Last week I went out twice by myself with the two kids. The first was Tuesday when Annika, James and I had lunch with four of my coworkers. It was great to see Cam, Steve, Michelle and Lisa again! I had such a nice time. Annika was a perfect little doll, charming everyone and James was the perfect baby, sleeping through lunch and then cuddling with Lisa and Michelle after we ate. The second trip was to Target. That, too, went well. Once again James slept the whole time and Annika was content to sit in the large part of the cart and play with whatever merchandise I threw in there. I can see how hectic and stressful being out with two kids could be though if James was crabby or if Annika wanted out of the cart or something. The hardest part of both excursions was getting in and out of the truck. Who do you get out first? Who do you put in first? I think my strategy from here on out will be to hold the infant carrier with James in it while helping Annika into the truck. Then I'll snap James into his base and lastly I'll buckle Annika in. At least that way she's contained in the truck while I'm tending to James instead of standing next to the truck unsupervised or wandering around.

James is getting so big! Saturday night we left Annika with Grandpa and Marcia while Kris, James and I headed to Pam and Mark's house to celebrate Pam's birthday. Annika loved staying home. When I said Mommy had to go she ran to Grandpa, jumped in his arms and screamed "Grandpa!" Yeah, she really didn't mind us leaving! She even woke up during the night calling for Grandpa. I hope she wasn't disappointed when I went in to take care of her! Anyway, back to the story. Pam and Mark's daughter Jeanne turned 6 months old last Friday and James turned six weeks old today. Jeanne is petite and James is the exact opposite of petite so of course we had to compare babies. Yeah, Jeanne might have a little height on James but she certainly doesn't have much else on him. They looked the same age, not 4.5 months different! Of course we took pictures and I'll post those soon (by the way, look for new pictures posted last Friday!). It was pretty funny. Funnier still was when Jeanne rolled over towards James and starting grabbing his face and shirt and then throwing a leg over on top of him. We were joking that Jeanne wanted to spoon with James and snuggle and such. Pam got out the video camera to catch Jeanne in action too.

Today I went in for my six week check up. All is well with me. After my appointment I went next door to the pediatrician's office. I got a quick weight check on James. Guess how much he was! OK, so at birth he was 9 pounds, 8 ounces. At hospital discharge, two days after birth, he was 8 pounds, 10 ounces. Four days after birth, when the home health nurse came, he was 8 pounds 15 ounces. At his two week check up he was 9 pounds 15 ounces. Today, exactly four weeks after his two week check up, he weighed in at 13.85 pounds! That was with a very wet diaper so let's round down a bit and say he weighed in at 13 pounds, 12 ounces! He's huge! That's almost four pounds in four weeks! No wonder he's grown out of most of his 0-3 month sleepers and clothes. Most of those only go to 12 pounds! And he's grown out of the Pampers Swaddlers size 1-2 diapers. I picked up some Size 3 diapers today. Kris and I think James is just tall for his age right now. He started out at 21". And while he has the typical baby fat rolls (a double chin, leg and arm dimples, etc.), he's not a fat baby. He's quite solid actually. And his size 3-6 month sleepers are not too long on him. He has plenty of room in the length of the arms and the girth of the belly area but he's long enough that when he straightens out, he completely fills out the sleeper! That would be okay with me if he was a tall man, but can I have a little baby just a little bit longer please! When the nurse saw the weight come up on the digital readout she turned to me and gasped "He's only six weeks old?!" Yeah, she thought he was pretty big too.

Today Annika said the funniest thing! She and Kris were taking a nap this afternoon. I was in the room too working on the computer while James slept in the cosleeper. Kris was snoring pretty loudly and Annika woke up. She turned, crawled up to Kris's head and yelled at him "No breathing Daddy! Just sleep nicely!" Then she laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. And Kris listened to her and stopped snoring! I couldn't keep my giggles down and ended up waking both of them up. I told Kris what she said and he had no idea. I don't think he thought it was as funny as I did.