Child Engineering 101

I'm dreaming of a dye-free Christmas...

2009-12-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

My nanny's daughter has a sensitivity to red dye (maybe other dyes, too, I can't remember). I had also heard that some people think food colorings are associated with ADD. So I was reading online about food colorings and they really don't sound like something I want to give Aaron when it's unnecessary. Red #40 is derived from coal tar. How is that edible? We already avoid artificial ingredients in our food (and Trader Joe's is great for finding affordable foods with natural ingredients). So my goal this year was to make cut out Christmas cookies (my favorite by far) without food dyes. But since the colored icing is half the fun, I still wanted to give my cookies some color.

With a little help from Google, I discovered several suggestions for making colored icing without artificial food coloring. You can't get as bright of colors using food sources for coloring, but I was still pretty happy with the results.

One my of my strategies was to make snow flakes that wouldn't need color. I sprinkled some sugar on the the wet icing to give them a little shine.

The lavendar color is from blueberry juice - I just put some frozen blueberries in the microwave for 10 seconds or so and used the juice that came out, run through a sieve since blueberry seeds are small.

The raspberry color is from frozen cherries (similar process as for blueberries, but no worry about seeds).

I made a pale pink using beets. That was a more elaborate project that involved boiling beets ahead of time.

And the orange on the star is from using tumeric. I read to use stale tumeric, but mine wasn't old enough so it did impart some of the flavor to the icing. I also experimented with cinammon for brown, but brown icing was kind of weird.

I heard that pomegranate juice would make a good pink, but I was too cheap to buy expensive pomegranate juice and instead bought a pomegranate. But the color was too pale to affect the color of the icing much. I also tried using orange juice instead of (soy) milk in the icing to achieve a pale orange, but it came out looking about the same as the soy milk icing.

For decorations, I used granulated sugar, dried fruit (blueberries, cranberries, yellow raisens) and some chocolate covered sunflower seeds from Trader Joe's. They are colored with natural food coloring (using things like beets, tumeric, spinach juice). I might try some of the health food stores next time to see if they have some kind of sprinkles that use natural colorings.

First snowball and first Santa encounter

2009-12-24T16:47:00.000-08:00

Kim took Aaron to a local attraction that had lights and snow and horse drawn wagons. It was his first experience with snow and he seemed to enjoy it. He doesn't own mittens or gloves since we live in a warm climate, but Kim lent him one of her gloves. (She offered him two, but he would only wear one.)

He also got to roast his own marshmallow, which he enjoyed. It didn't actually get warm since Kim wouldn't let him get close enough to the fire. And she also didn't want to let him hold a stick near other kids for too long.

But his favorite thing seemed to be the horse that was hooked up to the wagon ride. This is by far my favorite picture.

Kim said there was a Santa there. He saw other kids going to see Santa and he wanted to go, too. Since I had said we weren't going to tell Aaron that Santa is real, she texted me to see if that was ok. That was fine with me. He doesn't really understand real/imaginary yet when it comes to characters and I'm not going to keep him away from Santa if he wants to go. So they stood in line for some time, all the while he is excited to see Santa. But when they got to the front, he announced "All done!" and instead of going up to see Santa, they kept walking on by and just waved hello to Santa. This is so characteristic of Aaron to me. She texted me what happened afterwards. We thought it was hilarious.

Bath time with letters

2009-12-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

Kim gave Aaron his Christmas present yesterday. She got him these foam letters and numbers which are a big hit with Aaron. Today I used them as an occasion to transition him out of the inflatable tub we've been bathing him in since he was able to sit up. He was outgrowing it, but I wasn't in a hurry to put him straight in the big tub since it takes more water and now I'll have to clean it! He used to enjoy dumping the water out of the little tub into the big tub at the end of bath time, one cupful at a time, but he didn't seem to miss it. In fact, I had to coax him out of the bath despite the water having grown cold and his fingers and toes turned to prunes. This boy loves his letters and numbers.

Holiday Photos

2009-12-12T18:19:00.000-08:00

Last year we didn't get our holiday cards out at all. I think it was due to procrastination on getting a picture taken and a business trip I took early December. Oh, and the huge contract job I had just started in November.

Anyway, this year, I wanted to do a picture again, like we did 2 years ago with Aaron. It was harder to coordinate with 2 kids. Thom and I did a photo shoot in Aaron's room one Sunday, but I wasn't happy with the way the sun was shining a bright spot on the left side of the shots. So Monday, when Kim was here to help, I did some more photos in our bedroom. We ended up choosing a photo from the first day. Below are some of the photos from the 2 photo shoots, roughly in order. The ones with all the bows out is when Kim was helping me keep Aaron entertained. We did get out a few bows the first day, but not quite as many. I didn't include the one for our holiday cards - you'll have to wait to see that one when you get it.

By the way, the Christmas tree we used in the photo shoots was made by my brother Jim. Last year, he picked me in our family gift exchange and it was a year we had agreed to do homemade gifts. We don't do that every year, but when we do, people make some very cool presents. Aaron loves this tree, although I have to keep it out of reach so he doesn't pull out the pins holding the ornaments on.

Long overdue photos of Aaron's trip to the pumpkin patch

2009-12-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

Way back in October, Kim took Aaron to a pumpkin patch. It was his first time to a pumpkin patch and he loved it! I gave her a $10 budget (hay ride, corn maze, petting zoo - all were $2-3 each) and let her pick what to do. They went on a hay ride and bought corn to feed the animals.

3 Month Update

2009-12-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

You can tell by my lack of posts in the last month that I've been busy. It has definitely been a challenge juggling two little ones, work, and house keeping. Updating the blog has been on my mind, but is a lower priority right now. Also, being connected to so many friends and family on Facebook makes it easy to share photos and news there rather than here. (So if you aren't on Facebook and want to see new pictures more often, sign up and find me! Yes, Thom's family, I mean you.)

It's hard to believe Audrey is already 3 months. She is growing so fast and time is flying by. She is smiling more and more, as you can see in her post-bath picture above. And in the pictures below, I tried to catch her smiles on camera as we played with a toy mirror that she seems to enjoy as much as her brother did.

We continue to find that the second baby is easier. So much less stressful which allows us to enjoy her more.

But Audrey is also a little more challenging than Aaron is some respects. She has reflux and also seems to be sensitive to things in my diet, sometimes getting painful gas. I eliminated dairy 2 months ago, but do have a little here and there, mostly butter in baked goods and lately I've had a little eggnog in my coffee. I've started to suspect that she is sensitive to something else though, maybe eggs, after she has been very fussy on days that I've not had any dairy. So I've started to keep a food diary, along with noting the times I feed her and any symptoms out of the ordinary. I couldn't stand eggs while I was pregnant and only recently have been eating them again now that my appetite is returning. So it almost would make sense if she had a sensitivity to eggs, not having much exposure to them in the womb.

I'm not sure how much my diet affects the reflux. Aaron used to spit up quite a bit, but with Audrey, I've noticed that if I set her down too soon after a feeding, even in her bouncy seat which has a slight incline, she'll wake up struggling and sounding gurgley. And sometimes she'll spit up 1-2 hours after eating, which I've read can be a sign of reflux. I mentioned it at her 2 month check up, and the doctor agreed that it sounds like reflux, but since she's gaining weight, they don't treat it. Although she did recommend giving her some cooled chamomile tea in a bottle. She should outgrow the reflux and any food sensitivities in time.

Like Aaron, Audrey has had a fussy time in the evenings, which they like to call colic, meaning "fussiness we can't explain". We've spent many an hour walking her around, which is sometimes the only way to quiet her - and even then, it doesn't always work. But I've noticed in the past week or so that she is doing better in the evenings. And 3 months is supposedly the magic age when they start to outgrow colic, so maybe we are over the worst of it.

The other minor challenges with Audrey, aside from reflux and food sensitivity, is her refusal to be swaddled or take a pacifier. Aaron didn't like to be swaddled at first, but we persisted and as I recall, he only ever struggled when we were swaddling him. Once he was restrained, he calmed down and he slept better and longer. Audrey doesn't struggle when we swaddle her, but even if she is initially calm, she won't go to sleep. She will just struggle and struggle to get her arms out, grunting and crying if she can't. So I've given up. I wrap her in a blanket with her arms out.

Aaron also didn't take a pacifier at first and I almost gave up. I waited until he was 4-5 weeks old to make sure it didn't interfere with breastfeeding. It was my mom who finally got him to take it. And once he took it from her, I don't remember having a hard time with it after that. But we've attempted to get Audrey to take a pacifier many, many times. Kim got her to take one once and she had it in for an hour or so while she slept. Kim kept tapping on it while it was in her mouth. There have been a handful of times someone has gotten her to suck on a pacifier for a few minutes, but mostly my experience is that she wants to suck on her hand or is rooting despite having just been fed, but when I offer her a pacifier, she'll either chew on it, gag, make a face, or reject it, or all of the above. I've tried at least 5 kinds of pacifiers. I don't remember Aaron ever gagging on one, so maybe she has a stronger gag reflex. My friend Heidi said her first daughter was 3 months old before she took a pacifier, so I still hold out hope. There are definitely times when I think it would be helpful. (Especially in the car. She often cries unless the car is moving. So at stop lights, I'm often tapping the break to keep the car rocking a little. When Aaron was little, I gave him a pacifier in the car and that kept him quiet.)

On the plus side, she is growing well, starting to grow out of her 0-3 month outfits. She is only eating about 7 times a day and is going long stretches at night, usually just eating once sometime between 2-5am. She has already recovered from her first cold (which was a little scary for us since she was only 2 months when she got sick). And now that she is smiling, she is so much fun!

Despite some of the challenges, she is such a little cutie and we are really enjoying her!

Sleeping baby

2009-11-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Audrey fell asleep on her play mat. She was sleeping so peacefully, after a long night of crying until midnight, that I had to snap a picture. I love to see her sleeping.

Planting with Papa

2009-11-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, Thom and Aaron did some planting. Aaron had a little cactus plant he and Kim picked up at a botantical garden and there was a 6 pack of festuca glauca that Thom bought a long time ago and hadn't planted yet. Festuca glauca is a blue grass that is in the seed catalog Aaron still reads.

Below, Aaron shows me where they planted the festuca glauca. Then he removes the leaf that I pointed out on Thom's shirt.

Audrey's 2 month checkup

2009-11-10T11:52:00.001-08:00

Audrey turned 2 months old today! She had a checkup and got her first shots this morning. She is 22" long and she weighed 9.5 lbs, a 2 lb gain since I last weighed her about 4 weeks ago. When I last weighed her, she had gained over 1.5 lbs in 2 weeks, so I was sure she was over 10 lbs today, but apparently her weight gain has slowed down. Not a problem, though, because the pediatrician was very impressed with her weight gain. She showed us the chart of her head circumference, weight and height and for all three measurements, she went from being low on the chart (or off the chart on the low end), to jumping up to 10 or 25th percentiles.

We postponed the Hepatitis B shot for now. It is not something she is going to encounter anytime soon, so we felt safe putting it off until she is older, although it is routinely given to infants as young as in the hospital for some reason. She still got an oral vaccine and 4 shots. She did very well, even better than Aaron did at his first shots. She cried, but she settled down very quickly. Hopefully they don't cause any major reactions over the next 24 hours.

The following are a couple of shots I took this morning in the crib juxtaposed with some shots I took the day we left the hospital. She is in the same outfit so you can see how much she is filling out.

Halloween

2009-11-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

This is the first year we've dressed Aaron up for Halloween. He was a construction worker, although everyone thought he was Bob the Builder. He had a plastic construction hat from his friend Gabe's second birthday party which was my inspiration for his costume. Unfortunately he didn't want to wear the hat so I ended up carrying it or wearing it. I had trouble finding a flannel shirt for the costume until my mom finally found one for us at Kohl's. Some hand-me-down overalls and wood tools from his play workbench completed the costume.

The first three pictures are from home before we did some daytime trick or treating at the Trader Joe's shopping center. He absolutely refused to put the hat on for the photos. The last three photos are from our neighbors' house on Halloween evening.

He seemed to have a good time and enjoyed picking candy from the bowls. But he was a little fussy and didn't want to wear his hat or carrying his bag. I don't think he's ever had candy and fortunately he showed no interest in eating it.

Rocking with Grandma

2009-11-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

My parents have been helping me out with Aaron and Audrey on days I don't have Kim or Thom around to help out. Last Wednesday they came up and Mom rocked Audrey in the glider. When she was trying to get Audrey to take a pacifier, she actually got Audrey to smile! Although she did not get her to take the pacifier. I couldn't quite capture the smile on camera, but here are some photos of Audrey with her grandma.

Watching her Mobile

2009-11-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

Clean from a bath, I set Audrey in her crib to watch her mobile.

Sleeping on Papa's Shoulder

2009-11-03T10:52:00.001-08:00

After a bath

2009-11-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

I noticed after a bath that Audrey's hair curled up a little. I wonder if it will be curly like Aaron's when she is older. Most of the time it looks straight.

One month birthday

2009-11-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

For contrast, the last photo is from the day we left the hospital.

Aaron Joins Audrey for Tummy

2009-11-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from about a month ago. Audrey has already outgrown that outfit.

Try Again

2009-10-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

Aaron likes things to go the way he expects. If he's trying to do something and he falls or drops something, he gets very upset. He wants things to go according to his plan. And he doesn't like the unexpected.

For example, one day we were playing in his room. I was sitting on his bed. He was bringing something to me from the closet. He was running and he fell just shy of the bed. He didn't get hurt, but he was upset. But he picked himself up, and instead of giving me what he had in his hand, he returned to the closet, said "Try again" and ran back over to me, without falling. When he did this successfully, he said "No fall!"

I think this is because when he does get upset about something going wrong, we'll tell him that it's OK, that he can try again. So the message is sinking in. Sinking in so well, that when I did something "wrong" he had me try again.

We were reading bedtime stories the other night. I was reading Caps for Sale. On the first page, after reading "He carried them on top of his head" I patted Aaron's head. He wasn't expecting that and it bothered him. He pushed my hand away and said "No Aaron!", meaning "Don't touch Aaron's head." And he rubbed his head to make his point. Then he reached out, closed the book and said "Try again. No Aaron." Meaning "Try it again, Mom, but don't touch my head this time."

Thom and I cracked up. That wasn't the first time I've annoyed him by doing something he hadn't wanted me to do, but it was the first time I was given a chance to do it over.

No fan of Car Talk

2009-10-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've never been a big fan of Car Talk. I'm sure I rolled my eyes and groaned many times when driving around with my dad on weekends growing up and he put it on the radio. And now I'm married to a Car Talk fan. And I still roll my eyes and groan when he puts it on in the car. Although I admit that Click and Clack are funny. I just prefer music.

But if there is one part of their show that I like, it's the Puzzler. Thom heard it on the radio last weekend when he was out with Aaron and relayed it to me. It was an interesting one (read it here) that involved coming up with the model of a car. So over the week, I would look at car model names when I was out driving and I finally figured it out on Wednesday when I drove down to see my folks. So I submitted my answer online, a first for me.

So for the first time ever, I actually looked forward to Car Talk this weekend so I could hear the solution on air. (You have to e-mail them if you hear your name announced as the winner, so I had to listen, I couldn't just wait to be notified if I won.) But this morning, I nearly forgot. We were driving down to the farmer's market around 10:20 when I suddenly remembered. I turned off the Ingrid Michaelson CD that was playing and tuned into KPBS. Sure enough, Car Talk was on air.

Aaron, who loves music, whined from the back "Ingrid Michaelson." (Which was funny since when we first got in the car, he wanted to listen to a kid's CD we have, but I insisted on Ingrid Michaelson. But I guess he figured Ingrid is still better than talk radio.) But he quickly adapted and quieted down for the remainder of the drive to the market.

Unfortunately, it is a pledge weekend, and the show was interrupted by requests for donations. So we sat in the car after parking, hoping to hear the Puzzler solution. Aaron quiped from the back "Music off", indicating that we should turn off the music (and get out of the car). I said it wasn't music, it was Car Talk. I said "Can you say 'car talk'?" And he said "Car Talk off". Funny boy.

Eventually we gave up and went to the farmer's market without hearing the solution (and winner). But when we got home, I looked online for today's show. I found it and clicked to play the segment with the Puzzler answer. Aaron was playing on the floor. A few minutes into it (after I heard that I did indeed have the correct solution, but wasn't chosen as the winner), Aaron turns around, looks at me and says "Car Talk off". I guess he recognized the voices of Click and Clack. Smart boy. And so far his taste follows mine - not a fan of Car Talk. But given his genes (having a father and a grandfather who like Car Talk), I'm sure he will come around. Especially given that he was playing with cars at the time.

Random photos from Audrey's first weeks

2009-10-15T16:37:00.001-07:00

After a feeding

Chilling in the bouncy seat

Will not keep her hands in a swaddle

Fun with Aaron during Thom's time off

2009-10-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

We were lucky that Thom was able to take 4 weeks off from work (mostly). Aaron enjoyed the extra attention. He spent a lot of time in his role as doctor.

Octopus is a frequent patient.
Aaron enjoying some stickers from Aunt Lily and Uncle Jerry. He was hamming it up for the camera.

Photo Shoot for Birth Announcements

2009-10-15T16:25:00.001-07:00

For some reason, when we first came home from the hospital, I had a burst of energy. I decided to create birth announcements for Audrey, something we didn't do for Aaron. I had photo paper from Costco and just made them myself using Picasa to edit the picture and add text. Below are some of the photos we took that day. We took them in her crib on a blanket my mom knit. She is wearing a preemie outfit that my sister Theresa gave her. The last picture was taken just after the photo shoot.

5 Week Update

2009-10-15T15:57:00.001-07:00

I've been too tired and busy to do any updates, but I'll try to give a quick overview of the last 5 weeks, followed by some posts with pictures (which is all most of you come here for anyway).

At her 1 week checkup, Audrey was down to 5 lbs 2 oz, so we were a little concerned. But she was nursing well and had lots of wet and dirty diapers, so we knew she was eating well. But at her 2 week checkup, she was up to 5 lbs 12 oz, so a gain of 10 oz in a week! That was great news. The pediatrician said an ounce a day is on the high end, so we did great. We go back at 2 months for her next checkup and first shots.

Sleep has been difficult. Thom is now sleeping in Audrey's room while Audrey and I sleep down in our bedroom which is where we set up a bassinet with changing table (it's a Pack N Play). Some nights I've spent on the couch, just trying to get any sleep I can. Thom will stay up late with her some nights when I'm really tired and need the extra sleep. But since I have to be up with her every 3 hours, I try to let him get better sleep and get up with Aaron in the morning, hence the separate sleeping arrangements.

When Audrey started to have painful gas, I went to a breastfeeding support group on Monday. Someone suggested it could be a dairy sensitivity - that her daughter had that problem starting around 3-4 weeks. So I'm trying to cut dairy out of my diet to see if it helps. So far it does seem to make a difference. She was waking up about 2 hours after a feeding, first grunting, but then crying and sometimes little screams of pain as she passed gas. That seems a lot better now, although she still seems very fussy late at night. There's a chance she could be sensitive to something else in my diet, but I'll see how she does with dairy eliminated and then talk to the pediatrician at our next appointment.

Thom started back to work on Monday. It's been a little challenging without him, but fortunately I have Kim to help out 3 mornings a week. I even manged to have dinner ready when Thom came home Tuesday night, despite a very challenging diaper change that resulted in a bath for Audrey while trying to keep Aaron occupied and keep track of dinner in the oven.

So far Kim just helps out with Aaron, taking him out of the house most days to burn off some energy. I've had her watch Audrey briefly so I can grab a shower, but don't plan to have her watch Audrey more often until she's a few months old. (Although I've just signed a contract for some work to be done mid-January, so I might have to get help sooner depending on how well Audrey sleeps during the day.)

Aaron is adjusting well to having a baby sister. He does get frustrated sometimes and doesn't want me to feed her when he wants to play with me. And he really seems to be testing the limits lately, but overall, it could be much worse.

Oh, when I went to the breastfeeding support group, I weighed Audrey in a clean diaper - 7lbs 9.8oz. So she is continuing to grow quickly. She is starting to outgrow her newborn size clothes and I can see her face and thighs filling out.

Audrey's Room

2009-09-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend, a friend of Thom's came over to help rearrange some furniture. They moved our office desks and filing cabinet from the office/guest room down to the master bedroom, which had plenty of room. And they moved the crib and the glider into the "guest room" which is now the nursery.

I had some nesting urges, so I then hung up some cross stitch pictures my mom had made when I was a kid.

And then I created a sign with her name on it, using some photo paper, Microsoft Word clip art, and a green ribbon I found. I worked on this instead of working on my business on Labor Day and the day after. It's a good thing I did, even though I was thinking I had plenty of time to do it.

The nursery still has the guest bed, which is where Kim slept when she stayed over night with Aaron. When Aaron was a newborn, I had the bed in his room and used to sleep down there with him so Thom could get some rest in our room.

Our updated family

2009-09-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Aaron is only allowed to touch her toes. So he counted them. (She has 5 on each foot.)

So tiny!

2009-09-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

Aaron was 8 lbs 9 oz at birth, so Audrey seems to incredibly tiny to us. We will feel better when she puts some weight on. At her first pediatric appointment on Wednesday, she was down to 5 lbs 2 oz. But on Thursday, we weighed her on a scale at a nursing store and she seemed to have gained a little weight, so hopefully we are on the way up.