Shop til You Drop

TODAY we did what sisters do....we got up and went shopping! I don't go to the mall or outlets when I am in IL (first off, there's sales tax which is 8.5 reasons why I shouldn't), so I try to go in PA. Plus, I have all the help!

It worked out perfectly because there were five adults (Mimi, me, Kelly, Katelyn and Kimmi) and five children (Calla, Kels, Jay, Haley and Clark). So as long as you had one kid, you had your share covered. Hahaha. We strategized and took two infant strollers, the double stroller, and two baby bjorns....and all the kids and babies literally switched off constantly. Kelsey even took a turn in an infant stroller haha. Oh and we had a backpack, which Haley and Kelsey took turns in. haha. I should have taken a picture of our big caravan walking around the outlets. It looked hilarious.

We started off in the kid stores and then onto adult stores. Jay slept most of the day in the bjorn. And considering the girls don't go out shopping much, they did really well! We were there from about 11am to after 3pm. Kelsey did fantastic with the late nap, but hey women feel no sense of time when they are shopping haha. (Actually, Kelsey was the only one who didn't get anything! - she seriously needs nothing because she fits in all of Calla's 2T and 3T clothes so she has gobs of fall/winter clothing.)

We shared Auntie Anne's pretzels for lunch (fun fact: we are related to Auntie Anne on my dad's side) and Katelyn and I randomly got Chinese. Calla and Kelsey are fans of Chinese foods so Daddy is going to have to take them out on a date sometime for Chinese (he is also a big fan).

Mimi got some things for me for my birthday. Sometimes it's nice to feel flashbacks from when I was in high school and pick out an outlet for my birthday. (-: Thanks Mims! My wardrobe is in desperate need of an update for sure.

We drove home...Kelsey and all of the babies napped on the way home. It was a peaceful ride home! (We have four carseats in Mimi's van - it's good Mimi and Pops hung onto that van! - and Kelly drove with Clarkle in his carseat.) Then we all visited until dinnertime. Since we all live far away (well, Kel and Kim don't), there's always so much to catch up on when we are together! It's so fun to have Katelyn and Haley here visiting at the same time as us. Katelyn and Haley stay in Kim and Rin's old room and the girls and Jay and I are in Rin's new room (my old room). I sleep in Rin's queen bed, Calla sleeps in my twin bed from when I was young, Kelsey sleeps in a toddler bed Mimi got for her, and Jay sleeps in a crib (it is a very large room).

After naps, the girl cousins had a casual photo shoot...

HAHAHA - Katelyn and I think Kelsey and Haley's expressions are so funny. They look clueless. (-:

Aunt Katelyn circling Jay's legs to help him with his gas. (-: He is so gassy. He is doing so much better now that I supplement with bottles. It seems this dude is super hungry. Since I pump I know that I make plenty of milk - I just don't think he's patient enough when he's nursing. It really is the oddest thing. I did not have this issue with the girls, that's for sure.

Little Jay says "hi" to Daddy!

Cuddle time!

Haley and Pops!

Aunt Kim and Kels. Kels has a soft spot for Aunt Kim. She is always asking "Where's Aunt Kim?" when Kim is at her house (I think she assumes Kim lives with Mimi still!)

We ate dinner and then Pops played Little People with the girls for awhile in the basement. He read them their devotions and then I put them to bed so the rest of us could play Rummikub. Jay slept so well last night - I think he was tired from all the shopping! haha.

Jayism~

~ Jay must have had a huge growth spurt today - he ate SO much (both nursing and in bottles!). One time he nursed both sides, then drank 3 ounces of breastmilk, then was still hungry so I gave him 2 ounces of formula. He's a stinker.

Traveling to PA

My travelers!.......


TODAY was our travel day! We got up at 5:15 and were on the road to the airport at 5:45. Jonathan checked my luggage in curbside, and then bid me and the three children GOOD LUCK! (-: Jay was snoozing in the bjorn so I was feeling pretty confident.

I went through security and they must have spotted me a mile away and figured out their plan of attack, because when I got there they pulled open a separate security line for me. Haha. I guess we really did look like a sideshow - the girls in the stroller and Jay in the bjorn.

A friendly security guy helped me through the line; it's definitely the most help I've ever received and I thanked him...they also changed a couple rules that made flying so much easier. First, kids no longer have to take their shoes off. Yay! This saves us three minutes easily (-: And, secondly, I didn't have to take off my bjorn (where Jay was snoozing) as long as I was okay with getting a hand swab test. (Which is hilarious - they swab my hands, take the swab behind the curtain to a machine, fiddle around, and then announce that "You are good to go.")

We met a pair of grandparents when we are in security with them, and kept seeing them! They ended up at our gate and sat and chatted with us for awhile. (Calla always has a lot to say to strangers.) Then they were kind to watch my stroller so I didn't have to haul it twice to the bathroom. Calla ended up having to go boo just as they were starting to board, and taking forever, so we ended up rushing back to the gate where the friendly grandparents had rolled our stroller to the front of the line. "Grandma" even had my tickets in hand, ready for me.

The flight went great! We were delayed for about 45 minutes, but the kids were doing so well that it was no issue. Jay slept most of it, and Calla and Kelsey were happy as clams. They played with two glitter-body art pens for a long time....technically, a big mess, but it kept them busy so I didn't care. They also played with stickers and read their books. We ate lots of snacks, and they got their apple juice from the stewardess, and just as the plane was landing Calla gasped and said, "Oh no! We forgot to color!" haha.

Calla needs to work a little better on her bathroom timing. She had to go boo again shortly before we began the descent into Philadelphia, and there was a line three-people deep in the aisle waiting for her to finish. (Plus then I had to take Kelsey, then change Jay's diaper, then go myself...it was literally a 15-20 minute excursion for us!)

We were walking back to our seats when they put the fasten-seatbelt sign on, so I feel bad for all the people in the aisle waiting...hopefully they got a chance to quick go! haha.

Mimi and Pops were there to greet us when we got off the plane. It was so exciting to see them again! We drove home and got to see Aunt Katelyn, Haley, Aunt Kelly and Clark!

The first-time all five cousins have been together! (Actually, the first time my girls, Haley and Clark have even been together.)

below: Clark and Haley. Lol

Haley is 7 months old and CLark is 4 months old. They are the same size (haley is so small!)

We threw Jay in there for some pics of the babies. They are all exactly 3 months apart (Feb. 17, May 12th and August 12th)

Kelsey was sleeping but Calla got in on the fun.....

Sorry the pics are crooked!

There we go:

Haha Jay looks so small here!

Jay got tired.....(-:

This afternoon we just visited! Aunt Kim came too. It was so exciting for me to introduce Jay to their two aunts.

Mimi and Haley:

Aunt Katelyn laughing with Jay. haha

Uncle Caleb got home from work and the girls were so excited to see him. we only got to see him one day all summer, since the week we came out and visited in June coincided with his departure to China. He got back from China on September 10th.

Uncle Caleb meets baby Jay

Wednesday evening, Grandma and Grandpa invited us over for dinner.

Aunt Kelly and Jay

Aunt Kimmi & Jay

Grandma and Jay

Calla and Kelsey eating their dessert. Grandma always keeps Edy's fruit popsicles in her freezer for the girls and Calla never forgets it. haha

Wednesday evening we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's chatting for a while. Kelly and Clark even got to come because Josh was working late.

Jay did really well all day....I've been supplementing with formula bottles when he seems extra hungry and he seems much happier.

G'night!

Monkeying Around (& Packing)

TODAY we had a busy day because we needed to get packed for Pennsylvania. In fact, we are leaving in 6 hours so I will be brief! This morning Jay was in a good mood...honestly I think the nurse's advice to try formula after each feeding is helping. I always start nursing and sometimes it goes ok but if it starts going poorly (75% of the time about) and Jay starts crying then I just offer him the bottle. He usually only drinks about an ounce at that point since he'd already nursed.

The girls and I decided to join some friends at monkey business...it's an indoor playland and some friends were going and I thought it'd be a good social outlet for all of us (especially since I didn't want the girls to make a big wreck of the house yhe day before we were leaving). Jay had just woken from a nap so I was feeling ambitious and decided to stop in to target to return a pair of pants I had gotten Calla that were the wrong size. Well I thought i'd keep Jay in the infant seat to see if he'd fall asleep on our walk in (I tend to be an optimist) and lo and behold that couldn't have been further from the truth...he started wailing as I stood in the returns line at Target (always a long line at their returns...do with that what you will) and I got to the front of the line only to discover they needed my credit card which I had left in the car (I thought they'd just give me store credit but whatever!). So the three of us filed back out to the car...Calla and Kelsey walking in slow motion in their rainboots..and I took jay out of the blasted seat and calmed him down and we went right back in. Fortunately there were only two people in line.

I thought for sure Jay would cry on the drive to Monkey Business but God was good and he did not. (Calla always prays when we get in the car that Jay wil not cry and it's been a theological lesson for her - God often answers prayer "no!" ha). I had packed a lunch for us so we ate at Monkey Business and then the girls played while Jay slept in the baby bjorn. We stayed a couple hours before coming home so Kelsey could nap.

Jay was feeling kind today and took a two and a half hour nap while I packed for the trip. Calla was so eager to help! She helped me pack the suitcases and then when Kelsey woke up the girls packed their little backpacks for activities to do on the plane (I saw lots of lip gloss, baby accessories, crayons, stickers, and markers).

We had some leftover chili for dinner and so that made supper easy. Jonathan gave the girls a long bath so the three of them could spend some quality time while I put Jay down. Then Jay never went down so we switched...Daddy gave Jay a bottle and eventually he fell asleep.

Then I did what I do every night before I fly out...I frantically get my act together! I feel like no matter how well I plan in advance, there is always a late-night blitz to get everything in a pile in the front for Jonathan to load in the car.

At 11:30 or so, I was drying my hair and Kelsey showed up in the bathroom to "watch." I am not sure what she was doing up, but she sat there on the toilet watching me as if it was perfectly normal to be up at that hour at the age of 2. Before I got a chance to put her to bed, Jay was awake and hungry so I sat in the chair in his room and fed him while Kelsey lay at my feet on the floor (literally). She fell asleep right away. (-: What a stinker!

Kelseyism~

~ Today every time we asked Kelsey, "Where are we going tomorrow??" she would laugh and shout, "RICE POOL!" haha. She thought this was hilarious.

A Case of the Mondays

TODAY Jay woke up with a bang! Lots of tears. But the day did get better. We did our usual Monday thing...we got our grocery list together and headed to Target for a few things. Since I'm leaving on Wednesday for Pennsylvania, we didn't need much but I wanted to stock up on some items so I wouldn't have to go to the store next week when we get back.

I was nervous about the errand coming off of Jay's big sad weekend, but I figured he might as well be crying while we got some things done if he was going to be crying in the comfort of his own home!


below: Jay checking out his arm...

below: Jay chilling in the baby bjorn


Jay did pretty well at Target...we were completely sidetracked when I received a call from the doctor's office. This morning I had put a call into the nurse to see if I could ask her some questions regarding Jay's issues, just to be sure he is just fussy and not in pain because of acid reflux, a milk intolerance, or some other common baby woe!

The nurse was SO kind...she spent thirty minutes on the phone with me, asking me dozens of questions and providing her insight...she even put me on hold to present the matter to the doctor to see if he had any thoughts....and I did all this while aimlessly strolling the cart all through Target. I had brought lunch for the girls, so fortunately Calla and Kelsey were busy eating theirs in the cart while I talked on and on about Jay, pacing through the "home goods" aisles. haha.

The conversation set our trip back a bit, and so by the time we got to the checkout Jay was working up to cry. I had brought a bottle, so I balanced it using my chin so that I could feed him while I through the items from the cart onto the belt...it actually worked for a while! For as picky as he is about nursing, he doesn't seem to have a bottle banging around in his mouth. haha

By the time we got to the parking lot he was really crying, so I literally threw all our purchases into the car and we drove home where I put everybody to bed. Ahhh.

After Jay and Kelsey woke up from their naps, we got back into the car so I could drive Calla over to Norah's house. Jenny had asked if she could take Calla for a couple hours and Calla was thrilled! Unfortunately, Kelsey was too until she realized she wasn't Norah's guest too. oops. But I promised Kelsey a popsicle as soon as she got home and she recovered quickly. She helped me make dinner.

After a couple hours, Jenny even brought Calla back home which was so nice. Calla had a handful of crafts...she and Norah are two peas in the pod with all their artwork. Jenny was making dinner while Calla was there so Calla was pretty bummed she wasn't eating at Norah's house. Jenny reminded her that her daddy would be coming home and Calla said, "Oh no, it's ok, I don't need to see my dad!" hahaha. Jonathan gave her a hard time for that!

On Mondays, Jonathan is only home for about a half hour so we had a little time with Daddy over dinner and then he left and I put the girls to bed. Jay was doing great!

The nurse had suggested using bottles when he gets really cranky during nursing and it's made all the difference. I switch off between formula and breastmilk and he likes the bottles just the same so I don't think my breastmilk is really affecting his mood. It's a good idea to just switch and give him a bottle when he's getting upset though; in the past, he's just worked himself into a tizzy. )-:

below: happy and relaxed. I guess I can't compete with silicone.

Thanks y'all for your questions/concerns about little Jay! He already had a much better day than he did this weekend. (-:

Jay's Latest Worst Day Ever

below: This is a pic I took of the girls on the swings because Kelsey cracks me up. She loves to lay back like that in the baby swing and feel the wind in her hair. (-:


TODAY Daddy and I woke up with red, puffy eyes. (-: Another horrible night with Jay! I actually am not sure how often he woke up since I was in a big daze, but he cried a lot when he was awake. That I know for sure!

This morning Daddy and I took turns keeping him from crying while everybody got ready. We aren't sure why he was crying. If you have any ideas, let us know. ha

But he fell asleep once we got to church as I was walking to Sunday school (Daddy dropped the girls off at their classes). If Calla and Kelsey think it's strange that Jay cries so much, they haven't mentioned it to me. Neither of them have complained about it before either. And I feel sorta bad for them because they do enjoy showing him love and affection but usually he is crying and I'm like "don't bother Jay!" (Clearly if he is upset already I might as well let them bother him!)

Jay slept through Sunday school, which was polite of him, and woke up to nurse. Then he should have been happy but instead he started crying hysterically. I ended up texting Daddy an SOS call and he found us (wasn't hard - just follow the noise) and settled Jay down right away. Jay seems to do better with his father than his mother. Maybe it's in the name or something. But anyway, Daddy walked him around and stood in the back of the sanctuary during the sermon and Jay finally fell asleep. Ahhhh.

When Daddy picked up Kelsey, he realized she had her "spare dress" on (I always pack a spare in case she has an accident at church). He said the childcare workers were actually apologizing to him because they were very short-staffed and think that she may have been trying to communicate that she had to use the bathroom but they weren't paying close enough attention. All I can make of that is - way to give her the benefit of the doubt! Most likely she just had an accident! ha.

We came home for lunch and spent the rest of the day at home. I wish I could say it was a nice family-centered day but it was a looong family-centered day. Jay was totally fussy all day, and would cry if we put him down for a second. (Or even a minute!) He spent a lot of time crying, and when he wasn't crying at us (yes, he was crying AT us) then he was laying awake trying to go to sleep. But usually I can lay him in the crib to fall asleep on his own, but like I said today he would just cry and cry so I would pace...and rock...and sway....and sit still....and generally try every position imaginable to help him fall asleep.

It was definitely an "all hands on deck" kind of day. In fact, even with both parents there, Calla and Kelsey were largely off by themselves because BOTH of us needed to help Jay find...I don't know, some sort of inner peace! ha. We spent a lot of time asking what was wrong - "what do you think is wrong?" "what could be wrong now?"

And I do realize that doctors say the average infant cries 1-2 hours a day, which is a pretty significantly long time. It just seems odd that Jay went from so average (I won't say "happy" since he has yet to crack a smile at his own mother!) to so grumpy. Well, like they say, maybe it's a phase. But let me tell you, the phase seems veeeery long when we have days like today! Jonathan and I would take turns handing him off to each other when we felt ourselves growing impatient with him. Poor little guy. I do love him to pieces! (i feel like I spend a lot of time complaining on here but since we're family we can keep it between us, right??? shh)

Well I'm not complaining about the girls, because they did great. They were so busy playing, they barely had time to look up. At one point I had just handed Jay off to Jonathan and was feeling guilty for neglecting my girls all afternoon...so I offered Kelsey a hug. "No, Mommy," Kelsey replied briskly as she walked by with her stroller. No time, I guess!

below: This is disturbing in sort of an innocent way haha. Kelsey was pretending to be the mommy and Calla was pretending to be the baby and Kelsey wanted Calla to "have nummy" (nurse).

below: my view from the rocker. I was like, "What's going ON?"

There were a number of times today when I handed Jay over to Daddy and he'd stop wailing. Daddy discovered that Jay likes the football hold. I thought I'd try it and sure enough he liked it (for about five minutes):

We fed the girls dinner at 6 and put them to bed at 7:30. I had made chili for Jonathan and I and we decided earlier in the day we would have it once all the kids were in bed. Jay went to bed at 8, and so we ate dinner then. And it's actually 11:30pm and he's been snoozing away in his crib ever since. Bless his heart! He kept sleeping in lame 35-minute increments all day and so I'm relieved he can settle down and have a long rest! Being cranky is tiring!

Callaism~

~ Calla and Kelsey loved to "play church." There were it least two or three occasions when I'd walk by the girls and they'd be on their knees in prayer...literally. Calla would call out a long prayer and Kelsey would chime in by repeating words. It was too cute!

Jayism~

~ A wonderful thing about Jay is that he does so well with bottles. I've had to use them almost once a day since he is so fussy nursing. (He can get irate when he can't latch on properly, which is a never-ending cycle since once he's angry he can't settle down to try latching on again, which makes him angry, and it repeats...) He had a formula bottle at lunch compliments of Daddy and I fed him another bottle later on that I had pumped. I would much rather just be nursing him like a regular baby but I'm glad I have an option to give him when he gets bent out of shape!

Jay's Worst Day (ever)

below: Yesterday morning I took a picture of the girls with Jay. They've been so patient with me lately....he's definitely been taking up all my time/attention!

The middle child:

below: Calla stuffing that paci right in.

LAST night Jay had been sleeping in his crib for a few hours when it was time for me to go to bed. So I thought I would do what the "Baby Whisperer" calls the dream feed. I used to do it every night with Kelsey. The "dream feed" involves scooping your baby out of their crib and, while they are still half-asleep, nursing them. And then putting them back in their crib (they are usually too relaxed to even have to burp) where they sleep soundly until morning.

Well, that's how it's supposed to go. Jay was really sound asleep and it took some doing for me to wake him up enough to nurse. But he did. And then he was really wide awake. Oops. Wait, this isn't how it's supposed to go. Well I put him back to bed. And he woke up an hour later. And about an hour or two after that. And he continued to wake up constantly until 6am, when he woke up very sad. I got him back to sleep and he slept an hour. And woke up sad again. I got him back to sleep and he slept thirty minutes more. And woke up crying. Repeat and repeat and repeat. And he repeated this whole cycle until about 2:30 in the afternoon.

He was so sad today! There were a couple periods this morning when he just cried and cried. And I really think he was just so overtired. Due to his mother, waking him up at midnight for a not-so-dreamy dream feed.

Well normally I think it's fun when Daddy goes to the gym to play basketball on saturday mornings. It least somebody is using the gym membership these days. And Jay was sleeping when Daddy left, but unfortunately about an hour later Jay was wailing at the top of his lungs and I could not calm him. So I sent Daddy a SOS call to get home quick!

Daddy got home and took care of the girls this morning. He gave them a bath while Jay and I slept one of the 30-minute cycles, and then took them to Home Depot to pick up some supplies to fix a broken cabinet drawer in the kitchen.

below: the girls all ready to go to Home Depot. Their babies wanted to go along.

Yay! They were ready to get out of the house!

Well we literally spent all day getting nothing done but attempting to keep Jay's wits about him. And our wits about us. We took turns with him...Daddy would get the girls lunch and he'd eat, then he'd take Jay and I'd eat, then I put Kelsey down for her nap, then I took a turn with Jay. At about 1pm, Jay would not stop crying and I was getting completely discouraged that the only thing I'd accomplished in the day was a shower. Literally, the only thing. So I put Jay in the bjorn, got Calla's bicycle out for her, and we walked to the dry cleaners. I had dry cleaning I needed to drop off and thought it least I could do that!

It took us it least twenty minutes to get there (Calla is a slow mover at the bike) but Jay fell asleep. Until the little Asian woman took my dry cleaning order, whereupon he woke up wailing. It worked to my favor though because I was $2 short of cash to pay for a rug I was picking up and she could barely hear me and finally counted my cash and just waved me off and said "Don't worry about the two dollars; just take the rug!" She was probably thinking "JUST GET YOUR SCREAMING BABY OUTTA HERE."

Jay cried most of the way home. I'm not quite sure why. He had a full tummy, had just woken up from a little nap (maybe that was the problem - the nap was too short) and it was a nice day for a walk. Suddenly he stopped crying just as randomly as he had started, and fell asleep. Thank goodness.. And he slept and slept....I put him in his crib and he slept. We had planned to go to Mema and Opa's for dinner and I transitioned him into his infant seat...he did wake up (it feels like a pile of pine needles in there, you know) but eventually fell asleep on the drive up there and then slept for it least an hour once we were there.

And finally, finally, he woke up and let people hold him without crying (well, it least for 15 minutes). I know cousin Clark was a challenging infant at times, and I think Jay overheard that too and is going to give him a run for his money! I just keep remembering how challenging Calla was as an infant (she would fight sleep/I'd be up for 2 hours in the middle of the night just putting her back to sleep) and so the crying doesn't irk me too bad. I feel sad that he's so sad though! I'm hoping he gets through the rough patch pretty quickly.

In the meantime, though, the girls had a fun time! The whole fam was there...

below: the girls with Uncle Kurt

below: Mema made Daddy an early birthday cake...(his birthday is in exactly one week)...

below: Daddy did not want his picture taken. Odd considering how crazy he is about birthdays (not really)....

below: not the best picture, Cal.

Kelsey was being all weird about Maverick (scared of him) but I think she enjoyed playing with cousin Braxton. The girls certainly notice him more now that he is up and about! He is definitely at the age when they are busy, busy, busy.

Jay spent a portion of the evening crying, so everybody took a turn trying to calm him. Aunt Alicia had him for a long time in Mema's bedroom trying to make sense of the child. haha. She said it was a good bonding experience! (As much as wailing in one's ear can be bonding.) But she did calm him down, and Uncle Stephen was successful in getting him to stop. He IS stoppable.

I ended up putting Jay down for a nap on Mema's bed for about an hour. After he woke up sad again, we knew it was time to go. Fortunately we will see everybody soon at Braxton's 1st birthday party.

Mema and Opa got a first picture with all four grandchildren before we left. I am a little horrified that I had already put the girls in their pajamas for the ride home - we are definitely going to need a redo on the picture!

below: haha...this is the meltdown photo. Jay wanted to GO TO BED.

Jay did great on the way home...he doesn't do bad in his infant seat as long as I am literally holding his hands with one hand and resting my other hand on his paci to keep it in. He only does horrible in the car when nobody is "ministering to him." I foresee a lot of rides in the back in my future! Daddy's gonna get lonely up there in the front seat. (Not really. He probably likes the peace and quiet.)

Kelsey fell asleep about 15 minutes into our drive home, Calla about 20 minutes, and Jay didn't fall asleep until we were crossing the bridge by our house. Sometimes he reminds me of Calla when he's staring at me...wide-eyed, his little eyes propped open by miniature toothpicks....

Speaking of eyes and being tired, I am feeling pretty pooped myself so g'night.

Callaism~

~ Calla fell off her bike today on the way back from the dry cleaners. She was pretty positive she fell off because I wasn't "helping her up the big hill." The big hill meaning the small slope in the sidewalk that occurs where the road meets the sidewalk. It's always mom's fault. I guess I better get used to that mantra.

Kelseyism~

~ Kelsey's talking is getting so much better. Actually, in general I think it's hard for people to understand but I can make out more and more sentences. She really does have a lot to say! And she knows tons of words. She asked me to put a bandaide on her wrist today. And she counted from 1-7 unassisted (and unprompted). We need to work on her counting to ten!

Jayism~

~ Little buddy has been doing great since we got home...just sleeping away. I'm hoping that his horrible day was due to a horrible sleep and that he can have a great Sunday. Now I'm gonna head over to his room to do the dream feed. JUST KIDDING.