Tonight we got out the johnny jump-up. Freddy seems to like it, that is when his sister isn't trying to swing him in it. He prefers to be standing up these days so his excersaucer gets a lot of use. Hopefully he likes this thing too just so he has some variety. :)

On a side note, Freddy's first tooth is almost through. I hope it hurries up he has been very uncomfortable.

A late 4 months

Freddy just had his 4 month check-up, the ticker up above tells me that he is 5 months and 2 days old today. Oh well. He is healthy as a horse. He weighs 18lbs 8oz, which I found hard to believe. He feels way heavier than that! He is 27.5 inches tall, that puts him between the 90th and 95th percentile for height. Yeah! He won't be a shorty like Mommy and Lucy. :) As for his birthmark, it is called a hemangioma, and it is blood vessels that are too close to the skin.Here is what WebMD says about them: Strawberry hemangiomas (also called strawberry mark, nevus vascularis, capillary hemangioma, hemangioma simplex) may appear anywhere on the body, but are most common on the face, scalp, back, or chest. They consist of small, closely packed blood vessels. They may be absent at birth, and develop at several weeks. They usually grow rapidly, remain a fixed size, and then subside. In most cases, strawberry hemangiomas disappear by the time a child is 9 years old. Some slight discoloration or puckering of the skin may remain at the site of the hemangioma.
So, unless it changes in appearance, there is nothing to worry about.

The doctor also said that we can start solids if we want to or we can wait for the AAP (American Academy of Pediatricians) recommendation and wait another month. I think I will wait at least one more month...just kidding! I know there people dying to start feeding him, we will probably try out the rice cereal sometime in the next few days. It will be nice to be able to get a break. Don't get me wrong, I love that I can breastfeed my children and I am proud and amazed of how big they can grow on my milk alone, but it's the "my milk alone" part that gets tiring. Neither of my kids would take a bottle, not that we really tried very hard with Freddy, which has left me with not being able to go anywhere for more than about 2 hours. Freddy has made it longer than that (he did about 4 hours Saturday) but after 2 hours I worry so I can't go anywhere and be relaxed about it. It will be nice to be able to have someone else feed him and I know his Daddy can't wait for the chance.

Speaking of starting solids, I am making some baby food right now. My new food mill came in the mail today so I am cooking carrots and sweet potatoes. I had better get back to them.

Pool party at our house this afternoon!

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Two projects for our land are now done! Dave and Lucy completed the outhouse this afternoon. She's a beaut ain't she?

Yesterday Dave and I finished the fence for the first pasture. Things are starting to take shape up there! This week we should be closing on the nine acres that are next door which will double our space. For now we are going to keep renting it to the farmer who plants corn on it. Later it will either be another pasture or a hay field. I would also like to put a small orchard over there.

Dave has a guy lined up to do our perk test to see where we should put our septic system and after that another guy will come dig the well. Meanwhile we are slowly working on finding an architect. Wish us luck with that. Anyone have any tips for that?

Bad blogger.

I am a bad blogger. I'm sorry you have had to make do with posts that I have written from my phone, but I have come to really like them. Especially since our camera got broken on our camping trip, so all I have for a camera is my phone. I will eventually get those pictures off of the camera and get them up on the computer. Eventually, some day.

There are two other reasons I haven't been posting much. One is that it is summer so I don't feel like sitting inside on the computer. (Earlier today I tried to talk Dave into buying us a laptop so I could get on the internet anywhere but he wasn't convinced that that was the best use of our money since we really need a new camera. He is so lame sometimes. :P) The second reason is that I seem to be a lot busier these days than I remember being in summer's past. I think it might have something to do with either the new baby or the crazy toddler I have living here.

Lucy is keeping me on my toes, and at times my wits end. She is hilarious though! She makes up games, asks funny questions and comes up with all sorts of interesting observations. We went to the circus this past Saturday and now she wants a pony (Daddy took her for a pony ride which she loved!) and an elephant in her barn. The baby is getting fussy so I have to type faster.

On to the baby. Freddy is huge and quickly becoming an interactive member of our family. He laughs a lot now and he will yell at you if you are ignoring him (like I am doing now). He completely adores his sister. Just catching sight of her usually makes him start laughing. He can roll over but doesn't do it much. He is scooching and squirming around quite a bit though. He is never in the spot I left him in his crib. He alternates nights being a good sleeper and a terrible sleeper. Last night he slept 7 straight hours the three nights before that he wouldn't sleep for more than three hours at a time. I have no idea what to expect. Anyway, his 4 month appointment is next week (he will be 5 months old by then, I am not sure how I got off schedule). I can't wait to find out how tall he is and how much he weighs. I also want to talk to his doctor about the birthmark on his side. It is a great big red thing, at his last appointment she said it was just a birthmark and to watch it. Watch it for what? I don't like it and I am going to talk with her about taking him to someone (a dermatologist?) about it.

I am starting to prepare for feeding him solids. I don't think we are ready yet, but I am wondering if his poor sleeping might be hunger related. He is a big boy, I wonder if milk alone is still satisfying him. Then last night he went so long without nursing, I just don't know. I bought some cereal and I have started making purees. I forgot how much fun it is and what a good feeling it is to make baby food. Last night Grandpa, Oma and I cleaned all the peas out of the garden and today I shelled, cooked, pureed and froze them. They also gave me a huge head of cabbage, an onion, some carrots, and a little bit of broccoli that was left. Yeah for fresh, homegrown, free food! :)

I think this all the blogging I have time for, I am supposed to be researching architects and I have to start dinner.

A girl after my own heart, she is sunbathing on the deck this morning. She was playing with a dishpan of water and said "I need to dry my butt, it is wet." :)

I am not sure but I think Maddie is teaching Lucy how to draw manga (Japanese cartoon stuff).

Chillin' at the lake.

Rodeo at our house today!

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Dave got the excersaucer out for Freddy. I am so behind with this kid! He is ready for things long before I am ready for him to be ready. He likes the excersaucer but he likes his sister even better. I don't know if you can tell but in this video he is watching every move Lucy makes. (Lucy broke our camera so until I het a new one you get low quality phone videos. Sorry!)

Yesterday some of the cousins went to the zoo. It was all five of the great-grandsons and Lucy. They had a great time!