Monthly Recap

Really, is this what it has come down to? A post a month. Yikes. Sorry. Well, sorry I'm not that sorry actually. Life has a funny way of getting in the way. The baths, the bedtimes, the dream of a night nice enough to take a walk with the fam...

That did happen...like twice.

 

Emmie got her first bike and she's really good! Her helmet is too small from last year, so we still need to get out and buy one, but with the whole snow situation that happened on this mid-April day, apparently there is no rush.

 

These two. They are the best of buds. "Emmie" is Ethan's favorite word and he says it a million times a day. Whenever I pick them up from daycare and it's nice enough to be outside, they're on the playground together. Her teachers tell me that as soon as Ethan's group comes out to play, Emmie is by his side for the rest of the afternoon. What a sweet big sister.

 

We did take advantage of those two gloriously warm days (still wearing a coat and hat) and stayed outside as long as we could. Ethan is obsessed with bubbles. No he can't actually blow one, but he holds this wand and pretends.

 

 

Speaking of that boy of mine, the last time we left off he was gaining some weight and heading in for another round of allergy testing. Still allergic to egg and Tucker, less allergic to wheat and soy, and full blown allergic to peanuts. We're slowly adding wheat back in and slowly trying to find a home for Tucker. Still not sure if it's going to happen or not.

 

 

The adults in the house had a mini overnight getaway with friends that looked a little something like this:

 

 

And left the grandparents looking like this:

 

 

And, well, that's about all that has been going on! I'll leave you with the sweetest picture of Emmie at a little friend's birthday party. She's hardly having any fun.

 

 

 









 



Small fry + a 7 ounce side of ketchup

The boy gained 7 ounces in one month. As unsatisfying as that number is, it’s something at least. The doctor is pleased because it shows that he can gain weight, we just need to increase his caloric intake…which is basically a full time job…because he’s at a really picky stage.

 

Have I mentioned the arm this kid has? He has perfected the food launch across the kitchen. It’s so freaking annoying! Anything he doesn’t like gets thrown as hard as possible across the room. Typically in the direction of Tucker who, of course, thoroughly enjoys it.

 

The doc suggested we try an instant breakfast of sorts to add some calories to his day. Do you know how difficult it is to find one without soy? Yeah, nearly impossible.  And I almost had an Ethan moment at Target when I picked up the umpteenth container and saw soy listed in the ingredients and wanted to chuck it across the store. I’m serious, I almost threw a tantrum in the middle of the Target aisle. I just can’t even explain to you how frustrating it is. (But then, finally there was an Atkins protein shake with no soy, so we just need to test that out and see if Ethan likes it…and I should probably check with a doctor to see if Atkins is something I should give a 16 month old.)

 

In other news, we saw the allergist today. While we think Ethan may have a nut allergy, we want to confirm, because how great would it be to add peanut butter to his diet? He was supposed to have the skin testing this morning, but he’s in the midst of an eczema flare on his back, so the appointment was a bust.  However, we did learn some different skin maintenance/steroid/lotion techniques that are completely opposite of what the pediatrician has been telling us, so that’s great (sarcasm font).

 

Sorry for the pissy post after a month long hiatus, I’m just feeling quite defeated.

 

The 7 ounces, yes that’s a win and I’m obviously so thankful that he doesn’t have some sort of underlying condition that I had diagnosed him with over the last few weeks…I just never imagined we would be spending so much energy cooking and baking and reading labels and who knows what the allergist might come up with at the next appointment.

 

On a brighter note, I found some gluten free chicken strips at Walmart and they’re fantastic. Simply Smart is the brand. And if using enough syrup, even egg free rice flour pancakes are edible. And, though Ethan threw them across the kitchen, I made some gluten free/egg free chocolate chip cookies that I thought were pretty tasty.

 

 

And now, hours later, after I've had the day to simmer and I'm editing this post, I remember this:

 

 

This is Ethan pre-allergy diagnosis. I think he had just had a blueberry muffin and our food allergy suspicions were full blown.  Do I even need to comment on that red beard of sadness?

 

And this is EthMike with no eggs, wheat or soy.  Yeah. I'll bake that sweet face muffins from scratch without wheat or eggs all day and night.

 

 

Small Fry

Oh EthMike, my little peanut.

 

We were at the doc for Ethan’s 15 month appointment last week…no way this baby boy is fifteen months old already?!

 

All is well, but my small fry has dropped from the 20^th percentile in height and weight to the 2^nd percentile. Yeah. Little Mister ain’t gettin’ any bigger.

 

We all know the Fellows don’t breed a large baby, but the drop in height and weight has the doc concerned.

 

We were told to slather everything he touches in butter and cheese and for sure keep him on whole milk. We have to bring him back for a weight check next month (19.3 lbs now). I feel like I’m breast feeding a newborn or something.

 

So needless to say I’m freaking out a bit. While the doc is hoping he’s just between growth spurts, I know his limited diet is not helping the situation. (We’re pretty sure he’s allergic to peanuts now too.)

 

And the whole add butter and cheese to everything, yeah that’s kinda foreign to how we operate things, but obviously I’ll do it. I’ve been focusing all of my energy on baking somewhat healthy goodies for the boy and now I need to just increase the butter/protein/fat in each item.

 

Shopping for Ethan.
Tapioca Loaf - aka breadlike vehicle for butter etc.
Ian's organic-soy free-gluten free chicken nuggets.
EnerG brand - awesome for everything gluten free. Going to try some fried fish.

 

I did make some pretty fantastic banana-avocado-oatmeal-almond flour-no egg muffins this weekend…now served warm with melted butter and a side of bacon. He may have high blood pressure when this is over, but hopefully he’ll gain a couple lbs in the meantime.

 

Little Monkeys

 

Loves raisins.

 

An epic little bath time.

Facts that are crucial to the following story:

1. Ethan loves baths and can't wait to get in once he hears the water running.
2. Ethan hates to have his diaper changed. He's like wrestling a greased pig.
3. Emmie is okay with baths, but it's not love...especially when water splashes in her face.
4. It was a single parent kind of night.

And the story:

It's not normally a bath night, but someone decided to color all over herself with a pink marker at school. So, Monday night, bath time. The water is running. It's game on for Ethan. And then I realize he has a poopy diaper.

Emmie has already gotten herself naked and is hopping in the tub, so I grab the nearest wipes container.  I have two dry wipes to get this job done.  Perfect. Ethan is hysterically crying because the running water is calling him like the Little Mermaid (or something a little more manly).

He's rolling over...and over...and over. I'm holding on to one leg, wiping with a dry wipe and I may or may not be using a foot to keep him in place on the bathroom floor.

At this exact moment, Emmie grabs the soap puffy that is hanging off of that little knob on the bathtub faucet. As she pulls on the puffy, she turns on the shower. My kid that doesn't like getting her face wet, is now getting the first shower of her life. Yeah. That just happened.

I watched in slow motion. Her eyes were saucers. There was confusion. Then shock. A little panic. Some screaming. She stood up and was hysterical.

(I'm still mid poop fest with Ethan on the floor.) 

I think I blacked out for a bit but from what I remember, Emmie jumped out of the bathtub and was shaking and crying and so freaked out. I give up on Ethan and figure, you know, shit happens.  I get the shower turned off.

I figured my best option was to put Ethan in the tub to take care of his situation, but Holmes is too smart for that. He just watched what happened to his sister and now he's screaming and doing a combination limp leg and arched body so I can't set him down.

I've now got two naked kids, one of whom I'm trying to rationalize with that the scary shower isn't going to turn on and get her again and the other is a tiny monkey climbing up my shoulder. Seriously, he was holding on so tight with his arms and legs that I probably could have let go.

After a few deep breaths for everyone, I finally convince Emmie to get back in the tub. I toss Ethan in right after. Things return to normal.

Well, that was fun.

Thankfully the vortex is keeping my beer nice and cold in the garage.

Her first movie!

I took Emmie to her very first movie on Sunday! I told my girl we were going to have a special day, just mommy and Emmie. We drove to the theatre, we talked about the movie theatre and how we would get popcorn and we would sit right by each other and watch this fun movie called Frozen.

 

Upon recommendation, we were just late enough to skip all of the movie previews. We got to theatre, waited for our popcorn and headed to the theatre. We sat down…the movie started.

 

And a mere twenty minutes later, a hysterically crying kid and I hurried out of the theatre.

 

She was PE.TRI.FIED.

 

All I heard was that the movie was so cute, so adorable…well in classic Disney fashion, there are some scary moments too. And moments that aren’t so much scary to anyone else were EPIC to my wee one.  The men singing at the beginning…scary. The tumultuous sea, super scary. And then, the part where icicles flew off the girl’s hands along with a loud crashing noise…HYSTERICAL. As much as I assured Em it would get fun and nice and happy, she wasn’t having it.

 

So, we left.

 

Oh, I felt so bad. She was shaking. Tears were streaming down her face. She was silent. My heart broke a little. I promised her this special day with mom and it left her scared and sobbing. Nice mom.

 

Maybe we’ll be able to rent the movie one day…and watch it in the light and fast forward through any scary parts.

 

 

Christmas 3 of 3

We woke up on Christmas morning and it only took Emmie a few minutes to realize there were presents under her little pink tree. And she ran as fast as she could to see if there were presents under the other tree also.

Again, it was so fun to see her light up as she opened gifts, even the outfit and pajama ones. Oh and Ethan was super stoked about the sweatpants he got too. Poor babies, practical stuff until they know the difference.



I don't see why you would wear pants on Christmas morning.

Can you believe his skinny little legs? Just like his dad.

 Ethan's favorite "toy" was the crate that one of Emmie's gifts came in.

And this is why he got sweatpants for Christmas.

And in classic family tradition, we headed out to Hawley one more time to wrap up the Christmas festivities. This family likes a tradition. Christmas Eve is at my aunt Nancy's, there is Bunco, there are gifts, there are most definitely pickle wraps and if there isn't the meaty-pepper-cheesy thing in a wonton shell, well then it's certainly not Christmas. 

Christmas Day is at Carmen's and shockingly there is more food. But there is also a school gymnasium where the children and men and non-nappers go to run around. We dressed very specifically with this in mind, making sure Emmie wore a tank top under her sweater so she didn't end up topless like last year.  I stayed back with Ethan, you know, so that he could nap...not because I didn't want to run laps around the gym, because that sounds like something I would totally want to do after just inhaling half my body weight in ham and cheesy potatoes. Ethan passed out on grandma and I made the rest of us drinks. It worked out nicely.

 

Merry Christmas
2013



  

 2012 

Same jammies for Em, but they've both changed just a bit.



 

(And sometimes when you blog...you have a sneaking suspicion you've said the same thing before...I have. Guys, I really mean it about the pickle wraps and wonton things....)

 

 



The things she says

Sneaking out of her room, delaying bedtime one last time, I see her out of the corner of my eye. At this point I'm trying not to talk to her and just ignore her:

E: Mom...
E: Mom...
E: Mom...I have something for you.
(still ignoring her but now really curious as to what she has...flashbacks of the toast in butt, you know?)
E: Do you like spicy things?
E: Here, here are some spicy things for you.
(she runs over, pours imaginary spicy things in my hand and runs back to bed.)
(wtf?)

Seeing Andy is his spandex under armour before getting ready to snow blow:

E: Dad, are you wearing mom's pants?
A: No, these are my pants.
E: No, actually those are mom's pants. You need to get your own pants. You need to wear jeans.

When I threw my back out, Andy and Emmie went to the grocery store. She always buys me a treat (licorice). Andy suggested they buy me flowers, she said no.

Me: What? You didn't want to buy me flowers?
E: Well. Mom. Actually do you eat the flowers?

As I'm getting ready in the bathroom:

E: Mom, I spilled! But it's okay, I put a pillow over it.
Me: What did you spill?
E: Gatorade.
Me: Where?
E: Your bed.

And she's kind of a pathological liar. Always saying that daddy said this, mommy said that. Or when she comes prancing into the room with gobs and gobs of white powder in her hair and I ask if she used my hair product: "No." She also said she didn't use my mascara: