Won’t Eat, Won’t Sleep

Truett and Levi are both going through a difficult little phase right now. Tru isn’t wanting to eat unless I feed him like a baby, which is ironic since he would refuse to eat once he hit around a year unless we let him feed himself. Even when I feed him he will still refuse to eat occasionally. The old adage that he will “eat when he is hungry enough” doesn’t seem to apply and I’m just not one who can put my kid to bed at night knowing that he hasn’t eaten enough. I worry his blood sugar could bottom out or something. I’m about 99% sure the refusing to eat and demanding to be fed like a baby is a power struggle and cry for more attention because he is jealous of Levi right now. That’s understandable considering that Levi is getting more attention due to his needs right now and also when we are in public everybody and their mother’s uncle wants to ask about his cast and how he hurt his leg… and now Levi is sporting stitches too on his chin. Couple that with the fact that people are often more drawn to the youngest baby in the room and yeah, I get it why Tru might be fishing for some attention right now. So I’m just trying to encourage Tru to take bites on his own and if he needs me to feed him, fine. It’s not that hard for me to sit there and talk to him and show him that he is special and I enjoy taking care of him. Tru is the kind of kid who runs up to me randomly throughout the day and gives me a hug or kiss and says “Wuv you, mommy.” Or will ask “Mommy wuv me?” He’s strong and independent mostly but he has this amazing little tender side that I am very mindful of.

Levi has never been great at falling asleep on his own. We did CIO with him and finally got him to the place where he would fall asleep without crying much if any. But this whole broken leg deal has got him all messed up. He hated the splint because it was so uncomfortable and he got in a habit of screaming when I would lay him down until I would go get him and soothe him to sleep in my bed and then lay him down. Which, while being a bit inconvenient, I was happy to do that because I knew he was hurting and uncomfortable and needed extra cuddles. No big deal. Until it got to the point where I am nursing him to sleep but when I go to lay him down in his bed, he jerks awake and screams and cries until I come back. Basically, he wants to be held all night. And just putting him in bed with us isn’t working because he can’t seem to get comfortable in our bed and knowing the boob is nearby, well…. So letting him CIO again has been hard. Maybe even harder now that he’s older because he is so aware of the fact that I am out there and can hear him but I am refusing to go in and get him. It makes his feelings hurt and I’m afraid he will have worse separation anxiety. Levi is ok with new people when Tru is around and when he can see that I am comfortable with them but even at the gym childcare he will occasionally cry for a minute. Even at my mom’s house Levi gets very excited to see me come back and grabs on to my neck hugging me and asks me to take him “buh bye” while pointing at the door and covering my mouth so I won’t talk and will just take him home. My worry with him is that making him CIO at his age is making him feel abandoned and angry with me. Clearly, I am a baby psychologist. 😉 NOT! I guess these are just those little things that pop up with toddlers and hopefully fade back into normal routine quickly. Levi is supposed to get his stitches out in 5 days and his cast off in 6 days. Hopefully he will be back to feeling like his happy normal self and Tru can go back to being his well adjusted big brother who knows that he is just as special and important to me and everyone else as Levi is. 🙂

Busy Day And Another Boo Boo

We had a record long day yesterday starting with getting up extra early to got to an insurance physical that is required every year by DH’s job. Even though I got up earlier that usual, I felt great all day! Working out guys… It’s giving me more energy.

I dropped the boys off with my mom and went to my appointment. I chose to go to a new NP because I felt it was time for a change. I really enjoyed talking to her and she took her time going over everything. Their office is set up a little better than my previous family Dr’s office. They seem equipped to do more stuff right there and it’s just a better set up. Then I went to the gym for about an hour.

This innocent baby was happily getting a hair treatment

When I went back to mom’s so I could pick up the boys to take them swimming, Levi walked by us in the kitchen and just wiped out on the kitchen floor, hitting the edge of a wooden picture frame (it’s hung very low as it’s on a pass-through wall) and cut his chin wide open. The second I saw it, I knew he needed stitches. I just grabbed him and some wash clothes and went right to the truck. My sister rode with us to the urgent care and sat with Tru while I took Levi back. The Dr said it would hurt like crazy to freeze the area and stitch it but that it absolutely had to be stitched. It was just exposed flesh and no way it could stay closed with a bandage or skin glue. Levi screamed and cried so hard he burst blood vessels all over his face, making it all red. I bawled my head off holding his chest and rubbing his head while 3 nurses held him down so the Dr could put in 3 stitches. Pain wise, it seemed a lot worse than his broken bone because he cried so much harder. I was telling myself to get a grip because they probably thought I was ridiculous but actually the nurse told me they were all impressed at how well I kept my “composure”. Whatever. I’m just so mad that he now has a scar on his chin, has had to experience 2 horribly painful things in a months time that he shouldn’t have EVER had to experience, and I’m mad that I was right there both times and couldn’t protect him either time. 😦 I was really worried taking him in there too with a cast already and him all sweaty in just a diaper since I was getting ready to put his swimming trunks on him so we could go swimming. But the Dr and nurses and receptionist all kept telling me “This stuff happens. It’s ok!” Sigh….

Look away now if you are woozy!!!

So we got back home and Levi got a nap while Tru watched some cartoons then I gave them baths. DH called because it was his Mom’s birthday and he wanted to take her supper. Time-wise, it made more sense for me to go get supper and meet him at her house than for him to go get it and meet us there so that’s what I did. We enjoyed hanging out there for awhile but the kids were really tired and fussy so I brought them home and fed them a snack. After DH got back we got the boys in bed and DH went to bed, with Levi in our bed because I was worried he would try to pull out his stitches. At that point it seemed like the most important thing was to shampoo the living room carpet because it looked so dirty. That took until almost 1am. So I finally got to bed and Tru was up coughing. Loooong day! But I felt more energetic than I have in a long time! I am convinced this working out thing is helping me.

Overall it was a pretty productive day and would have been great if we could have replaced the whole split open chin thing with just going swimming like I’d planned.

Tru just wanted to swim. 🙂

DH and I were going to go on that little overnight trip this weekend but we decided to postpone it for now. Also, I was going to get an outdoor cat (allergic to cats so it can’t be inside) to control the mouse population since they insist on coming in ever since our old cat disappeared but, turns out, I don’t have to! A gorgeous young, gray-striped tom cat showed up a few weeks ago and we didn’t see him again until a couple days ago and now he is just staying here. The boys love him and he puts up with Tru picking him up and petting him etc. I want to get him fixed soon so he doesn’t start spraying everything. He’s super friendly and cute. 🙂 We haven’t named him yet….

That’s about all. I need to finish Tru’s update because I am actually about a month behind on it now. So much to update on that boy but I always forget everything I want to say. I just love this whole toddler thing – aside from the tantrums. 😉

So Relatable! Airline Traveling With Baby

Seen, Not Heard: Crying Babies, Airplanes, & Tootsie Pops – http://wp.me/p1IiHk-AH

Take a minute to check this post out. Made me laugh and nod along in agreement.

The Current State Of Affairs

We have a dial operated microwave, not a fancy button one. So if we need to micro something, say, 20 seconds, we have to stand there and count. I needed to soften some butter the other day. It usually takes 3-5 seconds for a half stick. I popped this stick of butter in there and started counting. As you can see, I lost my train of thought in less than 3 seconds. I can’t hold a thought for 3 seconds…. let that just sink in there….

I am loving the gym! At least I was until I got sick and couldn’t go today. 😦 I was super bummed. The workouts actually give me energy and it’s nice to feel the productive burn. I don’t love everything about it… the sweating… the fact that it’s very public and I’m more shy. But it’s definitely nice and Tru loved that I took him swimming there this week. 🙂

Yesterday was our 8th anniversary. It’s hard to believe it’s been 8 years already. I like to tease DH that some years have been longer than others. 😉 He remarked yesterday that the first several years are all a blur now. It’s true. As with most things in life, the clichés about time flying by are spot on.

We spent the first part of the day at home tidying up and spending time with the kids. Then my sister came to watch the kids while we went out to eat and bowling. I didn’t do too badly overall considering I haven’t bowled in years! But the last game we didn’t get to finish since the timer ran out but I was finally finding my groove and bowled 3 spares in a row. DH did great the whole time, of course. 😉 After that we did a little shopping, mostly drooling over things we don’t need. 😉 When we came home, DH mowed the yard….. yep. I shouldn’t have been surprised. He literally went and put up hay for his neighbor a few hours after we got married. No lie. His neighbor didn’t know we had married that day (eloped) and I think he felt pretty bad about making DH leave me to go work. I’ll never forgive DH. Ha ha, just kidding. But I’ll admit, even an easy going girl like me was like “What…..?”  Maybe the fact that he proposed to me at Subway while we were both on the clock should have prepared me better. 😉 I love him so much though. I do. He’s so hot! ❤

We are planning to spend 1 night away alone here soon whenever I stop procrastinating and book it. I'm super duper nervous about leaving the kids. I've not spent a night away from Levi yet and really didn't like leaving Tru last year when we went away for the weekend. But we won't be far at all so I'll try to relax and enjoy our little trip. We want to go kayaking…. maybe. 😉

As I said, we are sick with colds. Levi got it first with a runny nose and later on a mild fever. Tru got a little stuffy but no runny nose and a really bad fever that kept us up until 5am last night as he went from no fever but extreme chills and teeth clattering that I could not relieve him from even while cradling him in my bed, to burning up just a bit later with a fever of 105.2°F. I stripped him down to a diaper and wiped his body with a cool cloth and gave him ibuprofen, since he had already taken Tylenol, and put a fan on him. Within a half hour it had started dropping and kept going down until he finally felt normal temperature again and he slept in my bed until almost noon. Poor DH had to go lead worship at church on 3 hours of sleep. I really just can't stand when my babies have a fever and are sick. Makes me so sad! Here's hoping we wake up tomorrow feeling well again!

Hanging DIY Headboard

Step 1: Select fabrics you are crazy about. I chose 7 different fabrics. You could use more or less. I think I bought about a half yard of each.

I used these foam squares. I don't know where you could buy these exact ones as these were recycled from DH's work but I've seen similar squares at the big box store with the W.

I ironed the fabric, cut it to fit around the foam squares with plenty of extra to pull around to the back. I pinned the fabric to the foam and also used a glue gun on low heat to secure it tightly.

Tada!

I then experimented with how I wanted them to be laid out.

I bought the thinnest sheet of plywood I could find and some wall brackets. DH cut the board for me just a little smaller than the foam squares were all laid out. I tapped them in along the top of the board in 3 places.

I used the low heat glue gun to quickly glue all around the squares and press them down on the board.

The cute baby inspected everything to make sure it was secure.

The hot hubby created a level line to place 3 nails to hang the board on.

The finished project. 🙂

Bedroom Refresh

A few months ago I took on the project of painting my bedroom. I wanted to spruce it up a bit as it still had the original 20 some year old white wall paper. I still have to buy new furniture as our bedroom set is a hand-me-down that was already used when DH got it as a teenager. We had an enormous headboard but I threw it out before I took the “before” pictures. It wasn’t so ugly, it was just huge with a mirror and lights. Made our bed stick out even further into our walking area which already isn’t that big.

I am actually a bit weirded out by showing the world my bedroom (the tiny corner of the world who actually reads my blog – thank you!) but I guess I’ll just suck it up and post these pics. But keep in mind, The furniture is going to be updated soon! 😉

Before, but after I took out the headboard. Also after I bought those new blackout window panels.

I know it doesn’t show up too much in these pictures, but those strips that cover up the places where the wallpaper joins were just …. bleh! I tore all of them off and mudded the strips like they should have been done anyway. We also did this when we painted the kitchen, Tru’s room and the bathrooms when we updated them.

During the mudding process.

I told DH once I was done mudding there was no way he was going to come in and help me paint and thus take credit for my hard work. 😉 I like to do the mudding myself because I do it really really well. Yes, I am bragging on myself. So I caused a ton more work on myself by not having him help me paint but, oh well.

The first color I tried. Horrible

The first gray I used was a gray that DH used in the studio. We love it there. But here? Wow. No way. It looked really violet. It’s because of the wood-look trim. I really dislike wood-look trim but it’s what we have and we are not in a place to replace it all right now. Plus, all the trim is nice so it seems a shame to rip it out. But it limits our color choices SO MUCH!! We can only do warm colors, nothing cool. 😦 So, to the store I went to grab another color and hope for the best.

You see here the original white with the gray that looked lavender and finally, the new, very very light gray.

I love the new color. It isn’t a big change from the white but it makes the room look clean and fresh and with all the strips gone from the walls, it looks updated. Imagine how it will look with new and matching furniture!

My mil got me that comforter set for Christmas when I told her I wanted to paint my room gray. I matched the curtains to it when I bought them.

And, because we no longer had a headboard, I decided to go all diy and make a hanging headboard thingy. It’s a nice splash of color and is what I’m hoping to coordinate with.

I will try to post the instructions for the hanging headboard soon. 🙂

Finally Joined That Gym I’ve Been Talking About…

Yesterday my sister and I went to join the gym that I have been talking about joining for the last month at least. I walked in with a serious case of “What am I doing???!” We got signed up and dropped the boys off at the FREE childcare (major reason why I picked this particular gym) and stuffed our things in a locker. Then we tried to use the elliptical but didn’t even know how to turn the thing on. Yikes! Newbies much? On my way to ask for help, I ran into some friends there who were just getting ready to do a circuit class and asked us if we wanted to try it out. We decided to go for it. I mean, half the people in the class were easily over the age of 55. Easy peasy. NOT!!! 10 minutes in I thought I was going to black out. After a water break, I didn’t feel much better. I’ll spare you the details but after an hour of gasping for air, sweating in copious amounts and trying to not throw up, I looked at my friend and she had nary a drop of sweat on her. I am seriously out of shape.

I woke up this morning almost too stiff to move. My legs are so sore and stiff, it is a major struggle to get into/out of a sitting position. So I’ve spent almost the whole day upright and cleaning. The house looks great. Me? Not so much. But I’ll say that getting that cardio exercise made me feel really good. I even spent time on the elliptical after that. I left when it said I’d burned 100 calories. I had to get the boys out of the childcare anyway since we had almost hit the 2-hour a day allowance. Looking forward to gaining more strength, and maybe more energy. I feel like I should at least get to the point where I can keep up with the senior citizens….

Not Potty Training….

… but getting Levi used to the idea of using the toilet. I forgot to write about this in his monthly update. It all started a few weeks ago when I noticed Levi trying to poop. I took him to the toilet and set him on it. He peed right away and then he cried a little bit. He didn’t like it so I took him off. I was surprised that he actually had done some number 2 as well. 🙂

A few weeks later I tried putting Levi on again while getting the boys ready for their baths. He peed right away and didn’t cry at all. It became a routine after that and now I always set him on the toilet before baths. By the 4th time, he actually cried when I took him off! Haha. So 6 out of 6 times I’ve put him on, he has peed. He is so proud of himself and all smiles and Tru and I clap and cheer him on. 🙂

I have no idea if Levi will end up potty trained earlier than Tru but I’m glad to get a head start on at least getting him comfortable with the idea. 🙂 Plus he looks really cute sitting there. Such a little guy but growing up so fast!

This, That And The Other

Shew! I am beat this week. We are talking full on exhaustion. Yesterday I woke up got up and my eyeballs were on fire! We have not been getting much sleep the last couple weeks. I have been getting up early so I can babysit my 11 month old cousin mon, wed and fri and couple that with the fact that Levi is sleeping terribly and not long periods, thanks to his strong dislike of wearing a “shoe” (what he calls it) 24/7. He absolutely cannot deal with not being able to sleep with his little butt way up in the air due to his leg being held all stiff at a weird angle. Poor kid.

Speaking of, he traded his nasty old splint today for a cast that he has to wear the next 3 weeks. That splint had nearly blistered his heel and the top of his foot was rubbing raw. I hope his leg feels better in the cast. He is allowed to walk with the cast, whether he is actually able to is another story. No such luck so far. It is at such an angle, I don’t see how he could. The very kind nurses that put it on him also made a “cast” for Tru because they wanted him to feel special. 🙂 I really appreciated their thoughtfulness. It’s hard when you are 2 and your baby brother is getting so much more attention from everyone. Tru was thrilled with his cool purple cast but he ditched it when we got home. Poor Levi couldn’t do the same.

Waiting on the dr

A guy Tru drew. He said he put pants and shirt on him lol.

This one is "Bob" lol

The boys with their casts 😉 Levi "picked" orange but it looked icky so Tru and I settled on green. 😉 Haha!

Just one more.... Tru drew this deer all of his own idea! It has antlers and everything!

After Levi’s appointment, I stopped by the mall for a bit and bought the boys 9 shirts and a sleeper for Levi for just $28! I didn’t even use a coupon. I was so happy! The boys and I split a cup of pretzel nuggets while shopping. It’s the simple things. 🙂 We also stopped by DH’s work to have lunch with him and toured the location he is currently at. I had never been inside in all these years!

I know this isn’t really that exciting but, I bought a diffuser and a couple generic essential oils (not using the oils internally/topically) to try and I love it! Mostly because it makes my house smell really good and the diffuser lights up and changes colors, which the boys think is wayyy too cool. 🙂 I bought a lavender/blend oil that is supposed to promote good sleep. I put it right by the head of my bed 2 nights. I can’t say it helped but I can say that it certainly didn’t hurt. 🙂

I hate to bore everyone with my TTC “updates” since there isn’t really a lot to tell, but I like to keep a record of sorts and since I am certainly not charting anything at the moment, here goes. I used CBD Advanced opks this month since I got 2 – 10 packs of them on clearance for $4.99 each (usually like $32 each!!!). I never got a positive. Actually not really sure if I ever ovulated this month or if I just missed it. If I did, it was probably several days earlier than usual. I should know in a few days if AF comes early. Either way, I would say that we definitely missed the egg this month. Which sucks in terms of me taking shots when I don’t HAVE to and just the sucktasticness of “failing”. Not that we “failed” but if you have been through IF (and maybe even if not, I don’t know), you get what I mean. I am half-heartedly considering talking to DH about maybe trying some Gonal-F and TI in a few months. But I am not really sure I want to do that. At least not at this time. I still have that Male Fertility Home Test kit shoved in a drawer somewhere (the one I bought in November last year) and DH brought it up the other day and asked me if I still wanted him to take it. I still have major mixed feelings about that but he is ready to take it if I want him to. We’ll see….

Wow, I cannot end on that note. I’m not really as upset as that above paragraph sounds. I am actually fine (at this moment in time – ask me again in 10 minutes ;)) with letting things take their course. I really do want our family to grow. But I am also learning to just be content with things the way they are because I don’t want to complain against the plan God has for me. I am blessed to have these 2 beautiful boys and they are more than I could have ever dreamed of! I feel that our family is not complete, but I don’t know the future and I know I could be wrong. Either way, God has proven time and again that He is able and that He is faithful. Which I do realize that it is significantly easier for me to say this now than it would have been 3.5 years ago when we were deep in the throws of primary IF.

One last thing, my little DIY garden is producing now! We have an abundance of cucumbers and some yellow cherry tomatoes have started to ripen. We have also picked a couple green peppers. I am really happy with how the garden turned out and hope to add another bed next spring. 🙂 I seriously watered it maybe 3 times after I planted everything and I staked the tomato plants last week and that is all the maintenance it has required. LOVE! 🙂

Levi – 15 Months

This month has been pretty crazy for Levi. The poor kid actually DID break his leg on the slide at the park but it didn’t show up on the first set of xrays. He started walking with a bit of a limp 3 days later and walked for a whole week after that. He even tried to run a few times! He hardly acted like it hurt anymore but I was concerned that his foot was turned inwards a bit and I felt like his limp was getting worse. Then, 10 days after the accident on the slide, he stopped walking and would only crawl. He didn’t want to put any weight on his foot and I could tell it was really hurting again. So the following day (saturday, of course) we took him to a children’s urgent care where they did more xrays and found the break in his lower leg above the ankle. It’s not a bad break and it’s already healing but he still has to get a cast put on for awhile. For now it is in a splint and he isn’t allowed to put weight on it. The splint is bulky and he hates it because he can’t get comfortable but I hope that his leg will stop hurting now while it heals up and he can get back to being his usual active self soon. Why he was able to walk for a week on a broken leg and then suddenly realized it really hurt, I don’t know. He is one tough kid! I really just knew in my gut it was broken all along. The Dr said it isn’t unusual for some types of breaks like his to not show up until a bit after the injury when the bone starts to heal and makes the damage more visible on the xray. So I’m not upset at the first ER for missing it but I am still upset that such a little dude already has had to suffer something as painful as a broken bone. This has definitely taken his energy level down and I was starting to really worry about him since he was acting and looking so exhausted lately.

Prior to all that, Levi had his 15 month check up and looked great. 23 pounds 10 ounces in the 62nd percentile, 32 inches tall in the 78th percentile and I lost the measurement for his head so I don’t know what percentile he is in. Most of his baby chub is gone now and I really really miss it! He definitely slowed wayyyy down in growth physically but I think all his growing power went to his brain because he is so smart! Not trying to brag, he just is. 😉

This month has been a huge boom for Levi’s vocabulary. He now says around 30 words and has an absolutely ADORABLE voice. It’s so fun to hear him start talking and showing that he really pays attention to everything. Current words include: Dada, Mommy (meme), Tru-Tru, woof-woof, River, no, food, cracker, cheese, banana (nana), yogurt (go-ga), cereal, Critter, turtle, chickie, shoe, ba-ba (which means cup), bye, hi, baby, aubrey, horsey (see-see), please (pshh), thank you (choo), tractor, boob, feet, tv (vv). That’s all i can think of for now.

Levi has decided that only babies eat with their hands and he wants to use a fork since he is clearly so grown up! He does really well with a fork and has good coordination picking food up and actually getting it into his mouth most of the time. Mealtimes are somewhat hit and miss but I can usually count on him to do pretty well eating his food. His pickiness is mostly gone now except he still doesn’t like much fruit. I can’t blame him for that though because I don’t like it either. He doesn’t like milk very much which surprises me because he LOVES Enfagrow Toddler Formula in the Natural Milk flavor. Doesn’t make sense but, whatever. 😉 I still offer him milk at least once a day and he will usually take a few sips. Especially if I mix it with a small scoop of Vanilla Pediasure to bribe him with. He also prefers sippy cups over bottles which is funny because of Tru wanting bottles but his baby brother wanting cups. 😉

This little busy man has NO TIME for tv and couldn’t care less about what is on. It comes in so handy to give Tru my phone when we are at appointments and so on as he will sit there perfectly happy watching kids shows. But Levi? Nope! Not a bit. The thing that is funny though is he loves watching videos of himself and/or Truett.

This is long enough and I really just need to get it posted before it’s too late. I am yet to upload all my photos for the last couple months but I’ll try to find a few to include.

Dear God, thank You for all of Your blessings and provisions on us this month and always. Please continue to heal Levi’s leg. Thank You for helping us to figure out what was wrong with it and getting the help to heal it. In Jesus’ name, amen.

While in Florida. His hair was super curly there the whole time. He's had a haircut since and I miss so many curls even if it was a frizzy mess mostly.

The 2 boogers that make each other scream by putting their feet on each other in the car.

Playing with the shovel we finally bought them on the second to last day.

With his splint after leaving the dr

Me? Still eating a boob? I don't know what you're talking about!

Naps with mommy to help heal.