Esther's Dedication

Two weekends ago we celebrated Mother's Day at church with Esther's dedication.  I love our church and the baby dedication is something that is always special at church.  Our pastor takes each baby and walks them down the aisle to show them off to the congregation.  With each baby he holds them out and says, "Look, this is your church family."  I see that is so true now that my family has been at the church for seven years.  In the congregation meeting Esther were men who prayed over Jay when he was ordained as a deacon,  women who rocked our babies as infants and soothed them in the nursery,  teachers who teach our kids Bible truths and love on them each Sunday, and friends that we do life with each week.  I saw families with teenage kids that have modeled Christian parenting, the families we took the Dave Ramsey class with that changed our future, and the sweet older lady who would come and hold our baby at Wednesday night dinner so we could eat.  We have been so blessed by our church and I am so thankful for a wonderful church for our children to grow up in. 

Esther's Aunt Peyton took these pictures during the dedication and we are so thankful she shared them with us!

Esther was so happy to have both sets of grandparents come to her dedication and Uncle Mark and Aunt Peyton.  After the dedication, we went out to eat with our family.  Trey and Charlotte love any extra time they get to play with Uncle Mark. 

Day at the Park

Yesterday we checked out a new park in Roanoke.  It had lots of new play equipment I haven't seen at other parks.  There was also a path around the play area with musical instruments.  The kids loved making music and dancing.  After playing for a while, we took a walk along the Greenway and had a picnic lunch.  It was a wonderful way to start off the long weekend!

Selfies, Check-ups, and Vegetables

I have been trying in vain since Esther was born to get a picture with my kiddos.  They aren't always all for taking pictures (especially the oldest) and are reluctant to all smile at the same time.  Enter: selfies.  When I turn the camera on my phone around so they can see themselves on the screen, everyone is all smiles.  Well, everyone except Esther who is usually asleep :)

After school the kids were giving their stuffed animals check-ups. They asked to give Esther a check-up so I put her on the sofa beside me.  Bless her heart she sat there and just let them do their thing.  She didn't even put up a fight when Trey gave her a shot!

At Trey's 5 year old check up last week the doctor asked him what his favorite vegetable was.  His response, "Well, I don't really like vegetables very much."  She told us to put a vegetable on his plate every night at dinner and he had to try a bite of the vegetable before he could get seconds of anything else.  After a week of doing this he has been very reluctant to try the vegetable, unless it is corn or carrots, so instead he just gives up getting seconds of the other food. 

I think he is getting tired of this trick based on our dinner conversation last night.

Trey: Mommy, when you were a kid did you have to try vegetables?
Me: Yes, Nana made me try new vegetables so I would like them.
Trey: Daddy, when you were a kid did you have to try vegetables?
Jay: Well, I tried vegetables a little.
Trey: Oh, so boys don't really eat vegetables.
Me: No, Uncle Mark is a boy and he eats lots of vegetables.
Trey: Well, maybe only the boys in this family don't eat vegetables.

This led to then asking whose family Esther was in and naming every person in our extended family.  So this summer my goal is to introduce the boys in our family to some new vegetables.  Right now Jay's vegetable preferences are carrots, radishes, and ceasar salad.  Trey will eat one bite of a carrot.  So really, eating any other vegetable will be an improvement!

Charlotte will try anything.  Yesterday when I was making a marinade for some grilled chicken I was mincing a clove of garlic.  Charlotte asked what it was and I told her garlic.  She then asked if she could try a bite of the garlic. Ha!

Peanut Challenge

We found out when Charlotte was 10 months old that she was allergic to peanuts.  It was Thanksgiving and Trey was eating a cookie that had peanut butter in it.  He dropped a large piece on the floor, and being only 2, just kept on going.  Charlotte crawled toward the piece and put it in her mouth.  We fished the piece of cookie out of her mouth when we realized what happened, and then 5 minutes later she started getting hives all over her body.  A quick call to pediatrician, a dose of benadryl , and she was back to her normal self.

The pediatrician told us to avoid all nut products until further notice. Poor Charlotte had to eat sandwiches made of out sunflower seed butter.  She ate them, but the rest of us thought it was disgusting.  At 18 months she had a blood test done where they determined she was definitely allergic to peanuts.  The test was just "barely positive" though, so at that time the pediatrician didn't think she needed an epi-pen.  We were recommended to a pediatric allergist and went to see her right before Charlotte turned 2 years old.  They did a skin prick test on her back and pricked her with all different types of nuts.  The only one that swelled up on her back was the peanut prick.  We were thankful that she was only allergic to peanuts, because that opened up a world of foods to her such as almond butter, hazelnut butter, granola, and other foods with nuts.

This past Christmas, right before she turned 3, she accidentally ate a piece of Trey's peanut butter sandwich.  I wasn't sure how much peanut butter she got in her bite, so I called the pediatrician.  They recommended not using the epi since she wasn't showing any sign of reaction.  If she had shown any sign of an allergic reaction we would have used the epi, but after you administer it you have to go to the er to be monitored, so we don't give it unless necessary. 

Based on the fact that Charlotte had no reaction to the bite of peanut butter sandwich, her allergist recommended doing a peanut challenge.  We went last month to their office, a jar of peanut butter in hand, to determine if Charlotte was still allergic to peanuts.  The basic gist of the challenge is you spend all day in the office and they keep giving you a larger quantity of the allergen and if you show no reaction, you are considered "allergy free."  If there is a reaction, the doctor is right there monitoring everything and an epi pen is ready to be used at any moment.

We got to the office bright and early.  Luckily, Esther was only 7 weeks old so she was still sleeping most of the day away.  Charlotte was excited to play and eat peanut butter.  They gave her 1/4 tsp and she ate it up.  They came back in the room every 5 minutes to check on her and since she was showing no signs of a reaction they gave her a 1/2 tsp of peanut butter.  I can't remember exactly, but I think they gave her more peanut butter every 20-30 minutes.  Still no reaction so they gave her 1 tsp of peanut butter.  A few minutes after the tsp of peanut butter she started getting small red spots around her mouth and on her chin.  It wasn't full blown hives, but it was enough of a difference for the doctor to decide not to give her any more peanut butter.

I had really hoped her allergy had gone away, but that was not the case.  We had to stay in the office 2 more hours to be monitored and make sure all the red spots had gone away and that no other reaction occurred.  The doctor said we would wait another year and then try again.  Her reaction was very mild and she is so young, so there is still a chance to outgrow the allergy.

For now Charlotte is still enjoying her almond butter sandwiches. 

Up bright and early (see how dark it still is in the rest of the house)!

Happily entertaining herself while the doctor keeps checking back in.

This is how Esther spent most of the day. 

2 Months

Esther is now 2 months old. Even though it feels likes we have had her in our family forever, it has only been 2 short months!

Sleeping: This month Esther will usually do one long sleep stretch at night  (5-8 hours!) then eat and go back to sleep for another 3-4 hours.  She usually goes to bed sometime between 8 and 9 pm and then is up for the day around 6:30.  She only has about an hour to an hour and a half of wake time before she needs another nap during the day.  Most of her naps are still in the swing or the car seat if we are out and about. If she falls asleep in the ergo or in your arms, she is starting to wake up as soon as you lay her down.

Eating: She still eats every 3 hours during the day.  Breastfeeding is going great, except when she gets sprayed with milk and starts to cough and splutter.  That is getting better though :)  She took a couple of bottles of breastmilk this month with no problem.  If she is tired and I try to feed her, it only makes her more mad.  Also if I try to feed her closer than 3 hours apart she spits up, so it is best to wait until she is actually hungry so she doesn't get mad or spit up.

Activity:  Esther is much more alert this month.  She is smiling for us, but she makes you work for it!  She is starting to hold her head up when on her belly and look around.  She will follow toys around if you hold them above her head and her favorite thing to look at is the fan.  She loves to lay on the floor on a blanket and the big kids will read her stories, sing to her, or just get in her face and talk to her.  Now that she smiles for them they will do anything to try to get her to smile at them!

Esther is loving bath time and if she is fussy in the evening this will usually calm her down.  She is starting to like the car a bit better and not cry if she is awake in her car seat.  She enjoys being carried in the ergo more than the stroller, and this works better for me because it keeps my hands free to hold the other kids when we walk through the parking lot.

At her two month appointment (which was really more like 10 weeks) she weighed 13 lbs (90%) and was 23 inches long (75%) and her head was right in the 50% range.  Her pediatrician declared she was a "perfectly healthy little butterball."  This month I also had to pack up her 0-3 months clothes and she is in all 3-6 month clothing. 

 

Spring Break

The week after Easter was Spring Break for our family.  All five of us were home this week.  We worked on house projects and just had fun being together and relaxing. 

On Monday we worked around the house. Jay finished putting up the letters and embroidery hoops in Esther's room.  I really liked the way this turned out! 

Tuesday we did some painting at home, then we went to story hour at the library.  The theme for the story hour was balloons so after reading some books about balloons the kids painted with balloons.  I have been taking Charlotte to story hour every Tuesday while I have been on maternity leave.  Charlotte was so happy Trey came with us this week.  Every time a new kid arrived Charlotte would put her on hand on Trey's back and say, "This my brother Trey.  He is 5." 

 Daddy was home during the day to give Esther her first bottle.  She sucked it down like a champ with no problems!  She now has no problem switching between breastfeeding or taking a bottle of pumped milk!

 One rainy day the kids found the boxes of toys I had put away in the basement.  You would have thought they had won the lottery, they were that excited about their old toys.  They kept bringing all the toys upstairs and then played with them nicely for hours!

 If they found a baby toy they would give it to Esther and were so happy when she would watch and smile at the toys.

We headed back to the library later in the week to play with their toys and check out some more books. I love our local library.  It has an amazing children's section with DVDs, books and quiet toys like the train table, puzzles, and building toys. 

 On Friday we met up with some friends at the park.  We were able to play for about an hour before the sky let loose and there was a downpour!  We ran towards the shelter and ate a picnic lunch while watching the rain fall. 

 Saturday our Sunday school class had a family outing to go hiking at Roaring Run.  This is the first time we have hiked the whole thing with the kids.  It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time hanging out with other families.

Esther stayed in the Ergo for the hike and did great the whole time.  She is so good when we are on the go. 

 After we got to the waterfalls, Jay took the kids to walk on the rocks down to the water.

The kids had a picnic lunch after the hike.  The gnats were too bad at the bottom of the trail for the parents to risk opening their mouths to eat! 

 All week long Jay worked on painting the table and chairs he built for the kid's craft table.  I got tupperware to organize their craft supplies so now they have crayons, markers, stamps, stencils, hole punches, tape, and scissors to make their masterpieces  We moved some things around in the play area and crafting is now happening every day at our house!