The 3 Sickateers

This last week the cold hit our house. Gunnar, Brecken and I got the cold the night after Heidi had her baby. I was so bummed because I didn't want to be around them. They didn't need it. Anyway, it was so sad to see a 3 month old with a cold. He was so stuffed up but couldn't do much about it. I love sucking the stuff out of babies noses. Not sure why but I do. Brecken could be screaming but I was on a mission. One of those things that has to be done. Monday was an aweful day. Brecken screamed uncontrollably twice where nothing worked to calm him. It was aweful. It would last too long and I didn't know what to do but hand him off when Jeff got home. That night was aweful. He woke up at 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am, 6am, 7am ...you get the idea. From 5am to 7am he screamed and screamed. He was not hungry and the only thing that would put him to sleep was me walking around the house. I did that for 2 hours straight. I tried to sit down, he screams. I tried to sit in the rocker and rock him, he screamed. It was aweful and tiring. Now you have to understand. Our children have to be bleeding severely or near death for us to take them to the doctors. We don't go for just anything. The only time that we have been other than well child visits was for Gunnar's pink eye. That's it. So I knew I had to take him in. He was acting so out of the norm. With his cold, I was worried about his young age and things that he could get because of it. I was lucky to get in with our normal doctor that afternoon, took him in, and discovered that he has an ear infection. I was so happy with my decision to take him in. Poor little guy was in so much pain. We got the medicines that we needed and he was back to his normal self. I just hope he is not going to be one of those kids that we battle ear infections...Mindy.

I forgot what wacky hormones can do to a person. My hair lately has been shedding like crazy. Envision shedding and then envision it so much worse. It has been bad. I happen to be reading one of those -your baby is X months old- emails and shedding was one of the topics. It said an average person loses about 125 hairs a day. About 12 weeks after having a baby, a mother can lose as many as 500 hairs a day!! I'm about there, no joke. My hair has always appeared to shed worse because of my curly hair but it is ultra nasty. I have TONS of hair in the shower, I have hair all over the house, Brecken is always grabbing my hair and ends up with handfuls. Just nasty.

I made caramel apples the other day with homemade caramel. They are pretty yummy but not my thing. Stuff like this sounds fun but ends up stressing me out in the end. I was using a candy thermometer for the caramel. All was good until I was nearing the end and the thermometer came free from the clip and ended up plummetting into the sauce. Ooops. I'm hoping to try pumpkin cream pie in a jar for gifts and homemade peppermint patties soon. We'll see how they turn out.

Does anyone else have problems with 4.5 year olds that are bossy and mean most times. We are going through an aweful phase right now. I am not nice most days, I am not Gunnar's friend often (which translates into he does not like me), and he rarely listens to me lately. I thought it was a new baby brother thing but Mindy complains about the exact same thing with the boy that she nanny's. On the other hand he can be so fun and nice on rare occassions. Those moments are quite enjoyable. He really is a super funny kid. Come next fall, I will be an excited parent when he heads off to school. Excited for him to experience something different and new, not necessarily the fact that he will be away from home. He is already talking about it all of the time so I know that he is ready and looking forward to it.

Brecken is no longer fearful of Gunnar instead trying to initiate conversation all the time. It melts my heart. Most times Brecken would much rather play with Gunnar than with me. He gets this little excited look on his face when Gunnar comes around. Gunnar equally gets excited when Brecken smiles at him.

Oh ya, Brecken was weighed at his doctors appointment. He weighs 15lb 6oz at 1 week shy of turning 4 months old. Gunnar was 6 months old at this weight. He is 3 times Camden's weight. Explains why Brecken feels like a tank and Camden feels like a feather.