Rebel

The authorities in pediatric care say babies should sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of SIDS. How does one convey that to a 6-month-old? I haven't figured that out. Parker has slept on his tummy for months now. He is still swaddled (helps calm him down and symbolizes sleepy-time has arrived) but immediately breaks out of his swaddle and rolls over upon being put in his crib. And he refuses to roll back over. My personal favorite is how he'll push himself up as far as he can after waking up to peek at whoever might walk in his room to rescue him.

From snow to sun

This was our backyard a week ago.

And this is what we looked like when we went outside to play a week ago.

Here we are earlier today.





I've gotten into the habit of making strawberry/blueberry/banana smoothies with flax seed and probiotics for us every day. Madeleine has a special smoothie cup and she and I enjoy drinking them before nap time while we watch Wall-e, her new love. I haven't mentioned this but since her birthday a month ago she's bypassed Elmo for Wall-e which I continue to enjoy watching, even if it is a daily occurrence.
We've been very busy enjoying the 50+ degree weather we've had this week, hence little posting on my part. But where there's fun there will be pictures so I'll have more soon.

Final Four

We got into the college basketball spirit a little late this season but despite seeing only a few games, Madeleine has become an avid fan. She's very upset that we can't watch it on TV anymore; however, we're making up for that by playing basketball with our mini hoop that's suction cupped to the dishwasher and by using our neighbor's full-sized hoop outside. Unfortunately our outside play resulted in a minor ball-to-the-face event (bad shot by Justin) causing us to come inside early this evening. Here's Madeleine cheering for UNC during the final game. *Justin decided they were rooting for UNC whereas I wanted Michigan State to win*

Considering her continued superiority in the height category, I'm thinking she'll make a good center in high school. But just in case she's not interested in basketball, we've also started to play soccer and she's watched tennis on TV. She also has a drum and little piano and she loves to watch Justin play the guitar. Combined with her coloring and drawing, I think we're covering all of our bases when it comes to exposure to extracurricular activities for a 2-year-old. If you're wondering about drama, she covers that every single day.

Babysitter explained

So the basic story is that the babysitter didn't work out because she was having privileges taken away by her parents for bad behavior, i.e., she no longer had use of the family car or her cell phone. Since she didn't have a way to get here and I was asking her to come while the kids were napping, it just wasn't going to work out. But I've managed pretty well without her, especially now that the weather has gotten nicer. I'm hoping to post some fun pictures tonight. Thanks for harassing me (especially you grandparents!).

Just kidding

So the babysitter I had isn't going to work out. Wouldn't you know I had just planned a whole list of things to accomplish while she would be here? Back to the drawing board.

Out like a birthday lion

It snowed all day today. It always seems to rain or snow on Justin's birthday (today). He's not too big on celebrating his birthday so there's no need to feel bad that you missed it; however, he's starting to reconsider his need for enthusiasm as he was surprised by the watch I got him this year. He's always wanted a nice Swiss Army watch and now he has one. I went to pretty crazy lengths to get him one but that's a story for a different day. A funny shorter story is how Madeleine "told" Justin what he was getting for his gift. I took Madeleine with me to run errands yesterday and reminded her that we were going to give Justin a watch for his birthday. After getting home, Madeleine found the wrapped gift, took it into the bathroom when Justin was getting out of the shower, and said "Da-da" and pointed at her wrist. Justin guessed it immediately but didn't want me to feel bad so asked Madeleine if he was getting a bracelet for his birthday. She said "no" and pointed at her wrist again. What a turkey! Nevertheless, he was still really pleased. The kids gave Justin a pre-paid punch card to the coffee shop down the street from his office. That seemed pretty appropriate considering they tend to be the ones to make us as exhausted as we are.

Speaking of exhausted, Parker continues to only sleep in 2.5-3 hour chunks at night. He was doing 4 hour stretches for about a week and a half as soon as I stopped eating dairy but then he learned to roll from his back to his tummy and now gets stuck too far away from or on top of his pacifiers in the middle of the night. I'm still diary-free (making him gas-free) and caffeine-free and he's still bottle-free. He's refused to take the soy formula but we'll keep working on it. We're still hoping for a miracle here soon.

The other small development in our lives is the addition of a babysitter. We have a girl who comes over for an hour and a half on Tuesdays and Thursdays usually while the kids are sleeping but it gives me a chance to run errands and/or do things around the house with both hand available. Once Madeleine gets more used to her (Parker cares less who holds him as long as he can pull hair and poke at eyes) we'll probably try and even go out for a date one night! Can you believe it?

I must have written enough because I was able to consume 4 enormous dairy-free cookies I made last night while posting this. Time for something to wash the crumbs down. I'll hopefully have some pictures to post soon.

gimme

My name is Parker. Whatever it is you have, I want it.