Our Family Trip to the Zoo

On July 17th, Grandma Vonda took the four of us to the Zoo. It was Oliver's first time out and about, besides family parties and trips to the store. He did great, too. We were there pretty much all day and he mostly just slept the whole time. Cambry had a lot of fun. She is at the age now where she can really enjoy seeing the animals.

I saw this idea on Pinterest to make a Zoo Animals Passport. And throughout the zoo when they see an animal that is in the "Passport" they get to mark it off. So I made one for Cambry, and she absolutely loved it! She had so much fun trying to find all of the animals in the book and then getting to mark them off. I would totally recommend everyone doing this for their kids.

Cambry said that her favorite animal was the polar bear. She thought it was so funny that he was doing laps around his enclosure. He would start in the covered area and touch his nose to the wall then he would go outside, around a rock and then back to the wall. Sometimes he would throw in a dip into the water to his circle. It was pretty funny to watch and Cambry had a blast trying to follow him!

The "Rocky Shores" exhibit was pretty cool. I have to admit I was pretty excited to see it myself. Then next thing they are working on that I cannot wait for is a Splash Pad for the kids. It was supposed to be open in June, but they are obviously falling behind. But it will be so great for the kids when it finally does open. It gets so hot in the summer! They did have those giant misting fans to help out with the heat though.

Oliver Mason Yeates Has Joined the Family!

Our adorable little boy was born on June 4th! He weighed 7lbs 9oz, and was 20 inches long. He was born with light blonde hair, unlike his sister's black/brown hair. Even his eyebrow and eyelashes are blonde. He also has cute little blonde side burns, too! We are so happy to have this addition to our family. It really feels like a complete family now.

What a Cuddle Bug!
Oliver sure loves to cuddle! I am so happy he does because Cambry did not like to cuddle at all. If you are holding him and he is not in the spot or position he likes, he will wriggle around until he gets there. Then he will sigh, relax and fall asleep. How adorable is that!? He also loves to be swaddled. As a newborn, the tighter the blanket the better. Now he doesn't care to have his arms included, but still loves the rest of him to wrapped up good and tight. His favorite thing though, is to fall asleep in someone's arms. He doesn't particularly care who. Just anyone willing to cuddle will do for him!

Yes, I know, everyone says "don't let them sleep in your arms, or they will begin to expect it every time... blah..blah..blah...
Well I happen to disagree! There is no way I'm not going to cuddle by baby as much as I want! But now that he is almost two months old, I have started making sure that I only cuddle him to sleep once or twice a day. All the rest he is laid down in his bed or swing semi-awake. And he has done just fine learning to fall asleep on his own!

Sleeping (or lack thereof) 
He is pretty good at falling asleep on his own, but the length and how often he naps is really irregular. Some days I can't keep him awake and other days I'm lucky if he sleeps for more than an hour at a time. I'm trying to get him into a schedule of eating every 3 hours with play time for 1.5 hours and nap time for 1.5 hours. I've been trying that for a week and so far I have been pretty unsuccessful. But I will keep trying.

At night he now eats every 3-4 hours. As a newborn he was eating every 2 hours. Which resulted in me getting about 1-1.5 hours of sleep at a time. Boy was that rough. Especially since Cambry always slept at least 6 hours from the first night we brought her home. There has been three nights that he slept for 5-7 hours, and that was so nice. I'm hoping that will eventually become a regular thing if I can get him on a schedule.

Smiling!
Yes, he can smile now! And he knows he's doing it! He even giggles a little sometimes, too. I thought he was pretty adorable before, but now that he smiles daily, he is even cuter!

Growing, and Growing, and Growing
Oliver is growing so fast. At his two week appointment he had gone from 7lbs 5oz (weight the day we left the hospital) to 8lbs 7oz! And from 20 inches to 21 3/4 inches. In just two weeks! He has his Two month check up on August 7th, and I can't wait to see how much more he has grown. He no longer fits in newborn clothes. He wears 0-3 months now. He is so chubby! His thighs have rolls and his cheeks are so chubby and kissable! He just eats like crazy. Although it has not been easy feeding him. I have exclusively breastfed him since he was an hour old. The first three weeks were so hard! It hurt so bad I would cry almost every time I had to feed him. I dreaded it so bad. So I finally gave in and sought help. A lactation specialist came to my house and helped me. That was probably the best $70 I have ever spent. It was immediate relief and I have not had that problem since. Then I started struggling with him because he started to only nurse for 5 minutes and then he would scream and cry and act hungry. But he would refuse to eat. That went on, off and on, for about two weeks. I tried everything I could think of and finally nursing in a reclined position, burping him after 5 minutes when he starts to get fussy and not feeding sooner than 3 hours seems to have done the trick. So finally after 6 weeks we seem to have figured things out a bit. Now all that's left is getting him used to nursing with him covered so I can nurse outside of my home easier. But after all that, I am so glad I did it and didn't give up!

I really hope that I can keep up on his growth and updates better than I have before. I now have a computer and internet at home, so hopefully it will be easier for me.