What a week Wednesday...be prepared, it's a long one!

Wow! What a week this has been! Daddy is out of town all week on business, and even though my mom (Grandma Bear) has been here to help, it has still been a little tough. It's been a mixed bag so far...the cubs are waking up before the roosters (UGH), skipping naps, and suffering from teething pain, general crankiness, and sheer exhaustion. I don't know if it's a full moon, or daddy being gone, or perhaps they have been possessed, but my cubs sure aren't acting like themselves. Yesterday was the worst, so thank goodness today was better. I don't think I could have handled another day like yesterday.

Steve left on Sunday (July 13) for a trip to D.C. I think our downward spiral started then. We took him to the airport and after having to switch terminals once we got there, it got even worse. I spent Monday tracking down his lost baggage. The airline refers to it as "delayed baggage"....let's call it what it is....it's LOST. I must pat myself on the back, after a few phone calls and the help of a clerk at Reagan Airport (calls to the airline were a colossal waste of time), I found the lost bag. I see some real shortcomings with the way airlines handle their luggage tracking (or lack thereof). UPS handles packages worldwide and is able to offer real-time tracking. The airline couldn't even tell me if the baggage ever made it on the plane...."we don't really know where it is"....and even though I managed to track it down on Monday, the airline's website at this very minute still says "Your bag has not yet been located. Please check back later for an updated status." Hmmm...let's talk about consumer confidence. I'll get off my soapbox now.

I do want to mention that Steve and I had a "date night" before he left for DC. My mom watched the cubs on Friday (July 11) evening while Steve and I had dinner at PF Changs. We then went to play Putt-Putt (he won) and air-hockey (he won) followed by ice cream at Baskin Robbins. YUM! It was really nice to spend some alone time together. We should really do it more often.

Zach had two appointments on Monday (July 14). One with his Gastroenterologist and one with an occupational therapist. Those didn't go much better. Zach is having an issue with thickened and lumpy/chunky textures. I read where this may be caused by oral trauma, and our poor little boy has had his fair share. He was tube fed for the first days of his life, then we subjected him to an upper GI, EGD and pH probe test trying to find out why he was throwing up entire bottles. So we have another challenge to overcome. While the OT was here we tried vanilla pudding and soft apple bits (jarred in juice), and he forced himself to throw it all up. It's such a mystery to me, because he actually swallows the food, and then forces himself to throw it up. He even did this on Tuesday when we tried lemon yogurt and even some ice cream. I am so desperate to get him to eat that I offered my child ice cream, and he threw it up. What kid doesn't like ice cream??? I read that other children with oral aversion issues have even worse symptoms than Zach, so I count my blessings that this is not the worst it could be. On a brighter note, I think he has finally made the transition from formula to whole milk. He started milk-only bottles on Sunday and those have been going pretty well. I am still adding powdered formula to increase the calories, but that's it. Two bottles of milk and one bottle of Pediasure a day. We're making progress. Please cross your fingers and say your prayers that he continues to gain weight. I let him try to feed himself with a spoon today, and to my surprise he did pretty well with it. He tried with both hands, but he seemed to do a better job with his left hand. His daddy thinks he'll be ambidextrous. His walking is improving, and it's so funny to watch him follow his big sister around the house. He is Emily's shadow.

It's been such a bizarre week that even little Emily Bear has been fussy. She's even had a few temper-tantrums. I finally realized that there is nothing I can do for her when she's mid-temper-tantrum, so I just walk away. She then stares after me with this shocked look on her face. The girl can turn the tears on and off like a water faucet. Such a drama queen. Let's not even mention the drooling. It has returned. I have to follow the poor girl around with a mop. I guess a tooth-check is in order...some more must be coming in. She likes Spaghettios, she just inhales them, and she's so adorable because she tries to chew on them with her front teeth. She is still walking backwards, which is really cute, except the girl doesn't ever look where she's going, so this has resulted in a few bumps and bruises. She understands when I tell her to sit on the floor and she's pretty good with the cat. I can hardly believe how fast she's growing, she looks like a little person walking around the house. She's so unbelievably curious, not sure which parent she gets that from (hehe), and she is pretty stubborn, especially when it comes to sharing.

Wednesday is finally coming to an end. The cubs are soundly sleeping, storing up all their energy for an early wake-up call in the morning. I miss the days when they would sleep in until 8:30. I imagine I won't have late mornings very often...certainly not often enough. I must take advantage of this quiet time and get some sleep myself.

We miss Daddy and can't wait for him to come home on Saturday.

Making Daddy proud

Playing catch-up

It's Thursday evening and I'm desperately trying to catch-up on my blog. My mom (Grandma Bear) has been here this week and has been a big help to me. I am so excited to be off of diaper-duty for a while. I haven't had to put my HazMat suit on once since she arrived. Awesome!

On Wednesday, Kelli came over with her 6-month old twin girls for a short visit. It was nice to have little babies in the house again. It really makes me realize how much the cubs have changed in such a short time. Kelli's girls are just now starting to roll over. I miss those days where you could put the cubs down and they would stay right where you put them. Now, the cubs won't stay still for 5 seconds. Both cubs are walking everywhere. They have figured out how to open doors, they won't leave the curtains alone, and they are always trying to test the waters with me. I told Zach "NO" today and he looked at me and laughed. This is NOT good! We are also having sharing issues. Emily wants what Zach has, even if she already has the exact same thing. If it's in Zach's paws, she wants it, and she wants it now. UGH. Being the referee is just exhausting. I still get the "make-up hug", which I still love. I'll take any hug from the cubs, because I know one day they'll be too busy to give Mom hugs. They just grow up so fast!

Today was Zach's nutrition visit. I was a little concerned because the Nutritionist told me that when they start walking that it is not unusual for them to lose weight, but today his numbers looked pretty good. He actually gained weight since his last visit. I guess keeping your food down helps with that. We are now at a record breaking 27 days without a Mt. Vesuvius-type spit up. He's had two small ones, but I don't even count them. It's nothing compared to what they were! He now weighs 19 lbs 1.5 oz (up from 18 lbs 9.8 oz on 06/24) and is 29" long (up from 28 3/4 on 06/24). He is now in the 3.93 percentile (up from 3.16 on 6/24) for weight and 18.31 percentile (up from 17.35 on 6/24) for height. Way to go Little Man! Mom and Dad are very proud of you!

Zach's eating has been going pretty well. He's getting two bottles of half milk/half formula, and one bottle of Pediasure, as well as his three solids per day. He still doesn't like the sippy cup, but he'll take sips from a big person cup (go figure!). He still doesn't tolerate any chunky foods or table foods, but we're continuing to work on that.

We still have an occasional teething episode. Zach's been waking up at 4am, much to my dismay. At last check, Emily still has 4 teeth coming in on top, and Zach now has three. With all this teething, there is definitely some irritability issues, but that's to be expected. Poor little guys, it's tough being a growing cub.

News Flash

Stop the presses! On Tuesday we discovered that there is a food that Emily Grace doesn't like. Watermelon. We tried twice and she spit it out both times. Very unlike our little Emily who likes almost everything. She has recently tried "big people spaghetti" and she seemed to like it. I imagine that my spaghetti has a little more flavor than the Gerber's spaghetti in a jar (yummy I'm sure). Just this morning she had a special treat, a cinnamon graham cracker which she gobbled right up without ANY hesitation. What a good little eater, as long as we steer clear of the dreaded watermelon!

A new addition to our extended family

Please join us in welcoming a new addition to our extended family. Jaxon Edward Zembrycki was born July 3rd at 9:10pm, weighing 8 lbs 1 oz and measuring 20 inches long. Congratulations to parents Tracey and Jason on your beautiful baby boy!

What a busy week...

Wow, it's been a busy week. On Monday, I had my girl's night out with Debbie and Kristy. It's always great to see my friends and enjoy some real adult conversation. Don't get me wrong, Emily and Zach are great to "talk" with, but their conversations are a little one-dimensional.

On Tuesday, Zach had an appointment to address some possible oral hypersensitivity issues. It may be the reason he is reluctant to try chunkier types of food. Who knows?! Moving along, I am very happy to report that it has been 21 days since his last Mt. Vesuvius type spit-up. WHOO HOO! You have no idea how exciting this is. I certainly hope he keeps this up and we have a very positive result at our next weigh-in. I've added Pediasure back into his diet, so he's even getting some additional calories. Hopefully he'll continue to tolerate it.

On Wednesday, the cubs discovered that they can reach the door handles and actually open doors. We don't have door knobs here, we have lever type handles. They grab on, pull down, and the door opens. JUST GREAT!! Nobody ever thinks about these things. They are smart little monsters, always looking for an escape.

Tonight Steve and I took the cubs to a mexican restaurant to have dinner with our good friends Matt and Beth Ann. The cubs behaved fairly well considering they don't like to sit still for very long. Now that they are both walking, sitting is probably quite boring to them, as they are so very curious and want to explore everything. Zach actually tried the guacamole and to my amazement he even guided my fork to his mouth for a second bite. His facial expression indicated that he didn't really like it, but the point is that he tried it, and more than once. This is a huge step for him. Now little Emily Bear likes everything, and tonight she also tried some new foods: tortilla, refried beans, spanish rice, a small piece of fajita meat, and a grilled onion. Yes, you read correctly, she even had several bites of grilled onion. The girl is definitely mine! She loves Mexican food!!

Grandma and Grandpa Bear are coming tomorrow, so we can't wait to see their reaction to how much the cubs have changed since their last visit! A busy weekend is ahead!

I have the bestestest husband...

I have the bestestest husband in the whole world! He has arranged for me to go on a trip to VEGAS in mid-August!! Cub-free and husband-free....just a weekend with a girlfriend for a little fun and pampering. And an even bigger bonus is that Steve will be taking on the cubs for the weekend by himself, without any help. He'll get a chance to see what my days are like. Contrary to belief, it's not all about sitting on the couch eating Bon-bons. Plus, he'll get some very precious cub bonding time. The cubs are at a point right now that they are really fun to play with, so this will be good for all three of them. And though I know I will miss them terribly, it's really good for Mom to get a break too.