So much happening

We have had such a busy week! Lots of good stuff happening.

We started vegetables with Nicholas this week. Green beans first last Sunday. He made some funny faces the first night, but then gobbled them up the next 3 nights. We moved on to peas next on Thursday night. Hannah hated them when she was a baby, but Nicholas liked them very much! So despite what his bib says "idon'tlikepeas.com", he likes them a lot!!

Hannah got to feed Nicholas again one morning - she's such a great big sister and they love one another so much! I love the bond they've created between them and hope it strengthens and lasts forever!

Nicholas is SO ready to move!!! He's been rolling from back to tummy and tummy to back and enjoys his tummy time. He's been scooting backwards on his tummy for a few weeks and this week, he started getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth and wants SO BADLY to crawl!!! He tries, but he can't get his arms to go the same time his knees do. So what he's accomplished this week after trying so hard is that he gets on his knees, rocks back and forth and then falls forward down on his chest and then will bring his arms up. He's trying and I'm sure, he will be crawling very soon! I'm not so sure I'm ready for a baby on the move - guess I don't get much say in that though!!!

Wednesday for bathtime, Nicholas moved on to our kitchen sink. He has officially outgrown his baby tub. The sink is just the right size for him right now until he's more stable sitting on his own to go into the bathtub. It was so much easier to bathe him there since he was just too big for his other tub - there was getting to be no room for water in that thing!

After his bath, I was getting him ready for bed and his skin is so dry, so I decided to try the baby aveeno lotion again to hopefully help him. Instead, he woke up Thursday morning covered in the big giant red hives like the first day the whole allergy thing happened. So now I know, without a doubt, that the lotion was the cause of that reaction. I didn't put any lotion on his head or back, just on his tummy and that's exactly where the breakout was. So now I'm not 100% about the formula allergy, but I still think there was an issue with it - he definitely had a rash after the regular formula and has been fine on the new stuff, but the lotion is for sure a problem.

Thursday was my dad's birthday. After a little restaurant mixup, we met them for dinner. It was a very good dinner - love the steaks from Longhorn. Here's the 62 year-old Grandpa with is grandchildren!!

Friday was Hannah's "half birthday"....she's now 4 and a half! What a big girl! I'm glad she has a winter birthday so she can wait one more year before going to kindergarten! I'm not so sure I'd be ready for that just yet!

And the other big news for yesterday is that my sister got married! She did it on the beach in Florida last night at sunset. I'm so sorry I didn't get to go - it just didn't work out for me to get a plane ticket and go. I'm sure it was great and we're now looking forward to having her back home in Ohio. She'll be back next week, I think by Wednesday.

VBS Week

Last week was Hannah's first year attending Vacation Bible School! She LOVED it!!!

Monday morning, she was excited to go, although a little nervous. Here she is on the way there that morning.

And as we were walking in....this year's theme was "Son Rock, Kids Camp".

I realized I'll be a total wreck on the first day of school, because it was a little hard to leave her there the first day and she was trying with all her might not to cry. We both did great and she had a great first day. She came home with a CD of the songs, and crafts, crafts and more crafts!

I had such a busy week running her to VBS each morning, picking her up at noon, getting her lunch and running her back to daycare for the afternoon. It was really great to eat lunch with her all week!! That's something a working mom doesn't get to do and I realized how cool it is to get to do that for a week! We had Wendy's twice, she came back to my office twice and we ran home one day.

Friday, they had a close out program. It was so great. Hannah was an old pro at attending and the routine of being there. She was so excited to sing the songs for us. This is Hannah and Allie before the show began.

And here are a few pics of her singing her little heart out! Taking pictures in the church wasn't so great....sorry for the grainy pictures.

So anyway, she had a fantastic week and had so much fun! We can't wait for it again next year. I'm thinking I'll take the week off next year though.

Nicholas is sitting up on his own now!! Here he is one night last week where he was sitting on the floor. I kept a pillow behind him just in case he fell back, but he sat there playing for quite some time all by himself!!

Hannah likes it now too because she can play with him more now than when he was just a little baby lying there doing nothing!

He's also now rolling over in his bed at night....makes me crazy! I'm sort of ok when he sleeps on his side, but I'm still so nervous when he sleeps on his tummy. I know I can't stop him now, but I'm a nervous wreck!

Friday night, we went to the homecoming fair here in town....sorry, no pictures! It was super hot, but Hannah got to ride several rides before we left just before the storm rolled in.

Saturday, we went next door for Allie's birthday party. It was super hot out, but the kids enjoyed water fun outside while we stayed inside in the air condition! Here they are are as Allie opened her gifts and after singing happy birthday.

Even Nicholas enjoyed the party!

Saturday night, Hannah wanted to wear her KISS shirt as a nightgown (Tony soaks that up) but she wanted him to wear his shirt like hers! Too cute!

And how cute is Nicholas in his dinosaur jammies - he even has claws on his feet!!! How ferocious! We call him a snugglesauraus!

And lastly, how about this awesome sunset Saturday night outside the front of the house....well, really it's not the sunset, but really cool clouds because of the sunset!

Nicholas is 5 Months!

"Happy Birthday" little guy! Today, you're 5 months old! You're getting so big, so fast and the months just fly right on by! I'm not so sure I'm ready for you to stop being a baby, so stay little for a while longer!!!

Nicholas is doing great. He has two teeth on the bottom and I think there might be two more working their way in. He is almost sitting up on his own. He can do it pretty well if he supports himself in the front, but he usually topples over to the side and occasionally backward - that one hurts! He can roll from his back to his tummy and from his tummy to his back. He scoots backwards when he's on his tummy - he's so ready to be on the move!!! He loves to raspberry, does it all the time! He knows it's funny too!!! He still enjoys napping in his swing, playing on his activity mat and in his exersaucer. He likes to grab his toes. He is finally sleeping better. As I posted earlier, he has had one night of completely sleeping through the night and most nights only wakes a few times and easily goes back to sleep. He goes down for the night between 9:30-10:30 most nights and sleeps until we wake him around 7:15 each weekday morning (until around 8 on the (good) weekends). He does this kicking thing when he's in his bed where he lifts both legs and slams them down on his mattress. It's loud and I'm not quite sure why he does it?!?!? He's still mostly on breastmilk, we supplement with the liquid gold (aka Nutramigen formula) and he has rice cereal for dinner and a bottle. He's such a little chunk, probably around 18 pounds. He's so very happy and loves to watch his sister. He's such a blessing and we just love him!!!!

This picture is from last week - so cute!!! You can sort of see his teeth. I used this picture for his baptism invitations.

We didn't get the greatest pictures today. He wanted to move around instead of sitting still for a picture session. Here is what we came up with.

And how about this sweetness? They just adore one another! Hannah is so sweet and tender toward her brother and Nicholas just can't get enough of watching his sister. I sure hope they'll be buddies like this forever! It's funny when they pose for pictures together because Nicholas is like half the size of Hannah already!

And tonight, Nicholas joined us at the dinner table in his highchair. We just used the one that sits on a chair. I think I may continue to use this one instead of the big one since it takes up so much more room and this one, with the tray, is perfect! Anyway, it was nice to have him join us for dinner at the table - LOVE this family!

5 Months in the Waiting

Behold! After a long, 5 months, I officially got a full night sleep last night!!!
Nicholas went to bed around 10:45 last night and I didn't have to get up with him one single time last night! Of course, I woke up throughout the night checking the clock. I'd think, "wow, he hasn't woken up yet and it's 2:00"...3:30, 5:00 etc. And as much as I wanted to go in and check on him, I didn't. I have waited so long to not have to get out of bed that I just forced myself to stay put until I was called upon or until it was morning.

I got up around 6:15 and peeked in at a very restful sleeper, still catching his z's!

Thank you Nicholas, hope is still alive for being able to sleep all night long again!

A Garage Door - Who Knew?

So, we had a household repair need this week, which completely did not fit into our budget this month, but when you can't park inside your garage and you were lucky to be able to get your cars OUT, it quickly became a need that just had to happen.

And who knew getting a new garage could be so exciting???

We have been talking about getting it replaced for several months now and just never seemed to have the extra money to do it - or found other ways to use it when we did! Anyway, we were fortunate to have a quote from March from Cameron with Accurate Garage Door Service (yeah, a little shout out!!) that was still valid. We called him on Monday, he got back to us on Tuesday and was here to install our new door first thing Wednesday morning. He did a fantastic job and we are just so pleased with the new door!

It not only helps the aesthetic look of the house, but we also finally have an opener from the outside that was so needed!! I always worried about locking ourselves out of the house, but now (as long as we have power) we can get in through the keypad!

I finally remembered to take a before picture of our old rotting door (that was also now broken and wouldn't open)

And here is the new and improved door!

And really, as exciting as a new garage door is, what fun is a post without a bit of cuteness? Here are the two little buddies this morning. Hannah was reading to him before they got dressed this morning. She just adores her little brother!

And here he is tonight in all his diaper-butt cuteness hanging out on a blanket playing with his toys!

Silly Husband

I just had to post this story since it made me laugh out loud for about 10 minutes after it happened.

We were at Target the other day for an exciting family outing after dinner and we were walking through the AV section.

Tony saw a magazine with a skinny woman on the cover and said, "I expect you to look like this by the time summer is over!"

I quickly responded by pointing to another magazine cover with a man with a super-six pack and said, "Ok, as long as you look like this by then!"

He made some sort of other comment to which I said, "OK, Monte [Hall], I guess this is Let's Make a Deal". Then I said, "Kids these days probably have no clue who Monte Hall is, so maybe I should say Wayne Brady [since he now hosts the show]".

Here comes the funny part:
Then Tony asked, "Which one is that....the older one?" I looked at him with a goofy look and then he realized what he had just said - he was referring to the Brady Bunch, AND he was totally serious!!!! We both started to crack up laughing!!!

I understand that this may not be so funny to read, but I seriously kept laughing out loud for about 10 minutes after the conversation!!! I'm sure someday we'll be able to get another good laugh out of this when we go back and read it!

Makin' Pizza

We've had a nice week - a short work week thanks to the holiday Monday. We had gymnastics Tuesday. Per Hannah's (odd) request, we had pot roast for dinner Wednesday night. She ate it! Go figure! I had a NAWIC meeting last night and then we watched the gut-punching "Decision". Yes, we have been disappointed by our one-time Cleveland hero, LeBron. So now, we're forced to hope for the Browns again and just pray for LeBron (to break a leg or tear some sort of ligament in his shoulder)!!

So we finished this week off tonight making pizzas for dinner. Hannah was super excited about this. I bought premade crusts - small ones so we could each have our own personal pizza, topped just how we wanted.

She brushed them with olive oil

Then spread the sauce

We each topped them just the way we wanted

And we baked them to perfection!

These were yummy and a great way to include Hannah in making dinner!

Nicholas is doing much better with his new formula, although he hasn't been getting it that often since I've been able to mostly keep up with him with breastmilk. He's been really enjoying his rice cereal in the evenings. Sleeping at night has not improved much this week, although, at least this week, we've been able to get up and give him his binky and he goes right back to sleep (for about another hour). He isn't waking because he's hungry, because I haven't fed him during the night for almost 2 weeks and he's totally fine. I think he's just super restless in his bed for some reason. I am starting to lose faith in getting a full night sleep, but I'm still hopeful!!!

Another week in our life

Whew, there went another one! A full week just passed us right by, where did it all go? And for once, this past week seemed to last forever - at least at work.

So we had lots happening this week.....here's the scoop:

I made a few new dinners this week. Hannah's still not a fan of new foods. She's so picky and dinners last much longer than they should because she picks at her dinner more than eating. Other than the struggle to get her to eat, it was nice to make a few new things and get away from the same old menu we seem to have every couple weeks!

Tuesday night after gymnastics, Nicholas and Hannah were sitting in the chair together watching TV. Nicholas fell asleep sitting up next to Hannah. It was cute!

After that, Hannah didn't want to sit by him anymore, so she came over to lay on the couch with me and all of a sudden, we smelled this really strong smell of gas. I went around the house checking the stove and furnace (not sure what I was checking for?!), but then went outside and smelled it even stronger. I called the gas company and we had to evacuate the house while we waited for them to come. We hung out over in Laura's yard. Hannah loved it because she got to stay up way past bedtime and rode McKenna's bike. The gas guy finally came around 9:30 and sniffed around our house. Everything was fine and he said the smell must have been coming from down the street at one of their hubs. I'm not quite sure what that was all about, but as long as we were fine, I guess it was good. So, some things I didn't know if you smell gas in the house: get out and leave everything just the way it was. If anything is on, leave it on (appliances, lights, TV, etc) Do not turn on any lights that were off - use only a flashlight if it's dark. And of course stay clear from the house and wait for them to respond. Tony called the fire department when he got home, but they too weren't in a hurry to come check it out - they never came! Good thing our house wasn't ready to explode! Tony pulled his car into the garage just in case it did explode. He was going to be sure to get have a way to get a new car if he could!!!! So anyway, we were all safe to go back in and got everyone ready for bed. By then, Nicholas was wide awake, so it was a late bedtime for all of us.

I kind of can't remember what went on Wednesday and Thursday. I think just work, home for dinner and hanging around outside in the evenings. Like I mentioned before, the days at work were really long this week. I think part of it was because Nicholas' night times have been a little rough again. I spent one night sleeping from 2-6 in his glider in his room...yeah, that was fun! One night he slept in our bed half the night and we both had several trips to try to give him a binky and coax him back to sleep.

Friday morning, he got up early, around 6, so I decided to feed him before my shower. After I fed him, I had a funny feeling so I pulled back his lower lip and tongue and sure enough, there were two little teeth poking through his gums!!! Little stinker cut two teeth!!! Gee, he just didn't stay a little baby for very long - another reminder of it! He sure is a good baby though, if only night times were more restful!

So we were using this week as the week to get Nicholas' body back to complete normal to figure out what he was allergic to. I only bathed him in warm water and wipes all week, no soaps and lotion. He ate only breastmilk. His skin was perfect, no rashes, no hives and non-irritated eczema on his forehead. I gave him 2 ounces of formula mixed with 2 ounces of breastmilk Friday night. Within an hour, his eczema on his head was inflamed and his torso had a rash. I kind of new it was going to be the formula. I had called the pediatrician Friday afternoon just to make sure I should try milk-based formula again or if I should go right to soy. They said milk. Even though I knew the formula was the issue, I gave him 4 ounces more Saturday morning, just to be sure. Most of his rash was gone from Friday night, so in case they wanted me to bring him in to see the reaction, I figured I'd try one last time. His torso broke out again in the rash, so I called and they didn't need me to bring him in, but rather told me to use Nutramigen, which is an Enfamil product for allergies (and colic). It's hypoallergenic and lactose free and doesn't contain the protein that's in cows milk and soy milk that he's probably allergic to. So the good news is that we found a formula that seems to work for him. The bad news is that I guess we need to be worried about food allergies, this stuff costs way more than regular formula (almost $40 for a large can) and his poop smells TERRIBLE!!! But at least we've solved the mystery of his hives/rash. So now I'll have to be super careful about introducing each new food to his diet. I'm really hoping he outgrows some of this stuff and can eat normal food. I guess we'll see.

We all took a nice long nap Saturday afternoon and then went over to some friend's house for a get together that night. We got home late, but it was a fun night. Hannah has a blast playing with the other kids and staying up late!

We got up Sunday morning - the Fourth of July and got dressed. Here are Hannah and Nicholas in their holiday duds. They are just the cutest things together. Hannah adores him and he is just fascinated with her every move. They sure look like siblings and are the best kids ever!

We went to breakfast and then headed out toward Sandusky to go to the African Safari Wildlife Park. It was pretty cool. You drive through this big park and feed all sorts of animals from the car.....llamas, deer, buffalo, zebras, giraffes, elk, antelope. It was really neat!

Then there was a small zoo-like area to walk through. Hannah took a couple pony rides and a camel ride.

We watched a little bit of an animal show, had some ice cream and then finished the day there with the pig races! That was funny and Tony sure got a kick out of that!

Nicholas did great too. He was sure stinking cute in his stroller! He got a lot of comments from others - they all were surprised of his age because he's so big! Lot's and lot's of raspberries from him all day....he thinks it's really funny (and it is)!!!!

We headed back home and rested for a little. Nicholas really likes grabbing at his toes now!

We had dinner and then headed out to watch fireworks. Hannah enjoyed them and Nicholas liked watching them too. He wasn't bothered by the noise at all and this was the first year Hannah didn't have to cover her ears (much)! It was a good time - except the part of getting back home which took almost an hour with all the traffic.

We had a really great holiday weekend!