Life of Lulu: February 2021

And just like that he's 3 months old! We are out of the fourth trimester and have a super smiley, pudgey, cuddley little/big guy! He's pretty tall and keeps packing on the pounds :) He's much more robust now, pretty good head/neck control so Elsie can have more fun with him by the day. He's not a bad sleeper, not trying to jinx it, but the bedtime routine seems to be doing the job: around 6:30 take a warm bath, get PJs and sleep sack on, go up to bedroom, eat and he usually goes to bed within an hour. Then the BEST part he stays asleep usually 5-6 hrs at this point! Then he wants food, then he'll go another 2-3 hours, then more food, then usually wake up around 6:30 am. Huge change from Elsie, and he's so big that there's no "gentle" set-down for bed. I put him on his belly as gentle as I can, and he puts himself to sleep/nap (unless he's not ready).

Stats: 17 lb 93rd percentile)

Leo loves

Playing with his feet and legs, getting really strong at kicking! Legs never really stop. It's super cute when he gets excited he puts on a big smile and his legs go crazy and he makes a happy grunty noise.
Pooping more frequently (every 3-5 days now), so less tummy pain is nice
Likes being helped to sit up an look around
Big sister Elsie! She's the best and really great about playing to his level-brings him rattles, bounces him in his bouncer, sings him songs. She can almost always get a big smile out of him.
I just got him a truck walker and the couple times he's been in it have been really fun for him and for big sister Elsie to push him around.

Leo hates

still LOTS of stinky farts, so hates tummy hurting but likes farting. Especially likes farting in his bath every night. Must be relaxing or a good leg position.
not a fan of tummy time, but getting really strong arms and able to hold head up and look around. Whines the whole time though!

January we spent almost 100% at home, still the covid-19 pandemic happening and Betty enjoying her last month of "maternity leave" although she never really stopped teaching. After the craziness of the holiday month it was nice to get Elsie back to school after a 2 week break, and get a more steady routine going on around here. Working from home means you never get to leave work and always have that hanging over your head, not my fave. And it is nearly impossible to get anything done on a computer around here, especially when you're holding the baby-try to type your email with one hand :( I've been enjoying teaching, although it has been completely online, so not really teaching at all. My funding is up in June 2021, so I need to work on getting another job or at least getting health insurance somehow would be good! I'm in a liminal state, let's just say it that way.

Spencer began posting to Instagram/Facebook daily with tips, pics of renovations, information about money/taxes/mortgages, and he's had really great feedback after only 1 month. He also was inspired to bring back the SD files, and the first issue came out Feb 1, so I'll post that here. And his colleague Mary is ready to retire, so she wants to transition her business to Spencer, so we will see what happens with that.

Elsie enjoying being back at school. We find out next week if she gets into this other Montessori school in Madison. Toad Hill has been really excellent, just a bit small and less structured than we (Spencer) would like. And this one is publicly funded, bonus!

She has become an avid card game player! Santa got her a deck of Crazy 8 cards for xmas and she LOVES to play it every every day, that an go fish and a new card game we bought called Jaipur. She is super great at matching and surprisingly her attention span is pretty remarkable. We only rarely need to remind her to go or what to do. There have been some melt-downs because she LOVES having the crazy 8's (doesn't everyone?) and in Jaipur she is obsessed with the gold cards?! Haha, she has had a couple of meltdowns because dad or I have taken "her" gold. Another game she has been really digging is the Unicorn game by Haba (their games are awesome in general and very age appropriate). And "good for her" but she wins a hell of a lot more than she loses at allll of these games?! Spencer and I DEF try and do NOT go easy on her, but she still gets the lucky role or is dealt 2 crazy 8s or what have you.....geez. :) But it has been really great to do something with her that Spencer and I also really enjoy.