Finley Scare, Cream Colic, Music Clinic, Grabbing His Bird & Tyson Tattletaling

Wes:  20 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years, 5 Months & 3 Weeks Old

I just hate being 3 weeks behind on the blog!  I feel it looming over my head and I can’t relax until it is done!  I hope to stay short and sweet and get them done in no time! 

Friday, April 5, Shannon had a class and it was my time to baby-sit all three kids, since Noni was in Freeport, being a sponsor at Music Clinic.  I have to say that I was a bit apprehensive about this, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I actually told Heath that night, “We can totally have 3 kids, it was a breeze!”  Well, it was a breeze until I nearly killed Finley.  Literally.  Thank goodness this happened after Shannon had already gotten back.  We were hanging out and Ty was eating lunch.  I had peeled an orange for him and was giving him pieces.  Not even thinking about it, I gave Finley a piece – just like I had been doing to Ty.  It was a pretty big orange and she tried to eat the whole piece at once.  Shannon looked over at Fin and realized that she was choking.  This was the real deal.  She could not make any noise, she was not coughing – she was just wide-eyed in terror.  Shannon started hitting her on her back and after she started hitting her, Fin started to make some type of sounds.  I pried her mouth open to see if I saw anything.  If you see something, you are supposed to try and grab it.  I saw it – the orange...way, way back in her throat.  I grabbed it, but she was kind of fighting us...and it went back down.  Again, she could not make any noise at all...and Shannon and I were both hitting her back until she made some sounds again.  Shannon tried to grab the orange, but the same thing happened...it went back down again.  Again, she could not make any noises...so I ran to get my phone to call 911.  But then Shannon got it up enough again, because Fin was making noises again...so I opened her mouth, saw the piece and this time I was finally able to get it out of her mouth.  I have never felt such relief in my life.  Seriously, it was probably one of the scariest moments of my life.  I really felt like my niece was dying in front of me and it would have been my fault.  All I can say is, thank you, Lord for saving Finley!  Everything that happened that day pales in comparison to that incident.  But I do have to mention that I have jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon and tried my first recipe that night and made Creamy Spinach Enchiladas.  They were amazing, but Westin was up crying and colicky most of the night.  I wasn’t sure what had done it.  At that point.    

The 2 punks

Thank goodness she is OK!

Trying out the trampoline together = danger!

That Sabbath we got up very early and headed over to Freeport, Maine for the annual Music Clinic at Pine Tree.  Shawn was preaching for the Clinic, so that was exciting and Mia was in the youth choir.  It has become something of a family reunion for the past few years – so much so that even Corey & the kids came from Florida!  Aunt Melanie rented this great house on the ocean again – it is great for getting everyone together.  Just like at Nova Scotia, Ty clammed right up at first.  There were all the little cousins, running around...and where was Ty?  Playing alone in a room with a doll.  Oh my.  Thank goodness that seemed to be short-lived and he was much more interactive by the end of the day.  It was great to see everyone and it was especially nice to get Wes & Caleb together.  They were super cute together!  I hope we can get those boys together more often.  After sundown, we checked into our motel room and then we had planned to head back to the school for the evening concert.  It became obvious that the boys (Ty especially) were completely pooped.  Being the music lover that I am, I really wanted to go to the concert and Sonia knew that.  She was staying with us, because she had a teacher’s meeting the next day in Portland.  So she offered to stay with the boys and let us have a date night out.  I jumped at that chance, let me tell you!  I was trying to remember the last date night we had, but I really can’t.  No idea.  The first part of the date was a joke, since Heath ditched me to go with Sean to LL Bean!!!!  Our first date in probably a year and he left me for another man!!! (=  Well, at least he met me at the concert and then we went to McDonald’s after for some fries and a milkshake afterwards, just the two of us.  Good times.  The good times were short-lived, when Westin was up crying and colicky again for most of the night.  I felt terrible for Sonia, who had to hear all of it.  A bit of the mystery became solved when I realized that I had cream both nights in a row.  There was heavy cream in the spinach enchiladas and there was, obviously, ice-cream in the milkshake.  Hmmm...

Matching hats with Uncle Charlie

Playing outside after lunch on Sabbath

Wes & Caleb

Too bad Wes was not looking

All the cousins (minus Wes, who was sleeping)

Posing on the top of the couch

Went for a walk in the afternoon down by the ocean 

Caleb staying warm with his mama!

Ty was DONE that night in the motel

Date night out to Mickey D's!

On that Sunday, we got up early to eat breakfast with my extended fam at 9:00 AM. A bit early for our kids, but we made it happen...be it about 15-20 minutes late.  We said goodbye to all the posse after that and then headed for some shopping.  We hit up Babies ‘R’ Us, Mardens, and Goodwill.  Heath was sweet enough to let me go to Goodwill by myself while he took both boys to Cabela’s with him.  I’m never in a store by myself...let alone a Goodwill...so that was heavenly.  Speaking of heavenly, we went to our favorite, Macaroni Grill for supper...just the 4 of us, and then Sonia joined us at the end, after she had gotten out of her meeting.  Westin had a milestone while we were at the Macaroni Grill!  He grabbed his little bird that hangs on his car seat carrier and pulled it down for the first time!  We were so proud of him!  After supper, we drove to the Edwards’ house after that to pick up the puppies before going home, since Adam was watching them for the weekend.  We got home at about 9:00 or so, dead tired from a busy weekend.

The moment of grabbing his bird!

On that Monday, we stayed at home and unpacked from the weekend most of the day.  Tyson was naughty right off the bat at breakfast that day.  For some weird reason, he decided that he would rather make abstract art with his yogurt instead of eating it.  It got everywhere.  I took a picture, but I swear...it did not do it justice.  Immediate time-out for that one.  Another ridiculous thing happened at lunch (why do all these things happen at meal-times?).  Ty made a big stink to have a fruit cup.  I got him one (for dessert) and he proceeded to drink the fruit juice that was in the bottom of the cup and then flat-out refuse to take a bite of any of the fruit!!!!  So frustrating.  I also got a sneak-peak of what is to come with having two boys.  Westin (very innocently) grabbed a fistful of Tyson’s hair and then Ty told on Wes!!!! 

Yogurt art

They do really get along so well (for now)

That Tuesday, I started getting our clothes together for our trip to Florida and we went on some errands.  That night we went to the Mexican restaurant, just the 4 of us.  We were leaving for Florida on Friday, so we wanted to have the car packed on Thursday night – so we decided to eat out on Tuesday instead. 

Trying out shades for Florida

Messing around while packing

That Wednesday I worked and I don’t recall anything of great importance that was reported to me!

On that Thursday, we finished packing most everything...but we didn’t get the car loaded that night.  What do they say about the best laid plans?  Well, 1 week down!  2 more to go!

RANDOM PICS

Westin's 4 Month Stats,Wes Sleeping Alone,Found His Feet,Handyman,Ty Cleaning & Ty Wants to Nurse

Wes:  19 Weeks Old
Ty:  2 Years, 5 Months & 2 Weeks Old

Seriously, I am really going to try to keep this short.  We are leaving for Florida in 3 days and I have so much to do!  The blog will be on hiatus for 2 weeks, but I do NOT want to do a 3 week recap… so I’ve got to get this done.  I will just try to hit the major highlights.  Try.

Last Friday the major outing of the day was going to Westin’s 4 month appointment.  I was feeling a bit apprehensive about it since Wes gives me such problems nursing, but I had been checking his weight at least weekly and he has been gaining…but I was NOT prepared for his weight to come in at 12 pounds 2 ounces.  I had been getting about 13 pounds on my scale (and my mother had been weighing him and getting 13 pounds too), so I just don’t get it.  I know that it isn’t totally accurate, and we could have weighed him before a big poop etc, etc.  He dropped from the 15 percentile to the 5th percentile for his weight.  But he did go from the 40th percentile to the 50th percentile for his length at 25”.  It is because of this that she does not want me to do anything different YET – we are just going to do a weight check in a month.  She said he could have just had a growth spurt for his height/length and will be growing out now.  We’ll see.  I highly doubt it.  I see the writing on the wall.  The formula is coming.  It will happen and I almost wish that it was here and done with – because I dread it happening, but once I started formula with Tyson, I actually felt great relief.  I stress too much about if they are getting enough (since they are so tiny) and this way I know they are getting enough!  Just to make me feel better, I checked Tyson’s 4 month stats and Westin is bigger, but I know it still is just a matter of time.  Ty was in the 3rd percentile at 11 pounds 6 ounces and was the exact same 50th percentile in length at 24 and ¾ inches.  Pretty close.  After the appointment, we hit up the grocery store and then came home.  I was bringing the food in when Tyson made a beeline for the wood stove in the basement.  I freaked out, screaming, “No, Tyson!  No!  Hot!” (obviously because I never want him to run over to the woodstove).  He turned around and gave me quite the look and said, “Fire gone, Mama.”  He said it with such attitude too, like “How do you not realize that the fire is out?”

Coming back from his doctor's appointment so happy - I didn't even mention that he was fantastic (just like his brother) with his 3 shots!!!

Last Sabbath I worked and happy Westin was back in full swing.  I don’t know what was going on for the last couple of weeks – Westin was a bit cranky, but thank goodness that appears to be over. (knock on wood).  Since Ty still had his cold, the boys stayed home.  Not too much else to report.

On Sunday I headed back to work and got to avoid the war zone that hit our house.  The boys started off their day with meeting the Edwards for breakfast at the diner.  I was told that Ty was really good in the restaurant and Westin continued his happy streak.  After breakfast, the Edwards came over and they had an Easter egg hunt!  I was so bummed that I had to miss the egg hunt.  But in a few weeks (when I go per diem), I officially will not have to miss another Easter again!  Can’t wait!  Ty loved the eggs and still is carrying his Easter basket all over the house!  After the egg hunt, Keith & Adam helped Heath move our bedroom stuff downstairs to the guest room and the guest room bed into the den!  What a huge mess.  Heath told me a couple of Ty stories that went down when they were moving.  First of all, Heath had taken out the baby gate at the top of the stairs to make it easier to move out our very heavy furniture.  Tyson watched him take the gate apart, and then he tried to put it back together.  Heath said that he got all the right parts where they were supposed to go!  What a smarty.  Ty also grabbed the electric screw gun and put 4 screws in (the right way) with Heath just supervising him!  I think Ty is well on his way of becoming the handyman that his daddy is!  So Westin slept in his own (very big) room for the first time by himself on Sunday night and did great!  I had a bit of anxiety about it, but I got through it.  Other major news on the Westin front:  he found his feet!  I checked back and Ty had found his feet at 20 weeks, so Wes was 1 week earlier!  The ironic thing is that I wrote that Ty had found his feet while I was at work and I was bummed that I had missed the event… and now the same thing happened with Westin.  I will hopefully stop missing so many moments when I go per diem!  

Trying to sit up to touch his feet!
   

On Monday I was home and was very overwhelmed with everything that I needed to do.  There was so much chaos in the house, I just couldn’t take it.  I spent all day working on setting up and decorating our new bedroom.  Since we moved into our guest room with navy walls, I could not continue our green leafy theme with sage green everything…so we kept the Patriotic theme from the guest room and we are using the down comforter now.  The only major thing to mention with the boys is that Ty had a couple of pee accidents that day, most likely because I was a bit too distracted with everything I was working on to remind him to go.  My fault.

Our "empty" bedroom trashed...Ty loving some beads he found in my end table

On Tuesday more of the same with the “big move,” and laundry day, but Ty did quite a few cute things.  First of all, Ty tried to nurse on me that morning.  Westin was nursing on the left side and Ty was sitting on my right.  He leaned over, open-mouthed to my right side and said, “Ty nurse.”  I just about jumped off the bed!  I said, “No, no Ty!  You are a big boy.  This is only for Wes, who is just a little guy!”  I didn’t want to hurt his feelings or make him feel like he was missing out on something, and he seemed to take it in stride and didn’t have a melt-down or anything, so that was good.  After that incident, we were heading into the kitchen for Ty’s breakfast, when Ty hopped onto one of our barstools and started cleaning the counter with a dish towel.  I could hear him whispering under his breath, “Daddy mess.  Daddy mess.”  Yes, Ty, it is true!  Every morning, Heath makes a bagel or toast and gets (and leaves) crumbs all over the counter.  Well, Ty does not appreciate this!  Ty has continued this cleaning regimen more days than not!  Ty continued his fascination with nursing later on that morning when he grabbed Westin’s stuffed frog, pulled up his shirt, and nursed the frog! (=  The other amazing thing that happened occurred in the afternoon.  Ty put together his little table and 4 plastic chairs (all different colors) all by himself!  I was going to have him help me do it, but I dumped out all the legs and he just started doing it himself!  I was so impressed!  He might not be able to say what the colors are but he can at least separate them! 

Ty took each of Heath's shirts and hung them on the door knob

Another crazy thing he did...what can I say?  He "knows" how mascara goes on!

On Wednesday I was back to work and Noni had her day with the boys.  It appears that my new poop method with Tyson is working.  Since he always has false alarms before the big poop, I have now started “making” him at least try to poop when he has the false-alarm-feeling.  He usually freaks out screaming, “done, done, done” and wanting to get off the pot, but I tell him, “I have all day.  You can sit here until you at least TRY to poop.”  After a bit of resistance from Ty, he will end up going!  This is so much better than false alarm after false alarm…and then having an accident in his undies on the way to the bathroom.  I think this is starting to sink in.  We’ll see.

On Thursday I nearly finished all the rooms, but not quite.  I will eventually show you pictures of how the move went, but not now.  Right now the rooms are a bit messy (again) because of packing for our vacation!  The highlights on last Thursday was going to the Mexican restaurant with Adam & Poppy (Noni was in Maine at a Music Clinic with kids from our church).  Ty didn’t miss a beat when we got to the restaurant and said, “Candy gone!  Candy gone!”  They usually have chocolate mints to take when you leave, but the candy bowl was MIA when we got there.  Ty was crushed!  He takes after me with my sweet tooth.  What can I say?  Well, this DID turn out shorter than normal.  Whoo hoo!  I am proud of myself!  Have a great week!  

RANDOM PICS

    

"Ty Own", Maple Sugaring, First Full Haircut & Falling in the Toilet

Wes:  18 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years, 5 Months & 1 Week Old

Sorry for the wicked late post.  I hate when it happens.  I have been out straight because this past Sunday, Heath & I officially moved downstairs into the guest bedroom.  I moved all of our stuff there (minus our clothes in our closet…that is going to be a problem), moved the guest room stuff into the den (we put a bed in there and got rid of our computer desk), moved the den stuff into the basement, and moved around Westin’s furniture in our old room and put some more toys and such in there.  It was like a bomb went off in my house.  It still is not finished…and I hate chaos…it has not been good for my OCD.  But I am just glad that we are moved – we were starting to wake up Westin all the time, being in the same room, and I was done with that.  

So back to business.  Last Friday I killed myself picking up my house.  I mentioned to Heath that it is amazing (not in a good way) what happens when I don't pick up daily.  I worked all day Wednesday and then went shopping/out to eat all day on Thursday.  In that amount of time, just the little bit that we are at the house in the AM and before the boys go to bed...Ty just destroys the house!  It is unbelievable.  I could have gotten some done on Thursday night but I had fallen asleep nursing Wes on Thursday night (first time I had done that in awhile) and had ended up waking up at 4 AM - still needing to take a shower.  It was really bad, because I tried to put Wes down at that time and he woke up crying.  So I brought him back to bed with me to cuddle and fell asleep again until Heath's alarm went off at 5:30 AM.  While Heath was snoozing, I put Wes down successfully and took a 5 minute shower and went back to bed!  We ran to the grocery store later and Ty was a real pill there, for the first time in weeks.  I have gotten spoiled with his good store behavior - so it makes it extra frustrating when he acts up!  But you just can't stay mad at him, because then he does the cutest things.  Right before his nap, he went poop on the potty.  I think I mentioned that I am only giving treats for poop now, so he went crazy saying, "treat...treat...treat!"  But I was in a dilemma because I was putting him down right then for his nap and I didn't want him hyped up on sugar.  So I told him, "Ty, you can have your treat when you wake up from your nap.  The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you can wake up and have your treat!"  That did the trick and he went right down.  He slept 2 hours and I thought, "he's totally going to forget about his treat."  What was I thinking?  As soon as I opened the door to his room, he was jumping up and down in his crib screaming, "Mama, mama...treat...cookie...nap...wake!"  It was so cute.  But then he blew me away when he said, "Ty own."  I thought, he didn't just say that.  He doesn't know what "own" means.  But then he proved me wrong when he said, "Mama one, Ty one.  Ty own."  I knew just what he was talking about!  Whenever we have a cookie, we always share one and Ty takes a bite and I take a bite!  But Ty told me that he was done with that and he wanted his own! (=  It was so cute.  So how could I refuse him?  I said that he could have his own - but Mama still gets around that and I just broke the cookie in half! (=  

Doesn't he look a bit smug here?  Like "Yes, I did just keep Mama up all night!"

On Sabbath we went to Laconia for Sabbath School and church and the Frosts met us there.  They came home with us and we had lunch and just chilled all afternoon.  It was really nice.  I never stay idle that long, but I needed it!  At one point, I realized that I had been just sitting for 2+ hours and I felt like I could not and did not want to move!  After sundown, we got Thai take-out and got the kids to bed and watched Argo.  It was really a fantastic movie.  I highly recommend it!  

Ty & Fin love each other!

Doesn't Heath look good holding a girl???  (=

On Sunday AM, we started that day out with a manicure for Westin that was worthless!  Well, we clipped his nails but he scratched his nose in a big way right after we had cut his nails!  What in the world?  My poor little guy’s adorable face was marred up!  It is so sad.  It was also sad that Ty and Fin both woke up on Sunday AM with colds (the Frosts did go home after the movie on Saturday night).  The cold didn’t stop our Sunday plans, though.  Heath & I decided to “divide and conquer.”  Basically, Heath wanted to go maple sugaring with his uncle and some family members and wanted Ty to go with him.  That worked out perfectly, so that Westin & I had the day alone together and we went shopping all day!  It is nice to spend time individually with each child, I think…and it was really nice!  Ty had a blast sugaring and got to go ATVing too.  What a day for him!  Westin was an angel, as we hit up the pharmacies, a kid’s thrift store, Kohls, and Old Navy.  Not too shabby.

Shopping with Mom (the scratch doesn't look like much here...but it really was noticeable)

On Monday Ty was not himself at all, but he slept for 3 ½ hours for his nap…so I’ll take that!  What was unfortunate was that Westin cried nearly all day, even when I was holding him!  It was insane.  He wasn’t getting sick (which was a miracle) and I still can’t figure out what the problem was.  I talked with Shannon and checked in on Finley.  Shannon said that she was acting fine but that she just had the runny nose.  Ty, on the other hand, was cranky, clingy, and wanted me to carry him around all day!  I made a comment to Shannon that Fin & Ty were probably the “same amount of sick” but that boys are so much more dramatic when they are sick…they just can’t take it! (=  His sickness did not discourage him from reading his bedtime stories with us at bedtime.  It was pretty cute – we were reading a book and it had a picture of juice in it and Ty got very excited and left our “reading group.”  He ran into his room and grabbed a water and brought it back.  He said, “thirsty!”  Just seeing the juice in the story reminded him that he needed a drink!  One cute thing was there was a picture in the book of a turtle and I asked him, “What animal is that?”  He didn’t miss a beat and said, “Rock!”  I guess the turtle’s back does look like a rock!

How could my happy boy cry all day?

Tuesday Westin had a great day!  He didn’t cry the entire day, probably because he had cried his head off the day before.  A cute thing happened with Ty in the AM.  Ty always watches a PBS kids cartoon in the AM while I am nursing Westin for the 1st time.  There was a sequence where there was a kangaroo with her joey and it showed how they hop all around.  Fast-forward a few hours later when I was reading a story with Ty, and we came across a picture of a kangaroo.  I asked him what it was, and he got up and started, hopping all around the room saying, “Hop..hop..hop!”  It was so cute.  I knew there was a reason why he watches those cartoons! (=  Tuesday was also a big day because Westin got his first full haircut, courtesy of Daddy.  The hair was so bad – it was so long over his ears, and so long in the back…it was just terrible!  He looks so cute now!  Heath cut his hair while he was in the bathtub, since he loves his baths so much!  It worked like a charm!  And Heath did a great job…much better than the first haircut he gave Ty!  He butchered that one!  

Westin's haircut!

Wednesday I worked and the boys had their day with Noni.  Westin ate like a champ with his bottles and had a 2 hour long nap!  I remember Ty sleeping longer for Noni, too, and it seems to be the same way with Wes.  The kids were a handful for Heath in the evening.  Westin cried almost all night long and Ty was having trouble listening.  Of course it had to be a night that was a nightmare for me at work and I was 1 ½ hours later than normal.  Just terrible.  What is NOT terrible is that I found out on Wednesday that I got a per diem job in my ER.  I will be working mostly 3PM-3AM and I will try to still work one day a week, but I only have to work 1 weekend in 6 weeks.  I’m trying to be home more with the boys, since they are only young once.  I am super excited about this. I get to make my own schedule and it is nice for my Mom too.  She will only have to watch them for about 4 hours (since I will leave at 2 PM and Heath will get home by 6 PM).  4 hours is so much nicer than the 10-11 hours she has been doing for YEARS.  I think this is a win-win for everyone.  It starts after Memorial Day weekend and I can’t wait!

"Ha-ha Mama!  I sleep longer for Noni than you!"

On Thursday Ty had some antics, that is for sure.  First of all, he fed Reeses butter off the butter knife first thing in the morning!  It was quite the scene when I walked into the kitchen!  Then I had eaten some left-over black bean soup for lunch and had left the tupperware container (with a bit more left in it) on the counter.  Well, that was a mistake.  Tyson grabbed it and ran with it through the kitchen, dining room, and living room – with black bean soup strewn all over my rugs and the floor.  What a mess.  Speaking of messes, Tyson fell into the toilet.  I don’t know how exactly this happened, but I had him on his potty-seat on top of the toilet, when he started to have a melt-down.  He needed to try to poop but he didn’t want to, so he started throwing a fit.  He tried to get off the seat and so I picked him up and was trying to sit him back down, when he thrashed all around and ended up straightening his legs and ended up “standing” right in the toilet – splashing toilet water (with pee) everywhere…all over the floor and on me.  Oh, what fun times.  We went to Mexican that night with Adam and Sonia and had some great eating, as usual.  Both boys did pretty well, so that was good.

Trying to get pictures of them together...they never will look at me...only at each other!

Got 1 of the 2 looking

Ty playing in Adam's truck

Have a great week!  I hope to get another blog out, but I might not.  Next week will be very busy because we will be leaving for Florida next Friday!  We’ll see how it goes!   

RANDOM PICS

  

I really didn't give him any, but I wanted to see what he would do - if I put it near him!