Dear Campbell,

Rice cereal poop is disgusting.  I miss your mommy milk poop.

Love, Mommy

Dear Campbell,

Thanksgiving 2009 has come and gone.  This was your first Thanksgiving holiday outside my womb.  Last year we told our parents to expect you in July at Thanksgiving.  This year you were here.

Last year Daddy told Grammie and Grampa we were pregnant while sharing his thanks around the Thanksgiving table.  He told them that he was thankful for parents that were such a good example for him.  I then confirmed you were coming.

I told Grandmabeth and Grandpa (and the rest of the Schaab/Shepherd crew) by giving them an envelope with your first picture in it.  On the envelope I wrote “This is what we are thankful for . . .”

This year you were here!  And we are so thankful for you.  God gave us an absolutely amazing blessing when he created you.

You are growing so fast.  While I secretly mourn this, I also love watching you grow.

Right now you are able to turn pages in books.  You mimic us when we talk to you.  You do best with the phonetic “b” sound, raspberries, and low breathing.  You love being tickled and every once in while I can get a good belly laugh out of you.  You have really started to enjoy playing patting games like “Pattie Cake.”  You also like it when I help you conduct music.  I think you like the cut offs the best.

And for these things we are thankful.

You have one other first you experienced this Thanksgiving.  You played your first euchre game!  (And helped keep Grammie a bit distracted…which helped Mommy and Daddy win!)

You loved looking at the cards, helping Grammie choose which card to play (which is how you helped us win), and pulling cards from the hand.  The card would then either fall on the table OR go into your mouth.  Grammie was so smitten that she found you your very own deck of cards to play with!

We are so very thankful to be husband and wife which brought you to us!

Love, Mommy

Spencer has made the last 4 months simply fantastic.

Dear Campbell, 

You experience your feelings fully.  

Today was no exception.

It’s not a secret that you love both your daddy and me.  But, I believe, you warmed to Daddy well before you warmed to me.  It took you 3 weeks to smile for me after you smiled for him.  I have never been able to get the laughs he does and you always seem to want to talk to him.

But today I got belly laughs from you on more than one occasion.  

The first happened while we were just hanging out in our bedroom.  I had you on my knees and was doing tummy crunches.  Every time I would come up and you would see my face, you would crack up!  

The second time happened in the den after dinner.  I had a great time tickling you and you had a great time being tickled!  

It was so fun to get to be the “funny” parent for the day!

But your feelings are not all smiles and belly laughs (or even chuckles).  

Today was sprinkled with tantrums and crying.  Some of the crying was out of exhaustion and some was because you were angry.  You get angry for all kinds of reasons…You like to face outward to see the world and if you aren’t, you throw a fit.  You hate, hate, HATE tummy time.  If we wake you up and stop you from eating before you are ready, then we need to be prepare to reap the consequences of our actions.

But today you added a new dimension to your tears and cries.  You started kicking.  And you experienced what I call a natural consequence when you kicked yourself sideways on my belly and fell onto your face on the mattress.

While you are much more pleasant to be around when you think I am the funniest person in the world and are cooing at me, I love you no matter what you are feeling.

Love, your mommy

Dear Campbell,

You are 4 months old.  It’s incredible.  Where did the time go?  And when did you learn all your new tricks?  I looked at your 2 month pictures and you could barely hold yourself up on your tummy.  Now you can bear your weight and almost do a stomach crunch.

Daddy took you to Dr. Stein while I was at work on Thursday and you weighed 14 pounds, 2 ounces and were 24 inches long.  That means you either shrunk from 2 months ago where you were 24.5 inches or you have been mismeasured at some point in time.  My guess is the latter.

These numbers put you in the 60th percentile.  While at the doctor, Dr. Stein said that you are perfect and that you look like a Gerber baby.  We couldn’t agree more! (While we were out tonight, someone said you looked like a baby doll! People love you everywhere we go!)

Today was a big day for you, we fed you rice cereal for the first time.  You are quite a pig and were eating too much milk.  So we are supposed to give you 6 ounces of milk 5 times a day and supplement with rice cereal twice a day.

Today we had fun feeding you rice cereal.  You seemed to enjoy it and it got EVERYWHERE.

While today was fun, I’m a little weary at the idea of doing this regularly.  And I can’t even imagine how Daddy feels because he hates getting sticky.  You obviously take after me.

Tonight we took you to a really cool area of Indianapolis called “Mass Ave.”  We looked at all kinds of things and started buying your Christmas presents.  Getting presents is a lot harder than I imagined it would be!  I want to buy you everything, which strongly contradicts my natural state of being.  Your daddy and I agreed we would get you 4 gifts.  Three of them will help you grow.  One each to help you grow spiritually, physically, and intellectually and then one present you really, really want.    We are very excited about things we picked out for you tonight and are excited to explore different options to fit our categories.

I put you in bed 30 minutes ago and you are now fast asleep.

You may be growing super fast, but you will always be my sweet little girl.

Love, Mommy

After the horrible last appointment and the wait times and dirty lobby at this appointment, we are defiantly switching clinics.  Spencer was a trooper for his second round of vaccinations, no fever or reaction so far and it has been about 36 hours.  I am calling these his 4 month stats even though they are a little early.

Length: 26 inches Weight: 11 pounds 13 ounces Head: 16.5 inches

It turns out that he is in the 90th percentile for length and the 10th for weight.  The doctor said that is fine, but that she would prefer if he was gaining a little more.  This contradicts what she said at the last appointment when he had gained less and was in a lower percentile, but that was fine. Ugh. Definitely switching.

He seems to be doing pretty well developmentally.  He can roll both ways and is getting way more vocal.  We had his first true giggle today and that was awesome. I haven’t checked the baby book in a while, but I think he is on track for most things.  And he has learned to eat his foot which is just about the cutest thing ever.

Month four is upon us. With apologies for the altered background blanket, we present to you Basil at 4 months (approximately 17.5 weeks). He appears his happiest yet, though it’s actually a smile squeezed between moans and other unhappy noises.

He’s been learning to read with his mama.

And brings things to his mouth little by little.

He enjoys tummy time a little more,

but the jury’s still out on bath time.

He’s good at turning from his back to his front and has actually started sleeping on his tummy (we haven’t told his pediatrician yet!).

And his neck control is good enough to start enjoying the world in a forward facing position in the carriers.

Thanks so much to Tara for letting us borrow her Bjaby Born – he’s enjoying it very much.

(Special note to any Facebook users – we have very limited access and aren’t able to respond to messages. It’s best to comment on the blog, send email, real mail or call like in the old days!)

Happy to hear from any of you whether you use Facebook or not.

~Eric

Tommy is quickly approaching 4 months old and, like his big brother, is working on becoming quite the charmer.
He will flash a grin when someone says hello and he has the fake shy routine nailed. His giggles melt my heart and he’ll talk to anyone willing to listen.
We have his fourth month pedi appointment on Wednesday. I’ll update his stats then.

Hello Poogie,

Happy fourth-month birthday for yesterday! Despite my being laid-up on the couch most of the day, the days are still flying by at a rapid rate. Too fast.

Excitement for you this week has been meeting your Canadian Grandma E & Grandpa. They arrived on Monday (it’s Wednesday now) and came to visit you briefly. There were lots of cuddles and talking. You seemed to like them too. Your Grandma came over to help look after you yesterday afternoon too – and you had a big play with her. Lucky you!

Today we’ve been out for the first time since my operation. Off to the hospital to get my cast off and changed for a boot. And while at the hospital a visit to see your Grandad who had an operation yesterday. He was good, but still in intensive care for monitoring so you weren’t allowed in. Just me. We were a sight at the hospital though: I wished we could have had someone take a photo! My foot was really sore as they took the cast off and put a new boot on it and had to manipulate the ankle a little to get it into the boot. Pain. I lay down for 20 minutes or so afterwards but couldn’t then crutch around the hospital to see your Grandad as it was too sore, so your dad got me a wheelchair. But you were there too, in your pram. So we formed a little train: you in front in your pram, me pushing your pram from within my wheelchair, and your dad pushing the wheelchair. Good thing the elevators are large. It worked though, which was the main thing.

So. Today’s pictures are about feet. My foot. And your feet. My foot is just plain sore. Your feet are growing at a rapid rate!

Love you

mum

pointing your feet	moving your feet - practising kicking
kicking your feet	my ankle with the new surgical boot thingamy

I just bought this crocheted hat on etsy for Eve. I wanted something that would cover her ears… Love it! She even tolerates it…
Je viens d’acheter ce bonnet sur etsy pour Eve, crocheté main. Je voulais quelque chose qui lui couvre les oreilles. J’adore! Bizarrement, elle le tolère très bien.

I was gonna make some jokes in bad taste about Michael Jackson and his  new single( he’s been gone 4 months), but i couldn’t do it.

This is it..i mean here it is…the song im talking about dammit…the one he recorded way back when. This is it. Where was i again.

If it sounds like a bootleg copy that needs some work then it probably is. Vintage MJ though. Good times.

Here’s his douchebag pops, Joe Jackson, expecting some coin from sales so he can buy a new set of eyebrows.

Here’s a video of Eve waking up the other day… A nice and quiet morning…

Voici une vidéo du réveil d’Eve l’autre jour. Un réveil tout en douceur comme on les aime.

There’s this one song that I often sing to Eve. And now it looks like she is singing with me. Check it out!

Je chante souvent “L’homme de Cromagnon” à Eve, et maintenant quand je lui chante, on dirait qu’elle chante avec moi. Voyez plutôt!

Last Thursday, Eve had a low grade fever again… We took a trip to the doctor’s on Friday; everything looked fine, except for her temperature… It always happens on a Thursday, right before the weekend. I’m starting to dread Thursdays. It’s the 5th or 6th times this happens, I stopped counting. The doctors think it’s a coincidence, that she got another virus. I am starting to think that maybe Eve is teething. After all, I had my first tooth at 3 months… I hope she’s teething, because that would be such a perfect and simple explanation to this whole temperature thing. So we had another 3 days of nursing strike, rough nights, and cries. Thankfully this time, Eve took the bottle a little better, so we avoided a stop by the hospital. In fact I was worried she wouldn’t want to nurse again, but she did, at least this time. Because if she’s indeed teething, this is all going to happen again, very soon.
This didn’t stop her from turning over the other day, which was a surprise to us. She was too busy crying to notice. Now she’s back to her old smiley self, and it’s so great.
We are supposed to go to Arizona on Friday for the weekend. We hope she will be okay until next week. Fingers crossed.
PS: In the picture, Eve is staring at the fan. She likes moving objects…

Jeudi dernier, Eve a encore eu de la fièvre… On est allé chez le docteur vendredi mais tout semblait aller bien, en dehors de la fièvre. Ça arrive souvent le jeudi, juste avant le weekend… Je commence à redouter les jeudis… C’est la 5ème ou 6ème fois que ça arrive, j’ai arrêté de compter. Les docteurs pensent que c’est une coincidence, qu’elle a attrapé un petit virus à nouveau. Moi je commence à me demander si elle ne fait pas ses dents. Après tout, j’ai eu ma première dent à 3 mois. J’espère qu’elle fait ses dents car ce serait une parfaite et simple explication. Donc Eve nous a fait une grève de l’allaitement pendant 3 jours, à nouveau. Heureusement cette fois elle a mieux pris le biberon donc on a évité un passage par la case hôpital. J’étais d’ailleurs inquiète qu’elle ne veuille plus reprendre le sein du tout, mais ça a été, au moins pour cette fois encore. Car si elle fait ses dents, ça va se reproduire, très bientôt. Cela ne l’a pas empêchée de se retourner l’autre jour. Elle était trop occupée à pleurer pour le remarquer. Depuis hier, elle va mieux et sourit à nouveau, c’est un vrai plaisir!
On est censés aller en Arizona ce weekend donc on espère qu’elle ira bien jusqu’à la semaine prochaine au moins. On croise les doigts.
PS: Sur la photo, Eve regarde le ventilateur tourner. Elle aime les objets en mouvement…

Mommy’s first Scrapbooking! Yet to complete, and most of the ideas come from Auntie Katty =.=”

My 2nd MRT ride of my life

Me and Dwayne at Hougang Mall

Look, Dwayne kor kor look so chubby and obedient…

Leaving my scent in Kaley’s playgym

Kaley meimei is so sweet

Our close-up shot

Dwayne, Kaley and Daylon

I’m naked cos I throw out milk at Auntie Katty house… and Even mommy’s clothes

The belly session

Kaley found her foot

And she taste her own foot! Heehee

Rocking in Kaley’s rocker… This is the first time, mommy keep rocking rocking rocking

And I’m so super duper happy!

My Heart

My sweetheart

Look where?

Look at camera lens or everybody’s hands?

Let me taste this heart!

Kaley snatch it away from me! Hahaha