groups, one setting up a large train display and the other setting up an "N" scale train display. Both were very large in the amount of track they laid out and the settings they created. DJ watched both very intently.

We also walked around to see the historic trains. I don't think DJ really understood the scale of what he was looking at, but he had happy feet nonetheless. There were some very old and VERY big trains there... it was neat. I know I've been to the B&O museum before, but I'd forgotten how big the trains are.

We also took a ride on a train down historic (not necessarily scenic!) track. They had 2 engines, one on either end of 2 cars of a marc train, to go down and come back on. DJ was standing on the seat, looking out the window at the world passing by (and not strapped in a carseat). So both DJ and Elektra had their first train ride today. :-)

Toothbrush != Hairbrush

The last time we went to the pediatrician, he told us that we should be introducing DJ to the toothbrush. Needless to say, we forgot until sometime last week.

I pulled out a small toothbrush for him and showed him that it goes in one's mouth. I gave it to him, and he tried to brush his hair. I grinned, and tried to move his hand towards his mouth, but he turned his head away and tried to brush his hair again. So then I showed him that he can chew on it, but he'd have none of it. I tried to get him to put the bristles only on his front teeth, but that must've tickled because he turned his head away upon contact.

He knows to comb his hair with a comb, but the brush? He'd never seen that before and yet knew that a brush can be used to brush one's hair. Smart little boy!

Elektra has found her thumb!

Over the last few days, Elektra has been stuffing her hand in her mouth fairly often. I think she's been looking for her thumb and I think she found it today! She still takes the pacifier fine, but she's also looking for (and finding) her thumb more regularly. DJ is a pacifier boy when we were convinced he'd be a thumb sucker. Will we have a thumb or pacifier baby in Elektra? Time will tell!

Elektra's first snow

Yesterday, the first snow of winter fell, and Elektra got to watch it fall from the sky. She looked out the window from the kitchen for a few moments. Of course she has no concept of what she was seeing but hey... it's her first snow nonetheless!!!