Mom of Boys

My grandmother was released from the hospital today.  She’s been there since Thursday with double pneumonia.  She was here for Christmas when she started to get sick.  My boys had started getting sick around the same time and this past weekend it just got worse.  Caleb went to my moms and she called to tell me that he was complaining that his ear hurt…  meanwhile Alec was coughing and wheezing and his temp went up to 104.  When I picked Caleb up, I was informed that my brothers little girl has RSV.  Well, she was just playing with Alec last week!  So, I took them in today to get checked up… Caleb has an ear infection in his right ear and Alec had a double ear infection and pneumonia.  They’re both on antibiotics and I hope they get better soon!  Alec is so miserable…  poor baby.  It’s the first time he’s gotten sick! 

Caleb’s been watching a lot of this show lately.  I must say, it’s a good show!  I’ve gotten into it myself.  We have the shows recorded on the computer, so we can watch them whenever.  The only thing is… I’m not sure we have all of the shows and we certainly havn’t watched them in order…  It tells a very interesting story actually, and I’d be interested in seeing it in order some day. 

Alec is getting better at the whole walking thing…  It’s weird because with Caleb, he just got up and walked across the room.  Alec has been “almost walking” for a loooong time now.  Last night I got home and he was standing in the middle of the room, I watched as he took a few steps and then fell down.  Then he stood up again, without holding onto anything to pull up on.  Since he’s learning to walk at a more gradual pace, he should get the hand of it soon!

My Creative Memories Business has been picking up and I have 7 consistant customers now. I started a sale this week that I plan on getting a lot of business from.  I will be sending out an email to my customers ever day to let them know what the sale of the day is.   It’s exciting!  I will probably be doing a sale now every now and then just to get the sales in!  It’s good for the extra money!

Alec’s been cruising around the house now for a few months.  I know that he could probably walk if he wanted to, but he just chooses to crawl because it’s faster for him.  Well this morning I set him down on his feet and then I sat about 3 feet away from him.  He stood there a minute, looking at me with a blank look on his face.  I held up my hands and got a huge smile on his face!  He started walking toward me and I figured he would take that 1-2 steps into a crawl, like he always does, but he kept on walling to me!  He took 5-6 steps before sort of leaping into my arms!  I tried it a few more times and he walked all the way to me every time!  I tried finding the camera, because of course he does this when Marcus isn’t here… Couldn’t find it though.  Hopefully he does it again for Daddy tonight! 

Caleb Jordan Stone:  I decided one Saturday to work hard all day, cleaning and organizing… Then I went to my Aunt’s house and we all helped each others cars (4 total).  We had a large meal and before leading home I went to use the bathroom.  My water broke (actually more like a leak…) while I was sitting there.  No one believed that my water had broken and I was almost on my way out the door, but I decided to call my doctor just to check.  Well, she didn’t believe me either, but she told me to go intot he hospital just in case.  As I was dressing into my hospital gown (almost an hour and a half later) and I stepped out of my jeans, is when my water gushed.  Caleb was born a little over 9 hours later.  I remember the Redskins winning that day!

~Water Broke around Midnight, Caleb was born on a Sunday.

Alec Jordan Sattler:  I decided one Saturday that I was done being pregnant and I walked around the mall for almost 2 hours.  When I got home, I walked to the shopping center and into each store until I got to Walmart.  I was in so much pain from walking that I called Marcus for a ride home.  That night I layed down to go to bed and I felt that my pants were a little wet.  I was leaking a little and again was not sure if it was my water or not.  Again, the doctor did not belive me and told me to wait at home until contractions started.  I waited 6 hours and no contractions came, but a whole lot of water did!  I went to the hospital where the nurses were surprised to see me.  We started Pitocin and Alec was born a little over 3 hours after starting pitocin.  I remember the Redskins lost that day.

~Water Broke around Midnight, Alec was born on a Sunday.

 

When Caleb was 2 and a half years old, we took him to get his very first hair cut! I never cut it before that because it just never grew. Even at 2 and a half, he didn’t NEED a haircut… I had just decided that it was time and we took him to a Cartoon Cuts, which at the time was a very neat place to take your kids to get a cut. Since then, Caleb gets very regular haircuts and we try to keep it short and simple.

Now Alec had a head full of hair when he was born and it’s had no problems gorwing! People have been telling me for a few months now that it’s time for Alec to get a haircut. It was long on the top and in the back and his hair fell over his ears and was even getting into his eyes. It was floppy and there wasn’t much we could do with it. We tried parting it to the side, but it was so long that we were always brushing it over. A few days ago, I found a coupon in the Valpak for childrens haircuts and it had a picture of a little boy who was getting his hair cut while sitting in a red fire engine. I saved that coupon and tonight… we went to have it done!

We walked in and they had 4 seats for kids to choose from. The Fire Engine, a police car, and airplane and a taxi cab. They also had a Thomas the Train table, which is the first thing the kids went to when we went in! We decided to have Caleb go first, and he picked out the police car. I actually just cut his hair before the summer started, but he needed a touch up. The lady put gel in his hair and spiked the front up. He picked his (2) lollipops and then we plopped Alec up there. He was super excited at first to be able to sit and ‘drive’ that car! He was fine half way through the cut… and then she sprayed his head to get his hair wet and that’s when he lost it. Poor guy… I almost cried too. The lady was taking a little longer than I thought it would take… but he made it through witht he help of the 3 of us (Marcus, myself and the owner of the shop) playing peek-a-boo and singing his Baluga song and just talking to him. It’s a pretty cute cut. Marcus says he looks older… I suppose he does. Just 4 more weeks till my baby turns 1!

Caleb Before:

Caleb After:

Alec waiting his turn:

Excited about ‘driving’ the car:

Alec Before:

Alec Looses it:

Alec almost done:

Loosing it again:

Alec After:

“Let’s go Home Mom!”

 

What a trip!  Like Marcus said yesterday, we need a vacation from our vacation.  We got home last night with around 14500 more miles on the jeep.  We didn’t really have internet connections while we were gone, and I tried to just write down my blog in word, but that only happened once or twice.  So to sum up everything that happened in the past 2 weeks… 

We woke up Thursday morning (my birthday) and I got my gifts from the boys.  I didn’t feel great that morning, but I tried to shrug it off.  We packed up the jeep and headed to McDonalds for breakfast which I didn’t eat much of.  We got on the road and were in Williamsburg for lunch.  By this point I really didn’t feel well and didn’t eat.  We checked into our hotel and instead of going out like we thought we would, we stayed in and I **tried** to rest.  I think I was able to shut my eyes for an hour or two, but never really fell asleep.  The kids were playing with the toys we brought and watched sponge bob and then there was the TRAIN!  Yes, a train that was maybe a few feet from the hotel.  Walls shook when it passed!  There must be a sign with an arrow pointing to the building and says “Cheap Asses!!!”  because that train horn sounded every time it passed!  We got the hotel because it was cheap, thinking that we would be out and about most of the time anyways…  We didn’t count on me being sick.  After the second or third train that passed, I told Marcus we needed to get out.  We went to the outlets down the street and shopped in some of the stores.  We walked around 3 stores though, and I just couldn’t stand anymore.  We went out to dinner and I got soup, but couldn’t eat it…  Then we got back to the hotel, put the kids to bed and took my temp.  It was close to 102.  I felt the same way I had felt a couple weeks before when I thought I had Mastitis but without the breast pain.  Blah!!! 

The next day was a little better.  I still felt a little queasy, but I didn’t want to stay in that hotel room all day.  We went out to eat and I ate…  We went to Colonial Williamsburg and I was somewhat able to walk around.  We skipped Water Country.  We did go to a Go Carts Plus and rode on some go carts, bumper boats, some kiddie rides and then we played some putt putt.  Afterwards, we got ready to go to dinner at a place called 2nd Street.  Marcus had been there before and loved it.  Caleb…  fell and hit his head really hard on the bathroom floor.  When we got in the car both boys were falling asleep, but because of Caleb’s fall, I was trying to keep him awake.  It took us almost 2 hours to find this place… We got so turned around and lost!  We found it though and the food was awesome!  I can’t wait to go there again! 

Fast forward to the next day.  We set off to OBX.  We met up with my mom and step dad and after waiting a long time for our house to be ready, we set off for our house.  We followed the paved road to the end… where it lets off right onto the beach.  Stuck the jeep in 4 wheel drive and we drove 8 miles ON the beach to our house.  It was an awesome experience.  Marcus had a lot of fun with that too! 

We spent a whole week on the beach!  It rained for a little while 1 day and we just happened to be out in the jeep with the doors and windows off… LOL!  We went body boarding, made sand castles, went shopping, drove to Kill Devil Hills for a day and got some good tans!  One of the best parts of the trip was that we woke up almost every day to wild horses in our yard and around the house.  It was an awesome vacation!  Caleb had no fear of the water and LOVED being in the ocean.  Alec on the other hand hated the water but loved the sand.  He of course tried to eat the sand a few times and it took him a couple of days to realize that it was not edible! 

We left Friday night instead of Saturday morning.  We beat a lot of traffic by doing this!  We went camping Saturday – Monday at the Shenandoah river.  We do this often and we always do the same things…  Raft down the river from the bridge to our camp… and then Caleb always tried to fish.  This time though, 1 thing affected both of these.  The river weeds were really overgrown and thick!  The rafts got stuck… and the hooks got tangled.  We still had a good time though.

Monday morning we packed up and went straight to Fairfax, where we went to a birthday party.  I got to see 2 friends from the September Sweethearts that I haven’t seen in a long time.  It was fun to catch up with them!  After the party we finally made our way home!  Now, we’re home and I have loads of laundry to do!  It was a great vacation though!  I can’t wait till next year! 

I’m working on uploading some pics.  I will post a link when I am finished. 

 

About a year ago, we found out that Caleb was allergic to cats and we had 3 of them!  We decided to just keep 1 of them and have been looking for homes for the other 2.  Zoi, was actually the first cat that we(I) decided to get.  We adopted her from an animal rescue in Fairfax.  A few months ago, Zoi got lost and we were very upset.  She was gone for over 4 weeks and we were sure that she was gone for good…  One night we got home kind of late and Marcus saw her in the shadows.  I got down on my hands and knees and coaxed her out to me.  She came back!!!  Zoi is a part of our family and we love her very much!  She’s so sweet and gentle with the kids.  She follows me and the kids around everywhere, and I used to think it was because of me, but now I have a feeling that she just wants to be with the kids.  (Mostly Alec…)  Here’s why I think that:

• When he crys, she comes running up to him and rubs up against him
  (the way cats do when they want to be pet…)
• When he crawls out to the kitchen (which is often) she will follow him to watch him.  He usually crawls to his fridge magnets and she will sit under a chair to watch. 
• When he’s playing with the bus, she sits under it. (or on it)
• When Alec sleeps in his room and I go in to check on him, she’s usually sleeping on the floor beside the crib. 
• The other day, he was looking out the window and she got up on her two legs and looked out too!
• She plays with Alec and Caleb during the day.  If they are playing with the bus, she sometimes hops up there to play too.  If they are playing with the activity table, she stands up and plays too.  If they are crawling thru the tunnels and tents, she crawls thru also. 
• She lets the kids ‘pet’ her even though they are kind of rough and she’s never hurt either of them.

 It was hard for me to get some of these on camera, but this morning I was able to.  I took a picture of Zoi playing on the school bus with Alec, and a picture of her playing with the activity table.  Still trying for the tunnel shot!  She likes that the best! 

 

 

There are 2 kinds of sippy cups that we LOVE over here.  The disposable ones and the Nuby ones.  We’ve gone through so many sippy cups and these are the cheapest ones out there!  I don’t feel bad if I want to throw them away!  Well, Alec learned exactly like his older brother did.  From a straw first, and then moved onto the sippy.  Before we tried a straw, he didn’t want anything to do with bottles or sippy cups.  Now, he knows that there’s something inside!  After we got that down, we just needed to get him to hold the sippy cup by himself.  Well, whoever makes those disposable ones, came out with these new ones that have handles on each side, so I pick up a pack.  It’s taken him a few days, but I think he’s got it!  This morning he sat there and drank some juice all by himself!  Yay!  Just in time for our looong road trip!

That’s Alec!  For the past couple of weeks, he’s been dancing!  I think I first noticed it when he was standing up att he train table and looking at his BE movie and his little knees and head were bobbin up and down tot he music!  I’ve seen him doing it while he’s sitting in front of the TV too.  It’s so cute!!!  I’ve tried on several occasions to get the video camera out, but everytime I do, he stops and smiles at me!  I guess he knows that when it’s camera time, mommy wants a smile…  LOL! 

I thought we were in the clear as far as allergies were concerned with Alec.  I guess the sign of no allergies was that he wasn’t breaking out at all before we started solids, and I was drinking at least 2 glasses of milk per day and really wasn’t restricting myself from dairy while nursing.  Actually, I really wasn’t restricting myself from anything while nursing…  With Caleb it was an entire different story!  He was breaking out before he was 3 months old and it took us a couple of YEARS to figure out everything that he was reacting to! 

So…  when we started solids with Alec, I was pretty careful and we went through the foods and he did great with all of them.  Well, now we are to the point where he doesn’t eat baby foods at all, he doesn’t want anything to do with them.  In fact if you try to feed him, he will smack the spoon away from you!  He wants to feed himself, and he does not want to use the spoon!  It’s hard to think of things that he can have for lunch and dinner without having the same thing over and over… I’m holding off on a lot of things that I knew Caleb was allergic to, so we are limited over here. 

Well, recently I have been giving him little bites of Yogurt and I put some cheese on things that he eats.  I thought he was doing alright with it, but I have also noticed that in the past couple of weeks, he’s been spitting up.  He didn’t even spit up much as a little baby, so why now???  He also has small breakouts… just a few spots on his chin, nothing like I’m used to seeing with Caleb, but they ARE still there!  I’m really hoping he’s not reacting to the dairy!!!  Until I’m sure though, I think we will hold off on the dairy for a couple of weeks to see how he does… 

Now, if I look at “the bright side” of this…  I learned while Jayden was here, that Cow milk curdles in a day or two and smells REALLY BAD!!!  Soy Milk curdles in 1-2 weeks, (not that I let the milk sit around for that long all the time… but I do find cups under beds or in a bag that we took somewhere…) it also still smells pretty bad, but not nearly as much!  I can stand to open up the cups and wash them out at the sink… where I’ve learned that if it’s cow’s milk…  run the hot tap water, hold my breath, open it up place it under the hot running tap and RUN!!!  I would not be totally upset if Alec was allergic to Dairy.  It would actually make thing a little easier for all of us… the boys menu’s would be the same and I could save my cups and nose!