Is this mean?

This morning Oliver woke up at 5am.  He was ready to go back down for his nap at 6:45am.  This meant I had to wake him to take Bella to school.  This also meant it was the perfect opportunity to run errands, since usually I have to quickly get him back home to take his nap.

So we headed out to drop off something for Dad at work and then did a little shopping.  I knew he was going to get hungry while we were out, but didn’t feel like bringing a bottle.  So I brought his cheerios.  He did well with the shopping, but I knew when I put him back in the car he was going to cry if I didn’t give him something to eat.  I couldn’t just give him the little container of cheerios, he would have that spilled all over the car in a second.  I decided the next best thing was to pour a bunch of them in his car seat between his legs.

I seriously laughed all the way home as he was digging around in his crotch trying to find his cheerios.  And since we were 5 minutes from home and he started crying, apparently I didn’t pour him enough.  I figured when I got him out of the seat he would have a bunch underneath him.  But he actually did a good job finding most of them, and there were only a sneaky 3 left.  Now who wants to eat those cheerios!

Well of course you two do!!

Breakfast

We seem to have a new routine around here, which I am actually starting to enjoy.  Oliver has been waking up around 6am, which is great when he sleeps through the night (not so great if we have been up during the night).  But the past couple nights have gone well.  Bella has been doing better and she has been waking up herself sometime between 6 and 7am.

So our morning goes like this.

6am, Oliver wakes up and gets his morning bottle.

6:30am, I get to eat breakfast while Oliver plays.

7am, Bella gets up, and gets dressed, I also get Oliver dressed for the day.

7:30am, I feed Bella breakfast and Oliver gets to eat finger foods.

Bella slowly eats breakfast, sometimes she is so slow she finishes it at school.

Oliver loves to eat finger foods, and intently works on those slippery bananas.

8:15am, after breakfast we clean up the kitchen and get Bella’s school stuff ready to go.  Then we load up and head off to drop Bella at school.

9am, we get back from school and it’s definitely time (usually past time) for Oliver to go down for his morning nap.

9:15am, if I’m feeling motivated, I work out.  If not I might do a little work or clean.

Well that’s our morning around here.  Nothing too exciting, but it’s nice to get into a little bit of a routine.  Now if we can just keep the sickness away!!

Over the hump

I think we are finally over the 3 week cold/double ear infection battle.  They are not completely over, but we are down to waking up once a night, which we are used to, versus 4 times a night.

And the bonus, both kids have been happy during the day, and Bella is back in class.  Today was picture day, so we had Bella dressed up.  I didn’t remember to get pictures while she was upright, but we caught a couple when she was playing with her beads on the floor.

Of course the second an electronic devise (in this instance the camera) comes out, someone has to get close and check it out.

Oliver is still busy climbing up on anything he can easily reach.  Toy baskets are an obvious favorite.  And he is starting to master cruising from one object to another.

Can you believe that kid is only 8 months old?  He is just so tall!!

Another blog to read

I stumbled upon this blog the other day and literally bawled the whole time I was reading her birth story.  While I didn’t have the exact same experience as her (I didn’t know what to expect so I didn’t have as many pre-conceived notions at that time).  I felt for her and was completely awed by her openness and honesty.  I think in some ways we might be completely opposite.  She had the hardest time in the beginning getting over the shock and my battles/fears are as Bella ages and I am faced with all the additional struggles we are going to have to go through as she continues on her extremely slow development.  In some ways though, we do enjoy how Bella looks pretty normal, and for a lot of chromosomal children, that is not the case.  Bella will be judged because she is in a wheelchair and doesn’t communicate or at times even hold her head up, while other kids can do a lot more than her, but are judged because of their facial features, etc.

If you want to read the birth story go here Enjoying the small things.  And then make sure to read some of her recent blogs to see her beautiful daughters.

If you want to re-read our first story it’s here.

It’s a Beautiful Day

It looks like things might be improving around here.

A couple days ago Bella was so sickly she spent the majority of the day asleep, which was due to the fact she was keeping us up all night long coughing.
Last night both kids finally slept through the night, I can’t remember a time that happened.  I’m guessing it would be 3 months ago or so.  And the past couple weeks we have been up on average 4 times a night, and some of those episodes would last for hours.
We are very tired around here.  But it’s nice to see that maybe we are on the mend.  And today we were able to enjoy the nice weather outside.  Which actually has been the saving grace the past couple of days.  Regardless if Bella is sick, she has really enjoyed getting outside for walks.  And since it’s been so warm, I don’t feel bad taking my sick child out for hours.

Oliver has been on the go.  His cold kept him down for maybe 1.5 days.  I now realize why most people don’t really care if their kids are around other sick kids.  Both Jesse and I dread having Bella around people who are sick.  We also can’t stand when people come to public functions (say a birthday party) and they are sick.  But then we have one of the only kids who is sick for a full 3 weeks, and during those 3 weeks NO ONE gets to sleep around here.  So hopefully you can understand if we avoid you like the plague or give you dirty looks if you come around us (mainly Bella) and are sick.

Jam

I don’t feel like I have the time to cook/bake much around here.  But every once in awhile I will see something that I want to try, and then if the moons align, I actually get the time to make it.

This spring we are starting to lay out our garden, which had me doing a little research on layouts, what to grow, etc.  I stumbled upon a blog that was all about preserving, and being that I seen a box of pears on sale at the grocery store that week, and a pear jam recipe on the blog, I really wanted to try it.

I made it to the grocery store and picked up a carton of pears.  Except these were teeny tiny pears.  That’s a paring knife (one of the smallest knife’s) next to the pear, to show it's small size.  Because the pears were so small, I had to peel and chop a lot of pears.

The jam turned out delicious.  It was a little chunkier than I expected, but I guess it all depended on how small I diced it up in the first place.  I only got 3 small jars out of the process, and this one in the picture is our last one.  You can tell it’s been a big hit around here, since I didn’t make it that long ago.

I’m excited to try other jam flavors, so as soon as I see fruit on sale, I’ll be picking some up and seeing what else I can create.  And the great thing about making homemade jam, I got to control the amount of sugar that I put in it, and needless to say, I didn’t add much, and it still tastes great.

If you are interested in the blog it’s called Saving the Season.

Splurge

We tried to finish our kids/hall bathroom on a tight budget.  We did a pretty good job, in general costs start adding up, but we went with the low end on all our products, being that this wasn’t going to be the spectacular showcase bathroom.  That will hopefully be our master bathroom at some point.

That being said, today Jesse and I went to the store to pick out tile backsplash.  We wanted to do something budget friendly, but we also wanted to add a little bit of interest to the room.  After standing in the tile aisle for an hour, we finally picked out the one we liked, and decided to live with the price.

So at $50 for the a 3” tile backsplash, this is definitely our splurge for the bathroom.  Hopefully it ends up pulling everything together.  So the plan is to install the tile these next two nights, install the sink and the faucet, and then maybe just maybe call it done.  Well except for all the paint that needs to be touched up.  Maybe that can be done next week.  But you all know how it goes once something is in functioning order, it takes a long time to finish those last few things to make it a  truly complete project.

Sorry, no pictures yet…..you are just going to have wait and hope we can really get it done in the next couple of days!!

Learning

Learning how to be a handy man like Dad, so he can help out!

BTW – Extended coughing must run in the family.  I have always battled it, Bella has horrible long coughing spells, and now Oliver has joined the party!  The only positive is that so far Oliver isn’t really upset when he coughs, most times he just plays on while coughing.

How are we doing?

My quote to Jesse yesterday was.

“Do you ever feel like running out of the house screaming?”

Weighty Brick

I’m not going to complain how hard it is to deal with the children when we are all sick – it is.  I’m sure another round of colds will come again at some point and I can talk about it then.

I really want to talk about two separate issues.

First, I’m getting very frustrated with my “weight loss goal”.  My first goal was the hit my pre-Bella weight.  I still have 8 pounds to go.  I have been at this same weight for the past month.  I get on a kick of working out and eating better and then things like vacations, sickness, no sleep, etc. start piling on and I’m not able to work out anymore, and I start making poor food choices.  I guess I’m happy to say the scale hasn’t gone back up, but as I mentioned it hasn’t gone down.  At some point I guess I just have to realize that my life is always going to be difficult and stressful, and I have to stop saying that allows me to eat a cookie, or have two Dr. Pepper’s that day.  And unless I’m physically sick, I should probably make myself work out.  Even if it’s only 20 minutes on a treadmill, I’m at least doing something (and/or working off that Dr. Pepper I just couldn’t say no to).

Secondly.  The thing I was afraid of has come, and it has seemed to come early.  Some one loves, loves, LOVES pulling himself up on the fireplace hearth.  He just discovered it today, and has been mesmerized by putting his toys up on the brick, then pulling himself up onto the brick, playing with the toys dragging them on the brick, throwing the toys back on the carpet, and then clumsily falling back towards his toys.  I’m pretty sure at some point soon we will have a few bumps and scrapes from his head grazing/hitting the brick.  Time will tell.  I had wanted to cover the brick up before this became an issue, but we haven’t finished the upstairs bathroom yet, so this has been on hold.  I also wanted to start the garden as the next project.  So I guess it comes down to fresh vegetables this spring/summer, or the possibility of harm from the exposed brick.  Maybe if we could all get over this cold and have a huge burst of energy we could get it all done……..yeah, not thinking that will happen either.

We are sick

All of us are sick.  Well Jesse isn’t sick…yet.  But the rest of us are.  As so you saw on Jesse’s post this weekend, it’s been a crappy weekend for all of us.  Hoping that we all start feeling better soon and that Jesse doesn’t come down with it.

Bella is in the coughing all night long phase, which is always the worst.  This can last for a few nights to up to three weeks.  Really praying it’s going to be on the low end.

But that’s about all we are concentrating on right now, trying to all get better.

Ringing in my Ears

Wow... what a day.  Kristen left at 830 this morning for a baby shower in St Louis and is currently on her way home.  As I type (7pm) a very stubborn overly tired boy is crying up in his crib.  I have been up there every 15 minutes to calm him down starting at 6pm.  Once I pick him up, completely fine... so that just tells me that nothing is bothering him but he refuses to sleep for whatever reason.  Is it because he hasn't been with mommy today?  I have no idea, but I think my mother in law did a better job than I have today.

Let's rehash today's events....

2am... Dad had an irresponsible night out with his friends and finally goes to bed.  Very dumb as you will soon find out.

6am... Oliver is up, but not crying so I get another 30 minutes of sleep.  For whatever reason when he poops his pants, he doesn't cry half the time... that needs to change.  Kristen gets up and starts getting ready for her trip, I take Oliver downstairs.  We play for a couple hours... Kristen leaves around 815.

830am... Oliver goes down for a nap.  Bella was up periodically through the night, so she is sleeping in.

930am... Oliver wakes up and is in a great mood.  I thank him for taking a good nap, as I was able to get a 30 minute one in as well. We hang out for a while and have breakfast.

1030am... Bella wakes up.  We attempt breakfast for Bella at 11am.  Oliver is starting to get tired, but he is sitting in his high chair while I try to feed Bella, who has been sick for the past couple days.  No luck, so pediasure to the rescue.

1130am... Oliver goes down for a nap.  (715pm... interruption to go console Oliver who is still crying... ok maybe he is finally giving up).  He cries for 5 minutes (Kristen told me this is normal)... then he is quiet for 5 more, then crying.  He cries for 10 minutes... I go get him.  Mission Failed.

1200pm...We all go hang out in the living room.  Oliver crawls around for a while, then starts laying his head down on the blanket.  Ok, let's have a bottle then go try this again.

1215pm.. tried a bottle, didn't want anything to do with it... take him up for another attempt.  Same crap.  Mission Failed.

1245pm... hanging out in the family room this time trying to give Bella some more pediasure, while Oliver crawls around and lays his head down and buries himself under the blankets.  Hmm, I wonder what he should be doing.  Eye rubbing, head laying down... lets try this again.

115pm... Oliver takes a couple ounces from his bottle.  I put him down.  Same crap.  He is no longer being quiet at all... just crying the whole time.  Mission Failed.

200pm... hanging out in the family room and living room for a while... decide to see if Bella wants to eat yet. She does... so I'm giving Oliver cheerios and Bella her food.  He continues to rub his eyes while he eats Cheerios.  I wish it would have been nicer weather out today so we all could have gotten some fresh air... but I'm not that lucky.

330pm... Bella is done eating and Oliver needs to go down.  I give him a bottle in the family room and he drinks most of it.  I take him up and put him down.  Cries for a little bit... success... peace and quiet.  I am so elated I finally text Kristen that he is actually sleeping.  Jinxed it.

400pm... Oliver is up and crying.  You have got to be F'in kidding me.  Patience is still there but wondering why I am failing at getting him to sleep.  He doesn't have poopy diapers when I get him, I change him before his nap, with a nice bottle beforehand... has to be missing his mommy.  Wow.  We go down and find Bella, but somebody cries immediately when I put him on the floor.  Awesomeness.

445pm... after playing some more... let's eat.  First up grouchy tired pants that once you put him in his chair... crying... eye rubbing... more crying... here my son, "Have some yummy Cheerios" I say with a nice smile on my face... you can all visualize it I'm sure.  Bella is getting pediasure drinks while Oliver is kind of eating from me and kind of just spacing out and watching his sister.  Finally finishes his supper... get him some more finger food.  Peas followed by more Cheerios and lots of water.  Likes his water which is a good thing.

530pm... Bella finishes eating... Oliver is a wet fussy mess.  Let's go back to the family room.  More sleepy looks and eye rubbing... trying to hold out until 6pm.  We make it.  I give him his bottle in the family room since Bella is in here with us.  I truly think this is out of his routine and messes him up, on a normal day... today is not a normal day because dad is not mom.

600pm... This day could not be going any slower.  Up to bed we go.  I text Kristen who is on her way home and tell her I bet he up till 730pm.  Crying for the next 75 minutes.  I am giving Bella drinks on the couch in the family room and going up every 15 minutes, stay with him 5 minutes to make sure he is OK... then back in the crib he goes.

700pm... Bella goes to bed.  Oliver joins us in Bella's room because his 15 minute interval of crying is up.  We watch Bella's lava lamp aquarium while I get Bella ready for bed.  Oliver is smiling but trying to lay his head down... what a crapper.  I start thinking that I wish we had something like this for his room, as the nighttime aquarium has come off his crib since we lowered it.  I will probably go buy something that will hopefully be calming for him for future occasions.

715pm... Oliver is sleeping.  FINALLY... I'm spent.  I'm sure some of you think I'm a horrible parent for letting my child cry so much.  I felt horrible, cause it seemed like he spent half of his day with me in his "cage" crying.  Just wish he would have had a couple good naps.  Don't know what else a parent is supposed to do... especially when you have another child that needs just as much attention.  It is what it is.

In conclusion... Mr Mom does not even come close to Super Mom.  Props to Kristen for handling the kiddos every day.  Some day I hope that I can join her at home and help out... but for now, I must leave it in the hands of the professionals... cause I got my arss kicked today!

8pm Update... Somebody is up crying.  My ears hurt.  Wish me luck.

Oliver at 8 months

Oliver is a very busy little boy.  He is constantly crawling around, but still army crawl style.  He loves to explore the house and the dogs.  He won’t sit still for a minute, and immediately after taking the pictures was off and crawling right out of his pants.

I must say the greatest thing happening for me right now, is that he loves to eat food on his own.  He would much prefer to pick things off his tray and put them in his mouth, versus you feeding him.  He does really well with puffs, cereal, and graham crackers, and is busy working on things like bananas and peas.  I would say at this point, graham crackers are his favorite.  I love this!!  I can set him up with food on his tray and do some cooking or cleaning up of the kitchen.  Its total freedom for me.

But not all is wonderful.  This very stubborn child still won’t sleep through the night.  We thought we were getting close, but he has lapsed.  A little while ago we decided to let him cry it out, but after one night of over an hour of intense crying, we ended up feeding him.  In the process he had also woken up Bella, which wasn’t good.  I told Jesse by 9 months this child would be sleeping through the night, there is no reason for him getting up, except he is used to it and knows he will get food.  So at some point soon we will have to start our tough love and hope it doesn’t take too long.

Other than this one issue, he has been doing great and is usually always a very happy child.  He has just started to show shared emotions and if we or Bella are laughing, he will start laughing along.  I hear the same will go for crying, but we haven’t had that happen yet.  He loves climbing on Bella, which we try not to allow, but sometimes she smiles when he crawls over her legs.  He loves crawling on the dog bed, and loves crawling into and out of the living room, since it’s sunken down and requires him to get down and up a step.

He also has started talking a little bit more, but isn’t consistent with his ma mas or da das.  I’m hoping that comes soon.  And at some point he should figure out if he lifts his tummy while crawling, he can get around a lot faster.  But for now he cruises along fast enough for mom!

BTW – look at the difference in feet size, it’s fat feet versus teeny tiny feet!