Summer "'Ventures"

Our family has been reading Make Way for Ducklings 3 times a day for the last 2 weeks! Pierce loves the little ducklings, pointing out the mommy and daddy duck, and talking to his friend Michael, the policeman. Last weekend we went into Boston for church and made a stop at the Public Garden first. Pierce hunted around for the swan boats, fed the ducks in the garden and tried sitting on all 9 duck statues! He talked about the trip for days--the only disappointment was that Michael was home sleeping during our visit!

Feeding the swans

Trying all of the ducklings out

Loves the big momma duck the best!

This past Monday, Pierce, Teddy and I headed out to The Butterfly Place--a gorgeous indoor butterfly sanctuary about 45 minutes away. We wandered around the paths of the garden for about an hour, watching butterflies and tropical birds fly about and Pierce used his illustrated guide to find his favorite butterfly--the glasswing! He had a blast talking about our "'venture" and is looking forward to our next one. We're thinking....the Zoo! Teddy was super cooperative and slept in the Ergo for the entire trip. He is really great at getting carted around!

On Tuesday, Teddy and I went on another "venture" of our own...to Mom and Baby yoga. Teddy was hungry right at the start of class, so I missed most of the yoga, but was able to do the baby-interactive portion of the class. We'll try again next week and maybe I can even get a workout in!

Since Pierce has been at a camp program a couple of times a week and with a mother's helper another 2 days, he really relishes his time spent playing at home with Mommy and Daddy. He's been pretending to go to work a lot lately and will often say "bye-bye Mommy, going to work". Usually, he rides his toy train to the station. Yesterday, when Halsey got home, he asked to put on Daddy's tie. As you can see from the picture below, it really completes his "commute" outfit.

It's Been a MONTH!

Teddy had his 4 week birthday yesterday, and it's amazing that he's a month old. This last week brought some new adventures, as we gave Teddy his first bath in the tub, his first bottle (thanks, Daddy!), and went out to dinner with the whole family.

We went to the doctor today for his one month check up, and he is up to 10 lbs. 2 oz. (60%) and 23 inches (85%). Dr. Joyce thinks it's pretty amazing that both boys put all of their early growing energy into their height, and add weight once those solids are introduced. Teddy is on a better trajectory than Pierce weight-wise, but is still lengthening first. We have our next appointment for both boys in mid-August--Teddy's 2 month and Pierce's 2 year!

Heading to the doctor

Hanging at home

The start of a smile

We have gotten into a bit of an evening routine with Teddy in that he's been falling asleep for his "long stretch" of 4-6 hours of sleep between 8 and 9 pm. So around 7:45 or 8, after his fussy time, we'll take him upstairs for a tub, lotion and jammies before one last nursing before bed. Hopefully this routine sticks around for a while--we'll add books into the mix soon. The tub seems to really relax him, and he is quite content to sit in the warm water for a while.

The pediatrician suggested starting bottles on the earlier side with Teddy, since eating has not been a problem, and that it will help when Pierce is around to have another way of feeding the baby. He took it without a problem, and Dr. Joyce suggested that a 4 oz. bottle (yikes!) would be fine to give him since he's such a big boy.

We don't have any pictures from dinner, but successfully made it through a seated dinner (at 5 pm) as a foursome. Pierce was super-cooperative, and charmed the waitstaff. Teddy was fussy, but we're trying again this weekend!

Pierce continues to be a ham and surprise us with all of his vocabulary. He has a great sense of humor, and likes to make jokes. His most recent running joke is to look at a person in the room or car and say "I no-no where _____ is" (I don't know where ____ is). If you play into his joke and say "I don't know where _____ is either", he laughs, points and says "right there". The joke is pretty tireless, and he gets a kick out of it every time.

We went to a birthday party this last weekend, and Pierce enjoyed the "hat" from his clown cupcake when we got home. I couldn't resist posting a picture of him with blue frosting all over his face! Nothing like a little sugar before bedtime.

Weeks 1 and 2

It's amazing that Teddy has already been in our lives for 2 weeks! On one hand, it seems surreal that we are now a family of 4, but on the other, it feels like he's always been here. He has just been a doll, and we are enjoying his longer and longer stints of awake time, gazing into his little grey-blue eyes and watching his Zoolander facial expressions. Pierce continues to love Teddy, though "loving" sometimes consists of smacking the little one on the head while simultaneously saying "bouncy, bouncy". Teddy has been very tolerant of his brother's affection, though we all hope it is just a speed-bump along our road to a smooth family life. Pierce has been such a great kid all along, that it is hard to remember that he is not yet 2 and his whole world has just been turned upside down. We finally broke down and bought a book about parenting a toddler!

In the last 2 weeks, we have been to the doctor, where Teddy got a glowing report. He was up over his birth weight and topped the scales at 9 lbs. 7 ozs. Our pediatrician thinks he is eating great, so we can feel free to let him sleep beyond the recommended 2-3 hour eating intervals. The day of his appointment he slept from 5:30-11pm, then 11:45-5am. Woo-hoo! Since then, he has had a couple of good 4 hour stretches, but then is up every 2-3 hours. He still seems to have a very mellow demeanor, and only fusses when hungry or overtired. We have gotten into a routine of wearing Teddy in the Ergo from 5 pm on, so that we can do the dinner/bath routine with Pierce. He's very cooperative! We have been spending our days testing out the activity mat (along with Pierce) and doing some tummy time. We are a little light on pictures from these two weeks, and I vow to take more during week 3 (even though the baby acne seems to be peaking).

Monday was my first day at home with both of the boys, and it was exciting in good and bad ways! We made it out of the house for a long morning walk and a trip to the "coffee store" (Starbucks) in Winchester, and spent some time playing in the backyard. I was not brave enough to venture out to do errands with both boys, since I still can't figure out how to navigate the shopping cart with a carseat/toddler combo. I'm sure those days of outings are not far off, though. Bathtime was a solo adventure, and involved a combination of feeding Teddy while Pierce lounged on our bed until I could read him stories in his room. It could have been better, but it could have been worse! I'm glad to have that first behind me.

Our first tub bath is tomorrow night for little Edmund, since his belly button just healed up! And we are going to try our first bottle this week. We will be sure to post pictures from that adventure.

Visitors!

Teddy and Pierce have been lucky to have friends and family visit over the last week. Nana and Pops were with us when Teddy was born and took care of Pierce at home while we recovered at the hospital. Marmie and Papa were there bright and early the morning after Teddy's birth, and Aunt Darcy joined us when we arrived home.

Marmie and Papa

A Happy Nana

Last weekend, the Bourques brought us a delicious picnic lunch and Erin, Pierce, Annette and Teddy all had a chance to play together. Pierce and Erin played a tireless (though tiring) game of "crawling babies" and had a small dance-off in the living room. Annie and Teddy were excellent and cooperative posers for our pictures.

The Harrisons also stopped on their way through town to meet their godson, and Aunt Shara stopped in on her way to the cape !

We're looking forward to introducing Teddy to Leah and Scott this weekend, and making more introductions as the month goes on.

Welcome Teddy!

Our newest addition, Edmund (Teddy) Bardon Morris joined us last Monday, June 27th at 10:52 pm. He is a big boy (9 lbs., 5 oz, 21.5 inches) and hard to believe that he is already a week old! We have been loving our time at home getting to know him, and are amazed at his already mellow-seeming nature. Perhaps it is just his newborn "sleepiness", but we'll take it for now. He has had a couple of rough nights, getting up hourly to eat, and a couple of great nights with stretches of sleep from 1:30-5:30 and 1-4:30, so we are feeling mildly rested. He eats like a champ, and we'll have a weight update later this week. So far, so good.

Pierce has jumped right in to his role as big brother and loves to kiss the baby, hold the baby and sing to Teddy! He has had a couple of moments of jealousy, where he'll cry, but is handling his new role like a pro. We have lots of pictures and a video to share of Teddy's first days at home with our family. He fits right in, and we can't wait to chronicle his growth alongside Pierce's. Thank you for all of your well-wishes over the last week!

Proud Papa

First Family Photo

Heading Home

Snuggling Brothers

Lounging

Reading Time