Thomasland

Things are moving along quite nicely in the Klein household these days.  Thomas has started sleeping through the night!!!!  He sleeps for 12 hours straight which is pretty awesome.  He is loving his crib and even has a little duck friend that he sleeps with now.  It is so awesome to see him sleeping so well and he really is just a happy, mellow little guy because of it.  He has also become quite the "talker" these days.  He chats away in his own little language and seems to especially like it when we imitate him.  He is super smiley and giggling as well.  He does have a very serious side though too, like his Daddy.  He is laughing one moment, and then has his little scowl on the next moment.  We started using our cloth diapers a few weeks ago and they are so great!  I highly recommend them to anyone considering using them.  I dragged my feet a bit and they didn't quite fit him yet, but once we started I was surprised at how easy and nice it is.  We use Fuzzi Bunz...you can see Thomas in one in the pictures.  It feels good to not be throwing away tons of diapers every day.  

Two months!

Thomas is two months old today.  He is 12 pounds 7 ounces and when we went to the doctor for his first shot (sad!), he said because of his percentile in the length department, Thomas will most likely be at least 6'1" or 6'2".  I think it is weird they can predict that when he is only two months old.  I guess we will see!  We have just been chillin' these days.  It is starting to get colder which is a bummer but, I get to put Thomas in cuter outfits now.  Shem started a new job at his new job.  Now he has the weekends off which is nice...we can all watch football together!  Shem is actually at a movie as I write this.  First movie since we had the baby.  Now we just need to somehow manage to get out together.  I have been enjoying a great new babysitter once a week.  So far she has only come twice for a couple of hours but, it is pretty awesome.  I realize now why people move home...childcare!!!  It is a bummer not having either grandparents close by but, we did have great visits the last couple of weeks with them and everyone is coming out for Thanksgiving which will be fun.  Thomas and I headed to Santa Rosa for another visit with Emily and Ez.  Seeing the two of them together (Thomas and Ezra) is hilarious.  They are pretty much the same baby.  Aside from the fact that they were only awake for like 5 minutes at the same time, I think they had a good time.  Ezra was nice enough to let Thomas play on his play mat AND he let him sleep in his crib.  Sleep is going pretty awesome these days.  Not that anyone else probably cares.  I have never been so obsessed with someone's or my own sleep.  But, now we are settling into a routine.  Thomas is only waking up once a night which is pretty great.  He still hates napping for more than like half an hour but, we are working on it.  He smiles alot more these days and seems like he is gearing up for a true laugh or giggle soon.  He is talking alot but, I don't think he has really laughed yet.  He is into his new playmat and as you can see from the pictures, he is a little into Effie now.  She is certainly into him.  

6 weeks old and counting!

Alot can happen in two weeks in the life of an infant!  Where to begin....Grandma Arlene came to visit a couple of weeks ago which was super fun.  She stayed for a week and it was a great help.  She cooked lots of good meals, ran lots of errands, and loved up on Thomas.  We discovered that she and Thomas had matching PJ's so, we took a picture of them one morning sporting their grey and white stripes together.  Thomas went to the doctor because he had a sudden rash (which just as suddenly went away), and he got weighed and measured while we were there.  He is already 12 pounds!!!!!!  He has also already grown an inch which shocked the doctor and us.  He predicts there is no way Thomas will not be tall.  We also started a new sleep program because Thomas had become a bit addicted to our finger (see previous photos), and was only napping for 20-30 min. at a time. (often with me hovering over his swing with my finger in his mouth to get him to go back to sleep). So, we have started him napping only in his crib and he is doing SO much better.  We let him cry a little and he puts himself to sleep now while sucking on his own hand which is a nice break for my pruning finger.  He is so much happier during the day now and he is sleeping for 5 hours at night, and then another 3-4 hours til he wakes up!  So, he is waking only twice now in the middle of the night which is pretty awesome!  He is also becoming much more aware of his surroundings.  He has busted out many smiles at this point too but, we have yet to capture a really good one on camera.  Grandma Arlene gave us an awesome video camera on her last visit so, we are hoping to post some videos soon too.  My Mom also brought along an awesome gift from my first grade teacher (who remains a good friend) Roxanne Aronson.  She makes quilts and she made a beautiful one for Thomas.  She modeled it after a craft I made her when I was in 2nd grade!!!!!  I couldn't believe she still had a gift I gave her when I was 7 years old, not to mention that she new where it was, and then made a beautiful quilt inspired by it.  We are so thankful!!!  Thomas's Grandma Charlotte is currently visiting which has been so much fun.  She is loving up on Thomas a ton and is so great with him.  We have been spending alot of time at home (because of trying out his new sleep schedule) and on the porch with his Grandma Char.  She takes him for lots of walks in the yard and is showing him all the trees and wildlife.  My brother Doug and his girlfriend Thia also visited today!  So, Thomas has gotten to meet alot of family in the past two weeks!  Doug was disappointed because Thomas wouldn't look at him.  No matter which way he turned him, Thomas would look anywhere but at Doug's face.  Maybe at Thanksgiving Thomas will be up for some more interaction with his uncle.  

Frenchie meetups, BBQs, and Playdates Oh My!

There is nothing like a blog (and fantasy football) to make me realize how fast a week goes!  I was trying to update this each week but, I have never been much of a picture taker.  In the first week of Thomas's life, I took hundreds but, now I am back to my usual where I forget to take any.  Clearly if I can't even take photos of my one month old baby, the second kid we have is going to be highly neglected.  Anyway, this past week we had a French Bulldog Fest at our house.  We had 10 people over, 7 Frenchies, and one Boston.  A friend from Germany was in the US, so we all made a point to get together with our Frenchies.  It was hilarious seeing them all run around in the yard together.  Then after everyone headed out, we went to a BBQ for my Mom's group where there were over 12 babies!  Half were sleeping in their car seats the whole time (including Thomas).  It was fun to get to socialize all day!  We also had another playdate with Thomas's bestie Ezra.  After trying to time their sleep schedules so they would both be asleep when Emily and I went to lunch, we gave up and went anyway.  Thomas slept, Ezra woke up at lunch, but was very well behaved.  We had a big week for Shem and I because we are on night 6 of Thomas sleeping in his crib!!!!!!!!!  Although we love Thomas, it is fantastic not having him in our room (or our bed) anymore!  He sleeps better, we sleep better...and we don't have to listen to him thrash around all night in his sleep, waking us up every 20 minutes.  It was sorta sad to see him go...he looks so tiny in his crib but, so far, so good.  My mom is here this week so, that will be next weeks post....if I can finally remember to take some photos.  Thanks to Kat, Kristin, Ciara and Robin for the Frenchie photos!   

Another week in the life of TWK

This week was a big one for us.  Shem went back to work which was hard for the first couple of days but, Thomas and I are settling in and really starting to become buddies.  He is starting to understand that I am his mom and he actually enjoys being around me.  He is pretty easy all day, with some key fussy times.  We ventured out a few times and he was well behaved.  He doesn't seem to enjoy our walks though...he usually loses it about halfway through and then I am the crazy lady walking around the neighborhood with a crying baby.  I am a bit late posting this week because with Shem going back to work, I totally forgot to take pictures this week!  I had to scramble up some photo shoots at the end of the week.  Thomas is checking out his surroundings more and more.  No matter how mad he is, I can put him in his crib and he immediately goes into a trance and stares at his mobile.  He loves it!  Effie gets in his face sometimes and he checks her out but, I don't think he understands what the heck she is.  Mostly though he is just eating and getting bigger...witness the newly forming chubbo cheeks.  We introduced a bottle this week and he has been taking a bottle a day from Shem which has been fun for them both.  Next on the list of tasks is to get Thomas into his crib....we'll see how that one goes.  

2 weeks have flown by!

Thomas has had another great week.  We can't believe 2 weeks have already gone by since he was born.  This week Thomas got to meet alot of new people including his newest best buddy Ezra Hostutler. Our friends Emily and Bob live in Santa Rosa (about 50 min. away) and they came down for a visit.  Ezra and Thomas were scheduled to enter the world on the same day but, Ezra was 8 days early, and Thomas was 8 days late.  They are definitely at similar stages though and we look forward to many more play dates with them.  This week we tried to get out a little bit more with Thomas.  It has been in the 90's every day though so, that has been pretty limiting.  We made it to lunch one day and Thomas slept the whole time.  We went to the neighbors for dinner and he slept the whole time, and I went to meet with my Mom's group and again, he slept the whole time.  All of our neighbors have yet to see him awake!  If only he would do that at home!!!  He has been pretty good as far as sleeping at night, even pulling some 4 or 5 hour stretches but, the boy is a tough one to get back to sleep!  He fights it all the way, waking himself up as we put him in his crib, or even after he is seemingly passed out for 5-10 minutes.  Shem goes back to work on Sunday.  It has been fantastic having him home.  He has been such an amazing help and I am bummed to see him go back!  We will be excited to see him each day after work.  Thomas had a minor milestone this week because he lost his umbilical cord (yay!) and got to have his first bath.  He liked his first bath, not so much his second one.  That was our fault though because I think his second bath occurred when he was a bit too tired.  Shem did a mini-photo shoot with Thomas this week as well so, I posted some of those pictures too.