Memorial Day Weekend

Who doesn't love holiday weekends?! It was HOT, but we made the most of the long weekend and did our best to stay cool. Liam spent much of the weekend "swimming" in the little pool he got for Easter from Nana and Grandpa:



With the help of a deck umbrella, this was the perfect place to beat the heat! The Derry boys lounging pool-side:



On Sunday afternoon, we went to a cookout at Miss Doreen and Uncle Sam's house. Liam had a blast playing with Gina (EEEna), Louie (Douis), cousin Maura, and with Doreen and Sam's nephew, Sante. Liam's current favorite thing to do is to play baseball, so he was pretty happy when Louie wanted to play. Batter up!



The kids actually ended up spending most of the cookout jumping on the trampoline at the Shea's house next door. Liam had never been on one before, but Gina (in the black) took him under her wing, and he loved it! It took some creativity to peel him away from that trampoline at the end of the evening.



Joergen, on the other hand, preferred to stay in the shade and soak up attention from the ladies:



Uncle Sam, who has nicknamed Joergen "Kronk", even managed to steal him away for a little while himself. It was nice for Daddy and me to have both of the boys happily occupied!

On Monday morning, we took the boys for Joergen's first trip to the zoo. The Philly Zoo partnered with the Jim Henson Company to create this cool animal conservation program at the zoo, so we were looking forward to checking it out.



We stopped one of the puppet shows to learn about frogs from "Phibi", and we were proud of little Liam for being the only kid in the crowd brave enough to volunteer to go up to the stage to help teach everyone how to jump and ribbit!



Joergen, Mommy, and Liam in the primate house (how cool were those gorillas?!):



Liam and Daddy at the big cat exhibit. We saw jaguars, lions, and got up close and personal with a tiger!



Last stop before heading home was to check in on the "jaffes". Liam loves them and was excited to see the baby out!

It was pretty steamy out, so we didn't stay long-- while he was awake, poor Joergen was not exactly loving his zoo experience. All four of us took some serious naps that afternoon in the comfort of the AC at home!

We also used this weekend to start working on transitioning Joergen from sleeping pretty much exclusively in his swing (which was a habit he got into when he was so congested and needed to be upright) back to sleeping horizontally in his pack-and-play. And I'm very happy to report success! Joey slept for 6 hours straight last night!

Two Months Old

Guess who is two months old!



I took Joergen in for his 2-month check-up this morning (and am starting to think that I should just set up camp in the KoP medical building these days!). He is growing like crazy! In the past month he gained over 3 pounds and grew an inch and a half, putting him in the 65th percentile in weight and 50th in height. He also got a boatload of shots, which he took like champ (although the rest of the day was a little challenging!).

He is cooing up a storm, and loves nothing more than when you get really close and talk to him-- it brings a huge smile to his face every time. He is working on holding his head up for longer stretches and has been enjoying short stints in his Bumbo seat:



And of course, a certain someone just had to show his little brother just how to do it:



Giving Joergen his pacifier is one of Liam's favorite ways to "help"-- whether Joergen is awake, sleeping, eating... oh well, it's the thought that counts!



Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

It's Official...

Liam is most definitely allergic to peanuts. We met with Dr. Wodell this morning for allergy testing following Liam's trip to the ER, and this was the result:

The small reaction on the left side was the positive control, meaning everyone reacts to it. And the large reaction, labeled "P" on the right, is-- you guessed it-- peanuts. All the other small dots on the left were the test sites for other tree nuts, which all came back negative. But since peanut, tree nut, and shellfish allergies all tend to go hand-in-hand, we've been instructed to avoid them all anyway. Sigh. Liam has a 20% chance of outgrowing the allergy, and we'll go back annually to have him retested (next appointment-- May 24, 2012!). If we have any hopes of him outgrowing it, the key will be complete elimination of the allergen from his diet.

Because Liam has this allergy, Joergen is also very susceptible. We will need to follow these same guidelines for him until he is 3 years old, when he is the lucky winner of his own trip to the allergist. Yippee!

We now have to become a very label-conscious household. Not only do we have to completely eliminate peanuts, tree nuts, and shellfish from his diet, but we also have to eliminate any foods that were made in a facility that also processes peanuts or tree nuts. We were surprised to learn that foods with that label, even if nuts are not an ingredient, still contain nuts 10% of the time!

Daddy and I will need to advocate for Liam pretty much everywhere he goes from now on, armed with an EpiPen. Peanut-free table for 4, please!

Bathtime silliness

Maybe it's the heat, but the boys have been loving bathtime lately! For Liam, it's all about the bubble bath. Seriously, he loves him a bubble bath!



The best part? Making bubble faces! This look comes with an "Ummm..." has he strokes his chin with bubbles...



And here is a post-bath Joergen doing his best Pauly D! (as I pray to God that the resemblance stops there!)



And once they were both all clean, they spent a little time hanging out in Liam's bed:

Making Friends

Joergen had his first playdates this past week!

First up was Benjamin, who is the little brother of Liam's first playdate Amelia. Amelia was born a few weeks before Liam, and Ben was born exactly one week before Joergen. It's so nice to be on maternity leave with their mommy again, and we couldn't wait to get these two together! What a couple of CUTIES!



On Monday, my good friends Heather and Desiree came to visit, and Desiree brought her adorable kids Landon (3) and Sosie (1). They were so good with Joergen! Landon also came to visit Liam when he was born.



Liam continues to be a great big brother and has learned to say "burp cloth" as we frequently ask him to hand one to me! He is also helpful with fetching and throwing away diapers, which has been nice. Here's Joergen sporting his new outfit from Grandma and Papa:



We agree! :)

Joergen is generally sleeping pretty well at night-- as long as he is in his swing! Will we ever get him to sleep horizontally? Without being held, that is? He is sleeping on average for 4-hour stretches-- and sometimes longer-- so whatever works!

Taking a cat nap with Daddy last night:

Aunt Jackie's Baby Shower

Q. What does Joergen like to do on his Saturday afternoons?
A. Go to baby showers!

For the second Saturday in a row, Joergen spent his afternoon as the only dude with a whole lotta ladies celebrating a mom-to-be. Last Saturday, it was Cathleen's beautiful shower here in Philly, and two days ago, it was Aunt Jackie's shower at her mom and dad's house in southern York County. We stayed with Nana and Grandpa for the weekend and enjoyed a great visit.

It was so fun to see Aunt Jackie again, and Joergen loved getting to spend a little time with his godmother! Here's the soon-to-be-mommy wearing her "nesting hat"-- complete with a little nest and an egg on top!



Joergen snuggling up to his soon-to-be-cousin:



Joergen with Aunt Jackie, Mommy, and Nana:

And we gotta give a little shout-out to Aunt Jackie's sister, Jennifer-- getting ready to be the other Aunt Jen!

Unfortunately, my camera battery died during the shower. But it was a beautiful day! Can't wait for baby G-willie to get here!

Smile!

I found the trick to getting Joergen to smile for the camera... Liam! The little guy just could not stop smiling while cuddling up to his big brother on Saturday morning. Love!