Buddies

I hope they always get along like this. But if they don't, I have these pictures to prove they once did!

Whenever we go wake Lila up in the morning, or from a nap, Hayden wants to get in her bed with her. It's really precious. He loves her so much. You're always worried about how siblings will react, but Hayden is so loving and caring when she's upset, when she's crying, when she's hurt or sad. He sings to her, rubs her hair, brings her toys and talks to her. He really does have the biggest heart.

Hayden loves the bath, and was upstairs when I was giving Lila a bath the other night. He asked if he could get in and play, and they had a blast! Lila likes to chew the letters, and Hayden thought she'd really enjoy some bathtub drumming with chopsticks. And Onyx was there to lick all the water they splashed out of the tub.

Bath time!

Bath time is a far more enjoyable event in our house with Miss Lila now that she's out of the baby tub! I think she just didn't like the confinement, or maybe the position she had to sit in. But now that she's free to roam the tub, she is a happy camper!

She LOVES her duckies, and the foam letters that sometimes make their way back to the kids' bathroom from mommy's tub. Hayden prefers the garden tub, so most of the toys are now in my bathroom.

Her hair is still super curly, and getting longer and longer!

Bubbles

Well, she's still not sold on bath time yet, but she's having a little more fun!

Our ped suggested dandruff shampoo to help with her cradle cap and holy cow, what a difference! Not only does it clear up the cradle cap, but it makes her hair a lot more manageable as well.

Lila's first bath

Well it took that silly little stump forEVER to fall off, so Lila finally got her first real bath after almost three weeks. Just in the nick of time, since she was pretty over the sponge bath. But she has so much hair, and is prone to spit up so it gets stuck in all that pretty hair, so it became a necessary evil. I'm so glad I took an infant massage class with Hayden so I can use the same techniques on Lila.

I put her in the tub with her diaper on while I got the water ready, and so she could get a feel for the mesh part of her tub. I love this little tub!

She didn't love it, that's for sure! But we got through it, and after a few more baths have figured out what she likes and what she doesn't. I love to cuddle her after her bath, and she appreciates the extra snuggles.

Mommy moments

Today was a busy day for us, so Hayden took a late nap. I woke him up after 2.5 hours and we played for a bit before his dinner. He ate veggies and puffs and was his usual cheerful self, feeding Oscar when he could and making lots of fun noises. Then it was bath time, Hayden's favorite time of day. He loves to play with his toys and the water, and it's such a happy time for both of us. When he was done I picked him up and wrapped him in a big towel and just held him for a minute and thought about how much he's grown. He's such a squirmer and a wiggler and hates to be confined, but tonight he let me just hold him a minute in that towel with his wet hair and drops of water on his eyelashes. He looked up at me with that unmistakably-Jay smile, and just let me be his mommy. I know these moments are few and far between as he gets older and gets too cool for mom, so for now I'm soaking up as many as I can!

What a fun day!

Today we went to work with Jay! There was a family fun run for us wives and kids, so we put on our workout gear and headed to post with Jay. Baby Hayden got us out of a LOT of running, thanks little buddy! But we had fun watching everyone be silly and get blasted with water balloons. Hayden especially enjoyed all the time on Jay's shoulders, and playing in the grass.

It's been a BIG day for him! His other lower central incisor is coming in, so that's tough for him. He also did some noticeable crawling today, instead of his usual on-the-belly-using-the-arms crawl. He also took his first bath in the big tub, without the help of his baby bath tub. He LOVES the water and splashing and playing with his toys. He's all packed and ready to go to the states, which is more than I can say for his parents! We're going to dinner and running some last minute errands before we get all packed up and ready to leave tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Getting into the swing of things!

I'm happy to report that we all survived Hayden's first real bath! Not without incident of course, because we're new parents. Jay was hanging out with Hayden while I got the bathroom ready for his bath. Diaper, wipes, bath towel, washcloths, check the water temperature, soap, turn on the heater, close the door. Finally we're ready, and strip off his diaper. Jay goes to sit him in his baby bathtub, and is certain the water is "just too cold". I assure him I used a thermometer, and it's just right. He insists I check it again, and lifts Hayden out. So what happens when you put a baby in water and take him out? Of course, he pees. What happens when your six-foot-tall husband is holding him? Of course, he holds him right over your shoulder. So we all got a little wet, and as it turns out the water was the perfect temperature. Lesson learned! But we had fun washing him and rubbing his little baby lotion and getting him ready for bed, so it was worth it.

Thanksgiving was Hayden's first holiday, and we finally got our first family picture (minus Oscar). We spent it with our friends, The Pollards, and said goodbye to the Millers and Lambsons who are headed back to the states. Turkey, all the trimmings and of course, video games for the boys. The kids all had a blast playing with each other, and Hayden somehow slept through all the crazy noise. Oscar enjoyed the leftovers, and some much-needed attention from the kids and adults. He's been a little neglected since Hayden got here, but he's taking it well.

We continue to get used to Hayden at home. Some nights he sleeps two hours, wakes up to eat and goes right back to sleep for two more hours. More often, he wakes up at 2:30am to eat, and is awake until at least 5am before he nods back off. So we still have our days and nights mixed up, but we'll get there! He makes the best faces in his sleep, and we love to look at his little arms and hands. Like mommy, he kicks the covers off his feet, and like both of us, he likes to lay his head on his arms. He has so much personality already!

Life at home

Well we've officially survived our first week at home! What a week it's been though. Hayden still prefers to sleep during the day and be awake at night. But now his awake time at night is a little quieter. He's alert but not crying, so we'll take it. We move around, from the bassinet to the rocker to the bed to the swing downstairs, depending on what kind of mood we're in. We have NO schedule to speak of, which is made easier by Jay's 10 days of paternity leave (thank you, Army). He signs back in tomorrow, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, so when it's all said and done he'll have had two whole weeks with us. And the Christmas holiday is just around the corner!

A big thanks to Leigh, Amanda, Judy and Megan who were Hayden's first visitors in the hospital! Since then he's been lucky enough to meet the Meyers, Millers and Pollards, but most importantly, Oscar! Everyone has been asking how Oscar is doing with the baby, and truthfully he just kind of tolerates him right now. He likes to sniff him, understands that we need to give the baby lots of attention, and is fine as long as we share some of that attention while the baby sleeps. I think once Oscar can lick him and play with him, he'll be just as smitten as we are.

So far it's been a busy life for little Hayden! We have survived our first sponge bath; took our first trip out of the house (in the snow!) to visit the commissary and the Pollards, which of course included our first round-trip in the car; we've tested out the swing and come to love the bassinet-level of the playpen; and mommy even managed to cut and file his nails without a tranquilizer (for me!). Hayden's umbilical cord stump fell off rather quickly, as did his plastibell cover from his circumcision, so we're ready for our first real bath! We're also learning the tricks of the trade to avoid getting peed on, but he can be tricky. I did have to wake Jay up in the middle of the night once this weekend to change Hayden's clothes while I changed the sheets in the bassinet.

Next week starts our rounds of paperwork to get Hayden firmly entrenched into the military system. This week, however, we're still just relaxing and looking forward to Thanksgiving with our Army family!