Operation: fatten him up

What.was.that?

Tucker was not really impressed, as you can tell from the above photo, with his first foods this past week. Unfortunately for him, we have to keep moving in the solid food direction. I totally forgot how frustrating exciting this time is in a baby's life. Needing a quick brush-up on baby's first foods? Find that here.

I declined the Hep B shot in the hospital when Tucker was born, and I have been putting off getting the immunization at his well visits. I only like for him to get so many vaccinations at one time. This past week I made an appointment to get caught up, and we had to weigh and measure him. I thought the scale must have been wrong when he rang in at 13lb 2.2oz. So we moved the scale away from the wall and reset it to zero and reweighed. The second time he was still only 13lb 6oz. By five months old, babies traditionally should have doubled their birth weight (which his was 7lb 13oz) and we clearly have not accomplished that goal. I'm hearing more about a new growth chart that some doctors are using for exclusively breastfed babies. On that particular chart, he's in the curve. On the traditional chart, he's fallen completely off the bottom at his current age/weight.

Jump to today and I'm ultra paranoid about my milk supply and regularly hanging out with my old friend Medela. And drinking raspberry tea. And eating lots of oats. And drinking organic Milkmaid Tea. And Medela. And water. And Medela.

Love love love this stuff.
Can be found at Babies R Us, Buy Buy Baby and Amazon.

What a cruel cruel joke from mother nature that my baby sleeps really well at night, and when I take advantage of an almost full-night's-sleep, my milk supply decreases. It's so difficult to tell how much Tucker is getting at each nursing session, but when he eats a teaspoon of food and then still takes every drop of a bottle, it makes me worry I'm not providing enough. Insert crying emoticon.


Tucker has had a couple days of sweet potato and avocado and it gets a tiny bit better every day, though he wears more of it than he actually ingests. On top of that I'm still nursing and offering the pumped milk from the day before or defrosting some from the freezer. Fatten up, boy. I've got two weeks before our next weight check and I'm confident we can do this together!

My freezer stash that I've been SO proud of.
Time to put it to use!

Bubbles

 "I wish I loved anything as much as my kids love bubbles"
-Paul Rudd "Knocked Up"

Or in this case, I wish I loved anything as much as my kids AND my dogs love bubbles. And yes, I'm writing at 8:15am because both of my children are still asleep. I am teetering between happiness and worried-ness. About time to wake those lazy kids up!

(And yes, she always wears this dress. I've already packed away her winter clothes and per the cray cray weather here in KY, we still need winter gear, um, only every other day. So this is her warmest spring time outfit; plus jacket, leggings and sneaks.)

                                           

Traveling with tykes

We try to travel light (yeah, right, Delta stole my wallet and $115 to check my bag), so here are my toiletry essentials from our most recent trip to Florida. Good thing I'm a big fat slacker when it comes to unpacking because I just tossed the whole bag right back in my luggage for our road trip this weekend! (Not pictured is our Purple Prairie sunscreen which was shipped to FL when we got there.)

Orajel Training Toothpaste & toothbrush
Up & Up Saline Spray: I have one labeled with an "S" and one with a "T" to keep their germies separate.
Up & Up Children's Motrin: for Sophie
Children's Tylenol: for Tucker
Exergen Temporal thermometer
Plastic syringe
Hair Bean: what can I say? One of the best stocking stuffers and detanglers.
Beadroux Butt Paste: or "bus pace" as Sophie calls it.
California Baby Deet-Free bug spray: you never know when you'll encounter mosquitos in the South.

I also made a quick trip to the pediatrician a few days before we left town to get the most up-to-date and accurate dosings for the kiddos specific to their weight for the pain relievers. Nothing like having a sick child (or a teething one) and being up at a random hour of the night trying to remember how much Tylenol they're allowed to have.

Interesting toiletry bag, right? I save these zipper pouches that usually come stuffed with pillow cases or sheets and use them for toiletries. Much better than my old method of plastic grocery bags!

New dress

Today's cuteness is brought to you by Yaya.

Thank you, mom, for this adorable madras dress! Sophie wore it to school with leggings and her new pink shoes. So stinkin sweet.

You like? You can make your own by downloading the free pattern here.

LL Tucker J

Watch out ladies. 

It's spring and he's wearing seer sucker. And he's teething. And he's five months old. And he can roll all the way over. And he sleeps for 12 hours sometimes. And he grabs my face when I talk to him. And he finally takes a bottle (um, sometimes). And he's awesome. Ladies Love Tucker J. Five month photos taken in blue seer sucker monogrammed jumper made by his Yaya. Thanks, mom!

Loves his mommy, thats for sure!

Sweet little grin.

OK, this isn't the official five month picture,
but I love that I captured this face! He sucks on his
bottom lip sometimes and I think it's damn adorable.

The kid will roll over any chance he gets.
Case and point.

Purple prairie sunscreen review

I told you about the scary stuff I read up on sunscreens while preparing for our trip to Florida. When we arrived to my parents house, so did our little box from Good Stuff Green Stuff!

The Purple Prairie sunscreen does not carry much of an odor and goes on pretty smooth. The whiteness goes away within a few minutes after applying. It wasn't runny or greasy or super sticky. I did wind up applying it on Sophie three times at the beach because I thought her arms were looking pink (tough to see in the sun though). We got home and no sun burn! I am happy with our purchase and have some friends who have also tried it.

Spring break 2012

Spring break 2012. Yes. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed some adult beverages and worked up a little sunburn. Isn't that was Spring Break used to be about? Instead of waking up nursing a hangover, I woke up with a little nursling in my arms; a difference I'd say was welcomed. These last few years of Spring Breaks have been the best ever with our babes in tow.

For a brief recap before I get to an insane amount of REALLY cute photographs...

Tucker slept like doo-doo in the room with me, rolled ALL the way over, like 360, for the first time (and then kept rolling and rolling to the other side of the room while mommy brushed her teeth thinking baby boy was just fine on his play mat), was scared of the baboons at the zoo that were crazy loud, protected his Super Baby status by being perfect on his first flight, and the sweetpea was Baptized on his first Easter Sunday.

Sophie ate the pavement on day 1 and had a giant boo-boo that (thankfully) quickly healed, slept like a dream as always (asked to take naps and "go to night night" because the excitement of our visit wore her flat out), enjoyed her day at the zoo, was great on the plane, and got her fill of fun, sand and wind on our somewhat short trip to the beach.

For a vacation that started with solo travel mom slamming her thumb in the car door at 6am en route to the airport, I'd say it turned out rather nice. I guess I never realized how much I need a thumb until it is throbbing and can't come in contact with anything (anything including a stroller, a toddler, a nursing infant or a carry on bag - you get the picture).

Chillin. Mackin.

My little dumpling. I think she was off to check on Tuck.

See that boo-boo on her forehead?

Yep, she was off to check on Tucker.

Sibling love.

Bath time body paints!

I do this all. the. time.

Feeding the giraffes with Yaya.

She wanted to get IN the bunny pen to figure out which one
was the actual Easter Bunny,

Hugs with sweet Harper.

Cold and windy, but she didn't seem to care!

Working with some sandcastles.

My little cutie.

Sweet friends. Only six weeks apart!

"BIG MUCH!" when asked how much mommy loves her.

Gummy smiles are my favorite!

Just love.

Tucker's baptism Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday.

Looking out for eggs.

Easter egg hunt!

"Aqua Man" and Tuck-tuck.

Roar! Tucker and Grandpa.