My Sweet Chaos

The Gastroenterologist Meets Payson and His Very Angry Tummy

2009-11-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

This morning Payson had an appointment with a gastroenterologist at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

I managed to bathe and feed and dress and fix the hair of all three of my children and myself all before 9am. I walked out of the house carrying Payson with Brooklyn and Sierra following feeling like I should be stepping up to a podium to accept an award for Mother of the Year. And if that'd been the case my acceptance speech would've went like this:

"I'd like to thank myself for being responsible and organized and patient. I'd like to thank myself for not forgetting anything. I'd like to thank myself for filling out paperwork ahead of time. I'd like to thank myself for not wasting time. Leaving on time wouldn't have been possible without me... and the child mentioned a check?"

I got in the car and headed off.

We got to the office at 9:50am. Brooklyn and Sierra ran straight for the TV which was playing The Bee Movie. I headed for the check-in desk. I felt laid back and happy since I was 20 minutes early.

I gave Payson his bottle while the receptionist copied his insurance card and my license.
And the danged bottle leaked everywhere! The same brand of bottle that had leaked at our last appointment. Ugh.

Luckily it was a doctor's visit and we all know that kids spend most of the visit half dressed anyway.

We were in the waiting room for just a few minutes before being called back.

Brooklyn was in a good mood this time since it was Payson's visit and not her best friend/arch enemy, Sierra's. Jealousy hasn't kicked in high gear for her towards Payson yet.

The gastroenterologist came in and we talked quite a bit about Payson's history. I was asked a lot of questions all relating to Payson's eating habits, bowel movements, colic phase, eczema, and all that good stuff.

After that the doctor did a physical exam of Payson. Mostly his abdomen.

And then he told me what he thought is causing Payson's tummy troubles and what he thought we should do to find out if that indeed is the case.

The doctor very much thinks it's a food allergy. He said with Payson having such a severe case of colic, when his spitting up takes place, when his eczema started, when his diarrhea and bowel problems started... it looks a lot like it's caused by food.

And so..
-I am supposed to continue to avoid wheat in his diet.
-Payson will have an endoscopy soon. They'll biopsy for eosinophils.
-Payson will see an allergist as soon as I call and schedule the appointment.
-I have to collect quite a few samples of Payson's stool. They're testing for blood in the stool and for parasites, just in case.

Let's see... I think that's it! No answers just yet but we're moving forward on the path :)
Oh yeah, Payson's stats: weight is 22 lbs. 9oz and height is 39 inches tall.

Movie- An Early Start to Christmas

2009-11-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

I found these cute popcorn containers in the Target dollar spot and just had to buy them for our movie nights.

The kids have been overly excited about them ever since and I finally caved today and let them watch a movie after lunch instead of on Friday night.

We got How the Grinch Stole Christmas this week. I'm oddly very excited for Christmas already.

A Moderate Hike

2009-11-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

Allan's parents watched our kids for us a lot this weekend.
One of the things we did was go on a hike. I think Allan said the hike was 2 miles?

Neighborhood Park

2009-11-09T09:07:00.001-08:00

We took a walk to our neighborhood park yesterday. The weather was in the 80s (I think) so very warm but not too bad.

The kids had a lot of fun and I felt even more excited that it's November.

Brooklyn picked a ton of wild flowers and kept giving them to the rest of us.

And Payson had the time of his life. A tumble on the sidewalk didn't even slow him down.

K is for Kite

2009-11-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we did a kite craft.

The girls really loved making them.

And then pretending to fly them all over the house.

I was thinking of making some that can really fly.

I don't think we have much wind this time of year, though. So it'll have to wait.

We got the idea to make a kite from one of Brooklyn's new file folder games.

Which came from the first grade file folder book I bought Saturday.

I bought a Kindergarten one for Sierra. That girl is learning so much lately. I'll have to do a post just about her sometime.

My Darling Desert Dwelling Daughters

2009-11-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

It amuses me that my children have spent most/all/all of their lives in hot weather climates whereas I spent most of my life in colder, rainy climates.

More Stuff To Do

2009-11-05T17:28:00.000-08:00

Today we only had a couple errands to run. Thank goodness nothing major or I might not have survived the day.

I was at the post office today and realized as I was getting out of my car that I had left two things, that also needed to be mailed, at my house. Don't you hate that?

We went to Michael's. My daughters were pretty darn hyper. I kept telling them to mellow out.
But do they ever listen to me?

Driving Me Crazy

2009-11-04T14:57:00.000-08:00

Life seems so freaking easy on the weekends. I always wonder why in the world I get stressed out during the week when on weekends I magically have the ability to keep up with EVERYTHING.

And then I realize. Allan's home on the weekends and takes care of this boy while I take care of everything else.

This bouncy chair was sitting in my front room from when my sister was here (my nephew used it).
Today Payson was literally running around my house destroying everything he could get his hands on (which is his daily routine) and I was getting so frustrated trying to just FOLD LAUNDRY that I stuck him in there just so I could leave the room to carry the folded laundry away without him getting into something while I was gone.

And obviously he disagreed with my idea. After all, there was garbage to get into. There were books to rip. There are toys to color on. There are shoes to lick. There are desks needing to be emptied out onto the floor. There are sisters eating lunch with full bowls to be stolen......

Toe Walking Sierra Visits the Neurologist

2009-11-03T16:42:00.000-08:00

My mom and sister went back to Washington last night. This morning I woke up and everything seemed so quiet and mellow and lonely.
I was actually a little bit glad that Sierra had a neurologist appointment today just because it took my mind off of having no adults in the house again.

I spent the morning google mapping, making phone calls, bathing children, getting a bag ready with snacks and diapers and a bottle full of rice milk.

2 hours before her appointment we all headed for the car. No carseats. All the carseats are in Allan's car.
Oh great.
How fun.
I should've known at that second that it was a bad omen. But I didn't.

I went into my garage and retrieved Payson's old infant carrier along with an extra upright carseat we have for Sierra.
I didn't have a seat for Brooklyn and I wasn't sure of the laws. I texted my friend, Jordan, who told me she thought Brooklyn was plenty old enough to ride without a booster. I texted chacha (love that!) and I guess the law is you don't need a booster after the age of 5.

But being the paranoid mom I decided we'd stop at Babies R Us for a booster.

It was around 1 at this time and I hadn't eaten a single bite of anything and I was pretty darn hungry. I also realized that though the kids had a decent breakfast it was now passed lunch time!
So we drove through at McDonald's. Which we've eaten way too many times this week! And I forgot to order something for myself. Oh well.

Sierra got mad when we got to the Babies R Us parking lot because I took a bite out of one of the chicken nuggets before giving them their happy meals. She ended up throwing a fit and throwing her nuggets onto the street.

While in Babies R Us Payson screamed, Brooklyn whined and Sierra wandered. I stressed out and tried to hurry.

Brooklyn's new booster has flowers on it which she thought was pretty darn special.

I picked up a baby carrier while I was there so that I could have something to contain Payson in at Sierra's appointment.

By the time we got through with Babies R Us shopping, it was ten minutes to Sierra's appointment and we were 15 minutes away. *sigh*

So we did end up getting to the office five minutes late. Which sucks! I hate being late!

We walked in... it was a place we'd never been to (Phoenix Children's Hospital) and seeing the bright colors, toys and movie playing, Payson decided this was the perfect place to scream hysterically.

Which he does really well.

As I held a writhing, screeching toddler I started to fill out paperwork, paid a copay and pretended to hear what the receptionist was telling me.
The girls sat happily glued to the television set.

I gave Payson a bottle near the end of the paperwork. The bottle was new and leaked EVERYWHERE. I cleaned up with baby wipes but Payson's clothes were just too saturated to be saved.
He went without pants for the rest of the appointment.

I heaved a sigh of relief when the receptionist stopped talking and said I could go sit down and they'd call Sierra in a few minutes.
I sat down and glanced from the paperwork to my children- back and forth the entire wait.

They called Sierra back and I attempted to carry the clipboard, Payson, the backpack carrier (which I hadn't figured out yet), my camera (yes I'm way stupid), my purse, and Payson's bottle. It wasn't pretty.
We got to that place where they weigh the child and check their height and blood pressure.

This is where Brooklyn started in with the whining.
"Why does Sierra get to stand on that? I want to check my weight. How tall am I? Why does Sierra get to do that? When is it my turn? I want it to be MY visit! It's not fair! I want to try that! I want to stand on that! I want a sticker with my name on it! I want to take my shoes off! Why isn't it my turn?! Why can't I do it? Is my turn tomorrow? Am I next? Mommy! Mommy I want to do it next! Mooommmmmyyyy! Mommmy I want to talk to the doctor! Can I check my feet? Mommy! I'm walking on my toes too!! I can stand straight! I want to sit there! I want to sit with Sierra! I want my crackers! I'm thirsty! I'm SO thirsty! I can't waaaaaait until after! Mommy I'm too thirsty to wait until after! Mom? Mom? Mommmmmmmmyyyyyyy!

And on and on and on. She literally did not stop talking for 2 hours. In that awful whiny voice. Oh my gosh it was horrible. I tried the sternest look I could muster, whispered threats, timeouts in the waiting room, she was just gone. There was no returning to the land of sweet for Miss Brooklyn.

And Sierra during all of this? Listening and following directions. Like an angel.

And Payson? Screaming. Whining. Kicking. Squirming. Being as wretched as he possibly could.

There was a point where I swear I couldn't go on another second. It was too much. I was completely losing it... too many things to carry, too many children to deal with, too much information, too much paperwork.

I was cursing myself for bringing all the things I brought and I was cursing myself for not bringing enough!

We finished the height/weight/blood pressure test and were sent back to the waiting room. You read that right. All that stress was just dealing with Brooklyn and Payson in the hallway! 30 minutes in and I was so wanting to go home.

I called Allan to vent about not having paid babysitters. I vowed to never take all three children to a doctor's appointment again. Poor man got an earful.

After a while they called us back. I picked up all of our stuff (better organized with the extra fifteen minutes of waiting) and headed to the exam room.

Sierra was so cute during her exam. Her big eyes fixed on the doctor, trying her best to do exactly what the doctor wanted her to.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn sat sulking. Payson screamed. Brooklyn got into my diaper bag. Payson started kicking. Brooklyn started whining. Payson drooled in my hair. Brooklyn spilled crackers and then stepped on them. I feel Payson's diaper get awfully warm. Brooklyn turns on a loud toy right when the doctor speaks. Payson threw his binky on the floor.

Brooklyn and Payson are both whining as loud as they can.

Intermittently there is crying.

Oh and that carrier I bought? It lasted for all of five minutes before Payson decided it was the worst place on Earth.

After what seemed like an eternity the hellish appointment was over. I was ready to cry from joy at the thought of going home.

But life isn't that simple. Never for me, anyway.

We had to do blood work and x-rays today. Ugh.

So back to the waiting room we went. Payson's diaper was bulging at the seems with piss even though I'd changed him twice in the last hour and a half.
Luckily I brought an extra diaper.
After a quick visit to the ladies room we all sat down to watch some monkey movie while we waited. I stared vacantly ahead while the kids were transfixed to the screen. Well, the kids minus Payson... he was running full speed around the waiting room. Stopping only to give huge grins to each and every person also waiting.

They finally called Sierra's name for her blood to be taken. I gathered our stuff, called the girls over and picked up Payson. And I smelled something pretty darn bad.
As if this visit hasn't been fun enough Payson has crapped. And at a perfect time, when we really needed to be getting Sierra's blood drawn right then.

I embarrassedly told the technician that he crapped but I'd just wait to chnange him until after because I knew they needed to keep the people in order.

And then she told me that if it's the child's first time having blood drawn the child must sit on the parent's lap. Makes sense. Not to mention I wanted to be holding and comforting Sierra. Which meant Brooklyn had to hold Payson.

Sierra getting her blood drawn went well. She is such an angel and very brave and had no idea what was going to happen so she sat there smiling and talking and watching the needle go in.... and then she cried and said, "that hurt me" and my heart broke.

And then the technician asked what color of bandage she wanted and she immediately said, "orange" (the girl is SO decisive). They didn't have orange so she picked pink. Then she got to pick a toy. The lady opened a drawer and Sierra immediately grabbed a stuffed blue bear (did I mention decisive?).

Then I took Payson from Brooklyn. Payson had been trying to escape from her and whining the whole time.
Brooklyn had Payson's poop on her and had a breakdown because of that. Can't say I blame her for that, really.

I took the kids to the car to clean up Brooklyn and Payson. I'd only brought 3 diapers from home for the 2 hour appointment. Thank freaking goodness I'd bought some large sized g-diapers today!!!

Then we had to go back in and wait to be called in for x-rays.
The girls returned to staring at the TV and Payson returned to running at full speed around the waiting room. And once again smiling at everyone he saw.

When it was time for x-rays Payson was pissed at being taken away from the waiting room. Actually probably more pissed that he was being carried and not let free to run.

I distracted him from his tantrum by looking at these marble displays they had along the hall.

In the x-ray room Brooklyn resumed her whining over how not fair it was that Sierra was getting all the attention.

Sierra sweetly followed directions and looked so so cute up on the table waiting for the pictures of her tummy.

Brooklyn whined as they did the x-rays. I swear you could feel the jealousy in the room. Brooklyn views doctor's appointments as a similar experience to Disneyland rides. No I'm not joking.

And so she whined and whined. All the way up until I pulled out my camera and said, "I'm going to take a picture of you crying and show it to daddy and what do you think he's going to do?"

Sierra's x-rays were done and she got a sticker and then the x-ray techinician gave her two more to give to Brooklyn and Payson even though clearly they deserved no stickers.

I gathered my children and headed, exhausted and overjoyed to be done, to my car.

And now that you've pretty much experienced the whole visit with me I'll let you know what was earned from it.
No clear understanding of what might be going on with Sierra. But some tests that will come back with some answers that hopefully cross off a few things it may be.
Appointments to schedule with physical and occupational therapy. A checkup in 2 months to go over her muscles and tendons and talk about the results.

So... getting some answers. The doctor is leaning towards it just being a habitual thing that is causing the tendons to tighten which then makes it painful to walk flat which furthers the cycle:

She walks on her toes> her tendons tighten> it's painful to walk flat> she walks on her toes> repeat.

If this is the case the physical therapy will take care of it. If this isn't the case the tests should reveal what it is.

And that my dear friends who've read this entire thing, is Sierra's visit to the neurologist. Unfortunately it was a part one segment. lol

The Adventures of Payson and the Very Angry Tummy Continue

2009-11-03T10:11:00.001-08:00

So Payson's blood allergy panel test results are in. Everything showed up negative.
He still gets diarrhea after certain foods so his pediatrician is stumped on what exactly is wrong with him.
And so next week Payson will see a gastroenterologist.
It's about stinking time! I've been requesting to see one since he was about a month old! This is a new ped, though, and they're a lot more proactive about getting answers. Which is such a relief for me!

What's wrong with your tummy, Payson?

I started the elimination diet months ago and I have to say I would guess Payson has a wheat intolerance. Every single time he eats wheat he gets diarrhea the next day.
Same for lactose intolerance except that one has an immediate response. He'll spit up pretty bad immediately after having milk.

Hopefully the gastro will have some solid answers.

Halloween Costumes!

2009-11-02T02:06:00.001-08:00

Payson was a duck!

Cracks me up!

Brooklyn spotted this ladybug costume within seconds of entering the costume aisle and fell in love.

She was such a cutie during trick or treating. Maybe I'll share more about it later (when it's not 3am).

I love that belly!

This year I wanted my girls to pick out a costume without any input from me.

Sierra got super excited over this chef apron and hat.

I'm pretty excited over it, too.

So cute.

And last but not least, Ellie! Ellie was the only one who got creative and mixed two costumes!

Ellie is so articulate. There were so many cute and funny things she said during trick or treating. She had me cracking up all evening.

I didn't know her at all before this visit and now my heart is aching that she (and my mom, sister, and nephew) is going back home to Washington :(

And I'll end with this partial group shot. The fake smiles make me laugh.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

My mom, sister, niece and nephew are in town so my spare time is spent visiting with them. It's been really fun and has been making me want to move back to Washington! We won't because that would just be crazy but man do I miss my family.

It'd been three years since we saw my sister so the last time my girls saw their cousin, Ellie, was when Sierra and Ellie were just babies.

Ellie looks all serious in the picture but that's so not her personality. She's super fun, a lot like Brooklyn was at that age.

And they've never met their cousin, Ian. He is the cutest and sweetest little baby in the world.

Utah Trip!!

2009-10-28T15:06:00.001-07:00

The trip started off with more excitement than it normally would simply because Allan had just got back from a 5 day business trip to South America. Just spending time together seemed like a treat and then we get a weekend vacation on top of that?!
We stopped for lunch in Page, AZ.

The kids happily played in the playplace while we waited for our food.

What is it with toddlers and shoes? All three of my kids have been obsessed with them at around 1 1/2.
My girls were pretty darn excited to get happy meals since they had My Little Pony toys.

After lunch we kept driving.
It was getting dark fast as we came to Lake Powell.

I don't know who was happier to be at the hotel. The kids or Allan and me. It was 1am and Allan and I were exhausted. It was 1am and the kids were bouncing off the wall excited to be in a hotel.

Payson was so beyond excited to be out of his carseat. He ran from one end of the room to the other over and over again. Squealing and laughing and grinning from ear to ear.

We gave Payson a bottle while we set up his pack and play.

And shockingly he slept VERY well! After a bottle I'd lay him in his pack and play, he'd grab his elephant's trunk and go right to sleep.

Saturday morning the first place we went to in Utah was Brigham Young University.
Allan was a junior at BYU when we met. He was majoring in accounting.

For the first 3 years of life together (dating and then marriage) he spent the majority of his time on this campus.
Our daughters have heard us talk about it a lot so it was nice to finally show them the place.

It was chilly Saturday when we got to campus. We were mostly going to get BYU shirts for me and the kids for the game that day.

But we stopped to play in the leaves and just enjoy the fall colors.

After visiting the BYU campus we met up with Allan's brother Joe and Joe's wife Drew and played miniature golf. I'd never heard of black light miniature golf before. It was cool.

Allan wore Payson the whole time. I'm sadly selling this wrap since I can't for the life of me tie it on well. I'll now be looking around for something else to carry Payson in.

Of course you have to get a group shot.

After golfing, Joe and Drew watched our girls for us while we went to the football game.

I didn't want to leave Payson with them since he can be such a hassle (to say the least).

It probably wasn't my greatest idea to bring a 16 month old to a place where we had to sit in assigned seats for 3 hours. He threw a major fit and wouldn't calm down no matter what we did so we ended up leaving at halftime.

The next day we went to Rock Canyon park. Allan and I used to talk there when we were dating. It's such a gorgeous place.

The afternoon glow was so pretty. At the very end we did a quick family picture. My camera was propped up with Payson's wrap.

This field is huge and there is a huge hill you have to go down to get to it. We let all three kids free to run where ever they wanted.

It didn't take Brooklyn long to decide that where she wanted to go was as far away as she could get. That's so Brooklyn- push the limits as much as she possibly can. lol

Allan and I watched the kids from the top of the hill.

Payson surprised me by staying up at the top. I expected him to run full force down the hill, tumbling the whole way, but nope...

He was happy to just run free.

He'd go a ways away and then come running back to me giggling like crazy.

And here he comes~

All the kid wants in life is to run, run, run, run, run. Oh and occasionally stop and destroy stuff.

At this point Allan had left me to go wrangle up our daughters.

I lazily stayed on the hill with Payson who at this point had gotten brave enough to go down the hill.

He was tired after stumbling down the hill. He sat playing with the grass.

While his sisters and his father snuck up on him.

I snapped some portraits before leaving.

We went to a few other places we used to go to while dating but I didn't take pictures there.

We drove home on Monday. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures on our drive home simply because we were all so tired at that point and really all that was on my mind was getting home.
I did snap this of Allan feeding Payson at our lunch stop.

And I took a couple while we were driving. If you see motion blur- well, we were driving, so..

This area was really pretty but by the time we were driving through it was dark. I can't believe this shot is at all in focus.

The sunset was insane. Look at those colors! Crazy bright.

We stopped in Page, AZ for dinner and were approached by a couple of people for help and money. Not so fun when it's late, dark and you have children with you.
It took us 14 hours to get home. We arrived at 12:20am. We hurriedly got the kids in bed and I promptly passed out in a coma on my bed. Allan brushed his teeth and took a shower and then came to bed.

And lastly, here are the point and shoot shots from the trip.
They do this all the time. So cute.

This is Sierra dipping her apples in ketchup at Red Robin.
Brooklyn doesn't have tennis shoes that fit her so we had to stop at WalMart. Flip flops are not appropriate attire for October in Utah.

And that's the entire trip. Visiting all the paces we used to go to when we were dating.

Sorry it was so long. But I guess what else would you expect from my blog, huh?

Weekend Trip to Utah

2009-10-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

We've been gone since Friday on a little trip to Utah. Just got back at 12:20am this morning!
I am super tired! I don't know when I'll have time to sit down and blog about it all.

Unintentionally All Eating Related

2009-10-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

I have done a bazillion things this week and had my camera with me every step of the way and yet the only pictures I took were during mealtimes!
Boring! But not as boring as a non updated blog, right?

My kids get into a lot of trouble when I'm busy cleaning, cooking or making phone calls. As soon as they see that mom's occupied they're purposefully finding trouble.

So, I've had them working alongside me instead of letting them run off to play.

They love it.

The girls loved these muffins. I didn't.

Making lunch.

Since it's still very hot here I've been really loathing my kitchen and cooking. We're to the point where breakfast is cold cereal every day (healthy cold cereal) and lunch is PB&J.
And snacks are super easy- hard boiled egg, cheese stick, and apple.
I don't typically peel apples since the skin is the healthiest part but Brooklyn wanted her snack all the same color.

I'm pretty shocked that Brooklyn is so in love with eating hard boiled eggs. They don't seem like something a picky eater would love, do they?

Sierra's egg had a tiny crack in it from when it was boiled.

"Hey! There's a crack in mine egg!"

"And I see yellow! It's my yellow ball!!"

Payson's Wall Color

2009-10-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

I tried to take a picture of Payson's room but my lens is just not wide enough.
But I did take these pictures of him sitting against his wall so you can kinda see the color.

The color is Behr's Smokey Blue.

Secrets to Making Them Smile

2009-10-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

To get Brooklyn to smile I simply tell her to make a serious face. She tries but cracks up.

I tell Sierra to make her angry face. She does and I make a scared noise which she likes.

Payson is the hardest. He's not a super smiley or giggly boy anyway so catching his smile while having a camera in front of my face is difficult.

And this is after my best efforts for a smile-

Movie Night!

2009-10-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

I had forgotten how long The Sound of Music is. The girls were up until almost 10!

Summer is Hanging On

2009-10-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

It got up to 104 degrees yesterday.

Lovely, Lazy Weekends

2009-10-18T09:55:00.001-07:00

Go BYU!

2009-10-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

A Hit By a Truck Kind of Day

2009-10-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

You know a day so draining it feels like somebody ran you over with a monster truck and then demanded that you run a marathon afterwards?

That was my day today.

Heck that was my day yesterday.

Heck that was my day every day for the past two weeks.

This month's been exceptionally difficult because on top of raising children, cleaning my house, going to numerous doctor appointments and menu planning and cooking and all that...

I had to homeschool. Which when you don't use something awesome like Sonlight, which is put together for you, is really dang hard!
We have Sonlight's P3/4, P4/5 and K cores (people've been emailing and asking why we're not using it for first grade). I was going to use Sonlight for first but we simply can't afford it this year. I mean, I could squeeze it in with some other sacrifices but I figured I'd just put everything together myself this year and save a little money.
It can't be that hard.

Oh but it is hard! I do not like planning and putting stuff together!
Oh wait, I LOVE planning and putting stuff together if I have time.
I don't have time! I don't even have time to be typing this right now!

So yeah, we're not doing it this year but will probably jump back in next year with core 1.

So today I went to the Goodwill and dropped off a car full of stuff. Mostly toys and clothes the kids have outgrown. Doing this right before Christmas is interesting. I'm suddenly not even a little bit interested in buying my kids toys. Ever again. I'm thinking they'll get books and clothes. Which they need.

When we got home this evening I snapped a couple pictures before heading inside.

And that's about it. Kinda boring. Sorry.

Adventures with the Rucksack Carry

2009-10-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

After Payson's nap I decided to try again at getting him in a rucksack carry (on my back in the wrap). It was so freaking hard but I totally did it!

There are a few things that I would like to do differently but it worked... that's a start!
And he's the one that tucked his arms in like that. So cute!

Finally Got a New Wrap!

2009-10-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

I really love babywearing. I could talk all day about how much I love babywearing.
You all remember the moby wrap I used when Payson was a baby?

I was very sad when he outgrew it. I couldn't really afford a $100 woven wrap right then so I bought this Amy Coe sling to use in the meantime.

It is really awesome for short trips to the store.
Allan and I want to do more traveling and hiking and carrying a 22 pound toddler in your arms gets tiring.
And so we finally got a woven wrap! The brand is Didymos, if you're interested.

It's crazy difficult to learn to tie on, but I'm getting better at each try. Payson is not a very good child to practice on as he wiggles and squirms and dives off my back, so I recruited Sierra and boy did she love it.
I'm hoping to try a few more times with Sierra later today.

Neighborly Visit

2009-10-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

Allan found this guy creeping around in our backyard.

The desert brings the loveliest visitors.