Leo is 3 months old!

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.

LOVES bathtime, almost too big for the bathtub! But he'll be sitting up before we know it.

Mom selfie!

That pink vest was a gift from cousin Harper, it was her favorite when she was little.

Elsie and I went SLEDDING down a giant hill this month, that was fun!

Go Pack Go! Lost 1 game away from the super bowl again, but it was a fun year.

Big smiles big guy!

Buddies already

Really likes to suck on his sweatshirt, teeth maybe coming in?

Stretch those legs!

Christmas 2020

Christmas came and went without much hoopla this year, as we decided not to travel anywhere what with the new baby and the pandemic. Elsie had 2 weeks off school so it was nice having her around to play with and enjoy the holidays. My parents came up the weekend after Christmas, and Mary and Hayden head come the week before so that was awesome!

I mostly just wanted to upload some pics, here you go: 

Baby's first christmas outfit, gift from Jillayne Koss.

Dad and Elsie making Spencer's specialty cookies, looks like they have a strawberry batch on the way.

Leo loves looking over the shoulder and being carried around, pretty good neck control though sometimes he just leans over to one direction without a care, good thing we are there to catch him!

Chrismas PJs! Leo looking for boob, Elsie holding her new Elsa barbie doll, she was not into the PJs like I thought she'd be.

Elsie is great at rolling the cookie dough in powdered sugar.

Playing on the new carpt

THANKS SANTA! New Barbie house with over 20 barbies and box fullll of accesories, clothes, furniture, vehicles, you name it!

Elsie picks out her own outfits these days :) And she is in LOVE with the sparkly Elsa shoes Santa got her.

Learning how to play Crazy 8s.

Always need a playdoh session when grandpa comes :)

Cookie decorating was lots of fun too :)

Happy Holidays, here's hoping 2021 is a great one!

Leo is 2 months old!

We just had Leo's 2 month checkup with doctor trias, and he's really been growing!  He now clocks in at 13 lb 11 oz (78 percentile) and 24.2 inches (92 percentile). Doctor said he's looking really fantastic, holds his head up well, smiles and is eating well so keep up the good work 😀 

 At 6 weeks he was 11.5 lb, so he really has grown in only 2 weeks! Hes pretty good about sleeping in crib and putting back to sleep, can put himself back to sleep which is the opposite of Elsie!  He's not so loving the swaddle these days as he's getting baby pudge so harder to get his legs to stay up like he likes. Might have to drop it soon anyways since he only has one swaddling sleep sack left to fit his long legs. Generally 3 hours or so sleep at nights between meals. Screaming less at dad so starting to get to know him. So that's great and I get a break too!  Already in 6 month clothes, lots of kicking and arms and baby noises, lots of looking around, holds head up pretty great now, lots of smiles, Some laughs but usually when no ones around and he's looking at the wall.

He's been having some tummy issues and the stinkiest farts ever! Going 6ish days between poops but lots of pee diapers so prob just growing fast and poop has farther to travel to get out. Dad is great at getting him to feel better and we can get him to stretch out his legs by tickling his thighs which is pretty cute. 

Likes baths, falling asleep on our shoulder,  kicking legs and smiling, when Elsie plays rattle and sings to me

Hates gas snc tummy pain, swaddling he's love hate, doesn't get to play outside cuz too cold

Elsie has been on break for 2 weeks from school and the holidays were great but she is looking forward to seeing her friends again and we are excited for some time to do computer work. 

She is living the imaginative play, she comes up with things like ready set action obstacle course, but also constantly ropes is into playing family by telling us our roles like mom, your the kid and I'm the mom, and then we carry on with what we were doing with our new role. Not really into Xmas movie since most have a scarry part, except frozen of course. 

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Elsie singing and making up her own song,  singing at the top of her lungs...

"I love my familyyyyy, i love my familyyyyy, I love my familyyyyy, especially meeeee!"

Elsieism 11-19-20

She was scratching something like her butt that she should keep her hands off and Spencer told her like 3 different times to stop scratching it. She would stop and start again. Finally, she told him, "I'm not scratching it in feeling it with my nails".