Darn cats

"Hey, you! Get outta my bed!"

"This bassinet's not big enough for the both of us."

The cats have chosen sides.

Slappy is a Baby Plum fan, while Wally likes Little Elvis.

Wally wouldn't stay out of Little Elvis' crib when he was little. Now, he spends most afternoons snuggled up at the foot of Little Elvis' bed. Little Elvis currently isn't a fan, though they used to be big buddies. We made a music video about their friendship.

Slappy will not stay out of the bassinet. One night I had to wake up and fuss at her to keep her from joining a finally sleeping Baby Plum. She also tries to share my lap with him and the computer when I feed.

Ring the Gack

On the way home from pre-school last week, Little Elvis said, "Let's go home and play a game called 'Ring the Gack." Pretty much quoting a line from, "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish," one of his favorite books.

Once we got home, I pulled out the base of his flashing stoplight (we have no idea where the light is) and some vintage plastic bracelets we found in the attic last week.

It worked.
Baby Plum was impressed with our new game. He's really enjoying watching his big brother these days. Little Elvis is happy about this, he helped me catch the smile on camera.

Interesting discoveries

Bob made some interesting discoveries in our attic this week -- a whole bunch of vintage things! Lots of cool dresses, costumes, books, magazines, toys, purses, and lots of other things.
The toys are most likely from the 50s, while most of the clothes seem to be from the 4os, 60s, and 70s. There are two navy coats from WW2 (seriously!) that are in decent condition. The magazines are mainly from the 60s.


We've got several pieces of clothing, some purses, lots of paper dolls, lots of vinyl album covers (big Elvis fan -- no surprise here!) some old dolls that look really bad -- along with doll accessories, some old games, several old books, and lots of issues of teen-ish magazines. There's also an old bow and 4 arrows and a few pieces of costume jewelry.

I plan on keeping at least two wool suit jackets for myself (from the 40s -- I love peplums!) and am desperately trying clean a really pretty cotton eyelet dress, but want to sell most of the other stuff. Probably going to attempt ebay, though my luck there isn't great.

Any suggestions on what to do with our loot?

Feeling better

All of us are feeling better now. Little Elvis still has ear medicine to take, but he doesn't wake up saying, "I hurt. I'm sick." He's good at being pitiful, but I much prefer him being active and hyper.
"How cool is my daddy?" Bob's classes did experiments to see how many helium balloons it took to float different objects. He brought the balloons home that evening. Sixteen balloons easily floated Little Elvis' pink Disney castle...
... and his hair. Also his spirits. He was SO excited!
We've been working on getting dressed. He put his undies on all by himself.
This pretty much sums up Baby Plum's feelings about cereal. But we're working on it. He did a much better job last night.
He likes going for walks with Daddy, though.
Wearing cute tow truck overalls for Mommy.
But most of all, he likes his feet!

This is not good to me either and either!

Little Elvis has an ear infection. It popped up around midnight last night, and I took him to the pediatrician this morning.

My usually hyper, loud little boy was very somber this morning. Once we got into our private room, he climbed into my lap and we all napped (Baby Plum in his carseat.)

The doctor was surprised that he's only had one other infection, and that it just popped up last night. I knew it had to be bad, because he's never been so adament for such an extended period about any pains.

They tested him for the flu as well by swabbing his nose. He told the nurse, "This is not good to me, either and either!" He loves to throw in an either whenever he wants to get a point across. Two eithers means he's very serious.

It took quite a while for his prescription to get filled (computer or internet error) and he kept going to the pharmacist window to say, "I sick. I sick."

Poor little boy. I really enjoyed holding my feverish little napper at the doctor's office, though. I can't remember the last time he slept in my lap. He has the most beautiful, long, black eyelashes. And a sweet little freckle on the tip of his nose. I know he has these, but I enjoyed re-discovering them this morning.

His medicine is already doing some good -- he's napping right now. None of us were able to sleep much last night because his ear hurt so much.

This is not good to me

Sometimes you have to ask for help. Even if you have no idea what's really wrong.

With both boys, I'm tempted to call the doctor (or consult Dr. Google) over minor things. This isn't the case with my health.

It hurts to feed Baby Plum. He eats all the time, and has been gnawing. I assumed this caused the sores. Yeah, sores. I've been using Baby Anbesol before each feeding, and it wasn't working. It's the second time this has happened.

On Friday I called my doctor's office to get the number of a lactation consultant. She was very friendly, and informed me that Baby Plum's thrush (and my thrush) had never really been healed. And although his mouth isn't white, his throat probably is. My thrush has escalated, hence the sores.

I now have a stronger prescription, and have renewed Baby Plum's medication as well. I also have a 10 step process to go through when feeding. Which frustrates Baby Plum to no end.

On top of this, Baby Plum does not like rice cereal. We've been trying and working with him. Sometimes he won't even open his mouth. But last night, he seemed to get the hang of it, and enjoyed the process more.

Little Elvis, takes pain about like his Mommy, and he's just as clumsy. He cries when he hurts himself. He tells me he does not like the hurt, and asks me to take it away.

When it's really painful, he'll say, "This is not good to me!" I think that about sums up my feelings on these sores.

The medicine and new program are working. Hopefully I'll be sore free by the end of the week... just in time for those teeth to pop through!

Here are my two big boys. Little Elvis just loves to hold his brother's hands.

Teddy bear day

Monday was teddy bear day at pre-school. Little Elvis was supposed to bring his teddy bear. Only problem? Little Elvis does NOT like teddy bears. How do I know? He tells me this daily.

It wasn't always this way. Up until we moved into the new house, he was ambivalent towards teddy bears. He simply didn't care about them.

Then, I had to go and decorate his baby brother's room in teddy bears. (By decorate, I mean I hung up a cute teddy bear quilt and put all of the teddy bears that Little Elvis doesn't care for on top of the dresser.)

This action led Little Elvis to shun teddy bears. Whenever I go to change Baby Plum in his room, Little Elvis follows me, tells me he doesn't like teddy bears and throws some on the floor.

When Baby Plum wears teddy bear outfits or bibs, Little Elvis loudly reminds me that HE doesn't like teddy bears. I simply tell him that I do and go about my business.

So, obviously, Little Elvis was not bringing a teddy bear to teddy bear day. Instead, I sent him off with his stuffed fire truck that he sleeps with every night. I told him to tell his teacher that he sleeps with his firetruck every night. He didn't.

His teacher (who I'm sure is very nice) didn't make any comment to me as she walked Little Elvis out on Monday. She usually tells me what he's done wrong, or doesn't say anything. So, I guessed he wasn't too bad.

There was a little worksheet in his bag that I pulled out when we got home. It's been hung on the fridge and makes me giggle whenever I pass by it.

The first line:

My name is __Little Elvis__. My teddy bear's name is __fire truck__.
I have __brown__ eyes. My teddy bear has __yellow__ eyes. (the headlights)
I have __blonde__ hair. My teddy bear has __red__ hair.
I like to __________ with my teddy bear.

See? He didn't tell her that he sleeps with firetruck every night.

This poor teacher just keeps getting more and more reasons to not like us. I guess I should have tried to explain that he's not a fan of teddy bears, but I didn't. I was tired. He can't be the first child who didn't like teddy bears. Oh well.

Before we left on Monday morning, I took a picture of Little Elvis with MY favorite teddy bear.
But didn't think either boy would appreciate it if Baby Plum had to go to the class as well.

Eh-oh-weh

Little Elvis loves to repeat everything he hears -- including the sounds that come out of Baby Plum's mouth.

Last night, Baby Plum was sitting in his Bumbo, chattering up a storm. Little Elvis began copying him. He kept saying, "He says "eh-oh-weh."
Baby Plum loves his thumb. His hands are also pretty tasty, as are everyone else's hands.
What? This isn't the face of a little baby who wouldn't let me put him down yesterday is it? No, can't be. This isn't the sweet little baby who reached glass breaking levels with his screams. Certainly not.
I'm hiding my awful hair behind a cute baby boy.
Baby Plum is really into his exersaucer. He's not impressed with the doorway jumper yet. But he will play in the exersaucer for several minutes at a time... unless his big brother is picking on him.