The Baylor Family Blog

One of the biggest things I’ve had to learn with having a second child is how to maneuver through the world with a double stroller. Somehow, during Abi’s first month, all of our outings requiring the stroller seemed to happen when Matt was around. Matt, of course, took the lead and set up the stroller, pushed the stroller around, and put it back in the car. He made it look so easy.

Well, last Thursday, I had my first outing requiring a double stroller without Matt. Abi, Eli, and I were heading to MOPS at a local church. This church has multiple buildings and is locating on a hill, so there are lots of steps and hills to maneuver around (and fortunately some elevators, too!). Of course, in addition to bringing both kids and the masses of items they require for a morning away from home, I also decided to bring lots of dishes and other items that the girls in my MOPS group had loaned me during my pregnancy and during Abi’s first month to return! I’m not quite sure what I was thinking.

I quickly learned upon driving into the church parking lot that this was not just a normal MOPS morning at church. There were policemen and parking attendants directing traffic since the church was hosting a conference that morning. And instead of getting to park right next to the building I would be spending the morning in, I was directed to what seemed like the farthest corner of the parking lot from where I needed to be. I kept my cool as I unloaded the stroller, put both kids inside (with Abi’s oxygen). Due to lack of space, Eli got the job of carrying diaper bags. I loaded the stroller way too high and full of all the stuff I needed to return, then started the uphill journey to the MOPS room. Now our double stroller is amazing and I love it. But I realized that I need a LOT more practice at driving the thing. It probably didn’t help that I added 20 extra pounds of stuff. But I’m sure if anyone saw me, they would have been laughing at me trying to drive the stroller, let alone the fact that I barely made it up the hill! I didn’t hit any cars, but it probably took me 5 minutes to get through any given doorway (without help), and I almost tipped the stroller at least 8 times.

Somehow, the three of us made it to where we needed to be. But I decided after this experience, that I wish they offered stroller-ed classes.

Abi has now taken several baths in the bath tub. The middle picture above should explain why Eli and Abi don’t take baths together at this point! Both of our kids seem to enjoy baths. Obviously, Abi doesn’t last nearly as long in the tub as Eli!! Abi gets cold quickly, and calms as soon as she is wrapped in warm blankets after her bath! She was wide awake after her last bath, so I took advantage of the photo opportunity! While I am getting Abi ready after bath, Eli enjoys drenching the entire bathroom by splashing. Let’s just say, bath time is an exciting time at our house!!

As Kimi mentioned in her recent post, Eli is saying more and more words. Two of his favorite lately are snack and snot. They don’t seem too related at first, but I’ll explain as I go. For background information you have to understand that Eli will now blow his nose on command. He’s gotten pretty good at it and it really helps when has a cold (like now and almost everyday). So, here’s how to say snack:

1. Blow air through your nose like you were going to blow your nose (see note above).
2. Now add “knack” right on the end of blowing through your nose.
3. Now, nod your head so that the bottom of the head nod corresponds with the “a” in “knack”.
4. Now repeat quickly five times in a row
5. Grab a kleenex and wipe your nose, I’m sure something came out…which leads us too…

Snot, Eli’s second favorite word and yes it usually follows “snack” (for reason now obvious to you ). Here’s how to say snot:

1. Immediately after wiping your nose in step 5 above leave one finger against one nostril. This indicates that you know what you are talking about.
2. Blow air through your nose as in Step 1 above.
3. Now add “not” immediately after blowing through your nose (note, one finger is still on your nose pressing one nostril closed).
4. Start walking in left hand circles as you repeat the word five times.
5. Since one finger is conveniently positioned near your nose, picking is optional.
6. Wipe your nose and finger.

Note: I cannot be held responsible for anything left on your keyboard or monitor as a result of this post. Please go get a Clorox wipe and deal with it .

Abi @ 2 weeks old (and not quite ready for the bumbo!)

Eli @ 2 months old

Eli @ almost 2 years old

Eli loves to play in the kitchen. Pots, pans, dish cloths, and measuring spoons can keep him entertained quite well, while I am cooking and trying not to trip over the scattered kitchen items! In a matter of minutes, Eli can turn an otherwise clean kitchen into a room that looks like a tornado just went through!

I thought it was fun to look back on some older pictures of Eli playing in the kitchen, when the messes took longer to create! Eli was just over a  year in the first picture and just under a year in the second picture!

It has been a little more difficult recently to capture Eli’s smile with the camera! So, I love these two pictures! Its amazing to think how stressful eating was for Eli even a year ago, and then to see how much he LOVES to eat now. In fact, it seems like he wants to eat all day long right now. His interest in using silverware during mealtime has definitely increased and he seems to be getting a little better with his technique every day. He now climbs in and out of us booster chair independently and likes to wipe his hands and face by himself when he is finished eating (though he often needs a second wipe by dad or mom!).  At the moment, some of his favorite foods are cheese, lunch meat, bananas, goldfish, raisins, Nutragrain bar, and whatever his dad and mom are eating! Since Eli loves food at the moment, we’ve been able to use meal time to encourage him to use his words. He often uses the word “more,” but now when he says “more” we give him two choices, like “more cheese” or “more banana” and he has to attempt to say the food he wants to get more. It has been working suprisingly well!

We have fallen into the routine of letting Eli watch a video after naptime. It often helps him get through his crankiness upon waking, and it allows me some time to feed Abi without entertaining Eli. Eli’s absolute favorite movie is the Veggie Tales “You Are Special.” Matt and I laugh through it, as well! Eli loves to dance around the room to the songs and yell “Bob” everytime “Bob the Tomato” comes on the screen. He has also started making mini-forts with the cushions on the couch during his movie time. From his smile, you can probably tell he looks forward to “Bob” time all day long!

This weekend, Abi will be one month old! In some ways, it feels like only one month? And in other ways, it feels like she just came home from the hospital yesterday!

I brought Abi to see the pediatrician today, as a two-week follow up from her first visit! The doctor was very pleased with her growth (words this mama LOVES to hear)! Abi now weighs 6 pounds, 14 ounces (21%) and is 20 inches long (60%)! The biggest part of the visit was spent discussing formula! By the end of the visit, we agreed to put Abi on Elecare for 2 weeks and add a daily laxative to help out her digestive tract. We will return to the pediatrician in two weeks for a follow-up and weight check. Likely, at that point, we may try and re-introduce cow’s milk formula, Gentle-Ease, or soy formula to see how she does.

We aren’t convinced that Abi is allergic to milk and soy like her brother was, but we are aware that the odds are higher for her to have the same sensitivities. I know it can be difficult for babies without allergies to make the switch to formula. After watching her struggle all week on formula, it helps to know that the struggle with Elecare cannot be related to an allergy. After looking back on the blog when Eli was started on Elecare, I remembered that it took him over a week before he started taking Elecare without fussing and his GI specialist told us not to focus on how much he takes in a feed because he wouldn’t starve himself. That was encouraging for me to read. Abi was taking 3-4 ounces of breast milk, but now only 1-2 ounces of Elecare each feed. If I focus on numbers too much, I can drive myself crazy!

Another thing I remembered is that Eli started taking more Elecare after we added more Splenda to the formula (which apparently doesn’t taste all that great!). So I decided to add a packet of Splenda to the bottle for Abi’s last feed, and she took an ounce more! So I’m already feeling very encouraged! It helps to much to have walked this road before…and I’m even more thankful for the blog to refer back to as I’ve forgotten many of the specific details to Eli’s journey!

In addition to the formula woes, our next big thing for Abi is her overnight pulse ox evaluation to determine if she can come off her oxygen! It could go either way, but I’m really hoping she can come off the oxygen!! We should know the results on Tuesday sometime!

Despite the struggles this week on formula, Abi continues to be very pleasant and absolutely adorable! I hope you enjoy the pictures as proof!!

Life continues to move at full speed around here! Last week, Matt worked from home most of the week, so he was able to help at lunch time and getting Eli down for his nap. Matt has returned to working at work, including going in early to work out, so I am trying to fall into a routine with having two kiddos all day. We have been very blessed by many of our friends and co-workers to still have some meals coming in! That has been one thing I haven’t had to think about since Abi has been born, which has been so nice! I did manage a successful trip to the grocery store with both kids. But with the cooler, windy weather we’ve had lately, I haven’t been as anxious to venture out alone with both kids!

Matt and I decided over the weekend to take the leap and start Abi on formula. We kept hoping Abi’s suck would improve, but she still was only able to get about an ounce breastfeeding, and always had to be topped off with a couple ounces from the bottle. The pumping routine was exhausting us, so we made the decision that was best for our family. However, formula and our kids don’t seem to get along very well. We’ve now tried cow’s milk formula and GentleEase, both of which Abi has trouble holding down and make her uncomfortable. Fortunately, I have quite a bit of breastmilk stored up to help us during the transition time. I will probably start her on the amino-based formula, Elecare, that Eli was able to tolerate later today. Fortunately, Abi has a well visit with her pediatrician at the end of the week.

Eli continues to baffle us in deciding whether or not he is sick! He seems to have symptoms that come and go, but at the moment, nothing is bad enough to bring him in to the doctor. His vocabulary seems to have taken off in the last couple of weeks. Matt and I started a list of words/sounds he uses to communicate and we are now up to 60! He just recently started to imitate sounds/words that we ask him to say, which is a huge encouragement to us! And he seems excited to be able to communicate a little better, too. His speech therapist will be back later this week for a 2nd visit. Eli continues to love to play with his tools, read LOTS of books, watch Seasame Street and Bob the Tomato, and put Abi’s pacifier back in her mouth! A few weeks back, Eli lost his book privelages in bed as he managed to tear all the pages out of a board book in bed. Apparently, board books are as in-destructable as we thought!

I cannot think of much else to report on, so I think I’ll close for now! Thanks for reading!