the happenings

A lot has been going on around here lately.
Alex: Alex is doing well. He is starting to smile and coo. I forgot how cute this phase is. He loves tummy time, but unfortunately, Claire doesn't. She likes to roll him onto his back if he is on his tummy. He is a big boy. I don't have to worry about how much chubbo eats, that is for sure. I know he is getting enough. I feel somewhat accomplished. He hasn't had an ounce of formula yet. I think right around 2 months is when the breakdown in breastfeeding started with Claire. I hate to compare them, but it is going to happen. I've been really careful about making sure I pump if he doesn't eat on schedule. Weds was my first really lax day. I think he nursed three times all day. He had a bottle at the doctors office and another at a meeting I had. But things are going well. Our freezer is stocked, so if we do need to supplement, we can do so with "natural" food first. But unfortunately, I am a round the clock dairy. I don't go more than 4 hours without pumping or nursing. It gets old. Tues night, he went a whole 9 hours without eating, but unfortunately that was 7pm to 4 or something. So I still had to get up, but it was later than usual. I usually have to get up at 2am, 5am, and somewhere between 7 and 8. It just isn't fair. Claire is sleeping until 8 or 9, but he wants me to get up earlier. I think it might be about time to switch him to the 3-6 month clothes. Maybe after our trip. He is filling the 0-3s very nicely though. He is FINALLY over his diaper rash. That thing lasted forever. And I have decided that part of it was the pampers. He has been in pampers brand diapers since birth. Remember that great deal I got? We finally ran out, and switched to Target brand. I told myself once we ran out of the pampers, I would start cloth with him. The rash seemed gone, than flared up again. We switched to the target and cloth diapers, and it was gone within a day.
Claire: Claire took an interesting tumble the other day. On July 3rd, she walked off a retaining wall and fell head first onto the concrete patio. Luckily the kid has a strong/ hard head. She is fine. She doesn't seem to have a concussion or any other damage. She keeps hitting the bruise on things. She ran face first into a wall and then bumped her head on a chair Weds. But otherwise is fine. She is a punk, but we love her. She is learning all kinds of words. She knows hat, eye, ear, more, milk, ice, and ball now. I'm sure there are others I am forgetting too. Time outs are really effective for her. She doesn't do whatever it is for a few days after a time out. She is still telling me when her diapers are "dirt" and I am trying to teach her the concept of "wet" to go along with it. Something that is really frustrating goes along with diapers. Almost every morning, she wakes up soaked through. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night upset about her clothes being wet (I would be too). I wash her sheets and blankie several times a week. It's getting old. I've switched to a bigger size of diaper and that didn't help any. I've also tried limiting her drinks after dinner. That hasn't helped much. I just don't know what to do. I'm actually tempted to start buying specific overnight diapers, but they are so expensive. Any advice?? The good news is we have weaned her off of her bedtime cup! Yay! She still has some milk before bed, usually sitting on the couch with me or Daddy and snuggling, but she isn't taking the cup to bed with her anymore. I switched her to water in her bedtime cup a month ago, because I started getting worried about her using it as a binkie and having milk on her teeth all night. But three days ago (when Daddy was at class and therefore didn't have to listen to the crying), I just didn't give her a cup of water. We had our milk, brushed our teeth, and I put her to bed. She only cried for a few minutes, a lot less than I was expecting. The next night, she cried for maybe 30 seconds. Tonight- nothing. So I feel slightly accomplished about that. Claire just loves to play outside. We have to go outside at least once a day and play for a while. Sometimes we go to the park, sometimes she just chases the dogs around the yard. But she gets cranky if we don't. I can't blame her. She can go out and run around and not have to wear a coat or be cold like in winter.

In house news: we decided not to sell. We are still moving, just not selling right now. The market for our price range is just bad right now. So we are going to put our house up for rent with Alann's property management company. As of right now, it looks like we are moving Sept 1st. I'm sad and a little resistant. I just hate change. And this is really our first house. Sure, I moved into Alann's house with him, but it was always his house. This one we moved into together, we decorated together, had kids here. I wish it were bigger, but at the same time, I know I will be cursing how big the MO house is when I have to clean it or chase Claire around it.

I feel like I had more to talk about, but I started this post a few days ago so now I don't remember.