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.

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.

Cutie :)

I found these two cute play things...

On the end of my legs ;O)

Sippy cup.

I have introduced Allister to his first sippy cup. Yes it's super early. But we have our reasons.

Firstly, I think its probably nice to have a sip of water when you eat, not have to wait until your next feed. Also, Allister, like Harrison, doesn't really like a bottle. With Harrison he was drinking well from a cup at 6 months, so I could just skip bottles and put my milk in a sippy if I was not around to nurse.

Don't worry, we are not giving Allister a ton of water! its literally just a dribble, not even 1/2 oz! Its just practice for now.

More giggles

Allister is the giggliest baby right now! Whenever we get him dressed or undressed he spontaneously laughs! Its so cute.

Its hard to catch on camera myself, so this video isn't great, but enjoy anyway :)

If I could freeze time....

I would freeze Allister at 4 1/2 months.

He is so adorable right now, it's the cutest age!

He coos and giggle all day long, and laughs when he sees me or Daddy coming in the room.

He'll lay and play all by himself which is so fun to watch, playing with his feet and grabbing at toys. He is never grumpy, and always happy. He isn't demanding, and thinks we are the best thing since sliced bread!

I love this age....

...and then I think of all the cuteness to come.

Sitting up, crawling, the first time he says Mummy or Daddy, the first steps he takes, those little chubby legs running around the house, and getting in to everything.

That's when I realize I don't want to freeze time at all, I just wish these moments lasted a little longer. Milestones are coming faster and faster. Before long I'll have no babies in the house any more. So I'm treasuring these moments as much as I can.

Its a bitter sweet feeling to think I may never be pregnant again, being pregnant is such hard work (for 90% of women). But I feel so sad at the thought of never being pregnant again. It seems so final! But I am 90% certain that we are done with our family, if you asked Matt he would say we are 100% done! We love our boys so much, we want to have the time, money and ability to give them the best of everything. Most importantly to be able to give them the attention they need, the quality time, the one on one time. The ability to be able to take them on vacations without having to pay for 5 or 6 flights and 3 hotel rooms! These are the practicalities of having a larger family.

So, even though there's a part of me that will always be broody for the 4 kids I planned to have as a 9 year old, I think we can say our family is complete.

And we always have the ability to change our minds!

I heart them

Tummy sleeping.

Allister is rolling like crazy now, he's spending a lot of time on his tummy. Today he rolled during nap time and instead of waking up screaming he settled down back to sleep. I hate the first few times they do this, I checked on him so many times!

I'm hoping he starts napping longer now though, he's been waking himself up and his short naps together with Harrison's tantrums have been taking there toll.

The ball

Allister loves this ball as much as Harrison did, and I love those giggles!

A day in the life of.....

A stay at home mum.

A potty training, breastfeeding two under two (can I still say that?) mum.

I read this article the other day and it inspired this post. What do we do all day?

So I thought it would be interesting for others, and me to look back and see whats did I do all day?

I mean other than blog and play on Facebook.

So here is my day today, we are staying home right now as we are potty training, so we get more bored than usual and watch a lot more TV than we would like! After potty training is more complete (is it ever actually complete? ) We will wean the TV some, but right now we need to stay close to home!

3:50 am: Allister wakes for a feed, I go in his room, feed him for 20 minutes or so. Return him to his crib and see if he falls back to sleep. Yay! He does! So do I. I am trying to get Allister to sleep longer at night, so we are trying to keep him in his crib instead of our room. This is new this week.

6:30am: Matt brings me a nice cup of tea! My lovely well trained husband! This is when I should get up, go to the basement and work out, but instead I go back to sleep.

7:00am: I get up, drink my still hot tea, check email on iPhone, look at blogs, use the bathroom (sorry lol). Go downstairs and let out Guinness, feed him, pick up any stuff lying around.

7:45: Brush teeth!

8:00: Feed baby who has woken. Get him washed and dressed.

8:30: Put baby in bouncy chair, shower, get dressed and ready. Harrison wakes up while I'm in the shower, i leave him to play happily.

9:00: Get Harrison up, he has taken off his nappy and his pj's, thankfully no pee or poo to clean up though! I get him washed, brush his hair and teeth, Put on underpants and a shirt.

9:15: Go downstairs armed with 2 boys. Lay Allister on his play mat. Fix Harrison grapes, 2 eggs and 1/2 a bagel.

9:30: Go read 2 books to Allister. then lay Allister down for his morning nap while Harrison finishes his breakfast. Return to find Harrison has thrown half of his grapes on the floor saying "one, two, three, six, nine!". Followed by half the bagel. I eat 2 eggs and the other half of the bagel. Pick up grapes, wipe floor.

9:45: Clean up Harrison, ask him if he need to go potty. Do dishes, clean kitchen. Harrison runs to potty and pees, yay! We wash hands and he gets a small treat.

9:55: Baby is still not asleep, I go up to see whats up. He has a dirty nappy, i change it, then rock him to sleep and hope Harrison isn't up to something! I enjoy the cuddle time :)

10:30: I go online, start this blog, check email and Facebook. Its so addictive! Harrison whines for Toy Story- I give in as we are staying home. And I know he will stay near the potty that way. He pees on potty again. Repeat treat and wash hands routine. I google info on potty training.

10:45: I put on a load of laundry, Thursday is towels day. Clean Guinness's dog bowls, clean kitchen and kitchen table.

11:00: Harrison runs to big boy toilet, pees, his pee shoots over the toilet potty seat all over the floor. I clean it up and remind him to point his penis down. We wash hands, he doesn't mention a treat so nor do I!

11:15am Harrison asks for a snack, I fix him a drink and snack. He runs to the big toilet and again his pee shoots on the floor! I catch him in time to get some in the potty.

11:30 Baby wakes, I go get him. We come downstairs I get ready to feed him. Then Harrison needs potty again! Is this boy made of pee? I put Allister back down, go in the bathroom and make sure he does it in the loo. Wash hands, have treat blah blah blah.

11:45: Nurse Allister, he waits so patiently! I guess he is used to it! We put on WorldWorld and Harrison snuggles next to me while I nurse. we have already exceeded the 2 hours a day of recommended TV! I play pat-a-cake and sing songs with Allister while WorldWorld finishes. Harrison sits on my shoulder because he is jealous, but he kisses the baby too so its ok :)

12:00: I go get some bread from the freezer, and something for dinner. Time to make lunch. I Quickly update this blog. Harrison plays and Allister watches from his mat. Its a well used mat! I'm hoping Harrison poops before his nap, and also that he is done peeing for a while! I fix leftover Lasagna for lunch with carrots and cucumber. Harrison decides he doesn't want the lasagna, so I get him some crackers and cheese. He eats the crackers like Cookie Monster saying "Yum yum yum!" and there are crumbs everywhere! I do dishes while he eats and then change over the laundry. Let out the dog.

12:45: I clean him up, the table up and the floor up. This takes a while! He goes pee, mostly in the potty. We wash hands again. He doesn't ask for a treat, i think we don't need them anymore, just the first couple of days.

1:00 We play on the floor for a bit. I play pat-a-cake with Allister and sing Skinnamarink song. He giggles, its my favorite! Harrison plays with his 2 singing Easter ducks. He giggles too, that's also my favorite!

1:30: Time to nap! We all go upstairs, I change Allister's nappy. Harrison does the "Charlie Chaplin" walk. I ask if if he needs to poop, he gives me a look. I tell him to sit on the potty, he jumps off and says "All done!!". I tell him he has to sit on the potty, so he gets back on and he does his poopers! Yippee! We wash hands, again! I read 2 books to Allister, "Goodnight Moon", and "That's not my train!" Harrison climbs in the crib and plays with his brothers stuff. I put Allister down, now its Harrison's story time! I put him in underpants, scary! We read "Going on a bear hunt" and "I love you Daddy". He knows the stories so well I have him finish my sentences!

2:00: Allister is still awake, so I rock him to sleep. I quietly put Allister's clean clothes from yesterday away and go downstairs, I do more laundry. I'm freeee! Although Harrison is still awake so im not counting my chickens! I do some more blog, right now as we speak! I speak :) Now time to clean some.

2:15: I clean the downstairs loo, and floor, thoroughly because, well you know why! I pick up all the toys, there's lots. Vacuum, sweep, dust and tidy. Harrison is still awake, I hear him! I go check on him, he is fine, we tickle kiss and I tell him to go to sleep.

3:00: So I'm done with cleaning for now, although I could always clean more and more! And both boys are asleep, or having quiet time at least. Harrison's quiet time is not so quiet though! So now I can chill for a bit, watch TV, do ironing, or some job off my to do list! Or sleep, exciting stuff in this house lol.

3:10: I decide to grab a snack and chill for 30Min's as I think the baby will be wanting to eat again very very soon! I watch a DVR'd episode of SYTYCD.

3:30: Baby wakes, I had 20 minutes of me time! I go get him, change his nappy and then bring him down. I feed him while watching the end of my show. Harrison is still awake, I wonder if he stayed clean?

4:00: I go get Harrison, lay the baby in his crib while I do. Hes dirty, but only a tiny bit, not bad as he just played for the whole time! I'm trying to teach him to tell me when he needs to go, for someone so verbal he's so quiet when it counts! I clean him up, check the room for mess, and pick up all his toys. He only has one small box of toys in his room, but he has emptied out every book on his bookshelf. I pick everything up and put it away, ready to be picked up again tomorrow! I wonder why I bother?

4:20: I get Harrison a small snack and drink, he plays and I quickly update this blog so I don't forget! I decide its time to hang out and play with my boys, but its too hot to go outside so we play inside. We play puzzles, Harrison and Guinness run up and down the house. We sing the ABC song and others, and play make the baby laugh! In the middle of all this, Harrison pees twice on the potty. Then climbs onto the basin. Then takes all the loo roll off the roll. Loo roll is toilet paper.

4:45 Look online for toilet paper saver child proof thingy.

5:00: I feed Allister some rice cereal mixed with breast milk. He noshes it down like a champ :)

5:15: I read the boys some more books.

5:45: Try and get baby to take a nap so go put him in his crib. Come down, Harrison peed in his underwear. Only accident of the day, for all I know he sat on the potty and just didn't pull them down. We have to work on that part! Clean him up.

5:55: Try and get hold of Daddy Matt so I can plan dinner! As usual no reply ;) Put Quinoa on to soak.

6:00: Try to guess if I should start dinner, wonder what time Matt is getting home? Email him and try to call again. nagging wife.

Cut up veggies for dinner, put oven on. Check on baby- Fast asleep! Nice.

6:15: Get hold of Matt, dinners at 7. Lay table, get Harrison snack of carrots and cucumber to tide him over till dinner as he is getting hungry and grumpy. Put Toy Story on again. Clean up the pee Harrison did in the Bumbo Chair thinking it was a potty!

6:30: Put dinner in oven. Chill for a bit.

6:40: Put Quinoa on and broccoli water to steam. get mail. Harrison peed on potty, take him to wash hands etc.

6:50: Baby wakes up, hurry to feed him before dinners is cooked! Turn all of dinner on to low, and feed baby. Harrison decides to go pee while I'm feeding Allister and tries to drag me over to his potty so I can deal with it, I get him to wait. then Harrison decides to sit and play with all the DVD boxes even though I tell him not too, and because he is pant-less catches his privates in something, and screams! I put the baby down and check his bits, he is fine and I'm sure he wont be playing with the DVDs again!

7:15: Finish feeding baby, Daddies home! Yaaay! Have dinner, Egg white Quiche, Broccoli and Quinoa with veggies in.

7:30: Do dishes, clean up. Pick up toys, again!

8:00: Daddy Matt puts Harrison to bed with a story while I bath Allister, then dress him for bed. Feed him, and read him a story.

9:00: Both boys are in bed and Harrison is fast asleep! The baby soon follows. I go to Kroger and get groceries.

9:45: Back from Kroger, put shopping away. Then we watch Dexter! Loving it :)

10:30: BED TIME! Oh yeah....

5:15am: We start all over again, but Allister slept in past Matt's alarm for the first time ever!

So there's a typical Mum day. Although I normally do leave the house with the boys, at least 3/4 days a week. We tend to go out after breakfast, to the park, pool, store, or just on the garden. But were staying home one more week for potty training. Then Ill brave leaving the house without nappies! Oh and we do try to watch less TV, but it helps with the potty training. Once we are done I'm going to go back to a TV ban before our naps.

That's all folks!

PS: There's probably a ton of typos here because I couldn't be bothered to proof read, not that that normally helps because I am rubbish with that sort of thing, but there's you are!

Also I think this must be my longest blog ever!

Also, I wonder why I am not skinnier with all the running around!

Cute photos

Some photos from the last couple of week....

Harrison in his Iron Man floaty, hanging out at the pool.

Allister's first time in the baby pool.

Harrison pulling his wagon with Daddy :)

Allister's first solids, he liked it!

As promised.....

I promised you some Allister giggles after the crying video :)

Allister is 4 months today!

My little Chumble Chops is 4 months old today, didn't that go fast :)

He's such a big boy, in fact this top he is wearing is size 12 months, and it fits perfectly.

Allister is reaching lots of milestones now, he talks all the time, so cute. He is about to find his feet, he stares intensely at them, and has grabbed them once or twice. It wont be long until they are in that mouth!

Speaking of mouth, just about everything is in there right now! He is mouthing anything he can get those chubby little hands on, and drooling lots too!

He now rolls over both ways, he hates to roll onto his tummy, he screams like crazy when he does! He rolled from back to tummy for the first time on 3rd July.

He is working on sitting, and tries to pull himself up to stand all the time-I wonder if we will have another early walker?

I'm now putting him to bed at the same time as Harrison, and in his crib. Then when he wakes for his night feed (which last night was back to 4am, so much better!) I bring him back in to our room.

the 4 month milestone means we get to introduce sold food, if he is ready. We will start slowly, as we did Harrison. Harrison wasn't interested till 5 months, so we will see how he goes. He is a lot bigger than Harrison so he may want it sooner? I'm looking forward to having him sit with us at the dinner table like a proper family! I'm also hoping Harrison starts to make less mess at mealtimes or I'll have two lots of icky mess to clean up.

Allister has his 4 month well check up next week, I'll let you know how he does.

Frustration & Laughs

A video of Harrison laughing at my voice today.

Harrison gets frustrated when he wants to do something and cant! Its very cute to watch.

This is a little video of him looking like he is trying to crawl.

Enjoy!

Some random photos and a video.

Here are some photos from last week.

Tummy Time.

Tummy time with Me!

Harrison modelling his new Gap jeans-size 6-12 months.

Auntie Julie bought these for Harrison at my baby shower in CA.

They are awesome aren't they!

More tummy time.

Harrison in the rest of his outfit from Auntie Julie.

Harrison rolling over, he did this at 11 weeks, but this is the fist time i have it on Video.

Blink and you miss it!

Harrison went to the Doctors this weekend. He has goopy ears. Fortunately he doesn't have an ear infection, the Dr said its probably a virus as he has been grumpy and had cold symptoms. I have some ear drops to soften the goop!

He has also been waking up more at night, a few times last week and the last 3 days. I am so not used to it I had to take a nap the last 2 days! I cant decide if its from being sick, a growth spurt or if he is ready for solids as night waking can be a sign.

Obama for President

I know this isn't Harrison or Blake family news, but I wanted to write about the Election so that Harrison knows what major events went on while he was a baby. I plan on printing out the Blog as a kind of baby book for him to look back on in years to come.

So, on Tuesday November 4th 2008 Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States of America. The first African American President. He will take over the presidency from George W Bush, who doesn't seem to have done a very good job.

Barack was campaigning for Change. I believe him to be an inspirational person and I am excited to have him as President of the country I chose to live in. Unfortunately was not able to vote as I am not a citizen.

I am excited to think that Harrison will be brought up in a world where people are not judged by the colour of their skin, and that maybe by the time he is old enough to understand racism it will no longer exist. That is probably too much to hope for; it seems to me as we except one race we seem to ostracise another.

I hope that President Obama lives up to his expectation and makes the world a better place for my son.