With the challange I have had trying to get Mady to use a bottle, I decided to get a couple of different kinds of bottles. While searching at Babies R Us, I found this:

I got it, but did not want to use it unless I had too, so I could take it back.

I don't know that I could use this in public without feeling embarrassed or laughing. That might be a little TOO like the breast!! But, hey, if it works.....

Luckily, we did get her to take a bottle tonight, and we did not have to pull out the rubber breasts!

Four Months Old

and some fun with a halloween costume :)

Back to School

The BEST commercial! I love this commercial and a friend on Facebook found it on YouTube, so I had to put it on here. The kids HATE this commercial because before school started every time it came on I got up and danced and sang with it. They were not too amused (especially Caleb!).

Madeleine had her four month appointment this morning. She weighed in at 11 pounds 2ounces and was 24 3/4 long. That is in the 25th% for weight and 75th% for height. The dr also commented on how long her feet were. They are long and skinny, which makes finding shoes for her quite difficult. When she came home, the newborn sandals I had bought her did not fit. Her toes stuck out the end. But, her feet are so narrow that shoes won't stay on unless they have laces. Good thing it is not that important that she wears shoes right now!

I discussed the sleeping/eating situation with him also. At her three month appt, the dr was saying how she was too young to be spoiled and if she fussed it was okay to take care of her immediately. Somewhere between three months and four months we passed that fine line of being to young to spoil and being spoiled! I told him we had let her cry for over an hour before we gave in and she had thrown up, etc, etc. His response "If you are going to give in, give in after two seconds. Why wait an hour?"

So, I am supposed to let her cry and cry and cry (and cry and cry and cry) and if she throws up, that is okay...she is learning.

When it came to discussing the bottle, I did not even wait for his response. I just said "So, I assume that when I tell you she won't take a bottle, no matter what is in it, you are going to tell me that when she gets hungry enough, she will eat." He said I catch on quick.

I have five kids and I feel like she is my first. She is SOOOOO different than the boys. They did not have sleeping problems and certainly did not have a problem taking a bottle (just switching formulas). They were not so demanding - or stubborn. I think she is more stubborn than all the boys put together (and if you know my boys, you know what a BIG statement that is!).

This weekend we are training Mady :) She WILL sleep in HER bed. She WILL take formula from a bottle when asked to. She WILL sleep through the night.

I hope.

My plan is to let the boys camp out in the backyard this weekend (they are always asking to do that). Then put her in her room and let the fun begin. I think since I am the one who has been sleep deprived up to now, Daddy should camp out in the living room so he can deal with her! Wish us luck!!

Some more about what she is doing....she is rolling over from her back to her stomach and occasionally from her stomach to her back (but only when she is REALLY mad). She is scooting all over the place when she is on the floor. When she is sitting in a reclined position (in her high chair or bouncy seat) she trys to pull herself to sitting position.

VICTORY!!

After about an hour long battle this evening, locked in her bedroom, I got Madeleine to take a bottle!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have been trying for the last week to get her to take formula....she wouldn't even take a bottle. We tried to give her a bottle in July (of apple juice), she was not interested. While we struggled with Andrew when he had to change formula, we have NEVER had a child that refused a bottle completely.

I had breastfed her about 45 minutes before I attempted to give her a bottle. I had Daddy attempt first. She played with it and gagged on it, but never fussed. After a bit, she started fussing at it and Daddy stopped. I added some breastmilk to the formula (two ounces of formula one ounce breastmilk), put it in two different bottles (the two were mixed, but I thought maybe if she would not take one bottle, she might take another with a different nipple) and we locked ourselves in her room.

After a while she started crying and gagging. I would take the bottle out until she calmed down and then put it back in her mouth. She finally wore herself out and started falling asleep. I don't know if she realized she was sucking down two bottles or not, but she did. Out of three ounces, she took over two ounces.

Now, I hope she remembers that next time!

Four Months Old

Madeleine will be four months old tomorrow. She goes in tomorrow for a check-up and shots, I will post her stats then. While I have a chance, I am going to post what she is doing now.

She is wearing size 1 diapers. Her clothes range from 0-3 months to 3-6 months. She is slowly starting to outgrow the 0-3 month clothes, though.

Eating/sleeping has been challanging, especially the last few months. She went from sleeping all night or only waking up once, to waking up every hour to two hours. Usually she just wants to eat and go back to sleep, but she has still does not burp great and is getting gas frequently. We are trying to find something to help that (actually waiting on the dr's office to call about that now), because Mylicon is not doing much. She MAY have one four to five hour sleep session in the mornings (without waking up to eat), but typically she is still eating every two hours...almost on the dot.

She started cereal last month, with apple juice. The dr said that should help her sleep all night. She would eat it, but did not sleep any longer. I have been trying to give her some formula in cereal to see if she would go any longer between feedings. Formula is a definite no go! She hates it. We tried Similac first. She ate it, and about three hours later, she threw up everything she had eaten. None of the other kids would take Similac, so I went and got Good Start, which is what all the boys took. She would (and still does) scream when I put the bottle (I was trying to get her used to the formula)in her mouth and smile or laugh when I took it out. When I tried to give her formula and cereal she would scream when the bowl was in front of her or I put the spoon in her mouth, and smile when I took it away.

She sleeps in her crib during the day and until the first time she wakes up at night. At that point she goes in our room. I try to keep her in her bassinet unless she is eating, but she still wants to snuggle.

At four months old, she still has to be swaddled to go to sleep. Tightly swaddled!! When she is tired and screaming, if you swaddle her, put her pacifier in her mouth and hold her tightly she will usually instantly stop crying and go to sleep quickly. She is the first one out of all the kids that prefers sleeping on her back (all the boys were tummy sleepers...and yes, I know what they say about sleeping on your tummy).

She prefers Daddy when she is playful or talking, but wants Mommy when she is hungry or sleepy (which I guess makes sense since Daddy can't feed her).

She is very alert and loves to watch her brothers and laugh at them. She prefers to be held facing out so she can see everything. She still does not care for her carseat much (or any seat). She does enjoy lying on the floor and playing.

She likes being outside, just walking. When I can't seem to get her calmed down in the house, she usually instantly stops fussing when we walk outside.

This is all I can think of right now. If I think of more I want to remember, I will post it tomorrow with her drs appt stats.

Running Away.....To Madagascar

Caleb was sent to his room earlier when he got in trouble. After a bit, I told him he could come out if he could behave. He looked at me and either said "so" or "no". I am not sure which one, and really don't care because either way it was disrespectful. So, he was sent back to his room.

A bit later I was sitting on the couch and he comes in with a blanket obviously full of stuff, a tin and something else. He asks "When is the next flight to Madagascar?"

"I don't know, but are you running away to Madagascar because you got in trouble?"

He just turned and went back to his room.

Later I asked why he was planning to run away to Madagascar of all places.

"Because they have coconuts."

"Are you planning on living on coconuts alone?"

"Well, they aren't FRESH coconuts?"

Still made no sense to me, so I left it at that.

Do most 10 year olds plan to run away to someplace like Madagascar?

Lonely AJ

Andrew has been so funny this week with the kids going back to school. I guess he remembered from last year because he seemed to know exactly what was happening. Monday morning when we were outside waiting on the buses he kept going up to his brothers, saying their name and giving them HUGE bear hugs. It was so sweet.

Isaac is the first one to leave. He got on his bus and Andrew waved bye to him until the bus was out of sight. Then he continued his bear hugs. When Caleb's bus was coming down the road, Andrew starts screaming "I ZZZZZZZZZZZ" I guess he thought Isaac was already coming home. He waved to Caleb and then repeated the whole process when Bryce's bus was coming down the road.

When Caleb got home from school, Andrew was still sleeping. When he got up and saw Caleb he yelled "BUUUUUUUUUB" (that is what he calls Caleb) and gave him hug. Then he walked through the house saying "I Z?"

Wednesday I had to run to Isaac's school to pay his supply fee. When we were leaving the office I told Andrew we were going to the car. He crosses his arms, throws them against his chest and sat down. I told him to come on and he screams at the top of his lungs "NO, I ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!" and repeated it over and over. We were standing under a metal awning and it echoed bad. I was sure the entire school heard him!

He is getting used to it, but is still very excited when ALL of his brothers get home from school every day!

Citizen

One of Isaac's vocabulary this week is citizen. We were studying them the other day at the table while Caleb was doing his homework. Isaac read citizen and Caleb says "I am a citizen." I told him we all were.

"Well, I am a SENIOR citizen."

The ten year old senior citizen!

Donor

I was at the store with all the kids before school started. While we were checking out, I had my wallet open and Bryce was looking at my license (yes, the one where I am eight months pregnant!). He asked what the red heart meant. I told him it meant that I was a donor. He asked what a donor was. I explained that if something happened to me, I wanted my heart and other organs donated to someone else.

Caleb heard what I was saying and said "That's gross!" I explained that if it came to life or death, you needed a heart (or lung or kidney, etc), you would probably get over the grossness of it to live. He says "I will just get a plastic heart or kidney or lung!"

At this point, the cashier is giggling quietly.

"They don't have plastic hearts or lungs or kidneys. You either take the gift that someone left behind when they died or you die too."

"I think I would rather just die!" was Caleb's response with a disgusted face.

It made me sad to hear, but I know he is young and doesn't really understand. I can understand why he would think it was gross to have someone else's heart or whatever else, in you, but....

I hope he never has to learn first hand what a gift it is!

Mady's New Thing

Mady has been sucking on her bottom lip. It is pretty funny to watch her. She is not doing it so much that it looks like a habit, but she does it frequently and makes noises while she is doing it. She is also slobbering ALL. THE. TIME!

Frozen Turnovers, Anyone?

I am constantly telling Andrew to get out of the freezer. We have one of those refrigerators where the top doors are the refrigerator and the freezer is a drawer on the bottom. Andrew has recently learned how to open all of them and I am constantly telling him to get out of them. Apparently, when he is getting into the freezer he is sneaking bites of frozen apple turnovers. Yesterday I told him from another room to get out of the freezer. When I got into the freezer later, I saw the turnover he had been knawing on.

Yes, I feed him, all the time!

Peek A Boo

I went to get Mady out of the car this morning after going to the vet and this is what I found:

She has always preferred the dark...guess this is one way of getting it!

Pretty Girl

I am so happy that she likes the camera! It would be sad for us both if she screamed everytime I dressed her up and took pics! This is a dress that a friend at Paul's office got her.

PB & J

Andrew has gotten to where he really likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (he didn't used to be too keen on them). He will eat the whole sandwich, but one slice of bread at a time.

STUCK

Andrew likes to sit in ALL of Mady's stuff. He climbed into her Jumparoo the other day and ended up with both legs in one hole and stuck.

"Snay!! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!

You know you are in trouble when the two year old is pulling pranks on you. Definently Marmar's grandson!!

Andrew got up at 5:30 the other morning (thank you Bryce!). He came in carrying his wipes and a pull up and giggling. I did not know why he was giggling, but took the pull up and wipes and laid him down. This is what I find when I open the wipes:



Now, this is obviously a plastic snake, BUT when the room is kinda dark and you have just awakened....not to mention the copperhead that was found in our back yard recently....well, let's just say that Andrew found a way to wake Mom up! I quickly realized it was fake (Andrew's laughing and saying "SNAY" over and over helped), but it startled me enough to wake me up!

Back to School

The boys started school Monday. We had orientations for all of them last week. Seems like they all have pretty good teachers this year.

Caleb is in the fifth grade. His homeroom teacher (he has one teacher half the day and then changes classrooms and has another teacher the other half) is from Arkansas and misses a lot of the same things we do! She was also a GT teacher. Since Caleb did not make it in the GT program here (although his test scores were REALLY high), I was really glad to hear it. I was telling her that he gets in trouble when he gets bored and that if she has to give him extra work to keep him busy than to do it. She told us she used to teach it and she knew what to watch for and would let him do research or other work. If she sees that the work they are doing is too easy she will get his work from a sixth grade book.

She also has some very neat incentives for her students. For one thing, the kids get paid weekly. They get $5 a week (with the oppurtunity to make more money) every week. They each have a checkbook and are responsible for keeping it balanced (after she teaches them HOW to keep it balanced). If they lose a letter grade in conduct, they lose a dollar each letter. If they get an F in conduct, they don't get paid. They earn extra money by doing odd jobs around the class. The first nine weeks, Caleb will make $7 a week (assuming he keeps an A in conduct). He is the pet lover (the room is a pirate theme) this nine weeks so he is responsible for taking care of the animals (they have a gecko and two fire belly frogs). He loves this!

All and all he is excited about school this year - which was much needed!

Isaac is in second grade. He, too, will have one teacher for half the day and then change to another teacher the second half. He seems to have very nice teachers as well. I hope they are able to continue his love for school and can strengthen his reading!

Bryce is in first grade. He has the same teacher Isaac had last year. The only downside, she is on maternity leave until JANUARY! This could be interesting. The teacher that is teaching until January is BRAND NEW!! I don't really have a problem with that, teachers have to get their start at some point. We joked last year that Bryce was the reason his teacher retired (not to him though). Now we joke that he will make or break this teacher. Realistically, there are students MUCH worse than he is, so if she can't handle him.....

He got his sight word list the first day of school. They start with list A and get a new list every week. I guess she tested them Monday on the lists to see how far they could go. Bryce is on list D, but knew all the words on that list when he came home on Monday.

All three boys are at different schools this year. Two of them start school at the same time and get out at the same time. You are not allowed to drop them off until 20 minutes before school starts. With the lines these schools usually have to drop off and pick up kids, I don't think I would be able to take them to school and have them there in time. They wanted me to take them this year, but I don't think that is going to work!

SLEEP

I NEED IT!

Mady is not doing too great in the eating department. She should be going four to five hours between feedings now. She is more or less going every two hours still. First thing in the morning we might get a four or five hour stretch, but the rest of the day....and ALL night lately, she is eating every two hours.

Last night she was up every hour.

I want to continue breastfeeding, but....

We started cereal with juice almost a month ago. It does not seem to help any. We are now starting cereal with formula to see if the two together can fill her up better.

She does not wake up and cry (usually) for a long period of time. She fusses or cries until I wake up and feed her and she goes back to sleep. That is great....except I am still having to get up every couple of hours.

Figs

We have a fig tree in the backyard. The boys like to go out and eat them. This evening Daddy brought some in and offered one to Andrew. Andrew excitedly asked for it. He put it in his mouth, immediately spit it out and said "UCKY"

For the last hour, if we say fig he screams. I was eating some ice cream and he kept asking for it. I finally said the ice cream had figs in it. He said "UCK" and then ruined my ice cream time by saying over and over "igs in i ceam" He did not, however, want my ice cream after that!

He is scared of figs!!