Two little boys - Daniel and Samuel

Well, our little Daniel has been very poorly recently. All of us have been ill, but he developed a chest infection and has been the worst off with it. We are tired from caring from him day and night for a couple of weeks now. He is breathing much better now though, and coughing a lot less - he is recovering. He is back to his cheery self, though still wants to be held most of the time. That's really not a problem, apart from how heavy he feels sometimes. His giggles are back, which are fun, and I love his response when someone talks to him or smiles at him and he gets all excited - he kind of curls up and smiles or giggles, often with his fists in his mouth. It's adorable!

Being ill hasn't stopped him growing! I just had to get the third size of clothes out for him to wear. There are only a few 3-6 month items that he can still fit into, and I can see that won't be for long! He seems very big sometimes, but also is so small and new-baby-like. His developing communication with everyone is very lovely. Here are a few photos of Daniel over the last approximately seven weeks...

4 weeks old

At four weeks old - very relaxed in the bath.

On our way to the bath ...

... and after the bath!

5 weeks old with Daddy

6 weeks old

8 weeks old

Daniel 10 weeks old, Peter 4 3/4 years.

Eleven weeks old.

The girls and I have been learning to knit recently. I have tried many times and got nowhere with it, and last year we began and promptly stopped. This time we are getting somewhere though! Rachel and I have each even turned to it where we can as a stress-reliever. It's so methodical, and has quite a calming effect. Well I was playing around with some organic cotton we bought last year to make something with, and decided to try to make Daniel a little hat, he having swiftly outgrown all of the others I had obtained for him! I didn't have a pattern, and although it doesn't fit very well (too loose to stay on well, and not as long as I planned it to be), and the seam at the back stops it looking quite so good as at the front, I learned a lot from it about reducing, and judging size, and just thinking around how making something knitted works. So here he is looking very cute in his little beanie, even though it won't fit him for long as it stands. He has worn it a few times and seemed very comfortable and cosy in it though.

10 weeks old

I was cutting Daniel's nails this afternoon as he had been scratching the top of his head - he seemed to like the feel of his hair I think, but had been scratching some of the cradle cap off, and had made some sore looking scratches there too. So I cut his nails. No big deal right? Well no it wasn't at all, but it reminded me of how I have NEVER been able to cut Samuel's nails with him awake (apart from the odd nail recently because he was fascinated in it - only until he fought to do it himself instead though!) From the time he was a tiny baby, he was so wriggly and so strong that I always had to wait until he was asleep before I could trim them. They are quite different. Daniel is lot more placid. Daniel is also strong, but not in the same kind of fighting against you way as Samuel. Nothing has changed either. :o) Samuel is just as wriggly, and just as cheeky as ever, and is so strong and determined in EVERYTHING he does! If he fights against you on something, it's hard work! It's so much easier to work WITH him on things, which is better anyway, but when that's not possible and you're both physically pushing or pulling in opposite directions he is strong! Sometimes stronger than we are. All the same he is a beautifully adorable boy. Our bigger baby, who still loves his "Mummy milk", and is of course a full blown toddler who is constantly getting up to his tricks. :o) So here are a few more recent pictures of Samuel. ...

He had pulled our 20 litre washing-up and washing liquid bottles (that we refill the normal ones from) off the shelf to make room for himself here!

Climbing in the store room!

Then while his bath ran, and I helped his little brother, he decided it was fun to put new bottles of shampoo from the storeroom in the bath. It was quite fun how they floated actually!

Samuel loves to cook, and this is messy play that is certainly easier to deal with, and actually makes somethig yummy at the end! "Round and round and round" (with actions) is one of his favourite things to say. It normally means drawing as he likes to draw in circles amongst other things, but also works to say he'd like to help with the baking.

Here are a couple of pictures of these two little brothers together too...

Daniel 6 weeks, Samuel 20 1/2 months old

Not the best picture of us as it was first thing in the morning, and Daniel was still feeling very poorly, but at least calm. Samuel loved matching with Daniel though, and has been groswing fonder of him all the time, so it was nice to grab a photo of them both while Samuel was still enough to do so! It didn't last long. :o)

Eleven weeks old, 21 1/2 months old, and ... um ... 30 something!

Valentine's Day... Kruger style

This is how we spent our Valentine's day, or a bit of it anyway...

  Rebekah wanted to make cards for a couple of very special friends we don't see (they won't be receiving them until a while after valentine's day as we haven't sent them yet!)

 Sarah sent a special e-mail to a friend, which took a good long while to type.









We had another go at making gingerbread (or something like it) that with our no sugar diet we can still eat. Peter was my official taste tester. He really was more excited about it than this!





So you can see what things are really like here, here is the making of our valentine's day family picture! With nobody else here to take it for us, I was trying to remember/figure out how to work the self-timer on the camera, before I left it on the piano stool to take the photo (because I was feeling reluctant to get the tripod out as it would be just too much of an attraction to the lovely toddler in our midst!) ...

 
                         A few giggles later ...

 TA DAH!

Who is who?

Who are these babies? What do you think?
Very alike (surprisingly so), but not the same person!

Well the answer is - Samuel on the left (within the first hour of his entry into the world), and Daniel on the right (a couple of days old). Well done Rachel. :o)

I was surprised because I think of Daniel as looking much like Rachel and Michael. A couple of people have said that he looks like Samuel but I couldn't see it (other than the normal sibling likeness among my children). I love how alike these photos are. :o)

1 month old today!

Daniel is 1 month old today, and he still doesn't have a middle name decided on, so we also still haven't told very many people yet of his arrival! I figured I should share more than just one picture of him though. Once his name is certain, there are some lovely baby announcements full of pictures waiting to be sent!
He is SO lovely right now, I would love everyone to meet him now before he grows and changes any more. Maybe a few more photos and a bit about him so far will suffice though?! (These are all photos from his first week or so as the few I've taken since are still on the camera.)

We have been mostly unwell and also really exhausted for the last 3 weeks, especially the first two of those weeks, so survival has been the game we've been playing! Daniel has also had his face and then head covered in spots for the last couple of weeks. Not infectious, just lots of acne-type spots! There are still loads there, but they are not always so bright red anymore, and are definately starting to go a little now. Despite that, he is a most gorgeous little fellow. Really handsome / beautiful - take your pick.

He has longer awake and fully alert times than he did at first, and I really love it when he is calmly and intently looking at someone or something. He really seems to be getting familiar with different members of the family, and when he just wants Mummy, he often calms straight away when he gets me which is very lovely. So many times he looks just like a little Michael to me. I love that! I've never seen Michael so clearly in any of them. We got out Michael's baby pictures to compare as he couldn't see it, and he thought so too. Other than that he looks a lot like Rachel in quite a few ways, and seems to have a Hogan nose (from my Dad's family!)

Samuel getting used to him early on:

Not many days later, quite enjoying holding his baby brother. He wants to hold or cuddle him, and it lasts just seconds sometimes and he is suddenly done - perfectly satisfied and he just lets go!

He loves warm baths, loves to feed, even doesn't mind being changed much anymore, especially when he has a loving friend to hold his hand and talk or sing to him - sometimes he's even extremely calm while being changed because of this.

He has grown loads, and in the last week has been wearing 3-6 month clothes. He's quite long (we measured him as 59cm long I think the day after he was born) He's getting so much bigger now too, I think about 11 1/2 pounds now, and so much more sturdy. He's very strong and steady with how he holds himself. He has such big hands and fingers, and long feet too. Not really disproportionate to his body, just big for a newborn baby I suppose!

He knows when it is bedtime, and is very irritable unless I can just take him to bed (as that requires peace and it's right in the middle of the other children going to bed that can be quite a challenge, but that's all he wants and all he will settle for). His hair was just a standard approximately 1cm all over until a few days ago when it just started growing. It seems so much longer each day now, but all round the back and sides, with the longest strands stretching out over the still barely present hair on top, like a very tiny old man! :o)

These next photos were from when Daniel met my Mum and Dad, and they him, when he was four days old.

Taking Daniel out for the first time a couple of days later.

You can only just see Daniel. He's pretty well wrapped up as it was very cold!

Well I hope you enjoyed meeting Daniel a little bit more. As we only have until he is 6 weeks old to register his birth, I'll hopefully be able to let you know before long what his full name will be too!