Roommates

It's official...Holt received his eviction notice from the couch tonight.  The living room officials figured that six months had been plenty of time to decide where the baby should finally reside.

So he's now shacked up with Hawkins.

All patrons are now free to resume eating breakfast in the kitchen, as opposed to in their rooms.  And they should no longer be subjected to constant shushing during the hours of 6am-8am.

Now if we can just teach Holt's roommate some volume control.  I honestly think he is allergic to whispering and not slamming doors.

Hawk-ism: Breaking My Heart

Hawkins has been every part of three today.  He can be very assertive with his will -- especially when it comes to bossing his brothers around.  I tell everyone, "What he lacks in size, he makes up for in attitude."

I'm pretty sure his two older brothers had taken all they could handle of "Mr. Badd-itude".  It was pretty much evident by a whole lot of screaming (from said three year old) in the hall outside his brothers' room.  Apparently, they had banished him from their room.

At the top of his lungs, he managed to declare his injustices.  His brothers continued playing, ignoring the fact that he was even there.  Realizing that his growly bear method was ineffective, he resorted to guilt.  He quit yelling and started shedding tears.  Still nothing.  Then, he pulled out his pointer finger.  With one hand on his hip, and the other casting blame with the index finger, he stood outside their room crying.  "You're breaking my heart, Doo-den (Houston) and Hayes!  You're breaking my heart!"

Still nothing.  Better luck next time, bud.

Starting Solids

Since Dr. Owen gave us the go ahead on solids, Holt and I gave it a go tonight.  Actually, Holt got a jump start with a little assistance from his brothers.  We got home from running errands.  Hawkins set his bowl of chips on the floor.  At the same time, Houston unbuckled Holt, got him out of his car seat, and laid him on the floor.  I did not know any of this was happening.  When I passed through the living room, Holt had discovered the unattended bowl of chips.  He was chowing down on the Cool Ranch Doritos.  Probably not what Dr. Owen had in mind when he approved solids.

I snatched Holt up and swiped three dime sized pieces out of his mouth.  Needless to say when I introduced squash shortly after, he was not interested.  He tolerated a few bites and then proceeded to spit out every spoonful after that.  I guess the bland squash puree doesn't hold a candle to the highly seasoned corn chips.

Check-Up Time

We spent this afternoon at the doctor.  When I scheduled Holt's six month check-up and Hayes' six year check-up to be at the same time, it seemed like a great idea.  The closer this day approached, the more I began to dread it.  My fears were validated.

There was no one else in the waiting room when we arrived.  The office was actually very calm and quiet.  That is, until my mangy crew arrived.  I was handed a stack of papers to update records for each of my two boys that were being seen that day.  Just as I sat down to start updating, they called us back to a room.  You know what a pediatrician's exam room looks like.  Now picture my three rambunctious boys and a baby in a carrier all wedged in there.  We were literally on top of each other.  And have I mentioned that my three year old has trouble with volume control?  He seriously makes noise just to hear himself make noise.  And in that tiny room, it is all amplified a hundred times.

The next thirty minutes were a whirlwind, similar to that of a Nascar pit stop.  Shifting kids between weight checks and height measurements, temperatures, a urine sample and a finger prick.  I think I've decided since I have only boys, that it is only fair for Daddy to attend the check-ups so that he can assist in collecting the urine sample.  After all that had been completed, I felt like I had been put through the ringer.  I needed a rest.

Knock. Knock.  It was Dr. Owen.  He opened the door and hadn't even gotten all his hello's out yet before Houston, much like a senior citizen, thrust this in his face:

Mind you, he was not one of the boys with a check-up today.  Turns out it is an overactive lymphnode attacking a bug bite directly above it.  But to be safe, Dr. Owen wanted to run bloodwork.  Earlier when the finger prick lady was in, Houston was promised he was safe.  When she flung the door open, I knew we were gonna have a problem.  Every time before, Adam or I have had to lay on top of him.  Much to my surprise, he took it like a man, never even whinced.  I hope this is the new trend.

We went ahead and completed Hayes' check-up first, since Holt was being very quiet and content, unlike all his brothers.  Dr. Owen said he looked great!  See stats below.

I got the big boys settled (see highly concentrated faces to the left) for Holt's portion of the check-up, which just left my noisemaker child.  There wasn't a seat for him so while I attempted to discuss Holt's development, he proceeded to push Hayes and raise his voice and cry.  I snatched him up to sit on the table and explained that I needed him to be quiet.  That worked...for a minute.  "La la la la la la la!"  he began shouting while shaking his head back and forth.

Holt received a great report as well.  I requested a consult about his mishapen head.  So, we will be heading to a neurosurgeon in the near future.  And we got a green light to start adding vegetables and fruit into his diet.

At the end of the check-up, I hadn't even touched the stack of forms that the receptionist had handed me an hour ago.  And since Houston got blood drawn, I now had a stack for him as well.  The kids went out to select their suckers while I filled out the papers.  There was only one green sucker.  Hayes chose that one, which of course is the only one that Hawkins wanted.  So to wrap up the whole doctor experience, we walked out with Hawkins having a full blown meltdown trailing behind.  Why should our departure be pleasant?!

Let's just say after all of that, I had a headache, immune to any pain medication that I can take while nursing, for the rest of the evening.

Hayes
49 pounds -- 50th percentile
45.76" -- 50th percentile

Holt
17lb 1oz -- 40th percentile
27.5" -- 80th percentile
Didn't catch the head measurement but it was the 97th percentile -- go figure!

Mother's Day Lessons

Holt's handprint is precious and Houston's feet are ginormous!

Lessons from Hayes:

Lessons of note:

My favorite food is "salid".  Although I do like salad, I do not eat it often.  Not sure how he conjectured that.  However, I am thankful he did not choose any number of junk food that might've been slightly more accurate.

I know she's mad when she yells.  Yeah, I gotta work on this one.

She shows me she loves me when she let's me play my dsi (nintendo).  So much for good old-fashioned hugs and kisses.  Too bad his love language rots his brain and ruins his eyes.  Guess the kid will not ever feel very loved.

Lessons from Houston:

Lessons of note:

I weigh 45 pounds!  If only my scale could get the memo!

He was spot on with my age.  Come on, man!  I don't look a day over 24!

My favorite food is meatballs with "manase".  Little jokester was being funny.

He loves me because I am amazing.  Let's have an altogether "awww" moment.

Holt is 6 months!!

A whole half year already!  And I still have to think really hard if your birthday is the 4th or the 5th.

*You're still on breastmilk (5-6 oz in each bottle).  I always wanted to make it to 6 months pumping, but never really imagined that I actually would.  Here we are and I am pressing on!

*You are beginning to get mobile, without scooting or crawling.  With all the rolling and twisting you do, you are never anywhere near where I left you on the floor.

*We started feeding you a hefty portion of cereal each night just before bed.  With that, we finally got you sleeping through the night again.  However, we can tell with your chunky legs (see picture left) that you have packed on the pounds because of it.  Since you're sleeping through the night again, you might actually move into your crib.

*You are an excellent napper, in true Schwartz fashion.  At naptime, I lay you in your pack-and-play on your tummy and you go right to sleep.  At nighttime, you still sleep swaddled.

*You reach for things in your perimeter--like a cup full of water on the kitchen counter that I walked past while you were on my hip.  You love to play with toys.  You've begun flailing your arms with a toy tightly grasped in your fingers, which results in you clobbering yourself in the face.  So, Mommy only lets you play with soft toys.

*You love to be outside.  While your brothers ride their bikes up and down the sidewalk, you will sit in your stroller for an hour and never make a peep.

*You have two bottom teeth.  The first one poked through on April 15 but when it was finally visable, the other was right beside it.

*You must receive about 15 zillion kisses a day (99% of those are from me).

*You love, love, love your toes!  And you are very vocal now.  You sing, squeal, babble, and blow zerberts constantly.  When you start babbling, your brothers take turns translating your "stories".

Huey's Note

Houston was having a difficult afternoon.  He had not been listening very well and had been instigating quarrels with his brothers.  Therefore, I had stayed on him pretty hard.  He disappeared for a few minutes.  When he returned, he handed me a folded up slip of paper and dashed away.  However, I could still see him out of the corner of my eye.  He paused right around the corner where he thought he was out of sight but could still watch me open his note.

I smiled really big and my smiling caused him to smile really big as he headed to his room.