Stephen's sixth week

Stephen has become a real chunk: starting at 8lbs at birth, he was up to 13 by week 5, and I'm about to weigh him again as I'm noticing how heavy he's getting daily.  There is no flabby skin left to fill out around his ankles, on his thighs, around the shoulders...
He's also been keeping his head up solidly since third week, and now that he is focusing his eyes well and becoming more alert, he likes to turn his head around and look.
He has also just discovered his thumb two weeks ago.  It's nice that it helps him calm down, but I also wouldn't want him to form a habit...

 

James went back to his school for a week of camp.  When I asked him how he liked it and what they did, he said he didn't like it because no one read books (niko mi nije nista citao!).  He kept his usual routine after drop-off, where he plopped on one of the chairs in the reading corner, grabbed a book and 'read' quietly.  Of course, I tried to compensate at home, but he didn't want me to read to him then because my reading is designated for right before bedtime (when be picks an average of 5 books) and he obviously doens't have patience for them during the day when he can play with his siblings.  Actually, the first thing that he requests after school, when he is clearly tired and in a need for a nap, is to watch cartoons, currently Smurfs (the purple smurfs episode, in particular), Zvonko or Masa i Medo (Masa and the Bear).  Last week he requested that he saw Crvena Jabuka videos on YouTube so he'd see what the band looked like since for the past year he's been singing several of their songs that he learned from my CD.  He wasn't very impressed by the looks, but he got a kick out of the tape cover with the lady butt painted as an apple (so now he jokes and calls them Crvena Guza).  Great.

 

Always with the hands close to his face: seriously contemplating his dreams right now...

Sonja and Michael's First Communion, May 20th 2017

Grandma and Grandpa visited us for the First Communion.  I wasn't expected to be there as Stephen was due the day before, but since he stuck around for an extra week, I was able to make it to the special event, too.

Stephen after 1 week

At his 3rd day appointment, Stephen weighed 8 lbs 2 oz.
At his 10th day appointment, he weighed 9 lbs 5 oz!

He is visibly chunkier and heavier, sleeps, eats, pees and poops, and alertly looks around during the short time that he is awake.  We took him for his first walk outside yesterday, and again today, and he slept the whole time, of course.  So far he is an easy baby, knock on wood, eats every 3-4 hrs during the day and every 3 hours during the night (I wish it was the other way around, but I can't complain, he is good, burps easily and goes right back to sleep).
Baka is here with us, and maybe he is just trying to impress her!  We'll see how he does next week after she leaves!

The kids want to kiss him all the time (as do the adults), no jealousy yet...

Here is Stephen in the belly, several days before delivery:

 2 days old:

 4 days old:

5 days old:

With daddy, 5 days old:

With Sonja and Michael:

With baka:

Welcome Stephen Alexander Moore!

Born at 1:11am on May 26th 2017.
Weight: 7 lbs 15 oz
Length: 21.5 in
Apgar score: 9

Michael lost his first tooth!

Finally!  He was super-excited after having lost hope that he'd ever lose baby teeth.

Post-Christmas (Jan, 2016, OUT OF ORDER thanks to Blogger inadequacy--it used to work before where the post would be dated by when it was started, but now anymore)

James: protesting, not putting plate back, throwing books and toys on the floor just to make mess.
Put your hands up, mama!
Bad mama.
Finally started chatting and singing at school, to big surprise to the teachers (and that haven't seen half of it yet!)
He now requests to be read to instead of sang to before bedtime.  He actively participates in reading and chooses his books--at the moment, the favorites are any Cat in the Hat (like the one where the Cat entertains the boy and the girl on a rainy day), Clifford (especially the Halloween one, which was the other kids' favorite at the time).
He remembers things like 'don't look at the sun', and makes weird comments like, 'Mi ne jedemo cuku.' ('There is a dog.  We don't eat dogs.')

Nikolas is spending more time alone in his room, reading comics.  Every now and then he'll pop out to read us some funny lines.  Instead of Minecraft (which he still enjoys) and Legos, his new obsession is Pokemon cards.  He asked to spend his own money on new cards, and if I didn't have control over it, he would have spent it all to the last penny.

He is still very picky about what he wears and how his hair looks.  He has his own gel in the bathroom that he uses every day--he definitely gives more attention to his hair than either mommy or daddy does.  On the other hand, he constantly wears basketball/baseball outfits, quick-drying sleeveless shirts and shorts (no matter how cold it is), long socks in various colors, often mismatched on purpose.... I can't figure out where the 'style' is coming from.

Michael is copying him, although when it's time to look nice, he still looks all buttoned-up and polished, with perfectly matching colors.

Sonja loves skirts and dresses--she just needs to behave more girly to match the outfits!

Everyone is into Star Wars now.  James says 'I'm Darth Vader.' or 'I'm Star Wars!')

We just had Aida with her family over for a week!
The kids played great together: Nikolas, Sonja, Michael, James with Basti and Emma.  Despite the language barrier and a slight difference in ages, they got along wonderfully.  Sonja and Emma drew together and made bracelets, Basti was tumbling with the boys, piggyback-riding, making tents out of living room furniture and blankets, everyone stayed up late watching Star Wars before passing out, and during the day they went to the pool a lot and a few more places like the beach, Zoo, museum (James did not like live butterflies in the museum at all!).

We miss them a lot!

General updates:
James is into Winnie the Witch books and the classic stories, esp. Snowwhite and Puss in Boots.  I had one Croatian version of the Winnie the Witch, and then I ordered a collection in English--he knows which is written in which language so he was able to ask daddy to read him the English version.
James already spelled all of his friends' names last fall, and now he writes his names very well.  He never flips letters (S is usually the one kids tend to flip left to right in the beginning, but not James).  He picks up everything he hears at home or school.  His music teacher says he is the one who carries the melody when the kids sing together--he knows all the words, his pitch is on point, and he is not shy to sing loudly.
He is also good at expressing himself verbally: he tells me exactly what the plan for the day is: 'Kad dodjemo kuci, mama, daj mi zvaku i onda hocu da gledam Strumfove.  Onda kad padne mrak, ja cu da obucem pidzamu i onda cu da jedem i ti ces da mi citas i onda cu da idem u krevet.'  (When we get home (from school), I want a bubble gum and to watch the Smurfs.  Then when it gets dark, I'll put pajamas on and eat dinner and then you'll read to me and then I'll go to bed.)  For any variations in the day, he likes to give me an overview if it should include something that he wants.
He remembers phrases and words so easily.  The other day daddy must have done something that he told the kids not to do, and James's response (in daddy's words from before) was, 'But you are daddy--you can do what you want', which is one of daddy's phrases.  Or, as I was reading a book to him last night, I omitted 'snow' from 'snow boots' in the Winnie the Witch story, and he stopped me and corrected me ('cizme za snijeg').  He even helped the older kids with the Serbocroatian version of a few English words that they couldn't remember.

Play at James's school