Trace's Two Month Stats

Before I forget (which seems to be the norm around here lately), I will update you with Trace's 2 month appointment height and weight. And the drum roll please...



Weight: 12 lb, 12 oz
Height: 23 1/2 inches
Head: 15 1/2 inches

He is really growing and getting very chubby! However, he is still the little brother weighing in less than his big brother who was 14 lbs, 4 oz at two months. Trace is just 1/4 inch behind Michael on height and head though so hopefully he will be just as tall and just as smart. :o)

(here is the link to Michael's two month post if you are interested!)

Trace took his shots like a champ and slept away the rest of the day and night. Michael was a good helper in the office and we all survived the outing for the day.

In other Trace news...we are trying to start him on bottles to help with the transition to daycare in a few short weeks (eek!). So far it's not going well, but I'm sure it will improve! After Scott tried to give him a little bottle today it took me about 30 minutes to try and calm him down. :o( Poor guy!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

It's hot outside!

Every day, the sun is so hot...there's not even clouds in the sky to help to block it. Ugh. We have major cabin fever here. We've still been getting outside a little bit but it is pretty miserable.

Michael and his bananas. He loves them! For a while he was calling pictures of monkeys "nanas" because I would always say, "there's a monkey, he likes to eat bananas." Or in some books, the monkey is actually holding a banana so we have to point that out too. I can see how the kid gets confused.

We are also having major summer hair issues. Both of us. Hopefully one of ours will be resolved before school begins.

My poor baby chipped his front tooth at daycare. We took him to the dentist to have it looked at and that was an equally upsetting experience....I think we will be exploring the world of pediatric dentistry from now on. Our dentist thinks it will be fine, we just have to watch it and make sure it doesn't get infected or do anything weird. Until then, he'll have hockey teeth until whenever it falls out.

In other happenings...



Yay for friends! (Hi, Kelly!)



Yay for rainbow fruit (and for pinterest for making my previous fruit arranging skills feel inadequate).



And yay for sleeping babies (even though I think he is trying to sneak a peek out of one eye).

Pretty Pots

My two front step pots have been looking just gorgeous lately, so I thought I would share them with you!

I am so afraid they are going to die in this insane heat- it's been 110+ degree heat indexes for a few days and I've been watering all my pots two times a day in hopes of keeping them alive and well. My other plants around the yard are loving the warm, humid weather and are growing like weeds. Unfortunately my weeds are also loving it and are growing well, like weeds.

I love the coleus and it might be a regular around here in future summers. My trailing plants have also covered up my ugly pots...yay!

And because I am lazy- I'm going to make you do the clicking work if you want to see more:

Here is what they looked like in May.
Here, here and here are some of my pots in years past.

Trace is two months old!

Trace is two months old! Wow...how time flies. It's crazy, really. Day by day, Trace just seems to becoming more of a normal member of our family and things seem to be getting easier. He really is a good baby and I think he is going to have lots of fun with his big brother growing up. My brother and I are close in age also and all my memories from growing up are of me and him...we sure got into a lot of trouble. He was always the mastermind and I was his minion. Hopefully that won't be the case with Trace and Michael, but I'm sure they will get into lots of trouble also!

Anyway, Trace is growing and growing. He is a great eater and his sleeping is really improving. Lately he's been doing lots of 4-5 hour stretches and I really enjoy it! I feel like if I can just get a big chunk of sleep in at the beginning of the night then it's not so bad. He is also getting very strong and can keep his head steady, prop himself up during tummy time, and can bear weight on his legs when being held.



Trace has started smiling at us and he likes to talk with little coos and noises. It is so, so sweet. He likes to look at his toys and really likes to watch his big brother.

He is wearing mostly 0-3 month clothing and wears size 1 diapers. His two month well baby check is on Friday so we'll have the official height and weight stats then.

(and just because I love this photo so much, here it is again in black and white. I think he looks like a little baby doll. Also new discovery: our house has excellent natural light at 6 a.m....oy!)

Comparisons

Michael and Trace: some days I think they look like twins and other days I think they look totally different...but you can definitely see similarities!

Trace has a different smile for sure; Michael has always had a goofy little smile! They both have beautiful blue eyes and a cute little mouth. Trace's ears stick out a little bit but I think Michael's are bigger.

I am so excited to watch both of my boys change and grow through the years. There is no doubt that they are brothers!

Trace's Newborn Portraits

Trace got his newborn portraits done right away, when he was just 5 days old. We were on the fence about getting them done but now that we've gotten the portraits back, I am SO glad we did them. They are beautiful and I'm so excited to share them with you!

We bought a large print of the first image and it is beautiful. I have a special project I am working on that hopefully I can share with you soon to showcase my portraits - but like all DIY projects I attempt, it is taking about 20 times as long as it should. We also have a smaller portrait of the second image, to match a similar one we have when Michael was a newborn.

And to give credit where it is very deservedly due...check out His & Hers photography for more beautiful portraits!

A New Normal

I keep thinking to myself that one of these days things are going to click and I'm not going to be so tired and I won't feel like I'm just trying to do just enough to scrape by every day. I keep thinking I will get everything all scheduled out and we'll all be happy, organized, and healthy. That the house could be clean, I would be all caught up on laundry, the kids entertained, and maybe even get some exercise in. For things to just get back to normal...

But what is normal, anyway?

Of course I expected life to change after having a baby, but it is still hard. I think having a little baby is hard no matter what, let alone trying to tackle life on top of it. I keep reminding myself that things do get easier....but sometimes it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when even getting to the grocery store seems like a big feat.

But really...could normal be better than these two little guys?

I'm sure we will get back into the swing of things sometime but for now we are just taking it day by day. We have some awesome days and some days that are a challenge, but we are still trying to make each one count.

Here's to our new normal!