An afternoon outside

Pretty Little Princess

 

It's almost time for Beth's ballet production!  This costume is so cute, I know she's going to have so much fun playing in it after the production is over!  This year's production is called Antshillvania, and it's an excerpt about the parable of the prodigal son.  Beth's class is so cute, she's actually in a younger class this year than she was last year, so she's now one of the older girls in the class. 

We're not positive if she'll be doing ballet again in the fall.  The past several months she's fussed about going to class, but once she gets there she always enjoys it.  I'm not sure what I'll be up for, the studio we attend is a 30-minute drive and it's quite a bit of work to get us there with everything we need, chase the boys around for 45 minutes (although it'd be 60 minutes next year), then make it home right before dinner time.  I love this studio though and didn't like the one closer to our home, so if she does choose ballet then we'd most likely stay there.  But I don't know what else she'd do in the fall if she chooses not to do ballet!

Where I've Been..

I've been working hard, not hardly working. ;-)

I haven't posted too much recently for a few reasons.  Reason one is that we've ditched our cable and our computer is now our television!  We don't watch a lot of tv to begin with but when we do want to watch a show in the evening, we use the computer- which means I don't have access to my blog account.

Reason number two is I've been trying to cut back on my internet time.  I've stopped reading a lot of the "mommy blogs" what I used to read because they were making me feel inferior about being a good mother and good housekeeper, despite the fact that these blogs are meant to make you feel like a better mom and housekeeper!  Not me, I guess I'm odd like that.

Reason number three is because I now have another blog to maintain!  My business as a doula is up and running, and I have another blog for that business.  I try to post there a couple of times a week so it takes time away from this blog.  I plan to keep that blog completely separate from this one though, so if you would like to know the address of that blog please email me privately.  Also, if you are in the area and are in need of or know someone in need of a doula, please contact me!

Reason number four is because I am just SO busy.  I don't know why but recently I've just felt like I do nothing but run around all day, serving and giving my every last ounce of energy to my family members.  I've never run my own daycare but I sort of imagine it would feel like this!

This blog means so much to me because it's a detailed chronicle of our life.  I haven't been great about keeping up baby books but my kids will pretty much have their life stories detailed in this blog!  I definitely won't give this up!  

Gluten-Free Girl

Miss Bethany has been gluten-free for over six months now!  Friday we had a routine checkup with our ped GI.  Since late September, our first visit with him, Beth has gained 3.5 lbs and grown 2 inches!  If there were any doubts in her growth, in September, she was 47th percent for weight and 35th for height.  Now, she's 54th percent for weight and 40th for height.  The doctor said her growth is great but we'll actually see an even bigger change in the upcoming year, assuming she has no issues she'll go back to see him next May.

Mother's Day

Mother's day was just another quiet day spent at home this year!  We played outside, cleaned out the garage, moved a (free!) new-to-us couch upstairs, and let the kids do their thing.  Mommy also ran out to Target for a few items and a 1/2 price Frappacino. :-)  I picked out a Gardenia plant as my Mother's Day plant (instead of flowers) and hope to plant it sometime after we get our fence in place.  It's little but hopefully I can keep it alive!

My other present was a swing for Jackson, money well-spent as he absolutely loves it.  We've been talking about it for months, finally Ryan just went out and got it!

It's going to be hard for me to get a picture of all three of them swinging and smiling! I love letting them play outside but it's sometimes hard for me only because Jack puts every little thing in his mouth.  I don't mind a little dirt every now and then, but I draw the line at clumps of sand, pieces of chalk, and Lord knows what else!

On the Mend

Last week was a busy week.

Jack's rash started getting worse- much, much worse- on Monday.  On Tuesday I had planned to take myself to the doctor because I was certain I had the flu, but instead I took Jack to the minor ER.  I was truly afraid he was going to have some sort of anaphylactic reaction and stop breathing because his body was swollen.  The ER doctor showed me a picture of a rash called Erythema Multiforme and said it would go away on its own.  I declined bloodwork because I knew that we had a dermatologist appointment on Thursday and that he'd want to do bloodwork then.

Wednesday he started to look worse, but still he was acting pretty normally.

Thursday was the day of our appointment, and the first day he started acting sick.  He had a slightly elevated temperature and "sick eyes" as we call them, was acting lethargic, and took a 3-hour morning nap!  When we arrived at the dermatologist's office that afternoon he took one look at Jack and immediately told me that he should go to Texas Children's Hospital to see a pediatric dermatologist, who happened to be someone he'd gone to med school with.  He talked to the other doctor and they decided to put him on 1/2 teaspoon of children's Zyrtec, to see if it would respond to that.  (It didn't respond to Allergra, which is why we were sent to the dermatologist in the first place.)  Within 30 minutes of that first dose of Zyrtec, he was starting to clear up!  I'll mean, he still looked pretty bad, but you could definitely tell there had been a change.

Friday morning my mom and I headed downtown to TCH to meet with the pediatric dermatologist.  Memories of Beth's biopsy flooded my memory as we entered the hospital and I remembered carrying my sick girl through those same halls.

The dermatologist was very nice, seemed very knowledgeable and very intelligent.  I had asked so many friends to pray that we had a wise and compassionate doctor and I truly feel like those prayers were answered!  We talked for quite awhile and she told me she had no doubt in her mind that his rash was due to a virus.  My most hated phrase, our initial diagnosis!  However, this time I had to believe her.  She truly heard me out, gave me the opportunity to ask lots of questions (especially relating to food allergies), and agreed to do bloodwork for my peace of mind.  (The bloodwork was all normal, I found out this afternoon).

I feel at peace now.  Though his rash isn't completely gone yet, it looks much better thanks no doubt to the Zyrtec he takes daily.  But I've prayed, I've asked others to pray, and I have to surrender.  So for now we won't consult an allergist, and I will stop googling "baby red annular rash!"

In related news, Jack signed "more" today and I am sooo proud!  I'm freaking out a little that his first birthday is already next month!  Some days he seems so much like my baby, and other days I can't get over how old he seems.  He's not too close to walking yet, since he's such a fast crawler I bet he thinks why bother?  Ha!

Dirt Pictures

 

Seasonal Firsts

This past weekend we had our first snowcones of the season!  Kind of. We don't have a gluten-free syrup yet so they ate shaved ice, Beth's plain and Luke's with some Crystal Light lemonade.  They loved them just as much as they loved them last year, except Luke can hold his cup a bit better this year!  Yay!  Last year Beth was never a big fan of the syrup anyways, she usually just had plain shaved ice.  I don't know what flavor to order for her, I want to be sure she'll like it since the bottles of the gluten-free syrup Ryan found online are $15 each!

We've also started working out in the yard again, quite a bit.  I haven't gotten a picture yet but last weekend Ryan picked up some rocks and we laid out two new beds in the front lawn for more trees.  (We had a grand total of 5 trees in our actual yard before we moved in!)  I don't know when we'll plant them but we do intend on getting a few more quick-growing varieties.

Our backyard construction has begun, and quite by accident!  We've had workers on our street for about two weeks now, replacing out water pipes.  Needless to say, there's been a lot of extra dirt.  And, guess what, we needed dirt!  So we asked them to start dumping it into our backyard, thinking even though it's not the best, cleanest dirt in the world, it's FREE!

Both boys liked watching the dirt get dumped in the backyard!  Have I mentioned that Jack is making car sounds?  Pretty incredible.  Anyways, we had a total of 7 dump truck loads over the course of two days dumped into the back of our property, the lowest part (also previously known as our swamp, if it would ever rain this year).

Then, this morning I got an offer I couldn't refuse.  Thinking we were going to have to spend the next three months spreading out all of this dirt, I was starting to figure out ways how to clear up my weekends.  But, a worker (el jefe, I assume) came and asked if I wanted him to spread it all out for a little bit of moolah. Um, heck YEAH!  We had been quoted over $800 for a guy to dump 4 or 5 loads of dirt plus spend time smoothing it out.  Compared to that, plus all the images dancing around in my head of Ryan throwing out his back, all of this was looking pretty good.

We left the house for a book club meeting and when we came back our yard looked like this:

Done!  And pretty smooth too, not perfect but I think he and I can handle this in a single weekend!  I was kind of sad the offer didn't come another day though, I had wanted to invite all of my friend's kids over for a party in the dirt!  The kids got one good romp in the dirt the day before yesterday, I have a lot of pictures I'll put up in a different post. :-)

climbing stinker

Our first child growing up in a house with stairs.  I didn't know 10-month-olds could climb stairs, but this guy's been doing it for a couple of weeks now!  Pretty much every change he gets he darts off toward the stairs and can make it up before I even get there, he's quick.  AND, to boot, he'll open up the gate it we've left it unlocked and start going for the very top.  He's determined!

A bunch of sickies

Jack Jack still has his rash. :-(  I don't know what's going on with this boy, but I feel so helpless.  It still doesn't seem to bother him but this has been going on for almost 5 weeks now.  The pediatrician said to give him some allergy medicine (Allegra) to see if it helped, which it didn't.  This made him prompt us to contact a dermatologist for an appointment next week.  I still feel like we should probably see an allergist but I just don't know.  During the past 5 weeks, we have used various detergents, bath soaps, lotions, and foods, so I just don't know what it could be. 

On a slightly related note, I'm becoming more uncomfortable with the fact that he hasn't gained any weigh in the past several months.  He's been 20 lbs for about 2-3 months now, and while this makes his weight more like his siblings, it's still a big drop on the growth chart. 

Beth's still been having tummy aches so I took her for another x-ray on Good Friday.  It showed she wasn't completely "cleaned out" so we've had to up her dose of Miralax some more, hoping to get everything out and eliminate the tummy aches.  In the mean time, she's becoming more and more selective about what she eats, so it's becoming more difficult for me to figure out how to pump her up with fiber and protein when all she wants to eat is Chex.

Luke seems to be doing pretty well right now (knock on wood!), he's fully potty trained now so yay for that!

I'm dealing with my own health issues, trying to pinpoint what's going on with my cycles and my moods.

I'm just so tired of all of these health issues, I'm ready for everyone to be healthy and happy again!!!

Pics from our crawfish boil and Easter

Jenny prepared stuffed mushrooms... Soooo good.

Easter Sunday

Jesus Christ is risen today!  Alleluia!

Luke gets dizzy

This video is from when we were visiting my parents a few weeks ago, filmed by my sister. :-)

"silly faces"

Almost...

You will not even believe what happened today. 

It almost happened again.  IT.

We got in the car to go to ballet and GUESS WHAT I FOUND IN BETH'S CAR SEAT? 

Yup, a gallon of milk!

Luckily the weather was only in the 90's today, and the milk was in the car for only 17 hours.

There are no words for that, only simply, Thank You GOD!

(If you're not sure what I'm referring to, you might want to read this post if you'd like to relive my horror.)

Out back

We've been spending a lot of time out in the backyard since the weather has been so nice, Jack is content crawling around in the grass and Beth and Luke find something to do. Swinging, drawing with sidewalk chalk, playing with the sand table, "cooking" in the little play house, finding sticks and bugs, and now playing with the bat and ball Ryan got for them.  Beth's become pretty good, Ryan's taught her to yell, "Throw it in my wheelhouse!" at the pitcher.  It's never too early to start the trash talk, right?

Three Things

Three things about each kid right now...

Bethany:
1.One of her favorite phrases right now is, "Can you even imagine?!"  She then launches into some thought process that sort of blows me away, conjuring up silly ideas or odd scenarios.  Mostly it's silly though. :-)  "Mommy, can you even imagine if Jack could run fast like Luke?!"  "Mommy, could you even imagine if I could swing so high and touch the cloud?"
2. Drawing.  The girl is an artist, but I think I've made that clear on my blog.  She loves to draw and color, and I keep buying how to draw books that probably help me more than it helps her! 
Today I just got Drawing with Children in the mail so I'll let you know how that one goes!
3. Spelling.  She's constantly asking, "How do you spell ..." and then we make the sounds of the word, and she picks the letters.  She calls me M-O-M, Ryan is D-A-D, and sometimes she'll spell Luke's name too!  I've been getting a lot of my portraits drawn by her with MOM written on the top, I'm just waiting for her to start writing me little notes!  I am in the process of pulling together a curriculum for her in the fall, even though she's not 5 before September I think we'll start kindergarten at home.  Loosely. ;-)
(And bonus #4.  Every dress or skirt she wears has to be to her knees at her demand request.  She's become very picky about her clothing, and I have bought a bunch of little bike shorts for her to wear under her skirts and dresses since "sitting politely" isn't her highest priority!)

Luke:
1. He's potty training!  He's been poop-trained for maybe a month or longer now, and pee training has been officially commenced for about a week now (after a couple of previous failed attempts) and yesterday he went all day without an accident!  Today he's had a small one but I don't care, it was a small one on the tile and I can deal with that.  The best part is that his cloth diapers were starting to leak because they were getting old, and Ryan and I were contemplating buying new diapers or leaving him in disposable diapers until he trained, now it's a moot point!  Yay!
2. NO!  He's been a little stinker lately, and it's fine for me to talk about it right now because he's napping. :-)  He's been so rough, pushing Jack and hitting Beth, yelling NO! at me.  I am doing my best to ignore it but there have been plenty of time outs.  I am at a loss, reminding myself that it's just a stage and praying that this one will pass quickly!
3. As much of a stinker as he's been, he's still quite the cuddlebug at night.  He's been doing very well saying prayers with me, usually offering his intentions for "people without homes."  It melts my heart!  I'm also teaching him how to say, "I love you," because for the longest time I'd say it to him but he's just kind of moan back.  Um, no, I want my little boys to not be afraid to show affection!  So we practice saying, "I love you" in silly voices and serious voices, and now when I tell him that I love him he usually says it back.  Not always, but we're still working on it!

Jack:
1. Jack is a high-speed crawler.  He just cruises along, looking around checking things out and then BAM, he sees what he wants, and he's off!  And he is so fast too, it makes me wonder if he'll put off walking because he's so efficient at crawling!
2. On a similar note, he is still putting every possible thing in his mouth.  He is obsessed with the dog food and I'd be lying if I said he's never had a taste of it before!  I sweep the kitchen floor at least four times a day but it still usually isn't enough because he always finds something.  Always.  He's so determined to get anything into his mouth that when he can't scrape something off the floor with his fingers, he leans over and puts his mouth on the ground to suck the floor.  It's truly gross.
3. He's cut his fifth tooth, the first one next to his upper right tooth.  I think six, on the other side, is due out within the week or so, and then hopefully we can start getting some sleep again!

No more Play-Doh

 

Since regular Play-Doh is filled with gluten, I've kept it away from Beth because it gets all up under her finger nails which inevitably go into her mouth.  I've come across a couple of gluten-free play doughs and was going to make a salt dough, but I just made it a little easy on myself and splurged on a four-pack of Aroma Dough.  They have always looooved playing with Play Doh so it's been a long few months while I figured out what to do, and they are so happy to have something to play with again!  Aroma Dough smells so yummy and is free of dyes and perfumes, and works and feels just like Play-Doh.  They can't mix the colors but that hasn't been an issue yet!  Since it's gluten-free I can let them use our cookie cutters from Uncle J and Aunt R- thanks y'all!

A fence

I love this view.  One of my favorite things about our home is that we sit next to an empty lot, another 1/2 acre left completely to nature.  Deer and all sorts of other critters live there and every day we have the benefit of admiring the wildlife and the beauty of the trees.  I love sitting on our couch while nursing and looking out the window and watching the trees blow simply in the wind, the squirrels hopping from limb to limb, and waiting to see if a deer will peek out.

"It's just a virus!"

Four words that every mom loves to hear at the doctor: "It's just a virus!"  Ugh I hate that!  I mean, I'm partially grateful it's not some horrible disease but the unknown of not having a name or treatment when your baby looks like this is just really unnerving.

Impromptu Trip

We took an impromptu trip to visit my parents and helped celebrate my mom's birthday!  We were there from Tuesday through Friday (hence my extended blog absence) and just let Beth and Luke have a blast with my brothers and sister.  Lots of fun!

Bluebonnet Pics

Random pictures

"J" is for Jellyfish!  We made jellyfish out of jello!  I don't think we'd ever made jello before and of course Luke loved it (he loves everything!) and Beth ate a few bites before she decided she was done.  It was a good conclusion to our jellyfish lesson that day!

9 months

Jackson, at 9 months old, you are the cutest baby in the world!  Your smile melts me, those four little teeth you use to bite me are also somehow pretty stinking cute!  You are such a fast little crawler, and you put everything on God's green earth into your mouth... This exhausts me!  We can hear a primitive "Dada" and "Mama" although we're waiting for the real thing, and I know you understand us because you look at us when we call your name and you definitely understand when Mama signs "more?" or "nurse?"  You're sleeping pretty well, waking up once or twice a night and your naps are finally resembling something we can all live with.  Most of the time!  Love, when you sleep, you are the happiest little guy ever!  We come downstairs and I notice you looking around for Beth and Luke, and when you see them you dance a little, waving your arms up and down and nearly jumping out of my arms to play next to them on the floor!  You love your big sister and big brother, and they love you so much!  We all do baby, we all love you so much!

Well, duh!

 

"Look Mommy!"

"Cool!  What is it?"

"It's a cactus truck."

"And what's a cactus truck do?"

"It drives around cowboys!"

A new path

It's official... I'm becoming a birth doula!

I feel like I have finally felt my professional calling, and of all the work I've done I am most excited about this next chapter in my life!  This past weekend (Friday-Sunday) I attended a very intense workshop that has provided me the necessary training to become a certified birth doula through DONA International.

A doula is a woman who serves a pregnant mother.  She provides support throughout pregnancy and especially during labor, providing her experience, training, and know-how to the expectant parents.  After birth, doulas help with breastfeeding and usually offer a postpartum visit, although postpartum doulas complete a separate training course.  Since I've been trained through DONA, I will also adhere to a code of ethics.  What's really important is a doula does not provide medical advice, and she does not speak for her client!

There have been so many studies that show that a woman who uses a doula during labor tend to have shorter labors, reduced desire/need for epidurals, forceps, episiotomy, pitocin, and cesarean sections.  Maybe even more importantly, parents who use doulas tend to have more satisfying births and settle in together as a family much easier and quicker!

What really surprised me about my training was the clarification about when and how it becomes important for a woman to receive interventions, and how as doulas we are still needed to support women and men who have to cope with a change in their birth plan right in the middle of labor.  Women who desire an unmedicated hospital birth benefit greatly from a doula, but even women who plan to use epidurals or other interventions still benefit from doulas, especially considering everything that might happen when interventions are used! 

I feel like my personal experience provides me a great background for this.  I've had a hospital birth where I wanted to go med-free but changed my mind and had the epidural, experiencing the slippery slope of other interventions.  I look back on that and think that things could have- probably would have- gone so much differently if we'd hired a doula!  I've also had two unmedicated births, one pretty good one and one awesome one.  But, as a doula, it's not about me, it's about my client.  My experience should help her to have an amazing, life-changing experience!

Now that I've finished the training, I have a list of other requirements before I become officially certified, including attending and writing about three births, and reading several books on pregnancy, labor, breastfeeding, and doula labor support.  When I'm done with all of this and have my official certification (hopefully in the fall!), I'll be launching a company web site and blog. :-)

The DONA International web page has a lot of great information; this video below is produced by them and explains quite a bit!  

Jackson

I know you want to squeeze his chubby thighs!

Waffle Face

My two oldest are now waffle fanatics ever since I discovered Van's gluten free waffles.  They eat them with maple syrup and frozen blueberries on top; needless to say this is a very sticky and messy breakfast.  They love it, and it's hard for me to say no!

A Conversation

 Beth: "Mommy, why did you give me a second cookie?"

Me: "'Cause I'm a nice mommy."

Beth: "Mommy, I think you're nicer than an elephant."

Me: "Why thank you."

Beth: "And bester than an alligator."

Me: "Ohhh!  Even better than Christopher Bobbin?"

Beth: "No, he's the best."

 

Ha!  Christopher Bobbin, no that's not a typo!  Ryan and I have been reading The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie the Pooh to Beth, usually a chapter a night.  She loves it!  (She has never seen a Winnie the Pooh tv show, but after we're done with the book I'm going to get my hands on a copy of the movie from my childhood and show it to her.)  Ryan, in his infinite silliness, has decided to continue the tales with Beth and tell her his own misadventures of Pooh, Piglet, etc., but the story usually involves Christopher Robin and his neighbor-down-the-street Christopher Bobbin.  (Ryan explained that most people don't know of Bobbin, he didn't make it into the books probably because he smelled bad.)  So Beth thinks it's all terribly silly and begs Daddy to tell her a story after dinner, and he indulges her using silly voices and exaggerated personalities.  All the makings of wonderful memories. :-)

Mardi Gras!

We had a good time at our house on Fat Tuesday!  We started the day with our festive pancakes, which came out okay but not as well as I hoped!  The kids didn't care, they were excited to have pancakes on a day other than Sunday!

Lent 2011

Lent is too late this year for my preferences, but maybe that's a good thing.  I've been waiting for it for so long, so I've had plenty of time to reflect and prepare for how God is calling me to respond this year.  I think you could liken my anticipation for Lent as someone might anticipate the new year... A chance to "start over," make new resolutions, and turn over a new leaf... In the mean time, I'm cramming my face with sweets in anticipation for the fast!

Changes in Appearances

 

We've had some changes in appearances this past week... Mr. Luke chipped a tooth on Wednesday and Mr. Jack's teeth have really pushed through!  Luke didn't seem to notice his tooth had chipped, I had pictures of him on Tuesday and on Wednesday and there's a definite "before" and "after."  A quick call to the dentist and we decided that since it's not broken we're just going to leave it be.  It adds character. :-)

Like Father, Like Son

The first mowing of the season today, and Luke pushed his "mow mow" behind Daddy for an hour and a half! 

Groceries

One of my constant struggles is trying to keep our grocery bill down, but now especially with three eating children and our gluten-free diet it's become higher than ever.

I've tried coupon clipping, The Grocery Game, and other similar methods of stacking and matching coupons.  I've had "success" at the stores, saving over 40% in some of my best cases, but the amount of effort it took for me to do it wasn't a prudent way to spend my time.  Then, I was buying things I wouldn't have otherwise bought.  Now, I have to be brand loyal, so it really doesn't work.

He crawls!

crayons on the floor! full speed ahead!

Eight months and four days old and the little one crawls!  Monday was the big day for take-off.  He almost literally went from 0-60, Sunday not able to crawl an inch and Monday crawling all the way across this kitchen floor.  Of course, to the dog's water bowl.  Of course.