Baby Updates - a new one and a 7-month-old one

Hooray! My sister Susie gave birth to another beautiful baby boy this morning! He waited around until his due date. He's a man of punctutality.

Christopher George Nustra was born at 6:07 a.m. weighing in at 8 lbs and 1/2 ounce and 20 inches long. He's just gorgeous! And don't you just love his name? I do. We can call him Chris, too; I asked.



Susie is quite the amazing woman. She went through the entire birth without meds. And when I saw her at 10:45 a.m., she looked wonderful. I can't imagine going without sleep for that long (her water broke last night around 11) and giving birth without an epidural and looking as great as she did. I admire her. Don't worry, Peter looked great too! Unfortunately, I did not get pictures of them with Chris. I did, however, get pictures of Chris with Uncle Awesome and Grandma Sue.





So now Reid has someone to play with when Jack and Nick play together!

Speaking of Reid, he's 7 months old already! He officially turned 7-months on Tuesday, but I had so much to write about last night, that I thought I'd give him a separate post today. I guess he still has to share the limelight though.



Reid is rolling over both back to front and front to back. Although he still looks a little surprised when he goes from front to back. He also can spin around on his belly. It's not a fast spin, but a controlled spin. This has made it much easier for him to move around the room. I've even caught him bonking his head on the furniture as he explores. He can push up pretty high on those arms now, and I think he's getting a little frustrated that he hasn't figured out the leg part yet. You can almost see the irritation in his face when he's pushing up and can't move forward.

He loves to make noises and "talk" lately too. He sticks out his tongue all the time, and he likes to make raspberries and spit. It's been hard to explain to Jack why Reid gets to spit and he doesn't. Reid's laugh is getting to be much stronger. He loves to be tickled, and his neck is a good place to get him giggling.

He has cut his first two teeth, both on the bottom, and both at the same time. He loves to play with them with his tongue. This could be why he sticks his tongue out all of the time. The teeth have not made eating much easier though. He has finally conquered green beans, sweet potatoes and peas. We are working on carrots now. He eats about half a tub at dinner. I'm not sure he really gets the whole eating solids yet. Although I did let him suck on a piece of apple once, and he seemed to like that a lot. Maybe he's just waiting for the real food and saying forget the liquidy stuff.

Sleep still eludes us. He goes to bed around 7 or 7:30 every night. Lately, he's been waking up around midnight and then again between 3 and 4 to eat. Then he wakes up at 6 a.m. for the day. I'll be very happy once we reach the sleeping for 12 hours at night routine. I wish I could remember when that starts! He does nap pretty well during the day. He takes a solid hour nap in the morning. And then depending on our afternoon activities, he'll sleep for an hour or two then. He also takes a third nap on occasion.

I think Reid's favorite discovery in his 7th month was the pool. He loves to splash and play. He doesn't even mind when Jack jumps in and splashes us in the face. So my plans for a summer spent at the pool look like they will stick!

Lego Building, Switzerland, Dentists, etc

Today, I picked up a Lego set for Jack while we were at Target. We went to Target to buy cheese, and I left with several other things. I guess that's how it goes at Target.

About a year and a half ago, we bought the game Creationary, which is basically pictionary but with legos. Jack has been playing with those legos lately, so that's what prompted my purchase today. I wanted him to have a few more blocks to work with. What I learned is that I also love to build with Legos (with the instructions or a picture to build from, I like recipes).





Today, we built a monster truck, a tractor with a trailer, a tree, a farmhouse, a barn, a bull, a dog/horse/cow, and a combination of the above. While Reid slept, Jack and I played for a good 30 minutes. During that time, we both commented on how much fun we were having. Over the course of the day, Jack played with the lego set several times by himself too. This is huge if you know Jack. There are not many activities that Jack likes to do alone.





Steve's trip to Switzerland was a success travelwise. He brought back chocolates for me and a hat and T-shirt for Jack. Okay, that's not why it was a success. He got to run along the original Lake Geneva, which was beautiful. He got to watch Big Bang Theory in French. He got to drink fantastic wine. Overall, a pretty interesting trip. He did say he wouldn't want to live in Morges, Switzerland (Morges is pronounced in one syllable). Most activity around the area was done by 8 p.m. and everyone smokes there. On the bright side, he really liked the people and the culture. They have a culture of respect, as they describe it. During his five days there, he didn't see one cigarette butt or piece of litter. When he ran through town, cars stopped for him – every time. Sounds kind of nice to me!







Last Thursday, we went back to the awesome dentist for our cleanings. Jack and I had cleanings at the same time, so Steve went into the room with Jack, and Reid kept me company. When we were done, Jack and I walked to the Thai place for lunch while Steve and Reid took the car over. On our walk, I asked Jack what his favorite part of the dentist visit was. "Everything!" was his reply. He got to wear sunglasses. He got to try out the water sprayer (and said "I made a mess!"). The dentist used Mr. Thirsty. She counted his teeth. She cleaned his teeth with bubble gum toothpaste. Yeah, I think we found the right dental office.

Have to get a good look at the television




This says it all


Now, for a funny little story. The boys and I have a pretty solid routine for Tuesday mornings. We go to Jazzercise and then the library. Last week, Jack carried my mat out to the car for me after Jazzercise and wanted to hold it in his lap on the way to the library. I thought it was a very kind gesture. On the way to the library, he had fun pulling the mat up over his face and trying to talk to me. He thought it was funny that I couldn't understand him. He also thought it was cool that the mat blocked the wind from his window.

We got to the library, did our thing there, and then got back in the car to head for home. Jack tried to play with the mat again. It did not work as well this time. He couldn't get it up over his head, and he was getting pretty frustrated. He asked for help, but as I was driving, I told him he would have to wait until we got home for help from me. He continued to try. Then he says...

"Mom, you are destroying my life!"

Yep, I about busted out laughing too. When I asked how I was destroying his life, he explained that my driving home was making the mat not work. I tried to explain that this was not actually the case, but he didn't want to hear it.

That night, I had Jack tell Steve the story at dinner. Jack has a great memory, and he told the story quite accurately including the quote. When Steve and I both laughed at the "destroying my laugh" part, Jack joined in the laughter. So now we have a little joke. Jack likes to tell me I'm destroying his life to get me to laugh. Little does he know that I have barely begun destroying his life. We'll see what he has to say about this once he gets to middle school.

And to end this fabulous post, how about some pictures of the boys. Enjoy!