The Brothers Bennett: Back to Work

How fast maternity leave flew by. I've been back at work for two weeks and it already feels like two months! I treasured -- and miss dearly -- those long days and nights of bonding with Callum. I think I felt a certain amount of worry during my first maternity leave (felt so unprepared!), but with Callum it was familiar and almost relaxing. We went from nursing and packing in SF to nursing and unpacking in Palo Alto. And now we're all settled and life is rolling along.

We hired a lovely woman named Susan to take care of Callum during the day while I work. His face lights up every time he sees her, and she just adores him. She takes him on walks to local parks and playgrounds and she's terrific at giving him his bottles. It's amazing that this move has allowed both Christian and me to spend more quality time with the kids AND work full-time... We're both very grateful.

Callum is 3.5 months now and still very happy and mellow. He makes all kinds of "talking" sounds and smiles all the time! He's able to hold his head pretty steadily now and his arms and legs move more purposefully (i.e., a lot less flailing around). About a month ago, he started leaning forward in his car seat and it was so exciting for us because suddenly he wasn't this helpless tiny baby anymore but rather a little person trying to MOVE. We're trying to get him on a good sleep schedule but it's proving challenging since he seems to only want to nap in our arms. Also, he went from sleeping straight through the night at 5 weeks to waking up once or twice a night at 3 months. Isn't that backwards?! Eating-wise, he's doing great -- guzzling 5 oz of breastmilk in his bottles every 3 hours.

Ronan's phrase of the moment: "I better get on my bike and chase him and get him with my magic sword and take him to jail! Because he's baaaad."

Callum's phrase of the moment: "Thfffllllth" (raspberry sound)

Enjoy the pictures below!

Cousin Elliot took this picture of us at the Jeong Family Reunion in Oakland on April 26.

We count our blessings each day because Ronan is such a loving, protective, and generous big brother. He knows almost all of Callum's clothes and toys, such as the Gymini above, used to be his, but he doesn't seem to mind. He only wants to caress and kiss his baby brother.

Brotherly love

Cutie Callum in his towel (thanks, Nick and Mich)

Our baby boy

Rock on. Old school is cool.

Ronan's preschool, The Learning Center, was in the annual Palo Alto parade, so we all got to march down University Avenue together a few weeks ago. He loved it!

Ronan, the police officer, with Daddy

A few days after the parade, the TLC teachers set up a carnival for the kids, complete with snow cones, face painting, and a cake walk! Ronan liked the fishing game the best.

This week Ronan was "child of the week" at TLC, and this is his display poster with pics of all his favorite people and places. His teachers noted that he kept talking about one picture in particular: Ronan and Daddy at Lake Tahoe last November.

We miss the steam train in Tilden Park!! We rode the closest train to us now, in Los Gatos. Fun, but not the REAL DEAL. Here are some cute pictures of my guys. The resemblance (and the love) between the two boys is sweet.

Ronan's preferred stance with his brother

The best part of the gourmet, fancy Safeway near our house is the shopping cart WITH toy car attached to the front. It was clearly made for families like ours.

The boys helped me celebrate my birthday last week! I felt spoiled -- a carrot cake, new clothes, and a dinner (sans kids!) at the Village Pub in Woodside.

The festivities continued with a Mother's Day get-together with Uncle Matt, Veronica, and Popo at Grandma Kathy's (Popo's) house, where we dined on mussels in white wine sauce, barbecued giant oysters, marinated lamb skewers, noodles, corn, and a pineapple cake that Grandma made from scratch...