Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Joseph Jr. - 8 Months Old


A lot has happened in the 3 months since I updated here and here on the little man of the house.

Joseph has had 2 teeth pop through in the last month or so.

He is talking up a storm, not really sure it's real words but it sure sounds like 'dada' sometimes.

He is crawling(sort of) all over the place and getting into all kinds of things. It's funny how you have to re-babyproof after just having babies not that long ago. It is constant reminding the girls to pick up things from the floor...food, little toys, etc.

We still really don't have a schedule but he is sleeping better at night and for naps, though his naps are not very predictable. He almost always nurses to sleep for both naps and bedtime.

And some times his sisters just wear him out and he falls asleep in the middle of the floor.




He pulled himself up a couple of days ago for the first time.




We have still had issues with his skin over the last few months, but it has gotten so much better. As of now, he is pretty much clear. He has a few spots on his legs and chest but overall is looking wonderful.
The end of May, he was looking rough still...pretty sure due to a reaction to dairy that I had eaten. It sort of cleared up in June, but there was a spot that was pretty bad on his right cheek. We ended up taking him into the pediatrician and did get an antibiotic. I ended up at the pharmacy for over an hour waited because I didn't want a bright pink antibiotic. I didn't think it was necessary to add Red40 into the little guy since he seems to have so many issues with foods and skin breakouts already.

The antibiotic seemed to be clearing up the rest of his cheeks. But he also started a new breakout while still on the antibiotic...pretty sure from some beef I had eaten. Funny side note, the pediatrician just can't believe it has anything to do with food or food allergies. She is wrong, we have noticed pretty easily when I have tried a food that I had been restricting and thought bugged him...he would break out.

I have decided that it has already been months of watching what I eat to help the little guy out, so what's a few more months. I've always intended on nursing until my babies were at least a year old and that doesn't seem that far off anymore.

Besides getting a ton of his food from me, he has been eating up a storm too...chicken, rice, sweet potatoes, green beans, bananas, and a ton of other fruit and veggies. He loves chicken broth (which is good since I usually have a batch going in the crockpot)...actually all my kids love soup and broth.

As of now, we are doing no dairy, no eggs, no beef, no corn, no potatoes, no tomatoes, no green peppers, no wheat, no gluten and limited sugar. We know for sure he does not tolerate dairy, eggs or beef. I would like to test wheat again, but at the same time it is nice seeing how wonderful he looks and don't really want to tempt it either.

He is all boy and a wonderful additon to the screeching little girls around here. He will probably out weigh his sisters soon. He weighs about 19 lbs. Cori and Charlie are not too far ahead of him at 23 lbs and 32 lbs.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Multitude Monday

A very random list from the last few weeks.

801. Sweet corn from the garden
802. Afternoon rain storms
803. Mud between toes
804. Campfires with friends, family and little ones
805. Smores
806. Higher Ground and Jesus worshipping







807. Family Friday afternoons...gator rides, ice cream, park playing, and homemade pizza
808. Celebrating Miss Cori's birthday




809. Opening day at the local apple orchard
810. Little ones behaving while running around on a Friday...garage sales, apple orchard, farmer's market and more
811. Finally getting things preserves...pickles, peaches, green beans, sweet corn
812. Celebrating Joe's birthday...we so love this man!



813. Relaxed suppers with great friends
814. County fairs...corn dogs, kettle corn, cattle barns, chickens and more
815. The Kingery Family's music

Counting with Ann!

God bless!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Multitude Monday



Blessings overflow here at the Neaton ranch.
Everyday brings new challenges and new victories and we rejoice in it all.


777. New schedules, new plans, new organizing
778. Getting inspiration from others.....
779. .....Quinn, Stephanie, Nic, Lindsay and more

780. Smiling babe.....clapping hands




781. Growing and exploring babes
782. So close to crawling






784. New tooth smiles
785. Happy kids
786. Kids sleeping through the night.....even the babe



787. Parade watching in some shade
788. Hanging out with cousins




789. Hanging out with uncle Trav


791. Little ones getting big enough and strong enough to help with more chores
792. Big aprons on little girls


793. A great week at VBS
794. Hearing Charlie explain to Travis about Jesus and the path to everlasting life

796. Meeting sweet new people
797. Talking chickens, raw milk and Jesus

798. Husband working hard
799. Getting hay up before the rain

800. Sweet notes in the mail for Miss Charlie


Praying a blessed week for all!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Stats

Stats as of today -

Joseph.....

.....has his first tooth popping through
.....had chicken for the first time yesterday
.....has already been eating sweet potato, chicken broth, avocado, applesauce, pears, bananas, and peas
.....slept through the night for the first time (from 10pm to 6am and went back to sleep after nursing at 6am)
.....does not nap well
.....seems close to crawling
.....his skin is looking a lot clearer (will post more later on what has all been happening)


Cori.....

.....did not sleep through the night last night
.....still won't say more than the few words that she has been using forever
.....pooped in a swim diaper twice in the last 2 days
.....is my best napper (almost always get 3 hours out of her)
.....loves driving their little battery-powered car around the yard, but does not let off the peddle when she runs into something
.....is deathly afraid of the chickens
.....has scrapped up both knees about 10 times in the last week


Charlie.....

.....wants the training wheels off of her bike
.....is loving VBS this week
.....is learning to drive the gator all by herself (just steering with dad running the pedals)
.....spent about 2 hours over the last couple of days in a time-out
.....talks constantly, always looking for the last word, always wants to read 1 more book or hear 1 more story
.....loves feeding the chickens scraps (and also a little scared of them)
.....can buckle herself in her carseat


Joe.....
.....is working his butt off, definitely will be pretty busy for at least the next month (4 fence jobs lined up, along with haying and other smaller jobs that always come along)
.....has put 500 miles on the Gator since we bought it in May
.....is thankful his wife has been making homemade bread again
.....has been taking great care of chores so I don't have to venture out in the heat with the kids to do them
.....does not like taking cod liver oil, but does because his wife wants him to


Holly.....

.....bought a new ice cream maker (can't wait to experiment some and will need to since I'm not eating dairy)
.....is starting a new schedule next week (cleaning, menus, school, work, etc)
.....is still not eating many things in an attempt to keep Joseph's eczema under control
.....is blessed with the extra weight that has come off because of it, but has almost no clothes that fit appropriately
.....needs to get in the garden - to weed, to mulch, to cut lettuce
.....is too lazy to get up and load photos to add to this post (will get them for the next one)
.....is thankful it's not soooo hot and humid today


Have a blessed day!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Multitude Monday


Counting summertime blessings with Ann.....

764. Clothes drying on the line

765. Flip-flop tan lines

766. Early sunrises

767. Late sunsets

768. Hammocks

769. Sisters pushing sisters on the swingset

770. Gator rides

771. Slip-n-slides and kiddie pools

772. Supper from the grill

773. First raspberries

774. Farmer's baling hay

775. Early morning rain

776. Tractor pulls


Have a blessed week!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Como Zoo


About a month ago, the kiddos and I headed out, picked up Travis and headed to Como Zoo.

It was a fun afternoon and a nice chance to visit with my brother. Como is the perfect size for a short afternoon outing and nice for little ones to walk around and you can't beat free.



















God bless!
Holly