James and Jack news

My little Jack is 6 weeks old now! They say that at the 6 weeks point, things start feeling more routine and "coming together". We are not quite there yet!! Life so far with two is wonderful at times, chaotic at times, and wonderfully chaotic at other times! Having two seems to be much harder than just having one so far, but at the same time, there's more fun in our day, and so much more love!


                                                              "Wook at me!"

We are still on "house arrest" right now, and will continue to do so until probably March...maybe April! We're doing everything possible to make sure Jack doesn't get sick again. We have even pulled James out of MDO for the time being (at the suggestion of our doctor), since older siblings bring germs home all of the time from there. I have to admit, it's been kind of fun having both of them home every day and not doing any rushing around. Plus, between being gone while I had Jack, bringing Jack home and spending a lot of time feeding him, and then being with Jack in the hospital for 4 days, I want to just spend lots of time with James and get him feeling secure again that I'm not going anywhere! When I get stir crazy, we go outside and play, go for walks, and run errands as a family where one goes in at a time.

            JAMES ROBERT

James is still such a sweet big brother. His conversations with Jack are getting funnier. I wish I could remember the hilarious question he asked him the other day, but I'm not getting enough sleep to remember a thing right now! James will also talk to Jack the way I do. I call him sweetie a lot and darlin' occasionally. Recently, he went up to Jack's face and said in a high pitched, motherly/southern sounding voice, "Hey darwin'!" and looked at me like he knew it was funny. I laughed so hard that he now does it all the time and looks at me immediately for a reaction. :) This kid is so cute and funny right now! He seems to have the start of a real sense of humor now that's not him just being silly.

Occasionally, James will misunderstand something one of us says and use it wrong, and it's so cute. He says, "My wife" sometimes, to where he obviously doesn't know what it means. Instead of the phrase "all night long", he got mixed up and says, "good night wong (he can't say his l's). He says every morning first thing, "I swept in my big boy bed good night wong!" (even when he didn't)

Other funny things he's saying:

His new way of answering me when he doesn't want to do something is, "No I can't. I'm too big." in a way like he's really trying to convince me.

When he's poo-poo'd and I've asked him to sit down for whatever reason, he'll say, "I'm too poo-poo bottom. I gotta stand."

We were walking the other day, and he plopped down on the curb, put his face up to the sky, and said, "Ah, I'm...SO...happy."  He tells me from time to time out of the blue, and it's cute to know what makes him happy.

Now when he wants to do something he's not supposed to, he'll close the door as he leaves the room we're in very quietly and go do what he wants to do! This just started a few days ago. I quietly opened it to see what he was doing, and he was one time opening a present that was for someone else after I told him not to, and another time had pulled his tall chair up to the fridge and was eating the chocolate that I put up there!

This is really kind of sad to me, but James has pretty much stopped calling himself Banes (pronounced "Baieeens")! This really hurt my heart when I first heard him say "James" on Christmas Eve. We had a big joke where we'd say, "Are you J-J-James?", and he'd pop back, "I'm not J-J-Banes, I Banes!" It was hysterical and was the cause of many tears of laughter from my dad who got the biggest kick out of that. Well, I guess all that practicing of his J's made him start saying it right! So sad!

James found his pumpkin trick or treat bag.  He put it on his head and sang, "Where is pumpkin? Where is pumpkin? Here I am!  Here I am!" (to the tune of "Where is thumpkin?")

James takes his clothes off a million times a day right now.  As you can tell from the pictures, I can't keep clothes on him!  I'll be happy when this phase stops!

James is starting to potty train. Last week he let me know every time he had to pee and would go on the potty for an m n' m. He never would go #2, though. After too many times of him asking me to go with him while I was breastfeeding and too many diaper changes and one big accident, I discouraged him from going on with it. That's probably not the right thing to do by the books, but that's just not something I want to deal with right now. Maybe in a couple of months he'll pick right back up where he left off.


                                                  JACK MICHAEL

Jack weighs 10 lbs now! He eats ALL the time, at least every 2 hours a lot of the time. Breastfeeding is not going quite as smoothly as it did last time, but I think part of that is due to his reflux. He had slight reflux that got worse after RSV. He is either held or in his carseat most of the day, which helps a lot. I'm so glad I have my sleepy wrap so I can have free hands! He is soooo cuddly and sweet still, and I just eat up holding him. I could just drink in his sweet smell and breath. I'm also thinking that he's got a little more of a spirited personality. He makes his wants and needs VERY clear and has the funniest aggressive tone when he's mad. I literally laugh out loud every time he does it because it's so funny. A lot of times it seems like he's saying things like. "You have GOT to be kidding me!! Are you really changing my diaper AGAIN!!!" and "Come on already, Mama...feed me!!" He also smiled his first big smile last week. He's done it a few time and is cooing more and more. He seems to get in about 2 or 3 cooing moods a day.

One of the sweetest things right now is how much Jack responds to Josh. James was the same way when he was a newborn, but Jack will give the most focusing time to Josh. I'm always telling him, "Do you realize that he doesn't do this with anyone else?!" and Josh loves this. :) He will get excited for him more, coo for him more, and stare at him way longer than anyone else. I think Josh is somewhat of a baby whisperer, because he can find much more to talk about with Jack than I can, and I think he (an other babies and toddlers even) pick up on his comfortability with them.