Careers of a 3 year old

When I comb Ainsley's hair after her bath, she usually wants to comb mine too, but tonight she took it to a higher level...

Ainsley: "Momma, I'm a hair cutter, ok?"
Me: "Ok."
Ainsley: "You want long or short?"
Me: "How about short?"
Ainsley: "No, you want long with yalers."
**She uses the tail of my rat tail comb to part my hair and proceeds to "cut" it. Then she "dips " the tail into the lotion lid.
Ainsley: "This is my paint. You want to change colors like the leaves?"
Me: "Sure, that will be pretty."
Ainsley: "Ok, can we go to Wal-Mart to get some silver paper?" (Foil for you color-illiterates out there)

Ha! It has been at least a month since I've colored anyone's hair, but she was doing everything exactly like I do. I never even thought she watched me at all. So, this sparked a conversation about careers. We talked about what daddy did at work. I just said he helps the people that work on the computers. :) Then I pretended to be a dentist so I could get her teeth extra clean. So, I asked Ainsley what she wanted to do when she grew up. Her answer...

"I'm going to sing, but not very loud, and dance just a little bit." :) Such a silly girl!

Grady had a fever a couple of days last week so I took him to the doctor on Friday...his first ear infection. He's on amoxicillan (sp?) which is staining all of his shirts and bibs bright pink...fun. With his fever, he was such a sleepy baby. So, I was putting him to bed between 4:30 and 5:00pm every day. He'd easily sleep until 5:00am the next morning before he'd wake up to eat. I guess he got used to sleeping 12 hour stretches because the last couple of days he's been going to bed about 6:30pm and sleeping until 7am. What a good baby! Oh, and he's been spitting his pacifier out to go to sleep too! If it's in his mouth he just plays with it, but when he's ready to go to sleep I see him spit it out, roll over, and close his eyes. (I'm SO addicted to the video monitor!)

I have a few new pictures up from Toddler Toes if you'd like to take a look!

I'm back!

Well, it's been a long month...to say the least.  Grady has been teething for weeks now with little progress.  I can see it just under the skin, but it just won't come through.  This makes for a very cranky little baby.  And Ainsley has just had all sorts of problems!  Let me explain...

Somewhere around the end of August I noticed that Ainsley had a rash in her left armpit.  The kid is very sensitive to anything we put on her and allergic to something as common as grass, so she has rashes all the time.  A couple of weeks later, it started spreading down her left side, but still not much to worry about.  In all, she had about 15 little, red bumps.  So, on Monday (10/6) I had taken her to the doctor for another issue and said, "While I'm here, can you look at these bumps that just won't go away?"  The doctor took one look at them and said it was "Molluscum Contagiosum" - a viral rash that is extremely contagious.  They looked like over-sized zits and the white area in the middle was full of thousands of viruses.  (Is that the plural form?)  In most kids, it takes about 6 months to 2 years to go away,  but may be faster if you treat it with this cream called Aldara.  So, we got the cream.  

We only applied it with a toothpick to the individual bumps because it burned a bit, but after just 2 treatments, she had gone from the measly 15 bumps (now 6 weeks old) to a whopping 200 or so!  We did one more treatment on Sunday night and when she woke up Monday (10/13) morning, she had about 300.  They were spreading like wildfire!  Now, I have to tell you, they are NOT pretty.  It was SO, SO sad.  They itched, they burned, they looked scary.  So, we went back to the doctor.  This time we saw our pediatrician.  She took one look at just Ainsley's knees and said it was the worse case of Molluscum she had ever seen in all her practice and that there was nothing else she could do for us.  So, she made a referral call and got us in with a dermatologist the next morning.  

We saw Dr. Summerlin - a fantastic dermatologist if you need one.  Ainsley loves him.  (We still see him weekly)  He immediately diagnosed Ainsley with Atopic Dermatitis.  It's a skin condition that causes an immune deficiency (which is why the molluscum took over), causes her body to not create it's own moisture, and also causes all of her heat to escape from her head because her pores are too small to sweat everywhere else.  It explained so much...the super high fevers all of her life, the random rashes every week, the wet hair all of the time, slow hair growth, etc.  Before you think your child might have it, you should know that the parents have to have a combination of a penicillin allergy, asthma, and hayfever allergies in order to produce a child with AD.  Because of her immune deficiency, her body was just not able to fight off the molluscum.  It continued to get worse for the next few days.  We began treatments to burn the spots off with acid and a toothpick.  It was very painful and required Clint to come home in the mornings just to help me hold Ainsley down.  Needless to say, we didn't leave the house for several days.

So, it's been a long process, but we're finally seeing results.  ALL, I repeat ALL of the molluscum is dead.  She's no longer contagious and only has some dark red spots that might scar, but they're under her arms and on her knees so a scar is not the end of the world.  We're still treating her skin for the AD outbreak, but this is something we'll have to do for the rest of her life.  We go to the dermatologist weekly and he's going to start training Ainsley on how to take care of her own skin.  Since she can't really moisturize herself or sweat like she should, she'll have to learn how to artificially apply these things.  I can't tell you how humbled I am about her recovery.  It truly was a miracle.  It should have taken up to 4 years to heal on a child with AD, but her's are already dead and healing in less than a month!  (I'm trying to upload some pictures of what it looked like, but blogger is being especially stubborn tonight!)  

So, my sweet baby girl is back in school and in the public again.  We know what to look for and how to treat it if it happens again.  Our only fear is that she got it from someone who she's in regular contact with and could get it again.  In most kids it just looks like 2 or 3 chigger bits and goes away on its own.  In Ainsley, however, it can take over her body.  So, prayers of protection over her little body are much appreciated!

What else is new?  I have maxed myself out, once again.  I started way too many projects.  I was making burp cloths and wipes pouches like crazy this month!  I also made both the kids Halloween costumes, a costume for a friend of mine, a dozen bows for 2 other friends, and gave several haircuts.  I have a real problem with saying no.  I just want to be able to help everyone that does so much for me, but it always seems to come all at once.

Grady had his first 1/2 birthday this weekend.  My baby is growing up!  He's almost sitting up and he LOVES to sing.  Some nights, he wakes up in his crib and sings himself back to sleep!  With the exception of the bad teething nights, he's still sleeping about 11-12 hours before waking up, then eating and sleeping another couple of hours.  He's a really excellent little boy!  We're going to dedicate him next month at church too.  Look at the blog below this and leave me a comment telling me which of those 3 photos you like best, if you have time.  The photo we send in will be in the bulletin.  We also started giving him baby food about a month ago.  He does pretty well with it, but just always prefers to nurse over anything else.  Not going to happen, Grady!  You have to learn to eat something else before kindergarten!

That's about all the time I have right now.  I'll end with a funny Ainsley moment:

Me:  "Ainsley, do you know what happens in 2 days?"

Ainsley:  "I grow up!"

Me:  "Well, yes, but it's Halloween too."

Ainsley:  "Oh, and I'm gonna say 'trick or treat' and get candy for me!"

Me:  "That's right, if you're a good girl."

Ainsley:  "What are you going to be?"

Me:  "How about this?"  I showed her my t-shirt with a pumpkin on it...

Ainsley:  "No, I think you want to be a witch."

Me:  "A witch?"

Ainsley:  "Like a witch at Wal-Mart.  You'll be so scary - ooooooo, but I won't be scared because you're my mom."

Me:  "Thanks, I love you Ainsley."

Ainsley:  "And I love witches!"

Yeah....all of this after she saw a witch costume at Wal-Mart.

  

6 Month Check-up

Weight:  16 lbs. 11 oz  --  45%

Height:  27 1/2 inches  --  75%

More to come....

Short Update - Video Link

We've had a busy month! Too busy, actually. After a month on my busy schedule, I've finally caved and started cutting some things out. Last week was the first week on our "easy" schedule and it was great! On Tuesday we didn't go anywhere until dance, so I had time to play a few games with Ainsley and some tummy time with Grady. Who, by the way, rolled all the way over from his back to his tummy today...finally! He's such a cutie! I've also been working about once a week, so I actually have a bit of money to spend. :)

I don't have much time to blog...I'm watching Heroes with my hubby...but you should check out the new update on flickr. There are several videos of the kids playing together, as well as Grady's first giggles and first cereal! Here's a little teaser...

4 Month Check-up

Weight: 15 lbs 4 oz -- 50%
Height: 26 1/4 inches -- 90%

I don't know where my kids get all of this height, but at this rate Grady is going to pass Ainsley!

Happy Birthday, Grady!

Graden Matthew is officially 4 months old! We weighed him and he's about 15 pounds...wow!

Ainsley LOVES birthday parties and loves cake even more, so we had a little party for Grady. He had a puppy dog cake. He just stared at Ainsley like she was crazy. :)
Right after this picture, he drooled on the cake plate. I guess he really could have put the candle out himself!

My sweet kids after church....precious!

Guess who?


Ainsley was 4 months here and Grady was 3 months 3 weeks. It's obvious how much lighter Grady's eyes are than Ainsley's. They're still very blue. Ainsley came out with black eyes and they just keep getting darker! :)

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. As much as I enjoy all of the Fall activities, I really hate all the busyness. I know at some point I just need to stop putting my kids in every activity available, but it's so hard to choose which one to keep! Right now, Ainsley's in school twice a week, dance, swimming lessons, and Toddler Toes. I'm going to women's bible study, home group (which involves a lot of cleaning!) and I started back to choir this week. Then Clint has Impact on Tuesday nights and choir/praise team on Wednesday nights. It gives me a headache just thinking about it! I think I might have to cut something out. Last week I worked 2 days in addition to all of that....if you could see my house right now you'd believe it! Plus, it's getting hard on Grady. I need to be home more for him to get some decent naps in instead of cat-napping in the car. At least my soccer mom car is being put to good use!

So, this is random, but the other night Ainsley looked at Clint and said, "Daddy, can I watch the Tit-munks?" He kept asking her to say it over and over. It was so funny! Maybe it's just the age, but she also plays with the oddest toys. Yesterday she played the ENTIRE day with a little cup full of hair clips. They were all different colors so she had a daddy, a mommy, a teacher, a kitty, etc. She took them in the car and everything. She's also WAY into Peter Pan. We got her the "Return to Neverland" movie for Christmas and she's watched it probably once a week since then. But a couple of weeks ago Clint came home with the original Disney Peter Pan and, no lie, we watch it at least twice a day. It's not a bad movie at all so I really don't mind too much. She gets all of her toys and fairies in the floor and acts out the movie with them. Then when it's over, she makes up new stories about Peter Pan's adventures. As a result, everything, including her sandwich, can fly with a happy thought and a little pixie dust! She even lays in the floor and tells Grady that he can be a "lost boy" when he grows up. :)

Grady is still growing like a weed! As of last week, he's officially in 3-6 months and just yesterday we moved up to size 2 diapers. He's rolling over from his tummy to his back, and from his back to his side, but that's as far as he gets. I think Ainsley was probably rolling much more at this point, but then again she had much more opportunity. I don't put Grady in the floor much because he might get squished! Yesterday I left the room for 2 minutes and when I came back he was wearing a cinderella hat and chewing on a barbie dress! I will be SO surprised if he doesn't get some teeth real soon! It still amazes me how much the kids are alike too. They both LOVE to cuddle and sleep best when they're next to me. Grady even likes to play with my fingernails to go to sleep just like Ainsley did. Oh - we finally got a video monitor too and I LOVE IT! I'm a little addicted to it though. With any little noise at night, I find myself watching it. It was supposed to help me sleep. Ha!

I'll close with a little video of Ainsley's first tap lesson. She was as graceful as a 3-year-old can be!

First Day of School

First of all, isn't this the cutest little boy you've ever seen? :)

Ainsley had her first day of school today! She's going to a pre-pre-K program 2 days a week. She was very excited about her new school! There were a lot of changes this year because they moved to a new facility. One of the changes was that they no longer provide a hot meal so we had to pack a lunch. Ainsley thought that was especially cool!

Ainsley with her teacher, Mrs. Loretta. She looks scared here, but I promise she wasn't. She loves school and threw a huge fit when I picked her up because she didn't want to go home! She really loves Mrs. "Loweda" too!

That kid has really been cracking us up lately! First, Grady was in the bouncy seat in the bedroom. When I turned around, he had 3 naked Barbie dolls laying with him. So, I sat them to the side and transferred him to the swing in the kitchen. A few minutes later Ainsley comes running in screaming, "No, no, no! No ma'am! You say sorry!" I had NO clue what she was talking about until she came running back into the kitchen and placed all 3 naked Barbies back in the swing with Grady. (That poor little boy!) She never let up until I said I was sorry and insisted that "Gwady wants his Barbies!"

Then she decided she'd set the table tonight. Just out of the blue, she went to the pantry and got a handful of napkins. She said, "I just got us 3 napkins for Ainsley, Mommy, and Daddy. Ok?" Then she says, "Forks, Mommy?" I tell her that yes, we need forks, so she got plastic forks and laid them on the napkins at each place setting. She even tried to cut up my food for me! It was so sweet!

She always has some wild prayers, but tonight was just ridiculous. "Thank you God and Jesus..." (She's started that on her own...maybe starting to understand the trinity?) "...for my family and for lots of Never Land, and my heart, and thank you for my best friend Peter Pan, and for pixie dust! Amen!"

Too "Wittle"

I was changing the sheets on the bed today (hence the pillows all over the floor) so I decided to try Grady out in the jumpy thingy. He's holding his head up pretty good these days, but I think maybe he's not quite big enough. He seemed to enjoy it for a while, but his big 'ole head kept falling over and he couldn't lift it back up. Ainsley kept saying, "I think he too wittle, Momma! It's only for big boys."

Grady's First Giggles

Of course, he was laughing hysterically before we got the camera out...that always seems to happen. Nonetheless, you can still watch me making a fool out of myself! :)

Random Pics

I forgot to get a picture after church yesterday (before the spit-up), but Grady looked adorable! My friend Teresa got me these embroidered onesies. He wore one to church that said "Bean Sprout" and here's the other one he wore to a cook-out last night...along with more Krout shoes! :)
Will came over to play in the pool today and the baby brothers just happened to have the same outfit on...along with matching nursing covers. :) Our little tax deductions...

Where does it come from?

We never have a problem getting Ainsley to go to bed, the problem is getting her to go to sleep!
Tonight:
Me: "Ainsley, tonight Momma is going to lay my head down on my pillow, close my eyes, and go to sleep. I'm not going to sing or play with my animals...I'm just going to stay real still and fall asleep."
Ainsley: "Wow! That's a great idea, Momma! I'm so proud of you!"

Ok, so that didn't work!

We're Home!

We're all 4 back home and had a fabulous time in Oklahoma! Grady slept 3 hours on the way down and it ended up only taking us about 4.5 hours to get there. So, we were off to a great start. We got up Friday morning (the 4th) and headed over to Wintersmith Park as we do every year. They have putt putt golf, a merry-go-round, train rides, and snow cones all for just $.75! It's not a special thing...it's going on every day. There's a lake to fish from, a gorgeous walking trail, peacocks, monkey cage, feed the ducks, etc. too. I really miss having a park like that...nothing in NWA really compares to it. Anyway, Ainsley usually loves the merry-go-round (horsies), but this time not so much. She grinned ear-to-ear the first couple of times around and then busted into tears. I still have NO idea why. They had to stop the ride just so we could get her off! We thought the train would cheer her up, but she even pouted on it the first few minutes. She finally warmed up later and enjoyed her strawberry snow cone the most. :)

Friday night all of the family came down to my mom's house to meet little man. We had a large cook-out and all went swimming...including Grady bug! He loved it! I even let Ainsley stay up and watch the big fireworks. She actually had her bath first, wore her pajamas, and watched them from the moon roof in my mom's car. She thinks it's a special treat. Grady was in bed at 7:30pm so I stayed home with him. So, we all slept in late Saturday, a little more swimming, dinner with Clint's parents, and then Ainsley was going to shoot her own "cracker fires" that night. However, even after picking them out with my dad and being so excited about them, she actually cried so much that we didn't even shoot off half of them. And we're not talking about anything big....sparklers, ladybugs, tanks, etc. We left Sunday morning and I was so excited about the ride home since the ride down went so well, but it was awful! It took us over 6 hours and way too many stops. So, I've been broken in....traveling with 2 kids is no picnic!

New pictures on flickr of our trip!

2 Month Check-up

Grady weighs 12 pounds even! He's in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. He's growing way too fast for me!

(New photos on flickr!)

Fireworks and Bonding Time

I met my mom in Oklahoma last Wednesday and dropped Ainsley off to stay with Mimi and Papa for a week! A whole week! I think it has been good for all of us, though. Ainsley is having a blast and getting a lot of attention from her grandparents. They spent the weekend at my parents cabin on the lake where Ainsley caught something like 6 or 7 fish, they've played in my mom's camper, had picnics at the park, fed the ducks, spent lots of time at the pool, caught a pet turtle (that Ainsley named "Grady"), and played LOTS and LOTS of barbie dolls! :) I've tried to talk to her every day, but she's usually preoccupied with a popsicle or something. I have to admit, though, it's been hard not to jump in the car and go pick her up. I miss her SO much!

On the other side of things, it gave me a lot of time to bond with Grady in a way I haven't really been able to yet. He is such a cuddly little boy! I've taken the opportunity this week to really work on his sleep routine/techniques. I'm happy to report that he is successfully sleeping in his bed (or pack 'n play) all night and now for his morning naps. He's going to bed about 7:30pm and waking up about 3:30am to eat, again at 7:30am to eat, and is up for the day about 11:00am. Then he takes his first nap in his bed also. I just lay him down and he closes his eyes....it's great! (If you're getting jealous right now, you have to read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." It's worked wonders for both of my kids.) Anyway, the nap we're still having difficulty with is the afternoon nap, but I can always get him to sleep if I lay down next to him. I don't have to touch him, he just likes to look into my eyes to fall asleep. (I know...precious isn't it?) He's still learning to soothe himself so I guess it's not awful, but we'll keep working on it nonetheless. That's his longest nap, about 4 hours, so it would be great if he would sleep in his bed since Ainsley is also napping during that time.
Sunday night we went to watch the fireworks at our church. It was so easy with just a baby. Actually, everything has been super easy! It makes me wonder why I ever thought things were difficult when Ainsley was a baby. :)

My handsome man in his red, white, and blue! (Kelly, I couldn't resist the shoes...even though they're double the size of his actual feet!)


Grady's reaction to the fireworks. His eyes stayed this big the whole time and he was holding onto Tiphanie with all his might!
Tomorrow we're heading to Oklahoma for the weekend to pick Ainsley up and let Grady meet the family...in my new mini van!!! I can't believe I took the plunge. I have taken vows with friends that I'd never get a van, but here I am...30 years old with 2 kids and a mini van. :) It's really great and we're looking forward to using the DVD player and GPS system on the trip. We're excited to show Ainsley our new "Dave car", but I don't think she'll be quite as thrilled. We've been looking at vans for about 3 months now and Ainsley never wants to sit in any of them. She always wants to stay in "Momma's car" and tells me she doesn't want me to get a new car. She'll get over it when she sees the new movies we got her, though! :)

My Little Artist

We gave Ainsley a few crayons and 2 cards to send her Grandpas for Father's Day. Usually she just draws all kinds of random shapes and tells us what each of them are. The same little squiggle can be anything from a heart to the moon to a shoe. So, she was drawing away when Clint looked over and said, "She drew a face!" She quickly corrected him and said it was a happy face! :)

I was very impressed...eyes, hair, nose, ears, etc......

She told me she added "cheeks" and a "cloud" on this one....

Nursing Room Update

Since I complained about the men in the nursing room last week I have had so many different people tell me the same thing has happened to them. Ok, was I out of line to say something? Maybe I just gripe too much, but the preschool director said I was the first person to bring this to her attention. She had no idea this was going on. Anyway, there were signs posted this week. The outside door said, "WOMEN ONLY" and the inside door said something about "Out of respect for our nursing mothers......" It was worded really well and there were absolutely no men in sight! :) I hope it stays that way!

Grady will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. Ainsley was 8 weeks the first time I put her in the nursery at church. Every time I walk through the children's area people ask me when I'm going to leave Grady. I just don't think I'm ready to yet. Is that silly? I always wished I could have kept Ainsley with me a little longer, but in the old building there was no foyer. You were either in the building or you were outside. So if she started to fuss a little bit, I had to leave. I just felt like she was too much of a distraction to others trying to hear the sermon so I put her in childcare. Grady is much more content in church, though. I put him straight in the carrier and he stays asleep all the way to church and at least through the worship time. At some point during the sermon he usually wakes up and is starving since it's been usually 4 or 5 hours since his last feeding. So, I just take him to the nursing room and finish the rest of the sermon. And about half of the time he falls asleep and I can go back out and sit in the worship center while he naps. It just seems so easy! I'm trying not to feel the pressure to put him in childcare like I did with Ainsley. As long as I'm able to keep him with me and get something out of the sermon without Grady being a distraction to others, why put him in childcare where I'll just worry the whole time that he's not sleeping or he's hungry (since he won't take a bottle right now)? I'd probably be worrying about him and not listening to Pastor.

Ok, off of church and onto other things..... I took the stroller for a test drive yesterday. I decided to walk up to the new elementary school and let Ainsley play on the playground. I knew it was a good walk (just over a mile one way) but I didn't realize it was all up hill...nor did I realize how much weight I'd be pushing! 30 pounds of stroller + 30 pounds of toddler + 20 pounds of baby/carrier = a very tired momma! My arms were killing me and it was very humid, but Ainsley had a blast and Grady slept right through it all. (At least until the stroller stopped moving) I was easily able to steer with just 1 hand, though, and Ainsley seemed to really like the ride. I really think I'm going to like it a lot! Right now I still have the second seat on for Ainsley, but when we take it shopping or something I'll convert it to a Sit 'n Stand and see how she likes that. She's always been a good kid to sit in the stroller, though.

Well, I'm exhausted so I should really take advantage of my time and go to bed! I've been a little sick and Clint's also been working some late nights (like I'm in bed when he gets home) so I've had to deal with bath/bedtime routines with both kids. Not an easy task....tonight I nursed Grady while reading Peter Pan in Ainsley's bed! At least pottying is going really well. All I have to do now is help her pull her pants back up. She's going "All my byself!" every time and it's great! She just waddles in to find me with her panties around her ankles. Of course, she still finds a way of pooping and calling out for a "wipe" just as I start to feed Grady. We need to establish a poop schedule, I think. I'll add that to the list. :)

New do...

My dear, sweet friend Casey came over to watch Grady yesterday (Ainsley was at school) so I could go get my hair cut! It was the first time in 7 weeks I've been without any kids, so it was nice to pamper myself a little. I thought it would be harder to leave Grady than it was, but I think it helped that it was Casey watching him. I cut about 6-7 inches off...it's pretty short! It's not quite what I asked for, but I think I like it.

Here's Ainsley helping me take a picture of my new haircut....

And here she wanted to take a picture of my "eawwings." :)
On another note, there is a nursing room at church for nursing mothers to sit in during the service and nurse your babies. It has a one-way mirror so you can see the stage and a few recliners...really nice! I used to nurse Ainsley either in a metal chair in the bathroom or in one of the pastor's offices (at the old church building) or I'd have to go across the street to the children's area. So, I was really excited about using this new room! I've only used it the last 2 weeks, but both times there has been a different family in there just hanging out with their toddler. Yes, that means mom AND dad....and 2 year old too! ??? Last week I asked the dad to leave because I was not able to stay covered up very well. These people just sit in there so their kids can play. Seriously. The mom told me so last week. She said that her daughter (who was walking and talking) did not like to be dropped off in the nursery so they always sat in the nursing room where she could play. So, you know me, I just couldn't let this slide. I talked to our preschool director and she was going to post some signs on the door this week. So, I'm anxious to see tomorrow if there are any men in the room. I'll keep you advised! :)

Twins?

Grady
Ainsley











Ok, I need better comparison pictures, but don't my kids look a lot alike? I had a picture of Ainsley pulled up earlier (in pink) and Clint actually thought it was Grady! The funny thing is, I have to compare Grady's 6 week pictures to Ainsley's 10 week pictures because she was so much smaller than him. They sleep just alike too...










Funny that they both have thermal blankets, in the same chair, and I might even be wearing the same shirt! I couldn't have done better if I'd staged it!

Things have been pretty crazy around here, but we're adjusting. Grady has turned into quite the fussy little thing. He's just not ever happy unless he's being held...and sometimes that doesn't help. The only way I can get him to nap is to hold him. Luckily, he doesn't mind if I'm walking around and doing things too much, but the minute his head hits the bed he wakes up! So, I am getting very little done. I've been letting him fuss some and he's starting to learn to self-soothe a little bit, so I see a light at the end of the tunnel! He's still doing great at night. I don't know why he goes right down in his bed at night, but won't during the day. Who knows?

Ainsley is doing fabulous! She kisses that little boy all the time! And her new name for him is "Big Man." Weird, huh? I guess she's heard me call him "Little Man" before. She also calls him Sweetie a lot too. Anytime he starts crying she goes running to him and says, "It's alright...your big sister is here!" It's so cute! She loves to dance for him when he fusses and help give him baths. She tells me to be quiet when he's sleeping and is always more than happy to share anything with him....from Mommy to chocolate. (Yeah, she got two M&M's one day after pottying and she wanted to give one of them to Grady. How sweet is that!??!) Her biggest achievement lately has been on the potty! She's completely potty trained now. She wears nothing but panties (day & night) and even goes all by herself. About half of the time she'll just disappear and go potty. The only way I even know she's gone is that I hear the toilet flush! I'm SO proud of her!

Well, hats off to all of you who continued to blog every couple of days after your babies were born. I have NO idea how you did it! I can barely find time to potty, much less shower or even blog! So, sorry for the hiatus...hopefully it will get better soon! Oh, and my stroller came in yesterday! I'm pumped! I took some pictures of the kids in it today (we rode in the living room since it was raining) so I'll try to post those soon. Wish me luck!

Gross!

This picture is for you, Becky Petrie!


Ok, here's the story. Ainsley's friend, Zoe, got her this cute, little Barbie swimming pool for her birthday. It's been great entertainment! Ainsley loves to play Barbie's outside on the porch and it really keeps her busy for an hour or more at a time. Well, on this particular day she had been playing for a while when she came inside and went straight to the kitchen. I heard the silverware drawer open and close and then saw her run back outside. I didn't think much of it because it didn't look like she had anything in her hand...I was wrong. It turns out, she had taken her bag of dry cereal (Fruit Loops) and dumped them into the swimming pool. As soon as I saw it I said, "Ainsley what did you do?" Her response was....."Yummy!" Yeah, now I know what the spoon was for! You want to hear the best part? Look at the picture closely....see the brown things in the pool? Her cereal is mixed in with pine bark nuggets from the landscaping!!!

MAY

Shew! I'm so glad this month is almost over! Bringing a new baby home, Mother's Day, my 30th birthday, Ainsley's first dance recital (and extra practices), and Ainsley's birthday party.....I'm tired!

Clint uploaded some new pictures of the birthday party. It was a blast! Ainsley had every one of her friends she requested except one little girl that got sick the morning of the party. She was SO excited and is still talking about her friends and what each one gave her. :) The girl loves presents!

After the party, we had just enough time for a quick nap and then we started getting ready again for Ainsley's first dance recital. Amazingly, I got her hair to stay in a little bun, and finished it off with blush and lipstick. She actually carried the mirror around the house until we got in the car. Now, I have to warn you....if you do not already have a little girl, you might want to think twice before clicking on this link. It's so precious - there's no way you can watch it without wanting a little ballerina of your own! :) (No video cameras were allowed, so we tried to "sneak" it in on our camera. We had some focus issues from all the heads in front of us, and the host site cut off at 2 minutes, but it's still cute!)

Bean Sprout Videos

I woke Grady up at 9:00am to get ready for the birthday party. As usual, he fought sleep in his carrier, so I put him in the sling when we got there. Just as I had him almost asleep, it was time to cut the cake so I had to pass him off, hoping he might nap for someone else. When we left at noon he was still awake and already over-tired. I figured he'd be so tired that he'd fall asleep as soon as we got home and I fed him, but nope! With Ainsley so excited and my parents being here, I think it was just too much for him. It was about 1:30pm before he finally fell asleep and only slept about an hour. Then he slept another 20 minutes or so before it was time to leave again. He was awake all through the recital and didn't finally fall asleep until 10:00pm! So, in 13 hours, he slept less than 1.5 hours. I was so stressed out and worried about him that I was actually sick to my stomach. That poor little baby was so overtired that I had to hold his hands and feet down just to get him to sleep. He did sleep until 7:00am without waking up, though. I woke him up to feed him and he went back to sleep until noon, so I guess he's starting to get caught up! Hopefully, we won't have another day quite that busy for a while!

I only have 2 more days with Clint at home, and then I have to start getting up early (with Ainsley) again. :( I just hope Grady can get caught back up on his sleep. If he's as cranky as he has been the last 2 days I don't think I'll make it!

4 more days?

I can't believe it...in 4 days my baby will be 3 years old!!! Surely it hasn't already been 3 years, has it? Since Grady has been born, I've really started to see just how mature Ainsley has gotten lately. She says phrases like, "I have an idea! How about we...." and remembers things from MONTHS ago. She's the best little helper too. She loves to get me items and try to change Grady's diaper and such. This morning she even got Grady to sleep by holding his paci in his mouth and holding his hand. (The boy won't fall asleep unless he's holding someones hand!) Plus, she's actually doing a pretty good job of folding clothes as well. (Can't complain there!) The girls is SOOOO excited about her party coming up! She absolutely loves birthday parties. We seriously play "birthday party" at least once a day. She made out her own invitation list and even picked out her own cake and party favors. I can't wait...after how easily she has adjusted to our new family the last few weeks, she deserves a day just for her! Plus, her dance recital is the evening of the party as well. It will be a busy day, but definitely fun!

Grady is still doing excellent. He's in bed anywhere between 6:00 and 8:00pm and sleeps about 8 hours the first round, then 5 hours, then another 4 or 5 hours. He's still waking up between 10:00am and noon...depending on when he went to bed. So, I seriously can't complain. It's the TOTAL opposite of Ainsley. Oh, and did I mention that he isn't even swaddled? Yeah, we kept trying to swaddle him in the hospital and he'd get his arms out. We quickly found that if he had his hands up on each cheek he'd sleep longer, so we started swaddling him with his hands out. Now I just lay a blanket over his legs. (He still sleeps in a sleep positioner so he can't really move around much.) He's also great to take a paci until I'm ready to feed him and he always spits it out as soon as he falls asleep. He's such a sweet little man! When he gets really fussy (which still is FAR from crying) I can lie him next to me, let him hold my finger, and he goes right to sleep...no matter what time of day. He's already started looking around when he hears me talking too. Yep - he's definitely going to be a momma's boy!

My car was in the shop today so we all took a little outing in the Bronco. That was a challenge! It's plenty big, but only 2 doors so getting the kids (especially the carrier) in and out was difficult. Ainsley thought it was a lot of fun, though. And since Clint has these oversized tires, there's a lot of road noise so Grady slept great. We went to Sam's and ordered the cake, ate some pizza, then bought a ton of frozen food from Wal-Mart. I just can't seem to find time to cook right now. At least, I'm not doing a good job planning. All of a sudden it's dinner time and I have nothing laid out to thaw, so I thought another couple of weeks on frozen dinners wouldn't hurt anybody. We got mostly stir-fry and broccoli chicken so my almost-vegetarian daughter will eat it too. :) I also gave Grady a bit of formula while we were out. He wasn't crazy about it, but he did drink a little bit. I'm not going to wait until it's too late (like I did with Ainsley) and then be joined at the hip with him. I waited until almost 4 months with Ainsley and then she wouldn't take formula OR a bottle. For almost 3 months I was called out of church service or bible study every single week! The worse part was, I pumped and always included a bottle in her bag, but it would get wasted every time. For those of you who have been in that position, you know how expressed milk becomes precious little jewels! So, hopefully, Grady will take some formula now and then.

Well, I uploaded some new pictures to the "May '08" set on flickr. We also took the kids to get studio pictures made yesterday so those will be coming soon! I'm off to feed the little one! (Who has been asleep for the last 4 hours!)

Stats on my kids!

Ainsley: 30 pounds 8 ounces
38.5 inches

Grady: 8 pounds 3 ounces
20.25 inches

We took Grady back to the doctor today to get weighed, so I had Ainsley weighed/measured as well. Both are doing great! Ainsley finally hit 30 pounds! And Grady has gained over a pound in 2 weeks so the doctor was very pleased with his progress also. He was right in the 50th percentile for both his weight and height. I just need him to gain enough weight to wear 0-3 month clothes. I keep trying things on him and they literally fall off. I'm SO tired of the same 5 outfits.

On another note, Grady's cord fell off yesterday so he got to take his first bath today! Yeah!!! He smells SO good and I just couldn't stop kissing him! (Pictures later) I wanted to let Ainsley help me, but she was at dance and Grady was getting very tired. She got home just as I was taking him out so I was sad about that, but I know there will be plenty of time for her to "help". :)

Recovery is still going pretty slow for me. I'm almost over all of my nursing issues and starting to heal in that area, but my incision is still giving me a lot of trouble. It still starts hurting really bad if I do too much...that's getting old. I can feel some hard scarring, but I'm not sure if that's causing the pain or not. I go back to the doctor in a week and a half so I'm hoping things will be better by then. In the meantime, if I can stay off of my medication I can start driving on Thursday! What a great birthday present...freedom! :)

Daily activities are going really well around here, but Clint is doing most everything. He gets up way too early, so he takes care of Ainsley in the morning and lets me sleep in with Grady. (Which is usually close to 10:00am!) Ainsley has been great to entertain herself throughout the day and has really enjoyed doing yard work with her daddy too. Grady just sleeps all through the day and is usually awake a couple of hours in the evening. Ainsley is taking 2-3 hour naps, too, which allows Clint and I to nap in the afternoon. Then both kids are in bed by 8:00pm. Grady usually wakes up about midnight and again about 5:00am. That's it! The only real issue is that Grady is not napping well unless he's being held. Ainsley was exactly the same way as a baby too, so I was expecting it. I still try to lay him down almost every time, but he wakes up each time. So, that's an opportunity for improvement, but other than that I'd say things are going really well!

Finally Caught Up!

I finally got time to sort through all of the pictures on Clint's computer, so I've added a few to the existing sets on flickr. I'm caught up now so it will be easier to upload pics and blog from here on! :)

More Pics

A few more pictures on flickr!

Grady is really starting to fill out! As he should be...the boy is eating a ton! Ainsley still adores her baby brother and is always asking about him. She's had a fever since Friday, though, and we still don't know what's wrong. She's on antibiotics and now she's starting to develop a fever blister. Luckily we caught it early so hopefully we can stop it, but it's been hard keeping her and Grady separated for the last 4 days. Plus, Mommy is going stir crazy not being able to leave the house!!! Things can only get better from here, though...right? :)

Quick Update

Grady went to the doctor today. He weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces....only 2 ounces away from his birth weight. He gained 1/2 a pound in just 2.5 days! His color was perfect and his rash is clearing up nicely too, so the doctor was very pleased with his progress. And if you were wondering, yes...it looks like his hair is fairly blonde! I hadn't really noticed, but today was the first day out in the sun and florescent lights. Eyes are still blue, but they're pretty dark. They're not as dark as Ainsley's were so I'm not sure if they'll turn or not. You never know!

There are a handful of new pictures on flickr also. Clint's still in charge of pictures, so as soon as I get a chance I'll get on his laptop and sort through them all.

Graden Matthew Bean

Grady is here!
7 lbs 12 oz
20 inches
4/24/2008
7:47am

Clint uploaded a few pictures on our flickr site. I'll try to get a few more uploaded as soon as I can.

Grady is doing great! He's SO sweet and I'm absolutely in love with him. He's a super cuddle-bug and sleeps all the time. He had lost down to 7 lbs 2 ounces when we left the hospital on Saturday, but my milk came in the same day so I think he's making it back up quickly. He sure poops a lot! The kid poops every single time he eats...while he's eating. He seems to always smile when he poops too....such a little boy! :)

Ainsley is doing really good with him. She's still learning just what "gentle" means and is starting to not be quite so interested in him (that's a good thing) and play on her own. Overall, we haven't really had any jealousy issues, but we had a small accident yesterday. I was holding Grady in one arm and Ainsley climbed up on the arm of the recliner on my other side. We sat like that watching TV for a while until Ainsley went to climb down. When she did, she elbowed my incision......OUCH! Luckily, my mom swept her off real quick before she saw me cry. She got emotional...I got emotional....we were all crying. :)

I'm recovering fairly well. I still can't stand up completely straight and I have a LOT of back pain. It's the same pain that put me in the ER after Ainsley was born. So far, it's controlled with the Ibuprofen the doctor prescribed, but as soon as I get within an hour of taking more meds I'm in enough pain that it often sets me into tears. Other than the back pain, the left side of my incision "popped" a bit on Saturday and has been hurting since then, but it's manageable. I'm just glad I have my mom here to help with Ainsley. Clint is working 4.5 hour days this week while my mom is helping and he'll be off next week.

I'd just like to thank everyone who came to see us in the hospital. It was SO great sharing this time with all of our friends and I love each of you! Also, thanks to everyone (especially Becca) who kept or offered to keep Ainsley last week while I finished "nesting". You're all such a huge help and I'm so blessed to have such a great circle of friends.

I'll try to get back into posting in a few days. Until then, check our flickr site now and then for more pictures!

Veggie Tales and MDO!

Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber (from Veggie Tales) were at church on Sunday. They were in the kid's area before church Sunday morning, but Ainsley was pretty hesitant. She was excited, and even waved, but kept her distance. Apparently they visited each classroom during church, which must have worked because Ainsley was hugging them by the time we picked her up! We had a big celebration that evening so they were back again and Ainsley was hugging AND kissing them...plus lots of hand shakes, high-fives, and even put her little clown nose on Bob and told him he could keep it! (He gave it back)



They served hot dogs, chips, ice cream, and brownies. Ainsley LOVED it! She doesn't usually eat hot dogs very well, but she ate almost all of hers, most of her chips (dipped in ketchup) and ate the ice cream until we took it away because it was completely melted. She loved eating it with a "stick" though. :)Kyla and her parents sat right by us, so Ainsley and Kyla danced together for a while. There was some pretty loud music while the performer was eating fire and juggling. :) Including Kyla's baby brother, I bet I pulled Ainsley away from 4 babies! She LOVES babies!
My "boss" at Mother's Day Out let me bring Ainsley in today since I'm having a baby Thursday. She's so sweet! I bought a few last minute things at Wal-Mart and then came home for the rest of the day. That's something I never do! I watched TV for about an hour, surfed the internet for another hour, cleaned out the refrigerator in a major way, and picked up around the house. It was a great day! PLUS Ainsley took a nap at school...3 times in a row now! So, I took her to the park where we met her friend Wilson (who is bringing home his baby brother tomorrow) and another friend was there that she knows from Toddler Toes, Blake and his baby sister (who Ainsley also wouldn't stop playing with!) She was SO brave! She was climbing things that she's never climbed before and swinging by herself. It was so nice to know that I might actually be able to take her to the park this summer and be able to sit back, hold Grady, and just watch! Then we came home and Clint (& Ainsley) made a homemade pizza and served it to me in the recliner! :)

It was a good day, which is good because I've had really bad nights. I have terrible back pain because I've been sleeping on an incline...on my side. I have terrible indigestion/nausea even after taking Prilosec daily and Tums every 4 hours, so I have to sleep sitting up. Plus, I'm very congested so I'm sleeping with my mouth open which makes my throat SO sore! I still don't quite have my voice back, but my cough is getting a bit better. I have high hopes that it will be gone by Thursday! We're going to stay home tomorrow and try to re-coop (other than dance) and then I go in Wednesday morning for my pre-op! It's almost time!!!

Ainsley's Special Day

First of all, thank you all SO much for your prayers! Luckily, Ainsley's fever only lasted about 2.5 days and, after a few breathing treatments, the cough went away too! So, she was able to go to school on Friday and give Mommy a day off! :) That's the day I started getting sick. I had no voice on Friday (after coughing all night Thursday night) and had a real scratchy throat all day today too. I still have a really bad cough and since I can't take any medicine it's not getting much better. Hopefully it will be gone by Wednesday because I can NOT recover from an incision in my stomach while coughing!

So, as most of you know, we've tried to make this entire month very special for Ainsley before Grady comes. I'm a little worried that she's getting spoiled, but so far we haven't had any issues. We purposely made sure that we kept our schedules today completely open so we could spend the entire day with Ainsley. When she woke up I explained what was going to happen and she kept running through the house saying, "Its' my special day!" and then she'd tell us to "Say 'Happy Special Day Ainsley!'" Ha! All day we kept asking her what she wanted to do next. She started off wanting to watch cartoons. Then she wanted to do a puzzle. It's a Thomas the Train puzzle she got for Christmas that's pretty complicated. She loves puzzles and is really pretty good at them! Next she asked to play a game. She actually wanted to play a game outside, but it was a bit too cold. I bought this Lucky Ducks game on the clearance aisle a couple of weeks ago, thinking it would be something fun to play after Grady comes. Even thought it was maybe a bit elementary for her (said 3-8 yrs on box, though) she absolutely LOVED it!

Choosing her duck...

Found a match!

After playing that game WAY too many times, we all built a fort together. (By the way, chip clips work really well to keep the blankets on!)

Wearing Daddy's glasses. She can't see at all when she has these on. It's pretty funny to watch her. :)

After a GREAT nap, we went fishing at the lake close to our house...in Decatur. She always thinks it's a treat to ride in Daddy's Bronco.

Reeling it in...she had a blast! Right after we got there, a guy was leaving and asked us if we wanted the 3 Perch that he caught. I declined, but he let Ainsley watch as he released them back into the lake. Ainsley thought it was a lot of fun watching them swim in circles until they got oriented again. :)

Like father, like daughter!

I was a nervous wreck when she was on the dock with Clint. She kept running and I was trying to yell, "Don't let her run!", but I had no voice! They were pretty far away from me too. Here she is waving at me.

She ate all of the snacks I brought on the 10 minute trip to the lake, so all I had was a sucker. :)

There were several geese and a couple of little families with babies too...

Casting...she was dangerous!

She kept getting upset when her plastic fishy would get moss on it.

I found another snack...an apple!

I just had to get one with her tongue out...she can't do anything with her tongue in her mouth!

When we got home she played outside for a long time, in the sand box, on the roller coaster, and kicking balls with Daddy. Needless to say, she went right to sleep tonight! Tomorrow is "Kid's Day" at church too, so it's an extra special weekend for her. Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber (from Veggie Tales) will be visiting her class and she's very excited about seeing them. She's also counting down the number of days until Grady comes...she's so cute!