Birthdays, Bumps and Babies

Hello all! Sorry for the lack of updates this week! I'm pretty busy at work right now, so I'll have to pack a lot into one post.

Mike's birthday was last Friday - one year from the big 4-0! I don't think he looks much different than he did when we met nine years ago. We celebrated with my special chicken lasagna and chocolate chip cookies. The kids gave him cards and our special present for the bar - a Steelers rug. Mike has pretty much taken up every inch of basement wall space with sports pictures, jerseys, banners, etc., so we're attacking the floor now.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Daddy and his little Princess.

Mama and her Michael Man

My mom's birthday was Monday. Happy 60th Birthday Grandma T! She also looks great, even better than she did 10 years ago. Our kids are lucky in that people seem to age well on both sides of our families.

Michael has started pulling up more and more and that led to a little accident on Saturday. He and Taylor were playing in the kiddie pool and he reached over and grabbed the side of the pool. Before I could react, he pulled himself up to standing then did a nose dive right onto the deck. Poor guy! He has a nice goose egg on his head for a few days. He's getting closer to crawling. He'll rotate on his butt to get to things and reaches out to a crawling stance from sitting. He's almost able to get back to a sitting position from his belly, but isn't quite there yet. The teeth just keep coming in! He's on numbers 5 and 6 now (teeth on each side of the top front) and is not real happy about it. When he was on tooth #1 back in June, I joked that we'd only have to go through that "fun" teething thing 19 more times. Well, these teeth seem to be hurting as much as the first. He's a wonderful sleeper, but I hear him moan in his sleep a few times each night. Poor little guy. Overall, he's still been our little charmer.

Taylor is getting ready for another year of preschool. She starts on Thursday and I get to spend that first day with her. She's excited! There's at least one kid she knows in her class (and the bonus is that I really like his mom) and her new teacher seems great. She's getting really good at writing letters, can spell a few words and has taken a real interest in reading. I'm so blessed that she likes these things and I don't have to force it on her! She has several friends on our street and is really turning into a little girl (sniff, sniff).

Taylor with her neighbor friend and baby bro.

Michael now has a little buddy! Congrats to our beloved neighbors, Jason and Michelle, who welcomed little Benjamin Anthony on August 23. He's adorable just like his mom and dad and has a headful of curly black hair. Taylor was so cute with him and Michael looked absolutely huge next to him. It really is hard to believe that either of my kids were ever that small.

Hi, my new little buddy!

Michelle and Ben.

My best friend Lauri also had a baby boy this summer. Yay for cutie-pie Anthony Scott, born on June 21st! He's a good-lookin' product of two good-lookin' people. I didn't write about him when he was born just to be sure that Lauri let y'all know before anybody read it in my blog. (Oh, that would suck!) I'm sure he's an awesome little dude, just like his mama. I can't wait to meet him in person.

Anthony (Tbone) Scott, born June 21st

I really do need to get back to work now. Hope everyone is doing well! A small request: click on the comments at the end of the post and let me know who is reading. You don't have to register; just write a comment and sign your name at the end and post as anonymous. We'd love to know who is checking us out!

Have a great weekend!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Silly girl

As I mentinoned before, Taylor is constantly making me laugh. Last night, she was brushing her teeth and asked me to tie her Dora blanket around her waist to look like a skirt. She proudly looked in the mirror and asked, "Do I look like a college girl now?" I didn't quite understand her rational but chuckled. She also asked me the other day if she could do something (can't remember what it was) and I told her no and that she was too young. "Oh," she replied, "I guess I can do it when I'm 18." I have no idea where she gets this stuff!

Allergies?

I ain't got no stinkin' allergies!

A little history. Michael was diagnosed with a milk protein allergy at 3 weeks. He was put on Alimentum, a hypoallergenic formula. Several weeks later, the poor guy still had blood in his stool, signifying an allergy to the Alimentum. He was then put on Neocate, a super-expensive, super-hypoallergenic formula that caused super gas and super-nasty poop. At three months, we switched to Isomil (soy) and he's seemed pretty content on it since then.

About three weeks ago, Michael developed a weird rash circular rash on his bum. It spread and got worse over the next week and I took him to the doctor. After trying several things, it just got worse and the doctor suggested that it might be eczema caused by a food allergy.

We went to the allergist today and the doctor said right away that his rash was NOT an allergy rash (likely just a persistent yeast infection). He did a prick test for cow's milk, milk protein, peas and barley, all of the things that have been a little suspicious in the past. All of them came back negative for allergy!! Yay! He's not even allergic to milk! I was so scared that he'd be one of those poor kids that has to carry around an epi pen and avoid being in a house with certain foods. The doctor didn't even test for soy. He said that since he's been on the soy formula for five months with no adverse reactions, he's not allergic to it. He did say that he has sensitive skin and that his stomach could still get upset when exposed to milk. Those are food intolerances, not food allergies and most kids outgrow them pretty early on. Who knows, maybe he'll even be able to have cake on his 1st birthday!

I've got to give a shout out to the man upstairs. I've been praying on this allergy thing for awhile and He has helped me through. Never question the power of prayer.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Mama and more

Well, the Pear officially has me wrapped around his finger. I was playing in the floor with him last night when Taylor asked me to help her with somersaults. When I turned away, Michael said, "MAMAMAMAMA." Mike didn't believe me so I turned away from him again and he started up right away. I'm pretty sure my heart melted right there on the basement floor.


I miss them both today. Mike went back to school today, so the kids will go back to spending MWF with our wonderful sitter, Susan. I'm so glad Mike drops them off in the morning. I don't think I could do it. I bet it was a little hard for him today, too. He's spent the last two and a half months with them on the days I work. They're pretty good at stealing your heart!




Michael loves playing with Daddy!

Life has been good, as usual. Michael is still battling a nasty diaper rash and we go back to Dr. Dooley tomorrow. He's really concentrating on getting mobile and has been more tolerant of tummy time lately. He's starting to pull up now, so I know my days of plopping him in the floor with a few toys while I clean are almost over.

Mommy, I want to walk!

We stopped by Susan's house yesterday and she commented on how much bigger Taylor looked. I think she has really grown this summer! She suddenly seems so much older now, too. Sometimes it's hard to remember that she's only 4 because she is so good most of the time. I have to remind myself of that when she's having a rare full-blown tantrum. We've had a lot of fun together this summer. Now that football season is just around the corner, we've been talking some about Ohio State and how she will go to college one day. She stopped me the other night as I left her room at bedtime and asked, "Mommy, when do I have to move out and go to college?" I assured her that it was a really long time away. I'm sure I'll cry like a baby when that day comes.

My little beauty.

I've learned in my days of marketing writing that people don't really read the words. All they care about are the pictures, so I'll oblige. :)

When can I start hooping?

Taylor loves for me to strap her in the baby swing and then launch her! We get the whole swingset rocking. I love the look on her face here.

My future author...

...and artist.

You've gotta love kids in jammies:

We ate on the deck the other night and I let Michael eat in his walker instead of dragging the high chair outside. He had a good time eating Puffs and spitting green beans all over. He was covered with food! I took off his shirt and went inside to get wipes. When I came back out, I found this:

Champ lived up to his fat-boy image by swiping the shirt and feasting on drool-soaked Puffs. Ew.

Some more random cuteness:

Notice the green beans on his brow.

Taylor and the world's most patient dog.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

New Colors

I'm tinkering around with my blog colors today and I think I like this blue background. I'm hesitant to ever use blue because of my hatred for Michigan, but I think it works okay here. You can comment below (don't worry, you don't have to sign up for anything to do it) and let me know if you like it.

The family is good. We took a short trip to Pittsburgh Saturday and came back Sunday afternoon. We got to see a lot of people in a short amount of time, so that was good. After screaming in terror for about five minutes, Taylor fell in love with Aunt Linda's and Aunt Dee Dee's dogs. She's still talking about them. Michael charmed the masses, as usual. They were both so good. Michael did pull his typical ride-in-the-car pattern on both legs of the trip: sleep two hours, play one hour, scream 30-45 minutes. Oh my, is that kid loud!

I need to hit the gym during my lunch hour. I'll try and update again later this week.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Kings Island

It was a nice day yesterday, so Mike and I decided to take the kids to Kings Island. We loaded up after Michael's nap.




Going to an amusement park is definitely different with kids. It's nothing about you and all about them. There are no more rides on the Beast, Vortex or even the Racer. Still, there's something priceless about seeing your kids smiling, laughing and having the times of their lives. It's kind of a second-hand happiness, something only a parent could really understand. Taylor had a blast and Michael hung in there like a champ.


I love this picture. Daddy and his little girl...

...and his baby boy!

We started our day in the Nickelodeon kids' park, which Taylor LOVED! Michael even got to go on a couple of rides, including the Scooby Doo adventure and Lazytown helicopters. He was mildly impressed. Taylor even got to meet one of her favorite characters - Scooby Doo. Most of the kids just shook his paw. Not Taylor. She's charged him and clung on with the biggest hug. Too cute.

Scooby, Scooby Doo, she loves you!

While I fed Michael and got him down for a quick catnap in the stroller, Mike tricked Taylor into going on the log flume water ride. Even with her newfound braveness, there's no way she would have voluntarily ridden it! I stood at the bottom of the big drop and saw Taylor's expression go from panic, to tears. Of course, Mike put the poor kid in the front seat so she was drenched! I changed her into a dry shirt and she ended up being pretty proud of herself for riding it. She and I hit the Scrambler later and a few other small rides before we'd had enough and decided to head home.

Check out that drop! You can barely see Taylor's little head above the log.

Michael took a catnap and missed Taylor's plunge.

Both kids were wiped out and slept most of the way home. I'd say fun was had by all!

Taylor won this doggy all by herself!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Walkers, Strep Butt & Photo Ops

You know it's been a long time since you last posted when you have to try and remember your blog password. Sorry I've been MIA! Work has been pretty busy and that's where I usually do my posting. Our home computer is so slow and I'm too tired by the end of the night to be very creative.

Taylor has gained a new confidence this summer that I'm so impressed with! She's riding her bike like a pro, swimming without clinging to one of us and even tries the monkey bars sometimes now. I'm spoiled by the fact that she's always been very cautious. I never had to worry about her falling off her playset or putting herself into too much danger. She never climbed on the coffee table, jumped off furniture or darted into the street. Yeah, the Worm has always been super-easy in that regard. I think things might be changing a little! She yelled for me the other day and I found her dangling from her monkey bars, about four feet from the ground. She likes to ride her bike over sewer covers now because she wrecked one day doing it. My chicken has flown the coop!


She's too much.


Michael has discovered a new love for the camera. He's quite the little charmer and will smile anytime I pick the camera up now. What a little cutie. He loves peek-a-boo and giggles so loud when we play. I've been teaching him how to point and now when he wakes up from his naps, we walk around his room pointing at the animals on his wall. "Michael, where's hippo?" He'll move his eyes to the right picture and stick his little index finger out. It's darling.

He's cute and he knows it.

He stills hates being on his tummy, so I think crawling might be another month or so away. He wants to be mobile though, so we broke down and bought him a walker. (I know, bad Mommy!) It's so fun watching him cruise around. He's got a little bit of Mommy separation anxiety going on right now, so he's taken to following me around in the walker, whining and holding his arms up. Not exactly what I had in mind, but this little cutie is hard to resist.

This is fun!


The Pear is recovering from a case of Strep Butt. Yes, you read that right. I took him to the doctor on Saturday because of a nasty diaper rash that I couldn't get rid of. Dr. Dooley took one look at his bottom and wanted to test him for strep. It was positive. Poor guy! I guess the same strep virus that affects adults' throats can show up on a baby's booty. He's on amoxicillan now and on the mend.

Here are some recent pictures of the kids. Enjoy! I'll update again soon, I promise!

Got your nose!

Taylor took this picture of Champy. Not bad!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel