The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

Friday!

TGIF! Although, it’s going to be a crazy weekend so I think I’ll actually be even happier when it’s Sunday!

Unfortunately, this week we had to make a trip to the doctor…

doctor

For the record, Maxwell was 36.4 lbs and Spencer was 34! Maxwell had a cold last week with some congestion but was largely over it. However, he was complaining that his ear hurt so I took him in and he has a double ear infection! Spencer now has the same cold and is a snotty, wheezing mess.

doctor

All we can really do for Spencer is a steroid and the oh so fun breathing treatments. Poor guy. One funny thing – I was rocking Spencer in the middle of the night when he was coughing so so so bad. He actually finally coughed up some of the junk all over me (gross) and then, in his half asleep state, said “Goodness!” just like I always say whenever one of the boys is coughing a lot. He then said, “Giant mess.” and I had to agree – and laugh. Sweet boy.

Another cute Spencer story I don’t want to forget…  Last week I was drying my hair while Samantha was asleep in her room and Spencer was playing with his trains downstairs. When I turned off my blow dryer, I heard Samantha crying so I went into her room only to see that Spencer had left his trains downstairs and had come up to her room to put the paci in her mouth when he heard her crying. He was kneeling beside her, sticking the paci in her mouth. I just about melted. Sweet boy indeed.

And a funny thing from Maxwell…on St. Patrick’s Day, we were playing outside and all of a sudden he said, “Look Momma! A clover and it has THREE sides! I think a Leprechaun must have come and planted it here last night!”  Ha!

clover

Also, Maxwell came home from school on Wednesday saying “Momma, I decided that I’m now going to marry Blair and let Max marry Lila. I was smiling at Blair all day today. Can she come over and play?” What????? Young love…

I guess I’ll give a little update on Samantha too. She had her first bottle this week when Susan kept her for a bit and drank it all down like a champ! Basically, she’s perfect.

samantha

She’s also definitely doing better in the sleeping department. She’s really only waking to eat one around 3am and is doing much better sleeping in her chair. Not perfect yet but we’re getting there. I guess I should start letting her sleep in her own room. All in good time…

samantha

Sorry, that post kind of went all over the place but those are some updates from around here! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Dermatologist

Happy Monday. A little follow up on our visit to the dermatologist last week…

derm

I got everyone all bundled up to head out in the 23 degree weather and we got there right on time…only to wait a full 30 minutes to see the nurse.  We then got to wait another 15 minutes to see the doctor. So, we finally saw the doctor around 11:00 for our 10:10 appointment. That is frustrating regardless, but even more frustrating when you have 3 little kids you’re trying to entertain and keep quiet!  Luckily, they did have a little “kid” area in the waiting room that kept them occupied for a bit…

derm

derm

derm

But, by the time we got back to the room, everyone felt about like this…

derm

And when the doctor came in, let’s just say that Spencer did NOT want to take his shirt off. Not at all.  Sweet Maxwell happily took his off to show Spencer it was ok but Spencer was having none of it. I basically wrestled him down and ripped it off – literally ripping the shirt I think – while the doctor watched. Good times. The diagnosis? Mild to medium eczema just as I expected. Here’s the protocol for anyone else dealing with this…

– Only use “free” detergents (Tide Free & Gentle), dryer sheets, and shampoos.

– Bathe as often as possible and don’t use liquid soaps. Dove bar is best. Use the soap at the very end of the bath. Only use “free” shampoo and conditioner like Free & Clear.

– After bath, pat him dry and – within 3 minutes!! (she really stressed the importance of 3 minutes!) – get them covered in the medicine and a good cream. Not lotion but cream such as Cetaphil, Vanicream, etc. Apparently the lotions in pump bottles have alcohol in them which are obviously drying. For the medicine, she gave us 2 different prescriptions – one to put on the spots when they are mild and then a steroid cream to put on the spots when they are bad.

We’ll do our best and hope it clears up once and for all! Even though Spencer threw a fit at the doctor, I did still take the boys to Moe’s – they deserved a treat!

moes

See you tomorrow!

Doctor, busted lip, and a Sunday stroll

First, Samantha had her 2 week check-up yesterday and is up to 7lbs, 13oz! She’s obviously a good eater! That puts her in the 75th % for weight. She’s 20.5 inches long now which puts her in the 50th-75th % for height. Head circumference is 14. Growing girl!

dr 2 wk

dr 2 wk

She had to get her heel pricked which she didn’t like at all but, we survived.

Tuesday was kind of a rough day. We had some carpet installers here and their banging and staple guns meant Samantha did more of this…

cry

than this.

sleep

Then Maxwell slipped getting out of the bath and ended up with a very fat lip!

fat lip

Poor guy.

But, we’re still making it fine. Let’s focus on something fun like the Sunday Stroll we took last weekend.  The boys had on their glasses and were ready to go!

glasses

Our walk ended up being way longer than we anticipated but it was gorgeous weather and we were all happy for the fresh air. Spencer insisted on walking – or actually jogging – the entire way only getting in the stroller when we made him. He probably walked 2 miles!

stroll

He also bit it about 6 times but he’d just get up, wipe his hands off and keep going! This kid is tough…and cute!

stroll

Samantha enjoyed it all from the sling – her first ride in it!

stroll

Here’s to better days and many more pretty afternoon strolls!

Friday!

Friday! We’ve been busy over here the past several days…

Samantha had her first bath…

bath

She didn’t love getting her body cleaned but did really enjoy getting her hair done! She is a girl after all!  🙂

bath

She also took her first snooze in the swing.

swing

I managed to get all 3 kids up and dressed and out the door in time for school Monday, Wednesday and Friday…

3 boys

3 kids

On Wednesday, I also took Samantha up for her first doctor checkup at 8:30. She got a great report! She’s back up to 7lb, 6.5 oz! She had dropped to 6lb, 13oz when leaving the hospital so a 9 oz gain in one week is impressive!

dr

dr

Spencer celebrated Groundhog Day at school…

groundhog day

Maxwell continued to love on “sweetie” (as he likes to call her!)…

brother sister

Samantha got to meet Susan…

susan

and she also got ready for her first photoshoot!

sam

Lauren of Peppermint Photography was here Thursday so take some pictures of my sweet babies – all 3 of them!

photos

sbk

It’s been a GREAT couple of days! Ready for the weekend!

sbk

See you Monday!

Stuff

On Christmas Day, I noticed that Spencer started limping. It wasn’t bad and he never complained about anything hurting, but he definitely had a “hitch in his giddy-up” as they say (and I don’t know who says that besides my mom, btw). Anyway, fast forward 1.5 weeks later and he’s still limping. I called the pediatrician and they said it was best to take him up to the Orthopedic to get him checked out. I actually had a doctor appointment Tuesday morning right next door to the Orthopedic so Spencer just got to tag along with me to the doctor. He REALLY didn’t want to go in when we got there (screaming baby in a dead silent waiting room = fun) but I finally got him going on the iPad and he was a happy camper from then on…

ipad

We then headed over to the Orthopedic – same doctor that we had seen when Maxwell broke his leg. As much as Spencer didn’t want to into my doctor’s office, he REALLY REALLY didn’t want them messing with him at the ortho! Long story short, after some observed walking (which was really him running after me while screaming crying) and x-rays, it was determined that Spencer hurt his foot but didn’t hurt it very bad. I got a little confused when the doctor was telling me what happened but, from what I understand, he hurt the top of his foot which is primarily ligaments and possibly did a little damage to the bone. Whatever is wrong, it’s not bad enough to actually do anything about and will heal itself. The doctor said to just give him Motrin if it bothers him and he’ll be back to normal in no time. Thank goodess!  I’ll tell you one thing – Spencer was glad to be out of that doctor’s office when he appointment was over!

spencer

His limp has not slowed him down at all!

Another funny Spencey story – yesterday for breakfast I gave the boys some mini muffins that they have each had several times before (we’re all about nutrition over here!). About 10 minutes later, I looked at Spencer’s plate and it was totally clean….all the muffins AND THE PAPER WRAPPERS were gone. Robert and I started cracking up when we realized that he had just gobbled down the paper wrappers with his muffins!  Goodness gracious.  I guess he was hungry!!  or possibly distracted by the iPad. It obviously didn’t bother him but I’m so glad to know that, while he won’t eat a majority of the food I make, he will eat paper. ha!

Thankfully the muffins were about 1/5 the size of this giant one!

muffins

Yesterday was also back to school for the boys – finally! Instead of taking Teddy Tennis on Friday afternoons like he did first semester, Maxwell is doing Soccer Shots on Wednesday mornings at 8am before school. I’m planning to take Spencer to PlayPals during that hour so I don’t have to do two drop-offs. We all made it to school by 8am yesterday and both boys seemed to love their activities so win-win for now! We’ll see if we can get there that early when #3 is tagging along too!

Finally, when I picked Spencer up yesterday, Ms. Alice even commented on how much more he was talking than before Christmas break.  She said it was just night and day!  Hooray!  Here he is trying to back himself into the corner and not put his coat on to leave school…

spencer

Don’t worry, I got coats on both of them because it’s FREEZING here!

freezing

Have a good and warm day!