{a daddy and his boy}

Believe it or not, I have zero photos of Teirney with Quincey (aside from his birth and instagram photos), so needless to say, I adore these.

We were in Madison for a wedding last weekend and we had about 10 minutes after the wedding before Teirney had to head back to Milwaukee (due to some trial prep) and I convinced him to hang around a bit for some pictures of him and our little man.  If you know Teirney at all, you know being in front of the camera is not his thing, but I'm so glad I was able to convince him to do this for me.  I love my boys!<3

 

 

 

 

 

 

{three months}

I know I will forever be saying this, but...where does the time go?!?!  How is my baby 3 months already???

Here's my sweet boy.

And because I can't forget about my girl, here is one I snapped of her just to check my lighting for Quincey's little photoshoot.  She was being her silly self and asked me to take a picture of her...fuzzy hair and all (I didn't do her hair that day).  But this is why I love my girl, she is so fun and quirky.



We have had a very busy summer so far and it's hard for me to believe it's already mid-July!  We have something going every weekend through August and by then we will be gearing up for pre-school.  Yes, Kaydence will be going to pre-school in the fall.  It's so hard for me to believe.

Quincey continues to be such good baby...unbelievably good!  I feel so blessed to have had two very good babies.  The only time he really cries is if he has a gas bubble or if he is hungry and I can't get to him (for instance, if we are driving in the car).  He does have some lungs on him during those times, but he is easily calmed when I pick him up.  He is such a little snuggler...I'm so glad I got a snuggler. :-)

He continues to sleep on his belly, but there are mornings when I find him on his back when I go in to get him.  We have been really busy lately, so he hasn't been getting much floor time.  I need to get him on the floor again to see if he'll roll over for me.  He is so close to giggling, but isn't quite there yet.  The other day he was smiling and cooing with me and I managed to get a laugh out of him, but it wasn't a full belly laugh.  I need to video tape him more (note to self).   He does little half laughs here and there though and you can tell he is so close to giving a full belly laugh. 

He is starting to reach for things a little more.  He loves chewing on Sophie (or his hands) and continues to be a big drooler.  He loves his little light up bear on his activity mat and gets so excited when he sees it.

He still doesn't love the bumbo, although he will last a little longer in it than he had been (like 5 minutes instead of 1).  He still really loves to sleep.  I feel like he has been stretching out his feedings the last few days.  He is sleeping longer stretches during the day.  But for the most part, he is still eating every three hours and every once in awhile even less than 3 hours.

Teirney's parents were in town this weekend and watched the kids for us while we went to a Brewer game.  Teirney's mom said she put Quincey down at 8:45, then he didn't wake up until 4:30 a.m.!!!  It was awesome!  And then I put him back to bed right away after feeding him and he didn't wake up until 10:00 a.m.!!!  Who is this child? lol  Kaydence never slept that late into the morning.  I have a feeling he won't be much of a morning person, like Kaydence is.

His upper body is so strong!  He will hold himself very stiff, but if you're not careful, he'll throw himself backwards when you're holding him at times.  He looks like a log falling backwards. lol  Also, he is so interested in what we eat, so I'm hoping that means he'll be a good eater.  Kaydence couldn't have cared less when she was a baby. 

He definitely likes to be in bed by 7:30 p.m.  We had church tonight and didn't get home until close to 8:00 p.m. and he screamed half the way home because he just wanted to eat and go to bed.  We'll see how he sleeps tonight.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed that his left eye looked a little turned in (like Kaydence's did).  Since then I have noticed it a couple times when he is tired.  I was hoping it was nothing and I was just imagining things, but then Teirney told me he noticed the same thing tonight.  How strange if both of our kids need glasses for this when we don't have lazy eye on either side of our family (that we know of).  Kaydence has an eye appointment scheduled for next week, so I will ask about it then.

I feel like he's such a big boy!  I guess I'm comparing him to Kaydence and I feel like she was so much littler at this point.  The other day, I stepped on the scale while holding him and then subtracted my weight and he was 13 pounds!  Eek!  He is going to outgrow Kaydence in no time!

Speaking of Kaydence, she is growing into such a little lady.  We just purchased a new car yesterday and said goodbye to "Sexy Lexi."  It was actually a little sad.  I cried on our way home.  I know it sounds silly, but we had so many memories with our Lexus RX300...I loved that car!  It served us so well for 8 years, but alas, it needed a $4000 repair, so it was time to find something else before it died on us.  Kaydence was pretty sad about it too, she cried when we came home with the new car and she said she didn't like it.  But, today, we turned her carseat forward facing for the first time and gave her a ride in the new car and now she loves it! lol  Go figure. 

Here are a couple pictures to close this post out.

{12 weeks}

On June 26, Quincey rolled over for the first time (12 weeks)!  Since then, he has rolled over a couple times...just from belly to back.  He hasn't even gotten close to rolling from back to belly.  Kaydence rolled over for the first time (belly to back) at 10 weeks.  I keep trying to get it on video, but of course whenever I get out the video camera, he never wants to do it...one of these days.

I think we have quite the sensitive boy on our hands.  He can go from 0-60 in 2.2 seconds ( i.e., smiling and happy to screaming his head off).  I'm not sure why he feels the need to get so upset over diaper changes, or being put in his swing or bouncer, but for whatever reason he feels the need to express himself....enthusiastically. lol  The funny thing is, he doesn't even have that loud of a scream, but he just gets so upset that his voice cracks as he screams...it's so sad.  But the funniest part about it is that today I discovered that I can make him smile in the middle of his screaming to the point that it's almost a laugh. lol  He still hasn't given us a full belly laugh, but he gives us half chuckles here and there and today when he was screaming I made him smile and stop crying just by beeping his nose.  Such a little faker.  lol  He tries so hard to sound so big and bad, but in reality, he is just a big softy just like his daddy.   

The one thing I have found where I am *always* guaranteed a smile is when I put his toes in his mouth.  I'll say "mama says...put your toes in your mouth" and then I'll touch his toes to his mouth and he gets the biggest smile every single time.  Whenever Kaydence hears me say this to him, she says "Kaydence says...put your hands in your mouth."  lol  She never wants to miss out on being a part of the fun.  Today, he actually held his own foot and sucked on his toe for a bit.  I was holding his leg up (because he isn't quite *that* advanced, but it was cute just the same).  I got an instagram picture of it. 

In the last couple days he is getting so much better at holding onto things.  As of last week, I was a little worried because I felt like he was pretty tight fisted yet, but this week, he has definitely loosened those fists quite a bit and is started to grab at things more.  He always plays (purposely) with his activity mat toys and if I hold a rattle in front of him, he will try to play with it by batting at it, etc., but he still hasn't actually grabbed something from me yet.  He does hang onto one of the toys on his activity mat though.  I can put something in his hand and he'll hang onto it for a little while, but most of the time he doesn't know that he is holding it and will drop it a few seconds later.  Although, in the last couple days I have noticed that he is clasping his hands in front of him a lot more, so I feel like he would probably hold onto Sophie and chew on her (if we could find her...she is currently MIA right now...sigh).  He loves to chew on my finger if I am holding him, so I think Sophie will be his best friend in no time.  And speaking of chewing, he is a drool-o-matic!  Kaydence was never really a drooler, but I can already foresee lots of clothing changes in Quincey's future due to his drool habit.  He also loves to blow raspberries. :-)

This little boy loves to be held.  Lately, he hasn't been wanting me to put him down for much longer than a few minutes.  It's fine when we have family visiting, etc. (like we did this past week), but when it's just the three of us at home on a normal day, it can be a bit tricky to try to get things done.  He loves the Moby and will always fall asleep in it, but I don't like wearing it when I am cooking by the stove because it just makes me nervous.  So that is the one time it can be difficult if he doesn't want to be put down and I have to make lunch/dinner.

Quincey is a very light sleeper compared to Kaydence.  She used to be able to sleep anywhere and through anything...not him.  Lately, his morning naps are very short...40-ish minutes and then he will wake up.  I will usually give him his paci and he will fall back asleep, but then he wakes up every 10-15 minutes or so needing his paci.  It gets old fast.  The afternoon however, he takes a nice long nap 2-3 hours.  This is all assuming we are home -- when we are out and about he will usually sleep in his carseat off and on.

The last couple nights I have fed Quincey at 7:00 p.m. and put him to bed right away afterward.  Then he wakes up to eat around 11:00/11:30 p.m. and then he won't wake up again until 5:00/5:30.  It has been wonderful!  I was just talking to my mom the other night saying that I wish I could switch his long stretch from the early evening (when we are still awake) to the early morning (when we are sleeping).  Because he used to eat and stay awake for awhile before I put him to bed for the night and then he would sleep until 2:00/2:30 a.m., but now that I have been putting him to bed right after I feed him, he has moved up his wake up time to 11:00/11:30 p.m., which is right before we go to bed and then he doesn't wake up until early morning, which is perfect.  I don't know if that's the trick, but that is what has happened the last couple nights.  Now tonight, he'll probably switch it up again on me. lol 

There is so much to write about, but I just have to jot it down as I think about it.  I'll be doing his 3 month post in the next week or so, so I'm sure I'll write another novel then. ;-)

I took these photos last week when Quincey was 12 weeks. 

 

 

 

{soccer girl}

Kaydence had her very first soccer practice last week. She was so excited about it. She has two other friends doing it too and they are like a little posse together. Whatever one of them does, they all do. Typical three year olds I guess. :-) On the first night, we were watching on the opposite side of the field, so whenever the coaches would tell the kids to go take a water break, the kids would get confused as to where we were (haha).  And then, when they went back, they could never find their team and would end up in some other (older) team also on the field.  It was so funny.  And whenever one of the kids would run back to us, they would all follow (whether it was a water break or not).  It was so comical.  But practice this week went a little better and they all stayed by the coaches, unless it was a water break.

They don't actually play any soccer games or anything. They just meet every Monday and learn practical soccer moves by the use of fun games that they would understand, like red light/green light, and Mrs. Fox, etc.  Kaydence really loves it and looks forward to it every week.

Here are a few photos. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

   

And of course, she loves her friend, Alexander, as you can see.

{2 months}

I have been meaning to write this 2 month post all month and then today I realized that Quincey is actually almost 3 months now, so I am making myself sit down to write this.  Seriously, where did June go?!?!  I feel like I will be saying this every month for the rest of my life from here on out.

He did great with his 2 month shots.  He cried for just a little bit of course, but then he quieted right down and did great the rest of the day.  Here are his stats from his 2 month appointment.

Head circumference:  38cm (25%)
Height:  23in (50%)
Weight:  10lbs, 15oz (25%)

I feel like he is gigantic compared to Kaydence when she was this age.  He is really starting fill out and get some cute little chunk on him.  He has been wearing his 0-3 month clothes now for about a month and some of them are already starting to get a bit snug on him in places.  It has thrown me for a loop, since Kaydence didn't even start to wear her 0-3 month clothes until she was 3 months old.

Quincey is such a sweet little boy.  He is very snuggly and content, unless he has a gas bubble or something.  But otherwise, he just sits there and takes everything all in.  He is a lot like Kaydence in the sense that he really tries to figure everything out and is usually pretty serious for the most part.  Although, he does get quite happy after he eats and that is when I can get the most smiles out of him.  He hasn't quite given a full belly laugh yet, but he is close.  He gets really happy and excited at peek-a-boo already and he is so close to a laugh, but not quite yet.  He also likes it when I tap his nose a few times and say "beep-beeps."  He loves it and gets huge smiles!

We stopped swaddling him over a month ago now -- he was just a little over a month old when we stopped.  I remember swaddling Kaydence until she was 4 months old...no joke. lol  It was more out of fear that she wouldn't sleep through the night if we stopped, than it was the fact that she actually wanted to be swaddled.  I think we could have stopped swaddling her much earlier and she would have been fine because once we did stop, she transitioned like a gem.  From day one, we have never swaddled our babies arms in though -- we just swaddle their body with their arms out, so I think that helps with the transition.  Quincey started breaking out of his swaddle and then he would get cold and wake up, so that is when I broke out the sleep sacks.  I was a little worried at first that he wouldn't like it, but he actually slept much, much better once we started using them.  He wakes up a lot less and sleeps more soundly. 

He has started reaching for things in the last couple weeks (i.e. his toys that are attached to his play gym, etc.).  And this week, he is just starting to loosen his fists a little more.  He will sit in the bumbo for short periods of time, but not for too long yet.  He loves his play gym, bouncer, and swing.  I have noticed though that he doesn't like to stay in one thing for too long.  With Kaydence, she would tolerate anything for long periods of time, but Quincey, not so much.  He is very predictable with his schedule.  He will play for just a little bit after he eats, but before long he will be fussing for his paci so he can go back to sleep.  This is his schedule as of now.

- 7:30/8:30 a.m. -- wakes for the day and eats
- playtime with mama, diaper change, and then activity mat, bouncer, or swing
- 9:00/9:30 a.m. -- nap (in crib)
- 10:30/11:30 a.m. -- wakes to eat
- playtime with mama, diaper change, and then this is usually when we leave to run errands or go for a playdate, but if we are home then activity mat, bouncer, or swing -- he is usually awake longer during this period and sometimes won't nap until his next feeding
- 12:00/12:30 p.m. -- nap (in crib) or he will just stay awake until he is ready to eat again
- 1:30/2:00 p.m. -- wakes to eat
- playtime with mama, diaper change, and then I put him down for a nap right away, since this is when Kaydence naps and then I try to nap too when I can
- 2:00/2:30 p.m. -- nap (in crib -- this is his long nap)
- 4:30/5:30 p.m. -- wakes to eat
- playtime with mama, diaper change, and then activity mat, bouncer or swing while I make dinner -- he usually stays awake for quite awhile during this stretch
- dozes off in the swing until next feeding
- 7:30/8:30 p.m. -- wakes to eat, or he was already awake depending on what was going on that day
- playtime with mama, diaper change, and then bath (every couple days), pajamas, sleep sack, hangs out with us for a bit either watching tv or I rock him and then put him to bed for the night
- 1:30/2:30 a.m. -- wakes to eat, diaper change, put back to bed
- 4:30/5:30 a.m. -- wakes to eat, diaper change, put back to bed
- 7:30/8:30 a.m. -- wakes for the day and eats and it starts all over again

He is pretty easy to read.  When he is done being awake and held, he starts squirming and fussing a bit and then I'll put him in his crib for a nap and he'll fall right asleep.  He is amazing because I can put him in his crib wide awake and he will put himself to sleep without a peep.  It is so nice in the middle of the night because I don't need to rock him for hours to get him back to sleep.  If he is wide awake, I can still put him in his crib and know that he will put himself to sleep, it is a lifesaver considering he isn't sleeping through the night yet.

Kaydence was sleeping through the night at 7 weeks, so this waking in the night stuff is all so new to me and I dream of the day when I put him to bed some night and none of us wake up until morning...that sounds so heavenly right about now.

He loves his tummy!  I know it is against the "rules," but since we have the Angelcare Movement Monitor, we do allow him to tummy sleep sometimes.  He is a big spitter!  I talked to the pedi about it because it will literally just pour out of his mouth after feedings.  She said he is just getting rid of what he can't use...which is A LOT! lol  She said it is more of a nuisance than a problem.  I have tried just feeding him on one side, but he always likes to top off on the other side and fusses until I let him.  And since I'm a little nervous about losing my supply if I only feed from one side, I always let him.  The problem is, I probably shouldn't because it just come right back up anyway.  His bibs are always drenched with spit up.  As much as I don't want him to grow up too fast, he can grow out of his spitting at any time...so ready to be done with that already.  Kaydence was a big spitter too and it last past 6 months for her, so I think we have a long road ahead of us with that.  

Speaking of Kaydence, she LOVES her little brother to pieces.  She talks to him all the time and she will ask him questions and respond for him.  And when he is crying she loves to say "it's okay baby, I know you are sad, I will help you...here is your paci."  She is the sweetest most loving and gentle sister.  She hasn't shown any signs of jealousy and has never done anything to hurt him.  I hope and pray that will continue for a very, very long time!  She keeps trying to teach him how to do stuff, like hold onto toys, etc.  She is such a big helper and I feel so blessed by my children and the way they love each other. 

My mind is complete mush right now and I'm sure I'm missing things that I want to document, but I will have to come back and add them later when I think of them because this mama is tired and needs some sleep before the little man wakes up to eat again. :-)

Here is my precious baby boy at 2 months.

        

(little curls}

We went to the park the other week and I actually brought my camera with me...can you believe it?!?!  Haha...it really collects way too much dust these days.  Here is my sweet girl...she is getting so big!

         

     

   

 

{quincey gray -- circa 9 days old}

I was looking through my blog the other day and realized (shocked) that I never posted his newborn photos.  I thought I did...that just goes to show how sleep deprived I really am.  Can you believe he will be 2 months old tomorrow?!?!  Seriously, where does the time go!  Here he is at 9 days old!