A Bicycle, a Sucker, and Spilled Milk

Ava is 26 lbs (almost 25th %tile) and 36.5" (75th %tile).


While I'm getting ready for the day, Ava likes to play in my make-up bag. This is her favorite item:

The ladies will recognize this as an eyelash curler. The guy probably didn't know such a thing existed. For me it might as well not, because I never use it. On to my little story. Ava drives it all over the place and calls it her bicycle. Do you think maybe she's been over-exposed to bicycles? I guess it does have a bit of a resemblance.

This is her other favorite item from the make-up bag. It's liquid eyeliner. But to Ava it is a sucker. She walks around with it in her mouth and says "I got a sucker!" This is early morning so forgive the raggety hair.

And lastly, this week Ava has gotten a little too involved in her shows. She was watching a cartoon where they poured some milk down a drain and she started yelling and crying about them spilling the milk. I tried to explain that it was a cartoon and not real, but she was inconsolable. A few days later we were watching UP! and we thought she'd love it because of her obsession with balloons. Instead, she was distressed and almost in tears the whole time because first she thought they were going to lose a balloon ("my ba'oon! my ba'oon!") and then when the bird, Kevin, ate a balloon that was another fit. And when a bunch of the balloons popped... I think her world nearly came to an end. We are probably bad parents because we sat behind her silently cracking up.
A few other words that come to mind: octopus = "opopus" ; cupcake = "pucake"; pancake = "pacake"; favorite bedtime song, Child of God = "Chil' a Gaaaaawd"

Ava and the Alphabet

Ava really likes the alphabet. She watches Super Why on TV, which teaches reading and spelling and such, and she loves the ABC song, and the Sesame Street Alphabet CD. She loves her foam bath letters and numbers, and loves to have mom and dad write letters for her on paper. About a year ago I got these dry erase flash cards and I think she's old enough to handle the markers now, so I pulled them out. She tries to traces over the letters and identify each one. She does pretty well too.

Ezra's 7 Month Report

Ezra is busy crawling himself into a corner right now.

I took him in for a well-check today and found out he has an ear infection.

I had taken him in last week for a persistent cough and they checked his ears then too, but no infection then. So in the last 6 days this has developed. They checked him for RSV too, and that came back negative, thank goodness. But he does have Bronchiolitis. Today the doctor (different Dr.) was a little more concerned with his wheeziness and congestion. He asked about family history of asthma, and gave him a nebulizer. Do you know how hard it is to hold a squirmy 7 month old in your lap with a nebulizer in/near his mouth for 8 minutes? It's hard. Anyway, hopefully it's not asthma.

 Every nurse and doctor that has ever seen him has said the exact same thing—"Wow, he's really active." Yeah, try changing his diaper, it's a wrestling match.

Some things about our little big guy this month:
He weighs 19 lbs. I think he carries most of it in his cheeks.
He gets all excited when daddy comes home. He kicks and squirms and waves his arms all over with a big smile on his face.

He likes to do a closed mouth cry—I think it's for when his teeth hurt, but I'm not really sure.
He has two teeth that have broken through, and there must be more close behind (judging by his fussiness and aggressive chewing of the binkies).
He's a grabber. Much more than Ava ever was.  And everything goes in the mouth. We're going to have to watch out for choking hazards with this one. And poisonous plants (had a little scare with that one).
He doesn't spit up quite as much now, unless Ryan is holding him. Then he just lets it all go. This week at church he was doing just fine so I passed him over to Ryan and before my hands had even made it back to my lap, he had spit up all over Ryan. Maybe he's allergic to his dad?
He's a fast and furious kind of kid. When he grabs at a toy he often knocks it out of reach because he just launches himself at things.

I couldn't keep up that diet, but I am still trying to limit certain things. That's a little easier. Mostly I just feel guilty now when I eat something I shouldn't, and I think to myself, "Is it worth it? A day of cranky baby for a few bites of spaghetti with sauce?" Of course it's not worth it, but that's how little self-control I have. He has had more good days this month though.

When I look at this picture, I can almost see him as an 8 year old boy.

Potty Training, Crawling, and Diet

This week I'm working on potty training with Ava, wish me luck! I think she's ready. And as a bonus, she just got moved into the Nursery with the bathroom in it.

Ezra has pushed up on his knees several times in the last two days. I think he'll be crawling soon. He's pretty good at swiveling himself around now on his tummy to get what he wants, which is anything on the floor.

In a desperate attempt to help Ezra's reflux, I started an extreme elimination diet. The formula I was giving him results in runny diapers (he can handle 2-4 oz here and there, but not a full bottle). At first my new diet was pretty much potatoes, rice, rice milk, zucchini, and yellow squash. I didn't think it was working at first, but now after a couple of weeks I think he is spitting up much less and nursing a little more. Last Saturday I ate mexican food and Sunday I had manicotti, so the last 2 days we've regressed again. Which shows me that what I eat does make a difference. Right now, these are the things I'm avoiding, based on a lot of reading I've done:

tomatoes and tomato sauce (this is a confirmed offender)
dairy
chocolate
nuts
onions
garlic
beans/legumes
broccoli, cabbage, etc.
icecream (confirmed offender)
citrus fruits (almost confirmed)
aged cheeses--like feta, gorgonzola (this I discovered on my own)
spicy foods (confirmed offender)
mint flavored things

That cuts a whole lot of things out of my diet, and it's not fun. But it's better than a fussy baby spitting up volumes all the time. A lot of those are on common lists of no-no foods for reflux. I do take vitamins. And I eat a lot of Special K with strawberries and rice milk. He will nurse at night and sometimes first thing in the morning now, occasionally before going down for a nap. The rest of the time it's a no-go, even in a quiet room with no distractions. But I feel like we are making little baby steps of progress. I try feeding him rice cereal now too, and that is also going slowly. I probably need to try more often.

Ezra's 6 Month Report

17 lbs 12 oz (55%)

28 inches (95%)

Here he is sporting an oversized bib to catch his drool and spit-up. (He often goes through 2 a day).

Oh what a month we've had. On top of teething and acid reflux, Ezra has had a cold and thrush (again) all at the same time.  I'm very reluctant to give him tylenol because of his liver, and with so many things going on it's hard to know just what is making him miserable. I thought I had gotten rid of the thrush this time but at his last check-up the nurse said he still had a teeny bit in the back of his cheek, so we are back to purple lips and wearing dark clothes to prevent staining.


Now for the fun stuff. Ezra loves to grab everything in reach and put it directly in his mouth. We are going to really have to watch out for choking hazards with this one. He's just barely started on rice cereal and as soon as the spoon goes in his mouth, so do his hands. Feeding time is very messy!


He looooves the jumparoo and probably burns 1000 calories a day jumping in that thing. He loves Ava and often laughs heartily at her dancing and jumping, etc. He's also pretty ticklish. And I still can't keep my lips off those chubby little cheeks!

Ezra's 5 Month Report

Weight: 16lbs 7oz

Height: 27 inches

How can you not love those cheeks?! Ezra continues to thrive and eat and generally sleeps well, though exceptions aren't uncommon. Since all we care about for the first 6 or 8 months is sleep, he usually sleeps about 11-12 hours at night with one feeding in the middle (around 4am). Occasionally we get lucky and he sleeps through without waking (insert choir of angels singing). He rolls all over and tries to sit up a lot, and he looooves the jumparoo! He also loves when Ava dances for him—that really gets him laughing.

He will be going to the doctor again this week to check on his liver. It was the only thing that came up as a red flag after the lupus testing. And by the way, the neonatal lupus, as  I understand it, doesn't mean that he necessarily has systemic lupus. It is most likely that he just has it because of antibodies that he got from me during the pregnancy. It does mean, however, that any future babies I might have would be at a higher risk for heart problems, etc. So that will have to be watched carefully. As for Ezra, the facial rash should begin to disappear around 6 months of age.

Ezra's 4 Month Report

Weight: 15 lbs 2 oz (60th %)

Height: 26" (90th %)

Ezra is a happy, hefty baby. We've been going through a cold in our house (started with croup in Ava), so for about 4 nights he slept 10-11 hours without waking, and barely slept at all during the days. Last night he woke up again in the middle of the night though, so I'm not sure what the pattern going forward will be. He's so precious to me I can hardly stand it sometimes. Ava has started kissing his cheeks repeatedly the way she sees mommy do it.
He is loving to feel textures in his mouth. He grabs blankets and whatever else is in reach and chews/sucks on them. He also love to munch his hands.
He still has the redness around his eyes and forehead and we have an appointment tomorrow with the pediatric dermatologist to see if he can figure it out.
His eyes are still blue and he still has his white patches of hair.
I love my kids. I just can't say that enough.