A Day At The Fair

Today we got up early to go to the Annual Rochester Fair in Rochester, NH after a full night of sleep (thank you Oni!).  It took us quite a while to get out the door this morning as Liam was feeling emotional in the way that only a two year old can causing us to take twice as long as normal to get out the door.

An example of our morning conversation would be this:

Mom: “Lets put on your sneaker so we can go get in the car”

Liam: “I don’t want sneakers, I want boots!”

Mom: “Ok, wear you boots then, that is a good choice”

Liam: “I WANT BOOOOOTTTSSSS!” (throws himself onto the floor for a two minute fit)

Mom: ….

 

Finally we made it out the door and drove off to pick up Aunty Moonshine and Alvine to head on over to the fair.   It was a beautiful day, slightly overcast with perfect fall temperatures.  If you head into the fair before all the rides are open it is free to get in so we enjoyed our day for a cost of only $5 to park.  The kids, Aunty Moonshine, and I all had a blast and Liam even scored a new hat for the winter!

Checking out the dairy bottle collection

“Carry Me”

Stickers from the very nice balloon animal artist for being polite and well behaved

pumpkins!

checking out the kids craft corner

Oni

Alvine

Liam

using his “looking eyes”

tractors!

tractors!

Alvine

Derby race cars with the boy scouts

pig car won the first race

yellow car won the second

bulldozer!

checking out the animal barns

Liam is a bit wary of farm animals

Oni

One day old calf that was born at the fair

petting the bunnny

Liam got a new hat

It is (of course) next to impossible to get both two year olds to stand next to each other and smile.

Now I am enjoying nap time to the fullest extent 🙂

Clouds

For the last week or so Liam and I have been participating in the Go, Play, and Learn challenge over on one of my favorite blogs, Nerd in the Brain.  The timing was perfect.  Liam and I have been exploring the worlds of construction and transportation for a while now and I was more than ready for a change… apparently so was Liam as he has jumped right into this new subject to explore wholeheartedly and picked up much more than I originally thought he would with his little two year old brain.

For the most part our activities this week have focused on art, open conversation, and outdoor exploration.  These three methods are what works best for Liam to learn and are how I typically address new subjects.  For the subject of clouds we started and ended with outdoor exploration,  Liam loved this approach as he loves to go outside and play.  I loved it because our exploration included lots of walking and I am still trying to lose the last of the baby weight (as an added bonus the fresh air makes Liam and his infant sister – Catriona- sleep like rocks).

We went for walks and talked about the sky and what belonged up in the sky (the sun, airplanes, and helicopters was the list that Liam came up with on our first walk).  I slowly introduced the subject of clouds in relation to his precious airplanes and helicopter, of which there are plenty flying overhead as we live in a touristy area.   I often find Liam staring out a window looking up at the sky in fascination because there is an airplane flying over head (“see the airplane Mommy?  I see it!”).  I swear he manages to spot every single airplane that flies over our house no matter how high up they are every clear day.  Liam and I had long discussions (for a two year old… so really like 15-20 minutes) about how airplanes fly through clouds sometimes because they are “way up high in the sky” (which is one of Liam’s favorite phrases).  We talked about helicopters hovering under the clouds.  Then I slowly began to introduce the concept of different types of clouds.

I kept things basic and did some research before we started our conversations (The best website resource I found was at Science For Kids).  We only discussed three types of clouds: Stratus, Cumulus, and Cirrus.  I also pared down the facts I taught him to one or two about each cloud type.  We did art projects… lots of them.  I introduced sponge painting for the first time (he is now addicted) as well as making pictures with cotton balls.  We also found a video on YouTube of a story called The Cloud Factory which touched on some basic facts while creating a fictional and fun story about how clouds are created.    We keep looking out the window, even on rainy days (and especially on cloudy days).   We (still) continuously talk about the airplanes that fly through those clouds and how sometimes when the clouds are hanging low like a blanket (Stratus clouds, which he been correctly naming)  we can’t see the airplanes that are flying over head.  His favorite clouds are Cirrus as they don’t get in the way of his airplane viewing, though he also likes Cumulus clouds because he likes to watch the airplanes fly through them.  So far I am pretty impressed and have thoroughly enjoyed watching his mind work to relate a new concept to something he already loves.

As an added bonus I also have some new art for the refrigerator 🙂

 

 

Adventures in Diaper Cream (take 2)

In the interest of saving my sanity (and personal space) I have been working on having the two toddlers nap in the same room for the last few weeks.  It had been going pretty well.  They usually play for a half an hour or so, read each other books, and when I  creepily tell them (through the monitor I am spying on them with) to turn off the lights and go to bed they listen.  I do wonder what they think is happening when all the sudden my voice comes out of nowhere and I apparently can see everything they are doing.

Today something different happened.  I put the kids down and they both yelled they needed to “go potty” 5 minutes later.  Since we are encouraging potty training I went upstairs and brought them to the potty.  One adult size poop (thankfully in the toilet!) from one child and pee from the other one and then they were back to bed… And immediately into the toys when I shut the door.  I went downstairs with my monitor for some toddler TV, but then Catriona woke up and needed my attention.  During that brief 5 minute period when I was taking care of Catriona the terrible twosome opened up a dresser drawer and found a forgotten tube of diaper cream from when they were babies.  I got Catriona settled and then tuned back into toddler watching.  Liam was sitting on the bed talking to The Bean.  He appeared to be rubbing his belly which I though was a little odd, but the video was too grainy to see exactly what he was doing so I zoomed in.  That’s when I saw it… There was a tube in his hand.  I ran up the stairs with agility I did not know I still had and found Liam covered from head to toe in diaper cream.  The nice thick white stuff with lots of zinc in it that barely comes off a babies bottom when you wash it. It was in his hair, on his arms, nicely coating his stomach and (Thank God) not anywhere near his mouth or eyes.  The Bean had one little dollop on her dress, but otherwise was clean.  

I grabbed Liam and the tube and rushed downstairs.  My husband, who was lounging on the couch having recently returned home from the store, took one look at him and helped me get him stripped and in the tub.  He washed the diaper cream off of Liams body with soap and a wash cloth while I stripped The Bean and took a baby wipe to clean off the minuscule (in comparison) spot on her arm.  Liam started screaming.  There is nothing the child hates in the world more than getting his hair washed and daddy was trying to really scrub out the diaper cream.  We tried every shampoo, conditioner, and Internet remedy I could quickly find that we had supplies for in the house (which mostly centered around vinegar and lemon juice as we did not have any Dawn soap).  Nothing worked.  We just ended up making dread locks with his hair from all the scrubbing.  So my husband hopped into his sandals and drove down to the nearest store to pick up a razor to cut his hair with.  Once he returned we gave Liam his first buzz cut.  He loves it.  I want to cry for the loss of his hair.  He now has less hair than what he was born with.    

  They never did get their nap, but I got a whole extra load of laundry to do (thanks kids)!

Cheers!

  
On the plus side we won’t have to scrub his hair for a while… I am sure Liam will love that. 

36 Weeks and Counting!

We have reached 36 weeks in this pregnancy and are slowly trudging our way towards 37!  Catriona has spent the last few weeks stubbornly not growing (she ended up dropping 4 weeks of growth total prior to this weeks doctors appointment).  So this week we did an ultrasound to check on her growth and the amniotic fluid levels.  Thankfully everything came out well.  She is estimated to be around 6 pounds 11 ounces at this point (which is amazing considering how small my bump is compared to when I was pregnant with Liam!) and while my amniotic fluid levels are on the lower end of normal they should be fine for the remainder of the pregnancy.  Her head is down, the contractions are becoming more frequent, and we are playing a waiting game to meet her.

I continue to have (what has become) my normal migraines, tachycardia, and passing out.  For the last week my symptoms have been somewhat relieved, I even had 3 good days in a row where I was able to be up and about without any chest or head pain, but for an added treat these last few days I have been enjoying some third trimester sickness (which is amazingly just like the first trimester was).   I have a cardiology consult tomorrow and am hopeful to find some answers to what can be done for this chronic chest pressure, shoulder pain, and episodes of tachycardia.  That said, I am very aware that any medication that could be given to relieve those symptoms for me has to wait until after Catriona’s arrival, so I am learning to live with it and take it easy when things really start to act up.

On Monday my sister-in-law came over to the house to take some maternity picture for us since we are currently unable to travel to the photographer that we used to do the maternity shoot we did when pregnant with Liam (Linden Photography in Central NH).  I spent some time this morning playing around on Photoshop and touching up the lighting on the pictures.  I am pretty happy with the results, and so thankful to Aunty Moonshine for taking them for us.  Though this has been a difficult pregnancy we are planning on it being my last pregnancy and I want to be able to look back on this time and remember how it has helped us grow as a family later on.  I wish I had enough Photoshop talent to reduce the (well-earned) shadows and bags under my eyes… you would think someone who spends as much time in bed as I have been lately wouldn’t have any but I can’t seem to sleep for more than two hours at a time thanks to our little girls efforts to escape the womb.

36 Weeks

36 Weeks

36 weeks

36 Weeks

We continue to be grateful for everyone’s prayers and well wishes.  The support of our family and friends  has truly have been an amazing help in us pulling through this pregnancy!

Brave Boy

Poor Liam.  His parents are certainly not winning any Parent of The Year awards this year.

My little guy has had a cold for about a week and a half with a funny little congested cough like it was all upper airway.  His lungs have been clear, but he has been spiking fevers off and on.  He has also been a little cranky off and on, but no other symptoms.    Sunday morning we woke up to find ear wax dripping down the side of his face.  His ear drum had popped due to pressure.  So we brought him in to see the doctor first thing Monday morning and they found a double ear infection.  That’s right, a double ear infection that mom didn’t even come close to catching.  Apparently our boy doesn’t give the usual signs of an ear infection (like tugging on his ears or showing any signs of pain in the area). No changes in appetite or anything.  He is on antibiotics now.  It is the first medicine beyond Tylenol he has ever had so we are monitoring closely for side effects (which we have thankfully seen none of yet).  The bright spot in all of this is that he likes the taste of the medicine so it isn’t a fight to get it into him!

I was so impressed with how cooperative and well-behaved he was at the doctor’s office yesterday.  I strongly suspect it is because one of his favorite dress up games to play is “playing doctor” with his Melissa and Doug Doctor Role Play Costume Set.  He loves listening to “heart beeps”, checking ears, giving shots, and checking reflexes.  Over the last few months of playing with this set he has also learned to stay still when his ears, eyes, and chest are getting checked.  We were able to put those lessons into practice the other day at the doctor’s office.  Sometimes Liam acts like such a big boy it makes me incredibly proud and sad at the same time (and now I have Bittersweet Symphony running through my head).  In less than a month he will be two (and a big brother as well).  Time just seems to be going by so fast.  My baby boy doesn’t really act like a baby anymore.  Although I don’t wish to slow down his growing up I do miss the first years as we have stepped fully into the adventures of the toddler years (which thankfully still include the occasional snuggle for mom) and prepping to be an awesome big brother.

 

 

 

 

Strawberry Fun

One of Liam’s Valentine’s Day presents this year was a strawberry seed planting kit.  He was super excited about it and pretty much demanded that we plant them right away.  He just loves digging in the dirt, and actually has a pretty steady hand so there isn’t usually too much of a mess for me to clean up afterwards.  This was definitely a group activity though.  Strawberry seeds are far too small for a 22 month old to be able to actually plant (and not lose).  So Liam put the dirt in his can, and then he held my hands as we carefully put the seeds in and he sprinkled the seed covering on himself. Today, after a couple of weeks of careful watering, we woke up to little green shoots starting to come up.  Liam was very excited!  We are both looking forward to watching the plants grow, especially since it makes it feel like spring might actually come someday when the snow outside is STILL higher than our fence!

27 weeks and counting!

We have hit the 27 week mark and celebrated the last week of the second trimester with a big appointment at the OB office, complete with a follow-up ultrasound.  I have spent the last week in frequent contact with my OB office and on frequent bed rest due to a headache that wouldn’t go away, blurred vision, and high blood pressures.  All of these are unfortunately signs of preeclampsia.  Preeclampsia is a dangerous condition that can affect 5-8% of pregnancies, but that typically starts later in the third trimester (Preeclampsia Foundation).  For me to be having signs of this condition this early into the pregnancy was scary to say the least.  Thankfully my blood pressure has been staying down with bed rest.  Unfortunately Tylenol has not been effective for the headaches or blurred vision for me and I stopped taking it after a few days due to the ineffectiveness and some right upper quadrant abdominal pain (which can indicate liver problems).    So I ventured into this appointment with my Mom at my side (my husband was unable to take the day off of work) with a bit of trepidation.

First up was the ultrasound.  Catriona is a bit of a mover and a shaker so it created a challenge for picture-taking, but everything look great.  The fluid levels were good, the placenta is healthy, her head is down and she is ready to roll and the best news of all is that the membranes fused!  Although there are still some (slight) risks for early delivery that go along with a late fusion we are now talking a week or two early as opposed to months early which technically means we have an excellent chance for a full term (after 37 weeks) healthy and happy baby.  Now lets just hope that she doesn’t come on Liam’s birthday!  Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers for the last few months that we would get our miracle, they certainly helped to get us through this stressful time.  We feel so lucky to have this great news to share and to see how healthy our little girl is now that my body has decided to behave properly!

Next up was the visit with the nurse midwife and the OB.  It was a tag team visit due to the high blood pressures today, that ended up with a trip to the hospital.  While we have an excellent health care system up here in the Northeast, and some of the best prenatal care in the country, it is still very concerning to have more than a week of high blood pressures and headaches, so it was off to the hospital for me to test for preeclampsia ( a set of tests that includes a urine collection, liver function panel, creatinine, and CBC), and calling out of work for at least the next week until my next OB visit.  The midwife and OB were hopeful that the headaches, blurred vision, and high blood pressures (because they were not critically high and were only pre-hypertensive) could be due to a migraine headache caused by increased estrogen levels rather than preeclampsia because it was so early in the pregnancy.  After a couple of hours in the hospital, and a couple of blood draws we had our second round of good news for the day, no preeclampsia!  I am now on migraine medication and monitoring side effects, but my blood pressure is almost back to normal and right now I am pain free for the first time in 8 days (though a bit foggy and tired from the medication).

 

 

For me the best part of the day was being able to make it home in time to tuck my little guy into bed.  He loved seeing the new pictures of his sister and was so happy to get some extra Momma snuggles tonight!

Conan and I are thrilled with the news, and are very hopeful that after the next week life will get back to as close to normal as we can!  Thank you again to everyone for the thoughts and prayers!  Lets hope the remainder of the pregnancy is now stress free!

 

*****Preeclampsia is a pretty scary and potentially life threatening condition that affects 5-8% of pregnancies in the United States and accounts for approximately 18% of maternal deaths in this country.  To educate yourself more on this condition please visit preeclampsia.org which provides excellent resources in learning the signs and symptoms of preeclampsia.  Also keep in mind that while giving birth does solve the problems caused by preeclampsia for your infant it does not always solve the problems caused by it for mothers.  Be aware and educate yourself on the potential post birth problems that can occur for mothers who experience this condition.*****

Preeclampsia Foundation. (n.d.). Preeclampsia Foundation. Retrieved February 19, 2015, from Preeclampsia Fact Sheet : http://www.preeclampsia.org/pdf/Preeclampsia%20Fact%20sheet%20v2.pdf

 

15 months later…

I can’t believe how the time has flown, Liam is 15 months already! It has been so exciting to watch him play, grow, and learn these last few months. Everything happens so fast at this point, it’s like a neural explosion. Over the last 3 months Liam has:

• Gone from stumbling to run-stumbling
• Learned to say over 25 words, although he mostly refers to animals by the sounds they make, except our youngest dog, Bruise, who he calls Rooze.
• Learned how to walk backwards and spin in a circle
• Begun helping Conan and I with simple tasks (carrying light things mostly)

His favorite things right now are:

• Reading… By himself, to the bear, to Conan and I… This little boy loves to be the one reading the story.
• His big white bear, “Baby”… When Liam was born Conan’s company sent us a present, a giant white polar bear which I never named because I figured it would be too big to drag around. Liam has proven me wrong and he has named it “Baby”. The other stuffed animals are babies too, but there is only one Baby and he goes everywhere with Liam.
• Yogurt, cereal bars, and berries
• Going to the park
• The tub, this little guy loves his baths (and his bath toys)

He has had a lot of adventures over the last three months, including:

• His first sleepovers with Grammy and Grampy F.
• His second annual Flynnstock with Conan
• His first trip to the beach!

Bouncy house fun

My Little Fish

Liam and Conan, taking a dip

While I have tried (desperately sometimes) to be there for every single event it just hasn’t been possible and sometimes Conan and Liam are a two man team while I am at home with the puppy brothers doing homework or at work.  We do our best with the time we have and try to make every moment count.

Today the three of us went out to lunch to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and then to the park for some quality time (and to exhaust Liam before his nap).  It was suppose to rain all day today so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to get out and about.  My park plan however backfired as it was not just Liam that needed the nap when we got home 😉

Sliding fun!

“Boo!”

Sliding fun!

And now a parting message from Liam himself and a few more of my favorite pictures from the last few months….

mddddddddddddddddddddddcnn vvvvvvvvvvvvmvb nffkbgghashgklbjcv b hvfghm jk df6988888888888888888

I can’t wait to see what the next three months brings!

Who Needs Diapers?

So today, after I woke up from a lovely sleep in (this a huge shout out to my awesomely understanding husband who totally gets the fact that sometimes I don’t get home from work until 3am, and if I can sleep I will) I had just enough time to turn on the Keurig before Liam woke up from his morning nap and started playing with his dolls in his crib.  He sounded like he was in an awesome mood so I headed right up to get him so we could have some fun.  That is when I walked into a naked butt in the air as he was working on standing up.

That is right… a NAKED BUTT!

My jaw may have literally dropped.  Casually tossed over the edge of the crib was his diaper… he decided the shirt could stay on.

Because Liam is only 14 months old there was no hope in the universe that he did not pee all over the bed.  So I gingerly reached a hand down and did the touch test… yes, it was wet.  Awesome.

As my dreams of packing up the family for a trip to York’s Wild Animal Kingdom flew out the window and visions of endless loads of laundry jumped into my head I picked up my kiddo at arms length, brought him into his bathroom, placed him into the tub and proceeded to break one of the two cardinal child bathing rules that have been drilled into my head since I was a young girl who was slightly obsessed with The Babysitter’s Club, I turned on the water while he was in the tub.  No, I did not burn my child, but his bubble bath might have been a little colder than usual.  Honestly, he didn’t seem to mind.

Conan very nicely brought me a cup of coffee while I was supervising the tub time.  He can be totally credited with saving my sanity with that one small act.  (yes, yes, I know, I have a caffeine “problem”)

Does anyone else have any diaper removal stories?  Are there any hints or tricks to getting the little guy to not keep doing it?  He was so very impressed with himself when I found him, and although I did not make a big deal out of it (to him anyway) I have a feeling that my stubborn little one will keep up the trick now that he has figured it out.

Day 41

Day 41 of the selfie challenge

I would give anything for a foot massage right now. It was a two toddler all day kind of day, and although they are fun, they are also exhausting. Tonight I am treating myself to a beer and an hour of video games before bed.

The big smile is for the dark chocolate m&ms I snuck while the kids were having there afternoon snack… Go stealth mom.