Happy Birthday Joel!

Happy Birthday Joely Poley!

one day old

6 months

one year

18 months

2 1/2

34 months

My baby is 3. Now he says things like "Stop treating me like a baby". He is definitely a Big Boy now. We were at the store the other day and the clerk called him a "cutey" and Joel thought she was talking to Ethan. The lady told him she was talking to HIM and he frowned and furrowed his brow. " I am NOT a cwetie! I'm a BIG Boy!" Joel is all boy. Baseball, football, basketball, he loves it all. He plays for literally hours on end with his cars and trains, making up stories. It's so fun to listen to him talk to his cars. But he doesn't need toys; He will make airplanes out of sticks and fly them around. Happy Birthday Joel, I love you so much! And just so you know, you'll ALWAYS be my baby!!

I know, I know, I need to post....

...but now I have mastitis. At 9 months. What? I thought I had made it through unscathed.

Micah's in school. He likes it alot. He already knows several Spanish words like red, September, backpack, hello, goodbye...

I'll post again when I can form longer sentences.

Adios!

Looks like I spoke too soon

So, I guess we could have stayed longer in Whistler after all. We arrived home late Saturday night, and went school shopping Monday-- only to discover Monday evening that there would be no school the next day..... Or the next ....or the next ...or the next day. Yep, still no school because the teacher's are on strike. Guess I will homeschool after all. This is getting to be ridiculous! The two parties are still no closer together than they were in June. Thank goodness this is only kindergarten. Imagaine what a pain this is for all the high school juniors and seniors with set dates for SAT and AP exams.

End of Summer and School

Summer finally came to town. Too bad it only lasted a week. Last week we spent every day at the lake or spray park, soaking up the rays. Then we'd come home collapse, clean up a bit, eat dinner then watch Michael Phelps win a gold medal. Go to bed, wake up, repeat.

This week has been spent getting Ethan's out-grown clothes ready for a children's consignment sale, doing errands and generally getting ready for our Whistler trip. Aaron's parents are coming in tonight, then we drive up Sunday. We've never been so we are looking forward to it! It is also the site for the 2010 Winter Olympics so we're expecting lots of construction. Hopefully it won't be too bad.

Micah starts school in a week and a half. We didn't exactly plan our vacation well. He starts 2 days after we get back. We booked the house a year ago and I wasn't even thinking about school schedules! Our life is going to change! What a big step! My oldest is going to school. I get sad thinking about not having him around, but I know that it is the right decision for him.

I don't know think I've mentioned it here but Micah will be going to a Spanish immersion school in our local school district. It's a lottery system to get into the school. Micah made it into the half-day kindergarten class. Around here you have to pay for full day kindergarten at public schools-- I think this is a funding issue from the state as they only get enough funding for half day kindy. The Spanish Immersion program is a K-12 program with grades K-5 spent at the Spanish elementary school. Grades 6-12 are integrated into regular district schools with the students taking 1-2 special classes per year. By the time they are in 10th grade they take AP Spanish and in grades 11 and 12 they take college classes. What's nice about the program is that you can only enter in kindy. So if Micah continues the program, he will be with the same kids until he graduates. Since it is a special program and requires planning to attend the school, the parents are more involved. This makes the school more of a public/private hybrid.

They learn everything in Spanish from day one. I know very little Spanish so I will get to learn along with him! They don't even learn to read in English until 2nd or 3rd grade. The principal showed us the district test scores and the students are behind their peers in English in 2nd grade but by 5th grade they are equal or have surpassed other schools in the district.

It sounds great, but we'll see how it works out for Micah. I'm excited but sad to see my baby go off to school! I keep telling myself its only for 3 hours a day!

Ethan

5 1/2 months old

Ethan has been gaining weight like a champ! I am so very thankfull for Prevacid. It has literally changed my life. I can now wear the same clothes for one day. I don't have (new) carrot and prune stains on the carpet! I have a very happy baby! He's even getting some chubby cheeks!

On the other hand, it looks like he may have an allergy to amoxocillin and/or eggs. Sigh. Drug allergy would be pretty easy to deal with, but eggs? I sure hope not. We'll know for sure when we can get in to see the allergist.

I can't end on a down note. We got back Micah's latest blood test results and it looks like he might be outgrowing his allergy! This is a big blessing!!

Mt. Rainier

Aaron did make it to the summit. Their team was the only one to make it that day. They made it to the summit and within 10 minutes a cloud formed and caused white-out conditions. The water in his backpack froze instantly. Short story is the only way they found their way back down was by using the GPS I bought him for his birthday the previous month!

The kids and I drove down and met him when he came off the mountain. He came down at the White River Campground. We then drove around through Longmire to Whittaker's Bunkhouse in Ashford which is on the opposite side of the mountain.

The kids were VERY excited to stay at a motel. We thought briefly about camping.... but I chickened out. We went camping when Joel was a baby and he screamed just about the whole night. Definitely didn't want to experience that again with Ethan. Especially on a night that Aaron would be exhausted. The Bunkhouse is a very comfortable place to stay with kids. They even had a climbing wall out front that the kids had to try out.

This is outside the place we had breakfast:

Here is Joel, Ethan and I at Paradise. Notice the snow. Middle of July and there was still 5 feet of snow there!! We were hoping to do some hiking and to see the wildflowers. This year there was alot of late snowfall.

This is as far as we got on the trail:

Inside the newly remodelled Paradise Lodge:

My Dad with Ethan.

In Absentia

Okay, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I'm planning to update on what we've been up to this summer:
1. Mt. Rainier pictures and stories.
2. My Dad and Betty got married!
3. summer activities
4. Ethan's progress

I also celebrated a birthday yesterday. Yay, me. They threw a huge party for me in Beijing!

Now I have to brag for just a minute. Micah, age 5 1/2, currently knows more about geography then most adults. Yesterday he was putting together a world puzzle. It was halfway done and he pointed to Italy and identified it. Then proceeded to tell me where Sicily was located. Today we were playing a geography game where you draw a country card and then identify where it is located. We were working on Africa when I drew "Lesotho", which is located in the middle of South Africa. (I got it wrong!) We were looking at where it was located and Micah points to the country next to South Africa and says, "That's Swaziland". He was correct! How does he know this???? I didn't even know that. I've heard of Swaziland, and I could tell you it was in Africa, but I had no idea where it was located. Now I know.

Apparently its because of this website.

Mt. Rainier

Aaron is off climbing Mt. Rainier this weekend. He summitted 3 years ago going the Paradise-Camp Muir-Ingraham Glacier route. This time he is doing the White River- Camp Shurman-Emmons Glacier route which takes an extra day.

Living in the shadow of Mt. Rainier during high school enticed me to do the climb. However, we didn't live nearby during the pre-kid freedom days. Now with 3 little ones, risking life and limb doesn't sound so good. Maybe when the kids are older.

Summit day for Aaron is tomorrow. We'll be driving down to meet him, spend the night and do some hiking in the park the next day. Thankfully the weather is wonderful this weekend. Pray for safety and continued good weather!

I am so proud of my man!

Is this really possible???

STOP THE PRESSES!
Ethan made it through an entire feeding period with NO SPIT UP!!!

YES!

And he was very happy this morning, too, playing, talking and smiling.

Thank you Lord! What a simple pleasure of life, not having spit up all over you, your floor and the baby!

********************
In other news...
The other day Micah decided he wanted to make his own Baby Einstein video. He decided what music to use (Beethoven's 5th) and what toys he wanted to use. He made a list of all the toys and taped it to the wall. I was the cameraman, but he directed and starred in the show. Joel was the unintentional "co-star". Once I figure out how to upload videos I will post it here.

My Favorite Things

I've been thinking about this post for awhile. After having three babies I guess I can self-qualify myself as some sort of expert in this area. These are some products that I wish I would have bought 5 years ago for baby #1. So in honor of my two friends, Karen and Susan, who are soon to be mommies of 3, here they are...

(photo taken from website)

1. Ergo Carrier

I love love love this carrier! It is so comfy that you *almost* don't notice that your baby is strapped to you. The weight is carried on your hips instead of your shoulders. The Bjorn would tug and pull on my neck/shoulders. It gave me a headache. I even used the Bjorn Active, which has a hip support belt. With the ergo I have none of the headaches. Now, granted, nothing is perfect, but this is the best of them all, hands down!

The sitting position for the baby is more natural than the bjorn. With the bjorn they are hanging by their cr*tch. Wereas in the ergo, baby is snuggled up next to you on your chest. Ethan loves it, so much so that he can be crying and when I strap him on he goes right to sleep.

I didn't start using this until Ethan was 4 months old. Until baby has good head control you need to use an infant insert, which I didn't buy. I used a baby bjorn for 0-4 months. Even when he was that small it still gave me headaches.

When baby is older you can also wear him on your back. It also has a zipper pocket for keys and a sun shade to pull over baby's head. Did I mention that I love this carrier? It makes going anywhere possible with 3 kids. They are pricey, but what's the price of freedom? I have seen them on Craig's List too.

2. Skip*Hop Diaper Bag

I wish I would have bought this bag 5 1/2 years ago. (Can you believe Micah is 5 1/2??? I can't!) It is compact yet roomy. There is room for 3 sippy cups on the outside. There are zippered pockets that only go halfway down so you can put your wallet in there and not lose it in the bottom of the bag. It has special straps so you can attach it to a shopping cart. It can also be worn as a messenger bag... and its manly enough for hubbie to carry it too! It has just kept me organized.

I have another diaper bag made by Rowdy that I also like. It is a new company and the zipper broke, so I can't exactly recommend it.

3. Peg Perego Pliko (or P3 ) stroller

I think I wrote about this earlier. I still like this stroller immensely. Compact yet has all the features of a large stroller.

4. Nursing Shawl--Hooter Hider

If you own a sewing machine, can hem a rectangular piece of fabric and insert a piece of boning.... you could be rich! This simple item makes nursing in public SO much easier! The boning makes it easy to see baby yet covers up all the essentials.

I must add that my dear friend Sarah graciously lent me two of the four items above. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

What's your favorite baby item/gadget??

Weekend

Hope everyone had a fun fourth weekend! Friday we went to a new park that was really fun. If you are local it is a new playground at Grass Lawn. There is a merry-go-round, three boulder climbing walls, a water-play fountain and a very cool swing. Later that day we went to a BBQ with some friends and watched fireworks. Ethan's first fireworks! He loved it. Although he was more interested in watching all the people than the show. The two older boys had a good time as well. Micah even tolerated the noise pretty well! Usually he doesn't like loud noises whatsoever. Maybe he is outgrowing that now.

Today we went on a hike at Cougar Mountain and found two letterboxes. Ethan tried out the backpack for the first time. He was okay until we stopped at our first letterbox. He got uncomfortable and couldn't sleep. I didn't want to carry him the whole way without the front carrier so Aaron lovingly ran back to the car and got it for me! Ethan snuggled up as soon as I strapped him on and went right to sleep. I must say that I love the Ergo carrier. That should be a post in itself.

The area where we hiked is full of old mine shafts. We had to get a picture:

Facebook

So I finally joined Facebook. I guess its like MySpace for grown-ups? Just what I needed--more ways to waste time. I draw the line at twitter. Like anyone wants to know that I'm cleaning up after 3 boys--'cause that's what I spend most of my time doing.

In other news, looks like summer decided to come here to the PacNW, finally. It ain't called June gloom for nothing, that's for sure!

Update on Ethan

So I need to post some pictures. I just have not had time to download any pictures! It doesn't help that the amount of pictures on the camera keeps growing. I need some sort of blue tooth device for my camera where I just set it beside my computer and whamm-o they instantly appear on my computer.

Anyway....Ethan is now 7 months. He has two bottom teeth, he can sit alone and roll over both ways pretty proficiently. Between 5 and 6 months he only gained 1 ounce. He had a cold, so the doctor suspected it was because of the sickness that he wasn't gaining weight. She said to watch his reflux and come back in 6 weeks. Well after 3 weeks I had had enough and I took him in last week. He was throwing up (none of this dainty spit-up) about 5-6 times every feeding. I was changing clothes about 1-2 times a day because they were drenched, not because I got spit on once. Let's not even talk about Ethan's clothes. Sometimes as I held him, he would spit up and it would miss my shoulder and back completely and land on the floor a foot or more away. And the stains on the carpet are just lovely now that he's eating carrots and such.

In 3 weeks he had gained 6 ounces. Which is better, but not great. He's now on Prevacid, which doesn't come in a syrup form. It comes in these tablets that dissolve on your tongue, and you're not suppose to chew them. Yah, try telling that to a teething 7 month old! So I would have to split the tablet in half for his dose, which would crumble into powder. I had to guess as to how much "half" was and save the rest for his next dose. Then I had to dissolve it in water. Half would stay in the syringe and not budge. Ugh. So if you're still reading this....it was just hard.

Enter the marvelous compounding pharmacy which saved the day! We have to pay out of pocket for this service, but it makes my live MUCH easier. The compounding pharmacy makes Prevacid into a syrup and even added watermelon flavoring. He's been on the syrup for 2 days now and I already see a difference. He's been much happier (except for teething) and spitting up MUCH less.

I'm just praying that he will start gaining weight. He is a long and lean baby. 90% for height and 25% for weight. When he was born he was 100% for weight (10 pounds); so you can see how much he has fallen on the growth curve. Right now he only weighs 16 pounds. That's what Joel weighed at 2 months!

Look at what we came home to...

I let out a small yelp. Okay, maybe a large yelp. He just sat and stared at us for a few minutes before taking off. I've seen this critter in our neighborhood before, but never this close. He was less than ten feet from us.

This is not a picture I took. I was too startled to do anything but warn the boys not to go too close because racoons can be dangerous. I guess I warned a little too sternly because Joel wouldn't go in the backyard because "the wacoon was out there".

The first thing Micah said when he saw it? "Hey, I thought racoons were nocturnal animals!"

Allowance

So I need your opinion. We are considering starting allowance with Micah. I have heard two camps on this topic.

#1 Assign chores and give $$ for said chores

#2 Give a set allowance each week or month not tied to chores. Chores are part of living with the family and being in the household. We all work together. The allowance is away for the kids to learn about money managment.


I understand the logic of both camps. When someone is passionate about either style I nod my head in unison and agree with whatever it is they say. Then when someone of the opposite camp gives their opinion I do the same thing. My problem is when I start something like this I feel like it needs to work forever the same exact way. I'm learning to tell myself that things like this change, especially as our kids grow and mature. Just because we start off doing it one way doesn't mean when they are 15 we have to do it the same way.

Thoughts? Is there a 3rd camp that I'm unaware of?

thoughts

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. She would have been 61. I remember when my grandma turned 60 and my mom commented on that she couldn't believe her parents were 60. She didn't even make it to 60.

I'm prepared for sad feelings on anniversary dates like yesterday. Its the times that take you by surprise that are hard. Like a few weeks ago I pulled a bib out to put on Ethan. It was a bib that said "I love my Grandma" which my mom gave to Micah when he was a baby. It was bittersweet putting it on Ethan, knowing she couldn't see him. I know she would just adore him, he is such a happy baby.

Baseball Game

We had a very full, fun weekend. It started on Saturday. A local radio station was having a contest where you submit stories about your father. We won! Aaron's family has loads of good stories and we finally put one to good use! We won 2 tickets to the Mariners game on Saturday, gift certificates to a restarant, a car detail and 4 tickets to a museum.

As we were waiting to turn into parking at the ballpark, someone walked by and asked us if we needed parking. She gave us a voucher for free parking in the garage! Yay! She saved us $25!

We had a great time. Joel now is crazy about baseball. He pretends to swing a bat, then throws a ball, then runs down our wood floor and slides on his belly by the front door. "I a baysebawl pwayer" --Can you translate? Last night he decided his name was now JJ, which is one of the closing pitchers for the Mariners. He also refuses to use the tee to hit the ball. Because that's not what the baseball players do. That kid is sure head-strong! I'm sure it will serve him well later in life, but it makes our life hard right now!

This is for Julie

Julie posted a while back (sorry I didn't search for the link) about yellow ducks. How every kid's book has yellow ducks but she has yet to see a yellow duck.

Yesterday at the park we saw a yellow duckling. Maybe she meant and adult yellow duck, but nevertheless it was the first time I remember seeing any kind of yellow duck.

This is for Jodi

We were going through some old cd's and Micah saw one of my old cd's by The Monkees. You know what he said? "Mom! Its like Word World!"

This and That...

We have a strange happeneing here in Seattle today. Reports of a large orange glowing orb in the sky have surfaced. No here knows what it is. Maybe an alien mother ship?


Meanwhile back at the ranch:
While I was nursing yesterday, Joel went to the potty, got off, flushed the potty and washed his hands all by himself! Then he came out naked flying like an airplane saying "I shoot the bathroom, I shoot Ethies room. I'm a shooting plane". He WAS wearing a pilot shirt.