Marshall is four months old today! I've been trying my hardest to capture the world's most adorable picture to show you just how cute he is. Unfortunately, Marshall is camera shy. This kid smiles about 90% of his waking hours, but when I try to take a picture of him, I usually get a look like this:
We also get full-on giggles and "chatting" much of the time...but have we been able to capture them? Nooooooooo. Here's some cuteness that'll have to suffice - but just know that it's only a sliver of what camera-shy-boy usually does:
In other Marshall news, Daddy and Miles saw Marshall roll over last week. I've yet to see it, but I've seen a lot of close calls. He is getting very good at tummy time, especially when we put him in front of his zoo. He also has been spending a little time in his high chair, although we won't start solids until after his doctor's appointment next week. He still slides over most of the time, but he really loves hanging out with the family at dinner time.
Marshall has taken a new-found interest in his feet, but he's also really starting to enjoy actually playing with toys. Here's a new favorite...I think Miles enjoys it as much as Marshall does:
Miles has some new accomplishments too, mostly when it comes to vocabulary. He is really into rhyming now. We even get really creative ones:
Daddy: "We should go to the library after dinner."
Mommy: "That's a great idea!"
Miles: "Hey! 'That's a great idea' and 'quesadilla' rhyme!" (Note: We were having brinner, not quesadillas for dinner, so he came up with that one on his own.)
Most notably, his new vocabulary words include variations upon "stinky", "yucky", or "poop". I try to explain that we should only talk about poop in the bathroom, which backfired on me last night. After a random barrage of inappropriate words which brushing his teeth, I shot Miles the death glare. He fired back, "But Mommy, we're in the bathroom!" Touche, young man. So I got to hear a 3 minute chorus of "stinky poopy, stinky poopy." Yay. Boys.
I admit it. This blog is becoming a chore. I just keep plugging along though, mostly for Marshall's sake. I don't want him to Google himself in 20 years and stumble upon this in some ramshackle archive of days-gone-by, only to wonder, "Why did she document every fart Miles ever made, but there's nothing about me?" So, I soldier on.
I was thinking - Nursing Mom semi-alone with her thoughts way too often - that I've been getting too much into the events and have been missing the daily snippets of cutness. So, why not just document a Day in the Life? Here was mine today...
Marshall woke up, ready to eat at 5am. It was a relatively good night's sleep, minus the one SIDS alarm beep at 1am. I made a drowsy decision to turn off the motion sensor after that - no thanks to Jason, who actually fell asleep after I posed the question, "But what if he really does stop breathing?" Since the switch to the big crib on Monday night, Marshall rolled himself off the pad at least a dozen times, so I felt mostly ok about it.
So after the feeding (and showering and hair drying, all by 6am), I laid back down for a quick snooze before Miles came into our room. The new King-sized bed meant that we could all three fit now, and Miles picked Daddy's side for a snuggle. After tossing and turning and Snuggy Bear twirling, we got a "Time to go downstaiwrs and eat buh-wrek-fist?" I feigned sleep so Jason took Boy #1. I got a whole 20 minutes of glorious slumber before Boy #2 started cooing in the monitor. I got a huge smile when I peeked into Marshall's crib to get him - the same smile he gave me upon peeing all over the kitchen floor during his diaper change. How can you be mad at a face like this?
Because I decided to sneak in one more feeding before leaving for work, we had a little extra morning family time, with more snuggles on the couch. Miles gave me an impromptu, "I love you, Mommy!" Unsolicited and before I have to be at work all day? The best!
Work was, well, work. It's great being back in the office (SO much better seeing sunlight during the day!), but I had a ton to do. And then there's the mommy guilt. No lunches, no outings because of my extra time in the New Mothers' room. Thankfully, I did get a couple calls in to Jason while he is still home with Marshall and got to hear his cooing over the phone. I was on my way to getting out of there at a decent hour when my computer froze up. Although I enjoyed the especially chatty help desk technician, I didn't dig leaving right at the height of rush hour, which more than doubled my commute home.
After an hour and 15 minutes in traffic I was ready to be home...and Jason immediately thrust a fussy Marshall into my arms to be fed before I could even take my shoes off. So, I ate dinner with one hand (yay for DiGiorno!) and fed Marshall with another, all while responding to approximately 37 Mommy-watch-thdisses while Miles played with his monster trucks.
Marshall and I then joined Daddy and Miles in the front yard, who had their mitts out and were tossing the ol' baseball around. A beautiful father-son moment for sure, but I think Jason was secretly practicing for his first time on a field in 20 years for tonight's church league softball game. Miles was very proud of his throwing (mostly left-handed) and even caught a few balls.
We asked Miles who got to put him to bed tonight. He dramatically tossed glances between me and Jason and said, "Ummmmm...anyone!" After prodding, I was the lucky winner. I sneakily brushed each of Miles teeth by getting him to sing opera with me, then I pulled a nice mom (or tired mom?) and let him sleep in his clothes. We started "Are You My Mother?" and Miles pointed out the question mark on the cover...only to later call it the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mouse-ka-tool. After the book, he asked me to sing a song about Snorts. When I said I didn't know one, he made one up himself, and I tagged along a variation. We sang our usual night songs, but tonight was a special comedy routine, with Miles discovering the hilarity of squishing up my face during the rendition. I explained he couldn't do that during prayers - prayers are serious - and then he proceeded to insert the term "yucky head" in the middle of the recitation.
Marshall was asleep as Jason was leaving for softball, so I got 10 minutes to myself on the computer before it was time for another Boy Bedtime Bash. For the second night in a row, Mr. Smiley thought it was funny to kick, kick, kick then laugh when I snapped his pajamas completely up, only to be one button off at the end. Thankfully, tonight was a calm night, and he was asleep like his big bro before dark.
Now, on to my date with Doogie Howser M.D. before Jason comes home.
Next post...more events to come.
