Saturday, September 25, 2010

Happy Half Birthday To You!!

Luke is 3.5 years old today!!! Do you know what that means?!?! In our home (yeah yeah, I know!) it means that pacis are for NIGHT time ONLY! I've found with Luke that things are fairly easy to implement if there is a definite time line for it. For example: When he turned 3, he woke up and I said, "Today you're going to be potty trained...NO more pull-ups and no more accidents!" It worked like a charm! This morning when I reminded him that he was now 3 and a half and took his paci away, he willingly gave it up...and he was just VERY happy to go down for his nap, because he gets his paci! If he was my first paci lover, I'd be a bit concerned...but the fact that Abby also love, love, loved her paci and no longer uses it (and hasn't since she turned 4) gives me hope for the future! Pacis offer me much peace, so no matter what anyone says (as Aaron happily sucks on HIS paci), I LOVE PACIFIERS and I will continue to use them!

Luke is funny.

This morning Jeremy and I were talking and Abby walked in and started talking to us, Luke looked at Abby and said, "Daddy's talking to MOMMY!" Why, thank you, Lukie! It's nice to have an advocate. Later we were watching a video online from The Survival Podcast about "Yoder's Bacon" of all things. The guy took the bacon out of the can and Luke said, "Jack, you do a good job with that!".

Luke never ceases to crack me up.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

I just want to sleep.

Dearest, Precious Aaron,
You are 3 months old now. It is time to sleep. Mommy needs rest again and the only thing preventing it is you. I love you, darling...but it's time to start sleeping better. Tonight would be a great night to start. I'll still love you with everything I've got if you don't, but it sure would make me happy if you did.
Most Sincerely,
Mommy

My Grandma.

My grandma passed away last night. I had the privilege of being there for her last breath. Aaron was with me and it was nice to have him there to lighten the atmosphere during those long, last hours. It was hard on my grandpa and my sister and my mom, but having a fresh, smiling, sweet little baby who readily gives the brightest, sparkliest smiles helped a lot. It was sad to see her go, but I felt more joy than anything else, knowing that she was leaving her earthly body...full of scars, cancers, tubes and pain for her heavenly body...her youthful, perfect, sinless heavenly body. I rejoice in the fact that she is now with her 3 children and 1 great grand child that went before her. When she passed, tears filled my eyes...tears for the loss my grandpa was experiencing, losing his bride of 50+ years...tears for my mom, losing HER mom...tears for my sister to whom my grandma was like another mother...and tears for my dad, who saw his father go through this not long ago and lost his own mother a year later. But most of all tears of joy at the amazing fact that those of us who believe will all one day be sitting at the foot of the throne of the Almighty, in the arms of our Jesus--perfected. No death, no pain, no sorrow, no tears. How can you not be joyful? She put up a good fight, she lived a good life, she gave everything her all...and now she gets her reward. I'll miss you, Grandma, but I'll be seeing you soon!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Cute.

Yesterday I was holding Aaron and he was being extremely cute, as usual and Abby said, "He's so cute, I just want to SQUEEZE him!" Luke looked at her and very seriously said, "Abby, then we wouldn't have a baby anymore!"
Awwwhhhh...Luke loves his little Aaron. We all love Aaron. He's just plain cute. Unless it's 3am and his SECOND waking of the night...then he's just marginally cute.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Aaron at 3 months.


Aaron continues to be the sweetest, smiliest, happiest little guy around. He's almost too easy when it comes to getting him to smile. All you have to do is look in his general direction and he flashes a beautiful, sparkly, gummy grin. He's precious. He's easing into a pretty decent schedule. He's waking 2x a night--lately it's been some time around 12 midnight and then again around 4-ish. It varies a bit from night to night, but that's the general schedule. He's usually up just after 7 in the morning, s not too shabby. Of course, I'd love to be sleeping better, but it's nice to have the time to bond with him, even if it's in the middle of the night. He usually takes 2-3 naps a day. Most often he has one really long one--around 3-3.5 hours long. Bless his little baby heart. He's nursing really well still, but I'm starting to get a bit concerned about my milk supply. I've said this in the past, my body seems to be more into MAKING babies than FEEDING babies. He has only gained 1lb 5oz in the past 5 weeks--weighing in now at 12lb10oz. While he's still in the "safe" range for weight gain, he's right on the line. I would have been much happier if he had gained a couple of pounds, but it is what it is. I'm considering supplementing with something, but he's having some slight issues with dairy and/or soy. We were alarmed when we changed his diaper and he had a bit of blood in his stool. It wasn't very much, just the tiniest amount, but enough to warrant a call to the doctor. The doctor told me that 90% of the time that's caused by dairy/soy in the mother's diet. I've been off of both of them and it's gone away, but when I added either back INTO my diet, we had issues again. Sooo...when it comes to supplementing, I'm not quite sure what to supplement with. For now, I'm going to continue nursing, taking my herbal supplements and pumping a couple extra ounces to give him before bed and see if that makes a difference. He's obviously getting enough to be happy though because this guy just does not get crabby--unless he's tired or hungry.
When we go out shopping, he's perfectly content to fall asleep in his car seat. We walked to the park today and he fell asleep on the way there...and again on the way back. He even stayed asleep while I took him out of the car seat and swaddled him and put him into his swing.
Oh yes, I must admit...he's taking naps in his swing still. I'm completely ashamed of myself, but it happened when we moved...and it's working so well, why change it??
My theory has always been: do what works until it stops working...then find something new. So he's swaddled, napping in his swing (he does sleep in his crib at night, for the record), and taking a paci...and guess what?!?! I don't care.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Light Light Therapy


Light Light, Robot Puppy and Turtly Wurtly Gurtly. Those are the names of Luke's newest "friends". Light Light is a round, EXTREMELY bright LED light (actually a series of many lights that Luke calls "eyes"). Robot Puppy is an LED book light that looks strangely like a critter when folded the right way and Turtly Wurtly Gurtly is a toy off of Aaron's little bouncy chair.
Luke has been neglected lately--not that I'm not HERE all day long, but I think he really is at a stage where he needs more one on one attention and often will say, "PLAY WITH ME" to me. I'm not the most creative person in the world, especially first thing in the morning when I'm trying to get some caffeine on board (why can't I just take it intravenously?) and nursing a baby--so we've made a little before nap routine of playing with his friends for 4 minutes. I set the alarm on my watch and he goes right to bed without a fuss afterwards. So, what do we play? Here's where the therapy comes in. We basically have a nice little "chat". I'm Turtly Wurtly Gurtly and he's Light Light (Robot Puppy is just not as fun since he lost his little battery cover) and we "play". I ask him questions and he answers me--from his heart, but AS Light Light. Today he told me that "he" (meaning Light Light) is 3, will be 4 in March. He said he's a good boy but he always gets disciplined because he hurts his sister. When I asked WHY he always hurts her he said because she's stinky to him. So far we haven't gotten past that...I keep trying to encourage him to think of other things he can do than hurting her and he hasn't had a solution--yet. Maybe with frequent "Light Light Therapy", we'll be making progress soon. Regardless, it's nice to have the ability to have heart to heart discussions in a non-threatening way.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Little Boys

I love little boys. Tonight Luke told me at the dinner table that I was the best mommy, that I'm "so nice" and that when he grows up, he wants to marry me! Awwwwhhhh!
I had to tell him that I'm already married ("To who, Daddy??" he asks), but one day I'll help him find a wife just like me!! :)

Pufferbell

Yesterday Luke was playing "delivery man". He'd go outside and come back inside to me with a "package". He'd hand it to me, I'd open it and we'd chat about what was inside. It was pretty cute. He did it over and over again until I opened a "package" and said, "Awwwhhh what a cute little kitty!". (the children have been DYING for a new kitty). He came over and "picked it up" and "pet it", then he named it "Pufferbell". He "played" with Pufferbell for a while and then we put her on a pillow for a rest. The girls came in and Luke "showed" Pufferbell to them. THEY started playing with her. But get this, (this is my children in a nutshell *LONG, DEEP SIGH*) they started ARGUING over Pufferbell. Luke came in and told me that Abby wouldn't let him hold her!! Are you kidding me??? My children will argue over anything...even a fake kitty. It was cute while it lasted, but I'm glad Pufferbell seems to have climbed into a corner somewhere and is "hiding".

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Baby Laughs

I love baby laughs and I'm so excited to report that I'm officially on the path of hearing a lot more of them soon!! Tonight daddy was playing with Aaron, making silly duck noises at him and Aaron laughed!! Not once, but TWICE! :) I called the girls in to hear, because I knew they'd ADORE his giggles, but as soon as they arrived, they distracted him and he didn't laugh anymore. :( Oh well, at least I know that from this point on, we'll be hearing more--YAY!!