Chubby Little Monkey

That's what we've been calling this girl:

I used to call Cade my Chunky Monkey (he was 16lbs. at 2 months!), but Luke never could get that quite right.  So the nickname became Chubby Monkey instead.


And this girl is following right in her brothers' footsteps.  We weighed her on the bathroom scale last night, and she's weighing in at 13lbs. at 7 1/2 weeks.  Another chubby little monkey!  Just look at that double chin and those chunky thighs... 

Big sister has been getting a lot of practice with helping around here.  She knows how to keep Caroline happy as you can see with the well-placed finger in the picture below!!

Luke's First Real Pizza!!

 Luke tried his first piece of pizza last night!!  We couldn't find Amy's pizza at any regular grocery stores, but we did find it at Whole Foods yesterday.  So last night was pizza night!

He was rather tentative and nervous at first.  Of course, we realized that after being told for eight years that he should completely avoid cheese and other milk products, it was hard for him to take the leap to purposely ingesting them!  So he took his time about it, but eventually he dug in and ate the whole piece.

We watched and waited, and he was still fine at bedtime.  And he's still fine this morning.  No reaction!  How thankful we are for this mercy - God is so good and kind!

We are now authorized to try other kinds of pizza, so long as it's baked for the required time and at the proper temperature.  He can have lasagna...and enchiladas...and baked mac&cheese.

A whole new world of food has opened up to him, and we are so excited!!

Random Pictures

Last weekend we celebrated my hubby's birthday (I won't say which one because I'll probably be in trouble already just for mentioning that it was his birthday!), and his brother and family came for a visit.  They were also here to meet Caroline, and we managed to get a shot of the 6 east-coast grandkids all together.  Here you go, Grandma!

And some black-n-whites...

I thought for sure she was going to be a brown-eyed-girl, but it looks like we might have another blue-eyed one!

The boys were allowed to hold her standing up this past week, and they love it.  Luke especially will walk around talking to her and kind of bouncing her to keep her happy.  And...I know she's a big baby, but doesn't she look huge when they're holding her?   

 Love her smiles!!

And one with Mommy because Mommy is almost always the one holding the camera...

Pizza Pizza!

I took Luke to his allergy appointment this morning, and we were given the go-ahead for pizza!  While we have to start off with a specific brand of pizza (Amy's - which is rather hard to find), as soon as he has successfully tried that, he is allowed to have 4-7 servings of baked cheese each week.

WOOHOO!!

He's looking forward to having some Chicken Enchiladas with cheese sometime soon, as well as Baked Pasta.  I'm probably more excited about it than he is, but I think once he tastes food with cheese, he'll be equally thrilled.

And the next step will come in six more months when, if the cheese consumption has gone well, he will do a milk challenge in the doctor's office - drinking milk. WOW.

Here's hoping he can eat the pizza with his teammates at the baseball games next spring...and go out for an ice cream cone afterwards!!

Baby Days

While I'm trying not to wish these baby days away, I have to admit that I will be glad when we are past the days of endless nursing, interrupted sleep (if it's not one girl crying to be fed, it's the other one having night terrors!), and fussy crying.  It's not that these last six weeks have been awful or anything; Caroline has been a pretty content baby.  It's just that I much prefer a predictable sort of day.  And we're not there yet.

I am really thankful, though, that Caroline has slept really well  in the last few weeks.  She even went 8 hours between feedings the last two nights.  It's probably not an indicator that she'll consistently sleep through the night now since she's only just 6 weeks old, but I'm at least a little hopeful!  Her sister did.

In any case, those predictable days will come, I know.  I guess I'm just getting antsy about it because I see the beginning of school looming not to far into the future, and I'm wondering how I will manage it all.  I know without a doubt that it will be in the Lord's strength and not my own!

We have been so blessed by so many who have helped us - from neighbors who watched the kids when we went to the hospital to my mom who came and did everything for us for a week to our church family who faithfully provided meals for us nearly every other day for five weeks - seriously!  God has been so kind.

But suddenly I'm feeling like we're on our own.  The meals are over, Mom isn't here, Stephen's got to work, and school will be starting.  Life as usual resumes...only it's not quite "as usual" anymore with another little one in the house.  Pray for us! 

Thankfully, the Lord never takes a break or leaves off caring for us.  Oh, that I would trust in His kind and wise care more each day!

Ordinary Days

These are the best kind.  You know, the days when you don't have to go anywhere, and you can just enjoy being together at home...doing nothing...or something...it doesn't matter.  You just cherish the time together because you know the days and months will turn into years, and they'll fly by.  I'm seeing that now because sometimes it seems like my nine year old was the baby just last week.  And while I don't find a lot of enjoyment in the very-young-baby stage of parenting, I am constantly reminding myself that Caroline will be the nine year old before I know it (and the nine year old will be heading off to college! Waaa!).

So here is our ordinary day...

Painting birthday pictures for Daddy and a friend...

Lots of time spent building and playing with Legos...

Many minutes (hours?) spent trying to coax some smiles out of this girl...and attempts to capture them on "film" by everyone who can find a camera to use!  Lots of hours spent nursing her too...

Dessert after dinner even though it's Thursday and not the weekend, just because...

So Delicious Coconut Milk popsicle
for my allergy-boy

And drumsticks for these two

And I didn't include any pictures of the laundry or diapers or vacuuming, but they were definitely a part of our ordinary day!

Independence Day

Caroline got into the spirit of celebration on her first Independence Day.

Stephen and the big kids bought some fireworks in the afternoon and put them off in the driveway when it was getting dark.  Caroline and I stayed for the first few, but then it was bedtime for her.

The pictures are lousy because I was holding a baby in one arm and a heavy camera in the other hand...and it was getting dark.  But I think you get the idea...

This boy was extra careful with his smoke-bombs after the first one he tossed rolled into the grass and started a small fire!  He was very sorry and promised to be more careful.  I think he thought we wouldn't let him do anymore.  But that's why his smart dad got the garden hose hooked up and on stand-by before lighting any of the fireworks!  No harm, no foul.

Summer Fun

If you live anywhere in the eastern half of the United States, then you know that it has been abominably hot here for what seems like the entire summer.  I'm not writing to complain about the heat given that many in our area have been without power for 5 or 6 days now due to the crazy derecho storm that hit us last Friday night...(but I should mention how grateful I am for air conditioning!)...just sayin' that our outdoor activities have been seriously curtailed due to the intense heat and the presence of a new Strauberry in our lives.

However, we have managed to squeeze in a little outdoor fun...and I have pictures to prove it.  But first a couple of Miss Caroline...

One reason we haven't been outdoors much!

This baby blanket was hand-quilted by our neighbor - her first quilting project!  And she gave it to Caroline. Sweet! 

Eat. Play. Sleep. Repeat.
But she forgot "cry!"

Water fun with friends

 And the final bit of evidence that we've been outside...

Cade got a tick-bite in early June, and we've been watching him for signs of Lyme disease since then.  Earlier this week, this rash appeared around the site of the bite.  So we headed to the doc's, and Cade is on antibiotics now.  I had kept the tick and passed it on to the doctor who is sending it out for testing.  They'll let us know soon if the tick was indeed carrying Lyme (or another disease).  The rash disappeared a day after he began antibiotics, so we're not sure if that's due to the antibiotics working or if it means that it was not a Lyme rash to begin with.  Hoping and praying for the latter!

Ugh - I just hate ticks!  I tend to go crazy with the bug spray anytime the kids play outside.  It makes me sad that I was able to spend thousands of hours running through the fields and woods as a kid while never worrying about ticks, but now my children have to be tick-checked every night after playing outside.  It makes me antsy about spending time outside too, and that's just sad.  Not sure what's happening to the country-girl inside of me, and that's not something I ever thought I'd think, let alone say.  All because of ticks.