Grandparents visit!

Mark's parents stayed with us Friday to Tuesday. The first two days were very low-key, with my mastitis...the first picture records a common sight during their visit: Grandpa E. reading book after book to Graeme. Boy did Graeme love that! I imagine Grandpa can still recite a few of Graeme's favorites verbatim, considering he read many of them 20+ times :-)

They brought gifts from Laura and Adam, and the crayon roll Laura made Graeme was (and still is) a big hit! He loves to say "roll" and is very particular about rolling it up every time he uses it...it's quite funny.



Here's Aunt Alyssa with cousin Andrew and Graeme enjoying some reading time


And a shot of Grandpa and Grandma E. with "the boys"

Miserable Mastitis

I've nursed for 20 months with no problems...until yesterday. My left breast was mildly sore, but then I came down with a fever, bodyache and chills quite suddenly. Went to the dr. today for an antibiotic prescription, but I am loathe to take it. www.kellymom.com has some suggestions for treating mastitis naturally...so I have to decide what I'm going to do. Mark's parents are arriving this evening for several days, so I don't want to be miserable the whole time. I covet your prayers!

Fun Pictures!

Wearing Cole (a.k.a. how I get anything done!)


"Hello?" Graeme likes to answer the "phone"


Graeme "helped" me decorate the Christmas tree...he put curly ribbons all over the bottom - it was quite festive!



Graeme's favorite new word: "mo-man" - here he's loving his snowman :-)

Playdough!

I made homemade playdough for Graeme today...I've made it before, but liked this batch better - it will keep for 6 months (so the recipe says). Today was Mark's first day back to work :-( so I wanted to give Graeme a project. He's sitting here right now playing with it again, so I think it's a hit! (If anyone would like the recipe, post in the comments and I'll post it for you.)

Graeme's vocabulary is expanding - he learned two words today: playdough ("dough-dough") and snowman ("mo-man"). "bowl" and "oil" are two other recent additions to his vocabulary. Oil is funny - it sounds like "whooo-eeel" and he likes to repeat it over and over.

Footnote: And the last pic isn't the greatest of me - I didn't get my makeup on until later in the day. At least I managed a shower before breakfast - I was very glad for that LOL! (Cole slept in...wish he'd continue that trend, but I know that won't necessarily last for long.)

"Month of Meals" - need your suggestions!

I'm going to make a month (or maybe even two month!) meal plan over the next few days. I figure, while Mark is here to help out, I'll go ahead and do my least-favorite (and therefore most procrastinated) meal chore: planning! Having a plan for a whole month will be a huge asset in making sure we end up eating dinner...or at least, so that we don't eat pancakes or grilled cheese too frequently ;-)

So, please, share any and all suggestions for a "New mom of two" meal plan - i.e. make-ahead, crock-pot, use-in-multiple-ways, easy recipes.

And you can bet soup & sandwiches will be on there a few times, so if you have neat tips for quick put-together meals for those days when things are all topsy-turvy, do share!

Any ideas I gather, I'll post here:
FamilyFun's "Month of Meals" for December - if nothing else, the categories gave me some great ideas (like "blast from the past" or "Meat-free Friday")

Pictures of the boys...

First, a picture of the big brother. He is SOOOO big to me, now! I didn't realize how big he was, physically, until I have this little baby to compare to. Graeme is such a helper and so sweet with his brother...sometimes that can be dangerous LOL - he'll bring his trains or truck over to "share" and I have to keep him from slamming it on top of Cole's head. But at least he wants to share :-)I thought I'd share a picture of both Graeme and Cole - I think they share the same nose/lip area :-) Or at least, they look a lot alike!

Then some pics of Cole! Cole is a deep sleeper. He'll be awake for a long stretch and nurse a lot, then he zonks off for anywhere from 2-4 hours. It's been really nice at night...he usually only wakes up once or twice to nurse, though I could be blurry on that, since we co-sleep, I don't wake up very much half the time.

And finally, I thought I'd share a picture of both Graeme and Cole - I think they share the same nose/lip area :-) Or at least, they look a lot alike! Graeme is the second pic - he was about 4 days old, I think.