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Angie and Iowa

This past week my sister Angie came from Colorado and from here we traveled to Iowa to hang out with my mom.  Here's a couple pictures from our time up north.

We had soo much fun!!!  We shopped and talked, hung out with extended family and played games.  We made the kids laugh and laugh and hung out WAY past our bedtimes.  My favorite thing was quoting Caleb.   "Heeeere, here, here, here, here."    

 Oh!  An Angie was showing Caleb a dime and she said, "Caleb, say 10 cents!  10 cents!  Caleb, can you say 10 cents?"  

Caleb looks at her funny and says, "Dime."   

Hahahahaha!!

I guess Kyle's teaching Caleb about the different coins really did sink in.  :)

That's all I have time for.  I have a bazillion and a half things to do, or so it seems.  Caleb puked 15 times the day we got home but he seemed better today.  It was a weird, 8 hour thing.   Everyone else is doing great!

Bounty

I picked some beans, snow peas, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower from our garden this morning!  We share a garden with our friends Tom & Ruth.  As luck would have it, they're out of town this week so we get to eat all this fresh delicious goodness by ourselves!

P.S.  Thanks for all your comments, moms!  The booster is out again and it has been wonderful today at dinner!  I was pretty fed up after about 5 minutes without it, so I got it out of the car (since it was at Tom and Ruth's in storage) and strapped it to the chair.    For Isaiah, I'm also going to be trying to see if it is the hindmilk/foremilk thing.  Can't hurt, can it?

Thanks again, ladies!

Moms: Tips Needed!

Soooooo, good news!! I don't think Isaiah is intolerant to milk after all!  I tried some pizza last week and he was fine.   Yaaaay!  HOWEVER, he still has really green, mucousy stools.   That has never gone away--even with the no milk diet.  Any ideas?  (Pooping doesn't seem to be any problem for him.)

Sorry to start out with a poop question.

Mealtimes are not fun in our house.  Okay, mealtimes for ME are not fun.  Caleb has a blast.  We took away the booster because he wasn't really using it anyways.  He's too short to sit on his chair and eat normally so he stands and that seems to be a disaster.  He likes to "help" and put butter on our food, pour dressing over our salad, give us our drinks, and serve us food.  It's endearing, sort of, but after a while, I realize it's ALL he's doing and he doesn't eat.  When we tell him to eat he ignores us or gets off the chair and plays.  He ends up leaving almost all his food on his plate.  When Kyle and I are done, we clear the table--his plate included--but he screams that he still wants is food.

Should I get the booster out from storage again?

Should I MAKE him eat? 

Should I allow him to play during lunch?

Should I let him eat his food even after we're done?

Also, do you have any ideas for picky eaters?  Would you let him have "his" food (meaning foods that he actually likes) even when we're eating something else?

I'd love to hear what works/worked for you.   

Toddler teething--the last ones that are WAAAAAAY back there.  Any thoughts?

Now for some random pictures.

Cleaning in the deep dark crevices that is Isaiah's neck.

Instead of watching tv, we play tv.

Little blue-eyes here slept 7 hours straight last night!!  

I've learned that when you use the "colic hold" you actually push/rub their stomach and bounce.  The warmth of your hand, the bouncing and the pressure helps the digestion.  It's been a miracle for us with Isaiah during his fussy times.  Who knew?  Not me.

I made him a giraffe.  He loves it.  It needs a name.  ("Jerry the Giraffe" is taken.)

Caleb-isms

I asked Caleb, "Who told Noah to build an ark?"

He thought about it for a minute and then shouted, "Mrs. Noah!!"

I had gotten some packaged guacamole and was eating it with some chips.  After we scraped the bowl of guacamole clean he looked up at me and said, "Mommy, more holey moley!"

Trouble with a Capital T

A different day...

Camping Videos

Camping!

Kyle and Caleb had an all boys camping trip last night.

Here are some pictures from their time out in the wilderness.

(This morning.)

Videos coming soon!

Monday, Monday

It's weird when you become a mom.  Things you never thought you'd like become the things you actually love.  

For me, it's Mondays.   

My Sunday nap reenergizes me physically.

Church reenergizes me spiritually and emotionally.

Community Groups on Sunday night reenergizes me socially.

On Mondays, I'm a better woman, a better wife, a better mom, and a better friend.

I took a couple of pictures with Isaiah this past Monday.  I still think he has my nose.

Tummy time!

I'm writing this because:

A.  Some day I want to look back, laugh, and wonder how I could think such petty problems were a big deal.

B.  I want to see how has God pulled me through this miraculously without going insane.

C.  If I put it in writing, it feels like less of a load.  It puts everything in perspective.  

D.  All of the above.

Did you answer D?   Well, yerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrright!!  You win the satisfaction of being 100% correct!  Exciting, no?  

Today, I'm tired.  I'm tired because Isaiah didn't sleep well at all last night.  This morning he was a happy little boy, only it was 6:00 am and I wasn't ready to get up yet.  

By the way, I'm changing his middle name.  Instead of Isaiah Daniel, you may now address him as Isaiah I'm-only-happy-for-an-hour-after-I-eat.  It's a rule of his he rarely disobeys.  

I've decided as of this morning to only feed him every 2 hours.  Why?

a).  He doesn't know how to calm himself down so he eats/sucks on me instead.  I've decided to stop the constant madness/nudeness/suckiness.

b).  He only sleeps in 10-15 minute intervals with the exception of one longer nap, and I'd like to get him more on a schedule.

c).  I've pampered him like crazy for three months.  He couldn't be spoiled.  But now I think he's old enough to appreciate the routine.  He's also not lacking in the weight department, so he's not in need of extra feedings.  (Don't get me wrong.  I don't think he's too fat!  Only, if he were too small, I'd forget scheduling his feedings and let him eat whenever he wanted to.)

I'm also changing Caleb's middle name.  The Wallace is gone.  In comes Opinionated, Messy and Destruction.  Caleb Opinionated Messy Destruction.  It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?  

He only wants daddy to take him out of the car, daddy to push the stroller, daddy to read him a book.  He only wants chips for dinner and won't touch his apples.  He wants to wear his pajamas all day, he wants to take ALL of his trains along for a walk around the block and don't even think about suggesting he use the potty.  If he doesn't get his way, it's a meltdown.  If it's a meltdown, it's a time out.  If it's disobeying the time out it's a spanking, if it's more crying, he has to stay in his room until he's happy.  I'm sooo sick of disciplining.  It's seems like it's about every 20 minutes.  The easy way out is to not punish.  It takes so much less energy.  

It takes energy to not be angry and scream and cry right back and instead, only sing, "Uh oh!  That's too bad.  You need a time out now because you screamed."

Add that in with a crying baby. Well, that really takes a lot out of a person.

So far this morning there was a chip bag dumped upside down, a container of juice sloshed on the floor, and chewed up apple bits spit out onto the floor.  Even though he had to vacuum up the chips, wipe up the juice, and be finished with dinner after the apple incident, I really don't think that the whole "Please don't spill...anything" thing has phased him at all.

He's also taken to destructing things.  Hitting things against tables is his favorite form of destruction.  Destructing his brother his also a favorite pastime.  He starts out being gentle, but gradually the nice little pat becomes a swat and then a hit, or the gentle kiss goes into let's-see-how-hard-I-can-push-him-with-my-mouth.

Isaiah, in turn, starts crying again.

I realize I'm focusing on myself a ton right now and I'm a complete embarrassment to the Proverbs 31 woman.  To be fair, there's TONS AND TONS of good, great, and amazing moments.  I think if you read my blog, you'd realize that.  So, to be fair, I thought I'd be honest and write what I'm feeling the other part of the time.

"She has NO idea what she's talking about.  I'm happy all the time.  I just pretend to be sad so she'll hold me.  Ha har har."

"Yeah, and I'm really an angel.  Not Caleb Messy Destruwhatever.  I'm holding my brother because I love him and...hmmmm.  I wonder if Isaiah will bounce if I tip him over to the floor."