Month 5

It's been a busy month at the Gerlach house and Wesley is becoming so much fun! He's started on solids a little, which is earlier than we started with both the girls. So far he's tried rice cereal, bananas and avocado. I forgot how eating solids changes the diaper arena for babies! Wesley also has started rolling, as noted a few weeks ago, and is getting better at sitting up. We got a Bumbo seat to help him sit up and see the world from a new angle. He's still sleeping okay, but waking up every few hours during the night. I don't really mind it. He's just so darn cute!

Wesley is about 15lbs but he seems so much heavier! I love his little chunky legs. We've also been working on potty training with Amelia and she gets tattoos for going potty. So far it's going okay, but it's also been about the 900th time we've tried to train her.

We also took a trip to the Ballard Locks with old playgroup buddies Acacia, Fiona, Avery, and new little Micah who now live in Chicago. We sure miss them! Caley was really excited to see the salmon and afterward we went to coffee in the UDistrict. On the way home Caley said, "That was so fun Mommy."

The girls were having fun playing with playdough and usually I'm really anal about separating the colors, but they were having so much fun mixing the colors I couldn't interrupt their play. And the "marbles" they made were so beautiful!

The kids are playing together really well and Caley and Amelia love to make Wesley laugh. What a blessing these children are! Five months has gone too quickly!

Moms just wanna have fun

Recently I took a trip to the 1980s. Wesley came as well, since he can't last more than a few hours away and hasn't been taking a bottle well lately. Four of my best girlfriends came too. On the trip we were accompanied by hits from the '80s such as "Don't Stop Believing," "1999," "Beat It," and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody." My friends visited 1980s high school with their costumes while I, since I had the accompanying baby, got to experience perhaps what my mom felt like when I was a baby. I wore a dress but it couldn't seem to make up it's mind because it had hints of a suit with the button top, belt, fake pockets and monster shoulder pads. What the heck were people thinking?! Wesley was not to be outdone and sported an awesome baby outfit. He fit in with all the other '80s babies on the trip.

Here are some highlights

Thanks friends for a fun time!

P.S. I can't wait to see pictures in 30 years of Caley and my grandson having a 2010s party!

It's not DEAD!!

A funny story...

I was putting Amelia to bed this week and there was a fly in her room so I stunned it, wrapped it in toilet paper and put in in the toilet. Caley then used the potty and she saw the fly and I said, "It's okay, it's dead and won't hurt you," then went to tuck Amelia in. A few minutes later Caley came running out of the bathroom with her underwear at her ankles yelling, "IT'S NOT DEAD, IT'S NOT DEAD!!" I ran in the bathroom and the fly was swimming under the water trying to escape!

I flushed the toilet and down it went, so I assured Caley all was safe so she continued with her business.

Next time I'll make sure the fly is dead before scaring the bejeezus outta my little girl!

My Favorite Things

My friend Melody at Sweetly Peas posted her favorite things so I wanted to post mine too.

My favorite things are, in no particular order: my morning cup o' coffee, my late night glass o' wine, my little baby's snuggles and smiles, running outside, hearing my 5 year old read, husband hugs and kisses, and my Amelia's chubby-cheeked smile.

What are your favorite things?

Wesley's Rolling!

Wesley showed us a new trick this week while his sisters are away! Check it out!

It reminds me of this, oh how they grow so fast...

Frugal Tips: Homemade Yogurt

Something I've been doing for several years off and on is making yogurt. At first it seemed really, really weird, and it's taken me a while to get a system that works for me and how to use it up before it goes bad, but I think I've got it. Here are the directions, which I re-wrote from Ruth Yaron's "Super Baby Food."

To make yogurt, first put milk in a stainless steel or enameled pot and heat it on the stove. Use a metal spoon and heat it slowly to scalding, between 180-185 degrees F. I use a meat thermometer that clips on the side of the pot. Stir it slowly so it doesn't burn on the bottom.

Once it's at about 180 degrees, turn off the heat and let it cool to incubation temperature--about 112 degrees. If you keep it at room temperature, this will take about an hour, or you can put it in the fridge to speed up the process. Then you can add nonfat dry milk powder to thicken it, if you want. Use about 1/4 cup powder per quart of liquid milk. Then add the starter, which is just regular yogurt from the store. Make sure it has "live and active cultures." I use plain lowfat. You need about 2 tablespoons of yogurt per quart of milk. Fold the starter in gently until it's throughout the whole milk. Then incubate the yogurt and let the cultures grow. Pour the milk into individual smaller containers or a better, non-metal container. I use a glass bowl with a lid. You need to keep the yogurt between 105-112 degrees anyway you can. I put it in the kitchen sink in hot water that I boil on the stove and I check it occasionally and add more hot water if I need to. Yogurt can survive between 90 and 120 degrees so if the temperature dips lower than 100 all is not lost. Incubate it until it's thick enough to your taste and preference. My yogurt usually takes at least 4 hours to thicken, probably more, so I have to stick around the house all day. I also cover it with a lid or towel to keep the heat in.

When it's thick enough, you can add any flavoring, I like vanilla and fruit.

My yogurt usually has a lot of watery whey on top which can be removed easily. I like to use it in recipes, like smoothies, casseroles, or anything else. It's also good plain with a little flavoring! And oh so natural and frugal!

Here are some other links for yogurt making:

Allfreecrafts.com

101cookbooks.com

Hillbillyhousewife.com

Enjoy!

Caley's Owie Legs

I've been wanting to blog about this for a while, but keep forgetting. In the last few months we finally figured out what was causing Caley's "owie legs" for the last year or more. It was the toilet seats in our house! Since Caley's been independent on an adult toilet, she's had an itchy rash on the backs of her legs. We tried almost everything, changing how I clean the toilets (from Clorox to baking soda and vinegar), hydrocortizone, Vicks, nystatin and other topical products. I even tried rubbing a paste of baking soda on her owies. She continued to scratch them and even cause them to bleed. The owies would get worse and then better, but never go away. We made an appointment to see a dermatologist but it was so far scheduled out that by the time it came the owies seemed better so I cancelled the appointment.

Finally, I googled it and found this article-- Wooden Toilet Seats Can Trigger Children's Rash and it clicked. The toilet seats she usually sits on are cheapo painted wood!

So we bought this kind from Home Depot by Bemis/Next Step

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=next+step+toilet+seat&cid=7890996918516118364&ei=rKsKTKvpHoKyiwShmqy7CA&sa=title&ved=0CAcQ8wIwADgA#p

They're higher quality and a better size for her tiny tushie. Within a few weeks her owies looked so much better and now they're COMPLETELY GONE!!

I told her pediatrician that I'd figured it out and she's recommended changing the toilet seats to other patients and it's worked for them too.

Thank you GOOGLE.

Month 4

Mr. Wesley is now 4 months! Holy cow! Where has the time gone? We had his well-child checkup today and he is nearly 14 lbs and and 24" long. That translates to about the 25th percentile for both compared to other boys his age. I actually thought he'd be bigger since he has really plumped up lately. The doctor said he's grown more in length, and is right where he should be. He also seems to have been having a growth sport because he's been waking more frequently at night and not seeming to get full this past week. The doctor thinks it's most likely a spurt and not a reason to start introducing solids, which I'm grateful for because nursing is just easier at this point.

In the past month Wesley has continued being very verbal and social, he loves loves loves laughing at and talking to his sisters and Daddy. He also rarely takes his eyes off me, Mommy. I love that. I love how it feels like he's always been in our family. I love his little rolls and how he kicks his legs. I love his fair, soft skin. I love the little bleached hair areas on the right side of his head. I love how he's generally pretty mellow and likes to watch everything. He loves to chew on anything and drool everywhere. Maybe we're in for a tooth soon! (Probably not since the girls were late teethers, he's just a drool machine.)

So far he's not rolling, but I think it's still pretty close. His baby buddies are both rolling (Magnus and Beck) and while when the girls were babies I was pretty hyper about them being like other babies developmentally, it doesn't bother me so much with Wes. He'll get to it when it's his time. I like my snuggly baby just the way he is for now, but I'm excited for when he can actually play with others, especially the girls. We were at the mall play area today and I could just imagine Wesley toddling around on the toys trying to keep up with Caley and Amelia. That will be a fun time. Crazy, because they'll probably all run in different directions, but still fun.

In other news, we've been pretty girly doing tea parties, brushing hair and primping in the bathroom, painting fingernails and toenails, and staying on top of the most recent fashion trends around the Gerlach house. We hope you had a good month too.