Another Monthly Update :)

John Parker is 23 months old.  WHAT????  So, in one month, he will be two???  This doesn't seem possible.  Since Liam has been born, my time has been shared between two babies, and somehow, the last 6 months has LITERALLY slipped up on me!  We are planning an Elmo birthday party, and I can't wait to celebrate with him... but it's so amazingly surreal that he's already almost two.  Sometimes, when I'm nursing Liam, my mind forgets that he is my second baby - somehow I drift back into memories of nursing John Parker, holding his tiny baby hand, cuddling his sweet, warm body first thing in the morning when he was the only one.  My love has now been doubled... Not shared or split, but doubled.  I can't describe the love I feel for these two boys - and in the past 6 months, John Parker has somehow grown up.  Somehow, I've let him change from a baby to a toddler to a little boy.  Somehow, I've allowed him to grow up too quickly by adding a new baby to our family, and unconsciously requiring him to be "big brother" or "big boy", and no longer "baby".  Although I'm IN LOVE with his older, more mature personality, I miss his baby phases.  He is SOOOO smart and funny... he loves to learn and laughs at himself all the time!  Here are some updates on my precious boys...

JP:
Weight - 33lbs
Clothes - 3T
Shoes - 8-9

Loving his SLIDE!

Milestones:  Talking constantly.  He can say ANYTHING, talks in full sentences, can have conversations with adults or other children.  He can count to 20 (to 14 with no help) and can count up to 14 objects.  He can say some of his alphabet, count to 10 in spanish with a little prompting, and knows and remembers names of everyone in our family and extended family and all of my coworkers.  He plays very well by himself and loves blocks (legos), puzzles, balls (anything with a ball - and he knows the difference between footballs, baseballs, basketballs, and soccer balls), he loves playing outside, and loves all books.  He can jump and hop, can recite some of his favorite books and knows the words to many common children's songs.  He is very outgoing and isn't scared of anything :)  Our biggest accomplishment over the last few months is potty training!  He has been fully (pee-pee) potty trained since before Christmas (22 months) and although it was a tough week, he wears "big boy underwear", pee-pees in the potty every 2 hours or so, and rarely has an accident.  Pooping in the potty is a different story, but he will get it soon :)  He feeds himself and can use a spoon and a fork, and he will eat practically anything - whether he chooses to eat it is a different story!  Lately, he has become choosy.. but we try to enforce the fact that what we have for dinner is what he gets.  He absolutely ADORES his baby brother and they are so cute together.  He also loves other children in general, and is easy to befriend.

Liam:
Weight - 19 1/2 - 20 pounds
Diaper - size 3
Clothes - 12 month or 12-18 month

First Baby Food: Peas!

Milestones - Liam can sit up on his own for a few minutes at a time, can roll over both ways, and has started babbling.  He recently got his first tooth (at 6 months, 1 day) and started eating baby food at 5 1/2 months.  He LOVES it, so we have moved pretty fast with it, he now eats stage two fruits and veggies.

Eating - nurses in the morning, breastmilk at 12pm & 4pm (either in 7 oz bottles or nurses with me when I'm off), eats a stage 2 veggie and stage 1 fruit at 630pm, and eats a 9 oz bottle of breastmilk + formula at 830pm.  He also eats at stage two fruit mixed with oatmeal after his noon feeding.

Sleeping - naps from 10am - 11 or 12, 130pm - 3 or 4, and usually takes another nap sometime in the evening between 530 and 6.  He goes to bed around 9pm and sleeps until 745 or 8am, usually with no wake ups.

Last week, we had to take Liam to the doctor for a fever (101) and cough, and turns out he had RSV.  He did a breathing treatment in the office before we left and we were sent home with an inhaler and spacer.  We did a few treatments over the next 2 days, but overall, he got better really quickly and didn't have a severe case.  Two days after he was diagnosed, JP got the worst cold EVER.  He had an ear infection, double eye infection, and felt worse than I have ever seen him feel.  He ended up with thrush from the antibiotic and didn't eat for almost 4 days.  Both boys are finally feeling much better, and I guess I'm just going to have to come to the realization that they will probably always get sick together :(  Liam has finally lost his newborn immunity, and I remember when that happened with JP at around 6 months, we had a different cold/sickness every few weeks!  Hopefully they will stay healthy for a little while :)