Good times!

I think the last 2 weeks have been the best 2 weeks yet! Aria loves her baby brother, I feel great, Matthew has been wonderful, and baby Chanson is the most calm (sleepy ;-) and sweet baby I could ever imagine.

Chanson had his 2 week appointment, and he is doing so well! He weighs 7 lbs 15 ozs (as of April 13th) and is 20.5 inches long. That is 25% for weight, and 50% for height. This is how he's lost and gained:

Monday 03/30/09 - birth day! 7 lbs 10 oz

Wednesday 4/1/9 - 7 lbs 3 oz

Thursday 4/2/9 - 6 lbs 12 oz

Saturday 4/4/9 - 6 lbs 15 oz

Thursday 4/9/9 - 7 lbs 10 oz

Monday 4/13/9 - 7 lbs 15 oz

So, in 1 week he gained almost a pound! Now if only I could lose weight at the same rate ;)

I think he will be built like his daddy. He looks just like his daddy, too, which means that Chanson also looks a lot like Aria.

Chanson stays awake about 4 hrs a day (about 1 hr - 1.5 hrs at a time). We are doing the Baby Whisperer method, which is called EASY (Eat, Activity, Sleep, and You time - in that order). That way it's not a strict schedule, but a routine. It also helps so that he doesn't rely on nursing to fall asleep, which is what happened with Aria. Chanson does great with this routine, although it's hard to wake him up sometimes. He sleeps SO well at night. Most nights I have to wake him up to feed him. He very rarely cries, even to eat. He just starts making noise. We feel extremely blessed to have such a sweet baby!

Some things I love about Chanson are his sweet baby noises. He coos a lot, and it just sounds so cute. The first few days of his life, he sounded like a tea kettle once the water is boiling. He doesn't do that anymore, but it was funny when he did.

On Daddy's birthday, Chanson laughed in his sleep. It was really funny! He hasn't laughed awake yet, though. He has smiled while awake (on 4/11/09 at Church for the 1st time).

Aria just loves her baby brother, and wants to hold him and kiss him all the time. She wants him around her all the time. They sit on the couch together (with me ;-) and watch Sesame Street together. I love that! Last night Aria sat on my lap, and Chanson sat on hers. I am just loving this time!

So, Aria is just a chatterbox these days! She talks like crazy and repeats like crazy, too. She fills in the words as I'm reading her books at night, so I started leaving out several words, to see if she would fill them in. Sure enough, she did. We were doing Hey Diddle Diddle, and when we got to the last page, I said "and the..." hoping she'd say "dish", but she said "dish ran away with the spoon".

A few other funny Aria-isms ;-)

When she does vibrato when she sings, she shakes her head really fast to make her voice "shake".

She gets really likes when everyone is together. She gets really excited and says "everybody all together!" She does this when we're together as a family, or when we have several friends all together, etc. She says it a lot - it's cute.

She loves to play ring around the rosey. She calls it Pocket Full of Posey. She only wants to play it in the office, though.

Aria keeps calling me "honey" and she calls Matthew and Chanson "sweetie". This cracks me up!

She plays a game that she made up with Mina. She gets something that resembles (to her) a suitcase and says "see ya! bye! going on a trip" and walks away. Then she comes back and says "I'm back!" She thinks this is a LOT of fun ;-) and keeps doing it over and over.

I always forget to turn off the humidifier in her room, and Matthew never does (after nap or in the am when she wakes up). Last week when I got her out of her crib, and as we were about to go down the stairs she stopped and said "oh I forgot!" and walked back into her room and shut off the humidifier. Too funny - I didn't even know she paid attention to either of us doing that, or that she'd know how to shut it off.

She and daddy have LOTS of games they play. One is called "leggies" and that is where she pumps her legs in the swing. Another is called "swing low" and she says that in a really low voice like she is singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot (which is what Daddy does during the game). He swings her back and forth over the bed, and then throws her onto the bed. She loves it! She and Daddy have a lot of fun!

She likes to pretend to take our picture. She takes Matthew's mp3 player (which she thinks is a camera) and points it at us (or the actual camera if she gets a hold of it) and says "smile!" but how she says it is "sa-MILE".

Matthew was reading her books before bed the other day, and they were reading her Bible. Matthew went over with Aria several things that she loves, and told her that God made them all. He then asked "do you know who God is" and she said "yes! Mama!" .... smart girl! haha! OK, in my defense, I never taught her that! ;-)

She likes to come up to me and say "nice to see you!" or "nice to see you, too!" I guess this is part of the going on a trip game that she plays with Mina.

I noticed awhile ago that Aria said words singular when there was 1 and plural when there was more than 1. Matthew tested it the other day (he didn't believe me ;-) and pointed at a duck and asked what it was. She said "a duck". He pointed at another, and asked again, and she said "a duck". Then he pointed at the shower curtain and said what is that? She said Ducks. She even says 1 foot and 2 feet.

I can't believe she is going to be TWO in 3 months (a little less than 3 months!!) Unbelievable. I still see her as my baby, so when she is doing all this talking and little girl stuff, I am always caught off guard.

We're going to be doing some serious potty training starting in a few weeks. Wish us luck!

I'll post some more pics later today!