America's Favorite Pastime

Scott loves baseball. And Zach loves his dad. The combination of those two things has created a rather funny phenomenon in our house, one that makes me laugh every night (yes, baseball is on in our house every night). I can actually see how hard Zach is trying to learn about baseball, in order to have something to talk about with and to impress his idol. So night after night, the two of them sit down to watch some portion of a baseball game, usually the Twins, of course. And I listen to Zach talk non-stop, asking questions, and mimicking whatever Scott says in response to the happenings of the game. It sounds a little like this:

Daddy, are we hitting? Who is hitting? Are we hitting now? Who's dealing? Is that Baker? There's #25 - that's Thome! Who's hitting now, are we hitting? How many outs are left? When are we going to hit? Was that a home run? Are we hitting? Who's that? Oh - Mauer is up, that mean's Morneau's next! Are we hitting? When are we going to hit?

And I have to give Scott credit, he sits there and answers every question, no matter how repetitive or ridiculous. I've said it before and I'll say it again: he has waaay more patience than I do!

So while there are some rather large holes in Zach's knowledge of baseball basics (he seems to think you either pitch or hit; he doesn't really grasp the idea of other defensive positions), his amazing memory is being put to use. He can tell you who all 5 starting pitchers are, and the batting order for the top half of the Twins line-up. And he knows all the major players' numbers, something that makes me laugh, since there is no sport in which the players' numbers could matter less! But similar to how #28 = Adrian Peterson to Zach, #7 now = Mauer, #1 is Orlando Hudson, and so on. If he spots those numbers (#33 for example) anywhere out in public, he'll holler "look mom - there's Morneau!"

He can also now read the box score on the tv - tell you what the score is, who is winning, what inning it is, how many outs there are, and if there are any runners on base. He knows "we" boo the Red Sox and cheer for the Yankees (if they aren't playing the Twins).

Besides using all this knowledge to impress his dad, Zach has incorporated it into his stalling routine. Many evenings, after he's been in bed for 20+ minutes, talking and singing to himself, he'll holler for Scott (or me, if he hears me going to bed, which these days isn't long after he does!). When we inquire what he needs, he'll say "what's the score? Is it still 2-1?"

And now, when Zach wakes up in the morning, the first question - literally, I do not exaggerate - is "who won the game last night? The Twins or the xx?" And he floored both of us the morning after he and Scott had been watching a Boston-Tampa Bay game (a rare night when the Twins weren't on tv... so another baseball game was). That morning, the question was "Who won the game - the Red Sox or the Rays?"

Fun with friends

In Stillwater with Wendy and Vincent, first at Teddy Bear Park:

Then a picnic by the St. Croix River:

^ Doesn't he look like he's saying "nah-nah-nah-nah boo boo" in the first picture?

A BBQ at the Roses:

^Kasey and Zach splashing in the pool

^You can't really tell, but this is Charlie's first time through a sprinkler... sigh.

^Serious and silly as they rock the lazy-boy

A smile

A little bit of a smile to wish you a good weekend.

1 month old

Happy 1 month birthday Charlie!


^Snoozing his way through the day

^His crooked grin

^Not mad, just yawning

^Contemplative


^Can you tell how much he's grown in 3 weeks?

4 weeks?!?!?

I confess Scott and I looked at each other the Friday of our first week on our own after Charlie was born and agreed that it had been the longest week. But now I feel like the time is starting to fly by - Charlie is 4 weeks old already!

Our poor little guy seems to have caught some version of our colds. His nose has been stuffed up pretty much this whole week. It's pathetic to hear the noises he's making, especially when he's trying to sleep. We had a couple rough nights as a result, but really, he's handling it well (last night he went four hours between feedings - whoo hoo!). I'm not sure if it'll last, but I've noticed like his dad, Charlie always sneezes multiple times - no single sneezes for this kid!

Let's see, what else? Oh - his umbilical cord fell off last weekend! So he finally got his first real bath. I'll include some pictures of that shortly, though I confess they're not going to be very good. We had the shower running while we gave him a bath, hoping the steam would help relieve his congestion. Charlie loved the bath. It was pretty funny - three of us (yes, it took the entire family to give Charlie a bath) sweating away in the steam while little Charlie happily sat in his bathtub.

Otherwise, I don't have much new to report. He is starting to stay awake a bit more during the day - mostly late afternoon and the evenings. So far Charlie doesn't appear to have a "witching hour" - at least not a major one where he's inconsolable. Please let that remain true! He still doesn't cry at night - he lays in his bed and makes all sorts of noises for up to an hour before he sounds even remotely upset. During the day that's not as true - when he's hungry he lets me know. But hunger seems to be the only reason he ever cries - he's truly a laid-back baby!

I don't know for sure how much he's grown - I would guess he's near 7.5 lbs now. He's starting to get too big for the preemie clothes, but newborn sizes are still a little roomy (and 0-3s are huge!). But he's growing, filling out!

^ Blurry but the first picture capturing a sort of smile; not enjoying tummy time

^ On his new blankie from the Owens family; Kasey practicing her big sister skills

Snuggling with dad... we have so many pictures of Zach and Scott like this!

Brotherly advice

As I mentioned before, both Charlie and Zach have been receiving all sorts of gifts from our generous friends and family. We have appreciated all of them, but I have to highlight one in particular. Zach got a card from our friend Aiden (who will be 8 in August), and it's clear that Aiden put a great deal of thought, time, and effort into the gift. In case you can't see it in the picture, the card reads "Ways to Take Care of Your New Baby" - and it's full of great brotherly advice for Zach:

1. Give him hugs

2. Give him kisses

3. Play with him nicely

4. Keep him entertained

5. Sing to him

6. Love him

7. Feed him

8. Give him drinks

9. Make him laugh

10. Give him naps

11. Let him tackle you

12. Give him piggy back rides

13. Teach them how to run and walk

14. Teach them how to jump

15. Let them chase you

16. Teach him how to roll and crall

17. Give him toys

Zach already does great with numbers 1, 2, 5 and 6. And he's working hard on #9! We are so looking forward to when both boys are ready to tackle the rest of the list. :)

We'll be hanging on to this card for a long long time!

May 9th

Today is May 9th - the day Charlie was supposed to be due. It's absolutely amazing to think about, that I could still have been pregnant these last three weeks, instead of spending time getting to know our little guy. How different the last three weeks could have been! And I wouldn't change a thing.

Today is May 9th - Mother's Day. A day to reflect on all the moms in your life. I am lucky, on so many counts. First, to have my mom. I often think about my own childhood when trying to decide how to handle the various challenges my kids throw me. I've learned a lot from my mom and to this day don't know what I'd do without her. And that's just her as a mom - you should see her as a grandma!! Second, to not only have a mother-in-law I like and respect, but who also rocks in the grandma role. My boys are so lucky to be loved by all the moms in their lives. Third, I am surrounded by so many amazing moms, friends I rely on for daily support, who provide the opportunity to vent and then laugh about the ups and downs of motherhood. I've learned so much from all of you, and I'm so grateful to have you in my life! And last, but absolutely not least, that I am blessed to be the mom of two healthy boys. Nothing could be better.

Today is May 9th - our friend Brady's 5th birthday. We had the chance to attend his birthday party on Friday, which started at a local "Pump It Up" - a big warehouse filled with elaborate bounce houses, inflatable slides, and obstacles courses. Zach had a blast... jumping and then jumping some more:


Then he discovered they had an air hockey game (the place where he gets his hair cut has an air hockey table; he's actually been asking to get his hair cut lately so he can play!):

And then there was the cake...


Charlie slept and ate his way through the party, not realizing the fun he was missing!

I hope you all enjoy whatever May 9th brings you!

Our Charliebug

I was a little nervous before Charlie was born, because I had received so many warnings that the second baby is usually nothing like the first. Since Zach was a relatively easy baby, I was picturing our second as a baby who wouldn't stop crying, who had reflux or colic, who would get his nights mixed up with his days, etc etc. And... somehow we hit the jackpot again.

Don't get me wrong, we don't have that miracle newborn who sleeps 8 hours at a stretch. While there's certainly no pattern yet, I count myself lucky if he goes three hours between feedings. We've had some nights where he's woken every two hours to eat - those are not my favorite nights. But once he went four whole hours, so I'll just keep hoping we have a repeat of that.

One of my favorite things about this little guy? He does not wake me up by crying. In fact, he never cries at night. Instead, I wake up to the very sweet sound of snuffling and grunting, as Charlie does his very best to get some part of his hands into his mouth. Ehh, ehh, ahhh, mhmmm! A much better way to wake up than the adrenaline rush that comes when you wake up to a screaming baby.

It took us a few nights to get to this stage with Charlie. The first few nights he ended up sleeping with Scott (who somehow can manage to sleep while holding a newborn) for some portion of the night; he absolutely would not fall or stay asleep by himself. I was concerned, to say the least; we are not co-sleeping people. But then we realized the reason he wouldn't sleep was that he was desperately fighting to get his hands out from under the swaddling blanket. So now we swaddle him with his hands up near his jaw - and voila - a happy baby who does his best to soothe himself when he wakes up! Looking back, we remember that in every one of our three ultrasounds he always had his hands by his face - clearly his comforting method.

The whole snuffling sounds thing presents a dilemma for me, since I don't want to get up and feed him until he's truly hungry. But his cute little noises are enough to wake me up, and I don't really want to lay there awake for a half hour until his noises get a little bit more urgent and distressed either. One solution is to move him into his own room, of course, since he's currently sleeping in Scott's closet. But I'm not ready to wander all the way down the hall several times a night quite yet. So I think in the meantime I'll just keep trying to learn to sleep through the sounds emanating from the closet.

I took Charlie in to the pediatrician for a weight check on Friday. When we left the hospital that Monday, Charlie had dropped from 6 lbs 2 ozs to 5 lbs 11 oz. By Wednesday at his pediatrician check-up he had gained 2 oz. The doctor wanted him back to his birth weight by last Friday, based on the estimation that he would gain somewhere between one half and one full ounce per day. So that gave him 9 days to gain 5 ounces. When I took him in and got him weighed, he was... 6 lbs 9 ounces! He gained 12 ounces in those 9 days - what a rock star. It was nice, to say the least, to get confirmation that he was in fact eating well. Perhaps we'll be able to move on to newborn-size clothes soon!

Let's see, what else can I tell you about our little guy? Since he is either sleeping or eating most of the day, there isn't a lot of news. :) I've been delighted to see several gas "smiles" - he's going to be quite the charmer when he starts smiling for real. He continues to pee about half the times when we change his diaper; either he's getting used to it or we're just better at damage control. He does continue to scream his head off any time his clothes are removed. But trust me, I'm not complaining since that's pretty much the only time he really cries. Like his brother, he goes with the flow.

We have been overwhelmed (again) by the outpouring of good wishes and congrats, from family, friends, and neighbors. And not to mention support - thank you all for the offers of help, whether it's an outing for Zach or a meal for all of us. We count ourselves as truly lucky to have all of you in our lives.