Random Fall Updates

DECLAN

- Declan is just a few days shy of 9 months old. He's starting on cow's milk and is only nursing once or twice a day. That makes me sad, because m'boy is really into boobs, but the fact is that the pregnancy hormones are fighting with the milk hormones, and the pregnancy is winning. I don't have much milk left, so even when I do nurse him all day long, I'm topping him up with formula anyway. And of course my little prince needs the expensive $30/can formula, not the generic $8/can formula. I will not be sad to see the end of that stuff at our house. I mean, I know formula has saved a lot of babies' lives (including Declan's, probably) and I do not care AT ALL if someone has to, or chooses to, feed their baby formula - but for some reason it has been really hard on me to give it to Declan. Probably because I feel like he's being rushed out of baby-hood since there is another on the way, and think that if it weren't for me being pregnant, he could have continued his great love affair with the boob for much longer.

- Declan had his 9 month appointment this morning. While he continues to be massive to us (in comparison to his sister at this age) he is only 17lbs (5th percentile) and just over 27 inches (10th percentile.) Our hilarious doctor was all "He must seem like a giant to you.... how does your husband feel???" Poor Rainer, he keeps holding out hope for a giant Rainer Jr., but it looks like the McQueen genes reign supreme with the first 2 babes!! Declan also has 2 teeth and no interest in crawling. He won't even roll anymore! Now that's lazy!!

- Declan is on table food and doing great with it. We went out for lunch today and he had his first meal off the kids' menu. (Kids' menus are full of garbage, by the way. I mean, really? I'm not going to order my kid a corndog and fries. I'm just not.) Anyway, he got a plain mini-hamburger, broccoli, and applesauce and he ate the entire lunch. I don't know where he puts it.

TALIA

- Talia is doing great. She talks a mile a minute and is always making us laugh with what comes out of her mouth. She insists that she wants "anutter brutter" when we talk about the new baby. Rainer thinks she is going to end up with an army of tiny brothers, who she will train to do her bidding.

- Talia is completely diaper-free during the day, including her nap. She has a bad habit of taking her diaper off in the middle of the night but can't make it until morning consistently, so that has been greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat. Oh well, I wash diapers almost everyday anyway, so what's one more load of laundry?

- We are 100% in the midst of the "I do it mineself" phase, which means we are late for many events and get there with clothes on backwards and shoes on the wrong feet. But hey, as long as she's wearing pants, I am not complaining. Did I mention that her favourite thing to do is take off her pants & panties and ask people "See my pee-pee?" BECAUSE IT IS.

ABACUS

- Okay, here's the thing about Abacus. I suggested Atticus as a name the other night and Rainer, accountant that he is, heard "Abacus." That's just funny, because who likes math that much? We hadn't come up with a good "on-the-inside" name for the baby yet, so Abacus has sort of stuck. But the more we use it, the more people think it's for real. IT'S NOT. So sorry, but don't get your hopes up.

- We had our 20-ish week ultrasound this morning. I had thought I was 20 weeks, 1 day along today and that's exactly what the measurements came back as. My Dr. did not believe me, as my exclusive breastfeeding of Declan at the time of conception and my morning sickness hitting really early - too early, in her opinion - made for lots of back-and-forth when it came to settling on a due date. In any case, I will take great pleasure in telling her to suck it at my next appointment. (Lovingly, of course, because she really is awesome and hilarious.)

- Abacus looks healthy as a horse and is on track to be the same size as his/her brother and sister were. Poor Rainer, looks like he's zero for three when it comes to our kids' genetics. Seriously, was he involved in this at all???

- And in our first EPIC FAIL of parenting where Abacus is concerned, we didn't get ultrasound pictures. In our defense, usually they give you a form to fill out when you first get there AND the tech asks you if you want them. This time we got no form and the tech didn't mention it, and we didn't think about it until we were at lunch afterward. Poor, poor, third baby. The neglect is beginning already.