Parenthood=Detective work

For those of you who have kids know what I am talking about without even reading further. For those of you that do not have kids, well let me just tell you that you should end up with a certification in private investigating just by becoming a parent. This is what I feel as I am learning Caleb and all his "quirks". Let me just recap, first 2 weeks-lots of crying, some throwing up, great weight gain. Nothing out of the ordinary. Weeks 2-6- throwing up increases, crying increases, sleep decreases. Solution= acid reflux, zantac, cut out all dairy from my diet. Weeks 6-9- throwing up decreases, sleep increases, not so good weight gain. Again, nothing out of the ordinary. Doctor says to try introducing dairy back into my diet. So here we are at week 10.5 and we have a baby that is doing a lot of crying, sleep decreasing. Solution= feed Caleb from a bottle because he is not eating enough. (I only know this because after feeding him, letting him cry in bed for what seemed like hours on end, i made him a 7oz bottle of formula. He drank down the entire thing, looked at me with the most pathetic, tired look and slept for 3.5 hours.) So we decided that we would be thawing out my massive collection of frozen breast milk and giving him it in a bottle for each feeding except the middle of the night. He will still nurse from me then. After a day of this, I noticed that my child is the laziest eater on the planet. It was taking him 30-35 minutes to finish a 4oz bottle. HOLY CRAP! So that brings us to today. I have gotten him a different kind of bottle (seems to do better with the different shaped nipple) and we have been continuing to give him just breast milk. Now the throwing up has increased and the sleeping during the day is almost nonexsistent, SOOOOOOOO I am going to pump and store my milk and we are going to give him just formula for the next three days or so for every feed, including the night time. This is going to rule out the dairy allergy, hopefully.

So that is why I say that being a parent is much like being a private investigator. You have to keep looking for more clues to help your child. Are they hungry, sleepy, dirty, bored, overstimulated....etc. I feel like I haven't gotten anything right since he has been born and the only one that is suffering is Caleb. Hopefully, we will be able to figure out what he needs so that he is happy and healthy. I will keep you all up-to-date on his progress after the weekend. Wish me luck!

Payton's 2!!!!

It is hard to believe that just two short years ago I was sitting in the hospital holding a sweet baby girl, thinking..."holy crap, I am a mom!" Now my sweet baby girl is two years old. She is the light of my life and I now think, "I am so thankful I am a mom!" She is busy as ever, talking up a storm and making me laugh on a daily basis. Her funny sayings these days include, "Hey guys," "check it out," "you help me" (I help you) and my personal favorite "No poop in dare". The last one happens when she is changing the diaper on her baby doll. She calls polka dots: coconuts, a net:neck, and her Nana: Nan. She has become quite the counter and it sounds something like this 2(she skips 1), 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, a13, a16.

We spent the day being lazy. Payton helped me wash dishes. Sounds cruel on her birthday but it is one of her favorite things to do. We played with her toys. She entertained Caleb, watched Belle/Beast (Beauty and the Beast), and had a cookie after dinner. All-in-all it was a great day. Can't wait to see what the next year will bring.


My baby girl!


Playing with her toys.


Playing with Caleb.


I always let her play as I am wiping up the counters.




Washing dishes with me. Yes, she is topless. She tends to get more water on herself than in the sink. It only took me 2-3 times to realize it would be better to just take her shirt off so that she at least has a dry shirt for nap time.


This was a cookie that I got for Payton.


We sang Happy Birthday to her and she blew out her candle and then proceeded to dive right into the icing.




Of course a bath happened this evening. I don't think I have seen blue icing in so many places. :-)

Great Grandparents

Yesterday we went to visit my grandfather in the hospital. Since we were over in PA we decided to stop and visit my grandmother as well. Pap-pap and Gee-Gee appreciated our visit and it was nice to see them both. Here are some pictures of the kids with their Great Grandparents.

Party Pics

Here are the pictures from the baptism and birthday party. Enjoy!



This is Caleb's Godparents: Mike and Christie Kinney.


Our family


Caleb's cake


Payton's cake


The birthday girl getting ready to blow out her candle.

Party Time

Yesterday we celebrated Payton's second birthday and had Caleb baptized. The baptism went great. Caleb did wonderful. He didn't fuss at all while we were in the church. He fell asleep at the end of the ceremony and didn't wake up until 5pm. Must have been exhausted. Everyone came to our house afterward to have lunch and celebrate Payton's birthday. She got terribly spoiled by everyone that came, of course. There were about 40 people and everyone seemed to have a good time despite the ridiculous weather. I will post pictures soon!

I love this weather!

Payton and I were playing outside today. She spent 30 minutes or so smelling Carl and Kathy's (our neighbors) flowers. She would lean down, take a big breath in, and say "YUMMY!" How cute!

Caleb is 2 months old

It is hard to believe that two months have gone by already. Caleb is doing great. He is sleeping about 7-8 hours at a time at night, nursing and going right back to sleep until 7am. Napping is inconsistent and often frustrating because he is a little more stubborn than Payton was about napping. He cries when we put him down in bed and then gives in and takes a nap. He is eating well. We take him to the doctor on the 23rd for his check up. I am anxious to see how much he weighs now. Here are some recent pics of my little dude!



What a charmer!



Caleb and Poppy having some bonding time.

Happy Birthday Shane!

Today is Shane's 31st birthday and we surprised him at the fire station with a Dairy Queen cake. I am still not allowed to have dairy so Payton helped herself and we left the rest there for the crew at Station 2 to enjoy. (Don't mind Payton's hair. I swear I do a better job than these pictures show. She wore that crown and lost one of her hair ties before we even got to the fire station...oh well!)




Payton enjoyed the birthday cake!



Before we went to the fire station, we had dinner at Burger King. I decided that Shane needed to wear the crown P got because he was the birthday boy.



Shane, Payton (sporting the Parma Fire t-shirt), and Caleb in front of the fire engine.

Random....I know

Who needs expensive toys when your child is content standing in a pot (smallest one I own by the way) and playing with a tube of travel-sized toothpaste.

New Family and a new cottage

My brother Eric has been seeing a girl by the name of Danielle. She was able to bring her 4 boys with her to Easter at my parents' house. They are all very sweet kids with great manners and well behaved. I am glad I got the chance to meet them. Here is a picture of my brother, Danielle, and her boys (Tyler, Sam, Logan, and Zach).




For Christmas, Payton got a neat and tidy cottage. Since the weather has finally cooperated, Shane put the cottage together today. Payton was so excited and spent most of the afternoon going in and out of her new house.

Happy Easter!

We had a very eventful weekend. We spent Saturday with Shane's family. The girls (Payton and her cousin, Keira) went egg hunting and spent most of the afternoon outside. On Sunday, we went to my parents house and visited with family. Again Payton got to go egg hunting with her cousins, Nicholas, Brandon, and Andrew. Here are some pics from this weekend.



My little Easter Bunny.



Aunt Evie was behind me trying to get the girls to look at the camera. She had her hand above her head, so of course that is what Keira and Payton were doing too. Too bad they can't look at the camera at the same time.

Update on Caleb

Let me tell you that Zantac is a miracle medicine. Caleb has been taking this medication since Monday night. He gets three doses a day and starting Wednesday he was a totally different baby. My girlfriends, Laura and Jen, came over to help me since my days previous were VERY rough and he slept most of the time they were there. He is not spitting up hardly at all. When he does, it is just a tiny bit that stays on his lips. He is sleeping easily for naps and night time sleep is amazing. Last night he slept from 8:30pm until 5am. (Yes, you read that right...6 1/2 weeks old and slept 8 1/2 hours!!!) He nursed and went right back to sleep until 8am. I am convinced that he was so miserable at the beginning because his belly was hurting. I am so relieved that this is helping him.

Beautiful Children

I think I have the most beautiful children. I love spending time with them and watching them grow and change every day. Here are some pictures I took today. Enjoy!

A visit with the Guinthers

Our good friends Brian, Tammy and Max Guinther came to visit for the afternoon today. It was nice to see them and catch up. Max is adorable and has the best smile. Here are some pictures of the kids playing together.




This was the best I could do getting all three to look at the camera at the same time.



Sesame Street will keep anyone's attention. Even a two year old and a 6 month old.



Isn't his smile contagious? Such a happy baby!

First smiles

Here are some pictures of Caleb smiling.











ps. Anyone out there know how to rotate the pictures that look like this?