22 Weeks/5 months old

Yesterday, Drew turned 5 months officially, and like every mom that ever lived, I cannot believe it!

And today he is 22 weeks and Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

"Okay, Ill take the fingers out for one picture."


Drew's baby push ups have been surprising his siblings. Daddy thinks he is going to crawl, but I know better. Isaac was doing the same thing at this age and didn't crawl for a good while.


Drew got a bad rash all over his body this week, on maybe Wednesday or Thursday. He was having patches on his knees and elbows, and suddenly it was all over him. I switched from Aquafor and Cetafil to Aveeno Overnight Relief cream and Eucerin on Friday.

Due to his bad excema, I changed his overnight swaddle this week from the Miracle Blanket to the Woombie. He was getting a bit sweaty in the tight wrap of the Miracle Blanket no matter how lightly I dressed him and how low I turned the heat overnight, and it was adding to his skin issues. So we switched on Thursday night. I was hesitant because I do not like change and I thing I get more attached to his routines than he does. I have always dreaded changing anything for babies, but it has to be done. Usually I go gradual on changes to make myself feel better, but there was no way to do this gradually and it had to be done to keep him comfortable. Turned out it was fine.


He is still a loud little monkey, probably our loudest yet. Also, there has been no progress on the rolling from back to tummy or sitting without pushing his legs out and falling back. Isaac started sitting a bit and rolling from back to tummy shortly after he turned 5 months. Drew is also still nursing 6 times a day and napping 4 times, but I am going to try dropping 1 of each this week and see how it goes.

"I think I am pretty cute. Whadya think?"

Valentine's stuff

We have been doing valentine's stuff the whole month of February. Here's what we've been making...

These valentine rice crispy treats were so good! I found this idea here. The foam valentines came from kits I got at Micheal's on sale. Isaac enjoyed the robots and was able to do them by himself once I showed him where all the parts go.

Genna made these butterfly pop valentines for her Best Friend's of Jesus club. I did not get creative here. The ideas for these came from Skip to my Lou. I needed something we could make 22 of and not spend hours and hours on them. I had them printed on colored paper and all they had to do was cut, sign, and assemble them. We did these and Hannah's (below) in stages. I helped cut out a bit because their poor hands were aching.

Hannah's flower pop valentines were for the same club, and also not my original idea.

Hannah coloring some valentines her Mimi sent her and Genna.

Heart shaped peanut butter banana bread muffins

The Seconds

My second born daughter and my second born son are just the sweetest together.

Drew's looking more like Isaac everyday. I'll have to do another comparison post to show the similarities.

Genevieve's sweet spirit brings tears to my eyes.

Makes laundry a little more fun

...and reminds me why I do eight loads (that makes it 1 1/3 loads per person) of laundry a week happily.

Well, mostly happily! I'm not crazy!

"Who's decision is it when I can't talk?"

That's the question Isaac asked me when he was having trouble falling asleep tonight. It took me several re-phrasings of this question to figure out what he was asking. It turns out he was worrying about who will call 911 if he can't talk. This was spurred on by part of his lesson today when we had to discuss what to do under certain bad circumstances, like a fire or mommy getting sick or hurt where I can't talk. I showed him our panic buttons on our alarm system and how to dial 911. Hopefully, I stressed enough that it is only if mommy, Hannah, and Genna can't talk that he is allowed to do that. That's our sequence of responsibility (when daddy isn't home, of course.) So he was just wondering who was going to call for him. Cute! I told him that, of course, I would always take care of him and call the police or ambulance if he needed me to do so.

My favorite mom books

Babywise by Gary Ezzo:
Although I do not follow them to a T, the schedules and possible solutions for sleep troubles have been so helpful to me. Teaching a child to self sooth to sleep is such a valuable skill, especially when you have lots of little ones and you can't spend the whole day rocking your baby. I have referenced this book more times than I can count with each child.

Babywise II by Gary Ezzo:
I have not refreshed myself on this one with Drew yet since we still have a few month until it is relevent, but I know there are many per-discipline ideas that were very helpful to me. I especially loved the idea of Blanket Time and it was very helpful with Isaac.

Childwise by Gary Ezzo:
I love this book and is is always inspiring to me to reread sections of it. Although I find it lacks in actual specific and tangible consequences in some areas and it presupposes that certain techniques eliminate all future problems, the founding of moral character utilizing the Socratic method makes it a very inspiring book. I think sometimes we busy moms get caught up in the Don't do that's, the Stop it's, and the Leave your brother alone's that we forget that teaching them why we don't do that or should stop it is what actually teaches them not to do it again and again and again. The author says it all comes down to the Golden Rule, but even more specifically I think it all comes down to two verses in the Bible:

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13 something)

Children obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

Sorry I don't know the exact references and am too lazy to look them up on Google right now. But you get the point, nearly every child's offense boils down to one or both of these verses. So my kids (obviously, not Drew) have these memorized and I try to have them tell me which of these verses (and which parts) they did not follow when they are in trouble. It takes a lot of time. It is not easy, but it is so worth it.

Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron:
I got this book with Genna because Hannah had such a hard time moving away from baby food and eating food with the family. It takes time to prepare these foods and I do not do 100% natural stuff like the author does. But there is a lot to be taken from this book. I did the cereals from scratch with Genna, but not with Isaac. I still haven't decided about how much I will make from scratch for Drew.

Signing Smart with Babies and Toddlers by Michelle Anthony:
Love, love, love this method of introducing sign language to your baby. I read several book son baby sign language before finding this one and it is so much more practical. This book tells you how to get your baby to look at you when you are signing and speaking. It tells you when the best times are to sign with your baby and even gives different ways to sign when your hands are somewhat full and when your child is looking at the book you are reading to him.

Your Baby's Health:
This book has calmed my fear time after time and kept me from wanting to run to the ER when I could wait until the next day to see a doctor. It has practical guides that tell you how soon you should see a doctor when your baby has a certain list of symptoms.

La Leche League's The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding:
This book doesn't need any explanation. If you breastfeed at all, it is a must read.

If you are considering homeschooling and thinking you can't do it, I recommend A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot. This book gave me the courage to try homeschooling and got me excited about it when it wasn't what I had always pictured us doing. The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to a Classical Education by Susan Wise Bauer is also a wonderful read.

Books I just ordered for my birthday and am looking forward to reading:

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp

Large Family Logistics by Kim Brennemen

After Miscarriage: A Catholic Woman's Companion to Healing and Hope by Karen Edmisten

Brothers

Isaac still is loving his baby brother. He doesn't run around introducing him to everyone now though. We have settled into a new normal.

Secret confession: Drew seems to prefer Hannah over the rest of the siblings. She has a magic touch with babies. He gets visibly excited when he sees her. At Mass last Sunday, Brian corrected Hannah for playing with Drew when really he was laughing at her for no other reason than that she looked at him.

Funny pictures of the two of them...

Believe it or not, he was going in for a kiss on the head.

Sir Isaac Newton's a little bit of a weirdo, huh?