- For two days I was "mom-mom." Now I'm "mom-my" (as in, 'my name is...').
- "eat some" - I want to eat, sometimes it is very urgent, like, ' Feed me now!'
- "dog hum" - meaning: "Kiev, come!" accompanied by leg pats just like his mom-my
- "Zee-zull" - Ezekiel
- "hole-non" - hold on (I say this to him a lot when he is being impatient)
- "mi-mit" - wait a minute
watching "dee-dee" (TV) with "Bob" (Bob & Larry)
Last night Ezekiel slept in a room all by himself (meaning, he didn't sleep in our room). I was excited about having no baby in the bedroom, but I was a little sad that he was "so far away." He was only right down a short hallway, and we had the monitor on, but I was still a little uneasy. I woke up at 1am, so I went down the hall to check on him. He was fine.
He woke up at 5am. I fed him. He went back to sleep. Did anyone catch that??? He slept "through the night." He went to sleep around 9pm and didn't wake up until 5am! Woo-hoo. AND he hasn't had to be rocked to sleep in several days. As long as he's put down when he's tired, he'll lay there for a little while (if he's still super-awake) and then go to sleep on his own. I am missing out on some cuddles, but I've been in the baby stage for a little over two years. I'm ready to be done for awhile.
***We didn't move Malachi out until about 9 months. We should have moved him out sooner, but I didn't realize that he was waking up and crying, because he saw us and wanted to get in bed with us. We definitely have made some better, more independent choices this time with Ezekiel, but I occasionally miss having him in bed to cuddle. I am definitely happy to have a "master" bedroom again.
It's nice to have three bedrooms, even if Ezekiel is sharing "his room" with the office. Give me a few more nights of checking on him, and I think I'll be ready to let him sleep and myself sleep all night long (if he decides to continue this trend, which would be perfect timing for me to go back to work TOMORROW)!
On Friday night/Saturday morning, we had a very scary experience that I do not wish to relive again. You see, Daniel had been working late at the Y to get everything set for coaches' meetings the next morning (Sat.). Then, he needed to go put up the church signs in front of the daycare where we meet. It was about 9:30pm when he got out there. There were no lights to keep the ground well-lit, so he was doing it basically in the dark (driving stakes into the ground and wrapping the bungee cords around the stakes). After putting up the first of two signs, he realized that there were TONS of little ants crawling on his legs. He swatted them off his legs as quickly as possible and began to put up the other sign (Keep in mind that I am at home with two sleeping children). His ankles and legs were itching which led to his scalp to itch. Once he got in the car to drive home, his lips and face began to swell. By the time he got home, he was frantic and very, very swollen, not to mention COVERED in whelps/hives almost from head to toe.
I talked to a very frantic and upset, Daniel, on the 20 min. ride home several times. I had the doctor on call paged, and got David to run by Mom and Dad's house to get some Benadryl. About 10 minutes after Daniel got home, David arrived with the medicine. Daniel took two, and we waited for the doctor to call. During that time, I called one of our pastors and asked them to come stay with the boys, because I knew that we needed to go to the ER. The doctor finally called, and told us we needed to go to the ER. About 10 minutes later, Pastor B, his wife, and son arrived to watch over the sleeping children.
Of course the ER is never fast (imagine if he couldn't breathe), and we sat for awhile. Daniel's symptoms were getting worse (shortness of breathe, itchy throat), but his swelling was going down a little. When we finally got back to a "room," they gave him an IV. This made him very sick to his stomach. His face that had been very red and swollen, then looked ghostly white. They gave him some steroids through the IV and waited for his condition to "stabilize." We arrived at the ER around 10:30pm and left around 1am. That's not too bad for ER time, but it was getting really late.
I got to sleep around 2am. The boys woke me up at 6am. Daniel was able to sleep until almost 10am when I woke him up. Benadryl makes him very sleepy and almost incoherent. He's still taking a prescribed steroid and over the counter Benadryl to help the inflamation and itching. He's doing better, but he's still not a hundred percent.
I wish I could truly convey how scared I was. When Daniel was freaking out, I had to try to remain calm. It was difficult, but I like to think that I did well. Now I've got to make sure that Daniel gets to the doctor soon, so we can get our hands on an epi-pen just in case this happens again.
Thank you, Lord, for protecting Daniel and keeping him from being admitted to the hospital. Thank you, Pastor B and family, for coming to our aid. I couldn't have imagined trying to keep up with two small children during sleeping time and give my husband the attention that he needed. Thank you, David, for being available to help and bringing over the medicine. That night could have been a whole lot worse, but the Lord kept him safe and has surrounded us with people who care.
Ezekiel is getting so much more personality. He is smiling more and more. If you hold him or turn him just the right way, he will give out the sweetest little giggle. He's transitioning from 3 naps to 2. Sometimes he will take two, sometimes its three. It just depends on how late he sleeps in the morning.
He can roll over from any side or from back or front like a pro. He is beginning to refine the skills of grabbing an object and getting it to his mouth. It's cool to see him discover the usefulness of his hands. "Zee-zul" is how Malachi pronounces his name when prompted to call him Ezekiel instead of Z. We call him both, but we are working with Malachi. Malachi's speech is getting much better and words that were often mispronounced horribly are now getting much closer the the actual sounds.
I miss getting baby cuddles like I used to get from Malachi, but I also really enjoy the freedom of having a baby who sleeps so well on his own. Ezekiel is much more particular about where and how he sleeps than Malachi ever was at this age. Ezekiel will NOT fall asleep on his back unless he is in his carseat with the car actively moving. If we stop, he wakes up. He also likes to be rocked to sleep. I am trying to get the third bedroom up and working as a nursery for a few months, because I want Ezekiel to work on getting himself back to sleep. That way, I can sleep a little better at night. Sometimes he will fuss his way back to sleep, but sometimes he begins to wail. If he wails, there's no going back to sleep for this muchacho for awhile.After Ezekiel pretty much gets on the same schedule as Malachi, I think we will try to move them in together. Malachi's room is rather small, but if we move out the chest of drawers and rework the closet, there should be no problems.
We started him on cereal as you saw about a week ago. We tried one other time, and he's just not keen on it. I'm not trying to force it, but he's continually reaching for our food and drink, which leads me to believe that he is ready. Daniel suggested going ahead and mixing the cereal with a little baby food to sweeten it up. When I have a chance to get to the store, I think I'll try it. Even if he isn't eating, I can usually put him in his high chair and let him eat his toes while we eat. It's nice to have my hands free for a few minutes to scarf down my food.
Z can only sit up on his own for about 2 seconds, but we're working on it. He doesn't seem to care too much about it, because as soon as I sit him up, he leans over to try to grab his toes and put them in his mouth. Go figure. They taste good to him!?!
Tuesday night was National Night Out. Our new neighborhood was having some festivities to celebrate the beginning of its neighborhood watch program. There were policemen and firemen with cars and trucks out to help support us and for us to support them. The firemen had plastic helmets and the policemen had goody bags with stickers and coloring books. The neighborhood provided food, drinks, and popsicles. Malachi enjoyed his helmet and popsicles. He was sweaty from head to toe. Almost his whole head was wet due to the heat and running around. It made for a tired but happy boy, and we got to meet some neighbors. Fun was had by all.
I said in one of the last posts that Malachi said his first "sentence." Since then, and especially today, he has been putting lots of words together. They still only come in twos, but, boy, our we happy that he is finally figuring it out. It's so good to hear him say more than one word at a time. I know, I know, I should enjoy it now; because there's no going back from here, and he'll probably never be quiet now. I'm looking forward to having a conversation with him in more than one word spurts. Before it was something like this at times, MJ (Malachi) & M (Momma):
MJ: Eat
M: What do you want to eat?
MJ: (babbling I can't understand)
M: What would you like?
MJ: sees (please)
M: Please, what, sweetie?
MJ: sees (much more emphatically and a little whiny)
M: I don't understand what you want. Thank you for saying please, but what do you want?
MJ: many whines and complains
Hopefully, we are through with most of that now. Now we can do "moi-sees" (more, please) and other phrases to have a much better understanding.
Way to go, kid! I knew you would get it!
I didn't get to have the relaxing summer with my boys that I wanted, but I did get to spend some much needed time with them, and I got a lot done. I feel very successful. Now, I just need to buckle down and figure out what's going on with volleyball (starting the 20th) and NC history (starting the 27th). The house is somewhat in order. There's still tons to do, but it is very livable, and I can find most of what I need. I've painted a lot, observed some high school practices and try-outs, cleaned and organized my house to an extent, enjoyed my boys, and went swimming once.
I have discovered something else that makes me feel successful. You see, Malachi is 2 (in case you hadn't noticed) and often acts like it. In his attempt to act like a 2 year old, he occasionally throws fits. I have found that the best way to deal with that is to put him in "time-out." Yes, he still gets good, old fashioned spankings, but when he is screaming uncontrollably, the thing that works right now is for me to pick him up and place him in his room. Sometimes he follows me out, and I put him right back. I tell him to stay until he isn't crying/whining anymore. As soon as I hear him stop, I go in and act like nothing has happened. I've only had to do it 3 or 4 times in the past week, but it seems to work. It is the best way that I have found to calm him down from his screaming fits. We wipe his eyes and nose and get on with life. It makes me feel like I'm on the right track as a parent. Sometimes, Daniel and I forget that he is only 2. He's not perfect, but he is very well-behaved for a young 2 year old.
***Look for more parenting tips to come. I'm an expert now. Just kidding:)
I have been wondering lately if Malachi and Avery were separated at birth, 7 months apart.
Ok. So that makes no sense, but Malachi is quite the observer like Avery. Malachi is a little "behind" in development, and Avery is a little ahead; which makes them almost even in development. Malachi shocked me yesterday morning and made me chuckle. He is quite the observer, too.
Well, I had my pump out to get some milk for Ezekiel before church (which didn't work, by the way---me, not the pump). Anywho, the parts are still not all in place in the kitchen yet, and I hadn't put the pump away yet. Malachi then went into the storage part and got out the pump part that attaches to the breast. I eyed him suspiciously to see what he was going to do with it. He then gave me a big grin and stuck it on his belly (shirt still tucked in). He, then, realized that he couldn't get to his belly through his shirt. He un-tucked his shirt and put the pump part on his belly again. This time, I got the biggest, most mischievous, "I know what you're doing with that thing" grin that I've seen in a while. It was a little embarrassing but mostly just funny.
Malachi has also (for at least 4 months) been pointing to the pump bottles and saying "molt" (milk). To which I reply with a smile, "yes, that's Z's milk." You can't fool this kid. He's too smart!
- "moe, tea" - his first official sentence of 'more tea'
- "Ann-day" - Uncle David
- "Ti-ti" - Tigger
- "tow" (rhymes with now) - cow
- "dote" - goat
- "tee-tee" - TV
- "zhoe-zhoe" - Little Joe (Larry's character in "The Ballad of Little Joe")
- "toe-toer" - Look at me, I'm coloring, or I colored that
- "ann-du" - under
- "up"
- "now" - down or I want to get down
I return to work 2 weeks from today (well that was at 8am this morning). I'm not looking forward to it. There is still a ton of work to do around the house, and I don't feel like I got to spend that quality time with my family that I was so looking forward to. However, I have gotten to spend a lot of time with Malachi and Ezekiel. It's been a challenge, but I've enjoyed it. I can honestly say that being a SAHM of two is much more difficult than being a teacher of about 100 students.
I'm looking forward to getting out of the baby stage. I'm tired of being fat. I'm a little tired of breastfeeding, but I am also enjoying it much more than with the first baby (I'm a woman. Can you tell?). I'm not looking forward to pumping again. I'm just plain tired.
Next summer, we are NOT moving or doing anything else major. We WILL go on a family vacation, and we will have much more fun time as a family:) I guess its a good thing that both of the boys are still at that stage in life that they won't remember how busy their parents were. AND I'm sure that they know that they are greatly and extremely loved by their parents.
- Marshall's. You have to try on the whole store, but you walk out with a lot of quality clothes for only a little money. I definitely appreciated (and I'm sure the boys appreciated it, too) having a babysitter to watch the boys, so I could try on clothes for over an hour. It was one of the first times that I actually had fun shopping:)
- my Eureka Boss vacuum cleaner. It picks up dog fur and everything else on the floor. It's heavy, but it does a good job and cost a lot less than other comparable vacuums
- our new house (because its OURS), minus all the additional work that we have to do and millions (I'm not kidding, either) of mosquitoes.
- our portable DVD player to entertain our two year old on trips in the car.
- my three boys. They are so precious and bring so much joy to my life. I love you, Daniel, Malachi, and Ezekiel.
