Callia loves Mario

Today Callia and I were at the computer and she was playing Mario 64. After playing for a bit, I noticed that she was just sitting there not touching the controller, and just staring at the screen. When I asked what she was doing, she replied "I don't want to wake Mario up. He's sleeping." It's funny how different kids see the world.

Chick-fil-A Fun!

Thaddeus is really getting around now, and he and Callia are having a ball testing out his skills on the Chick-fil-A playground! We love Chick-fil-A because the employees are always cheerful, they play Christian music, and they keep their playground fairly clean. Thaddeus loves it because we let him crawl around. :)

In these first two pictures you can see Thaddeus pulling up, the third one is Callia with stick-on earrings all over her face, and the last two show how happy Thad is to be crawling.

Gettin' Around

Thaddeus is pulling up now. He pulled up for the first time a little less than two weeks ago when he crawled over to me (which was a first for crawling to a destination and I was thinking "I should blog that"), and pulled up on the couch. The next day he did it in his crib. Now he is doing it all over the place, and he was standing at the edge of my chair just a moment ago when I decided I'd finally just DO IT and blog about it. :)

I'm not sure how to say when he first started crawling. I think it was just three or four weeks ago that he first crawled a little but as I said it was a little under two weeks ago that he went anywhere with a destination.

I'm sure he could have done any of it much sooner but he's a pretty laid back little guy and would rather just wait to move until his mama carries him somewhere. Until now.

Second tooth

Thad cut his second tooth today! It was the top one on the left side, directly above his first tooth. Usually babies cut their second bottom tooth before cutting their first top tooth, but Thad is not worried about being like everyone else. :)

I probably wouldn't have even noticed it, but the doctor was checking to see if that may be part of the reason why he isn't sleeping. And there it was! A little hard line in his gums.

Thad crawled for the first time today. He and I were at Maegen's house, Nathan and Callia were elsewhere (he was whitewater rafting and she was at mom's house). He didn't quite get up on all fours, but used his two arms and one leg and the other one stayed folded up under him as he slid across the floor propelled mainly by his hands. Pretty cute. At another time he used his other leg. I think he decided he was tired of trying to get up onto both of those chubby little knees!

Can I Have That, Bro?

Thaddeus, Nathan and I have been a little sick for almost a week now and have had a lot of congestion and a little bit of a sore throat. Fortunately Callia has escaped it so far, but I fear not for much longer! This morning when I was putting the two of them in the car to take Callia to preschool, Callia was already in her seat, waiting to be buckled, I finished buckling Thad and looked down in my bags for something. When I looked up I saw her pick a booger out of his nose, and as I began to say "Don't pick...", her finger shot into her mouth! So yes, I did switch what I was going to say to "Don't eat your brother's boogers"!

Later, when I told Nathan about it he of course laughed and said that when he had talked to her before about eating her own boogers she said "I just like the way they taste". To reveal something embarrassing about myself as a child around preschool age, I remember thinking that, too! I can't remember how old I was when I changed my mind, but I'm sure Callia won't always feel like that, either!

I don't think I would have ever even considered eating someone else's, though. Maybe this morning's incident says something about how close she feels to her brother. Hopefully its that and not an indicator of how much discretion she is going to end up with!

Feeling Better

Callia is feeling much better. She woke up Friday morning feeling better, and did not throw up. She was talking up a storm like her usual self, which was a good sign. At first she was ready to get out of the house and talked about all the places she wanted to go, but when she got up off the couch to get dressed and walked up to her room, she changed her mind. She said she was dizzy and her head hurt. She didn't even want to go later on when she had the opportunity to go to lunch with MeMaw, which she hasn't been able to do in a couple of weeks. Mom did come here to eat, though, and while she was here Callia went up to go to the bathroom and felt nauseated while she was up there. Poor baby. :( That night I did take her out to go to Tropical Smoothie and she rode in the shopping cart while I picked her up some rice milk and other snacks at the grocery store. We were gone about an hour, and Thad and Nathan stayed home. It was very nice to get out of the house with her, and see her appreciating it. She is sipping rice milk even now. Not being able to drink milk or eat cheese because of her sensitive stomach has made her crave it, and she has been enjoying the rice milk a lot. She is still a little weak but I think totally over the sickness.

This afternoon she goes in to the doctor for her preschool checkup and most likely some vaccinations. The appointment was originally for last Tuesday but she was too sick to go.

I think I will be asking the doctor if we can get another prescription for Thad's reflux medication (Zantac). He had run out and hasn't had it for about a month now. He hadn't been throwing up (except baby food while he was sick), but now he is not sleeping unless he is with me, which is exactly what was happening when he was hurting from the reflux, and it seems like he is totally over being sick. This morning he spit up breast milk just like he used to do. Hopefully he will start sleeping better again. The only way Thad will sleep at all is in bed with us, believe me, I've spent a lot of time trying to lay him down in his bed. Nathan and I have been sleeping very poorly and last night he slept on the couch because of how crowded the bed has been. I talked to him on the phone this morning and he said it was the best he has slept in a long time and he feels great! I feel like I hardly slept at all, even though it wasn't so crowded without Nathan. I missed Nathan and Thad kept waking up fussing over and over all night.

It makes me think of how hard it would be to have a baby who was constantly plagued with major health problems. Thad has had a couple of issues but they are minor. I have heard of things that made babies constantly cry in pain. Wouldn't that be heartbreaking?

Callias Dream

Callia told me about a dream that she had last night. I was sitting here at the computer as she told me about it so I opened this window and typed it as she spoke:

"I had a nice dream in the middle of the night. There were people and snow and and I had gloves and they were gray with pink and I had my jacket that had pink and gray on it too and there was snow and I was having fun in the snow in my dream! And then next to the snow there was a cornfield and I was in a wagon. Pretty neat, uh? I rided a wagon through the cornfield. And there were these crazy bouncy seats that had seat belts and I even rided them, and it started all by itself."

Still Sick

Poor Callia is still sick. The past few days she has been begging for food and then throwing it up when I give it to her. Yesterday she would throw up and immediately ask for something, suggesting things like McDonalds. Its hard to tell her no when I know she is bound to feel like she is literally starving. I was spending the whole day fixing her food just for her to throw it up, trying things like applesauce, crackers, vitamin water, banana, oatmeal (that was one she specifically asked for) and other stuff I thought would be easy to keep down.

Today, at the advice of the nurse I have taken and different strategy and have not been allowing Callia to eat even though she is asking for food. Every thirty minutes to an hour I'll give her something to eat or drink, about a quarter cup. The nurse said even a teaspoon of water every thirty minutes would be good but I'm pushing it because she is so hungry. Thank God she hasn't been throwing anything up that way. I was starting to get very worried about her. I am hopeful that she will begin to feel less hungry over time if I keep giving her little bits of stuff. Before I was giving her a little more at a time because she was asking for it, but these little bits are staying down better. She cried this morning when I wouldn't give her more kix. She asked for sausage this afternoon. I've been setting the timer so she can hear it go off when it is time for her to have something else to eat, and that comforts her, probably because she is otherwise afraid I'm going to forget to feed her, and she knows it is coming.

Thaddeus has been fairly miserable as well, but he has been keeping down breast milk. I have not been feeding him anything else for fear he would throw it up and the milk would come up with it. I have also been feeding him more frequently so he gets smaller amounts. Last night he would not sleep in his own bed. We fed him a little rice cereal mixed with milk and he gobbled that up but started pushing it away long before he ate a full meal. It was maybe a quarter of the size of his normal meal. Then when he refused to let me lay him down in his crib we allowed him to stay up later, and he was pretty cheery in his swing playing with toys. I tried putting him to bed again and once again he would not sleep. Nathan tried feeding him some applesauce but he was so upset when we put him in the chair we didn't even try. He just wanted to be held and nurse. So we just turned off our movie and went to bed with him in bed with us, but I could not sleep because Thad was kicking and whining and would not stop nursing on and on and on. We'd drift off and he'd wake up again very soon after. This went on until about 3am when I tried again to put him in his bed and when he woke up again I actually allowed him to cry himself to sleep which didn't take more than a minute because he was so tired. But he woke up again a couple minutes later. So Nathan went and slept on the couch (I'm sure he slept much better there, I was beginning to think it would be nice if I could but it wouldn't have helped since Thad needed to be with me). I did sleep a little better with a little extra room. Thad kicked for about an hour and then slept reasonably well after that. What a miserable night. Then in the morning Callia woke up throwing up once again.

Fortunately I haven't gotten sick yet, and hopefully I can escape without getting this. I don't see how it could be possible, but maybe God is planning on being nice to me.

Two Sickies

Well, both of my kids are sick throwing up. Callia has been sick since Sunday and Thaddeus since yesterday, although both of them waited until the second day to start throwing up. So today both of them are throwing up. Thad has had reflux up until recently so I'm used to him spitting up some milk here and there but this is nothing like that. This morning when I went to get him out of his crib he was laying in last night's baby food meal of rice cereal and squash. It was all over his clothes, down his arms, in his hair, spread out all over the sheet, and covering half of his lamby stuffed animal. And it smelled terrible. Once I cleaned him up from that, I allowed him to breast feed and in the middle of that he threw it all back up onto both of us and my bed. Then thirty minutes after that Callia woke up and threw up immediately. Fortunately she does a good job getting it into the bucket I have given to her, although she did inform me she threw up on her sheets last night and just rolled over and slept on a different part of the bed. "Its dry now", she said. So that is three sets of sheets that I had to wash this morning. Not the best start. She was supposed to go to preschool today and get her vaccinations this afternoon but that is not going to happen.

Four year old Firsts

Putting all these "firsts" in here for Thaddeus makes me think about the fact that Callia still does things for the first time all the time, too. Yesterday afternoon we were coming into the house and she asked if she could unlock the door. I couldn't think of a good reason not to teach her how to, so I did, and she unlocked it and opened it herself and put the keys up on the hook inside the door. Its really a gift to be able to go through everything for the first time again with my kids. I mean, how much do I take for granted being able to unlock my front door? But for her it was something new and challenging.

First Words

Thaddeus is saying "mama" and "dada" now! He has been babbling mama for about a week and twice earlier this week he said it while he was upset and wanting me to pick him up and I thought "Did he just say mama?" but this morning I was sure of it. He was happily laying on his back on the bed while I was getting dressed and he looked at me smiling but not making any noise, and out of nowhere he said "mama". Two syllables very clear and purposeful! I was so proud. Nathan heard it, too. We have also heard him babbling "dada", also and he was saying it this morning while he was looking at Nathan and smacking him in the face in bed. Its wasn't as clear, just dadadabuhdadabuhda, but I'm pretty sure that's what he was meaning to say. I told Callia about it and it seemed like she could barely believe it. She was like "Thaddeus said Mama?" and I said yeah and she was gasping like it was wonderful. Cute.

Pictures

I had Thad and Callia's pictures taken this afternoon at The Picture People in Spotsylvania mall. I spent $135 even though I wasn't overly impressed, but a few of the pictures turned out good. The quality of the prints is a little lower than I would like, and the atmosphere in the studio was frustratingly distracting for the kids. There was a little girl that repeatedly threw a fit in view of Callia and Thaddeus and some kids in the next room over, and none of the employees did anything about it. I felt they should have asked her mother to take her out. She did take her out after things got completely out of hand, kicking and screaming the whole way, and we could still hear her screaming from way out in the mall for a while. Of course that gave Callia a long face. I was sad that none of the shots of the two of them together turned out but there were some good individual ones. I don't feel like it is overall the best value but I'm still glad I have the pictures. They will be very treasured.

Cough

I took Thad to the doctor yesterday afternoon because he has had a cough the past few days and it kept waking him up at night. He hadn't been able to sleep during the day, either, and he was exhausted. I called the nurse and she said he should be seen to make sure he doesn't have an ear infection. So he was seen by the nurse practitioner, Sue, but it turns out he just has a cough. She said to have him sleep upright by putting his car seat or something in his bed and strapping him into that, and to run a cool mist humidifier in his room. So last night when I put him to bed I put his bouncy seat in the crib and layed him in that once he fell asleep on me in the rocking chair. He made a little happy sigh in his sleep as I layed him down in it and he snuggled in. It sure did the trick. I was sure he'd be awake in 30 minutes, but he didn't wake up until morning!

Knock-knock

Callia has learned how to tell knock-knock jokes. Here are a couple that she made up herself.

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Peach.
Peach who?
Peach bump.

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Peach.
Peach who?
Peach in the cow. Ahh! I'm falling!!!

I don't have any guesses as to what they mean, other than that she must not get any of the actual jokes so she thinks none of them make any sense. If she was aiming for something that didn't make any sense, I think she did pretty good.

Sitting up

Thaddeus is doing great sitting up! Today in church I took him into the nursery and sat him down on the floor and he just sat there. He didn't need any help at all. And he sat there for a long time, not just a minute. I kept waiting for him to fall over but he didn't. It seems like this has come out of nowhere. Just a week ago he couldn't sit up on his own for more than a few seconds, and he would just flop over. Yesterday he sat up for a short period of time. I guess he figured out he can do it and he's going for it. I'm so proud!

Little Swinger

Thaddeus is so motivated to sit up that he enjoys doing it even in his swing now, instead of reclining! And no, the swing has not been shrinking. Its a great way to see how much he has been growing.

Deductive Reasoning Applied to Language

Callia used to be pretty good about switching tenses, but lately she has been adding extra syllables. Just now she said "think-ted", instead of thought, and "catch-ted" instead of "caught". Yesterday she said "cauchted" (cawch-ted) for "caught". Very creative. It comes from the same mind that decided a long while back that since "clothes" means more than one piece of clothing, then a single item, such as a shirt, would be a "clo". :) Like when I'm folding one of my shirts she would ask "Mommy is that your clo, or Daddy's?" She really is a smarty, but her assumptions get her in trouble with our disorganized language. Deductive reasoning does not work with English.

I have feet!

Today Thad grabbed his feet and played with them for the first time. I felt so proud of him. :)

We had just gotten home from the pool and Thad was still in his car seat which had been deposited on the living room floor. He was very entertained by those fat little feet. I should have taken a picture but I didn't. I'll have to get one. Oh so cute.

Bright and Beautiful

I am singing a little song to Thaddeus while he swings in his swing and he is smiling so sweetly and bashfully turning his head to the side like its just too much. He is adorable. :)

Nurture My Heart

Its way past time for me to follow up on my post entitled "Shortcomings" that I made almost two months ago (I can't believe its been that long), to share the answer that God gave to me. I was looking for compassion for the kids because I didn't seem to have enough of it and to my amazement, I did get an answer, loud and clear. "For out of the overflow of the heart..." The overflow of the heart... Hmmm.... my heart. What overflow? I don't even have enough for myself. I'm running on empty. Mom said something about it (overflow, needing a surplus) on the phone the next day and BAM I knew it was meant for me, even though she wasn't talking about it in that context (not like "I was thinking about you and..."). Then someone said something about it in care group that Wednesday, too. It wasn't until Thursday, when I was sitting at lunch with Nathan talking to him about care group and how excited I've been to be getting involved with people from the church that I made the connection with my blog post, about waiting for an answer, and that that was the answer. Women's bible study, here I come, and I need to be spending time with God myself every day. I have sat down with a book a few times but unfortunately I have not gone to the women's bible study yet, and I have used the excuse that I'll wait until they start a new study rather than go for the first time in the middle of one. My excuse for that has run out and I will be attending when they start the new one, I think next week, but I need to confirm, and I have no idea what study they'll be doing.

Tonight I went to Holly Sanders' house, even though it wasn't care group night, because she had a girls night. It was Holly, Maria Stout (who has a son Callia's age), and me. I had an excellent time. We basically did nothing but sit and talk and eat strawberries and blackberries with chocolate dip and soy based cream cheese dip (since Maria is allergic to milk, and it was actually very good). We talked about gardening, house cleaning, children, and health problems, among other things. Maria said something about "out of the heart the mouth speaks", saying Peter (her son) has really latched on to that because a woman at the church taught it to the kids with hand motions, and he seems to really understand that when he is talking bad his heart needs some working on. That really amazed me and I'm going to have to use that when talking to Callia, too, because lately that is something I am seeing as a big issue with her. I am so bothered by the little "insignificant" things I'm hearing her say because I'm worried about her heart. I have had a very difficult time communicating it to her, and all I can seem to do is stumble around talking about decisions and attitudes. She does her best to ignore me and avoid eye contact, which is another symptom of the same problem. But scripture is good for teaching so tomorrow I'm 99.99% certain that something will come up to provide the perfect opportunity to talk about it with her.

Age Comparisons According to Callia

Today Callia had me put a diaper on a teddy bear for her, and she pretended it was her baby. She named it Star and said it was 3 months old. She said "When I turn five my baby will be four months old". What makes it so funny is that her fifth birthday is 11 months away. :)

Fun Fists

Thaddeus discovered his hands the other day. I grabbed the camera this evening to take some pictures of him checking out this amazing thing that is always available for chewing.



He would hold it in front of his face to look at it and then really go to town chewing on it. He was making gurgly cooing sounds, too, and had me cracking up!



Its hard to look at things when they're so close to your face! He has been crossing his eyes trying to focus on close things quite a bit lately.




Holly Sanders, who hosts a caregroup at her house that we have been attending lately, said a couple of weeks ago (as we were being so entertained by watching Thad in his carseat doing basically nothing), "Its like baby TV". And this is it. I could watch him doing things like this for hours.

A Conversation with Callia

I was talking to Nathan on google messenger online today while he was at work (just a few minutes ago) about a van we're thinking of buying, and he apparently had something to do and quit talking to me. Callia came up and started talking to me and I started typing in what she was saying. I copied and pasted it here at Nathan's suggestion. The train of thought (or lack thereof) cracks me up.

me: "I don't have any more panties because I peed in all of them again"

"Mommy, why are you giving the pink purse away?"
"But I want you to keep it because I like it!"

"I love you, mama (blows kiss). I gaved you a kiss mama."

"Daddy says we see about that. I told my daddy can we play paper mario when you get home?' and he said we will see, and thats what he said to me"

"Mommy I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go somewhere to buy a car. I want to go somewhere and I want to buy a car at."

"I can't find my other flip flop, either!"

"Man! Errr! I can't find my other green one and I can't find my other pink one!"

"We just usually can't find the other green one and the other pink one. Just the green one and just the pink one. We can't find the missing green one and we can't find the missing pink one. Those are the two we can't find. Mama I just feel we have to find them".
"Mama, do you like that Annie bandaid? Do you like that June Bandaid? Do you like that Leo Bandaid?"

"Mama my knees are getting better. This knee is getting better. See? Its getting better!"

"But I don't think I'll be able to find the other pink one or the other green one."

"Oh, just the two brown ones. Those don't match. (her outfit)"

Nathan:
me: I know you're probably not reading all this but she really is a funny girl.

Nathan: I just read it all

that's hilarious

me: Now she has on two unmatching pink flip flops and is holding up one foot then the other and saying "I think these look like they match"

Nathan: you should put all those up on your blog

me: yeah that would be funny

Nathan:

take a picture of the flops

I need to go...

bye sweety!

I didn't take a picture of her with the two mismatched flip flops on because she didn't want me to. It was serious, not a time to be taking pictures!

Bathed and Beautiful

Today I gave Callia and Thaddeus a bath in the middle of the day, which is not normal, but they both had a good time. Thaddeus had so much fun in the tub! He kicked his legs so much he flooded the floor and next time instead of putting his baby tub on the floor while Callia is in the tub, I think I'm going to have to put his tub in the tub. There was just too much water and I was damming it up with towels to keep it from running into the closet. He had a blast, though. Here he is nice and refreshed. I wish I had remembered to take the camera into the bathroom with me!

Backyard Swimming

Callia has been enjoying her pool lately. Every day she wants me to go out there and dump yesterday's water so she can refill it and play. The weather is still off and on, so some days it is not warm enough.

I have probably let her swim when I shouldn't have, because I enjoy gardening when the weather is nice, but she rarely gets sick and the pool is just so fun!

Little Sunshine

Thaddeus has a little yellow sleeper outfit that has a sun and a giraffe on it and says "Jungle Friends". One day a couple of weeks ago he was wearing it for the first time and Callia and I were singing "You are my Sunshine", which is one of her favorite songs. I said "Hey, Thaddeus is a little sunshine today, isn't he?" She loved the idea and now every time he wears it she coos over him and calls him a little sunshine. Last night after Callia went to bed I put it on him and Nathan and I talked about how she would probably say something about it. Sure enough, when I lifted him out of his crib this morning and Callia was there, she said "Good morning, little sunshine"! Isn't she a sweety? :)

Changing Moods

Babies go through emotions so quickly, don't they? Its crazy.

This little guy seems to have most of his awake time in the evening so we try to incorporate him into what we are doing. In this case, sitting in Daddy's lap at the computer. I think the poor little fusser gets tummy pains.

A New James Galway Fan

Well, Thaddeus has a favorite CD. He likes James Galway. This is the third evening we've turned it on for him to listen to when he was fussy, and he stopped fussing all three times. Right now he's listening to "Angel of Music" (from "The Phantom of the Opera", arranged for Galway's flute). See the grumpy little guy?





He had been crying because he has a tummy ache and can't go to sleep. Really its heartburn I guess, poor baby. :( I tried putting him to bed in his crib and he fell asleep over my shoulder in the rocking chair, but as soon as I would shift him into a horizontal position he would start screaming. Then when I would prop him back upright, he'd stop crying and sniff until he fell back to sleep. I gave up after fifteen minutes and brought him down to rock in his swing, but he kept fussing off and on until we turned on the CD. Isn't it cute that he likes it? It really is a soothing CD--one of my favorites.

Attack!!!

Callia loves to play with Thaddeus, and he really admires her.

She is so mothering.

But sometimes she can be a little much.

"Mommy! Help me!"

Imagine With Play Doh

Callia likes to play with play doh. Here is a little wooden wobbly-headed turtle in a sleeping bag made of play doh.







And here is said turtle surfing in his sleeping bag.

Doctor

Thaddeus had his follow-up appointment this morning with Dr. Aaronson for the reflux. He has been throwing up less but still cries like he is hurting, so Dr. Aaronson said he should stay on the Zantac and also take something to constrict his esophagus to help prevent the food from coming up. Doesn't sound too great to me, but I dunno. I asked if it would be OK if I wait a couple more days to make sure the Zantac isn't enough before filling the new prescription. He said that would be fine.

He didn't see any more thrush in the mouth so I'm glad I decided not to go with the (stronger) Diflucan for it and just stick with the (more natural) Nystatin. We were really consistent with giving it to him. I had meant to give him some acidophilus mixed with breast milk to help recolonize him, but hadn't gotten around to it yet, although I purchased some on Sunday, as well as a new breast pump, and I pumped some milk on Monday. I didn't actually get around to giving him any. It was a lot of effort to give two little 1ml syringes of Nystatin four times a day, and a .6ml syringe of the Zantac twice a day. Just one ml is a lot of sticky stuff to try to get down his throat, and takes like 6 or 8 swallows, slowly, so he doesn't just spit it out. I felt like I was filling him up with it and I've been really engorged-and even got a fever twice-ever since doing it, so I assume he actually is eating less. Dr. Aaronson said I don't have to give him the Nystatin anymore, and thank goodness. Thats 8ml less medication a day. I'm still going to do the acidophilus thing, though, to try to prevent the thrush from coming back.

Callia was a funny thing while we were there. She loves going to the doctor because she likes to talk to everyone there, and likes me to read her the books they keep under the exam table, and likes getting a lollipop.

Callia, on Swimming in Yogurt

Callia said something funny while eating yogurt with lunch this afternoon-
"Mommy, you can breathe like this [puffy face holding breath] when you're in yogurt"
Me-
"You mean swimming in it?"
Callia-
"Yep. And you can just jump right in and sploosh"

Cabin Fever...or Insanity

Callia has been saying "Mother, watch this!" all day NON STOP and my nerves are SHOT! The kinds of things she wants me to watch are usually something like thrashing around while making whiny "na-na-na" noises. As the day went on, around the time Nathan got home, she began ending each performance by laughing like a nutcase. I think we have a little cabin fever here.

"Mom"

Callia started calling me "Mom" today. Up until this point she has always called me "Mama", "Mother" (which I think she got from Bambi), or "Mommy", respectively. She must have called me "Mom" 20 times, inserting it wherever she could, and she was obviously really thinking about it and feeling grown up. It made me feel like its the end of an era. I have been noticing lately that she has been changing a lot.

That Flaming Breastpump

Well, now I've done it. I put the breastpump on to sterilize and left the house in a hurry to get Thad's ears checked for the doctor, forgetting about it. Then I went to meet Nathan for lunch and by the time I got home all the water had boiled out, and the house was full of toxic-smelling smoke and ash.

Getting Bigger!

This morning Thaddeus saw Dr. Aaronson. I called yesterday and made the appointment because he has been crying a lot, sometimes screaming out of nowhere like he is in pain. Also, he has been throwing up which he didn't really do after the first week of his life, and a couple days ago he projectile vomited twice, once in the morning and once in the evening, losing his entire meal forcefully.

Dr. Aaronson said he thinks he might have reflux, so he prescribed medication to reduce stomach acid.

Also, he still has thrush. We didn't do a very good job giving him that Nioxin four times a day. I felt like I was poisoning him. But now Dr. Aaronson has prescribed something even more toxic to get rid of it. So I think I might give him the Nioxin again. :P I just can't stand to give him harsh medications. Who knows what they could do to him!? I might also get some acidophilus to mix with breast milk and give that to him as well. Maybe in a little dropper since he won't take a bottle. I've been taking acidophilus myself since he started vomiting. I also got something for myself called Plum Smart. Its juice. Hopefully it'll also help get Thaddeus' and my digestive tracts in better balance, which should do something for the thrush (yeast) as well.

They weighed him wearing an empty diaper and a long-sleeved onesie, and he came out to 14 lbs. 12 oz. What a big boy! I wish I knew what weight percentile that is.

He has a follow up appointment in five days, which is Wednesday.

Sleepy Baby

I thought this picture of Thaddeus sleeping on the couch was just too cute. He fell asleep in my arms and I just laid him down on the "boppy" pillow on the couch. Doesn't he look perfectly peaceful?

Callia Fell out of Bed

I was laying in bed and heard a thud upstairs, and then silence again. I wondered if Callia had fallen out of bed. I went upstairs to check and sure enough, there she was on the floor. I took Thaddeus so Nathan could go up and look, and he took a picture, too, before putting her back in bed. She never knew what happened.

Shortcomings

I'm praying that the Lord will give me more compassion for my kids. I just don't have enough of it. I can usually act compassionate, but to actually feel it is another matter. I've always been impressed, even as a child, with the amount of compassion my mother had for my sister and I. She really felt (and still does feel) our pain. So often I just feel like "Oh, come on" when Callia is doing something that I deem "silly". But really, what right do I have to set the bar for how "reasonable" she ought to be? She's a three year old, for goodness sakes! I've been wondering for a while what on earth I can do to help her with her issues lately. She is such a wreak, disobedient, frustrated, and impossible to deal with. I've meant to blog about it but hardly knew what to say about it I've been at such a loss for what to do with her. I have a feeling that she can really tell I simply don't feel her pain. I'll be brushing her hair and she'll scream about it hurting and my emotional reaction is annoyance. I think "I'm trying not to pull, what more does she expect of me?" What comes out of my mouth is normally "Sorry", but my tone of voice often says otherwise. I really want what is best for her. I want her to be happy, well balanced and capable. But if I expect that of her, rather than equip her for her own relationship with God, I only push her farther from it by making her feel that my love is conditional. Without the compassion I just can't get anywhere so thats what I'm praying for. I expect God to show me any day, so keep an eye out. Its an act of faith for me to even post this because I feel like "what if he doesn't answer? It'd be embarrassing", but I'm trusting that he will come through, and I don't want to doubt him. Faith without doubt. A new concept I'm trying out. It has been coming up a lot lately for me. It couldn't be coincidence. God wants me to trust him.

Dress in the Dirt

I think this picture really shows something special about Callia--she likes to wear dresses and she likes to play in the dirt. Whenever talking to other people about their kids and what kind of personality their daughters have I can relate to both ends of the spectrum. I have a prissy little thing that loves to wear dresses, her favorite color is pink, she fancies herself a princess, and dances around being pretty. I also have a kid who loves to go outside and run around, dig in the dirt, and play with worms and bugs. And its the same child. Isn't she special? The kick I get from seeing her digging for worms in my soon-to-be-flowerbed while wearing a skirt is even better since she's holding up a little pink lacy parasol with the other hand. I love it.

Worms

Callia might tell you otherwise (I'm not sure what she'd say), but if you asked me what I thought her favorite animal was, I'd tell you it was the worm. And yes, I do mean just the regular old earthworm. Today she was very tired, and we had what I would call an "incident" involving a worm. We were eating lunch outside after church, and Callia was doing her usual thing where she takes half the afternoon to eat her food. I had even stopped in the middle of my meal to nurse Thaddeus a little bit, and still I was done well before her. I went over to a flowerpot I was planning on planting some seeds in, and picked it up so I could empty last year's dirt from it. Covering the stale wet bricks (that hadn't seen the light of day since last fall) were millions of tiny ants. I called Nathan and Callia over to look at the spectacle. Callia noticed an earthworm in the middle of the mess of ants and said so as she was bending over. Then her little hand shot out and before I even realized what she was doing, she had it grasped between her thumb and index finger, and a few ants were crawling around on her wrist. It was disgusting mainly because of where the worm had come from. She has gotten herself bit by some nasty bugs she has picked up in the same area, and without even getting a good look at this worm I told her to put it down and shook it out of her hand. I felt a little bad once I realized it actually was a worm, but her reaction was so over the top. She was wailing as Nathan and I tried to soothe and distract her. We reminded her of the special movie time we were planning on having after lunch, and pointed out how delicious her apple sauce looked, etc. But she just kept wailing and thrashing as I tried to pick her up and set her in her seat. She stood there, with tears rolling down her cheeks, and wailed "But I just LOVE worms!!!!" Nathan and I couldn't help but laugh over her head where she couldn't see us. It was so ridiculous! She loves worms? On a serious note, we really need to start making this little girl take a nap. Here is a picture of her last November 17th, practically in heaven with 17 worms writhing in her hand. The reason I know how many there were is that she laid them out in a line on the table and counted them. You can see me in the background, six and a half months pregnant and working on the bricks, which is where all the worms were found.

Spring is here

It was so warm and beautiful today. Callia, Thad and I went out in the backyard for Callia to play with her bubbles that we bought at the dollar store yesterday, then went for a walk to Hardees for lunch. Callia had a blast and went through almost an entire jar of bubbles. Most of it didn't actually end up as bubbles, but instead was sloshed off the end of the bubble wand onto the bricks. It was serious stuff, though. :) I took a lot of pictures. Thaddeus just sat in his car seat and took in the fresh air. He seemed to enjoy the walk, and sitting in Hardees in his stroller.



She said something funny today while we were getting prepared to go outside. Thaddeus had drifted off to sleep in his car seat and she gave him a big kiss on the cheek, which woke him up, and she said "Look, his eyes are open! We don't have to be quiet anymore!"

A Sweet Moment

Callia has gone to bed, I'm sitting on the couch with the laptop, and Nathan is sitting at his computer playing Civilization IV with Thaddeus in his lap. Thaddeus is making little baby sounds, and Nathan is talking to him. A minute ago he was saying "What do you want? No, I don't think you smell like a hamster! We love our little guy! You're my little guy!" on and on, and he made up a little song to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It" that goes like this:

Oh, you jiggle when you hiccup 'cuz you're fat!
You jiggle when you hiccup 'cuz you're fat!
Oh, you jiggle when you hic,
You jiggle when you hic,
You jiggle when you hiccup 'cuz you're fat!

I just had to tell on him because he is so sweet over there spending time with his baby boy. :)

Thaddeus started fussing, which he has been doing a lot the past couple of days, I guess because of a belly ache, and Nathan was saying "What should I do little guy? You're making me sad!" He put him in his swing and turned on the relaxing music and started the mobile above it, said "Hey, cutie!" to him, and got my attention to say, "Look at him! It looks like he's relaxing in there. Like he's stressed, but something is relaxing him. See his face?" Nathan is reminding me of myself right now. I do this with Thaddeus quite often; I can't help it, he's so cute! Its nice to see Nathan doing it, too. Its such a nice thing to just sit and enjoy our baby. He is such a gift. I love moments like these.

Fussy baby!

Well, its a little blurry, but isn't this the cutest fussy face you've ever seen? I'm pretty impressed with his "pity me" technique. What a pro. That's my boy!



But really, most of the time he tries not to cry unless he absolutely can't help himself, which is very endearing. He's a little softy.

Little Early Risers

Time change was on Sunday and I'm still adjusting. It always seems like Callia adjusts before I do, though. This morning Thaddeus woke up at 6:30 to eat, and wasn't ready to go back to sleep afterwards! I just about died since to me it felt like 5:30. Usually he doesn't do that. Callia came in at 7:00, not long after he was done eating, and we had some play time in my bed, just the three of us, since Nathan had left at 5:30 to work in Chevy Chase. I took some pictures. Callia had to be reminded a couple of times that Thaddeus must be respected, and not hit repeatedly with stuffed animals or smothered with "hugs", or buried in toys. It wasn't as constant of an issue as it has been at times lately, though, so we all had a nice time. She was so wound up, and he was watching her off and on. At one point even smiled at her, and she loved it! It was the first time he smiled at her. It was good for her. Luckily for me, after about an hour and a half of play, Callia was ready to watch TV (she brought it up herself), and as I got her some juice and cereal to have while she watched it, Thaddeus fell asleep in my arms. Perfect! So I got to nap for an hour before he woke up to eat again.

Infant Invader!!!

Invader: "Someone who enters by force in order to conquer."

We've been experiencing a little bit of jealousy from Callia over Thad the past few days. Friday I walked out of the room for a couple seconds while Thad was propped up on a pillow on my bed and Callia was sitting on the bed next to him. The next thing I knew he was screaming and I ran in and asked Callia what happened. She said "I don't want to tell you". So we had a little talk about how important it is for her to tell me things that happen etc., and she said in a resigned tone of voice, "Oh, OK.... I saaat on 'im." He stopped crying when I picked him up but by that point his nose was turning red and I asked where she sat on him and she said, very resigned, "On his head", dragging out the last word. I wish I had a recording of the way she said it. It was hard for me not to laugh at her. So I said thank you very much for telling me and gave her a hug and sent her to her room. I told her if she does it again she will get popped because it hurts him and she is not allowed to hurt him. Then yesterday I was going to the store and Nathan stepped out onto the porch to talk to me for a second as I was leaving. When he went back inside he was greeted by essentially the same scene, Thad screaming and Callia looking guilty, and when he asked her what she did she said she sat on him. He did pop her for it. I guess she is just feeling the strain of the reduced amount of attention. She has also been hitting Thaddeus in the face with various items, luckily soft ones like blankets or stuffed animals. And this afternoon she hit Treston over the head with a very large stuffed Doberman (larger than Treston). Not sure how we're going to handle it other than disciplining her for each offense and giving her a little more special hugging and playing time, and trying to be careful about doting over Thaddeus in front of her. She is, after all, just as loved as she was before.

Visit with Mom and Maegen

After going to Thad's appointment I went straight to Warrenton for my own post-partum checkup, and after that I met Mom and Maegen in Gainsville as a last-minute thing. We went shopping at Home Goods, and then Maegen and I went to Panera Bread. Maegen just got a mocha, because she had already had lunch, but Callia and I ate. We hung out there until almost dinner time, and I got home after Nathan by quite a while! Its a horribly long drive back to Fredericksburg from Gainsville. Callia and Treston had a blast together. They made so much noise we had to leave, which was a good thing, since we had lost track of time so badly. We talked about needing to go to a more play-friendly place next time, to save ourselves the embarrassment of having our kids running wild around the cozy fireplace in the "relaxing" restaurant! Treston wasn't actually running, but he is walking around holding onto things, like the highchair, and the leather armchair that was in front of the fireplace (which had a wide hearth and a screen in front of it so no chance of him getting burned).

One Month Check up

This morning I took Thaddeus in for his one month well-baby doctor visit. He weighed in at 11 pounds, 5 ounces. I'm not really sure what he would normally expect, but Dr. Aaronson seemed very impressed with his weight gain. He said "Thats like 2 ounces a day!"

He got his second Hepatitis B shot today, in his left thigh. Poor baby :( He cried like he was betrayed, but only for a half a minute. He's so sweet. :)

He has had an eye infection for a couple of weeks and Dr. Aaronson gave me a prescription to clear that up. I had done some research on the internet on infant eye infections and suspected he had a clogged tear duct, since even before the infection, his tears would run down his face. And yes, the doctor said I was right. He said if it doesn't right itself by six months of age we'll have to talk about doing something about it.

He also has thrush, which I also pointed out to the doctor. I noticed a while back that his tongue is white, and thought it was milk residue, but in my internet reading I came across something about thrush. Sure enough, thats what Thad has in his mouth, on his tongue, and inside his left cheek. I hadn't noticed it in the cheek. But then again I didn't have a tongue depressor and a flashlight like the doctor did! It turns out the thrush, which is an overgrowth of yeast, is an explanation for the extreme pain I was having breastfeeding a couple of weeks ago. So we got a prescription for that, too. Some sort of ointment or something to rub on it. Dr. Carisio (OB/GYN) said I can use it on myself, too, and if it doesn't work I can call her back and get a pill for it.

The Sound of Mommy's Voice

Tonight Thad was crying in the car and quieted down when I started talking to him soothingly. He hasn't responded to my voice like that before. It sure made me feel good!

First Smile

Thaddeus smiled at me for the first time today! I told my mom about it and she said he smiled at her yesterday! So Mom got the first smile and didn't even know it. He has been smiling in his sleep for about a week and the other day he even gave a little chuckle (oh, melt my heart!), but I don't really feel like it counts as a first smile if he's not even conscious. I dunno, call me silly. Anyway, today he was laying on Callia's bed while I packed her suitcase to go to MeMaw's house, so I was chatting with her and he was largely being ignored. When we were done I went over and picked him up and smiled down at those bright eyes and he smiled back. He couldn't have given me a sweeter gift.

Must Have Sleep!

Thaddeus is three weeks old now and you'd think we'd have settled into some sort of schedule by now. Well, we sort of have but it feels more like a rut than a schedule! Thad sleeps all day, waking up only to eat and have his diaper changed, and sometimes it seems like he even sleeps through that. Nothing can wake him--even Callia squealing and running and laughing and bouncing right next to him only makes him go "eh" to complain. He doesn't cry or open his eyes. But at night, starting at around 10:30 or 11pm, which is the perfectly terrible time considering it is when we like to go to sleep, he wakes up to eat and doesn't go back to sleep. He works on moving all that food he consumed during the day through his little body, grunting and shifting his weight around as much as he can. His eyes are wide open, he looks at us, and seems to be listening when we talk to him. His favorite thing to look at seems to be the ceiling beams in our bedroom. He can stare at those for a long time. He stays awake at least until 2:00am, sometimes until 4:00am or even longer. Sometimes he drifts off into a light sleep, but he wakes up as soon as we try to put him down, maybe sleeping for fifteen minutes in his bassinet. I try to take up most of the slack since Nathan has to get up in the morning for work (yesterday and today he had to get up at 5:00am, but when he works here in Fredericksburg its 7:00 or 8:00, depending on what time he wants to go into work, or what time Callia wakes up). Its getting to the point where I am getting desperate for more sleep. I sleep in the morning while he is asleep, but it is hard on Callia, and the sleep isn't very good since she usually needs something, like a button done, or a refill on her drink, or her bottom wiped. Its a little hard on her and I think we are beginning to reap the consequences behaviorally with her.

Talking on the Phone

If I had to guess what Callia's favorite thing to do is, even at three years old, I'd have to say I think it is talking on the phone. Here she is talking to MeMaw, who she called to thank for the Valentine's Day gift from her and Grandaddy of a little bag of ginger snaps and gum, tied with this hairtie, which Mom left it here yesterday and instructed me to give it to her today.

Relaxing Together

My baby is so sweet. I'm sitting here with him sleeping in my arms on the couch and he really does seem like a little angel. I feel like I could sit here with him all day and be happy just feeling him squirm and stretch every once in a while, and feel the rhythm of his breathing and watch the expression on his little face change every once in a while. Alas, I have another little one to care for and she is calling me right now from upstairs, "Mother....Mother...Muhhhhtherrr....MOTHER!".

Silly Daddy

Something funny I thought might be worth writing down:
Callia was pushing Thad in the baby swing, probably a little too vigorously, and Nathan said, "Don't push too hard, sweeie. It makes his head fall off".

He apparently meant to say "the blanket (holding up his head) fall off".

Little Snuggler

"I wanna hold 'im!"

The biggest problem we've had so far with Callia adjusting to not being the only child is that she constantly wants to hold "her" baby. If I say "Sweetie, he is not your baby, he is Mommy and Daddy's baby, and you're Mommy and Daddy's little girl, and Thaddeus is your brother", she says "but I want to pretend he is my baby". There have been countless confrontations where she throws a fit and whines and begs because she wants to hold him NOW. It doesn't seem to matter if she has just held him five minutes ago! The main reason this is a problem is that he doesn't seem to like the way she holds him...he normally starts crying within a minute. They are doing pretty good here in this picture, though. And it is cute.