Jump & Shout some more

Today we went back to the Jump & Shout class. This time Carson enjoyed participating. I think he enjoyed running around and trying to keep up with the older kids. Andrew was a teacher's little helper of sorts. He was not afraid to tell the teacher when one of the other kids wasn't staying on task! He is quite the kid. Maybe that comes from being a big brother. He enjoys tattling on Carson too. I'm glad I found this class where they can go burn off some energy!

On this day two years ago....

We found out we were expecting Carson. Hard to believe that it was two years ago already! Andrew was about the same age as Carson is now when we found out, actually Carson is two weeks older. I can not imagine to be expecting another child right now. Here are some reasons why....

Carson seems so little to be expecting another child! Part of that is that Carson is tiny for his age. It is also that we have an older child too, so Carson will seem little compared to Andrew.

Carson is just now finally starting to sleep through the night, and that is still probably only 50% of the time. I need a year or two of sleeping through the night myself before I even think about having another child! :)

I have a hard enough time running errands with these two boys, to add a third child to the mix might leave me a little too confined to the house right now.

I really could go on and on with more reasons why, but really I am just enjoying Andrew & Carson at the stages they are in right now. When I think back to when Carson was born, it seemed like there was a lot of pressure on Andrew to be the big boy. I remember the night we all came home from the hospital. Chad was taking Andrew up to bed and he was struggling with us being home after being with Grandma & Grandpa and this new baby being there....Andrew was crying really hard and I couldn't help but think (as I cried too) What have we done to poor Andrew?? So for now I will cling to my perception of Carson being my little baby and let him just be his age, not forced to be the big boy.

Carson's progress

Carson was to the doctor today (which really made me miss the wonderful group of Dr.s we had been going to before moving. but that is a whole other post!)for his 15 month well child visit. (a little late, considering he will be 16 months on Sat.!) He is doing well. He is still pretty tiny. 21# 4oz (10%) & 29 inches (5%) but is gaining and staying consistent with his own little growth curve. He is doing well developmentally as well. I never get used to holding them down for their shots. I feel so awful for them.

We found out in Aug. that he had a milk protein intolerance. He had severe vomiting after milk based infant formula and after crackers & baby food that contained whey. I stopped eating all milk/milk proteins & soy while breast feeding him. In Nov. he successfully started drinking Nutramigen, a hypoallergenic formula. We were told to keep him on that for 2-3 months. At the end of Jan. we started him on Isomil, soy formula. We also started giving him other foods that contained soy. He is doing well with this. The Dr. today recommended keeping him on this soy formula for two more months and then try Vit. D milk. I'm sure when we do begin trying the dairy, it will be a tad bit scary. I hated seeing him so sick. But how wonderful that would be if he could eat dairy! He is such a good eater, which we are very thankful for. Every fruit I have given him he loves and he usually does really well with vegetables too.

Happy Birthday Chad!

Today is Chad's birthday. Andrew and I baked him a cake this afternoon. Andrew's favorite part of baking is licking the beaters. He even licks the beaters after making mashed potatoes!

Tonight Chad & I are going to go out to eat. Friends of ours from church offered to watch Andrew & Carson so we could have a night out. We are looking forward to this time and so is Andrew. Our friends have two boys ages 5 & 3 and a little girl around 18 months. Andrew loves playing with their boys and often talks about them, saying how much he misses them and "his friend Gator" (They have a little motorized Gator to ride around in the yard)

I often use this recipe when baking a birthday cake. It is very moist and chocolaty!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup veg. oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350. Spray two round 9x1 1/2 inch pans or a 9x13 inch pan. In large mixer bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. Batter will be thin. Pour into pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Top with favorite frosting.

Pictures

I had a request for some pictures of the boys. So here are some recent random pictures of them.

Andrew & Carson playing with Quadrilla marble roller.


Sharing a seat in the big blue chair while snacking.


Carson riding "Rody"


Cuddling in our pj's Sat. morning

Oatmeal Bread

Since sometime in September after we realized that Carson had a milk intolerance, we have been making this Oatmeal Bread from More with Less. We were told to also avoid soy during this time. It was very difficult to find bread in a store that didn't contain milk/milk proteins & soy. I really like having this bread around, it is very tasty. However I don't really enjoy making it, I hope someday I will. Right now I think it makes a big mess and requires a lot of time. And until recently sometimes it would turn out well, sometimes not so well. My mother-in-law gave us a helpful tip; to add 1/4 tsp. brown sugar to the water & yeast to help activate the yeast. Since then, the two times I have made the bread it has turned out very well. Often I stir it up and Chad does the kneading and then I shape it and bake it. Today I made it while he was at work. I love the aroma of fresh bread!

Oatmeal Bread

Combine in large bowl:
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 T. salt
2 T. margarine (I use oil)

Pour over:
2 cup boiling water
Stir in to combine.

Dissolve: 1 pkg. dry yeast in
1/2 cup warm water

When batter is cooled to lukewarm, add yeast.

Stir in 5 cup white flour.

When dough is stiff enough to handle, turn onto floured board and knead 5-10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled. Punch down and let rise again. Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased 9x5x3" pans. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Cool on rack, brushing loaves with margarine for a soft crust.

The Sound of Music

In December while visiting Grandma and Grandpa Kauffman Andrew saw a little of The Sound of Music on TV. I pulled out our DVD that we had gotten for free somehow, and Andrew has enjoyed watching it. Carson likes it too. It is the perfect length from our house to my parents!

Andrew likes the music and the children. He likes the Do Re Me song and sings it often. It is funny to hear him break out into "I am 16 going on 17" while he is playing. Just now he was singing "How do you solve a problem like Maria"! (like a broken record, that phrase over and over!) This is the first that I have heard him sing this. He was looking at the back of one of the library books we got today. He said "they look just like Maria". It was a book called Tony's Bread about three sisters in Italy that made bread. They had long black cloaks on that covered their heads as well. He is quite amazing to me sometimes.

What a busy morning

It is only 11:45 and I feel wiped out! We had a few activities this morning. We got together with two other women and their little girls for our weekly play group. We normally meet on Thurs. mornings but this week it was Monday. We meet at 8:45, which is sometimes kind of difficult for me to have the 3 of us ready at this time. (especially depending on the night we have, which last night wasn't real great) We have been meeting at this time due to morning naps and the other women have children in morning preschool/school.

Then we were off to story hour at the library at 10. The boys enjoy the stories and different activities. The theme has been winter. Today the stories and little hand plays were on mittens. They also do a craft. Today they decorated mittens with crayons, different sequence, and fluffy snow like craft material. Andrew really didn't care for the glue on his fingers so only one of his mittens has sequence on it. He is kind of a neat freak sometimes! Well let's just say particular.

After the library we went to the YMCA. Andrew will start swimming lessons next Monday at 11. I had not been in the Y before, so I wanted to see where the childcare is for Carson, and where the pool and locker rooms are for Andrew & I. Andrew is excited about his lessons.

Now we are home. It is tiring going several different places, getting the boys in and out of their coats, in and out of the car, keeping track of both of them....I think we will veg out this afternoon.

It is oh so quiet here!

This afternoon Chad needed to finish a few charts at the office. At lunch he mentioned he would be going. Andrew really wanted to go with him. So they packed up the portable DVD player and off they went. Carson played for a little while and then I put him in his bed for a nap. He played in his crib for 40 min. and then started crying. I gave him a bottle and he has been asleep now for 1hr 15 min. It is oh so quiet here!

Before we had kids, I enjoyed reading books. After Andrew was born I had a hard time fitting reading books into my day. When I read I like it to be quiet so I can relax and focus on what I'm reading. (I tend to be easily distracted) And when I did have quiet time after Andrew was born, mainly when he was asleep, there were so many other things that I needed to get done.

This year I'm going to try to read more. The first book I read was The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls. I read a lot of this book while Chad and I were in Chicago in mid Jan. (my parents watched the boys for us. We had a wonderful time! so did the boys with Grandma and Grandpa) This book made me so thankful for the blessed childhood I had. It is hard for me to imagine living as she did. The next book I read was The Christmas Blessing by Donna VanLiere. This book was given to me by my mother-in-law a couple of years ago. It is the second in a series, the first is The Christmas Shoes. I haven't read the first but I now plan on it. The book was an easy read, which I enjoy, and it was very touching, easily bringing me to tears.

I am currently reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. This book is in the Fantasy section, which I normally wouldn't be drawn to. However we saw the show Wicked while in Chicago. We really enjoyed the show. The book is really different than the show. (Much less singing!) I'm enjoying it so far though it is a little "racey" as my mother might say.

My quiet time is over...Carson woke up mid post and Chad and Andrew are now home. I enjoyed my quiet time to sit and read but I welcome the activity that these 3 provide! If you have any good book recommendations I would love to hear about them.

"Is God going to the picnic with me?"

Andrew has asked me this on a couple of different occasions. I couldn't figure out what made him ask this. We haven't been to any picnics recently nor are we going to one soon. Well today while having a "dance party" to a CD that he got for his birthday from cousin Lucca, I figured it out. There is a song called "God loves a picnic, YES GOD DOES!"

Etsy

Have you heard of the website Etsy? A friend of mine recently told me about it. It is a website to sell homemade items. She started making children's shirts with potato prints. Her five year old daughter helps her design a lot of them. I saw some of them in person yesterday. I love the little moose! (I'm thinking pretty seriously about ordering some for the boys!) The little bee & frog are very cute too as well as the Valentine's Day shirts. Her site is www.miabellas.etsy.com

Today I searched on the Etsy site a little. (Because honestly, I have nothing better to do! yeah right!) Our friend Sarah (aka Domestic Goddess) recently posted on her blog about homemade napkins by her sister and thinking green. I really liked their napkins. I know there are many little things like this that I could do to help the environment. On the Etsy site, there were a few homemade napkins. Perhaps I will order some napkins or if I get really brave, maybe I could try to sew some of my own with fabric I can pick out.

Jump & Shout

Andrew has been a little of a challenge recently. I don't know if it is just normal 3 year old boy behavior or if it is the winter months with little outdoors activity. He would often ask "what are we going to do today?" or "where are we going today?" So I thought I needed to stop being so lame and do things for him. We haven't met very many people that have kids his age, they are either younger or older.

Today was his first Jump & Shout class. It is set up like Gymboree classes, I think. I thought it would be something both Andrew & Carson would enjoy, but the particular session we went to had all 3 year olds in it. Carson enjoyed watching but was a bit too overwhelmed to participate. They did lots of different activities. They each took turns pulling stuffed animals out of a large tote bag and then they all pretended to be these animals. (the mouse was too cute, 9 little 3 year olds tip toeing around squeaking quietly) They took turns jumping on a small trampoline, hopping through hoops laid on the floor, throwing stuffed animals in baskets, playing with bubbles & streamers, etc. A lot of it was set to music. Andrew had so much fun! He didn't always want to sit down when asked, he would be running around. He really enjoyed it and it was much needed!

I also signed him up for swimming lessons at the YMCA starting in March. He is looking forward to this. I made the mistake of telling him about it and he wouldn't stop asking about it! So I told him the lessons were in March. So now he refers to his swimming lessons in March. More to come on that.

The Family Bed

For a few weeks now, it seems as though every night at least one of the two boys has ended up in bed with us at some point during the night. This family bed was something I thought we would absolutely never do! Carson was the one starting the cycle. He has been a challenging sleeper for a long time, almost 16 months now! :) He started this family bed, when he would wake up at night and I wouldn't be able to get him to stay asleep in his crib. I could get him back to sleep but as soon as I laid him down he would cry. Not wanting Andrew to wake up, and as exhausted as I was, I would simple carry him back to bed with me. That lasted several weeks but he has been staying in his own bed for a while now. Unfortunately Andrew has been finding his way to our bed during the night. He would get really upset if we suggested he go back to his bed. So I would let him crawl in and snuggle up to me. I would try to take him back to his own bed once he fell asleep, if I happened to be awake, or take him to his bed when Carson woke up-before going into Carson's room. Sometimes he would stay there until morning, other times he would show up in our room again later on during the night.

Well....last night was the first night that I didn't get up all night long and neither one of the kids were in our bed!! How wonderful! I heard Carson cough and stir a few times during the night but he went back to sleep on his own. (This only happens rarely and he is 15 1/2 months old!!) A little before 7:00 I heard Andrew crying. I went into his room and asked him what was wrong...He said "I just wanted you to stay." (We lay down with him at night until he falls asleep or else he would just get out of bed over and over) It is nice to feel wanted. So I laid down in his bed until he went back to sleep.

It is now 7:15, both children are still sleeping and I feel rested! It is nice to have this quiet time in the morning while they are sleeping.

New Shoes

A few weeks ago after putting Andrew's tennis shoes on him, I realized how little they were. His poor big toe was right up to the edge. So I decided to go get him new shoes. I went to Stride Rite but didn't really see any shoes that I liked. They didn't carry New Balance, which we often get for him because he needs a wide shoe, we like their styles and the price is usually a little more reasonable than some others. She measured his feet and he needed a 9 1/2 wide shoe. (Boy did I feel like a horrible mother! The shoes he was wearing were a 7 1/2! His poor little toes!) She mentioned that there was another mall that had a New Balance store, so we went to the other mall. He got a new pair of shoes, that he refers to as "his Buckeye shoes".

This past Saturday we were looking for shoes for Carson. We went to Stride Rite (at a different mall) I have never seen anything like this! The store is kind of small and PACKED with parents and children. I couldn't figure out how people were being helped. So I finally asked one of the mothers. She said you needed to sign in and then they call your name. We walked out. Too much for us and these two boys. We went to the New Balance store there. They only had one pair in Carson's size (I was surprised to find out that Carson needed a wide shoe as well. I didn't think there was ANYTHING wide about Carson!) and they just happened to be the same style as Andrew's. They also were only half as much money as the ones at Stride Rite. (I love a good bargain!)

This is the first pair of hard soled tennis shoes Carson has had. He is soo funny when you first put them on him. He prances around and also marches while doing high knees. I love their little shoes! Andrew's are starting to not be so little anymore. :(

Babies swimming

This link was sent to me this week via email from a friend. It is unbelievable! I was amazed by these infants/toddlers ability to swim. I was also a little disturbed by how long they let this baby float before coming to get it. But the smile at the end is incredible. Check it out.