Bad word

Did someone say.....nap? I have learned over the past few days that this is a very bad word. Nicky never, ever wants to 'need a nap'. It's perfectly fine to 'want to go to sleep', to 'need some sleep', to 'be tired' or to even get 'put to sleep'. However, he never needs or wants anything to do with a nap. Nicky will actually wake back up to give you a dirty look if you utter any phrase with nap in it. I'm not sure why naps are negative. It reminds me of "Honey, I Blew Up the Baby". Remember that movie? The 20 foot tall toddler would throw a fit at the very mention of the word nap. This must be something that comes in the toddler handbook because I don't think I've ever used this word negatively. Very interesting.

For the love of hot wheels

Nicky is in love with hot wheels. All the boys have gone through this but Nick's obsession is at a whole new level. He takes these little cars everywhere. He sleeps with one every night. It was so cute...at first. It does have it's perks. He likes to find out what color they are and is learning his colors pretty well. He sorts them, he lines them up, all those good two year old milestone behaviors. He prefers to sleep with a yellow car. That leads me to one very unpleasant aspect. Nicky is two, these cars are small and they always get lost. We put him into the car having tantrums because he's left his car behind. That isn't so bad because, so far, we've always managed to find it. This is not fun at all in the middle of the night. For three nights this week we had to wake up to go looking for his car. Last night was the worst since I don't think he actually went to sleep with it. Mack and I were both up at 4 am looking for a yellow hot wheel that is 2 inches long in the dark so we wouldn't wake Aaron. I might stop while we're out and buy 10 of these little yellow cars. I'm exhausted and do not want to do that again. I wonder if velcro would work.....;)

Aaron and Nicky's check up day

Today Aaron went for his 6 months check up and Nicky went for his 30 month check up. They are both doing wonderfully, which I knew, but I really love their pediatrician and I like to hear her say that, lol. Aaron is a big 20 pounds 13 ounces. Nick's weight was 30.8 pounds. I found out today that their doctor is pregnant. She has the cutest little belly. She's due in 2 months and is still so small. I just saw her a couple months ago and had no idea. Since she's going on maternity leave we don't have to go back until Aaron is a year. She says he looks wonderful and since we don't vax there are no worries of missing anything.

After we left the doctor we went to go visit Mrs. Scott. She used to be our next door neighbor. Christopher was best friends with her grandson when they were about 5. They still love each other. They gave each other a big hug and were inseparable for the whole 8 hours we spent over there. It was so nice to chat with her. She had her knee replaced in July and I had been worried. Just a month ago she couldn't bath herself and she's already walking without a cane! She's having a speedy recovery. She just isn't willing to sit down and rest. She needs to take care of her grand babies and keep her house clean, lol.

The kids were sound asleep the whole way home. Nicky got carried into the house and was so worn out from the day that he didn't even wake up. I took a bath and checked on the soap I made this morning. I've been so frustrated with that lately. My soaps have been sticking to the bottom of the molds. When that happens I have to dismantle the whole thing to remove the soap and keep it in tact. I may buy some new molds soon. I would love some silicone ones that require no lining and don't stick. I just hope they work well with hot process soaps.

I noticed on the way home that the days are getting shorter. The days are already feeling a little colder as well. I don't want summer to end. I always dread the cold weather and the cabin fever it brings with it. Summer just began! I remember wearing a coat in June. This isn't fair. We should get at least 4 months of nice days. I wish Mother Nature would get her act together.

Tomorrow is Aaron's 6 month day! My baby is growing up too fast :( He gets his first meal for breakfast in the morning. I bought him some avocado yesterday and am so excited to see what he thinks of it. I bet he will find that eating is overrated and not worth the effort, lol. Nicky was not impressed with his first few bites of food. I must admit that Aaron is a lot more determined to get his hands on some food than Nick was so maybe he will surprise me.

The zoo and my weekend

On Friday we spent the day at the zoo with Dawn and her two boys, Nathaniel and Peyton. We had a great time! The kids got to play and I got to have mom talk, which is always a plus for me. We got to see the dinosaur exhibit at Brookfield zoo and it was great! I always knew how big dinosaurs were but I didn't really KNOW. Man, they are big! Seeing the t-rex really helped me understand just how worthless those little arms were and how scary that thing must have been. Nicky was not impressed with those big, loud creatures. He doesn't like loud noises. He kept his head securely buried in Mack's back the whole time. He was actually really good at the zoo until the end. By then he'd missed his nap time and was starting to act just a little naughty. It really was a good day. After that we stopped at my mom's and had pizza for dinner.

Yesterday was a total waste of a day. Today was pretty wasteful too. I sat on my behind playing on facebook and watching Caillou on netflix with Zach and Nicky. How's that for an exciting weekend. I promised myself I'd get the addresses of friends I've promised soap to, didn't happen. I had two 4 pound batches of soap planned, didn't happen. Chris starts his classes tomorrow and I still haven't gotten his supplies. I'm mom of the year today. I guess down time is good. I've been really stressing lately. I've been spending my days tense and upset and even though I didn't do anything these last 2 days I can say I'm a lot more relaxed, calm and happy. Maybe I accomplished something after all :-)

Now on the next week! I have so much to do and I'm so excited. Really, this week isn't much different than any other week but I'm really looking forward to it. Aaron has his 6 month check up and Nicky had his 2.5 year check up. I can't wait to see how big my little chunky Aaron is. He also get to eat this week. He's been staring my food down for weeks so I hope he's not too disappointed. I can't believe this baby is 6 months old. It doesn't see like it's been that long. This year is flying by.

I better run. I'm in the mood for a nature hunt tomorrow and I think we'll have a scavenger hunt while we're at it.

No more crowds

Hurray for the return of the school year. All summer the parks, museums and zoos are crowded with children. I really hate crowds so the start of the school year is always welcome. We had a nice day at MRU today, as usual. The kids did a really fun craft and the parents decided on what the plans for the upcoming fall season. We have many classes and groups in the works and I'm very excited about it. Nicky got to switch riding toys with Nathaniel at group. Nicky loves this little tricycle. Once the trade off is over I may have to buy him one.

Have I mentioned how awesome Aaron is lately? He is! he is the happiest child ever. He is such a joy. He's sitting up, smiling and going backwards with the look of much confusion, lol. One day he's figure out that forward thing. He starts solids in a week! I'm so excited. I should be over this after 1000 kids but nope. I'm just as excited about Aaron as i was with Chris. This baby thing never gets old.

Nicky is...a trying toddler, lol. He has no gray area. I'm either laughing so hard I could cry or feeling like i just want to cry in general. I'll be glad when this time is over. I bet he'll be a great kid. he has such a winning personality.

And me! I have a soap room! This means I have indeed gone so crazy over this soap thing that I've devoted a full room to it. I've also learned to make body butter so that'll be in there too if I ever buy jars to put it in. One step at a time.

Chris is always asking to do academic classes. I always think he should do something sporty. I give up. He'll be taking learning vine classes this fall. He's taking grammar, history and writing. It's only a day a week on Monday. I hope he likes it as much as he thinks he will.

Tomorrow is La Leche League meeting. I can't wait to go since it's been a while. I'm not even sure why I'm so excited, maybe the idea of getting out of the house with 5 less kids than I normally leave with, lol. After that WILL. We're having a pot luck lunch tomorrow, fun!

Books, birds and c-section awareness

Today was a really nice day. I woke up early to sneak in a batch of soap. I made two pounds and was a little disappointed. I had no blue dye to make the purple I wanted. I underestimated the mold I used. It could hold three pounds but I only made two. The kitchen was a horrible mess so it took way longer than I wanted. I won't be making anymore soap until I get my dyes and fragrance in the mail. That won't stop me from obsessing about the perfect recipe though! I spent a ton of time writing in my soap journal and messing around on soapcalc today.

We spent a nice portion reading and doing learning related things today as well. The girls are on a worksheet kick so I spent a nice chunk of my morning 'doing' math with them. We've been reading like crazy this summer! The summer reading program seems to have kicked it off but we have all taken off. We recently finished Sign of the Beaver. We're now working on Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox. The kids heard some of this book while I was reading this series now we're reading it to them. Chris is reading Elephant....something about an Elephant, lol. It's for a library book discussion and it's late so my brain is broken until I get some sleep. The girls are starting to read one of the Magic Tree House books for their next discussion. Zach is really enjoying his Miss Spider books. One thing I love about Zachary is his complete disregard for boy stuff vs. girl stuff. He is rough and tumble, loves bugs and sister bugging and can play barbies and dress up with the best of them. A kid after my own heart. We had a book exchange at MRU next week and I need to go through all those books. We got quite a few and while the kids have been reading them, they are all over. I need to make space for them. I have 5 book shelves in my living room and we'll be looking at a 6th soon.

Back to today! We all headed out to the library this evening. The children had a Birds of Prey presentation. The big kids had a blast. I wasn't there but I got to see some nice pictures of the birds. What beautiful owls. One looked exactly like a big piece of tree bark, wonderful camouflage. While the kids learned about birds, I went to my c-section awareness meeting(ICAN). I'm so glad Mack mentioned that I should go. I'd totally forgotten and had once again convinced myself that we meet on Tuesdays instead of Mondays. I really need to remember to put meetings on my calendar. It was a nice meeting, as usual. I really need to learn to come out of my shell with this group. There are two ladies there I really like but this stupid shyness, ugh! I did get up the courage to invite one to my homeschool group. I really hope she comes. I ended up with super toddler for some of my meeting. He was running around too much so Mack brought him down to me. He was good for a while. Then he got bored. Nicky should never get bored, it's not pretty. He started pushing the stroller into the wall. So, my little star baby got passed around a bit while I nursed Nicky and he went to sleep! I was so happy for that. He can be pretty bad at the library. This is one of those times I thank God my toddler is still nursing strong. It could have gotten ugly.

Tomorrow should be MRU. We're meeting at a park and I really don't want to go. It's just so far away! I wish I lived somewhere exactly between the two groups so I had easier access to MRU. If we don't go to group tomorrow we'll head over to one of these nature places in the area to get a passport stamp.

Well, I'm off to bed! I need to be well rested. I must get these children out of the house for some fun tomorrow. I'm also going out tomorrow night! I'm so excited. I love meeting with good friends.

Excuse any mistakes, I'm too tired to proof read. I barely remembered to spell check.

Rainy days

Rainy days are best shared with friends. I was so close to staying home with the kids since it was so gray and wet but we ventured out to the park to be with our Wild Indigo homeschool friends. They played in the park until everyone was cold, wet and hungry and were off to Panera. I generally don't care for groups at Panera but I must admit it was fun and I love the food! Frankie followed her new crush around for at least an hour. It was kind of cute. Nicky had a great time sharing a cookie with Rylee. Aaron got to share his smile and impress everyone with his sweet, chatter box nature. I'm very happy to have gotten out of the house.

Loving the outside and dreading it too.

We've really been loving all the outdoor time. We missed homeschool group this week but we're planning to go to the zoo with a friend from group to make up for it. Amanda is slimming down already. Neither girl misses school. I got the notes from Frankie's IEP meeting and had to giggle. Frankie still can't read much. On the notes they listed that she'd had inadequate reading and math instruction before school and also that she'd made no real improvement at school so she must have a learning disability. It's funny that when I taught her I was doing something wrong but when they taught her she had something wrong. Amazing. I would have come to the conclusion that she simply isn't ready yet and she's not. She isn't LD she is simply not ready yet and that is okay :-)

The kids love park days! I missed them so much. We didn't go to HS group this week because there wasn't a park day due to rain. I don't think I mentioned that Chris got his CPR card at MRU last week. It was a really fun class. The kids learned a lot and had fun.

Now for the dread. Nicholas almost got hit by a car. It was no one's fault really. A man opened the door at the office we were in and he jetted out. The car swerved and missed him as I pulled him out of the way right before sliding into the pavement. It missed me by about a foot. As much as I'm against it, this little one will be using a leash from now on. I can't get the image of the car coming toward him out of my head. I can't stop thinking that he could not be here with me right now. That he could be hooked up to machines never to wake up and be the Nicky I know. I'm fairly certain I'll have nightmares about this if the road rash doesn't keep me up. This stuff is painful. Getting it wet is like being burned over and over. Fun stuff.

Nicky the nursling

Nicky is still very much in love with the boobs. I was on the phone today with my aunt and I told him to get off of me so I could type. My aunt and I have had it out before about nursing so she chooses her words very carefully. She asked, "Does he drink whole milk?" I told her he doesn't so she asked about soy. I told her yes, he likes it. She said, "Oh, maybe he'll take it out of a bottle." I told her he was too old for a bottle and drinks from a cup just fine. I could hear her getting ready to say something else but she stopped herself, LOL. I know she has seen him drink stuff so I'm not sure what her deal was with the bottle thing. I guess she thinks I don't like nursing him or he shouldn't be. Neither is true. I'm quite happy to nurse him and so is he. I want him to still be nursing until he's ready to be done. Another thing they find weird about me, I guess.

The terror, er....toddler

Nicky is a very spirited toddler. He's got very little impulse control and shows almost no fear unless you put a Great Dane in front of him(THAT was funny!). He is horrible at the library and we've all but given up. We didn't take him enough when he was small. Between my lack of enthusiasm for our old library and my pregnancy, we just didn't go very often. I've decided to teach him library etiquette because I NEED to go! I'm taking him in a stroller and I plan to move quickly. He doesn't go running like he used to because I proved I would leave his little butt behind! Okay, I actually told him good-bye and hid behind a bush but it worked! Now that I've fixed that issue the library should be easy, right? Let's hope!

Update: I think we'll leave library trips for when Mack's home. Nicky can stay with him. It went Oh, so well! Not only did he yell the whole time but he also pushed his stroller with half the books in it down the stairs. Not even Aaron cut me a break. He pooped out of his diaper, through his tee shirt, outfit AND my baby carrier. We were there all of 15 minutes and it'll take quite a bit of bravery to show my face again. At least we all got books and I got book 4, 5, and 6 of the Artemis Fowl series.

Ped's appointment

Yesterday my two baby boys went to the doctor. My shadow, a.k.a. Chris came with me. Zach and the girls stayed at grandma's house. The girls got their hair braided. I'm free from their hair for 2-3 weeks! Yay! I just have to remember to have them tie it up.

Aaron will be a month old tomorrow so it was his one month check up and first appointment. He's 39 ounces above his lowest weight at 10 pounds 9 ounces. He gained that in 2 weeks. I guess the foremilk imbalance isn't a big deal. The doctor didn't think I should worry about the green poops. He has some newborn acne, I really hope it does away soon. He has 100000 little red bumps on his face. He also has thrush. I can barely feel it so I'm in a BIG hurry to get it gone. Thrush is horrible and I'm trying to get rid of it before I feel any real pain. The ped wrote a prescription for me for Dr. Newman's all purpose nipple ointment. The only problem is finding somewhere to get it filled. Apparently, it has to be filled at a compounding pharmacy. It's not something that comes by the tube, it has to be mixed and very few pharmacies do this. I'm sure I'll have to pay for it as I seriously doubt it's covered. I just hope it doesn't cost some insane amount.

Nick's doing fine. He's finally gained a couple more pounds. He was stuck at 25 for a long while now he weighs 27 pounds and 8 ounces. No issues at all but he refused to talk for the ped. He won't stop talking at home. The ped mentioned getting Nick retested for iron and lead but I didn't even get him tested the first time until a couple months ago. I know his iron is good, it was 12.8 last week. She said no need to have it done again right now. I will probably let him at 2 and a half.

The appointment was pretty nice. I had fun freaking the medical student out before the doctor came in, lol. The idea of a homebirth without vitamin K, eye ointment, declining shots and a toddler who still only drinks breastmilk made her think we were a bit nuts. Then for the doctor to come in and act like it wasn't a big deal made it even worse. Seeing the shocked look on her face after having spoken with me for 20 minutes the doctor explained her stance on patients like me. We both have a mutual goal, healthy kids. There is no need to be upset because I go against what most would do since we're all trying to do best by our children. Even kids who whose parents make choice like mine deserve to be seen. I really like her. It's only the second time we've seen her. The first time was mostly an interview. She did a few things today that I was happy about. She didn't touch either of my boys' penis. While she was checking that are I did say please don't retract and she said she would never do that. She didn't bitch about Aaron not getting Vitamin K and eye ointment. She didn't even ask. She didn't act like having a homebirth was irresponsible and even remembered talking to me 4 months ago about VBAC bans giving moms little to no options. She never once mentioned weaning Nicky or putting him on any cow's milk. She put a note on his nystatin to be honored for up to a month because I told her that I would be using a natural remedy first(it worked really well for Nicky). She wrote me a prescription for a medicine she's never heard of because I asked. She did look it up first but she was perfectly happy to do it. She never once mentioned a Hep B vaccine. She did say she'd heard of cases of hemophilus influenza in Pennsylvania and if it moves any closer to Illinois, I might want to consider it. She went on to answer all the questions I had about it AND admit when she simply didn't know the answer. I've never seen a doctor with such a lack of God complex. I'm in love, lol.

Afterwards, we went to get the big kids. The girls look so nice. I tried to wait around for my mom but she made a stop and I was so ready to be at home. I fed the kids near my mom's house so they ate crap :( It's nearly impossible to find real juice in that area so finding decent food wasn't going to happen. We just snacked when we got home, it was too late to cook. I'm going to try to get the kids to the zoo at some point this weekend. I have a membership, I may as well take advantage. The girls don't have to go to their jail....er, school next week so they'll be with us at homeschool group! We'll have a blast. I'm going to find a field trip for everyday if the weather lets me. It's just too cold to be out in the cold much with Aaron.