Sam seemed in a good mood after I put Jack to nap.  I took advantage of the moment to give him his first real bath.  It was a total success!  He didn't even get close to tears.  I think he might have enjoyed it even.  Now he smells deliciously of clean baby and chamomile.  I gave him a small meal and he fell into a deep sleep - two hours ago.  Rock on.

Lots of baby photos here.  

Sam surprised me by sleeping through the morning!  He usually wakes up every hour after 4 AM.  Instead last night he went from 4:30 to 7:15!  So I was able to sleep in three segments - 3, 2, and 3 hours.

I don't have much else to say.  Here's some photos!

Baby details

Jack having fun at the Apex Center jungle gym





Miranda sent us a care package with adorable booties, moccasins, and returned this toy rack for his bouncer that Cedar had borrowed. 



He's actually batting it a little this morning!

I remarked to Ben that Sam was three weeks old today.  Overhearing us from the backseat, Jack piped up "Sam is three?  He is the same age me was!"  We explained weeks versus years, but he was still tickled that they were both three.

Sam is growing heartily.  (Why do all romper-makers think babies have stumpy legs?  I know my boys are long, but the body fits!  Why are the legs all capri length?)

He really is a good baby too.  He has a nightly fuss starting at 7:30.  But I can manage it easily and it doesn't last the hours that I recall it lasting with Jack.  In general he behaves better than I expect a newborn to behave.  Sam is awake for about an hour at a time, then he naps for 1-2 hours.  At night he goes back to sleep rather quickly with a swaddle and a couple minutes of rocking.


Sam can turn himself from his back to his side.  He hasn't flipped all the way back to front yet, but there have been times I thought he would.  He can hold his head up while sitting for several seconds.  Even longer if he's having a gassy fit ;-)  He already lifts his head a little during tummy time.  (Jack LOVES "tummy time."  I think he likes anything "time."  He gets down on the blanket with Sam and mimics him, or pretends to swim, or does what he thinks are exercise moves.)


Today was a nice day.  Ben worked from home, so I got to see him periodically.  I signed up Jack for some dance and art classes.   That will be fun when they start in a couple weeks.

Today we had our first snow!  I like to make Belgian waffles on the first snow of every year.


Jack was sad the snow wasn't enough to make snowballs, and was melted by 10 AM.


But it was still a lovely October day.  We went for a walk around the neighborhood before going out to lunch with Ben.  (He's trying to make a funny face.  Most of my photos are some variation of this now.) 


During quiet time I cleaned dishes and gave Sam a bath.  After Ben and I finished work and Jack woke up we went to Cherry Creek mall.  Sadly, the play area was torn up for renovations.  So Ben and Jack went to a toy store and bought hoodies at H&M while Sam and I browsed the Janie and Jack store.  I indulged in a cute romper for Sam to wear for his blessing.  We all met up for pizza then went home for a quiet evening. 

Two more Samigrams, just because of the cuteness.  

Amanda generously offered her babysitting services for us today and I was quick to accept.  I've been clinging to this date all week.  A couple hours out of the house, just me and Ben, with no kids' meals, no car seats, no whining, no wiping bottoms, no crying, no pacifying - sign me up!

We had lunch at a relatively new bar in the Baker neighborhood called Punch Bowl Social.  I hear it's crazy nuts to get in during the popular times.  Lunch was deserted.  We had great service and enjoyed the food, despite piddly reviews online.   (A review of the Portland location called it "Applebee's-esque."  Dude, what kind of Applebee's do you have in Oregon?)  I'm a sucker for the hipster design PBS subscribes to: lots of antlers, exposed brick, bare bulbs, chandeliers, rich upholstery, and mason jar cups.  The red curtains made me think of the Alamo wistfully (can't wait to go back there). 

The food wasn't amazing - we suspect the tomatoes were not truly heirloom.  But I enjoyed everything thoroughly.*   I would definitely go back there so long as it's not crowded.  The whole place is cool, with bowling, darts, shuffleboard, and an array of arcade cabinets and pinball.  Ben dropped a few quarters :-)

A quick call to Amanda let us know the boys were ok and we could stay out a little longer.  We popped in Fancy Tiger to browse and chat with Jaime.  There's extra spin nights every night next week.  Maybe I can make it to one.  I haven't spun yarn in ages!  There were no less than three items I wanted to buy, but I resisted temptation.  Between Halloween and Christmas I must stay focused on already planned projects!

Then we wandered up and down Broadway, killing time until the ice cream shop opened. 


Thank you so much, Amanda!  We had a fabulous date!


*Things I love about not being pregnant:

• Eating deli sandwiches
• Eating bacon
• Sleeping on my back
• Sleeping on my side
• Sleeping on my stomach
• Picking things off the ground
• Fitting in my shower
• Holding my pee for hours

Not much to say.  Just some photos and captions.  I'm trying to nap and sleep more.  Sam regularly gets a 3 hour stretch each night.  Last night he even went 4 hours!  He still has a fierce diaper rash that is starting to get sores.  We went on a mini-hunt last night for the heavy duty butt paste. 

Jack seems happy enough, although I feel guilty about how much less attention I can give him now.  Maybe he sees the increase in TV and game time as a fair trade.  I did manage to go on a playdate with some friends yesterday.  Erin has a girl, Nora, who is Jack's age, and her Henry was born the same weekend as Sam.  We were pretty proud of ourselves for getting out.  Stupid Jumpstreet had seasonal hours and were closed when we got there.  But we had fun at the Apex jungle gym instead. 

Besides that: a lot of errands, rocking the bouncer, chocolate milk, and breast milk. 

Onto photos!

This weekend my parents came to visit the kids.  Andy and Jenn came too, to get a break from Salt Lake, meet Sam and the new house, and celebrate Andy's birthday.  Sadly Amanda had to spend most of the weekend on a speech meet.  But she was able to join us today for Sam's blessing and to open birthday presents as her day is next Saturday.

I gladly welcomed the help holding, soothing, burping, and changing Sam and entertaining Jack.  My folks also babysat so we could go to a movie at the Alamo.  Once again, I didn't really want to see it (Gravity) but the allure of the theater pulls me there.

My baby is one month old today. 



I've been writing about him a lot, so I don't have much more to add.  He's beautiful.  He's a good baby.  He went 4.5 hours of sleeping last night.  He's a big guy and has outgrown several outfits already.  He takes a bottle just fine.  He likes his pacifier but doesn't need to keep it in while sleeping.  He smiles at us more every day. 














I love you, Sam.  Welcome to the family! 

(Jack photo-bombed this one and insisted I take his picture before I could resume)

Jack demonstrates head lifting. 

We went to Allendale park again.  It's about a 20 minute walk from our house: ambitious, but not crazy long.  The first time I had Sam in the stroller and had Jack walk.



Jack was worn out by the walk home and had some trouble with scraped knees.  He really wanted me to carry him the last two blocks, which of course I couldn't do.

This time I took Sam on my carrier and pushed Jack in his stroller.


He was thrilled about this arrangement.  I'm on the fence.  On the one hand, I could control our speed and not worry about him wandering off the path.  On the other hand, that's a lot of boy for me to push and carry! 

Both ways, we had a lot of fun.

I'm finding a rhythm to the day and it's nice.  Sam is surprisingly regular about his feedings.  I even got the boys to take naps up in their rooms at the same time, three times this week!  It's so liberating to have them safely snoozing away from me. 

Our trees are not disappointing in the leaf department.  It's actually fun to help with the yard work. 

After feeding Sam, potty helping Jack, changing diapers, and grabbing my robe, I ambled downstairs to start breakfast.  We had leftover bacon from last weekend and I excitedly turned on my oven.  The display briefly turned on, then went dead.  Well, crud.  The range top worked, and so did the oven light.  Grumbling to myself, I pulled out an iron skillet to cook bacon the inferior way, and reported to Ben that I broke the oven. 

We had a repair man here within two hours.  He just banged on the display and informed me what I already knew.  For $70 we got the obvious diagnosis that the electrical panel was dead and an outrageous estimate for $547 to replace it.  Apparently the part is $400+.  Ben dismissed him and we decided to replace the whole thing.  Until we found out that ranges like ours are $1200 and up.  Cheaper models won't work in our space.  Hurrah for the internet - I found the part we needed for just $250!  I took apart the oven to explore and it seems like an easy fix.  I've upgraded both our car stereos, so I figure this can't be much harder.  Until Monday or Tuesday when the new panel comes, we will have to rely on the stovetop and slow cookers for meals.  I hope my DIY works.  I'm sick of appliances breaking. 

Today was Jack's first of four art classes.  I dropped him off at the rec center and felt a little weird leaving the building.  It's the first time I've left him with strangers while I went away.  Sunday nursery and babysitting don't count for that.  Any twinges of maternal sadness melted away when I entered Target.  Armed with a sleeping baby and a hot chocolate, I slowly browsed ONLY the sections I wanted (no toy aisles!).  It was strangely therapeutic.  I came away with a few practical purchases and a few unplanned, cheap, splurges - typical Target experience. 



I picked up a very happy kid after one hour and we all went out to lunch with Ben, taking a break from his work at home day. 

Tomorrow I look forward to help with the diaper changes (I HATE changing diapers) and a birthday dinner out with Amanda and her friends.

Came back on suddenly. Bonkers.

Birthday dinner for Amanda!

Today Jack called me a stinker when I told him to eat a carrot.  It was the first time he has called me a name.  (I call him stinker all the time when we play, it's our friendly insult.)

A couple days ago he trash-talked for the first time.  While playing Lego Star Wars with Ben, he called out "You want to fall?  Do you want to fall down, Darth Vader?"  So cruel ;-)

We have good days and bad.
Yesterday = nursing every 45 minutes, 10 minute naps, constant fussing.
Today = nursing every 1.5-3 hours, naps for hours, smiles on demand.

I like good days.

There's no lack of fall foliage at our house.  Thanks to three mature trees in our yard we have an abundance of leaves to rake this Fall.   I should have taken a "before" photo so you could see the thick carpet of leaves on our patio.  This is one of four piles I made. Do you remember when you were this small?





















I'm leaving the bagging for Ben ;-)

What a weekend we have ahead of us!  Today is Jack's Messy Art Class and my 6 week postpartum check-up.  Then we have a Halloween party at church tonight, and Ben told Jack they could have a camp-out together in his room.  Then, most exciting of all, Betty and Rick are coming to visit!  They get to meet Sam and play with Jack all weekend long.

What better way to kick off all the fun than with pumpkin pancakes?

Jack read this book to Sam this morning while waiting to leave.  So cute!



Fall is the best.

I can't wait to show you our adorable costumes this year, so here they are!  As I said earlier, tonight was the Halloween party for our church.  It was carnival games and trick-or-treating.  Jack had a blast!  Sam was agog at all the lights and people and noise, in a good way.  Our costumes turned out perfect.

Ever since April Jack has been saying he wants to be a dragon for Halloween.  I couldn't find the time to make his costume this year, but my mom rescued me!  Look at this amazing job she did.

Ben is a wizard, using costume parts we already had, plus a Gandalf hat from Amazon.  We were surprised at how few adults dressed up, but we got a ton of compliments for doing so. 

Sam is a spider and I'm his web.  I only had to buy the black socks and red tape for him, and a $5 piece of fabric for me.  That's the kind of DIY I can handle this year. 






Jack loved the games, but got extra excited when the trick-or-treating was announced.  Even Sam got candy.
















Can't wait for more celebrations!  I hope to take nice pictures on the actual holiday, so stay tuned.

Betty and Richard came all the way to Colorado from Maine to meet their new grandson!  There was much baby-holding and coo-watching.  There was also much older brother spoiling ;-)  Jack loves visiting with them and was "so very very very sad" that they had to leave.

Meeting the grandson


Reading Jack a book while Sam snoozes


Walking around Cherry Creek shopping district


I snapped this Sweet Action photo right as Jack spilled his water.


Mason family get-together


Donning appropriate napkin placement for spaghetti slurping at Virgilio's



Sam and I opted for a warm visit to the library for "baby time" (story time for less than 1 year olds) instead of joining the group at the Denver Zoo.  He's already been twice and it was quite drizzly and cold.  I hear that they had the zoo to themselves and Jack had a ton of fun. 


Watching Toy Story Terror in our theater room with popcorn (yeah, I really need to get proper black-out curtains rather than blankets to block the light.  Oy, that looks bad).  Jack is showing how he uses one hand to hold Sam's body, and one hand to hold his head.  Not *quite* the technique I demonstrated to him, but close enough.


Sam cooing at Grandma


What fun!  They boys can't wait for the next visit.

On Tuesday me and the boys met Jack's friend Adam at story time for a special Halloween edition.  After an abbreviated group session, the kids made a parade and went trick-or-treating. 



That's my dragon boy and his friend Harry Potter up front. 


Here at the Help Desk a flock of dragons (3) help themselves to candy. 


Down the administration hall were many more bowls of candy.  The employees told me that they look forward to this day all year. 


Outside I had them show off their haul.  What cuties!  Thanks for letting Adam join us, April!

We loaded up the kids so we could walk at a brisk pace in the brisk air.