Andy turned two months old on May Day!  We took him in for his well baby visit today and were thrilled with his progress.  Here's the state of the Andy at 2 months:

Weight: 14 pounds, 6 ounces, 92nd percentile
Length: 24.5 inches, 98th percentile
Head Circumference: 16 inches, 90th percentile

So Andy is healthy and growing well!

Andy has really started to let his personality show.  He is so outgoing and happy.  He's a laugher.  He smiles in his sleep.  Any time he can catch someone's eye, he's all smiles.  He never stops moving and has become quite the little wiggle worm.  It's so fun!  That said, the doctor said she thinks he is "particularly sensitive" which is a polite way to say he absolutely makes himself known and never hesitates to tell you - or anyone else - what he thinks.  Luckily, most of the time, what he has to say is simply "Hi! Nice to see you!"

And speaking of Andy's health, we've been a little quiet about Andy's heart issues, and that's due to the fact that we're still learning.  And after the roller coaster ride, it's frankly hard to talk about.  The biggest concern, the tricuspid valve, resolved itself when his lungs opened up.  For that alone, our prayers were answered.  His pulmonary artery is still enlarged and we're watching it for changes.  And his heart rhythm has what is known as "long QT." Basically, when the heart circuit resets itself, his takes a little longer than it should.  As we've resolved his ASD, we're hoping that could have caused the long QT.  In a couple months, we'll go back and see how all of it is going.  Please keep the prayers coming as we know they have made all the difference. We've gotten such amazing care at Children's and have so much trust in our doctors and have so much faith in our God that Andy will continue to be looked after.  And in the mean time, we're just enjoying the smiles and getting as many laughs out of him that we can.

This morning was Andy's first laugh.  It couldn't have come at a better time.  Last night Caleb had some serious stomach upsets that involved a series of cleanups each one more horrible than the last. One of which involved the Whole Foods bathroom with a baby strapped to my chest.  Who was crying to nurse. Just when we got him to bed, Andy projectile urped all over me and the carpet.  I felt like I was in "triage mode" as I cleaned everything up and changed clothes yet again.  I ate dinner at 10:30.  After a beer.  After a talk-me-off-the-edge call to mom.  This isn't meant to overshare or gross anyone out, just to show the juxtaposition we sometimes experience as parents.

Because this morning it was bright and sunshiney and Andy and I went in to get Caleb, who had just awakened.  Caleb felt totally better so Caleb and Andy snuggled in the bed and Andy started cooing.  Caleb and I started mimicking him and then he BURST into laughter!  Of course, then so did we, and so it went in a cycle until we were all laughed out.  Luckily Justin was home and he got to enjoy the moment as well.  It was one of the cutest darn sounds we've ever heard.  I started snapping some shots of them and it was like last night never happened.  While there can be some tough moments as a Marparent (a parent of Marpepps), the highs outshine the lows every time. Note it in the books; April 24th is a good day to have a first laugh.  Happy Earth Day everyone!

A longer post on Justin's ordination to come!

I have been trying to get this darn post out for weeks!

Apparently we make clones.  Of course there are differences, but half the time we can hardly tell them apart.

Caleb.

Andy.

Caleb.

Andy.

They are moving right along the same trajectory too!  We just had Andy's one month along with Caleb's three year check ups.  So it was extra fun to look back and see Caleb's one month post and compare it to this time - both to Andy's check up but also to see how far our little boy has come. Here's what we wrote about Caleb at his first month appointment on this very blog:

Caleb Grant Culpepper-Martin's First Month of Life Stats (March 7-April 7)

Weight Gained: 3 pounds, 2 ounces
Inches Grown: 2
Diapers Changed: 1,000,572
Number of Smiles: 5
Hours Slept: 7
Amazing Factor: 100

Caleb is 5 weeks old now, and we had his month check up at the pediatrician on Friday, just a couple days after his "one month" birthday.  He is a whopping 12 pounds, 2.5 ounces and 23.5 inches and has a nice 15 inch head.  95th percentile in weight, 90th percentile in height, and 75th percentile for his head size.

And here's what we got from Andy's first month appointment:

Vincent Andrew Culpepper-Martin's First Month of Life Stats (March 1-April 5)

Weight Gained: 3 pounds, 9 ounces
Inches grown: 2
Diapers Changed: we go through 120-140 a week. Not cool Andy. Not. Cool.
Number of smiles: Many! (maybe... 11? This is what happens with second kids...)
Hours Slept: many more than 7 (thanks for that Andy!)
Amazing Factor: 101!

Andy is in his 5th week and we had his check up at the pediatrician on Friday, 4 days after his "one month" birthday.  He is a whopping 12 pounds, 11 ounces and 22.5 inches and has a nice 16 inch head.  98th percentile in weight, 85th percentile in height, and 90th percentile in head circumference.

He is sleeping good for a one month old.  Some nights are a perfect 11/2/5 combo and other nights.. well.. notsomuch.  And whereas we pretty much had a system set for Caleb's naps early on (his sleep was paramount), Andy kind of has to catch as catch comes.  We do our best to ensure he gets what he needs, but he has to be a bit more flexible than Caleb did. Unlike Caleb, Andy hates the swing, but luckily a friend gave us a vibrating bouncy chair, which we didn't even have first go round, and Andy loves it.  He can be found napping in it with a hand knit blanket on him and a sleep sheep turned all the way up sitting on his belly.  Mostly though, he sleeps in the sling on Jess or in the Ergo on Justin.  Which given how snuggly and adorable he is, suits us just fine.

How's about them apples?  A little bigger in weight, a little smaller in height, and quite a big larger in the noggin department.  They are wearing the same clothes at the same time, only Andy is wider and squatter so the thinner things are not quite working as well.  And Caleb was a super chunk himself, so we have ourselves a butterball!

And here's our sweet Andy at a month old:

It's been a wonderful first month.  So now, given all that in a bag of awesome, here is Caleb's updated stats:

Caleb Grant Culpepper-Martin's Three Years of Life Stats (March 7, 2010-April 5, 2013)

Weight Gained: 23 pounds
Inches Grown: 26
Diapers Changed: NONE NOW!
Number of Smiles: thousands. Millions?
Hours Slept: fully and completely almost every night
Amazing Factor: 215

Caleb is 157 weeks old now, and we had his three year check up at the pediatrician on Friday, just under a month after his three year birthday.  He is a whopping 32 pounds, and 38 inches and no one measures his head anymore. He is 75th in height and 60th in weight. He has perfect vision *hooray* and is doing all the things he should be doing.  Way to be three Caleb!  You are a handsome boy, a smart and funny person, and we are so proud.

He's pretty much a string bean - he needs long pants and a belt to hold them up! He's recently changed from still looking like our baby boy to looking like a handsome big boy with hardly any baby in him at all. And we've been so impressed with his recent developments.  He uses his imagination with abandon and he and his friends are now creating whole scenes to act out and explore.  He has his numbers down and is starting to learn his letters ("C" is his current fav).  He is also saying funny and adorable things, like sticking "sure" in everything - such as "I sure will!" or "I sure can" or "It sure does!" It makes us giggle every time.  And here's a great photo of Caleb just after his post check up nap - and the reason we just bought a video monitor for his room last week:

For all his cuteness, that stuff didn't come off the walls.  Or the sheets.  Or his cute new pants.  Ah well, it's been a wonderful three years all the same!

Happy Easter y'all!  Forgive our tardiness - we're going to pull the newborn card on the lack of blog updates - but it's mostly been that we've been really (happily) busy.  Here's an obligatory hilarious mall Easter Bunny photo to make up for it:

Mostly we love it because it's the first time we have both of our boys in something like this (Jess tried not to think about what we were exposing Andy to on that arm). They handled it like champs. After it was all over, Caleb said "Mommy, is the Easter Bunny real or pretend?" When we asked him what he thought he said "I think he's just pretend." Looks like we have a cynic on our hands.

We had a fantastic Easter!  It's so different from our Easter just after Caleb, where we had managed a dinner on the porch - the first we had cooked - and were otherwise completely overwhelmed with the new life entrusted to us.  This time, we hardly missed a beat.  

Justin, well aware that this was one of the hardest weekends of the year for him, took Friday off as a calm before the storm and we took a drive to Great Falls State Park in Virginia to have some outdoors time.  It was a beautiful day.

Caleb climbed over every rock and on every fallen tree he passed.

At first we tried to hurry him along so we could finish our loop, but eventually, we surrendered to his pace and just let him enjoy the outdoors. It was the right move.

So we just enjoyed the experience as a family and let go of the agenda.

And soaked in the view.

And it was such a nice moment as a family.  Right up until he threw rocks at some kids (after being pointedly warned not to throw rocks) and we hauled his bottom RIGHT back to the car and went home.  At times dragging his limp screaming tantrumy self and getting "that look" from other hikers. We were not deterred by either; Marpepps don't play that.

The next day was equally as beautiful so we got out the kite and braved the Metro on the weekend to hop down to the National Mall for the annual cherry blossom Kite Festival.  Caleb and Justin were determined to get Jess's 20 year old craft kite into the air.

After several tries, they succeeded!

Caleb got his second lesson in kite flying (not bad for a city boy).

It was so beautiful to see all those kites with the nation's capital in the background.

Andy slept through the entire thing.

On Easter, Jess was 5 minutes late getting into the service, but this year, she got BOTH kids in their finery to the early morning service ALONE (Justin left long before).  She then managed to get Caleb lunch with the baby, get him home and down for his nap, and make an entree and a side just in time for Justin to get home from work to attend Easter supper at their favorite family in DC's house.  They were amazing hosting 8 adults and 9 kids with a beautifully set table and an Easter Egg Hunt to boot!  The kids were heart melting and the chaos was the best kind - the kind that makes you know there's a lot of love in the room.

Photo Taken by the Amazing Family Snodgrass

We prefer this whole second time around, even with the craziness of a preschooler added to the newborn routine. The first was such a transition.  This time, it was like Andy was always supposed to be here, and once he arrived, it just felt right. While having a second has some major challenges, particularly in the balancing department, it's a lot more fun because you hardly miss a beat.  This Easter weekend was everything we love about Easter - celebrating and sharing the rebirth of the season and God's triumph of justice and love over death.  We covered pretty much every kind of church there is (for us) - the outdoors, our congregation, and our closest friends.  It was fulfilling to have that ability even with a 3 week old baby - he fits right in, and certainly, our family is better for him.