Arlo and our first seven weeks as a foursome!

Life has been pretty good here in Bozeman the past seven weeks! James is shaping up to be an awesome big brother. He absolutely loves Arlo and kisses him constantly. We only have to remind him to be gentle periodically now. At first he needed a little coaching on how to handle the baby, but he mostly has it down now. He has taken the transition with ease. We had a little bump earlier this month with a little sadness due to lack of undivided attention, but he never took it out on Arlo, so that is good.

Arlo is growing like crazy! He is putting on at least ten ounces per week and has grown about an inch and a half in length. He actually is a little chubby now! It's crazy given how tiny and scrawny he was when he was born. Sean and I can't believe it is the same little guy that we brought home. He is smiling periodically and has pretty cute cooing noises. He is definitely our little snuggler! James hated to be held - not this one! He hates to be out of our arms and cries when he is on his own. Yesterday he did much better with that though. Sunday night he also slept awesome and we got seven hours of sleep - thank goodness! I felt like a whole new person! He also is our barfy kid. James never threw up (ok, maybe three times). Arlo has a little reflux, which our Dr. says should work itself out in a few months. In the meantime we just have lots of burpcloths around and are sure to do lots of burping and holding him up when he is done nursing.

We have been busy decorating the house for Christmas (our house was built to look good this time of year, in my opinion), and doing lots of holiday activities. Last weekend we did the annual Christmas Stroll downtown (see picture) and had a ball. Sunday night we went to Learning Circle (James Montessori school) Holiday party where all the kids sang holiday songs. James was hilarious. He was mostly stone-faced the whole time and didn't really sing, but occasionally chimed in. He mostly was more interested in turning around to listen and watch the kids behind him singing. Sean and I were totally cracking up. He and his buddies had a blast though. We left early (a whole nother story) which really upset James, but we had a great time anyway hanging with James's friends and their parents. He makes friends very easily and has a number of great friends. At Learning Circle he has a group that also went to Little Tree, so they have been a foursome since they were just babies. They are Oscar, Michael, and Rio. They are great boys with terrific parents too. They are just thick as thieves and have to be separated often so that they can actually do their learning lessons. We love it. At preschool, James has Tyson, who is a wonderful little guy. He is still best friends with Sawyer though, most of all.

Speaking of learning...wow! James can identify all numbers and most of the letters in the alphabet and say the sound they make and give example of words beginning with that letter. We are so impressed with how much he has learned since going to Learning Circle. He really is thriving in that environment. He is exhausted when he comes home from learning so much and playing so hard with his "homies". It is totally worth the steep price-tag. Yeah Montessori!

All in all we are adjusting to our new gig as a foursome. I know that more sleep will come and we are all happy to be together. I am looking forward to finishing up my class this semester at the end of this week, and will go back to work from home a few hours a week next week.