Basketball game

Last night we went out for fish fry and then headed to a varsity game at Mukwonago High School. Eli is in Saturday boys basketball through Mukwonago School District. The head coach is his coach and then also the varsity b-ball players. They gave him a free ticket to come see his coaches in action. It was a fun night.
Camden hated the sound of the buzzer. Every time they buzzed it, he would burst into tears. I finally had to take him out, calm him down and then stand by the doors with him. The band was also playing right behind us LOUDLY so it was all a lot of stimulation for him.
So between Logan having to go to the bathroom every five minutes and Camden's crying, I didn't see a whole lot of the game. I think Josh, Isaac and Eli really enjoyed it though.
HA!

Camden....six months old

Can you believe that Camden is already six months old???? Wow, it was a rough start, but time sure flies.

He has grown into such a happy lil' boy. He absolutely loves his brothers. He's learning that Logan will always smother him with hugs and kisses and just to expect that.

He weighs 17 lbs, 9 oz and is 27 longs. That puts him just under the 50 percentile for weight and the 90th for height. He is still nursing and refusing a bottle. :) He also refuses
solids so we've stopped that for the time being. Whenever I would finally get some cereal in his mouth, he would gag so much it was difficult for me to watch. He is not ready for solid foods yet. The doctor said this can be typical of reflux babies and to just wait another month and try again then. If he's still not ready, then wait another month. She also put him back on his medicine as he's refluxing more lately. Not sure why. Now if we can just get our insurance to cover the medicine! They don't want to!

His development is behind for where he should be, but that's not surprising. He spent so many months in pain and uncomfortable that he's just now starting to finally explore the world around him. I'm confident that he'll catch up just fine with three older brothers around him. In a week's time he started grabbing for things. It's amazing how fast they can change.

He's had some unexplained hives and rashes. We're not sure where, how or why he got those but we may never know. I thought it was maybe from some lavendar lotion, but I tried it again another time and he was fine. He also had some fluid in one of his ears which explained the obsession he had with grabbing his ears and scratching them until they bled. :)

Oh, and the most important fact (for me) is that he's finally sleeping in his crib, not his car seat anymore. I love to go in and peek at him sleeping peacefully LAYING DOWN!

I still have to avoid ALL dairy. He turns into a completely different baby when I eat ANY dairy. I mean, we're talking even a couple sips of a latte or couple bites of pizza. I'm doing okay with this and have learned to make lots of vegan, dairy-free meals, desserts, etc. It's the going out to eat part that is the hardest. Everything is made with or cooked in butter.

Other than that, he sure is a happy baby. His start at life was challenging (for him, me and the rest of the family), but he gets better every day. God has blessed us with Camden, has great plans for him and I am so thankful he is in our family.

Love you, Camden!!! (or as Logan says, "Banden")

What....cow's milk?!?!?!?!?!

So we're eating breakfast the other morning and somehow (I'm still not sure how) Isaac says something about milk coming from cows.
Eli says, "What?! Milk comes from a COW????"

I say, "Yes, the milk in this jug is from a cow."

Eli says, "That's DISGUSTING, I'm never drinking that again! Is soy milk from an animal?"

I respond, "No, soy milk is made from other ingredients, not from an animal."

Eli says, "Good, pour me soy milk from now on."

I still am amazed that Eli did not put that connection together earlier....or maybe he never really THOUGHT about it. Josh and I still laugh about this every now and then. I should also add that Eli doesn't mind if cow's milk is on his cereal, but he will never drink cow's milk from a glass. :)

Sick boys....and update

Gosh, I'm sorry for the length in between posts but we've been busy. I also update and check in daily on Facebook so this blog has been neglected. I will try to be better as this is something I started for out-of-town family and the kids.
At the present moment, two out of the four boys are sick. Logan came down yesterday with a cold, fever and cough. Today is day two and he's only worse. I was up with him too much last night as every time he coughed, he would call "Mommy" and I would go in and rub his head and then he would go back to sleep. He's sleeping now and maybe he'll feel a bit better when he wakes up.....I hope. Eli is also not feeling too good with similar symptoms, minus the fever. Nothing that puts him out of the couch but enough that he stayed home from basketball practice today and swimming. Isaac has had a cold the past week, but that's all it was, a simple ol' cold. Why couldn't they all just get that??? I'm praying Camden doesn't get what Logan has but I think this may be impossible considering Logan is always smothering him with hugs and kisses. I tried to keep Logan away from him yesterday and every time I said, "be careful"or "don't spread your germs to Camden," Logan would burst into tears, run into the bedroom to sit on my bed and cry saying, "But I love Banden." Isaac actually just got picked up by Grandpa to go swimming at the hotel that Grandpa is staying at b/c of their house fire. Lucky dog!
I've been very busy with work. I literally put the kids to bed at night, say good night to Josh and come upstairs to work until midnight or so. I've had yesterday and today "off" and I've been running around the house trying to catch up. We have our annual Super Bowl party tomorrow night. Of course, we're picking up Sperino's pizza for that! Josh's favorite!
I promise to update more often. Sorry for the delay.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. Our biggest surprise for the boys was a trip to the Dells during Christmas break for three days. They literally were shocked. I took a picture of it but they're in their "unders" so I'm not going to post it. :) Our other family gift was a Wii Fit. It is so much fun! Isaac received speakers for his mp3 player, KungFu Pand DVD, a Jennings jersey, Wii sports pack, Packer hat, Playstation 2 game, wireless controllers for PS2, wooden tip up for ice fishing with Dad and new underwear. Eli received a camoflage jacket, camoflage shoes, a Driver jersey, Wii hunting game, Disney Scene It DVD game, wireless controllers for PS2, wooden tip up for ice fishing with Dad, and new underwear.
Logan received his very own 4-wheeler to which he immediately said, "I can see cows," a painting book, a tool bench, his very own instrumental band, and new socks. Camden received little toys for his crib, car seat and bed. He was so thrilled he slept right through it!
Josh purchased some of his own Christmas presents earlier which included Mickey Mouse boots, wool gloves and mittens and wool socks. I bought him a CD player for his truck and new cologne/aftershave and camoflage comfy slippers. Josh bought me a new printer (hooray!!!!) and a new toaster oven (kind of a funny joke) and the most comfortable PJs ever.
Both Isaac and Eli went shopping at school and bought and wrapped presents for each member of the family. Isaac bought Dad a Brett Favre plaque; Mom, a beautiful necklace; Eli, a new Spiderman watch; Logan, a stuffed frog; Camden, a little stuffed bunny. Eli bought Dad camoflage gloves; Mom, a Christmas dish towel; Isaac, a balancing pen; Logan, a stuffed puppy dog; Camden, a Brett Favre plaque. They were so excited to give us these gifts. They also each handmade an ornament in school. Isaac made a snowman figure for me which is the most adorable handmade gift I have ever seen. He stores candy in his glass head! It's sooo cute! Thank you, Isaac and Eli.
They received lots of other gifts from family including more Wii controllers and games, mp3 player, clothes, books, NBAnopoly game, I Spy game, Dr. Suess game, Nerf Dart Tag (which I think is one of the favorites), etc. Logan received lots of cows including fence to help keep them in and a barn. He also got a cow flashlight that says "MOOOO" when you push the button to turn it in. He loves it!
I know there's more but I just can't remember it all. It was a very good Christmas and we are very blessed.
Merry Christmas from the Harts.

Snow day!

Dec. 19th was the boys first official snow day from school! Yeah! After playing in the snow, we made cut-out cookies and the boys painted them. They were very tasty--and even dairy-free! Yum!

Christmas with the Harts

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas with the Harts. It was at Kay and Frank's house on Dec. 20th. As you can tell from the pictures, every one had a good time. Camden was a little overwhelmed, overstimulated combined with overtired so he spent a lot of time crying. Thankfully Kay and Frank have many rooms to hide out in. :)
Merry Christmas.