Our Kids

A couple of weeks ago I tried to get some good photos of the kids to use in a canvas art project.  I didn't get exactly what I was hoping to get but some of the pics are okay.  I mean, it's hard to get a bad photo when your subjects are super cute. ;-)  

 

(I like this one because it's easy to see that the gap between Beth and Luke is slowly closing!  I'm not sure how tall he is but I think his feet have gone through another growth spurt recently so I'm willing to bet his body is about to catch up.)

A New Chapter

It's been a little over a week since the last time Jack and I nursed, I think his last day was July 11.  I've been dreading this time for months now, for several reasons.

I am a big believer in baby-led weaning, and I had no desire to stop nursing Jack.  Yes, it would get a little frustrating that every time I would sit down his little radar would go off and he'd immediately find me and jump into my lap, but it wasn't frustrating enough to wean.  Even at 2 years old, he was still receiving health benefits from my milk, and it was comforting for me to know that on a night when he didn't eat any dinner because his new molars were hurting, he'd still be nourished from me.  Plus, we had special cuddle time every morning in bed... He'd play with my hair and we'd both doze in and out of sleep while he nursed. 

But on the morning of the 12th, Jack slept in until 8:40 am.  That's about 2 hours later than usual!  He woke up and immediately sat down to breakfast, and so we didn't nurse.  The rest of the day we were very busy and he never asked, by the time he went to bed that night I decided that it was a good opportunity for us to wean.  The next day he asked to nurse and I quickly changed the subject and distracted him with something else... This went on for a week.  He was very sad, and it was really hard for me to tell him that he couldn't have Mommy's nursies anymore. :-(  I nearly gave in several times because it's been very hard emotionally for him as well.  He hasn't asked for the past two days,so I think we're on the other side of things now.

The reason I decided to take the opportunity wasn't because I wanted to, but because I felt like it was my last ditch effort to help me feel "normal" again.  I have been pregnant and/or breastfeeding since April of 2006, and today I calculated I've breastfeed my babies for a total of over 4 years.  My hormones have taken quite a beating, and despite my attempts at trying to stabilize my moods naturally I still don't feel quite like I did before I had babies.  Since I chart my fertility and am really observant about how I am feeling and when I'm feeling that way, and since I have had my hormones tested, I know that it's a progesterone issue.  The supplements I've taken (B complex, additional B6, and St. John's Wort) have definitely helped!  But I felt like I weaning was my last chance.

So Jack Jack and I had two beautiful years, and I am so grateful for that.  Jack and I were so blessed.  I guess now it's time for us to move on to a new chapter in our lives, and hopefully my body will be able to figure things out sooner rather than later! 

Lazy Days

I am so very much enjoying our lazy summer.  We had swim lessons for the first two weeks in June, then after that I have done pretty much NOTHING.  We've had playdates with long-lost friends that I wish we could see more often, we've gone to the library, we've played inside and outside.  Most importantly, we've not had anything scheduled- no meetings, no ballet or gymnastics, no nothing.  We're working on our own schedule, so there's no rushing out the door to make it somewhere by a certain time.  How wonderful!

I feel like I've just really needed this, and by actually being sort of lazy I'm watching the kids grow up in a different way.  The three of them have been playing really well lately together, playing for an hour at a time with minimal involvement from me needed.  Usually it ends in someone getting a bump or bruise, but for the most part it's some serious make-believe play from everyone. 

Beth has become less concerned, not asking "what are we going to do next?" as often as she used to!

Beth and Luke wanted to wear their babies using my Moby wrap and a rebozo that I use with my doula clients (what Jack is wearing).  We found another piece of fabric for Luke to wear his baby, but I didn't get a photo!  All three of them played Mommy and Daddy for the rest of the day.

Healing Luke

I've written occasionally about how Luke has been dealing with chronic constipation since he was about 18 months old. He's had several xrays to confirm that he's constipated and over the years we've seen two pediatricians and Beth's pediatric GI specialist to try to get him some help. It's a very common issue for little kids- especially boys for some reason- and the general protocol for this is a daily dose of miralax. So, he was on miralax for several months.

 

Ryan and I were always concerned with having him on daily miralax... It's supposed to be harmless, but our thought was that it's not curing the actual cause of the problem, just covering up the fact that there is a problem. We decided to turn to a naturopathic doctor; it was a big decision because she's not on our insurance but we decided Luke's health was worth it!

 

For the first time as a parent visiting a doctor, I felt validated by a doctor. Yes, she's an MD, but naturopaths can't be licensed in the state of Texas so she's licensed elsewhere but practicing here. She listened to everything I was concerned about- how I wondered if some of Luke's misbehavior was caused by his discomfort of being constipated, if there could be an underlying health issue that was causing the constipation, wondering if his behavior is typical for a 3.5 year-old-boy... 

 

Don't get me wrong, we know Luke is a very well-behaved, well-mannered young man! But I can't help but wonder...What if he could be physically better? What sort of change would happen to his attitude, his behavior, his mind, if his gut were healed? These are things that our naturopath takes into consideration, and it's so nice for me, as a mother, to have a doctor actually actively listen to me!

Two Years Old

Our "baby" is two today!  Happy birthday Jack!

This little boy... I feel silly calling him my "baby" but as long as he's my youngest child I think he'll be blessed with that nickname. :-)  I feel so lucky to be his Mommy!

Day Trip to the Beach

A couple of weeks ago, after my brother's graduation ceremony, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach.  The seaweed was gross but I tried not to project my repulsion of it onto the kids, ha!  It didn't bother them, they'd walk on it and pick it up without any problem!  I can't even begin to express how much fun they had.  Once Jack decided to step into the water, he was giggling and laughing, running back and forth away from the waves.  It was precious!  Beth and Luke preferred being in the "deep water" with Ryan, but they each got lost in their own worlds digging for clams and splashing in the surf.  I want so badly to take them back on a regular basis, it's quite a road trip for us though!  I hope we get to have a seaside vacation this year!

Afternoons

We've spent lots of afternoons outside, of course it's too hot just to play to the kids insist on wearing swimsuits in the pool.  I guess running through the sprinkler in play clothes just isn't proper!  It's hot... And the mosquitoes are bad.  We spray them with herbal repellant but I always hesitate to put too much on their faces when they're in the water, it always runs and stings their eyes.  But when Jack gets bitten, it's bad.  I can't remember if I've posted this or not but his eye has swollen nearly completely shut 2 or 3 times because of bites on his forehead.  Ryan wants to buy one of those machines that traps the mosquitoes (a mosquito magnet?) and we do our best to make sure the water is dumped out so we kill any larvae, but they're still awful.  Luckily Beth and Luke don't react anymore (Luke used to get pretty big welts from bites, but only under his hairline) so I just have to keep a hawk eye on Jack.

Here's an older pic of Ryan finishing the fence!  So proud of you for working so hard for our family, we definitely enjoy cool early mornings in the backyard without fear of random dogs trotting through our yard!  I've also been able to add to my backyard gardens, no veggies at this point but maybe one day.  We also planted a few trees that we've had in pots on our porch for several years!  I have many more ideas for sprucing up the backyard but I have to put these projects on hold because I now have some indoor projects lined up next!

Two Weeks Have Passed...

As I sit here on June 11 and realize it's been 2 weeks since my last post, I realize how sad I am that I've neglected this blog lately.  It's my chronicle of our life, it's my children's "baby books."  But I can also assure you that the past two weeks have been so insanely busy, and that the rest of June will be quite busy too.

For the record, Friday June 1 we hosted a party for my brother, who graduated from medical school on Saturday June 2.  My mom, sister, and I really wanted to give him a special party and we spent the whole week preparing for things- getting the house ready, planning food and decor, shopping, making items for the party.  It was fun but busy!  Then on Friday we had a mini family photo shoot, went out to dinner, and came home to find our first guests waiting for us!  Oops!  I think the party was lovely, we celebrated with a wine-and-cheese/California theme, included a (sort of lame attempt at a) photobooth, a "wish" tree for guests to write and hang notes from, toasts, and of course lots of food and drinks!  My sister made a super-cool cake!  I had my camera set up for the photo booth so I don't have many photos, I hope that people will email me pics from the party!

Our First Crawfish

Today Luke found our first live crawfish in our backyard!  The kids were playing in the sprinkler and it was spraying in a low-lying area so the water started to settle on the grass.  Apparently that's all this little guy needed because Luke ran to Daddy to tell him, "There's something out there with pinchers on it and I don't like it AT ALL!"  Ryan caught the crawfish and he had fun showing it to the kids and trying to convince Beth to hold it!



This movie reminds me of the Rolly Polly from so many years ago. :-)

Photos of the Week

7. someone that inspires me

8. a smell you adore

Our Backyard

 

  

Most of our fence is done!  It's been a long process that started about a month ago, and Ryan and some generous friends have been working hard to get our fence built.  We hired someone to set the posts (which happened the weekend Ryan and I went to Vegas) and the weekend after that Ryan and our friend Michael added the rest of the frames and started on the slats.  The following weekend Ryan spent finishing up the slats with a friend from work (along with his son), then the next weekend Ryan worked with his dad on the small gate on the right side of the house.  We are now completely sealed off from the empty lot next door, which in theory means the deer probably won't be in our backyard.  Or so I thought... I started to fix up the little gardens we wanted to have on that side, which including planting a potted redbud tree... Two nights later, wouldn't you know most of the leaves had been chewed off?!  By deer- we saw their tracks left in the mud from the storm that night!  Rotten animals!

Blueberry Picking

so excited!

 It was a little early this year for us to pick blueberries, but we thought we'd try to hit up the local farm before it got too hot.  We arrived about 9:15 and it was already too hot!  We found a good shady spot and began picking, while Luke and Jack began eating!  This year, Beth was pretty good about picking her own bucketful- she picked 1.19 lbs on her own!  Between that plus what Ryan and I picked, we had about 12 lbs, which was more than last year. Beth found the fullest bush we'd ever seen, the branches were heavy with completely ripe blueberries!  We cleared out that bush pretty well, and as I switched to the next busy over I felt a crazy painful prick on my finger- and I saw a wasp fly away!  I was stung!  I don't know that I've ever been stung before, at least I don't remember, so I freaked out a little and was wondering if I was going to have some sort of reaction.  I went to the front where the farm workers were and one of them rubbed something on my finger, but I felt the pain move down my pointer finger down into my wrist.  Luckily it stopped there and numbed up after a bit, but I was a pretty worthless picker after that.  Not even a couple of minutes later I found this branch with the tip full of red and white caterpillars, perfectly still but bunched together as if they were trying to mimic a flower or something.  Cool, but eww!  I decided at that point that I'd post on my blog so all blueberry pickers know- shake out your branch before you start picking!  Give those bugs a chance to get out of there!

it took jack about 1 minute to figure out he could eat the berries, and he kept his mouth stuffed the entire time!

luke started picking and putting them in his bucket, but wound up mostly eating them all.

Mother's Day

 

Mother's Day was last Sunday and I had an absolutely wonderful day.  We went to mass, had a yummy brunch with the new waffle maker Ryan surprised me with, and I got a necklace I'd wanted for a few months.  The kids played nicely and spoiled me with lots of hugs, kisses, and "I love you!" all throughout the day.  I think I even had a nap!  Ryan did the dishes all day long.  We grilled delicious beef fajitas and had a relaxing afternoon.  It was a great, lazy day spent at home with the people who made me a mother. :-)

My necklace has each of the kid's names, a round disc with tiny baby feet, a silver heart, and a little pearl. 

Jack's Baby

Over the past few weeks my nursing relationship has changed with Jack.  We've gone from nursing 6-8 times a day- which was really wearing on me because I couldn't even sit down without him wanting to nurse- to nursing about once a day now.  My absence from him during our trip to Vegas left him unsure about continuing nursing, but once he picked it back up again we were both just fine, nursing 3-4 times a day.  That seemed to work really well for both of us.

Disappearing Luke

Memory Books

Over the years I've wondered how to turn my blog into something physical.  I hope blogger doesn't disappear anytime soon but it worries me that all of these memories I've recorded online could somehow disappear!  This blog has been almost the only records I've kept of my children's childhood, so somehow turning them into baby books/photo albums/memory books has been a priority for me.  There have been several options I've considered, but I think these books have worked out.  I've created photo book from several websites- usually whichever website has a free book promo, sale, or a Groupon- and given each book a theme.  Initially I intended to just repost my blog word-for-word into these books, but after spending too much time editing I decided to go with the theme route and fill in text boxes with details from my blog.  I love them!

In the photo above, starting at the top, the books are: Beth's pregnancy and birth, our trip to St. Louis last summer, our family's 2011 birthdays, Christmas 2010, Jack's birth and baptism, our beach trip 2007, beach 2009, Luke's 2nd birthday, and our Punta Cana trip from last summer.

While these books are very important to me, the kids love to read them too.  Usually once a week they get them all out and sit looking at the photos.  I do worry that pages will get bent or torn but I know if one book ever gets completely destroyed, I can always order another one since they're all saved online.  (I don't want to, but it's nice knowing the option is there!)  It's made me think that I should create one or two for each of them to keep in their bedrooms, each book filled with special memories and photos of people we don't get to see very often.

I love the alternative to traditional photo albums because this way I don't have to print out photos and somehow add the text.  It's just very simple, convenient, and a fun way to relive some of our most special moments!

Photos of the Week

day 1: peace

day 2: skyline

day 3: something i wore

day 4: bird. no birds around here so... day 4: cat

day 5: fun!

day 6: me

Part one of my May photo-a-day challenge!

Photos in May

I've chosen to follow this May challange:



I've missed taking photos lately with my DSLR and have been relying on my phone to grab quick pics here and there.  Some of my favorite blog posts I've done in the past are random photo posts, documenting a day or things I love about our home, so when I saw this challenge I thought it'd be fun and would get me using my camera more often.  I have some photo ideas in mind for a few of them but for the most part I'm going to try to make them as organic and random as possible, without setting them up, so to speak.  My photo from yesterday was perfect, I love it!  I think I'll post a week's worth of photos at one time since there's no way I'll be able to upload them every day, but we'll see what happens.  My goal is just to take one pic a day! 

Beth's Circus Book

Vegas, Baby!

A few months ago, Ryan told me that he was planning a secret trip for the two of us.  He told me he didn't plan on telling me the date until he absolutely had to, so when a potential client emailed me with an early May due date I had to get the date of our trip out of Ryan!  April 20-23.  I tried to get hints out of him regarding the location, but he wouldn't budge!  Then, one day, we were talking about a concert and Ryan accidentally spilled the beans.  He was so angry at himself but I was psyched- Las Vegas!  We went to Las Vegas nearly 7 years ago for our honeymoon as a last minute trip- we were supposed to go to Mexico but a last-minute hurricane in the Gulf changed our plans.  But, this time we were staying on the strip!  He didn't let anything else slip, and I didn't even know where we were staying until our cab drove up to the hotel.

We left early Friday morning to catch a morning flight, and we both prepared for the trip by bringing long books for the 3 hour flight- I read the final book in the Hunger Games series and Ryan read the first book.  We weren't much fun on the flight, each reading our books the entire time!

When we got to Vegas, we caught a cab and took the quick trip to our hotel.  The Monte Carlo!  Ryan's trip for us revolved around a conference he was attending, the same conference he attended in 2010 when we went to Miami together.  His conference was Monday and Tuesday, and we had most of the day on Friday through Sunday to spend together, and my flight came home early Monday morning.  He and I stayed on the 27th floor with a view of the strip, and once we checked in, we did what all parents probably do on the first day of vacation- we took a nap!  A real, honest-to-goodness nap!

Just arrived!  Ready for vacation to begin!