2 month check-up

Child#2 had his 2 month check up today and while it took for.ev.er., it wasn't terrible (big brother, on the other hand, was.  Daddy had to take him out more than once.).

Stats for you!:
12 lbs even (that's absolutely naked), which puts him around the 50th %ile
24 1/2 inches long, which is, of course, around the 90th %ile
head was....something...which puts him around the 10th %ile

For comparison's sake, at 2 months, Everett was 10lbs 8 oz, 23 1/8", and I believe his head was around the 15th-20th %ile.  You must remember though, that Everett was born 8 oz lighter than Cally and lost a lot of weight (which Callum did not.  I think he lost around 5 oz compared to Everett's 15 or so.).

We got to discuss (me more than Brian) our concerns with the doctor (nothing bad.  Head a little flat on one side, sensitive skin, former eye lag), talk about pinworms at Ev's old daycare (family practice doctors who look after 3/4 of the family are awesome), and get the ok that Cal's a healthy little guy.
Callum also got himself started on a slightly delayed immunization schedule.  Since the clinic does one of the same combo shots that Everett got (pentacel), we couldn't really follow Dr. Sears' schedule without causing a fuss.  So I made my own schedule to delay HepB and varicella and make sure the little guy doesn't get poked more than twice in an appointment.  For your viewing pleasure:

2 months: Pentacel (HIB, DTaP, polio), Prevnar (Pneumococcal), Rotavirus 

4 months: Pentacel (HIB, DTaP, polio), Prevnar (Pneumococcal), Rotavirus 

6 months: Pentacel (HIB, DTaP, polio), Prevnar (Pneumococcal), Rotavirus 

9 months: Flu, Hep B

10 months: Flu, Hep B (nurse visit only)

12 months: MMR, Hep B

15 months: HIB, Prevnar (Pneumococcal)

18 months: Hep A, DTaP

2 years: Flu, Hep A

3 Years: Flu

4 Years: Flu, Varicella

5 Years: DTaP, Polio, MMR

12 Years: Tdap, Meningococcal

New pictures

Since I've been posting pictures like crazy on facebook,  I have been neglecting this here blog.  Pictures away!

2 months old!

I haven't taken any pictures yet, but will do that later and post.  Today, Callum is two whole months old!  I noticed the other day that two months is definitely the age when newborns disappear and babies emerge.  Cally doesn't look so much like a wrinkled, red little squirmy thing anymore.  Now he's got some pudgy cheeks, big eyes, and a great smile.  My newborn is gone already!  Before I know it, this little guy is going to be running around alongside his big brother.
Here are some pictures from Easter yesterday:

Meal plans weren't exactly as planned last week.  At all.  But you know.  Here's this week's plan:

Dinners for April 25-May 1

Monday, April 25 – grilled tilapia, wheat couscous, salad

Tuesday, April 26 – sweet potato burritos

Wednesday, April 27 – frozen pizza, pineapple, veggies

Thursday, April 28 – honey chicken stir fry

Friday, April 29 – black bean burgers

Saturday, April 30 – leftovers

Sunday, May 1 – beef roast, potatoes, carrots

Evil Yeast.

Callum officially has a yeast diaper rash (this poor kid, right?).  It looks more painful than painful and I feel bad because I thought it was just a regular rash, put desitin on a couple times with sposies and thought it was gone, so we went back to cloth.  Well then, he got left in a diaper too long when he slept alllll morning on Saturday and now it's worse than ever.  So here we go, attacking yeast.  At his next change, we'll be applying some nystatin and keeping him in sposies (time to go back to wal-mart. again.  I'll be running out of Luvs soon.).  I took a probiotic pill which will hopefully somehow affect his milk (worth a try, eh?).  And as for the diapers, I'm following this advice:
-Diapers are currently in the washer on a cold wash, cold rinse with 4 drops of Tea Tree Oil (forgot a wetbag, so I'll be doing a quick soak of that on its own).
-I will then run the entire load again on a sanitary wash (extra hot water) with some baby oxy clean.
-Then, since it's still freaking snowing here and I have no sun, I'll be putting everything (even my PUL...eek!) in the dryer on hot.
-My diaper pail is also currently sitting in the utility sink, full of bleach water.

Here's hoping my diapers survive and the yeast does not!  And that my poor little bug feels much better very soon!

Meal Plan

In baby news, Callum is totally recovered from his nasty cold (I still have it).
In toddler news, Everett is entirely potty-trained (excluding the occasional accident, of course).
In general news, our gorgeous weather went away and we got a dumping of snow on Saturday.  Stupid snow.  Mid April is NOT the time for snow and freezing cold temps.  It upsets me.
I did finally get out for a run this morning.  Boy were my lungs not ready for that.  My legs felt totally fine but I had to slow down and walk 3 or 4 times because my lungs just weren't ready for that much work.  While I was gone, Brian managed to get a shower and take care of the boys (who both decided to wake up right before I left).  I got home and made breakfast and went to take a shower and came downstairs to Everett rampaging and Calllum covered in cream of wheat and desitin....yeah....I'm going to try and keep my runs limited to the time when the boys are still sleeping.
Last week's meals were a little bit different than planned, but hey, that's ok.  Since the weather was still gorgeous last Wednesday, we cancelled the idea of frozen pasties and instead grilled hot dogs.  Instead of fish sticks on Friday, we went out and used our gift certificate to El Dorado.  We even shared a fried ice cream between the three of us who eat things other than milk.  Saturday we had a birthday party and Sunday we had burgers at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Here's this week's plan:

Monday, April 18 – roast chicken, potatoes, rolls

Tuesday, April 19 – leftover chicken stir fry

Wednesday, April 20 – pasties and salad (mama to The Alley for volleyball party)

Thursday, April 21 – sweet potato burritos

Friday, April 22 – tilapia fillets, wheat couscous, veggies

Saturday, April 23 – beef roast, potatoes, carrots (we'll see....not sure we want such a big meal before easter)

Sunday, April 24 – EASTER

Talking Toddlers are Terrific

Although some of the things that come out of the toddler's mouth are not so terrific (think, "no," "go away," and "mine!"), having a child who can effectively communicate using the English language is pretty grand.  He says the most hilarious things I've ever heard from anyone, his requests for hugs and kisses can't be denied, and he makes  me see things in the world around me that I otherwise would have missed out on.
Example #1: While waiting in line at the post office the other day, Everett was observing things and telling me about them.  Suddenly, he was on his hands and knees with his nose to the ground.  I turned around and saw this, and appropriately thought to myself, "what the heck is he doing down there?"  He then says to me, "ooka mama!  a bug!"  Sure enough.  There was a box elder bug (or as we call them, stink bugs) on the floor.  He stayed there in close proximity to his new friend and once attempted to touch it until I told him that we should probably just go ahead and let the stink bug be.
Example #2: Two days ago, we were playing outside in the beautiful sunshine.  Everett was running around, playing with sticks, and telling me about all sorts of stuff and then said, "moon, mama!  Moon!!!"  I asked, "what?  Where is the moon?" and he pointed up in the sky behind our house.  I went over to where he was standing and looked where he was pointing.  Yep.  There was a half moon right there, clear as could be, in the middle of the afternoon.  I just shook my head and said, "you are absolutely right, son.  That is the moon up there."
Example #3: Today for playgroup, we went out to the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center.  Since I was wearing baby brother and not a coat, big brother went outside with the playgroup leader and the other children.  While I am watching from inside, he goes trotting off down the path away from the other children.  The leader has to run off after him and nab him up, enlisting the "help" of the little girls following behind since Everett is so heavy.  When he came back inside, he asked me, "mama, pet goose?"  I looked back outside to where he was running and there was a big canada goose sitting on the ground.  Well how can I be mad that he went running off away from the group when he just wanted to pet that goose?  I just informed him that, no, we cannot pet the goose because it is a wild animal and we don't pet wild animals.  Or strangers' dogs - another discussion we've been having on a daily basis.
Everett also uses his awesome language skills to show us how much he loves his "baby cow-um."  If any other children come near baby brother, he runs over, puts a protective hand on Cal's head and proclaims, "my baby!"  He uses a high-pitched baby voice to talk to Callum and tells him about his little baby toys.  He also loves to tell me about how Callum "drinks mama milk.  No cow milk.  No almond milk." and every morning has to comment on "mama pump milk Cow-um?".
So even though in the middle of every weekend, Brian will turn to me and say, "he talks. so. much.," I kind of love it.  After all, look who his mom is.  :)

Callum's first sick visit

Poor little guy got his first sick visit at only six weeks.  I can't remember how old Everett was, but it was much older than six weeks.  Cal's had a nasty cold with congestion, productive cough, and so much mucus that after eating in the morning, he would forcefully vomit the entire feeding plus gross boogeries.  He's had a minor fever on and off and just looks so sad.  Last night we decided we would call and make him an appointment for this morning.  Well, this morning he didn't throw up quite as forcefully and wasn't coughing quite as much but was much more needy.  I had to hold him rather than have him sit in his bouncer while helping Ev.  Then I heard that another baby in our playgroup got RSV and I got nervous.  He was so sad and whiney, that while Ev sat down at the library's story time, I called in and got Callum a 2pm appointment.
The results of the appointment were good.  While his O2 was at the lower end of acceptable and he had a temp of 100.4 degrees rectally, his skin color was good, ears were clear, lungs sounded good, and he was alert and wiggling.  The doctor decided to still do a swab for RSV and then called this evening to let me know it was negative.  So our little guy just has a very nasty cold and will hopefully be getting better very soon.  His coughing is already less frequent and severe, so I'm really hoping he's on his way out of this ickiness.
Here's our little sicky this evening:

In other news, I lost Muno.  For some hair-brained reason, I asked Everett if he wanted to take his Muno doll (remember, this one that I made for him?  and omg wasn't Ev tiny and scrumptious!?!)

into the grocery store today and late this afternoon I realized that Muno never came back into our car/house.  We made daddy stop by the store on his way home from work, but we're guessing there is now some other little kiddo in town enjoying a homemade Muno.  Everett doesn't seem too sad about it, but I might make him a new one anyway.

Free E-Book

Check it out!  A free e-book on herbs and breastfeeding.  I'm all for free stuff and this is a great company.  I really want their diaper cream as it's safe for cloth diapers...

Meals for the week

Making sure the blog holds me accountable.
This week our meals differed a bit from the original plan.  Saturday through Tuesday were according to plan, but then we mixed things up.  Because I didn't remember to marinade the chicken for kabobs, we threw a freezer manicotti meal.  Then we moved lentil stew from Friday to Thursday and had the chicken kabobs on Friday.  We moved yesterday's enchiladas to today and saved the chicken dinner for next week.
Here's this week's plan:

Monday, April 11 – spaghetti, meat sauce (leftover browned hamburger), asparagus, garlic bread

Tuesday, April 12 – steak on grill, baked potatoes, frozen veggies

Wednesday, April 13 – pasties and salad

Thursday, April 14 – butter chickpea curry over rice, naan

Friday, April 15 – fish sticks, leftover rice, salad

Saturday, April 9 – whole chicken dinner

Sunday, April 10 – leftover chicken stir fry

Spring has arrived!

These were from a few days ago.  Today was an even nicer day!  Ignoring the forecast of severe thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow, beautiful spring weather has arrived!

 

"Mama!  My holder Cow-um's hand!  Picture me, mama!"

Snoozing in the sun

What fun it is to throw last fall's leaves at your mama

Can you find Everett?

Examining a piece of chalk 

"Cheeeeeeeese!" 

Such a loving big brother.  Has to hold his baby's hand even while coloring with chalk.

He smiles!

Callum is six weeks old today.  I thought I'd bless you all with this: