Two Months!

A month makes a huge difference in a newborn life. Milo is much more like a real person now and alert and awake to the world. He loves watching us talk and responds to the conversation with coos and big smiles. The swing is a sanity saver as his nap place where he'll sleep up to four hours in it during the day. He likes watching big brother and also is starting to take swipes at hanging toys. He's got pretty good neck control for such a little guy and acts like he's close to taking off when he's stuck on his tummy. 

Night time is still a struggle. He doesn't want to sleep anywhere but wedged next to us and wakes up every two to three hours (sometimes every hour on particularly fun evenings). At three months Collin slept nine hours straight through the night but I think we lucked out with having a good sleeper the first time around. Hopefully the trade-off is Milo turns out to be more mellow!

But besides the continued sleep deprivation, I really enjoy being home with Milo and know to hold onto these little baby moments that will soon drift away into memory. In less than a month he'll start at daycare for three days a week and I don't think that'll be easy for me. As much as I like work, I'm not looking forward to dropping my little baby off. On the plus side, we love the place he'll be going to (Collin is at the "big house" and Milo will be in the "little house.) It's a small homey atmosphere and he'll be with caregivers that seem really nurturing. I may also drop by to nurse him once during the day for a few weeks. 

Next week Milo has his 2 month doctor appointment where the shots commence! Not looking forward to seeing the look of shock on Milo's face when they stick him with a needle. It is, however better than getting a horrid disease so sorry Milo. 

I've been a parent for four years!

It's hard to believe that four years ago on April Fool's Day, I became a parent. And now four years later, I've got two of them...

Collin woke up to his favorite breakfast: smoothie, scrambled eggs and bacon. He repeated, "It's my birthday right?" several times during breakfast (and then during the day the question became a proclamation to us, to strangers, to his friends). After breakfast he opened up his gift from us which was a cool orange scooter. 

Mike took him outside and they lasted about 15 minutes before Collin got too cold and frustrated with steering. Hopefully he'll have more fun with it as the weather warms up. 

Then it was time to get ready for the pirate party where we would squeeze ten preschoolers (plus parents and grandparents) into our house. Oh and there were the pirates of course. I found them through a quick blurb on urbanmamas.com. The pirates were from the crew of Salacia's Favour and I admit I was a little nervous about their reliability when they asked for cash. 

The pirates were right on time and looked like they walked straight out of a set from Pirates of the Caribbean. The main contact (Captain Jonathan something...) maintained his pirate speak accent throughout the hour. The parents and kids were amazed to see actual pirates had taken over our house as they approached the steps.

Collin was in pirate ecstasy and not shy at all when it came to questioning the pirates. I think they were a little surprised by his knowledge. Collin: "Do you have a main mask and a Jolly Roger? Where's your ship?" (and my personal favorite) "Do you fight zombies?"The pirates vetted questions and stories from the eager preschoolers and did a great job answering all the questions and staying in character. 

After all the kids had arrived the pirates swore them all in as official members of the crew and taught them how to be pirates! They gave out foam swords and battles ensued! The pint sized crew also got ink tattoos and treasure maps to take home.

Alas the pirates had to go back to their pirate ship but it was most definitely a memorable experience. 

Then it was time for pizza and cupcakes! Collin blew out his candle (which because my flash died did not result in the mid-blow picture. Oh well. Then of course there were the gifts. Collin's friends gathered around to "help" him open them and it was basically like a bunch of vultures swarming in on their prey. We tried to compel Collin to slow down so we could track down who gave what but things spiraled out of control pretty fast and presents were ripped open one after another without any time to absorb. 

After that the sugared out kids left with a balloon and a treat bag and hopefully happy memories of pirates. 

And thanks to his friends, Collin now has more fun toys to play with and use his imagination. He hasn't asked to watch the ipad once in the last few days (a miracle).

Happy Birthday to my little pirate!