Busy, Busy, Busy!

Today has been a very busy day! I went to bed really early last night because I knew I'd be on the go today. Several days ago I thought the first thing on today's agenda would be our regular library story time at 11am, but then I learned about a special program at the "other" library at 10am. They do these every few months, and they're really well done. The librarian reads stories (today on leaves) for 30 minutes, and then the kids have 30 minutes to go around the room and do various activities (games, crafts, etc.) related to the theme. On Wednesday I learned of a large used book sale another library was having starting at 9am today. We left the house at 8:30am and drove to the book sale, shopped for 45 minutes (spent $10), drove to the "other" library for part of the leaves program, stopped at the recycling center, and then stopped at "our" library for a few minutes to return the items that were due back today. We got home at 11:45 (a few moments after Paul's parents). I fed the kids lunch and was back out the door at 12:15 to head to work for the first time in 9+ months. I had appointments with 7 students between 1-3pm, and then attended our department's faculty meeting from 3: 00-4:45. I got back home around 5:20pm. After we had lasagna for dinner, Paul's parents left, and then Paul and I took the kids to a church in our town, which was showing a premiere of the newest VeggieTale movie (The Little Drummer Boy). We got home at 8:05pm.


The other reason I went to bed really early last night was because I was really, really tired. Our basement flooded (AGAIN!) on Wednesday night (6 inches). I must have a really thick skull because I had put some boxes of clothes on the floor recently. One of these days I'll learn not to do that! Thankfully Paul was able to turn the hot water heater back on this morning. To add insult to injury, while we were cleaning up the flooding mess Nadia had a #1 accident (yesterday morning) for the first time in a year. The sleep definitely helped as I felt much less stressed out this morning than I had felt the previous three days.

I was very warmly welcomed at work today, which was nice. It's nice to feel wanted! My chair came down to my office and begged and pleaded for me to agree to work full-time next semester. He very graciously devised a schedule that would involve me only teaching on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons/evenings. I didn't give him a firm answer. Being a person who likes to please others, I was tempted to say yes, but in reality I'm planning on only teaching the two night classes. I find it hard to work part-time. I would truly rather not work at all or work full-time. Part of the reason I feel that way is because part of my job seems the same whether I work FT or PT - I have the same number of advisees, chair the same number of committees, etc. I received many compliments regarding my weight, which also put a smile on my face. Another pleasant surprise was a large tub of clothes that a nursing professor's son has outgrown that she gave me for Ian.

I've been trying to take a video of Ian for quite awhile. This is the best one that I've taken so far. I'm going to try to get another one this weekend of some of his other words and sounds plus him singing "Up and down.... aisle." I hope you enjoy it! Would you believe that Ian picked today (while I was at work) to have his longest nap in his crib. I mean his longest nap EVER. The last 3 weeks he's been sleeping 10-30 minutes in his crib each day. For example, yesterday he slept for 20 minutes. Today he slept for 2.25 HOURS in his crib and then slept another 30 minutes in Grandma's arms. That has never ever happened before. I would be elated if he'd sleep for even hour hour let alone over 2 hours on a day when it's just the kids and I at home.

Changes

Manu lives in India

1. My mom suggested that maybe oatmeal was the cuplrit for Ian's diaper woes. I think she was right. Thanks, Mom! He still goes #2 more than is "normal," but at least it's more normal in other ways (which would fall in the category of TMI). Hopefully this means we can keep the diaper rash at bay. I hate seeing him have a bloody bottom!!!

2. Nadia was wearing a dress yesterday that I got for 50 cents at a yard sale last weekend. Ian liked it too as it had a poodle on it. I had no idea he knew the word "poodle!" What surprised me is that it is size 4 (not 4T) and fit her perfectly (as in probably won't fit her next spring/summer). I am confused. How do these sizes work??? I thought she'd go from 3T to 4T to 5T and then size 4, 5, 6, etc. What is the difference between 4T and 4 (also 5T and 5)? I changed out the fall clothes a big prematurely though. On Sunday it got really warm. We were way overdressed for our photo shoot. That should have prompted me to check the weather on Monday, but I didn't. My poor boy was at the playground (while Nadia was in ballet) wearing a long sleeve shirt and courdoroy pants and it was 86 degrees out. OOPS! It had been a lot cooler last week. Yesterday the temps dropped back down again (although it's still warmer than last week). Probably Monday was our last blast of summer weather. I like fall weather though (60's/70's), presuming it stops raining at some point so we can do things like go to the park and mow the lawn again sometime in the near future.

Carmen lives in Peru

3.As I mentioned in my last post (which I wrote Monday night), I've been feeling overwhelmed lately. Yesterday morning on the way to Bible study I almost had a total meltdown. I think the problem is that I've been signing up for activities like I did last semester when I wasn't teaching. I didn't participate in MOPS or ladies Bible study or take Nadia to ballet (etc.) when I was teaching full-time last fall.  I decided to make some changes that hopefully will lead to me feeling less frazzled. At first I was tempted to really swing the pendulum too far the other direction and cut out as much as possible. I was thinking of giving up the ladies Bible study, but I was really blessed by the study again yesterday, and Nadia told me all she learned about Moses. There are only 5 weeks left of it. I am planning on quitting MOPS though. I can always change my mind (since I already paid the dues), but as of right now I'm going to assume I'm not returning. I also was thinking of taking a little break from gymnastics and the Wednesday morning library time after the current session ends on 10/12. Part of my reason for considering that is that it's really hard to control Ian in gymnastics. However, we had a really nice time at gymnastics and the library this morning, so I am leaning towards continuing those although I haven't signed Nadia up for the next session yet. It was easier to control Ian today because there was a yard sale at the gym. I got the kids more books and clothes. I am so grateful for yard sales! During library time today I had fun with Ian, I read him books, he played a computer game, etc. It's nice to have that one-on-one time with him, and I think it's good for Nadia to participate in the storytime (on apples today). The ballet teacher requires payment for three months at a time so I didn't give any thought to quitting that. The Sunday night Bible study ends in 3 weeks, so I'm going to finish that as well. Choir and AWANA are not options in my mind. I'm not giving them up! I'm also teaching Sunday School half of the year, but my turn won't start until December.

 I'm feeling a lot better today about my schedule/to do list in part because Gabby came over yesterday afternoon and watched the kids for 90 minutes. The girls hadn't come over to babysit for two weeks (except for on Sunday night when I went to Bible study while Paul was in Italy). What a blessing. I'd rather have been playing with the kids, but since I need to work, I need that help now and then. I used the time to grade and also finish writing a conference proposal. I also found out after making some phone calls that I don't need to write a tenure report this week. The professor going up for tenure was confused about the deadlines. Whew. Big sigh of relief. One thing that has been a huge blessing is the size of my classes. My two classes put together this semester have an enrollment that is almost exactly half of the size of my classes this summer. That makes the grading much easier to keep up with. I've been staying up-to-date with the grading.

4. I've also decided to make 10pm my typical bedtime and get up at 6am since I usually wake up around 6am anyhow (I've been staying in bed until 7am most mornings lately). Paul has been going to bed before 10pm most nights so it would help him out if I went to bed earlier as sometimes I wake him up when I'm coming to bed (although I try to be as quiet as possible). My plan is to shower and do my Bible studies in between 6-7am. That plan was foiled this morning as Ian got up much earlier than normal, but if he goes back to sleeping until 7am then I think I'll get more out of the studies if I do them at that time of day rather than at say 10pm. Yesterday I cooked dinner during Nadia's nap while Ian was playing. I am going to try to make this a habit. It's definitely a blessing that Ian can play by himself, especially since some days he doesn't take a nap in his crib (like yesterday because he took one in the nursery while I was in Bible study), and other days his nap is only 10 minutes long.

5. I discovered today that I can check out books from the library we go to on Wednesdays. (So sorry, Jenn, that I had you get books for me - I could have gotten them after all!). This library is MUCH larger than ours. I checked out books today with my new library card, but I think it will get confusing to check books out from two libraries. So my plan is to only check books out on Wednesdays, and to check out discovery packs on Fridays. Our library has these really neat backpacks you can check out that are on a theme (ex. the one I checked out last Friday was on shapes). and the backpacks contain various things related to that theme - books, puzzles, games, flashcards, stuffed animals, etc. Hopefully this way I'll be able to keep the stuff straight. It's already tough enough to keep the library books separate from the books we own. If in the future I have time to read again, I'm sure there will be many books I would enjoy reading at this library also!

6. The Sunday night Bible study (by Max Lucado) is focusing on what we can do to help those in need (physical and spiritual needs). I felt compelled to do something more. I've sponsored a girl through Compassion for more than 15 years. She graduated, and they recently assigned me Carmen, who will be 6 in January. Yesterday, I decided to also sponsor a boy. I picked Manu (who will be 7 in December) because he shares Ian's birthday. When the kids get a little older, I want them to be a part of my correspondence with these children who live in Peru and India. Whenever Carmen leaves the program, I'm going to try to select a girl born on 6/24, and I've decided that if we have any more children, I'm going to keep sponsoring more children so that we'll sponsor as many kids as we have in our home. I'm excited about this. Hopefully the Lord will lead me in other ways that I can make a difference in someone's life.

7. Paul installed a device on the lightswitch in our half bathroom, which means Nadia is now more independent with going to the bathroom as she can turn the light on and off herself! The only thing I help her with now is wiping after she goes #2.

8. I've revised my DVD in the car rule. My rule had been to only allow the kids to watch something if we were traveling at least one hour (one way). Now I make exceptions and turn it on #1 when I'm yard sale shopping with them and #2 when Ian is falling asleep in the car. He fell asleep in the car around 11am this morning. I jiggled his leg to wake him up and turned on the dvd. I'd rather him watch a little extra VeggieTales than to take his only nap in the car. When I put him down at 1pm, he cried for 30 minutes and then slept for 35 minutes. I greatly appreciated having some time while both kids were in their beds. Sometimes rules need to be flexible. :-)

9. On Saturday I revised Ian's bedtime/naptime routine. I used to sing two songs, pray, and put him down (the first song has always been "Jesus Loves Me" and the second song varies from day to day). Since Saturday I've been reading him two books before singing the songs and praying. I am not sure why I waited so long to add reading to his getting ready for bed routine. Better late than never! Before I take him up at night I always have Daddy and Nadia give him hugs and kisses. I have to say that watching Nadia give her brother hugs and kisses is one of the highlights of my day, especially as she often says something like "I love you, buddy" of her own initiative. Priceless!

My plate is overflowing

My life is presently too busy. It just so happened that several things that won't happen for very long are all happening at the same time. A small group Bible study at my church, which only lasts for 5 weeks, started 9 days ago. On Sunday after Paul's 1pm football game was done, we headed to PictureMe for pictures. Then we came home and had dinner, and then I went to the Bible study (left our house at 6:45pm and returned home at 9pm). I have been staying up later than usual. For years (decades) my average bedtime was 9:30pm. Sometimes I'd even go to bed as early as 9pm, but it was rare for me to be up past 10pm. My average wake time used to be 6am. I always felt like the optimum amount of sleep for me was 8-9 hours a night. I was only in "sleep deprivation mode" with Nadia for about 6 months (the worst being the first 4 months). Once she started sleeping through the night, I returned to sleeping 8-9 hours a night on average. The sleep deprivation stage was MUCH longer with Ian. The strange thing is that even though he's now sleeping on average 11 hours at night, I am averaging about 7 hours a night. Often I am in bed for 8 hours, but I usually am only resting at the end because I can't seem to sleep until 7am. My average bedtime has shifted to 10:30pm for the first time in my life, and sometimes I stay up as late as 11pm. What makes it even weirder is that Paul has been going to bed 2 hours earlier than usual. Our trends are going in opposite directions. I honestly think that due to missing so much sleep for more than a year, I got used to functioning on less sleep. Sunday night I stayed up until midnight. That was only because the Steelers were playing. I haven't moved my bedtime THAT late!

It was a very last minute decision to join MOPS again. If I had to do it over again, I wish I had declined. I'm going to stick it out for the next four meetings (October -December), but unless I have a change of heart during that time period, I'm going to make December 5th my last meeting. Monday just feels too busy with MOPS in the morning (9-11) and then Nadia having ballet from 4:00-4:45. The biggest plus of the MOPS thus far has been talking with a woman whose daughter also has eating issues. It's been encouraging to hear that her almost 3 year old can now eat soft table foods (without them being put in a blender). It gives me hope that maybe that will also be true for Ian. Ian screams when I drop him off. Nadia has a blast. At least Ian doesn't cry for very long, but it's hard on me emotionally to go through this 3 mornings a week (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday). The next MOPS meeting isn't until October 24 due to the Columbus holiday in between now and then. So the next few Mondays should be less hectic. We did a craft this morning (painting), which is probably part of the reason I'm second guessing my decision.

I'm not regretting that I joined the ladies Bible study. I did another study by Priscilla Shirer a few years ago, and I wasn't keen on it. In fact, I dropped out part way through the study. I'm a big fan of Beth Moore studies. I have to say that this first week of homework on Jonah has been really outstanding. Today is our second week of the study, which lasts seven weeks. So life is really going to calm down in 6 weeks as both Bible studies will be done (Sunday night and Tuesday morning). I'll miss them I'm sure, but it's been a challenge this past week to get my homework done for both Bible studies (each of them have 5 days of homework). Of course it's never a bad thing to spend more time than usual studying the Bible!

One thing I am missing right now is time to read. I enjoyed reading last semester. I checked out a book last Tuesday morning, but I haven't even read one page yet. I also put in an interlibrary loan request last Friday for a book that Jo recommended. If I stopped blogging and/or reading updates on Facebook, I'd have time to read books. There are other things I'd like to squeeze into my schedule such as doing more lesson planning as to activities I do with the kids each week and also more menu planning for what I cook for dinner (and trying more new recipes would be part of that). One thing I've contemplated in my desire to have more time for these things (Bible study, reading, etc.) would be to hire the cleaning service to resume coming twice a month. I'd still do some of the things on the Motivated Mom lists as they don't do all the things she lists, but I could leave the dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning of the bathrooms up to them. That in and of itself isn't going to free up oodles of time, but it would lighten my load a little. If I find out that my FMLA leave will be paid leave, I am definitely going to call the cleaning service. So far they're telling me I can only have one paycheck (two weeks) at full pay. I am checking with the union to see if they concur because what HR is saying doesn't seem (to me) to match up with what our contract says about FMLA. Truthfully, we can afford the cleaning service even if my leave isn't paid leave. Maybe I should just resume that no matter what.

To add to this busy schedule this week, the faculty meeting we missed due to flooding has been rescheduled for this Friday. I also have 6 appointments scheduled with students/advisees during the two hours before the faculty meeting. I could go on, but I think you get an idea of what is filling my plate right now to the point that it feels like it is overflowing.

Growing, Growing!

I don't enjoy going through the kids' clothes twice a year when the weather changes from summer to fall and then from winter to spring. The reason I don't enjoy it very much is because I feel sad when I am taking out their cute clothes that they won't wear again. It was a tad bit easier this time around because I now have some hope that maybe we'll have one more child, and some of these clothes will be used again. I don't know why I get so emotional over their clothing and shoes. I certainly am not that way about my stuff, lol! One thing that always helps though is that it is fun to have new clothing to put on them. When I started going through Ian's clothes recently, I discovered I hadn't bought ANY size 18 month pants for him. I had bought size 18 month shorts, and I guess I assumed he would be wearing 24m/2T this fall and winter. At first I had him wearing size 18m or 24m shirts with 12m pants, but most of those pants were a bit small on him. I discovered I only owned 3 pairs of size 18 month pants for him - one that went with a 4 piece suit I bought him for Easter in the spring, a pair of Steeler sweatpants that my sister gave me for my birthday in April, and a pair of jeans that were a hand-me-down from my other sister. Well thanks to Paul's mom sending us a box of clothing from Boscov's last week and also my purchases at the yard sale this past weekend, I am happy to say that Ian now has a nice selection of size 18 months. He's wearing a pair of brown courdoroy pants today that I got him at a yard sale.

Right now Ian is wearing size 4 diapers during the day and size 5 at night. Nadia is wearing size 8 or 9 shoes, and Ian is wearing size 6. I think I'll be buying Nadia's next pair of ballet shoes on eBay since I didn't find any at the yard sales. I had seen some at other yard sales a few months ago. Next time I see any small ballet shoes at a yard sale, I'll buy them just in case she sticks with ballet. Ian is wearing size 18m/24m/2T for shirts. Some of them fit him perfectly. In some cases I have to roll the sleeves a little. For pants he's wearing size 18m although there is one pair of 12m that still fits him perfectly. Ian is wearing size 2T/3T socks. Nadia is wearing size 3T for pants. They fit her perfectly now (which wasn't true in the spring or summer). She's wearing mostly 4T for dresses although some 3T dresses still are long enough. It's tough to buy tops for her. The sleeve length on size 3T tops is correct, but unless it's a tunic style top, they are often too short on her (gap between the shirt and her pants). So she's mostly wearing 4T tops, and I have to roll the sleeves a little.

Even though Ian has yet to take a bite of anything, he's still a growing boy! I've made an appointment for Ian to see Dr. Williams again on November 2nd. He said that if Ian is not longer fussing and crying when I'm feeding him, that we can start addressing chewing at that appointment. It would do my heart SO much good if Ian would take one bite of something (and swallow it) before his 2nd birthday. I don't care if it's a Cheerio or a banana or whatever. I just would love to have him eat something truly "solid" (not a puree). Maybe I need more patience because it's an unreasonable goal, but let me tell you I am going to work very hard over the next 5 weeks to get Ian stop crying and fussing when I'm feeding him because I really, really want Dr. Williams to address chewing on November 2nd.

Ian's vocabulary also is growing, growing, growing! A few days ago he pointed to a picture of Nadia and Gabby (rollerskating) on our refrigerator and said "Gabby" without any prompting. He did the same thing this morning while pointing to a picture of Grandpa. He called him "Hapa." I am not sure why he said "Ha" instead of "Gra" because he says "Grama" for Grandma, but still he tried a new word, and I knew what he meant! He says the word pretzel very clearly. The word he's saying the MOST these days is "aisle." He likes to sing that line of the VeggieTale theme song. He sings "up an dow" and then says a few syllables I can't comprehend and then says as clearly as can be "aisle" with great emphasis. He says it all in the correct beat of how the song goes.

Shop til you Drop

Ian saying "touchdown" for the Giants!

I am not a person who loves to shop. I can enjoy it from time to time in reasonable doses. I find shopping for hours on end to be exhausting and rarely do it. Actually aside from yard sales, I can say I never do it any more because the kids REALLY don't enjoy shopping, and double strollers don't fit very well in between racks at department stores. I shopped for about 6 hours at the yard sales over the past two days. I shopped on Friday before and after library story time, for 2.5 hours Saturday morning (without the kids), and then did one last jaunt with Ian in the afternoon while Nadia was napping. The thing that motivated me to go the last time was that I took the stroller and got some exercise walking in between homes. There were hundreds of yard sales. I just visited a small percent of them. The people who paid the $5 to have theirs included on the map indicated what they were selling. That was extremely helpful as it helped me pick which ones to visit. My favorite stop was at a woman's house who used to run a daycare center. I spent $26 at her yard sale, and I easily could have spent a LOT more there. Had I known what was located there, that would have been my very first stop! I was grateful though that I did end up at her sale as I got many nice puzzles,a rhythm stick set that included a CD, a moon balance toy, a tree blocks set, a bear counter Bingo game, a wooden domino set featuring pictures of different animals, a Little People playground set, a stick horse, etc. I contemplated buying some more gymanstic mats as she had four for sale for $5 each, but by the time I made up my mind to get them, someone else had purchased all of them.

I hate bartering. The only times I usually will do it is for a car and a house, and in the case of a car I have a price in mind and when they see I won't budge, they usually come down to what I'm willing to pay. I have done it a little when in other countries (China and Mexico for example), but I do not enjoy it one iota. Usually at a yard sale if I think something is priced higher than it should be, I just don't buy it. On Friday there was a red Christmas sweater (size 3T) that I contemplated buying, but it was priced at $3.00, which seemed high for a used kid's sweater. Most people charge at the most $1.00 for a sweater. Some yard sales charge as little as 10 cents per item. Probably I should have offered the woman a lower amount, but I just walked away. On Saturday though I did make an offer twice, and both times my offer was accepted. The first was for the bumblebee costume that Nadia was wearing in the pictures in yesterday's post. It's made by Old Navy and is sized 2T/3T. Both Nadia and Ian look adorable in it. They both enjoy playing dress-up. The woman had it priced at $4. I offered her $2, and she accepted. I guess I'll have to get over my aversion to bartering if I'm going to shop at yard sales. I got the vest, pants, and shoes for Ian (shown in these first two pictures) at the yard sales this weekend. The shoes have squeakers in them, lol! The nursery workers took them off after about 5 minutes as they found the squeaking annoying. Ian got a big kick out of them the first time I put them on his feet.

I had a list of what I was hoping to buy at the yard sales. I succeeded on six counts (18 month pants for Ian, 18 month lightweight jacket for Ian, size 6 dress shoes for Ian, sneakers with velcro for Nadia, rhythm sticks, and a toy microphone for Nadia). I didn't find any size 9 ballet shoes for Nadia, hand puppets, or 4T turtlenecks for Nadia. Probably there were 4T turtlenecks somewhere, but many people had huge bins of clothing, and it was very hard to locate a specific item. I got a LOT of stuff for the about $80 I spent over the two days as the cheapest items were 10 cents each and the most expensive thing I bought was $4. The 18 month four piece suit I got for Ian yesterday for $3 came in handy for our family photo at Walmart today.

Let me say I am sold on Picture Me studios. They do a MUCH better job getting the kids to smile than the photographers at the Sears studio. The photographer we had today we had never worked with before, but she was excellent. I was thrilled and actually got a CD for the first time ever (just of one image). I spent about $60 total, which is more than I usually spend, but it was money well spent in my opinion. I do not plan on renewing my membership with Sears. I only wish they had the big numbers like Sears does. For Ian's 2 year pictures and Nadia's Christmas pictures, I think we'll either go to Picture Me or have my sister take them. Would you believe it was VERY hard today to pick which pictures to order? She got two great family shots of all four of us, one great shot of Paul and the kids, two great shots of me with the kids, and one great shot of Ian. She tried to get one of the two kids together, but by then we weren't getting good smiles from Nadia. That didn't bother me as my sister got a great shot of the two kids together last month.

Nadia's reading list

Since Nadia turns 39 months old today, I am listing 39 of the books (in no particular order) that she asks us to read the most often these days. Interestingly enough, only 4 of the books listed below (the ones that are in bold) were included on a similar list that I wrote about one year ago. It will be interesting to see which of the ones below are still favorites of hers a year from now. Of course some of these couldn't have been her favorite last year because I bought them more recently. I love that my girl loves to be read to soooo much. I think Grandma was surprised how many books she wanted to Grandma to read to her every day while she was visiting us earlier this week!

1. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
2. My Big Birthday
3. Fancy Nancy and the Sensational Babysitter
4. I Don't Like Peas
5. If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff
6. Red or Blue, I like You (Sesame Street) - Paul is still sick of this one, lol!

7. Curious George Goes to the Hospital by Margaret and H.A. Rey
8. Curious George and the Pizza Party by Margaret and H.A. Rey
9. Curious George's First Day of School by H.A. Rey
10. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
11. If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff
12. The Princess and the Pea
13. Jack and the Beanstalk
14. Bible Animals
15. Cinderella
16. Let's Go Froggy by Jonathan London
17. Fancy Nancy and the Late, Late, Night
18. The Berenstain Bears Play a Good Game by Jan and Mike Berenstain
19. Bailey Goes Camping by by Kevin Henkes
20. Daddy's are for Catching Fireflies
21. Froggy Learns to Swim by Jonathan London
22. The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Ransom
23. The Berenstain Bears: God Loves You by Stan, Jan, and Mike Berenstain

24. The Big Birthday Surprise by Dave Ramsey
25. Careless at the Carnival by Dave Ramsey
26. The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
27. The Berenstain Bears and the Forgiving Tree by Jan and Mike Berenstain
28. The Upside-Down Frown and Splashes of Joy by Barbara Johnson
29. I Have a Friend
30. Lily's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
29. Just Go to Bed by Mercer Mayer (the MOST often requested in the past week)
30. The Berenstain Bears Go to Sunday School by Stan, Jan, and Mike Berenstain
31. When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Elise Broach
32. The Battle of the Chores by Dave Ramsey
33. The Berenstain Bears and a Job Well Done by Jan and Mike Berenstain
34. The Berenstain Bears' Report Card Trouble by Stan and Jan Berenstain
35. Llama, Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
36. How Have I Grown? by Mary Reid
37. Stanley the Stinkbug Goes to Camp by Max Lucado
38. Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
39. Adam and Eve

Which books are some of your kids' favorites right now?

10 Blessings

1. At some point while we're sleeping tonight, Paul should be arriving home. YAY! We spoke to him a few times this evening during his lengthy layover in Detroit.

2. Some of the questions I had for HR were answered today. Our Blue Shield insurance is retroactive to May 23. The downside is we have to pay over $800 towards the premiums from the past 4 months. It could have been much worse as at first they said I'd be paying at a much higher rate (the part-time rate would have been about 3 times more). The upside is that this means I don't need to stress about any "unexpected" bills for the surgeries that took place in June and August. I actually will probably be able to get back most of that $800 by submitting bills we paid during that time frame for deductibles and prescriptions. The May 23 date won't help for Ian's first endoscopy. If CHOP bills me for that 8K the insurance said they won't pay, I will be fighting that tooth and nail with the insurance and CHOP.

3. HR also told me that I'll be paying the insurance at the full-time rate this semester because my leave is FMLA leave (about $200 a month). WAHOOO! This means it will be cheaper than PSU's insurance would have been, and of course it's MUCH better insurance! PTL! I have full benefits this semester even though I'm only teaching two classes. I am very grateful for FMLA!

4. I'm still communicating with HR about how much of my leave will be paid leave this semester. Thus far they've told me two weeks will be at full pay because I have 37.5 hours of sick family leave that I can definitely use. From the wording in the contract I think I'm also eligible to use personal leave and sick leave. We shall see about that.

5. We had a great visit with my mom this week. It was nice that she was able to experience a lot of our weekly routine. She met Nadia's ballet teacher, gymnastics teacher, and one of the librarians (we go to two libraries each week). She also picked Nadia up from AWANA on Wednesday night while I was at choir rehearsal. In addition to being able to spend time with her, her visit also enabled me to be able to mow the lawn on Wednesday afternoon and have two uninterrupted showers.

6. I also was able to buy myself a pair of jeans yesterday. My mom was impressed with how quick I was. It took me at the most 5 minutes to select which pairs to try on, try them on, and pay for the one I picked. I haven't bought a new pair of jeans in more than 10 years. Part of that time the jeans didn't fit, but you can tell that I don't buy jeans very often. I didn't need to get one because the old ones didn't fit but because they had a hole in them. It was a luxury to be able to try something on in a dressing room. I usually can't do that! I was also happy that although the original price was $44, I paid $17 at JCP.

7. Tomorrow is the BIG yard sale in our town. Thousands of people attend this yard sale. Some of the people having yard sales start the sale on Friday. We took advantage of that today. On Saturday the parking is far too limited to be able to drive from place to place. It's almost impossible to find just one spot anywhere in town. ALL the parking is very well used by the thousands who attend. Today I made use of the DVD in the car and drove from house to house and left the kids in the locked car. It helped that I was buying toys for them. At each house Nadia would ask what I got her. The books, cars, etc. I bought helped entertain them at my next stop. We spent about 2 hours visiting yard sales (some before the library and some afterward). I hope the weather cooperates so I can do a little more tomorrow morning (while Paul watches the kids). I got a LOT of great stuff. Many of the clothes I got for the kids still had the tags on them! I had a list of what I was looking for in particular. I got several of the things on the list - 18 month pants for Ian, size 6 dress shoes for Ian (25 cents), and a toy microphone for Nadia (10 cents). I got other clothing that wasn't on my list for both children - some for now and some to store away for future years. I also got some books and toys for the kids, the largest being a pretend vacuum that both kids enjoyed today. When we got home, Ian played with the cars I had bought him for about 2 hours straight. This boy loves cars!

8. I enjoyed having Ian nap on me today. He fell asleep in my arms at the library at 11:05am. I let him sleep because normally it's a challenge to keep him under control during story time. That nap ended when I put him in the carseat. Around 3pm he came over to me and put his head on my lap and fell asleep standing up! I picked him up and held him for another brief nap. Tomorrow I'll make sure we get back on track with him taking his nap in the crib, but it's nice every once in a while to hold a sleeping toddler.

9. Have I mentioned how much I like Kellogg's? Well I do. First they were giving the $10 gift cards if you mailed in 10 UPCs. Since I pay no more than $1.50 for a box of cereal, that means those boxes cost me only 50 cents each. Then they've been doing another promotion where you get a $5 gift card for 4 boxes of cereal, which means I've been paying only 25 cents per box (and that offer didn't even involve a postage stamp as you just entered a code from the box online). I am mentioning it right now because three $5 VISA cards came in the mail today from Kellogg's. I have quite a stockpile of Raisin Bran right now because of these deals. Nadia, Paul, and I all like Raisin Bran. It will be eaten!

10. We received a box in the mail on Wednesday, which was a surprise from Paul's mom. It contained some beautiful clothing for the kids such as the "Big Sis" outfit Nadia wore today. Thanks, Grandma!

Ups and Downs

1. Today was Ian's last day of speech therapy. WOOHOO! His therapist said we couldn't discontinue the services until his next quarterly review, but I called our EI office and found that we could end it now. The speech therapist said that Ian is now at a two-year-old level, and he won't be two for three more months. YAY!

2. Ian's struggles with diaper rash have gotten worse again. He goes from no diaper rash to diaper rash so awful that he's bleeding in a very short amount of time. I am changing his diaper very often, and sometimes I still don't change it soon enough. He is pooping SO SO SO many times a day. Does anyone have a recommendation of a food to feed him that would help "bind him up?" It's not bananas for him.

3. We took the kids to Sears this morning for photos. I felt guilty to leave without paying anything, so I bought one sheet of photos for $10 in addition to the free photos I was given. Nadia had some "okay" pictures, but I learned in June not to "settle." I love this picture of Ian (above). It was tough to get Ian to stand or sit where he was supposed to be. He's a boy on the go! I didn't buy any of the pictures of Nadia by herself.

4. Ian is gaining weight again! I weighed him on Tuesday, and he gained 8 ounces in 7 days. That's a big relief! I emailed Dr. Williams a couple of days ago asking if it was time to set up an appointment to work on teaching Ian to chew, but he hasn't responded yet, which is unusual for him. I'm hoping to have an appointment with him in October to work on that.

5. I got a statement from the PSU health insurance yesterday saying that our balance for one of the bills from Ian's first endoscopy is over $8K. This has me a bit stressed out to put it mildly! I keep trying to remind myself that worrying doesn't help anything. "Cast your cares" I keep repeating to myself. I'm hoping that CHOP won't pass this on to us as evidently they exceeded the "usual and customary." We stayed in network to avoid such bills! I could have gone 30 minutes away rather than 3 hours away if I was going to pay a bill like that. I'm praying that between the insurance or CHOP we won't actually have to pay this bill. What made my anxiety much greater is knowing that there were two other surgeries since then, and one of those surgeries was MUCH more expensive. Seeing this statement caused me to be really nervous about what other bills they might not agree to pay. Up until this point, we had only paid our $75 deductible (per person), and other than that we hadn't been paying anything for doctor appointments or surgeries because we had been staying "in-network." The upside is that we're now back on Blue Shield insurance although I still don't know what the effective date was for that. I emailed HR about that early this morning, and they haven't written me back yet. I'm hoping to hear back from HR tomorrow.

6. We've had a nice visit with my mom this week. Grandma will be returning to MD tomorrow. We'll miss her! The good news is that Daddy is traveling back to the US tomorrow. He's due to arrive home very early on Saturday (as in around 1:30am). He knew he was going to tour a castle on Wednesday, but he didn't know he'd also get to tour a WWI museum. That was one of the highlights of his trip! He wasn't keen on how long dinner took every night because he didn't get back to his room until around midnight every night. Ian, Nadia, and I can't wait to give Daddy a big hug! I am curious to see what he got the kids. It's going to be hard to top the pillow he got Nadia in Poland last year. I'm always intrigued by what Nadia says thanks for in her prayers. Her pillow is mentioned in almost every single prayer. The one that cracks me up the most is that she often thanks God for her curtains. I don't know that I've ever mentioned the word "curtain" in any of my prayers.

Square and Star

There are some shapes pictured on one of the pieces of playground equipment at the park we walk to whenever the weather permits. On Sunday Ian pointed to the square and said "square." I was thrilled! Today he again identified the square and also pointed to the star and said "star." Way to go, Ian! Grandma was also happy because he said her name a few times today (sounds like Gramma). Grandma noticed a big change in his expressive vocabulary over the past month, as the last time she had seen him was our trip in Florida a few weeks ago. He's also making progress with eating, but that progress feels much slower to me, especially when I spoke with a woman at ladies Bible study today. Her grandaughter is 5 days younger than Ian, and last spring from what she said it seemed that Ian and Zoe were at about the same place in their feeding struggles.  Zoe has been having OT in the home every week plus going to see a feeding team once a week, and she's definitely surpassed Ian because she can now feed herself a banana. This obviously implies that she's learned to chew. She has reflux, which did some damage to her esophagus, but she doesn't have any food allergies. My mom was pleased to see the progress he's made with eating over the last month in that I'm no longer holding his face or hand, and sometimes he'll eat without crying.

As far as naps go, we had a really rough time on Sunday as he cried for 50 minutes before he fell asleep. It had been a long time since he had cried longer than 20 minutes. The problem was that then the timer went off after he had only been asleep for 10 minutes, and it woke him up. Needless to say, I'm not interested in using that timer any more. Yesterday he amazed me by crying for only 5 minutes and then sleeping for 35 minutes. Go figure. I just never know what to expect when I put him down for his nap. Today he didn't nap in his crib because he took a really early nap in someone's arms in the church nursery (when I peeked in the nursery at 10am he was already asleep!), and then he took a brief nap in the stroller around 4pm en route to the playground. I woke him up once we arrived at the park, and he wasn't very pleased with me for interrupting his siesta. I love this boy dearly, but it is a challenge to get him to eat solid food or take a decent nap in his crib!

My "grandson" is allergic to cinnamon

When we reintroduced eggs, at first I thought he was still allergic to them because he developed a rash on his face (like he did in December when he got the flu shot, which also has egg in it). I then figured out that it wasn't the pineapple cake that was giving him a rash, but the oatmeal I had given him. To test this theory, I didn't give him any cinnamon for a few days. His rash didn't reappear until I reintroduced cinnamon yesterday. I gave him apple and cinnamon oatmeal. The rash went away so I decided to try one more time (just to be sure), and the rash came back immediately. He already couldn't have any of the "fruit and cream" types of oatmeal (ex. strawberry, peach, etc.) because they have milk in them. Cinnamon roll and apples and cinnamon have now also been eliminated. It seems he's down to the "maple and brown sugar" variety. That oatmeal plus bananas are definitely his favorite thing to eat. I really feel like we can't make any more progress until he learns to chew. I can't really put bigger chunks of food on the spoon since he's just swallowing everything.

Coconut milk yogurt is really thin (runny), which makes it a challenge to feed it without spilling some. I made the mistake today of mixing in some baby cereal to thicken it up (and also boost the caloric density). I think part of the reason Ian likes yogurt so much is because it's so "low" in the texture department. I spoiled that by adding cereal. Oops. I won't do that again. I'll let him eat his yogurt as is in the future because it's nice to have a non-confrontational meal every once in a while. He doesn't gag on the spaghetti noodles (cut in very tiny pieces), but he screams his head off when I feed that concoction to him. I made a bean and tomato dish for dinner tonight as my friend, Cheri, came up to visit for a couple of hours. Raisins did the trick again for Nadia. I hope raisins keep working until Nadia outgrows the "picky eating" phase. What a blessing to have discovered such a simple tool in getting her to eat just about anything! If only there was something I could put on the spoon that would get Ian to eat so easily!

This morning as I was holding Ian after picking him up from the nursery, a 6th grade girl asked me, "Is he your grandson?" Oh My Word did that hurt. I immediately flashed back to when I was in middle school and people would assume that I was my brother's mother and that my mom was the grandmother. As I middle schooler I got a kick out of someone thinking I was that "grown up." Now I know what it felt like for my mom to have that comment directed toward her. It was probably harder for her because (thus far anyhow) no adult has said that to me. I kept reminding myself that when I was a first year teacher (and only 20 years old) my sixth graders called me an "old fogey." Kids that age aren't good judges of age, right? Please tell me they're not because it didn't feel good to have someone think Ian was my grandson. The other "hardest" question I've been asked about Ian thus far was when someone last month asked me if he had Down Syndrome. Ouch. What makes that comment harder to take is that so many people (including the girl today who thought he was my grandson) say he "has my face." I definitely agree that Nadia favors Paul, and Ian favors me. I'm far more selective in which pictures I post of Ian than I am of Nadia as there are definitely some pictures in which he looks like he's "special." Of course I think both of them are ADORABLE!

Pulling My Arm

I know I probably sound like a broken record (is that expression outdated?), but I enjoy the children's expressive language development. At the dinner table yesterday evening Nadia asked me to "pull her arms down." She was really asking me to roll up her sleeves so she woudln't get food on them. That little faux pas cracked me up! She also was really into the word "reason" yesterday. She used the word All Day Long. For example (while coloring), "I picked blue for no reason." Sometimes it's so hard not to laugh!

Ian has been improving by leaps and bounds. The number of words that he pronounces completely correctly has really been improving. Here are some of the words he says that I think anyone could understand: play, door, car, shoe, apple, no, ball, wall, read, eye, bye, whale, wheel, toy, Nadia, uh oh, wow, rain, water, mail, cookie, Ian, and morning. He used to call Nadia "Na," but now he calls her Naia. He says three syllables, but the "d" is missing. That is exactly how Nadia said her own name when she was this age! I think the next area he needs to develop in is to start saying two words together more often. It's still very rare for him to say more than one word at a time.

Paul began his trip to Italy yesterday. He drove to State College, flew from there to Detroit, and after two more flights and a bus trip, he should have arrived at his hotel in Trento, Italy. I tried calling him at 2:30pm today, which was 8:30pm in Italy, but he hadn't arrived at the hotel yet. His journey took more than 24 hours as he had left our house around 2pm yesterday. In honor of his trip, I checked out two books for Nadia that take place in Italy at the library yesterday (Madeline and the Cats of Rome and Olivia Goes to Venice). Paul's parents came up to our house this afternoon. We went up to the mall to visit a Petco (Ian said "wow" many times while looking at the fish tanks) and Hooplas and to have dinner at Friendly's. Paul's mom had brought up some coconut milk yogurt, and this meant I was able to feed Ian solid food in a public place for the first time in a long time because he can eat that without crying. If the yogurt wasn't so expensive ($2 each), I'd feed him a few of those every single day.

Ian has been waking up a bit earlier lately (such as 6:30am), but he just fusses/whimpers for a couple of minutes, and if I don't go get him, he's quiet for another 30 minutes. I've been sticking to the "rule" of not getting him prior to 7:00am. Nadia has been back to taking a nap every day. Whew. On Thursday Ian's nap was only 10 minutes long. Ugh. Yesterday he cried for 20 mintues and then slept for 30 minutes. Today he cried for 20 minutes and then slept for 25 minutes. Yesterday I got him right after he woke up. Today I let him cry for 15 minutes as Karen had said he needs to learn soothing skills and should stay in his crib for at least one hour. I have a hard time letting him cry at the end because he doesn't seem to be learning anything from that experience. I have no trouble letting him cry prior to his nap.

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A couple of weeks ago I received emails from both Sears and Picture Me studios saying I had won a free $50 photo shoot. Normally you can buy a really package for under $10, but the glitch is that if you go with that deal all the prints have to be of the same pose. This deal didn't have any such restrictions. It caught my eye that I could get free prints of multiple poses. I hadn't planned on going to a studio this month. I was planning to go once this fall for a family photo and then in December for Ian's 2 year pictures as well as Nadia's Christmas ones. However, I'm not going to turn down free pictures. They also were running a lot of other really good deals such as 10 pages of prints (you pick the sizes) plus a CD for $50 (with the CD I could make our Christmas cards with that photo). So we had decided to try to get the annual family photo at Walmart today and the kids' costume photos at Sears next Thursday. I picked next Thursday morning as my mom will be here, and it's much easier to manage the kids at a photo session with two adults present.

This morning I was a woman on a mission. I gave the kids baths, picked out coordinating outfits for everyone, ironed some clothes (and I go many months without ironing), got the kids and I dressed (which included painting Nadia's nails and putting makeup on my face for the first time in many months), and got everyone in the car by 9:40am. We walked into the studio right on time at 10:00am. The photographer wasn't there yet, but I didn't think much of it because the studio opens at 10:00. After a little time passed I asked the greeter (who sits right by the studio), and he said he had seen the manager (Jen) earlier that morning. I thought that was strange that she was in Walmart but not in studio since we had an appointment, but I felt encouraged that she should be here any minute. After more time passed I left a message for the district manager and asked at Customer Service. At 10:30 I decided to do a little shopping while Paul waited in the studio. At 10:45 we gave up. We had planned to go to Perkins after our photo shoot as a special meal together as Paul is leaving for Italy tomorrow, and we won't see him for 8 days. As we were driving from Perkins back home, the manager called us to apologize that the photographer who was supposed to be there today hadn't shown up.

She said the manager was on her way now to the studio, and that we could come back at 1pm or 3pm, if we wanted. That wouldn't work for us. She also offered us $25 off our next visit. I wish I had scheduled our family photo for Sears today and the costume shoot at Walmart for next week. How was I to know no one would show up today. We've had better luck at the Walmart studio later, and the family photo is more important to me, which is why I picked Walmart for the family photo. The last picture I have of the four of us together was taken by my sister last October. Too bad we don't live closer to each other so my sister could take our family photo! Chicago is a bit far to travel for a photo shoot. :-)  The ironic thing is that Jen (manager) called yesterday to confirm our session today, and I got an email from the studio this morning as another reminder. I guess they need to be more diligent in reminding their employees when to go to work! It was rather frustrating, but in the grand scheme of things just a tiny inconvenience. One of the items I purchased today was the nightlight that Wyatt has enjoyed, Regina. They had one in stock. Ian has had fun playing with it, but it didn't help with naptime (at least not today anyhow). He screamed for 25 minutes and then slept for 10 minutes. At first I was going to let him cry because 10 minutes is WAY too short for a nap, but I looked and saw that Nadia was sleeping, and since she has had a rough week with naps, I didn't want him to wake her up. So I got him. I was glad she was sleeping and was disappointed that Ian only slept 10 minutes because he had slept at least 30 minutes the last three days.

AWANA!

I didn't participate in AWANA until I was in fourth grade. I helped out with Sparks when I was in high school and college (Sparks is for K-2nd). Some AWANA programs start as young as 2 years old, but the ones around our area start with Cubbies, which is for three and four-year-olds. The church I belong to has AWANA, but I decided to send Nadia to an AWANA program that's really close to our home on Wednesday nights. It's at the church where she went for her first week of VBS. Tonight was her first night, and she loved it! She kept saying over and over (on the way home and as I got her ready for bed), "I had SO much fun." Madeline, a neighbor girl who is 4 years old, was in her group, which was nice. She came home with an AWANA bag and her Cubbie book. The verses are short enough that I'm sure she can memorize one verse a week for Sunday School and one verse a week for Cubbies. I'm really glad that she's excited about being a part of AWANA this year.

I called another local allergist office today to see if I could get Ian an appointment sooner there. Would you believe their first available appointment was two full months from now? I'll stick with the October 20th appointment at the hospital. I am grateful that when we had the initial diagnosis in May of EE that we didn't have to wait one or two months to see an Allergist!

Ian's nap has been slightly longer than usual the past 3 days. It's been 30-40 minutes each day. Because of that I'm not using the timer because I'm not letting him cry after he wakes up. I did order a nightlight like the one that has helped another little boy who is close in age to Ian. I figure it's worth a try!

Nadia has had trouble napping this week. I'm hoping this is just a temporary thing, but if it isn't, then I guess we've moved to the "quiet time" phase. When she didn't fall asleep on Sunday, I didn't think much of it because that had been happening lately about once a month. However when it happened again on Monday, it got my attention, particularly when she then fell asleep in the car en route to ballet at 3:30pm. She took her usual nap on Tuesday, but today was the third day this week that she never fell asleep. I have stuck with my rule that she has to stay in bed for 2 hours, and she hasn't given me any grief about it. It's quite hysterical to watch and listen on the video monitor. On Monday afternoon I overheard her giving Larry (the cucumber) a time out. LOL! I wonder what Larry did to deserve a time out?

Would you believe my university has been closed all week? That means that over a span of two weeks, the university was only open 1.5 days. The school district where we go for ivf is just going back tomorrow for the first time as their middle school was destroyed by flooding so they had to come up with a plan as to where to put their 6th-8th grade students, and the school district where my university is located is also not resuming until Monday. We've been told if we want to drink water next week while we're on campus, we'd better bring some with us. I've continued to have office hours online and such this week since I don't teach on campus. I have to reschedule a bunch of meetings and appointments though that were to take place this Friday. So far this schedule of teaching two online classes is going very smoothly for me. I wish I could teach online classes again next semester. I'm grateful I could have this schedule for at least one semester. It's working out very well. I enjoy being able to put the kids to bed; something I can't do very often when I'm teaching night classes.

MOPS and Ballet

Last week I received an email from a woman who is the head of MOPS group that I visited once (February 2010). I had joined a different MOPS group in September 2009, but last year I decided not to join any MOPS groups because crafts seemed to me a main feature of the program, and I'm not much into crafts. Also, the MOPS group I used to attend meets one Wednesday a month, and Nadia has gymnastics on Wednesday mornings. This MOPS program takes just as long to get to (25 minutes), but is closer in terms of mileage. This MOPS group has meetings twice a month on Monday mornings. We don't have any Monday morning commitments, so at the last minute I decided to give MOPS a try one more time as I don't think this group does as many crafts. When I first walked into the group, I have to admit I felt out of place because the women appeared to be in their 20's. Thankfully a few others came in who seemed closer to my age. I am sure I was the oldest one there, but at least there were some there who I think are maybe only 6 years younger than me. Normally I wouldn't care about age, but I think it's because most of the time when I have contact with someone who is in their early 20's, it's because I'm their professor and because we're about to try for one more baby, and I don't like feeling like I'm "too old." I'm hoping that maybe I can make one friend in this group. By friend I mean someone I have contact with outside of MOPS - calling each other on the phone or getting together now and then. One mom understood about Ian's esophagitis because her three year old was recently diagnosed with a different esophagus problem (a motility issue). Her daughter also had an upper gi x-ray, endoscopy, etc. Ian screamed when I first dropped him off (as usual), but they said he didn't cry for very long. Nadia had a great time in the Moppets program. She asked when we're going back. :-)

Yesterday was Nadia's first day of ballet. I signed her up for a "Baby Ballet" class that meets from 4:00-4:45 on Mondays. There are 5 girls in her class, one of whom (Allie) is also in her gymanstics class. She loves it! Ian also enjoyed wearing her ballet slippers around the house yesterday, lol. Christine (dance teacher) asks that parents of three-year-olds stay in the waiting room during the class in case your child needs to go to the bathroom during the class. I had Nadia go to the bathroom right before we left, and she doesn't go very many times a day. I gave Allie's mom my cell phone number and told her I'd be walking with Ian outside. Aside from when he got mad because I wouldn't let him run out into the road and get run over, we had a nice time walking in a park that is very close to the dance studio. If we are still in this area next year, I'll probably enroll her in the "Itty Bitty Ballet/Tap" class for four year olds.

I also scheduled two doctor appointments yesterday. Unfortunately the earliest I could get Ian in to see the local pediatric allergist was October 20th. Hopefully the current allergist will keep giving us advice over the phone until that point. We also scheduled our first ivf appointment for October 27. I'm excited. How many people get excited about an appointment that involves bloodwork, a mock transfer, paperwork, etc? Of course I'm not really excited about that stuff but rather the fact that it represents the first steps toward possibly one last miracle baby. Regina, if I do become pregnant, I agree with you 10000% percent that I'll be praying for a full-term baby. I would really, really, really like to avoid even a brief NICU stay if we have a third baby, especially after knowing what a long road you've been on with your twins for the last almost 2 years.

18 to 21 months: A comparison

Nadia at 18 months (12-24-2009)

1. At 21 months Nadia had 14 teeth. Ian has 8 teeth.

2. At 21 months Nadia was wearing 24 month or 2T clothing with the excption of pants (18 months). Ian is currently wearing size 18 month clothing, and there are actually some 18 month shorts that he can't wear because his waist is too small (they just fall right off of him). As for pants, he still wears size 12 months. He can wear some 24 month size shirts although the 18 month ones still fit him perfectly.

3. Nadia was perfecting her skills with using a fork and spoon to feed herself. We're still working on getting Ian to eat pureed food that I feed him by spoon. A fork has never entered his mouth. Of course Nadia never had to deal with eosinophilic esophagitis or reflux.

4. Nadia was very friendly at this age with waving and saying "hi" and "bye bye" to strangers at the grocery store and such. Ian doesn't interact with strangers At All.

5. Nadia was perfectly content to walk around the house barefoot. Ian wants to have his shoes on all the time. He also is more interested in dressing up than she was at this age. He loves wearing hats for example.

Ian at 18 months (6-12-11)

6. At this age we were impressed with Nadia's memory and also her sense of humor. Ian's language isn't developed enough yet for us to be aware of his sense of humor.

7. Nadia could identify several colors at 21 months old. I am not aware that Ian knows any of his colors yet, but he can count to five!

8. Ian took off during this time period in terms of his vocabulary. His expressive vocabulary was about 100 words at 21 months. Nadia's was over 200 words at 20 months. Nadia was already speaking in sentences at this stage. Ian has said a couple of two word combinations (like "shoe on"), but usually he just says one word at a time.

Nadia at 21 months (3-24-10)

9. Both kids went to bed between 7:45-8:00pm at this age. Although Nadia occasionally slept until 7:30am, it was pretty rare for her. She usually got up between 6:00-6:30. By 21 months old Ian was sleeping until at least 7:00am and sometimes as late as 8:00am.

10. Both kids went down for their (one) nap sometime between 12pm and 1pm when they were this age. Nadia's nap was 90 minutes to 3 hours long. Ian's is typically 15-25 minutes long.

11. Nadia could do simple puzzles at this age and engaged in imaginary play. Ian hasn't gotten into either of those yet. He spends more time looking at books and playing independently than Nadia did at this age. He also shows far more interest in vehicles than she ever did.

12. Ian is a boy on the GO. He just wants to run, run, run (far more than Nadia did at this age). He also throws, hits, and kicks a lot more than she ever did. We're working on that!

13. During this time span Ian had speech therapy and occupational therapy once a week, saw a psychologist, allergist, GI doctor, and urologist, and was under general anesthesia 3 times in the last 4 months. Nadia has never been seen by any of those medical professionals or ever been under anesthesia.

14. Nadia sucked her thumb for comfort whereas Ian soothes himself by touching his belly button. In the church nursery he has gotten other kids interested in belly buttons also, lol.

15. Nadia was in the "me do it" stage during this time span. She'd say her name as her way of saying she wanted to do it on her own. Ian hasn't shown any interest in doing things independently yet.

16. Both kids threw lots of tantrums during this age span, loved hugs, and brought us incredible joy!

21 Months Old

1. We are in the tantrum phase of toddlerhood. He always voices his displeasure when he does not get his way!

2. His vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds the past 3 months. I'd estimate he has said at least 100 different words as my list has over 80, and I'm sure I've missed a few along the way. His pronunciation is also getting better and better as the days go by. When Karen (OT) came a few days ago, she said that Christine (speech) had told her that Ian was now talking up a storm. That was music to my ears!

3. He loves to point and say the name of body parts, such as eye and belly button. Elbow is one of his favorite ones to say. Thus far I haven't been able to convince him that knees aren't elbows. I'll keep working on that! :-)

4. He's taking one nap a day in his crib (15-25 minutes long) and sometimes takes a second nap in the stroller or car seat. We're trying to get him to at least have one hour of "quiet time," but thus far it's more like scream your head off time. Today he suprirsed me by taking a LONG nap (40 minutes). It's the first time since we were in Florida that this happened. Oh how I would love it if this became the norm! Yesterday he took a 30 minute nap in the nursery in someone's arms, but I don't let him sleep in my arms at home any more.

5. He totally has the sleeping through the night thing down pat! WOOHOO! He almost always sleeps at least 11 hours, and sometimes he sleeps as long as 12 hours straight. Way to go, Ian!!!

6. As long as he can see me, he plays very well by himself. He'll even play in the living room or dining room by himself if he knows I'm in the family room.

7. He still LOVES vehicles of all sorts.

8. He loves to lick finger foods. Unfortunately he goes through them MUCH faster than before, which makes me feel like we're wasting an awful lot of food since none of it goes down his throat. The finger foods I give him the most frequently are pretzels, saltine crackers, and Wheat Thins (because they don't contain milk or soy).

9. He will drink any version of warm milk. During the last month we transitioned from EleCare to vanilla flavored almond milk. He doesn't seem to care as long as it's warm and served in the right sippy cup.

10. He has eight teeth - all canines.

11. He weighs 24.25 lbs which puts him at the 16th percentile, which represents a slight drop. I knew he was going to probably lose a little weight with the new rule of only getting a bite of food if he isn't crying. I'll keep monitoring his weight closely to make sure he doesn't lose TOO much weight. He hasn't seen a nutritionist in a few months, Regina.

12. He can count to five!

13. He makes the cutest sounds for a car (vroom, vroom), train (choo choo), and fire engine (woowoo). I have got to get these recorded on video!

14. He loves to run. This makes things like eating at a sit down restaurant a big challenge. Basically one parent eats and sits with Nadia while the other chases Ian, and then we trade places. It also makes gymanstics and library time a challenge. I admit as much as I don't want to rush their growth, I am looking forward to the day when Ian can sit still for longer periods of time.

15. He loves to play the drums. Anything can be a drum for Ian. This boy loves to drum, drum, drum.

16. Ian is a Mommy's boy. It's gotten a bit ridiculous in that he cries even when I hand him off to Paul for a few minutes. Daddy's feelings have been hurt. :-(

17. Ian enjoys the joint compressions, and he has no objections to me moving a toothbrush around anywhere in his mouth. He's still not crazy about the scalp massages or having his hair cut. He's getting better about having his face washed, and it's no longer a big deal at all to clip his fingernails.

18. Eggs have been reintroduced into Ian's diet for the first time in almost 7 months. He also went off Prevacid and Pulmicort in the last month. He's not throwing up At All. YAHOO! When Ian was first diagnosed with EE, I admit I did very little research other than to make sure that the protocol his Allergist was recommending wasn't as "foreign" as the CHOP GI doctors made it seem. Once I saw that yes other doctors used this treatment, I stopped reading about EE. Just in the last week I have been reading more online about EE because I was looking for more guidance regarding reintroducing foods. Now that he's handling the pineapple cake (with 3 eggs in it), does this mean I can serve him a scrambled egg? In trying to answer that question, I read a lot more about EE. Let me tell you I've been stunned. EE is a disease. I am not sure why I didn't realize that the past 3 months, but it's true. When you get a clear scope (like he did on August 29th), the disease is considered to be in remission. Reading blogs of other moms who have dealt with EE for years has been a bit scary to put it mildly. Some children are doing fine for years and then bang it all starts up again. It seems quite common for these children to have undergone more than 30 endoscopies within a few years. Somehow the words "disease" and "remission" have made EE seem a lot more serious of a condition than I realized. I hope that Ian's remission lasts for many, many years (or decades!). At least if it doesn't it won't be as shocking to me now that I have a little better picture of what EE can be like.

19. The other 3 members of our family walk around the house barefoot. Not Ian! He is obsessed with shoes, and he gets frustrated when I won't let him wear two pairs of his sandals at the same time, lol!

20. He gets frightened easily if he doesn't feel like he's standing on a familiar surface. For example he wants NO part of the trampoline. He even feels frightened if I put him in a standing position at the top of the slide (on the wood). Those are just two examples. It happens in many different situations. He's not exactly a daredevil. Nadia was definitely braver at his age. He's a bit of a scardey cat at times.

21. He loves to play Ring around the Rosy. He thinks it's hysterical!!