Pictures of Beck

homecoming and hanging out. He's got a bit of a grouchy-old-man look going on, but he's beginning to fill out nicely.

First Day on Our Own

Our first day without Brett went smoothly--much better than I thought. Phoebe was cooperative and sweet and played nicely. We stamped and colored and played in th back yard, and Beck slept most of the day, so I could spend most of my time with Phoebe--which I think will help with her adjusting and being home all day with just us, since she is used to going to day care all day and used to all of us being home in the summer--this year is going to be very different for her. She will have some things to break it up, of course, with preschool on Tuesday and Thursday each week, and hopefully, a gymnastics class if they don't fill up before Oak Lawn non-residents can sign up. But if things continue the way they began, we should be all right. Today, Tuesday, is our second day, and I thought Phoebe would be a bit difficult this morning because she had a hard time going to sleep last night--she kept having monsters come in her room :( I don't know where she learned about monsters, or where any kid does, for that matter, but it makes me sad that she did because she has nightmares often. Anyway, she has been great, however, and I have learned a bunch of new things that she knows this morning. And she just went down for her nap--she ate a good lunch and then said "I want to go night night now." And that was that. But here are some of the funny things she did this morning. She was stamping names (she tells me a name, I write it in all capitals, and then she stamps the letters over it) and when she did a good job finding a letter she would cheer herself and say "give me a hint" but she meant "hit," not "hint." She would put her fist out and she wanted to pound knuckles. It was pretty funny. I asked her where she learned that and she said "Brian"--that wasn't ringing any bells for me, so I said, "Brian who?" and she said "from the cake party"--that still didn't help. I had no idea who she was talking about, then she said "with the baby, Sam" so then I figured it out--one of Brett's work friends who was at the barbecue that we went to on Aug. 7th taught Phoebe to "pound it." :) Then I was composing a couple of emails and she was in the bathroom playing with the sink when she came out and said, "Does this look awesome with my beautiful hair all wet?" It looked awesome. And finally a few minutes later, she said from the bathroom--"I'm cleaning the potty, Mommy." So I had to go in and put a stop to that--she was using her water spray bottle for her hair to spray the toilet tank and then wiping it with toilet paper--super helpful! And so it begins--our year of learning how to have two kids and keep them intelligently entertained on a daily basis and hope they get along.

Introducing Beckett Reid Lettiere

Beckett was born on 08/08/08 at 3:57 a.m.

He was only one week early as opposed to Phoebe's five weeks but eager to get out fairly immediately once he decided it was time. Phoebe took 12 hours to enter the world once she began to descend, but Beckett was only 5.5 hours from start to finish. My water broke at 10:30 p.m. My contractions began at 12:30 a.m. and he was born 3.5 hours later. We were only at the hospital for 15 minutes before his arrival, but we made it. He was 7 lbs 11 oz, and they measured him at 18 inches, but four days later at his check up, he was 20 inches. I am guessing he didn't grow two inches in four days, they just mismeasured him at the hospital--didn't quite stretch him out all the way--or else he is going to be some crazy huge growing anomally. He did, however gain over half a pound in those four days because he weighed 8.4 lbs. at that check up. He is eating well and sleeping a ton. We are getting plenty of rest, and Phoebe is adjusting fairly well. She had a hard time the first couple of days--not so much with him specifically, she was just misbehaving and seeking negative attention quite a bit, but that seems to be subsiding. She likes him a lot--she gives him lots of kisses and wants to check on him often. She tries to comfort him when he cries and tells me to go get him because he wants up. She is proud to be a big sister, of course. It's getting late--I'll post more pictures in the next couple of days, but this will get me started. Stay tuned for pics in the next post of his eyes and full head of blonde hair.