March Madness

March was hectic for us. Spencer worked twice as many days as he is suppose to...they just need to hire more people...so, basically I see the guy like 2 hrs every day (includes dinner before he leaves). But he likes what he does and has no plans of switching jobs....he says he's good...for now. He just bought a spankin' new nice camera to take when he goes birding (when? I am not sure, since he's always working...haha). My mom likes to say.."when you got money, you don't have time, and when you have time...you never have money". Why are parents so wise??
Also, he forgot what it was like in Oklahoma during the spring...allergies are BAD here. I remember when we moved to Nashville, we ALL got sick. This time, it was mainly just Spencer. The kids just ended up having dry skin, but Spencer had a terrible dry cough all month long (which irritated his throat) and lost his voice for about 4 days. But, that didn't stop him from playing outside with Dom.

Ethan is still battling thrush...what a stubborn thing. It got really bad for about a week, he wanted to be held at all times...annoying for everyone, especially Dom. The situation was so textbook- Dom regressed because he wasn't getting attention. He had about 4 potty accidents in the past month...A LOT for him....and a few more tantrums than usual. We yelled at each other a lot. Once I connected the dots...seriously, it took me a while, I'm so sleep deprived these days....I changed doctors on Ethan to see if she could do something different. She changed the dosage and told me to give Ethan a suppository. Oh I forgot to say...he had been constipated for 4 days  (he used to go daily, and now he's not? the only diet change was the meds)....I think it was the medicine, but the doctor says it's common at this age because a big growth spurt is in order, and their bodies absorb a lot of the nutrients. I call it BS and gave that kid a suppository, I was desperate...and what do you know??? Once he relieved himself...he was SOOOO much happier...wouldn't you??? So, Mother's instinct says....the medicine constipates him...but we both have to take it, if we are to tackle this thrush menace. We have 13 more days to go...I hope it goes away before then. The night Ethan finally went #2, is the night the little booger only woke up once...and Dom did too. So, I basically had a 6hr night of sleep uninterrupted....IT....WAS....GREAT!!!! I woke up at 7am wanting to do work....haha.
He's been wearing disposables this whole month (and a little more) because I was told that the yeast actually thrives in cloth diapers and will have to wash them with bleach. I made an executive decision...and once this thing is gone...I will put ALL the diapers he used in a little bleach just ONE time with hot water. I didn't want to keep doing it, and destroying some of the nice diapers. AND I have been washing clothes, sheets, toys, pacifiers (everything he licks) once a day with soap an water, and laying it out on the sun, so the yeast dies....needless to say, THIS. IS. WAR. ...I hope we win. But yeah, we're still nursing. I am mixing a bit of formula in his bottle during the day (4oz) so I don't fully give him the infection all the time....I also give him 2 oz of formula mixed in with my milk to see if he can sleep better. He's starting to wake up every 1.5 hrs...I'm looking for some relief here. We'll see if it works....

Dom regressing...again, with the car seat

3 days of Gentian Violet...didn't work...and it
stained EVERYTHING.

and it really stains....look at his poor mouth

Dom has been learning so much. Spencer signed him up for ABC mouse online. If you have not heard of it, you live under a rock, because it's on PBS all the time (commercial). It's only $8 a month (basically the same price as Netflix) and the lessons change every day...so the child never gets bored. You truly get what you pay for. I tried doing the free online resources for Dominic....but NOTHING has grabbed his attention like this. He does it for about an hour a day....That's a long time for him. It's so much better on the Ipad or a touch screen, but it will work on the laptop too. Most of the time, I do it with him, but he can do the lesson on his own. For each lesson you complete you get "tickets" and you can buy all kinds of stuff. And if you complete all the lessons for the day, you get a price plus tickets...and he likes that. He has learned how to do shapes with his hands, learn odd shapes, color by numbers, specific body parts, starting to recognize words by reading books, and it helps him with letter sounds...I mean all kids of stuff. It's so awesome...well worth the $8 a month...he'll totally be ready for preschool. He likes to be challenged....so this is good for him.  He loves therapy. Ms. April LOVES superheroes, so she relates to Dom very well. He loves the gym and playing with the other kids there....and he's practicing his "s", "c", and "g"...he's getting good....I can understand about 95% of what he says...so that's good. The Public School system finally told me that he does not qualify for special services. He actually scored average on the test ....which means he's pretty much caught up to his peers in speech. It's so odd...he walks at 9mo but didn't  talk until about 18mo....it's almost like his brain just couldn't do both. Some sounds do not come naturally to him, but I guess we all have those. But I do see him correcting himself all the time...which I think its awesome. And he will talk your ear off...and he's very loud. Dom only has loud and louder. It's hard to keep him quiet during Sacrament. And he loves to cuddle in the mornings with me. He likes to just come over randomly and kiss me and tell me "I love you too" (it's like he always knows I love him haha). I hope that never goes away, that's really the only thing keeping me from running away right now....haha.
Somebody in the freecycle community had a bed frame to give away. I went to go get it, and to my surprise...it was an actual wooden bed....so Dom now has a bed. It's pretty beat up, so I will have to sand it and color it sometime this summer. So, Dom finally has a bed haha. Now, he will have to learn how to NOT roll out of the mattress.

he was quiet for like 20min...

End product...all by himself

He has a fascination with tails...mainly because
Pinocchio has one.

My uncle sent them from Mexico....I thought
they were so cute.

 We have been spending a lot of time at the park. He FINALLY let me put him on a swing...I don't know why it took him so long. He's finally starting to like them. Otherwise, he just likes to run and do stunts on the slide. Once Ethan felt better, I had to go back and give Dom some attention. Once we started hanging out one-on-one again, all the anger and accidents pretty much disappeared. Now, I make sure I give him much more attention and make sure he is being heard. He actually loves to play hide and seek with us (and he's actually quite good). He is also into creating with playdoh....I love how he role plays with his cars  and uses his imagination...sometimes, it seems all this technology is taking that away from our kiddos.
He is super obsessed with Legos right now. He skipped the duplos altogether- I'm glad...because then, you fill your house with all kinds of sets that don't even go with each other (mega blocks, duplos, Legos...whatever). And he likes to watch YouTube videos of building Legos and he'll match those. He keeps saying he needs more Legos...but right now I'm the only one that picks them up...so I'm hesitant to get more. I think maybe it will be a xmas gift or something. He also loves Big Hero 6 and Baymax...he does the handshake all he time. If you haven't seen it...it's pretty cute. It would be a great FHE movie.

At the park......tree hugger. He LOVES outside

Loves pushing it.

And then he figured out he could ride it too.
Who needs a double stroller huh??? genius.

Playing with his little brother

Me? I am not sure what I did this month...but it flew by. I worked out more than February....haha, but not by much. I started couponing again, and involving Dominic when I cut the coupons out...he's my helper. He's so smart, he'll say "$2 dollars" and I'll say "dang right...that's money in your pocket right there". He'll help me organize them. The only down side, is that I don't get nearly as much stuff as I did in Nashville. It's hard to find really good prices here. But I have learned that even if I get two items...that goes a long way...so we try our best.

I mostly clean...I hate seeing play doh on the floor...or food....or lint haha. I like a clean house...so when Dom spends the night at my  mom's on Fridays...that's my cleaning day.

I also got to decorate for Easter. I found some awesome deals last year after the holiday and have waited a whole year to show it off. Dom loves finding eggs around the house. recently, he's been obsessed with kinder eggs he's found on you tube and making his own "egg surprises" with the play doh. Recently, he went on a neighborhood Easter egg hunt and he was narrating how he was opening the eggs and what was inside...haha...what a goober.

 

 

And with all this madness....oh yeah, there's this.....

Congrats to the new homeowners....welcome to "new dom's house"
as Dom likes to say

yep...we were finally able to close..pics to come. We have to paint first...that's all the upgrades for now. Eventually we will do some more, but for now we just have to move in, and stop paying rent.