Very Very Bad

Brent had to stay home with the kids yesterday since the babysitter had jury duty. He was very nervous about it, but I knew he would be fine. After all, the first time he kept Samantha by himself, he said "I hope she survives." And then they proceeded to have a great day. And I was sure that it would be the same with both kids. Last night he did tell me that it wasn't as hard as he expected. And he did manage to get dishes done and most of the house vacuumed.

When I came home for lunch, Samantha came running to the door to meet me. And Brent came to the kitchen and said "Look what she did," and pointed at the kitchen floor. There were blue crayon scribbles all over. He told me that she had also colored in one of her books.

Then he said "Samantha, come here." He pointed at the floor and asked "What is this?" She answered, "Very, very bad." (Actually it was more like "vewa vewa bad" and she was so cute about it, I had to MAKE myself not smile!) He said, "That's right. Where do we color?" She answered "On paper," and he again said, "That's right." Hopefully she remembers this the next time she is alone in a room with her crayons. (Or maybe we will be smart enough not to leave her alone in a room with her crayons!) And thank goodness for washable crayons! The crayon even came off of the pages of the board book she colored in! :)

More on the Boy

Do you remember me talking about Benjamin getting staples in his head? (If not, read this post first.) Well, my sister called me yesterday with an update.

They had his staples removed on Saturday at the hospital. All 8 of them.
On Saturday night Benjamin asked if he still had a staple in his head. Kathy told him no. That it might just feel like it because of the one spot that still wasn't all the way healed. He said OK and went on his merry way.

On Monday morning, while they were getting ready for school and work, Kathy happened to be the one who dried Benjamin's hair with the hair dryer. And when she did, his hair blew just the right way and she saw a 9th staple. That they didn't know he even had to begin with. Still in his head.

On the way back from the doctor's office, with ALL staples now removed from his head, Benjamin told Kathy, "Mom, I'm going back under that tree." She said "WHAT?!" He told her that he didn't say he is going to run under the tree again, but he wants to check it out. He did add that he makes no guarantees that he won't have to get more staples.

I am definitely getting that book. Hopefully before Jacob is even mobile.

Not Me Monday

One of the bloggers that I read, MckMama, started a “Not Me Monday” and weekly invites others to join her in confessing those things that one certainly would never do. And this week she is doing a giveaway in association with it. So I decided that I would join in.

This week has had lots of situations pop up. For example, I would never be tempted to take my toddler’s picture when she got herself stuck under her bed rather than going to sleep in her bed and was hollering “Stuck, Mommy!” (Notice I said tempted. I really did just get her out!)

And I would never allow myself to fall asleep when I could hear that the same toddler was up and about it her room rather than taking a nap. And there is no way that said toddler would manage to completely ransack her room by getting every toy out and every book off the shelf, all while her Mommy was snoozing away.
And I would never be tempted to do nothing simply because she was standing at the gate in her doorway calling for Daddy (who was in the living room) even though I was in the bedroom, right next to her room. (Once again…notice the word tempted. That means I thought about it, but did not act on that thought!)

I would never cave by going to pick her up when she was crying in her room, once again at the gate, saying, “Don’t want night night. Want sleep MommyDaddy bed.” And when she then cried for Daddy, I would certainly NOT bring her to Daddy in our bed simply because I was too tired to deal with anything else. (This story may be coming in full in the future.)

And finally, I would never say “Thanks, Honey,” to my husband mere seconds after telling my toddler that we say “Thank you” not “Thanks.”

Nope, couldn’t have been me. Must have been my twin posing as me. What’s that? I don’t have a twin? Oh. I guess I’ve been found out. :)

I read this post today.

You should read it, too.

Angie could so easily be describing my life. I recognize what I am doing wrong. I say I am going to change it. I change a little. And then I let it creep back in rather than rooting it all out.

So much to think about. So much to work on.

The Dragon in My Closet

I didn't know it before, but apparently there is a dragon who lives in my house, or maybe in my closet. Samantha hasn't been super clear on where the dragon is, but she has definitely been telling me that there is a dragon.

She goes running into the my closet from various places in the house saying "Better hide dragon!" She giggles like crazy and buries herself behind the clothes in my closet. The first time she did this, she didn't say anything before she hid. And she hid so well that I thought I was mistaken on where she went. I left the closet to go look for her elsewhere. I couldn't find her, so I called her name. She answered, "I hiding dragon, Mommy," in a muffled voice that came from my closet. So I went back and found her.

The she told me "Better hide. Dragon eat toes," and she proceeded to pull her feet back into the closet so that her toes were also hidden. She asked me to take her picture, but would not show me her face enough to get a clear picture, because she was too busy hiding. I did get a picture of her hidden toes, though.

I'm really not sure where the idea of the dragon came from. But maybe it came from here.

And maybe this is how she knows that the dragon eats toes.

If this is the dragon...I think he's an awfully cute one :)

His poor little face

Poor Jacob. This eczema thing is just not going away. Most of his body got WAYYYYY better since I started being so diligent about getting a good lotion all over him, very liberally, at least twice a day. (Although he has had a couple of spots pop up near his elbows in the last few days, so that might have been just a coincidence) His face, however, has just steadily gotten worse and worse. See for yourself how bad it is.

And a couple closer shots because you can't really see how bad it is on the first one.

I'm trying a couple more things. Right now, I put antibiotic ointment on his cheeks twice a day. I REALLY don't want him getting another staph infection with all the rawness and weeping that he has right now. After that has soaked in for a while, I put Aquaphor on his face. I hope it helps, but I'm not really holding my breath. There may be a dermatologist in our near future.

In spite of it all...isn't he the cutest baby boy? :)

It's Just Bad Luck

I called my sister the other morning and woke her up. She had only been asleep for a couple of hours. Because she spent the night before in the ER with Benjamin.

Benjamin had been at Scouts and was running around with his friends. They ran under a pine tree and Benjamin gashed his head open when he ran into one of the branches. It was a 9cm gash and required 8 staples.

Practically as soon as they were leaving, Benjamin was already wanting to run rather than walk, trying to balance on curbs and do all sorts of activities other than just plain walking. Right after the doctor said no PE for a week.

Kathy was so frustrated with him. She was basically wondering if he was trying to reopen his wound or drive her insane.

I told her about a class that several of my friends took a few years back about raising boys. I think was based on the book "Bringing Up Boys" by James Dobson, but I'm not certain. I didn't attend the class myself, but one of my friends told me about two things that struck her in the class.

The first was that it doesn't matter if you don't allow any toy guns in the house, boys will find a way to play with "guns." Some will even chew their sandwich into a gun shape and "shoot" with it.
Why? I have no idea.
Why do I remember this? I have no idea.
Maybe I should go read the book. Especially since I have a boy now.

The second thing that stuck out to my friend was that boys think that everything is just bad luck.
What does that mean?
For example, a girl is bouncing on the bed, falls off and breaks her arm. She doesn't bounce again (at least not for a long time) because bouncing caused her to break her arm.

A boy, however, in the same situation, thinks that it was just bad luck, not a result of his behavior and goes right back to the same behavior almost immediately. And it doesn't matter how many times he gets the same result. It is still just bad luck that it happened.

So I told my sister about the bad luck idea, and she thinks that it sounds about right. That it fits her son. And my friend who told me about it originally thought that it was spot on as well. And now I have a boy to be bringing up. Maybe I really do need to go read that book.

A Little Sad

This evening, I got home before Brent and the kids did. I usually do, and Samantha usually runs to me with an excited "Mommy!" and then gives me a great big hug. It is the perfect welcome home for me.

Today was a little different, though. She was upset because she couldn't climb into her car seat in the van by "me-self." She can do it in the car, but she isn't tall enough to manage it in the van. So she came to the door a little whiny. Lucky for me, she usually wants to snuggle when she is whiny. So I got some good snuggles while she calmed down.

The she started helping me load the dishwasher...and called me Nancy. The babysitter's name. I laughed when she did it. But it did made me a little sad that she spends enough time with another person...and without me...to accidentally call me that person's name.

I am grateful that I have a job. Even though I would give it up in a heartbeat to stay home with my kids if we were in a position for that to be able to happen. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that I am grateful for my job. Today is one of those days.

And on a lighter note, after Samantha called me Nancy, I smiled and asked her "What is my name?" She answered, "Christy" It wasn't the answer I was looking for, but it was correct. But then I made sure I reminded her that she calls me "mommy", though. And I smiled.

Randomness

So today, yes today, almost exactly THREE months after Christmas, I found myself realizing that we didn't have the kids picture taken with Santa. The one year that we could pretty much guarantee that Jacob wouldn't cry about it. And it didn't even cross my mind to do that. For his first Christmas.

Why exactly was I thinking about this today? I'm not entirely sure. But I think it may have started with bluebonnets.

Bluebonnets?! That has nothing to do with Christmas!

Yes I know, but bear with me and I think I can logically explain.

So I was thinking about spring coming and wondering if we will have bluebonnets near us this year. I definitely need to get the kids pictures in the bluebonnets. There were TONS of gorgeous stands on the side of the highway last year. No way was I about to have my baby on the side of the highway to take a picture! But I couldn't find any bluebonnets other than those, so there were no pictures of Samantha in the bluebonnets. I don't think I got them her first spring, either.

I know, I'm falling down on the mom job here. So I REALLY need to get those pictures this year. I am trying to figure out what I will have them wear for those pictures. And hopefully I will find some bluebonnets this year. That are in a SAFE place to take pictures of small children.

So anyway...thinking of bluebonnets made me think of my in-laws place. Where we will be going for Easter (which is in 1.5 weeks and at which time, I will FINALLY get to meet my new niece!!) Thoughts of Easter led to thoughts of the Easter bunny and what he might be putting in the kids Easter baskets.

And I guess that thoughts of Easter led to other holidays, because then I suddenly realized that there were no Santa pictures this year. How could I have let that happen?! Oh yeah. I had a baby two weeks before Christmas. And I was on restricted activity before that. And I was flat out exhausted even if the doctor hadn't told me to be taking it easy.

But still...I don't have Santa pictures. And I can pretty much guarantee that any pictures next Christmas will be screaming ones. If we can even convince Jacob to go to Santa in the first place. We'll see about Samantha.

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This afternoon I found myself singing (in my head) "Just another manic Monday" Yeah, I know. It's not Monday. And I have no idea when I last heard that song. It's been a REALLY long time. I don't know why I was singing it in my head today, I just was. Of course, it helped that I really did have a lot going on at work today...at least the song fit the day partially.

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Did I mention that I get to meet my new niece in a week and a half? Yep, I am excited :D But I have not finished her baby blanket yet...she's the first niece or nephew who hasn't had a blanket from me by the time he/she was born. And now she is 4.5 weeks old. She will be 6 weeks when I see her. And I probably still won't have her blanket finished :( I'm going to crochet like crazy in the car, all the way to meet her, though...and maybe...just maybe...I will get it finished. But I still get to meet her, no matter what. And we get to spend three days with our family :)

Tomato Eggplant Pasta

Looks great, doesn't it? This was dinner last night :) My wonderful hubby has been working hard to think outside the box and find new things for us to eat...especially since nearly everything we used to eat involved cheese.

So, for those who are interested, here is the recipe he used:

olive oil
1 med onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large eggplant (about a pound), peeled and cubed
1 bell pepper, cubed
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatos
1/2 cup cooking wine
1 tsp dry basil (or 2 Tbsp fresh)
1 tsp dry oregano (or 2 Tbsp fresh)
salt and pepper to taste
spaghetti or another pasta of your choice

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil on medium heat until tender. Stir in eggplant, bell pepper, tomatos, wine, oregano, basil and salt and pepper. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Serve over hot cooked pasta.

I really enjoyed this, but Brent didn't like it so much. He felt that there wasn't enough flavor. Some shredded parmesan would be a wonderful addition...but remember, we are working on dairy free. So...a couple of things that we might try differently next time: Use fresh herbs rather than dry, use a larger amount of the herbs, use red wine rather than white cooking wine, saute the peppers for a minute or two before adding the rest of the ingredients, and possibly cook a little longer.

He did good

Brent did the grocery shopping yesterday. He came home with everything I asked for...and one thing I didn't.

He brought home a box of Luna bars. Chocolate Peppermint Stick flavored Luna bars to be exact. With no milk or eggs in the ingredient list. And they are YUMMY! It's a good thing I only took one with me to work, because I probably would have eaten a second one if it had been there. Or possibly even the whole box :) I'm so happy to have chocolate in my world again.

It almost makes up for the two boxes of Thin Mints that are sitting in my freezer...untouchable to my palate.

Yes, he did good.

Tomato Basil Chili

Brent has been great at seeking out new recipes that don't have dairy or eggs in them. Yesterday he made this yummy Tomato Basil Chili. Unfortunately, after we had eaten it, we discovered that parmesan cheese was one of the ingredients on the jar of chutney. However, the recipe was yummy enough, that I am still writing it here. I figure we can use a different tomato chutney (or make our own) next time.

1 TBS vegetable oil
1.5 lbs ground turkey
2 small onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (29oz) crushed tomatos
2 cans (15 oz each) great northern white beans, drained
12 oz (1.5 cups) tomato chutney
1/4 cup water
3 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp dried oregano

Heat oil in large saucepan over med-high heat. Add turkey, onions and garlic, stirring occasionally for 4-5 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally for 1 hour.

And as a bonus, your whole house will smell yummy all day long :)

This is Spring?

On Friday the weather was beatiful! Very sunshiney and warm.

Yesterday the high temp was 58...at midnight...and it dropped all day.

There were snow flurries in the afternoon and evening. no big deal, it's Texas. We'll be back to normal by Sunday, right?

This is what we woke up to this morning.



I'm glad I followed the old adage "Don't plant out until Easter" My new geranium is safely ensconced in the garage.





I'm not so sure we're in Texas anymore.

Research

So, with the whole Jacob most likely has a milk allergy thing, I have decided that I need to do a bit of research. And I can't find anything about where we are right now.

I'm trying to find information on an exclusively breastfed baby with food allergies. How much goes into my milk? How strict does my diet need to be? What are the odds that we will still be dealing with this in 3 months when we start solids? What kind of game plan to we need to have for starting solids? When do we need to see about getting him tested for allergies?

And I'm coming up with a big, fat NOTHING. I have found lots of information on food allergies and kids. I have found lots of recipes. (And once I start trying those, I will start sharing them for those who are interested) I have found food lists and restaraunt lists. But when I search babies, food allergies and breastfeeding, the only thing that comes up with all 3 terms is an article about how breastfeeding helps to reduce the incidence of food allergies. UGH!! This is so frustrating!

I am extremely grateful to my friends who have traveled and are travelling the food allergy path. They have given me lots of information. Lots of information that I sincerely hope I will never need. Because I am really hoping that if Jacob does indeed have food allergies, he will outgrow them. But if he doesn't, I do have resources.

But how do I learn about now?

Li'l Charmers

Samantha very quickly told me all done, so this was the best we could do for pictures. Happy St Patrick's day!

Adventures in parenting...at WalMart

Brent was going to work at a trail on Saturday and Samantha was NOT happy about his leaving. So I had the brilliant idea that she, Jacob and I would all leave at the same time that Brent left, in an effort to prevent a meltdown.

It was working fine. She was happy about going to the store and got dressed without any problems or fussing. But then Jacob got hungry...so I started feeding him. In the middle of his feeding, Brent was ready to leave. In fact, he was running late. So I stopped feeding Jacob and figured I would just continue feeding him once we got to the store.

That was working fine, too. Jacob didn't fuss at all when I put him in his car seat. He stayed happy all the way to WalMart. He was still OK when we went into the store. Samantha was doing a great job of staying with the shopping cart. That's the deal. If she wants to walk, she has to stay right beside the shopping cart or help me push the shopping cart.

We went into the garden center and she helped me choose flowers to plant in our flower beds. She didn't even get too upset when I put the flowers underneath the shopping cart rather than letting her carry them. And she quickly got over being upset.

We came back inside and I put Jacob in the sling and started feeding him. All was still well. Samantha was helping me push the shopping cart and find the things we needed in the pharmacy area.

Then we got to the toy department. Things started going downhill. She wanted to "look" at all the toys. I was OK with that and slowed down a little for her. But then she refused to keep up with me at all. I told her that she needed to come help me push the shopping cart. She said, "No, Mommy. I playing." I told her, "I see that you are playing, but now it is time to stop playing and go to a different part of the store." She refused again. I told her that she could help me push the shopping cart or she would have to ride inside the shopping cart. She didn't budge.

I stopped feeding Jacob and readjusted him in the sling so that he would still be safe while I picked Samantha up to put her in the shopping cart. I gave her one last chance to help me push the shopping cart, but she refused again.

I picked her up and she started yelling and crying. As I went to put her inside the shopping cart, she started flailing and arching her back. I sat her down in the shopping cart and she immediately stood up, still screaming and crying at the top of her lungs.

I told her that she needed to sit down inside the shopping cart to be safe and she refused. I made sure that the shopping cart was smack dab in the middle of the aisle so that she couldn't reach any of the toys on the shelves and I turned my back. (Well actually, I just turned to the side, so that it would seem that I was looking at the toys rather than paying attention to her, but I could still see her and was within arms reach so that I could catch her if she started to fall.)

She continued screaming and I told her that we would not be able to move anywhere until she was sitting down. The she started screaming "NEED POTTY, MOMMY!!" with sobbing still throughout. I calmly told her that when she sat down and stopped having a fit, I would be able to take her to the potty. She kept screaming, and I kept acting like I wasn't paying any attention.

People were staring as they walked by. And I kept acting like I wasn't paying any attention. Every once in a while I would remind her that when she sat down and stopped having a fit, I could take her to the potty. Finally, after every person in the store had heard her screaming, she sat down and in a sweet voice, with no screaming or crying whatsoever, asked me for juice and goldfish.

I immediately gave them to her and thanked her for asking me nicely. I said that we could go to the potty now since she was sitting down and it was now safe to move the shopping cart. She said, "OK, Mommy," in a very sweet little voice.

As we walked toward the back of the store, Jacob started crying. So I started trying to feed him again. He wasn't having any of it, and started crying louder and louder. Then I smelled his poopy diaper. That was a LOOOONG trip to the back of the store with me trying to calm him every few seconds.

When we got to the site to store part of the store, where the restrooms are, I told Samantha that we needed to put the goldfish away so that we could go into the restroom. She started screaming "DON'T WANT POTTY, MOMMY!!" and had a fit about me putting the lid on the goldfish.

I told her that she didn't have to go potty but that she did need to come in with me so that I could change Jacob's diaper and then she could have the goldfish back as soon as we were done. It didn't matter. She continued crying and screaming "DON'T WANT POTTY!"

I picked her up out of the shopping cart. Yes, I do know it would have been a LOT easier to just take the shopping cart into the restroom, but we had quite a bit of merchandise that we hadn't paid for yet. So taking the shopping cart in wasn't an option. I set her down on the floor and she immediately laid down and continued crying and screaming. And Jacob was still crying, too. Lovely. I look like I could definitely win mother of the year here.

And then I looked up at the lady waiting to pick up her merchandise. I recognized her face, but just couldn't quite place her. She looked at me. So I told her that she looks very familiar. She replied "Dr Barnett's office." Yep, she was my sonographer through both in vitro processes. I wondered if she was wondering "Why on earth did this woman have children, not once but TWICE since she OBVIOUSLY can't handle them in public?"

Her next statement completely relieved me of that notion, though. Instead, she told me that she remembered having hers about 17 months apart and going through the same thing. Throughout our exchange, Samantha continued to lay on the floor and cry. I finally picked her up and carried her into the bathroom with her still screaming "DON'T WANT POTTY!"

Thankfully, they have a bench inside this restroom, so I set her on the bench, and once again told her that she doesn't have to go potty, but that I do need to change Jacob's diaper. She started sliding down off the bench. I picked her back up and told her that she can lay on the bench but that she CANNOT lay on the floor in the bathroom, b/c it is yucky. She slid back down off the bench but amazingly, she stood on her own two feet this time. She was no longer screaming, but she was still whimpering and crying "Don't want potty." Apparently she wasn't convinced that I meant it when I said she didn't have to go potty.

She calmed down more as I changed Jacob's diaper, and even helped me by throwing his diaper away. She came close to another meltdown when she asked to wash her hands and I gave her the antibacterial gel on her hands. But then she decided that was an OK way to wash after all. Wheeww. Another disaster averted.

I put her back in the shopping cart and she went back to happily eating her goldfish.

Jacob still wasn't happy, though. I sat on the bench by the counter and tried to feed him. He would not latch on and kept on screaming. I have no idea what was wrong. Maybe he was just exhausted because he hadn't had a nap yet that morning. I finally gave up on trying to feed him and held him upright in the sling. He was a little happier that way. I swayed him and bounced a little and he stopped crying. Until I stopped the swaying and bouncing to push the shopping cart.

So I pushed the shopping cart with one hand while doing a swaying, bouncing type walk. I'm sure I looked completely goofy to every person who saw me, but hey, my baby was happier, so what did it matter? And as long as I kept that up, Jacob was fine. But every time I stopped, he started crying again. So every time I stopped walking to get something off the shelf, he cried. And I was having to check labels to find milk and egg free foods for me to eat to help this child who CLEARLY did not appreciate my efforts.

What a supreme effort it took to continue this shopping trip. But I had no choice, because there was NOTHING in the house that I could have for lunch.

FINALLY, we made it to the checkouts. There were long lines everywhere. And I remembered that I had not gotten any yogurt for Samantha. And I decided that I didn't care. Anything that I forgot could wait. I ABSOLUTELY refused to make this trip any longer. We were already coming close to 2 hours. On a trip that should have only taken about 30 minutes.

While we were standing in line, Samantha put down her goldfish to start handing me items to put on the checkout belt. Unfortunately, she set the bowl down sideways, and most of the goldfish fell out onto the floor. And Samantha couldn't understand why I wouldn't give them back to her to eat. Even when I repeated that the floor is yucky. But at least she didn't have a meltdown.

Then Jacob stopped crying as soon as I put him in his car seat to be able to get the bags and pay. Seriously?! That was backwards. We usually have crying when I put him IN the car seat and stop crying when I take him out. But hey. You didn't hear any complaining from me about this. I was just glad that he was happy again.

Samantha wanted more goldfish while we were driving home. Since we didn't have any more, I bribed her to stay happy by asking her if she wanted some french fries. Her answer was a happy "YES!" Another disaster averted. Jacob fell asleep in the car, and Samantha ate her lunch while I unloaded the groceries, so we finished the morning much more like normal.

I learned that I will never take both kids to WalMart by myself again. Actually I might not even be allowed to. They just might tell me that we are no longer allowed in the store. HA! But if (actually, when) I do have to take both of them by myself again, I will NOT interrupt Jacob's feeding before leaving and I will take plenty of bribes snacks to keep Samantha happy in the shopping cart from the get go.

3 months of Jacob

How can it be that our sweet boy is already 3 months old? Of course he is big enough that he looks more like a 6 months old! :) In fact he is wearing 6 month clothes and this morning I almost couldn't get his outfit snapped at the crotch. We may be moving up another size soon. His body is really long...but his legs, not so much. He outgrows the body part of his clothes but we still have to roll his pants a little. I'm not sure how much Jacob weighs now because we haven't had to go to the doctor for ANY sick visits. WOOHOO! My guess is that he is about 17 pounds, though. (Maybe I should invest in a digital scale so I can actually see how much he does weigh) My arms definitely get tired after carrying him for a while. Yet another reason that I LOVE MY SLING :) Jacob has adjusted to the sling as well and no longer fusses when I put him in it. His eyes are still blue and I am starting to wonder if they may stay blue after all.

He smiles for Mrs Nancy every morning when I give him to her, and he has adjusted to drinking a bottle a lot more. Most days he drinks 12-15 ounces at her house, but he definitely prefers nursing to drinking a bottle and evenings and weekends are bottle free times :) That makes me happy :)

He talks to us lots, especially in the morning and right when we are trying to go to bed. He hardly ever cries except when he is hungry or very tired and ready to go to sleep. I'm so grateful for another happy baby.

Jacob doesn't really have a schedule yet, and he still isn't a great sleeper. Most days he takes little catnaps throughout the day and he has a very hard time putting himself to sleep. Hence the crying when he is tired.

He is such a strong boy and holds his head and chest up for long periods of time and although I wouldn't say that he loves his tummy time, he definitely doesn't mind it. He has rolled over from tummy to back several times, but doesn't feel the need to do so very often.

I love watching Jacob interact with Samantha. He will just watch her and then start talking to her. She gets so excited about him talking to her and will tell us "He talking you!"

We are still waiting to hear his sweet laugh, but we get smiles all the time. Other than his eczema, he hasn't had any problems. We are so grateful for having an easy baby...ESPECIALLY after all the challenges we had with Samantha.

Once more we are grateful for another month with our sweet baby boy.

Good friends

I'm so grateful for the friends that Samantha has at her daycare. Kaylie is about 3 months older than Samntha and Maddie is about 5 months younger. They all have so much fun together. But Samntha is especially happy to see Kaylie on the days that Kaylie is there. They are so much alike!

Kaylie will be welcoming her baby brother in the next few weeks, so yesterday was her last day of daycare. We will be missing her in the mornings, but we are happy that she will be able to stay home with her mommy :)

Dancing is one of their favorite activities. What fun!


And sitting on the couch and watching outside come in a close second.

Dairy free

I'm not sure if you know about this or not, but Jacob has eczema. Very bad eczema. Over his entire body. At his 2 month check up, the pediatrician told me to try eliminating eggs and milk from my diet completely for a week to see if that made any difference.

I did as she suggested and didn't really see much difference after a week. I decided to try at least one more week. The eczema improved a little, but I think that was mostly due to our diligently covering him with lotion at least twice a day. Especially since the eczema on his face actually got worse during this time.

So on Friday I added milk back into my diet. And his reflux symptoms that had almost completely gone away came back. In fact, by Monday evening, he was kicking and flailing while nursing again. He hadn't been doing that since 3 or 4 days after taking milk out of my diet.

It was bad enough on Monday evening that Brent looked at me and said that I needed to take the milk back out of my diet...and I agreed.

So now I am dairy free again. Ugh. I REALLY like cheese. And chocolate. And bread. And did I mention that I REALLY like cheese? ;)

At this point, I don't know how long I will be able to keep this up. I mean seriously...do you know how many things have milk in them? Even margarine has milk! And I don't know if I will be able to add eggs back in or not. I know that looking at a year of this is overwhelming today. So I will take it a week at a time for now. Then I will probably get used to it and then it won't be so overwhelming.

I think I may need to see a nutrionist/dietician to make sure I am getting all the calcium I need for both me and Jacob. Anyone know someone?

And if you know of some great milk and egg free recipes...especially for dessert :), please let me know. Just make sure you DON'T tell me about the brownies and ice cream that you had last night. 'Cuz then I might be jealous...and you don't want to cause that do you?

Glimpses

of what we have been up to with all the sunshine Friday evening and Saturday morning.

We hear a request to "color ide-wok" daily. It was so nice to be able to say "yes!"
What concentration!






Choosing colors is serious business!

Checking out the art in progress with Daddy.

Of course, the sidewalk isn't the only thing that ends up colored :)

No trip outside is complete until the bike has been ridden.

Helping Mommy clean out the flower beds while singing "Clean up, clean up"

Watching the ladybug. And yes, that is dirt on her face. She also managed to stick quite a bit of it up her nose!

Even Jacob got to enjoy the warmth and sunshine.
I'm so glad we had such nice sunshiney weather on a day that we could enjoy it together and I am SOOOO looking forward to spring!

Sibling love

I know it looks like he was crying in this first picture, but he was actually just having a conversation with his sister.

No jealousy here...just pure, sweet love :)

Promise

Spring is coming! :)