Compare and Contrast

These boys are so different and so alike at the same time! From meeting Vaughn in the hospital until now he has greatly reminded us of Greyson. But he's got his own self, too. I keep finding myself saying "This time, the baby is a little quicker to smile" or "This time, his hair is darker" because it sometimes seems like I'm raising the same baby all over again, just three and a half years later!

First I'll start by saying they're both beautiful and smart and funny and nice and all that, but damn are they both fussy. I don't make easy babies, the ones that just sit with you and smile and let you relax on the couch. I make cranky, gassy, spitting-up on your shoulder (or better yet right down your cleavage), screamy babies. Not all of the time, but both G and V have kept us on our toes, or on our feet! Walking usually calms Vaughn down, especially outside. Grey was the same way, and I remember pacing our tiny living room with him while trying to watch a tv show in the evening. So much for relaxing.

But Vaughn goes to bed earlier, so I do usually have some time to myself to sit on the couch and relax if I don't decide to climb in bed when he does. Grey used to go to bed around midnight at this age (9 weeks) and Vaughn is usually down for the night by 10pm.

Grey was already sleeping through the night by around 6 weeks. Of course sleeping through the night was midnight to about 6am. Vaughn had two wonderful nights this week when he slept 7+ hours in a row... yay! One night it was over 8 hours. I don't want to jinx anything, but I'm hopeful this is the beginning of a new pattern.

Grey used to sleep anytime anywhere, especially in his boppy pillow. I remember having photos of him all around the house snoozing in his boppy. Then, he slept in our room in the pack and play for a few weeks once he started sleeping through the night. Vaughn likes to be wrapped up tight in a swaddle blanket and he snoozes full time in his crib, except for cat naps in the afternoon. Of course I'm sleeping in the guest room where the crib is, so that's different this time too. Maybe one day I'll share a bed with my husband again (kidding! I'll move back in soon, remember Vaughn is still barely two months old and Mike gets up to his alarm clock before 6am!)

As far as looks, I hear a lot of things... I've heard comments that both of them look like Mike, or that both of them look like me, and even that they look like my dad as babies! I don't know if it's the hairline or the round head or what, but they do bear a resemblance to Pops :-) Grey reminded me a LOT of my brother Mike, but I haven't seen it a lot in Vaughn. I do a lot of comparing Vaughn to Grey's baby pictures and there is definitely a strong resemblance.

As far as hair, Vaughn has straighter, shorter baby hair. Greyson's fell out by about four months and came back fine and very light blond. Can't wait to see what Vaughn's looks like, it's starting to thin and I think it's coming back blond, too. They both even have a red birthmark (stork bite) on the back of their heads. G's is lower and is still there hiding under his blond hair, we'll see if V's fades over time.

Their unique facial traits are a red spot on Grey's lower lip (which apparently my brother has too!) and a cleft chin for Vaughn.

They weighed the same at birth and have followed a similar trajectory, from pretty normal size at birth to GIANT BABIES by two weeks old. I must have miracle grow milk because these boys grow like weeds. Vaughn is in the 90-97th percentile for both height and weight at 2 months and Grey was the same way. Vaughn is just 3 lbs lighter than my girlfriend's 9 month old, so watch out baby Drake!

I can't wait to see how else they are alike and different as they grow older. It sounds goofy, but one of the reasons I was excited to have another boy was to compare and contrast. We've only known one baby boy before, so we assume that's how all baby boys are, but now we get to see what this one has to teach us. I hope we all enjoy the ride.

Scheduling

Vaughn is 8 weeks old today, and Greyson 3 years and 8 months. We're finally getting ourselves into a bit of a schedule this summer, and of course our lives are about to change yet again. Grey has been going to summer "camp" at a place closer to home than his usual daycare. We decided to put him there for the summer because he could do half days, be close to home so I wouldn't have to drive 30 miles a day to drop him off and pick him up, and to save some money while I'm on leave from work. It's working out great, he seems to love the place and his new friends, and it was good for him to experience going to a new school and overcoming those fears. We're still not sure where he will go in the Fall.

Vaughn and I are home together of course, but our day is divided up by Greyson's schedule. We have to drop him off after 8am and pick him up before 2pm each day. Some days it seems like we don't have much time to ourselves in between. Since we started swaddling Vaughn (resistance is futile!) he takes a great nap usually between 10 and 12, sometimes later and sometimes longer. This is the one nap of the day that I can rely on. The rest are usually cat naps or naps in the car/carseat while we're out and about, or dozes during dinner if I'm lucky. Mike and I are pretty good about taking turns eating because like his big brother, this kid is fussy in the evenings (more on that later). But he's usually in his crib by 9:30pm and sleeps until about 3:30, then is back in bed from 4-6:30 or 7am. Not the best schedule in the world, but certainly not the worst! I have girlfriends with much older babies who are jealous of that schedule. It's enough that I don't need a nap during the day, so I feel pretty "normal."

We struggled greatly with Greyson's naps at the beginning of this summer. He was coming home at 2pm and refusing to nap. I tried, I would lay down with him or leave him in his room when Vaughn needed attention, but he would not fall asleep. We tried "quiet time" where he stayed in his room but could play quietly if he wasn't tired, etc. etc. but he refused to sleep. He and I are pretty stubborn when we want to be, and it was causing a lot of tension between us. Mike came home to find me in tears on more than one occasion. So eventually I gave up, and Grey was sleeping from 7:30 to 7:30 for a few nights. Not perfect, but at least he was getting close to enough sleep. I think the problem is he was coming home over-tired since they don't nap during half-days at his summer camp. Finally I decided to drive around after school one day and stumbled upon my new secret weapon. If we take long enough on the way home, he'll fall asleep in the car and I can carry him in for a 1 - 2 hour nap in his bed! Problem solved, but I've started spending more on gas - so much for daycare being so close to home!

We've got about three weeks of summer camp left, then the boys and I are going on "vacation" to their grandparents' house, and then I'll be back to work. A whole new set of scheduling challenges await us, I'm sure. But for now, things are working out ok!

Talented

Earlier today I jinxed myself by thinking about how Vaughn has not been too bad about peeing while his diaper's off. Grey only got me a handful of times, and so far Vaughn has been pretty considerate too (although he did get the nurse immediately after he was born and the warm water in the tub can do the trick too). He's more likely to shoot poo across the changing pad than make a fountain.

So of course since I had that thought, he had to let go today. We use the crib as a changing table, it's so easy to put the changing pad there. So I'm reaching for a wipe, probably taking my time since he almost never catches me off guard, and there it goes. But not just a dribble, a true fountain that went up-and-over the changing pad and through the crib rails and hit the wall and dripped down to make a puddle under the crib. Only got a drop on himself.

That's my boy.

Motivation

For my birthday this year, my parents got me a bound volume of this blog, from the first post up until my early pregnancy with Vaughn. It's Grey's "baby" book, and it's awesome! First of all, it's 132 pages long, so I wish I could take back some of the guilt I used to feel about not posting often. Holy cow, when did I write all that? It gives credence to the fact that when you have two kids you look back longingly at all the free time you had when you only had a single babe.

So this book is amazing, it's great to go back and read about our adventures with Greyson over the past three+ years. And it's motivation to keep going, to keep chronicling our lives, even if I can't come up with profound things to say about parenthood or babies and toddlers. Sometimes just remembering the little things is profound. I'm obsessed with remembering, and here is my chance to preserve what my tired mind cannot.

So my goal is to set aside just a few minutes a day to jot down the latest thing the boys come up with. Like the important lesson Grey taught me just the other day. I have been a little frustrated with his constant "Why?"'s Sometimes I even tell him I'm not going to answer another Why?. Sitting at the dining room table, he turned to me and said "I just ask 'Why?' because I want to LEARN!" And bam! it hit me in the forehead like a brick, he's right! And where is my patience and understanding when my boy is just trying to learn? I think remembering that will help me find the patience when I need it next time. So no profound thoughts from me today, but Greyson came up with his own little gem.

More on Vaughn later! I have so much to say about that little guy.

BIG Brother

When I was about 8 months pregnant with Vaughn, one of his daycare providers asked me if lifting and carrying Greyson was going to hurt the unborn baby. She's kind of old school so I just laughed it off and moved on. I would carry G from the car into school every morning, up until the day I went into labor.

After having Vaughn, I was advised not to lift anything for at least two weeks, including Greyson. I heeded that advice for the most part, and it was at least a week before I tried to lift Grey. HOLY COW was he heavy! After toting around little 8-ish pound V, Grey was suddenly a giant. I don't think he gained any weight, his heft just became apparent to me, and even now I struggle to lift him. Thank goodness he's past the stage of wanting to be carried all the time!

And it's not just his weight. His paws are enormous. I can't believe how large his hands and feet are when I trim his nails. When he lays down in the bathtub, he's almost as long as the tub. His shoes seem almost as big as mine, and he's about 41.5 inches tall. These boys are both growing too fast!