8 Months

Colin is full of mischief these days.  He loves eating leaves, chewing on power cords, climbing in the litter box and biting his siblings.  

He has 2 bottom teeth and 3 top teeth!

He is still up once a night, but since he's still so tiny I try not to let it really bother me.

His poo is still testing positive for blood.  We've been dairy free for about 3 weeks and I'm hoping that in the next week or so the blood will be gone.  A dairy free life has been a challenge for me, but I've been so encouraged this week by fellow momma's who have been through the same thing.  I've also been encouraged that we're doing the right thing and his dairy intolerance will resolve itself one day.

Valentine's Day

Ben is currently at Chaplain school in South Carolina.  We don't know exactly when he's coming home, so we're just taking it a day at a time right now.  But he was sweet enough to send us some flowers...I think Eli was the most excited about them.

His tradition has become a bouquet for me and a single rose for Alison. 

In the morning we had toast with pink sprinkles and a few pieces of candy.

Then Alison was off for her first school Valentine's Day party.

Eli's currently in a PJ obsession

After school we looked at all of Alison's Valentine's and I gave the kids some more fun goodies. 

We had heart shaped pancakes for dinner and watched 'Elmo Loves You'.

It was a fun day with my favorite Valentine's.  

Park Time!

My Boys Are AMAZING!

Eliot got a hair cut.

There were a few minutes where we weren't too sure he was going to come out okay (Alison even walked by once and said, "Oh, that does not look very good"), but thanks to a skilled daddy, some Laughy Taffy and a 'used to be a hairdresser' neighbor, we came out with a handsome little boy.

For the next few days, he would rub his head and then say "I like my hair!"

Ben knew I would regret the cut and he was right.  Immediately my baby was gone and he turned into a spunky little boy.  And now everyone says he looks just like his daddy...for the record, no one ever says our kids look like me.

Colin started pulling up!

 

Ben was ordained February 10th and became Hope's Assistant Pastor.

It was such a sweet morning for our family.  George shared with the congregation how he met Ben and saw him become a Christian and then watched us fall and love and eventually married us.  He watched Ben begin his ministry and helped him through seminary classes.  He watched us welcome our babies into our family and baptized both of our boys.  I loved thinking back to those days right out of college when Ben shared with me that he felt God calling him to ministry and thinking about all the years he's worked for this day.  George then gave him a charge for his ministry and I thought it was absolutely perfect for Ben.  He teared up as he told Ben that he is a man of many, many talents; but his charge to him was to know his sheep.

I'm so very proud of Ben and am excited to see him embark on this new chapter of his ministry.

Alison's Half Birthday

 

We celebrated Alison's half birthday with chocolate cupcakes topped with marshmallows.  I'm pretty sure she told everyone at school it was her real birthday and I know she was disappointed that we didn't buy her anything.  

 

And just when I was about to declare "no more half birthdays!" I remembered why I do this.  I love watching my kids grow.  I love taking a moment to celebrate them and remember them at a specific age.  And it gives us a great excuse to make cupcakes!

Snow!

Snow is a big deal around here.  

Like, it flurries and schools shut down kind of big deal.

Alison was home from school with a cold and we spent the day in our pjs watching the snow fall.

The kids were so in love with the snow, dying to spend as much time as they could outside.

It was hard for me to send them out with already runny noses, but who knows when it will snow again...and there's always time to snuggle up next to a humidifier.

Update on Colin

After a second round of testing of Colin's poo, he's still testing positive for blood in his stool.

The doctor called the allergist herself, but still wasn't able to get an earlier appointment for us.

She said she is concerned that with his little size, young age and persistant problem, we simply can't wait a couple of months.  She assured me we would figure out what is wrong and after talking with the other doctors in the office, they believe he has a milk and soy protein allergy.  She told me to eliminate all dairy and soy from both of our diets and after a month we would test him again.  Hopefully, this time the tests will come back negative and we'll finally have a "baseline" for the allergist to go off of.

It's only been a week of "dairy free" for us and it's been challenging.  I question a lot...how extreme do I need to take it?  If there's 2 Tbsp of butter in a recipe that makes 3 loaves of bread, can I eat a slice?  If a cracker has 'soybean oil' in it, can I eat it?  And in case you were wondering, chocolate almond milk in coffee is not good.  I never thought I was much of a dairy person, but I also didn't realize how it's in everything!

Colin drinks about 2 bottles a day and the special formula that he can drink is crazy expensive.  Thankfully he just gave up the food pouches and has moved on to finger foods, so hopefully those costs will balance each other out.  My prayer right now is that I'll be able to nurse him for another couple of months.

Colin's also just popped his first top tooth and the second will be coming in any day.  He's started wearing a baltic amber teething necklace, which seems to have helped.  Who knows...it could all be coincidence or some great scheme for desperate mothers, but all I know is I've seen a positive change and that necklace is staying on his neck!