Hey! I have that one!

Oliver has become an avid collector of Cars 2 Cars. He has all except 2 or 3. He's such a fan that he likes going onto YouTube and searching for homemade videos of children playing with the toys he has and doesn't have, so that he can learn more about them. There is a guy online who is a big Disney/Pixar collector that Oliver has begun following. His handle is "Blucollection" and Oliver loves to mimic the demonstrations he does. He brings his toys to watch and follow along. Here he is watching a Sidley the jet video from the Vlogger while holding his own Sidley. It's funny that in a world where Oliver doesn't see commercials (we have Tivo and we use Netflix, HBOgo, Amazon, etc. for television content) he has found a way to consume commercial content. He definitely uses it as a way to learn about the toys he doesn't have, and to nag mom and dad about them!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Blucollection?feature=g-all-u

Claire: 1-2 months old

Claire is doing so much better after her big cold. That was a huge stresser for us but she pulled through with antibiotics. The greatest thing we can say about Claire is that she is a good sleeper. Much different than her older brother was. She usually goes to bed between 11pm and 1am, and sleeps in until 6am. So that's HUGE.
She spits up a ton like Oliver did and is getting a bit fussy due to acid reflux and gas. She's smiling already and loves to look into the eyes of the person holding her, smiling and cooing. She's a good eater now and is chunking up nicely.

4 weeks

Matthew and I are getting used to the 2 kid household. Claire slept through the night for the first time last night which was a lot sooner than her older brother did. I'm not holding my breath that it will happen regularly though.

Claire is similar to Oliver in that she's super fussy at night. It would have been nice to have one child that didn't scream from 6-8pm each day for months on end. I'm getting used to the numbness of just sitting with a baby that cries and not taking it personally. I can tell this time around that I'm a little older, and that I don't have as much energy to please.

Claire is a great eater and very strong. She is already lifting her head up and about half way to rolling over. She loves music with a strong beat and is starting to get interested in lights. We've been reading her the books we have that are black and white and she's responding to the high contrast of the images.

Oliver is in a lot of classes these days. He goes to Bing each week on MWF and he's enrolled in both swimming lessons and also soccer. He's a little scared of the swimming lessons. I felt bad when he asked me if he could get out and be done, and his instructor is a little bit of a rough guy. But... a little fear is a good thing. I totally hated swimming lessons and I love to swim now.

Soccer class is a little silly, but he likes it. I had hoped it would be a little more real than it is. It's more of a, "kick the ball to the frisbee and you get a stamp," kind of a thing. Still, it's good at getting him to follow directions as he moves his body.

Dynamic Duo

Day 15

Claire is now waking up and looking alive now and then. She still primarily wakes to feed but the feeding time is longer, and then there is an hour of restless colic before she goes down. She seems to have gas, so we got some colic ease drops for her. I wish she would rest on a blanket and just chill, but I don't think her eyesight is good enough yet to let her just lay and stare.

Oliver is in a bedtime story rut. The same three books for the last week or so at bed. All about trucks. One is a library book, one a picture book and the last one is the Richard Scary Things that Go book. We just turn each page looking for Goldbug.

We've had lots of visitors over the long weekend and are very thankful for all the great food and gifts folks have received.

Claire is born!

I induced labor on Jan.2, 2012 after having 12 hours of contractions that weren't gaining in momentum. Claire was almost 9 pounds so I'm so glad I didn't wait any longer! The delivery was super smooth. I barely felt any pain and the delivery was much faster than doctors expected.

We are now settled at home and getting used to the new baby with existing baby routine. Which basically means you have that same vampire lifestyle of being up all night but now need to be taking your toddler to preschool, swim lessons and other activities. Some people say having a second child is more than twice the work. I'm not sure about that but I'm definitely exhausted. Exhausted to the bone. Thankfully the recovery from pregnancy has been faster (though more painful) this time around.

Baby Claire is just beautiful, and so far has a great disposition. She's a big eater and sleeps for relatively long stretches at a time (3 hours). She doesn't cry much (so far). She looks a lot like Oliver did at this age and it's such a thrill to have a little girl this time around.

Oliver is a great big brother. He's been very understanding and has seemed to mature drastically in the last week to help us out. I'm very proud of the way he has responded to this huge change in life.

Like brother like sister