Monday, August 29, 2011
C'Mon, Irene!...
I show you this picture, thankful that Irene didn't do nearly as much damage as we thought she might... but at the same time, I still have family without power! Prayers being said...
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Caught Up...
I just came on here to check out my granola bar recipe, as it's been awhile since I made them, and I can't seem to find instructions in paper form here in the house.
I found the appropriate post (I'm adding flax seed to the dry ingredients today, but won't know what else until I get into the kitchen), but also started reading the ones around it...
about Casey turning 11 months old...
about silly things we've said to each other...
about birthdays and Christmases and Red Sox seasons...
And in reading those posts, I began to feel guilty that when she asked for more hugs the FIFTH time today when she was supposed to be napping, I gave her the requested hugs, but somewhat begrudgingly. I told her sternly that Finlay and I were NOT coming into her room again - we were NOT going to give another hug until after her nap. And NO, Daddy was NOT going to give her a hug, because YES, Daddy was at work. (She continued to insist that I send him in, and I lost my temper momentarily and said, "Daddy is NOT here!! He's NOT HERE! Take. Your. Nap!")
I have to remind myself that the little girl who sometimes drives me crazy is MY little girl. My smart, sweet, loving, wanting-to-give-too-many-hugs daughter. Our only child before Finlay arrived and before we lost a lot of our patience. Poor thing. I think I'll make the granola bars extra awesome, just for her.
I found the appropriate post (I'm adding flax seed to the dry ingredients today, but won't know what else until I get into the kitchen), but also started reading the ones around it...
about Casey turning 11 months old...
about silly things we've said to each other...
about birthdays and Christmases and Red Sox seasons...
And in reading those posts, I began to feel guilty that when she asked for more hugs the FIFTH time today when she was supposed to be napping, I gave her the requested hugs, but somewhat begrudgingly. I told her sternly that Finlay and I were NOT coming into her room again - we were NOT going to give another hug until after her nap. And NO, Daddy was NOT going to give her a hug, because YES, Daddy was at work. (She continued to insist that I send him in, and I lost my temper momentarily and said, "Daddy is NOT here!! He's NOT HERE! Take. Your. Nap!")
I have to remind myself that the little girl who sometimes drives me crazy is MY little girl. My smart, sweet, loving, wanting-to-give-too-many-hugs daughter. Our only child before Finlay arrived and before we lost a lot of our patience. Poor thing. I think I'll make the granola bars extra awesome, just for her.
Two Months...
As promised, though late, here are Finlay's two month stats:
Weight: 11lbs, 12oz
Height: 22.5in
Head Circumference: 14.25in
These seem like good measurements to us, especially because we can see Finlay's growth happening each day. He looks completely proportional to us, and yet...
The doctor's office gave us the percentiles for the above numbers, and I guess he's not quite proportional after all!
Weight: 50th percentile
Height: 40-45th percentile
Head Circumference: well... he's not even on the chart!
Dr. T was not at all concerned about the size of Finlay's little head, saying that he's been growing at the same rate since birth, and some kids just have smaller sizes.
Personally, I think that head circumference measurements must run in such a small range, since Casey always fell around the 10th percentile, her friend was way OFF the charts (as in, he had a big enough head that he was actually checked by a specialist as a "just in case"), and yet they both looked pretty much the same to everyone. I guess that (so far) Tee Jay and I produce kids with bitty noggins... but man, are those kids ever cute!!
In Finlay's second month, he began to smile and coo at us. I was anxious* for the first real smile, and it came while I was bathing Finlay by myself (a job usually reserved for Daddy) when he was 6weeks, 2days old. It was an adorable sight to behold, but a fleeting one. Finlay appears to be our "Mr. Serious" and his smiles are few and far between. (In fact, I'm pretty sure that ceiling fans have coaxed far more grins out of him than family members!)
The cooing is another story all together, since that is something we get to hear plenty of. It began as a tiny little "O" lip formation, but has progressed into many different sounds, two and three syllables at a time, some trilling of the tongue, and so on.
Just in case you were curious (and I can probably assure myself that you weren't), Finlay's bowel movements have slowed down significantly, and he presents me with a stinky diaper once every 5 or 6 days. People are always amazed by this information, but it's completely normal for his age and as a result of being exclusively breastfed. I remember when Casey started a phase of pooping once every two weeks! (Can you imagine?)
Sleep patterns have really become wonderful at nighttime over the second month. After he eats before bedtime (about 7 or 8PM), Finlay then sleeps for 5-6 hours before waking for the next feeding; then he goes back to an every-3-hour schedule. Casey did not steadily sleep for a long stretch like this until she was well past a year old, and Finlay's decision to do so has been met with much Mommy-approval.
On a special note, Finlay was Baptized alongside his cousin Eliza when he was seven weeks old, and we'll add a post about it with pictures.
We're loving our family of four and will share more soon!
* Look up the proper grammatical usage of "anxious" and you'll learn that I'm using this word incorrectly - Tee Jay is a stickler about it.
Weight: 11lbs, 12oz
Height: 22.5in
Head Circumference: 14.25in
These seem like good measurements to us, especially because we can see Finlay's growth happening each day. He looks completely proportional to us, and yet...
The doctor's office gave us the percentiles for the above numbers, and I guess he's not quite proportional after all!
Weight: 50th percentile
Height: 40-45th percentile
Head Circumference: well... he's not even on the chart!
Dr. T was not at all concerned about the size of Finlay's little head, saying that he's been growing at the same rate since birth, and some kids just have smaller sizes.
Personally, I think that head circumference measurements must run in such a small range, since Casey always fell around the 10th percentile, her friend was way OFF the charts (as in, he had a big enough head that he was actually checked by a specialist as a "just in case"), and yet they both looked pretty much the same to everyone. I guess that (so far) Tee Jay and I produce kids with bitty noggins... but man, are those kids ever cute!!
In Finlay's second month, he began to smile and coo at us. I was anxious* for the first real smile, and it came while I was bathing Finlay by myself (a job usually reserved for Daddy) when he was 6weeks, 2days old. It was an adorable sight to behold, but a fleeting one. Finlay appears to be our "Mr. Serious" and his smiles are few and far between. (In fact, I'm pretty sure that ceiling fans have coaxed far more grins out of him than family members!)
The cooing is another story all together, since that is something we get to hear plenty of. It began as a tiny little "O" lip formation, but has progressed into many different sounds, two and three syllables at a time, some trilling of the tongue, and so on.
Just in case you were curious (and I can probably assure myself that you weren't), Finlay's bowel movements have slowed down significantly, and he presents me with a stinky diaper once every 5 or 6 days. People are always amazed by this information, but it's completely normal for his age and as a result of being exclusively breastfed. I remember when Casey started a phase of pooping once every two weeks! (Can you imagine?)
Sleep patterns have really become wonderful at nighttime over the second month. After he eats before bedtime (about 7 or 8PM), Finlay then sleeps for 5-6 hours before waking for the next feeding; then he goes back to an every-3-hour schedule. Casey did not steadily sleep for a long stretch like this until she was well past a year old, and Finlay's decision to do so has been met with much Mommy-approval.
On a special note, Finlay was Baptized alongside his cousin Eliza when he was seven weeks old, and we'll add a post about it with pictures.
We're loving our family of four and will share more soon!
* Look up the proper grammatical usage of "anxious" and you'll learn that I'm using this word incorrectly - Tee Jay is a stickler about it.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The House of Crafting Insanity...
The Boudreau family gets together each year on the Sunday preceding Christmas to enjoy each other's company and sing carols in Grandma's basement around the up-and-decorated-all-year-long tree. Around the same time that I was ushered into this tradition, my two fellow admin assistants and I decided to homebake Christmas goodies for the executives in our department. I figured that because there were so many Boudreaus to celebrate the holidays with, I would bake treats for them as well... and crafty Christmases began.
After a few years of baking, my nephew Jamie asked for a superhero cape for Christmas, and I told the rest of the family, "Do not buy him one - I'm going to make a cape!" It wasn't easy (or pretty!), but I managed to turn out a doable (and very homemade-looking) cape with Tee Jay's help. (Each of his siblings have since asked for capes, and this year, it's finally Violet and Casey's turn to receive them - I cannot wait!)
Two years ago, when finances began getting a lot tighter in our household (where they unfortunately remain, especially anticipating having two kids in daycare!), Tee Jay threatened to give everyone just hugs for Christmas, but we managed to be thrifty in our shopping and present gifts as well.
Last year, the craftiness took over and many less-than-perfect items were given...
Like my first (and only, thus far) attempt at a purse, made from a hodge-podge of gorgeous fabrics, including an adorable pocket on the inside, and adorned with the most awesome button EVER (lifted from my Granny's button collection - with her permission, of course).
Like pillows for newly-renovated bedrooms.
Like funky scarves (which are soft but maybe not practical?).
Like nifty fabric coasters.
The men in our family didn't receive handmade presents, nor did Tee Jay's brothers, who will continue to be at tough-to-sew-for ages (14 and 10) this Christmas. But nearly everyone else received at least one little token of Boudreau craftiness.
Over the past several months, my head has been spinning with ideas of gifts for this Christmas, some which seem like they will be easy, others which will require my attempting techniques (and using special tools and materials) for the first time ever. My excitement grows each time I come up with yet another project to undertake, and yet...
...well-ell...
none of them are even started yet!! (Not even the aforementioned capes, which I've known for three years would be due to the girls Christmas 2011.) What's worse, none of these crafts are going to be as "simple" as the scarves and coasters from last year.
But I'm still determined, especially since Tee Jay's grandmother turned towards the homemade route last year and graced everyone in her family with a hand-knitted scarf, and I now cherish these, along with one done by his stepmom the Christmas before. It was like supporting evidence for the homespun-is-best (though not always easiest or cheapest) argument.
Thus far, Finlay is still a MAJOR cuddlebug, and he doesn't like to "play independently" for any period of time longer than 4 minutes. But I'm hoping and praying that before my maternity leave ends, I've got him taking at least one all-by-himself nap each afternoon - so that I can get cracking on these many ideas!
Tee Jay will read this and groan, I'm sure, as today I'm busy making tutus (more on that soon), we've still got work to complete for our entryway coat rack and shoe bins, Casey's bedroom (which has been a work-in-progress since her birthday in February), and of course, the kids' Halloween costumes! (You know what? I'm going to groan at the Halloween realization, too - it's coming so soon, and I've done ZILCH for it so far.)
At least I've got good intentions... even though I feel we're almost always living in the house of crafting insanity (and projects-never-quite-finished).
I leave you with this, a picture I stumbled upon when looking through the Christmas set. It's of me, Teresa and Erin - three sisters each holding a sketch of ourselves (in childhood) done by my Aunt Sara Garska. These are homemade treasures at their best, and I'm appreciative that my parents bestowed us girls each with the original last year, making professional-type copies for their own homes. (And of course, I'm forever grateful to Aunt Sara for loving us and wanting to draw us in the first place!)
... and OH, help me God, it just dawned on me that I still haven't finished Casey's Christmas stocking (made from her newborn coming-home-from-the-hospital outfit), and she's finally at the age where I should have her stocking made, as she'll remember it year to year. And, at nearly three, I'm pretty sure she'll want to know where Finlay's is, too. Prayers, people! Crafting prayers are needed!
After a few years of baking, my nephew Jamie asked for a superhero cape for Christmas, and I told the rest of the family, "Do not buy him one - I'm going to make a cape!" It wasn't easy (or pretty!), but I managed to turn out a doable (and very homemade-looking) cape with Tee Jay's help. (Each of his siblings have since asked for capes, and this year, it's finally Violet and Casey's turn to receive them - I cannot wait!)
Two years ago, when finances began getting a lot tighter in our household (where they unfortunately remain, especially anticipating having two kids in daycare!), Tee Jay threatened to give everyone just hugs for Christmas, but we managed to be thrifty in our shopping and present gifts as well.
Last year, the craftiness took over and many less-than-perfect items were given...
Like my first (and only, thus far) attempt at a purse, made from a hodge-podge of gorgeous fabrics, including an adorable pocket on the inside, and adorned with the most awesome button EVER (lifted from my Granny's button collection - with her permission, of course).
Like pillows for newly-renovated bedrooms.
Like funky scarves (which are soft but maybe not practical?).
Like nifty fabric coasters.
The men in our family didn't receive handmade presents, nor did Tee Jay's brothers, who will continue to be at tough-to-sew-for ages (14 and 10) this Christmas. But nearly everyone else received at least one little token of Boudreau craftiness.
Over the past several months, my head has been spinning with ideas of gifts for this Christmas, some which seem like they will be easy, others which will require my attempting techniques (and using special tools and materials) for the first time ever. My excitement grows each time I come up with yet another project to undertake, and yet...
...well-ell...
none of them are even started yet!! (Not even the aforementioned capes, which I've known for three years would be due to the girls Christmas 2011.) What's worse, none of these crafts are going to be as "simple" as the scarves and coasters from last year.
But I'm still determined, especially since Tee Jay's grandmother turned towards the homemade route last year and graced everyone in her family with a hand-knitted scarf, and I now cherish these, along with one done by his stepmom the Christmas before. It was like supporting evidence for the homespun-is-best (though not always easiest or cheapest) argument.
Thus far, Finlay is still a MAJOR cuddlebug, and he doesn't like to "play independently" for any period of time longer than 4 minutes. But I'm hoping and praying that before my maternity leave ends, I've got him taking at least one all-by-himself nap each afternoon - so that I can get cracking on these many ideas!
Tee Jay will read this and groan, I'm sure, as today I'm busy making tutus (more on that soon), we've still got work to complete for our entryway coat rack and shoe bins, Casey's bedroom (which has been a work-in-progress since her birthday in February), and of course, the kids' Halloween costumes! (You know what? I'm going to groan at the Halloween realization, too - it's coming so soon, and I've done ZILCH for it so far.)
At least I've got good intentions... even though I feel we're almost always living in the house of crafting insanity (and projects-never-quite-finished).
I leave you with this, a picture I stumbled upon when looking through the Christmas set. It's of me, Teresa and Erin - three sisters each holding a sketch of ourselves (in childhood) done by my Aunt Sara Garska. These are homemade treasures at their best, and I'm appreciative that my parents bestowed us girls each with the original last year, making professional-type copies for their own homes. (And of course, I'm forever grateful to Aunt Sara for loving us and wanting to draw us in the first place!)
... and OH, help me God, it just dawned on me that I still haven't finished Casey's Christmas stocking (made from her newborn coming-home-from-the-hospital outfit), and she's finally at the age where I should have her stocking made, as she'll remember it year to year. And, at nearly three, I'm pretty sure she'll want to know where Finlay's is, too. Prayers, people! Crafting prayers are needed!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Measuring Up...
Finlay is now over two months old, but since I haven't yet posted any one-month stats, I figured I'd start there first... and see how many days it takes me to getting around to the two-month ones!
At birth, Fin was 7lbs, 15oz ~ 19in long. At his one week appointment, even though we were dealing with some slight jaundice (enough to make me a slobbery mess the last day in the hospital, petrified we'd get readmitted the way we were with Casey), he'd gotten himself just over the birth weight, tipping the scales at 8lbs. It was thrilling to me, as you might remember that we waited three weeks for Casey to hit her birth weight!
For his one month appointment, I continued to be pleased, as he weighed 9lbs, 8oz ~ and was 21.5in long ~ with a head circumference of 13.75in. I didn't write down where those measurements fell in the "average baby" percentile ranges, but the nurse practitioner at our visit assured us that he was falling within very normal limits and was doing great. She actually wrote in his little book that "Mom, Dad, and big sister are doing a super job!" (rah rah sis boom bah)
As previously mentioned, we have decided to capture Finlay's growth in a different way than Casey's (photographs done monthly in the glider), and here's our little reveal:
Finlay is being shot weekly on a different fabric, so that by the end of the year, we have a whole "quilt" of growth pictures. Hopefully, we keep up with it (so far, so good)!
At one month old, Fin was still a very sleepy baby with few alert moments during the day. When his eyes were open, they were definitely focusing on the people staring at and admiring him, but there wasn't much interaction or personality shown.
In the first month, he met most of his extended family members and many friends, and he endured countless hugs and kisses from big sis Casey.
By the end of the month, I was just barely falling into some sort of comfort with how to handle two kiddos at once - and I was doing so on predictable (though not long) intervals of sleep, since he woke every 2.5-3 hours for nursing.
Posting two-month stats soon!
At birth, Fin was 7lbs, 15oz ~ 19in long. At his one week appointment, even though we were dealing with some slight jaundice (enough to make me a slobbery mess the last day in the hospital, petrified we'd get readmitted the way we were with Casey), he'd gotten himself just over the birth weight, tipping the scales at 8lbs. It was thrilling to me, as you might remember that we waited three weeks for Casey to hit her birth weight!
For his one month appointment, I continued to be pleased, as he weighed 9lbs, 8oz ~ and was 21.5in long ~ with a head circumference of 13.75in. I didn't write down where those measurements fell in the "average baby" percentile ranges, but the nurse practitioner at our visit assured us that he was falling within very normal limits and was doing great. She actually wrote in his little book that "Mom, Dad, and big sister are doing a super job!" (rah rah sis boom bah)
As previously mentioned, we have decided to capture Finlay's growth in a different way than Casey's (photographs done monthly in the glider), and here's our little reveal:
Finlay is being shot weekly on a different fabric, so that by the end of the year, we have a whole "quilt" of growth pictures. Hopefully, we keep up with it (so far, so good)!
At one month old, Fin was still a very sleepy baby with few alert moments during the day. When his eyes were open, they were definitely focusing on the people staring at and admiring him, but there wasn't much interaction or personality shown.
In the first month, he met most of his extended family members and many friends, and he endured countless hugs and kisses from big sis Casey.
By the end of the month, I was just barely falling into some sort of comfort with how to handle two kiddos at once - and I was doing so on predictable (though not long) intervals of sleep, since he woke every 2.5-3 hours for nursing.
Posting two-month stats soon!
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