Isaac's Tower

Isaac started building a tower of blocks the other day. Here's what it looked like after a minute or two:



He kept going. Before it fell down, it looked like this:


Yea, Isaac! It was almost as tall as he is!

From Jesus to Pogo Sticks

As I've posted before, Isaac loves to listen to Bible songs. He particularly loves the "Wee Sing Bible Songs" CD we got him for Christmas. He is always running up to the CD player and shouting "Jesus songs!"

A few days ago, I got tired of listening to the same CD over and over, so I changed it to Derek Webb or Watermark or some other Christian band. Isaac started whimpering and said, "I want Jesus songs!" I told him that these were still songs about Jesus. "They are just different Jesus songs, Isaac."

Well, ever since then he keeps pointing to the CD player and saying, "A different Jesus! A different Jesus!"

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Yesterday, I showed Caleb a few minutes of a clip posted on Intentionally Katie's blog. She had a video of a man named Nick Vujicic who was born with no arms and no legs. What an inspiring tale! He has really used his disabilities in a way that honors God.

Caleb watched as the man walked with no legs and turned the pages of his Bible with a little foot. He asked me, "Why does he have no legs and arms?"

"That's the way God made him, honey. He's very special. God made everyone different." I started to tell him all about different types of people. "You know, some people use wheelchairs to get around, and some..."

Caleb cut me off and said, "Yeah! Some people use pogo sticks!"

Well, yes. I guess they do. :)

How Did He Fall Down Again?

Hello, friends. I've missed you. I know I haven't posted much. It's not for lack of material, just lack of time. Here's a little Isaac story to keep you going until I can post more. ;)

Today before nap time, Isaac sat on the potty. He went--yea! Then I helped him flush, and I put him up on the stool by the sink so he could wash his hands. I looked down while I was drying his hands and saw a puddle on the stool.

"Is that water or pee, Isaac?"

"Water!" he replied. Little stinker.

While I stooped to clean up the mess, Isaac darted away from me, still naked from the waist down, giggling all the way. I called after him, holding his diaper. By the time I'd caught up with him, I saw him staring at a big puddle of pee on the kitchen floor. (More? You still have more??) He looked back at me, saw me approaching, and decided to run away from me again, laughing all the way.

Well, I saw what was going to happen, and you probably do too. I yelled, "ISAAC!" but to no avail. He slipped in his big puddle of pee and fell, face-planting on the tile floor. Isaac wailed, and I scooped him up in my arms. (Yes, he was covered in pee. But that's just what moms do.) Scott ran down the stairs, asking "What happened??"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, honey."

Mr. Independent

Isaac loves to feed himself. Can you tell?



He has refused to let Scott or me even touch his spoon for the past few months. And in case you're curious, that's a typical breakfast for him--steel cut oats mixed with applesauce and 2 thawed cubes of frozen pureed spinach. Sounds disgusting, but he loves it and it's full of nutrition!

Of course, after a breakfast like this, he has to be hosed off in the shower. He obviously hates being in the water.



I just figured I hadn't posted the traditional "baby with food all over himself" and "naked baby in the bathtub" pictures in awhile. So, here you go! You're welcome. ;)

"More Jesus!"

This morning Isaac was walking around saying, "More Jesus! More Jesus!"

I finally figured out that the Bible song CD he'd been listening to had ended, and he wanted it started over. Ha!

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Things have been very busy for me lately, but I hope to resume blogging in earnest!

Donating, Potty Training, and...Tortilla, Anyone?

This morning we went to story time at the library. That's always tons of fun for the kids. Today they had a visit from Mother Goose--a fabulous old lady who dresses up, sings great preschool songs, recites nursery rhymes--the whole bit.

On the way to the library, we stopped at our local food bank to drop off some of the free-or-almost-free groceries I've collected over the past couple of months. I didn't expect what I found there: the place was packed. There are 12 parking spots surrounding the building, and they were all taken. We had to park across the street along with 3 other cars.

I took Caleb and Isaac in with me, and everyone inside was sitting knee to knee, waiting for donations. It was just so humbling to be there and see all the people in need. I walked up with my two little sacks of groceries, and I handed them to the lady at the counter. I am not one to like to donate in public, and I hesitate to even tell you this story because of it, but I wanted to pass on the great need that our own community has--and we live in a very wealthy city. I'm sure that they are in need wherever you live, too. A lady in the center told me as I was leaving, "God bless you." I was caught off guard, and I didn't even know what to say. I just felt like crying, honestly.

So, all that said, please consider donating to your local food banks. If you are a couponer, look for chances to get free or cheap stuff, and donate whatever you can.

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And now for a lighter topic...

WARNING: Discussion about poop!

We always have nap time right after lunch at our house. (Well, the boys do, anyway. I wish I did!) So, after lunch today, I took the kids to the bathroom to wash up and get ready to go to sleep. Isaac kept pointing at the toilet and saying, "Potty!" Now, he does this sometimes. He sees his brother sitting on the potty, I suppose, and wants to do it, too. So a few times a week, I let him sit there. He never really does anything. I think one time he may have peed a little, but I'm not sure.

Today, on the other hand, I sat him on the potty and he said, "Pee pee. Poo poo." Then he just pooped in the potty! Just like that! I remember how much I had to coax Caleb to poop in the potty--and he was over 3 years old! Caleb was in the bathroom with me, and he and I both kind of looked at each other, like "Did he really just poop?" Then we both cheered wildly for Isaac and told him, "Good job!" Isaac looked very pleased with himself, then he leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. What a kid.

But wait--that's not all! I asked him if he was done, but he kept saying, "Pee pee!" So I let him sit there for a couple more minutes, and he peed! Woo hoo! I couldn't be prouder. Who knows if he'll do it again anytime soon, but it's a great start!

(Yes, as in everything, Caleb was the complete opposite. He was pretty difficult to potty train. I wrote about it here. But I've been wanting to post that we have now completely outgrown the Pull-ups at night phase, since for the past month he has been staying dry at naps and night time! Yea, Caleb! We bought him some real underwear instead of the training underwear we'd been using, and he loves them. They have Thomas and Friends on them.)

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I took the kids on a quick run to Kroger tonight around 5:30. We were out of Caleb's milk, so I just needed to get that and a couple of other things. We should have been in and out in 10 minutes. However....

It started in the parking lot. "Mom, can I have a tortilla? I want a tortilla!" Kroger has a tortilleria where they make their own tortillas. They are super yummy, but they contain trans fat so I don't want Caleb to eat them.

"No, honey. We will eat dinner as soon as we get home. Daddy's grilling burgers right now, and I can give you a tortilla at home."

"I don't want to eat when we get home! I want a tortilla at the store!"

"No. We will eat when we get home."

We continued in this vain as we went into the store. Then things started going in slow motion: I saw Caleb walking next to my cart as we entered the bakery section, but he wasn't watching where he was going. And a lady pushing a cart was heading straight toward Caleb and was not slowing down. Why didn't I say anything? Why didn't I call out to Caleb to watch out? Why didn't I say something to the lady? I watched as the lady ran right into Caleb, running the edge of her cart right into Caleb's left cheek.

Caleb looked up at me, wide-eyed, mouth open but no sound coming out, face turning red. I scooped him up, and he buried his face in my shoulder. His arms were wrapped tightly around my neck, he was crying, and he would not hold his head back so I could see his injury. For all I knew, he had blood running down his face.

The lady with the cart started apologizing profusely. "It's okay," I said, more to myself and Caleb than to her. Out of nowhere, Kroger managers started appearing. A nice lady manager came over and appeared quite outraged at the woman driving the other cart, who by that time had excused herself and gone on with her shopping. I managed to pry Caleb off of my shoulder long enough to see his face, which was red but not bleeding. He would be okay.

The manager asked if she could get Caleb some ice, and I said yes. While she was gone, Caleb stopped crying and started to settle down. I asked him if his cheek still hurt, and he said "No, I just okay now."

When the manager returned we took the ice, and I held it to Caleb's cheek. Then another manager came over and asked kindly if there was anything else he could do. "Do you want some juice? Some cookies? We can't let you have a bad experience at Kroger!" Oh, you should have seen Caleb's face light up. "Cookies?" he said. The manager sent a bakery person to go fetch some cookies. He asked me if I wanted him to write up a report, and I declined. Caleb appeared just fine.

The bakery guy came back with THREE BIG cookies for Caleb. He handed them to Caleb, who tried to eat all three at one time. Then the bakery guy saw Isaac, and said, "Oh, little brother will want some, too! I'll be right back!" He came back with TWO more cookies for Isaac. Oh, boy. Isaac immediately started shoving them in his face. By the time we left, he was covered in gooey, melted chocolate chips.

Sigh. Next time I'll just let him have a tortilla!

"Gah isso goo!"

First of all, here is my view as I write this:



I keep my laptop on a counter that overlooks the living room. When I'm checking my email in the morning, Isaac loves to climb up on the couch and watch me from there. Today, he brought his police car up on the counter. I don't particularly like him climbing, but to tell him no is like telling a fish not to swim. He just loves to climb, which is all new for me because Caleb never did. Caleb is much more cautious (he's careful, like me); Isaac is the risk-taker (I honestly have no idea where he got that from).

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On a typical night, I bathe the boys while Scott cleans the dishes. Then Scott takes Isaac and puts him to bed while I do the same with Caleb. Last night, for some reason I just wanted to switch and so I took Isaac. Isaac's routine is simple, but it takes a long time. We read him Goodnight Moon a couple of times (he adores that book), then rock him until he falls asleep. Last night he was a little antsy, so I started to sing to him. When he was younger, I'd sing "God is so Good" to him a lot. I haven't sung it in a few months, and for some reason it came to me last night. So I rocked him and started singing. After a few minutes, I had just sung "He's so good to..." and Isaac picked his head up off my shoulder, looked me in the eyes, and sang out, "Meeee!" I just laughed at him, he was so cute and earnest. Then he surprised me more. I kept singing, and within a few minutes he was singing most of the song with me. His version is this: "Gah isso goo a me!" I was just humbled and amazed, hearing a toddler version of a simple Biblical truth. When I heard Scott leave Caleb's room, I called to him to come and hear. Beautiful.

Going...going...gone

Going....





Going....




Gone.

Bunnies; Isaac at 15 Months; Surgery Update

You can tell it's spring time in Frisco when you see the bunnies in your yard. We've had a great time with the bunnies that come to visit us! I know they are pests to those with gardens and flowers, but we actually welcome them since they help (ahem!) eat our weeds. ;)

The boys and I will put out carrots and lettuce for the bunnies, too (organic, of course!). Caleb in particular loves to see the bunnies eating "our" food. (Now if only Caleb would eat carrots and lettuce...)

The first thing Isaac does in the morning is run to our back window to see if the
re are bunnies outside. He'll yell, "Bunny!" and turn to me and grin.


They are the closest thing we'll get to pets around here!

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Isaac had his 15-month well-visit appointment the other day. As usual, he was not really all well for his visit, but he wasn't too bad. He's been wheezing again, which his doc and I attribute to the rain and humidity. I think mold and mildew may be a trigger for him. His pediatrician listened to his lungs and said that he sounds like a squeaky toy. He'll stay on breathing treatments for the time being (pulmicort 1-2 times per day, albuterol as needed).

As I am prone to do, I took pictures of us with my camera to entertain him while we were waiting for the doctor to come in. (Yes, those are his Bobux shoes next to him.)

Isaac weighed in at 25 pounds, 10 ounces and measured at 32" long. Pretty average--about 50th to 75th percentile. Which is kind of funny, since Caleb is always at the top of the charts or off the charts. He's just a really tall kid for his age. (The pedi estimated that Caleb will be 6'2" when he reaches his full height--did you know they can project that when a kid is 2 year old?)

The pedi was very impressed when I told her that Isaac knows how to say at least 50 words. He even puts words together, which evidently kids don't normally do until about age 2. He says phrases like "Here you go" and "I did it." Sometimes he'll even say things like "Bye-bye, Daddy." I think he's a genius. ;) But I did have some thunder taken from me when Scott said that a 12 month old in the church nursery can say all her ABC's and count from 1 to 15. What?!? (See, parents, this is why you never compare children. :) )

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In other news, I've decided to move Caleb's surgery up to this Thursday, May 14. I'm trying to gently prepare him, but it's hard to prepare a 3-year-old. He actually got to visit a friend of his, Jackson, when he went to the hospital a few weeks ago. Caleb got to see Jackson having a good time at the hospital, so he isn't scared of it now. So far I've just told him that he's going to go to the hospital to see the doctor, that he'll take a nap there, and while he's sleeping the doctor will fix his ears. I've explained that he won't feel anything. Caleb is taking it all in stride.

'ove 'ou!

Tonight before Scott put Isaac to bed, he brought him into Caleb's room where I was getting Caleb ready for bed.

Scott: Tell Mommy "night-night!"
Isaac: Bye!
Scott: No, say "night-night!"
Isaac (smiling and waving): Bye-bye!
Scott (sighing): Oh, well.
Me: I love you, Isaac!
Isaac: 'Ove 'Ou!
Scott and I exchange glances, dumbfounded. Did he really just say that? We try to get him to say it again, but Isaac is just grinning goofily and being silent. Scott heads on into Isaac's room to put him to bed. A few minutes later....

Scott: He said it again!!

Joy!

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I listed most of the words Isaac can say in a post about a month ago. Here are some more words he's picked up and uses regularly:

• Down (when he wants us to put him down, or when he's climbing on something and knows he needs to get down!)
  
• Done (accompanied by the sign for "finished"--also says "all done")
• Dog (enunciated very well, with the "g" on the end and everything!)
• Bama (for banana--his favorite food)
• O's (for Oatios or whatever O-shaped cereal we have)
• Puh (still emerging--but he uses this sound consistently to ask for his organic puff snacks)
  
• 'elcome (when he gives us some minutiae off the floor and we say "thank you" he replies with this)
• 'ilk (for milk)
• Eat (he's done this one for awhile, but I forgot to list it last month)
• There (when he gives you something)
• Put-tuh (potty; he'll escort you to the restroom if you tell him you need to go!)
  

That brings his word count up to over 20. He is almost 14 months old.

It's just striking to me how different Caleb and Isaac are. Caleb could say about 10 words at 18 months, I believe. (But he's turned into quite a talker now, trust me!)

Baking Day; The Climber

Today I was feeling domestic, so I did a bunch of cleaning and baking. I made homemade wheat bread, which made the house smell fantastic. This is the second time I've used this recipe, and it is yummy!! It's really easy if you have a bread machine or a Kitchen Aid mixer.

I also made some banana bread. This is a different recipe than I'm used to using, and I made it with whole wheat flour rather than regular and applesauce in place of the oil. Tasty!

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Isaac is our climber. Can you tell?

Book Review: Super Baby Food; A Day's Worth of Food for Isaac

I have been trying to educate myself as much as I can on nutrition so I can improve our eating habits and raise Isaac to be a healthy eater. One of my favorite bloggers, MckMama, is an inspiration in the area of childhood nutrition. She feeds her kids all sorts of healthy fare (and they gobble it up gleefully), so I snatched up her suggestion and bought the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron.

Overall, the book has helped me a great deal. It has a section on making your own baby cereal (she calls it Super Porridge, which I'll get into later) that I have put to daily use in our house. She tells you how to incorporate stuff into your baby's diet that I wouldn't have known what to do with--lentils, dried beans, flax meal, wheat germ, kale, tofu, etc. On top of that, it's actually pretty easy, too! It's worth the time to read and learn how to make your own homemade "Super Baby Food." It's tons cheaper and healthier than that jarred stuff.

I can't recommend the book without a few caveats:

• She recommends giving babies and toddlers nuts and seeds. In most pediatricians' eyes, this is a big no-no! She does encourage you to get your pedi's advice before starting any meal plan, but I wish she'd left out the nuts and seeds. When I asked my pedi about the book and whether I could give those things to Isaac after he turned a year, she looked at me like I was crazy. The only seed she approved was flax seed.
  
• The book is not well-organized and is very wordy. She incoporates lots of "tips" which largely just take up space.
• Sometimes she makes things sound overly complicated. She'll go on for a couple of pages about how to do something, when basically it can be summed up with, "Put the whole oats in the blender. Blend for 2 minutes. Voila! You have ground oatmeal! "
  

She advocates feeding the baby "Super Porridge" in the morning, which is the main meal. It's just cooked oatmeal, rice, or some other grain mixed with fruit, veggies, and/or other nutritional stuff. Here's what mine looks like that I make for Isaac:




He LOVES this. It's ground oatmeal, organic cherry applesauce, flax meal, and wheat germ. I change it up and use different fruits or grains, but this is the crux of it. (If you're interested, the oatmeal part is easy, but it does take a few minutes. Boil 1 cup of water in a small pot. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to low. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of ground oatmeal in the water. Stir. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occassionally.) You can't tell in the pic, but that's a big adult-sized cereal bowl. He eats the whole thing!!

Yaron recommends having a second meal based on yogurt, and we typically do that. I buy organic whole milk yogurt (whatever is on sale at Sprouts!) and mix it with whatever fruit I have on hand--some combination of peaches, bananas, strawberries, kiwi, or blueberries. I load it all in my trust mini food processor (this thing is the workhorse of my kitchen and gets used at least once a day!) and blend away.



It winds up looking something like this:




Making this for Isaac's lunch is good for me, too. After I make his, I make some for myself (with nonfat vanilla yogurt, fruit, wheat germ, flax, and sunflower seeds). Yum!!

Once your baby can handle a little bit chunkier food, you can just buy bags of frozen fruit (with no icky preservatives!) and keep them in the freezer. When it's time to make the yogurt smoothie, grab your frozen fruit, add a fresh banana or whatever you have on hand, and blend!

I also make my own veggie and fruit cubes. This is the part that saves me some serious money. For example, I spent about $4 on one big organic butternut squash, and I got this gallon-sized bag of baby food out of it. It's the equivalent of at least a dozen of those level 2 baby food jars.



Yaron covers pretty much every type of veggie and fruit puree in her book, or you can go here to learn how to make several of them. The easiest ones to me (and the ones that are almost always in my freezer) are squash, sweet potatoes, blueberries, peas, and carrots. I use these ice cube trays (I actually verified with the company that they contain no BPA) that have covers on them to freeze my purees, then I just store the cubes in freezer bags.

Isaac normally eats about 6 cubes of veggies at dinner, then finishes the meal off with some Cascadian Farms Purely O's (the best organic O-shaped cereal, with no sugar added). He has some of those or some other finger food at lunch, too. We'll be working in some more beans and tofu soon. He also has a scrambled or hard-boiled egg a couple of times a week.

Well, there you have it! That's what Isaac eats in a day, influenced greatly by Ruth Yaron's book Super Baby Food.

Byproducts of the Flu

Having the flu was not fun, but at least a few good things came out of it.

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On Saturday night, Caleb was in another room and started calling for me. Scott knew I wasn't feeling well, so he went in there to help. Caleb told Scott, "But I want Mommy!"

Scott left the room for a few seconds, then came back in and announced in his highest falsetto, "Hi! I'm Mommy! How can I help you, honey?" Well, that launched Caleb into a giggle fit and Scott into a whole 5-minute "Mommy" show. Then Caleb announced, "I want Daddy!" So Scott left the room and came back with his deepest, booming voice, "What's going on in here?" I could hear all of this from the kitchen, and I collapsed in laughter right along with Caleb.

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Isaac is now weaned. I didn't really mean to wean him completely by this point, but it works out. He was down to just one nursing a day anyway. Strangely enough, everyone says that the nighttime feeding is the hardest one to cut out. But for us, that was the first one to go, soon after he turned 12 months. Scott, for the last few months, has had the magic touch as far as getting Isaac to go to sleep in his crib, so I was happy to let him just feed Isaac a cup of milk at night and get him to bed rather than me nursing him.

The next feeding I cut out was the morning one. Isaac wakes up every morning hungry, and the first thing he used to say was, "Bah-puh!" for Boppy, the nursing pillow we use. (Which is FABULOUS, btw, and well worth the money.) I got really tired of nursing him first thing in the morning, so we switched to milk a week or so ago for that feeding.

All that was left was an afternoon feeding. Now that one I wanted to keep for awhile. Honestly, it was the only way I could get him to take a nap during the day! But when I got the flu, I was too sick and had to miss that afternoon feeding, so he went a whole day without me. And so I decided that he didn't really need to nurse anymore.

He didn't like that decision yesterday. He cried and cried and called out "Bah-puh!" when I tried to put him down for a nap, but he eventually went to sleep. Today he still cried quite a bit when it was time for a nap, but I finally got him down. It should get easier from here....

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I've been trying to teach Caleb what "germs" are. Just this week he's hit that infamous 3-year-old stage in which his favorite word is "Why?" So when he asked questions about why I was sick, I tried to explain that you get sick because of germs.

On Saturday I was reading to Caleb, and he says, "Don't get my book sick, Mommy."

On Sunday, Caleb took Isaac's cup and drank out of it. I told him that he can't drink out of anyone else's cup or he might get sick. "I might get worms, Mommy?" Uh, that's germs, dear.

An Update; Scenes

It's been hard to find the time to post lately. Here's what's going down in our world:

Caleb still has the flu. He is acting pretty normal, but he still has some, er, stomach problems. I really thought he'd be able to go back to school yesterday, and I was really looking forward to having some almost-alone time while he was away, but he woke up sick again. (Dear reader, I hope you appreciate these euphemisms! I certainly don't want to gross out those who read this with their morning cup of coffee.)

As of Monday night, Scott seems to have some version of the flu as well. He's been having headaches, feeling achy and nauseous, and has no appetite. He ate 3 crackers yesterday, and that's all he could stomach.

So, today I am very grateful that Isaac and I are relatively well and I am able to take care of the family. We have been through worse.

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Isaac is learning new words every week. Here are the words he says well and often:

• Baba (his name for Caleb)
• Dada
• Mama
• Isaac
• Bye or Bye-Bye (accompanied by a wave)
  
• This
• Bah (for ball--he calls it out repeatedly while wandering the house in search of balls)
• Ba (for bath--he says it while walking toward the bath tub)
• Chee (for cheese--this is a new one--he adores shredded cheese and says this when he wants more)
• Uh oh
• Bah-puh (for Boppy, meaning he wants to nurse)
  
• Ba-oo (another new one--for balloon)
  

He used to say "hi," but he rarely says it anymore so I've nixed it from the list. I heard him putting 3 different consonant sounds together yesterday, and he's learned "Juh," "Guh," and "Cuh" sounds. He also says something that sounds like "Thanks."

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Caleb was leaving with Scott last week to run an errand, and Isaac and I were standing at the door to the garage waving good-bye. Scott called Caleb over to the driveway and pointed up to the sky. "Look! There are two jets up there!"

Caleb said, "Awww, they best friends! They fly together!"

Then he looked at me and said, "Mommy, they best friends just like we best friends." He ran over and gave me a big hug.

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As I was typing this, Isaac found the TV remote on the table. He picked it up, studied it for a few moments, and started pushing buttons. He was standing right in front of the TV when he hit the power button. The TV came to life with a loud noise, and Isaac jumped about 2 feet in the air (not really) and came running to me.

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If Isaac finds something he wants me to have, he will grab my hand, open it so that it's palm-up, and place the item in my hand.

Two Doctor Visits in Two Days for Two Kids

Yesterday, Isaac had his 2-week follow-up visit from his last respiratory virus. He was also scheduled to get some shots that he wasn't able to get last time. Again, are my kids ever WELL on their well visits?? Isaac had developed a cough and runny nose again on Sunday night (which meant Scott and I didn't sleep very much Sunday or Monday, since Isaac was up coughing during the wee small hours of the morning). He just never seems to get well for long anymore. The doctor listened to his lungs, and thankfully she didn’t hear any significant wheezing. She told me to keep doing one steroid breathing treatment at night until he gets completely better (which might be until summer).

Yesterday afternoon after preschool, Caleb came home, had a snack, and went to bed for a nap. He woke up about an hour later just really upset and crying uncontrollably. He wouldn’t calm down and go back to sleep even though I could tell he was still tired. Finally he came out to the living room and he fell asleep in Scott’s arms! Scott was amazed—it’s been a LONG time since we’ve held Caleb while he’s sleeping!

When he woke up, I could tell he had a little fever. About an hour later, he started crying and said that his ear hurt. He wouldn’t eat anything for dinner. We had some medicated ear drops from a previous ear infection, so Scott put those in. We were also able to get him to take some Children's Tylenol later, which is amazing since normally Caleb either puts up a big fight or he's unable to keep it down.

Scott and I braced ourselves for a long night, but everything ended up going really well, praise God! Isaac slept straight through the night in his own crib until 5:45!! (That's a HUGE deal for us!) And Caleb only woke up once at about 4:30. He must have been having some weird fever dreams, because he kept telling me to "turn it off" but then wasn't sure what "it" was. I got him back in bed and back to sleep until 8:00

We have a doctor appointment for Caleb today at 1:30. Two visits to the doctor in two days.

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On a lighter note, I got a cute picture of Isaac yesterday.

And here he is trying to sit down on the stairs (but he's not quite tall enough!):

(For curious minds, that is the back of a Mr. Potato Head toy that he's holding, and that's "Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?" on the floor!)

Crazy Tuesday

Tuesday was crazy. Just how crazy? It's taken me until Wednesday night to recover enough to post about it.

Not really.

But Tuesday was definitely a crazy day. Here's how it started:

7:35--Caleb wakes up. I go in his room to get him, and he tells me, "I have pee-pee on my 'jamas, Mommy. There's pee-pee on my bed, too." Okay, okay. I get him out of bed and plop him in the tub for a quick bath. I try to keep Isaac from climbing into the tub with his brother. (He can actually get one leg over the tub!)

7:45--I realize that Caleb has one pair of jeans clean, and 2 pairs of sweatpants (which are usually for around the house only). I am really behind on laundry! I put one pair of sweatpants in his school bag for "just in case", and I put the jeans on him. Umm...I try to put the jeans on him. I guess Caleb has grown in the last few weeks since I bought these jeans, because now they look skin tight on him. I loosen the adjustable waistband, and Caleb says they feel fine.

8:00--Breakfast for the boys. Maybe we'll actually be on time to preschool today (9:00)!

8:10--Boys run around and play while I finish my breakfast. I keep looking at Caleb wondering if I have anything other than sweatpants or tight jeans to put on him!

8:25--I am finishing up packing Caleb's lunch when I hear, "Mommy? I pee-peed in my pants." I look over at Caleb, expecting to see just a wet circle on his pants. Um, no. This is a gusher. There is pee all over the floor (thank goodness he was on the tile and not the carpet!), and he's standing awkwardly over it, not knowing what to do. I strip off the tight jeans and plop Caleb back in the tub.

8:45--Caleb's second bath of the day is over (he normally doesn't get any baths in the morning--he's a night bather), but he is refusing to admit it. The water is drained, but he just sits in the empty tub, playing with measuring cups. I try to explain that we are going to be late, but he doesn't seem to care or understand. I leave him there for the moment.

8:50--Caleb finally agrees to get out of the tub. I tell him to sit on the potty and see if he can get any pee in the toilet before we go. I go to our bedroom to get Isaac dressed.

8:55--"Mommy, I'm done!!!" Isaac is sitting on the floor happily playing with a toy, so I run to Caleb's bathroom to get him. I start to put his underwear on when I hear Isaac start whining, "Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Maaaaaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" He toddles into the bathroom, and I see that the entire front of his shirt and shorts are wet. I know immediately what happened--he knocked over the cup of water I'd left on my nightstand.

9:00--I pull off Isaac's wet clothes, put new clothes on Caleb (the other pair of dreaded sweatpants!), put new clothes on Isaac, and pray that we can actually get out of the house sometime soon.

9:10--I am putting on my clothes when Caleb decides to slam the door to our bedroom. This sets off our house alarm, which is sensitive to loud noises. I run to turn the alarm off and comfort scared kids. Caleb says, "I'm so very sorry, Mommy. I'm so so sorry."

9:20--Kids are dressed, consoled, and piled into the Mom-mobile.

9:35--We arrive at school. Finally. ;)

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When I pick Caleb up from school, his teachers tell me that he peed and pooped in the toilet for them. Yea!! That is wonderful news.

Then when we get home, I read his "what I did today" paper and discover that he got a "pretty good" under the "played well with others" category, and he was "restless" during nap time. He's never gotten a "pretty good" before! Where's the "very good"? Hmph. Wonder what happened.

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To end the day, I decide Isaac is way overdue for a haircut. I settle him in Scott's lap and pull out the scissors. I am no hairstylist, but I figure I can manage a little boy's trim.

Here's the before:




And the after:



Certainly not perfect, but I think the girls will be lined up after him anyway. :)

A Few Recent Pictures

Caleb has gotten into the cute habit of leading Isaac around the house. He'll grab his hand and walk with him from room to room. (Yes, Isaac has no pants on. That's a common occurrence in our house!)






Isaac will now walk over to the freezer when he's hungry. That's where we keep his frozen homemade baby food, and he knows it! (Please pay no attention to all the fingerprints on my fridge! And yes, that is a Dream-Eze fitted diaper he has on.)






Caleb went to a birthday party on Saturday for one of his preschool friends. Here he is at Pump It Up.




He kept going down the same big slide over and over.

Isaac = Wheezer

Isaac had an appointment on Wednesday morning for his 12-month well-visit to the pediatrician. Why is it that my kids are never actually well for their well-visits?

On Tuesday night, Isaac started coughing...a lot. He was up most of the night just hacking away, and would only sleep in little bursts while propped up (read: being held by Scott or me). Needless to say, the three of us didn't get much rest.

When we got to the doctor on Wednesday, our pedi heard him wheezing when she used the stethoscope. So, she gave us instructions to get back on breathing treatments 3-4 times a day (because, after all, we've been missing them so much, having been off of them for a whole week or so). And since he's sick, he didn't get his recommended vaccines. I honestly think that Isaac has just outsmarted the whole system and times his illnesses so he won't have to get shots.

Wednesday night was awful again. He slept solidly for about 2 hours, then he was up coughing the rest of the night. On Thursday, you could hear his wheezing without a stethoscope.

But by last night, he just seemed like a new kid again. He slept very well--I think he only woke up twice, which is good for him, and he didn't have any coughing fits. Yea! He has so much more energy today. Energy for finding a box of Kleenex and flinging them all over the floor, energy for banging toys loudly against the wall and waking his brother from his nap....

Isaac and Sara's Birthday Party

On Saturday, we celebrated Isaac's first birthday and Sara's eleventh birthday, since they are only a few days apart. Much fun was had by all. :)

We kept things very low-key. It was just family over to our house for brunch (as close as I can get to breakfast at Tiffany's). We had quiche, muffins, lots of fruit, fruit dip, bagels and cream cheese, OJ, and coffee. I even found some organic sparkling apple cider (I got a whole bottle at Kroger for 50 cents!) to serve in lieu of champagne. ;) Everyone pitched in and helped.

I remember for Caleb's first birthday, I made Veggie Tales cakes (one Bob cake and one Larry cake). But I knew that my picky Caleb wouldn't touch cake anyway, so I didn't bother with making him a special "baby cake." Well, Isaac will eat just about anything (especially if it's on the floor, but that's another story), so I decided to make him a special egg-free cake that he could enjoy by himself. Well, it was a flop! I made it late Friday night, and I cut into it Saturday morning and saw that it didn't even get cooked all the way through AND it will still hard as a rock! If anyone has a good "baby's first birthday cake" recipe, do share! The one I found for this Apple Spice cake was a definite no go! The bite I tried was so gross--I could still taste it an hour later. The whole thing landed in the trash can. Oh, well. Isaac didn't care. I ended up letting him try some ice cream. :)

Mom and Dad got some cute pics. Here is Isaac opening a gift from Rodney, Susan, Sara, and Matthew.
















Here is Caleb making a really goofy face!
















This is Sara blowing out her 11 candles.
















And since I've been getting a lot of flack from some of you (ahem! Robin!) about not having any pics of me on my site, here is one of me and Isaac.

Vignettes from Lunch

Caleb approaches Isaac, who is sitting in his high chair eating Cheerios, and says in a sing-song voice, "Isaac, don't drop Cheewios on da floor!"

Isaac throws one on the floor.

Caleb picks it up, looks at Isaac. Still in a cutesy voice: "I said, don't drop Cheewios on da floor, little boy!"

Caleb picks up the Cheerios off the floor and throws them in the sink.

A few minutes later...

Caleb, to me: "Isaac wants more banana."

Me: "How do you know he wants more banana?"

Caleb: "Cuz he signed 'more'." Caleb walks over to Isaac, who is oblivious, takes his hands and makes the sign for "more". Then he walks over to the other side of the kitchen, reaches up on the counter, and gets a banana. He brings it back and tries to peel it for Isaac.