Lydia at 6 months

At 6 months Lydia:

• loves squash and pears and has no trouble polishing off a container of each for supper; if I'm not fast enough she'll squawk at me to hurry up!

• loves being talked to
• is in the 27th percentile for height (25 1/4 inches) and 23rd percentile for weight (14 pounds 10 ounces)
• loves patty-cake and peek-a-boo
• can roll over from back to stomach and stomach to back so fast!
• constantly chews on her hands, toys, your fingers, and anything she can get a hold of (but no teeth yet)
• has the most kissable cheeks you've ever seen
• loves baths

• has the best baby thighs you've ever seen :)
• takes 2-3 naps a day and goes to sleep around 7:30 each night
• loves to ride with me in the carrier while I mow the lawn and falls asleep almost immediately
• smiles and giggles so easily
• loves her big brother and sister and laughs and grins at them a ton
• hates pacifiers
• loves my mother's necklace and chews on it as much as she can and holds onto it every time she nurses
• has the smelliest poop and farts you can possibly imagine :)
• still likes her bouncer and play mat
• likes to cuddle and be munched on
• loves to be in the sling while grocery shopping or just doing things around the house
• is still one of the most laid-back babies in the world!

Can't get enough of our Lydia!

The latest

I took Grace to see a pediatric neurologist in Toledo this week. She is still taking Inderal for her migraines but they have backed the dosage back down because when they doubled it she was exhausted and moody all the time. She is also going to have to have quite a bit of lab work done, an ECG and an MRI (both with and without contrast). They are all standard tests that are done when you start going to a neurologist. He also prescribed an additional anti-nausea suppository to give her if she starts to vomit like she typically does during a migraine. I was quite happy about this. We were in his office for over 2 hours and most of that was spent with him or one of his med students. They were very thorough and Grace did fantastic. He spent quite a bit of time talking to me about the fact that Grace is 4 and therefore Steve and I have to be her advocates. I have started keeping a food journal as well as writing down what time she goes to bed and how long she naps every day (lack of sleep can trigger a migraine). He also said that she should not have the big 4 that can trigger migraines: caffeine (no problem - she never has pop, coffee or tea) chocolate (crud), peanut butter or nuts (oh crap), and cheese (oh holy crap). So far she is doing great and has even taken quite a bit of the responsibility and ownership on herself. I will update again after her tests are all done. We go back to the neurologist in 6 weeks. She also started soccer last month. She has practice every Thursday and games once a week. She loves it and her coach is the one and only Steve! :) We love to go and watch her play each week. It's a great way to start teaching good sportsmanship and what being part of a team is all about. Her shirt is the smallest size they had and it still looks like a dress on Grace. It comes down to her knees so I have to tie it in the back so she doesn't look ridiculous. :)

Samuel seems to be growing up more and more each day. I am amazed with how much more he is talking in complete sentences. I wanted to write down a few Sam-isms that I don't want to forget. He now says "timeout" but used to say "mimeout" which I always thought was so funny. He also now says "grandpa" instead of "pampa". He also has an extreme hatred of ladybugs. If he sees one he will run and get a wipe and lay it on top of it. I know if I see a random wipe lying in the middle of the floor that there is going to be a ladybug under it. I'll ask him why he doesn't like ladybugs and he says "badybug get my face!" Ha! He is also doing a great job going to the bathroom. He will even run and go pee himself often now! He stays dry most days. He still poops during his nap almost every day but we'll get there someday. Sam also has a new love in life - Team Umizoomi. At least once a day he'll run up to me asking "Mommy, I watch Umizoomi?!" He also really enjoys playing hide and seek. He can count to 13 and then he skips to 18 and then can go up to 23. He can also name quite a few letters which I think is awesome! He is still in love with cars and chapstick and I almost always find one or the other in his pants pockets and coat pockets. He also has been super interested in helping me in the kitchen which I love! He is always dragging the stool to different counters to help with whatever I'm doing. He is also very into trains and airplanes. Multiple times each day I hear "Mom, I see airpane!" I always reply with "Me too buddy, are you excited to fly on one soon?" He usually just says yeah and keeps looking for more but yesterday he popped off with "Yeah, I fly it self!" (translation - he wants to ride/fly the plane by himself). I looked at him in the rear-view mirror and he had this huge ornery grin on his face. Little turkey. I love that grin.

Lydia is getting so big! I'll have an update on her in her 6 month post in a couple days.

We went down to mom and dad's today and colored Easter eggs with David's girls. Then after naps we hid the eggs outside and the kids had an Easter egg hunt. After that the kids got to go back inside and search for their Easter baskets from Grandma and Grandpa Chupp. What a fun day and always one of my favorite traditions! We missed the Kio's of course but I'm sure they are enjoying the sunshine in Charleston. :)

Valentine's Day

Here are the kids' Valentine for this year. They always have an exchange with the other kids at Martha's. Sorry if you feel jipped that you got it virtually. :)

And here is Grace's for her preschool class.

We had a lot of fun making them together!

Lydia at 4 months old

I am 3 weeks late writing this post but better late than never, right? Lydia is growing like a weed and was 12 1/2 pounds and 24 inches long at her 4 month check up. She is in the 50th percentile in height and head circumference and 25th percentile for weight (although you'd never believe it if you saw her thighs and rump!) :) She continues to be such a joy to all of us. The kids absolutely love her and want to help feed her, hold her, button her clothes, and take a bath with her. She is a happy little girl and will smile and giggle when I munch on her cheeks, neck, toes, hands, belly, and legs. She is not spitting up nearly as much and has had rice cereal a couple of times. I don't really push giving it that much. She just started taking a 6 ounce bottle at the sitter's every morning this past week. Besides that bottle I continue to be able to feed her before I leave in the morning, at noon and then again at 3 when I pick the kids up. It's so awesome to be able to do that! She loves her Bumbo, her bouncer, her play mat and continues to enjoy toys. She loves to be chatted with and will skillfully roll from her back to her belly almost immediately when laid on the floor. She is starting to enjoy games like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. Oh how we enjoy our sweet Lydi-Lou! :)

Tank

I had to run a few errands in Defiance today with Lydia and Samuel and decided to run through a drive-thru on the way home since it was getting to be lunch time. I got the combo meal that comes with 2 cheeseburgers thinking that I could give Steve the extra sandwich when we got home. I took the bag back to Samuel and unwrapped his sandwich and gave it to him. I left the bag beside him and told him that he could have a few fries too if he ate his sandwich all gone. By the time I got out of Defiance he was polishing his sandwich off. I then stopped paying attention (big mistake) and a few minutes later glanced in the rear view mirror and noticed that Samuel was over halfway done with the second sandwich! Within a couple minutes he had that one finished too. He then reached in and pulled out the fries. He shoveled a few of them in his mouth before finally saying he was full. Seriously?! I don't know where he puts it. Then tonight we went to Pizza Hut to celebrate dad's 60th birthday. I had to cut him off after he ate 3 large pieces of pizza (1 was cut in half in his defense.) On the way home Lydia was screaming so we pulled over at a McDonald's so I could feed her quick. Samuel's response? "I want nuggets!" No we didn't get him any. :)

My latest attempt

I've been tempted to make my own laundry detergent for awhile now. I finally bought the stuff I needed and did it. I have no idea why I waited so long. I needed exactly 3 ingredients to make it and it costs $0.74/2 gallons to make. Why, why, why did I ever wait so long to do this?! I have no idea how much money I've wasted on laundry detergent in the last 10 years and I refuse to sit down and attempt to figure it out because it would just be depressing. Instead of spending 15ish dollars or more every 6-8 weeks I'm spending 74 cents. How awesome is that?! It costs less than 1 cent/load. Here's the blog post I used:

How to Make your own Laundry Soap

I did a lot of research online to find as much information as I could about making my own laundry soap. What I found was that pretty much all the recipes are essentially the same, some people use more or less of each ingredient, and that bath soap does not clean as well as laundry soap. I also learned that this is great for High Efficiency washers because it makes little to no suds (FYI the suds in store bought laundry detergent are for looks only and don't actually have anything to do with cleaning.)

Here's what you need: (It cost $7.59 total for the three ingredients)

• Some kind of bucket to mix all your ingredients in. I used a 2 gallon paint bucket.
• 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha Laundry Soap (you can also use Zote, Octagon, or Ivory--amounts may vary)
• 1/2 cup Borax
• 1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (everything but the bucket can be found in the laundry aisle of Walmart)

Baking Soda and Washing Soda are different. See?

Step 1: Cut your bar of Fels Naptha Soap into thirds and finely grate one third of it.

Save the other two thirds because next time you make a batch of laundry soap it will feel like you are doing it for FREE!

Step 2: Put your grated soap in a pot with 6 cups of water and heat on low until the soap melts. Don't let the soap boil. Once all the soap is completely melted add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens (almost as thick as honey) Remove from heat.

Step 3: Pour 4 cups of hot tap water into your bucket. Add the soap mixture and stir it up. At this point you could add a few drops of essential oil like lavender or tea tree oil if you wanted your soap to have a fragrance. Add nothing and your clothes will simply smell clean.

Now add one gallon of hot tap water plus 6 more cups. I used my giant 8 cup Pyrex measuring cup but if I had had an old milk carton I would have just used that. As you can see my 2 gallon bucket barely fit it all. You might want to use a 5 gallon bucket to avoid unnecessary sloshing.

Give it another few minutes of stirring and then let it sit overnight.

Step: 4 In the morning your soap might look runny, or like gel, or separated with big clumps of slime on top and water on the bottom. This is all normal depending on the weather and the type of soap you used. At this point you can be done and simply keep your laundry soap in the bucket and just scoop out 1/2 cup per load. Or you can give it another good stir and funnel it into your old well rinsed laundry soap bottle. OR you can be a sucker for cute packaging like me and take it one step further.

Step 5: I wanted to use a Beverage Dispenser with a spigot but my soap came out all clumpy and I knew there was no way it would flow through. So I busted out my immersion blender and smoothed all the clumps layer by layer.

I funneled each layer into my container then went back and blended the next part. Blend, funnel, blend, funnel, blend, funnel...etc.

I found this cute plastic cup at a thrift store and it holds exactly 1/2 cup. Perfect!

An adhesive plastic hook gave me a cute litle laundy soap set-up.

If you have a Downy ball, you can put about 1/2 cup of Distilled White Vinegar in there and it makes a fantastic fabric softener. And no, your clothes do not come out smelling like vinegar. If you don't have a Downy ball just add your 1/2 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle. I don't like babysitting my washing machine so I have a Downy ball.

Check me out! Cute! Frugal! Tree-hugging!

Grace

Grace mastered tying her shoes this weekend. She's so proud of herself and so are we!