Not Me! Monday

Not Me! Monday...does it really even need an introduction? I didn't think so. Hop, click, and jump on over to MckMama's blog to see what no one else dared to do this week.
I did not feed Baby J in the pool so that it wasn't such a mess to clean up later. Nope, not me!
I did not play a half hour of backyard baseball with Snug this week so that I could get him nice and tired and then take pictures for I ♥ Faces. No, Not Me! I did not have so much fun that I almost forgot to take the pictures, not me.

I did not take my children to a SWAT training where they watched men jump off a building and missed their naps. I most certainly did not take them the next day to a graduation open house where they missed their naps for the second day in a row, not me.

I am not staying up writing this post Sunday night way too late so I can watch the end of the Red Wings hockey game.

I did not forget about a load of diapers I had hanging on the clothesline and leave them there for two days. Not Me!

I have not eaten six hot dogs in the past week. Never ever would I consume that many nitrates in a small time span.

I have not gotten a little panicky that I have nothing for my husband's birthday on Friday. I am not considering giving him what he wants...but won't post what it is yet.

I did not totally blank when giving my testimony at Financial Peace University on Wednesday night and forget our pastor's daughter/Snug's Sunday school teacher's fiance's name in front of everyone. Not me! I am great with names.

I am not asking you to help me with my I ♥ Faces post by looking at the following pictures and telling me which one you think would be best for their Sepia Tone contest next week. Not Me!

Please help me! Which one would you use?
#1...not my favorite, but it is sepia and his face...

#2 I love this one, but it is only a partial face...

#3 I like this one, but his eyes are closed...

#4 Probably not this one...he looks like he might be crying, but he isn't....

#5 Not the best picture of Snug...but it is kinda artsy, and they like artsy...

#6 I love this one, but it would need some edits...and my editing software isn't ready yet...

#7 I don't think this picture is eligible because you really can't see his face...but I still wanted to share it with you.

#2 is my favorite...how about you?

SWAT

I don't write a lot about #1's job. I don't know of many women who do write about their husband's occupations on their blogs. I guess most of their husbands don't have jobs that many people would want to hear a whole lot about...but believe me, you'd like to read daily about what my husband does...especially to hear him tell it (he never embellishes anything).

Frankly, even though there are some things I'd love to blog about, I wouldn't be allowed. Because he is a police officer, he could get fired if I shared some things with you. Besides, there are also some things that shouldn't be on a blog that I try to keep rated "G".

But today he had a training in the middle of the city in front of everyone, so I feel very comfortable sharing what he was doing and some photographic evidence, excuse the pun. Enjoy!
I was pretty bummed when I found out that one of his only Saturdays off of the (almost) summer, he was to have SWAT training. He only gets every other weekend off, and with softball tournaments and my upcoming trip to Michigan to work at camp...well, our Saturdays at home together are limited. However, instead of letting it get me down, I decided to drag the kids along and go to training with him.

Ok, #1 is very afraid of heights...but he was brave and went repelling off of this building.

Step One: get your balance

Step Two: creep down the building

Step Three: Shoot into an open window (I tweeted that they were going to go into it...I was wrong)

Step Four: Land on your feet and smile for the camera!

I took pictures of all the guys on #1's department, but not all of the guys who "jumped"

Some people had a hard time with Step One :o)
Notice in this picture, where the guy is hanging on for dear life as his buddies pull him up that there is a guy grinning as he takes pictures from above. I was not grinning...

...but I did continue photographing (this is a different fall). Some people also didn't do Step Four very well either and landed on their bums...but I didn't get to do it so I can't criticize.

Just in case you were thinking "that doesn't look so bad", here is the building they are coming off of. 7 stories tall :o) They also got to repel down an elevator shaft and clear a room/extract a hostage.

My children had no fun, no fun at all.

I wasn't sure how long we'd be there or what kind of an area I'd have to change diapers in, so I stuck Baby J in a sposie...he enjoyed a lunch of garbanzo beans and carrots in his birthday suit after he got the lid off of his bottle and drenched himself.

How many boys do you know that sat on the back of a SWAT vehicle and watched their daddy and his friends jump off of a building?

Well, I can name seven...but that's because they were also there today. And his little boy thought it was one of the coolest things ever!

Oh, funny story. The janitor for this building was watching with us for awhile and said to Snug "You didn't know your daddy was Spiderman, did you?" Snug looked him straight in the eye and replied "No! My daddy not Spiderman, my daddy is ____________" and used #1's first name. Cracked me up. Someone else asked him if he'd want to try going off the building and he said "yes, with my mommy". Awe!

Alphabitty Moments

It's Thursday! Time to record those fun things you don't want to forget about your kids! Click right here to see what other people have done for the letter N this week at 4 The Love of Family! If you want to see what I did for letters A-M, click here.

Please remember that when I actually (and I am really leaning towards doing this) make my Alphabitty Moments book, all these pictures will be in a collage (if you clicked above you can see my earlier posts and what they used to look like). My program that does that is not loaded on my computer...still...cause I'm lazy. Also, almost 100% of these pictures were taken with my cell phone...just seeing what the result is. But. Enjoy anyway!

N is for...Nature!
Ever since he was a baby Snug has LOVED being outside. He was quite the crier when he was an infant, but if we stepped outside the door he'd quiet right down. This picture was taken at 14 months old.

We have a nice park nearby, and he loves to go watch the ducks.

He also loves our dogs...and our neighbors dog...and every dog he comes in contact with, except one we won't mention here. In this picture he is probably about 20 months old.

His new favorite nature creature is the toad. L O V E S them. They are not reciprocating his love...but he doesn't know that.

N is for...Naps!


Now, Baby J does not like to take naps...but we sure like it when he does :o)
I think seems how he slept between 20 and 22 hours a day the first 5 weeks of his life, he just took them all at once.
But everyday, like it or not, we get him to sleep.

And he is so cute when he naps. So for Baby J, N is for naps.

11 Months

Couldn't make this a Wordless Wednesday...too much to say. I should have kept my update from yesterday until today...didn't even think of it actually. On his 11 month birthday, Baby J got his first taste of waffle. I gave him 1/2 and I think he would have gone for a whole but he had his super porridge to eat first. Besides, it was just a treat.

I am still making his food for the most part, but he is getting some finger foods too. Most of the food he is eating is high fat (the good kinds, not saturated) and calories. He is taking a 40/60 mix of breastmilk (thanks to my cousin Melissa) and PediaSure. It used to be a 25/75 mix but he is growing and I keep a close eye on his weight.

I have written about super porridge in awhile...probably because he wasn't allowed to eat it and then he wouldn't eat it. I had a hard time getting him to eat anything but Cheerios for awhile and fruits/veggies were not going in. I had no idea baby lips could be so tight! Anyway, after much coaxing (and waiting until he was starved) he is now on a steady diet of healthy foods. The GI doctor didn't want him having hardly any fruits or veggies...mostly cereal and pastas or potatoes. Couldn't do it. Although I'd love someone to put me on that diet, I can't see that it would be good for him in the long run.

Now, I am well aware he needs to have foods that will keep him growing because as he eats more food he will drink less Pedia Sure (30 cal/oz). At this point I think his metabolism is slowing down a bit, but he still needs tons of calories. He gets two main things in addition to Cheerios and his breastmilk/PediaSure feed.

1. Super porridge
2. Tofu/Veggie/Cereal

His super porridge is advacado, rice cereal, tahini (18 g. fat/2 Tbs), vitamins, moringa, flax seed powder, and PediaSure. If you want my exact measurements, let me know. It is actually a super healthy breakfast for any baby. You can also make it with oatmeal and most certainly with another formula or breastmilk. At first it was hard to get him to eat...and I can't say the pea soup color is appealing to me...but now when he sees it coming his feet are a kicking!

The second thing, that he has for most lunches/dinners, is as it sounds...tofu mixed with a veggie and some rice cereal. He's only getting like 1 TBS of tofu total in a day, don't worry. I also throw a little of whatever baby appropriate food our family is eating onto his tray after his food and bottle are gone. Usually it just serves to entertain him, not nourish him.

I get questions about making my baby food all the time. Pretty soon I won't even be needing to make it...so if you have questions ask now before I completely forget what I did. Oh, and get the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Great source!

Update on Baby J...

I haven't posted anything about how Baby J is doing in awhile because it has been the same 'ol same 'ol for awhile...which is a good thing. Cause "same 'ol" right now means he is growing and developing nicely!

I think you'll agree from the picture above taken on Friday or was it Saturday or maybe Sunday or actually I don't know...the kids are living in the baby pool right now. Maybe I should start over.

I think you'll agree from the picture taken sometime over the weekend, that Baby J looks great! I keep waiting for his 4 top teeth to show up in a picture...they are there and have been for awhile, but those two little cuties on the bottom keep stealing the show.

We went to the doctor today, just our regular normal family doctor (we don't use a pediatrician anymore) to have his ears checked out. When we went to the audiologist last week and they wanted him to take a look and see if he had an ear infection because his tympanogram was completely flat. If you want to know what on earth I am talking about, click above as I am not a medical expert and don't completely understand it myself. (Diagram B looked the closest to what his readout was...his was a bit flatter as it didn't have any jump in it). Anywho, he does indeed have fluid in his inner ear and is now on an antibiotic to see if they can clear it up...haul out the homemade yogurt! I didn't blog about his trip to the audiologist because until we saw the doctor we didn't know what the results really were.

The audiologist said something...disturbing. There were many things they did that Baby J heard...they were 99% sure he was hearing them....but he was ignoring them. He would respond once and then ignore it from there on out. He didn't like to have eye contact with the tester who was in front of him. They kinda laughed and said "there's nothing we can do about that". Basically they summed it up as this: Baby J does what Baby J wants to do...good luck.
They were not being mean, and he was pretty giggly and in a great mood with them, but they were certain that he was tuning out anything that wasn't high on his priority list. I think he's gonna be a fun toddler, don't you? :o)

While we were there (audio) they did many tests on him. He does have some hearing loss (congenital hearing loss they said) but it might not be as bad as they thought if he had fluid on his ears (in his ears?) like the tympanogram indicated. Well, I never thought I'd be glad my kid had an ear infection, but I'll take that over hearing loss. Our doctor wants him retested in a few weeks to see if the results come back better. He weighed in today at 18 lbs, 4 oz & 29 inches long. The nurse said something about being in the 5th percentile...not sure if that was height or weight...but LOOK at him. I think he is chunk enough thanks. On top of that, he is mobile, happy, gaining weight, and healthy (except an ear infection that he showed no real signs of...oops). We'll let him be in whatever percentile...he's doing so so good and we are so so thankful.


Maybe I'm wrong on the ear infection...those of you with kids with ear problems, help me out. The audiologist said "ear infection" and "fluid in/on ears"...today the doctor just talked about the fluid...is it all the same, or are they two different things? Anyway, Dr. B thinks we may be seeing an ear nose and throat Dr. with Baby J eventually. Of course we will.

I had said here that Baby J was creeping...but really he was up on hands and toes/knees and reaching for things. Now he is in and out of rooms and the baby gates are up. He loves to crawl without any clothes on and he is super fast. I don't love him to do that...but sometimes it happens. And we never laugh about it.