We’ve all seen them – at church, the playground, a restaurant, or at the very least in family portraits – those poor children whose mothers dress them in matching outfits.

I am officially (and unapologetically) one of “those” moms.

Also, according to my spell check “unapologetically” is not a word. I’m using it anyway – and I’m not sorry.

I fed Luke last night at about 11 and he slept until 5:30. After he ate he spent a few minutes smiling at the window air conditioner (I don’t know if he likes the noise or the breeze it puts out) and then went back to sleep.

He is a rockstar.

In the past two weeks Adam has gone from ignoring Luke to taking a real interest in his little brother. Here he is trying to get Luke’s mouth open so he can see that he doesn’t have any teeth.

He also likes to show me Luke’s ears, nose, hair, et cetera (I like to spell it out, rather than writing etc, it makes me feel like Yul Brynner).

We have to remind him to be careful and not to touch the baby’s eyes.

He is also big on holding Luke and giving him hugs – at least I think that last picture is a hug, it could be a headlock I suppose. For the most part Luke doesn’t mind the increase in attention from Adam.

However when Adam tried to sit on his back earlier and said “yeehaw” Luke was less than thrilled. So I had to have a chat with Adam on who it’s okay to “yeehaw”, and who it’s not. Aunt Stacy (since she’s the one that started it), Uncle Rob, Daddy, Papa (sorry Dad), Uncle Steve, and Aunt Amanda – they are all yeehaw-able. Mama, Grandmama, and Luke are not (I invoked my non-yeehaw status while I was pregnant with Luke and have no desire to change it). Let’s hope, for Luke’s sake, the lesson sunk in.

I did snap that one picture, but it was only because the camera was still in my hand and on (lest you think I am a horrible mother letting one child beat up on the other while I photographed it). I don’t feel too bad though since when I told the story to Dave he told me it was too bad I didn’t get it on video.

Last night Luke didn’t feel like sleeping, so I sat in the living room and rocked him until he feel asleep (at 2 am). Before putting him back in his bassinet I peeked in on Adam. He had one of his beloved pillows over his face so I moved it to the side – big mistake. He stood right up and before I knew it I had a baby in each arm.

So Adam ended up in our room. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of sleeping next to Adam, you’ll understand why I got so little sleep last night. It is a scientific mystery how that squirmy child takes up so much room. Thankfully he slept in until 6:30 (that was sarcasm).

We didn’t have anything we absolutely had to do today (and it was raining), so we just hung out at home and relaxed all day. Right before nap time Adam insisted on putting on socks and wanted to put on his new shoes too. I told him just to leave his socks on now and he could get his shoes after his nap. As soon as I picked him up out of his crib and put him down on the ground he took off running to the living room to get his shoes.  He doesn’t forget anything.

Luke spent a lot of time sleeping today. I was jealous. I was able to sneak a nap in while the boys were both sleeping – which is good, because I really, really needed it.

This kid makes me smile.

He also makes me laugh.

He’s pretty fantastic.

Friday during his lunch break Dave went to the furniture store and picked up our new dining room set. Then he came back and a friend of ours helped him carry the boxes in to the house before he went back to work. All of this happened while Adam was napping and when he woke and saw the big boxes he pointed to them and said, “Mama, what that?”. So I pointed to the pictures on the outside of the box and told him that daddy was going to make a new table and chairs for us.

Later that night when Dave started opening boxes the little dude insisted, “Adam help!”. I think we both were a little afraid that he would get in the way, but really he wasn’t bad at all.

He had a great time supervising Dave’s work, handing him tools and helping him pick up the pieces.

And whenever he needed a break he would go hang out in the fort Dave made for him.

It took Dave a little longer than he expected, but they did get the table, chairs, and bench together that night. We’re both so happy with how it turned out. We wanted a table that would go with our hoosier (that’s the cabinet against the back wall, in case you’re not familiar with the term).

It’s tough to tell in the picture, but the table and chair legs are actually an antique white color (not a bright white) and the table top is a shade or two darker than the hoosier – but they look great together.

I’m sure it wouldn’t look nearly as good if Adam hadn’t helped.

Yesterday Adam decided that the best place for him to sit was in my dresser. I checked to make sure the drawer was holding his weight okay and then left him. He was quiet and happy – that was good enough for me. Especially since he woke me up at 6:30 that morning. Lately Luke’s been a night owl, Adam’s been an early bird, and I’ve been one tired mama.

After he was done playing it was bath time. This was only my second time giving Luke a bath. As much as I love newborns and am fine with feeding, holding, snuggling, diaper changing and even fingernail clipping, I don’t do baths. The combination of a tiny baby and slippery soap makes me nervous, so Dave handles baths for the first month.

I decided to try something different this time and have them both in the tub. This worked a lot better than last time, if for no other reason than it kept Adam out of trouble while I got Luke cleaned up. We probably would have had a much easier day had I kept him in the tub for more of it.

Adam’s been a very opinionated and self-sufficient little man lately. He insisted on putting on socks when he got dressed and doing it himself (Adam do!). He had a tantrum when one of the socks refused to cooperate and then relented a little and let me help. That ended up being the theme of our day: Adam trying to do something, it not working the way he wanted, and him flipping out.

He had plenty of good moments too though. We watched an episode of Blue’s Clues where they played Hide and Seek and so Adam spent a fair amount of time hiding behind things and jumping out to surprise me – it was pretty adorable. He was so full of energy all day that when Dave got home he commented that it was like he was on fast-forward, which was a very good way to describe him. He did calm down eventually and had a great time helping Dave assemble our new dining room set (I’ll try to post pictures of that tomorrow).

Luke was also a bit of a handful – literally. He decided he wasn’t going to be happy unless I was holding him. At first I was frustrated that I couldn’t take a shower, much less get anything else done, and then I remembered one of my mom’s favorite poems.

“The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.”

(From “Song for a Fifth Child” by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton)

And so while Adam napped I rocked Luke and sang to him and enjoyed every minute of it. Eventually he got  in a deep enough sleep where I could put him in his bassinet and go shower. Of course, just as I was finishing getting dressed Adam woke up.

So I spent a little time (as long as he let me) rocking him too.

One of the cool things about having another little boy is that we’ll get to re-use a lot of Adam’s clothes (and Adam has a lot of clothes). It always makes me a little sad to pack up the clothes that Adam’s outgrown and now I’ll get to pull them all out again for Luke to wear.

My mom picked out those jammies for Adam shortly after he was born. It was right after my dad saw pictures of “the boy” in a gender neutral polka-dot outfit and insisted we go shopping for something more manly. I believe the exact term he used was “baby John Wayne” clothes.

Adam later got another pair of the same pajamas, size 6 months, from some friends of mine and I was thrilled. They are my all-time favorites. I love the pinstripes and the little feet. I like them so much that I went out and bought them in the 9 month size as well. That’s the biggest size they came in, otherwise I’d have bought more. If it were up to me Adam, and now Luke, would be sleeping in these until they were ready to start kindergarten, maybe longer.

Luckily for me Luke still has a lot of time left in these pajamas. I’m sure I’ll still be a little sad when he outgrows this first pair. My mom has predicted that Dave and I will end up having four boys like my Grandma Elsa did though; so if she’s right then hopefully Luke won’t be the last one in those hand-me-downs.

But to be completely honest, I would totally dress a little girl in those jammies.

Adam decided to reread the dino book at bedtime. This is what I found when I went in to check on him earlier.

I was a little afraid that the flash of my camera would wake him -thankfully it didn’t.

I’m crazy about that crazy kid.

In case you were wondering, our good day continued. Adam woke up from his nap in a great mood and we spent the rest of the afternoon singing and dancing (he’s a big fan of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” lately) and playing with different shapes. Now that Adam has the alphabet mastered (uppercase) he’s decided his new thing is pointing out shapes to me (he knows square, circle, triangle, star, and heart).

And since I’m bragging about my little man I’ll mention how at Luke’s check-up earlier this week Adam was playing with his car playmat that lives in my purse. He was holding a car and Dave told him to park it in the number four spot and he did! Perhaps number recognition is next on his list? He is already pretty good at counting to ten and will also sing along to the ABC Song.

It’s not all fun and games though, our little smarty pants also has a diabolical side. He’s learned that his toy golf clubs (which are now for outdoor only use) can be used to reach and activate the ice/water dispenser on our refrigerator. He has a knack for being able to locate the power button on any electronic device. And it didn’t take him long at all to learn that the best time to do something he knows he’s not supposed to (like stick a plastic comb in an oscillating fan) is when I am feeding Luke. This is why my hair is turning grey.

Anyway, back to the point of my story (yes, I did have one when I started), when Dave got home from work I left him with the boys and ran out to run a few errands. I haven’t yet worked up the courage to go out on my own with both kids. I’m sure that day will come soon (and most likely bring with it some interesting stories), but I’m in no hurry.

One of the items on my shopping list was a new pair of sneakers for Adam. He’s sadly almost outgrown his Elmo shoes and so I was on a mission to find something fun for him that wouldn’t break the bank. I also wanted to make sure they weren’t cheaply made and would offer him good support while he’s running faster and jumping higher (because you know that’s what new shoes do). I lucked out at Shoe Dept. and found these on clearance, only two sets left and one was in his new size.

It was a packaged deal and so Adam got two pairs of new shoes for less than $20. The sneakers are nice and sturdy (and have velcro, which is a huge plus in my book). The other shoes will be perfect for playing with his water table. He always ends up soaked and so I normally have him wear his fireman rain boots. Lately however he’s decided that his boots are much more fun when you use them as buckets and fill them with water. Earlier I had to stop him from drinking out of one of the filled boots. These new shoes might not be as multipurpose as his boots, but they should stay on his feet a little better and won’t end up sopping wet.

Adam doesn’t really care about Lightning McQueen. I think he’s seen part of the movie Cars once, but for that price we might have to watch the movie tomorrow so he can get better acquainted. I am a bit saddened by the transition from Elmo to Lightning, it’s like another step away from being my baby and toward being a “big boy”. It doesn’t help that suddenly on Tuesday Adam decided to stop calling us “Mama” and “Dada” and switched to “Mommy” and “Daddy”.

At least this one is still my baby.