My Maggie: 5 Months

My Maggie is 5 months old today. Wow, did I just say 5 months? I know I said this a hundred times with Jack and Ill probably say it a hundred times more with Maggie, but they sure do grow fast. It feels like we just brought her home form the hospital and at the same time I can't remember life before her. Such an oxymoron, I know, but if you have little ones you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I tried so hard not to have Maggie's 5 month birthday over shadowed by Jack's big 3 and Daddy's big 40, but try as I may, it kind of happened. In true Maggie fashion, she just rolled with the punches and smiled through it all. What a doll baby! So here is a look at 5 months ( a few days late)...

Eat
We finally made it to the 4 hour schedule. And just as I assumed, she was more than ready. Her feedings have been full and focused. No more loitering and playing. She was more than ready if I had to guess. Now we are eating at 7:30/8:00 am, 11:30 am, 3:30 pm, and 7:30pm. Much more manageable--I finally don't feel like I'm permanently glued to the nursing chair.

On average she takes about a 7oz bottle, when she takes one. However, in the past week, Ive noticed she still seems hungry. I've upped her bottles to 8oz on occasion and she gulps it down. I think we are ready for rice cereal or I may need to start supplementing with a little formula. I'm going to play this week by ear, observe her a bit, and then make a decision. There has just been so much going on around here that I need to focus on her and see what is going on before I do anything.

Activity
My how the activity time has blossomed. Maggie is easily staying awake for about 2 hours after her 11:30 feeding. But, that is the longest stretch of all of her awake times. I'm loving every minute of that time with her.

My little Mags is a "grabber". She loves reaching out for anything she can get her hands on...toys, blankies, books, my hair, you name it. She gleams with delight when she gets a hold of something and then it goes straight to her mouth. She has made it clear that she requires something in her hand whenever on the changing table. I have a stockpile of toys neighboring her diaper cream.

Now that the weather has warmed up I've been able to take Maggie for walks in the neighborhood. She is so content and wide eyed as we stroll down the street. Every once in a while I stop and get in front of the stroller just to let her know I'm still there. She gives me a gummy smile from ear to ear as if she thought I was gone and have just returned. It sure is nice to be so loved! In her opnion, walks are even better when Jack joins us--she is awe of his every move and is thrilled when he jumps on the front of her stroller for a ride.

And that leads me to one her newest activities...loving big brother. Maggie can hear Jack's voice from 2 rooms away and she will crane her neck to find him. She squeals and smiles when he pays any amount of attention to her. I'm telling you, she can spend her entire wake time watching him play. Jack has finally won Maggie's heart! (and the good news is, he is still in love with her--the novelty has yet to wear off:) Oh, what excitement these two siblings have ahead of them!


Sleep
Magpie is still a fabulous sleeper. I count my lucky stars on this one. I won't say it was all luck, it was certainly work too, but it has all paid off. And I am loving reaping the rewards!

Maggie sleeps from 7:30pm to 7:30/8:00 am. Most mornings I actually have to go in and wake her. I have to be careful because she is very generous with letting me sleep in.

She takes two 2 hour naps a day and one hour to an hour and half catnap in the evening. Her morning nap is at 9:30 and then I wake her at 11:30 for her feeding. She takes an afternoon nap at 1:30 (the same time Jack does...hurray!) for another 2 hours. Some days I can only keep her up until a little after 1:00, but at least I'm getting a little break while they both nap. She wakes between 3:30 and 4:00, eats, and then its off to get big brother up from his nap. Her final nap of the day is a pm catnap around 5:30ish. It works out perfectly because we can eat dinner before she gets up. We then play for about 20-30minutes and then it's time to start her bath/bedtime routine.

Basically, if she were my only one...life would be easy...at least relatively. But who wants easy?...that would be boring.

So that is my Maggie at 5 months. A lot of little changes and I'm forseeing more before we hit the 6 month mark. It amazes me how this all can still be so exciting even the second time around.

Mmmmm...I sure do love my kiddos!

Easter Festivities

What better way to make a birthday weekend even busier...just add Easter to the mix! With it being Maggie's' first Easter and Jack knowing what Easter entailed there was no way to skip the festivities this year. And somewhere in the middle of it all, we made sure we celebrated the true meaning of Easter. What a joyous day! We are so blessed!

Jack had his first Easter Egg dying experience. Grandma and GG supervised this activity and, boy, was it a mess!

The Easter bunny must think Jack and Maggie are something special...wink, wink!

The Easter Egg hunt in our front yard began promptly after breakfast and right before heading to Easter mass.

Jack could not get his hands on those eggs fast enough! Run Jack Run!

And instead of taking his basket with him, which would have made more sense, Jack made trips back and forth to it. Luckily for us he was nice and worn out before he had to sit through an hour long service at church.

Now time to reap the rewards!

Forgive me, I can never choose just one picture of my Maggie...she is just so darn cute and so sweet!




Since Maggie can't enjoy Easter candy yet, she opted for her bunny. Everything goes in the mouth these days!

And one more of my precious Easter baby. Happy Easter to all!

Flight # 3

The party weekends have taken flight--first up...Jack and Sophia's 3rd birthday. All I can say is...we survived! The whole party felt like a whirlwind, literally. After all of the planning and every detail that Cristina and I went over,we never could have been prepared for what mother nature had in store.

I am happy to report it was beautiful with blue skies and plenty of sunshine. However (where you waiting on that?), the wind is what really threw us off. All of our precious party decor, lunch suitcases, cupcakes, you name it--were flying. After setting up the party, oh say, about 15 times, Cristina and I threw our hands up and said, 'it is what it is'. So let the party begin.

The venue was a small local airport on the newly designed playground. The picnic area is under a simulated hanger and this all backs up to a fence that borders the runway. It's really pretty cool. I must say the kiddos loved it!

We used real maps as the table cloths, but after we spent hours bolting them down with industrial strength tape we gave up on more than one per table. So it didn't quite have the effect we were shooting for. The table center pieces were balloons that were suppose to be held down with die cast airplanes, however those had to be taped as well. Again, we lost a little bit of the effect. We had also planned on having blown up globe beach balls laying on the tables, but we knew the wind would surely take those away, so we had to lay them in their packaging...not nearly as cute!

The lunches were packed in brown boxes with travel stickers, the idea was for them to look like suitcases. We put adult lunches in the "adult baggage claim" and kids lunches in the "kid baggage claim". The kids had airplane pb& j sandwiches while the adults had deli sandwiches. We had this grandiose vision of them set up neatly on a table and each side labeled with the proper 'baggage claim', but again the wind had other plans, so we ended up stacking/throwing them up anyway we could get them to stay.

The goodie bags turned out darling. We put airplanes in clear cellophane bags with real personalized luggage tags hanging from them. I'm sure the kids liked the airplanes while the Mommies liked the bag tags! The bag tags matched the invites which were by far the cutest part of the event. They were made to look like real airline tickets. Check them out in the slide show....precious, I must say.

Jack and Sophia had a fabulous time and that's all that really matters. Jack is very into "collections" right now, so you will see in each picture that he is carrying a lunch "suitcase" complete with 3 airplanes inside and a globe ball. And trust me he took inventory on his loot every few minutes. His only melt down at his 3rd birthday party came when a guest tried to play with his "collection". Watch out..it was not pretty!

His favorite part of the celebration was definitely the giant cupcakes. He circled those things for about 25 minutes before it was even time to eat. Both Sophia and Jack had a blast watching airplanes take flight, climbing on the play set, and mingling with all of their buddies. Who better to celebrate your 3rd birthday with then your best buddy?

Fun was had by all, but I will definitely need the next year to recoup! Enjoy the show!

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Raising A Boy

Raising a boy is hard. Partly because I'm not one myself. I don't always understand Jack's thought process, his wiring so to speak. He is so much like me which ironically makes it even more challenging. I catch myself thinking, 'Hmmm...I wouldn't do that' or 'I wouldn't have done that as a child'. Then I remember...he's a boy. A vivacious, curious, on the go, emotional boy.

I have a neighbor who has three young boys. Bless her and all of the other women I know who raised 3 boys, including my dear mother in- law. When I'm around my neighbor's boys, I always marvel at their manners and good attitude towards life. I compliment her on her "boy raising" skills and I think...I want Jack to be just like that. But how?

I question the way I raise Jack daily. Am I doing this right? Am I teaching him how to have self control? Am I fostering good values and morals? Is he focused enough? I wonder daily and on more than one occasion, is this normal boy behavior? And if something doesn't seem right, I answer myself with 'he's just a 2 year old boy'.

But, I don't think that's right. And it doesn't seem to satisfy my concerns. I need to understand him, I need to understand boys. I need to know this is "normal". If he's only two and I feel so unsure, imagine what I will feel like when he's 12....16...even 20.

I imagine this is how most parents feel, no matter the gender. But, if you have a boy, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. It's just different, certainly challenging, and even scary at times.

I have no problem with a challenge. I think I enjoy a challenge and on many occasions, Jack is just that. A gift from God kind of challenge.

I adore that boy. I know he was meant for me and I was meant for him. He fulfills my life in so many ways. He will always be my little boy. He will always be my first child. And he is bound to keep me young while keeping me on my toes at the same time. I just want to make sure that I am giving him the guidance he deserves.

Jack and I saw that same neighbor with her three boys today. Again, I was so impressed. I had to ask, "how do you do it?". She was so honest about the challenges, the fears, and the uncertainty of raising boys. She graciously shared one of her favorite "boy raising" books with me.

I am an avid reader. It use to be for pleasure, but since the addition of Jack and Maggie into my life it has become more informational. I jumped on the opportunity to learn more about raising a boy. So tonight I'll hunker down for some good knowledge based reading, say a little prayer for my Jack, and start tomorrow fresh...ready for another day of 'raising a boy'.

Such a boy...