Milestones

(If discussions on nursing bother you, skip this post)

For a few weeks now little Gunner has been more than characteristically fussy.  I decided it must be teething- after all, he keeps most of one hand in his mouth and drools like crazy.  However, it's been upsetting how little he sleeps and how he insists on crying himself to sleep. It's also been frustrating how fussy he's been while nursing...

Monday night my hubby suggested I offer him a bottle after nursing.  Maybe, he reasoned, your milk supply is falling off like it did with NJ around 5 months.  So, we made him up a little 4 oz. bottle and do you know, the kid drank all 4 oz.!?!  Tuesday morning, I nursed him again and offered him 8oz. He drank it all again!!!  (This is especially surprising to me because I have my most milk first thing in the morning.) In fact, he drank a full 8 oz. at all 5 feedings, in addition to the nursing 3 of the feedings!  So, I think it's safe to say that my milk supply is waning, just like it did with NJ.  Really, now that I think about it, I should have recognized all the signs. At least someone did.  Poor NJ got the point that he would outright cry on and off while nursing (which meant I was crying on and off with him) for a whole week before we thought to give him a bottle.

I think I'll continue nursing a little, just to wean Gunner and let my milk supply stop on it's own, but I'm also starting solids.  I figure, if the kid can put that quantity of milk away, he's probably ready for some cereal as well.  This morning, after his 4am nursing and his 7am bottle, we tried cereal for the first time.  He didn't do great with it, but didn't do all that bad either. He was actually uncharacteristically stoic about the whole thing, so I'm glad I managed to get a least two happy pictures. It probably didn't help that I was yelling off and on at NJ to stop this or that. About half way through I remembered to smile and say "yuuuuum!" Poor guy. I think more ended up in his tummy than on the bib, but I wouldn't swear by it.

At least he seems happier overall.  Yesterday, he went to every nap without all the fuss and is sleeping longer.  Plus, he seems content to be on a 4 feeding schedule. Yay!  He's also making at least twice as many wet diapers for me to change.  Poor kid, I guess I should have noticed how few he had before! 

I'd been a little worried about weaning (my original goal was to make it 6 months nursing) because Gunner seemed to enjoy nursing sooooo much, but he seemed pretty happy today to be able to watch his brother play while drinking and he's definitely happier with a full tummy!

So, here begins the endless make food, feed, and clean up cycle. I'd forgotten how much work this is! Maybe I'll ask my mom to help me make up a stash of baby food for the deep freeze. When I started solids with NJ, I was so excited I could hardly wait! Plus, there was the fact that since he was my only child, I could clean up and prep the next meal while he napped. (Parenting a single child is soooo wasted on first time parents!) So the endless cycle didn't bother me quite so much.

The tips and tricks I had learned are slowly coming back to my memory now- like have a wet washcloth on hand, get his hands pinned down, and get him to laugh a little so he'll open his mouth.  I definitely remember rejoicing when he could do some finger foods and hold his own bottle.  (Maybe I'll write an ode to the day that he learns to feed himself.)

I suppose the moral of this story is that I should try to remember how it all went down with the first son and see if I can learn from it!

As if Gunner's first solids and a move to formula aren't enough milestones for one week, I think this also means I need to start seriously considering what I eat and how much exercise I get.  Without the extra 500 calories a day being spent on nursing, my current habits are NOT going to work for me. Serious Bummer.

VBS

I tried to ask NJ questions when I picked him up from VBS each day this week- I've gotten some pretty strange responses...

MONDAY:
Me: "So what did you learn about today?"
NJ: "We learned about Jesus! But he's not here."
Me: "oh yeah, where is he? Is he in your heart?"
NJ: No, he's in the other class."

WEDNESDAY:
Me: "So what's your favorite part of VBS?"
NJ: "playing outside"
(I'm pretty sure they only play outside BEFORE VBS, when he's in a 1/2 hour of childcare while I'm getting the craft room set up)

Me: "Tell me about the story time! What was the story about?"
(I knew it was Luke 10:25-37, so I was hoping to draw the story out of him...)
NJ: "The man got BEAT UP!!! He got beat up, mommy!!"

THURSDAY:
Me: "Tell me about the story time! What was the story about?"
(Again, I knew it was Luke 11:1-3...)
NJ: "he had no bread and he was knocking and knocking"
Me: "Oh, the man was knocking on his neighbor's door to ask for bread? And then what happened?"
NJ: " He kept knocking and knocking"
Me: "And then what happened?"
NJ: " He kept knocking and knocking"
Me: "And then, eventually, his neighbor came?"
NJ: "No, then the Eagle came!!!"
(I have NO clue what he's talking about!)

FRIDAY:
ME: "How was VBS today?"
NJ: "Can I listen to my VBS music now?"
(He was more than a little bit tired by then)

Like Christopher Robin

B has been trying to work with NJ on getting himself dressed.  Usually NJ just says he "can't" so we've been telling him to "Try try again, just like Pooh" in reference to one of his favorite books, Disney's Winnie the Pooh Try Try Again storybook.

Yesterday I was, once again, encouraging him to try to get his own shirt on when he said, with a triumphant little tone, "Christopher Robin helped Pooh. You have to help me like Christopher Robin helped Pooh!"

Touché!

My Blueberry Candy Cobbler Helper

A good friend of mine made the yummiest blackberry cobbler a few weeks ago and I've been itching to try making once since.  Last weeknd, I tried the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book (11th Ed), but it wasn't as good.  So I got her to send me her recipe so I could try it too.  Her recipe looked much simpler than my first try, so, in an effort to do more WITH my two year old, instead of doing stuff near him, I asked NJ to be my big helper while making blueberry cobbler.

It was an easy recipe and turned out to be a fun activity.  Of course, after he helped make it, I HAD to let him try some, which was pretty special given the number of desserts I usually let him have. (I seem to be saying that a lot more often these days- maybe I'm not as restrictive as I think I am?)  He LOVED it so much he was speechless- just jumped up and down. (I wish I had a video or picture of it!)

After I tasted it, I realized it was waaaaaay too sweet.  It tuns out, I accidentally doubled the sugar... Now I think I'll have to call this one Blueberry Candy Cobbler so he won't be disappointed at all the future cobblers he tastes.

Now, what to do with all this candy cobbler?  B and I had some with some ice cream and that was ok, but still very sweet.  I tried a little bit with my morning coffee, but it was too sweet for early morning.  It seems a shame to throw it out, but it's just soooo sweet...  Then, I had an idea.  Normally, we mix a bit of brown sugar and raisins with our old fashioned oatmeal in the morning- what if we mixed candy cobbler with it instead?  Ah... perfection!  This is the best oatmeal I've ever had!

Here's the recipe, as I SHOULD have made it.  If you're making it to mix with your oatmeal, just double the sugar in both spots! I might try using a smaller dish next time to get a thicker cobbler...

-----------------------------------
Berry Cobbler

1 stick of butter
1 c flour
1 c milk
1 c sugar
2 t. baking power
4-5 c fruit (I used blueberries)

Preheat oven to 350.
Melt the butter in a 9x13 dish.

Mix flour, milk, 1/2 c. sugar, and baking power.  Pour over butter.
Mix 1/2 c. sugar with berries and pour over flour mixture.
Bake at 350 until golden- about 30-35 min.
(The crust rises to the top and the berries sink to the bottom as it bakes.)
----------------------------------------------------

If you try it, let me know how it worked for you!

NJ's First Bow

When I was younger my dad and uncle took up archery as a more challenging way to hunt.  So in the off season, we started going to these Archery Shoots which are structured a lot like rounds of golf but with life-size 3D animal targets getting speared at 30-50 yards instead of a neat little ball rolling into a hole. (Don't get me wrong, Dad and I love golf too!) Within a few years I was old enough, or more importantly, strong enough, to pull a bow and was a little bored walking the course with nothing to do. So my dad bought me a bow and I started shooting with them.  At the time, there were so few girls in my age class, that I regularly won, if I was patient enough to shoot all the courses.  (Now I think there are plenty of young girls shooting, so it takes some skill to win.)  The best part of the Archery Shoots was always that we would camp at them.  I love camping- almost all my best kid memories are while we were camping in one spot or another. So when my husband and I moved back to Arizona a few years ago, I was anxious to start camping again! 

When our oldest son, NJ, was 9 months old, we took him camping for the first time and our little tent got snowed on.  We ended up sleeping in my mom and dad's camper and I laid awake all night with NJ in my sleeping bag, paranoid that I'd roll over on him in my sleep. It wasn't the most fun I'd had on a camping trip to say the least, so we bought a camper. Since then, we've really enjoyed our camper. It's a lot of work to get ready and it's still challenging to camp with the little ones, but I can give them a bath each night and turn out the heater if it gets too cold.

Last weekend, Memorial Day, we went camping again (to the same spot we got snowed on coincidentally) but this time it was Gunner's first trip. He's only 4 months old, but I think it was actually easier to camp with him than with a 9 month old- he didn't want down to crawl and could sleep just about anywhere.

One of the best parts of the trip is that my dad bought NJ his first bow.  It's a little compound bow with one suction-cup tipped arrow. I love how he immediately took the one-foot-forward stance (maybe he's been watching the men) and how he had no problem hitting the little antelope with the arrow (at like 2 yards, of course).  It's stuff like this that makes me feel right at home being a mother of boys. (Thank you, Dad!)