homeofthebudds: 04/01/2005

ellen's been learning about names lately. She just learned her middle name is Charis and if you ask what her name is she'll tell you Ellen Charis. She's also learned Dave and my name, so she's been saying Daddy dave and mommy sarah. She's also hollering out "Daave!!!" (imitating me trying to find him) we discovered that the field (in the pictures below) produces a sort of echo. last time we were there ellen started yelling "love you!" (not sure why) and realized there was an echo so she had a great time shouting love you! over and over. today we were walking around the university and she shouted "love you! as loud as she could in the quad to see if it would also produce an echo. (it didn't) lucky for us the graduation ceremony was on a different part of campus and there wasn't anyone trying to study. (she really does have some powerful lungs)

summer vacation

I just finished taking the final in my church history class. I definitely did not do as well and i normally do, but i can't fairly blame that on the lack of sleep or study time that i've recently been experiencing. Our teacher seemed to decide that we all did too well on previous tests and has made the later test harder. I get completely screwed up when a teacher changes their testing style. For me, half of the class is "learning the teacher". So even in this case when i completely love the content and remember tons of it, i still study for the teacher. everyone does that right? you get a sense of what they care about and you can sorta predict what will be on the test. it should not be legal to change testing style half way through the second semester. (I had the same teacher both semesters). I love this feeling that you get when the last assignment is done before a major break. I just get so thrilled with the idea that nothing is hanging over my head waiting to get done. All the things I've been wanting to do with my time come rushing back into my head, pushing to be first in line. Of course, in reality, there really isn't any new free time to fill up. Now I'll just have one less excuse to give myself when I wonder why there are no clean clothes and the dishes still need to be washed. Having two kids is more than twice the work of one I think. With ellen, there was definitely an adjustment period, but eventually it was all very handleable and relatively easy. And tons of fun. With Isaiah and Ellen, it is definitely tons of fun and not exactly feeling handleable yet. When in the world is there time to clean up? Or to sleep? Or to do something as crazy as read a book? I know we're still getting adjusted and figuring it all out, but I gotta tell you, I'm way more tired at the end of the day then I was with just Ellen. And I'm much more protective and jealous of any "no-one's-asking-me-for-something" time I can scrounge up. Dave is awesome, he completely understands that and has been amazingly available for all of us. I love our life together.

ellen running up a hill

dave's been taking ellen to the field to play ball

isaiah loves his pouch

isaiah and i endured another two 1/2 hour dr appointment today. although this time the majority of the two hours were spent listening to the dr. talking. i went in to make sure she really wanted to prescribe that medication for whatever is bugging him and we ended up having a very long (rather one sided) discussion about medications and there hazards and benefits. she was able to talk so long because they had me come in at 5 - so all the other patients had gone home. to be completely fair, probably half an hour of our 'visit' was spent trying to find a less potent medicine that i would be more comfortable with. poor dave - when i went i thought it would be a quick in and out - just wanted to make sure this will treat what he has (since she prescribed it over the phone without seeing him recently) little deal. so ellen stayed at home with him. when i finally made it all the way to the front door of the office (it was a long slow one-step per minute kind of walk as i was trying to politely get myself out of the office) there was dave and ellen trying to see if we were in there or if someone had kidnapped us off the face of the earth. i have a final this week for school and then i'll be free to take pictures and post lots of interesting things.

for some reason i'm having a hard time remembering to grab the camera, so i've got no new pictures to post. sorry. isaiah is growing like crazy. he's in his three to six month clothes already (he was three weeks on thursday) and he's been smiling and cooing at us since about two weeks. so cute. and his diaper rash deal still will not go away. and its getting worse. i have no clue what is going on. so i'm back off dairy and now off any kind of citrus fruit (which for some reason includes apples. i didn't think apples were citrus, but i guess they're high in acid??) and the doctor gave me some kind of perscription, but on the tube it actually says not for children under 17 and not for daiper dermititis (granted i don't exactly know what diaper dermititis is, but i'm guessing it has something to do with diaper rash). so i looked online to see what was going on, and apparently its such a potent steriod they don't want you using it on kids (or something) but 23ish percent of pediatricians do anyway. i still haven't decided if i want to use it or not. and ellen is doing great. she's truly turning out to be her father's daughter. she will do anything for a laugh it seems. she's recently learned to spit. we tell her to stop and stop and stop and take away her water (which she is spitting everywhere). we were in the car yesterday and she was doing this as we pulled up to the driveway. dave tried everything to get her to stop including pinching her mouth shut. she would not quit! i think she could tell we were close to losing it (laughing) dave started spanking her hand and she didn't seem to care. we both lost it ( i know it doesn't really sound funny, but she was laughing so hysterically and having so much fun, we just couldn't help it). there's a certain look she gives dave that makes him laugh every time - so just about every night at dinner she makes sure to do it. she loves to be funny.

ellen loving isaiah

well, isaiah may be lactose intolerant. we're still trying to figure that one out. but that means either i cut all dairy out of my diet or he goes on special soy formula. i figure i'd just cut out all dairy - as i'm thinking about it today i'm realizing that i eat a ton of dairy products. i didn't really know what to eat today (this is still just an experiment to see if he really is lactose intolerant or not) everything i eat has some sort of cheese or milk or yogurt (or ice cream) or something it seems. maybe this would be a good diet :) (since ice cream is one of the bigger parts of my dairy diet)

isaiah went to the dr today - this little chow hound has already gained a pound. actually a pound and two ounces. and i think somebody has measured wrong because otherwise haes also grown an inch and a half. i'm thinking about switcjing pediatricians once again...this dr is telling me that i should give him water sometimes in the night instead of feeding him since hes obviously gaining weight very well. and she said he needs to be taking vitamins since babies that nurse don't get the right amount of some vitamin. that sounds rather odd to me. and after i waited 30 minutes they told me i forgot some paperwork that no one had ever mentioned i should bring. so i went home to get it, came back,got in right away, but by the time the dr actually saw him another hour had gone by. this place is about 1/4 mile from home and i was gone for about two hours! that seems a bit much to me.

ellen has been told she's cute enough times that shes started to repeat it - quite a lot. so we thought maybe we ought to add a few other things to that since cute has been known to wear off. she know recites a bit of a mantra when anyone gets her started. ellen will be happy to tell you that she is cute, smart, funny, precious, special, a ninja, and humble.

we got taco bell for dinner tonight...usually ellen shares with both of us whatever we get...tonight she wouldn't go for the burrito dave already had open, she found the one still wrapped up and was chowing on her own burrito that essentially is the size of her leg.

ellen being a very big girl pushing the stroller

isaiah's first park experience

mom and ellen drawing in the dirt

mom has been here for the last week helping out (for which we are very grateful :)

this little boy is a total chow hound! and i'm afraid his days and nights are still mixed up so i've been something of a zombie. last night went well though - i may have found the secret. i'll try it for a few more nights before i get too excited though. ellen has been the absolute best big sister i could ever imagine. i thought she might have some jealousy issues, but she loves "baby" so incredibly much. she kisses him and holds him. she likes to help change his diaper - she brings me three or four daipers (turns out that is what we actually need every time) the powder, desitin and wipes. (i never even asked her for any of that stuff...she just goes and gets it when i start talking about changing isaiah's diaper. once she went and got him another set of clothes when i mentioned to myself we better get him new clothes. and she wants me to be holding him and making sure he's happy. i'm impressed and amazed with this little girl. isaiah is pretty amazing too. he's rolled over twice. and he holds his head up for several seconds if he's laying on a shoulder. he's pretty strong already it seems. and he seems pretty content as long as food is close by. and more good news - my paper is finally done just in time (i turn it in tomorrow) i'm looking forward to being done with homework for the summer.