Happy 3rd Birthday Alison!

I sang 'Happy Birthday' to Alison when she came in my room in the morning. She looked at me with wide eyes and asked, "Is it today Mommy? Is it July 31st?" When I told her yes, she shouted, "I'M 3!!!" I pulled out a cute outfit Ben bought her and asked if she was ready to put her birthday outfit on. She informed me that that was not her birthday outfit and asked me to follow her in her room so she could show me the correct outfit. She opened a picture book we made her of last summer and pointed to the picture from last year's birthday. She said she needed that birthday shirt. I guess I've unintentionally created a tradition and birthday shirts are now a must. So I quickly dug through her closet and found a plain (of course it had to be pink) shirt and got out my fabric markers. In a matter of minutes we had this year's birthday shirt which she insisted on wearing all day.

We started the day off with a chocolate and sprinkles donut and chocolate milk at Ringo's. Then we went to swimming lessons where Alison talked nonstop to the instructor about her birthday.

After lunch and a good birthday nap, we ate cupcakes and opened presents. It was a nice, relaxing day to just enjoy each other and play. I'm not sure with how many more birthday's we'll be able to get away with it being this "quiet", so I really soaked this one up.Daddy very sweetly surprised Alison 3 pink roses and balloons. She is one very loved princess.

Then we headed to Red Robin for a special birthday dinner. She was extremely excited about the pink balloon, but not too sure about the song that they sang to her. She ate the cherry off the top of the sundae and was ready to go.


I can't believe she's 3. This year has gone by too fast, as I know this next one will too. We had a fantastic time celebrating Alison and I am so thankful God blessed us with her.

Irresistable pizza

Gobbles

Alison was very excited to wear her "gobbles" to swim lessons on Saturday. I thought it was pretty funny that she was convinced she needed them considering she will barely get her hair wet. Ironically, when we got there Nico had also convinced his parents he needed "gobbles"-it must be a 3 year old thing.
Life's pretty sweet with gobbles and slimsloops.


Other things going on right now:

Abby and Alexandria came to visit for a couple of days last week. We went to the new bookstore in town and then the Sweet Shop. Abby and I even escaped one evening for a little treat and left all 3 kids with Ben. Oh, and we gave Alison a haircut.

Hope became a Particular Church yesterday and Ben was installed as an Elder! Alison and Eliot did a great job sitting "quietly" for several hours-it's amazing how much of a motivation cake can be.

And to top it all off, Eli started rolling from his belly to his back! Did I mention that he never stops moving?



Speaking of Eli, he is doing much better with his reflux. The Zantac seems to be helping out a lot. He hasn't been fussy and has been going to sleep much easier. He's gotten stuck on getting up at 2 and 5am for what I feel like are snacks, but he's sleeping soundly in between those times. I'll take what I can get at this point and just hoping his tummy completely settles down soon. Oh, and the medicine seems to have fixed his non-pooping problem too. He pooped 3 times yesterday, just in the morning. I'm sure someday he will be mortified that I talked about his poo on the web.

Hello Zantac, we meet again.

I'm so thankful that I have a best friend and partner more than just a husband. I could make a pretty good bet that Ben would be thankful if I listened to him more. He's been telling me for awhile that he thinks Eli has acid reflux, just like his sister did. I didn't believe him. But his theory was proved right by the pediatrician this morning. He doesn't scream right after eating like Alison did, but he sure does scream when you try to lay him flat...duh, that's why he likes the carseat so much. It also explains why he would arch his back and flail out of my arms when I tried to soothe him. I was holding him horizontal and as soon as I put him upright, he'd be fine. Apparently we just produce children with acid reflux, and sadly I think it's my fault. My mom reminded me of the reflux problems I've had throughout my life. I went through a period in high school where I didn't realize I had reflux and just thought I was hungry all the time. I would get up in the middle of the night and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. There was a point that I was having 4 sandwiches a day-by some miracle I still stayed thin! This helps me understand why he was up all night wanting to eat. I'm thankful to know why he's been screaming and not sleeping. I'm more thankful for the solid hours of sleep we all got last night after we gave him some mylanta and put him in the carseat. I just gave him his first dose of Zantac and I'm anxiously awaiting some good sleep tonight.
I should probably offer my apologies to everyone in our house. Ben, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you when you were trying to help. Eli, I'm sorry I let you cry and told you to buck up and figure out how to fall asleep on your own. You will never remember the last few weeks, but I promise to buy you a big scoop of ice cream some day to make up for all of this. Alison, I'm sorry Eliot screamed through most of your naps and made you too grumpy. Will a sticker make up for it?



*While we were in the doctor's office this morning Eliot let out his first real laugh!

Check out his hair!

The hair on top is light blond, then he has a band of baldness, then he has long dark hair at the bottom. Talk about looking like an old man!

Juicy

I took the kids to the library yesterday. Alison was picking out books and Eliot was in his carseat about like this: A woman walked in the room, looked at Eliot and said, "Mmm, mmm, mmm. He sure looks juicy. Are you breastfeeding?" I told her I was and she said, "You can certainly tell". I never knew breastfeeding made babies look juicy, nor do I really know what that means. But her comment made me laugh all day.

I really took this picture to document how much of a stinker my little Eli is. Apparently it's growth spurt season in the Shear household and along with that, Eliot has decided that sleeping is for wimps and wants no part of it. I admit that it's caused a few of my own meltdowns. It's extremely frustrating to do everything you can to soothe your baby that has been crying for forever and the only response you get is them trying to jump out of your arms. I mean I'm doing everything the books say to do-he should be going down for naps easy and sleeping through the night. Oh, that's right...he hasn't read the books and could care less about my efforts to perfect him. He's fought me for days on sleeping, taking only brief naps and up a lot of nights. This morning I put him in his carseat while Alison was watching Mickey Mouse and went to round up all of our stuff for swim lessons. Moments later I came back to find him completely zonked out. Seriously?! There was no screaming, no wailing, nothing. He just closed his eyes and fell asleep. I wish he would have told me it was that easy. Just put him in the carseat, put Mickey on and walk away...sure would have saved us all some tears.

On the bright side, he's been talking up a storm lately and LOVES music. If you sing to him, he'll coo through the whole song, almost like he's trying to sing with you. I played some music at bedtime last night and found that it greatly decreased the amount of crying.

The best things come in small packages

3 Months

Thanks Nana for the outfit!

I'm sure I'll say this every post, but the last 3 months have gone by much too fast. I'm looking forward to the day when Eliot is easily motivated to sleep by stickers, but for now, I'm trying to cherish our time together in the middle of the night. His smiles make it all worth it to live on little sleep. Eliot's new favorite thing is his upgraded Woombie. If you're a mom and don't have one, get one. Seriously. He also loves music and watching everything around him. If he's upset, just flip him out so he can see and he's good. Happy 3 months buddy! I look forward to your many more smiles!

Alison wanted to make sure everyone saw this picture too. She made up a monkey dance last night and was pretty impressed with herself.


I thought this was pretty interesting. This is Alison at 3 months. It's crazy how our kids look exactly alike but nothing like either of us.

Waiting for a rainbow

It is a beautiful, peaceful, rainy day. Alison waited all morning for a rainbow. She kept looking out the window just waiting for one to show up.

The adjustment of going to 2 kids is starting to hit me this week. Alison's been super clingy and constantly asking to be held. Eliot's been more fussy and sleeping less due to his constant battle with his digestive system (thanks to a few ounces of prune juice we're doing much better today). And then there's the cats. Milo's had a few bladder infections, Smoochie has found it quite entertaining to terrorize him and they both keep eating my food! So, I struggle with the constant demand from some thing in this house. Ben has been a great support, but his plate is overflowing this week with prepping for a sermon and finishing 2 classes. I'm so thankful for all the little blessings I see throughout the day that make it all worth it. Like this:
We were playing kitchen and Alison tells me, "Mommy, we're going to use our imaginations now". Her imagination certainly has been growing a lot lately. Yesterday we were walking through the grocery store (does anyone else feel like they're there every day?!) and Alison was pushing Eliot in his stroller. All of the sudden she sticks her bottom out and is walking like a little old lady. She shouts, "Mommy! I'm walking like a swan!" A swan isn't exactly how I would describe her walk, but it made me laugh and I thought to myself how great it is to be a mommy. I'm so thankful God gave me the gift of kids and that I get to listen to all the funny things they come up with.

Little giggles

Eliot's been smiling for awhile, but this week Ben got him to start laughing. It's the best sound ever.

Happy 4th!

We went to the William's house last night and Alison got to experience fireworks for the first time. She was not crazy about them. Ben had to bribe her with dessert just to get her near a sparkler. Pretty much all of the kids hated them, but it was funny to watch all of the dads having a blast.

Alison has been playing with her doll house every waking moment. She was even gracious enough to show Eliot how to play.

Then Daddy let Eliot help him work on one of the hymns he recently wrote.