Friday, October 26, 2012

Kid Fun

Well there are some times, late at night, when we've been trying to calm the baby for close to 2 hours when I think "what did we do???" But then there are times like this morning when she lets me know she's bored of the hippo toy and I go say hi to her and she grins and coos at me :) Then I remember that she'll grow out of this fussiness and she's really quite cute... ;)
Ben still asks to hold her, perhaps as often as once a day, but it's usually only for about 5 seconds, then he wants to give her back. I think he'll have fun when she gets a little bigger and can at least sit up and smile at him. He'll have a blast when she can join in on the rhyming and alliteration games he likes to play so much...
Yesterday we were at the office doing quarterly payroll taxes for our clients and Ben wanted to do alliteration with P (he can't remember "alliteration" most of the time, so he says "can we do rhyming with the first letter? What's that called again?"). He always makes you feel good about yourself when you tell him a word, especially if you use it in a sentence. "Do you want some POTATO chips with lunch?" "POTATO! Awesome!" Tristan can even play, though sometimes he gets mixed up with where the 'p' is supposed to go (chiPs! It has a 'p'!). So Tristan's coming up with some words, and then I smelled something. "Tristan.... (groan) are you poopy?" Ben: "POOPY! Nice one!!" Neil and I busted up.
In other news, Ben got sent home with a note that he needed to do an eye exam. Turns out he's pretty far-sighted and he has a stigmatism in one of his eyes. We ordered some glasses online from Zenni Optical.

Some other funny things I've heard recently:

Ben: Do you have some double fudge (cakebites) you can share with me?
Mom: I do, I'll share one with you because I love you!
Ben: I love double fudge. And you. I think I love you more than double fudge.

We have 2 shallow bowls that the boys use at dinner sometimes.
Mom: I think these are plowls. Plates + bowls = plowls.
After some laughter...
Ben: This is my tummy. Or sometimes we say belly. Maybe we could call it 'telly'.... or... bummy! BAHAHAHAHAHA.
(He wasn't the only one cracking up. Tristan was in hysterics which put the rest of us into hysterics too)

You know how your child picks up on what you say?
Tristan: So Ben, what did you do at school today?
Ben: (doesn't answer)
Tristan: Hello?? I'm talking to you, Ben! WHAT DID YOU DO AT SCHOOL TODAY?!?!?

Also, at Ben's Kindergarten assessment (before they assigned him a classroom), part of their instructions on every portion was something like "and if you need help or get stuck let me know and I'll help you." We had already looked over the list of what they planned on asking him, and he knew all of it. But he's a literal child. After a few little tests, he started finding things the teacher could 'help' with. One of them was a missing number test. When the teacher read the part about needing help, Ben said "I think I don't know how to say 8." As he started the test, he was naming off numbers. All of a sudden he said "Oh, I think I don't know that one." The teacher said "Just go to the next one." And Ben said "NO, you're supposed to say '8'."

Monday, October 15, 2012


First of all, I'm super grateful to my Aunt Angie for taking beautiful newborns, and I apologize for waiting so long... I swear I'll remember next time that we should come closer to 5 days, not 25... :)

So, Ruthie is 4 weeks old now. We are still working on her routine. Sadly, the generic Zantac they had her on for reflux wasn't quite doing the trick. They changed her to Prevacid last week - which made us jump through a couple of insurance hoops, but they covered it - and she's still really having a hard time with daytime sleeping. She'll be totally passed out, dead to the world, and all of a sudden she's awake screaming, rinse and repeat every 20 minutes or so. I think it's actually gotten worse the last couple days :( It seems like before, she'd do that maybe twice, and then she'd be asleep for at least an hour before waking up again. I called the doc today, but the one I see isn't in the office today. I opted to have them call me tomorrow rather than do a "sick" visit today. Neil has drill and I'd rather not try to pack all the kids with me...

Ben had a field trip today to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. He told me "It was pretty fun, but you took me there before." We did, last year, on their $3 special - I guess with his memory I shouldn't be surprised that he remembered that.
He's been having a hard time when I go to pick him up from school. He wants to go home with someone else, or have someone come home with us. Today was extra bad, I think he watched his friend Josh go home with someone else and he wanted to go too. I texted Josh's mom to ask her when they could get together again. She texted me back and said I could pick them both up tomorrow after school. I showed Ben the text and then I had to go care for Ruthie. When I came back, I found that he was texting Josh's mom! Luckily all he had sent was "ok" to her saying she'd come get the boys after her appointment tomorrow, but he was in the middle of texting something like "If you want to do" (he had tons many spaces between each word, which isn't showing up on here). He told me he was going to text "if you want to do that it's ok" I'm glad he can read and even respond to digital conversation, and I'm also glad I can catch him before he makes me look weird :)

Tristan is energetic as ever. We were showing the house to my dad and we were in the backyard at the swingset and I'm pretty sure Tristan was about ready to climb across the top of the monkey bars. I'm sure it's a matter of time before he ends up with a broken bone or stitches...

The boys have been a little more interested in Ruthie now, they both like to talk to her when she's hanging out after eating. Ben has been holding her, and once he ran in her room when she started fussing and said "I'll rock her!!" Tristan like to inform me about what she doesn't like, identified by her crying when I'm doing it. For example, if she cries when I'm changing her, Tristan will say "Mom, she doesn't like it when you change her."

As for Neil and I, things are busy as usual. I've got my new Ebay store, The Scrap Barn, up and running and I've already filled a few orders. There's still lots for me to do, and after comparing my actual inventory with what was listed in my store, there's quite a bit more for me to post, plus the Paparazzi jewelry I picked up... Neil is working on the extensions for personal tax returns (today is the deadline) and then it's time for quarterly payroll filings...

Here's one more look at the princess!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

2 Weeks Old

We reached that 2 week mark yesterday! She did see the doctor last week, the day after I posted I think, about her reflux. They gave her generic Zantac, which is what the boys all had. The doc said if it worked for the boys it should be fine for Ruthie. She, like the boys, has "silent reflux" which means she basically has baby heartburn and sometimes spits up but swallows it back down again. Before the Zantac, she'd make a terrible face when that happened, but now she doesn't. Unfortunately, she's still having a really hard time staying asleep. She'll fall asleep and I'll lay her down, but then she starts fussing again. I was thinking we'd have to change her to Prevacid, which the insurance will cover but only after I submit a couple forms. At her 2 week appointment, the doctor said that they ask parents to wait until the baby has had the Zantac for 2 weeks before determining whether or not it's working. He said it's possible that her throat needs to heal a little and that's why they ask for 2 weeks, so I've got another week to go. It wouldn't be so bad except during the day I'm in her room about every 10 minutes until she finally falls asleep for reals, and in the evening it seems a little worse. She also wants to "eat" except if I let her eat again she usually spits it all back up. I'm guessing eating soothes her throat, so even if she isn't hungry she wants to nurse. Of course, spitting it back up just hurts again... :(

In other news this week, we finished putting together all the desks at the new tax office. We originally wanted to get the office up and running for quarterlies (due Oct 31), but it looks like we won't quite be ready for that.

A couple nights ago, I was rocking Ruthie and Neil was getting the boys in bed. Tristan decided his name was "Ben" so we had Ben 1 and Ben 2. Then Neil said his name wasn't "Dad", it was "George." Tristan said "Ok Da- I mean, Ok George! His name is George... I can't believe it!!!" I was trying so hard not to crack up and disturb the baby, but it was hilarious!

The boys also watched me painting some Halloween decor just before Ruthie was born and they've been waiting for October so that I would put them up. I heart Tristan say one day "It's almost October, and I'm gonna be SO EXCITED because Mommy is gonna put BOO UP ON THE DOOR!!!" He now points out the door every time we're in the front yard :)