Holiday Cheer

Last week was St. Lucia, which brings with it girls with wreaths and candles in their hair. Both Matthew and Lucas took part in St. Lucia concerts at their school. Here's a video from Lucas's. If you look closely, you can see him walk by in a Santa suit. (Sorry about the darkness... no lights to make the candles more evident... and about the sideways video. I forget to turn my camera the right way!!! Mommy brain!)

Over the weekend, Nicholas turned two months old. Isn't he a cutie??? He took the chance to tell his big brothers that it was about time for them to decorate our Christmas tree.

Lucas thought decorating himself would be more fun. Still, Nicholas seemed to approve -- almost.

Missed meetings

Over the weekend, Nicholas discovered his hands. He spends a good deal of time watching them waver overhead. I wonder if he's going to be a biker the way he holds them outstretched in front?

I've forgotten to show Nicholas's first meeting with his Bedstemor and his Aunt Susanne and Uncle Jesper!!!! Mommy brain strikes again!

Flying in time

OK, here is my first attempt at downloading a video here. Let's see how it goes.

Congratulations to Marcela and Pancho on the arrival of their little boy!!! We can't wait to meet him!

I am continually shocked now by the passage of time and I often find myself marking it by events, growth rates and holidays rather than days. Nicholas is now seven weeks old, and in the short span of time that has passed since his birth, he has learned so much. I had forgotten what it is like to watch a newborn explore the world. This little being resonates innocence and beauty.

He definitely has his own personality, and he knows what he likes and what he doesn’t. He hates riding in the car, for example. The minute we lay him in his car seat and prepare to strap him in, he screams. At times, he puts so much effort into his screaming that he forgets to take a breath, and ends up gulping for air and then choking on the gulps. However, I’ve also learned that he likes classical Christmas music. So I plop him in the car, hop in myself, and as soon as we’re rolling I turn on the only CD I have of classical Christmas music and usually he’ll calm down.

He loves being part of Matthew and Lucas’s “getting ready for school” routine, which takes place without fail from 6 to 7 ever weekday morning. This is the best time of day for Nicholas. He laughs at the boys’ antics, which encourages them even more. He’s content and relaxed, smiling and laughing, so I love that hour of the morning too.

His rash is apparently caused by the various foods I eat. After the first visit, the nurse told me to keep from eating any and all milk products. Have you ever tried to do this? It’s nearly impossible – there’s milk or milk powder in almost everything we eat! Yesterday we were at the doctor for his two-month check-up, and now she’s removed all almonds, chocolate (which I wasn’t eating anyway because it contains MILK) and gingerbread cookies from my diet! Three weeks before Christmas!!!! Ho ho ho!!!

Matthew and Lucas are enjoying the Christmas preparations. We’ve put up all of our Christmas things except for the tree, and our house has (in keeping with tradition) been invaded by our own “tricky elf”. Every night while the boys are asleep, this little elf plays a “trick” on them. This morning he put gingerbread cookies in their boots, yesterday he rolled out a roll of toilet paper all over the kitchen floor. Quite an entertaining little man from the North!

Favorite Things

In true Dave Letterman style, here's today's top-ten list.

Nicholas's Favorite Activities

10. Smiling with a toothless, mouth-wide-open grin (sometimes this is accompanied by a sharp intake of air that sounds like a laugh -- and maybe it is!)

9. Laying on the floor

8. Staring at lights

7. Crying

6. Creaking (he makes a lot of sounds, the most interesting being his ability to sound like an old, unoiled door being opened, i.e. creaking -- a noise he makes whenever he's doing activity #1 or pooping)

5. Sleeping

4. Watching his mobile endlessly turn round and round over his head

3. Peeing all over mom or dad (this often leads to big smiles... see #10)

2. Sitting with one of his big brothers

1. Eating

A mother's concern

Nicholas has some kind of very red, very itchy rash covering his face, chest and back. I am quite concerned. Steen and I think it might be an allergic reaction -- the question is "to what?". We'll see the nurse about it tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving (one day early) to all of our friends and family in the US and to those who are celebrating it elsewhere. I think we'll be holding our turkey-fete on Sunday if anyone would like to join us, so hop on a plane and head on over!

Focus

Ulla teaches Nicholas how to use a pacifier (a heatfelt "whoopeee" is appropriate here!)

OK, so the store only this type of pacifier in pink, much to Steen's chagrin

... At least it's staying in his mouth!

Lucas and Nicholas hanging out

Meeting Ingelise and Nicoline for the first time

Nicoline and Matthew share a bit of play time

Not much time to write, but wanted to say that our little boy is doing well. I cannot believe that four weeks have already flown by. We saw the nurse yesterday, and he now weighs over 5 kg and is 57 cm long -- in other words, healthy and growing as expected.

He's now able to focus on our faces, and when he focuses on my eyes and really looks at me, it makes my heart skip a beat. He's also been awake in the evenings the past few days, which is great -- gives us some more time to get to know him. He's a sweetie... although I'm a bit biased about all of my boys!

You know you're a mother when...

Yesterday I turned 36. To celebrate the day, my kind, loving, caring husband sweetly informed me of the following as soon as I opened my eyes in the morning:

"Honey, now you're closer to 40 than to 30!"

I failed to come up with a smart rebuttal fast enough and promptly closed my eyes again. I should have pointed out that we're only the same age for five weeks... at the end of which, his age-o-meter will click up another notch.

A few minutes later, while eating at a very festive birthday breakfast table, Matthew looked at me and said:

"Hey, mom! Now you've been 9 years old four times!"

He then proceeded to also inform me that I've been 18 twice, and 6 six times. At least my birthday was good for some multiplication and division practice!

Regardless, I had a great day, hanging out with all of my boys and walking through the frosty forest nearby. Did I mention we had our first snow on Friday night?

Back to the headline. Here's the situation setup: your baby decides to take a middle-of-the-night poo while you're changing his already dirty diaper. The poo happens to come while the diaper is off and shoots out of him like a rocket. You know you're a mother when, in order to save the wall and the curtains from a mustard-yellow poo stain, you reach out to stop the flying poo with your hand! ICK!!!