The many faces of Nathaniel!

Blog thinking...

I live my days out in this crazy household we call the Circus of Love. I go through my days with thoughts running through my head like...this is how I would tell about this on my blog. But by the time I actually get to sit down at the computer I can't even remember what it was I was thinking about sharing.

But here is what is going on in the Evans household.

• Layton lost her first tooth yesterday and I played the tooth fairy...even though she said..."Mom, you're the tooth fairy". She was amazed however at how I could have gotten her tooth out from under her pillow and leave a baggie with 4 quarters in it's place while she was asleep. A tooth fairy never shares her secrets. How fun!
• Elijah wants to share his room so badly that he and Layton completely traded rooms last Sunday morning so he could share a room with Cheney. This all took place while I dozed nursing Nathaniel. Everything but the beds. REALLY!!! NO more dozing unless I am in the same room with the kids. They moved everything...Clothes, toys, wall hangings, sheets, blankets...small tables...UGH. It took us half of our family day on Tuesday to get everything back to its original room. Thanks John for helping!!!
• Cheney keeps saying that she is going to get bigger. It sounds like " bigguh." And then she says when she gets "bigguh," she is going to get married and have a baby in her belly. While we hang out in the backyard she gathers all the flowers (a.k.a weeds) and walks around holding her bouquet singing, "dum, dum, da dum." And if you ask what she is doing she says she is waiting for her husband.
• Layton and Elijah weigh exactly the same amount down to the tenth of a pound. They are even growing at the same rate...2 weeks ago they weighed the exact amount and they had even gained the exact same amount of weight. They are the same height, too. Everyone asks if they are twins... I think I am just going to start answering with "Yes, they just different birthdays."
• Nathaniel is not as fussy as he was a few weeks ago. Evidently getting completely off of dairy was the trick. I have to say I am missing milk, cheese and sour cream to name a few items. But I have found chocolate chips that do not have milk protiens in them and made chocolate chip cookies yesterday. Woohoo! Nathaniel weighs at least 11 pounds. He is so cute.
• Did you know that there is a Dude Ranch in Central Florida?...well, Lake Wales to be exact. John spoke there today.
• Everyone else in my house is currently asleep and I should be asleep or cleaning something.
• I only seem to be able to get a total of 5 and a half hours of sleep a night, no matter when the kids get to sleep. But I am proof that you can live through sleep deprivation. All moms know that. But I haven't been blogging lately so I can use the time to either sleep or clean something.
• I guess there are some serious hazards to sleep deprivation though...especially while driving. I haven't even told John this yet...he may ban me from driving. I hit a mailbox today because I sort of dozed off while driving. It was a split second nod...Fortunately it was exactly one block over from my house while I was on the way home from Kissimmee. I heard something bump the truck and the mail box looked crushed...which I couldn't figure out how I had done that much damage but I thought I must have because it sounded like I had bumped the mailbox. So, I got out of the car and went up and knocked on the door and told the lady I needed to replace her mailbox because I just bumped it. She said not to worry about it because it was already broken and they had already been planning on replacing it anyway. I am very blessed that she didn't just tell me to go ahead and pay for it and not tell me it had been messed up previously. But anyway...this was a wake-up call literally. I am going to have to chew ice or something from now on when I drive...just to make sure I stay awake. Most of all I am blessed that I didn't doze off and drive off the road or into a car somewhere on the 35 minute drive home with my four beautiful children. I guess people can die from sleep deprivation. It's a funny story until you think about that.
• Oh...I got my sling from slinglings.com. It is a real simple stretchy tube of fabric. I picked out a black and white floral toile (sp?) print. I really do like it. I can't nurse "handsfree" but I can nurse one handed. So I can be outside in the yard walking around somewhat playing with the kids while nursing. It takes the fear of dropping Nathaniel out of the way and keeps my arms and back from aching when out and about trying to carry Nathaniel. Now for some crazy reason I want a some kind of black and white diaper bag and white burp clothes trimmed in black ribbon and white polka dots. I never did the cutsie diaper bags or burp clothes with the other kiddos. Don't you think the letter N would look cute embroidered on a brup cloth. Or maybe I could do E for Evans just in case there end up being more babies in our family.
• Layton told me the other day that she loved Nathaniel and that our next baby should be a girl and after that we could have another boy after that. This is the child who doesn't like sharing her room. Where does she think we would put more babies? Not that I am thinking about having anymore right now. 4 sounds really good. Really Really Good. All I seem to be able to handle at the moment.
• Nathaniel has started smiling. It is so cute. Layton has figured out how to make him smile and she just loves it!!!

I have 2 Cinderella's, how about you?

You have to go to this site and play the video of Steven Curtis Chapman's Cinderella.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfxL0S-7yVo&feature=related

I may be the last one in Christian circles to have heard this song but I still had to share it... Steven Curtis Chapman's song, Cinderella. Our dear sweet Carrie-friend sent it to me today along with this pic of Layton from a couple Halloween's ago. (2005)Even though it is from the Dad's perspective, I cried. It inspired me to just play with my kids tonight while I nursed Nathaniel in his sling instead of planting myself in the recliner. So we had a "slumber" party before bed...all of us in our PJ's. We played Connect 4 and Simon Says. We sat in the kids sleeping bags and read books. I needed this reminder to soak up my kids. This pic was from Halloween 2007. Don't they look like fun!!!

Thanks Carriann!!! You know my kids love you. You only come after Grandma when it comes to being their favorite babysitter!!!!

To laugh, cry or....YELL!!

I have to admit that my children have been sent to their rooms quite frequently lately. Not as a punishment, but to get them to stop asking to watch T.V. or sit on the arm of the recliner and rub Nathaniel EVERYtime I nurse him. Sometimes is OK... but just not EVERYtime.

This morning after playing quite some time, they were supposed to clean up so we can cut out snowflakes after lunch. Anyway we are trying to focus on playing with one toy at a time but somehow my kids seem to dump out every rubbermaid container in their rooms and then play in them. Forget the toys. I think I am going to put their toys in the attic for awhile and just leave them with the containers. Ha, Ha!!

After finishing nursing Nathaniel, I walked upstairs to check on the kids' rooms to find this...

TADAAAAA!!!!!

They had taken the Christmas tree lights upstairs (they were still on the floor in the living room from John taking them off the tree last night... do you suppose my kids have issues with putting things away because their Mommy leaves things out for a while before putting them away...NAH)

They had draped them over Cheney's bed and really said "TaDaaa!" as I entered the room. Of course, their rooms had not been cleaned. But they sure were proud of their Christmas display. Honestly, I had to stop and take a deep breath, frustrated because the rooms were still a mess and then I thought....

They are only 6, 4 and 2, what would Kitty do? So after a small giggle, I took a picture and wrote a blog about it.

I told them the lights were pretty but not a good idea to play with since they were glass. I put the lights back downstairs and they cleaned their rooms. I didn't yell or cry and their rooms did get cleaned.

Kitty- thanks for the inspiration :)

The sniffles and coughs

Finally the sniffles and coughs have made their way back into my home. I was just thinking the other day as I read my friend's blog about how her daughters had been cold free for a long time now that it had been a while for my family, too. Now, I don't think I went as far as to say it out loud. I really thought I better not say it or those germs will hunt us down and find us. You know how they talk about how we have created super-bacteria and viruses because of all the cleaners we use these days. Well, the ones in my home have taken on another super power - mind reading. Because they came and found us.

Unfortunately, our family is prone to the sniffles. John and I seem to be allergic to everthing that grows in Florida. And with the never ending growing season in Florida...what might have been seasonal allergies in another state are just year round ones here. Woohoo!! Generally we start with allergies and end up with infections. This time it feels more like a cold. John started out with his normal chest congestion issues. He has already started his normal regimen of antibiotics and steriods. We can't seem to find the true cause of his battles with this type of infection. Last time they did a chest x-ray and nothing showed up.

The kids started with the post-nasal drip and coughing and clear runny nose. Now I have the post nasal drip with the sore throat. I have turned into the Germex queen and "the Don't Touch Nathaniel Nazi. " I hate telling the kids they can't touch him or rub him or hold him or kiss him but I just don't want to have a sick baby on top of everyone else.

Next time I am going to the store I am going to get stuff to make some good brothy chicken soup with lots of garlic. We are making sure everyone gets their vitamins and even echinacea.

It's funny because the kids and I have basically stayed home from everywhere except from the grocery store or a resteraunt or two. Thinking we were avoiding sick germs at least for the kids in nurseries and stuff. Trying to avoid getting a cold in the house with a new born. Oh well. So far Nathaniel only seems to have a few more sneezes than normal. He has been sneezing pretty frequently since day one. Hopefully he won't get all stuffy.

This whole dairy thing...

Well, it is really more than a dairy thing. It is milk proteins. And as I mentioned in my last blog, even NON-DAIRY creamer has Milk proteins in it. UGH!

Now...I just got back from . Where I ate a supreme personal pan pizza without cheese. BTW it was soooooo gooood to me. I asked the waitress...Mrs. Carol. We used to see her about once a week there but not as much anymore. But anyway...asked dear sweet Mrs. Carol...if there was any dairy in the crust or Parmesan in the sauce. Her answer was No. So I thought well I will be OK. But then I after I got home I figured I would go to the website and check it out. I thought about doing this before we went but I just forgot while getting 4 kids ready. I should have checked Anyway...Pizza Hut crust does have milk allergens in them. The red sauce doesn't but the meat products can.

I had a friend that just emailed me recently sharing that she had the same issue with one of her babies and that she lived on a very limited diet. I am thinking just about all processed foods are out of the question. With as fussy as it makes Nathaniel I have to commit to being very thorough about this and stop being lazy and assuming things are OK. He hasn't had a normal poopie in his life. Since that first dark brown tarry stuff, the poor boy has not had a poopie that wasn't all mucous-y. If that is even a word...and probably more information than you need. AT least it is not as bad as I have heard some babies have had with blood in their stools. I just wonder if I keep aggravating it if his issues will get worse.

I do have to say that it is a good thing that I do nurse and have at least limited milk proteins until now. If I didn't nurse, the regular formula and soy formula would have him all messed up. I did see a formula made without soy or milk products for this kind of situation but it was about 28 dollars a can. Don't think that is a figure that would fit into our budget very well.

So gals...self-discipline with food has always been an issue with me and now my son's comfort depends on it...and my sanity if he isn't going to cry constantly, Please pray that I would have self-discipline and take the time to research my food and spend the time preparing it rather than popping something questionable into the oven/microwave from a box that might be questionable. The meals that came from my MOPS friends this past week have been so helpful. They have done a great job of sending non-dairy items to my house...THANKS!!!

Oh btw, items at that do NOT have milk allergens in them are the red sauce, red crushed pepper and ketchup. MMMMMM tasty. OH... I shouldn't forget to mention that I can and will only have a salad next time. I just need to do some research on the dressings but I should be safe with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, broccolli, and sunflower seeds. I could use just oil and vinegar. Man, I should start loosing weight here pretty quickly.

Who knew???

Who knew....

• that non-dairy creamer actually had milk ingredients in it. at least publix brand does.
• that deli meat can have milk products in it. i had been eating it thinking i was fine, never imagining it could be causing our sweet nathaniel tummy troubles.
• that I could brown ground beef, drain it, and put it back in the skillet and add manwhich all while nursing. Oh, and microwave all the left over sides and plate it up for my family...still nursing.
• that it would take three weeks for me to start feeliong normal again and really enjoy my time with nathaniel.
• that john would be the one that would figure out nathaniel's crying pattern right before he (nathaniel) goes to sleep. he gets really loud like you think he's in terrible pain then just falls asleep and its all good. and if you try to hold him or nurse him to sleep he just gets more and more gassy and fussy. just burp him good and lay him down.
• that life would get much easier when I just lay nathaniel down and let him cry maybe 5 minutes before he goes to sleep.
• that i could hardly be able to remember life before nathaniel joined us.
• that I would actually take a trip to publix or walmart with all four children and not lose my mind or any children.
• that i would actually take the time to type up a blog while holding the nat-man...reason for all lowercase.

I think there is going to be some resemblence of normalcy around the evans household soon. whatever normal is, anway? Now we just need to get daddy well - he started feeling sick yesterday.