No, Gabe

Seth at 9 days old.

When he was about 2 and a half weeks old, I saw some blood in his diaper twice within 12 hours so I called his doctor.  They asked me to come in with one of the diapers to check it.  They confirmed it was blood and off I started on my dairy free journey.  The most common cause of blood in the poo is a dairy allergy.  Usually babies are extremely fussy, which Seth isn't as long as he's being held.  He hardly even spits up.  I don't even have a spit rag around most of the time because it's so infrequent.  Anyway, at first I thought it would be no big deal.  Then I started researching it and realized I needed to cut out everything that had any dairy in it, not just major dairy products like milk, yogurt and cheese.  That kind of freaked me out.  Fortunately, I had some good friends who had been through this as well, so I was able to get a lot of good advice and support from them.  It really helped when I found Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips were dairy free.  Armed with oreos and chocolate chips, I decided I could make it.  Even after I went dairy free, his diapers were still pretty nasty so I cut out peanut butter as well.  That was almost as hard as the dairy.  It's just such a good quick protein source.  Eventually, I cut out eggs too.  With all of those things out of my diet, he finally seemed to have normal poop.  (My life just seeems to revolve around poop.)  The one thing about being dairy free was that it made losing weight much easier.  Almost everything has dairy in it, so I was pretty limited as to what I could eat that was quick and easy.  I collected a lot of dairy free recipes, but never had much time to make them so that was a bit pointless.  He's worth it though!

Mia had her gymnastics exhibition which she has been waiting for for almost a year.  She was very excited to receive her medal.  Then she decided to take a break for a while.

Seth at one month old.  He already looks so much bigger!  

One month old.

Mia has been very good at trying to keep Gabe entertained just as she promised.

Babies are exhausting for everyone!

Gabe is a one-year old quickly reaching two.  Have you ever read that book, "No, David"?  I feel like my life with him is that book.  No, Gabe, the cat food is not cereal.  No, Gabe, don't pull the leaves off the plant.  No, Gabe, we don't play with knives.  Turn off the water Gabe.  Close the stove, it's not a stool.  No, Gabe, we don't cut people with scissors.  No, Gabe, we don't pull hair.  No, Gabe, that's not your bed.  No, Gabe, those aren't stickers.  No, Gabe, the swing is for the baby.  Don't poke the baby in the eye.  Don't push the power button on the computer.  Don't shake your cup on everyone.  Yes, Gabe, you can have a hug.  Yes, Gabe, you can hold the baby.  I love you too, Gabe.

                               

Mia just can't stand to hear Seth cry.  None of us can really.  It's a cry like no other.  When he's crying, she'll come find him.  One time he just wasn't settling down so she asked if she could hold him.  I let her since he wasn't calming down for me.  She takes him and when he stops crying she tells me, "You just have to hold him close to your chest and bounce him like this."  I wish I would have thought of that sooner.

Usually I like to send out baby announcements so I messed around with a few pictures of Seth.  I could never decide on a layout I liked for a card, so it's one of those things that just didn't happen.  Hopefully, he forgives me.

Tyler is just Tyler.  He is very curious and thoughtful and funny.  A few of his priceless quotes this month.  "I hope Seth never grows up.  He's so cute."  "I hope he's not bald when he grows up."  "I think Grandpa's farts put holes in the chair."  "Dad's penis is big."  Wouldn't it be weird if girls had a penis and boys had a Virginia?"  (I generally try to be very straight forward with names and functions of body parts with my kids.  I purposely put off the word vagina with Tyler knowing he would probably use it at some inappropriate times.  Now that he's been introduced to the word, even if he doesn't have it quite right, he's very curious.)  While pawing at my shirt, "I want to see your boobs.  Do you want to see my boobs?  How does it feel to have a Virginia?"  Later he asked me, "Are your nipples hairy?"  (He's been very into our bodies and how they all work.)

Isaac typically hates to eat dinner.  It doesn't matter what it is, if you call it dinner, he'll refuse to eat it.  It's incredibly frustrating, but he's four and I'm sure he'll grow out of it.  One night he was eating his dinner really well, so trying to incorporate some positive reinforcement I said, "You're a rockstar."  He replied, "No, I'm not.  Rockstars have instruments."

When we bought our house, there was no closet rods or shelves in any of the closets so I built all of the closet organizers in the closets.  They have been very useful and fortunately pretty sturdy.  The boys love to climb to the top shelf of their closet.  It wouldn't be so bad except they knock off just about every single thing that is being stored on those shelves.  Every time I get everything back on the shelves, they're back up in there dumping it all back on the floor.  Isaac has been doing most of the climbing lately.  He's very good at getting everything onto the floor.  He even found a blanket that has been lost for about two years.

A super great lady in our neighborhood wanted to do something for us after I had Seth, so she offered to cut my boys hair for a year.  I was a little shocked, but extremely grateful.  I usually cut their hair, but finding time to do that would be quite the challenge, so I accepted her very generous offer.  The first time we were there, Tyler and Isaac played with some dinosaurs she had.  They are big and electronic.  One of them made some noises.  I thought it sounded like a very predictable "Roar."  Isaac didn't think so.  He said to Tyler, "Watch, I can make him poop," then they both proceeded to laugh hysterically.

Gabe hasn't slowed down one bit.  He's very much an imitator.  He can open things that screw open.  He first learned to do it by putting it in his mouth and spinning it.  Now he can do it with his hands.  One of his favorite things to do is open Lance's contact case.  Then he dips his finger in them and puts his finger in his eye like he's putting in contacts.  When he finds one of Seth's spit rags, he puts it on his shoulder and walks around.  When he finds one of the bobby pins the girls leave everywhere, he uses them to try to unlock a door that is usually locked to keep him out.

Chloe is for the most part a very sweet, generous, thoughtful girl.  Lately, she's been starting to push my buttons.  She'll ask if she can have a cookie. I'll tell her she can have two.  Immediately, she's asking, "Can I have three?"  She loves to hang onto Brady.  She's always touching him or hanging on him which drives Brady absolutely nuts.  That usually ends up with three of us in a bad mood.

Mia is usually very helpful, encouraging, outgoing and fun to talk to but she hasn't grown out of her meltdowns completely.  She's been a lot better, but she still has her meltdowns when she doesn't get what she wants when she wants it.  If I don't let her have popcorn when I'm not in the mood to clean up the inevitable kernels that get all over even when she promises to pick them all up, she gives me some pretty nasty looks and tells me she hates me and she hates her life.  She gets sent to her room pretty quickly when she starts acting like that.  Hopefully, she'll realize that her life is pretty fantastic if the worst thing that happens is Mom says "no" to popcorn some days.