Birthday Excitement

Well, I'm 39 now. Undeniably middle-aged... It's not as painful as I thought... Or maybe I am still in denial.

It has been an exciting day so far. Today is the first day I drove the car on my own. After Tony took John to school, Christopher and I went to Goodwill on our own. He slept the whole time in his car seat on the cart. I got a couple of shirts for me and one for John. Then I got a chicken sandwich at Burger King.

I got a nap in the afternoon.
We also went to Monterrey's for dinner and I had nachos and a margarita. We came home and had pink birthday cake.

Very big day!

The four of us at JCP

Well, we only got about 11 shots from this photo session at JCP. John decided to show his ornery side... Even with Mimi and Pa's help, he was out of control... Oh well. We're trying to meet that challenge, fortunately, the orneriness is still less frequent than the cooperativeness...
Anyway, here they are:

Pictures from before Twohy's arrival

Just a couple...

Diaper cake from the shower in Greenville



John cutting paper


John trick-or-treating in downtown Clemson


The traditional "Bump" picture.

Getting to know you

Today is Christopher's two-week birthday. We are starting to get to know him a little bit.
His most prominent characteristic so far is his tummy troubles. He is a "spitter." Mostly just little spit-ups with the occasional two-teaspooner thrown in, but today I got a "projectile" spit right in the face... One of those special joys of being a mom!
He is also a drunken frat boy of noises. He grunts, farts, hiccups, and burps regularly.
However, he is SO easygoing so far. He sometimes frowns a little bit when John gets in his face, but normally just goes on with whatever he is doing... usually sleeping. He is also a sleepy baby, which is ok, but it means that we have to wake him up all the time to feed and have to tickle and bother him to get him to stay awake.
He doesn't cry much so far, just when he has gas pain, which is just about every feeding. We are learning to use Mylicon in the most effective manner.
He just started rolling over onto his side today.
He likes being held, of course, but doesn't mind resting in a swing or bouncy chair.
He sleeps in the bouncy chair. He stays inside the swaddle longer than John did. Christopher wakes up still swaddled sometimes, and John would fight to get one of his arms out in about 2 minutes...
Christopher is very vocal during sleep, which makes it difficult sometimes to tune him out while we sleep. He does sleep in his own room at night, which is an amazing miracle to Tony and me.
He did gain weight at his first checkup, but not as much as Feiste would like so we are on 8 prescribed feedings a day and we have a followup on Monday. Hopefully he will be on a better weight gain curve, so I don't obsess... Or rather, so I can stop obsessing on this particular topic!
He is very sweet, and has Tony wrapped around his little finger already!

Settling in

I'm glad to report that we are very close to having our new routine in place. Christopher has a feeding schedule that allows mom and dad to get "some" rest. Mommy feeds and daddy burps. Daddy has re-learned his technique for swaddling and can get Christopher to sleep within 2 minutes. John gets plenty of time with Christopher and gets to hold him at least once a day. We're still learning just how gentle John needs to be and how close to Christopher's face he can get. Since Christopher sleeps so much, John gets plenty of mommy and daddy time. Mommy gets plenty of rest and daddy gets housework done after everyone is in bed (roughly 9-11pm).

After the trials we went through with Penna Baby #1, this is a breeze (so far)!

Words from the last piece of the puzzle

Well, here I am, finally having a chance to weigh in. Because you know I'm the busiest member of this new menage (NOT).
I am having a lot of trouble adjusting to how "normal" Christopher is. He eats for about 45 minutes, with lots of burping, then goes right to sleep for about 2-3 hours, then wakes up ready to eat again. That's pretty much it. I always say that I can't remember much about this stage with John, but it seems like there was a LOT more drama. Bouncing, walking, fretting, going to the doctor every day, etc.

Hearing Christopher's little baby noises, I do remember John was much more vocal, and he also did a lot of the little "squeaks" that Christopher does. I remembered that we called him "Squeaker." It's interesting how starting to get to know Christopher reminds me of how John was when he was a baby. And how big he is now!!!

Christopher has been so reliable, there is talk of Tony and I going out this weekend while my parents are still here.

I am freaked about them leaving, but we'll work it out like normal.

John is enjoying Christopher, he looks at him with lots of wonder and happiness, and gives him stuffed animals, his own Bees, his car toys, and little stuffed toys. He loves to rub his head while I am feeding him and asks lots of questions. He also says "I am very gentle with Twohy" or "with babies." Thankfully Christopher is very tolerant, or oblivious, so we don't have to rein in John too much.

We add Keats back into the mix on Thursday, Mimi and Pa leave Monday or Tuesday, and then we are left to our own new, expanded family unit.

Saturday update

Mom and baby continue to do well. Christopher/Chris/Kit/Kip (we're not sure yet exactly what we're going to call him-perhaps we'll just stick with Twoey) has lost about 10% of his birth weight, so we might have to supplement with formula, but they're still going to let us go home tomorrow. We did a Skype session with John today so he could see Christopher. John is very excited to meet his little brother!

Side-by-side comparison

John Michael, 6/25/06

Christopher Anthony, 11/6/09

Christopher Anthony Penna

And a short video

This was shot when Twoey was about 30 minutes old in the nursery. He is on a table under a heat lamp. The wire taped to his chest completes a feedback loop that maintains his body temperature without overheating.

More Twoey

In this last shot, his hearing is being tested. Daddy was impressed by the lights that flashed whenever a tone was played.

Introducing Twoey!

Twoey arrived today at 12:44pm. He's 7 pounds 3 ounces and 19.25" long. Mom and baby are both doing well. Mom is a little slow to recover, so we haven't been able to officially decide on a name, but we do have one picked out.

He has a little bruise on his lower lip, which they think is from bumping against one of Juliet's ribs during the c-section. Other than that, he's perfect!

The week of

Well, Twohy's scheduled arrival is this Thursday, three days from now!
I started to catch a cold yesterday, and John has been alternating between whiny and rambunctious... Tony is just tired as usual, and holding us all together.

We got a lot done yesterday, but there's a lot still on my list...
I'm taking Wednesday off for last minute stuff, and my parents get here Wednesday afternoon or evening.

I'm losing my motivation to keep us all motivated to get stuff done... I guess I should look at it as a good lesson for the control freak in me. However, I would rather just get everything done...