Yesterday was the first day we introduced Connor to solid food.  I have been quite excited about this ever since Connor has seemed very interested in eating.  He often stares at me while I am eating or tries to grab my food or containers.  Even the teacher has mentioned that he has stared at his classmate while she was eating at school.  So I prepared rice cereal with breast milk yesterday.  The feeding went ok.  Just like other babies with first time eating, most of the cereals came right back out.  A few minutes into it, he seemed to understand the concept of it.  He leaned slightly toward the spoon.  Today, being the second day, he even opened his mouth a bit more for the spoon while leaning toward it.  Logan did not care for the rice cereal back then, but Connor appeared to be liking it so far.

     A couple more first experiences for Connor this weekend.  The weather was so beautiful that we decided to go to Happy Hollow in the morning.  We even had a picnic at the park too.  Connor and I spent some time sitting on the blanket and enjoying the sunshine.  When I tried to put him back to the car seat, he kept trying to sit up, not wanting to stay down.  I think he was ready to sit up to look around, so I had him sit in the stroller instead.  He loved looking around and he was very content in it.  Today at home we also took out the circular activity chair for Connor to try.  He enjoyed playing with all the toys, and Logan also had some fun with them too.

     The past couple of weeks, we have noticed that Logan has been speaking more and making much longer sentences.  You can almost see his mind spinning while he searches for the words to express himself.  It is so cute to watch him talk and sometimes struggle to get words out.  He is speaking 3 to 4-word sentences most of the times.  I wish I could remember all the funny things he says.  Today when I picked him up from his classroom with Connor, many of his classmates surrounded Connor to check both him and his toys out.  Logan kept reminding his friends “It’s Logan’s Connor…don’t play with toys…Connor’s toys”.  This was the first time he referred to Connor as his.  It was nice to hear that!  When we got into the freeway, he told me “too fast…mommy, drive careful!”.  Later on, he suddenly said in one long sentence “can’t see…too dark…Logan does not like dark…dark is scary”.  Yesterday we were having breakfast while watching a cartoon that also had characters eating, Logan then said “we are eating too”.  Last week during one of the dinners, out of the blue, he pointed to my tummy and said “big tummy”.

     Logan is also more interactive with reading according to Stuart.  He has his favorite books these days, most of them are the Thomas and Friends books we borrowed from the library.  He will fill in words while Stuart reads the bedtime stories, and sometimes he will even be telling the stories with his abbreviated version.  His memory has developed so that he can recall and tell us what will happen in the later parts of the books, which really ruins the stories for those of us that can’t.  I have not been reading much to Logan these days since I am feeding Connor while Logan goes through his bedtime routine.  I know I’m missing out on some of these fun times. 

     I had a relaxing and enjoyable birthday yesterday.  In the morning, we initially planned to go to Los Gatos shopping mall for a walk and to have a picnic lunch.  But Connor ended up taking a long morning nap.  By the time he woke up and fed, there was not much time left before Logan needs to nap.  So instead, we took a stroll in our neighborhood to pick up some lunch.  It was a bit foggy and cold, but the walk turned out to be very refreshing and fun.  After the family nap, we hung out for a bit then headed out to the Kaos.  Michelle and Ted graciously hosted a birthday dinner for me.  They prepared a delicious meal with a “deep fried” turkey, roasted potatoes and salad.  Julie and Robert also brought a beautiful yummy birthday cake for dessert.  Besides stuffing ourselves last night, we had a great time chatting and the kids had fun playing.  Logan warmed up to Mckayla very quickly this time.  They played, laughed and ran after each other a lot.  They even shared a head bump leaving each other a bruise on the forehead.  Mckayla was so brave that she did not cry while Logan needed some consoling.  The babies also had fun and did very well.  I didn’t recall any crying from any of them.  Marcus and Ashlyn ate their dinners while Connor took his nap.  Ashlyn even smiled to me and leaned on me when I was holding her.  Connor was quite smiley all evening; he enjoyed watching all the running and crawling.  We had such a good time that we ended up staying a bit past Logan’s and Connor’s bedtime.  They both behaved quite well the entire evening and stayed awake during the drive home.  Connor finally got very tired and started crying the last 10 minutes of the drive.  After the bedtime routine, they both went to sleep quite quickly.  It was a great evening.  Thanks to the Kaos and the Changs for helping me celebrate my birthday!

     The birthday celebration will continue this week.  Stuart will take a day off tomorrow and it will be the first day we have together without a kid for a very very long time.  We might go to the driving range or play some tennis, or we might do some shopping.  I have all these things in mind that I hope the day is long enough to do them all.  I am also looking forward to a birthday lunch on Friday with my friends at work.

    This was a wonderful birthday.  I received many birthday wishes, cards and gifts.  Thanks everyone !

     We finally start to see some improvement on Connor’s cough.  It has been 3 weeks now.  After the bad night I mentioned in the previous post, Connor had another bad one the following night.  He kept waking up from coughing that we decided to bring him to our bed.  But none of us could sleep well either.  Finally Stuart decided to try bouncing him to sleep; he ended up holding him from 3-5am.  Stuart woke me up when Logan was up super early at 5:15.  At that point, Stuart and Connor finally went down for some better sleep.  After these two bad nights, Connor was able to return to sleeping through without being woken up by coughing.  Last night was the first that he did not cough overnight.  He still has some coughing during the day, but we are so happy to see some improvements.
     Another event to mention was on Wednesday morning, after the difficult night, the teacher called me at 11:30am.  She reported that Connor was very sad, crying a lot and refusing bottles.  So I decided to visit him during my lunchtime.  When i got to school, Connor’s face was all red from the crying; it was difficult to see him like that.  As soon I picked him up, he stopped crying.  He also started drinking right away when I nursed him.  The whole time he was looking up at me, like making sure that I stayed with him.  I was able to watch Connor’s classmates while sitting there.  He has 6 classmates and 4 of them are also July babies.  They were all sitting down nicely around the teachers, watching and playing.  Very adorable!  When Connor finished drinking, he returned to the smiley one again.  He kept smiling to me and to the teacher, and he did not cry either when I handed him back to the teacher.  I then felt comfortable to return to work.  Since this incidence, he has been ok at school again. 

Connor has been coughing for almost 2 weeks now, started shortly after Christmas.  He was coughing when he began daycare last week, but the cough got a bit worse mid week and sneezing was added then.  We did expect Connor to pick up another cold as Logan got sick for the first time right when he started school too.  Despites these cold symptoms, Connor was doing fine adjusting to daycare.  However, coughing still has not eased up and last night was worse.  He woke up after midnight from a bad coughing spell.  He was coughing continuously for at least 20 minutes.  It sounded so bad and he looked so sad.  So I decided to hold him for the remaining of the night to keep him warmer and keep him upright.  And I made an appointment for him to see the doctor today.  I was concerned if he was having any wheezing given Logan’s history of asthma.  At the doctor’s office, Connor was in good mood and gave everyone smiles.  He checked out well, no fever and had good oxygen saturation.  Doctor also confirmed no wheezing too.  I was quite relieved to hear that.

P.S. Connor weighed 22lbs 0.5oz (with clothes and a poopy diaper).  We really need to shop for the convertibles now to switch him out of his current carseat soon.

     It was a busy week.  I returned to work on Wednesday and that was the beginning of our new routine.  I would drop both kids off to daycare early in the morning, and pick them up after work unless I have a busy day, then Stuart would step up.  Transporting both kids is definitely more hectic. 

     For this first week of school, Connor did very well.  By Wednesday, he was no longer crying at drop off.  He would just sit in the chair watching around or playing with his fingers, and he would even give me or the teacher a smile.  He drank and napped fine during the day.  His napping routine has returned to his usual by Thursday.  When I picked him up, he was once playing with a toy while on his tummy, and other days he was still napping.  Connor has been having a cough for over a week now and also occasional sneezing.  But despite this cold, he did so well at school.  He is such a good sport!
     Logan, on the other hand, was a bit more difficult.  He could be a bit moody at drop off.  He sometimes would refuse to get out the car or walk into the classroom; it usually took a little convincing before he cooperated again.  His difficulty must be related to dealing with the changes of me taking him to school again and having Connor tagging along now.  On Friday morning, he even threw a tantrum.  As soon as we pulled out of the garage, Logan missed Daddy already.  He cried and kicked his legs the entire way to school.  He kept screaming "no mommy!" and "turn around, go home".  Once we got to school, I sat by him in the car for awhile and calmly talked to him before he finally calmed too.  Then he became very clingy and the teacher had to intervene before Logan would willingly say his goodbye.  At pickup, Logan could suddenly decided that he wanted to go back to school when I tried to put him in the car.  So I had to be organized and quick putting him in the car.  Having to strap two kids in the carseats and carrying all their supplies were a bit challenging.  I still have to figure what the best sequence is to do all that safely and efficiently.
     Once we get home, the rush begins. We let Logan watch some TV while I feed Connor.  Stuart warms up the dinners that I had previously prepared and sets up the table.  We then would eat dinner together and play for a little bit afterward.  Then it will be time for bath and their bedtime routine.  Both kids are down around 8:30.  We then clean up the house and finally got our chance to relax.