1, 2,...5

Austin is the tender age of two.  His days are full of snacks, playing, and learning.  He has been working on learning his colors and numbers.  Colors are going well, did you know that everything is "red".  It is, really...in the world of Austin. 

Numbers are going fabulous!  This engineer in training counts everything.  I mean - everything.  You may not be familiar with toddler number order, allow me to school you.  Numbers 3,4,7, 8, and 10 are just not important, so you can just go ahead and forget they exist.  Also, when you finish counting to any number, you BLASTOFF!  Let me provide you with an example of the Austin way of counting.

1,2,5,6,9...BLASTOFF!!!

I am not sure what the lasting effects of loosing numbers will be for our future.  I pray that in the event Austin does become an engineer like his dad, our roads and bridges will not be impacted by his new way of counting.

Sometimes Mom's Don't Know Everything

As a mother, I feel that I know what is best for my children.  And if I don't already have the knowledge to come to a conclusion on what is the best, I will do my own research.

Austin was a HORRIBLE  sleeper.  I cannot express how awful it truly was.  He was well over a year old before successfully sleeping through the night.  At eleven months old, he would wake at least 2 times a night for a nursing session.  To rectify this ongoing sleep issue, I read many books.  I spent countless wakeful hours on websites that guaranteed success.  Nothing worked. 

Aubrey was born last July.  As the months have past, she fell into a sleep pattern that was unfortunately very familiar.  This time was a bit different.  We have 2 children to care for.  I have found that it is virtually impossible to be a "good" mama on a measly 2 or 3 hours of sleep.

So I began re-reading sleep books, we attempted these methods - no change.

A few weeks ago, I admitted defeat.  I am a mom.  I don't know everything.  And I need help.

I called a friend for a recommendation for a sleep specialist.  Immediately I dialed the number for the Sleep Center at St. Lukes Hospital.  The poor receptionist that took my call, I poured out my frustrations to her.  She scheduled our appointment, 3 weeks away.

Three weeks is quite a long time when you are keeping sleep logs.  You can see in black and white the sleep or in our case - lack thereof, you are getting

Just after Christmas Adam and I met with a sleep nurse.  She is such an incredible person, full of great knowledge of babies and how to get them to sleep.  Her assessment of Aubrey's sleep habits were in a nutshell, "she sleeps worst than a newborn baby.  Inadequate sleep is harmful to a child's health and development."  I am so happy we met with her.  What was I thinking with Austin?  Why was I unable to admit defeat and seek help from a professional back then?  Better late than never, I guess.

We left the appointment with a strict plan to help Aubrey get some good quality sleep - and us too.  We are a week into sleep training and I am happy to report - it is going much better than expected.  Last night we logged 4 consecutive hours of sleep.  Adam even had a dream - rather a nightmare of Aubrey's crib collapsing.

By next week (if Aubrey follows the plan) my entire house will be asleep - all night!  We will be energized and ready to spend the day together.  I can't wait!

Fallen off the horse

Well blog, you are seriously neglected.  Truth of the matter is that raising a family leaves little time for blogging.

Enjoy some updates on our family:


Austin just celebrated his 2nd birthday yesterday!  Yikes, we have officially entered into a rather unpleasant stage of his life that will include potty training (what a mess), tantrums, and discipline.  But he is just a bundle of energy that I cannot imagine my life without.  Austin had super fun birthday parties that I will dedicate an entire post to tomorrow (or the next day).  A few weeks ago Austin had ear tubes placed in attempts to keep his ongoing ear infections at bay and possibly help his speech development.  He is finally taking good naps!  This only took him 2 years to figure out but better late than never.  Last week we attempted a photo session with Santa. 

Aubrey is 4 months old and weighs in at 14 pounds.  She is our chunky baby.  Austin was always so skinny and low on the growth charts.  Aubrey is just the opposite.  She giggles and laughs a lot.  No big milestones yet - she is thisclose to rolling over.  But she has been for awhile, she is in no hurry to move anywhere.  In the last week, she has started sleeping a little better.  One good nap in her swing will work for me right now - we are still in survival mode.  Last week she took her 1st trip to our local dance supply store.  The owner and good friend had her 1st tutu waiting for her.  Now she only needs to get bigger so she can fit into her ballet shoes.

 

 

Arts & Crafts with a Toddler

A few days ago Aubrey was taking a nice nap - rarity at our house.  I embraced this alone time with our son with arts and crafts.  Austin thoroughly enjoys coloring and stamping.  It had been months since we experienced play-doh, so we popped open the lid of blue and started rolling, cutting, and smooshing.  After a few moments the phone rang, as I answered the call, Austin took a nice big bite of the blue clay.  --Mom mode kicked in and my finger instinctively became a fish hook in his mouth...it was gone.  Only remnants of blue bits on his lips. 

Flash back to my childhood.  My neighbor friend regularly ate play-doh.  She is now a remarkable young woman, finishing up her college degree...  So, obviously Austin would live to see another day after ingesting the non-toxic clay.

I promptly gave Austin a snack of rainbow colored goldfish and water to wash down the play-doh.  We placed the remaining play-doh into its' container and retrieved paint dobbers from the bin.  After a short while of splashing paint onto paper, Aubrey awoke.  While I tended to her needs, Austin decided his rainbow goldfish were just not quite colorful enough...Yes, he dobbed paint onto the goldfish and was shoveling them into his mouth.  Thankfully, the paints were also non-toxic.  And before my inquisitive toddler could ingest more "non-toxic" items, we packed up arts & crafts to find something a little less dangerous to play with.

October 9th

Austin will be 2 years old in December, therefore he has experienced two October 9ths since his birth.  This date seems to carry unfortunate events for him.

Saturday, October 9, 2010 - Austin eats eggs and experiences anaphylaxis for the first time. 

Sunday, October 9, 2011 - Austin woke just before midnight with a high fever.  We gave him medicine and waited for it to take effect.  Several hours later, he was expressing he was in pain and his fever was still climbing.  We loaded up at 3am to head to the emergency room.  Four hours and $100 later we were home and back in bed with a diagnosis of double ear infection.

As I sat in the waiting room with Austin asleep on my lap, I realized these two medical events had occurred on the same day --October 9th.  All in all, I believe we have been blessed to only have had two "medical emergencies" in the two years of his life.  One event per year isn't all that bad.

**To clarify, I am not "that" good with dates.  My best friend's baby was born October 8th of last year.  I was receiving her phone call with her birth announcement when Austin began anaphylaxing.  Last Saturday, we attended his 1st birthday party, hours before Austin woke with a high fever.

Ah Ha!

This week Adam made a connection and we both had an "ah ha" moment. 

History:  From the week Austin came home from the hospital he was an amazing sleeper - woke once to feed and then straight back to sleep until morning.  Around 4 months old a switch flipped and his sleep habits were a literal nightmare.  Austin would wake screaming every hour from 9pm to 6am.  Each hour Adam and I would spend 30 minutes soothing him back to sleep.  Many times utilizing high decibels (vacuum cleaner) to silence his screams.  Oh the memories...  (I have honestly forgotten exactly how miserable this time of my life was - lack of sleep does things to your mind).

Recent history:  Earlier this summer Austin had an allergic reaction to watermelon.  This prompted another blood allergy panel testing for fruits.  The results revealed a banana allergy.  Initially I thought it was interesting he was allergic to bananas because he has always expressed a dislike of bananas.  I had previously thought it was a texture issue for him.  But now with these results, I realized that the bananas must make him feel badly - a good reason to refuse to eat them.  Pretty smart that boy of mine!

Now for the real "ah ha" moment.  And, I must give full credit to my wonderful husband for making this connection.  We began mixing bananas into Austin's cereal around 4 months of age.  He was underweight and his doctor recommended adding bananas to his cereal to help him pack on some extra calories.  Now remember it was 4 months old when Austin began having sleep issues.  Could his sleep problems possibly have been caused because his parents were feeding him a food he is allergic to???  I cannot imagine the digestive cramping and other internal reactions his body experienced during that time.  There is no way to prove this but I do believe the bananas could have been the culprit to our sleepless nights.

Aubrey is 2 Months Old

Our baby girl is a whopping 10 pounds, 8 ounces!  That is a 4 pound gain since birth.  She does enjoy her meals!  She is in the 38th percentile for her weight, quite different than her brother who has never been higher on the curve than the 10th percentile.

Aubrey is 22.75 inches long - 63rd percentile in height.  Maybe she will be short like her momma...

She is full of smiles, bubbles and "coos" - we love them all.  Her daily goal is to wear her entire wardrobe in one day - today she scored an 8.