James' six month appointment

James had his 6 month dr appointment yesterday. He weighed 16 lbs 11 oz and was 26 in tall- so basically on par with Xander at that age. He weighed in about a 1/2 lb or so heftier but height wise they were the same. So that puts him in the 30th percentile for weight and height and 50th or so for head circumference. Well proportioned with a giant head!

It's funny as I look back and read what Xander was like at that age it seems like a million years ago. They are really 2 different kids with different personalities but developmentally they are so similiar- at least they seem to be hitting manyof the same milestones pretty much exactly at the same ages. Then again so do most babies so....

We have started some solids with James but pretty much he is uninterested and I don't care to bother with it too much until he shows more interest.

James is 6 months old!

YIKES! How did that happen? I have pics from today but I can't post them from this computer so I'll post them when I'm on a different 'puter!

sickness

So how wrong of me is it to wish that Xander were still feeling a little under the weaher, at least then he slept... Today has just been one of those days where you want to tear your hair out b/c one kid or the other has been crying incessantly all day long. I think the problame with Xan is that he is feeling better but not 100% well so he has been whiny and irritable but the moment I put him down for a nap he goes balistic! And James has been in one of his moods where he is smiling and happy and bubbly until heaven forbid you put him down! Not to mention that he has puked on me like four times today- well ok large amounts of spit up not really vomit. He has a very stuffy nose and I think all the mucus is making his tummy upset. All added to the fact that he was up like 5 times last night- also I think related to his stuffiness and inability to breathe through his nose but when you start out the day tired.... it all goes downhill from there. And if there is one thing that gets on my nerves faster than anything else it is the whining! Luckily the floor guys that were here this morning finished their work in only about 2 hours so all the really noisy-messy sanding part is done and now we just have to get the finishing coats done and the floor will be redone and beautiful again! So in the moment of calm when both boys are actually sleeping I am checking email (for the first time in a week), starting the laundry-which was supposed to get started this am but the flooring guys needed the dryer outlet so I didn't want to start until I could actually dry too and here I am at 2pm just getting it started, and throwing something into the crockpot to be ready in a few hours for supper! Off I go...

After the demo...

The den looks like this...

The floor has been removed, the hearth and drywall are gone, and you can see part of the reason the floor was collapsing- the hearth was resting on a concrete pad with nothing to support it but the subfloor! Also once we pulled out the hearth we found the wall behind it was bowing forward b/c the concrete box around the stove pipe had fallen forward. Now whether that fell forward and pushed the hearth out more or whether the hearth slowly falling foward as the floor sagged pulled that out as well is anyones's guess. The concrete slab is still there b/c the contractor didn't have a big enough jackhammer to get it out. That's on the agenda next as well as replacing the floor and drywall and removing the stovepipe and filling the hole with brick and mortar. Then next week the floor will all be snaded and refinished to match.

No more double digits for us...

Xander has been sick on and off this week. He came home Monday from daycare with a goopy eye and feeling a little warm to me but Tues he seemed better then worse then better again wed morning but I think by we afternoon he had used up all his reserves b/c he just didn't seem to get better. So finally yesterday afternoon when his temp was 102 I called the Dr office and we got an appointment for this morning. So in we went. My guess was that in combination with his cold and goopy eyes he had an ear infection. The thing that I will never understand is those damn typamnic thermometers(and the fact that I sewar every time we go for a sick visit the regular nurse who we really like is out sick too!). He I am bringing in my sick kid with a suspected ear infection and they always want to ram that thing into his ear- why? So of course it reads 97.7- b/c A) his ear are too small for the pediatric version that they have and B) b/c who can get him to hold still for a probe shoved into his yes, infected ear! But since I had taken his temp earlier that day (rectaclly- gross ok but the most reliable!) and found it to be 102.2 I had already given him motrin anyway. So yes he has bilateral severe ear infection and probably a case of conjuctivitis (viral not bacterial) on top of a cold. Fun times... So we started antibiotics and let the diarrhea roll. But back to my post title. In the process of our visit Xander got weighed and he was a whopping 23 lbs! which puts him back in the single digits for weight percentiles, 7th to be exact. So our stint in the 10th percentile was apparently short lived! James weighed in at 16 lbs so we'll see what happens when he has his 6 month check up in 2 weeks b/c I swear he has been in the middle of a growth spurt.

James gets cereal...

So as some of you may know I hate and I mean HATE (hate. hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. hate, etc) the baby food stage. So not my favorite part of child rearing- thank goodness Frank doesn't mind so much. It isn't the preparing or anything- I will gladly make my own baby food but I just can't stand feeding it. It's messy, gross, nasty, time-consuming, annoying, and obnoxious so I have been puttin git off with James as long as possible! But the last few days he has been super fussy , wanting to eat constantly, pair that with Xander and myself not feeling well and you get a stressed, sleep deprived (even more so than usual) mommy who is willing to try anythig to have 5 minutes without a crying child. Looking back now though I swear we went through the same thing with Xan about the same age. So this morning I gave James some cereal and it wasn't as bad as I remember it being- yet! He took it alright despite some pretty yucky faces but didn't seem all that interested in it so... I think he is going through a growth spurt and with his constant nursing hopefully he will bump up my milk supply to help him along- twice this week we have given him bottles of breastmilk in addition to nursing to get him to simmer down.

In other James news is is now rolling over belly to back- that started mon or tues, he is sitting up unassisted for short periods and he has started scooting across the floor. So far the scooting is without purpose but I am waiting for the army crawling to begin- sigh...

Let the reno begin!

So this morning the demolition began! I posted awhile back about my fear of renovations and I am approaching this process with a bit of trepidation. Now I realize that my unnatural addiction to HGTV and in particular Holmes on Homes is fueling this trepidation but still.. (BTW if anyone wants to do a reno DO NOT watch Holmes on Homes first- he will scare the crap out of you!) So we took our time, interviewed and entertained quotes from multiple contractors, got references, went and saw jobs our contractor had done but I am still nervous. And the really pathetic part is that this is a pretty small job! But so far things are going well, loud but well, I hope...

Now for everyone who is like OMG I can't believe you are actually taking out the hearth- there is a method behind our madness. Trust me we wouldn't be spending the money (when we also need new siding and windows) if it weren't an immediate need. Basically as you can see from the pictures the hearth is falling forward and is taking the floor down with it. We live in fear of waking up one morning and finding the den in the basement. Plus it makes it difficult to put anything on the floor b/c everything slopes downwards! That all being said we also never use the wood stove- we have used it maybe 3 times in 3 years so here we have this montrosity caving in our floor and we never actually use it. So the plan is to repurpose the den as a den/office/library and move the wood stove around the other side of the chimney and put it in the sunroom which will serve the purpose of providing heat for that room! I will keep you updated as the reovations continue.

Oh yeah and we are getting a new front door too!