Steps To Tears

Step #1...

...pick sweet peas out of the garden.

Step #2... 

...shell said sweet peas. 

Step #3...

...cook sweet peas until tender.

Step #4...

...puree peas, strain to remove skins, and mix with expressed milk.

Step #5...

...cry because you don't know where the time went.



How can it seem like just yesterday that we were bringing home a newborn and now I am preparing baby food for him?  For the past week, Ezrah has been grabbing at our food and smacking his little lips while we are eating in front of him.  Going by his cues, he is ready for something other than milk.  So I will spend my time making baby food and preparing for his next milestone... but that doesn't mean that I will not shed a few tears because it is all happening too quickly for me.

My Baby...

...is not such a baby anymore!  When did this happen?  Where did this toddler come from?

***Please excuse the lack of sound, I think I had the video on mute.

Family Friendly?

Joe and I took the kids to the park this afternoon for some free time.  When we got to the park, the older boys took off for the playground equipment while Joe and I headed for a bench swing with Micah.  As soon as I sat down I smelled a rather peculiar odor, but said nothing about it.  Joe sat down next to us, looked down at his feet and said, "Tell me that is not what I think it is." 

I looked down and sure enough the ground all around our feet was covered with dried green herbs that definitely were not oregano or parsley.  Obviously someone had spilled their baggie full of marijuana on the ground and was either in a hurry to escape or was too stoned to realize what had happened.
Joe started kicking at the ground (to try and cover it up with sand) which only intensified the smell and got it all in his work boots and my shoes. Noah of course chose that moment to walk over and ask what we were doing.

I am furious that I even had to come up with an answer to that question.  I mean, we were in the park for crying out loud...a children's park with playgrounds.  What has happened to our society that someone would think it was acceptable to go to a public children's park to smoke their weed?
Or maybe it was someone selling there and dropped their stash.  That makes me even angrier.  What chance do our children have if they are finding drugs on the playground at six years old?

Is there nowhere left that is family friendly?  Do I have to keep my children in the house all the time in order to keep them from being subjected to drugs, alcohol, foul language, and sexual perversion?  I know that at some point in thier lives they will  have to face all of those things, but at six years old they should only be worried about which swing to swing on, not what the green stuff is all over Daddy's shoes.

:(

My baby is growing up and it is so bittersweet. I have been trying to write this post for a long time now, but it has just been too hard. I know that Micah is thriving and for that I am grateful, but the thought of no longer having a baby in the house is a little sad for me. He is turning one Saturday and that means time to wean. He is doing great with the weaning. I on the other hand am having a difficult time. Not only is it physically painful and an inconvenience, it is also wreaking havoc on my emotions. I am going into this knowing that this very well may be the last baby that I ever nurse. It is possible that I will never again know that feeling that I am providing every need for a baby.
Don't get me wrong, by no means am I saying that our family is complete. I have been very vocal about the fact that I would like another baby. Joe on the other hand is not quite there yet. I don't think that a baby is really something that one spouse should deliberately surprise the other spouse with. Joe has perfectly valid reasons why we should not have another baby right now and I can't say that I disagree with any of them. However, as much as I may agree with his reasoning, that does not change my desire.
We have decided to wait for a year and then discuss having another baby. I know full well that he may still feel the same way in a year and after one year I may have changed my mind. I think that is why I am having such a hard time with Micah turning one. I have been in "baby mode" for so long now that I don't really know what it is going to be like to not have a baby in the house.
I will enjoy longer periods of sleep, but boy will I miss those middle of the night feeding and cuddling sessions. I am going to enjoy watching Micah take his first step, but I know that I will miss the sound of him crawling through the house at top speed. My baby is growing up and it is so bittersweet.

Tooth Fairy

Noah lost his first baby tooth just before his birthday back in January. He lost his second one just a few weeks after the first. They both already have "grown up" teeth in their place.
Yesterday, Noah lost his third baby tooth. Last night we had to leave a note in the bottom bunk so the tooth fairy would know to look on the top bunk since Noah now sleeps up there.
This morning, Noah found two dollars from the tooth fairy under his pillow. (I think there may have been some miscommunication between the fairies as to who was leaving money!)
All that to say this...Noah has yet to see a dentist. I am planning on taking him next week. He is really scared. Any tips on taking a child to see the dentist for the first time?

Dr. Visits

Yesterday was Jonah's appointment with the dermatologist at MUSC. We had really been looking forward to this visit in hopes that there would be something new that we had not already tried to heal his skin. Turns out we have tried everything and the suggestions that we got yesterday were things that we have been trying for over a year that have not yet helped. At this point I am sick of hearing doctors tell me what I already know, so I think we are done with dermatologists for a while. Hopefully Jonah will outgrow the eczema soon.
Micah has still been sniffling and his left eye has just been a mess with yucky stuff running out of it and nearly sealing it shut. Since we were already in Charleston yesterday, I took him by to see our pediatrician. Turns out there is not really much they can do for the congestion, but he has a plugged tear duct in his left eye that has become infected. We got a prescription for some antibiotics to put in his eye that should clear up the infection soon and the tear duct (hopefully) will heal on its own.
On a good note...Micah is now at 21 and 1/2 inches and weighs well over ten pounds. It seems like Micah is growing up so much faster than my other two did. I guess it is sort of like time going faster the older you get. I haven't figured out how to slow it down yet!

First Missing Tooth

Noah had been complaining about his tooth hurting and a few days before Christmas, I finally took him seriously and looked at what he was talking about. My son had his first loose tooth! We had a long talk about loose teeth and the fact that it would soon fall out. I thought Noah would be a little scared of this, but as it turns out, he thought it was great. He was so excited about his first loose tooth. He had to tell everyone he saw about his tooth and he wiggled it constantly. It was really loose and I was afraid it would fall out before his fifth birthday (this Friday), so I took him the Saturday after Christmas to have his five year old pictures taken. I wanted one more photo of my baby with all of his teeth!

Today, as we were getting back from grocery shopping, Noah all of a sudden starts screaming, "My tooth, my tooth!" He was wiggling it when it just fell out in his hand. Very little bleeding was involved and he says it did not hurt at all. He is excited about the tooth fairy visiting tonight and says that he thinks it is worth at least five dollars. (Mommy is not so sure about that!) Noah came up with the idea that the tooth fairy takes the teeth and gives them to babies that need them but he is unsure of whether Jonah will get this tooth, or if it will be saved for our new baby.

I guess this means my baby is growing up. It is happening so fast. It seems like just yesterday he was struggling to get that very same tooth to break through. Where does the time go?