Two Months Old!

Wow - I can't believe Gus is already 2 months old. When I was pregnant, it seemed like it took ages for 2 whole months to go by, now time goes so fast that it makes me a little sad sometimes. I have loved every minute of my time with Gus so far, and I'm constantly hugging and kissing his sweet cheeks to let him know that. Here are a few pictures of our boy and some little thoughts to remind me of what he was like as a two month-old.

- Gus seems to be a very sensitive, quiet boy and I think sometimes that he has an old soul. He just takes everything in around him and is easily comforted by being snuggled up close to anyone willing to hold him (there's never a shortage).

- His smiles are becoming more and more common now, and they are adorable!

- I love the way he breathes really fast when he gets excited to nurse. It's so cute and it makes me so happy to share those moments with him.

- This month, his hair is starting to grow back in and his eyelashes have appeared. I was a little worried when he was born without any eyelashes at all that he might not ever get them :) - Other than being held, he is happiest on his changing table. He smiles and coos at the wall and his giraffe and kicks his legs all around.

- He is starting to sleep better at night. Last night, he slept from 9:30-2:00, then from 2:30-6:00. I know that by writing this down, I have cursed myself and we'll be back to 2 hour stretches, but I thought I'd write it because now I know that sleep is possible!

- At his 2 month check-up on Monday, he weighed 12 pounds, 12 ounces which is the 81st percentile. This was a big jump from the 36th at his 2 week appointment, I guess my milk just fattens up my babies because George was even bigger than Gus. His height is in the 97th percentile :)

- He got three shots in his little legs on Monday, and he cried so hard that I started crying, too. George never seemed bothered by shots, but poor Gus was inconsolable for a while. And now that he actually has tears when he cries, it made it even sadder for me to watch!

Other than the minor inconvenience for me of having to cut out dairy, Gus is a dream baby. I think that knowing that he's probably our last baby makes me treasure all his baby-ness a little extra. I'm in no hurry to get him out of our room at night, I hold him as much as I can and wear him in the baby wraps if I need to just to keep him close, and I take about 20 pictures of him a day because I don't want to forget each face he makes and what his tiny feet and hands look like.

I am such a lucky mama to have been blessed with such wonderful, healthy boys. George and Gus both make me so proud and happy!

This and That

This post has nothing in particular to say, just some new pictures of the O'Reilly boys. Gus is starting to smile a lot more now, although it's still hard to catch on camera. He seems to hear the sound of the camera turning on and immediately stops his big smiles :) But here are some that are still cute:Gus is starting to notice things in his surroundings now. He loves this giraffe on his changing table that George got him when he was born. It plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and he loves watching it.He also loves this Snoopy on his bouncy seat. It was like he just said, "Hey, have you been here this whole time?" Some shots with his proud mom and dad... Now some of George. These first two are hilarious because he was finger painting, got an itchy nose, and this was the result. He was not happy! (I quickly comforted him after these pictures were taken).
Can you tell that for George, finger painting really means whole arm painting?
Here is George working in his new little slice of heaven in our backyard. He is out there all the time now, and with the fence being moved out farther, I don't have to sit right next to him anymore or worry that he can run out into the street.
After some serious digging and wearing his Illinois hat...

Two and a Half!

George is now officially two and a half years old. It's so amazing to me how quickly this all happens. I just visited my good friend Michelle and her day-old baby in the hospital, and Gus already seems enormous compared to baby Mark, even though it was just a month and a half ago that he was so tiny.

And now we have a boy half-way through his third year. Here is a list of things I don't want to forget about George right now.

• His three favorite hobbies are singing, dancing, and digging. He knows most of the songs from the Sound of Music and still loves some Lady Gaga most days. He has some good rhythm when he dances and almost always adds new moves that are actually pretty great. He is so much fun to watch! He also continues to love digging in dirt. Sean extended our fence last weekend and made him a dirt section on the side of the house, just so he can dig whenever he wants.
• He refers to himself in the third person as Georgie. All day long, we will hear, "Georgie do it!" "Daddy dig with Georgie," "Georgie watch somethin.'" He also still says, "Hold-a-you" when he wants to be picked up.
• When he asks a question, he doesn't use the question word at the beginning of the sentence, he just says the rest. Some of the questions we hear the most are: "Daddy go?" "You have?" and "Called?"
• He pronounces "thank you" as "zsa-zsou." (That's the closest I could get to spelling it like he says it!)
• While remember the good, I have to also include some of the not-so-good :) He says "no" about 150 times a day, much to my aggravation. He also is easily frustrated by toys that don't do what he wants (usually trucks) and will yell and cry and occasionally throw the toy that is frustrating him. He is not a great sharer, although there are hints that he's getting better. He hates taking naps and going to bed at night, and I long for the days that I could read him a book and lay him in his crib and he'd go right to sleep. He purposely hits his head against the wall and against other people for no reason (at least I don't know the reason).
• Now back to the good stuff: He loves his brother and likes to give him hugs and bounce his bouncy seat.
• He has a fantastic memory. I am amazed at the stuff he can remember about people, places we've gone, and tiny pieces of information that I had already forgotten myself.
• He is an outgoing kid - he loves to say hello to people and sing them a show-tune or two when he meets them. He tries to play with other kids more and more when we are at the park or at the zoo.

We love our sweet George more than we can say. Happy half-birthday, Georgie!

The O'Reilly Boys

Here are some pictures of our Irish boys proudly wearing their green for St. Patty's Day. George has been really loving toward Gus lately, even if he's been more troublesome for Sean and me at times :) Reading a book to his little brother...

We love these boys!

Our Growing Boy

This is going to be a Gus-only post, but that's okay since I figure George has had 2.5 years of posts all to himself :)
I thought I'd just post some new pictures of our sweet boy. He is growing quickly, I've already had to pack up lots of clothes that are too small! I like these pictures because they show how blue his eyes still are. I'm surprised they've stayed so blue this long, they'll probably change soon so I don't want to forget them! A slight hint of a smile...
Here he is enjoying a bath tonight...This is a common expression around here. He gets this surprised look and his eyes open really wide, it's seriously cute. I hope your enjoyed our Gus pictures!

Rocking the Pink

I bought one pink baby item while I was pregnant, even though I was guessing that Gus would be a girl. And that item was this pink diaper:I remember thinking as I bought it, "The baby is for sure a boy now because I bought something pink." Oh well, Gus pulls off the pink pretty well I think. He's just so stinking cute that he can make anything look good!

That's all for today! Enjoy your Sunday!

The Big 3-2

I wanted to take a cute picture of my boys for my birthday, but it wasn't too successful: George is still getting over his cold and isn't quite himself still and posing for pictures isn't high on his list of priorities. But here's one of Gus showing off his "Baby Bro" shirt :)

George was a big help today making some dairy-free cookies 'n' cream cupcakes. He proved that every activity is more fun when you use trucks.

Sneaking in a little taste...

With the finished product:

My pretty flowers from Sean:

We got one good picture with the promise of a marshmallow for George!

A Visit From Nana and Pa

This week, we were so happy to have Sean's parents stay with us for a few days. George was so excited to see them and Terry and Marlene were excited to meet baby Gus. They were a huge help, making dinner for us every night and watching the boys last night so Sean and I could go out to dinner for my birthday.
Their stay started off so well, but on Wednesday George caught the fastest-progressing cold I've ever seen and was a crabby, tired, fevery, sick boy for the rest of their stay. So this group of pictures is a little Gus-heavy, mostly because George was just not in the mood for much at all except being held by me or Sean.
But Marlene did manage to get his help making cookies one morning...

Terry and Gus enjoying some time together at breakfast...

Just a sweet picture I took of Gus...

Today Terry made some delicious corned beef and cabbage. He was trying to teach Sean how to make it, so all the O'Reilly men watched and learned...

Adding that special ingredient...

This is basically how George behaved all week - it was no fun for anyone.

Terry finally held the baby today - it only took 5 days!

The O'Reilly men...

Gus was a very sweet baby all week (as usual) and loved being held by his Nana. He even started giving some little smiles!

George didn't want to be in the picture :(

Kelly and Joe and their kids came over for the corned beef dinner tonight and they all wore the St. Patty's Day shirts that Aunt Erin sent. They looked so cute!

It's too bad George was not himself all week, it would have made for a more pleasant visit, but we all still enjoyed having Nana and Pa here so much!