A Little Tree Trimming

Austen took it upon himself to trim the neighbors tree that hangs over into our yard.

I love the things this kid thinks of.....he has me laughing all day long!

A Fun Three Day Weekend

Memorial weekend was a blast!  We had a fun filled weekend that I did not want to be over.
On Saturday we went to Austen's favorite place, the Children's Museum.  We were there for over three hours and even though that seems like forever, we could have stayed longer but I needed to eat.  We grabbed lunch at Jason's Deli and then headed over the the sand park where Austen and Daddy dug a hole so deep that Austen fit inside it up to his chest while standing up!

Here's the boys playing around at the museum.  Archer was so good the whole time....he just watched all the happenings and napped.

Austen was hoarding all the fake grocery's in the little store.  It was so funny!  He filled up his shopping cart and then dumped it in the big bins that aren't even meant for kids to play with.  The bins are supposed to be for the workers when they clean up.

He LOVED this helicopter so much that Brian has been looking into taking him for a real helicopter ride.

This part was awesome.....they have a green screen where you can pretend to be a weatherman.  Austen loved seeing himself on tv and was saying the most hilarious stuff.

This is a wind tunnel thing that you can put paper in and watch it fly around.....he could have watched it all day.

And of course Brian paid the $2 to put Austen in the hurricane wind simulator.  I guess it was loud in there because he kept plugging his ears.

On Sunday we hung out (that was the day we made Austen sick) and just relaxed.  Monday Austen and Brian went to the lake and fished on a boat.  Austen caught two fish and absolutely LOVED it!  He wants to go fishing everyday now.

In other news, Austen is feeling great on his new diet, but gluten free bread is SCARY!  I think we might just not give him bread.  And Archer slept for 6 solid hours last night!  I feel like a new woman.  It's amazing what sleep can do for your patience levels.

Tummy Time

Archer HATES tummy time.....it's a necessary evil at our house.  I have to make sure I time it for right before a feeding since that's the only thing that makes him happy afterwards.

This cool blanket my mom made seems to help, but he's still not a fan.

 He even stays mad when I put him on his back......this kid is never going to learn to roll over at this rate.

 In other Archer news, he loves his bath.....so much that he falls asleep.

The Outcome Of Our Experiement

Well, we had Austen eat strictly gluten free for a full seven days and then we reintroduced gluten on Sunday.  I didn't say a word to him about it, I just let him eat normally.  We just wanted to see if we could tell a difference because he had been fine for the week.....no stomach aches or anything.  By 2:30 Sunday afternoon he started saying his stomach hurt and by 8:30 that evening he was crying and saying he needed to throw up.  He fell asleep on the couch with his head in a bowl.  It was so sad!  I felt awful for him, but at least now we know without a doubt he can not have gluten.  The last two months finally make sense.  This explains the break in the vomiting episodes....he would throw up, feel better and then a day or two later start throwing up again.  I was baffled, but now I see that once he started feeling better I was feeding him toast and crackers which was making him sick again.  I mourned his normalcy for a day and then I realized that it's not THAT bad.  He is young enough that he won't even know any different and luckily going gluten free seems to be a fad diet these days which makes finding stuff he can eat a lot easier.  Things are labeled really well, there are tons of apps/internet resources, and grocery stores have whole sections of strictly gluten free foods.  I am about to become a gluten free expert!  Luckily we know the problem and we can stop the tummy aches.  As much as this sucks, I am grateful that it's not something more serious because for while there I was really worried it was something awful.

Poor guy, even the dog felt bad for him.  By the morning he was fine and he's a whole new kid on his special diet.

Where Do We Go From Here

Well Austen's labs did come back fine, but the specialist still suspects he may have celiac's.  Apparently the blood test only catches it 80% of the time.  So, we have him on a gluten free diet and also on prevacid to see if it's an acid problem.  We are on day 5 of this and so far I have seen a huge improvement.  He is way more active and he doesn't complain about his stomach hurting anymore.  We'll see if it was the gluten issue on Sunday when we reintroduce it into his diet.  I really hope that isn't the problem because eating gluten free for the rest of his life will be torture for him.  No pizza or cupcakes or normal bread, but if it makes him feel better, it will be worth it.

In other news, we are dropping like flies around here.  First I got sick from some tainted lettuce at a family dinner.  It was awful.....throwing up all night while still trying to breastfeed and then getting up in the morning and having to resume mom duties all while exhasted, weak, and sick, is hell!  Then Brian got stabbed in the eye with one of Austen's swords during playtime and had to go to the emergency room to make sure his eye was ok.  Turns out, Austen broke a bunch of blood vessels in Brian's eye and scratched the cornea.  His eye will be fine, but his ego may never recover.  I'm ready to go back to our normal, boring, uneventful life.....anytime now.  To anyone waiting for me to return a phone call, respond to an e-mail, or send a thank you card, I'm sorry!  I swear I haven't forgotten about you things are just a little crazy at the moment.

Here are some cute random pictures from our week.

I took the boys to visit Daddy at work and of course Austen wanted to get on Daddy's phone.

Here's a pic of Austen after he got his blood taken.

And Austen with his fat lip.....the picture doesn't do it justice.  It was huge and didn't go away for 4 days!

And Brian getting a tattoo of Archer's name and birth date.

A smiling Archer...he is so happy!

And Austen with first purchase from the ice cream truck.

We Got Labs Back

Austen's Dr. just called and said all of his blood work looked completely normal.  So now we know it's nothing major.....that's the good news.  The bad news is he's developed a new symptom....diarrhea.  So that's been fun.  Also yesterday he tripped over the dog while running and slammed into a decorative vase which gave him a cut inside his mouth and a massive fat lip.  He looks like a duck and it's so swollen he's even having trouble talking.  The poor kid can't catch a break.

Busy, Busy

I feel like we are so busy, but if you asked me what we've been busy doing, I couldn't tell you.  I guess it's just busier taking care of two kids versus one.  I absolutely love it and couldn't be happier though.  I am seriously in a state of euphoria and have been since Archer was born.  I kind of thought it was just hormones and it would go away, but so far it's lingering.  I'll need to re-read this post in about 6 months or so.....I'm sure I won't be feeling the same.

Austen's Dr. appt went pretty well yesterday.  We didn't really get a solid diagnosis, but we got some ideas about what it could possibly be and where to start with treatment.  So far we're going with the acid reflux theory because that's the easiest to treat and it seems the most likely cause of his symptoms.  We'll keep him on those meds for a week and then reevaluate.  They needed some blood to do a bunch of lab tests and let me tell you holding down your child while they poke them with a needle is not fun.  He did really well though and wouldn't have even cried, but the nurse was dumb and didn't get enough blood so they had to do it again in the other arm.  He wasn't a fan.  Anyway, it's over and hopefully we don't have to do that again.

The weather has been perfect.  We've been waiting months for some warmth and now that we've got it, we are taking full advantage.  We have resumed our evening walks which are my favorite!  We even got a double stroller which is really fun......sad that I'm excited about a stroller, but I am.

Archer is still a perfect baby and I mean perfect!  He is easy and he is such a sweetheart that the last 6 weeks have been nothing but fun.  I wish I could slow down time though because he is growing way too fast!  I don't even mind the sleep deprivation.

Our evening walk with the new stroller.....it even hold the carseat and has a place for Austen to just stand instead of ride.

 Austen has been wanting to have pajamas that matched Archer's since the first night we came home from the hospital, but since they are so far apart in sizes, I haven't been able to find any.  The other day we were at the outlet mall and I found these cute jam jams for the boys.  Austen LOVES them!

And lastly, I was going through my phone pics and found this gem.  It's from a few weeks ago, but it's funny, so I thought I'd share.  Archer was crying and apparently I didn't get to him fast enough so Austen thought he'd give breast feeding a try.

Say Cheese

I finally got a picture (or three) of Archer smiling!!!

Where Have We Been?

Wow, I haven't posted in a while and I was doing so well.  We have been busy!  Not with anything exciting, just regular life stuff.  Austen is having stomach issues, so we've been dealing with that.  He had another episode of vomiting that has us very concerned about him, so he's going in to see a pediatric gastroenterologist on Wed.  Hopefully we get some answers as to what is going on in there!

Meanwhile Archer has been growing like crazy and to fuel the growth, he's eating a lot.  So much for his 4 and 5 hour sleeping span....now it's more like 2 if I'm lucky.  He is 6 weeks old tomorrow and already wearing size 6-9 months in Carter's brand clothes (they run a little small) and 3-6 month size in Gap (runs a little big).  He is also in size 2 diapers.....yes, size 2.  I seriously can not believe it!  He is super cute and along with tons of smiles (none of which I can seem to document with a picture) he is starting to make sounds on purpose when we talk to him.  It takes a lot of effort on his part, but he can get a sound out occasionally and then he's super proud of himself.

Archer is still mesmerized by Brian's voice.

And Austen still loves hanging with his little bro.....he even asked me yesterday if I could grow another baby.

I caught the ending of a smile here.....you can kind of see it in his eyes.  Ok, I'm pushing it I know, but I really want you to see his smile.

See how big he is?!?!

The other day I pumped some milk from my "milkers" (that's what Austen calls them) so Austen could feed Archer.  I think Archer got more air than milk, but Austen LOVES that he got to feed his brother so I guess it was worth it.

My cute, cute boys!

Austen-isms

Austen is back in school this week which was very much needed!  He was starting to get bored and that's never a good thing with him.  His teacher wants them to learn their address, phone number, birthday, and how to write their name before school gets out at the end of this month so we have been working on those.  He memorized them all really quickly and spouts them off all the time which is really cute for some reason.  He is constantly saying really funny stuff and also some not so funny stuff (he has learned idiot, butt head, and shut up from school and I'm trying to curb his use of these words).  Last night I told him I loved him more than anything and to always remember that and his response was.... "I'll remember that you're not an idiot."  Gee, thanks Austen.

He loves to climb into the playmat with the baby....it's really cute!

 And while I was folding the never ending laundry he was sharing some important life lessons with Archer.  When he was done he said "I love you Archer.  I love you all the way to the moon and back."

I teared up when I heard that because it's just about the sweetest thing ever!