Bathtime and Naptime

Bath times are great fun in our house. Both the boys love taking baths. When Edmund was a baby someone gave us a collapsible baby tub. I never could get it to work, so Edmund has always had his baths in the big tub. Nathaniel on the other hand started out in a dishpan. When he first came home form the hospital he did not like being undressed AT ALL, but by the time I switched him over to the big tub he had gotten over that. Now I can put both boys in the tub and wash them all up and then Edmund gets his playtime in while I dry and dress Nathaniel. I hope my boys inherit their father's love of water, because I am not too confident in it myself.

They sure don't seem to be too happy about getting out of the tub. Of course maybe they are just cold and wondering why in the world I am taking pictures instead of dressing them!

Here they are dressed, combed, and ready to go to Oma's birthday party. Nathaniel is armed with his trusty pacifier. They are so cute, but maybe I'm biased, what do you think?

As for naps, well, more often than not I can get them to sleep at the same time. One day though Edmund decided they should also sleep in the same bed. Edmund loves to take his current favorite toy(s) to bed with him, and this time, managed to get them, and himself, all into the crib and settled without waking up his brother. I love these two little guys so much and I am sure they will be such good friends all their lives!

Is Spring Finally Here?

Last Saturday, it snowed. At some points of time it almost looked like a blizzard. The flakes were so big that when Jaired went out and patted down the 12 inches of snow to 6 inches then stepped in it the snow still crunched and compacted like it does if you step on a fresh spot of snow. A few days after the snow the weather warmed up and by yesterday the only thing left was a small bump of snow where Jaired's snow pile had been.

Yesterday, the weather was beautiful and Edmund and I were able to spend all morning outside. I started a project that I will show you all soon. Edmund had a great time in the puddles and playing with the neighbors' dog.




To make the beautiful day even better, I found some Crocuses, our first flowers of the year!

But the best thing about the day was when Jaired called and said he would be home early, so we could drive down to the nearby state park and have a picnic! The evening was beautiful and only got slightly chilly.

Here is Nathaniel on his first picnic. No, he didn't use the water gun. But Edmund sure had fun with it.

Edmund enjoying barbaqued potato chips.

Note: I started this on Friday, and just finished it now, so yesterday refers to Thursday.

Home: Beautiful and Organized

Recently I have been following several blogs about home organization and decor. I don't have a natural "eye" for decorating, nor do I currently have the money (or the car!) to go out and buy the things I need, or think I need, for organizing my house. So I am learning to work with what I have to make my house beautiful. One way to have a beautiful home is to just keep it clean! A good source for ideas on this is The Flylady.

Here is what I have started with:
Morning routine:
Get up immediately! If Nathaniel needs to be nursed, sit in the rocking chair, nursing in bed is a sure way to sleep in.
Get dressed, including doing my hair.
Make my bed
Breakfast

After breakfast:
Immediately clean up the kitchen, put dishes in dishwasher, wipe table and highchair, et cetera. If there are only a few dishes to hand wash I sometimes will set those aside for washing after lunch, but they need to be filled with water so they will be easy to clean.
If the bed wasn't made already, make it.
Wipe down the bathroom sinks and toilet.
Do the housecleaning job of the day: Vacuum, sweep, dust, laundry, et cetera.

Don't get on the computer until all the above things are done!

After lunch I clean up the kitchen again, then either take a nap or begin whatever project I am working on. I also decide what we will have for dinner.

After making dinner, if there is time before we eat, I clean up the preparation dishes. I also tidy up the house so it will look pretty when Jaired gets home. I do not do this because I don't want him to see what a mess the house is, but that he will be able to feel relaxed, and enjoy coming home even more! :)

After dinner, I clean the kitchen for the last time. Clean it BEFORE going off to play with my boys or spend time with Jaired. Since we eat very shortly after Jaired gets home, this is a good time for him to spend with Edmund.

Before going to bed, I walk through all the rooms of the house and make sure everything is where it should be. I fold and put away any laundry, put any toys Edmund did not pick up into his room, et cetera. I also pick out my clothes for the next day.

As you can see I try to do damage control by doing things right away instead of waiting for things to pile up. I also try to involve Edmund in all these chores. There is no need to wait until a child is 5, 6, or 7 to have him help, especially because he is already contributing to the mess!

So tell me, what do you do to make your day flow more smoothly and your house more beautiful?

P.S. I have many ideas of other things I would like to do, but I will talk about those as they happen. :)

The Iron Man

Well, we didn't have to stay in the hospital, and Nathaniel doesn't have anything serious going on.

Nathaniel has an iron deficiency. The doctor said that this is common in premature babies. They are growing so much faster than regular infants in order to catch up that the iron they get in their milk isn't enough. This is why there is a special preemie formula with iron in it. The doctor sent us home with some liquid iron for Nathaniel to take. Provided he only has an iron deficiency, Nathaniel should be back to normal soon.

This is such a relief to me. I was not look forward to another hospital stay. Thank you all for your prayers. Please continue to pray that Nathaniel will do well with his iron supplements.

Here we go again

Here is Nathaniel at almost 5 months. He is a fat, happy baby. He is teething and can hold his head up well. He hasn't rolled over for awhile, and isn't much interested in sitting up by himself, but that is okay. He babbles a lot! He is very alert and loves to watch his big brother's antics and smile at them. He is now 16 lbs. He is the picture of health, right?

Not exactly. There is something about our boys. They like to go to the hospital. More than that, they like having specialists. At one and a half months Edmund was admitted to the Children's Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia with severe anemia; the normal hemoglobin level is 11-13 gm/dl, Edmund was down to 3. He received three blood transfusions in 24 hours. Over the course of his first year he had multiple visits to the hematologist. They did tests, but never could figure out what the deal was. His iron was fine, his liver and kidneys were fine, his body was producing cells properly, but some how they were dying. He was always borderline anemic, but never seriously again. Now, he is a perfectly healthy, very active boy. But what, you say, does this have to do with Nathaniel?

This past Monday, Nathaniel had a routine checkup. Having been premature, and given Edmund's history, the doctor has been monitoring his hemoglobin. This week it was 7.3. So they called me in to have it checked again, with the same results. The doctor then sent in a referral to the Children's Hospital in St. Louis, two hours from here. The head doctor in the Hematology ward gave an order for us to take Nathaniel in on Monday. He said that he would actually like to have seen Nathaniel yesterday, but knew that that was pretty short notice, given the distance.

So here we go again. Will Nathaniel need a blood transfusion? Will he have to stay at the hospital? Or will they just ask us to take him in for regular checkups? I don't know. All I know is that I want my baby to be healthy and at home. At least if he has to stay at the hospital we will be in St. Louis, near family, this time.

Please pray that all will be well and that there will be nothing wrong except whatever Edmund had. I'll let you know....

Knights and their Surcoats

Surcoat, d.:
A garment worn over medieval armor, often embroidered with heraldic arms. (dictionary.com)

Jaired's brother, Justice, loves to play in the woods, usually acting out some battle or other that he has read about. (He is usually the English, I think.) For Christmas, Jaired had me make Justice a surcoat, black with a red lion crest. He also got Ellie to make a matching flag. As an additional surprise for the guys, Chava made surcoats for Edmund, a blue falcon, and Jaired, a blue dragon, and a bib for Nathaniel, a red cross. Jaired and Justice were thrilled and immediately went out the day after Christmas to fight the Frenchies and vanquish a couple of dragons.


Here they are in all their splendor. You might not be able to see it, but Edmund is holding one of Jaired's small swords. I know you can hardly see Nathaniel's crest, but this is the best picture we have, since the little guys weren't cooperating.

Kiwi Kisses

On the left is a Kiwi Bird finger puppet of Edmund's, on the right a Kiwi Fruit. Edmund got the Bird for Christmas and thought that with a beak like that what else could it be good for except to give out kisses. So the Kiwi Bird sometimes takes a trip around the house kissing everyone multiple times.

The other day I bought some Kiwi Fruit for the first time in a long while, and later asked Edmund if he wanted a Kiwi, showing him the Fruit, he said, "no." A few minutes later he started to push a chair over to the island making kissing sounds. It took me a few minutes to realize that he had changed his mind and did want a Kiwi, and he had come up with kissing as his way of saying Kiwi.