Fort Fun

The virus that has plagued our home caused both boys to have a rash over their entire bodies. The rash is not itchy, but is not cute either. We have been spending a lot of time inside so that we don't scare the general public. Today, both boys appear to be rash-free, but I decided it would be best to stay inside for one more day to ensure we don't spread our germs to anyone else.

It has been tough coming up with ideas to entertain two kiddos indoors. Today, I decided to pull out a card table and a bed sheet to build a fort for Charlie. Oh, man! What a good idea it was. We brought flashlights and pillows into our fort and had so much fun. Jackson was not as crazy about the fort as Charlie and Mommy, but fortunate for us, he takes plenty of naps. We sang, ate snacks, played doctor, read books, and pretended to take naps in Fort Charlie. It was such a simple idea, but it gave us hours of entertainment.

Does It Get Any Better???

5 Months

Jackson has had the best month of his little life. He is all smiles and laughs and just a happy baby. His personality is really shining through more and more every day. His two favorite things right now are Charlie and Samson. He almost jumps out of his skin when either one of them walks into the room. He thinks Charlie is just about the funniest person on the planet and will belly laugh uncontrollably at Charlie's antics. His big brother eats up the attention and is usually willing to preform for him. The first time it happened, Charlie was pretending to vacuum, and Jack just thought that was hilarious. I had heard him laugh before but not like this. These were rolling, belly laughs, and it made my heart smile.

Jack continues to grow and get stronger. He is still not rolling from his back to his belly and can only sit up with help, but that is fine by me. I want to hold onto my baby for as long as I can. His coordination has really improved this month. He is able to grab for objects and pull them into his mouth. His new favorite play toy is his feet. He also likes "Ellie" the elephant and "Leo" the lion (one of Charlie's favorites too). He enjoys his exersaucer and bouncy seats and will amuse himself for 5-10 minutes, but he would much rather be with us. He loves to be held just like Charlie. Jackson also enjoys being outside. He gets so mellow as soon as he is in the fresh air. We recently put a patio under our deck, so it is the perfect shaded spot for Baby Jack to hang out.

He now has two teeth and has been using them to eat some rice cereal. Both of his doctors recommended the rice cereal at his 4 month check-up since it can help reflux babies. I decided to give it a try, and he now gets 2 tablespoons in his nightly bottle. Ever since adding the cereal to his bottle, we have gone from 6-8 hour stretches to 8-10 hour stretches at night. He eats at 8pm and usually wakes up sometime between 4-6am to eat again. The nights where I only get up once to feed him are so wonderful! Now, if I could only get Charlie to stop waking up in the middle of the night, I might start feeling like my old self. Jack is still taking 4-5 naps during the day and is usually awake for 1.5 hours at a time. I am so ready for the number of naps to go down. He does not sleep in my arms or the carseat very well, so it is severely limiting our ability to leave the house. Hopefully by next month we will be down to 3 naps.

Jack is wearing 3-6 month clothing and just graduated to size 2-3 diapers. I was changing both boys' diapers the other morning and I noticed that Jack's new diapers are only a bit smaller than Charlie's. He is growing and developing so fast. As with Charlie, it makes me happy and sad all at the same time. Sad that the time has flown by and happy to have such a healthy, happy, handsome growing boy!

Fun Visit

My best friend from high school, Stef, and her little man, Declan, came for a visit last week. It was so fun to get all of the boys together. Declan is just about the happiest, most easy-going kiddo. Charlie woke up the next day and said, "See Declan now?" He really loved playing with the D-Man and Stef. We need another playdate soon before Stef goes back to teaching full-time in August.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to Dadda, Grandpa, Granddaddy, and Uncle Walker!

Mini Vaca

We rented a house on Lake Lanier last weekend with Nick's sisters. It was a wonderful long weekend with family and a great mini-vaca for all. Charlie absolutely loved the lake, adored the attention from his aunties and uncles, and had a blast being outside for three days straight. It was a perfect weekend and something that we would definitely love to do again in the future.

The Creep and The Crud

We are typically a pretty healthy family. Ever since Memorial Day weekend, our house has been hit with a nasty virus that has manifested in just about every symptom you can think of: fever, cough, congestion, rash, and vomiting. It has also led to a few secondary infections: ear, sinus, and pink eye. The creep and the crud has invaded, and I feel like I need a Lysol Bomb to get rig of all of the germs. Since no such product exits, I must settle with getting the couch steam cleaned and the good, old-fashioned Lysol spray for the rest of the house. Hopefully we are nearing the end of this germ fest and life can get back to normal.

Memorial Day

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend with friends and family. Even though the weather was not all that great, we managed to spend a lot of time outside and got a chance to go to the pool as a family two days. Jackson and I sat on the sidelines while Charlie and Nick had fun in the pool. Nick and I thought that Charlie would take a while to warm up to the pool, but we were very wrong. Charlie jumped right in and had no fear. We were both shocked and a little worried that he was not a bit more cautious. Looks like there won't be many trips to the pool alone with the boys.

We only spent a little over 30 minutes at the pool each time before the rain chased us away. It was plenty of time for Charlie to splash, laugh, and play. We even had a chance to test out a special flotation suit that we bought for him. He looked to stinking cute in that suit and was hilarious walking around the house before we left. He looked like a mini Iron Man.

I LOVE This Boy!

Looking at these pictures, you would never know that this was the same baby who used to spend most of the day crying, a few hours each night screaming, and was up every two hours grunting in pain.

This is happy Jack, and he is the baby that I always knew was hiding behind the pain and discomfort. I still tear up when I think about how much pain he must have been in during his first few months. He still has a feisty personality and is quick to let you know when he is not happy about something, but this is the face that we see most often...chubby, red cheeks, big grin, and bright, smiling eyes. I love him and cannot imagine my life without him.

Quicksand

In all honesty, the above picture would be more accurate if there was a toddler kicking and screaming on the floor instead of a crying baby. But, this is the comic that was included in my weekly e-mail update from Baby Center today, and it is the picture that inspired the following rant from this haggard momma.

I love Charlie. In fact, I could just stare at him for hours and still want more. He is such a funny kid, and I laugh out loud at him at least a dozen times a day. Today, I laughed so hard at an expression that he made that it literally brought tears to my eyes. Not only is he funny, but he can be the sweetest, most loving, affectionate child. He always wants to be held and will often rest his head on my shoulder or pat my back tenderly when I pick him up. He worries about Jack when he is crying and will often tell him, "Momma's coming baby. Don't cry." I could not imagine Charlie being any different than his is. The following vent is not about Charlie as much as it is about me.

We've all heard about the terrible two's. Really, I think it should be called the terrible toddler years, but I think it's a little late to make that change. I digress. All toddlers go through the terrible twos - some are worse off than others. It all depends on a child's temperament. Some of my good friends only have to use a stern voice in order to get their kiddos back in line. They startle at the mere sound of "NO" coming from their mommies. Charlie, on the other hand, hears the word "NO" and does it anyway...usually with a smile on his face. I swore that I was not going to use the words "No" or "Stop" when disciplining my child. Instead, I was going to calmly redirect my child by explaining the correct action to take in any given situation. I also planned to use logical consequences for discipline. If you throw your food then you have to help pick it up. I thought I had the perfect discipline game plan for when Charlie hit the terrible two's.

I was wrong.

For goodness sake, I am an education major. I have a degree that indicates that I have learned how to discipline a child. I also have 6 year's teaching experience where I was able to keep peace and order in a room filled with 20+ children. So, why in the world can I not keep my own child from spitting, throwing, hitting, and screaming?

I try to be diplomatic with Charlie. I explain things to him calmly and give him choices, but I loose my patience when he continues to do something over and over. For example, we were playing blocks this morning, and he began to throw them. I told him that blocks are for building and if he threw them again they would have to be put away. As soon as I did this, he began to throw blocks at Jack - all the while looking me straight in the eyes. I then told him that we could not play blocks anymore because he chose not to listen. This resulted in Charlie then taking a handful of blocks and hurtling them at Jack and me. At this point I raised my voice and told him to stop.

I want to be consistent with Charlie, but the problem is that I don't know what to do consistently...time out, removal of toys, spanking, redirection, etc. He does not seem to learn from any of the techniques that we have tried. I have a stack of books on raising toddlers next to my bed, but I know what will happen when I read them. One will contradict the other, and I will be left in the same boat that I am in now. Like everything else with parenting, I know that I need to do what I feel is best for MY child. The only problem is that I have NO idea what that entails.

Nick thinks that I worry too much (okay, I'll give him that one), and Charlie will be fine. I, on the other hand, feel like we are running out of time. Charlie is smart, and if he figures out that he can call our bluff, we are sunk. Have you seen Super Nanny? I feel like I am in quicksand many days because I keep trying to get somewhere with Charlie and keep slipping further and further away from what I had hoped to be as a mommy. I feel like I am failing him some times, and it makes me so sad. Maybe Nick is right, and I am over thinking it. I just want to do the right thing for Charlie, and it's hard knowing that I have not figured out what that is yet.

If you have dealt with or are dealing with a tough toddler (ie: one who would hit you if they don't like what you are telling them), then I would love your advice. I am wide open to suggestions.