1 Boy's Baptism, the Other Boy's Broken Teeth, and Lots of Craziness

Blake Christopher Morton, such a cute, little Catholic!

Blake is officially a Catholic!  He was baptized at our church, the same church where Brian, Dominic, and I were all baptized.  Blake wore a little, white tux but a different one from what Dominic wore because even though we baptized them at the same age (6 months), Blake is much bigger at this age.  Blake’s godparents are Brian’s sister Christina and my brother Chris...very fitting considering Blake’s middle name is Christopher for St. Christopher as well as for both of his godparents.  We’re planners, so we had already figured them out back when I was pregnant.  The ceremony went well with Blake not crying (despite only getting a very short nap before the baptism). Even Dominic sat through the entire ceremony although he was a little chatty during it. :)

looking adorable in his little, white tux

Godparents, the priest, and parents with Blake

Brian and me with our baby boy on his special day!

Dominic sat in the audience being entertained (by Aunt Steph)

Blake (in his ridiculously cute baptism hat) and me before the ceremony

After the baptism, we had everyone over to our house for a lunch.  This baptism, as opposed to Dominic’s, was pretty small, just family and a few close friends.  Then again considering that Brian and I both have big families it wasn’t exactly tiny either.  I think it was a total of 20 people at the reception and 18 at our house.  I can’t imagine when all of our siblings have kids how big these kinds of things will be!  

The week leading up to the baptism was challenging because Dominic had a rough week.  After the baptism, I discovered why.  As you know, Dominic had chipped his top front tooth climbing out of the bathtub a few weeks ago.  We were supposed to keep an eye on that tooth as the dentist recommended, but at bedtime the night of the baptism, I noticed Dominic’s other front top tooth was gray.  We think it’s really  been bothering him.  He’s been waking up at night (and so have I as a result).  

The gray tooth and the chipped tooth...poor Dominic!

The Monday after the baptism, I took Dominic to the pediatric dental practice that Brian and I both went to as kids, which now has a different dentist closer to our age.  Anyway, Dominic sat on my lap, facing me and then the dentist lowered him down so that he was laying back on both of our laps in order to examine his teeth. Dominic screamed like he was having a limb sawed off as the dentist opened his mouth for several minutes. I think Dominic even bit the dentist a little. He did better when he had the x-ray done (sitting on my lap). The dentist said that there is a fracture in the gray tooth, and the tooth is a bit loose. He said there are no abscesses, so it doesn't need to be pulled, but that I need to keep checking around the gum-line and bring Dominic back in 8 weeks for another x-ray to make sure there is no further damage (need for tooth extraction). He also said that the gray tooth should lighten in color and will probably end up being yellow but will probably fall out early along with the chipped tooth. At least Dominic doesn't have to go under or anything, but I kind of hoped that while they had him on laughing gas (which I planned to video) to take the tooth out that they could also bond the chipped tooth. However, I'm relieved that there are no problems. I just want my little boy to feel better and sleep better too.

With this tooth mess, Dominic’s lack of sleep causing a lot of meltdowns.  He’s yawning constantly and being more dramatic when he gets upset.  The poor little boy is just so tired and I get to deal with a tired toddler going through the terrible twos (yay).  I’m wondering if this is something else too.  With his naps decreasing from 2 hours to 1.5 hours, is he starting the ever-dreaded dropping his last and only nap?  Is he needing less sleep at night as he’s taking 30-45 minutes to fall asleep these days?  To add to the fun, Dominic has been yelling and screaming as soon as he wakes up whereas before he would gently and quietly wake up by just laying in his bed, sucking his thumb, and just hang out for about 30 minutes before he would sit up and/or call for us.  These screams are terrifying.  

He recently had his first incident of being scared of thunder and he started screaming as a result.  He used to not seem to hear thunder but that changed recently when he started telling me the sounds were airplanes. :)  We stupidly corrected him telling him it sounded like an airplane but it’s actually “thunder” which Dominic started repeating.  One night last week, just after we put him to bed, it started pouring and thundering.  Dominic screamed and cried upstairs, so Brian and I went up there and rocked him.  When I tried to put him back in his crib he refused.  After being up there for over half and hour, I finally put him back in his crib against his wishes and was swiftly called back into his room with the same screams a few minutes later.  When I finally left him that time, he cried and yelled (yet again) for about 15 minutes.  It was apparent that he just wanted to play with Mommy and Daddy as the thunder had stopped at that point, but I guess Dominic saw the pattern that when he screams like that, Mommy and Daddy race into his room.  So now we’re trying not to do that and hopefully (fingers crossed) the phase will be over soon!  

Recently we’ve had a return of Dominic’s hitting.  I’m trying to put him in timeout every single time he hits.  So Dominic has been spending a lot of time in timeout recently.  Dominic will typically be calmer and not hit for a few minutes after sitting in time out anyway, but he continues to hit me in the face when I try to get him to do anything he doesn’t want to do.  He doesn't hit hard, but it's completely and totally on purpose. We think he's testing the boundaries, so I'm trying to be as consistent and firm as possible, but I just hope this phase ends SOON (please, pretty please!).

D-Nic :)

Dominic is a sweet boy (other than the boundary-testing behavior) and continues to make me laugh daily and even hourly.  When he opens something or I give something that he really likes, Dominic excited says, “Cool!!” now.  I love it!  He says it exactly the way I do with so much enthusiasm although I never noticed myself saying that until he started.  His other favorite word of the moment is “This.”  Everything is “this,” and the term can be used as a pronoun (“Look at this”), a verb (“Give me this!”), and a question (“What is this?”).  I’m trying to make him use the actual word(s) himself instead of "this" to promote his speech development, but he doesn't like that.  Our little 2 year old is doing a TON better at following directions like putting his shoes away, retrieving his shoes, and sitting in his car seat in the minivan without my help. He loves putting things away and cleaning up to the "Clean Up" song. I try to be extra positive and reinforce when he does these great actions because I want him to keep this great behavior up!

Always happiest when he's running around

Dominic also continues to be absolutely obsessed with dogs.  He talks about them all of the time.  Each and every time we go outside, he looks and calls for dogs out there.  It’s too funny.  Anyway, at dinner one night Dominic “passed gas” at the dinner table.  When Brian asked who did that, Dominic quickly answered, “Dog!” as he pointed over into the kitchen...as if we actually had a dog who did it.  Then Dominic did the exact same thing the next night at dinner.  Perhaps instead of an imaginary friend, Dominic has an imaginary dog who likes to pass gas. :)

Happy as can be!

While Dominic’s tooth and sleep issues have been going on, Blake continues to be an extremely happy, social, laid-back baby.  He’s 6 and a half months old and is doing very well.  The last few days he's been a little less happy than normal, but I think that's because he's getting his top right tooth. It's been 2 months since the bottom teeth came in, so I've been waiting for this one, and I'm sure the other top front tooth won't be far behind. Thankfully, Blake can take Ibuprofen now instead of Tylenol which is like sugar pills to me.

Blake LOVES his big brother!

Already getting hit by his younger brother, Dominic is still almost always very sweet to Blake.

Blake is getting so big and developing more and more into a real person with a bigger and bigger personality.  He’s so grabby lately, trying to hold everything and anything he can put his hands on especially things that Dominic is holding.   He’s become is pretty obsessed with touching and grabbing Dominic himself too (his hair, ears, and arms), but luckily Dominic doesn’t - usually - seem too bothered by it.  If is he, then he'll just get up and move, which I personally think is pretty mature of my two year old. Meanwhile, people are starting to think that Blake and Dominic are closer in age than they actually are.  I know once he starts walking, the twin questions won’t be far behind.  He’s up to 12 to 18 month clothes now (yes, at 6.5 months old) although he can fit in some 9 month clothes still.  He’s a big boy!  

Blake happily sitting with Dominic for the first time in the double cart at Costco...I can fit my groceries in the cart now!

In the cart at Publix!

Blake is sitting up better and better!  Although he’ll fall down every now and then, I don’t have to hover around him any more when he’s sitting on the floor.  Blake is sitting well in highchairs at restaurants, but the big news is that he’s been able to finally sit next to Dominic in the double cart at Costco and also at Publix, meaning I can actually fit my groceries easily into the cart again!  Costco was more successful than Publix, but the best part is that there weren’t many problems between he and Dominic thankfully.  

Blake is rolling both directions like crazy and scooting around all over the room when I leave him on the floor.  He’s pushing up with his arms off of his stomach very well and is just figuring out that he can use his legs to help him, so we don't think crawling will be too far off...although we don't encourage that!  It’s crazy to think that Dominic was crawling when he was this age.  Blake is still my baby though and I’m happy he’s not crawling (away from me and in the other direction from Dominic).  When Blake is sitting or laying around, he gets bored if he doesn’t have his toys around and will try to drag them towards him.  Of course, he loves things that light up and make noise the most.  

Loving pears!

Got a little too excited by the sweet potatoes (his favorite food)

Yummy yogurt!

working on drinking out of a cup!

Blake is busy eating these days.  He’s now had sweet potatoes, pears, squash, and Puffs.  Plus he’s eating an entire 4 oz container, and he’s also eating dinner (in addition to breakfast which is the meal he’s been eating for over a month now).  I’m not sure if it’s because he’s bigger or if I just know what I’m doing with the food this time, but Blake seems to be a better eater than I remember Dominic being.  I’ve started giving Blake Puffs here and there to let him get used to it.  They are like Cheerios but dissolve in his mouth.  They will not only help him with his fine motor skills, but they are also great distractions/entertainment in the highchair.  So far, he gags some on them, but nothing too bad.  Blake is still having 4 8.5 oz bottles of breastmilk each day, having 1 right before his breakfast solids and another before his dinner solids.  Feeding him his bottles can be difficult at times because he’s so easily distracted these days by the TV, people talking, and especially Dominic.  I don’t remember Dominic being this easily distracted, but it works out when Blake is tired or hungry and we don’t have his bottle ready for him yet because he’ll end up forgetting about whatever he’s crying about for a minute if we put the right toy or do the right trick to entertain him.  

My baby boy continues to nap 3 times a day mostly...although that morning nap gets skipped more and more due to running errands or going to activities.  If he takes his afternoon nap late enough, then he can usually skip his evening nap too.  He’s also been briefly waking up an hour or so into his afternoon nap and then going back to sleep.  I always worry that he’ll wake up Dominic especially since he’s been napping better recently (thank God).  Here’s what Blake’s schedule usually looks like these days:

8:15 - wake up
8:45 - bottle
9:15 - breakfast solids
10:00 - morning nap (30 min - 1 hour)
11:00 - play
12:15 - bottle
1:15 - nap (2 to 2.5 hours)
3:45 - play
5:00 - bottle
7:00 - solids
7:45 - bath
8:00 - bottle
8:15 - bedtime

 

Dominic insisted on Blake joining him in his tent.  I love these two boys!

Dominic introducing Elmo to Blake (who loves Elmo now btw).

   

Hugging...Rough housing...such a fine line with boys. ;)

The biggest thing right now is that Blake officially has not only mommy separation anxiety but also Dominic separation anxiety.  I went out for a friend’s baby shower and then got a frantic call from Brian with Blake screaming in the background.  I rushed home, hearing Blake when I got out of my car in the garage, but as soon as I opened the door and walked inside so Blake could see me, he stopped crying and was his usual, happy self.  He had been fine until Dominic’s bedtime.  This demonstrated the new trend that whenever Blake is away from both Dominic and me, he gets upset.  If Dominic is with him and I leave, like I do every weekend to tutor, Blake is fine, but he’s used to having Dominic and me around.  This is crazy to me because Dominic didn’t get to this stage till he was around 10 months old.  I think Blake is much more interested in social things though, so it makes sense that he would have this awareness sooner. 

Lunch with my boys is a lot of fun! 

We've had lot of fun lately thanks to all of the fun, summer activities. Even though it's hard getting a lot done with both boys in tow, I have to say that I really enjoy having both boys around all summer. I have so much fun with them (when they're behaving). However, I do feel badly that I don't have any alone time with just Blake. I get alone time with Dominic during Blake's naps, but since Dominic's one nap a day is at the same time as Blake's afternoon nap, I don't have that same time with Blake unfortunately. Thankfully, Blake doesn't seem to mind especially because he loves his big brother so much, and Dominic does love to independently play while Blake and I play together. 

Enjoying French music class!

Since our normal music teacher is out of the country for the summer, Dominic, Blake, and I started a Mommy-and-Me (or Us in this case) French music class. I personally would prefer a Spanish music class but this one is in the area plus I actually took 3 years of French in middle and high school (although I remember basically nothing). In the class, Dominic is shy at first (something I'm becoming quite used to) but seems to really love it. He loves singing and dancing in there and really seems to respond to it better than in our normal music class for some reason. Blake enjoys it too smiling a ton although the class is during his morning nap causing him to not love it as much as he would at a different time of day. I'm glad that they both like it because I've actually had to pay for him in the class. This is his first official activity and the first activity where I've had to pay for both boys. Usually, I just bring Blake to Dominic's activities because he's so young and would just hang out in the car seat; however, that's become less and less the case.  

We went to the Dunwoody Donaldson-Bannister Farm House festival a couple of weeks ago. This is a historical farm that I used to go to as a kid and feed the horses. It's right around the corner from our house, and the event had a petting zoo, so we decided to check it out. Dominic loved all of the open space to run around in as well as the animals as he's currently very into animals. As usual, he was a little timid at first but much more comfortable than in the past with animals. He wanted Brian to hold his hand at all times but also happily and excitedly petted the animals.

The best dad in the world with his favorite 6 month old :)

Father's Day also came and went. Unfortunately, it didn't go so well as I discovered that one of the diamond earrings that Brian gave me for Christmas was lost. We - especially Brian - spent the entire day searching for the earring to no avail. :( At least the boys and I let Brian sleep late (the thing that I thing he misses the most about his pre-parent life), eat Jimmy John's for lunch, and have dinner with his family to celebrate the day (while my parents were out of town).  He's still picking out a TV for our (giant) closet, so he can play his video games in there, which is supposed to be his Father's Day gift along with a frame of three pictures of the boys (1 of Blake holding a D, another of both Blake and Dominic holding an A, and a third of Dominic holding a D to spell out D-A-D). This was an idea I stole from a friend, and I think it turned out well but was a lot harder to do with both boys.


Next weekend, Brian and I are leaving the boys with my sister Stephanie for a night to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. This will be the first time we've ever been away from Blake, and really the first time we've spent the night away from Dominic for fun...unless you count when we were at the hospital for Blake's delivery. Is it wrong that I think what we're both most excited about on this romantic evening away is being able to sleep past 8:30 in the morning?!


Obviously, we're keeping busy this summer!

The two sweetest boys I know. :)