Oh, Happy Day!

Sophie learned a new song at church yesterday. She woke up from her nap singing this:

Oh, happy day, happy day!
I washed my sins away.
I'll never be the safe.

The song really, goes: You washed my sins away, I'll never be the same.
So her version has some doctrinal issues, but it was still really cute to hear her singing this!

Dairy Free

Oh, the difference a dairy free diet makes. I decided (with the help of some lactation consultants) to take pretty much all dairy out of my diet a few weeks ago since Claire had been having some nursing/fussing issues and had bad eczema on her face.
here is a before pic (though it is a little hard to tell in this small pic):
and ta-da, the silky smooth after:


I must say the dairy has made a huge difference. The eczema has pretty much disappeared and she almost immediately started sleeping 9-11 hours at night. So, even though my diet now consists of a dairy free coffee creamer, no ice cream, no cheese, no yogurt, no milk, no whipped cream, and did I mention no ice cream :) - I am at least happily sleeping at night and have a good nursing baby again!

birthday girl

I was so busy blogging about my baby's bowel movements the other day that I forgot to share about Sophie's birthday! She turned 2 on July 31st. Our big girl. We laugh because we call her our big girl and think that she is so old, and our neighbors across the street who have 3 kids refer to their 2 and a half year old son (their youngest) as "the baby". It's a matter of perspective I guess!

Even though the terrible two's are in full swing, we were graciously reminded at church yesterday through Psalm 127 what a blessing and gift children really are. And Sophie is - she makes our hearts melt & makes us laugh til we cry on a daily basis. It is so amazing to watch her grow, talk more, learn more, to see her imagination and creativity flourish. We praise God for the blessing that she is to us! We love you sweet Soph!

The hard life of a 2 month old

Our poor Claire-bear has had some rough days lately. Well, at first it was rough for Mommy, because for 3 nights in a row she slept around 4 hours and was waking up to eat. I assumed that it was a growth spurt. If all else fails, just assume it's a growth spurt, right? She was then getting up 3 hours later which is so not like her. I am happy to say that part has ended. Unfortunately, her latest issue is pooping. She was doing great - having plenty of poos all day long. Then all of a sudden, she had one. That was Friday. And now it is Tuesday and she's barely pooed. Just a tiny squirt on Sunday and a tiny squirt earlier today. The nurse at the pediatrician's office said not to worry until around 5 days which will be tomorrow. She also said to try some prune juice. I thought that wouldn't be so hard but so far no luck, not a fan of prune juice. I even tried giving it to her before a feeding thinking that if she was really hungry she'd suck it down. Nope. So, as funny as this sounds - please pray for this girl to poop soon! And of course if you have any good suggestions on how to get her bowels moving - please send them my way! Oh, the topics of interest in a mother's life!

That's not where the rough stuff ends though. Now the mean stuff. I felt like such a horrible mommy because the other night as we were putting Sophie to bed I was holding Claire, and as I was about to shut the door one of her little fingers got caught. Thankfully, it was just a little pinch and I didn't completely close it on her. Ouch, I bet you're just squirming reading this! I still feel awful. She screamed like she's never screamed before. I iced it and tried to give her as much comfort as possible. And again, thankfully by the grace of God it was just a little red and nothing else happened to it.

Now Sophie's turn to be the mean one. This morning I had Claire in the pack n' play with a little sea horse toy who's tummy glows and plays music. The sea horse is mostly soft but a little heavy b/c of the music compartment. I saw Sophie take it out, and I told her to please give it back to Claire since she was "playing" with it. Well, to Sophie's credit she obeyed and put it back in the pack n' play, just not so gracefully. She basically threw it back into the pack n' play and hit Claire in the face with it. Claire started screaming, and of course I panicked a little. Sophie saw this and got a huge pouty look on her face and started whaling too. It was actually kind of sweet, because the expression on her face clearly showed that she was so sorry and sad for what had happened to her baby sister. I told her to say I'm sorry to Claire and she did right away. Claire was fine, and I found myself consoling Sophie more than Claire because Sophie was so distraught by this whole event. As I was holding Claire and walking around with her for the next few minutes, everywhere I went Sophie made sure to bring me the sea horse so Claire could have it. Even though Claire getting hit with the toy wasn't something I would have wanted to happen, It was so neat to see such care and compassion in a 2 year old through the whole event.

With all of that being said, Claire is still really happy and sweet. Praise God for his mercy.