Canaan, 29 weeks

I moved him to his crib for nighttime sleeping. The first night he slept until 4:30 before joining Alif & I in bed; the second night he woke around 1:30.

Has now eaten: banana, avocado, brown rice puree, applesauce (by far his favorite), plums and peas. Today I made him a baby smoothie: banana, plum, primadophilus (I'm having a little yeast issue), and brown rice puree.

Can sit really well but we have to be close by because he will still topple to the side randomly.

Doctor, Doctor give me the news

There has been a lot of drama for me in the last few months regarding our pediatrician. We've been with her since our first baby and she has been so wonderful to us. She was very, very unhappy that I had Canaan at home and it has completely changed our relationship. So I made the hard decision to take Canaan to our family doctor for his 6-month check. I called the office and told the receptionist that I needed to know the doctor's stance on homebirth (so I can know if it will be an issue should I have any more babies) and on delayed/selective vaccinating. My doctor called me back personally and discussed both issues with me fully, which I found refreshing and nice. Though I got the impression that he feels like homebirth isn't the safest option and that he finds immunizations amazingly wonderful things, he made it clear that our decisions are up to us and his job is solely to be sure that we are aware of the pros and cons. Eh, that sounded *just ok* to me. I mean, I really figured the visit could go well or poorly based on that, kwim?

Before the visit I typed up the shot schedule we are following for Canaan so that I could take it in with me and be really sure that we're on the same page and I won't get a bunch of lectures when I go in. I scheduled the appointment with the PA in the office since my doctor didn't have an opening for a few weeks. I really like the PA anyway. When she found out I was nursing Caris, who was almost 3 at the time, she smiled and said that was so great. I told her I didn't often hear that from medical personnel and she said with a wistful look in her eyes, "I nursed my kids so long my whole family was scandalized." So you know, I figured that she would be the most receptive to my unconventional parenting practices anyway.

I was nervous the day of the appointment. I had no plans to argue or get defensive. I knew that if this doctor's office couldn't accept the way I do things, there are others who will. I just figured that if we're going to leave our ped, we may as well all go to the same doctor. Well, things seriously could NOT have gone any better. The PA came in and Caris jumped on her right away: "We have another brother and he's at camp this week." LOL PA loved Canaan's chunky-liciousness, praised our nursing and not having started solids yet ("yay!" she said), said not to worry about his breathing issues because he's so obviously healthy, it's probably something he'll outgrow as his lungs grow.

Then I broached the subject of homebirth, and that I'd talked with Dr. to make sure it wouldn't be an issue should we have more babies. She looked confused and said, "an issue for us?" I told her that our ped had had a hard time with it and she just said that medicine changes so much, what was right 10 years ago isn't necessarily right now . . . she said, "we're kind of just . . . ehhh" (shrugged shoulders, like - whatever you want to do, Mom!). I showed her our shot schedule and she said, "Ok, so he's had these?" (pointing to the first couple) and I told her he had, and she said, "Ok, so it looks like you are wanting these three done . . . is it ok to do them all today, or do you want to spread them out?" I told her I wanted to spread them out and so she just did the two I wanted done then. IT WAS ALL JUST NO BIG DEAL! OMGosh it made me so doggone happy. She even asked if I do scheduled feedings and was so relieved when I said no. We just had really a nice visit, and though I'm still sad at losing our relationship with our ped, I'm THRILLED that life will be so easy with our new/old doctor.

Oh yeah - Canaan's 23 lbs and 28.5".

Canaan, 28 weeks

Learned to rub his eyes


Can say "Daddy" in Aramaic. ROFL "abba! abba!"

Became miserable again with either a cold or teething or both, not sure which yet. Tuesday was the worst and then he got better over the next couple days.

Tattling

My kids are in tattling mode today and it is driving me bonkers.

Malachi: "Caris is smiling at me."
Me: "How dare she."

Caris: "Graham said I'm white."
Me: :::blank stare:::

Bah!

Avocado

I gave Canaan avocado yesterday for the first time, and he was not a fan. LOL Today I mixed in double the amount of breastmilk and he loved it.

Go Red Sox!

First of all, my February 2007 Moms message board is so cool. We are so like-minded! Almost all of us use cloth diapers, and pretty much everyone there is AP to one degree or another. We have now had two cloth diaper exchanges, both very successful. Check out this awesome Boston Red Sox cover my swap partner had made for Canaan by www.redearthoriginals.com! I LOVE IT!!

Canaan, 27 weeks

Rolls easily both ways, and does it a lot!

Scoots all over the place.

Gets up on hands & knees.

Started waking up in the night because he'd rolled onto his back. I hope that ends soon!

I Miss Malachi

Malachi boarding the bus under the watchful hand of Ms. Marta.
Malachi and his best church buddy, Christian. They're in the same cabin, yay!

For years I've been excited for when Malachi would be old enough to go to church camp. I went every year when I was younger, from 4th grade through my early college years. It's such an exciting time! Independence, adventure and an intense time of growing in the Lord . . . what more could a child ask for?

Well, this is the year. Malachi will be a fourth-grader in the fall (umm, what's that, 2 weeks away?) and so he's old enough to be at camp. They left on Sunday. I assumed I would be a teary, emotional mess but instead I was just excited and happy for him. I prayed for his safety as I drove away, I have to admit.

That first night was really strange. He's never been away from home alone and I was so curious how he was doing, WHAT he was doing! I reminded myself that Marta had called out from the bus, "No news is good news!" Easy for her to say! She's WITH our precious children! HA HA!

We have all written him letters. We've wondered aloud what he's doing, what he's eating, how he's sleeping. We've counted down the days until he comes home. But it hasn't, as I feared, consumed our week. We miss him and life is definitely weird without him, but things are plugging along.

It helps to know that he's in the absolute best care. His counselor is an amazing father of four himself who's perfectly suited for this role. He's tender and firm and I know that he's caring for our boy and keeping him in line, too. Ms. Marta has known our boy since he was born and I couldn't ask for a more wonderful children's director.

So yeah, he's in pretty much the perfect first time away from home scenario, and things are going fine at home, but I miss my boy. I really, really miss him all of a sudden. I can't wait for him to come home, and it's still two days away. This morning two days seemed so soon, but this afternoon it feels like a week. It's quiet around here, and three kids feels like SO much less than four kids. I thought I'd go crazy without his physical help around here, especially with the baby, but it's his company I miss the most.

I'm still glad he's at camp, but I want him to come home and tell me all about it.

Canaan's First Solids

Here I am taking pics of the kids at swim lessons

Canaan can bust a move

Quirky Caris

Every time Caris eats yogurt, she eats it with a measuring spoon.

When she drinks tea, she uses a straw, a spoon and a medicine cup. She makes a big mess.

Each time she eats a banana, she sits down at the table with it, peels just the top and then cuts off little pieces with a butter knife, eating them as she goes.

Almost every time she walks past me she scratches my back, gives me a hug or a kiss or just cozies up for a second.

When she's hungry she says, "Can I have something to AAANCH!" ROFL

If we are gone from home for a long time she will say, "I miss my blue pillow."

One day I handed her toilet paper - about 4 squares bunched up - and she said, "When Daddy gives me toilet paper, he gives me a lot and he folds it up."

Every time Alif gets home she says, "Can I go help Dada!?"

She can memorize a Scripture after hearing it once or twice.