A little bit of everything…but mostly Malachi

So, Malachi was four months old last week.

At his appointment this week, he was 17 lbs and 4 oz.  Here’s Kalvary at 4 months.

She was 18 lbs and here’s Glory at 4 months…all 14 lbs of her. 

Today we made our own liquid laundry detergent.  We haven’t tried it yet, but it was easy to make and I do think it’s cheaper than buying detergent.  It has Fels Naptha, Borax, a little regular laundry detergent, and a lot of water.

Malachi had his first solid food today…a bit of baby oatmeal.  He did great.  He’s already a pro.  I’m starting him a little earlier than my girls mostly because my pediatrician said that it may help with his nightly screaming.  Here’s hoping…

Malachi got his first haircut a few weeks ago.

He had a long patch in the back that stuck up and looked funny.

We are now using gdiapers with Malachi.  I’m really liking them.  It’s an outer layer that feels like a tshirt, then a plastic liner, and then we’re using our prefold diapers inside.  You can buy flushable inserts that are way cool, but also way expensive. 

I’ve been inspired to try to make my own washable wet wipes.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

I’m currently not eating dairy, chocolate, or drinking pop.  I’m trying desperately to have a baby that doesn’t scream at night.  It’s helping, I think, but he still has to scream a little.  I really miss dairy.  I’m may have just realized that I like milk more than I like chocolate and that’s saying something.

I made some swaddling blankets a while back and have used them nonstop since.  It’s just a yard and a half of flannel.

(Thanks to Lisa for the gdiaper tip and the swaddling blanket info.)

And, a parting shot.

Malachi spends a least a couple hours a day in this backpack (usually on his mommy or daddy’s back).

Problems with Teeth

                                                                                         

We have had a rash of bitings recently.  Yesterday, Kalvary bit Glory’s ear really, really hard.  I had to discipline her quite severely.  Tonight Glory passed along the mandibles of death to Malachi, biting his finger, once again, really hard.  I then had to discipline Glory quite severly.  After reading them their bible story, which was actually pretty boring, but broke out into me trying to explain the trinity to Kalvary, I told them both, “Alright, lets remember no more biting.”  Kalvary was quick to affirm that she would not be biting anyone.  Glory tilted her head a little bit and said, “I’m going to bite Jesus.”  Not exactly what I was going for, I said, “No we’re not going to bite anybody.”  Then Glory mumbled under her breath, “I’m going to eat mommy.”  I decided to let that one go… I didn’t think I could address it with a straight face.

Kris’ tips: A new feature (mostly on baby stuff)

I can never stand the prenatal vitamins that they give me at the doctor’s office.  Those are supposed to smell and taste good…like vanilla, but they make me gag.  So, I always just buy over the counter multivitamins and then take an extra folic acid tablet.  Works great for me…might work for you. 

Highlights from the weekend my sister was here

My sister Deb was here as a birthday gift to herself over the second weekend in August.  It was such a good weekend for me…I hope it was for her too.

Highlights:
- Deb meeting Malachi for the first time
- Deb and I being able to share the experience of pregnancy (yes, she’s pregnant and I feel like I have so many things I want to tell her of what I’ve learned)
- Mom coming too
- Mom, Deb, and I enjoying the same sleep habits…lazy mornings
- hand sewing and decorating felts blocks together for Deb’s baby
- Deb and Kalvary and Glory doing crafts together: homemade sewing cards and “embroidery” with burlap (Kalvary LOVED it.)
- going shopping together…not that we got much
- locking my keys in the van and having to call the locksmith (okay, that was more of a “lowlight”)
- having Deb get to experience my church, which I love
- just getting spend time with my sister and my mom…that doesn’t happen very often

*Mom and Deb, can you email me some pictures of the weekend so I can post a few?*

A little malachi funny.

Bubba

What we’ve been up to

Today we did tons of corn and of course we didn’t take any pictures.  We did it with Jeff and Kara (Ryan’s sister) at their house.  We had heard that you can figure about one dozen ears of corn to one quart.  So, we both wanted about 10 quarts…20 dozens ears.  Let’s just say that we got a little over 2 quarts per dozen ears of corn.  We’ve got corn coming out our ears and it took us most of the day.  It was an enjoyable and fulfilling day, though.

Last weekend we were at conference in Holmes County, Ohio.  Relatively fun, but our kids made it rather crazy at times.  Do we really want to go to Iowa next year?

The weekend before that we went to a friend’s wedding (Jared & Rebekah) in Virginia.  We only took Malachi and we had a really good time.  Honestly, I don’t think I’ve had that much fun in a long time.  We went with Twila and Kelvin (church friends).  Here are some of Twila’s pictures from our time.