Waterpark of America

Yesterday since my niece and nephew were in town staying with us for a few days, we all went to the Waterpark of America. Romeo, my brother and his girlfriend and I all went on a family raft ride which was really fun. I like the fact that Romeo is at the age now where he isn't afraid to try the big things and he really enjoys them. Olivia and cousin Midas's favorite was the lazy river. Cousin Raina liked the wave pool the best.Grandma didn't really want to swim and just hung out on the side with baby Gabriel. Once I realized that

the water was super warm and that the place was really hot, knowing how much my Lil peanut enjoys water I decided to let him try swimming for the first time. He seemed to really like it. Afterwards he was so worn out, he crashed out for a Lil nap, he was so cute. Here are some pictures from our adventure, the only one missing was daddy, but he had to work. It was a nice family day, and a nice end to the children's winter break. I am sure going to miss not having to take them to and from school each morning especially since that means not sleeping in with Gabriel anymore since he has become such an awesome snoozer.

Gabriel's first time swimming

Olivia and I on the lazy river

Someone coming off the waterslide lol

Romeo, Midas and friend Robert playing chess

Our little handful

When Romeo was a baby, he was spoiled. That was him in one word. I blame us and our close family but mainly us. Most people will say that it was because we were young but even though that was the case that wasn't the reason he was spoiled. We were very good parents for being so young but like most first time parents we were just guilty of being inexperienced and letting him get away with everything. My grandma told me that she read somewhere that your first child is your learning child and that you should be able to throw that one away and start over (obviously a joke). Other than being spoiled he wasn't a "hard baby".

When Olivia was born we did things a lot differently. She was on a feeding schedule, slept in her own bed and was such an easy baby you could have had ten of her and wouldn't even have noticed. She just had such an easy going demeanor from birth.

This time around has been different and I would have to say Gabriel is our little handful. The first few weeks of life he was pretty laid back but after that things got hard. First with weeks of pain from his condition he was extremely fussy but when we found out what he had been going through it all made sense. After his surgery we thought that things would change since he was feeling better. He has changed in the sense that he noticeably feels better and we can actually put him down and console him when hes fussy but he still is our fussy little guy and does so quite often. I have taken him to the doctor a few times to rule out other things since surgery but with a clean bill of health the doctor says she thinks he has been suffering from colic.

Colic is defined as an otherwise healthy baby that cries for 3 hours a day for 3 days in a row for at least 3 weeks consistently. They say babies with colic ball up their fists and pull their legs up to their chests and wail in the early evening hours for hours and then are fine...That's not Gabriel, he doesn't do any of that so I really wouldn't label him colicky. Instead I think that he just had a rough start and is trying to figure things out in this new world and fussing is his only way to communicate right now. So while hes doing that I don't get a lot done during the day which has been a little hard for me to not be able to just march to the beat of my own drum like I used to. I'm getting used to it though and realize that its just a stage and that he will grow out of it.

If it is indeed some form of mild colic though the doctor assured me that at 100 days old it goes away. Well tomorrow he is 100 days old so if that is the case we will have a whole new baby in the new year lol. You know what, it really doesn't matter, I love him so much that he could cry every second of every day and I wouldn't trade him for the world. Besides that Prob and I are a great team and we just take everything in stride. Gabriel is out to prove me wrong though because since I have been writing this he has been contently playing under his baby gym...go figure (:

Welcome back sleep...we missed you

"You will live to sleep again". That was something I read in a parenting book and thought was pretty funny because I knew it was true but sometimes you feel so exhausted with a new baby that you do feel there are days that you won't make it. For about the last four nights we are sleeping well once again. Gabriel is only getting up once at night now and Prob and I take turns so that each of us is now getting a full nights sleep every other night. It's wonderful to wake up feeling refreshed and have the energy to be productive. I have a lot of things to tackle that I haven't had the energy for, like a mountain of laundry, cleaning the basement so that our new freezer has a good spot and just general cleaning. I am a very neat and organized person and the fact that I have been slacking on these things really doesn't sit well with me because I feel like if my house is messy and unorganized, I feel messy and unorganized.

Also on the list, ICE SKATING since every day I get asked about 100 times when we are going again and yesterday we got the children's skates sharpened so I can't use that as an excuse not to go. The one thing I did get done already was that I put away all the Christmas stuff already so I'm glad to not have that to do.

Proud Mommy

Yesterday Gabriel had his first talkative day. Though he has been cooing for sometime, they had mainly just been single very low sounding ooh's, kinda like he couldn't get them out. On 12-21-10 he turned 3 months old and had a first little giggle too. I love these moments, they are so precious and I just had to share this video 

A day in the life of an elf and The birds and the bees

This afternoon we took the children to the holiday display "A day in the life of an elf" at the Macy's in Minneapolis. We had seen it a few years back but decided we'd like to see it again. At the end of the adventure we saw Santa.

On our way home while stuck in traffic we decided it was a good time to have the birds and the bees talk with Romeo.(Olivia and baby were sleeping) We had been going back and forth for quite some time about if it was the right time and how to initiate the subject. I had read an article in the Parents magazine about the right age and how to go about it so that was helpful information.

When I found out I was pregnant, the children were still under the impression that the stork drops off the baby or thought that the doctor just cut it out. I decided then it was time to tell them the truth and it went very well. This conversation also went well. Olivia woke up while we were explaining things to Romeo so we talked with her as well.

One of our reasons for wanting to talk to them about it now is because we figured with all the things on television and in songs and boys and girls starting to notice each other in school that they probably knew something about it already. To my surprise they really didn't know much.

We didn't get into too much detail but told them the basics. Olivia thought it was gross and Romeo was a little weirded out. It was much easier than I expected though and I think it went well overall. I think it was a good icebreaker for future questions they may have.

For now they didn't have many questions about it but with Romeo approaching the age of liking girls and puberty, I just wanted him to know that he can talk to us about anything. I want them both to always feel comfortable coming to us with their questions whether it be about sex, friends, school, whatever it is because that's what we are here for as their parents, to guide them and to be there for them through everything.  I want us to do the best we can because we are shaping the future and that is not to be taken lightly, that's something I always keep in my mind and so far I think we are doing a pretty good job.

Ice skating for the first time

 

Starting out







  

Today since Prob had the day off, we decided we would take the children ice skating for the first time. Romeo has been saying that he wanted to try it and since the weather was supposed to be nice we thought it would be a good day for it. We did try taking Romeo once before when he was 5 but back then at that age he didn't have the patience for it and he didn't like it at all. 

I wasn't sure what to expect with how they would like it but to my delight they absolutely loved it! When we first got there Romeo took off running on the ice and fell but just got right back up and off he went again. When Olivia first got on the ice she held onto the walls and had no idea on how to balance herself so Prob and I helped her. At first she wouldn't let go of us but soon enough she built up the courage to let go and skate by herself.

 It was such a joy to watch how happy they were and funny to watch Olivia laugh at herself every time she fell. She would just laugh and laugh. It's good that she was such a good sport because that was pretty much what the experience consisted most of, falling and getting back up, but they didn't care, they had so much fun. After being there about two hours we had to leave to pickup Gabriel who  had spent some time with Grandma and great grandma. The kids didn't want to leave and now this evening all we've been hearing is,"Can we go skating again tomorrow?"

Looks like we are going to have to start fitting skating into our schedule and two nice things about that are that there is a nice rink at the children's school and the fact that the Grandma's coincidentally bought the children ice skates at a garage sale the other day, so it will work out perfectly 

Getting the hang of it

Rice Park

Gabriel and Great Grandma

 
 



Gabriel's favorite

Shortly after Gabriel was born, the nurse gave him his first bath in our hospital room. I remember hearing her say to him as he contently allowed her to bathe him,"Do you like having your hair washed?" Little did I know then how very much he would love bath time.

During the weeks when Gabriel was undiagnosed with his pyloric stenosis and he was inconsolable most of the time, one of the things besides constantly holding him that was sure to calm him, was a bath. He would instantly stop crying and become like jelly and just be so content.

Now at almost three months old, I can tell he kind of knows bath time is coming each evening when we take him into the bathroom and turn on the faucet. He immediately calms down. He is becoming so much fun to watch and is like a whole different baby once hes in his little tub. Once he's in he starts moving his whole body around and kicking his legs in such excitement, his little eyes get big and the water splashes all out of the tub, its just so cute to watch, even the older children get a kick out of it.