Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

Swiffer dusters. Nicole. Weight Watchers. Doug. Inspiration. The right place just in time. (with pictures of my boys sprinkled in). Charlie getting attacked by his elephant. He is finally grabbing for things after you tease him a long while... but then he doesn't quite know what to do with them! Swiffer dusters. I used my first one today, having bought a pack on sale at Costco. I have used socks in the past to dust, microfiber towels, but the Swiffer duster beats all. I can't believe the amount it picked up! Even Roman liked using it, and got mad when I tried to take it to do the surfaces higher up. It was wonderful. My friend Nicole is great. Doug and I have been trying to downsize our "stuff" for awhile now, having done a major cleanout of the storage unit a few months ago. Now we would like to again, and maybe even go down in size to a smaller storage unit (or even better, haul it all back here). Doug has agreed to turn his workroom into a storage area, and Nicol...

Charlie is doing both now - blowing bubbles and spitting raspberries. It's really quite funny, he gets to going on those raspberries - pbbt, pbbt, pbbt - and he sounds like a motorboat. He started up at dinner and Doug and I couldn't stop laughing! It makes feeding by spoon get put off a little longer, however. Tried to give him some of my applesauce today, he took a bite and then... you guessed it... PBBT!!! "Raspberried" it all over the table. Awesome. I have some great pictures of the boys... on my camera. I'll get to getting them on the computer soon. Roman has been having a lot of playtime with a boy just a couple houses away, but for some reason that's still not giving me more leisure time. Can't figure that one out yet. :) He has played with him every afternoon this week. It gave Charlie & I an hour yesterday to just chill on the living room floor, playing, blowing at each other, talking, and even read a book (his first book - "A Color of H...

First, my mom had her knee replacement surgery this morning. I heard from my dad at 11am and she was in recovery, with everything "fine." Pray that she continues to recover well, as the hard part (pain & physical therapy!) is still to come. Charlie had his appt with the pediatric ophthalmologist this morning. We go back in 6 months, around his first birthday. Everything so far is looking good. He can track while moving his head, and is beginning to track with just his eyes. He is farsighted, which he said most babies are born that way. He also has astigmatism in both eyes (thanks, Mama!) but he said that was actually better than in just one eye, as he's not using one more than the other. Charlie was a good boy, Roman was a patient boy, and I was a proud Mama. In Weight Watcher news, I am unofficially down another 2 lbs; I had to weigh myself early last week so I snuck a peek at the scale this morning. Doug is down a total of 12 pounds (he missed his weigh-in on Frida...

I spent the last 4 days at my parents' house, some R&R (yes, I'm on maternity leave, but that doesn't mean it's a vacation!) & some history stuff thrown in as well. Lots of funny and cool things happened on the trip. Charlie became an official thumb-sucker. Roman watched a snake eat not one, but two dead mice. Close up. I mean, really close up. That's him in the fluorescent green. We met some "Germans" settling in to their foxholes near the airport (where we also toured a B-17 bomber! Cool!). I guess the car does take away from the authenticity, however. And Ro, my dad, & I got to see a reenactment of the invasion of Peleliu, an island in the Pacific. In front of my eyes. Like, just a few feet away. It was awesome, amazing, incredible, & a lot more for which words do not do justice. Spent some quality time with grandparents, got to sleep in a little, & had a dinner out (Mexican!). All in all, a good trip - but missed Doug terribly. Dou...

Finally got a call from Wayne County Health Dept. Bureaucrats. Charlie's evaluation for "Early On" is July 1 at 8am. Scheduled it early so Doug could be here too. She told me it would take approximately 2 hours. The concern is still definitely increased tone, which is noticeable when you try to make him sit - he stiffens his legs, will not bend at the hips. I think based on what little I know, he has some in his arms too. At least, it's difficult for me to raise his arms over his heads while holding his hands, or in general move his arms around. He stiffens up. The lady told me they would test at both birth & adjusted age to see where he falls. She doubts that he will qualify for PT or OT; he would need to be developmentally at half his age (that'd be 1.5 months, as they go by adjusted age). However, they can probably give suggestions to help, and also things to look for as he grows. Charlie appears to have forgotten how to roll; He just lays and yells (again)...

Now that the Father's Day gift has been given, I can show off the pictures I took last week of the 2 brothers. Roman originally didn't want to touch Charlie - I think he has a fear of baby drool. However, when I propped Charlie next to him, he put his arm stiffly around Charlie. Then he said, "can I pat him on the head?" Of course, was the answer. So I got the second picture. Now, I actually like the first one better, because they're both grinning. Either way, they're darn cute. And Daddy was very pleased to get a decorated picture frame with multiple pictures of his boys for his desk at work.

What a crappy day. It is the annual swim at a coworker’s house, but when I woke it was stormy, rainy, and they were warning of more. So I cancelled our appearance. I did think, it will probably get nice later and I should get ready anyway… but I didn’t. Then around 11:30 I thought to call and see if they were all there, cuz I changed my mind and thought we’d go (plus, it's sunny). Got out towels and swimsuits. Then I realized that Roman needed lunch very soon, Charlie was crying for more bottle, I hadn’t showered (and needed to if I was going to appear in a swimsuit), and it would be at least 45 minutes to pack up and get out the door; & 25 minute drive to the coworker. So I decided we wouldn’t. And then, inexplicably, I began to cry. Hard. And I realized I really needed to go. I need adults, I need my old friends, and I need to get out of the house! What I really need is some time away from the kids (because I am tired of dragging them everywhere I go) but that’s a different ...

I'm trying to find a new map to see my visitors. MapLoco, which I was using, just decided not to work. I like seeing where all you readers are from, and was quite surprised to find people I don't know reading my blog! That's cool, though, cuz I went and read their blog (hi Paige!). Reading others' blogs to me is the same as trying to see inside people's houses as you drive past. You're always just a little curious about what it looks like, or what they're doing... In the adventures of Weight Watchering, I lost another 2.5 pounds for a total of 5. That's also a total of 11 lbs from when Charlie left my body, and it was enough to get me in some of my baggier XL shirts. Thank goodness. I haven't seen this weight since end of last school year! More to come. Speaking of end of the school year, I went in to school today to do some putting away and visiting with coworkers. Had drama that I wasn't expecting when I went to speak to my boss, and discovered...

Scared of bugs & storms Doesn't like hot weather - is definitely Siberian! Is slapsticky - will do pratfalls and talk to objects to get people to laugh Trusts in us completely Big, beautiful brown eyes Has quite an attitude sometimes Favorite outfit - red shorts & an orange shirt, with socks pulled up to his knees Is a good "daddy" to his stuffed animals Human stomach - would eat all morning if we let him Craves companionship - his biggest punishment is sent to his room alone . He needs to be around people Loves his Daddy, bordering idolizing him Kisses still make scrapes and bumps feel better Loves Band-Aids & ice packs Must have a tattoo on most of the time Favorite ice cream - Superman or rainbow sherbet Truly does not like chocolate Has a "fruit tooth" along with his "sweet tooth" Loves to crawl into our bed at odd hours Phenomenal memory for events and details Is very emotional when he is tired, but refuses to rest Often will state hi...

And that is because Charlie weighs, according to our scale, 18 pounds. He is one pound less than Roman when he came home. And he's definitely in the same size - he is now solidly in 6-9 month sizes, and a couple 6-month sizes are too small. Don't fit over his belly, you see. There's been a lot of little things I've thought of to blog, but they never seem by themselves enough to mention. There's the things Roman says when I tuck him in at night, like: "I love Daddy more than you. I only love you a little." I asked, how would you feel if I said I loved Charlie more than you? "That would be fine. Then I can give all my attention to Daddy." Or the fact that Charlie doesn't want anyone in the family to be out of his sight anymore. He will cry out if we leave for an extended period of time - say, 1 minute - and then stop and smile when we enter back into his sight. This goes for Roman, too. Charlie loves watching Roman play and studies him intently...

The presents, the party - Roman pronounced it all "just what I wanted." All those invited came, no surprise guests, barely any lunch was eaten, not even the cake was really eaten - too much fun running around and playing! After the party both sets of grandparents came by so Roman could open gifts from them, and then we all went out to dinner. And to think, his actual birthday isn't for 4 days yet!

Charlie has the mass, all right. Today he finally got velocity. He turned over! From his tummy to his back, tucking his right arm in. The first time was by sheer accident. He rocks his hips sometimes during tummy time but I figured it'd be at least another month. Today he was head-way-up-high, and his right arm was getting weaker. As he began to slump, he was tipping. And tipping.... and.... kaboom. He turned right over. He stared at me in shock, as I was laughing and cheering and practically crying. He didn't do it again until the afternoon, when he did it once with a little push on the hip, and then once by himself. WOW! Since tomorrow is going to be all about Roman, I'm posting pictures of Charlie this evening. Our chunka-monkey. Look at those legs! The red hair - it's going away! there's just a little bit left in the back on the right... although I don't think you can really tell here. Some is now brown, some is blonde. Look at that grin. Don't you want...

Doug had his weigh in and lost 3.5 pounds! We're on our way! Roman is definitely rediscovering things. Not to mean we're not having our struggles (following me around while I'm vacuuming , for Pete's sake!) but he's even been playing with his Viewmaster! And our Superman bop-bag won't survive the summer the way he's going at it. His birthday presents from family are focusing more on playing-toys that are more age-appropriate (no more tiny Legos for awhile) and we're pretty excited to see what he'll do. He actually allowed me to put his kitchen in storage today to make room for birthday toys that are coming. That's a huge step for him, because if he had his way he'd still have all his baby toys in his toybox. Last night he expressed to Doug that he wanted to learn to play baseball and asked if they could play catch. Again, another huge step forward.

I was almost done with the previous entry when I remembered I was going to post pictures. Enjoy! What is that square black thing in front of your face, Mommy? I'm too big! I need to switch to the other bathtub! Believe it or not, this is imagination . Roman in the middle of making a Hot Wheels racetrack, using boxes & video cases as barriers. Even more creativity! Roman adding stickers to his "picture book." Then he tells us stories based on the stickers. (the Pepsi can is mine, by the way!)

Today was my first weigh-in day on WW. I lost 2.5 pounds! Doug's weigh-in is tomorrow through work. For me I'm finding it's easier to do it this time, mostly because I can adjust my eating times. When I was working I had to eat breakfast at 6am, and had to snack at a certain time to make it to lunch. Being at home, I can eat breakfast later, which then only makes me snack in the afternoon. To continue life improvement, we are on day 3 with basic channels. Roman is desperately trying to hold onto his watching-tv life, even swearing he likes Barney just so he can sit in front of the tube. However, he also is playing trains again like a fiend, and has shown more interest in his Playmobil than he has in a long time. Thankfully, there's also less interest in the lightsabers. I don't mind them, I'm just getting tired of battling 24/7. We're counting down the days until his birthday party, which is Saturday. I am experiencing one of the first "mommy's feel...

I went to the dr. Monday morning for a physical and some bloodwork. I like intelligent doctors. I have found one. It took awhile, but I can always get in to this office (often even same-day). Regarding the intelligence - the last few years I like to discover whether a doctor is concerned that I have no family medical history. One shrugged it off; another said "when you turn 35...". This was the first time I had an actual physical at this office, and she immediately said she wanted to do an EKG so she can have a baseline for me, since I have no knowledge of any heart disease. Hooray! I like that they want to do tests a little earlier. I've always just had to be "extra careful" and ever-watchful of my body because I have no idea what might pop up. Of course, that also means I'm going to have to have a mammogram earlier than normal too. Slight bad news came today from my bloodwork, although not surprising once I thought about it. My triglycerides are a little h...

Doug gave Charlie a bath last night and commented that he put less water in. Charlie has almost grown out of the infant-position of the tub, and we're going to have to finagle it a different way very soon. Trouble is, he can't sit up yet. Anyway, Doug said he had to put less water because putting Charlie in a fuller tub is "like putting the Titanic in a lake." The imagery just cracked me up! This was going to be a normal update about the boys and us, until I was uploading some photos of Charlie when Roman came in with his snack of apples & caramel dip finished. "I love caramel!" he announced. I said I know, but I was beginning to get suspicious - why would he just say that? And then with a big grin, he showed me... he had decided to lather his hands in the rest of the caramel dip... I was very irritated/angry, but I did snap a couple pictures. I'm trying to do that more often - the anger will pass (and Roman will be buying us a new container of caram...