The Lewis Family Blog: January 2011

Cameron is changing so much lately. I forget how quickly babies go through their stages, seems like every week he changes and does something new. He found his left hand and sucks on his thumb whenever he can find it. He smiles a lot more now and coos. Yes... it puts a huge smile on our face to see him do that. He follows me with his eyes, and is so much more alert now. He's sleeping at night and I am so grateful for that! Anywhere from 6 to almost 8 hrs! woo hoo! I have figured out how to cope with his evening eating habits, he has to get burped a LOT! For some reason he gets a lot of air, and that's what causes him to be so fussy. At least that's what I think... and it has gotten a bit better, I can just tell when he's getting upset so I stop feeding and burp, sometimes it's 4 to 6 times during a feeding, not the normal 2 times. He's eating like a champ and is already growing out of the 3 month clothing.

Here are his stats from the 2 month appointment:

Height: 24 inches - 78%
Weight: 11 lbs 8 oz - 34%
Head Circ: 15.25 inches - 16%

He loves his sister, and pretty much stops crying when she stops by the bouncer or the swing to see him. When Cameron cries, Sascha drops everything and runs over to see if he's ok, I thought that would wear off by now, but she still does it. She also wants to be the one to put the pacifier in his mouth to stop him from crying. She knows where to look for it too! What a great little helper! Whenever we meet someone or see someone at the park that she hasn't seen, she wants to tell them that she has a baby brother. She calls him baby brother all the time and when we go somewhere she asks "What about baby brother?", as if we would have forgotten to bring him if she didn't remind us.

Having both of them 2 days a week has been fun. Lots of work and I really don't get much downtime unless I get them asleep at the same time, which is just enough time to eat lunch, check email, and may be a load of laundry, but I try to catch up on the other days when I don't have both kids at home with me. On Thursday's we go to the Learn & Play library time, which is great. There are stations set up to do arts and crafts, play doh, and other things and the last 20 minutes is story time. On Tuesday we either go to the park or another story time at a different library. We'll start going to Sea World soon, since we have the passes, as well as some indoor play areas. I am so thankful for this time off to spend with both of them. I know I will truly miss it when I go back to work. Hopefully I will be able to work 4 days a week instead of 5, and then plan some fun things for us to do on that day off.

It's been tough to keep up with the blog and sometimes I wonder why I even do this, no one really reads it, except for a few people and me. But once I get done with a post, I feel happy that I did make time to write my thoughts down. It's amazing how quickly we forget things, and I know Daddy and I will be glad we did this and who knows, maybe I can even put it into a book for the kids one day. I am sure it will be fun for them to read more about their childhood since we seldom have any memories of it ourselves. So one of my new years resolutions is not to abandon the blog, even though life is a bit busier now with two kiddos and to finish this post I've had to stay up really really late.

Here is what we've been up to during the Holiday Season. Sascha absolutely loved having lights put up on the house and our Christmas tree and all the other decorations we had to celebrate the holiday. She told everyone at preschool how daddy put up lights. She wanted to go check out other people's lights too and even made a comment that our neighbor Mr. Matt had more lights on his house. It was hilarious that she communicated that she would be happier if we had more pretty lights on the house.

Of course, Daddy went out and bought even more lights to put up after that. Of course we took you to Christmas card lane, and another beautiful light display in Poway near aunt Inna's house, as well as drove though Pepper Dr. that's famous for lights too. So you got plenty of it! You pointed out many Santas and Snowmen. We happened to just take the tree and the lights down a few days ago, and you were really really sad to see them go. You almost cried and said you wanted them back. You came downstairs that morning and literally just stood there staring at the empty space in the corner of the room with all of the loose tree needles that had fallen as a reminder of your tree. We had to explain to you that once Santa comes and goes, the decorations, lights, and the tree also goes until next year. You also loved the holiday music, and sang jingle bells all the time... still do. We also went to December nights at Balboa Park. It was one of our first outings as a family of 4, and was a bit challenging because there was no private place at the park for me to feed baby Cameron, and Sascha decided to have a tantrum for no reason, but we got through it and learned from it too.

We had the joy of watching you at your preschool holiday performance. It was ADORABLE! You sang, you danced, you jingled the bells. You did all the little things that were asked of you, and we were so proud. You seemed to really enjoy being up on the little stage in front of everyone, when we expected you to be very shy. You were so excited that we believe you were the child that initiated all of the rambunctious jumping up and down.

Daddy was off between Christmas and New Years so we really enjoyed getting out of the house and making new memories. We went to the Zoo and to Sea World, where Sascha was so elated to get the chance to see her favorite sea animal: the penguins, and she also had the privilege of meeting Elmo and watching the Sesame Street dancing show. Finally we celebrated Daddy's Birthday by going to see Tangled together, which Sascha loved every second of. Little brother Cameron came along most places, except for the movies.

Christmas day was a lot of fun, as expected. You fell asleep on the way home from daddy's birthday dinner so we didn't get a chance to do the ringing of the bells outside your window or other things, but I did leave carrots, cookies and milk for Santa so that you would see the next morning that he was here. I am not sure you got that part of it... but you sure loved opening all the gifts! Grandma Sherry came over with Zac and she shared some of the traditional food recipes that your daddy is so used to eating during the holidays. Daddy really wanted to learn how to make some of the things his Grandpa Carl used to make, and he spent almost all day in the kitchen, which was interesting to observe. I have to say, the food was delicious. We can just hope that Daddy is up to the task again next year :) You played shoots & ladders with uncle Zac. Baba and Deda came over to spend time with us too and we even played cards and Jenga afterwards. All the excitement of the day was probably a bit overwhelming for you, because we couldn't get you to fall asleep. Eventually around 10pm, Daddy brought you down because you sat on the stairs hiccuping and let you play a round of Jenga with us before everyone left to go home.

On New Years Eve we had another Christmas celebration with Grandpa David and Grandma Laurie since he had just gotten back from Denver. You got even more spoiled at there house with gifts! The absolute winner was the radio flyer car and ramp set that you couldn't stop riding in the backyard. It was so hilarious. You would get on the little car, have your cousin Angelina or Carolyn push you down the ramp, and then when your car came to a stop, you would jump up and shout "My turn - Again!" over and over. We think you liked that present a little bit.

We celebrated New Years at our friends Leo and Marina's house where you got to run around and play with your buddies Matty and Ben. The highlight of the night had to be when the parents were all attempting to get the three older children to settle down and go to sleep. The strategy was to put them all inside Matty's crib and read them a couple of bedtime stories. Of course, this was flawed, as caging them all up together actually got them even more wound up, but it was too cute. Eventually Marina, with her magic touch, got Sascha to go to sleep with very little resistance. We are going to have to have her come over to our house every night Sascha puts up a battle. We went home shortly after ringing in the new year.

On New Years day we got together with Baba, Deda, Inna, Grisha, & Aaron. That's been a tradition of ours as well since in Russia kids got presents for New Years. We had a nice brunch in La Jolla, enjoyed walking around in the beautiful weather that day and then went back to our house to open gifts.

All in all, our holiday was the most enjoyable yet as a family. We cannot imagine how fun and exciting it will continue to become as the children get older and more aware. I know Daddy and I cannot wait until next year, even though it is so much work!

Cameron is now 8 weeks old. We have his 2 month appointment and shots coming up. He is getting more alert and occasionally coos and smiles. He seems to be eating great and gaining weight well, although evening feedings have become a bit of a problem lately. He refuses to nurse, and starts screaming and I eventually give in and give him a bottle. Frustrating... especially since I can't figure out what's wrong, but just like everything I am sure it's just a phase and will pass. I end up burping you every other minute and you seem to feel better but you won't start eating. Sleeping has been pretty consistent. The longest stretch at night has been 6 hours which is GREAT! I think Sascha may have been sleeping 7 or 8 by now, but I will take 6! He loves to snuggle and be held... of course.

These two little babies are precious gifts in our lives. I love watching Sascha take care of Cameron and get a concerned look on her face when he cries. I am sure Cameron will grow up trying to protect his big sister as well. It's such a blessing watching them grow up into the adorable little people that they are.