He's My Little Muse

I just love taking pictures of this kid.

Baby Feeding

I took this video earlier this summer and totally forgot to post it. Let me explain what's going on here. When Paxton was born, Vivian became totally amazed and interested in the entire breast feeding process. She wanted to watch, help, and copy. She would constantly asked if she could "hook him on" or if she could "squeeze a boobie" for me.

After just a few days of watching and learning, Vivian started pretending to nurse her own babies. At one point, she even pulled her tank top down on one side and nursed... get ready... her teeny tiny Fisher Price person (see photo on the left). While one of her babies is nursing, she will periodically ask him or her, "You done yet?" And, she almost always burps the baby when switching from one side to nurse on the other side.

Gavin has periodically attempted to copy Vivi and feed one of his babies, too, but he doesn't always know exactly what to do. Vivian has carefully watched me for months and she is fully aware of everything that goes into keeping a new baby fed and happy.

In this video, I came into the playroom to find Vivian nursing her glow worm. I quickly and quietly set up the video camera and tried to act as if I hadn't done anything (so as not to disturb her very serious pretend play). Also in this video, Gavin is trying to copy Vivian and feed his glow worm.

A few funny things to look out for:

• Vivian pulling her arm out of the top of her dress to nurse.
• Gavin struggling to take his arm out; so he just takes his entire shirt off.
• Vivian asking her baby if she is done.
• Vivian burping her baby.
• Vivian asking her baby if she wants more.
• Vivian switching sides. And then switching sides again.
• Vivian taking this whole thing very, very seriously.

Just Hangin' Around

About a week ago, we started putting Pax in our doorway jumper. The twins loved them (we have two) when they were little, so we couldn't wait to try it out with Baby C (which is what Wes affectionately calls Pax from time to time). He loves it. What's funny is that we started trying to put the twins in these jumpers when they were about 3.5 months and we had to stuff the sides with blankets or stuffed animals so they would be stable. At 3 months, Pax had absolutely no need for stuffing. He was and still is just fine all by himself.

WTF

What. The. Fuck.

Let me explain.

A couple of Saturdays ago, Wes and I took all three kiddos to a faculty party at a colleague's house. It was really fun and surprisingly relaxing (we were in the backyard most of the time and therefore didn't have to watch the twins as carefully as we do when we're inside someone's house). While we were there, Paxton got a little cranky and was acting like he was hungry. I whipped out my recently thawed bottle of breast milk and attempted to feed him. He refused it. Then, he started acting sleeping. So, I rocked him to sleep and all was okay in the world.

When we got home, he woke up. Since it was time to put the twins to bed and it was my night to complete that task, I decided to try and give Pax the bottle again while I read books to G & V. Once again, he didn't want it. I didn't think much of it.

Then Gavin and Vivian started hemming and hawing about needing something to drink. Since I didn't want to go all the way downstairs, I said, "Here, drink some of this," and handed Gavin the bottle.

Gavin took a sip and said, "YUCK! This is gross, Mom!" I gave it to Vivian and she said the same thing.

What the hell? It wasn't old and it hadn't been out of the fridge for too long.

Once I left the twins, I went downstairs with Pax and told Wes about it. He tasted the milk and almost threw up.

We decided to open the bottles in the fridge and smell those. The first EIGHT-ounce bottle? Sour. The second EIGHT-ounce bottle? Sour. The third EIGHT-ounce bottle? Sour. And the fourth EIGHT-ounce bottle? Sour. Are you fucking kidding me? THIRTY-TWO ounces down the drain!

I had about 20 ounces frozen. We heated them up. ALL SOUR! TWENTY MORE OUNCES DOWN THE DRAIN!

Not only did I have to throw away over 50 ounces of pumped breast milk (tear), but now I didn't have ANY milk to give to Paxton my first week back at work!

I searched online for answers. Then, I found it. An excessive amount of lipase was my problem. Apparently, all women have lipase (an enzyme) in their breast milk (it helps to digest the fat in the milk), but some women (a very small percentage in fact), have an excessive amount of lipase. If and when you have this problem, you will be UNABLE to store breast milk for more than 12-24 hours, even if you freeze it. The excessive amount of lipase breaks down the milk fat soon after it has been expressed; for some women this happens within a couple of hours and for others it happens in about 24 (you can read a better explanation HERE). And, the fat is what makes it sweet. The only thing you can do to stop the lipase from breaking down your milk fat so quickly is to flash boil (scald) it very soon after you express it. BUT, once you scald the milk, you cause it to loose a lot of other positive, beneficial qualities. I know, that sucks.

What have we been doing? We've realized that my milk doesn't start to sour for about 15 hours. So, I've been pumping one bottle in the morning, walking home mid-morning to pump a second bottle, and then coming home by 3pm each day to nurse for the rest of the day.

It's terrible. But, I'm doing it. Sigh.

The good news is that an excessive amount of lipase is not usually a permanent problem. I could have it for a few weeks or a few months. We just have to keep "testing" bottles here and there. Ugh.

No surprise here

Vivian brought this little note home from school yesterday...

No big shock to us.

He's just a happy kid

August Facebook Posts

August 1

Vivi said this was her "first story."

August 2

Pax loves the front porch because of all the "white noise" from the passing cars. Gavin and Vivian love the front porch because they like to identify the colors of the passing cars. And Mommy loves the front porch because of the quiet she experiences from all three of her kiddos being entertained.

I guess living on Main Street has it's perks.

August 6

We've been on vacation since Saturday and have already broken two lamps and a candle holder. Guess we won't be coming back to this rental next year :-/

 

August 9

After yelling off the back porch this morning and hearing his voice echo, Gav said, "I hear my voice!"

Me: "Yes, Gavin. Everyone hears your voice. Can you try to be quiet?"
Gavin: (after yelling again) "Did you hear that? Do the trees have my voice or my mouth?"
Me: "What?"
Gavin: "The trees have my voice! Listen! They have it! Tell those trees to put my voice back in my mouth!"

August 10

You know that kid who runs around like a crazy person in public? The one who's parents try to threaten him with time outs only to be completely ignored? The one who's super cute, but also super annoying at the same time? The one who goes up to complete strangers on the beach and takes their toys without saying anything to them? And the one who climbs onto arcade games so that he can get closer and win?

Yeah, that's our kid. And his name is Gavin.

August 12

This just in: the two's were not that terrible. It's the three's you have to worry about.

I can't even believe that it can get this insane.

August 14

Elmo needs his butt wiped, too.

 

August 14

Me: "What do you think Aunt Stephie should name her baby if it's a boy?"
Vivi: "I think GIRL. She should name it GIRL."
Me: "So if she has a boy, you think she should name it girl?"
Vivi: "I think it should be a girl and name it girl."
Me: "Vivian, that's silly. If Aunt Stephie has a girl, what should she name it?"
Vivi: "Ummm... sticker. Dat a good name."
Me: "Gavin, what do you think?"
Gavin: "I think... she should have two babies. One for me and one for Vivian. Den I have the boy and Viv have the girl."

I love how he thinks you're going to give him your baby.

August 15

Vivi: "Gavin, how your day?"
Gavin: "Good."
Vivi: "Ask how my day."
Gavin: "No."
Vivi: "Ask me! Now!"
Gavin: "I don't wanna know how your day."

Well then.

August 16

Another reason why I need to work harder when choosing my words around the kids...

Last night, Vivian told Gavin, "Git yo ass in time out!"

August 19

Gavin: (looking out the window at our driveway) "Mom! The Firebird is out! It not in the driveway anymore! Someone moved it!"
Me: "Gavin, how did you remember the name of that car?"
Gavin: "It's the orange one."
Me: "Yeah, but ho did you know the name?"
Gavin: "My daddy told me. Daddy tells me stuff all da time. We were in da garage together and he tell me about it."
Me: "Well that's nice."
Gavin: "Yeah, I very wuve (love) it when Daddy tell me stuff. I very wuve him."

Not really funny (like most of my posts about Gavin), but very sweet. And I wanted a write it down to remember it. Love that kid.

August 23

Viv: (pointing at the spilled milk on the table) "Gavin, look what you did!"
Gavin: (laughing) "Yeah."
Viv: "Look at my face. I not laughing. Clean it up!"

August 23

Are we already threatening the twins with cancellations of Christmas? Yes, yes we are.

August 25

Wes: "Gavin, if you're going to wear underwear, you can't put your hands in your pants all day. Believe me, I get the appeal, but you just can't do it."

 

His Blanket

When Gavin and Vivian turned two, I bought them these adorable matching zoo animal blankets from Etsy (you can see them HERE). Vivi got a multi-colored one with pink minky on the back and Gavin got a blue and green one with brown minky on the back. They LOOOOVE these blankets and have used them just about every night since. When I started looking for things for Paxton's nursery (see HERE, HERE, and HERE), I quickly knew that I wanted to get him a blanket similar to his siblings'. So I searched on Etsy for a colorful fabric with owls. Then, I found a few shops that made blankets with minky on the back. I emailed three women asking them how much they would charge for a 40x50 blanket and chose the lowest offer.

It arrived in the mail a couple of days ago. Again, I'm in love.

Click HERE to read even more about his Woodsy Owl nursery transformation.

Our Instagramed Anniversary

Saturday was our 5 year wedding anniversary. It started with the twins sleeping in THEIR OWN BEDS and Wes and I sleeping in OUR OWN BED all night long! The even better news was that everyone slept in until 7:53am! We are usually woken up by at least one child around 6:00am every single morning, so this was a HUGE treat.

Then to top it all off, Wes made breakfast!

{And the day of instagraming began!}

We had a mid-day sitter (she was busy that night) come over at noon for a few hours so we could go for lunch (Thanks, Areyl!). We went to a local restaurant downtown called Union Station.

After lunch, we went to this new frozen yogurt place that was incredible! When you walk in, there's a wall of frozen yogurt options (it's a self-serve place). You're given a few sample cups and told that you should try a few before you pick the one you want. There were all kinds of fun flavors like Cappuccino, Peanut Butter, Orange Creamsicle, Strawberry, Cake Batter, Cotton Candy, NY Cheesecake, and a few more.

You choose your yogurt, fill your cup, and then are faced with picking toppings. And there were a ton of options! You're then charged based on the weight of your yogurt.

So fun! We came home to the twins still napping and Paxton happily being rocked- we couldn't have asked for more!

5 Years!

12+ years of dating, 5 years of marriage, 3 kids, 4 different states, and we're still incredibly, whole-heartedly in love and really, really happy. 

Happy 5 year wedding anniversary, Wes! I've had so much fun on this journey with you!