The Maws sent a package recently and it had a cool art project for Easton. He was super excited to do it and I held it over him as a bribe a time or two ("If you don't put on your shoes right now we can't do animals when we come home"). But not for too long as it was a special gift. So yesterday afternoon we sat down to paint the wooden animals:


Just look at that look of concentration:




They got googley eyed and glittered and put on little painted stands:


And then we put them on the shelf in his room:


So, in the evening I tried some green beans for the first time with Dalton. You wouldn't know from this face that he despised them.


And I absolutely love when he makes this face:

Love that little scrunch.

I even worked with him on the Puffs. He did better. He can put them in his mouth himself, which is probably part of the problem. But if I put it in between his teeth he kind of gets that he should maybe mush them up a bit. It went okay. I gave him some this morning too:


And last night Jason was reading over the list of appropriate behaviors and milestones that I had thrown in the trash. One was, "May begin to crawl up stairs". So, Jason wanted to see if Dalton could. And he can. Great. Now we'd better get those annoying baby gates back out.

What else? This morning we went to the liquor store first thing. I needed some beer for the roast I've got going in the Crock Pot. It made me sad that other people needed other things from that store to start their days. I had no idea the liquor store opened earlier than Target. Anyway...

After D's first nap we headed out to the library and Target and now we're trying to do quiet time but Easton's not exactly being quiet today. He's even had to have a time out.

I bet if we hadn't painted the animals yesterday I could get him to be quiet for quiet time today.

I guess that's why some "experts" tell you not to use such, "If you ___, then ___" threats with your kids.

What do they know?

9 Month Well-Baby

Today was the day. We headed up for D's well-baby visit. As I had suspected, with D being so highly distractable while nursing, etc., introducing solids, and becoming quite mobile, he has really slowed on his weight gain. Where he was once off the charts he is now down to the 50th percentile. While average is fine, it's kind of worrisome to see his growth chart not following it's own curve anymore.

He's gained just over a pound in the last 3 months. Yup, that's it. So, currently Dalton's stats are:
Weight: 19 pounds, 10 ounces
Height: 28.5 inches
Head Circ.: 18 inches

So, he has gained. And he's taller. And his brain grew :) But yeah, while the doctor wasn't especially concerned (yet), she did ask if we'd come back for another weight check in a month. She said, "Maybe this is just what happens to your kids" as Easton fell off the charts between his 6 and 9 month visits too.

Otherwise he's doing great, I think. She looked him over. Asked some questions about, "...and he throws things and plays pat-a-cake?" And I was like, "Well, I don't think we've ever tried pat-a-cake with him". So that was basically a no. He doesn't clap on cue if that's what she was getting at. But I was able to say that, "Yes, he throws things." And she was all, "Overhand?" and my goodness, what is this, Little League try-outs? But yes, it's not underhand so I guess he throws overhand. But she was nice about it all and didn't imply anything with her tone one way or the other.

We saw a different doctor today than we'd been seeing. (Yay!) I still haven't looked for or found a new doctor for the kids so my plan was to try out someone else in the practice which was today. She'll be good enough for now. I'll stick with her through Easton's 3 year well-child and Dalton's next weight check (which I plan to do on the same day in January).

I did ask her about lead stuff because I don't watch the news and really don't know all that much about what the actual concerns are and how high the risks really are. But she did order for his lead level to be checked, I noticed.

And I asked her about Dalton's current texture issues as he gags with a Cheerio or Gerber Puff on his tongue. Or if he gets too much teething biscuit mush in his mouth he gags then too. She said it wasn't currently something to worry about and to keep trying.

But she did say we need to step up his solids intake. I was afraid to do that too much because I didn't want him drinking less milk but since he's not gaining so great anymore she said go ahead and do it anyway. So we'll try, I guess.

Both Easton and Dalton got flu shots and neither of them made a peep! Easton said he was going to cry and wanted to bring Cuddles and sit on my lap. All of which we did. But when it came down to it, apparently it wasn't that big a deal. Yay! Dalton didn't even cry for the heel stick to draw his blood! They checked him for anemia (standard 9 month test) and then lead (which seems to be more and more standard these days). No results yet as we just got home.

Anyway, at the lab the tech let Easton pick out a sticker. She intended it to be for him, but he knew Dalton was the one getting the labs drawn, not him. So he said, "This is for Dalton" but when she said, "Do you want to put it on your shirt?" he did. But after Dalton was done when we were in the elevator he pulled it off and gave it to Dalton (stuck it on his pant leg) for doing such a good job. It's moments like those that make us so proud we gave him the opportunity to be a big brother.

After the appointment we picked up Daddy for lunch and it was good. Easton ate a lot and Dalton took a 10 minute cat nap. So far that's all he's slept since he woke up this morning. But he's in a great mood for now. I've got them in their beds right now and I'm thinking D will fall asleep here any minute. Easton's just passing time till I get him up with some juice.

You know what's kind of weird? When we were waiting in the lab we saw our favorite NICU nurse. We didn't say anything to her as she was there on personal business and people don't always like to be bothered for that kind of stuff. I wish I would've spoken up because she always loves to see us. Oh well. But then when we were at the restaurant we saw another of Easton's former NICU nurses...the one who came to his delivery who is also the one who worked to save his life repeatedly the day after he was born. We didn't say anything to her either. I shouted out her name to Jason kind of hoping she might hear me but she didn't so we let her go have her lunch. The crazy part to me was that we saw two of them seperately in one day.

What's sad right now is I can't even remember the nurses that came to Dalton's delivery. I remember my nurse the morning he was born and the postpartum nurses, but I can't remember who was at my C-section. Must ask Jason. All I remember is the neonatal nurse practitioner who attended D's birth was NOT the one who may have/probably "broke" Easton. Had to make sure she stayed far far away. :) Hmmmmm.

Okay, well...I guess this is a wrap.

ETA: Oh, I'm not quite done. I realized this morning as I was thinking of things to talk to the doctor about, that I think Dalton's once blocked tear duct has opened. I haven't thought of it in quite some time. I just brought it up to Jason and he was like, "You know...I think you might be right. Let's keep an eye on it. Pun intended." And I forgot to talk to the doctor about it, but she didn't bring it up either. Hmmmmm...

Dalton is being a weirdo today. He's so cranky, but not really able to sleep--like he's overtired. He's frustrating me. If Easton was acting like this he'd be disciplined. Lucky for D he's too little. He's resisting getting dressed, screeching at me, and keeps trying to crawl away when he shouldn't. Crazy boy.

He acted sooooo tired at breakfast:






Pop-Tarts are the breakfast of champions:

Really it's just that Easton said, "Take a picture of me!"

Anyway, after breakfast I went to put D down. Usually we rock for a few minutes while he sucks on his pacifier and holds another pacifier and then I put him down and he goes to sleep. Not today. The first nap took over an hour for him to fall alseep. And it's not like he took a good nap. This second nap (that he's doing right now) didn't take as long but I nursed him in the hopes that he might not continue to be overtired. Little stinker. Wonder what's up with him today? He's been doing 2 night wakings to eat a night again too. That boy!

We're not up to too much today. Went to the bank and Kohl's to make some returns. Easton was VERY good at Kohl's. Like even better than normal as far as listening goes and leaving when I said it was time (he always gets to play in the toy section if he's been good and it's not always easy to leave).

Alright, well, I should probably just share a few more of the pics I have...

I'm not sure if Easton built this pillow fort around Blitz or if Blitz crawled in afterwards, but it was fun:




D-Tron (his Transformer nickname):


Mmmmm, mashed banana:


Dalton always trying to be with his brother:


"Hey boys! Look at Mommy's camera!"


Don't you wish you were their brother too?






Alrighty that's all for today...

Why Don't You Just Go Elf Yourself!

But first watch how me and E elfed ourselves...

(We got the idea from an online friend.)

I apologize for the strange and random ramble yesterday. I didn't post it at first till Jason said, "When are you gonna do a blog?" and I said, "Right now" and I posted what I had written earlier in the day.

You wanna hear something else random? My breast pump was mocking me last night. The motor was rhythmically calling me "Slacker ho". It's totally what it sounded like. Sometimes Jason thinks it's chanting, "Superbowl" and I tried to make myself hear that but no, I could only hear "Slacker ho". Hmpfh. The washing machine at the house my ex and I had clearly said, "Red rum" if it was on the gentle cycle. I'm like Dr. Doolittle, but with appliances, apparently. Jason told me not to do a whole post about this. :)

But I do have another random bit of info for you: the Wendy's by our house was just on fire! We went to the grocery store and there it was. On fire. Plenty of fire trucks and firemen rushing about. How's that for exciting? It looked like everyone was okay, all the employees were sitting on the curb in their red shirts and black visors. There were no ambulances. That's a good sign, right?

Okay, let's get back on track here and the real reason you stop by the blog...me boys. Rather, MY boys. We're trying to break Easton (and therefore ourselves) of his habit of saying "me" instead of "my". I'll be a little sad to see it go. He could just pretend he's Irish the rest of his life. He also says "you" instead of "your". As in, "Move you hair, Mama!" *sigh*

So, anyway...we were glued to the tube this weekend as the LSU game went into 3 overtimes. And ended badly for the tigers. Oh well. My little couch potatoes, who aren't actually on the couch:




Easton cheering "Go Tigers!" and "Boo-Yeah!" as well as a separate occasion with Blitz:

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And playing "peek" after dinner.

Dalton can turn and stand just a little too quickly now so he's always getting buckled in.

Dalton and I having a little fun that night, and then him showing some of his musical prowess.

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You remember how on Thanksgiving night, Dalton slept through the night? The next night was the exact opposite. And boy was he miserable. Screaming and awake and in bed with us. It was a little scary to me. He's never like that. Once he finally did fall asleep he stayed asleep until nearly 10 a.m.!


Jason and Easton let me spend some of the time snoozing with D too. They did this:


On Sunday I went to that "strong maybe" church while J stayed home with the boys. The church has now become a "probably not". I loved the youth minister that spoke when we both went. But the main guy was back on Sunday and I just don't think this is the church for us. I admit I wasn't completely convinced that he was being genuine, same for the main singer guy during worship. And they were a little cheesy too. Not over the top, because it was just one day, but it was cheesy. Not meaty like I'm looking for apparently. :) Anyway... the search continues.

But it looked like J had fun with the boys:




And we each took a kid out shopping with us over the weekend. Shopping that I can't do with Easton around and shopping that J can't do with me around. Worked out pretty well.

Sunday afternoon we did the Broncos and that game ended up going into an overtime and loss as well. So we had to eat our jambalaya in front of the TV...and then the boys wanted to stay in their seats to watch Backyardigans.

It really is rare that we do such a thing, but if we do it seems to get photographed. :)

This picture is for my car seat expert friend, Jessica. She knows everything and I'm asking her to help me pick out a new seat for Dalton. I'm afraid Dalton will offically be too tall for his infant seat when he goes for his 9 month well-baby check later this week. But, she informs me that the baby's length isn't the way you tell...it's how much space is left between baby's head and the top of the seat. So here is D:

I think he's got a little more than an inch left, but we're getting close to needing a new seat anyway. And Easton's will expire next year. Anyway...

That Baby Dizz is pulling up on everything these days:

He took a little tumble after that and needed some Mommy Snuggles:


That was yesterday and I found him standing in his crib for the first time too:


And Easton's been doing a pretty darn good job with the pooping still. We bribe him with stickers towards prizes...so you saw his Diego bubble whistle last week or so...now he's working towards a Santa accessory kit for his Tato Head.

I'm pretty proud of him. We draw the spots for stickers right onto the prize's package. So he can see exactly what he's working towards. This one's gonna require 8 poos.

Okay, well you're all caught up from the weekend and pictures, I'd say.

Until the next random thought pops into my head...

Phantom Kicks

So, yesterday I was experiencing the strangest thing...it felt exactly like a baby was kicking me from the inside. Practically all day long. Jason could even put his hand on my empty womb and feel the "kicks". If I hadn't done a pregnancy test just a few weeks ago to know I'm not pregnant, those flutters yesterday would've surely had me peeing on a stick.

By the way, I do a pregnancy test every once in awhile just to make sure I'm not knocked up as my...ahem...cycles have not yet returned from having Dalton. I do not miss them a bit. :)

Anyway, because it was totally wigging me out all day and because Jason said, "I hope it doesn't mean the start of something like spastic colon" I decided to Google it. The most likely culprit would obviously be gas. But it was so strange. Felt just like those early flutters from a baby. I kinda miss those.

I have always believed women can be pregnant and not know it. I saw it happen a few times when I worked in the hospital. Sure, some people call it severe denial, and a lot of times it probably is. But I believe someone could really not know. I mean, since I know I'm not pregnant it is easy to explain away the "kicks" I felt yesterday. It could happen. If you ask me, anyway. In fact, a Labor and Delivery nurse I used to work with, who had already had one child, didn't even realize she was pregnant with her second child until she was well over halfway through the pregnancy. The reason she found out is she and another nurse were doing an ultrasound on herself. She thought she had an ovarian cyst. They saw a head instead. Can you imagine?!?! That was crazy!

But anyway, I know it would be rare and most women would suspect a little something if they were indeed pregnant, but I do think it is possible not to know. Sorry. I do.

So, okay, well, the feelings are gone today. And I'm glad. Because it was weird. If it's not gas, then another explanation I read about is that maybe I just want to be pregnant so badly that my body is convincing itself it is. Well, while I do want another child someday I'm not wanting to be pregnant just yet.

I promise.

Although I did enjoy being pregnant for the most part. And I especially enjoyed staying pregnant with Dalton. I'm still not ready to do it again just yet. And it's not completely up to me anyway.

Anyway, I sure hope it's not anything related to "spastic colon" a.k.a. IBS. Jason was calling my gastrointestinal "baby" Joe...as in G.I. Joe.

Isn't he clever?

Why do I ramble on about such things sometimes?

Why?

0.75 Years

Dalton is 9 months old today.

It keeps going too fast. Even though it feels like Dalton has been a "baby" longer than Easton was, it's still going too fast. Last night he decided to act like a normal 9 month old and slept through the night. Trust me, I'm not even thinking that is going to be a regular thing yet...just something to note. And no, I still didn't sleep through the night myself...he has me trained to think I'll be waking soon. And I had kind of a restless night anyway...probably the wine with dinner. Oh well.

Thanksgiving
We had a really nice day, lots of snuggle time in the big bed after we woke up...Easton requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast so that's what we had. We just kind of lounged around...football in the background, me cooking my contributions for dinner that night (grean bean casserole and spinach Madeline), Dalton napping, Easton playing...

It was nice. See, we really do like when we're all home together. :)

In the afternoon we headed down to my grandparents house...in my family we do Thanksgiving dinner as the evening meal, none of that afternoon business. I like it this way...it's what I'm used to. Not J... but he's a sport.

I think there were 13 of us total at Grammy's. We enjoyed our dinner...my favorites were my mom's Waldorf salad and my aunt Robin's pecan pie. Today I wished I had both of those leftover...for breakfast. :) Anyway, I took a few shots but none of our family together.


Easton and his "reindeer launcher" from Gramoo...he had fun sneaking up on various family members and popping them with the reindeer ball.


Showing Dalton what could happen if you crawl off the edge...


I love E's little shirt. We bought that for him 2 years ago and he finally got to wear it. He was gonna wear his new khakis from Kelly but since the rest of us were in jeans we went with jeans for him too. We brought the khakis as his back-up pants, just in case.


Dizz got kinda cranky from being overtired. If you didn't know him you might not realize he's making cranky sounds in this pic...


I did take a picture of my skinny-mini mom. She reached her goal of losing 100 pounds. She's actually lost 101 in 7.5 months. When we were at Grammy's we were looking through a photo album and my cousin didn't recognize my mom from just 3 years ago. Here's that pic and then one from last night:


Black Friday
Would you guys promise not to make too much fun of me if I admit something to you? Until this year I didn't know that there were awesome deals to be had if you went to the stores at 5 a.m. I just thought people (and the stores) were getting a head start. I didn't know about all the sales. Anyway, since I haven't been a part of that in years past I wasn't gonna start this year.

Instead we've just hung aroung again. We watched the CU (my alma mater) vs. Nebraska game. CU won 65 to 51--can you believe all that scoring? Wowsa!

Jason and Dalton settled in to watch LSU take on Arkansas...

That game is actually still going on right now. We'll see if J or AJ gets to be the one to gloat when it's all over.

Anyway, J's making jambalaya tonight and I should probably take Mr. E to the potty. I'll talk to y'all later!

Thanksgiving Eve

So, we had some festive fun today. Lookie what Easton and I made...





We made a whole slew, as you can see. We plan on sharing them during tomorrow's festivities at Grammy's house. When my mom and I went to the craft fair we saw these, she bought us one as a prototype so we could make our own. The candy corn "feathers" were something I saw online.

So, there ya go. Dalton only got to watch:




The whole thing became simply sublime, rather than just a lot of fun, when Easton spontaneously wrapped his little arms around my waist and said, "I love making turkeys with you, Mama." He got to eat a few extra candy corns after that. :)

And, it looks like we'll be having a white Thanksgiving, 'round here. It snowed last night. Easton was totally anxious to get out there and play. We waited till after Dalton went down for a nap then got bundled up.

Easton wanted to make a snowman but I said, "Yeah, probably not this time" and so he proposed a snow snake, a snow Muno (from Yo Gabba Gabba), and later a snow kitty cat. We did all of those, and played chase, and threw snowballs, and snow angels (him, not me), and had a lovely old time. Easton decided to stick his face in the snow...


Then he quickly realized that probably wasn't the best idea...


When he started getting chilly I used that as my "out" for us to go back inside along with the promise of making the turkey cookies you see above.

We have fun.

I am thankful for them.

Tonight during bedtime prayers Easton thanked God for Santa, and for Santa bringing a drum, and Daddy a guitar, and mommy a piano, and Dalton a little Pablo, and for Mommy, and for Daddy, and for his bed, and...

I love two year olds. And soon to be 9 month olds too, of course!

Happy Thanksgiving!