Ramblings

Oh so much on my mind. I don't even know where to start, but maybe just getting it written out will help.

I had to laugh yesterday. Little Monkey has a diaper rash (more about that later) and last night as I was getting him ready for bed Snug says "Aren't you going to put sour cream on him's bottom? It's still red!" I don't use sour cream, but I guess rash cream does look like it :o)

Speaking of "hims", my brother jokingly said something the wrong way to Snug this weekend, and Snug promptly corrected his grammar. My brother said "Oh, right, this coming from the boy with perfect pronouns!" Snug's pronouns are indeed in need of some work.

The diaper rash came after I let Little Monkey have some ice cream the other night. We have recently discovered that he is lactose intolerant, but we're not sure to what degree. Cheese seems to be fine, but milk and ice cream are out. When he has milk (or ice cream) he gets very foul diapers that you don't want me to describe and a blistery raw diaper rash.

We'd been having a problem with it since probably the end of September, but based on the number of children we've had in our home, know that diapers are prone to be weird/extra stinky/change periodically. I hadn't linked it to milk because when he was hospitalized last year they ran all kinds of food allergy tests and none of them came back positive. Milk was a go at that point. However, being allergic, and being intolerant are two different things.

I am allergic to horseradish. I break out in the face, have some trouble breathing, and get really hot. I am lactose intolerant. I have bowel trouble and stomach pain. Evidently Little Monkey Man has inherited the latter trait from me.

We found out what the problem was after our family doctor had us stop milk for a few days with both boys before Christmas when they had bronchitis. He just wanted us to lay off of it until the coughs loosened up. During that time, Little Monkey's diapers magically were "normal". As soon as I put him back on whole milk, they were back to gag-city. Organic Soy milk is available at ALDI, and we are making use of it for the time being, and testing out other dairy products to see which ones bother him. Since we've made the switch, I almost don't even need the diaper sprayer that I got for Christmas. It doesn't really work well anyway!

I am having trouble sleeping at night, but I think that it is due to both pregnancy and lots on my mind. One good thing about it is that I eventually get up and have time alone in The Word. Sometimes it is 2am, but I don't think God minds! Not sure my family loves how tired I am. We had a nice weekend with my parents and brother/sister-in-law. It was nice to visit with them and to have help with the boys and packing.

We are 16 days away from our house officially being "sold". So we are somewhere around 18 days from moving. I am about 1/10 of the way packed. There is so much of it I can't even physically do. The rest I just can't even seem to wrap my mind around. Moving wasn't part of my growing up, I think I need to seek out some military wife's advice!

The schools had a 2 hour delay here today because the heat in several of the schools didn't work. That means Draycare was delayed also, giving me time to rest a bit (although I did have one non-teacher's son here anyway) before we get back into the swing of things. The kids are all playing quietly so I am taking the time to blog. Naptime will be packing time from here on out I'm afraid.

Where are we moving? Um, that is a fantastic question. Right now there is a chance we might get to rent a 3 bedroom house for a couple of months until something we like/fits our needs opens up. #1 is very much hoping that option stays available. We went and visited the 2 bedroom apartment that we were going to end up, and he was NOT happy. He's used to his space away from the daycare and there just isn't anywhere to go in an apartment.

I have several cute pink and purple things that people have given me in the past couple of weeks. I have a tote packed with newborn essentials that will not go into storage when we move. Just in case we are still renting somewhere when Hannah comes along. I don't want #1 to have to leave the hospital and dig through storage to find things. I don't want anyone to have to dig through storage for anything! I'm trying to plan/mark/organize so that doesn't happen.

We are in the process of switching from paper napkins to cloth ones. I've wanted to do it for forever, but getting several sets for Christmas is making it happen! I hate throwing away all those napkins, and then spending money on more. We use them for 2-3 meals (keeping track of which one belongs to each) and then wash them. They really don't add that much to our laundry load.

Well, those are some happenings here. I'll post pictures in the next post, promise! My kids are much more fun to look at than just reading my ramblings!