Something's Not Right

Something's not right with the little man. He either has a cold or allergies because the poor guy can't stop rubbing his nose (almost like it's itchy) and he sneezes and coughs here and there throughout the day. The most telling part, though, is that he won't really eat. I mean he'll eat, but it has to be baby food or easy to eat; if it's not, he will reject it and cry ... hard.

Case in point, on Tuesday night we had dinner at my parents' house while Bryson was at class, and my mom, knowing Baylor was having teething troubles anyway, made his favorite dinner: meatloaf with ketchup. He took one bite of it, then refused the rest. This is unheard of with Baylor; he typically scarfs down meatloaf like it's candy, no bribing or coercing involved. So, something is definitely wrong.

His nose runs occasionally, but it's clear stuff and not much of it. And his nose is only stuffy once in a while.

Short of waiting until someone else gets sick, how do you tell if a toddler has allergies or a cold? Any suggestions, dear readers, to help out my little man?

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Ola asked to see the pictures we did choose for the announcement, so here they are!

We felt like the pink outfit stood out better against the background, so we went with those pictures instead of the green outfit. Plus, how can you beat a moment with an infant looking directly into the camera?

Anyhow, here they are! Enjoy!

Announcing ...

We took Amalia's announcement pictures yesterday! We got so many good pictures I had trouble making a decision.

Here are a few of the ones we didn't use.

My sister's an amazing photographer, isn't she?

Littlest Action Hero?

Not quite.

Baylor had a bit of an accident yesterday. While he and I were home alone with Amalia yesterday, she peed up her back and into her hair. Consequently, a bath was in order.

He did a great job helping me wash her and even stayed out of trouble while my attention was directed towards his sister. After her bath, we got her out and dried, and while I was putting her clothes on, Baylor decided he needed to clean his ears out so he climbed up on his step stool, grabbed the infant-safe Qtips and started going to town. Once his ears were sufficiently clean, he decided to check out what we were doing. He got down off of the step stool and started coming at us, and on his way he either tripped on his shoes or bath mat or he knocked into my hand, and he fell into a protruding wall corner at the moulding.

For a split second he seemed okay ... then the bleeding started.


Yeah, he got a half-inch cut just inside his hairline above his left eye. It bled profusely, mostly on down his face and all over both of our hands. (Which, soon after he calmed down, prompted him to ask me to help him wash his hands. Funny little man!)

He stopped crying a minute or two after it happened, only whimpering again here and there as I tried to corral him and apply pressure to the wound. In no time I had the bleeding stopped and he was back to his usual, adorable self, but given the amount of blood and the location of the cut I quickly decided to take him to the med center. Wouldn't you?

Once we got to the med center, they got us back with relative speed and he turned out to be just fine. Mollie certainly wasn't too worried about her big brother.

They got him cleaned up, and he only ended up needing a steri-strip to keep things closed. Thank goodness for no stitches!

After we finished up at the med center, we headed over to my parents' house and had some lunch. That takes real concentration, you know?

See? Back to normal!

Happy and silly as can be!

And not too much worse for the wear.

A good end to a harrowing day.

Aunt Christine's Birthday

My sister's birthday was this past Sunday, so we spent the day helping her celebrate!

But first a haircut was in order! He did so well! Not a single tear was shed.


Then it was time to help Aunt Christine open her presents!

After nap time we headed off to Carrabba's for some birthday dinner. Baylor enjoyed his thoroughly, both as food and as entertainment. For almost the entire dinner, he transferred his spaghetti and meatballs from one bowl to another.

Thank goodness for two bowls!

It was great fun!

Great, messy fun. (This was also the reason why I found spaghetti noodles in the washing machine after I had done a kids' load. *sigh*)

As per usual, Mollie slept through the whole dinner.

She did get some good snuggle time in with the birthday girl when we got back to the house, though. I have a feeling these two will be quite the pair as Mollie grows up.

Smile, Aunt Christine!

It was a lovely little birthday gathering, if I do say so myself! Happy birthday, little sister!

We Brush Our ... Training Potty?

I so wish I had had my camera in the bathroom with me when this happened. It was absolutely adorable and hilarious.

Baylor got out Bryson's toothbrush, grabbed the toothpaste, pretended to put some on the toothbrush, then used it to brush his little training potty! It was too adorable for words. Then I heard him saying, "Scrub, scrub, scrub!"

I love him so much!

(And don't worry, hon, I threw away your toothbrush.)

Red

We went to Red Robin last night for dinner. Up until last night, I was unaware that they had a costumed mascot roaming the restaurant. Then we saw him, Red, at another table giving balloons to a little girl. A waitress asked if we wanted him to come to our table; Bryson hesitated, but I immediately said, "Yes!"

This could go one of two ways ...

Horror or delight?

Amazingly enough, in spite of all the odds, he was delighted at the giant red bird in front of him! (And he was pretty geeked about the balloons, too.)

I think he even asked for more as Red was leaving.

Miss Mollie slept through the whole of it. (She also slept through a trip to the mall ... and then she was awake until almost 1:00 a.m. Oy!)

Ketchup application is serious business.

It was a bit noisy in the restaurant.

He kept hearing people singing "Happy Birthday" and was actually pretty excited about it.

It was a fun-filled trip to Red Robin, that's for sure!

Packing On the Weight

Curious as to how much Amalia weighs now, my mom, sister, and I decided to get out my sister's mail scale and do a little calculatin'. We had to find just the right bowl to put my beautiful girl in ... turns out the colander worked perfectly!

Check it out! She now weighs 10 lbs. 5 oz.!!! Over three pounds in one month!

Good job, little lady!

A Taste of Denim

I finally got back into jeans yesterday, and it was divine! Yes, they are my post-pregnancy jeans from my last post-pregnancy time, so they are two to three sizes bigger than I ordinarily wear, but they are jeans nonetheless. And they fit perfectly; only a slight muffin top in certain spots.

And then today ... stupid, stupid today ...

I wore them again today, thrilled at feeling like a fully-functioning human being in normal clothes, when I noticed around lunch time that the area right above my incision was a little tender. I felt the spot that was sore, and I found it to be swollen and hard.

(Insert expletive here.)

Apparently, I jumped back into my jeans a little too quickly, and my body is yelling at me for it.

Now that I've had that taste of denim, though, I'm craving more. I love wearing jeans; they make me feel confident and still comfortable. And right now they represent something even more meaningful; they, in a weird way, represent my freedom. They were that first step back into a normal routine where I don't have to rely on everyone to help me out. As infinitely grateful as I am for all the help I've been given over the past month, I miss being able to do what I need to do when I need to do it and in the manner in which I like it done. I miss scooping up my little man and heading out for this or that, driving to and fro whenever I pleased. I miss being able to carry him up and down the stairs, for heaven's sake, and hold onto him when he's having a rough day - like he is today.

So today I'm a little sad, too. A little sad to have had to step out of my jeans.

Not All Sunshine and Smiles

Baylor is having a rough day today. He is still working on his four eye teeth coming in (all at the same time), and I think it's bringing him down. He has cried so much today for no particular reason, melting down at the slightest denial of his will. He's not himself, and it breaks my heart.

This was one of the few smiles of the day, so far ... I'm so glad I caught it.

Most of the time it's been chubby-cheeked sadness.

Here's hoping his nap will bring him some relief and happiness.

One Month Ago Today ...

... this little lady came into our lives.

And she's certainly got a hold on us.

Happy first month, Miss Mollie!

Bubbles, Bubbles

There is something magical about bubbles.


Something no kid can resist.

Something that can turn an ordinary day into a dream land.

While this was the first experience with bubbles, it certainly won't be our last.

One Month Ago Tonight ...

I wrote this blog post about putting Little B to bed and how I had one week and one night left before I wasn't going to get to put him to bed for a while.

And tonight, for the first time in exactly one month, I got to put him to bed. And it was lovely and wonderful. A little different from last time, but sweet and cuddly all the same.

It felt like a long month, but then it also felt like just yesterday. It's amazing what can change in a month ...

To the Mat ...

THAT Kid?

I apologize if any of you reading were that kid or are that adult. I mean no offense to you.

I'll preface my post by saying that I don't like condiments; I don't understand them, particularly the cold ones that go on hot foods (e.g., ketchup on french fries). So you can imagine my displeasure at the prospect that my little man might be one of those kids who wants ketchup on everything.

Seriously, the kid took his little spork, scooped it full of ketchup, and ate it! He had ketchup on broccoli, asparagus, and carrots (and on his burger, of course).

He kept reaching for the bottle and asking for more!

I'm envisioning a future where I have to carry copious amounts of ketchup packets in our diaper bag to get him to eat anything. Say it isn't so!

But ...

I guess if he's gonna be that kid but be this happy ...

I can be okay with that.

Firsts: Piggy Bank and The Play Mat

After receiving some coins in the mail from his Great-Aunt Marty, my little man got to put them in his piggy bank for the first time. He had a little trouble at first, as he tended to lay the coin across the hole instead of slipping it into the hole.

But he eventually got it. Saving money is serious business, you know?

And I finally broke out the play mat for Miss Mollie to try.

She was in the middle of cluster feeding at the time so she didn't enjoy it as much as Baylor used to, but I think she'll get there.

Ah, my cuties!