Around The Clock Fun

It has been almost a week since I last posted. While April has snapped some very cute shots of the boys...I have been delving deeper into the work environment (which is far less enjoyable but absolutely necessary). Although I would rather be home...it is still so much nicer to be able to work and return to my house then it was to have to travel to Madison so I am not complaining.

Brendan has continued to be the neediest kid on the planet. He is an ever present force to be reckoned with. He still wants his mom and dad ALL OF THE TIME. As I sit here trying to write this...he is right on the other side of the laptop. Every once in a while he pops up from behind the screen and says PEEK! He has a bottle brush that we just ran through the dishwasher. He is using it to brush his tongue, hair and the carpet. It is very sanitary. I want to be irritated with his excessive separation anxiety...but he is pretty entertaining. He dances through the house with his toy saxophone. His "tourette's" syndrome continues as he shouts boob as he heads down the aisles of Walmart. Brendan has taken a liking to sneaking out the back door and frolicking in the backyard in his diaper with the cat. Perhaps it is because we have a small infant in the house...but Brendan seems wise beyond his years in some of the things he is capable of doing and saying. I lose sight of the fact that he is not even 2 years old yet. He is speaking a little bit of spanish now. He likes to work the por favor angle everytime he wants something...and staying with his polite nature...always says gracias when he gets what he wants (which is much more often than should probably be acceptable). He has no musical talent so far, but he likes to sing. He counts to 3...and then skips to saying 6,6,6....Hmmmm...is he telling us he is a little dark prince? I cannot tell you how many times he will behave badly and just when I am about to punt him out the door...he does or says something that is so humorous, we have to hide our faces in our hands to conceal the giggles. He really is a gift.

Then there is Owen. It is very hard to truly gauge a newborns progress...but I think he is doing well. We have gradually been increasing his feeds and he has been tolerating it very well. He seldom spits up anymore and when he does...it is minimal. We have even been burping him (which is something we had given up on for a while because of the massive spits) and he has been doing that well also. We took him to the doctor again a couple of days ago and he has exceeded the 7 lb. mark. According to the Reedsburg doctor, his head circumference has not increased since last week...so we are going to continue to be hopeful. Owen is still a small little creature. He seems to fit okay into his newborn shirts...but his little toothpick legs are too small for newborn pants and we end up having to roll his pant legs. Socks fit the size of his feet...but his ankles are so scrawny, they do not stay on very well. As you have seen from the videos we have posted...he has been pretty alert. Of course, we are constantly worried about him. We worry if he sleeps too much. We worry if he is awake too long. We flip if he twitches. The poor child is constantly under a microscope because we are so fearful something is wrong. Unfortunately, I think it will be like that for quite a while to come, but it is so nice to have him home.

Sleep was scarce before Owen came home...but since his arrival in the Lee homestead...it is now non-existent. Sadly, Owen was more of the frosting on the cake and is not the primary source of the issue. That title goes to Brendan. He has recently been disregarding his naps and so by 8 o clock at night...he is overtired and hyper. He flies through the house babbling and destroying everything in his path. His bedtime used to be between 7:30 and 8:30 at night. Now, we have to strap him in the bed to get him to go to sleep before 11. Owen wakes up every couple of hours to eat. Brendan wakes up randomly throughout the night. Sometimes he is just loud but not really awake. Other times he gets up at 4 a.m. and never goes back to sleep again. The point is, outside of work (which is worse) there is no Brendan free time. It is even better when one wakes the other and this process repeats for hours on end. However irritating physical exhaustion is...it is at least an expected inconvenience that many parents contend with as opposed to the extreme challenges we were facing a month ago.

We managed to minimize our appointments this week. Of course, this would be the week that Target has a good sale on soda...but we refused to drive anywhere that was not needed. Next week it is back to the menagerie of trips including one to see Gramps Creeper again. I failed to mention on my last post the most disturbing part of Owen's exam with Gramps. At one point, he held the top of Owens head up to his ear and proceeded to knock on the side of Owen's head as if we testing the firmness of a melon. Was he listening for an echo? Is there some scientific technique with head knocking that I am not aware of? I was in shock at the time I witnessed it...but next week when/if he does again...I will absolutely ask him what purpose it serves.

Brendan went "to bed" at 8:30 tonight. Within minutes he was back up and running through the house at full speed. Now he is winding down for possibly one more shot at bedtime and I hear Owen waking up on the monitor. So the cycle continues....

As I spell check...April is getting Brendan a diaper to change him into before going to bed. Brendan just walked up behind her and goosed her. When she shot up he giggled and when she bent back over to get the diaper he goosed her again and when she reacted he shouted YES! as if getting the reaction was a major accomplishment. Once again....goosing was not something he was ever taught and he manages to come up with something new all of the time.