Holy Cow! Er … Moose. And Goo.

The Moose turned two months old yesterday and I literally cannot believe how fast the time has gone! He’s doing really well – here’s an update on his “stats:”

• He’s wearing 3-6 month clothes  
• He weighs approximately 14.5 lbs – we’ll find out Wednesday exactly how much and how long – suffice it to say HE’S BIG!  
• He’s smiling frequently – particularly when he’s full – the boy likes to eat! ;)  
• He’s eating 4 oz at a time most of the time, sometimes up to 6 if he’s really starving  
• He’s sleeping each night from around 9 all the way until 3:30 or 4, eating, and going back to sleep until 6:30 when my alarm goes off. The last few days he’s gone back down after that feeding as well, allowing me to get myself and the other nut ready quickly. Love this kid!!

Speaking of the other Nut – Goo is doing great as well! For comparison:

• He’s wearing 3T pants and 3T or 4T shirts
• He weighs 36 lbs and is about 3 feet tall
• He’s an incredibly picky eater, but we’re slowly working on trying new things.
• He’s *almost* got his colors nailed down – he occasionally has a little trouble with red, orange, and yellow but he’s getting better all the time
• He is excellent at identifying shapes – I’ve got an iPhone app that shows multiple shapes and asks him to touch one, and he breezes through it with flying colors.
• His favorite toys are Uncle D’s old army men and his Batman gear – he also likes to play “racecars” and Power Rangers at daycare.

Both boys are amazing – we count our blessings every day!

Last week was my first week back to work, and while it was hard to leave the Moose, it was such a different experience knowing and trusting our daycare. We’re SO fortunate to have found them and that they continue to put up with us! Ha!

This weekend, Grandma ‘Tine and I took Goo to the West Fargo Park District “Bouncy Bash” and he had a ball! (The Moose stayed home with Dad and Gpa and watched the Sioux game).

Later that night T and I went on a “date” to my friend S’s 30th birthday party and had a lot of fun. I can’t believe that we’re able to function normally with such a new baby – Moose, you’re too easy!!

Introducing ...

Mr. Moose

(a.k.a. Goo#2!)

And no, I didn't buy him the Sioux hat I'm still an NDSU fan!! Uncle R bought the hat for Goo, and it was the warmest hat I could find for the occasion.

 As we all know, I'm horrible at keeping up with this thing, and I imagine with two kiddos, I'm going to be even worse. BUT, this is for them, so better late than not at all, right? :)

Our second beautiful boy was born on Thursday, January 27th at 9:17am. Mr. Moose weighed 9 lbs, 6 oz and was 21 inches long.

Here he is with his VERY proud big brother:

(... the newness has since worn off!)

And with an equally proud Daddy-o:

And again with Big Bro in one of his first professional pics at 5 days old ... love this one!

Mr. Moose was 8 days late ... better than Goo being 11, but still - boys, mom is not impressed. If you ask me when you're older why you didn't get any more little brothers or sisters, this may be why. :)

The Mooses birth story is kind of cute - I'd actually gone in for my 41 week check up on Wednesday morning, and some little stinker decided to sleep through his stress test. After the 4th nurse came in to look at his activity strip, I started to get nervous.

After the stress test was over, they sent me in for a quick ultrasound to see what was going on. The ultrasound tech was pleased, and commented on how our "little" guy had a fat roll on his neck. The Dr. told me later that our guy scored an 8 on a scale of 8, and that sometimes, they just don't like to cooperate during the stress tests (or a multitude of other things). He did schedule me to be induced the following morning at 6:45, since we were over and the baby appeared to be more than ready to go.

So ... I went to work for 30 minutes to organize my things and prepare for leave. I then picked Goo up and took him to lunch for one last mommy/son date before he was a big brother. We also (thankfully!) snuck in one last mommy/son nap ... I imagine that won't be happening again for quite a while! I also called everyone and told them to get ready. Both sets of parents, my grandparents and T's grandma were all planning to come meet baby as soon as he was born. When T came home from work that day, we finished packing the hospital bags, cleaned, and made sure the babysitter was ready to take Goo the following morning. We all went to bed around 9:30 and joked how ironic it would be if I went into labor before 6:45 am ... Sure enough ...

At 11:45 I woke up with contractions, thinking something along the lines of "You've got to be kidding me!" :) When I started timing, they were consistently 3 minutes apart, but were only lasting about 15 seconds each. I called in to L&D, who told me to wait until they were a minute long. At about 1am, I called and woke the sitter up, and Dad brought Goo over in his PJs and put him back to bed at their house. By the time he got back, my contractions were about 40 seconds long, and I decided it was time to go in.

When we arrived at the hospital, the nurse gave me a skeptical look when I told her what I was experiencing, but checked me in and examined me - at which point my water broke. She then made a comment like "I bet you're glad you came in when you did!" Duh.

Fast forward a few hours (and one magical epidural!) and our "little" guy was born at 9:17am. The NICU nurses were in the room (as they were with our first) but thankfully not needed. We got a 9/10 on the Apgar test because it took a while for those fingers and toes to turn pink, but Mr. Moose quickly rebounded and scored a 10 on his second test later. 

Mr. Moose looked so good that we were able to keep him in the room with us for about an hour before they took him away to weigh and measure him, to allow us some time to bond and show off. My parents and grandparents actually made it up in time for the birth, and we all guessed how much he weighed when the nurses took him away. I guessed 8 lbs, 6 oz, knowing he was bigger than big brother, but Great Grandma J knew better - "That baby weighs more than 9 lbs, for sure!" Sure enough - 9 lbs, 6.7 oz, and 21 inches long. (The Mr. Moose nickname makes a little more sense now, doesn't it? :)