and the dairy cow is done

After several weeks of debating, I packed up "the mommy machine," headed to the store and bought our first can of formula ever. The guilt was rather overwhelming, but luckily it has passed (or at least lessened a bit.) Many of you know that The Bugman never had as much as a drop of formula. I had the same "personal mission" for Bitty, but I caved. I was sick of dragging out "the machine" four times a day to make sure he had enough milk to take to Kim's each day. It added 20 minutes to our morning, took up 20 minutes of my lunch at school, took up 20 minutes when we got home from school (in which the bugs climbed all over me), and postponed bedtime by another 20 minutes. I couldn't do it any longer. Lucky for us, Bitty sucked down the first two bottles Daddy fed him, although he wouldn't take any from me. We were feeling good about this, but he is refusing to take any formula for Kim. She finally got him to take a little from a sippy cup, but that is about it so far. We've added more to his lunch to make up for what he's not drinking, and are going with the philosophy that if he's hungry, he'll eat. He's still nursing three times a day also, so I feel like he's probably getting plenty and hopefully will regain some of the wait he lost during the month long cold and stomach flu.

I also realized I never posted Bitty's official 9 month stats, so here they are:

Very small with a ginormous head AKA:

17lbs 4oz (5%)
27 1/4" (10%)
head circumference - 70%!!!

chapped lips and stomach bugs

Completely random title, I know.

I know you've met the child I'm going to describe: Crusted snot around their nose, big, red, chapped skin around their mouth. As a teacher, I've met that kid a time or two. These days, 'that kid' lives in our house. The Bugman may not have crusted snot around his nose, but he's definitely sporting the chapped mouth. We've been trying to fight it with vaseline and 'lips' (chapstick in Bugman lingo), but it seems to be beating us. Bugman is an avid lip licker and biter (especially when he is concentrating) a trait that he inherited from his mommy (although I don't think I ever rocked the chapped mouth look). We've come to embrace his chappedness (a word I've made up) and save this picture until his high school days :)










On another note, a stomach virus has been running rampant through our house. It started Friday when I found Miss Kim and Bitty sitting in a heap of towels as he continuously got sick. About an hour later Bugman started out the other end. By Sunday morning I had fallen victim. We thought that Daddy might make it through unscathed, but he too was sick by Sunday evening. Apparently whatever we had was highly contagious, as everyone at Kim's house, as well as the other kids she watches also got ill. YUCK is all I have to say. I have never been SOOO sick in my life.

Luckily, we all seem to be close to 100%, and I've found a few positives in this whole ordeal.

• a four day weekend
• pants that fit a little looser around the waist (they were tight after all that holiday eating!!)
• a VALID reason for not doing laundry over the weekend

Note to self: We must have more than one bathroom by the time the boys are potty trained...

9 months

Somehow, 9 months have managed to pass since Bitty was born. Each month seems to go a little quicker than the last. As the second child, we notice that he already wishes he could be just like his big brother. His newest 'obsession' is pushing cars, trucks, and/or trains around on the floor. Any ideas who he could have picked this up from?!?! In honor of his 9 month birthday, we are packing up SOME of his 3-6 month clothing, and washing most of his 6-9 month clothing, in hopes that one day he will be big enough to wear it!

We lucked out today, and the sun came out and it wasn't too terribly cold. While Bugman napped, we snuck outside and I managed to capture a few shots of our very little Bug!