Three months old!

Ewan is three months old today.

He is much more aware of the world around him. He is especially aware of his family and flashes huge toothless grins at Eli, Mama and Daddy when he is happy. He is happy a lot more often now than a month ago, and his favorite things to do are bathing and taking walks with the family.

Happy Birthday sweet Ewan!

Laughing

Michael had Ewan laughing, actually laughing, tonight. Michael was tickling him before bath.

Construction buddies

Two days ago, Eli wanted to build a sidewalk in his playroom with his brother. He even gave Ewan a construction hat and drill!

Their first real interaction

Tonight at the dinner table, Ewan spit up forcefully. We all laughed, and Eli said "Don't spit up baby!"

Ewan laughed, which encouraged Eli. Eli kept telling Ewan not to spit up and Ewan kept giving Eli these huge smiles.

We loved it and can't wait for more interactions :)

My boys

Bathtime beats all other activities (besides nursing!)

Ewan absolutely loves his bath. Plop him in the bath -- even mid-scream -- and he is all smiles. Tonight I kept him in for 20 minutes because he was so happy.

Big bro, little bro

Summer mittens

When we left for a walk after dinner the other night, I asked Eli if he wanted a jacket.

"No, don't need one. I have my mittens."

Painting

Our painting sessions take longer to prepare for and clean up after than the actual painting time. That will change soon though, I think, so for now I am just excited when he says he wants to paint!

Probiotics

Full disclosure: The following is an ad for probiotics.

Michael and I read a study about the use of L. reuteri for colicky infants. The results were astounding and I immediately went to the store and got some for Ewan.

He is now a different baby. He smiles more, sits in our arms content, takes power naps in the middle of the afternoon, and today he fell asleep in the baby bjorn carrier and stayed asleep after I moved him to his carseat!

Many trips...

So despite having a new (colicky) baby, we managed to get out of the house more than I expected we would. We took two day trips to the coast before our coast vacation, a trip to the zoo, and a couple of short hiking trips. I'm not saying it was easy, but I'm glad we did it.

Mill Creek afternoon

We found a lovely spot along Mill Creek to throw rocks in the water and float a boat. We ate a yummy lunch and enjoyed one of the last days of summer!

At his 2-month checkup

Ewan weighs 12 pounds 4.5 ounces, measures 23.5 inches long and his head circumference is 15.5 inches. That means he is in the 58th percentile in weight and 63rd percentile in height.

What the doctor couldn't tell us is why Ewan cries so much, why he wakes after a 10-minute nap even though he is exhausted and generally what is wrong with our child! Ewan fights naps even and especially when overtired, goes through entire days with no naps, has nights when he screams for hours, and then - when we least expect it - will sleep for a long stretch. Last night was 8.5 hours, a personal best.

I'm looking for some answers and a cure! Anyone?

Ewan is 2 months!

Ewan turned two months old on August 23. We took these photos at the Oregon Coast Aquarium on August 25.

A coast vacation

The Casper family rented a small (very small) house on the coast for 4 nights -- our first vacation as a family of four. It was ... hard.

Ewan had a very sleepless night, one of his worst nights ever. Michael drove him around in the car in the middle of the night, to no avail. We just couldn't figure out what was wrong and why he was screaming instead of sleeping.

Eli had a cold and didn't like being in the house, where we had to tell him to stop touching just about everything since it wasn't kid-proofed.

But there were some wonderful highlights: making "sand-castle airplanes," visiting the Oregon Coast Aquarium and watching Eli scream "sharks!" every time a shark swam over his head in the tank and touching starfish and sea anemones, taking a walk on a coastal trail and looking for climbing trees, and running to Munson waterfall.

A fun run that was not so fun

Every Thursday night in August, a local running club puts on fun runs in Bush park. It is a very festive event with lots of spectators and cheering and tons of kids. We thought Eli, who loves to run with his Dada, would be giddy with the excitement of doing a "real" run of his own.

From the beginning, it was like pulling teeth.

Mama: "I need to go to this table and register you for the run."

Eli, whining: "I don't want to re-ister. No, I don't want."

Later, Mama: "I need to pay at this other table."

Eli, whining: "I don't want to pay. I don't want to pay at that table."

So when the 6 and under race (500 meters) was about to start, it was no wonder that Eli took to the sidelines to watch all the other kids stretch. Dada stretched and worked really hard to get Eli to stretch. Eli would have nothing to do with the stretching.

Then when everyone lined up to wait for the air horn, Eli slinked behind his Dada.

And when the airhorn went off, everyone dashed for the finish line! YAY! GO Runners! Everyone except Eli. Instead, he threw himself on the ground and cried.

After much cajoling, and perhaps some bribery (because we are here to have fun, damn it!), Eli started running. Not exactly enthusiastic about the whole thing, but he was running.

By the time he made it to the start of the chute, he wanted the whole thing to be over. Mama and Ewan had to run Eli through the chute to get a stick with his number on it. The stick was to be exchanged for his finisher's ribbon. Who wouldn't want his very own, very first, finisher's ribbon?

Eli: "I don't want to give back the stick. I want to keep the stick!"

Oh dear. Not boding well for the cross-country team.

Obsession

Eli is, and has been for some time, utterly obsessed with garbage trucks. Garbage day, otherwise known as Thursday, is better than Christmas around here. We listen for the rumble of the trucks and then run outside as fast as possible to get a good view of the mechanical arm picking up the cans. Eli waves to the truck drivers, and loves to get a wave back.

Eli plays with his Bruder garbage truck every day. It is almost exactly like the real garbage trucks around here and Eli can spend hours replicating a garbage can pickup.

But his obsession hit new heights when he started pretending he was a garbage truck. Sometimes after nap I'll find all of his blankets and stuffed animals piled high in the corner of his crib. He is using his legs to load garbage and dump it. Of course.

Lately he plays garbage truck at the dinner table. He reaches his arms out and makes mechanical noises and then picks up his food or glass of water and "dumps" it into his mouth. We are always nervous that he is going to dump it all over the floor, but so far, this garbage truck is very tidy.

Two funny conversations

Two conversations with Eli recently:

On a walk in our neighborhood with Dadda and Zula, Eli sees a white kitty. He asks if he can pet the kitty and we spend some time talking to the kitty. This is one of Eli's favorite activities, and we go on lots of walks to find kitties. A few minutes after we walk away from the kitty, Eli looks at Zula and says, "Why do we have a dog instead of a kitty?"

Michael got his guitar out of the basement and played it for Eli one morning. Eli had a great time strumming it and singing. Later that afternoon, he asked me to play the fiddle with him -- and he pointed to the guitar. I corrected him. He remembered the fiddle from listening to Cajun fiddle music with his Poppy. He pretended he was playing a fiddle by dropping his chin and tilting his head to the side. I said, "That's right! A fiddle goes under your chin. When you play a guitar, you just hold it. A guitar is too big to fit under your chin." Eli nodded. Then his eyes lit up and he said, "I know! We can get a saw and saw the guitar so it fits under my chin!"

Cutie pie Ewan