What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

This has been my theory when it comes to getting dirty, eating sand, munching on sticks, etc... I took the kids to the sandbox and as another mom and I were talking about this Parker started scooting away. Just when I was saying that things they eat build their immunities and nothing in the sandbox can kill them I looked over at Parker and he was munching on a brown object. Hmmm. I pulled it out of his mouth and it was a piece of CAT POOP!!!!!!!! The other mom laughed and said that her boy had eaten much worse and that Parker would eat a lot more poop before his childhood is over. Okay, so cat poop won't kill you but it's pretty darn gross!

Special Visitors

My dear friend Mary Claire Jones came with her daughter Annelise for visit yesterday. They drove all the way from the Bay Area just for the afternoon, how special! MC and I were talking warp speed (believe it or not but our normal speed isn't warp speed we can talk even faster!) to try to cover everything in the short amount of time we had. It was such a joy to meet Annelise for the first time! Bailey was so glad to have another little girl around. They enjoyed sitting together in the chair - it was so cute!

Bailey's Scooting!

Bug is now on the move! She is sly about her scooting. I'll look over and she'll be happily playing and then a few minutes later she's moved several feet. I finally caught her on camera!

Bottle Thief

Ashlie and I were in the kids room organizing their closet so we fed the kids while sitting on the floor. Parker crawled over to Aunite and pulled himself up using her arm. We cheered him on until we realized his ulterior motive, to steal Bailey's bottle!

p.s. I added a picture of Fletcher's tooth to the post below.

Visit To Fresno

My lifelong friend, Kacy Kilner, is getting married in January. This weekend we traveled to Fresno for her bridal shower and a fun visit with family. Here are some shots of our weekend...

My sleeping beauties... Mom was up here last week and rode home with us so I was in the 3rd row with all the luggage (I actually really like being snug in the back). I had the best time playing with the kids (they liked my puppet show!) and watching them sleep.

We were home about five minutes and the kids were everywhere. Fletcher had crawled into the kitchen and Parker discovered the stacking tables. We were all impressed that he figured out how to pull himself up into them!

Playing with Grandpa and Auntie and visiting with Aunt Jill

Mommy and Betcha reading

Me and Kacy - Friends, Friends, Friends!

There was a baby parade at church on Sunday to promote the need for workers in the nursery. My Mom and Dad were so proud to walk the kids down the aisle.

We pulled out some of my old dresses and played dress up with Bailey. She was SO cute!

Tooth Alert

Today I saw a tooth getting ready to break through on Fletcher's upper right side. I'm not sure I'm ready for my little babies to have teeth yet! I rather like their gummy smiles!

p.s. Getting a nine month old to sit still for a photo of his upper gums was no easy task. It took some creative maneuvering hence this is not Fletcher's best angle!

Update On Fletcher's GI Issues

Well, we have an answer... he has an allergy to cow's milk. Apparently he is in a unique group of children that have reflux as a result of an allergy. The good thing is that he will hopefully grow out of this allergy but for now it means a switch to a hypoallergenic formula and some dietary restrictions. I'm glad that we have an answer and can take some steps to help him feel better when he's eating! Thanks for your prayers through this process!

Firsts

This week has been one of "firsts." In and of themselves they're not big things but put them together and they show that our little babies really are growing up!

* First ride in the bike trailer - the kids LOVED it!

* First time venturing out of the bedroom and crawling down the hall (Parker & Fletcher).

* First ride in the swing for Fletcher - this is one of Bailey's favorite things so she showed him the ropes!

* First time pushing the walker across the room (Parker).

* First time riding in the shopping cart (Bailey). Bailey and I took a trip to Costco together and she rode in the cart like a big girl. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture because I left the camera home with Danny.

* First Zwieback toast (Fletcher & Parker).

* First nap with Daddy (Bailey). Oh, wait, never mind, we do that ALL the time!

* First time crawling under the crib (Fletcher). He found the basketball sign that Auntie made. After checking out the teams he decided he'd rather eat it! Parker found the sign later in the afternoon and thought it was a fun toy.

* First bath in Chipotle (Bailey). We went to visit Daddy for lunch and Bailey threw up in the car so we had to give her a bath at the restaurant. She had fun trying to stand in the sink!

* First time holding his own bottle (Fletcher).

* First time wearing big boy pj's. Bailey has been wearing footy pj's for a while but we just got some boy hand-me-downs from the Kochs so I put the boys in bigger pj's for the first time. They looked so old in the 12 month pjs which made me want to cry! I took pictures because I want to remember how sweet they looked with the huge floppy feet.

* First time scooting (Bailey).

* First time trying avocados. Parker loved them while Fletcher and Bailey gagged.

* First time playing together while standing (Bailey & Parker).

* First wave (Bailey). She waved at Stella Steen after we finished our Friday walk.

I'm sure there are many more firsts right around the corner!

The First 15 min. Are Free

When the babies were first born we had a lot of visitors. I would always joke that the first fifteen minutes of visiting were free but after that you would be handed a baby, a bottle or a pile of laundry. We have a good family friend, Catherine Franz (now Williams) who just moved to Sacramento with her husband Matt. She came by earlier in the day and left her sunglasses. She and Matt came to pick them up at 6pm which is "feeding time." How convenient for us! We welcomed them in, gave them a baby and a bowl of rice cereal. They were good sports and did a great job feeding the kids. Matt and Catherine, you're welcome to come anytime but now that you have some baby experience under your belt only the first two minutes are free!

Dressed For Fall

I'm sure many of you are on Facebook. Well, through it I connected with a high school friend, Kacey House, and she sent me these great outfits for the kids. I had to take a picture because they are just too cute! I put Fletcher in the one that says "Hair Wolf," how appropriate!

Superman

Parker ate two hours ago so I thought it would be safe to play Superman. I was wrong!!!!

p.s. Be sure to double click on the photo to see the close up version of the picture.

In the video I'm trying to say, "Parker threw up on me, it's in my mouth and hair," but I couldn't quite get it out!

The Pumpkin Patch

Friday afternoon I joined Rachel, Stella and Sally for an adventure at Fog Willow, a glorified pumpkin patch. The kids had fun looking at all the animals and just being outside. Jack and Jackson can walk so they were really able to roam the farm while my kids and Sam had to be held or in the stroller. Next year will be crazy I'm sure (bring out those leashes everyone!). We arrived and about three minutes later Fletcher threw up all over himself and the stroller. Good thing I had plenty of wipes on hand. I thought it was just some delayed reflux but he threw up several times. It was the start of a quick bout with the stomach flu that lasted into the late evening - poor guy, he's had quite a week!

I love getting out and experiencing new things. I could go to a festival, pumpkin patch, apple farm, etc... everyday if possible! It's so fun to be able to share these things with my children!

Jack isn't pictured because he was already off and running to see the llamas! Pictured below - Jackson, Fletcher, Bailey, Sam and Parker




I guess he can't really wear yucky jeans! It's a good thing it was a warm day!

Fletcher's Endoscopy

On Wednesday Fletcher had an endoscopy at the UC Davis Children's Hospital. The doctor wanted to make sure that we're not missing anything that may be causing his reflux. Fletcher was a real trooper! Danny took him at 6:30am and I joined them after feeding Bailey and Parker (don't worry, I didn't leave them home alone, Mama Linda kept a close eye on them for us). For not eating since midnight he was very patient with everything. Before he went under they gave him some "funny juice" to keep him calm before the IV. About three minutes later he went loopy! I hate to say it but it was really funny! Check out the video below.

The doctor saw some inflammation in his esophagus but we'll have to wait until next week to find out the results of the tissue biopsies. It's either a classic case of reflux and we'll have to adjust his medication or an allergy of some sort, which will be harder to figure out.

During the procedure he had a bronchial spasm so the anesthesiologist took a bit longer with him. It was awful to see him coughing when he woke up. It only took ten reading of Little Puppy and permission to play with all the tubes before he was back to normal.

Our experience with the UC Davis Children's Hospital has been amazing. The nurse gave Fletcher a special bear with a hair net and mask, how cute!

Fletcher was LOOPY!

My Afternoon

As if the day could get any crazier ... while I was heating up the afternoon bottles Fletcher tipped over and took a digger into the Lego blocks! So, he's the first Kapic child to bleed - ug! I don't do well with blood so it's a good thing it was a clean cut. The trickiest part was getting an eight month old to lay still with an ice pack on his head!! Putting the band aid on was even worse. I had to position it just right so the sticky part didn't touch his eyebrow. Oh my, what a day. As soon as Parker wakes up we're going on a walk. Hopefully nothing can happen while they're strapped in!

My Morning

The morning started out just fine. The kids were having fun playing in their room while I was re-organizing their clothes. Bailey and Fletcher were burping and laughing at each other and Parker was roaming around. The clock struck 10am and that's when the fun began. Let me give you the morning report...

10:10am - rice cereal feeding begins. Fletcher and Parker are in the Bumbos while I feed them rice cereal, carrots and zucchini. Parker isn't too interested but takes a few bites here and there. I fight off Fletcher who is grabbing at the bowls and can't eat fast enough. Just as Fletcher finishes Parker gags and vomits ALL over the table (thank goodness for the new vinyl tablecloth), chair (shoot, I haven't covered them yet!), himself and the floor. I can't leave Fletcher unattended in the Bumbo so poor Parker has to sit in his vomit while I grab Fletcher and put him down on the wood floor to fend for himself for a few minutes.

10:25am - strip Parker down and pull out the rubber gloves and 409. Meanwhile, Bailey is "working on a poopie" as we say in our house. Her grunts are accompanied by a pungent aroma coming from the Exersaucer where she's sitting.

10:40 am - Parker is in his diaper settled in the swing. Fletcher is entertaining himself crawling all around the family room. The vomit is cleaned up so now I can attend to Bailey's diaper, which I'm assuming is dirty given the odor she's emitting.

10:41 am - Pick Bailey up out of the Exersaucer and almost faint. I flip her around only to see that she has pooped almost up to her neck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I head straight to the bathroom to pull off her pj's (after taking pictures of course). I have her stand under the faucet as I take off her diaper so I can hose her down before putting her in the bath. UG! There is nothing like carrot diarrhea!


10:50am - Bailey is clean!!! Head back into the family room hoping Fletcher hasn't electrocuted himself or eaten too many flies from the sliding glass door track. He's laying on his back kicking the ottoman, obviously bored. I put him in the Exersaucer (the OTHER one) so I can feed Bailey her bottle. Bailey eats and as she's getting ready to burp she coughs a little. Given our experience with Fletcher, I reached for his "vomit towel" just in time for Bailey to throw up into it. While I'm comforting Bailey Fletcher starts getting worked up because he's hungry.

11:10am - Bailey goes down for an early nap. I pick up Fletcher to start feeding him and the first thing out of his mouth is zucchini. Good thing I had another throw up towel ready!

11:20am - Finish feeding Fletcher and put him down for a nap. Parker wakes up.

11:30am - Feed Parker and finally give him a bath. Put Parker down for a nap.

11:50am - Gather up the bibs covered in carrots and vomit, the throw up towels, pj's covered in diarrhea, miscellaneous burp cloths, the Exersaucer seat, washcloths, etc... and dump them into the laundry. Don't worry, they're on the rinse cycle and then the wash cycle. Gotta get them extra clean!

12pm - Kids are sleeping. Bake chocolate chip cookies - I think I deserve them!