Porter's Baptism

Porter's Baptism was yesterday, and we ended up having a really nice day and a nice party at our house. Porter was a very good baby during the baptism and hardly cried. Connor on the other hand was fairly naughty during mass and kept saying "I'm bored. Really, really bored". Of course we were sitting in the front row, right in front of the priest! To his credit he was very tired from all the hard playing he has been doing for almost the last week straight with his cousins. They all left to go home this morning. It's very quiet in our house all of the sudden! Hopefully they will have a safe trip back to Chicago today, and won't have as much snow and treacherous driving as they had on the way up here.

It's hard to believe that Porter is almost 3 mos old already, and that I am going back to work in just 8 days. I'm not sure if I'm totally ready for it. It would be nice to have another month, but what can you do. I don't have as much benefit time as I had when I had Connor. Somehow those kids just suck up your sick time!

Here are photos from Porter's big day:

Claudia & Grandma dressing Porter in the Ingham family baptism gown:

Godmother Claudia, Porter and cousin Daniel:

The whole gang around the baptismal font:

Porter being baptized:

Jeff, Nancy, Father Bob, Porter, Godfather Steve Dolan & Godmother Claudia Roberts:

Porter in his baptism gown:

Porter with his two Grandmas:

Porter with Papa Dan:

Big smile:

Christmas in Chicago

We survived our trip to Chicago. Actually the boys did really well on both the trip there and the return trip. The worst part was the fog on the way down to Chicago. The visibility was really bad at some points, but we made it there and back safely. We had a fun Christmas holiday with our cousins, aunts & uncles and Grandma Ginny. On Christmas Eve it was just Virginia, Jeff & I and Connor & Porter. We went to mass at 4pm at Claudia & Dave's church. We ended up sitting on the floor in the vestibule area. Connor was so tired he fell asleep in my lap! We then went back to Claudia & Dave's and made shrimp pesto pasta and had a nice meal together. We had Christmas Day dinner at Claudia & Dave's house. We had yummy Gumbo and appetizers courtesy of Steve & Virginia, and a great steak dinner that Claudia & Dave made. Yuri & Dave brought yummy desserts from Deerfield Bakery, and Virginia brought some cookies she made, as well as a cake that Steve & Angie made. Connor has so much fun seeing his Chicago cousins. They all had a blast together, even poor Allison who was the only girl there! There is a boy every 2 years from Daniel all the way down to Porter now, so 5 in a row. I'm sure when Porter is big enough he will be right in the mix.

So now Claudia, Dave, the 3 boys and Grandma are making the road trip here to Minnesota for Porter's baptism on Sunday. Hopefully they will have good weather and a safe trip. I'm sure the boys will continue to have more fun together.

Here are some photos of our Christmas:

Porter's First Christmas:

Grandma Ginny & Porter:

The boys opening presents together:

Mommy & Porter napping together:

Connor & Porter opening presents:

Jeff & boys:

Porter in Snowman outfit:

Tyler & his buses:

Claudia playing Guitar Hero:

Christmas craze

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am ready to just get on with the holidays! There always seems to be one more gift that you should buy, and it makes me feel nuts just thinking about it.

We are packing up and going to Chicago to spend Christmas with Jeff's family. Jeff said something about a snowstorm there on Saturday which is when we were planning on leaving, so I guess we'll play our departure by ear depending on the weather. It will be Porter's first roadtrip. I hope he does well.

He has been a champ lately in the sleep department, so I'm psyched about that. He has had 5 nights in a row where he has slept 5-6 hour stretches!! I think I'm safe saying that now and not jinxing myself since there have been several nights in a row. Of course a few of those nights I have been woken up by Connor during the big stretch, so I haven't gotten 5-6 hours. Must be some sort of Mommy Murphy's Law or something, that when your baby starts sleeping through the night your other child will awaken you! Anyway, I feel like we are falling into some sort of rhythm and getting a bit of a schedule, which I'm sure my daycare provider will appreciate!

After we return from Chicago, some of Jeff's family will be coming up for Porter's baptism on December 30th. So, we will have a busy but fun holiday season, and before you know it my return to work day will be here on January 8th. It's hard to believe. I keep saying that, but I feel like Porter's babyhood is going by so fast. I'm sure he'll do fine at Marylee's (my daycare provider), and I know Connor will love having him there with him. He's very proud of him and wants to show him to everyone when we are at preschool or daycare.

Here is our Christmas photo:


And here are a few cute photos of Porter in the shirt that my friend Keri gave him:



He has just been so fun and smiley lately and he is really getting "talkative" with all the cooing. It's fun to see his little personality emerge. I could just smooch him up!

Our Elf e-card

OK, so I fell victim to the cute "I elfed myself" trend, and I made a card for us.
Here it is:

I elfed myself

Not the greatest photo of Jeff, but he probably doesn't care about it anyway!

Here are some more recent photos of Connor & Porter.

I caught Connor trying out my breast pump:



Some serious rolls going on (sorry about the nudie shot!):



Check out those eyelashes!:



Smiling at Mama:

Porter's 2 month check-up

Porter had his 2 month check-up with Dr Delahunty today. He was 90th% for length, 70th% for head, and he's off the charts for weight. Actually she said 97th%. He weighed 14lbs 6oz!! He is 1lb 3oz bigger than Connor was at 2 mos, and Connor was 90th%. Well, I guess there are no concerns about failure to thrive! He's not missing any meals. Otherwise his check-up was good. He had to get 3 shots, and was not too happy about that, poor guy. He also got an oral rotovirus vaccine, which I think tasted terrible, but he managed to keep it down.

He's been a bit on the fussy side for the past couple of evenings, and it's bringing back memories of marching around the house trying to keep Connor content in the evening. Good thing this won't last forever. Hopefully it will be over quickly. It's so hard when you don't know what to do for them. He doesn't want to eat, he isn't falling asleep when he's put in his crib, he doesn't seem to need to burp, he just wants to be held and walked around. At least I can have Jeff help me by taking turns. Good thing he's so darn cute!

Dr D listened to Connor's lungs and said they sound great, so hopefully he is mostly over his cold/cough. He still needs to continue with his breathing treatments, but hopefully only for a week or so more.

Not much else to report. I think we got more snow yesterday than we did on Sunday. It's pretty cold today though, so I'm not too excited to get outside with Connor.

Porter is 2 months old!

Porter is 2 mos old today! I can't believe how quickly it's come. I suppose we have had a lot going on in the past 2 mos though, but time sure flies! I'm sure my return to work date will be here before I know it too, and Porter will be 3 mos old.

We had his follow-up appt with the pediatric surgeon today, and basically we are still just in a wait and see pattern with his hemangioma. He wants to see us again in 6 mos. He said he would probably get an MRI at some point, but most likely when he's around 18 mos since he would be able to get a sedative then. He also said he thinks it will need to be surgically excised at some point, mostly due to cosmetic reasons, or because it has gotten uncomfortable. To me it seems to have not changed much in appearance, though it is lighter colored and he definitely has more fat on him now! I guess I hardly notice it anymore. Porter has his 2 mo well visit and shots :( tomorrow. He did great last night with feeding intervals, and did his first 5 hour stretch! Yeah Porter! Keep up the good work!

Connor has been on antibiotics and doing twice daily breathing treatments since last week for his cough and upper respiratory infection. He seems to be getting a bit better, but I will probably have Dr Delahunty take a listen to his lungs when we are there with Porter tomorrow anyway. Of course I caught the cough too, and will be glad when it's gone!


Here is a really funny post I got from a Babycenter friend about a baby's perspective on crying it out:

Baby's Perspective on Sleep Training
"OK, here's my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7 months. The first few months were great--I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened.

Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months.

Here's the thing: these Mommies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep – they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan.
I call it the Crybaby Shuffle.

It goes like this:
Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying.

Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good.

Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3--every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours,
shhhh-ing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough:
CONSISTENCY IS KEY!!

If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD!

But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change.

If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it. Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it.

BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with:

My sleep sack tickled my foot.
I felt a wrinkle under the sheet.
My mobile made a shadow on the wall.
I burped, and it tasted like pears (I hadn't eaten pears since lunch - what's up with that?)
The dog said "woof" (I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL.)
Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room.
Too hot, too cold, just right--doesn't matter! Keep crying!!

It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am.

You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies' internal clocks.

P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, NO milk will come out! Trust me.

Snow & Smiles!

Porter is 8 weeks old now and really cooing and smiling a lot. He is getting to be really fun when he's awake. He could just look at you for the longest time and coo and smile. It's so cute. He's doing pretty well at night too, but is still usually up every 3-4 hours. I'm pretty used to it, and I may not have any more children, so I'm trying to cherish this time because he will never be this little again, and I will never have this special time with him. This week we have the follow-up appointment with the pediatric surgeon to look at his hemangioma on is leg, and then his regular 2 month appt with the pediatrician. I am a little curious to see what they recommend doing with his leg. They may want to continue watching it for a bit.

Here are some new photos of Porter:




We had a big snowstorm yesterday, but really ended up getting only about 4 inches or so I'd say. Even so, it was fun and Connor & I got outside sledding while Daddy gave Porter a bottle. He's got to get some practice since I will be going back to work in about a month! Hard to believe. It's gone by so quickly, and I'm sure with the holidays coming up the rest will just fly by. I'm sure it will be fine, and it's nice to know that Porter is going to the same daycare provider that Connor goes to, so I don't have to stress about that like I did when Connor was a baby. I will be going back to work 1 more 8 hour shift per week than I was before I had Porter. Hopefully that will work out ok. My daycare provider says it will be better for Connor since he misses out on some of the stuff they work on during the week just going 2 days a week. I will still only be working 3 days a week. Oh well, gotta pay off the basement and the baby!

Oh, and I added in some photos of our Las Vegas trip to the Las Vegas post.

Here is a photo of Connor sledding today: