The Ferstle Family of Four

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Evan is 2 Months Old!!

2 Months Old

11 lbs. 11 oz.

24"

Time is really starting to fly by now! In my head I always knew that once we hit 8 weeks, things would start to get better and easier. And they really have. His crabbiness in the evening has improved, he's smiling and cooing all the time, and I think ::knocks on wood:: that we've solved the issue of the blood in his stool. I've been dairy free now for 5 weeks and we had his first negative diaper for blood a week and a half ago! The pediatrician seems to think that my going dairy free has solved the problem. She reassured me that in 2 more months I could start to re-introduce the dairy products back into my diet to see if he's grown out of his milk protein allergy. And she sold me on continuing to nurse and stay dairy free when she told me I could cheat on Thanksgiving.

Evan's personality is really starting to come out now. I'm figuring out the ins and outs of what makes him tick. Sean has gotten so much better with Evan too over the last month and I really think he understands that Evan is here to stay and that he's a part of our family. Sean talks about baby Evan all the time and no longer seems to be aggressive towards him at any time. If anything, he's dying to give Evan another kiss.

Stats:

Size 1 diapers.
We switched to him being in 3 month clothes. Even the 0-3 months are tight on him.
Eats every 2 hours during the day and is finally doing longer stretches at night! He'll go 5-7 hours during the first stretch of sleep, gets up around 2-3am, and then sleeps until 6:30am.
Goes right back to sleep after eating during the night.
Naps decently during the day now. Either on his tummy in the pack n' play or on his activity mat. I'm trying to limit how much he naps so that he sleeps better at night.
Goes to bed by 8:30pm every night. Yay for schedules forming!

Favorites:

Being held and bounced.
Mommy singing to him...mostly Christmas carols.
Having a rattle shook above his head while he lays on the activity mat.
Vacuuming with mommy.
Sleeping in his car seat when we go out and about.
Laying on his tummy.
When I take his hands and pull them above his head and say, "So Big!"
Standing. Seriously, this kid loves to stand up.
Ceiling fans and light fixtures.
Being worn in the baby Bjorn.

We had a great month during October with his first Halloween and all the events we took him to for Sean. I'm so excited that we are out of the newborn phase and on to bigger and better things! His smiles melt my heart and feeling like I have him figured out makes each day so much more fun. This month I'm back to work on the 19th (boo!), so he'll be starting daycare, which makes me sad. I know he'll do great though! We have his baptism tomorrow! And we have his first Thanksgiving! Lots of exciting memories to look forward to.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

I feel like we've been building this holiday up with Sean for a month straight and I'm so excited that today is finally the day! All of our holiday preparedness helped because Sean totally gets it. He knows about ghosts, skeletons, pumpkins, witches, scary monsters, and the concept of trick or treating. And boy is he ready!

We had a trial run last weekend at the Zoo Boo. Aside from the chilly temperatures, we were lucky to have a beautiful sunny evening since we bought the 5pm tickets - genius! We were home by bedtime and didn't have any meltdowns from either kid.

On Monday night, we let Sean clean out his little pumpkin he got from daycare. They let the kids paint the pumpkins one day last week so it was already decorated, but we thought we'd see what he would do if we let him clean it out and "carve it" (Obviously, Scott did most of the work...).

I think he was more interested in the ziplock bag of carving tools and the Music Choice Sounds of the Season channel on TV.

But, none the less, here are the pumpkins:

In case you can't tell, the two big pumpkins are Bert and Ernie - thanks to Scott's craftsmanship and Google images.
He was also thrilled that Evan was big enough to do the pumpkin picture he wanted to do with Sean two years ago! Unfortunately, when he wanted to do this picture with Sean, Sean was only 4 weeks old and I put my foot down on that one. Since Evan is 8 weeks and has good head control, we gave it a shot. And we were surprised to see that he actually cooperated (once we lined the pumpkin with a towel so he wasn't cold and put a small space heater on blowing in his direction...). The things we do to get some funny shots of our kids...

Now it's Halloween day and as an added bonus to being on maternity leave and home, I was able to spend this day with the boys! We watched Garfield's Halloween Adventure this morning (a classic!) and then I was lucky enough to attend Sean's Halloween Party at daycare from 9:30-11am while Evan was with Nana. It was so awesome getting to see him interact with his friends and see them all in costume! While the plans were postponed until tomorrow for the helicopter to drop healthy snacks all over the field behind the school for the kids because of the rainy weather, they still did a great job of putting together arts and craft stations and sensory tables for the kids!

With Sean down for his nap and Evan hanging out in his bouncy chair, I was able to whip up some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins I found on Pinterest and a salad for dinner over at Scott's sister's house tonight (she lives two blocks away)! Turkey chili, salad, and the muffins are on the menu for a nice dinner with Scott's family and then the kids are off for trick or treating while I hold down the fort with Evan and some warm apple cider! Happy Halloween!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Thankful Thursday

I am having a fabulous Thursday, so I thought I'd list a few things I'm thankful for this week:

I'm thankful for this beautiful weather yesterday and today.
I'm thankful that Evan is sleeping one long stretch at the beginning of the night.
I'm thankful that Sean has not gotten sick since the week Evan was born (knock on wood).
I'm thankful that Scott helps out with anything I ask of him and always comes to kiss both Evan and I goodbye in the morning while I'm nursing Evan before Scott goes to work.
I'm thankful that Bailey has been really good with Evan being here.
I'm thankful that we have such an amazing support system of friends and family in our life that have helped out immensely since Evan was born. Your gifts, meals, words of encouragement, and visits mean the world to us!
I'm thankful that we have a very fun weekend in the works!
I'm thankful that Evan's diaper came back negative today for blood in his stool, which means my sacrifice of giving up all dairy products in the past month has paid off! I feel encouraged and energized to keep with it!
Most of all, I'm thankful that sometimes you can take hundreds of pictures and not feel like you captured "the one", but other times, like today, you can take 38 pictures and find one that takes your breath away...

And a few other honorable mentions...

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Go Tigers!!

Well, it's official! We're going to the World Series and we're going to kick some Giants butt!!

Since we're such avid Tigers fans, I had to take a minute to reflect on all the fun memories we've made going to the games over the years of our relationship and introducing Sean to the love of the game.

From being season ticket holders for a few years while we were dating, engaged, and married...