These Days

Changing...  Always changing...  I think I have Eliot and Jack figured out and suddenly they change.

Jack got to the point that he was only waking up once or twice a night, so I thought this could be a good time to transition him to his crib.  Three months is a good age for that, right?  Well, little dude spun it around on me.  He used to go to bed at 10:00 pm at the latest.  Now 11:00 pm is the norm and he still gets up at the same time in the morning.  Nooo!  He is waking up four times a night now, too.  I think it is his teeth, though, because sure enough at three months old, he is cutting those two bottom teeth.  I thought I was crazy at first, but then Chris's mom said that he and his sister both got teeth at three months.

Sometimes our nighttime routine wears me down since Eliot goes crazy at 7:00 pm, then it's always a big argument about bedtime at 8:30 pm.  Then I start trying to convince Jack to sleep at 9:00 pm.  Sometimes Eliot wakes up around 10:00 pm in a frantic, disoriented, confused fit, so it is even more difficult to calm him down.  Poor little guy.  Needless to say, by the time it is all done at 11:00 pm, I am spent.  That's four hours of craziness!  But, I'm doing my best to embrace the nightly insanity, play with Eliot, read to Eliot to calm him down, argue with Eliot lovingly (I always just say, "I love you.  Don't make me get mean with you," and then he stops his fit immediately), and enjoy cuddling with Jack when he refuses to sleep at a reasonable hour.  I know everything is temporary; then it is on to the next confusing phase.

Come morning, I feel like I need another night in order to catch up, but we get going anyway.  We've stayed busy like usual.

There's our weekly aquarium visits.

Chris has done some home improvement projects, like putting up shelves in the garage and planting fall flowers around the mail box.  I've been hanging some prints around the house.

And sometimes we actually have a social life.

I had been hoping to get some cute photos of the boys at a pumpkin patch.  It has been raining for days and days, but today seemed a little, well, less washed out, so we tried it.  It was still wet.  It still rained.  Eliot is against messes, including mud, so I didn't really get the pictures I hoped for.  Another day, I suppose, but the kids were still cute in case it doesn't work out later.

On a daily basis, I look at these two boys together and feel such a full heart.  I thankful for them individually.  I am thankful for them together--their relationship, I mean.  I am thankful for how close they are in age.  I am thankful that I had two boys to love and watch grow together.  Two boys.  Our sons.  Two brothers.  This is just the beginning.