Birthday Boy

 

 My baby is one! This year went by way too fast.

It was a busy night with other activities/practices to be to, so we had a quick family celebration. Nana got to be here last weekend to celebrate with us, though, so we got to spread out the birthday fun. 

Plus, the cake I made turned out pretty disgusting so its probably good we didn't have time to have any friends over to eat it with us.

New Diet Plan

 This little guy seems to be allergic to something. He's had that redness on his cheeks you see in the picture off and on since he was born. (The drool also comes and goes). Then a few days ago he broke out with eczema all over the place. The doctor says it's an allergic reaction to something he ate. The most common food allergens are wheat, dairy, eggs, or nuts so we should avoid those until we get all the redness under control, then slowly reintroduce those foods to see what may be causing it. Since he's still nursing, I'm also supposed to avoid those foods. So no wheat, dairy, eggs, or nuts for me. That leaves slim pickings. This could be good for my figure.

The eczema isn't completely cleared up (after about a week), so I've been waiting to try giving him any of those foods. But today, I found him enjoying a pink mini-wheat he found in the living room, thanks to his scooting/almost-crawling skills and his brother who dropped it. I think he ate more of the pink than the wheat, but maybe I'll soon know if wheat is the culprit.

He must work out

He's been doing "pushups" for a week or two now, but has only scooted backwards.It's just so frustrating trying to get that big belly to stay off the ground while at the same time getting those thighs moving . . . but those baby hands want to go get into everything!

Easter

At 6 am Easter morning, Olivia came into my room to tell me "Mom, Katelyn's downstairs looking at her Easter basket." That's almost two hours earlier than Kate normally wakes up, and no one's supposed to go down until everyone's awake, and we all go down when mom and dad decide its time. I remember doing this same thing when I was probably about her size. I woke up before everyone else, so I snuck into the living room to see if the Easter Bunny had come. I knew I couldn't get stuff out of my basket yet, so instead I just sat right in front of mine and stared at it, getting the most thorough inspection I could without touching anything. After about 10 minutes of this (yeah, it was a good look), my mom came up behind me and I still remember jumping when she said my name. I knew I was busted. Katelyn didn't even care. She wasn't about to leave that basket behind and go back upstairs.
I thought Olivia had figured out the mystery behind the Easter Bunny last year, but I think part of her still wanted to believe. This year, she kept telling her siblings, "Dad's the Easter Bunny - remember in Seattle when the Easter Bunny couldn't come until after church one time and we went a walk and dad stayed home and when we got home the Easter Bunny had come. So it's Dad." But she wasn't completely convinced - a few minutes later, she was making name tags for the baskets so that the Easter Bunny would know whose was whose, "just in case." When Katelyn started calling John the Easter Bunny, I pulled Olivia aside. I confirmed her suspicions, and told her to keep quiet about it so the others wouldn't find out yet.
"So it is Dad?"
"Mom and Dad." (The Easter Bunny's not a solo job here, I can't let John get all the credit).
"I guess I didn't really need to put those name tags up then."

Lately, after blow-drying my hair, I keep not liking it much lately. But, most days there are other things to do besides spending lots of time on it, so what could I do besides go around with stupid looking hair. Since it was Easter (and we had some extra time to get ready thanks to Katelyn), I put a little more effort in. When I was done,  I was like, "Oh, so that's what my hair looks like when it's done." There was a little improvement there.

We took turns with the camera, so we have family pictures in parts. John just loved it when I made him do pictures when he's trying to get everyone in the car to get a bench at church.

Smiling as they push each other away.

Better luck next year with the candy, Tyler.

This Week

I may go back and post some of what I've missed putting up (last post from Halloween, now its Easter!), but for now I'm just putting some pictures from the last couple weeks.

 Katelyn likes to get her picture taken. She also likes to tell everyone else what to do.

 I have helpers for this little guy. Olivia likes to have a taste of his baby food when she feeds him bananas. But yesterday she mistaked a container of apples and chicken for bananas. She was sorely disappointed after putting that in her mouth. Jackson won't even look at him while he's eating - he doesn't want a taste of any of that "gross stuff."

 Sometimes my kids probably get away with too much - they're not really supposed to do this on the couches, but they were laughing so much . . .

He won't stop getting big!

Making a Comeback

I wasn't feeling much blogging inspiration for a while, but I haven't given up on this completely. I think I'm ready to return. Does anyone still check this, or have you all given up on me?

I'll see if I can come up with some good stuff to post, as soon as I can get my pictures to upload to blogger again . . . not sure what's going on there.

Happy Halloween

Here they are, ready for trick-or-treating.

On Saturday, we went to a little Halloween festival.

This year, I didn't sew anything, but used lots of hot glue for the monster, cupcake, and mummy. Olivia was a witch a couple years ago, but just wanted to add a green face and gray hair this time.

My little mummy.

Candy People

My VT brought us little candy guys - our whole family of them. I like pictures with all 4 of my kids. That little guy is getting big already - he's a 2-month chunk!

Baby Ironman

My baby:

Her baby:

Yes, we do have baby dolls at our house. But she's adopted IronMan to be her baby. She takes good care of him - carries him around, burps him, wraps a blanket around him and sometimes sings to him (at least when her brother's not home to take him back). Her baby talks back to her in a deep, kinda-scary-robot voice.

Hello, World!

Arriving a week ahead of schedule . . .

Tyler Johnny Knippers

August 22nd

7 lb 4 oz

Brothers!