Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer

Not much to report here.

Not much time for blogging.

It's hot.

Really hot.

But everyone in the Amick household is doing quite well!

Benjamin is thriving in his therapies, and is starting to grow up just a little bit into a boy, and not so much of a baby. Still no words but he's playing independently more instead of always having to MOVE.

Andrew is loving Mom's pool and has the cutest little tan lines. He's very excited about seeing Toy Story 3 when we go to the beach soon.

Thomas is my best baby ever. He will be three months old tomorrow and yesterday, he weighed in at 14lbs, 14 oz. Andrew didn't weigh that much until he was six months old, and Benjamin was nine months old! Thomas is sweet and cuddly and a great sleeper. I am truly blessed.

I found out today that I no longer have to give myself twice-a-day Lovenox shots for the blood clot that developed after Thomas was born. In total, I gave myself 171 shots. Wow. So, so, so glad to be finished! Hope it's not too long before the bruising and knots go away that are all. over. my stomach.

Also, I've lost 10.4 pounds in four weeks doing Weight Watchers. It's admittedly much harder this time b/c I'm breastfeeding, and I'm always very hungry!

Matthew's traveling has picked back up a little bit, but most of his trips are just two days. But that means more than just two days of being 100% responsible for the boys b/c he usually has to work really late the days prior to his trips. But he should be finished with all of this traveling by the end of July. (Until next spring, at least.)

Soon we will pack up the van and head to the beach with my mom. I'm looking forward to it, but not naive enough to think it will be a true vacation for me. We're East coast bound, so we won't have to worry with the oil spill.

And now a few pictures because a blog post with only words is just a crime.

The pretty sky after an afternoon rainstorm. I took this from my front door.

For those of you familiar with the Miracle Blanket (I call it the "baby straightjacket."), this is how we find Thomas every single morning. Busted completely out of the Miracle Blanket. He doesn't wake up unhappy, however. We go in there at 7:00 or 7:15 and he's usually waving his arms around, kicking his feet, and smiling up at his mobile. LOVE HIM SO MUCH!

Andrew hasn't taken a nap since about February or March, but if we go anywhere in the middle of the day, he usually falls asleep in the van. Can't believe how grown he is.

Look out for the crazy magician policeman!

Earlier this week, I was at the kitchen counter making the boys' lunch. Andrew said, "Mommy, don't look at the fridge; I'm going to spell a word!" I said okay and kept making lunch. Then he said, "Okay, Mommy! Look!!" I turned around and just kind of stood there with my mouth open. "Look, Mommy, I spelled 'six'!!!" I grabbed the camera, took a few pictures, then removed the 'e,' replaced it with an 'i,' and told him the correct way to spell "six." Thankfully, he didn't ask me what word he spelled.

Hasta la vista, baby!!!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. :)

OH, wait...I wanted to take a second and tell you all about the BEST book I'm reading. If you're a mom of a child with Down syndrome, and you haven't read this, you really need to. It's called The Year My Son and I Were Born, and I'm about 2/3rds of the way through. I have cried the whole time. Good tears, sad tears, knowing tears. Go read it. Here's a link.

Wordless Wednesday

The Poop, The Whole Poop, and Nothing but the Poop

As you all know, we have a lot of poop issues around our house.

Some days I feel all I do is wait for poops, track poops, clean up poops, and curse poops.

While we are slightly closer to finding that perfect dosage of Miralax for Benjamin, we still deal with constipation and, on the other side, complete blowouts on a constant basis. It's better than the alternative of screaming during meals and tummy pain, but it's still time-consuming, frustrating, and just plain ol' gross. It's so bad that I actually look forward to changing Thomas's normal poopy diapers. Sad, I know.

I was chastised by an anonymous poster (hello, you!!!) a few months ago for updating my Facebook status a lot about poop. As if we don't get sick of the teenagers with their constant "gn to a bball gm can't w8 txt me!!!" updates or the people who only play FB games and are always clogging up your newsfeed. But it is everyone's right to post whatever the crap (lol) they want to on FB. If you don't like it, hide or defriend. But I digress.

I had many of my Internet friends come to my rescue on FB, naming it Angela Poop Day and flooding their walls with poop updates. (Incidentally, I was also called out by yet another anonymous poster on my blog (hello to you, too!!), telling me to be the bigger person and to rise above it all. Let me just say that while I never asked anyone to start the Poopfest on FB, it was sure fun and distracted me from my highly stressed out--nine-months pregnant--poop everywhere--hubby out of town--son just had surgery--life just sucks frame of mind.)

One of the main Poop Vigilantes was Cathy. Cathy has an awesome etsy site where she makes beautiful bracelets. Click here to peruse her lovely creations on etsy and click here to go to her Facebook site.

So Cathy found a POOP CHARM. And she used it to make a beautiful (you'll see) bracelet. And it's on the way to my house of poop! (The poop charm is detachable for when I don't want to advertise said poopiness.

Here are pics. Please note the toilet paper and the Cottenelle dog. Oh, that's another thing about Cathy...she's hilarious. You'd have to be funny to order a poop charm I think.

So head over to Cathy's Creations and check out her other amazing bracelets. She's currently working on a Down syndrome awareness bracelet. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I need to go change a poopy diaper. Totally not kidding.