Wide Open Spaces and Other Ramblings

First things first-- Brennan turned 9 months old on Friday. Nine months?!? I can't believe it. I still feel like he just entered the world as a wrinkly, bald, little guy with skinny chicken legs (which are quite the opposite now).
He's still not crawling, but little man can get to anything he wants with a series of rolls, kicks, scoots, and what not. I'm trying not to rush it. I know once he starts there will be no stopping him. But I'm also trying not to worry about it. A part of me feels like he should be crawling by now. And that is the part of me, that icky fear part, that I surrender to God with each day that he's not crawling. He'll develop at his own pace on his own time. Nothing else about any of his behaviors is concerning, so really, this shouldn't be a big deal. His nine month checkup is this week and I'm praying for words of reassurance from our awesome pediatrician.

Anyway... enough about worry and fear. On Friday, a fabulous friend, who used to watch Cate, invited us up for an overnight on the farm she grew up on about an hour and a half north of Cincinnati. While it's no longer a dairy farm (just soy beans now), it was still fun to get out into some wide open space and just breathe.
Cate took off immediately with her friends in search of the cat that roams the barn and the fields.
Later on in the evening, we had a big ol' bonfire.
The kids headed in to watch a movie around 10. Cate was the only one who was still awake at the end of the move. I don't know that she's ever been up until midnight before. Probably had something to do with the fact that she slept the whole way there (in other words, took a nice 90 minute nap at 5pm). Poor Brennan though. Our newly-turned 9 months old boy was up five times that night between midnight and 6:30 am. We weren't sure if it was being in an unfamiliar place, teething, an ear infection, or what. We had been looking forward to spending most of the day Saturday with our friends, but decided to quit while we were ahead and left at 7am since Cate decided to get up at 6:30 too.

I took Brennan to the pediatrician to rule out an ear infection. Thankfully, his ears looked perfect. Turns out little guy is growing some really big front top choppers. His gums are blistered and swollen. The doctor recommended Advil every 6-8 hours and pretty much just told us to let him cry it out if he woke up at night before he was due for another dose.

We got a bit of a break last night. My fabulous sister-in-law, her boyfriend, and his cute daughter (who is only 6 months younger than Cate) watched the kiddos so that Eric and I could attend my friend, Emily's, benefit that she put on for Hagar. Emily runs the online boutique, Stop Traffick Fashion, so I couldn't resist picking up a little neck candy for a good cause. I love this necklace! We came home to too tired kiddos. After quick baths, they were off to bed. Despite the chaos of being up with Brennan so much Friday night, we somehow managed to stay awake for the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Brennan only woke up once last night. He cried for about a half hour before he was able to have another dose of Advil (after which he went back to sleep and slept until 8 this morning).

Today has been fairly lazy. I think we're all still a little on the sleepy side.

Happy Sunday to you all.

~Melody :-)

Eight

It has been 8 months.
He fills me with joy.

He got his first tooth yesterday (no pictures yet, it's barely through the gums).
Which explains why he kept getting me up the night before the first day of school.
The first two days of school have gone well. Both for me at school and for Eric and the kids at home. Praise God for that.
No crawling yet, but little man can get what he wants by rolling and scooting and kicking.

He's still super snuggly too. And a total mama's boy. Which I love. He can be squawking up a storm with someone else and just quiet down as soon as he is in my arms.

And with that, I'm gonna go snuggle him. And his sister.

Before I crash into what will quite possibly be one of the deepest sleeps ever.

Happy 8 Months, Brennan!

~Melody :-)

Terrible Teeth

I know I've been blogging about it a lot lately-- but Cate's teething has been terrible this time around. She's getting her incisors (I'm pretty sure that's what those pointy teeth are called) and it's the worst she's ever been. All of her other teeth popped in with relatively no problems (she got one ear infection in an earlier round of teething and usually has a runny nose). This time though, she's been crankier, fussier, pickier...everything -ier. Yesterday she started in with some messier diapers (I'll spare you the gross details), which led to bad diaper rash when she woke up. She's also been waking up with green "gook" in her eyes. In fact, this morning she woke up crying. Something she never does. Daddy was quick to comfort.
**As a side note, doesn't the antique photo-finish capture the sunlight well in this picture?

Anyway, during her diaper changed, she screamed like she was in the worst pain in the world. And then she continued to cry off and on through breakfast. I called the pediatrician since this is not even close to Cate's normal, bubbly, smiley, go-with-the-flow personality. Our pediatrician is wonderful and was very concerned about Cate, so she scheduled an appointment for later in the afternoon. In the meantime, Cate was distracted by playing with her friends Tessa and Anna at Gymboree class. She was okay during lunch, took a two-hour nap, and woke up screaming. She pretty much screamed off and on for the rest of the afternoon until we got to the doctor.

The doctor's diagnosis? Double ear infection that has also semi-infected her eyes with a bad diaper rash/yeast infection. Poor Cate. She's now on an antibiotic for the ear infection, eye gel for the eye "gook," a restricted diet (but only until her diapers aren't quite so messy), and some great home-remedy bottom cream the pediatrician told us to make (Maalox mixed with talcum powder to an icing like consistency spread on affected area and then covered with a layer of Desitin). She gets that lovely mixture at every other diaper change (the other diaper changes we're supposed to use Lotrimin, which is a remedy for athlete's foot).

I feel completely and horribly bad for Cate. I hurt with her. While picking up her prescriptions, the stuff to make cream for her bottom, Lotrimin, rice cereal and yogurt at Target, I also picked her up these: Color Wonder Markers with a doodle pad and...a little Thomas the Tank Engine set. While Cate doesn't watch a lot of TV, we've been trying to get her interested in a few little movies and cartoons that she can watch on the DVD player on the way to Hilton Head. She seems to have an affinity for things that go right now. She loves her Automoblox and gravitated right towards a board book about trucks at the library last week. We tried out a few Thomas the Tank Engine DVD's and she loves them. Each story is short, so it keeps her attention. The Color Wonder set (which she loved and which we will definitely be buying more of for our budding little artist) and the little train set (which set me back a whopping $12 since it's not the wooden-train-table type of train set) made Cate do this:
But just in case those teeth and ears were still hurting her after being pumped full of medicine when we got home, we walked up the street for ice cream too.Man that girl takes her ice cream eating seriously.

~Melody :-)

Did I Shave My Legs For This?

You better believe it! As a side note though, I really am a clean and hygienic person who does shower and shave regularly.
This is my skirt- my first project made for me during my sewing lessons with my grandma. It actually wasn't too difficult. Now I just need to get a top to match it (I will not be making one as I do not have nearly the confidence or skill required to make anything remotely resembling a cute top).

Let's review this summer's sewing lessons/projects.

Outfits 1 (top) and 2 (bottom)- both made in sewing lessons with my grandma. They followed the same pattern, but outfit 2 is slightly smaller. Both will more than likely fit Cate next spring/summer (unless she grows a lot), but I'll probably have to make bigger bloomers to go underneath. Or redo the elastic in the bloomers I already made and that fit perfectly right now. Next year though, the dress part will be more of a top.
And the crayon rolls. I made these on my own at home, following instructions from a website.
My next project is already more than halfway done. It's part of Eric's birthday present, so I guess you'll have to wait until Wednesday to see it.

In the meantime, we're at the end at what has probably been our busiest summer week so far. Multiple small group get-togethers and goings-on. A wipes study and a diaper study at P and G (the latter consumed 4 hours of our morning on both Tuesday and Wednesday, but paid well). Other outings and get-togethers with non-small group friends. And we're deep in the trenches of some horrible teething. You know the kind. The kind where your kid is a picky eater, cranky and fussy, creating messy diapers, and won't go to bed without Tylenol. One incisor has poked through. Her gums are a swollen mess. Hopefully the other 3 incisors will make their appearances before we hit the road for our trip to Hilton Head.

Until then, we wait it out and in between everything keeping us busy I attempt to get things done on my before vacation to-do list.
~Melody :-)

Just Swingin'

I love that we have a front porch-- with a swing. I love that a lot of houses around here, being that they are close to 100 years old, have front porches. Even though it's been in the 90's and humid around here this week, we've still managed some front porch swingin' time.
PS...Cate is teething...hence the awkward mouth position...hang in there sweetie, those incisors will be in soon!

~Melody :-)

Growing up too fast!

Cate sits up very well with assistance (leaning against something or with pillows around her in case she starts to lose her balance) and can sit unassisted for about 30 seconds on her own. The last time she went grocery shopping, she was very frustrated to be in her infant carrier in the cart (not to mention that her carrier doesn't fit very well in the small carts at Whole Foods where we've been doing most of our shopping for the last 6 weeks or so). So I decided to try her in the big kid seat in the cart with her grocery cart cover. There's a back support that you can't really see and she was strapped in- both of which helped to stabilize her better. She smiled the whole time and seemed to enjoy the view (and being close to mom). We picked up some rice rusks while we were there (Baby Mum Mum is the brand for those of you looking for a good rice cracker for a new-to-foods infant). The rusk dissolved quickly as she gummed it and wasn't too messy. She enjoyed it as well.
She's doing new things each and every day and we never cease to be amazed by her.

Tooth update: One lower one has pushed through the gums, but is not all the way up. We feel another bump lurking below her gums right next to it.

~Melody :-)

Monday, Monday

Today was probably one of the hardest days with Cate I've had in awhile (and there were definitely some rough ones in those early weeks). For the last month or so, Cate has been drooling like crazy and lovin' it when you rub her gums or give her something rough to chew on (like a burp cloth or a toy that has some kind of texture to it). The pediatrician told us a couple of weeks ago that teeth can take up to two months or more to push through, but that Cate could definitely be feeling something inside her gums now. So maybe that was her issue today. All I know is that she woke up at 2 am and while she settled back down pretty quickly, it was just the beginning.

From 8:30 this morning on, Cate just wanted to be held. Nothing seemed to please her or entertain her. She'd nap for 20 minutes at a time and then wake up screaming. We tried an arbitrary drive (I had stuff I needed to take to Goodwill anyway) and that didn't work (with gas being as high as it is, I give her about 10 minutes and if she's not asleep, we go home). It was way too hot this afternoon for a walk. And cranky as she was, I wasn't brave enough to head to the mall to walk around when the littlest thing might set her off. So we hunkered down at home and I tried my best to keep a smile on my face as I rocked and bounced and snuggled with Cate- desperate to help her settle down. I am blessed to have a baby to rock and bounce and snuggle with no matter how grouchy she is.

Thankfully, Eric has some flexibility in his job and could sense my growing distress when he came home for lunch and later called to check in. He came home about an hour early to give me a break so I could work on the packet for the distance course I'm taking (I'm about 75% done at this point...yay). He managed to handle Cate and her grumpiness with lots of grace and even made dinner in the process. After it cooled off in the evening, we headed up to UDF for some soft serve, the library to return some things (where we promptly checked out more things...mostly CDs- they had the new-ish BNL and Arctic Monkeys), and Blockbuster to take back The Bucket List.

While I'm not a fan of medicating Cate when she doesn't need it, my mom did remind me that one dose of Tylenol won't hurt after the day she's had. It could be her teeth, but she could also have a headache. She's been having some tummy issues lately (we've been introduced to the wonderful world of infant suppositories since her digestive system is slowly getting used to cereal and baby food), so maybe she had some gas pain as well. She fought going to bed tooth and nail, but Eric once again came to the rescue and hung in there with her while I took a shower. We may be in for a long night...but we wouldn't trade it for anything.

~Melody :-)

(Cate in her daddy's hat a couple of days ago)