YAY Aidyn!

Well, just a quick update.

Yesterday was a loooong day. Aidyn didn't want to eat or nap. I'm supposed to be trying to get him to eat more and he didn't want to. He totally quit spitting up with the new medicine schedule...until about 3 hours later and it started back again. I think I may agree with Gloria (the lactaction specialist) that his reflux dosage isn't enough anymore compared to his weight.

On a better note....Aidyn slept 6.5 hours lastnight! He ate at 10:30pm and didn't wake up until 5:00am. He is in a much better mood this morning. He ate 5 oz at 7:30pm lastnight, but only 3 oz before going to bed. I guess he wasn't hungry. Who knows?

This morning when he got up at 8am, he only ate 4 oz again. We set in his room and just "hung out" a while in the rocker while he was feeling good. We read our daily proverb (Proverbs 14 since today is the 14th) and then came to the office.

I laid him on his playmat while I checked my email and when I turned around to check on him, this is what I saw. I JUMPED UP and ran downstairs as quick as I could to get my camera. Luckily, he didn't go anywhere. :)

He has been trying to roll over for a few weeks now but just can't seem to. Granted, he isn't all the way over, but that's a good start! A few minutes ago he rolled to the other side, but when he heard me say, "Good boy!" he rolled back on his back.

Let's hope his great sleep and good morning is a sign of a much better day to come. Yay, Aidyn!!!

Returning Visitor

Well, Mr. Cradle Cap himself came back yesterday. We applied steriod cream lastnight and the ointment today. Aidyn has begun scratching at it already. Let's hope the steriod cream works this time. If not, we have his 4 month check up in 13 days. Looks like we may be back before then.

He also didn't have a good day today. I can't decide if it's still the teething issue like we thought or he just doesn't feel well. He is supposed to be eating more, and he actually ate less today. A few times he ate 5oz, but mostly 4oz and once only 3oz. Ugh!

He did better with the spit up, but then because he's eating more...I swear I think he's spitting up more. Who knows. I'm going to give him until Sunday (that's definately 3-4 days) and try some avocado if he still isn't sleeping. Today he didn't want to eat or sleep and so the result has been a very cranky baby all day. Let's hope tomorrow is better.

It's 9:45pm and he's in the bed (even though he should eat again at 10:30pm), so I'm going to lay down myself. I think this is a record.

Chicken Recipe

Several people have asked me about this recipe. You should be able to look it up online, but here it is incase you can't find it or just don't feel like searching for it.
The chicken recipe that we used for Mother's day was found on the internet. Ben watches the Food Network a lot and I believe he saw this recipe on there and then looked it up.

Big Bud's Beer Can Chicken
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
2 smashed garlic cloves
1 (12oz) can beer
1/2 lb bacon
1 (2-3lb) whole chicken

Our recipe says that prep time is 20 minutes, but it actually took a little longer than that.

Preheat oven to 450'. Wash chicken with cold water adn pat dry with paper towels.

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Rub 1/2 on the inside cavity of the chicken. Gently peel the skin away from the chicken, but DO NOT cut it off. Pour the remaining dry mix under the skin and then use your hands to spread it out. You want to get the ingredients down into the chicken as far as possible. The skin stays on and is able to hold the taste and juices in the chicken.

Open the beer can and drink about 1/2 cup...haha...or pour it out as I did. Drop the smashed garlic cloves down into the beer. Place the chicken, "standing up", on the beer can and in a large saute pan. We used a metal cake pan.

Place 1/3 of the bacon in the top cavity of the chicken and drape the remaining 2/3 of the bacon over the top. Attach with toothpicks so it doesn't fall off while in the oven.

*Because we were going to church, we did the dry rub and bacon inside the cavity the night before. We laid the chickens down in the pans and placed them in the fridge overnight. I really think this helped the dry mix seasoning and bacon "set in". In the morning, all we had to do was place the chicken on the beer and put the bacon on top of the outside.

Place chicken in oven for 10 min on 450' and then lower the oven to 325 and cook for another hour. The chicken is done when the outside is golden brown, the bacon is cooked, and the chicken reaches 165' in the thickest thigh region.

I preheated the oven and put then chicken in for the first 10 min while I was putting my makeup on. When I went down to reduce the oven to 325, I realized that's what I had accidently set it on the first time. Oooops. So in all reality, our chickens (we had 10 lbs total instead of 3) cooked for a little over 90 min on 325'. I'm not sure what the reason was for the first 10 min on 450' was, but if you need to put the chicken in and leave, I would just set your oven on 325 and cook it a few min longer. Worked for us.

*Our 2 (5lb) chickens served 11 people. We had enough left over for Ben to eat lunch the next day, but that was it. I guess you would want to figure about 1 lb per person when trying to estimate what size chicken to get.

Not so "Magic"

Well, here is Aidyn's eating progress since talking to Gloria yesterday. After eating at 10pm lastnight, he didn't quite make it to 4-5am like I was hoping. Oh well.

2:30pm - 5 oz
7:30pm - 4 oz
10:00pm - 5 oz
2:45am - 5 oz
6:45am - 2 oz
10:00am - 4 oz

As you can see, we are not on a set schedule yet. He eats every 3 hours except during the nights and early mornings. When he first woke up the morning he didn't want to eat, but play. I finally was able to get him to eat those 2 oz at 7:00am.

We'll keep fixing the 6 oz bottles today and if he doesn't do more than 5 oz...then that's what I'm going to start fixing. It kills me to throw away formula. Espcially since now we're going to be going through it even quicker with bigger bottles.

Progress...

After talking to Gloria today, I fixed Aidyn's 2:00pm bottle with 6 oz. The formula makes twice the scoops...if that makes any sense. 1 scoop for 2oz, 2 scoops for 4oz, and 3 scoops for 6oz.

Aidyn has been eating 4 oz for a long while now. At 2:00pm, he ate 5oz. I figured that's a pretty good start. The only problem was when 5:00pm came around, he wasn't hungry. He refused to eat. I tried again at 6:00pm, nope. Finally, at 7:30pm Aidyn ate. This time he only ate the 4oz. We were at the park watching our church's softball team play. Ben's mom was feeding Aidyn and we tried to get him to eat more but he wasn't interested.

He got fussy and then eventually went to sleep. He was supposed to eat at 10:30pm, but when we got home at 10pm he was fussy and ready to eat. I went ahead and fed him and he ate 5oz again.

Ben and I decided to find the halfway point on the formula scoop and make a mark. This way I can start making 5oz bottles instead of 6oz and then throwing away the last bit. I am going to continue with 6oz throughout the night and tomorrow. If he continues to only eat 5oz, than that will be our plan.

There seems to be a "magic touch" to the 10-10:30pm feeding time. For whatever reason, when Aidyn eats during that 30 minute block, he always sleeps 4-5 hours. Since he just ate 5oz, and it was the "magic" time, I'm hoping he'll sleep well. I'll let you know in the morning. :)

Aidyn's Eating Plan

Well, this maybe actually should be entitled "My Plan for Sleep".

Aidyn is 15 weeks old and still not sleeping through the night. The lactation consultant at our pediatrician's office, Gloria, said to contact her if Aidyn was was not sleeping through the night at 10 weeks. Well, everyone I talked to said that switching to formula should help because it takes longer to digest formula. Maybe for some kids...but not Aidyn. I decided to wait instead of calling her, but he continued getting up every 3 hours during the night.

At Aidyn's 2 month appointment, Gloria had told us that instead of starting with rice cereal, she likes for parents to start with avocado. I forget the exact reasoning, but I remember Ben and I discussing later how it made sense. I have also talked to many parents that did the same and it worked.

I decided I was going to call her last Friday. Wouldn't you know that Thursday night Aidyn slept 5 1/2 hours. He must've known I was calling. I still did and left her a message. Since she had been out of the office for a week, I figured she would be swamped with messages and breastfeeding issues. She must have been, but she finally called me back this afternoon.

Here is our plan for Aidyn:
Step 1
Increase his 4oz bottles to 6oz and get him to eat as much as possible for 3-4 days.
Aidyn has been eating 4 oz since he was 2 months old. I kept thinking he should be increasing his intake, so I increased his bottles to 5-6oz. I explained this to Gloria and told her that he sucks the 4oz bottles dry in no time, but when I increased them...he wouldn't eat hardly any more. I felt like I was wasting the formula after trying that for several days and having to pour it out, so I went back to 4oz bottles. She said that it is possible that with his reflux, he is more comfortable eating smaller, more frequent meals. This is why he is still waking up at night to eat. If we can get him to eat more during the day, he should stop waking up at night.
Step 2
Instead of giving Aidyn his reflux meds (1 prevacid tablet) in the mornings, start giving it to him in the evenings between 5pm-7pm. She thinks that the meds may be wearing off and that is causing him to wake him in the middle of the night. Many times he will wake up but won't want to eat and this could be why.
Step 3
If eating more (if he hopefully will) and changing the meds time doesn't work, we will start adding the avocado. We will try this for 3-4 days.
Step 4
If Aidyn STILL isn't sleeping through the night at this point, she wants his dr to see him again. With his continual weight gain, Gloria thinks that Aidyn is not getting enough of the meds anymore. She said if the pediatrician won't increase the dosage, she recommends seeing a pediatric gastro-specialist to get a 2nd opinion. She said that many times the specialists will give higher dosages or a more specfic meds.

Today is Tuesday, May 12th. Aidyn is already scheduled to go back for his 4 month check-up and shots on Wednesday, May 27th...2 weeks from now. If he is not sleeping through the night by that point, I will ask to speak with Gloria at his appointment and see what she recommends.

I hope the increased bottles and change of time of the meds will work. I really don't want to have to go visit a gastro-specialist. But...maybe the dosage is the issue. Just like with adults, the amount of meds you take most of the time depends on your weight. And, as Aidyn continues to grow, his dosage amount will also have to increase if we want it to work effectively.

After talking with Gloria, I increased Aidyn's 2:00pm bottle to 6oz. He hate 5oz, so I figure that a start.

Teething Already?

A week or two ago, Aidyn began drooling more than usual. When my mom was over at the house, she was holding Aidyn when he grabbed her finger and pulled it to his mouth. Instead of sucking on it like he normally would do, she said he began chewing on it and trying to bite. She suggested that maybe he was beginning to teeth between the chewing and drooling. I just said, "OK", and didn't think much about it.

Well...that is until yesterday. Aidyn was in a good mood most of the day but still a little more fussy and whiney that normal. Lastnight was terrible. He screamed and cried for about 20 minutes until I finally got him to go to sleep. I put him in his swing and told Ben I was getting in the bathtub. I've been "dreaming" of sitting in a nice, hot bath for a few weeks now and just haven't seem to be able to for whatever reason.

I had been in the tub for about 10 minutes when I heard him start crying again. I knew Ben had him, and I wanted to enjoy my bath, so I just ignored it. Ben's a good daddy and I knew Aidyn was fine. Well...15 minutes later when he was screaming bloody murder, I got out of the tub. We put a little bit of orajel on his gums but that didn't seem to help. We changed him. We rocked him. We put PJs on. He acted hungry (it was only 30 min until he was supposed to eat anyways) but then refused to eat when I tried to go ahead and feed him. All he did was scream and cry. The ONLY thing that seemed to make him happy was a freezing cold paci.

We have a small mini-fridge in Aidyn's room where I used to keep the pumped breastmilk and now his prepared formula. I had 3 pacis lastnight that I was constantly rotating from his mouth to the freezer compartment and back again.

Eventually, after a solid hour of screaming and crying, he went to sleep - without his 9pm feeding. I held him a while longer and then put him in his crib where he slept until 12:30am. So far he's been in a fairly good mood and acting like he feels ok. I sure hope we don't have a repeat of lastnight. I told Ben that if he did that all day today, I'd probably be in tears when he got home from school.

Let's hope today goes better. Ben plays softball tonight at Winged Deer in Johnson City with our church softball team. As long as the weather is nice, I'm planning on going. That is, ofcourse, as long as Aidyn is feeling up to it.

Videos

I have several videos we have taken of Aidyn with our camcorder that we got for Christmas. However, I can't seem to figure out how to get the videos to upload onto our computer. I've read the manual, followed the directions, and nothing. It's very frustrating.


Yesterday afternoon when Aidyn was in a such a good mood, I got two videos of him sitting in the chair and talking to me. They aren't anything fascinating, but ofcourse I think they're totally cute! These were taken with my digital camera. When he started talking I thought, "Hey...my camera has a video mode. I know how to upload onto the computer with it!" So I grabbed my camera.

Hopefully we'll get the video camera figured out soon!

Future Heartbreaker

Aidyn has decided he LOVES to sit up and would much rather sit up than lay down. This can be a problem since he can't sit up on his own yet. He has his bumbo seat, but it causes him to spit up after a while...and he isn't fond of his bouncy seat anymore. I guess it doesn't sit up enough for him.

Here are a few pictures of him sitting in my rocker in his bedroom. The first two are from Mother's Day and the last two he is wearing his new pants his Aunt Brenda bought him. They are 3-6 months. Fit perfectly around his little tummy...just a little long. :)

What a handsome little man!

New Financial Plan

We started our "new plan" lastnight.

We went to the grocery store and used the debit card. On the way home we went to the ATM and got out our cash allowance for the week. Ben is really uncomfortable about leaving his debit card at home in the nightstand drawer...afraid he may "need" it. But he PROMISED me he would not use it.

The goal now is to live week-by-week on cash only. The debit cards are ONLY to be used for groceries and pre-determined purchases. I hope this works!

Old Addictions

If you know me very well, you'll know that I used to be addicted to Mountain Dew...seriously!

Several times I "tried to quit" (haha) and always got these terrible headaches. It wasn't until our school system that I teach for started doing these health assessments for our insurance that I decided I had to do better. We are tested every 6 months, and the first two times my blood sugar levels came back in the upper 90s and low 100s. The nurses said they consider that "pre-diabetic". That scared me. When I was talking to my dad, he told me that both of my aunts (his sisters) are diabetic.

At that point I was probably drinking 2-3 cans of MD while I school and then a glass in evenings with my dinner. All I drank, ever, was probably MD or water. After talking with the nurses, I cut out the MD during the day and limited myself to only once glass with dinner. This worked, most of the time. ;)

It wasn't until I began feeling sick last June and went to the dr that I totally quit drinking it. We thought I had stomach ulcers and those are triggered my caffeine. Knowing this, I quit "cold turkey". It was weird because when I tried cutting back or quiting earlier, I always got these bad headaches...but this time -nothing. It was almost like I KNEW I had to quit bc of the stomach pains and nausea.

Well, we laugh now - but I actually was 3 months pregnant and that's why I was sick...not ulcers. Go figure. :) But from that point on, I did not drink ANY MD until after Aidyn was born. I take that back. I can recall 2 or 3 times that I did, but it wasn't good anymore. Isn't it weird how that happens?

After not drinking any caffeine during my pregnancy, I had a sweet tea with lunch at school one day in Nov/Dec...I don't remember exactly. Apparently it was caffenated and I thought I was dying. My heart started beating soooo fast, I had to stop just to catch my breath. It was very scary. From that point on, I was very careful what I drank. I mostly drank water or sprite. I continued on this path even though Aidyn being born and my breastfeeding (pumping actually) since the caffeine also triggered his reflux and made it worse.

Lastnight, Ben and I decided we were hungry at 10pm. Haha...we ate such a big lunch after church that we weren't hungry earlier in the evening. With our 10pm warmed up leftovers, I had a can of MD that Ben's aunt had brought over for the lunch. Keep in mind though, not the whole can...maybe half. When we went to bed at midnight, I COULD NOT go to sleep. I wasn't restless, but I just laid there for what felt like forever! I used to be able to drink TONS and it really had no effect whatsoever on me. Well...I guess not anymore.

So, it looks like no more MD or anything caffinated before bed for me.

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a wonderful day!

Ben and I got up early, before Aidyn. Luckily, he slept until 8:30am yesterday. Ben needed to read through his Sunday School lesson he had to teach and I began getting some of the food ready for lunch.

After Aidyn woke up, I fed him and then gave him to Ben so I could get in the shower. The night before (when we were going to bed at 1:30am), Ben asked if I wanted my Mother's Day present. I told him no and said, "My son is asleep and in bed. You can't give it to me without him...it's Mother's Day, not Wife's Day." He just rolled his eyes at me and we went to bed. Haha. So as I was getting in the shower I told Ben that Aidyn had told me he wanted to give me my present before we went to church. ;)

Aidyn told me this while I was dressing him for church. His pants were just a little big, so we had to use the belt that came with it. Even though Ralph Lauren things run small (very small in my mind!)...Aidyn is 3 months old and this outfit is 6 months.

When I got out of the shower, Aidyn presented me with his gift he had made me. Ofcourse, his Daddy helped him out with it. He gave me a beautiful card from the both of them (with the sweetest words printed and written from my boys) and the best picture frame ever!

Last Saturday, apparently when they went "shopping", Ben took Aidyn to the local pottery place - the same place where I made Aidyn's football bank. Ben and Aidyn picked out a frame, painted it, put Aidyn's footprints on it, and left it to be fired and have the "message" printed on it.

I had no idea and so when Ben was coming home from class on Saturday, I called and asked him to stop at the pottery place and pick up the football. I asked if he thought he'd have time and he said, "Yea, I think so." Obviously, I didn't know that's where he was going to pick up my picture frame, haha.After church, we headed home for lunch. We took my picture with Aidyn so I would have something to put in my frame for my first Mother's Day.

After everyone left, Ben took a nap while Aidyn was napping in his swing. I got ready to lay down myself...and ofcourse Aidyn woke up. It wasn't time for him to eat yet and as soon as I picked him up he went back to sleep.When he finally did wake up to eat, I fed him and then gave him to Ben. Ben played with him and took him on a nice long walk before coming back home to watch a little TV.

During this time I was able to take a nice long nap upstairs...one of my favorite parts of Mother's Day, haha. I had a great day with family and friends. I just hate that we couldn't spend it with my parents as well...they were crusing the Atlantic Ocean on their cruise in sunny, warm weather. :) I've gotten a few text messages from my dad and it seems their having a great time; I hope they are. I can't wait to see their pictures!

Beer Can Chicken

YUM!

If you haven't ever cooked or eaten "Chicken on a Beer Can", you need to. My parents have used this recipe several times. It's super easy and very delicious. You can use the grill or your oven. The first time Ben and I did it on our own, we used the grill. Yesterday, we used the oven. The only difference I noticed was the skin was more crispy on the grill.

Since Ben's mother cooks lunch EVERY Sunday after church, he wanted to cook the dinner for Mother's Day at our house. He found a new recipe that he wanted to try in the oven. It looked good, sounded great, but I was extremely nervous about trying a new recipe for the first time on such a big day. We would have to leave the chicken cooking while we were at church, then come home with 10 other people hungry for lunch, and just hope that it turned out. It scared me. And it turned out AWESOME! I later told Ben, "GREAT lunch. I'm glad I gave in and let you try the new recipe. Sorry I doubted you." It was so delicious!

Our only problem was the beer, ha. Living in a small town, beer can be a very bad thing to many people. Personally, I don't see the issue. Ben and I don't drink, but I don't think that it's wrong. Well, as long as you don't get plastered. My parents drink and so do a lot of my friends. I think it's fine, but like I said...in moderation. BUT...living in a small town, AND being a church youth minister, Ben is always nervous about being caught buying beer. I can understand. You probably can too; we all know how people can blow things way out of context.
So on his way home yesterday, Ben stopped to get Aidyn's football bank, my Mother's Day present, and some beer in Johnson City (about 25 min from our house). We cooked the chickens in the oven and they smelled so good when we got home from church yesterday. Our next problem was disposing of the beer cans before Ben's grandparents got there. They may have understood or possibly may have cooked with alcohol before in the past, I don't know. But we all joked that if they saw the beer...they wouldn't eat lunch. :)

Side Note: We had a Mother's Day dinner at church Saturday night. After leaving there, we went to visit our friend Karen and her husband Andy at Karen's parents' house. She and Andy live in Knoxville and were in town for the weekend. When they come in, we all get together to play games. Before Aidyn, we would sometimes be there until 3am playing games and cards. LOTS OF FUN! Now, we're usually home by 10pm or so. But anyways...we went up there and got home at 11pm. Ben still had to go to the store. So he left for Wal-mart and got home about midnight with everything we needed for Sunday's lunch.

He started getting the dry rub /seasoning ready while I washed the chickens and cut out what was left of the giblets. Yum yum. We had two 5lb chickens. Since you call a turkey Tom, I asked Ben what you call chickens. He said, "Chico". So...below are some pictures of Chico-1 and Chico-2 getting ready for their big Mother's Day debut.

Oh yeah, we finally got to bed about 1:30am. Ofcourse Aidyn was up at 2am to eat. Then we were up again at 8am to get ready for church.


Washed and cleaned. Spices rubbing inside the cavity, under the skin and on the meat, and on the outside of the skins. Uncooked bacon stuffed inside the cavity also.



Beer in their respective holders ready for Chico-1 and Chico-2 to be mounted. Smashed pieces of garlic cloves are also placed down in the beer for added flavor.




The "Chicos" ready for their outer bacon dressings before going into the oven to cook for 90 minutes on 325'.



The bacon dressings.

Chico-1 cooked and ready to eat. Juicy, tender chicken on the inside with crispy bacon on the outside.

I think the bacon on the outside was probably the best bacon I've ever eaten. I say that because it wasn't greasy. As it cooked, the grease ran down the chicken and into the pan. So it was crispy and delicious with the grease. Yum!

We also had mashed potatoes, cream cheese corn, baked beans (thanks Poppy!), and rolls. Ben's mom brought a red velvet cake, I made some Tollhouse cookies, and our friends Daniel and Rachel brought an oreo cheesecake.

It was a delicious lunch! My family was not here since my parents were on a cruise in the Caribbean. They will be back on Saturday. On my way home from church I thought I probably should have invited my brother over for lunch, although I'm not sure he would have come by himself. Maybe though...oh well. :(

The Mom Song

Our local Christian Radio Station - WCQR - had a contest going for Mother's Day. When you heard "The Mom Song", you had to be caller #8 to win this prize package. Well, the song totally cracked me up every time I heard it. It never got old.

The song is actually titled "Momisms", I think. The song isn't really about moms as much as the "momisms" that mothers say all the time. Whether you are a mother or not, you will find this song halarious I'm pretty sure. I just HAD to share it with you guys. Enjoy!

**You will need to go to the bottom of this page and pause the music playing so that you can here Anita Renfro singing her song without the background music.**

Big Boy Bath

Aidyn has officially outgrown the "hammock" thing that he has been using in his bath tub.

This bath tub is plastic with a little, angled seat in the back that reclines. It came with a hammock that straped over the tub for newborns. The past few times we've given Aidyn his bath, either his head sticks up past the back of the hammock, or...even funnier - his head is on the head rest, but his legs and feet hang over the edge of the hammock and over the edge of the tub as well. He looks like the pictures of really tall guys asleep in small beds with their feet hanging off, haha.

So, we finally took the hammock out and set him in his tub. He did great! Keep in mind though that even though there is no one holding him in the picture, I did not leave him sitting there alone. Ben was standing next to me while I took the picture. I don't think Aidyn could have gone anywhere, since he would have been able to "jump" with his butt over the seat and down into the larger part where his legs are. But even still, I had Ben there just incase.

Our only problem...he LOVES baths (and always has), but now he has found that he can kick his legs and move his arms and make splashes. I haven't figured out if its the splashing water he likes or the reaction he gets, which is usually me screaming and laughing because water goes EVERYWHERE!!!

I tried getting a picture of the wall with water running down it, but I'm not so sure you can see it very well.

Aidyn's Piggy Bank

If you have been following our blog for a while, you may remember Aidyn's 180 lb, 4-legged visitor, Agnus in April. Agnus is going to be a big sister in June to my friend Aimee's daughter, Mattilda.

When Aimee and her husband, Matt, came in to visit their families (they live in Nashville), they took me out for a "Mommy Afternoon". It was a fun afternoon. I left Aidyn with my dad so I could have some "relaxing mommy time". We went to lunch and then to a pottery place where we all painted a piece of pottery. Aimee painted a piggy bank for Mattilda's room, Matt painted a plate with their family name, and I painted a piggy bank for Aidyn.

Well, actually it's a football bank. It was ready two weeks ago and the two times I went by to pick it up, they were closed. We finally got it this weekend.

Poll Results

I had a poll on this blog to see how many people that were reading it actually new me. Through this blog, I have found other blogs that I read and follow. So, curiosity got the best of me and I posted a poll for a few weeks. Originally, the poll was going to be "open" for a month. However, when I changed the background, a box appeared saying if I continued I would lose the poll.

I think the poll was actually open for 15 days or so. Within that time, here are the results from my poll:

Do you know the Evelys?
Yes, I am family 2
Yes, I am a friend 14
No, but I am a friend of the family 1
No, but I am a friend of a friend 2
No, I found this blog online 4

Since then, I have no posted a "counter" on our blog to see how many visitors we get. When posting the blog, the site asks if you want every upload counted or just "genuine" loads. It explains that if a reader were to visit my blog and for whatever reason "refresh" the page or end up back to it...then the counter would count every visit. Instead, I chose to count only genuine loads. This means that every visit is counted, unless the same computer uploads my blog more frequently than 3 hours. I could set the time to 30 min, 1 hr, 3 hr, 6 hr, or 9 hr. If the same person or computer visits my blog more than once within a 3 hr time, the visit shouldn't be counted. I haven't checked the stats though to see if that's really what it's doing. Either way, its neat to realize there are people reading my blog and following our family's story.

Pre-Yardsale Sale

A friend of mine from church was having a yardsale today. She sent out a message that if anyone was looking for anything particular to send her a message back and she'd let us know.

I have been wanting to get a bouncy seat or something for Aidyn to sit in and play with when we take him to my parents' house. We have a swing at Ben's parents'. Luckily, Amy did have a few things she thought I'd like. She also said that Heather, a friend from down the street, was coming on Friday night to look through stuff early if I wanted to come also...before the crowds.

Amy has a son, Ty, who is about 2 1/2 years old I think. She also has a daughter, Kendall, that just turned a year old. Since Aidyn was born in the winter and Ty in the summer, not too many of the clothes "worked" since the sizes and seasons were opposite. However, I did find some AWESOME things! Amy's daughter and Heather's daughter were both born in the spring so everything matched perfectly for them with sizes and seasons.

Heather and I headed to Amy's lastnight and were there about an hour going through clothes. We both found some great deals! I bought Aidyn a bouncy/toy seat/thingy (not sure what you call it exactly), two pairs of shoes, some socks, 1 coat, 7 pairs of PJs, 9 pairs of pants, and 23 shirts. I spent $52.oo. Can you believe it?!?!?! The coat and several of the shirts even had the price tag still where they'd never been worn. Kids grow so quickly out of clothes!

I LOVE yard sales and shopping for Aidyn, especially at great deals from great people you know!

Ben is HORRIBLE at buying clothes and shoes and always thinking he "needs" something. My mother-in-law said yesterday if we weren't careful that Aidyn's closet would soon be more full of clothes than Ben's. I told her, "It already is! I'm afraid we're slowly creating a monster that will one day be worst that Ben when it comes to his wardrobe." Haha, hopefully not. But...if we do, atleast he'll be well dressed like his daddy - right?

My Little Kicker

Most of the time, Aidyn LOVES his bouncy seat. When I put him in it and reach down to buckle the straps, he will look up at me with his huge grin and begin to chuckle. After I get him buckled in, he begins to kick like a mad man and watch the rattling toys fly in every direction.

So, yesterday while I was drying my hair, he was kicking away. Next thing I knew, I heard something hit the floor. When I looked...he had completely kicked so hard that the bar came off of his chair. I don't think it was lose, but nonetheless it was pretty funny.

When I picked up the bar and put it back in, snuggly, he looked up at me and laughed like, "Yeah, that's right...I did that!"

Incredible!

As you know, we went to the doctor on Tuesday for Aidyn's cradle cap. According to the Wikipedia encyclopedia:

Cradle Cap (also known as crusta lactea, milk crust, honeycomb disease) is a yellowish, patchy, greasy, scaly and crusty skin rash that occurs on the scalp of recently born babies. It is usually not itchy, and does not bother the baby. Cradle cap most commonly begins sometime in the first 3 months. The rash is often prominent around the ear, the eyebrows or the eyelids. It may appear in other locations as well, where it is called seborrhoeic dermatitis rather than cradle cap. It is extremely common, with about half of all babies affected. Most of them have a mild version of the disorder. Severe cradle cap is rare.

The cause of cradle cap is not clearly defined but it is not caused by an infection, allergy nor from poor hygiene. Possibly it has to do with overactive sebaceous glands in the skin of newborn babies, due to the mother's hormones still in the baby's circulation. The glands release a greasy substance that makes old skin cells attach to the scalp as they try to dry and fall off.

This is how Aidyn's head looked on Tuesday afternoon when we returned from the doctor's office.

Tuesday evening before going to bed, we gave Aidyn his first "treatment". The dr prescribed a steriod cream. We put the cream (like a watery lotion) on his head once a day for up to 5-7 days. We have treated Aidyn's head 3 times (Tues, Wed, Thurs). Here is his picture from today.

Can you believe how much better it looks?!?! I think we will continue the cream until Sunday evening and then stop. Hopefully we are through with the cradle "crap". ;)

What recession?

After balancing the checkbook last week, I realized that in the month of April alone Ben and I spent over $400 eating out. That includes anything from an ice cream at Sonic to dinner at Outback and everything else inbetween.

When we started planning on my maternity leave, we took the advice of many people, and combined our checking and savings accounts. I was VERY reluctant and did not like the idea. Why? I know too many people that are married where one person is "in charge" of the finances. In most cases its the husband and so the wife is left with an allowance or having to ask for money when she needs it. Well...not me. I felt like if I went to school, graduated with a degree, and have my own job, then I am definately NOT asking anyone for money...especially when it's MY money in the first place. But, like I said, I got over myself and did it anyways.

Now, I'm glad. Isn't it weird how things like that work out.

Ben, however, never kept up with his checking account. His answer for that was, "I keep it in my head." Yeah right. If you know me, you know that I'm anal and OCD. There is no way I could live with that, so I'm the one that keeps up with our finances.

Being on maternity leave since Christmas and receiving my last paycheck at the end of March, spending $400 a month (or more) eating out just seems like too much! That doesn't include other purchases "just because" that we come across or feel like we "need". We don't NEED half the stuff we convince ourselves that we do, haha. I think that's the same for almost everyone.

So anyways. Even though we are doing great on Ben's income (between school and church), I told him that I'm not happy with our finances and the way we're keeping track. We are both terrible at just swiping our debit cards and moving on our way. We keep our receipts in a cannister in the kitchen that I try to update every Saturday. Even still, there are things we miss and so I'm stuck balancing the checkbook by logging in to our online banking statements and just copying down the purchases from there. I hate this since some things take a few days, or longer, to clear and appear on our statements online. It's not accurate and I don't like it.

So what's the plan you may ask? Cash only.

Ben gives me a hard time about saying once, "I don't need cash. It's overrated." And ofcourse about an hour later I had to ask him for a dollar so I could buy a soda from the vending machine, haha - go figure. His repsonse was, "I thought you didn't need cash?"

I told Ben I would like to try the following plan (for atleast a month) and see how it goes. At the end of a month's time we can evaluate the process and see if it worked or not. Here's the plan:

On Sunday evenings after church, we will go to the bank and withdrawal a specified amount of cash. This amount will be the same each week. That will be our weekly "allowance". If we get to the end of the week and realize we're short on cash...then it will be our responsibility to make other choices such as eating at home, etc. If by the next Sunday there is cash left, then we will only withdrawal enough money to make up the difference of our starting amount each week.

Making sense so far?

I want to put our debit cards in our dresser drawer and leave them there. We have been very fortunate to be able to get all (3 I think) of our credit cards completely paid off. Ben has one that I know of and I have two. Being newlyweds that bought a 105 yr old house, completely gutted and remodeled it, both new teachers, and Ben in school...I figure we are VERY lucky to have those paid off. Our only "debts" are school loans, our house, and car. The way I see it, who doesn't have atleast those?

By leaving our debit cards at home (unless we are going to the grocery store or somewhere specific with a specific list or purpose), we will be less likely to just buy on a whim. We will have our credit cards just incase we find ourselves in an "emergency" and need more than the cash we have. We can always come home and make the payment since we pay these online from our checking accounts anyways. It'd practically be the same thing.

By using only cash, it's easier to "see" how much you're spending and in some cases...wasting. I think this will help us budget better and be better stewards of the wonderful jobs/incomes that God has blessed us with. Also, by doing so, hopefully the only things we'll have to keep track of in the checkbook will be bills, weekly allowance withdrawals, grocery visits, and ofcourse the best of all...deposits. :)

I'll let you know how this plan works out. When talking to Ben about it lastnight he said, "Yeah, we can try that. It sounds good, but I think it'll be hard." I assured him that I feel like that's the point...to make it hard to just spend when it isn't necessary. It sounds good in my head, so I just hope it works. Wish us luck!

Look'n better already!

Lastnight before putting Aidyn to bed, we covered his cradle cap with the steriod cream and put his cap back on. This morning when he woke up, his head was looking better already! Most of the yellow scabs were gone. I'm not sure if it's from the cream or bc he couldn't scratch his head as well with that cap on.

However, the inside of the cap was nasty. It was covered in yellow stain marks from the scabs and a couple little blood marks where he had scratched. Regardless, his head is looking much better already, and that's GREAT!

Here are a few pics of him sporting his sleep cap and working on tummy time. He's beginning to push himself up pretty good!

Chore Time

Yep...that's right...chores! I've already began to teach Aidyn that he's going to have to help around the house if he wants to live here.

(ahahahaha...just kidding)

Bet those words sound too familiar to many of us though. :) I did put Aidyn in his Bumpo seat today while I cleaned the kitchen. He loved it. He sat there watching me clean, talking and smiling at me the whole time. Towards the end he got a little bored and began waving his hands like he does when he gets mad. I went to get one of his playmat toys and hung it from our kitchen cabinet.

He started waving his hand trying to hit it like he does when he plays on his mat. He's growing up so fast!

Future Ball Player

My parents will be out of town on Mother's Day, so we ate dinner with them this past Sunday. Just incase you were wondering...they'll be on a cruise in the western Caribbean. Lucky, huh? I sure hope the weather is MUCH nicer than it's been here the past several days. After a week of beautiful weather and high temps, all we've seen lately is clouds and rain. Yuck!

But anyhow. Before going to dinner on Sunday, Ben and I stopped by the Mall to pick up a few items I needed. While there Ben insisted that he had found this great thing that Aidyn HAD to have...because he NEEDED it. Haha...did you know a 3 month old has items he HAS to have from the Mall because he NEEDS them? Haha...me either.

When I followed Ben into the shoe store, he showed me a Michael Jordan "set". Ben LOVES Michael Jordan. The set had a tabogan, onesie, and booties. The box says the size is 0-6 months. Now...you probably know that nothing can be sized 0-6 months. If it fits a newborn it definately is not going to fit a 6 month old baby.

As we were getting home from the dr today, Ben sent me a text message to try the outfit on him to see if it fits. So after Aidyn woke up and ate, he tried on his new outfit. The hat fit, the onsesie was still a little big, and I didn't even bother trying the booties...pretty sure they are definately too small. Here's Aidyn sporting his new "ball'n" outfit...

I guess he's ready to play! All he needs now is a basketball and the ability to walk, run, dribble, and shoot! I'm sure he'll be learning to play before long. With a coach as a dad, he'll probably be learning before he'd even like, haha.

Back to the Doctor

Aidyn's cradle cap had began to heal up and look better until he began scratching it. A few weeks ago, Aidyn began rubbing his head (and his eyes) whenever he was tired. He would do this during the day when he was tired and ready for a nap, as well as at night when he's ready for bed.

Unfortunately, he recently began scratching at his head as well. I believe as the cradle cap began to heal, it was drying up which caused the irritation. You can see in the pictures below how his scalp is red and inflammed. The yellow "scabs" are a part of cradle cap...but the red inflammation is what itches.

Our last doctor visit was on March 24th for reflux. At that visit Aidyn was 2 months old and weighed 11lbs 14oz. At our visit today, 6 weeks later, Aidyn weighed 14lbs 4oz. Needless to say he is still a growing boy!

The doctor examined his cradle cap and said it actually looks worse than it really is. Regardless, he doesn't want Aidyn scratching it since that is what makes it worse and can lead to an infection. He agreed that keeping the newborn mittens on his hands or a cotton tabogan (sp?) on his head will help.

Aidyn was prescribed a steriod ointment that we'll put on his head once a day to help the itching and inflammation go down. Hopefully this will also help the cradle cap heal quicker and "easier" since he won't be scratching at it. We also got a medicated cream. This cream is to be used if he should scratch his head and cause it to bleed. The dr said this cream will just be helpful and handy to have for all situations. He recommended using it for bug bites, scratches, etc.

If Aidyn's head hasn't improved by Monday, we are to call back and schedule another appointment. The dr said he wants to check the progress and we may increase the steriod cream to twice a day. Regardless, he said not to wait 3 weeks until our 4 month check up.

Taking it Easy

Ben took Aidyn shopping this afternoon for Mother's Day. Since his last bath was Thursday afternoon, we gave him a bath this morning before they left. After putting lotion on Aidyn's head to help with the cradle cap, I had to leave the towel hoodie on his head to keep him from scratching or rubbing it all off. He played on his playmat for quite a while so I could clip his toenails and fingernails. I've never seen nails that grow so dang fast!

When I left the room to get his clothes, he had fallen asleep. I didn't have the hand covers on, so luckily his head was still covered. As you can see, once again he went to sleep rubbing his head.

I put his pants on and then got tickled looking at him asleep. He looks like a "real man" taking a nap with his pants on and no shirt, haha. He's such a little (kinda chunk actually, haha) cutie!

Pulling Weeds and Yard Work

Since we do not have any trees for shade in our yard, I had to leave Aidyn on the side porch the other day while I worked in the yard and pulled some weeds. It was quite warm out, but there was a nice, cool breeze while he relaxed in his swing. He did pretty good until it was lunch time.

He started getting fussy, so I left him in his swing while I ran inside to wash my hands. Since I'd been pulling on weeds and other plants (even though I had gloves on)...I didn't want to touch him with dirty hands just incase something I had pulled up or accidently touched was poison ivy or something else.

By the time I got back outside, he was practically screaming. I kept waiting on a neighbor to come out and see what a awful mom I was to leave a crying baby in a swing outside by himself, haha.

Seriously...already?!?!?!

Well, mother nature sure doesn't waste any time. I had "officially" been done breastfeeding (or pumping actually) for exactly 8 days when mother nature blessed me with my monthly female "fun" once again. Due to the birth control I was on previously, and being pregnant with Aidyn, I haven't had this joyous fun in almost 2 years. And boy...I sure didn't miss it either!

Cradle Cap...Part 2

Here is a better picture of the cradle cap before we give Aidyn a bath. As you can see, when he gets sleepy he rubs his head, which in turn makes the cradle cap worse because he scratches off the yellow "scabs".

I decided yesterday to put those newborn "gloves" on his hands so he couldn't scratch his head anymore. For the time being it works ok. The only problem is that he also rubs his eyes when he gets sleepy. And ofcourse when he's awake, he loves playing with his hands...so I've only been using the covers these past few days when he is asleep or going to sleep for naps.

Beautiful Tulips

I love that the nice, warm, spring weather finally helped all of my tulips down front to bloom. They looked so beautiful! Now, I'm sad because they are already starting to die or lose their blooms. Tulips are my favorite flower in the ENTIRE world! We even used tulips in our wedding...I loved it! The only problem with tulips is that they don't keep their blooms long.

Cradle Cap

Aidyn has had cradle cap for quite a while now. At his 2 month check up, the dr said it's just dry skin on the scalp caused from laying on his head all the time. He said that once Aidyn starts sitting up more, the cradle cap should heal and disappear. In the meantime, we shampoo him about every other day. We start with a cradle cap "cream" that we scrub on real good. Then on top of that we use Selsen Blue shampoo. After drying off, we add baby moisturizer to his head.

The cradle cap started in the back of his head and got pretty bad before it began healing. Now it's spread to the sides of his head. It had been looking worse, but I think it's started to heal as well. I sure hope so. After baths and usually the next day, it doesn't look so bad. But by the 2nd morning and end of that day - with the red "rash" spots covered in yellow scales, kinda like scabs.

In the pictures below, you may be able to see the red, raised places on the side of his head above his ear. This is what the cradle cap looks like after the yellow flakes are scrubbed off.

It doesn't seem to bother him at all. Our only problem that we've run into now is the moisturizer we put on his head. When Aidyn gets tired, or is just relaxing really, he has started rubbing the back of head with his hands. It's very sweet and a sign usually that he's ready for a nap or bedtime. When we put the lotion on his head, I have to keep his head covered with his bath towel long enough for everything to dry. Otherwise, he rubs his head, gets the lotion on his fingers, and then either rubs it in his eyes or tries to eat it. Yuck! :)

Bath Time

Aidyn LOVES to take baths! Here are just a few pics from tonight.


Time for the shampoo and head massage...ooooo, that feels good!


Don't I have the biggest and brightest eyes ever?

I love my new toys I've recently discovered...my hands! I could stare at them or even eat them all day long!