My Daddy...

Tucker-Proofing

I don't know if it'll work when he watched how the lock works...we'll see.

One month comparison

Update

Riker:
Just hanging out and being cute
Riker survived his first month in the McLain house...a real miracle considering how much Tucker LOVES him. We had to take him in to get his weight checked and he's still under 10 pounds, which is a little lower than what we'd like at this point. Nothing to worry about, but we're going to check it again next week. He is officially too big for Newborn size clothing though...I got to get my first batch of baby stuff together that we should never need again--woo hoo! He's a super sweet baby, and pretty much only cries when he's hungry or being wallered to death by his brother. He usually wakes up twice in the night so he's still sleeping in the living room rather than in with Maeli. He snores pretty loud for such a little dude. Overall we really like him, and have a hard time getting over how stinkin' cute he is--especially in nothing but a diaper.

Tucker:
Hanging out with Grandpa, and tyring to figure out why I won't let go of his arm so he can "love" on Riker
I think Tuck is still adjusting to the missing grandparents he became so used to having around. He really does love Riker and spends a lot of his time trying to just rest his head on top of Rikers. He has been a lot more vocal when he's upset about something, and his recent growth spurt has caused a new wave of "baby-proofing" to sweep the household. He can reach the kitchen counters and the table...heaven help us. He's our big sweet monster boy. Big because he's solid and super strong. Sweet because he has no idea or intention of hurting anyone. The most malicious thing he does is swipe binkys which he always quickly gives back when his target starts to cry. He loves to give kisses, but hasn't realized that you don't have to use teeth to show affection, we're still working on that. He's super busy, but would sit and play for hours if you just followed him around and played his game, or let him sit by you while you played yours...unfortunately, that doesn't happen a lot at our house, so he's forced to entertain himself--hence the monster. We love our Tucker...he's at the stage that makes you truly appreciate nap time.

Maeli:
Dressed up for a party for Daddy's school, and Her first time eating ribs
I heard once that the terrible twos actually start at 18 months...I'd just like to know when they end. Maeli is so sweet, but is definitely "emotional" about life in general. I fear that the drama might just grow exponentially. I think if she didn't view Tucker as her nemesis, she'd be fine, but as long as he's awake, he's doing something wrong. As soon as he's asleep they're best friends and she has a million reasons to wake him up so they can play. She seems pretty indifferent to Riker most of the time...she likes to hold him when it suits her, and she loves to pick out his clothes and jammies, but for the most part she just ignores him. Now "her" babies are in constant need of some kind of attention that she must get to right away and she's often "too busy" to go potty or come eat lunch. She is doing pretty well with the potty training and her "post-baby regression" seems to be coming to an end. She's at a stage where everything out of her mouth is just hysterical and I love when we have time to chat. She references everything with "yesterday" or "tomorrow" but is accurate as far as whats in the past and what is in the future. She's very anxious for her birthday so she can be three and sleep in a big princess bed and have no binkys (Jeremy and I bought her new bedding to soften the no binky rule after her birthday). She is a good helper, and I fear that if she didn't have such a good vocabulary I'd be going bonkers with no one to talk to...she's my saving grace most days.

i

Me and Jeremy are doing well. I'm pretty much all recovered from surgery and I've started walking with a friend in the mornings when the weather is nice. I'm not totally adjusted to life at home yet, but I think we're starting to get in some kind of groove. I took all 3 kids to Safeway the other day and we survived for almost a full 10 minutes...I thought that was pretty good. We're all missing the extra pair of hands that grandma provided, but it hasn't been as rough as I feared it might have been. Jeremy is a little less busy at work right now, although I don't expect that will last, so he'd been able to be home in time for dinner most days, and its been wonderful to have him home in the evenings. We're trying to figure out our summer plans and making sure we'll have some time to camp and I promised Jeremy he'd get to go fishing at least once this year...its going to be a busy few months, but full of good things. We're heading to Oregon for Memorial Day weekend to bless Riker at church and it'll be fun to show him off to all the sister...we have lots over there. Other than that we're mostly taking things one day at a time. Its busy, but I really do feel like I'm supposed to be home with the kids...although Jeremy said he wouldn't mind trading me--for a day or two. I hope within a year or so I'll be able to have some kind of order to our lives, but I'm not going to stress about it--yet.

1 week

We survived week one...of course we still have a three grown-ups to three kid ratio thanks to Grandma.
Riker had an appointment with Dr. Hall and so far we get to keep him. He's gown 1/4 of an inch, and we need 12 oz by next week to be back up to his birth weight. Heart and lungs are great and Dr. Hall said he's very glad that my tubes are tied because its very stressful delivering my huge babies who hate to breath.

Riker seems to be a pretty content little Dude. He eats about every 4 hours, excepts in the late evening when he'd rather eat non-stop. He sleeps very well almost anywhere in the house and doesn't seem to be bothered by the noise of Maeli and Tucker living here. He hates having his diaper changed and seems to be very sensitive to the cold of wipes. He has a pretty strong neck and likes to check out his surroundings. He poops a ton and likes to chew on any of his fingers. So far, we really like him and I think we'll keep him for a while.

I'm doing very well too. Dr. Hall took a look at my incision and all is well. I'm feeling pretty good, which I attribute entirely to the fact that Gramma has taken the night-shift every night since we got home from the hospital. I wake up to find a hungry Riker all changed and ready to eat. I'm down to just Ibuprofen once or twice a day, so I think that's pretty good. I today I put on some fat-girl pants instead of maternity pants, so I think that's pretty good too.

Miss Maeli...

I was eating my breakfast and heard Maeli saying her letters, and then in the middle she said "chicken" then more letters, and then "pig butt" I turned around and she had all of our leapfrog magnets from the letter factory and the farm and lined up on the washing machine. There was indeed, some chicken and the second part of the pig in the middle of her letters. She's so funny sometimes.

Lets Wrestle!

Dad invited the battle by laying on the floor. Tucker waits until he's unsuspecting, and then pounces like a cheetah.
Maeli jumps in to tag team, just as Tucker is bounced off of Dad's shoulder.
Who will win?
I think we have to declare Tucker the Ultimate Champion, but he was a gracious winner and gave his opponent a big kiss.

Bath Time

After a while, we got to thinking that maybe this boy needed another bath (he had one in the hospital)...especially after some serious kisses from his big brother. He wasn't really a big fan of the actual bath part of things.He did like being snuggled up in a towel though...all my babies used this towel...sigh.
All clean! A little self-soothing while mom get some clothes on this boy.

Siblings

Tucker is so crazy about his brother. He just wants to snuggle him all the time. Unfortunately, Tucker's snuggles involve laying on his head, and kisses are a full open-mouthed slime fest somewhere on Riker's face. But the boys are so darn cute together.And here's Tucker trying to climb into the baby chair to give Riker a little snuggle. We quickly decided this chair is for night-time, and when Tucker is napping.A few failed attempts and it would seem that Tucker is unable to get into the baby swing. But he's always keeping a close eye, and often re-tries to swing with his brother.
Maeli has taken on the role of silent protector. She always bringing Riker a toy (hence the Piglet) or a blanket (hence the purple) or telling Tucker to get a way from "the new baby." She doesn't like it at all when he's hungry, or sad and always blames Tucker for disrupting the peace (which is often accurate).

Homecoming

Jeremy got Riker all ready to come home from the hospital. He picked the outfit that we got from his sister Dannell, which was actually the outfit we were going to bring Tucker home in, but then didn't have it with us in Spokane. Riker looks pretty spiffy though. We could have stayed at the hospital until Thursday, but I figured we might as well come home and face the inevitable craziness of the McLain household.
He was sleeping so nicely, he didn't even know what was about to happen...
Maeli had been anxiously anticipating our arrival since Dad dropped her and Tucker off after school. She was so excited to see her new brother at home that she tried to pick him up out of the car seat before Jeremy even had time to unbuckle him.
Tucker came a runin' to see what all the fuss was about. I think at first he was just super excited to see Jeremy and me at home.
Then we had to start the turn taking so that everyone could get the snuggles out of their system and poor Riker could get back to his nap.