Erin's Two Month Check-up

All is well with our little girl. I took her for her check-up yesterday. She weighed in at ten pounds even and was 22 inches long. She is still in the 25th percentile for weight. It's strange because Grant always tipped the scales in the 95th percentile until recently. She is beginning to get fat little legs now. (I love baby fat!) I guess she is just going to be the petite one while Grant was our "moose"!

She received five shots yesterday along with the rota virus vaccine which she had to drink. Like her brother she has run a fever yesterday and this morning, but I think she's about to get over it.

Today is my last official day of maternity leave. I start back to work on Monday. I really don't want to go and I would much rather stay home with my babies. The good news is that I will only work two days a week. I guess I can't complain. I don't know how moms can manage working full time and raising a family. My hat's off to you who do it. I know I wouldn't be able to do it. I am still trying (scheming is more like it) to come up with a way to stay home in the future. At least until the kids start school. One good thing about being a dental hygienist is that it is easy to find part time work. Most of us don't want to work full time.

Caught in the Act

I've been caught and I am not happy about it!

dog food, 2 cars, 2 q-tips, a pair of socks (and a banana sticker I found later)

4 cups of dog food
Where it all took place

I just caught Grant filling his Daddy's boots with dog food. Again! I have emptied various items including dog food from these boots several times already. Apparently, it's loads of fun for Grant. He wasn't too happy when I caught him either.

Our Trip to Madison

These donkeys are in charge of keeping the coyotes away from the cattle. There eight donkeys in the herd. Stephen and I thought they were great!

Grant and Stephen

Grant and me

Erin and her Granny

One tired little girl!

We took a day trip out to Stephen's Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jimmy's house today. They live in Madison, Florida. Out in the country! This was Erin's first trip and she did pretty well. She HATES her car seat and usually cries anytime we are in the car. Luckily, she slept the whole way there and only (it's so sad that I said only) cried the last 45 minutes of the trip. Trust me, it was about to kill me to listen to her cry those last few miles, but as soon as she was free from her car seat she was fine. Grant had a great time running all over the place. They have about 200 head of cattle out there on the property right now. Grant now can say cow and make a moo sound. He was worn out when we got home. He is already in bed sound asleep!

We had a great time and, as always, enjoyed visiting with Margaret and Jimmy.

Grant in Madison

I Just Had to Do This!

I guess that is why I have always had a lab in my life!

I've Got the Fever...

...for vacation! I took this picture of James, my brother's son, last year at the beach. I think it's so sweet how he's playing with a little green soldier in the sand. He's growing up so fast!

Grant this Week

Grant has finally started talking! He has been able to say Dada, Mama and uh-oh since he was nine months old, but he hasn't really said anything since. I have to be honest I was really beginning to worry. I knew he understood what we were saying to him, but we didn't get much verbal response in return. All of my friends who have children have little girls and they seem to be advancing in the language skill department. Grant seemed to be to busy to care. Over the past few weeks he has been saying all sorts of things. Here are some of his new words.

Hunter
Erin
Rusty (Granny's dog)
Mimi
Mickey (Mouse)
hot dog
Bubbles (his favorite thing to play with right now)
Bible (he tries to sing the "Pat the Bible" song from Sunday school with me)
There it/he/she is!
horsey
go
hello
no
yea!!!! (He says this when he is proud of himself)

He is also trying to count 1,2,3,4!

Grant absolutely loves to be outside. He would stay out all day long if I'd let him. He also likes everything to be in order. He is a creature of habit. He walks around the yard making sure everything is just so. If things aren't were they are supposed to be then he must fix them. I can only hope he still hates to make a mess ten years from now!

Erin This Week

Erin with her blanket Aunt Melissa made her! Thanks Aunt Melissa its beautiful!

Our itty bitty baby girl is getting big!

Another Trip to the Doctor

I guess it's time for round two! The kids have been fever free since Wednesday. I thought we were all getting better. Grant did develop a nice rash Wednesday evening, but no more fever right? Wrong! Erin came down with another fever last night. It never went over 100.5, but it stayed right around there. So, we went back to the peds office this morning. Wouldn't you know her fever had broken by the time we got there.

Unfortunately, I tested positive for group B strep during this pregnancy. Due to my quick and speedy delivery I did not receive any antibiotics during labor. This can pose a huge problem for the baby. Group B strep can show up in two ways. The first time it shows up shortly after delivery (like hours), so we are safe from this. Them there is late on-set strep which shows up with in the first 3 months of life. This can result in many bad things like meningitis! Therefore, from now until she is three months old, every time her fever reaches 100.5 or more we have to rush her down to Wolfson's for a complete work up: blood work, urinalysis, RSV test, spinal tap and chest x-rays! (That shouldn't scare me at all right?!!!)

Hopefully, our little girl is all better and we won't have anymore scary fevers!

Clay County Fair 2008

Friday night we took Grant to the fair. We left Erin at home with her Granny. Our friends Amy, Justin, his daughter Emily, Cassidy, and Michael went with us too. I thought Grant might be able to ride some of the rides this year. He was two inches too short to ride the only ride he seemed to want to ride. It was an alligator ride and the man operating it was speaking Spanish. It looked like he was letting kids on that were shorter than Grant, but I decided we might need to wait until next year. We looked at all of the animals. There were cows, goats, pigs, rabbits, donkeys, but Grant's favorite were the chickens! He must get his love of chickens from my Papa. Papa always said his chickens were his pets. All in all We had a good time.



My favorite part of the fair just might be the food! Who doesn't love cotton candy, boiled peanuts, funnel cakes, and just about anything you can think of served on a stick!

Grant watching the pony rides. He acted like he wanted a ride, but chickened out when Stephen put him on the pony.

Has anyone actually paid to see this? I feel bad for the cow tied up in that tent.

Grant knows his way around a tractor. He's been riding on ours at home. He LOVES anything with wheels!

The only ride I got to ride on this year was the Ferris wheel. The fair was packed. Next year I think we should go during the week.

Update on the Family

I wanted to update everyone on my sick ones. I took Erin and Grant to the doctor Monday morning. All of Erin's cultures from the weekend were clear! Her congestion is clearing up the best out of all three of them. (She's also growing, weighing in at 9lbs 5 oz) Grant has run a fever off and on for the past few days, spiking to 104.2, but has been fever free for the past 24 hours. Why is it that children come down with high fevers or other illnesses in the middle of the night or when you are out of town?

Stephen actually went to the doctor yesterday! I can't remember the last time that happened. Hopefully, hr will be feeling better soon!

We went to the fair last week and I will try to post some pictures today.

Poor Girl!

For the last nineteen months of parenthood we have managed not to visit the ER. Grant has always been, for the most part, well. Erin took us for our first visit yesterday.

Stephen came down with a cold earlier this week, and Grant caught it a few days later. Friday night about 11:30pm Erin began coughing. She ran fever all night and was becoming more and more congested. I was worried. She was too little to get this sick and I was preparing myself for a diagnosis of RSV. We took her to the children's hospital in Jacksonville yesterday morning. My poor little girl was so sick! They were great and did a complete work up, blood work, urine sample, RSV test, chest x-rays, and a spinal tap. The tests all came back negative! She did receive an IV of antibiotics before we could leave. We had to return this morning for another check and to see the results 24 hour cultures. Good news! Everything is still negative. She received another shot of antibiotics. She just has bronchiolitis. (I know that's still bad, but at least it's not RSV or meningitis!) She is no longer running a fever. We will have to take her to see her pediatrician tomorrow for another check and to find out the results of the 48 hour cultures.

Grant and Stephen are still sick too. Grant is running a low grade fever this morning. I am trying my best to take of all of them!

Erin's Birth Announcement

Didn't our good friend Jon do a beautiful job with Erin's birth announcement? This photograph was taken a last week at Erin's first photo shoot. I just love how sweet she looks! Thank you Jon for doing such a nice job!

It's Already Started...

...from the backseat of our car.


Erin does not like to ride in her car seat right now. She tends to cry the entire trip. When she does stop crying Grant looks over at her and fake cries as if to mock her or encourage her to keep it up. He is quite pleased with himself when she starts screaming again. It makes for a fun car ride. Grant used to cry whenever he rode in his car seat too. It would stress me out so much. You can tell Erin is a second child because we usually just talk over her or turn the radio up. Experience tells us that "this too shall pass."

I know that this is just the beginning of brother/sister aggravating each other in the backseat!

Random Pictures

Erin with a pacifier. (Don't let this picture fool you. She is not a big fan of the pacifier, unlike her brother who can't get enough of his.)

Grandaddy has taught Grant a new trick on the swing

Here Grant is wearing the jon jon I made him. (He was going to wear it for Easter until I found his Easter outfit on eBay) The reason he is standing on the kitchen counter is because I could not get him to stand still for a picture anywhere else.

Our little Erin

The Joy of Photography

"Yes, that's Erin's mouth." (Poor girl!)
Not gonna do it!

This speaks for itself!

Those of you with children have all been there. It's time for a photo shoot and your darling children have different plans. On this particular day Grant wanted to go outside, not take Easter pictures.

We had a photo shoot earlier this week with our friend Jon. I had spent the better part of the afternoon preparing for it. I had to go shopping to get Grant a shirt to wear, feed, bathe the kids, and get myself dressed. No small task around here these days! To add to the stress Stephen gets a phone call as we were almost out the door. The servers for one of the companies he works for were down, which left the entire company down. It had to be fixed--pronto! I had to call Jon and cancel after all of that work. (These things always seem to take all night) I was not happy. I have become used to Stephen having to stop whatever he is doing and work. We have had many plans foiled and even vacations due to his job. However, Tuesday evening was NOT the time for it! After I had come to terms that the photo session was not going to happen, Stephen emerges from the office announcing that he had fixed the problem. Yea!!!

So, we get to Jon's house a few minutes late, but we made it. Wouldn't you know Erin begins to cry, and cry, and cry. I fed her twice and after each time we got just a few pictures. Jon was very patient, but she wasn't giving him much to work with. Needless to say, we will have to continue the photo session another day.

Children are unpredictable, to say the least.

I Take Back What I Said...

Last week when I wrote that Erin spits up a lot, but is not really fussy was true---for that brief moment in time! Over the last few days she has continued spitting up (constant) and has become very fussy. She is only happy when she is nursing. I have talked with the lactation consultant and she has given me some suggestions to try. First, I need to cut out all dairy from my diet (done!). Secondly, she thinks I might have a strong let-down reflex and oversupply. She has given me pointers of some things to implement to help solve these problems. I have done a lot of research on the web and everything I come across on reflux and breastfed babies seems to concur with what she is telling me. I am hoping this works because I really don't want to have to give her medication for reflux if it is a problem that I can solve myself (or not really reflux.)


I would love any advice or encouragement from any of you moms out there who have had a similar situation.

Swimming!

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day here in Florida. With the high in the eighties and barely a cloud in sight, we decided to head over to my parent's house to swim. This was the first time that we had been in the new pool. My parents have been in several times. Dad had kept the solar blanket on the pool and it was a nice 87 degrees. Grant had a great time swimming. I can't wait to swim all summer. I might actually have a decent tan this year before we go on vacation! Erin had to sit poolside, but as soon as she can fit in the "little swimmers" she will join us!

All About Grant

Dancing on the coffee table....Don't try this at home!

Checking out Hunter's teeth. He gets this from mommy!

Playing with his Little Touch Leap Pad

(He insisted on sitting in the Bumbo once he saw it)

Grant has been doing all sorts of new things lately. I am sure it is his way of securing our attention.

On Easter he had his first taste of peanut butter. We had been holding off on introducing this tasty treat because his cousin Luke is allergic to peanuts. We figured we would wait until he was closer to two years old. Well, I bought some of the small, foiled covered Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs for Easter (for myself) and I left the bag in the middle of the table. Wouldn't you know he got up there and sampled one for himself. When we found him there was chocolate all over his face, chest, hands, legs, the table...you get the picture. I quickly did a sweep of his mouth and discovered all that was left was the wrapper! I guess he isn't allergic, and he loves Reese's peanut butter cups.

Monday afternoon he was playing outside (his most favorite thing to do). Hunter, our lab, relieved himself on a tree nearby. Grant, who misses nothing, ran up to the tree and proceeded to lift his leg in the same manner. I guess I need to enlist Hunter's help when it is time to potty train

Success!

Grant is climbing, climbing, climbing! I have found him all the way on top of our baby grand piano plucking the strings, halfway in the pack-n-play, in the swing (as pictured), on and off of his horsey, and countless other places. I know it sounds like I never watch him, but most of this happens while I am in the same room. He's quick!

We had a long day yesterday. Stephen did not get home from work until 9 pm. He had to go to Montgomery and left at 1:30 am this morning. Hopefully, he will be able to come home tomorrow. (He better get some sleep!) Grant was not able to get outside and run at all yesterday because it is too hard to chase him all over ten acres and hold Erin too! So his Granny has promised to come over and play with him this afternoon. Thanks Granny!

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Erin is One Month Old!

I can't believe it has been a month already. Time surely has flown by. This is probably due to the fact that my day is spent taking care of two babies, I hardly have to time to blink.

Erin is growing so quickly. She started out small, and still is, but she has put on 3 lbs this month weighing in at 8lb 2 oz. I haven't measured her height yet, I need Stephen to help me with that.

Having two children under the age of two has been an adventure to say the least. Church is probably the hardest outing we deal with regularly. I haven't been brave enough to leave the house alone with both babies yet! Although it is hard work, we wouldn't change it for the world. These kids are everything to us and we are so thankful to be blessed with them.

Erin is generally a good baby, but she seems to have become a little fussy lately. She doesn't seem to have full blown colic, but she cries if I lay her down anywhere. She wants to be held/and nursed constantly. I would say it is just a growth spurt, but she is a spitter! Grant NEVER spit up. I am sure that I can count the number of times he spit up on one hand. So, when Erin was born I just assumed she would be the same nice, neat, clean baby. She spits up a lot! During the night she spit up on me (and herself, and the bed) four times! I took a shower this morning (she hadn't even been fed for the past hour) and she promptly spit up 2 more times on me before I could get breakfast ready. The curious thing is she doesn't seem to be in pain (as long as she is being held) like I have heard parents say about babies with reflux. She just spits up, a lot! I am going to continue to watch her and see if this gets any better before calling the doctor because she is gaining weight and it doesn't seem to bother her. Stephen had reflux problems as a baby, and my nephew Matthew had it as well. Hopefully, she will grow out of it soon.