We Won This One

Charlie is somewhat of a picky eater. He loves to eat, as long as he can eat what he wants (mainly peanut butter and jelly, fruit, yogurt, cheese and waffles). Because meal time is often a battle with Ruby, we have chosen not to fight the food battle with Charlie. Usually we are just excited to get both kids fed so that we can sit down for a quick 15 minutes and eat ourselves.

Lately though, I have gotten very sick of having to make three different meals (one for Ruby, one for Charlie and one for us). So, last night we decided Charlie was going to eat what we were eating. I made stromboli and even though he likes pizza, he did NOT want to eat the stromboli. We put our foot (feet? :) down and fought him on this. He could either sit in his chair and eat his supper, or sit in a time out chair in Ruby's room. He went back and forth between time out and his booster chair, but, after an hour of time outs and tears, Charlie ate his stromboli!!

We will keep fighting this and hopefully soon he will realize he has to eat what we are eating.

Score one for the parents :)

The Big Ten Tournament Weekend

With all that has been going on at our house, I forgot to post about our weekend with Mark's family.

A couple weeks ago, Mark's parents made the trek from MN to MI to spend a weekend with us and Michael and Jessica (Mark's brother). They came on Wednesday afternoon and Wed. night we enjoyed a pizza dinner at our house with Dad and Mom TH and Michael and Jessica and their family. It was great to be together again (although we missed you Paul and Jill!).

Thursday morning, Lyle and Mark headed on to Indy for the annual weekend of watching the Big Ten Tournament. They met Paul (Mark's other brother) and several family friends there to watch a bazillion basketball games. It seems like a lot of sitting in a gym to me, but they had a great time--as always. Mark always looks forward to this weekend and I am glad he was able to get away for a few days.

Mark's Mom stayed with me for the weekend to help with the kids. It was good to have her around; we were able to catch up and I loved having an extra hand. She also helped clean and cook; she even cleaned above my kitchen cabinets (I don't think I have done that since we moved in 3 years ago!).

Friday we were able to get some shopping in because my fabulous babysitter, Emily, had the kids for a good chunk of the day. I bought some much need maternity clothes. I was down to leggings because I ripped a hole in the last pair of jeans that fit :)

Sunday the guys were back from Indy and we enjoyed a great family dinner at Michael and Jessica's house. It was a blessing to all be around the same table.

Dad and Mom TH concluded their visit by helping us with a few projects around the house (a huge thank you!!) and treating us all to dinner at the Pizza Ranch (for old times sake :)

We had a great time with family! Thanks so much for making the trip out here Mom and Dad!

I only took a few pictures, but here is Charlie "helping" Grandpa and us all eating at Pizza Ranch....

Ruby's Hair

I ruined my daughter's hair.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a "gentle, kid-friendly, no lye" hair relaxer at Wal-Mart. I never thought I would be tempted to relax Ruby's hair, but lately I have been having a real battle with her curls. She can't hold her head up, so the back of hair is always matted. It is pretty tough to balance her head between my knees to part her hair while she arches and hollers. She HATES it when I try to do anything to her hair. She screams when I try to comb through it, she screams when I braid it and she screams when I put it in pig tails. The last couple of times I have tried to do her hair I have ended up in tears because I have been so frustrated. Ruby starts school in a few weeks and I have no idea how I can do her hair before she gets on the bus at 8am. So, needless to say, I was tempted to try the relaxer. I had dreams of being able to comb through calm curls with no tears from either of us...

Saturday, I caved. I bought the relaxer, telling myself this would make the whole hair ordeal easier. I really thought it would just gently detangle and relax her hair a little. I was wrong. When I rinsed the relaxer out of her hair, I realized I had made a big mistake. Her hair was dried out like straw and it stuck out all over. It was fairly straight with a few weird kinks left in it...I bawled. I french braided it to make it look better, but the fly aways stuck straight out of her head, making her look crazy; I bawled again.

I went to bed Saturday night feeling like a failure. It was always important to me to keep Ruby's hair nice and now I had ruined it! So much for that book I read a few years ago about how to treat her hair properly.

Sunday night I decided to buck up and try to make the best out of her new hairdo. I washed it really well, conditioned it like crazy and then geared up to braid her whole head. Even though she hollered, screamed and complained, I parted it and put it in many little ponytails. Just as I was starting to braid the ponies, I realized most of the rubberbands had snapped so I had to redo them. Finally, an hour and a half later, I had completed her braids. By that time, Ruby had eaten several teaspoons of peanut butter (it keeps her occupied and calm), bitten through a pacifier and was completely exhausted from fighting me and crying. I was frustrated that I couldn't do my own daughter's hair, Mark's arms were tired from holding Ruby the whole time and we didn't get any therapy in...but the hair was done and it was cute.

That night at 1am, Ruby woke up screaming. Finally, I realized the braids were hurting her head, so I had to cut the rubber bands out of her hair. This left her with loose braids the looked horrible by morning..frustrating after a night of working on her hair.

So today, in desperation, I got her hair chopped. I decided to start fresh. I felt like it was my only option, but now she looks like a boy, she really does. Mark keeps calling her Robbie--not funny. Right after the haircut I went to the store and bought a few headbands with big flowers on them...maybe that will distract people from her hair until the curl comes back in :(

I feel so bad that I didn't do Ruby's hair justice. I know it is just hair, I know it will grow back and I know I have bigger things to worry about (like seizures and wheelchairs) but for some reason I have lost more sleep and shed more tears about her hair than about anything else in the last two months. Maybe it is wild pregnancy hormones, maybe it goes deeper...

I know her hair will eventually grow back, but while we wait, does anyone have any cute, girlie hats I can borrow? :)

22 Weeks

 

Charlie's Birthday Party

Charlie's 2nd birthday party was over a month ago and I am just getting around to posting the pictures now. Better late than never, right?

Here are a few shots of my little man and his monkey themed party....

Ruby's New Wheels

We got Ruby's wheelchair last week. This is something we have been talking about and thinking about for over a year, so it is wierd that it is now sitting in our living room. I thought I was ready for it, but using it on a daily basis will be an adjustment. The chair is exactly what Ruby needs, but it calls a lot of attention to our family when we are out in public with the chair. With the stroller it was a little easier to go "unnoticed" but the pink wheelchair makes Ruby's special needs much more obvious. I really don't care what people think, but it is still tough to have people staring and wondering about Ruby.

The seat and all the supports were made just for Ruby so it fits her perfectly. She seems comfortable in it, although I think it will take time for her to be content in it for more than a half hour at a time. The chair is fairly heavy so it is hard for me to get it in the back of the van. We are on the hunt for a wheelchair van, but so far we haven't found one that fits our needs and is in our price range. If any of you have any ideas or know of any vans that are for sale, please let us know! When we get a van for her then we will be able to use her chair on a daily basis.

I am ready to take this next step with Ruby. It will be so good for her to be up and able to look around or play with toys on the tray of her chair. This chair is a great thing, but it does remind me of her needs and it also reminds me that as she continues to grow we will have new struggles and hurdles to jump.

One day at a time, right? With God's help I know I can do today and that is all I need...strength for today, feet for the path. God is good.

Sick

I have so many things to post about, including Ruby's new wheelchair and our ABR training weekend in Chicago, but we have all been struggling with sickness so I haven't gotten around to making a new post. I still have the cold that has been lingering for a month--yuck! Charlie has had fever since Wednesday afternoon so I took him in to get antibiotics on Thursday. Then, Thursday night, Mark started feeling sick. By Friday he was so miserable that I made him go to prime care because our doctor's office was closed. I am so glad he went in because he tested positive for strep throat so they put him on meds right away. For the last couple of days Mark has tried to stay away from Ruby so she didn't catch his strep; so far she seems fairly healthy so we are praying that remains the case!

Today was a long day with all of us just lounging around the house. Charlie did take a good nap and he seemed a little more like himself tonight. Mark also seems to be perking up a bit, so hopefully everyone is on the mend.