Wednesday, December 02, 2009

its beginning to feel a lot like christmas



just in case you were wondering.....23 more sleeps until christmas!

i took samuel in for his 6 month checkup today. its funny how, since we found out he was a boy, i've been expecting him to be just like his brother in so many ways. i had read in tristan's baby journal that he was wearing 12 month clothing by 7 months. puzzled by the fact that samuel seemed pretty comfy in his 6 month clothing, i took out a 9 month outfit from his closet today and dressed him in it, wondering why it looked so darn big. and i could never figure out why all the adorable little hats that his big brother's head never fit into would continually slide down over samuel's eyes. so he was weighed and measured and i guess i shouldn't have been so surprised to hear that he is 17lbs 2oz, which is in the 40th percentile for weight. his height is in the 60th percentile and his head circumference is in the 25th. my first thought was "oh no, something is terribly wrong with my little iddy biddy boy!" until i realized that he is absolutely perfectly average. its his brother who was NOT average, always pushing the 95th or 100th percentile in every category. samuel took his shots like a pro and conked out once we got home for a lovely 3 hour nap.

as i wrote in the last post, tristan is feeling so much better, but we found out that day that the ear infection has not completely cleared up. because he's been on something like 4 different antibiotics, he now needs to go see an ear/nose/throat specialist on friday. i'm praying he won't need tubes or anything like that. i've already talked to my chiropractor who told me he'd like to work on him before anything drastic like surgery takes place. i just don't understand how an infection could be so resiliant when he's only had 1 other ear infection in his life! i've had a couple of people mention the need for him to get more probiotics after being on antibiotics for so long. the only food i know of that contains probiotics is yogurt. does anyone else out there know of other ways he can get more of those?

i bought some christmas oranges the other day (known down here as "clementines") and tristan and i have been gobbling them down like its going out of style. after eating his second orange in a row the other day, he told me, "i eat orange wots and wots and wots and it goin' in my tummy, see?" and he proceeded to pull up his shirt so i can see his belly button. i asked him where the orange goes after its been in his tummy. he didn't hesitate for a moment before saying, "my wegs." and where does it go after that? "ummmm....my chin."

yesterday being december 1st and all, i hauled all the christmas decorations from the garage and spent nearly the entire day setting them all out. if i wouldn't have had any kids at home, it probably would have taken me 30 minutes flat. but i had a very curious little boy re-arranging all of my nativites (he likes to have all of the animals circling the manger as if they're eating the hay from right under poor baby Jesus) and a very fussy little baby who would only stop uttering annoying sounds if he was glued to my hip. so it took me all day, but i am quite pleased with the results. and this year a brand new nativity was added to our collection, thanks to grammie & grandad.



as you can see, these animals actually have their very own manger of hay to munch on, which thrills tristan to no end. i LOVE this little set. when you push the angel down, the star lights up and plays a very non-annoying portion of "silent night". its so funny how this will be tristan's 3rd christmas, but its still all new to him because he can't remember anything from the previous years! i'm finally feeling like the season is really starting and i can't wait to start making peanut brittle and wrap up some christmas presents. i've got a continuous lineup of christmas movies on request at the library and i was so sad to have to return "a charlie brown christmas" yesterday. the whole soundtrack to that movie brings back such great christmas memories for me. right now we've got "alabaster's song" and "the crippled lamb" out and tristan and i watched them for the first time tonight. it was so cute to see his face when all of the angels appeared in the sky and sang to the shepherds. then, when baby Jesus was born, his little hand found mine and held it until the end of the movie. gosh, i love that kid.


14 comments:

Jessica LaTour said...

Is that a Little People nativity?! So cute. And so not fragile & easy to break.

heidi said...

yes, i forgot to mention, its little people and made by fisher price...just perfect for little hands & imaginations!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sweetheart, Your bonecracker can cure a Bacterial Infection with spine manipulation? Sounds like your bc could use a shunt to drain his head. As for tubes, sure beats sign language for life. Really glad Tristan is feeling better but you've still got to beat the infection. Please forgive me for the raised (Spock) eyebrow.

Love Dad.

kelly ens said...

i LOVE that nativity set...have always wanted it for our family...some year :)

Leanne said...

The same nativity set was a gift from Grandma this year too! LOVE it. Ours plays Away in a Manger. It inspired tons of interest in the Bible, and reading the Christmas story.

And I give Lucas pro biotic powder that I buy from a health food store, made specifically for kids. I sprinkle it on anything - yogurt, cereal, applesauce, etc. Kinda pricey, but does the job.

L&D said...

Yes, yogurt is good, but you can also get "acidophilus" which is the probiotic, in a capsule form from any grocery or healthfood store. Just break open the capsules and mix it into his cereal, apple sauce etc. It's pretty cheap too. At least it is here.

Gotta love your dad's comment. Snicker. I hate to say it, but I agree with him. Once the infection is cleared up, THEN preventative measures can be taken ie: chiropractic.

Hope that helps.
Call me sometime this week to chat if you get a minute. I'm always up for adult conversation.

Shannon said...

you can buy some chewable probotics for kids at the healthfood store.

Chiro's are magical folks worthy of much praise (for taking away 80% of my headaches) but I didn't know it had anything to do with ears. Something to do with his balance and the ear fluid? I agree that sounds more of a once he is better, to stay better. worth a try while you wait and see.
The word surgery sounds scary but tubes are pretty common, and in some kids can save many and much painful nights.

Lori said...

Dude. Dude. Samuel is NOT itty bitty. Matthew is itty bitty. Garrett was ALWAYS in the 50's for length and about the 15's for weight. I assumed Matthew would follow in his brother's footsteps. I know. I know. This was ONE stupid assumption for oh so many reasons. But...at his nine month appointment 2 days ago, Matthew was in the 18th for weight and the 7th for length. SEVENTH! I call him Sproles. This might not mean anything to you but mention it to Josh. He might get it.

Christy B. said...

I agree with your dad, Heidi. Tubes are NOT drastic. It's a pretty simple 15 min. procedure. Yes, it is surgery, but kids fare so much better afterwards. P.S. Costco sells the Probiotic pills here, and fairly cheap, too. Do you have the yogurity drinks there, called 'Danone'? I am pretty sure that they are only here, but they have a kids probiotic kids drink. Check out your yogurt isle, they might have something similar to that.

Lovella ♥ said...

Smiling at the nativity . .oh how sweet. I love mine and watching them play with it. . .my favorite line this year. . ."I want Jesus".
Oh I do hope the ear infections clear up completely.
Having worked for Dr. Enns for many years. ..his little activator did a marvelous job at relieving ear congestion. I have no idea how it worked but I sure did talk to a lot of very happy parents at the receptionist desk.

Heather said...

Laughing at your comment about your boys ... ours is currently one of those "pushing the 95%" kind. I guess there has to be the other 95% to get them there :)

And although I know this is terribly random, I laughed at your use of the word "munching". I use it ALL the time, and Matt constantly makes fun of me for it. I love seeing it used by someone else!

All Boys said...

Glad to hear that Tristian is doing a bit better. Been down the ear tube surgery 3 times, then the Adnoids with the boys. What a difference. Dr. Kearns at Children's Hospital is the BEST ENT around. If you have to go down that road, I have your back Heidi. It is only a 5 minute surgery. Ryan has suffered more. He is in speech class. He had more fluid that came from nowhere. He had back to back, doubles for 6 months. That is why they then took his Adnoids. He hasn't had an ear infection since. Amen! Love, Tammy

Taxi Driver said...

Yikes to the "surgery". Everyone has done a stellar job at encouragement and I know it _will_ be okay (even beneficial) if Tristan has to go there....but it sure turns the stomach just thinking about it, eh? We do have Dannon yogurt down here (although the Americans had to change the spelling-of course). I really like the DanActive drinks - they're tasty and small. Activia is also a good choice (both products by Dannon). Probiotics also feed off of prebiotics (honey, fruit, tomato) so including these in Tristan's diet will help keep his probiotics thriving.

Crazy how we eat bacteria found in the colon to be healthy, eh? Didn't folks used to swallow tape worms as a dieting strategy once?

I do love your little nativity set for little fingers. We'll have to look into one of those for our little guy in a few years.

When Kaiser was born, he was in the 2nd percentile until he reached a month, then he elevated to 7th. I think we hit 25% by his 4th month. We'll see where he's at now for his 6mo checkup next week. I didn't understand the percentile chart well enough to be concerned early on. But then again, he eats well (never spits up) and poops with the best of them. I'm so grateful for his health/growth. We're starting to pack away the 3-6mo clothes and pull out the 6-9mo.

Please wish the big, little boy and the little, little boy a Happy Christmas for me.

21 more sleeps.....

-TL

Naomi said...

I smiled at Samuel's weight. The youngest of the kids I take care of weighed 17 lb at his one year check up. He's a little guy, but running all over the place. :)