Friday Quick Takes (32)

 

--- 1 ---

Anthony is 6 months old today!  He is such a sweet little guy and we are so blessed to have him as our son. 

 

--- 2 ---

This is what potty training has done to our bathroom. 

 

Anna is constantly taking toys with her when she has to go.  And she's obsessed with hotel keys/credit card looking things.  She uses them as phones and cameras.  Oh, and the flag.  She got that at the 4th of July parade we went to and it's one of her favorite toys. 

 

I can't help but laugh at the end of the day when every room in my house looks like this (or far worse).

 

--- 3 ---

My husband is the most selfless person that I know.  Seriously, he NEVER thinks of himself first.  He is so thoughtful and always seeks to make my days with 3 kiddos easier.  I am so blessed. 

--- 4 ---

 

They're just so cute together.  And they have so much fun playing together.  Anna is constantly bringing Anthony her toy bottles or wiping his face with a burp rag.  She loves to cover him with a blanket (that he proceeds to kick off while laughing hysterically).  She gets mad at me if I burp him without letting her know, apparently that's her job!  It's just so sweet to see them together!

 

--- 5 ---

I won a photo/essay contest this week!  And I am incredibly excited about it!  I won a custom Olives & Applesauce carrier (which I've wanted since Anna was born).  I also get to have a photo shoot with my new carrier and my kids with Sara, an extremely talented photographer in our area (she did photos of my kids when they were "models" for a cloth diaper company that should be launching their business here soon). And I get to have lunch with Caren who is the creator of O&A, Sara, and the Babywearing International head in Peoria.  I am super excited to meet them.

 

Here's the winning photo (thanks Jeremy for taking a great shot). 

 

 

 

--- 6 ---

 

They love to swing!  We took advantage of the warm weather yesterday!

 

--- 7 ---

I'm working on a hair post.  How I do Anna's hair, where I go to for tips/tricks, what products I use.  It's something I really enjoy doing and have learned a lot about.  Lately I've had multiple black women ask me where I took her to get her hair done and are shocked when I tell them that I do it myself.  I take it as a very big compliment!

 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

What I've been up to...

It's been busy adding another child back into the mix.  The little guy I'm watching now is almost 3 months.  He's overall a pretty good baby, but he takes an hour to drink one bottle.  So needless to say, between feedings for him and for Anthony, meals for Anna and Anthony, diapers for Nathan and Anthony, potty for Anna, and some playtime, I don't have much time to do anything. 

Thankfully I've gotten him onto Anna and Anthony's nap schedules.  So most days, I have 2 hours where all three kids are napping.  I designate an hour of that to myself, I read or check FB or Pinterest or whatever I want.  The other hour I use to try and find order in my house, dishes, laundry, cleaning, picking up, whatever.

We had our St. Louis trip to weeks ago.  Then last weekend we went up to Wisconsin for our Godson's birthday party.  We spent the weekend with them and had lots of fun.  It's fun to watch the kids start to interact with each other.  Theodore and Anna had a blast playing together and they're still too young to fight over toys :-). 

Milwakee Zoo

Theodore (12 mo), Anna (19 mo) and Anthony (6 mo)

Godbrothers :-) in matching polos!

We've also had multiple trips to the pumpkin patch.  Anna LOVES it and so do I :-).

On Tuesdays I watch my niece.  So Tuesdays are busy days, but fun, I have Anna (19 mo), Anthony (6 mo), Nathan (3 mo) and Cecelia (almost 2 mo). I'm glad that I get to spend one day a week with her and I'm really glad the cousins get a day to play together.  Today I managed to get all four kids down for a nap for an hour.  Here's what my house looked like today:

Busy babies!

Anthony and Cecelia.  There is no longer much of a size difference.  They're 4 months apart.

Nathan

Cecelia


 

Anthony.

 

Anna - it's hard to see her, but she's asleep :-)

Friday Quick Takes (31)

 

--- 1 ---

I just can't take enough pictures of these two.

 

 

 

--- 2 ---

I think we can officially say Anna is potty trained.  She did fantastic while we were gone last weekend and didn't have any accidents in the car.  She only had like one the rest of the weekend.  So far this week, she's been pretty much accident free!  She's now telling us when she needs to go and she throws a fit when I have to put a diaper on her for naptime or bedtime (usually she wears a cloth trainer, but when they're in the wash, she has to wear a diaper).  It took about a month, but at 18 months, I'll take it!  She knows how to hold it for a long time and we can now go out and about with just underwear and without 8 extra outfits! 

 

--- 3 ---

I started my new "job" this week.  I have a 2 month old that I'm watching.  I was a little apprehensive as to how Anna would do with another baby in the house.  I shouldn't have worried.  She LOVES him.  She wants to hold him all day long and has been so good.  She's been so much better at playing independently and following directions when I give them to her.  This is going to work out well.  And Anthony will have a little buddy his age to play with! 

 

--- 4 ---

We went to the pumpkin farm twice this week.  The first time, we only lasted a few minutes, Anna was having meltdown issues that day...  The second time we went she had a blast.  She could spend all day in the payhouses and on the jumping pillow.  We have passes for the season, we can't wait to go out there all the time!

 

 

--- 5 ---

Anna's a little baby obsessed lately.  She especially loves her cousin Cecelia.  Here's a fun picture of all the cousins!

 

 

--- 6 ---

 I had a really wonderful  birthday yesterday.  It was relaxing, we didn't really do much, but Jeremy cooked dinner and cleaned up after and that was enough for me :-).  And celebrating with these two crazies is just so fun.

 

--- 7 ---

Anna loves to wear her giraffe around the house.  I find it completely adorable.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

27

Today is my 27th birthday!

I've always loved birthdays.  This year is no exception.  And now I have 2 more reasons to love birthdays.  I LOVE being woken up on my birthday by a little boy blowing raspberries and a little girl singing "Row Row Row Da Bow" in their rooms.  I got sweet hugs first thing and I've received endless hugs and kisses all day.  It's not much different than any other day, but looking back over this past year in my life, it's all different.

I am so blessed to have 2 beautiful children at 27 years old.  I'm blessed to have a wonderful husband of 4 years who I can't wait to grow old with.  I'm blessed to have such wonderful extended family with both my family and inlaws.  I'm blessed to have a new beautiful niece who can grow up with my own children.  I'm blessed to have an adorable Godson who will be one a week from today, Happy Early Birthday Theodore!  And I'm blessed to have a birthday buddy who is one year old today, Happy Birthday Matthias!

Last year I got the most wonderful birthday gift, Anna's Adoption Day.  So Happy Adoption Day (yesterday) to my Anna, you're the most precious gift we could ever ask for.  And hopefully soon we'll have a court date for Anthony's Adoption Day and I can have another day to celebrate near my birthday!  It's really neat that both kids' birthdays are right near Jeremy's birthday (all 3 are within a month) and then their adoption days are right near my birthday, 6 months later!

Warranty

Thank goodness for warranties.

First our diaper sprayer broke.  This is the second time we've had one break, the first one we didn't even think to check for a warranty.  This last one was a different sprayer, but still under warranty (we had one month until the warranty expired).  They shipped us a new one for free.  It stunk to be without one for a week, but it's fantastic to have it back!

Then, our Beco Gemini carrier broke.  It still functions perfectly, but the strap to hold up the headrest broke.  So when Anthony falls asleep, I can only prop up one side.  I didn't realize how often I used it, but I use it a TON apparently.  And thankfully, it's still under warranty (we again, had one month until the warranty expired).  So they're going to repair it or replace it for free.  It will STINK to be without it for a week or two, but I'd rather not have an almost new carrier that's broken.  My mei tai and I will have to become super good friends this week...

Now, if everything else could just stay together, I'm tired of being without baby essentials...

Zoo

We went to the St. Louis Zoo this morning as a family.  We had an absolute blast.  It's really our first trip to a major zoo with just our little family.  We've been to our local zoo, but it's extremely small and doesn't really count :-).

It was so much fun to see the zoo through a child's eye.  Everything was exciting.  Not only that, but Anna only had one accident and was in underwear the whole time.  The one accident was on purpose because she wanted daddy to take her, not mommy.  We got to enjoy the carousel (it's free the first hour) and the children's zoo (also free the first hour).  We rode the train around the park and saw all kinds of animals.

She was incredibly excited to ride the giraffe.

Petting the goat.  We were surprised she actually would touch it, usually animals scare her this close up!

Just adorable.  He enjoyed all the sights and people :-)

Family train ride!

She has such an obsession with giraffes.  Her face says it all!

As we pulled back in to our hotel today, our kids had fallen asleep in the back and the song "You're Gonna Miss This" came on the radio.  We were both in tears.  We are SOOOO blessed to have our two sweet children.  We are so looking forward to the future and hopefully adding more to our family.  I am so grateful to my kids' birthmoms who selflessly gave us these precious children.

I could not be more thankful today for my family.  My husband and my children make my heart overflow with happiness.  My 27th birthday is on Thursday (the main reason for our trip :-)) and it's most definitely my best birthday ever, already. 

Mini-vacation

After a super busy few months, countless doctor appointments, and next week being my first week with another baby (2 month old), we were ready for some family time!

So we're currently taking a little mini-vacation.  We had free hotel nights and since my sister goes to St. Louis University, we thought we'd come see her.  Oh yeah, and it's my birthday next week, so it's my birthday present.  We just checked in a few hours ago, wrestled with the kids to get them down for a nap, and now we're relaxing. 

We're headed to the Balloon Glow (hot air balloon festival this wekeend) and Spaghetti Factory tonight.  Tomorrow we're checking out the zoo, the arch, Union station and doing some shopping.  Then Sunday we'll go to Mass with my sister and meet some of her friends and see her campus.  It should be fun and the kids will enjoy it for sure.



On another note...  We had Anna's orthopedist appointment this morning.  She's always had very bowed legs but recently one has looked way more bowed than the other.  She also walks with her toes in (and one leg appearing worse) and often on the side of her foot.  So our pediatrician and I decided it was time to have it checked out.  I was concerned about it and everyone who sees Anna comments on it.  However, it was not impacting her development and didn't seem to bother her at all.

So anyway, at first the doctor assumed it was Blount's disease (common in African-American children who are on the chubbier side and walked young).  For this, she would have to wear a brace at night.  It affects the lower leg.

However, after x-rays, he was surprised to see that it looks to be just bowed legs, nothing else.  Both her femur and her tibia are curved and equally on both legs.  He said bowed legs will correct themselves, it will be years before they look normal, but nothing is needed to "fix" them.  He said she'll probably be knock-kneed around age 4 when the femur straightens out and the tibia hasn't yet.

So we were very happy.  We don't need to do anything different, just keep her in supportive shoes (which we've always done) and see him again in 3 months for more x-rays to make sure they're getting better, not worse. 

That was a huge relief.



And... We saw Anthony's pediatric dermatologist this week (lots of travelling for us this week).  His diaper area was STILL red (it's been red for his entire 5 months) and I wanted to see if there was something else they could do for him.  We saw the nurse practicioner, the dr. wasn't available.  However, she'd never seen Anthony before and didn't know what his skin usually looked like.  She was shocked by how red it was and immediately mentioned a staph infection. 

I quickly told her that it had always looked like this, even after his staph infection went away.  It was irritated too, by the carseat since that's where the buckle sits.  Any kind of pressure makes his skin super red.  So anyway, she took a culture of it (I haven't heard back, but I'd be surprised if it was, in fact, a staph infection). 

I asked for a different steroid, since the one we were using wasn't doing anything.  She gave me a different one and the next morning, he woke up with zero redness.  It's gone completely.  His skin looks fantastic (the rest of his body has for months now, I'm' super diligent with moisturizers!).  I'm glad I went with my gut and asked for what he needed.




Now all I have to worry about health wise with my kids is Anthony's upcoming opthimologist appointment for his strabismus in his eyes.  The likely outcome is glasses for my little guy.