This has been our daily routine since Andy started sleeping in his crib. I really like it!!
10:30 Andy & Bren wake up, snuggle time
10:45-11:00 Andy BF 15 min
11:00-12:00 Bren watches cartoons, Andy plays, I compute for as long as Andy allows
12:00-1:00 All 3 of us eat a meal
1:00-1:30 Various stuff or cleaning. Often Andy watches a Baby Einstein video
1:30 Andy BF 10 min
1:45-4:00 Andy naps and I get some computer time, shower time (on a good day) and Brendan and I do some prechoolish stuff (play educational computer games, do workbook pages, read, play in general…). Bren and I eat a light meal.
4:00 Mommy’s Oprah hour, Andy BF 10 min and we play on the bed together while I watch. Sometimes Bren joins us or he’ll do his own thing.
5:00-5:45 Cook dinner and feed Andy, DH comes home
5:45-6:30 Eat dinner
6:30-7:00 Cleanup, relax
7:00-9:00 Various things, yardwork, errands, whatever. Andy BF for 10 min and naps for an hour usually around this time.
9:00-10:30 or 11:30 TV time, occasionally we play a computer game
Somewhere between 10:45 and 11:30 we get ready for bed. Andy BF 10 min.

Bren was playing playhousedisney.com (the LeMOOnade game) and it brought up an addition game where you are supposed to count cups of lemonade… except they don’t give you cups to count. The characters DO hold up their fingers but almost immediately this calculator thingy (where you are supposed to type your anser) pops up and covers their fingers so you can’t really use them. What that leaves you to use is an addition fact like this one…
3
+4
—-
?
This is PRESCHOOL???
Bren understandably wanted some help so I tried showing him how to count on his fingers… Bwahahahaha. He got the concept but had trouble keeping his fingers in the right positions and by the time he got the 2nd hand ready he forgot what the first hand was supposed to be. And he didn’t have a hand left to count the fingers with anyway. We did a few where he counted my fingers and then I decided to switch to objects. I picked up him box of Dora dominoes and pulled out 8 of them. I put them face down (pictures are just distracting) and made a pile of them. I showed him how to count out the first number and then add the second number’s worth of dominoes in and then count the total number of dominoes to get the answer. It was hard but he enjoyed it. He can’t do it by himself but he got a good introduction to addition.
Then we put the dominoes picture sides up and I showed him how to put like pictures together to make a big line of them. That was much easier!

I have been puzzled over what I thought was my first post-baby period. “She” started up about 6 days ago (7m2w3d, April 4th) but very scant bleeding. Not at all like my typical period (8 days long, 4-5 heavy). I thought AF (or Fake-F) was gone yesterday but I got a hint of her again this morning. Either arrive or leave- just git your foot outta my door!
With her arrival came an immediate crash in my milk supply. Andy has been fussy and eating a TON of solid food. I noticed he wasn’t making but 1 fully wet diaper a day and for a couple of days I even gave him some watered down juice bottles just to keep him hydrated. He seemed to nurse normally in length and frequency though I didn’t hear many swallows. I was ready to throw in the towel but he started getting more yesterday and this morning all was back to normal- yippeeee! Andy was relieved, I think and it was the first breakfast in maybe 5 days where a “normal” meal of puffs and banana oatmeal was enough to satisfy him.
Andy now refuses plain Cheerios. Bren did this too so I am not surprised but a liitle sad because they are so good for you. I pondered over Apple Cinnamon Cheerios and Honey Nut and ended up with the apple. Bad choice- thay are basically regular Cheerios with an apple glaze… that doesn’t dissolve well. They are much crispier. I hope the Honey Nut are not glazed. Anyone know?
Andy’s biggest news is that he sleeps in his own crib at night now. I had done 2 CIO (cry it out) naps prior to starting and he had 2 nights of just a few minutes crying. Now he cries until I am out the door and then he’s done!!! For 10 hours! I am totally boggled and excited that both boys sleep in their own beds!!! DaNcE oF jOy!!! Our bedtime routine is so simple! Both get jammies. DH brushes Bren’s teeth and puts him in his bed. I nurse Andy and put him in his crib. Done. In 15 minutes!
Andy’s 2nd biggest news is that he has 2 teeth! The bottom middle 2 popped up together last week. Just about the same time Bren got his first tooth. He has bitten me twice so far and WOW that hurts. But it is not as often as I thought it’d be.
Andy finally outgrew his infant carseat so he is in a big boy toddler seat now. I miss being able to set him down places in it and not having to use the stroller but dang it was heavy!!
Andy’s toys of the week- an empty altoids tin and an empty baby shampoo bottle. Silly boy.
*****
Brendan was inundated with birthday presents… he still has 3 or 4 unopened ones just waiting. He’s loving it, of course. One of his presents was a scooter with 2 wheels in the back. He’s slowly learning it. He doesn’t like the helmet we make him wear. His first helmet set was too small so we went back and ended up with a helmet and a pads set that were meant for 8 year olds!!! And the knee pads are still too tight! :/
Talking funnies: “Preer Fan” for Peter Pan (thanks for the movie Mimi!) and “Klaw Brudders” for Koala Brothers (from playhousedisney.com).
Bren amused DH a few monrings ago by asking him for a hot drink. They sipped hot apple cider together and had a good time.
Toy of the week: He has been using a marker as a microphone and pretending to be an announcer lately. I think it’s from Cars. He has also been taking the pens and pencils from all over the house and for awhile protested when we claimed one back. He is really into coloring, tracing shapes and letters, and having us write words (mostly names) for him.
Recent quotes:
“push it to the limit”
“My tummy’s talking to me”
“You’re the best girl I ever had in the whole world” Awww…

Very simple, very calm, very nice Easter at home. The grandparents left with me a small gift for each of them and I only used what was in the Easter storage box and candy we already had. Brendan had a blast hunting eggs in our living room since in was cold and wet outside.

That turned out nicely!
ETA:

Bren and Lightning McQueen bear a strong resemblance, lol.
Bren’s pizza party turned out great!! He was only shy for the singing- I am so happy!!! He has really turned a corner there (that his brother has entered full force…sigh!). Having taken him twice to this pizza place in the prior 2 months and talking often about what to expect at the party (eat pizza, play games with the boys and girls, eat cake, etc.) REALLY helped. He was so excited when this day finally arrived.
Bren’s favorite game turned out to be one where you lay back in a chair and hold on to bars and the machine would shake as you watched a film of a roller coaster. A real one. He ended up loving it (with a hilarious video of his first uncertain moments) and rode it a few times with a 7 year old girl named Kendall. He rode the dinosaurs with the Smith clan as well. He also impressed us with climbing to the top of their indoor playground tubes- I knew it wouldn’t be long before he made it to the top of one somewhere!
The guest list was
Gene & Waynell (who watched Andy for me!)
The Smiths (Carol, Ed, Kendall and the 4 year old triplets- Nicole, Hunter, Brandon)
Mary K and Leonard
Cathy and Chuck
Michelle with 2 1/2 mo old twins Quinn and Connor
Diana with month old Alayna and 5 year old Joseph
Jorge and Cristina with 1 year old Alvaro
Cricket and Sarah
Ann with her boys, JJ and Jackson
Peter Piper Pizza did a great job. We were right on to avoid the weekend. We were informed from the start that they were so un-busy that we didn’t have to hurry and could stay late. We bought a bunch of their cheese stuffed crust pizzas and they were terrific!!! It was a great deal for $5.99 a child plus about 6 extra pizzas. I was running around crazily until about halfway through and decided to stop worrying about everyone and plopped myself down to eat and visit instead. Darrell TOTALLY managed Brendan and the entertainment department while I made sure everyone had food & drink, fielded questions from the host and moved the party along when needed.


Brendan loved his cake. It was made from the cake shop that made our wedding cake, Lucy’s. It was bee-utifully decorated as a Lightning McQueen racetrack… apparently this style is so popular that the company can’t make enough toppers so I used our handy dandy Lightning McQueen from McDonald’s. LOL. Saved myself $8.00 too. 😉

Right before we started singing.
We have a pile of presents in our living room. We really are blessed by generous friends and family. We are letting Bren take the lead when he wants to open one. We started off with his Mimi and Papa’s gifts since they are leaving in the morning. Among their other gifts, he received a Spiderman scooter and a Cars helmet and pads set. I think the helmet is too small though. We’ll have to find him another one.
My baby is really growing up into a wonderful little boy. Sniff. 😀

I made these from images found when googling “Easter coloring”. The first 2 worksheets are completed using bingo dauber type paint markers (you can buy a variety of colors at Hobby Lobby for less than $2 each).

Use the daubers to make candies in the basket. Count them.

Use the daubers to color the dots and then circle the number that corresponds to the correct number of dots on each egg.

Letter writing practice.

Help your child write an Easter sentence such as “I like hunting for eggs!” or “Chocolate bunnies are yummy!”

Purely for artwork. I made 2 copies- one for each of us. 😉

Whooooosh. It’s over. I feel like I just finished my last final exam of the semester. LOL.
Brendan- 4 year well check
42 5/8 inches (75th percentile)
44.8 lbs (95th percentile- up from 90th percentile at 3 years)
Our scale said 45.8 last night so this one was a pound or so lighter. Thank goodness because that pound would have put him off the charts (and that matters to me because I’ve been fat all my life and don’t want that for him). I am happy where he is right now. 95% may be high but so is 75% for his height. He’s proportional! Yay!
I am so proud of him!!! We talked to him both last night and this morning about the visit and gave him ideas of what to talk about and the heads up on what to expect (namely, NO SHOTS). He was Mr. Social 😯 with the nurse and the Dr got a good look at them interacting so had no problem when he was somewhat shy with him. Somewhat shy- but not hiding his face in a chair any more! He’s definitely at the shy end of the pendulum, but back in the realm of normal! Wheeee! 😀
He got his blood pressure taken (92/48), had a visual exam where I was very proud because he was able to do the big kid letter chart!! He kept turning to look at other posters and stuff to read the letters so the nurse switched to the shapes eye chart and he was so cute… the hand symbol was a “paw print” and the coffee cup symbol was “drinking” and the plus sign was an “X”. 😛 His eyes checked out fine. She attempted to do a hearing test but he would only tell her “yes” (for hearing the beep) after she asked him if he heard it. Didn’t go too well, but I’m not in the least worried. I was annoyed to find out they actually charged us $60 more for the hearing and eye exams. Since when did those basic things start costing extra??? :/
All in all he is great. The pedi’s only suggestion was for him to drink more milk- he suggested 20 oz skim milk a day. I think his 10-12 oz is fine especially since his favorite food is cheese. He was very happy that he doesn’t wet the bed.
Andy- 6 month well check (@ 7m1w)
28 1/4 inches tall (Bren was 27 3/4 @ 6m1w)
19.3 pounds (Bren was 19.1 @ 6m1w)
Head was 18 1/4 inches (Bren was same at 6m1w)
I got a high five for breastfeeding him this long! 😀 He did ask when he had last seen Andy and I replied “right before 3 months with reflux issues” and he didn’t say anything about missing a checkup. Everything is great with Andy- he eats well, sits well, plays well… 😀
Both the nurse and the pedi confirmed with me that they got their shots at the health clinic and the pedi even gave me a curious look but I didn’t offer up any additional info. I think he asked me about it not to confirm the actual shots a second time but as a way to open up conversation if, say, I was upset with how the nurse performed the shots last time or some other thing like that. He does things around-about like that- opens you up to talk about something you may not want to bring up- it’s a good thing generally.
Total cost for both check-ups, if you are curious- $280. Considering I saved $1100 last week I am not complaining.
Andy’s next appt is for 9 months but unless I am worried about something, I just don’t see the need to bring him in again in only 7 more weeks.
****And Andy cut his first 2 teeth last night!! I just checked yesterday and pop! Now he has the two bottom middle teeth popping through.****

These are the cutest things when wrapped and taped around Hershey’s miniature candy bars!!! 😀

resulting in a sperm extraction that didn’t find any. They are moving on to adoption.
Azoospermia Blog