Brief Update

It's been a whirlwind since I last posted. So many months, and gone in the blink of an eye.

Brent started crawling in time for Valentines Day(7.5 months old), and started walking at 10 months old(May). He didn't waste any time there. He also hasn't touched many baby toys since February either--why should he? The "big kid" stuff looks so much more fun! Brent is also climbing stuff. His latest obsession is to have us stack some really big foam blocks taller than he is & he comes charging them down. Last night, when the other kids were asleep this was going on for at least 10 minutes. Maybe the makings of a football player or wrestler? ;) His favorite word is "meh(more)," but he also says mama, dada, woo(imitating a vaccuum that's on) and nana(no-no, something he hears a lot!), and signs want, up & all done. He's just barely started taking a bottle & cup in the past few weeks--just in time to be weaned.

Let's see, Ivy did Girl Scouts from December thru June. She really enjoys being around other girls--obviously doesn't get much of that at home. She's also done swim lessons for 6 weeks this summer and can now swim short distances by herself. She's hit a whiny, lazy age and it bugs us, but honestly, I don't know if I could've made it thru this past year without her. She helps so much with Brent, almost from the get-go. She always has her nose in a book, and got the only "reading comprehension" award in her class at a special 2nd grade assembly I was invited to this spring.

Will finish posting about other things tomorrow, it's bedtime.

1st Laughs

Brent started his first "awake" laughs, not just the sleeping belly laughs anymore. It happened during this conference weekend.

Here's a video I was able to get of it a few days ago.

Two teething boys!

Who'd have thought both Brent & Collin would be teething at the same time?? Brent started teething on Sept. 23rd, and Collin--just discovered it 2 days ago. We've been waiting for what feels like forever for when Collin would start to get his "grown up" teeth, especially since he had to have one of the top front teeth pulled a couple years ago. His new grown up tooth is coming in on the bottom(in the front) right behind his baby teeth. The tooth it's replacing hasn't come out yet, it's wiggly but Collin doesn't want to have anything to do with wiggling it.

I'll try to get pics up of both boys. Collin you can definitely see the tooth has pushed up, and on Brent's gum you can see the lines of where the tooth/teeth will be.

Kids have been back in school for almost a month now. Thank goodness. So far, so good. Ivy's doing pretty well in her class, no surprise there but we're both feeling 'eh' about her teacher. The other day, they were supposed to get out early. Five minutes before that, the teacher always sends the kids out, 2-3 at a time to go get their stuff(backpack, lunchbox, jacket, etc.) from outside the class. Well, 10 minutes after they are supposed to be out comes & goes. Apparently 2 kids forgot 1 item each of theirs and the teacher held all 30 kids back. Thank goodness for the kids who ride the bus that the buses were still there--the rest of the school was already out, even the upper grades who get out later. Thank goodness that wasn't a therapy day for us. Why she didn't just have those 2 kids go last and everyone else go at the normal time, is beyond me.

Therapy--well, it's still going for Collin. He's having a language explosion, and starting to comment on everything, but he's getting stuck on certain phrases again & starting a rebellious streak. Hopefully it's just a phase. With him, you just never know.

Drew misses Ivy & Collin like crazy while they're at school, which is odd because he & Ivy had started up the "he's touching me," etc. sibling issues about a month ago. Calling tomorrow to get his speech evaluated by the school district. Regional center cut off speech therapy 18 months ago, but the school district never contacted us about him when he turned 3(when school district takes over).

Brent has put me on a dairy-free diet. It is sooo hard, and I've only been on it about a week. I'm trying to narrow down exactly what it is, so I feel like I can eat more than oatmeal, plain meat, and veggies. Looking like the offenders likely are whey--no protein bars or protein powder for me. Those were a big staple in my diet, especially on busy days :( --and cheese. Need to do more investigation to check on yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, and plain milk.

Took him to the doctor's a week ago. I was on the verge of another major breakdown. He was eating at least 40 minutes or so for one feeding, and an hour or two(if I was lucky) would be hungry again. Two weeks before this, I had taken him in for his 2 month visit to see about pushing back feedings to every 3 hours since his weight was 90 percentile for 2 month old boys. When I took him last week, the lactation consultant in the office said only 20 minutes at 1 feeding and the 2.5-3 hrs between the end of a feeding & start of the next one. What else? He just outgrew his portable swing--too narrow for his 14-14.5 lb body. Today, I traded it in and got him a used cradle swing. Hopefully, that takes care of the last of the colic. Only kid of ours whose had it.

Have a 4 week goal to get this last little bit of weight off me. I'm just 1-2 pant sizes away from where I was pre-preggo with him.

A Dare & A Goal

Thanks to my friend Michelle for the new header image for the blog. She had dared people to leave comments on her blog, just to make sure people were reading it, and this was the prize(of course, nobody knew what the prize was at the time).

When the older kids(Ivy & Collin) go back to school, starting next week, I need to put Photoshop Elements on Tom's laptop--the main computer kicked the bucket back in March/April--and also the instruction manual for our digital camera (to learn more features on it).

Family Pics

We got family pictures taken July 31st over at El Dorado Nature Center. These are the first we've had with everyone since Brent's been born. We got a cd with almot 200 pictures on it. Not going to post all the pics, but here are my favorites. The rest can be seen here(click on the word 'here').

Normal?

I went to the doctor's office yesterday for my 6 week post-partum checkup. She had said I'm "back to normal." Granted, she was talking about about my body & all the internal changes during & after the pregnancy, but it's been making me think. Which, I suppose isn't such a bad thing.

What is normal? Is there such a thing after kids? Is it "normal" that I can think of at least 3 friends, probably more, who over the moon about their kids and yet, I don't feel like that about Brent yet. Just over the moon that he's been born and not inside me anymore. Maybe I just need more time. He really isn't a super colicky baby and the reflux issues aren't as bad, it's just me. I just wondered how we ended up with him the way I am right now?

I was stuck on the name "Brent" for so long during the pregnancy and was determined that was going to be his name. I finally understand why. The name literally means "steep hill", and yes, it's been quite a journey. The construction, the pregnancy, the nursing fiasco the whole first week & a half, the flare up in behaviors from Collin, a little from Drew too(mostly his is displacement from being the baby). Some days are getting better. Other days, I just want to go hide under the covers on my bed hoping nobody finds me or that it all goes away. It did take over a year till I finally had a handle on 3 kids, and I'm sure this will take just as long.

I did get a portable swing, that's low to the floor. It's hit & miss. He still sleeps a lot during the morning, which by the way, was a HUGE help during Ivy's swim lessons especially when I had to take Collin along.

Anyone have any ideas on how to keep Brent up longer during the daytime(specifically morning, he's already up a good portion of the afternoon & night)? Even though, I'm not sure I can follow thru with anything right now. I try baths, but he goes back to sleep after eating. I hold out on feedings(ie. splitting them up so he's not eating for over 40 minutes in one sitting, only to decide he's hungry again less than an hour later) so he's got more "quiet awake" time.