Midday walk

Keari, Adam and I headed out for a walk at lunch.  It looked like it was going to rain any minute but it didn't.  I wouldn't have minded because it was really warm although there was a nice breeze along the water.  It's amazing how much the little ones talk.  They chatter about anything and everything.  Quite entertaining what pops into their.  Adam was quite unhappy that there were no boats to see out on the river today.  He did perk up by the time we made it to the marina...lots of cool boats to see there.  Keari was happy that the path the creepy bridge was open today.  Don't ask, I have no idea why it got nicknamed the creepy bridge as there really isn't anything creepy about it as your see shortly in the pics that I took today.  Now that the weather has finally decided to warm up, I'll have to make sure that I get outside more often on the days that I work from home.  It's nice to spend time with the kiddos in the middle of work day...although I have to say, they rarely leave my side when I'm at home.  Keari loves to play cards at the desk next to mine.  Adam wanders in and out for hugs and kisses.  The office definitely lacks that when I am there.

Too quick with the pine cones today

Dreary looking sky over the river

Heading towards the creepy bridge

On the creepy bridge.  Any thoughts as to why it might be creepy?

Adams Goofiness

This child continually makes me laugh at the silly things he does throughout the day.  Over the weekend, he was sitting in his chair while I was clean up from lunch.  I can hear him making funny noises but that's just Adam, so not really paying much attention.  I look over to find that he's suctioned cupped his cup to his face.  You know...stick the cup over your mouth and suck all the air out so that it adheres to your face.  Yup, that's what he did and when he'd get it unsuctioned, he'd start babbling about it and then repeat the whole process again.

Another thing he likes to do is make piggy sounds.  Now I think everyone, every now and then, will make snorting sounds thru their nose.  He likes to do it continually, he'll snort and then start laughing at himself, then snort again and more laughing.  It's an endless cycle for awhile.  And anyone who happens to be in the vicinity of him when he starts this just can't help but laugh with him.

Tonight we had french toast for dinner.  To give you a little background, we have plates that when you cut on them make the most atrocious noise...like nails on a blackboard.  Half of us feel like we are getting knifed in two whenever some cuts something and the others that it doesn't bother do it purely to torture the rest of us.  Adam has watched the commentary about the squeaking plates for quite a while which usually entails someone covering theirs ear while yelling at the culprit to stop it.  Tonight Andy was cutting his french toast and as soon as he started Adam put his little hands over his and started repeating stop it stop it over and over again.  Glad to see we've trained him well.  LOL  ;)

He's in a big hugging stage now.  Every time he sees me he wants a hug.  In the middle of a diaper change, he wants a hug.  Walking down the stairs, hug time.  And don't even think about not giving it to him.  He might be little but he gets his point across when he starts tugging on you.  And watch out when he starts demanding kisses!  ;)

Bronchitis and Two Fevers...

After I've been buried alive for weeks on end due to work, I surface to find that my oldest daughter has bronchitis. The same day she gets seen by the dr for that, her younger sister and youngest brother both start running fevers that same night. Bekah was actually a good sick person...she basically just rolled over and went back to sleep after I checked her. Adam, on the other hand, was a different story. He started babbling about midnight and didn't stop until about 4am. At one point his temp was 102.5 so I think he was babbling out of delirium, poor boy. ;) Both are doing fine today although Adam's temp is starting to climb again so not sure what the night will bring. Not sure I can handle another sleepless night, especially with having to go to work in the morning.

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Today is Adam's 2nd birthday although we won't get to celebrate it since Keari is in the hospital but wanted to be sure to wish him a happy birthday anyway. :)

Creature of Habit

It always amazes me how young children can be and still know the routine. We almost always hang our clothes on the line to dry but it's been raining all day so we had to throw a couple loads in the dryer. Adam loves to help with clothes so he was watching as I removed the clothes from the dryer. He then grabbed one side of the basket while I grabbed the other. He then attempted to carry the basket to the outside door, while I was heading for the inside door. A tug of war resulted at which point he got really mad at me when I would not let him take the basket of clothes outside to be hung up. He didn't understand that the clothes were already dry and ready to be folded...he just knew they were clothes in a basket coming out of a machine in the laundry room and that they should be heading outside. LOL Poor little one...so tough to be almost 2. ;)

Mystery Ouchie

I woke up at 3am to Adam crying ouch, ouch, ouch. Not really what you want to hear that early in the morning. I debated whether to check on him or not...he gets disturbed really easily by the opening of his door...so if there was nothing wrong, then I'd end up waking up by checking on him...and if there was something wrong...well, I opted to check on him as I was afraid he'd gotten his leg caught in the side of his crib. I found him lying in the middle of his crib with his head buried in his mattress repeating ouch over and over. So my initial thinking of a caught leg was incorrect but I was right in that I did disturb him by walking into his room. When he heard me by his crib, he popped his little head up. My second though was a stinky diaper...that also turned out to be false. I took him to the living room to lay for a bit but he was so restless that I finally ended up putting him back in his crib with some music on and laying on the floor for bit with my hand in his crib so he'd know I was still there. Anyone ever do that? I knew it was time to leave when he started playing games with my hand and giggling...whatever had caused him to wake up was obviously no longer there so I headed back to bed to get a couple more hours of sleep before I had to get up for work. Needless to say I was very tired this morning but was thankful for having taken a shower last night as that gave me a few extra shuteye minutes this morning.

Andy and the kids had a good day today...spent most of it at the marina catching fish. Everyone loves fishing and the younger girls appear to be naturals at it. A good number of fish were brought home to eat for tonights dinner.

Tyler had karate class tonight and earned another stripe. I believe this is the last one he needed before he could petition to the next belt level so hopefully by next month he'll be an orange stripe belt. He really likes karate and I hope it continues for a long time to come.

Quiet

That's how I thought today was going to be. I didn't think we had anything planned for today so thought it would be a pretty laid back, lazy kind of day which for the most part it was. It turns out that Bekah had her first soccer practice of the year this morning. Since it was a beautiful morning, not sweltering likes it's been most morning, we all decided to go to the field to hang out while she practiced. I can't say it was much of a practice when only one of her teammates showed up but that tends to be how things are at this time of year, especially for the 4-5yr old age group. When they were done practicing, we came home, ate lunch, made some banana bread...yum.

Everything was going well until early afternoon when Adam decided to fall head first off Keari's tricycle. He ended up scraping his chin and cut two gashes, inside and out, with his teeth just below his lip line. Poor thing...and he sure didn't want the dr looking inside his mouth to see if he had bit all the way through. I took him to the urgent care center (which btw has terrible hours for being an urgent care center...I got there at 4:45pm which was 15 minutes before they closed) because I couldn't tell whether he had bit all the way through and whether the gash on the outside needed stitches...it's small but it keeps separating whenever he draws his lip into his mouth. The dr said that he'll have a scar there, that it doesn't need stitches and that he doesn't think he bit all the way through. He going to look pretty rough for awhile, though. He handled things pretty well until it was time to go to bed...daddy usually does that job but tonight he wanted mom...funny how kids want their mom when they aren't feeling well. Andy was able to finally take him but Adam sure wasn't happy about it. I think he settled down fairly quickly after he couldn't see me anymore. Let's hope he sleeps all night...we did give him some tylenol for the pain since we could it was swelling and starting to bruise. Poor thing.

Crawling Baby

It's taken 9 months but Adam has figured out how to crawl. He's been scooching around the room on his butt for months now but now he is actually up on all 4 fours. Oh boy...here we go again. LOL

A Day at the Park

Alex had to be in Easton early this morning to help work a yard sale for his missions club. I decided to the little ones to Tuckahoe State Park for the couple of hours that he was working instead of going home. Here's some pics of our time there...

Drs Appt

Adam has his 4 month check up today and is doing great. He weighs 16 lbs 3.5 oz and is 24.75 inches long. Nothing really exciting about the appt other than the dr is now saying that he will most likely has the lump on his head forever which totally irritates me. First it was a few days, then a couple weeks, then a few months, then it'll be gone by the time he's a year and now it's that he will have it forever. Grr! And I really still do not understand why he got the cephalohematoma in the first place. We've had other kids that the vaccum was used on and they never ended up with one, so what was done differently with him?? Poor little guy is going to have a lumpy head for life all because of me. :(

Happy Boy

Adam sure looks happy here.

Drs Appt

Adam had his 2 month checkup this morning. He's doing great...now weighs 13 lbs 12 oz and is 23 1/4 inches long. He ended up getting 4 shots and an oral vaccine today. Poor munchkin is a little cranky now. And it didn't help that one of the needles came off the syringe and got stuck in his leg. With all the vaccines that our kids have gotten, I have never seen that happen before. He sleeps 7-8 hrs a night...such a good baby which is such a switch from Keari who was up every couple of hours til she was almost a year old. He still has the hematoma on his head which the dr says has now calcified and will eventually smooth itself out...in about a years time. Guess he's going to be lopsided for awhile. And now he has a couple of hemangiomas on his head too. Those will eventually go away too but right now the poor guy is just a mess up there. LOL

A Day Off

Since it was such a beautiful day today, Andy decided to let the kids have a day off of school. This picture shows how Connor spent some of his morning. LOL Actually, he was helping me out while I did a little work. After lunch, we all headed to Terrapin Beach and spent some time playing in the sand. What a gorgeous day to be outside! Hard to believe it's November and the temps are near 70 degrees.

We received Alex's first quarter report today. He did great...made 2nd Honors with 4 A's & 3 B's. It was touch and go for a while there with his Chemistry grade but he was able to squeak out a B. ;) Way to go Alex!

Baptism

Today was a beautiful day for Adam to be baptized. Weather was gorgeous even if it was a bit on the nippy side. Our whole family came over to witness his special day. He was so good during the ceremony...slept through most of it although he did open his eyes to check things out when the water was poured over his head. He decided that was okay and promptly went back to sleep. LOL
Alex and Kenzie are Adam's godparents and they were so excited. This is a picture of them laying their hands on his white garment. Click here to see more pics of the entire family on Andy's blog.

Cold

We have a service contract on our furnace that enables us to get it inspected each year and have any problems with the furnace itself fixed for just the cost of the contract...of course how many times is the problem with just the furnace?? We always schedule the service prior to it getting cold so that we know the furnace is in working order when we need it. We started this process last week when during that inspection it was discovered that the exhaust vent motor had burned out and needed to be replaced (one of those instances where the problem isn't with the furnace unit therefore not covered by the contract). This also meant that the inspection couldn't be totally completed because of the burned out motor. The part was ordered and they came on Tuesday to install it. As the guy was leaving after doing the repair, he commented on us being ready for the cold weather that was supposed to hit the end of this week. So I'm thinking everything is good but I should have known better. Andy turns on the furnace, or I should say, tries to turn on the furnace last night but nothing happens other than the vent coming on. So needless to say it was a chilly night with no heat here. Andy calls this morning for an emergency appt to get things fixed and after the furnace perplexes the workman for awhile, he is finally able to figure out that the problem is due to some broken wires in the furnace. So, I'm concluding that the last workman never actually tested the furnace after he installed the vent motor 3 days ago because there no way it would have worked with those broken wires. We always, always have problems with this furnace...no matter what we do, it just seems to want to work correctly and always takes multiple phone calls to the servicing company, almost always on an emergency basis, to get them to come out and fix it. The good news is that, for now at least, the furnance is working and we should all set for the 35 degree night we are expecting tonight.

And now I'm off to bed...it's been a long day of cleaning the house to get ready for Adam's baptism tomorrow and the houseful of people we will have. Still have a few odds and ends to do in the morning but the majority of stuff is done. Thank goodness.

Long Night

Sheeze, we went from one extreme to the other. Last night Adam was up every 1 1/2 hrs. I'm glad I didn't go to bed last night with the expectation of him sleeping the entire night because I would have been sorely disappointed. The one bright spot was that I wasn't in pain last night. LOL

Adam had his one month check up today and he weighed in at 11 lbs 14 oz and 21 7/8 inches. He's just growing up a storm. Still have his hemotoma which the dr is still claiming will go away...we'll see...and he still has his acne but that's starting to improve. Won't be gone by this weekend though but nothing can be done about that.

Keari also had a drs appt for here two year check up. She weighs 25 lbs 6 oz and is 31 1/2 inches tall. I made this appt for her today because she was supposed to get a second shot but the drs office counted wrong and she wasn't able to get it...the two shots need to be done 6 months apart and it's only been 5 months. If I'd known that, I would have waited another month to take her in. And combined with having to argue with the office about the filing of one of Adam's claims totally put me in the wrong mood for the visit today. I totally love the pediatrician but the lady that handles the claims submissions leaves a lot to be desired. I get so sick of hear "you need to get me someone to talk to" or "you need to call and get it straightened out". Just because I work at the company where I have my insurance doesn't mean that I have anything to do with the way claims are paid and it shouldn't be my responsibility to have to straighten things out. I'd already made a call to company to find out why the claim paid incorrectly but there drs office didn't think that was good enough. Grr!

All Nighter

Adam slept from 9pm to 5am last night. That's wonderful for him but terrible for me since I'm nursing him. I woke up about 1am in a severe amount of pain and finally had to get up at 1:30am to pump out some of the excess milk as I couldn't stand it anymore. Boy did I feel much better once I'd done that...could actually go back to sleep after that. The night before he slept 6 hrs...wonder if he's starting a new pattern. We'll see how he does tonight.

One Month

Adam is one month old today. Hard to believe that he's already been here that long. He sleeps pretty good at night although he seems to thing that when he wakes up around 4-5am that it's time to be up and play for awhile. I try to discourage him as best I can. LOL He has a serious case of baby acne...covers the top of his head, face, and top half of his chest and back. I'm hoping that most of it will be done by the 19th as that's the day he gets baptized. If not, he'll just have some blotchy pictures. LOL Anyone that's in our neighborhood that day feel free to stop by, we'd love to see you.




Here's a picture of Kenzie making Adam smile.











And one where Connor wrapped him up like a cocoon.

Proud Big Sister

I think Keari loves her little brother...what do you think?

Growth Spurts

Adam seems to be right on track with his growth spurts so far. The first growth spurt is supposed to hit between 7 - 10 days and on day 10 he started eating like crazy. The second spurt hits about 3 weeks. He's 3 weeks today and yesterday all he wanted to do was eat, eat, eat...and that's saying something for a baby that already eats every 2 hours round the clock. Poor mom is definitely feeling like a cow now. LOL

I want to know how babies can sleep like this. Now matter how many times I straighten him, he always ends up back in this same position. I'm glad he likes it. Can you imagine how we'd feel when we woke up after having our necks crinked over like that? I don't even want to think about it.