Toddlers

Evan did not start walking until he was 21 months old. I missed out on some fun stages in toddlerhood that I am now getting to observe with Harry. The funnest stage that I seem to have missed was the whole running off and then pretending not to hear mommy stage while doing something gross (like eating something found on the ground). It is also fun watching Harry run around the house with his sense of purpose. He always seems to be doing something super important (to him).

Something that really tickles me about Harry is watching him copy Evan. Evan will be coloring and then he will use the crayon to put dots on the paper. Seconds later Harry will start dotting his paper with dots too. Evan will kiss the TV when a character comes on that he really likes. Harry now does the very same thing. The screen is quite gross now. When I was a kid I never liked it when my younger sisters would copy me, but now I see it with different eyes and it makes me happy to see it.

Harry also has a sense of fearlessness that Evan still does not have. Harry loves to throw caution to the wind and rushes headlong into things. The other day at the park I was busy helping Evan on the swings. I look up and Harry is at the top of the big kid's play area ready to go down a very tall slide. Before I can say anything he starts going down. He was soo excited when he got down that I just had to laugh. Toddlers are so much fun!

A bad mommy moment

The poor invalid in his chariot with blackberries smeared on his mouth. The red on his nose is from the fall.

Harry had a rough day today. He fell on his face while outside with Evan. Then after he got up from his nap his awful mother put his sandals on in such a way that his pinky toe was bent almost side ways. She then made him walk part way to the park with his brother, all the while in pain.

I feel so bad about that whole incident. I thought that he was just being his often difficult self. Afternoons are often difficult for Harry. I had promised Evan a trip to the park and he had been talking about it all afternoon so I was not going to let a cranky toddler ruin it when I figured he would eventually cheer up. He did eventually cheer up after some Tylenol and blackberries.

Oh and apparently this blog is considered a spam blog and I have to enter word verification until it is decided that I am an actual human. Sigh.

"I forgive you mommy, but only if you do what ever I want you to for the rest of my life"

Tags: owies, bad mommy, toe

Guess what I am doing right now

I am hiding out from the kids... well actually one child specifically. His name is Harry and he is a huge momma's boy. They are outside playing with my husband while I am making pizza with home made crust. Right now the dough is resting from the exhaustion that occurred while I was kneading it.

I had thought that by now Harry would be more accepting of my husband than he is. When he was a baby he would not even eat for my husband. He would shriek and cry if my husband even looked at him. Harry will still cry if I make him take a diaper over to daddy so that daddy will change him. You would think it was the end of the world the way Harry cries.

My husband has to make dinner often. Harry will throw massive temper tantrums if he is the least bit tired at dinner time. It gets so you can't even hear yourself think. We changed our dinner time to 5:30 and that has helped a lot even though we hate having to eat so early.

The kicker is that he is great with daddy as long as he does not know there is an alternative. If he were to hear my voice or see me the waterworks would start. He would be most upset that I am not waiting on him hand and foot. Harry has even been know to try and shove Evan out of my lap. Crud, I hear them coming back in, I had better hide!

Tags: kids, momma's boy

With every fiber of my being (A contest)

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A mother's obsession with poop starts early. As her digestive system slows during pregnancy an unfortunate side effect is irregularity. Then, once the tiny infant is in your arms, your obsession kicks into high gear and never seems to entirely leave you. That is why I jumped at the chance to review two new Metamucil products that now out in stores.

The first one is called Berry Burst and it supposed to be a delicious drink that is a tasty way to keep you regular and in theory helps reduce your cholesterol. I will not even go in to the cholesterol claims, the science behind these claims are becoming a bit shaky. The delicious drink part of the equation is just not there at all. I am not even sure how this product made it to market. First off there is the artificial sweetener taste to get over. I hate artificial sweetener and the awful aftertaste but still decided to give this drink a fair try. The packaging claimed that the drink had a smooth texture and I agreed, if you compare drinking dirt to drinking this it is smooth. However, if you are a drinker of beverages like water or juice you will find it very gritty. The fiber also has an aftertaste all it's own that when combined with the artificial sweetener aftertaste makes this drink undrinkable if you are the owner of a set of taste buds. Don't buy it, you will be wasting your money.

The next product is called Fibersure. Essentially it is very much like Benefibre. Mixes well in liquids, lives up to it's claims of having no discernible taste and works like a charm. If you are worried that your kids are not getting the fiber they need from their diet of chicken nuggets and cheese it is a snap to sneak this into their milk or any other kind of drink they like. They will never know the difference. It is a bit tricky mixing this in cold liquids, you have to stir a lot, but it is worth it in the end (tee hee).

Now for the contest. I was going to give away your very own set of these products but since I was less than thrilled with the first one I will not be giving fiber away. Instead you are vying for a $20 iTunes gift card(which you don't have to have an iPod to use, you can download iTunes and listen to the music on your computer). All I want from you is for you to blog about your best (or most horrific depending on how you look at it) kid poop story (this child does not even have to be related to you). Link to this contest (so that we can spread the word) and then put the link to your post in the comment section of this post. You have until Wednesday to write your post. Then I will pick the top three and you will get to vote on which one you like best and that person will be the winner. Go forth and write!

Harry took a shine to the fiber containers. He actually took this one upstairs with him for his nap. I wish I could have gotten to my camera in time to show you a picture of him laying down with his little arm wrapped tenderly around that container. It was cute and very hilarious. He did not let me take it away from him until bed time and even then he was quite cranky about having to leave it behind.

Figured it out

Well I now know where Harry got his mouth virus from. I was right that it came from a kid in nursery. He is looking better but he still has some spots that are still healing. I am debating if we should keep him home on Sunday or not. The virus also spread to his thumb and finger which he had been chewing on extensively before I taped a sock to it to let it heal. It will be nice when this is over and he is a lot less cranky.

Random picture time

What the heck happened to spring? It seemed like yesterday I was needing coats for the boys in the morning and long pants were still not too hot in the afternoon. Now it is shorts in the morning and redneck diaper kids in the afternoon. Evan and Harry had the first swim of the season. We bought a cheap blow up pool for our paved patio area. The nice giant pool that we put in the graveled area last summer lost it's space so that some of our potted plants could get better sunlight.


Here is a fun one of Evan having fun with a whoopee cushion. Note that he is getting both hands in on the action. His physical therapy is really starting to pay off.

Harry after he passed out during breakfast. You have to click on the picture to see it at it's best. Very funny!

Evan kissing Harry's baby doll. Very cute!!


This is Harry sitting in the rocking chair that my parents bought for me when I was that age. It is a very popular chair but had to be banished to the garage due to Harry's inability to actually sit in it. He prefers to stand in it and will stand in it any chance he gets.


I think that Little Tykes should invent a working vacuum for toddlers. My floor would be spotless right now. We picked this beauty up at a rummage sale on Saturday. It has been wildly popular and Evan literally begs to vacuum the kitchen. He spends hours in the kitchen vacuuming.

Poor Evan and Poor Harry

We made a quick and unexpected trip to the pediatrician's office this morning. Harry had some white gunk in his mouth that alarmed me by growing quite a bit over night. I thought it might be thrush, but apparently it is some harmless virus that will eventually disappear on it's own. I guess that is why our pediatrician gets the big bucks and Google is just a simple search engine.

While we were there Evan was freaking out thinking that he was here for another shot. I reassured him that he was not going to get a shot. The doctor reassured him that he was not going to get a shot. Then the doctor mentioned that the AAP had decided to recommend routine Hepatitis A vaccination and wondered if I would like to have my kids get it right now since he had the time. I said yes and Evan's fears were confirmed since he did get a shot.

I wish that I had at the very least only had Harry given the shot. I feel like I lied to Evan even though it was entirely unintentional. It could have waited, it is not like we are never in the pediatrician's office, although visits of late have become rarer. The shot also came soon after I did Evan's INR (which was finally with in range after three long weeks of being high) so he ended up with two pokes this morning.

I am going to have to go and disinfect the toys in the nursery closet. That is most likely where Harry for the mouth virus thingy from and even if it was not, it is smeared all over the toys now. It is a good thing that there is a lot of germaphobic people out there so that there are plenty of easy to use products out there for me to use.

Harry

Sometimes Harry is just so dang cute it makes me want to pinch his chubby little cheeks and nibble on his little toes. Yes, I sometimes fantasize about eating my children. I think that every mom does.........right?

Ok, so yesterday we were doing our normal routine. The kids get up insanely early, I get them out of bed, grab some clothing for the day (including my own since Harry flips out if I try and get dressed in privacy) and herd everyone downstairs. Breakfast follows, then Sesame Street while mommy checks email and finishes waking up. I then go to get them dressed, only to discover that the clothing that I had thrown down the stairs was missing. In a stunning twist I had actually made the kids help me pick up the night before, so the living room floor was pretty darn clean. There was nowhere for the missing clothing to hide. I check under our stairs* just to in case, since Harry has stashed things there before, but nothing. Giving up I brave the inevitable passing out of Harry while I am upstairs getting new clothing for everyone.

Later on I go to do the laundry. We keep a basket downstairs behind our love seat so that we are not running upstairs all the time whenever we have a dirty piece of clothing. In it was the clothing that I had brought down in the morning, lovingly placed there by Harry who had recently learned to put his dirty clothing there. Evan does the same trick but never on his own, so I knew that it had to be Harry. I just wish that he would do that with his toys and books. I think I would be in heaven then.

* We have funky stairs that have gaps in them as part of the design. If you drop something on the stairs it is likely that item will fall straight down through the gap. It is fun to be able to grab the boy's toes while they are coming downstairs but I think the person that designed those kinds of stairs never had kids because they are mostly just annoying.

kids cuteness toddler cleaning

Sleep woes

Ever since the time change it seems like Harry and Evan have been getting up way too early in the morning. I had thought it was due to the sun so I put up some thicker window coverings to block out more light. It does not seem to be helping one bit. I have even threatened my husband with death if he even makes the slightest noise when he is getting ready for work in the morning. I am going nuts with the whole get up at 6 in the morning stunt that Harry is doing (I am sure it is him that is the culprit in this whole thing since he is usually the first shriek that I hear in the morning).

I then have to deal with an ultra cranky toddler all morning and I am very frustrated with the whole thing. If he takes an early morning nap that kills any chance I have at even leaving the house at all until my husband gets home. An early morning nap means that he will wake up the instant Evan goes down for his nap. An early morning nap means that as soon as Evan wakes up from his nap, he will want to go back down. Try and keep him up and there is hell to pay. So I sit here blogging instead of being out and about walking with my friend and her daughters to the library so that we could go to story time.

Anyone have any tips on how to help Harry sleep in later?

On an unrelated note check out the cool trucks that my dad is making for the boys.

toddler+sleep naps

Poor little Harry

Evan is such a good child. He is generally very obedient and not nearly as troublesome as Harry is. Harry happens to be a very typical toddler, into everything the second your back it turned around. I am still adjusting to this after being so used to Evan and his much quieter ways.

Yesterday I was in the kitchen getting lunch ready. I hear crying but did not immediately rush to Harry's side thinking it was just a sibling spat. Harry kept crying and it intensified so I rushed over to see him hanging from our DVD/VCR by his finger.

Looking at the evidence it appeared that he had been using a small step stool that was some how in out living room to explore the inner workings of the VCR portion. That flap was just too interesting to pass up. While his little finger was in the flap he fell off the stool leaving him his predicament.

The poor finger looked pretty bad at first. I was a little worried that it could have been broken. It needed to be bandaged at the very least. The bandage ended up looking quite funny since I had to use an enormous amount of tape to make sure that Harry could not get the dang thing off his finger.

I took the bandage off this morning and his poor little finger looks better but there are bits of skin off of it and I am sure it will be sore for awhile. At least now it does not look like he is flipping you off all the time.

My little lamb is shorn

I finally caved and gave Harry his first hair cut. The final straw was a little girl at the park comparing Harry's hair to her own. If I was a more wealthy person I would spring for a professional to do it and make sure the curls stayed but I am not so I buzzed him. I think God was punishing me though because it was super hard to buzz him since his hair was so thin and long. It took forever and did not turn out as nice as Evan's hair does. You can tell that the curl will come back because I see it struggling to come out even though the hair is short. He sure is a lot like his dad in that regard. Note to self: do not cut the boy's hair after you have breakfast for dinner. Syrup makes the hair stick to little hands and faces.

Before

After

toddler hair

Birthday pictures

Evan's Thomas birthday cake. He was very pleased with it.

Ooo candles!

Mommy and Daddy got him what he loves best: Trains!

I think that Harry got more cake on him than in him. This was not even as messy as he was when I finally took him out of his high chair. The frosting kept getting smeared around.

Twins?

A kind heart

I have been thinking on this idea for quite some time and now I think I can fully talk about it.

When Evan was first born and I was adjusting to my new reality having never even imagined that heart defects would be in my future I was not sure how to deal with the pity that I often saw in people's eyes when I told them about my son. Once I told them they suddenly started thinking that anything they might complain about was paltry in comparison to what I was dealing with.

It may be my personality but I never really understood that kind of feeling. I was lucky where so many parents were not. My child had gone through scary things but he was alive and had the expectation of having a very normal life should his repair surgeries go well.

A good friend of mine would often preface her comments when we were talking about the health issues of our children that they were nothing compared to what I had gone through. Yeah, her son had not endured an open heart surgery, but he had still been gravely ill. Her terror for her son's life was just as valid as mine and just because I had been through something worse did not mean that my heart was so drained of emotion that I would stop empathizing with other people just because they had not been through what I had. My own mother started saying things like that too until I told her to knock it off. I needed to hear all the boring every day stuff going on in her life so that even though I was stuck in the hospital with my son I could still feel connected to my family.

I am so incredibly lucky to have such a sweet loving little boy as a son who has stuck around so that I will be able to see him grow up more. Each day with him is a gift, but then each day is a gift even for people that are seemingly healthy and have no concrete expectation to die any time soon. Don't feel bad when someone tells you about bad things going on in their life if things are going good for you or even if they are not. An ear to listen and a kind heart are all that are needed to help when you are confronted with someone who has a child dealing with health issues, no pity is needed for them or you.

And now for something completely different. Here is a cute picture of Harry taken this afternoon. He had been breath holding and did his normal pass out routine but instead of getting right back up and whining some more he fell asleep right where he was. I had to keep Evan from waking him up while I was making lunch.

It is a war zone in there

Harry is the loudest sleeper ever. I will be quietly doing something downstairs and suddenly I will hear loud crashes and bangs as Harry tosses about in his crib. With all the noise he makes I am surprised that he does not wake up with bruises on his head.

Harry does sleep very peacefully when he falls asleep while I am holding him.

Awww

Too cute!

One of the best things about increasing the humidity on our living room is that Harry's cute little curls stick around much longer. Generally his hair gets crazy and frizzy looking if it had not recently been wet down. Enjoy the wonderful curl pictures I took this afternoon.

Harry's first blog entry

mnnnnnnnn jnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn vbgggggbbbbbbbbbbbnnnnnnnnnnnnmmllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllk bbb vvvvvvvvcvhgnmnhjjjj

Which translates to: Dude please some and rescue me from this crazy woman! She does all sorts of mean things to me like getting me dressed and making me sit down in the bath tub. Help!!!

Pictures and the first word

My lovely sister has demanded new pictures of the kiddos. I am only caving in to her since it really has been awhile since I have posted new pictures.

Harry is finally getting the hang of the whole sippy cup concept. He is now down to one bottle before bed and that is mostly a comfort thing.

Harry's first encounter with oatmeal. It was quite a hit.

Bowls are really fun to play with.

Harry and Evan playing Christmas carols at the birthday party we went to this morning.

"Let's play Jingle Bells next!"

It is official Harry has said his first word and that word is "bubble". I am pretty strict when it comes to the official first word. I require an outsider to independently confirm what I already suspect. At Thanksgiving my Mother-in-law swore that she heard Harry saying "ball" but to my husband and I it sounded more like "ba" and was not in context. I have also been hearing "wow" but not always in context. This morning, at the party, my friend told me that she heard Harry (who was off in the kitchen pulling out all the Tupperware in my friend's cabinet) say bubble while he was holding the bottle of bubbles that had been handed out as a party favor. Bubbles are also a fixture at our house. I call them the toddler tamers since I can blow some and all the crying will magically stop. It makes sense that something that he enjoys so much is his first word.

Happy birthday Harry!

Today is Harry's birthday and even though this blog was up and running I did not post his birth story. Enjoy!

My pregnancy with Harry was pretty normal. The only big complications I had early in the pregnancy was some nausea, horrible heart burn and a round of kidney stones (that hurt worse than the c-section). I had the feeling that Harry would be a big baby like his brother so I decided to go for a repeat c-section rather than trying for a VBAC. I would have had to switch to a different OB because the hospital he delivered at did not allow VBACs.

Things started getting a bit crazy towards the last few weeks of the pregnancy. I was measuring very large so I had to go in for weekly nonstress tests. During one nonstress test I was having some mild contractions due to being dehydrated. I ended up spending four hours laying in the same position until the contractions stopped. I was so sore after. The next week my OB decided that since I was measuring 42 weeks at 36 weeks that he wanted to move the scheduled c-section up. He was worried that I would go into labor. At that point I was so huge and uncomfortable that I was ready for anything.

Unfortunately the week my c-section was scheduled on was Thanksgiving week. We had planned on having my in laws and my mother come to us and cook a wonderful meal. My mother was then planning to stay so that she could watch Evan for us.

Bright and early on a Tuesday morning we left to have our baby. I had already been through the whole thing before so I was pretty relaxed but also excited to be meeting the new member of our family.

The c-section it's self went pretty well. My favorite part is when they finally pull the baby out and you can breathe again. That feeling is just so amazing. Harry tinkled a bit on my OB as he was being pulled out, I think he wanted revenge since he was quite happy in my womb. As soon as he was out the OR staff started taking bets on how much he would weigh. Harry was a chunker. The RT that was on hand to make sure the breathing was going well brought Harry over for us to look at and even took a bunch of pictures while I was being sewn up. It was great finally seeing him even if the newborn hat that had been put on his head kept popping off (Not only do I have huge babies but they also have giant heads. Me and vaginal birth were just not meant to be.). Harry's birth weight was 11 pounds 6 ounces, exactly one pound more than his brother. They looked almost identical at birth except that Harry was a bit shorter and fatter. They both have birthmarks in similar places, how odd is that?

Recovery was pretty different this time around. I had been given a medication for nausea that made me loopy. I didn't feel safe holding Harry for a few hours but once I got my hands on him I hardly let him out of my sight. He was making a groaning noise that we had noticed Evan make when he was newly born (before we knew anything about his heart defect) but we kind of just ignored it because we thought it was normal. Our pediatrician was not quite as relaxed about it as we were, he felt that there was something not quiet right. He told us later that he was expecting a call in the middle of the night.

After we were setted down for the night I let the nurse remove him from the room to run some of the many tests that need to be run. Harry's glucose had been running low (normally huge babies run high because the mom often has gestational diabetes which I did not have) so they were watching it carefully. They had also been testing Harry's pulseox because of Evan's history and had noticed that this time it was low and that Harry was breathing rather fast. That set off a round of tests and an x-ray to rule out some things. The diagnosis was TTN. He was given oxygen through an oxygen hood which meant that I was not able to hold him. Seeing him like that brought back so many bad memories of Evan's birth.

My decision to have Harry at the same hospital that I gave birth to Evan meant that I had yet again chosen a hospital with no NICU. When Harry's condition had not improved markedly in by the morning he had to be transfered. Our wonderful pediatrician tired valiantly to buy him more time but Harry just needed the help of the extra oxygen too much. We were both very distraught at the time and had not wanted to have yet another child be transfered to a NICU.

My dear friend A came with her husband just before Harry was to be transfered (it was about 3 in the afternoon by now). She had been planning on visiting us but I had called in tears so she came right over. Her husband helped my husband give Harry a blessing which really eased my mind a lot. A stayed by my side as I was released from the hospital (My wonderful OB let me out early so that I could be by Harry's side). She sent her husband out to pick up my pain medication and other sundries that I would need including a nice dinner. My husband followed the ambulance to the new hospital to be with Harry while they settled him in.

There was such a difference in my mood once I got to the new hospital and saw Harry all bundled up. I was so relieved. I could finally hold him again as he had bee put on a nasal cannula for his oxygen supplement. It was a different NICU than the one Evan has spent time in so the bad memories were not there. This NICU was nice and roomy (if there can be such a thing in a NICU). The babies were also not nearly as sick in this one so there was a less urgent air to the place. Harry was not even in a warmer, he was in a normal bassinet. All those things signaled to my mind that every thing would turn out ok.

Despite his rocky start Harry quickly improved. He only ended up staying one day longer than we would have if he had not had the breathing issues. The neonatologist that was taking care of Harry was very impressed with my determination in staying with my baby so soon after a c-section. I just could not lay by while my baby was taken from my arms to another hospital. I felt I had lost too much time with Evan at a critical time and was not going to let that happen again.

Taking Harry home was a glorious thing. Since we had spent Thanksgiving at the hospital my husband and I decided to have our own Thanksgiving that Sunday. It was a day of much Thanksgiving for a wonderful Thanksgiving baby.