Well, we survived Christmas and the tour of Missouri that goes along with it. The first stop was Joplin, then we drove to Naylor on Christmas and returned home on Thursday. For our first trip with two kids, the actual traveling portion went remarkably well. If only everything else had. Mike, Dominick and Noel were sick. Apparently there's a virus going around. All are doing better now, though Noel still has a nasty cough. One minor bit of good news is that Noel slept through the night for the first time on December 26. (It was a fluke.) I escaped the virus but spent the entire trip suffering from a ferocious case of poison ivy. Yes, poison ivy, even though I was not within 30 miles of the offending plant. I can thank Mike for bringing it home to me. He's done it before. On top of all this, Dominick was having some major sleep issues.

It wasn't all bad, of course. We had a great time visiting friends and family and showing off our new addition. Dom loved opening his presents. Here are some photos from our holiday, courtesy of the new digital camera:

The brothers in Joplin

Noel sleeping through the Christmas Eve festivities

Just a funny picture of Dom on Christmas

Dominick is really getting into Christmas this year. Maybe it helps that he can talk now. Last year, of course, he wasn't saying anything at all. What a huge difference. Unfortunately, as part of Dom's excitement about Christmas, he can't keep his hands off the tree. He's broken one ornament, removed several others, messed up the ribbon and made one strand of lights go dark, and he's constantly trying to do more damage. Mom and Sylvia, be warned! Next year, I think I'll do what we did for Dom's first Christmas and buy a tabletop-sized real tree. The big one is not worth the stress. I'm about ready to take down the tree now.

Because Dom loves Christmas lights so much, on Tuesday night we took him to see the Winter Wonderland at Tilles Park. It was pretty amazing. There were lights everywhere. Dominick loved it. His eyes lit up, and he had such a smile on his face. His favorite part was the big wreath that you drive under.

Last night I decided we had to do something about Dominick's hair because it was becoming embarrassing, so we set up a little chair in the kitchen, used a plastic bag as a cape, and Mike put on a rather ridiculous show using various stuffed animals, a potato, and a bottle of juice. I cut as quickly as I could but still couldn't finish before Dom decided he'd had enough, so he has a bit of a mullet. Even so, he looks much better. Tonight will have to be the sequel to Mike's play.

I have heard from several different sources that the first six weeks with a new baby, particularly a second child, are the most difficult. I remember that being the case with Dominick. Well, Noel is six weeks old today, so we have survived. Actually, it hasn't been that bad. My recovery was quicker, and for the almost the entire first three weeks, either Mike or my mom was here during the day. Dominick isn't consumed by jealousy as I feared he would be. We--Dom and I, anyway--have been eating reasonably well because we froze so many leftovers. Both boys often nap at the same time. I even found time to decorate for Christmas, although the outside of our house was neglected this year, and go to my first Mom's Night Out since Noel was born. Granted, he came with me, but he behaved very well.

Even though we're crazy busy, I don't feel quite as overwhelmed as I did when Dominick first came home. Having a cesarean after an incredibly long labor left me exhausted, so those early days are a blur. Dom was hungry every one to two hours day and night. I recall being resentful of him for the first month for needing to eat so often. I haven't felt that way about Noel. I guess I just know that's how it will be for a while. And what's so terrible about sitting down and bonding with my baby several times a day?

Lest anyone think everything is perfect here, let me assure you that is not the case. The house is a constant mess. (I like to think of it as "cozy.") Dust bunnies are rampant, and the bathtub is looking scary. Toys are scattered in every room. I have yet to face the treadmill. Dom and I desperately need haircuts. I haven't dared to take both boys on shopping errands yet, so the to-do list isn't getting much shorter. Don't worry, though: I'm not stressing about any of this stuff. I just had a baby, after all.

We received some good news about Noel today. Most of you probably don't know that, three days before my scheduled c-section, I had an ultrasound to check the baby's size, and during that ultrasound, the technician noted that there was some extra fluid on the baby's right kidney. Since birth, Noel has been on prophylactic antibiotics, and we were waiting for him to have an abdominal ultrasound and VCUG (an x-ray, essentially) to determine the severity of the hydronephrosis. He had those tests on Friday morning. Noel did really well during the whole process, and even Dominick was remarkably well-behaved, except when he twice pushed the power button on the huge x-ray machine. (Who decided to make the power button red and put it at toddler level?)

Fortunately, Noel's case is mild, so he can stop taking the antibiotics as of today. There's nothing else we need to do right now. In six months, he'll have another ultrasound. I'd asked the doctor what would have happened if I had not had that ultrasound late in my pregnancy, and she said there are probably lots of kids who have level 1 or level 2 hydronephrosis but don't know it. Those mild cases are generally outgrown without intervention. A good description of the condition can be found here.

After reading this information, I started getting worried about what could happen, so I was very relieved to hear the test results today. This uncertainty had been hanging over us for 5 1/2 weeks, but now it's gone.

Dominick is a silly, strange boy sometimes. Observe the following photo:

It is what it appears to be. Dom is actually drinking dry Malt-O-Meal from the box Mike left out on the counter the night before. He went on like this quite happily for some time until he poured some cereal into his eye, at which point I took the box away. Don't ask me why he was inspired to do this. I have no idea.

Also on the roll of film I just had developed is the first in a series of monthly photos of Noel. (I didn't know to do this for Dom until he was four months old.) Yes, it would make more sense to include it in the previous post, but Blogger's not cooperating, so I'm putting it here.

Noel is one month old today. I can't believe it's already been a month. Seriously, I can't. Today Noel had his one-month checkup. He weighs nine pounds, eleven ounces, a gain of about 1.75 pounds in three weeks. Considering that he eats almost every hour while he's awake, this does not seem terribly surprising. The doctor said he looks great.

Even though Noel still sleeps most of the time, he does have periods of alertness. He'll open his eyes nice and wide, and if we're really lucky, he'll charm us by smiling. They're probably not legitimate smiles yet, but they're adorable all the same. Noel was really smiley yesterday for some reason.

Dominick continues to smother Noel with kisses, so we still haven't had any problems with jealousy or resentment. Sometimes he can be really helpful without my having to ask him. For instance, today he brought me the Boppy and put it in my lap and then moved Noel's papasan chair into the dining room when it was time to eat breakfast.

In the past couple of weeks, Dominick has been using sentences more and more. The longest one that I can remember was "That tree doesn't have leaves on it." He asks lots of questions, like "What happened to them?" "Where did it go? Is it hiding somewhere?" "Is it Daddy? It is!" Even when he doesn't use full sentences, I've noticed that his phrases are getting longer and more complex. I love the conversational tone and inflections in his speech. He can say things so earnestly, especially when he looks at you with those huge blue eyes.

This morning was our last Stay & Play session, so Wednesday and Thursday mornings are free once more. I've got to start looking into preschools if we want him to start this winter, which we do. I think he'll enjoy it.

Noel's hungry again. It has been a whole hour since I last fed him. Keep in mind that when I say one hour between feedings, I'm timing from the start of one feeding to the start of the next. He keeps me busy!

I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of our babies for comparison's sake. As you'll see, Mike's referring to Noel in utero as D2 was somewhat prophetic. They really look a lot alike!

Dom in the papasan chair, Feb. 2004

Noel in the papasan chair, Nov. 2006

Dom at four days old, Feb. 25, 2004

Noel at four days old, Nov. 10, 2006

Welcome to our new family blog. It'll mostly be a way to provide updates about Dominick and Noel, with the occasional tidbit about me or Mike. But really, who cares about us anymore? I decided that, because of Dominick's tremendous progress in speech, we know longer need a site that focuses solely on his therapy. Noel's arrival gives us another reason to change the focus of the blog. The old blog will stay online, mostly for my own reference (it's a good record of Dom's speech development) but probably won't be updated any further.

I will try to post here weekly, but keep in mind that I am twice as busy these days and operating on much less sleep. I'll do my best to post photos of the boys, too, but until we purchase a decent digital camera--we're looking now--those photos won't exactly be frequent. I'm close to finishing a roll of film, so I'll have that developed soon. In the meantime, here is a picture of Dom at Halloween:

That's the intro. Check us out from time to time to see how the boys are doing.