I'm working on sitting up...

But sometimes it's just too hard.

Num num num.

Fast asleep :)

A BAD first!

I have been dreading this first!

We spent last night cleaning up vomit and taking care or poor little Harrison.

He started being ill around 11:30 last night, then was up being sick every 30 minutes or sooner all night and through this morning. The poor little guy was so good, he handled it so well. Almost as well as Daddy Matt when Harrison threw up all over him this morning!

He has a mild fever and the sickness has slowed down, I am waiting a call from the Doctor to see if they want to see him, but I'm sure they don't as long

as he starts to keep something down, he wasn't even keeping water down this morning.

He keeps asking for food and drink so I have given him 1/4 apple and banana, he wants more but I am scared of the mess! Why do kids always throw up on the carpet?

He's sucking on a ice-pop right now as I thought he would have to eat it slowly!

Update:

So the doctor just called back, and said it sounds like a virus. He has since had a little diarrhea, so to follow the BRAT diet, Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast. Once he is keeping liquids down, I guess the apples and bananas he already had are close match! He is a lot better, and hasn't been sick for almost 2 hours, I may risk some toast for lunch then hope we can all take a very long nap!

Adorably big :)

This big boy is wearing a 12 month size outfit here! He'll catch up his big brother soon ;)

Lazy.

I feel like I am only just getting my grove back. Allister is now 5 months old, and I feel like since the last trimester of my pregnancy I got lazy. Not completely lazy, but I dropped my standards on things that are important to me. Things that made my life easy while heavily, uncomfortably pregnant, and having a newborn and a 2 year old. But now I want to try and get back to how it used to be.

The main areas I have slacked in are food and TV.

Food

Ive been buying chicken nuggets! The good ones, yes, but still, I can make them just as easy without all the crap in. And there's no excuse as Harrison will eat anything I put in front of him, the good stuff and the bad. When Harrison was a toddler, and generally for Matt and, we rarely ate processed foods. I made as much as possible from scratch, and I enjoy it. It's better for us and I want to be that kind of person. I don't want to be a Mum who gives her kids chicken nuggets and processed foods all the time. Have you seen the ingredients in that stuff? Heck, I cant pronounce half of it, and instead of a list that comprises chicken, bread crumbs, and spices, there's a whole list of stuff. I want to get back to basics! I want to get back to cooking, I love to cook! I have been experimenting with menu planning and new recipes lately and really enjoying it. We have also been eating more vegetarian dishes as a family, more grains and less of those (sugar laden, starchy yummy) potatoes.

I think, even now in my lazy phase, I cook from scratch more than many people. But I want to do it more. And I am going to make my own chicken nuggets and tatter-tots, my own pizza crust, maybe even my own crackers! I'm not sure where I am going to get all my free time from, but I am hoping with Harrison out 2 mornings a week I will have a little more free time? And now he is napping again, I'm catching up and getting the house sorted again, a few weeks of letting it slip and the house looks like its not been cleaned forever, at least to me! And the basement, well, I wont even go there! Harrison is even at an age where he will enjoy cooking, and he can help me too. Ive been reading a lot of food blogs, and they have inspired me to get more healthy food wise. There wont be an overnight ban of all the processed stuff, but slowly I will try and introduce more completely home made foods, and when the kids are a little older and at school I hope to have more free time to maybe take it a step further.

Of course we will always eat take-out pizza, chips and chocolate, and nothing will ever be banned food wise in this house, but If the kids get used to less of the bad stuff, and more of the good stuff I hope they will be able to make better choices later in life.

Ill keep you posted :)

TV

We are working on watching less TV. Its very hard! Once you get used to it anyway. Again when Harrison was little we didn't watch TV. He didn't watch an TV till he was a year old, and even then very little. And then I got pregnant with Allister. And I felt sick, and tired, it was easy. You switch it on and it entertains them, and you can slob on the couch and feel better about yourself and worse about your kids! Don't get me wrong, I don't think TV is all bad. Especially the educational stuff. Harrison knows at least half of his alphabet thanks to Word World. I love that show! He may even spell a word soon. But again, I don't want the TV to be a baby sitter. That's my job. Sometimes the TV is the only thing that will keep a toddler still, and entertained long enough to get a job done. But sometimes, I'm learning, that job can wait. I'm enjoying playing with the kids more again. Harrison will come up to me and say

"Mummy play cups!" His new favorite game, we stack them, make them into "Castles" and play hide the man- Harrison has to guess which cup I place his little man under.

Instead of being too busy, cleaning or doing laundry I stop, and we play. These days will be gone so quickly, before you know it he wont want to play with his mum anymore, and there will still be laundry and cleaning and ironing to do tomorrow! I find it hard to leave that stuff, but, no matter how much cleaning and sorting I do I still always feel like my house is never as clean and organized as I would like! So why get all hot and bothered about it!

Matt and I are also working on Family time. Harrison is forming memories, and we know how fond those memories are later in life. Its funny how much stuff comes back to you, from your own childhood, when you become a parent. I get flashbacks. I sometimes look down at my hands and see my Mums, seriously, I have her hands! And I hear her voice in mine, and when Harrison is riding Matt like a horse, or running around in the park I see my Dad.

Being a parent is such a big responsibility, and I think we all mess it up in some way. We cant do everything right, but if we think very consciously about what we are doing, we can do our best to be the best we can be. Like shouting, its so hard not to shout! I have very little trouble not spanking, its just something that's not for our family, even though I have weakened once or twice, I am ashamed to admit! But it is very hard, with a mouth like mine, not to shout. I actually think I do a pretty good job of not shouting! But shouting doesn't get you anywhere, it becomes more and more powerless the more you do it. And you don't want your kids to remember your yelling and screaming at them, its no punishment, and it has no more power or effect than saying the words. But it sure does get out your frustration! That's why its so hard. Sorry, this post has gone off on a tangent and gone all serious! That wasn't my intention!

Anyway, eat healthier, watch less (and less) TV and no shouting.

That's my new rule!

I'm off to vacuum and make baby peaches, yummy!

Choo Choo!!

50/50

Right now Harrison is napping about 50% of the time, and that's being generous!

I guess he will be giving them up sooner than i thought, or maybe when he starts his MDO program, then preschool, he'll revert back to being a napper?

The days he naps sure are a lot easier on us all, he is an active little guy, and needs some extra sleep.

Harrison will be doing 2 days a week at his MDO, Tuesday and Friday morning 9:30-1pm. They will give him a packed lunch. I know he is going to love it! He is such a social little guy, he's going t have such fun, I cant wait to see his first craft project and hear all about his day!

I'm so excited for him :)

His first day is September 3rd.

Cupcakes.

Harrison is getting to an age where he wants to join in and do stuff, or help. Its a lot of fun, even though he cant help that much right now, it gives us a new way to keep him interested, occupied and have fun at the same time!

One evening this week we Daddy and Harrison made cupcakes.

Harrison enjoyed the sprinkles more than anything else!

It wouldn't be bathtime without...

A mow-hawk in the bath picture.

New heights.

Harrison is climbing again. I thought he outgrew this fad!

But alas no, he is up on everything again. But this time he can reach things I never thought possible.

He will stand on the kitchen table, the side table, his dresser drawers, his book shelf.

And the big one, he will sit on the kitchen counter.

Yesterday I was upstairs putting Allister down for a nap, and I return to Harrison sitting quiet happily on the kitchen worktop, drinking water from the cup I had placed there "out of reach".

We need to get this boy some rope to climb!

Giddy up!

One of Harrison's favorite games right now is to ride Daddy Matt and I like we are a horse!

We pretend to be Bullseye from Toy Story :)

The Gang.

This last weekend we took a trip to see Jon and Christy in Toledo.

We loved their house, I have such house envy! It was great to catch up, thanks guys :)

We miss you!

The kiddos had a lot of fun, although Harrison was not on his best behavior...

Two little boys.

Allister and his girlfriend Casey.

Trying to get a photo of the whole gang.

Another lock situation......

We had another unintentional lock-in at our house.

This is the third time recently that one of has been locked in or out! As you may remember a while back, we all (excluding Allister) got locked in our bedroom, then one day Harrison and I were out on the porch to clean the patio door glass, and we both got locked out there! Thankfully the garage door was open so we walked round in our jammies :)

So this week I put Harrison down for his nap, and then went about my business. After about an hour I could still hear him playing so I went to go get him up. When I tried the door it was locked. We don't have a key, or if we did I have no idea where it went! And it wasn't one of those locks that you can poke a screwdriver in, nope. No hole, no screws to remove it, nothing!

So I call Matt in a panic, and he rushes home. In the mean time I try and get Harrison to open the door.

Me "Harrison can you unlock the door?"

Harrison" Ok Mummy"

"Turn that little circle thing in the middle"

"Ok Mummy"

I hear fiddling with the door.

Me "Can you do it?"

"Yes"

"Go on then, open the door, turn the lock that you turned"

"Ok mummy"

fiddle fiddle.

This goes on for the 20 minutes or so it takes Matt to arrive.

We try and pry the cover off the door knob, but it doesn't budge, and with no other solution Matt kicks down the door.

Harrison screams.

Then he announces in a very proud voice

"We did it!"

Thats my boy(s).

Toys Toys Toys.

We have a lot of toys in this house.

We have a lot of friends and family who love to buy gifts for our boys, and we are so thankful, as are the boys! We also love to spoil them, seeing them have fun with things we bought them is such a joy. More fun than I ever thought it would be! When we were at the mall the other day we went into the Disney store, of course Toy Story paraphernalia was everywhere! So we bought Harrison a Woody doll. He has a full size Buzz from Nana and Evan, so he needed Woody to match!

His little face lit up and his body trembled and vibrated like it always does when he is super excited!

He plays with his Woody and Buzz everyday, all of them.

Here is Woody and Buzz- full size - in Harrison's Toy Story chair.

Here is a soft magnetic version that's from a book.

Here are mini inch high Woody and Buzz.

And here is in-between size Woody and Buzz with the little guys.

And finally the gang all together.....

There's even a Bullseye in there if you look closely.

Harrison even has a Ball.

And a cup!

Any ideas what Harrison's favorite movie is right now?

First cold.

Our whole house is sick with a cold.

Its a bad one too.

Harrison got it first, once a two year old gets a cold its kind of impossible to keep everyone safe and germ free, he hates to have his nose wiped, and no matter how hard we try, he gets snot everywhere.

We knew it was going to be bad when he sneezed in Daddy Matt's face :(

So this morning Alister woke up with it, he stared coughing a little yesterday and this morning was all snuffed up, with red watery eyes.

It really is no fun having everyone sick, with no one feeling good every ones too tired to be happy, and Harrison is acting up because he hasn't napped in 3 days -again! I hope we all feel better again very soon!

5 Months old.

Allister turned 5 months old this week.

It's so true what they say, it goes so much quicker second time around!

He is starting to make baah baah noises and blow raspberries now! Its the cutest :)

Allister is still not sleeping through the night, He goes from 8-7am with only 1 night feed so its not too bad. He's on 3 meals a day now too and its made no difference. It's inconstant too, sometimes 1am, 3am, 5am....my poor boobs don't know if there coming or going!

Anyway, here's my gorgeous boy!

Clothes.

We went shopping for Harrison's new clothes for fall, and some for winter, this weekend.

He's outgrown all of his clothes from spring, I guess that's normal though right?

We got him 3T trousers and 4T tops, jumpers and a fall jacket.

We also got him size 10 shoes, this boys got huge feet. I think the average size for a 2 year old boy is 7/8. Maybe his feet will slow down, otherwise he is going to need special size shoes when he is older ;)

Anyway, just thought I would update how my little man is growing so big.

He also has a bad cold at the moment, you can tell he feels like poo, his eyes are all red and watery, and he is coughing and has the snottiest nose.

Poor little guy.

I've also been busy sorting through Harrison's old clothes for Allister. They are so out of sync! Allister is in size 9months or 6-9 months right now. Almost all of Harrison's clothes that size are winter clothes, and then when Allister moves into Winter clothes he will be in 9-12 months or 12 months, Harrison's will be mostly summer! I don't mind, I love to clothes shop for the boys, and I love Allister to get new clothes instead of all hand-me-downs. The other nice thing is that any clothes Harrison didn't get to wear because they were out of season gifts. Allister is now wearing, and add the fact that some of Harrison's clothes were too wide for him and looked silly, he was a long and thin baby, so they fit Allister just fine!

Anyhow, this is probably only interesting for me ;o)

To infinity... and beyond!

Ooops

Harrison had his first potty accident while we were out today.

We went to go to Avery Park, but they are doing construction there, so we diverted to another park.

The park doesn't have a loo, Avery park does, its one of the reasons we go there!

So Harrison did his little tell tale "Shiver" but we were too late.

He handled it really well, and luckily it was a tiny accident, I hope he will learn a lesson here, that he needs to let me know before hand. I'm sure this wont be the last accident we have, but next time I am only going to parks with restrooms!

Some cuteness.

Allister and his food.

So as you can see form the new post below we've been busy introducing Allister to all sorts of new food! He is doing great and all of a sudden these last few days has really gotten into it. He's opening his mouth wide and wanting more and more!

This is what we have introduced so far, in the right order.

Rice cereal

Butternut squash

Apples

Carrots

Prunes

Oats and barley

Bananas

Avocado (He wasn't too keen on this!)

Pears

Soon to come, Sweet potatoes are being made as I type, then peas and green beans. then Ill try maybe some root veggies like rutabaga and parsnips. Whatever I can get organic!

I'm hoping as he is eating more he will start to sleep through the night more, he goes from 8pm till 4/5am some nights now.

Baby food.

Ive been busy making baby food for Allister.

I don't like store bought stuff, that's just me. In fact, in England pretty much everyone makes their own baby food. Like a friend of mine said, you wouldn't live off off ready meals or TV dinners would you!

Its oh so simple to do, here's how I make the stage 1 foods. Once these single foods are introduced we get a bit more adventurous with say, roasted veg or something.

So, pick your fruit or veggie, rinse thoughtfully.

Depending on what you make, most foods need cooking so chop up and put in a pan, bring to boil then simmer till tender.

Prunes just need soaking, and ripe pears and other soft fruits like bananas and peaches don't need cooking at all, just blitz, add water if required, and your done! No excuses there right?

Here's my prunes soaking. Reserve the water, its full of goodness.

And here are my carrots cooking.

Once cooked, soaked, chopped whatever, stick in a blender and blitz. Add reserved water from soaking and cooking till the right consistency is reached. Don't use the reserved water for carrots, they have too many nitrates. I make my apples first, then use the apple water for the carrots. Makes them extra yummy!

Then spoon into ice cube trays, or little containers and freeze. Once frozen put in zip-loc bags and then you can just pop out one or two in the morning for each meal.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I found these awesome baby food pots with lids, they will be great for travel, and also for when I make more exotic frozen meals as apposed to plane purees.

So thats pretty much it!

When your ready to use, pop out a cube (or two) add your cereal and microwave for about 15 seconds, then allow to cool till the right temperature.

When you blitz the purees make them a fraction thicker than you want as they will be a little more runny once defrosted.

You can then add say, pears to bananas, or apples to squash and cereal and make your own combinations. Its a lot cheaper and so much better for baby.

Why better? Well here's my opinion:

Home made baby food has a lot more flavor and texture. Try it, you'll see. I have done side by side taste comparisons myself, allot of baby foods taste so bland. Even the good organic, good quality stuff. They have to be cooked at such a high temp for safety reasons (killing bacteria when mass produced) that they lose lots of flavor and nutrients. I think this can make a child a more picky eater, because they are not used to strong flavors. And also some kids get used to lack the of texture too, home made food is not as smooth as store bought, and you can increase the thickness and texture more gradually than just going from stage 1-2-3 etc.

You can also introduce a wide variety of flavors, like zucchini, rutabaga, parsnips, avocado. things you don't always get in the store.

And when you begin to introduce more "real life" foods you can just omit the salt, and blitz or finely chop whatever you eat.

With Harrison I made a ton of home made baby foods, turkey sausages, fish cakes, pasta dishes etc. I do think that's why he pretty much eats anything you put in front of him, and he will eat a new food either right away, or after seeing it 2 or 3 times. I hope Allister is the same! I would hate a picky eater. I am not cooking more than one (or 2 with a veggie option!) dinner choices!

The down sides, it takes more time, and I guess if your not hygienic you could introduce bacteria. I cant think of another down sides. Mess maybe?

Allister's new toy.

We got Allister what we affectionate call a "Bopahhdooh ah".

Its an excersaucer, stationary activity center, whatever you'd like to call it.

Allister calls it fun!

He's a little small for it still, but I know he is going to have a lot of fun with it!

PS.

Allister was 18lb 10oz at today's appointment!

What a porker ;0)

I wish my fat rolls looked this good.

Poor little Allister

We took a trip to the doctors today because I notice a little lump on Allister's eyebrow yesterday.

Don't worry, its nothing to panic about!

He has a cyst :( and he will need it removed at some point.

If you look at the previous photos you can see it on his eyebrow on his right eye. I am thinking its been there a while, but only now has it got big enough to notice. The doctor assured me its nothing to worry about, just an very ordinary cyst. But it will very likely continue to grow, and being its on Allister's face, and near his eye, removal will be the best way forward. We wouldn't want him to a: look funny, and B: for it to interfere with his eye site or cause any permanent damage.

We have been referred to Children's hospital, and will likely meet with a plastic surgeon in the next couple of weeks. They will discuss whether we should "watch and wait" or go ahead and get surgery done soon. They wont perform surgery until he is 6 months old, but I would rather wait till he is a lot bigger than that, as they will need to have him anesthetized. I guess it will depend on how big it grows and how quickly.

I'm not worried at all about the cyst, but I am concerned about surgery, he's way to young for all that :( and when the day comes I am sure I will be a wreck, but for now its nothing to worry about.

Here is a recent photo I posted of Allister eating his cereal, you can see the lump on his eyebrow, it's so funny how I hadn't even noticed it till now! Its about the size of a very small pea right now.

I'll keep you all posted of events to come.

Return of the nap...

and normality :)

I caved in and gave Harrison his Binky back. I know, i know, but he needed to nap! And he is now back to his former happy sleeping self, and so am I.

He napped 4 hours and 45 minutes the other day, and that was with me waking him up!

He was so sleep deprived.

Since he started napping again his tantrums have tamed, he has the odd one or two a day, but its not a constant battle anymore. He's back to being the lovable Harrison, it makes us all so much happier!

More potty update.

We were at the Mall on Sunday playing in the kiddie play area, as you can see form the photo on the blog post below.

A panicked look came over Harrison ., and he started to pull down his pants.

"Potty potty potty!"

He said, so we whisked him off to the Sears bathroom, and he did his business!

This is the first time Harrison has been to a big boy bathroom while we have been out!

We are so proud of our little guy :)

Cutie :)

Playing at the mall.

It was too hot outside for our baby boy Allister today, so we went to play inside at the mall.