Day 59: Halo Snuza

The Halo Snuza is a little device that every parent of an infant should own. It is basically a breathing monitor. In the picture it is the white and purple device clipped on his pants. The way it works is the purple tip of the device senses movement. If 15 seconds go by without movement, it vibrates. This is to remind the baby to breathe. If another 5 seconds go by without movement, an alarm goes off to alert the parents. We are able to let Mitchell take naps on his belly without watching him like a hawk. At bedtime we put the snuza on his diaper. This is the true purpose and correct way to use it, since babies are supposed to sleep on their backs. Even though back sleeping reduces the risk of SIDS, it is still a risk so this is nice piece of mind.

Once Mitchell has better neck control we might let him sleep on his belly at night.

Day 58: For Sale

We got the sign in our yard today, so our house is now officially on the market. Hopefully it will sell quickly. I haven't had much time lately to type much. We have been so busy cleaning the house and trying to get it ready for showings. Last night was my first night with both kids by myself. Bedtime was an absolute disaster. Maya did everything she possibly could to stall going to bed and I don't think she fell asleep until 10:30. It was ugly.

Mitchell had a great three days but tonight he is back to his old self again. I had come to the conclusion that his grumpiness must have been from the formula hurting his tummy. So I started eating dairy again. Just like that, his aching belly returned. He just finished fussing and crying for the past hour and a half ending in spit up all over daddy. I guess it's time to find an easy to digest formula and no more dairy for me until we do.

Day 57: Swingin'

Day 56: Dining Room

Here are some before and after shots of the dining room.

9/12/2010

9/27/2010

9/12/2010

9/27/2010

9/27/2010

Day 55: Yee-haw!

Maya rides this thing like it's going out of style! I admit that I'm not much of a fan of it, but had to capture the memories on camera. It is reaching the end very soon and will either be put in storage or donated. Maya doesn't know this yet.

Thank you Mama and Yeye for coming down today and watching the kids and helping clean the house. Your help is so much appreciated!Mitchell slept almost all day and went at least two and a half hours between all feedings. Maybe we have reached a turning point!

Day 54: Down To The Wire

We had some much appreciated and much needed visitors today. Mary Beth came down to help clean and brought the kids to play with Maya. Sam and Gabe entertained Maya while Mary Beth and I attempted to make the house spotless and Arthur concentrated on the outside. We definitely made some progress. Today would not have been possible without her visit. The house still isn't real estate ready, but we are definitely getting closer.

It sure seems like all Maya does is sleep with all the pictures I have posted lately. If only that were true! She must have been really exhausted since she passed out on the couch while her friends were here. Poor Samantha couldn't wait for her to wake up and play. I just thought this picture was too cute to pass up the way she is cuddling with her baby.

Even Mitchell had a better than usual day. Mary Beth helped get him to wait almost three hours between feedings, he took excellent naps, and he went to bed without a fight. I'm going to attempt to cut dairy out of my diet this week and see if there is any change in him. We'll see how that goes.

Day 53: Seven Weeks

Aww, doesn't he look all sweet and content? It's too bad this is the less common picture of Mitchell and the one to follow is my life lately.
This is Mitchell immediately after arriving home from a shopping trip of just the two of us. If you look closely you can see he is bleeding. He was apparently so worked up that he scratched himself hard enough to draw blood. Today's shopping trip was pretty much a total fail aside from spending a gift card on Maya. I can't even remember the total number of meltdowns Mitchell had at the mall. He is still eating every two hours, if he can even go that long. To me, this is excessive, but I wouldn't feed him if he wasn't showing me the hunger signs of sucking on his hands and fingers. In addition to eating so often, each feeding lately is followed by serious discomfort and screaming fits. I can't figure out if it is gas or reflux. If we are at home the only thing that calms him down is putting him in the swing. Today, I had to hold and shush him while trying to shop. Needless to say, I wasn't able to find anything for me.

When Maya got home from daycare I gave the things I bought her. She was so cute looking through the bag of goodies. Here is our conversation after Maya pulled out more underpants:

Maya: "I love these panties."

Me: "Keep looking, there's more."

Maya: "For reeeaal?"

Me: "Yeah."

Maya: "This is ridiculous."

I think she is going to be a butterfly for Halloween if I can find a costume. I couldn't resist this shirt when I saw it.

She was so excited to put this shirt on. Cute, right? Well, let's hope the strawberry milk she spit out all over it doesn't stain. At least I got a picture before she decided to act up tonight.

Day 52: Friends From Work

Day 51: Do All Babies Do This?

Or just my babies? Mitchell was having an uncharacteristically happy morning so I started snapping away. I hardly recognized the content baby happy to play on his activity mat for an hour and interact with mommy and big sister. When I went back and looked at the pictures I immediately remembered this picture of Maya taken when she was just about a month old. They are making almost the same face - too funny! So, is this a Bradley thing or just a baby thing?

And an update on Maya - she is fever free for the moment. Doctor said to give it another 24 hours and call back tomorrow if she still has a fever. If she wakes up without one she is going to daycare tomorrow. She has already picked the outfit she will be wearing!

Day 50: Still Sick

Day 49: Fever With No Diagnosis

Everytime Maya gets a fever it turns out to be strep throat. I took Maya to the Dr. this morning thinking for sure that's what it would be, and it came back negative. Poor Maya had to have the throat culture for nothing. She even said when I made the appointment that "I don't want them to put a stick in my throat." She has had strep so much that she knows the drill. So no strep, but she still has a fever. And why on earth she had to wear these winter pajamas is beyond me. We shall see what tomorrow brings.
Here is the best smile I could catch. He started his social smile on September 15th, but it isn't consistent yet and hard to catch.

Day 48: How Did She Even Get Back There?

Look very closely at this picture. What do you see behind the TV? That's right. This is what I found tonight when I walked into the kitchen. She has been acting really weird all day and hanging out in the kitchen way more than usual. I really hope she isn't trying to tell us we have unwelcome visitors! By the way, anyone want a cat?

Here are some fun playtime snapshots from today.

Mitchell loves to smile at the baby in the mirror.

This probably wasn't the best idea since Maya is running another fever. Yes, this will be her third sickness in six weeks. What is going on? Mitchell is also enjoying his first cold. Poor babies.

As promised, here is a sneak peak at our new yellow walls. Once the house is ready for showing I will post many more before and after pictures.

Day 47: Kids Say The Darndest Things

We had painters at the house today. They were here yesterday and Maya hardly noticed them. She really warmed up to them today. She wouldn't stop telling them about her princess books, princess movies, etc. Well, at one point while Arthur and I were organizing things upstairs, Arthur decided to check on Maya downstairs. He went to the steps to find Maya at the bottom of the steps completely naked - in front of the painters! She had no idea why this would be a big deal, she just wanted to put her bathing suit on so she could "go swimming." We did not really go swimming today.

This is Maya waiting for them to come back inside and see her bathing suit.

Maya said a lot of funny things today, some inappropriate, but still kind of funny.
I was changing Mitchells's diaper and he started peeing all over the place. We are not talking just a little accident, but tons of pee that wouldn't stop. I was laughing and trying to catch and Arthur was helping.
Maya :"did he pee on your hands?"
Me: "Yep, he peed all over the place."
Maya: "Dammit!"
It's really hard to teach a three year old not to say bad words - especially when they use it correctly with inflection and everything!

After the painters left we went to dinner and then to play at the park.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of our new yellow walls, which are looking really good.

Day 46: Six Weeks

Day 45: Storytime

Day 44: What A Night

Bedtime did not run smoothly tonight. We had some pretty bad tantrums today from the three year old. And the newborn who I thought might actually be settling in to an 8:00 bedtime did not fall asleep until 9:30. It will be interesting to see how long he even stays asleep since he appears to be going through a massive growth spurt and he fought the swaddle so hard I had to take his arms out to get him to sleep. Back to the three year old - she is going through a phase where we can't just tuck her in and leave. She requests the other parent come up for another kiss and hug, sometimes multiple times. She also asks that we lay with her "just one time." This means just for a minute and she is satisfied. I have to admit that when I kissed her goodnight tonight I told her not to ask me to come back up. I regret saying this. I mean how difficult is it really to walk back upstairs and give my daughter another hug and kiss and maybe lay with her for a minute. Someday when she is older and I miss her being young I'm not going to think "man, I'm so glad I didn't have to walk back upstairs hundreds of extra times." No, I will be thinking "man, I wish I could give that three year old little girl hundreds and hundreds more hugs and kisses!" I need to remind myself of this when I feel like I am about to lose it.

Day 43: Holy Pepperoncini!

We are enjoying a fun visit from Aunt Lolo and Peyton today. We ordered pizza for dinner. Arthur is allergic to pepperoncinis, so I always get the 2-4 peppers that come with the pizza. Well, Lolo loves them as much as I do so we had to order extra tonight. I thought I ordered 4 peppers total and we ended up with this plateful! Best Papa Johns experience ever!!!
We spent the after noon at the zoo. It was a really pretty day and the girls had a good time. There were stressful moments, like Maya crying because she couldn't push the pink stroller or had to walk up a hill. But in all it was a good time.

Proud Parent Facts: Maya's preschool teacher told me today that she was the first kid in her class to know how to spell her name correctly! Also, Mitchell showed signs of being ready for bed at 8:00 last night so I decided to go with it again tonight. I had him changed, fed, and in bed within 15 minutes. I even put him down slightly awake and he did the rest. Now at 9:00 he is still asleep. Please let this be my new reality!!!

Day 42: She Uses A Bottle Too

We went through a ton of stuff over the weekend. We are throwing out things and donating stuff we don't need. Well, Maya found this baby bottle in a box intended for Goodwill. When she got home from daycare today we had this conversation:

Maya: "My baby is hungry. She needs a bottle."
Me: "Oh, your baby drink from a bottle too?"
Maya: "This is how she eats now. There is no more milk in my boobies. She drank it all."

Day 41: "This Is How I Feed My Baby"