A month already?!

It's hard to believe how time flies. I don't get as much time at the computer anymore, but this evening both boys are asleep and Michael is watching basketball (UNC vs Duke) at his dad's house, so what better time to blog?

So Simon is just over a month now. He is doing well. He's getting chubbier and looks a lot different than he did when he was first born. (Check out the MWood Family photos link for some recent photos, and more to come.) The nursing, pottying and sleeping are all going well. (It's nice to have a baby that actually sleeps more than two hours in a row at night!) He had a bad diaper rash for a while, which I have now discovered was because of the cloth diapers (grumble). As much as I like cloth diapers, I hate the fact that washing them properly is like some sort of rocket science. It requires an excruciating amount of trial and error (at least for me). So now I have to tweak my routine some more, strip the diapers, etc and hope for the best!

Simon was baptized on January 25 while Rebecca was visiting. It was great to have so many family members there and I really enjoyed seeing everyone and hanging out afterwards. Thank you to everyone who made an effort to be there.

Joseph has had many exciting developments too. He can jump, which I think he did for the first time the day that Simon was born. His language has also been taking off. He can say so many more words now than even a month ago or two months ago. This morning I was sitting in an easy chair nursing Simon, and Joseph had climbed behind me. When I asked him to get down and get me something, he said, "'Scuse me, Naimah" which I thought was very nice, and took me a little by surprise, especially since it is not something I have explicitly taught him.

Joseph also has his very own room now! Michael worked very hard to get it painted in the weeks before and after Simon's arrival. We picked out some dinosaur bedding for him. (It's his "beegose bed." "Beegose" is Joseph's word for dinosaur.) The first time that we asked him if he wanted to sleep in his bed, he said, "Okay!" and once he was laying in it, he kept exclaming, "Beegose bed! nice! cool! beegose bed! fun!" and I could hardly get him to go to sleep!

And for those who have visited, you have surely seen how much affection Joseph has for his aunts and uncles and anyone that will chase him around like a dinosaur or play trains with him or take him outside is his best friend. He loves visitors and I can't remember a time that he wasn't excited to see someone! He knows who everyone is, even those that live far away and he asks about people that stayed with us. ("Ered Annie go? Ered Bacca go? ...Guhguh Dave!" etc.)

The first daffodils have bloomed this week and we are enjoying some very nice weather in Charlotte. And we also had two snow days last month! Fortunately Auntie Rachel was able to take Joseph out to play in the snow while I was upstairs convalescing in the first week after Simon was born. I'm finally starting to get back into some of my usual routines and chores around the house, although I'm still figuring things out with two kids to care for.

Hopefully that is a sufficient update for now. It's like so much and so little has happened all at the same time!