update

Samuel turning 2
Joanna 4 weeks.
6 weeks--she loves the bath--calms her down most nights.
7 weeks
My little guy!!!

Wow, time has gone by way too fast! Joanna is now 2 months old (as of July 6th) and Samuel is 2 years old!

Here is a brief summary of the kids and our latest family happenings.

Joanna is a fussy baby. We love her dearly and are so happy to have her, but it has been a challenge. She just cries a lot and is difficult to soothe, especially in the evenings before she goes to sleep for the night. I am writing this while she is fast asleep in her own bed, though. Today was a good day--she took good naps, was pretty happy all day, and then fell asleep around 8:30 for the night (I think).

Joanna started smiling at 5 weeks of age and is now smiling quite frequently (when not crying). Daddy just started getting smiles. We live for these sweet moments. She also coos quite a bit when in a good mood as well--we really enjoy "talking with her." Beyond that, no new tricks yet.

She is growing well--10 lbs 10 oz. at 7.5 weeks of age (birth weight was 6 lbs. 14 oz.).

She may be getting her first tooth--I know it's early, but it is possible. She was born with a small swelling located on her lower gums. After a few days, the swelling went down, but I think I am feeling the very top of a tooth coming in from that area. Additionally, she has been drooling and chewing on her little fists a lot--a sudden change from before. So, our little daughter has teething overlapping with her colicky weeks.

Samuel is 2 now! He turned 2 on June 2. Since Joanna was less than one month, we had a very small, brief gathering for his birthday. I made him the traditional "Cake Canaveral," that his Gross Mama used to always make Uncle Bevan (chocolate cake, chocolate cream cheese frosting, decorated with Andes mints). The cake turned out well and was very yummy, but I didn't take any pictures of it before we cut it! I also made a bunch of matching cupcakes. We had just two neighbor families come over at dinnertime and sing happy birthday and eat cake with us. My original plan was a simple cook-out, but that didn't happen. Samuel still had no idea what having a birthday meant, so he didn't care that the celebration was very small. Actually, he didn't even care about the presents he got. Daddy got him a tricycle/big wheel type thing, but Samuel's favorite part about it was putting it together with Daddy (Samuel LOVES tools--Rudi's ratchet set is in the house and Samuel loves walking around with all the tools).

Samuel has an enormous vocabulary and talks non-stop. He amazes us each day with the sentences he constructs. One of my favorite things about him is that he loves to "joke" with us by saying things that don't make sense on purpose. An example is "eat the light bulb," or "vacuum the baby." He loves to make such statements and wait for our reaction (which is usually, "Samuel, that's silly, you can't do that!"), and then laugh and laugh. He also loves hiding from us, and more recently, hiding things from us and looking for them with us.

Recently, he has been working on the concept of counting. He counts to ten, but is getting the concept of counting things. He always asks us to count objects if he sees more than one.

Samuel seems to be shy around people he is not very used to. He loves playing with our direct next-door neighbors because he sees them a lot. His favorite playmate is 5 y.o. Caitlyn. She plays so well with him and is such a sweet little girl. However, if he is not very used to a person, he tends not to want much to do with them. There are a lot of little kids around his age in our neighborhood, we need to do better about getting him together with them regularly.

Samuel is doing really well with Joanna. No jealousy!! He gets a lot of one-on-one time because his nanny is still coming over and I have not gone back to work yet. However, on days when I have the 2 kids alone, he still does well. He waits patiently while I nurse the baby, calm the baby, etc. He has been very, very gentle with her (touches her gently), and likes including her when we go outside, or to a store.

Rudi has been working, as usual. His shifts are either day (12 hours) or night (12 hours). The number he has per month varies based on whether or not his colleagues are on leave, deployed, etc. His workdays are long (often end up being 14 hours), but he gets lots of days off as well.

Rudi purchased a mountain bike from ebay the other day. He has a mtn. bike already, but he decided (and a lot of his friends also decided) that he needed one with rear suspension. After buying the bike, he had to arrange for it to ship to Guam. That was about 3 weeks ago. The bike is on Guam now, and can be picked up from the port tomorrow. He is waiting for it with the excitement of a little boy. He and his friends also made a new trail through some jungle and across a river--a shortcut to the southern part of the island. The biking and also lap swimming have been pretty much the only things Rudi has been doing for himself. The rest of his time is either working or being a very involved Daddy.

I am not back at work yet. I had planned on July, but with the baby being so fussy still, I can't imagine that our nanny would be comfortable watching both kids if both Rudi and I are gone. I have mixed feelings about work. Part of me wants to be full-time at home. The other part wants to go back so I don't loose skills. I have very much enjoyed being at home with the kids--even though when I worked, it was only 2 days a week. Going back shouldn't be that hard if it's only 2 days a week, right?? My work has been very gracious in just giving me extra time off! Other than take care of the kids, I clumsily try to get dinner together some nights (we're eating mostly vegetarian these days), and usually get a work-out in . I've been running, lap swimming and going to circuit training classes (not all that stuff in one day).