The Baptism of Seth Robert

Today was Seth's baptism at the 9:30 Mass by Father Tim. Uncle Curt and Auntie Sas are his Godparents. Seth was all smiles at Fr. Tim while he explained what was going to happen-I think he's going to like Fr. Tim as much as big brother Elijah does!! He was a very good baby during all of church, and even handled the immersion quite well. Because we had Elijah immersed during his baptism, I figured it would be nice to have Seth baptized the same way. Seth fell asleep during the Homily, so I took off he clothes really slow so he wouldn't wake up and start crying. I was able to get off everything but his onesie and diaper without waking him, so when it was time to go up for the baptism I quickly took them off and wrapped him in a towel, which woke him up and made him cry. He stopped pretty quickly, but started to cry a little when I took him out of the towel and handed him to Fr. Tim. He kept crying the first few seconds he was immersed in the water for the first time, but the water must have been the perfect temperature because he stopped crying and just kind of looked around. He did well the next 2 times he was immersed, and even stayed quiet when Fr. Tim handed him back to me. He got a little whiney at times during the rest of the Baptism, but was pretty easy to comfort by rocking him and patting his back. He did well while Fr. Tim put the chrism on his forehead, just sitting quietly while he did it. The rest of Mass, Seth hung out and got a little cranky from time to time, but was easily quieted with rocking. He was even good at the end while Mommy and Daddy got their blessings and when Fr. Tim presented him to the congregation.
After Mass we took some pictures, and Seth was content until the last couple minutes of them-then he had had enough. We went back to the house for lunch and to visit with company. Uncle Mark & Auntie Sue, Grandpa Jeff & Grandma Nina, Uncle Dom, Grandpa John & Grandma Mary, Auntie Carrie & Uncle Ed and girls, Auntie Sas & Uncle Curt and Libbie, Uncle Ben & Aunt Kirby, Great Grandpa & Grandma Capp, Great Grandpa & Grandma Chapman, Tracy & Todd, and Fr. Tim all came over. For lunch we had deep fried turkey (Uncles Ben and Curt cooked it), buns, pasta salad, angel food cake salad, coleslaw, veggies, and cake.
Elijah had a blast playing basketball with Fr. Tim. Fr. Tim would hold up his hand for the 1 point (free throw) while Elijah dribbled and then shot the ball. After Eliah made his shot Fr. Tim would even yell like the kids did at the basketball tournaments. I think this summer we'll have to teach Elijah how to shoot hoops with his little basketball hoop he got for his birthday last summer!

Elijah's First Trip to the ER

Elijah was running around and playing basketball with his toy orange when he somehow fell on the entertainment center and got a cut on his face. I picked him up and he stopped crying pretty quick, so when I saw the blood all over my shirt I wasn't too worried, I figured he just bumped his lip. When I looked, he had a pretty deep cut about an inch and a half wide right under his lip. I changed his diaper and thought about changing his shirt since it was covered in blood, but figured it was pointless to change it before going to the doctor. He cut his lip at around 7:10, and we got to the ER a little after 7:30. His cut still didn't seem to both him, and the bleeding slowed down. When we got to the hospital, we were taken back to a room right away. Elijah didn't like anyone touching his face, and would cry when anyone got close. He had to lay down on the bed while they put a bright light on his face to get a better look. He was pretty scared and cried and tried to get up. They gave me something to numb his lip on some gauze, and at first Elijah let me hold it on his face. After a while he got tired of it, and I had to fight him to keep the gauze on his cut. He would talk to me non-stop any time it was just him and I in the room, but the second the doctor or a nurse walked in, he would stop and just stare at them. Once they left, he would start right back up, so his cut really didn't seem to bother him too much.
When it was finally time to stitch him up, they wrapped him up tight in a blanket, and then had a nurse hold down his head and another his feet. I had to hold down his mid-section, which was hard because he kept looking at me when he screamed. He started screaming as soon as the Doctor started injecting the lidocaine under his lip. He was a little better while they let it get numbed up because the nurses and doctor walked away from him for a minute, but as soon as it came time to hold him down, he started up again. He screamed and thrashed around the second the doctor started the stitches, and continued for the entire 15 minutes it took to stitch him up. The second that I picked him up he stopped crying, and by the time we left he was even talking to the nurses and doctor. He kept sucking on his stitches, so we'll see how much he plays with them when the lidocaine wears off.
We got home around 8:50, and I gave Elijah a bath and some tylenol and put him straight to bed. He slept pretty good, only waking up once to get some more tylenol, so hopefully this will be a quick and easy recovery.
If I never have to do that again, I will be extremely happy-holding down your screaming child while some stranger puts a ugly looking hook through their lip over and over is not a fun experience. I really wish I could've been in another room, but I'm glad I was there to comfort my baby.

Happy Easter!

Happy 1st Easter Seth and 2nd Easter Elijah!!!
The Easter Bunny came and spoiled them both! Elijah got 101 Dalmations, a play food set, a small stuffed duck that quacks, and a shorts outfit. Seth got A Bee Movie, toys for his carseat, a stuffed frog that ribbits, and a shorts outfit that matches the one Elijah got.
Today the boys went to Easter Mass in the matching light green polo shirts I bought them at Kohl's and khaki pants. Both boys were very good during church, which is pretty normal for them.
After church the boys and I went to Grandma Nina's and Grandpa Jeff's while Daddy stayed home and did some work on the house. Great Great Grandma and Grandpa Dougherty, Great Grandma and Grandpa Capp, Uncle Pat, Uncle Ben and Aunt Kirby, Uncle Curt, Aunt Sassy, and Libbie, and Uncle Dominic were all there. The Easter Bunny also made a stop at Grandma's house-Seth got a Cookie Monster with bunny ears and some toys and Elijah got a Elmo with bunny ears, a little basketball, and some toys. Elijah had a rough afternoon and threw several fits, but he didn't get a nap and was really hungry. After supper he was much better, and he and cousin Libbie ran around and played (and yelled) together until it was time to go home.

Day 2 at Daycare

Seth did awesome at daycare yesterday!! He ate 4oz every 4 hours, which is great because ever since he got his cold he had been down to 1-2oz every 2-4 hours. He also eats pretty fast now instead of just snacking. He also took a short morning nap and a longer afternoon nap. When we got home he slept for about half an hour, and then he ate 5 oz!!! He had a pretty good evening, and was very smiley. Elijah also had a great day at daycare, and was good at home. He did get told “no” a few times at daycare because he was trying to climb into the bouncer with Seth. He has been throwing fewer and fewer tantrums, so I hope they’re slowly going away for good. He has also started speaking more clearly. He asked for “more water” and has been saying “holy cow” over and over again after he heard me say it last night while watching Biggest Loser.

Seth and Elijah spent some time playing together after Elijah had his snack. I set Seth on the high chair tray, and he had lots of smiles and a few coos for his big brother. Elijah sat and smiled and talked to him, it was very cute. Elijah pointed out Seth’s pants, shirt, socks, eyes, hair, ears, teeth (haha!), and then his eyes again several times. He even gave Seth hugs when I moved him closer. He said “nice baby” quite a few times and then rubbed his arm or patted his back. They spent about 10 minutes together, so I’m really hoping this is the beginning of a great friendship! Elijah has become much more interested in Seth the past couple weeks, especially if someone new is checking out his baby brother. I think in time he might become pretty protective of him, but that’s what big brothers are for! =)

Seth's First Day of Daycare

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Today was my first day back at work, and also Seth's first day at daycare. I was kind of curious how Elijah would do with Seth there with him for the first time, but Melissa said he just left Seth alone. Elijah had a great day-he ate lunch and snack really well and took a long nap-over two hours!! I'm thinking he's still catching up from this weekend... Seth did okay, he ate 2-3oz every 2-4 hours which is great-he hasn't ate that much since before he came down with his cold over a week ago. He never did take a good nap for Melissa though, instead he slept 10-15 minutes at a time. Hopefully he'll get on a nice schedule soon. Seth spent time in the bouncer, bassinet, and swing. When I picked him up, he was starting to fall asleep, and after Melissa put him in his car seat he slept from the time we left daycare until about 20 minutes after we got home. He was ok when he woke up and ate 3oz and then hung out in his bouncer, but one daddy got home he was c-r-a-b-b-y!!! Nothing made him happy for longer than 10 minutes, so I gave him a bath. It worked for about 15 minutes, so I took him out and got him in his jammies. He was crabby off and on until bedtime, so hopefully tomorrow will be better. I think he got a little over-stimulated with all of the new stuff going on at daycare, and he was probably over-tired after not taking a good nap today. We'll see how tomorrow goes...

Spoilers are State Basketball Champs!

On Thursday night Elijah was having so much fun watching the Grafton-Lisbon boys' basketball game that I let him stay up and watch the entire game. He would yell at the TV, sometimes saying "go go go" and sometimes just talking in gibberish. He would clap after baskets and sometimes run and get his ball so he could shoot some free throws too. Grafton won 50-48.

On Friday Seth, Elijah, and I drove down to Fargo where we met Chris. We went out for supper at TGIFridays and then went to the Fargodome and met up with Tracy and Todd. Both boys took their turns sitting with Tracy and Todd, and were really good. The pep band from Belcourt was there, and Elijah stood on Todd's lap and danced, providing entertainment for the people around us and some of the people in the band. Elijah learned yet another new basketball thing-holding up his index finger when a Grafton player would shoot a free throw. Grafton beat Watford City 61-47. When we got back to the hotel, Elijah was little wired and ran around for a little while before he went to bed. Seth hung out until a little after midnight, and then slept until 6:00-go Seth!!

On Saturday we went to West Acres for a little while, and then headed back to the hotel so Elijah could take a nap. He took forever to fall asleep, so he only got an hour nap because we woke him up so we could go to Olive Garden. BAD IDEA! Elijah had a MAJOR meltdown at Olive Garden, something he has never done while out in public. We had to wait almost half an hour for a table, and during the last 10 minutes he was screaming. A hostess brought him out a breadstick to see if he was hungry, but that didn't help. After we got our table he continued to throw a fit for about 10 minutes, and then he was fine. He ate a breadstick and drank a bunch of milk-such a healthy supper. After we ate we headed out to the Fargodome so we could get good seats, so we ended up sitting around for 40 minutes before the first game. Both boys were pretty good, and Elijah had a snack of animal crackers. I swear the kids got more crumbs on his shirt than he did in his mouth! He was a little crabby during this game, but got to go for a walk with Todd and that seemed to help. Grafton played Turtle Lake-Mercer for the State Championship and won 53-42. We stayed for the awards, so we didn't get back to the hotel until after 11:00. I put Elijah to bed right away, but he was in the middle of his second wind so he stood in the pack 'n play and watched Saturday Night Live. He clapped when the audience did, and even laughed for some of the funny parts. He would lay down, then stand up and peek over the side of the pack 'n play, lay down again, get up over and over until one time he laid down and his head never came back up. He slept until 8:30, but has been pretty crabby so far today. I think all the late nights have caught up to him-hopefully he's good for Melissa at daycare tomorrow!!!

Still at home...

Since Elijah is such a nice big brother and shared his cold with Seth, we are staying home today. Seth has had a cold since Friday, but it has been worse yesterday and today. He has been coughing a lot, has a little bit of a runny nose, is sleeping a lot, and is eating about half of what he normally does. On top of that, sometimes when he coughs he throws up. He is also running a slight fever (99.9) though it's lower than it was last night. Even though he hasn't been feeling well, he's been sleeping great at night-last night he was in bed around 11:00, woke up at 3:30 to eat, throw up, then eat again, and then slept from 4:15 until 8:30. He's been napping off and on today, and has eaten more so far today than he has in a while, but he's also thrown up a couple times. As long as he's feeling better, we are planning on heading to Fargo tomorrow morning. Chris will be meeting us sometime in the afternoon, so that will help too.

Elijah seems to be getting over his cold, and just coughs every now and then. I'm excited to take him to the state tournament because he really likes to watch basketball. I've taken him to about one game every week this year, and he'll watch the players run back and forth on the court. He even cheers the team on, whether it be us or them. During regular season games he usually ended up cheering for the other team, I'm thinking it's because he could see their fans clapping and would join in the fun. For tournaments it was so loud that he would just clap whenever he heard someone else clapping. It was pretty cute. He must have been really paying attention at the Regional Championship game (which we won!!) because the next day he was shooting free throws!! He would take his ball and using both hands dribble it-bounce it a few inches off the ground without taking his hands off it. Then he would stand up and throw the ball, with it usually going straight up in the air and then falling on his head. I'm hoping to get a video of it so I can show it to him when he gets older-hopefully his love for basketball will continue!


Here is a picture of Todd and Tracy with the boys at a basketball game. I work with Tracy at Central, and when we go to games we sit with her and her husband Todd. Elijah absolutely loves Todd, and I think Todd feels the same about Elijah. They are way too cute together. Elijah can even say Todd and Tracy, though I don't think he's said it in front of them yet... They came and visited us last weekend along with Todd's daughter Karly, and Elijah had a blast showing off all his toys and latest skills (to include falling on the floor over and over and over...).

Seth's 2 Month Appt

Seth had his 2 month appointment today. He weighed in at 9lbs 12 oz and was 22" long. He was 6lbs 8oz and 19.5" at birth, so he is growing, but slowly. Elijah was 7lbs 0oz and 21" at birth and 11lbs 12oz and 22" at 2 months, so I guess I was expecting Seth to be closer to 11lbs. It's okay though, having smaller babies is much easier on my arms and back :) Elijah is almost 19 months old and is 21.5lbs. Not sure how long he is, I'll have to get the tape measure out one of these days.

After Seth's check-up I had my 2 month post-partum visit, so the nurse took Seth around the clinic to see the other nurses. Seth smiled and flirted with everyone he came into contact with-he is just like his daddy and big brother!

Seth had to get his shots today, and did really well. When they gave him the oral rotavirus vaccine he sucked on the dispenser and got every last drop! He was starving, so that could be why, lol. He got two shots in his right thigh and one iin his left, and cried bloody murder when they stuck him. He went a long time without taking a breath, so I had to blow in his mouth to get him to gasp for air. Once I picked him up he just wimpered a little bit, so he's a pretty tough guy.

So far tonight Seth has eaten a little bit and slept a lot. He had a temp of 101.2, so he's not feeling very well. He's been getting tylenol every 4 hours, but he still has a temp of 100. Hopefully he will sleep well tonight so that he is feeling better tomorrow as we have a long (but exciting) day ahead of us tomorrow. The boys and I are headed down to Fargo to watch the Spoilers play in the State tournament. The first game is tomorrow night at 8:15, so hopefully everyone gets a good nap and is in a good mood! Go Spoilers!!

Here are the boys!

Trying Something New

I am starting this blog to keep track of what my boys are up to, new things they've learned, stuff like that. I'm hoping to update it at least once a week, but we'll see how it goes. For today I'll have to cut things short because Elijah is throwing a fit, and Seth is starting to get hungry. Chris is in Bismarck for the rest of the week, so that leaves me holding down the fort alone. Hopefully I'll add more and some pics later...