The Seminaras: Week 4 - Parker turns 1 month old (already!)

Parker turned 1 month old this week! Time to put away the newborn clothes and newborn diapers. He has graduated to size 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. This makes us sad, but good to see our baby boy grow and get stronger. In honor of his birthday he got to see a drive in movie (this is his second movie experience, his first movie ever was Xmen Days of Future Past).

This week Parker managed to roll over all by himself in his play yard and again on the couch (to see the Red Sox beat those pesky Tigers). And on day 23 he started to SMILE! He has a wonderful smile. He still smiles and laughs in his sleep showing what looks like dimples on his cheeks. His coordination is getting better allowing him to get those fingers up at or in his mouth. He continues to track moving objects with his eyes and focus on objects at further distances. In addition, he's started making more coo sounds not just baby grunts. He sleeps on and off throughout the day for 2-3 hrs at a time, and is awake 1-1.5 hrs in between. At night we swaddle him with his arms in and he sleeps 5 hr stretches waking up once in the night for feeding/diapering (2-3am) and again early morning (5:30-7am), but overall let's Mom and Dad get sleep. Depending on how sleepy he is, we may put him down when Brady goes to bed or we'll keep him up with us until we go to bed. He continues to eat and nurse well, seems to eats more than Brady did, but still has some reflux which we have been managing. Unlike Brady he doesn't sleep as well in his swing, preferring Mom or Dad to hold him. He's gone through 2 growth spurts recently. During these cluster feedings he's fussy and less willing to play or do tummy time preferring to sleep if he can in between. This only lasts a day or so. He seems to like being bounced up and down in his car seat (vs side to side), this helps with the fussiness. Took him to his 1 month doctor appointment (we didn't have one of these for Brady) and he weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz and got his second Hep B shot. His baby acne seems to be clearing except on his cheeks. He does some funny faces - blue steel, wrinkling his forehead, tipping his head back to stare at objects - he is just such a cutie!!!

Brady had a great week too. He loves playing with his little brother and helping out Mom and Dad. One morning he was really sweet and shared his legos with Parker. He even showed him the lego dinosaur he'd made. He likes to help feed Indy, bring Parker blankets or read him books, or carry things for Mom and Dad. Brady is getting so grown up, he can now go up and down the stairs by himself (we hold his hand down the stairs).

With the good weather Brady's gotten to play outside a lot. Unfortunately we signed a slip at school almost every day the past week due to scratches or bumps on his head. One fall put a big lump right in the center of his forehead - the teachers said he cried a little but told them he was ok and went back to playing. Our tough little guy! He's also gone on lots of walks to the park or played with the water table in the backyard. With the start of summer the play pools are opening and Brady will gets lots of water time. Brady also got a great surprise this week - a bike trailer he can ride in behind Dad! It seats 2, so when Parker grows up he can join in on the fun. Eating out with a toddler is a challenge, it's hard for the little guy to hold still, with all that energy we can't blame him. His favorites are Chilis and Mellow Mushroom. And with all that energy Brady is jumping off EVERYTHING and on to anything. He likes to dangle over the slide at the park, which makes Mom really nervous, but he's a pretty strong kid. And he doesn't want to nap on weekends and miss anything, but he sleeps great at night.

Overall life with two little ones is chaotic but fun. Things are always busy in the Seminara household, but we wouldn't want it any other way. Looking forward to taking the boys northeast this summer for some beach, party, and lake time with the family!