Robin's 6 Month Appointment

Have I mentioned how much I love our pediatricians? Seriously, love them. They are so incredibly supportive and receptive to any issue I've presented and are champions of flexibility. Oh, and they love our kids. But I'll get to that later.

Robin's 6 month Stats:
Height: 25 3/4 inches
Weight: 12 lbs 6 ounces
Head: 16 1/2 inches
Chest 15 1/4 inches

He's growing great and is sticking to a nice curve. He's a long skinny thing...maybe he'll be tall and be able to reach things for his short mamas. He's sitting on his own (but will flop over when he gets tired of it). He's rolling from back to tummy and tummy to back. He's not as miserable during tummy time as Arthur used to be. And this past week he's been a fairly smiley happy baby.

And the best thing is...last night he slept through the entire night for the VERY FIRST TIME. 9PM-5:30AM. I don't expect it to last..ha ha ha. He usually wakes up twice to eat so this was a shock to me. I would love it if he's just finally decided that sleep is good :)

As for the supportive pediatricians...I've developed some ethical issues with a few of the vaccines. None that impacted Robin today but will in the future. I've just discovered that a few of the major vaccines contain human diploid cells (fetal tissue). I'm a very liberal person, and I place no judgement on what is right for others regarding this issue...but when I found out, I cried. There's a difference between knowing what exists that I wouldn't personally partake in, and taking something objectionable to me and injecting it into my child. Without getting into it too much, this was upsetting to me and I decided to ask my pediatrician about it.

Turns out, I'm not alone. He just discovered this issue as well and it has upset him greatly too. His advice "get the vaccines BUT make a huge stink about it with the companies...they need to change how the vaccine is made". I was so happy to get so much support from him! He gave me some materials to read from a medical journal "Ethics & Medics" and I'm going to pore over it to help me make the best decision I can. I do know that alternative vaccines exist without ethically questionable materials and if I can seek those out instead and use those, I will. (The vaccines with human diploid cells are MMR (specifically Mumps and Rubella), the chicken pox vaccine, hepatitis A, and the live Varicella vaccine)

I'll skip the chicken pox vaccine entirely. It's not a required vaccine and honestly, knowing what goes into it...I'd rather my kids get chicken pox.

The shots today (while containing things like formaldehyde, monkey kidney cells, and thimerasol) I wasn't thrilled about but I've decided to break them up to make them easier for Robin to handle. Instead of being majorly uncomfortable for two days, he'll be just a little uncomfortable for a day or two now, and then a little uncomfortable for a day or two in a couple of weeks when I get the rest. He's so tiny for his age, I didn't want to overload him and the pediatrician is fully supportive of parents selectively choosing to delay vaccines. He got 3 today and he'll get the other 3 in two weeks. If he's reached 13 lbs by then, I'll get the flu shot too...but I really need to cross that weight milestone (being that 6 months is the earliest they offer the flu shot and he is just so small for his age still). I mean, the poor baby is conked out cold right now just from getting half of the shots today...you know those ingredients in there are some pretty potent ones.

Wow, that was a novel! But it's something that has been really weighing on my mind the past couple of months and I've been doing lots of research about and I thought I would share it. A lot of people may not know what goes into vaccines and would be surprised to learn what exactly is being put into our children without questioning if there is a better way.

With Arthur, I never questioned..and I'm ashamed that I didn't know what was being put into his body. Joanne and I try so hard to limit the chemicals he eats, but I thought nothing of letting someone put formaldehyde into his bloodstream. I understand that vaccines can be a great thing...but if I at least know ahead of time what I'm putting into my children I can be more prepared and research if any alternative vaccines exist that we can use instead. I'm not anti-vaccine, but lets find a way to make them with ingredients that will reduce fear and worry in parents as well as eliminate ethical concerns with questionable ingredients.

If I don't get to post again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Robin's 6 Month Photos

A sneak peek at the Santa shot:



A tummy shot:



Playing with feet:



The pose we got to match Arthur's 6 month photo on our wall.

Robin:



Arthur at 6 months (November 2005):

Little Santa

Snowball Fight

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

Decorating the Christmas Tree

A photo-op in front of the tree.



Arthur decorating the tree (sorry about the tighty-whiteys showing, but this was the cutest picture of the bunch)



Robin helped too (ha ha ha)



May the force be with you this Christmas:

Robin's 4 Month Appointment

He's doing great. He's more than doubled his birthweight and he's growing and getting stronger. He can roll over now and reach for interesting things to put in his mouth. He's eating well and has just started sleeping through till about 4-5AM (well....the last three days anyway. We'll see how it goes!)

Weight: 10lbs 13oz
Height: 24.5" He's a long skinny thing.

To put it into perspective, at 4 months Arthur was the same height but weighed almost exactly 4lbs more! And I thought he was small!

Robin at 4 Months:


Arthur at 4 Months:

Finally just about ready for cloth!

It has been my intention for a while now to switch Robin over to cloth diapers when he got big enough. I had always wanted to cloth diaper Arthur but couldn't get around the start up expense. Several months ago I found a great deal on Fuzzi Bunz and I couldn't pass up buying a starter set. The size I bought starts at 15lbs and Robin is only about 11lbs now, but I am so itching to start that I couldn't help putting him in them today. They are definitely a little big on even the smallest snap setting but they're holding up fairly well. I have a slightly snug onsie on him over the diaper and that seems to be holding it on well. Time will tell but so far so good!

After a conversation with my mother this weekend talking about how I was brought up in cloth, I've strengthened my resolve to get him in them as soon as I could. I'll feel much better about the environmental impact and since these diapers are so easy to use and clean, I don't see how I can NOT use them. :)

Some new pictures of the boys

Happy Birthday Mum!

I had to work last night so Arthur and I made some cupcakes in the morning for Joanne's birthday so they could have some after dinner. Arthur helped by putting the cups in the tray and putting the decals on after I frosted them. He snuck in quite a few tastes of course, and yes I'm letting him eat raw cupcake batter...bad mommy. :)

I made a really yummy twist on the buttercream frosting. Frosting is so easy to make that I never even look at the tubs of it at the store anymore and the real butter is just so good. Yum.

Jen's Orange Buttercream Frosting:

1 stick of butter softened slightly

3.5 cups confectioner's sugar

2-3 TBS half & half

1 tsp natural vanilla extract

1 TBS natural orange extract

Beat on high speed the butter and sugar. Add half and half in 1 TBS increments until blended in smooth. Add vanilla and orange extracts and beat on high until light and fluffy.

Apple Picking

Just Playing

A couple of weeks ago an online friend of ours sent Robin a little fabric ball that she made herself. Robin thinks there are no better toys in the world right now. I've taken to hanging the ball on the foam supports of his playmat and no matter what side I put in on, that's the side he migrates over to so he can bat at the ball. It's really cute and I wanted to get a video of it so Liz could see for herself how much he enjoys it.

I love doing this comparison....

Boston Children's Museum 9/9/07

Sears Retakes

At the end of April we had Arthur's 2 year pictures taken at a Sears Portrait Studio and they came out pretty terrible. We had a new girl and she just wasn't used to taking pictures of young children. We felt a little pressured to order some anyway but overall we just weren't happy. I ended up returning the photos.

So there's a long story involved but finally we were able to get retakes done and since I had already had excellent photos from the Picture People for Arthur's 2 year shots...we used the credits for Robin's 3 month photos and one of the boys together.

Arthur Climbing a Ladder

A Cute Photo

Robin's 2 Month Checkup and Arthur's New Backpack

Robin: Robin had his two month well baby visit today and he is doing really great. He's gained just about 3 lbs in the past six weeks, which puts him currently at the size of the average newborn..ha ha ha. But his gain is a really really good indication that he's doing just fine and he's fully recovered from his surgery.

The doctor was very happy with how well he lifts his head when he is on his tummy. Although, I've kind of felt the opposite when I'm holding him. I feel like his head is floppier than it should be, but I guess he's really just fine. His eyes, ears, fingers, toes and all that are just fine. They're happy not seeing him again until his four month visit.

Stats from today:

7 lbs 13 oz
21.5 inches long (He grew 3 inches in two months???)
Head: 14.5 inches
Chest: 13.75 inches

Arthur: We went out this weekend on a little day trip because we really don't get to do that too often. It was a very nice day just the four of us and in our travels we found a wee little backpack for Arthur that was on clearance and just too cute! There was a red one and a yellow one and no matter how hard Joanne tried, she couldn't get him to pick the red one (which she liked more). After three attempts of him picking the yellow one (which I preferred), she conceded and yellow it was!

He got to practice with it today when he spent a couple of hours at his aunt Patti's house while I brought Robin to the doctor. I was able to fit two diapers, two swim diapers, a bathing suit and shirt, a towel, three snacks, sunscrean, and a water bottle...all of which he managed to carry himself. Good deal!

Merging Blogs - Keep Checking Back...

I've decided to merge Arthur's blog with my own personal journal that I kept when we were expecting Robin. It's going to take some time, but I wanted to create just one place friends and family could go to for updates on both our boys.

I'll be adding the posts back on the day I wrote them, so they will still appear in chronological order. I'll make sure to keep adding the pictures and to update with some new posts (again in chronological) for what we've lapsed on Arthur's blog (Now Arthur and Robin's blog).

Thanks for being patient with us!

A Cute Robin Video. Just doing what babies do...

The Boston Pops

Every year we like to go see the Pops by the Sea. We usually get free tickets through work and it's a nice day with great music. We've made three out of four of the past few years since we started going.

This year's special guest conductor was Ray Romano. We didn't really get to see much because we were way off on the lawn in the only shady place we could find left. This meant we could hear the music, but if we wanted a peek, we needed to walk around.

The concert started at 5PM and we arrived around 2PM. Any later, and there would have literally been NO spots left on the lawn at all. We settled down, played with Arthur, and had some yummy Thai food for dinner before the show began. We had our blanket and we were pretty comfortable. It didn't take much for us to be happy.

People get really funny about it though. The best are the ones who sit right in front of the grassy spot along the line of the path and set up their big folding chairs with the canopies and umbrellas so that no one behind them can see anything at all. This would be rude, I suppose, except that just about EVERYONE does this. They break out their coolers and wine (outside alcohol is allowed) and sunhats. By comparison, we look like ragamuffins on our little blanket.

The music was great and Ray Romano was pretty funny. Although I have to say that while I loved his humor, Joanne and I discussed after on whether it was appropriate or not for the crowd of about 50% aged 70 and up...

For example, Ray was talking about the instruments and said something like "These guys are nice. What are these? Trombonists" (crowd giggles) "...well, I guess that sounds a lot better than Tromboner."

I thought it was cute anyway, even if it was a tad innappropriate.

We had one "scary" moment when I was nursing Robin and Arthur went to sit on my lap. I wasn't paying attention and he sat square on Robin's head, who screeched immediately. I paniced a little and started scanning him all over for sign of head or neck injury. I got up and brought him to the rest room and calmed him down. After noting that his arms and legs were moving, so that probably meant his neck wasn't broken, I went back to our blanket. He was fine.

I don't know whether we'll have this opportunity next year so I'm glad we had such a nice day of it this time.