I was doing so well

I started the month doing so well posting all the time, and then things got busy and it's been over a week now. At least I've kept up on my thankful list, right?

My baby boy turned 5 months old on Wednesday, where does time go?

Here's his 5 month snapshot...



He seems to be right on the edge of doing a whole bunch of new things now.
He CAN roll both ways, he just doesn't always want to. He's rolled from tummy to back quite a bit, but he still prefers to just lay there and scream with his face in the blanket when he's done being on his belly. Silly boy. He's rolled from back to belly once now, and he was trying again today. I think he uses that one more when he sees something he wants that he can't reach. He doesn't really like being on his belly, so he doesn't do it as much.
He's also starting to grab toys, although he's not very good at it yet.

Here are some recent random pictures of him from the last couple weeks. :)

His favorite thing to do now... stand on our laps.



Hanging out in his bumbo seat with some new toys



Playing in his exersaucer



I think we may have a thumb sucker on our hands. He still takes his paci to sleep with, but he's really starting to get his thumb more and more now.





I'm still doing the no dairy thing, with no change yet. It'll be 2 weeks next Tuesday, so I'm still hopeful that we'll see a change around that time. Amazingly enough I'm not missing cheese as much as I thought I would. I just feel stupid for starting this during February when there's Valentines Day and a whole bunch of birthdays (including mine!). I keep promising myself that if this doesn't work I'll make myself a cheesecake in March. lol I think it will be easier to do if I know it's working. Right now I'm doing it and not seeing results, so that's hard, I just can't wait until the 2-4 weeks is up and I know one way or the other.

Anyway... here are a couple other pictures that are not of N, lol

R loves to draw on his magnadoodle, his favorite thing to draw? Playgrounds (this is a slide, swing, and ladder I think)



M trying on some new clothes for the summer



I thought this was funny. I took it as we were making dinner the other night. All 3 kids doing completely different things, but in the same picture. M was listening to music on her headphones and totally ignoring us (a glimpse into the teenage years?), R was hard at work on some art, and N was swinging away.



And finally, a picture of my redone photo wall. All black and white, and all matted now. I love it!! (and those are the baskets I got for the kids art, they won't really be going there, I just had them out to see if they would look okay next to each other).

Valentines

Here are the kids valentines that we made this year. I was lazy and used pictures we already had (and R's is over a year and a half old). I think they're cute though. :)
They actually helped make them this year. They sat with me at the computer and told me what they wanted on there (M more than R, he pretty much just said Buzz Lightyear and that was that).




(everything is Britt's, from random kits)

Looking for dairy-free dinner ideas!!

Anyone have any good recipes that are dairy-free?
I'm finding it hard to come up with things that sound good to me and are dairy-free (and that I can feed my family, as I don't want to be making two separate dinners every night). I thought I'd start a list on here as I think of them, but if anyone has anything you love please send it to me!!

BLTs -sans the cheese :(
Chili -again, no cheese
Burgers -again... (can you see where this is going?)
Most of my crock pot recipes (yey!)
Chicken and veggies...


So far I haven't seen any improvement, but I've read that it takes 2 weeks for the milk protein to get out of my system, and could be another 2 before it's completely out of his, so I'm really not expecting it yet (although it would be nice!!). I'm trying to hang in there. I'm having to change a lot of my habits, which is hard. I think it will be easier after I go grocery shopping next week, I wasn't planning to do this when I did my shopping for the week, so I'm having to work with what I have on hand (currently snacking on animal crackers and marshmallows, lol). We're just hoping (and praying!!) this will work!

Playing with my scrapbook stuff

I never have time to scrap anymore, but I have been playing with all the fun stuff I got when I was on Britt's CT.

Today I made these fun little tags...



I ordered these baskets from Land of Nod for the kids' artwork that's always all over the place. I actually only ordered two (because really, N won't be needing one for a while), but when I got them they were two different highs, off by about a 1/2". When I called they said they'd send me another one and to just keep the one that didn't match and use it somewhere else (awesome CS!!). Well, the one that they just sent me is pretty much right between the two I bought, so when it's in the middle they all look fine together, so now I have one for each kid!
Anyway, I got to messing around and grabbed the picture of the basket from online to see how they would look. I'm planning to have them laminated and use clothespins to clip them to the baskets. I think I'll try to find white ones though instead of colored (those were from one of Britt's kits).



So, that's my fun little project I did today. :)

Oh, I decided to cut out dairy for a month and see if that helps N stop spitting-up. I read that it takes about 2-4 weeks to tell if it's going to work, so wish me luck!! I'm not sure doing this during February was the smartest idea, but oh well...

Taking N back to the doctor (again)

The meds do seem to help, when he can keep them down, but most of the time he just ends up spitting them up over the next hour after we give them to him. Poor baby is spitting up SO MUCH. If he wasn't having plenty of wet diapers I'd be really worried he wasn't getting enough. But, now he's started crying in pain sometimes, which I can only guess has to do with his tummy, so I called and made him another appointment for Friday.
He's been getting up in the middle of the night pretty regularly again for a while, and I think it's because he's not getting enough calories during the day. He takes his best feed (with the least spit-up) in the middle of the night now, which just makes me sad for him (and way too tired to deal with everything during the day).
I'm considering cutting out dairy to see if that helps. I think I can switch my milk to almond milk (have heard from a few friends that it's pretty tasty), but I'm not sure what to do about the fact that we each cheese in almost every dinner. Tonight I'm actually making something without cheese, but the rest of the week my dinners all have cheese or other dairy products in them (including Matthew's birthday cake). I'm really not sure what to do, but I feel like I should at least try it for N's sake.

Anyway, there's the update for now.

Here's a totally random picture that has nothing to do with this post, but I forgot to post it before and I think it's cute. M started ballet a few weeks ago and she's loving it!!

January Thankful List

1.4- that I got a lot done while the kids were at school this morning.
1.5- that it was not raining or freezing today and the kids were able to play outside until dark.
1.6- for CHOCOLATE. It's been one of those days, but at least I have chocolate. :)
1.7- for SKUS
1.8- that I don't have to make dinner tonight.
1.9- for SLEEP!
1.10- that we're all safe after the earthquake yesterday!
1.11- for new TV tonight.
1.12- that N *might* be starting to nap better in the PNP...
1.13- that I got to visit with my SIL for a couple hours today.
1.14- for pizza!
1.15- that I don't have a lot to do today.
1.16- for my bed, that I get to go crawl into very soon.
1.17- that Matthew got to be home with us all day long!
1.18- for children's and infants' Tylenol (and chocolate rice krispies for Mommy!)
1.19- for fun things in the mail.
1.20- that I'm able to breastfeed easily.
1.21- for a fun mini photo shoot with my baby.
1.22- for a break in the rain.
1.23- for having my husband home today.
1.24- for another relaxing day.
1.25- for Matthew's job that provides for our family.
1.26- that the sun is shining and the confused trees in town are blooming.
1.27- for itty bitty baby giggles.
1.28- that Matthew made it home before the kids were in bed.
1.29- for sweet little baby grins looking up at me while I'm nursing.
1.30- for doing a project with my big girl.
1.31- that I got my grocery list done tonight so I don't have to think about it tomorrow.

Update on the meds

Well, N doesn't love the taste, but after having the pharmacist add some cherry flavor to them I'm able to get him to take most of the does. They do seem to be working, which is great! He didn't spit-up nearly as much yesterday and he seemed a little less fussy. Hopefully that keeps up!!

Here are a couple new pictures of him... (or just one, I can't get the other one to upload at the moment)

He likes to stick his tongue out all the time now