I forgot how hard life was with an infant.... complicated by the fact that Sebastien has been sick. He came down with a runny runny nose the day Tristan was born. This past weekend he had a case of diarrhea. Followed by a high fever and vomiting.  Lots of sheets laundered that night. Sebastien and Mihai slept in our bed while Tristan and I slept in Tristan's room. What fun.

Sebastien was back at daycare today and Tristan and I are slowly figuring each other out. Last night he gave us a five hour block of sleep! I don't know what I did right yesterday, but may it repeat itself!



Andrei and his family were in town our first week home withTristan. Last saturday my boys meet up with their family to go to the Natural History museum. And more memorably ride the carousel. The blue horse featured in some crying.


The weather had been perfect that week for sebastien to play in his sand box out front. added bonus i could see him through the window while breastfeeding.  the light was nice in the late afternoon.



My sister suzanna sent up a tigger custom for halloween.  Sebastien could  not attend his daycare party, so lets hope the stars are aligned for friday afternoon. but he is rather taken with having a tail.



Sebastien feeding his baby....



Bath time with bubbles. this was a rather quiet bath time, but the bathroom was a diaster afterwards.



Tristan's first sojurn outside (not including the trip from hospital or to doctors office). Two weeks into life. same day as his first bath.
 


Playing on the floor together. you can get a good glimpse up tristan's nose to see there are no buggers.  he is still congested. which means lots of saline, and sometimes some presents on your shirt.



And my favorites: sleeping.  taken in the last three days...




I think today could well be the start of pimply baby. We are starting  to see little red dots all over his face. 





oh yeah. we went to the doctor monday.  tristan is now at 11 lbs 9.5 ounces. he is gaining his 1 ounce a day. i feel like i'm not doing my job, as sebastien was gaining three ounces a day!  i know all kids are different, and it's not a competion, but tristan is not gaining as well/fast as his brother and it could be my fault.  it doesn't help that he likes to fall asleep while eating. 

Suzanna and her gang came up for the day to meet Tristan and to drop off a bassinet that her friend had given us.  Suzanna has become very proficient in her skills with her SLR camera and was kind enough to take some photos of Tristan and some with mother and new son (photos that are lacking with Sebastien).

Picassa: Tristan's 1st Day Home.

Tristan saw our pediatrician today. I proud to say that his weight has stopped going down. A piece of mind for his cow. We are still waiting for some pee and some poo.  Give me a P! (or two).  The milk is in, so hopefully that will happen soon.

I forgot that the labor is the easiest part of this whole process.....

First, the stats:
Born 10/10/08
11 lbs, 24 in (a whopper of a boy)

Labor was easier than with Sebastien.  It still HURT.  Note to self: do not repeat [if you do, exercise a lot].
If it's any indication of how pushing went, mother heard an ominous 'pop' indicating baby's clavicle did not withstand being squished out of the body. We're told he'll heal in no time.

On the bright side, we are now back to counting pees, poos, and feeds.  Anybody up for some data analysis?  The score sofar: 3 poos, 1 pee, 20 feeds. 

Big brother Sebi is excited about Baby Brother.  How long this will last, we don't know.  Granny and Ah Kong have made sure Sebi got plenty of personalized attention and he doesn't seem to miss Mummy and Daddy (except at night). 

But enough chatter, here's the little boy.  Hopefully we'll head on tonight  and sleep in our own beds.



                                            

Sebastien Thursday morning with his splint. Big grin on his face.



Thursday night with the cast.  Quite happy. He had crawled around earlier on in the evening.



Cool Man this afternoon. I put him in at his request.  Mihai tells me that he tried to put weight on it, said ouch, and then slowly figured out how to sit back down.

Sebastien is doing well. not letting the cast slow down his playing.  Mummy will recover. If you are looking at the bright side of life, perhaps when the new baby comes along, it will seem like a walk in the park?! (wishful thinking).


Photos from previous weeks:

Last weekend we were down in willliamsburg visiting oli and aurora and stella. the vacation included a dip/or toss in the pool (depending on prespective).



For father's day we went boating. Sebastien was enchanted with the boats, wanted to help row, and would NOT take off his life jacket.

Apparently friends have not given up on my blogging ability. Thank you. Pictures will come. (but I'm at work <shh>.


Sebastien got his cast yesterday.  Below his knee, over his foot. He can walk on it, when he so chooses. White. The only bells & whistles is that it doesn't have to be cut off. The doctor can unwind it.  He says that the fracture is not severe, if it were worse the cast would extend past the knee. which is still a possibility of sebastien is uncomfortable. how we determine that I do not know. We are looking at four weeks with a cast. 

I think sebastien has some general pain & discomfort, but I haven't noticed  movement of the left leg triggering a crying response. And he did actually crawl on it last night. Made me feel a little better. Apart from frustration that he can't get things (that he has usually flung away from him), he is a happy little boy. He is doing better than we are. (By we, I mean me. I'm trying really hard to not keep asking him 'are you okay?'. On the other hand, in the last few weeks sebastien has taken to asking mihai and i if we are okay whenever we cough.... really cute).

Mihai and Sebastien are at home today. We are observing, smoothering and generally spoiling him.  Sebi will go to daycare when Mihai and I are comfortable with him being with other (reckless) kids. 

In case anyone is reading.

Sorry to disappoint with no pics, but this is a mummy rant.

My baby fractured his leg today <wail>.  He was helping to clean up at school when he fell down and hurt himself. I was told there was a lot of tears. but when i showed up forty minutes later he was quietly sitting on the counter (without bear and pacifier) eating animal crackers.  There was noise when he tried to put weight on it, but otherwise rather happy.

The ER put a splint on. we need to make an appointment wtih an pediatric orthopedist to get a cast, which he will have to wear for 4 to 6 weeks.  Not sure if it will be a walking cast.  I cannot imagine my baby not being able to get himself around for one month. my little boy who loves to run, and ride bikes, play on his scooter, and try and skate board on his trains (i think he means roller skate, but who am i too correct him?!)  No swings. No slides. Except for reading books and playing with cars, I'm not sure what he can do!

<sniff> <sniff>

We went in for an ultrasound the other day to check on baby's development and to find out it's sex.  A good thing we wanted to know, because it was the first thing the technician found.  Sebastien will have a little bother brother. Let's hope he is learning how to share well at daycare.

The baby has ten fingers, ten toes, heart & spine development look normal. Whew. We had declined first trimester screening. So it was good to know all was growing as it should. We are still on track for a late September delivery. The technician tells us that baby is the weight of a full can of coke. No length measurements.  His placenta is along the back of my utereus (part closest to my back). Which could explain why I feel so much more movement now.  Luckily for us, the radiology center had just upgraded the ultrasound machine, so we could get 3D images. Of no diagnostic value in this case, but pretty.

Airplanes & Firetrucks.

On Saturday we drove over to College Park to visit the Aviation Museum. While not the most expansive museum on the subject matter, it is very kid friendly. Hands on exhibits at child height. Puzzles. Stamping. Dress Up. And best of all, you can climb into an old two person airplane and press levers, pull up on the wheel, and steer. Every action made the appropriate piece of airplane to move.  We (sebastien) may have hogged this activity.



On Sunday the Warrens and the Symzers came down to play and visit Mike at the fire house!  The kids came home with helmets after having a go at driving Mike's fire engine. (And yes, it is Mike's personal engine, the one weekend a month that he is at the house.)  The visit ended with the firemen answering a call. I wouldn't say a real rush to get on their gear, but they did go out with a blaze of flashing lights and sirens. What more could a kid want?!  Fun for the adults as well!  Did you know that 'shotgun' has foot pedals to control the sirens and horn?! And the safest place, from a spouses perspective, is the driver of the pump truck.  If you get to the scene at the right time, you stand at the truck and make sure it is pumping to water to the hoses that the other members of the truck are holding, much closer to the scene. My bias. I'm glad fireman Mike is the engine driver. (I really hope I got the name of the truck right. Sebastien has not reached that stage of the naming game. But he does know a digger, from a front-loader, from a back-hoe.)

  Sebastien was reluctant to sit in the drivers seat the first time.  After that he just kept climbing back up every time that Fireman Mike took him down for the next kid's turn.

  Almost group shot. Dan & Adrienne are to Mike's right and Mihai is taking the photo.

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I have a good excuse. More about that later. The inspiration for today's blog is my mother's day present.


I pull up into the drive just after Mihai and Sebastien get home. Mihai had pick up, and I knew they had been to the grocery store. Mihai goes to open the door, Sebastien, after moving off the driveway when I pull up (good boy), goes back to the car and asks Mummy to 'press button', to open the trunk. I figure I'll help Mihai bring in groceries.

As soon as the trunk is open Sebastien says 'Ant toy' (want toy). And I'm thinking, Mihai took him to the toystore again?! (I'm rather proud of the restraint I show in not always buying toys when I walk in stores).  Sebastien starts pointing at the huge bag of goodies Mihai keeps in the trunk, 'Toy dere'.  And the next thing I see is MarioKart Wii.

My mothers day present. Apparently Sebastien does get the whole present for mummy in a few days time. He wanted to open the box and 'watch boy driving'. So after a very ill eaten dinner on his part, we turn on the TV to play Wii.  Both my men have now played, maybe I will wait till Sunday. Or not.



Other news, to catch some of you up. The end of February we bought me a new car. Subaru Impreza Outback Sport. Google search if you want a pick.  I had been driving Mihai's eight year old Golf. Good enough, if not for a mold problem, but I wanted something with a little more leg room for my growing boy and family. Late September there will be an addition to our family. I will be twenty weeks next week and we will have an ultrasound to figure out if I keep the eight tubs of boy clothing, or if they will be given away to make room in my sewing room for a baby.
more up to date pictures to follow. Suffice it to say I am no longer looking fat.  And baby likes to kick. Mihai felt the flutter the other afternoon. In his words, "not quite as exciting as the first time, I know what's coming." I had to concur.

Other photos of my sweet (most of the time)  boy. He has hit the tantrum stage. Let's hope for everyone's sake it doesn't last too long.

Suzanna, Mia, and Nikolas drove up for the afternoon in the middle of April to suprise Granny and Ah Kong and to celebrate Sebastien't birthday. Mia and my red-nosed reindeer helped themselves to their afternoon snack.

(Suzanna, be grateful here that I did not include the photo of your black 'glasses' AKA train wheels).
 
Sebastien at the breakfast the next day with the tea set from Granny and Ah Kong. He insisted.

Sebastien's snorkel. Mihai set it up. His bob the builder workshop glasses and a straw.  Already to go swimming with Uncle Ion. Except for the swimming bit. He probably has floating down pat.

A catch up of photos at my sisters request.

    In December, Linda and Kirby had us over to make and decorate cookies. Sebastien enjoyed this outing... cutting, rolling, icing, eating. Right up his alley.  Afterwards we went to a nearby fire house to see their model train exhibit (no pictures). A wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Thank you.

Some undetermined time in December (pre haircut). Having fun in a box with his 'sticka' overalls.  Hand me downs from cousin Nikolas that are much loved.

  Christmas Day. Moving too quickly for our camera to capture.



  Playing with the dump truck from Ah Kong and Granny.

  Mihai had a birthday at the end of the month. While Sebastien was under whelmed with the candle part of the celebration. The eating cake met with his approval. 'Cak'.

Lia came to visit us after Christmas, to help us with Sebastien while day care was closed.  Ion (Mihai's middle brother) and his family came to visit us as well.  The boys went to museums while the women shopped. And SHopped. And shopped. The young ones played video games.  which sebastien throughly enjoyed. Apparently, Mihai has been teaching Sebastien to yell, 'GO, Go, Go' when taking off from red lights. This skill came in handy will cheering on his cousins while driving Mario Kart. During this period SEbastien learnt how to turn on the TV and plug in the controlers....

 

With Uncle Ion at the zoo. Mihai got tired of schlepping around 34lbs on his shoulders.

Cousin Ion took very good care of Sebastien. Playing with him around the house and keeping him from trouble on the play grounds.

  Huge fit after visiting the air and space museum. Mihai tried to put him down to nap in his stroller. After 10 minutes of calming him down fire engines decided to circle The Mall. Sebastien wanted to go see them. THe only way to get him to calm down again was to tell sebastien they were going that way. (and then proceded to head home).

  Mihai got all the kids to look for gold bug in the Richard Scary book. I never thought i would like that book this much. It has the ability to keep children quite for stretches of time.

  Sebastien opened this bag of chips up all by himself. While I feel I should be worried. I am rather proud.

Reading with Lia.

And finally. Today was the first day Lia was left alone with Sebastien.  I was scared of what I would find when I got home. A sleeping baby (three hour nap)! Who had helped Lia clean the house. Good thing he has his own broom.  He did however manage to get his hands on our camera and take a few pictures.  Lia figured out he was up to something when it got quiet for a long period of time. She found him lying on the floor with the camera. Enjoy.