3 months

People often say, and I remember with Asher, that 3 months was a magical time when a baby started chilling out and being easier to care for. With Leif, I just don't think that is possible. He is already such a well-tempered baby. Of course, he has his times when he gets all fussy for no obvious reason, but in general Austin and I have found him almost too easy to take care of. I think part of it might be that we are more experienced as parents, but I think a lot of it is just that he is a mellow and pleasant little guy. Leif's personality comes out more and more as the days pass. Now instead of Asher's and Leif's interactions being mostly one-sided as Asher pesters and puts all of his weight onto his little brother, Leif is starting to smile and show real pleasure in interacting with his big brother. As Asher hangs all over Leif and gets right in his face, Leif coos and wiggles around.

Leif has become and expert bubble-blower. We often find him with a spit-bubble goatee, which is better than drooling I guess, but I'm sure that is right around the corner.

He is slowly but surely gaining weight. I know its not super accurate, but the other day I weighed myself, then weighed him with me and with his clothes and cloth diaper on, he was about 13 pounds, so I'm guessing naked he would be around 12 1/2 to 12 3/4. He is quickly gaining on what Asher weighed at this age so I'm pretty sure he will catch up and be just as big as his brother soon.

Leif has transitioned into sleeping in his own bed and only wakes up once to eat on most nights.
I have taken to calling Leif "alarm clock baby" because he wakes up at 3 am and 6 am to eat most days. This is very convenient most mornings since I can feed him, then stick him in bed with Austin while I go to work out and I won't have to worry about him pestering Austin because he is hungry while I am gone. However, Leif doesn't know about Sundays when I would like to sleep in and wakes me up at 6 am just the same.

He is just starting to be interested in his hands and will sit and watch them move around every now and then. He is starting to grab at things too and gets my hair and shirt stuck in his hands while he is nursing. He loved to look at me and smile while he is nursing and he is starting to like having his diaper changed too. He likes to be on the changing pad and even when I'm changing his diaper at 3 in the morning, he has lots of smiles for me.

Austin got Leif to giggle for the first time about a week ago. He was making pig noises at him (mostly for Asher's entertainment) and Leif started giggling about it. He still hasn't found anything I do that funny, but I'm perfectly content with all the smiling and cooing that I get from talking to him.

Sadly, Leif is starting to be more alert and bothered by Asher's contant noise. Before he didn't pay much attention to it, but now he startles and look around when he hears a loud noise. Its not long before he won't be quite as able to sleep through everything.

We just love having Leif in our family so far and I can't believe how fast he is growing!

19 months

Asher is now 19 months old, but it feels like he is in the midst of his terrible twos a lot of the time. He is getting more and more opinionated which means more tantrums. He is especially antagonistic toward his high chair which he has a fit about having to sit in. He would rather sit at the table with everyone else, which we let him do sometimes, but I need to have him contained in one place sometimes, so the high chair it is. As part of his protest to the high chair, Asher has become an excellent food-thrower. He likes to throw his food then look at me and say "no-no" to let me know that he purposely did it. I try to ignore it because I know he is just looking for attention, so he will wave his hands at me to try to let me know that he is throwing food. I don't mind when he throws cheerios or even mac and cheese, but throwing oatmeal is a little much.
Lately Asher has been patting the front of his diaper when he wants a diaper change. Notice I said "wants" not "needs". Sometimes he really does need a diaper change and I'm so glad that he is aware of it and lets us know. Other times he just wants to be put up on the changing pad in our room which is located on my dresser with a mirror on it. He likes to play with his reflection, nodding and chatting while he and the boy in the mirror scheme about the next mayhem they will cause.
In the last week, I have caught him eating dirt from the house plants, hiding from me, climbing up onto everything, and crawling around under the dinner table for extended periods of time. This kid needs to get outside and run! To let me know about his constant desire to go outside, Asher brings me his shoes a few times a day. If that doesn't work fast enough, he brings me my socks and shoes and tries to put them on me. We try to get to the park as much as possible, but its still February and that doesn't happen nearly as often as Asher would like.
One of Asher's newest tricks is something I call "fancy feet". He stomps his feet in place as fast as he can and  sometimes bends his knees while he is doing it. Its hard to explain, but hilarious to watch. I wonder where he comes up with this stuff. Austin and I think it would be funny to teach him to clap twice while he is down in his squat then stand back up while he is still stomping- kind of like some funny Russian dance. So far, he isn't interested.
Asher has become and avid waver. He waves at almost everyone and everything. He especially likes to wave as his baby brother because he likes to hear me say "hi Leif" when he does. He is still crazy about Leif and likes to put all his weight on him, try to crawl into his carseat with him, and pull him around where ever he wants him. I can't wait for them to become best friends.

As usual, getting pictures of Asher was difficult. After the first click of my camera while he was sitting on the couch, he had to get down and run around. Of course, getting pictures of a few of his usual antics was pretty easy. Here you can see him asking me to put his coat on him so we can go outside, trying to hide from me, playing under the table, and consorting with his mirror-self. Oh, Asher, we love you!

  

Wiggle Baby

Leif is getting more and more of a personality. He really likes to lay on our bed and kick around and coo. I think he is just on the verge of laughing. He gets really worked up smiling and coos a lot, but doesn't quite get a giggle out. Of course, when I'm trying to catch anything on video, he doesn't do it as much, but here is what   I got. You have to love the concerned look he gets on his face- its a Leif trademark :)

Asher's Dancing

Here is a cute little video we got of Asher dancing. This is how he dances when he is really excited and needs to burn some energy. I think the galloping happens because he wants to jump, but he can't get both feet off the ground so he just ends up galloping around in circles. He has been a huge fan of Austin's flashlight lately too, so that's what he is carrying around in this video. Enjoy!

A Winter Zoo Visit

Saturday morning while I was changing Asher's diaper, I gave him a toy rhinoceros to keep him occupied so he wouldn't wiggle so much. He started saying "woof", which is what he seems to think all animals say. I told him that dogs say "woof", but rhinoceri say . . . .I'm really not sure what rhinoceri say. So, despite it being pretty cold, we decided to visit the Denver zoo for our Saturday activity. We invited Austin's mom along since she loves the zoo. Asher missed his morning nap and slept a little in the car on the way there, so he was kind of lethargic during the first little while. Some of the animals are a little hard to spot and not that entertaining for a one and a half year old, but some of the animals interested him. We let him ride the carossel, but he didn't like it all that much. Of course when he got off of it he kept pointing and getting excited like it was the greatest thing in the world.

He really liked the monkeys since they are really active and do a lot of things to catch a little guy's attention.

He was a little intimidated by the gorilla sitting right up next to the glass eating his lunch. He sat really close while Austin was sitting with him, but wanted to keep his distance when Austin got up to take this picture.

Since it was so chilly outside, I decided it would be better to nurse Leif inside, and the only good option was inside the gorilla house. It was kind of smelly, but we adjusted.

Asher liked the elephant, but was starting to get pretty tired by this time. We didn't get to see all of the animals, but decided it was better to get him home. We will probably make another zoo trip in a month or two to see the rest of the zoo.

P.S. We did visit the rhinoceri, but they didn't make any sound, so we still don't know what they say :)

Family Photoshoot

As our Christmas present, Austin's sister got us a family photo shoot a few days before Christmas. Here are some of the shots we got. I'm really pleased with them and so glad we got some great pictures of Asher and

 Leif!