Pumpkin Patch revisited

We went to the Pumpkin Patch last year with Granny Kay and went again this year with her! It is becoming a little bit of a tradition... but hopefully next year we'll be doing it somewhere in Tennessee. Here are a few more pictures from the trip there since we got some cute ones of the boys and our little family (thanks to having a 5th person with us!).

Granny Kay came to visit!

We had a busy and fun week of going.... playing, shopping, for walks,to Library story time, to McDonalds play place, to the petting zoo, to the pumpkin patch, to ride the train at the mall, and much much more! Mason was spoiled rotten (that is what Grannys are for!) and Lincoln got lots of snuggle time. It was a great visit and so fun to have her here! We miss you Granny!

2 Months

Lincoln is 2 months old already! He had his doctors appointment and weighed in at 11 lbs 6 oz and 23.5 inches long... interestingly enough, he is almost the exact same size Mason was! He did great handling his shots - until later that night when his thighs got sore! Every time he moved his legs he wailed :( Luckily they already seem to be feeling much better. A few facts about him:

• he has the cutest, most heart-breaking "pouty" face you've ever seen (trying to get a picture still) - it typically only comes out when he is tired. That bottom lip stops you in your tracks.
  
• he LOVES Mason and smiles/talks to him all the time - they're really, really cute together!
• he has already survived a few accidental 'run-in's from his sweet, clumsy brother... and handled them well.
• he isnt a fan of the pacifier. At least I wont have to wean him from it later!
• he has done 5 hour stretches at night and did a 6 last night... his nights have been pretty inconsistent due to tummy woes, but I expect them to even out now that we seem to have that somewhat under control.
• doesnt love tummy time, but has rolled from tummy to back a few times... probably a fluke for now, but we'll take it :) He can get to his side pretty well though.
• He has already settled into our routine and our days are pretty smooth - love it! He eats typically every 3 hours and goes to bed between 7-8 and gets up between 7-8.
• is a happy lil' boy - I often find just smiling for no apparent reason! Cute.

Tales of September

We've been (among other things)...

Replacing our stolen items and getting forms notarized so can hopefully get this insurance claim in soon (today). I will be sooooo glad when that is done.

Good news: they caught the man who robbed us! They have an arrest warrant out for the

woman. The Salt Lake police picked him up for breaking the law up there and our officer drove up to question him (since he fit the description of the guy using our credit cards in the Walmart videos). When he got there the man fell to pieces and confessed. The court case *should* be pretty clear cut - we'll see what comes of his escapades.

Sad news: he chucked most of our belongings (minus a few cards and the electronics) into the dumpster in our parking lot.... and no one thought to look there before the trash was taken that day :( Ohhhh well. Live and learn. The location of the rest is yet to (ever) be determined.

(Hopefully our insurance claim doesnt go as this picture depicts...)

Various family outings such as... riding the new train at the mall! (to our surprise, he cried uncontrollably when he had to get off - what is it with little boys and trains?) It is actually pretty nifty - it takes you on a lap of the entire mall (see the wheels). Mason still talks about the "train... ride... mall".

My million dollar mouth: after Mason was born I had a tiny cavity... after Lincoln was born, I had a mouthful of work to be done! In all actuality, it is old work from my teen years that is coming back to haunt me. Needless to say, I will be so glad when it is all done (two crowns later). Big THANK YOU to my brother in law Chad for doing a fabulous root canal on me! :)

Also of note: heredity has struck, the fight is over, Matt is officially on a low-dose medication for his cholesterol. Feel free to tease him :)

A visit from Papa and Grandma -- Grandma had a quick trip to make so Papa stayed with us for a few days!

Cutting out EVEN more foods. Lincoln appears to be sensitive to... everything? I will now be living on rice and water. Not crackers, bc those might have butter on them. haha :) OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration. I am hopeful he will grow out of at least some of it by 3-4 months. Time will tell! At present I am avoiding all dairy, soy, chocolate, nuts, onions, and tomatoes. I am positive dairy is a problem and about 80% sure soy is (need to try some soy formula to find out for sure), and the others are maybes. For now it is just easier to avoid than suffer the consequences! On a positive note, he looks so healthy and I was able to take him off Prevacid down to just Zantac and am thinking I might even be able to take him off that soon. Hooray for good health! On another bright note, I think helping me lose weight. Win-win! :)

Attending our first pinewood derby! Mason ADORES the scouts and LOVES going to all the activities. It is a lot of fun for all!

I cant believe it is October already!!

Dairy Free

Dear Lincoln,

I must really love you.

Love,

Mom

Around Lincoln's 3rd week of life things started changing a bit - suddenly I couldn't lay him down for naps without him waking within minutes, he fussed in the stroller and never fell asleep, etc. I figured it was just personality blooming :) Cuddling a new baby is so, so sweet, but cuddling him 24/7 with a toddler around wasn't realistic - but I was prepared to ride it out. However, over the next two weeks things got progressively worse and it became quite apparent to me that a good case of reflux had set in for the little guy. Although not a spitter, you could see him tense up and gulp/sputter/choke as he refluxed. So sad! Of course the worst of it hit on a weekend (how do kids always know it is a weekend??), but I got him in to the doctor first thing the next week and we started him on medicine. How would you like having heart burn constantly? Anyway, after two days on medicine he seemed to be doing somewhat better... then the weekend came (of course!) and he crashed hard! It was a really loooong, somewhat stressful weekend of worrying about him - all weekend he looked not-so-healthy and all night he choked, sputtered, gasped for air as we ended up holding him all night long out of fear. Whew.

Of course, my 'googling' tendencies had kicked in and as I read about 'all things reflux' it seemed that many babies with reflux also have a dairy sensitivity - and as his health seemed to be getting worse I decided to cut out dairy.

Within two days we had a marked improvement.

Exit milk and ranch. Enter Rice Dream and hummus. (oh, and ALMOND milk! DELICIOUS!)

Enter LIFE change! Oh man, I am a dairy lover. Dairy for breakfast, lunch, dinner and in between!

So, here we are, a few weeks into this venture and I am dairy free and... handling it :) The fact that he is looking so good and feeling so good is what keeps me going. In a few weeks I will probably try a small amount of milk and see how he reacts to see just how severe his sensitivity... maybe I will be able to get away with a small bowl of cereal now and again... maybe.

Bring on the non-dairy recipes everyone! I am going to need them!

(P.S. there is a 50/50 chance he wont be able to handle soy either, so I am avoiding that too for the moment)

Robbed

*begin Cops theme music*

Thursday morning Matt went downstairs around 6:30AM to head out the door to work... he quickly felt the cold air as he reached the bottom of the stairs, creating the first thought "why is that door open?" followed by "where is my stuff!?" Wallet, watch, sunglasses, work laptop, the cat, and my entire purse: GONE. He rushed back upstairs and woke me with a "Jordyn, I need you! Someone came in the house, our stuff is gone, Sammy is gone - we need to find Sammy!" I love that his biggest concern was really the cat :) (we also checked, of course, to make sure both boys were still snug in their beds)

The next 24 hours+ have been filled with phone call upon phone call upon phone call. The police, credit card companies, our bank, our insurance, the detective assigned to our case, friends, family, neighbors, etc etc etc. It has been quite the whirlwind!

What we know so far: they managed to make two purchases on our cards - $1100 at one Walmart and $700 at a different Walmart (yay for lots of security cameras!). We know the $1100 was two laptops and will soon know what the other entailed. It was a man and a woman, late teens/early twenties. Amazingly, our detective is QUITE determined to find them! It seems the police are most alarmed by the fact that we were in the house asleep, particularly our children, when they entered. Whether we catch them or not, I have been really impressed by the Police Department! After living in Orlando, where it seemed like a murder had to take place to get any real attention from the police, I was not expecting much if any follow through on our small case. Surprise! I kind of feel like I am in an episode of a TV drama :)

Kudos also to American Express for being fantastic to work with- overnighted cards, a no hassle fraud case - they have been great.

Thankfully, after searching for an hour we found mr. kitty cat wedged between the tennis court, a tree, and a fence. All family members accounted for, we are SO GRATEFUL this went the way it did. It could have been much, much worse. Stuff is just that - stuff! It can be replaced. Although I will say rebuilding a wallet is a royal pain :) Blasted crooks.

Everyone check your doors!

...not even 'Happy Valley' is safe! ;)

Buried

Early August I quickly learned that taking two kids on a large grocery trip probably is better avoided. Can you find Lincoln? (I needed to step back further, the bottom of the cart is also overloaded). The kids were perfect... the shopping space, not so much! I also didn't think about where all of it would go after being bagged... I ended up with two carts on the way out and must have looked quite precarious as a young girl asked "uhm, can I help you with your carts?" Lesson learned!