Trunk or Treat

The day before Halloween (Sunday, October 30th), we went to a Trunk or Treat event being held at a church right by our house.  They also had some little games, a petting zoo, food, and all sorts of fun stuff.  It is close enough to our house that we were able just walk on over.  The kids had a great time and got a trial run on trick-or-treating.

Maddy was a princess.  She wore her “Purple Princess” dress that she got from Grandpa Tegen for her birthday back in August.  She hasn’t seen Tangled and has no idea of the name; she just likes the purple.

She asked me to give her “princess hair.” I let her wear my headpiece from our wedding. She felt pretty special.

Mom and the kiddos before we left the house

Walking from our neighborhood to the church

We did some of the little games first

Fortunately, you got prizes just for trying—this one wasn’t easy!

Tommy wore the giraffe costume that Maddy wore last year.  He didn’t want to wear the hood, though.

Waiting in line for the next game

Digging for treasure

Maddy in action at the bean bag toss

And then began the trunk-or-treating!

Tommy was pretty timid at first

And then he become bored of the whole waiting in line and started to wander.

So he and daddy went on ahead to see other things as Maddy, Aaron, and I continued on to the other cars

She was having such a great time

This was one of the most creative cars by far.  The spider “spit” out the candy.

The guy had it rigged so that he could drop candy down a pipe or something from atop the vehicle and it came out of the spider’s mouth for each child to take. Very cute!

Maddy collecting her treat

Maddy and Aaron

I was surprised she wasn’t scared by the spider here

Aaron just hung out in the stroller sucking on his fingers.  I think he enjoyed just seeing all the people and riding around for a change.  He often goes in the Ergo when it’s just me and the kids.  He enjoys it, but recently he’s gotten  where he really wants to see what’s going on in front of me and tries to turn his head around to see what’s going on.  The Ergo isn’t a front-facing carrier, so I might start trying him backpack style soon.

A family picture!!! I’m so glad that I snagged a worker to snap this for us on our way home.  We had a fun afternoon—I’m so glad Lance was off to enjoy it with us, too!!!

A is for Aaron and Applesauce!

No boring rice cereal here! Aaron is just a few days shy of 6 months…and we finally tried some big boy food!  Yesterday, I mashed up some banana, but he wasn’t too interested.  Today, however, I randomly tried some applesauce while the kids were eating it with their dinner—he was very interested in seeing everyone eat and has been for a good few weeks.  He *loved* the applesauce.  I mean, he was taking the spoon like a pro and couldn’t get enough of it!  I think maybe he also liked it because it was cold and felt good on his ever-so-slowly-teething gums. It was exciting!!!  Sadly, there are no pictures as Lance was holding him and I was feeding him.  We’ll try to get some soon, though! My little guy is getting so big!

Bedtime Drama

We are in week two of the Great Bed Switcheroo and it appears that my initial inclination that we may have been a bit premature on moving Tommy into a big boy bed was correct.  The first week was great! He stayed put and had no problems.  Well, this week has been full of skipped naps, banging on doors (while Aaron is sleeping in the room no less), and night insanity.  We had Aaron in the Pack and Play as long as we could, but its just not meant to be an actual bed and he just wasn’t sleeping well in it.  We needed to get him into the crib.  So, we did what everyone recommends against and forced Tommy into a bed to free it up.  We did this with Maddy, but she was ready for it.  Tommy, however?  Not so much.  He’s just much more developmentally immature at this age than Maddy was. 

Last night was AWFUL.  And the kicker? Aaron only woke ONE TIME to eat.  This is after nearly TWO MONTHS of him reverting back to waking every 2-3 hours to eat.  Maddy even came out of her room twice—not sure what that was all about.  I’m glad Lance was able to catch some of the wake ups.  Even still, I only got a TOTAL of 3 hours of sleep.  And now, Lance took the kids out to Sam's so I could try and nap while Aaron is napping and I. CAN’T. SLEEP.  So frustrating.  So yeah, I am seriously contemplating investing in a second crib.  Perhaps I just should have done it early on.  Anyone have a crib they can loan out?

I snapped a couple of pictures of him a few days ago as I went to get him from his nap.  He does look pretty cute in his big boy bed (and a bit sweaty here…lol).

So advise me here fellow moms…what do you think: should I try and stick this out or should I revisit a crib? Keep in mind I have Aaron in the room as well and the wake ups are affecting his sleep, too.

Thoughts On the Third

I have been formulating this post in my head for a while now. As I’ve told a few of you, I wish I had a USB cable that I could just run from my brain to the computer sometimes!  The first part of November has been LONG.  Lance had 2+ weeks of ward coverage which means very long hours.  Thankfully, though, the remainder of the month should be easier as he’ll be on a different service. 

So, anyways, back to the post.  I have been thinking about this baby experience as compared to the first two quite a bit lately.  Most of my thinking happens in the  few minutes that are relatively kid-free: the shower.  And yet, my thoughts are totally encompassed by them.   Of course, they often include worries such as I really hope Tommy isn’t trying to climb the shelves again  or Maddy better not be coloring the wall. But mostly, I’ve been thinking about how different things have been this time around.  I think that despite the craziness of Aaron being number 3 with numbers 1 and 2 so close, I’ve really been able to enjoy his newborn and infant days so much more than the others.  With Maddy, it was all about the first baby; trying to figure this whole motherhood thing out.  That, and it was severely colored by the feeding challenges that we faced.  Tommy’s early months were shadowed with the hellish experience that is colic.  No one had it easy.  And now Aaron…yes, baby number 3 in an already full house, but one that has been so blessedly happy.  He slept through the night from 2 months to 4 months of age…THAT WAS AWESOME.  Unfortunately, that has not been the case for the past almost 2 months…but he’s still pretty great.   He goes right back down and doesn’t fuss a whole lot.  Between the cold, pneumonia, and possible teething (?) whatcha gonna do?

More so than the differences between each child, I have learned so much as a mom with each one.  One of the biggest issues I had the first time around was with feeding.  When I was pregnant with Maddy, I knew I wanted to breastfeed.  Why? Well, because it just seemed like what you’re supposed to do.  My mom did it with us, so naturally, that’s what I would do.  I didn’t take any special classes, do any reading, or research.  It never crossed my mind to do any of that.  The baby was just supposed to come out and start sucking, right?  Ha.  Rude awakening on that one.  Through the trials of finger feeding, nipple shields, pumping, and finally just moving to formula, I experienced a good array of the choices out there.  It was hard and I just didn’t understand why the heck it wasn’t working as I thought nature intended.  I let my entire sense of being a mom rest on that one aspect of actually being a mom.  Thankfully, I stumbled across way awesome supports online such as the Fearless Formula Feeder website which helped me see that I wasn’t alone.  I had tons of you come by my side as well, but to be able to read accounts of countless other moms encountering similar challenges and how they dealt with them was very helpful.  I wasn’t sure what I would do the second time around.  After lots of thought and discussion with Lance, I knew that I would try again, but avoid finger feeding and all that if things weren’t going well and just transition to formula once things got to be too much.  I wasn’t going to pump, either.  (Turns out that the pumping ended up being the culprit for much of my physical issues anyways…I LOATHE my pump.  I don’t know why I even still have it.  I have used it ONCE with Aaron only to be reminded of how much damage it actually does. OUCH.)  This time, I met feeding with more experience, realistic expectations, and greater trust in my body and what it was supposed to do.  And you know what?  This has been the most AMAZING nursing experience yet.  Granted, Aaron came out knowing how to eat (latch took a little adjusting, but that’s okay), but I wasn’t so fearful of everything.  Well, not true.  I still know I have a tenuous supply.  That’s why he’s only ever had ONE bottle in his almost-6 months.  But he took it and that was a good thing (Lance and I had a nice little date night for my birthday back in October).  And having been on the bottle-feeding side of things with the others, let me say that if I had to add washing and preparing bottles to my daily To-Do list, I would surely lose my ever-loving mind.  Having the food supply right there ready to go whenever I need it is pretty dang awesome.  All that said, my initial long-term nursing goal was to make it 6 months, and we’re almost there.  I would love to go longer if possible, but Aaron is starting to prefer one side, as Tommy did shortly before I stopped.  While I was able to continue with Tommy for almost 2 months on just one side, its not an experience I wish to repeat (looking/feeling lopsided just isn’t my thing).  A full year would be awesome, but I just don’t know if that is a realistic goal knowing how things could go for me. The way I see it, every day beyond 6 months is a bonus.

Okay, that feeding tangent took a bit space than I intended…lol…but it is a huge part of my retrospect, I think.  Another part of why I think I’m enjoying baby so much more is that I might be a bit more laid back.  Maybe. As long as no one is hurt, who cares if every. single. toy in the house is covering the living room floor?  We’ll just pick it up before nap/bedtime.  What? You don’t want that for lunch? Oh well.  Guess you’ll be hungry. I’m not taking special orders for lunch today.  Just don’t break yourself or anything too important and we’ll all survive.  All the same, I MUST bathe the kids daily.  I know some folks let baths slide for a day if need be, but that’s just something I can’t do.  So perhaps I’m not as laid-back as I think. 

Another helpful thing (well, sometimes) is that Maddy and Tommy can occupy each other/play together/try to wound each other. Yes, they do all three. Sadly.  But it allows me to hang out with Aaron.  As he’s getting older, I try and engage one of the older kids with me in playtime with Aaron, and I feel better about that.  They enjoy it, too.  Maddy loves trying to help him calm down when he’s fussing.  She often will say, “I’m here, Aaron, I’m here.  It’s okay! It’s okay!” She can be so sweet.   Tommy is still working on how to show his affection.  I’m trying to convince him that sitting on baby is not a good thing.

Of course, this post isn’t to say I have achieved any kind of motherhood Zen.  I still second-guess myself all the time.  When it’s just me, I make the on-the-spot decisions, but if Lance is home, I’m quick to run to him for an opinion.  I don’t think even the wisest, or most seasoned of moms has it figured out (well, except maybe Michelle Duggar…how has she NOT lost her mind? She’s had at least 17 3-year olds!!!).  I just feel that I am finally able to take moments to stand back and just watch my sweet baby explore the world without so many worries, concerns, and fears overshadowing these precious early days.  I am thankful for the experiences with the first two that allowed me to get to this point.  I am thankful that my experience with number 3 has allowed me to recall some of those special moments that got cluttered away with all the drama inherent in 1 and 2.  I am thankful that I get to be mom to these three kiddos even when they make me utterly crazy.

 

How to Lose Those Last Few Pregnancy Pounds…

First off, I know, I know…I missed two days of posting.  Oh well.  I’m surprised I’m doing as well as I have!  I’ll get most of these 30 days.  Also, in my mind posting videos gets me extra credit or something, so here is another.

This video is kind of embarrassing.  I look like a crazy person.  But that’s okay because sometimes I am.  At least the kids had fun! So, without further ado, I present a portion of my strenuous workout routine…

Discovering Grass

 

Sorry its so shaky…I was moving around too much, I guess.  I promise it is still pretty funny!

Mommy and Maddy’s Day Out

A couple Saturdays ago, on the 29th, I had to go run an errand and was going to take Maddy with me.  As it was late in the afternoon, Lance and I were figuring out dinner plans.  He suggested that we just grab something while out. Well, that quickly evolved into the idea to use a gift card I’d gotten for my birthday (Thanks, John!) and make it a special trip out for Maddy. 

Maddy had to change her clothes, so she wanted to wear her shirt that is like mine—they both have these little tabs on the shoulders/sleeves—and jeans.  She was very excited to run to Target and then get dinner at a “new” restaurant.  The last time she ate at an Olive Garden, she was too young to remember, so it was new to her.

We decided to snap a special picture before we ran out.

The girls :)

Waiting for our food.  I think she was having a good time…

We even got dessert!  I went to snap a picture and she scooped the entire top portion off!

It was a fun afternoon out and she had a blast.  I know she needs special time like this, so I’m glad we were able to take advantage of Lance’s afternoon home.  I’m sure Maddy is looking forward to our next little adventure out together!

The Great Bed Switcheroo

Last night could have been rougher than rough…but thankfully it wasn’t.  It was just the usual rough of Aaron’s extra wake ups (which is deserving of a post all its own). 

We have been debating a few things:

1. When we could finally replace our mattress.  We’ve only had it for about TEN years.  We got it the week we returned from our honeymoon.  It is a full-sized set which I have been dying to replace since I got pregnant with Maddy.  You mommas know what I’m talking about.  It wasn’t a horrible set, but was an extremely cheap affordable set we got at the time.  It has devolved into a set of hammock-like cocoons. 
2. Getting Maddy some new bedroom furniture.  We’ve been watching Craigslist for a bedroom set.  She currently has a dresser that is a previous Craigslist find.  Her bed is fine.  But who doesn’t want something cute for their daughter’s room? 
3. When we could finally get Aaron out of the Pack and Play and into the crib
   1. Which depended on when Tommy would be ready to move OUT of the crib.  This also necessitated another bed.  We’d also been deliberating on getting bunk beds.

So, after weeks of watching sales, Craigslist, and trying to figure out what to do, we bit the bullet yesterday and opted to replace our full sized bed with a queen (woo hoo!).  Maddy now has our old set, Tommy has her bed, and Aaron is in the crib.  It was a seamless transition for all! 

Maddy loves having a big bed.  Tommy seems to be okay with his.  When I went in to snag Aaron at 3, I found Tommy flipped around with his feet on his pillow.  He was sleeping, so I’m good with that!  Tommy napped this afternoon with no problem and he went to bed tonight without incident as well.  I wonder how long the magical bed “force field” will remain in effect.  --You know, the seeming belief by new bed inhabitants that they cannot move from the bed? The day Maddy discovered she could leave hers was a sad day…it made the big girl bed that much more high maintenance.  Lets hope Tommy stays put for a long while! :)  Although, he was up this morning.  Maddy had gotten up first.  A few minutes later, I heard Aaron start cooing over the monitor.  The cooing was quickly followed by, “hi baby!”  When I entered the room, I found Tommy standing on something peering into the crib at Aaron. It was sweet.  I just hope I don’t find him in the crib one day!

I’ll try and get some pictures up of the new bedroom arrangements once I finish getting them cleaned up and reorganized. 

In the mean time, enjoy this video—I also put it on FB today.  Aaron is getting closer and closer to crawling every day!!!

Toes!

(This is what I tried to post last night but had trouble getting to load. Enjoy!)

Well, I missed a post yesterday. It was just a crazy follow up to the previous day’s events. But the good news was that Lance was home just after 7! The kids were thrilled to see him as they hadn’t since Monday. I’ll post more about that later today, hopefully.

To make up for yesterday's missed post in my 30-day post challenge, here is a video I caught of Aaron’s first successful attempt at getting his toes in his mouth a few weeks ago.

 

Long Day

So I missed posting last night, tried to do a video today, but had issues.  Even tried to do the whole YouTube thing and couldn't get it to work. :o( Tomorrow perhaps.

What A Day…

So, I was thinking this morning that perhaps I wouldn’t have enough to post everyday.  Ha.  And here I thought today was going to be just another day.  We had a nice play date/visit planned with one of our new friends here in town whose husband is also an internal medicine intern.  But it was not to be. 

Aaron has been fighting a cold for a few weeks now.  He’s had a cough as a small part of it, but it has persisted and started sounding worse.  Well, last night while I was feeding him (he’s not been sleeping through the night since the cold hit—boo to that), Lance heard him get into a decent coughing fit (oh, Lance is back on a crazy hours rotation—boo to that, too) and suggested I get him in to see the doctor.  So when I called this morning and they said they could get him in at 9:30, I took the appointment and cancelled our play date.  This was around 8:40ish.  I need a good 30 minutes to get from door to door for the pediatrician’s office.  In my haste, I forgot that the stroller and Ergo were both NOT in the back of the van.  AWESOME.  Maddy and Tommy were…um…less than stellar during the office visit.  Maddy discovered the roll of paper on the end of the exam table and started pulling it out like a young toddler might do with a roll of toilet paper…while the doctor was in there talking with me.  Yeah.  I think my blood pressure may have been at an all time high just then.  Fortunately, she is a mom to 3 young kiddos (2 of which are twins) as well, and was very patient and helpful.  I’m very happy with her as our new pediatrician.  So, anyways, despite Aaron not having any other overt symptoms, she ordered a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia.  Fortunately, our good friend Holly lives near the ped’s office and was willing to watch the big two for me so I could run over to Shands and get the x-ray done.  It was a super quick procedure and Aaron was perfect for it.  He just laid quietly while the tech took the two images.  The pediatrician called me a few hours later to share the findings.  I DID NOT at all expect for it to come back positive.  I thought she was just doing her due diligence in making the referral and we’d get the annoying news that it was just a viral thing that we’d have to ride out a bit longer.  But, no.  He’s got an ooky little area in his lower left lobe. 

I’m hoping the meds kick in quickly and get me my happy little guy back soon.  I gave him his first dose this evening and he was NOT a fan of the taste.  He got most of it.  I think. I hope.

Please pray that he would get over this quickly.  Pray that I would have the energy to deal with him and his needs on top of a lack of sleep myself and Lance being busy at the hospital.  Perhaps most of all, please pray for my patience with Maddy.  With all the extra attention I’ve had to give him already this week, on top of the extra attention to come following this diagnosis, her negative attention-seeking has been at an all time high.  My patience? At an all time low.  Pray that I would exhibit mercy and grace with her and find time and ways to give her the attention she desires.

Just laying on the floor before bed tonight.  My poor little guy. It hurts my heart to see and hear him feeling so poorly.

Roger’s Family Farm

On Saturday, the 22nd, we spent the day just north of town at Roger’s Family Farm.  It is a small family farm that is does a neat corn maze (we didn’t do this, though) and fall fair during October and November.  I’d heard good things about it from other moms of little ones.  There were a handful of places hosting similar activities, but not all were quite as family friendly as this.  We were not disappointed in the least!

They had this fun play-place sort of thing set up and, of course, the kids had to climb through.

Tommy wore his hat for about the first ten minutes. It was pretty cute while it lasted.

Maddy’s hair was pretty statically-charged after coming down the slide.  Tommy panicked after entering and didn’t end up making it down the slide.  He just came back out the entrance.

I love this picture of Maddy going down the slide.  It was a pretty neat homemade tube slide.

Looking down from the platform at the top.

Tommy coming out the slide.

Daddy waiting at the top of the stairs.  They did these slides a few times.

Maddy!

Tommy!

This was pretty cool.  It was a huge air-bouncy thing.  It seemed to be a somewhat permanent fixture.

They both had a hard time staying on their feet—especially given that other people were jumping and launching them up.

Daddy lounging in the background. Poor Maddy was launched off of this and bumped her head, but she survived.

Pony ride!

They had a stationary pony outside the ring for photos.  Tommy was okay to sit here and watch Maddy go around the ring.

Well, for the first 30 seconds.

Maddy was a pro as she’d done this a couple weeks prior with Grandma and Grandpa Tegen.

She also took a photo on the stationary pony.

Then it was Tommy’s turn to actually ride.

He sat down, but once it started walking, he freaked out and Lance had to take him down.

This was a cute little “ride” that the kids went on…

Well, they both sat in…

Once they started moving, Tommy once again freaked out and had to be pulled out.

He was much happier sitting with daddy as Maddy continued on.

 

 

 

 

 

Next was feeding goats.

Tommy wasn’t sure about it, but as long as daddy was holding his hand, it was okay.

 

Maddy was brave, too!

Trying to figure out how the food came out.

Not sure what he was saying here, but a cute picture!

This was cute.  They had a little feeding thing set up to feed goats up on the roof of the shed.

You put the corn in a dish which you had to crank up to the goats.

We took turns turning the crank to send up the food.

Pumping water to send rubber duckies across the trough.

Maddy was giving Tommy some tips.  (Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, Aaron was sleeping in the carrier the whole time I had him in it.  Technically he’s in every picture I am. )

Mommy and Maddy on the hayride (and Aaron…I had the cover over his head so he wouldn’t get a sunburn)

Daddy and Tommy on the hayride

The hayride stopped at a section of the pumpkin patch where smaller pumpkins had already been collected for the kids to take.

After the pumpkins, we traded kids lol

Maddy wanted to sit with daddy, her pumpkin, and Aaron’s pumpkin

Tommy wasn’t too concerned with where he sat.

Waiting for daddy to bring lunch

I finally took Aaron out of the carrier so I could sit and eat.  He wasn’t thrilled about this.

Finishing up eating.

Cute

Our almost family picture. I’m surprised Maddy and Tommy stayed put long enough for me to hop in!  We had a fun day and hope to make this an annual family tradition!