Ear infection

Aowyns was happy and playing fine all day yesterday but for some reason skipped both of her naps then fell asleep at the dinner table. 

 I checked her ears and they looked so full! So we are trying a more extreme essential oils method and I think she is recovering. She still skipped her naps today but I hope she is feeling better!

Winter at last

Last year was so wet and humid and the bugs were so bad in the summer, I was praying for a very cold winter this year to kill everything off and get back to normal! Well it's here! A whole 10 degrees the other morning. We ventured out to the park on a warmer day (35 degrees) to soak up a little vitamin d. Can I complain? Not at all! Someone once said "if you pray for rain, bring your umbrella." So we skipped the layering and went straight for the snow suits (I wish I had one!) But don't worry, we left aowyn at home with dad in her warm bed. 

They installed a new play ground near by that we wanted to check out and boy was it cool! It was so big I was afraid to go down the slide! But I did climb a tree or two. The kids were not allowed to play on the new big kid gym, so they enjoyed the older smaller one. 

I even brought snacks! It was like a real field trip! Just like I remember when I was a kid...thanks mom!

Drakeford snapped a shot of me climbing high!

Too small for the new one but that doesn't stop Drakeford from trying every new ladder. Even when he gets stuck at the top. 

Encouraging big brother

At the table, daddy was reading the bible. He asked Marlow

Daddy: "Who is the Son of Man that we read about?"

Marlow: "Israel!"

-pause-

Drakeford: "close." 

Back at it...

When Marlow was 5 months old I heard about infant potty training or elimination communication (EC). I was a little late to start with her according to some accounts I read but we tried anyway. I wasn't quite sure what a potty trained infant looked like so I was never really sure of progress but by the time she was 13 months old, she was going potty at home. She was fully diaper free by 19 months when I finally got on board and stopped putting a diaper on her for errands. She never had an accident out so I guess it was just me :)

When Aowyn was born I felt a little more confident that I could start from the beginning and make good progress - and we did!! By five months I was not changing any poopy diapers and catching most pees! This was very good success for us! On top of that, her sensitive skin was never irritated! 

When baby pumpkin came along and we switched to bottles the roller coaster ride started. Some days she was constipated, others she would go every diaper change. It was sad really when a look of panic would come over her face and she would begin to cry. I picked her up to see what was wrong only to find out she had gone. She had to relearn how to control it. We then went down hill in health for about 5 weeks as a family. Then the holidays and some traveling and a two week long home repair. Now the new year! And so a bad rash has made it's appearance for a while but thankfully she is now big enough to fit into the fitted diapers and wool. One night in that combination and her rash was all but cleared up! I try to avoid the PUL covers if being used for longer than a couple hours. 

 When I started making Weston Price formula, her rhythm became more predictable but I still had some surprises. She is now 10 months old and we are almost back to square one. But I can still see her communicating and am excited to get back to it! We are healthy and her ear infection is nicely cleared up i think. More updates to come. 

Flashlight fun!

The other night, Kevin and I wanted to watch a movie but not get to bed too late so we thought we would put the kids "to bed" early. Only we told them they had to stay in their beds with the lights off but...they were going to have reading time by flashlight! They were giddy! They stayed in their room for an hour and a half having a blast reading books and whispering to each other. I was shocked. I thought they would wander out of bed to see what we were up to after about 30 minutes. When we came in, we let them finish their last page and then everyone was tucked in and fast asleep. And to top it off, Kevin and I had a movie date! Total cost was probably a couple batteries :)

Can you guess who's who?

I'll give you a hint, this one also goes by "nice wolf lightning McQueen."

Learning time

We had a productive day for learning. Not too much house work was done but below are some photos of what we did accomplish! Today for movement we pretended to be wolves, lunging, crouching, wrestling, and of course growling and howling. 

Mean wolf face

Crawling

Crouching. 

Rolling...wait a minute...Marlow they don't roll! Oh well...

Oh no! Someone's coming to eat meeee!!

Just kidding :)

He's almost a little too good at being a bad wolf. Creepy...but cute!

Then for music we pounded a 4 4 beat with our hands and "ruffed" on the first beat. Then I played some music on the piano and they danced around. 

We then sat down on the couch and did some little pim flash cards on my phone in French. Yesterday was Spanish.  

Aowyn fell asleep so we switched to having reading time while mom and A snooze on the couch (my stamina only lasts so long). 

After lunch and nap, Drakeford woke up a little earlier than usual so I decided to do some Math U See with him. I can tell it's a little above him conceptually but he enjoyed making big numbers out of the blocks and houses on "decimal street". 

Even though these activities lasted a total of 1 1/2 hours, the kids didn't have one fight the rest of the day. They had been really at each others necks for the past couple days. I think they just needed a little more attention from mom. I did 15 minutes of math with Drakeford and he was an angel for the rest of the night! So smiley and helpful! 

Now to catch up on laundry....

Teeth!

Aowyn has been struggling to fight of an ear infection for about a month. No matter the oils, garlic drops, colloidal silver, it was getting worse. So a phone call to nurse and a trip to urgent care on Sunday, we ended up with an antibiotic (which I was expecting). 

They said she may just struggle with ear infections and no matter what I do or don't do she will out grow it by 5 years old. We will keep doing what we can and I will use the dr. Mom otoscope to keep tabs on her. And take her to chiropractor to make sure she is aligned and draining well. 

Then of course I find, not one, but four teeth in her mouth today! You think that could have been the cause to all this...? No fever, no fussing, just ruthless ear infection...

Can't be sure but she sure is a cutie!!

Baby update

So we are 18 weeks along and everything looks good so far! Since the birth center in fort mill was closed I was procrastinating about picking another option. Then I heard they were back up and running! Praise The Lord! We had our first prenatal to find out due date and do blood work. I haven't heard back about blood work but due date is June 13, 2014! A June baby! 

This week I can feel Pumpkin kick a little (naturally under my right rib where all my babies seem to lodge themselves for the second half of pregnancy!) And other than exhaustion, no pregnancy symptoms until last night when the heart burn/acid reflux came about. It must have to do with the size of the baby because it always comes at the same point in pregnancy :)

Drakeford thinks it is a girl for the record. Marlow just wants to hold her and let them sleep in her bed.

I'm not sure, but am so excited to find out! Any guesses?