Longer Naps, "Sleeping Mouse", Solid Food, "No Not", Walking In Stores, 6 Month Stats, Supplementing Formula & Jumperoo

Wes:  26 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years & & 7 Months Old

Last Friday Tyson woke up in such a cute way!  He had called to me on the monitor, "Mama, come please.  Ty out."  I went right up to his room and he didn't want to get out of bed!  He was still lying down on his pillow (usually he is standing up, ready to be taken out).  I said, "Ty, are you ready to get up?"  And he said, while caressing his pillow, "No.  So soft, so nice!"  It was so cute.  I'm so glad he likes his bed!  After breakfast, we headed to the grocery store, as usual.  The "drive fast" game continued!  Wes wasn't asleep, so we "drove fast" in the cart from the car into the store, and Ty just giggled and giggled.  Then when we were in the store he kept saying, "Mama, drive fast!"  I told him that there were too many people in the store, so we couldn't go fast because we could hit someone!  He seemed OK with that answer.  As we were driving in the car back home, he said, "Mama, drive fast!  People gone!"  He was right, but that launched me into an explanation of speeding limits and speeding tickets.  I'm not sure if he fully comprehended those things, but we try!  Westin had a great nap last Friday, I was psyched.  As you probably have heard me lament before, he only takes 30 minute naps.  Well, last Friday he tried to wake up after 15 minutes and I wasn't having it.  He had been sleeping on his side, so I gave him the binky, and rolled him onto his stomach (I am not fighting it any more) and he proceeded to sleep for a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes!!!!  I was in heaven, but I had to check on him a few times because #1) he never sleeps this long and #2) he was sleeping on his stomach  and I am still paranoid about SIDS.  But he was fine!  I could totally get used to this!  When Heath got home from work, Ty & Heath went outside to work in the garden, as usual.  But what was unusual was that Tyson seemed abnormally attached to me.  We had the back porch door opened with the screen door and Ty kept running back and forth from the garden to me at the back door and would say, "Hi Mama!" and then run off saying, "Bye Mama!"  One of the first times he did it, I said, "Are you ready to come in?"  He said, "No!  Kiss, kiss!"  He wanted a kiss from me!  That just melted my heart!  But the funniest thing happened a little later.  After he was tired of the running back and forth, he decided to bring his car and his ATV onto the porch and was riding around.  Then he wanted to bring his ATV onto the lawn and called to me, "Help Mama!"  I didn't have my shoes on, so I picked up the ATV, walked it down the stairs and tossed it gently onto the lawn.  Unfortunately, it landed awkwardly and flipped over...and this was on a spot where there was an incline and I knew exactly what was going to happen.  Right infront of Tyson's horrified eyes, the ATV rolled down the entire back part of our yard, flipping over and over and over.  I knew it wasn't going to be really hurt, so I was laughing so hard!  Poor Tyson was concerned, but I showed him that it was fine and then he started laughing too!

Ty always keeps a stash of food with him in the front seat

Ty reading to Wes on Friday afternoon 

On Sabbath, we made it to Sabbath School and I convinced Heath that both of us should take the boys.   He held Westin and I helped Ty "stay on track" with what he needed to do during Sabbath School.  It was nice to have all of us there together!  When we got home from church, we packed up a picnic lunch and went to Squam Lake.  We made a major miscalculation and brought the dogs with us.  We found signs that said dogs couldn't come out on the beach, so we were stuck having them in the car.  That equaled them barking like mad just about the entire time.  Then I started getting worried that someone was going to call the cops on us because we had dogs in a car and it was 70 degrees out.  We had the windows down and we went and checked on them, but still... Heath said, "Oh no.  It's fine."  Wouldn't you know, a cop came in the parking lot and drove really slowly by our car.  He didn't do anything and drove off, but I was freaking out.   Heath & Ty went fishing while I nursed Westin in the car.  I went to the car for two reasons - #1) to shut the dogs up and #2) to get away from the black flies that were trying to carry us off.  They were terrible!  After all that, we headed to do a little hike that Heath had done with my parents and the Frosts, but we couldn't find it and we ended up in Meredith! So we drove around a bit and then went home.  When we got home, Tyson made a gruesome discovery. There was a dead baby mouse in our driveway.  It was so sad!  Tyson wasn't sad, though.  He thought it was adorable!  He said, "Oooo... little mouse sleeping!"  What do you say to that?  I'm not ready to bring up death yet with my 2 1/2 year old, so we let it ride.  He doesn't forget anything, because all week long whenever we go near the truck (where it was at), Ty will say, "Ty go see little mouse!"  Saturday night was a big deal on the Westin front.  He started solid foods for the first time!  I decided to go with oatmeal first because rice cereal constipated Ty so badly.  Wes was so cute and was super excited that he was actually getting to eat!  He went right to it...wasn't exactly sure about the first couple of bites, but then he got into it.  Until...Ty insisted on feeding him and shoved the spoon too far down poor Westy's throat and gagged him.  Not surprisingly, Wes didn't want anything more to do with the oatmeal after the gagging incident!

Wes standing with Heath during church

Fishing with Dad @ Squam Lake

Wes in his car seat during the picnic

Wes was super excited at first

Opening his mouth well

I think this is exactly the moment of the gagging - nice shot Heath!

On Sunday, Heath worked outside and on the bathroom and took Ty for some errands.  I puttered around the house, picking up etc... and watched the Bruins win with Wes!  Wes had another great 1 hour & 45 minute nap, after flipping him onto his stomach when he stirred at the 30 minute mark.  If this will only continue!  For Westin's second meal of cereal on Sunday night, he started off not wanting it again... but then I made it fun...making airplane noises and he thought that was the coolest thing in the world and ended up eating the whole bowl!  Now I have to mention something about Ty.  He is getting a bit sassy.  One of his new favorite phrases is "No not!"  This actually means, "No, I'm not!"  For example, I will say...

Me: "Ty, it's time to go to sleep now."

Ty:  "No not!

Me:  "Oh yes, you are."

Ty:  "No not!"

Me:  "Don't sass your mother!"

A video of "no not"

Oh, he is getting to be a handful with his eye-rolling and "no not!"

Ty loves to use Heath's radio headphones

Getting into the music

On Monday, let's see... we hit up the pharmacies and Ty had a major milestone.  I let him walk beside me in the pharmacies, instead of sitting in the cart.  I haven't been brave enough to do it, but he is listening to me better, so I trust him not to bolt on me in the store.  He did absolutely awesome!  I was so impressed.  It was such a more pleasant experience to have him walk, because he wasn't so antsy in the store and wasn't messing with Wes in his car seat.  I know Heath is to thank for this, since he has been taking Ty alone on errands and has been having him walk.  Westin had another long nap on Monday - this one 2 hours!  Yes!  On Monday night, Tyson completely threw Noni under the bus.  I couldn't help but bust a gut on this one.  Ty carried one of his plastic chairs up onto the air mattress and I knew what he was going to try to do!  He wanted to sit (or worse case...stand) on the chair, while the chair was on the air mattress.  I told him, "No, Ty.  It is too unstable and unsafe."  To this I got an eye-roll as a response and then, "Noni chair bed."  I checked with my mom and no, she doesn't let him put the chair on the air mattress!  So is he manipulating to try to get his way?  Hmmm... 

Wes is psyched about the 2 hour nap too!

Tuesday was a busy day!  Besides it being Laundry Day, we got up and at 'em early and made it to Westin's 6 month appointment on-time at 11 AM.  That was good.  What also was good was the fact that Westin officially has his first tooth - the bottom right!  Exciting!  (But also disheartening since his long naps are probably only due to the teething)  First tooth for Ty = 11 months.  First tooth for Wes = 6 months!  What wasn't good were Westin's stats.  He had his weight check 3 weeks before and had weighed 12 lbs 12 oz (7.5th percentile) and this time he was 12 lbs 13 oz (2nd percentile).  He only gained 1 oz in 3 weeks!!!  His length I believe had to be a mistake (they say that it is so easy to get it wrong because there is just not a real accurate way to measure it on a baby) and he was 26 inches and the 25th percentile.  He was in the 50th percentile at his last visit.  What??  No matter what, I felt that it was time to start supplementing.  Our pediatrician just thinks that my milk is skim and not creamy enough.  My volume is there, there is not any problem with that... but the exact same thing happened with Tyson at 6 months.  He fell completely off the growth chart (took a big dip on his growth curve) and now...exactly at 6 months, Westin took a big dip on his growth curve, as well.  The pediatrician said, "I don't want to say you HAVE to start formula, but we would need to do another weight check in 2 weeks if you don't.  If you want me to ease your conscience and say, 'I think you need to start formula, then I'll say it.  I think you need to start formula'."  I definitely felt better at the idea of supplementation with Wes than with Ty, since I had been through it already.  With Tyson, I cried - there was a real mourning period for me, feeling like I had failed as a mother because I couldn't exclusively breastfeed.  But once I did it, I felt great relief.  I KNEW he was getting enough nutrition now and we still had the wonderful bonding time, even though I was giving him bottles (as well as breastfeeding).  So I did not fight it this time with Wes.  We just went right to the store that night and picked out a formula (low lactose, since he is having trouble with dairy right now).  He absolutely hated it and refused to take any of it the first time I tried to give it to him that night.  Great.  Back to Tyson's stories... Tuesday he said something so sweet and something I was so proud of.  In the morning, I was putting on my make-up and the boys were playing on the floor in the hallway.  The light was off in Westin's room and Ty shut Westin's door.  I thought that was a bit odd and I could hear Tyson mumbling under his breath.  This was our conversation...

Me:  "Ty, what are you saying?"

Ty:  "Scary, scary.  Dark."

Me:  "Ty, you know you never have to be scared.  Mama is always here. Daddy is always here..."

Ty:  "Jesus!"

Me:  "Yes, Ty!  Jesus is ALWAYS here with you, so you never have to be scared!"

After the doctor's appointment, Shannon & Fin came over for a visit in the afternoon and we just hung out.  That was nice.  We haven't done that in awhile.  Another funny conversation (which was similar to the exchange with Ty last week)...

Me:  "Ty, I have to go to work tomorrow.  Is that OK?"

Ty:  "Nope.  Home stay."

Me:  "Why?"

Ty:  "Love you too!"

Since Ty always says, "Love you" and I will say, "Love you too," – so he just jumped to the "too" part!  Something else that melted my heart.  When Heath got home, we ate supper quickly and then went to Laconia to look at a pop-up camper that we found on Craig's List. Heath did the smart, protective thing and went to talk with the guy first, before we dragged the kids out of the car into a bad situation.  When Heath left the car, Ty said, "Ty go too!"  I told him that Heath needed to "say hi to a guy" and that he would come back.  Ty said, "Ty hi guy!"  The camper didn't work for us...overpriced and missing some features we wanted, but it was pretty nice overall.  We had promised Ty some "schream" but the ice-cream store on that side of town was closed on Tuesdays.  We didn't disappoint Ty, but we settled for an ice-cream bar at Walgreens instead!  Not me though...even though the probiotic is working, I'm not testing fate with Wes!

Teething = Westin chewing his giraffe

I love these boys

Ty's first time in the Jumperoo

You can see how much he hates the formula!

Wednesday was the day that Shan had been dreading!  My parents were vacationing in Arizona, so Shannon was stuck baby-sitting all the kids on my last 9a-9p Wednesday shift!  I had forgotten that last week was my Mom's last official 10-11 hour day!  I'm so happy for her!  She can get some of her life back!  I know she enjoys it, but I think 4 hour days will be a bit nicer!  Anyways, back to Shannon.  She was a trouper...34 weeks pregnant with 3 kids all under 3!  She said it went well, but there was a period of all three of them screaming at the same time...and then Tyson wet the bed when he went down for his nap.  I guess I wasn't clear enough, but I thought she knew...Ty goes into a pull-up for his naps and bedtime.  Shan thought that the pull ups were just at bedtime.  That was some extra work that she didn't need –let me tell you!  I'm blaming her pregnancy-brain on that one!  I had Shannon give Wes 1 oz of formula in 5 oz of breastmilk and that went well, so I was happy with that.  Heath had a late meeting, unfortunately, so Heath had asked Adam to come relieve Shannon when he got out of work.  I think Adam was a bit apprehensive about it, but everything went fine!  Heath took Adam out to Mexican with the boys to thank him for baby-sitting.  I couldn't help but tell Shannon that...she is going to let Heath have it for that one!  If you did that out hour by hour... Heath would owe Shannon at least 9 dinners!

On Thursday I knew I was in trouble with Wes and the formula.  I tried everything and he would not take the formula from me at all.  I had Heath try to give it, when he got home from work, but he wouldn't take it from him either.  He hated it.  I even tried to mix it with breastmilk to no avail and then I was wasting precious breastmilk, so that was ticking me off.  We picked out a new formula and decided to try it out the next day.  I couldn't take one more refusal for the day and I think I was beginning to stress him out.  Ty said some really cute things on Thursday.  He upped the ante of his "love you" with "love you much!"  There is not a better phrase in the world than to hear that!  Then he came up with this one....after asking for Heath.

Me:  "Daddy's at work."

Ty:  "Daddy work.  Mama work."  Then pointing to Wes & himself, "Westy work.  Ty work!"

Me:  "You think you and Wes should work?"

Ty:  "Yes!"

Me:  "Trust me, honey...you don't want to  Playing is more fun!

Another thing was funny, that I just had to report to Shannon was after Ty had woken up from his nap.

Me:  "OK Ty, let's get out of sleep diaper and put your undies on."

Ty:  "No.  Diaper."

Me:  "Why do you want to stay in your diaper?"

Ty:  (looking all sad) "Shan let pee pants bed."

I could not believe he put all that together!!!!  I assured him that I would not let him pee the bed and that he was done sleeping anyways...and he perked up and was fine about it!  One other thing I want to mention that has been so cute lately is Tyson pooping on the potty.  I can't tell you the last poop accident he has had...he has done great!  So when he knows poop is coming and he is sitting on the potty...he gets all focused, looks directly into my eyes, and whispers...."Treat..treat..poop potty!"  It is like he is visualizing the treat as incentive to go!  It's so cute.  I just love it.  So back to the day...I met Shannon in Concord as a partial payback from watching the boys the day before.  Shannon had an OB appointment, so I kept all 3 kids in the car with me again. That went pretty well.  We sang some songs, Finley did some dancing, watched a "Bernard Bear" video, and Tyson did his first poop on the froggy-potty.  That was too bad, because I, obviously, could not take care of it, while watching all 3 kids.  It was muggy that day, but it was a small one... so at least it didn't stink up the whole car!  After that adventure, we did a couple errands and then went home.  When Heath got home, we headed to Uno's...just the 4 of us.  Wes slept the whole time, which was great, and Ty did not eat any of his mac 'n' cheese that he had insisted on getting again!  Every single week this happens.  I don't waste it...I bring it home and give it to him for lunch...but c'mon!!!! 

Fin dancing

Westin hanging in the car in Concord

RANDOM PICS

 Have a great week!

Ty washing Wes during bath time