Declan's first trip to the zoo

I loved the Polar Bear exhibit. AJ loved the petting zoo area, and Declan loved the aquarium. A lady offered to take a picture of me and the boys in front of the aquarium with all the colorful fish, but Declan would not look at her. He was craning his neck to see the fish. We stayed in there 30 minutes because he was so interested in the fish swimming back and forth in front of him.

Similarities and Differences

There are a lot of similarities between my two boys. When AJ was a baby, he was just the happiest little guy in the mornings. He would wake up smiling. I loved it, and am glad to report that Declan is just like him in that respect. Dave and I also make the cutest bald babies ever. And just like AJ, Declan has the worst reflux disorder. :( It's terrible. It feels like only half of what goes in stays in. The rest is erupting all over him, me, Dave, the floor, etc. Yuck. One major difference, however, is the size of my boys. From the time AJ was two months old, he was in the 90th percentile in both height and weight. He only just dropped to the 83rd percentile this year. Declan, however, has been on the other end of the spectrum. He is gaining weight by little increments and the doctor swears he is a healthy baby, but he is a little guy in comparison. Each doctor's appointment, Declan has dropped in his percentiles. He is now down to 26th percentile for height and only 19th percentile for his weight. When AJ was 5 months old, he was wearing 6 to 9 month clothing. Declan is 6 1/2 months old and still wearing 3 to 6 months clothing.

Similarities

Dave is always saying that Declan looks JUST like AJ. I have not always agreed. However, I have to admit, that Declan does have some facial expressions that often remind me of when AJ was a baby. Dave swears that if there was a white background that even I wouldn't be able to tell which picture was AJ and which was Declan. Not true, but I can see similarities.

Declan's Big Day

Our sweet baby Declan's baptism was today. Declan's Godparents are our very good friends Heather and Eric. We were surprised and tickled that Grandma and Papa drove all the way from KS just to be here for his special day. I was especially surprised given that Grandma had just gotten out of the hospital after having been dehydrated from the effects of some icky virus that had her sick for days. Then on top of that, Papa got sick on the way here and was in bad shape all Saturday night. Fortunately, he appeared to bounce back and everybody was in pretty good shape for the service. Declan wore the gown that AJ wore, which was my gown before that, and my brother's before that.

Bye Bye training wheels!!

AJ's second day of trying to learn to ride a bike without training wheels. He was so delighted with himself at his success. He can start, stop, and ride a long time as long as he only has to ride straight along the sidewalk. He just hasn't gotten the concept of turning his bike around without falling over. He has bruises all over, but doesn't seem to care. He was determined to keep practicing and falling over and over again. He really did catch on so much quicker than we expected. Good job my big boy! Dave is equally proud of himself for having been able to teach his boy so quickly.

Brothers

AJ continues to be such a wonderful big brother. Declan is a good baby and he responds well to AJ. AJ can make him smile and keep him entertained for me at times when I need to take care of things like getting meals ready. I know the day will come when AJ and Declan would each rather be an only child, but I love this time when my boys are crazy about each other.

Happy Easter

Declan rolled over from back to front for the first time today. He was so proud of himself.

Giggle boy

AJ, the All Star

AJ has been playing back to back mini seasons of flag football for the past year. He absolutely loves it. This is the first season that he has also played basketball. Saturdays for us are now busy, but fun. We have football in the early afternoon and then basketball in the early evening. AJ tried a basketball class when he was 4 years old and could not dribble the ball to save his life. This go around, he is much improved with his coordination. This past Saturday, AJ was so, so excited because he scored three points during his game, which was the most any one child scored. I have tried to suggest to AJ that next season, he will have to chose football or basketball, but he is still begging to do both. He appears to have as much fun with basketball as he does football.

Happy boy

Declan is such a sweetie. He smiles all the time as long as someone is talking to him. He just wants attention. Poor little guy was running quite a fever today and was sick as can be. He was listless much of the day, but he was still trying to smile when we talked to him.

love my boys

It feels like Declan is getting so big, but I guess it just seems that way to us. Papa has teased me that swaddling Declan at night is going to stunt his growth. He may be right since we did learn at his 2 month appointment that he is only in the 30something percentile in height. At two months of age, AJ was already in the 90th percentile and remained so until his last appointment where he dropped to the 83rd.

AJ continues to love being a big brother and constantly wants to hold Declan. The problem being that Declan is getting heavier and harder for AJ to hold. Declan really does seem to respond to AJ. He turns toward his voice and smiles at him a lot.