A trip to Hell...I mean Sams

This morning was one of those mornings that you are glad you never have to relive and wish you could do it all over at the same time.  Kendley, Miles and I took a trip to Sams in attempt to prepare for Miles' baptism weekend.  The trip started out pretty well.  Kendley was helping me with my list and Miles was sleeping in his car seat.  After about 15 minutes, all hell broke loose!  Miles woke up and decided he was starving, Kendley started crying for pizza and I went from no crying kids to two very distraught little babies!  I decided we would pay for what we had in the cart and I would feed Miles while Kendley ate some of Sams pizza for lunch.  With Miles crying still, we checked out and headed towards their food center.  I set Kendley at the table and gave her some fruit snacks to tied her over.  Miles and I went in line to get her pizza and I fed Miles some while in line.  I hear Kendley yell to me, "mommy, wet".  I am thinking that the table I sat her at was wet and just nodded my head at her.  As I am paying for her pizza, I hear Kendley start crying.  She had dropped her fruit snacks and fell out of her chair trying to get them.  Now, Kendley was screaming because she hurt her head and Miles was crying again because I stopped feeding him.  I picked up Kendley to place her back on the stool and noticed that the "wet" she was speaking of was poop all over her back...Awesome!  At that point, I decided we should just leave.  With both kids still crying, we exit Sams to the car.  Luckily for me, I had a up front parking spot.  I opened the trunk of the car, lay ed Kendly in it and proceeded to get her naked in front of the entire Sams population.  Kendley and Miles have never screamed so much at the same time!  I had 2 ladies come ask me if I needed help.  I confidently replied, "NO, I got this" while thinking in my head, "WTF is going on???".  Finally, everyone calmed down, and we were able to have a calming cry free drive home.  The best comment that was made to me while all of this was happening was from a little old lady.  She leaned over to me and said, "Take a deep breath and be happy you are here with them.  As you get older you miss the sound of your kids even if it is crying."  I wish I had the time and mindset to thank her in that moment!  I did remember to take a few pics though

A Cool Eye (Persistent Pupillary Membrane)

     
Since the day we took Miles home, Jeff and I noticed Miles' iris on his left eye looked different.  The best way of explaining it is it looks like part of the iris strings into his pupil.  Jeff and I brought it up to his pediatrician and she referred him to a pediatric ophthalmologist.  Miles' pediatrician, as well as, his Auntie Melissa MD didn't really have an idea of what the mark in his eye was. This was a little concerning to Jeff and I (no one wants to be the medical mystery!).  I have pretty much read everything on the internet about iris deformities; however, there isn't much information out there.  All of the pictures online are really extreme cases so it was hard to compare Miles' eye to them.  Yesterday, we finally had the pediatric eye doctor appointment and had our questions answered.  Miles has something called a Partial Persistent Pupillary Membrane.  When babies eyes are forming during pregnancy, they have a lot of these membranes and as the eye continues to form, the membranes usually dissolve.  Miles has a membrane that didn't dissolve.  The membrane is connected to his iris and his lens.  The great news is it should never effect his vision!  The nurses at the clinic thought it was pretty cool looking.  Now that we know everything is fine, we think it's cool too!!

Here are the best photos I could get of his eye.  It is hard to get a 3 month old to hold still for the picture.  Also, it is hard to not have any glares in his eyes.  The membrane is located around the 3 o'clock position and strings towards the center of the pupil.

Sibling Love

Kendley is such a good big sister. She often tries to offer Miles his "fire" (pacifier), brings him "blankies", gives him his bottle, tells him "it's okay" and gives him neck strangling hugs. It's so funny how motherly she is and how accepting Miles is of her sometimes not so gentle care. He smiles at her more than anyone in the house. I can't wait to watch them grow up together, fight with each other and fight for each other. There isn't a better friend than a sibling; I think Miles and Kendley already know this!

Potty Training 101

There comes a point when you are changing adult sized poopy diapers that you decided you are ready for a change.  I reached that point on Tuesday.  I took Kendley to Target to pick out some "big girl panties".  Kendley wasn't very excited about big girl panties until I told her Mini Mouse wears them. 

Yesterday, I washed the panties and after her nap, we began potty training.  I'm not much of a read a book about it kind of girl.  I know how to potty on a big girl potty, that should be enough, right?  Well, we ended the night successful and unsuccessful.  Success: Kendley didn't potty in her undies.  Unsuccessful: Kendley didn't potty on the potty either!

Today, Kendley woke up and we put on her big girl panties.  She sat on the toilet several times...nothing.  I went to change Miles' diaper and I hear Kendley scream, "what happened???".  She had peed on the floor.  We went to her potty and talked about how we potty on the toilet and not on the floor.  Then, we headed to the gym.  I am luck to have a gym that supports potty training!  After my workout, I went to pick her up and the ladies at the daycare said they tried to take her but she was scared and started crying.  So, I took her and set her on the potty...nothing.  We drive home, I get Miles out of his car seat and I hear, "oh no".  Again, Kendley peed on the floor.  We do the same as earlier and end the chat with a, "1-2-3 potty".  I begin to feed Miles and Kendley walks up to me with something in her hand.  I look at her and she looks at me quietly asking, "what's that?".  I try not to overreact and respond, "It's your POOP".  I run her to the toilet where she disposes of the feces.

24 hours into potty training and feeling a little unsuccessful.
 
Potty- 0
Floor- 3    
Mommy- :(

How much was that?

A few weeks ago, I made a poor choice in purchasing some cleaning supplies from a man selling door to door.  The sequence of events were a little funny, so I thought I would share the story.

It all started before the doorbell rang.  Miles was screaming for an unknown reason most of the morning.  Kendley had just woken up from her nap.  Kendley wanted "caca uffs", also known as Coco Puffs, for her snack.  We didn't have Coco Puffs.  This led to a major melt down.  Kendley has definitely entered her terrible twos! 

The door bell rings.  Maverick (our dog) does not like the doorbell and goes kujo at the window by the door.  I open the door and Miguel, the sales man, is standing on the second step down looking a little nervous for his safety.  Maverick darts out the door; I yell at him to come inside.  Kendley continues to cry, pulling at my shirt saying "up".  Miles continues to cry in my arms.  I ask Miguel how I can help him and he starts his cleaning solution spiel.  Before I know it, Miguel is cleaning the outside of my windows, the oil stain in our driveway and the tile grout in our entry way.  I was so ready for him to leave and in my mind, the easiest way was to buy whatever he was selling.  Finally, I spoke up and said "I'll buy it!".  I asked how much he wanted... $80.00.  I went got eighty dollars in cash, handed it to Miguel and closed the door (kids still crying and Maverick still trying sniff out the situation).  After the door shut I had a "what did I just do" moment in my head.  I totally let Miguel use my situation to his advantage. 

Fast forward a few hours later.  Jeff came home from work to find the gallon jug of cleaner on the counter with Miguel's phone number written in sharpie on it (in case I need to call him for more cleaner).  He picked up the cleaner and said, "what is this?"  I said, "It's this great cleaner I bought today.  Look how clean the grout is AND I cleaned the shower doors."  Jeff responded, "cool how much was it?"  I said, "Look it got the oil stain out of the driveway."  Jeff said, "it's a driveway who cares if there is oil in it; how much was it?"  At that point I knew I wasn't getting out of telling him.  I said, "$80 BUT, you dilute it so it will last a really long time."  Jeff stood and stared at me in disbelief.  He gave me the same "unbelievable" that he has given me since I was 15 when I did something stupid.  He made fun of me most of the night and I continued to defend my purchase.  Finally, I got sick of it and said, "OKAY, I f'ed up!"  Jeff looked at me, laughed and said, "that's all I wanted to hear.  Now, do I need to get a no soliciting sign or have you learned you lesson?" 


I will point out, in the last two weeks Jeff has spilled two glasses of red wine on our carpet AND my cleaner got it out!  Winning! :)

It's NOT Colic!

I wrote this blog a few weeks ago and just realized that it didn't post.  Since this, Miles has definitely gotten better.  He still is needy and pretty much cries if you aren't holding him . But, I can at least get him to sleep some during the day.  One thing that has helped a lot is basically forcing him to go to sleep.  It almost seems like he doesn't know that he is tired.  Colic or not, it has been frustrating.  We love the little guy though!  

Miles, in the words of his pediatrician, is a “needy baby” who doesn’t know how to “self sooth”.  What does that mean?? It means that he cries A LOT!  Jeff keeps asking me if he has colic and I keep denying that he does.  Why do I keep saying he doesn’t have colic when he cries for hours at a time without stopping when being soothed?  I don’t know.   I guess if I think that he doesn’t have colic then it will get better, or maybe it’s admitting that my new little boy isn’t a “perfect baby”.  Colic is something that other people’s babies have BUT not MY baby!

They say admitting you have a problem is the first step.  Well, yesterday was my breaking point and I am ready to admit…we have a problem!  I spent most of the morning holding, bouncing, singing, and rocking a screaming baby.  Miles finally decided to take a snooze.  I loaded him and his sister into the car and headed to the grocery store.  As soon as we go into the store, Miles woke up screaming.  Kendley was in the seat part of the cart, Miles’ car seat was in the cart and I was holding Miles while pushing the cart.  Everyone at the store looked at me with the, you poor woman look.  One lady definitely had the, what’s wrong with your child look.  Kendley insisted on a free cookie from the bakery.  We went and got one; she took a bite and responded with, “no like”.  Who doesn’t like sugar cookies?  Miles spends the entire trip at the store and ride home crying.  He continues to cry for another two hours.  The night ended with Miles on the floor screaming, me sitting Indian style on the floor next to him crying, and Kendley sitting in my lap wiping away my tears with an occasional, “it’s okay”.  Of course Miles stopped crying as soon as daddy came home.  I wave the white flag…Miles has colic!    

Just some everyday pictures

It is crazy how fast Kendley is learning and how much Miles has changed in the past 6 weeks! New things going on in the Elchert house: Miles has started to smile, Kendley is singing songs on her own and can count to 10. Check out my YouTube videos under TheAshleyE sometime to see Miss Kendley in action! Here are some current pics of our loves.












I left Kendley to eat pudding while I got dressed for the gym, this is what I came back to.

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