gardens, ballet, and medical professionals......

For several days I've been trying to motivate myself to write. This morning I figured I might as well sit down and force myself because I have one very devoted reader (grandma) and I know she checks regularly, so I have to keep my reader(s) happy! Okay, now that I said that, my grandma is going to call and say, "you shouldn't be writing, you need to take a nap....I do love your blog posts though and those pictures of the kids are just amazing!" And then I feel all amazing and like I'm the best photographer and write ever but really it's my grandma and she's pretty partial to my amazingness.    


Well anyway, last Friday the weather was wonderful and we spent the whole day outside digging in the dirt and planning my garden or should I say, gardens. At dinner Walter and I were joking that I'm going to have sell some of my plants at the end of our driveway because I have so many and I've gone a little crazy with the planting. Oh, and I'm not done yet. Thus far Isabella and I only have flowers and herbs started, and one kind of tomato which she was insisting we must plant. I've decided that I love planting seeds. It's so rewarding to watch them grow and since my seeds are on steroids there's some serious growth going on. I have no idea if I'll enjoy true gardening, but I'm expecting that I'll like it, minus the bugs of course. Yeah, not too excited about the bugs. But I did feign excitement when Isabella and I dug up a worm the other day.

Isabella is obsessed with ballet. No, she's never taken ballet but she tells me almost every day that when she's four she is going to bal-le-lai school. I guess I'd better get on that because she was heartbroken last week when her neighbor friend couldn't play with her because she had to go to ballet--"but mommy, I just want to go to bal-le-lai school with Lola, why can't I go with her? I want to do bal-le-lai like Angeline Ballerina." I felt so bad and told her that she could show me some her own ballet moves and then I watched as she proceeded to dance around the living-room. Apparently ballerinas stop mid movement with one leg in the air...this seems to be her signature move.

Yesterday it was nice out again and if you live in Ohio you know that any moment of nice weather means you must be outside and enjoy it. So Isabella and I were outside kicking the ball back and forth when I said, "why do you keep shaking you leg?" "Because I have to shake my leg to get a big kick!" Note to self: you may look ridiculous doing it, but shake leg for big kick.

Probably the best thing about this nice weather is the fact that I can put a blanket on the grass and some toys and Isaac seems perfectly content. As a testament to my mothering, I placed Isaac in direct sunlight, thinking of course this would be wonderful for him to get some Vitamin D, and then the next day he had a sunburn. I'll just pat myself on the back for that one. People always comment on how pale Isaac is. Pretty much. This of course has led doctors to think his iron is low and drum roll please....iron is fine, he's just a very white boy!

With that said, all of his blood work is normal. Yesterday I took him to hospital to have a test done that is called an Upper GI. Basically they fed barium to him and then took X-rays of his stomach and small intestine. That was all normal and functioning properly. The thing that always shocks me, is conversations like this:
-So, what we're going to do, is give him a bottle with barium in it and most of the time babies are happy to suck it down because they haven't eaten for three hours so generally they're hungry.
-Okay, well, he doesn't take a bottle, so can you use a syringe to give the barium to him?
-He doesn't take a bottle? How and what does he eat?

Really? I mean, really? I know you're a medical professional and went to school much longer than me and have a really cool degree and get to stick needles in people and say important things and sound really smart...but really? Let me just give a little lesson. Maybe you missed this class or slept through it. There are these things called breasts and when a woman has a baby, there are hormones that make that woman's body lactate--have you heard of that? Yeah, I didn't think so. Well, anyway, once the woman lactates (look it up in a dictionary) she produces milk, breast milk. I know, it's totally confusing, but this amazing milk can feed a baby! Sorry, did I lose you somewhere...THIS MILK CAN FEED A HUMAN BABY AND MEET ALL OF IT'S NUTRITIONAL NEEDS FOR UP TO SIX MONTHS AND THEY CAN KEEP BREASTFEEDING AFTER THAT (oops, maybe I lost you with that part--it's pretty crazy, I know). Oh sorry, I forgot one big piece of the puzzle, the baby latches on to the mother to do what is called nursing also known as breastfeeding and therefore, does not need a bottle unless of course that mother wants her baby to take a bottle, which is totally fine. I know, this is a lot to take in, but I'm sure once it sinks in you'll understand it all and then you can relay this mind boggling message to all of your doctor friends.

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Walter just sticks the kids in boxes when I'm gone.....

Sorry Sarah. I know you don't want to see snow, but I have a few left over pictures from our last snow fall.

Polly pocket in trouble again.....

Our nights with Isaac continue to be anything but pleasant. On a particularly rough night last week, I handed Isaac to Walter and he continued screaming so Walter handed him back to me (it's like playing hot potato, neither one of us wants to get stuck with the baby) and he promptly passed out.....

Yes, he still sleeps in his bouncy seat. Walter suggested we buy a hammock and string it across his room and have him sleep in that since he's outgrowing the seat (in length, not weight, obviously).

Even though they're out of focus, I love these next pictures.....

Happy to see 'da'....

Eskimo kisses.....

Isabella wanted to take a picture.....

For Walter's birthday gift my parents gave him a head lamp to use for household projects in small spaces. Because Walter hates having to get out of bed to turn off the light after reading stories to Isabella, he found that wearing the head lamp for reading works out perfectly.

A high five before the race....

First shoes.....

Only cool dads carry pink jackets in their pocket....

My sister signed my mom and I up for a facial and makeup at Nordstrom. It was lots of fun but here's the thing, getting makeup done with my sister is always annoying because everyone who looks at her says, "oh my goodness look at your skin, it's so amazing, you're so beautiful." And there I am like chopped liver with pimples all over my face. Oh well. 

My mom said, "here let me take picture of you and Isaac, it's so cute the way he's looking at you"....

nice try mom

later..."okay, now set it up so I can get a good picture this time"....

close

that's a little bit better.

And some quotes from Isabella: 

-At dinner last week Walter and I were talking about how challenging Isaac has been in the middle of the night and Isabella said, "It's okay mommy, sometimes it's just hard to get babies to go to sleep. You just need to be a better mommy to Isaac." Nice one. I'll work on that.

-"You're a good mommy....sometimes."

She's right though, I can't be a good mommy all the time--that's impossible and I will be the first to admit it. My goal is to not be a parent who thinks she's perfect and apparently, Isabella does a good job at keeping me in check.