Beautiful Day

My little Morgan took her first 'Road Trip' stroller ride. It was cute and she was cute and it was just cute. She didn't fuss once. She really enjoyed the nice weather, sunshine, and bumpy ride that just about put her to sleep.

As Morgan rode in her stroller; Colten rode his roller blades and Tyler rode his scooter.
The weather was amazing! The kids were restless. I was just flat out bored. So we headed to the park.

As my sweet Morgan watches, listens, and ponders the workings of the Lord...

my boys are being Monkeys!!

They are climbing, screaming, falling, shouting, and well expending some energy on the playground.

Have I mentioned that we only live a few blocks from Garvin Park yet? :) We are ALWAYS at the park!

he's cute when he wants to be

And Tyler has enough energy for us all

They were hard to catch with my camera! But I was able to get at least one of each. When the boys see me bust out the camera - they usually run for it. Every once in a while they are into it. You just never know. So I ALWAYS have my camera locked and loaded :)

M&T Update {1}

Morgan Update

Morgan Elaine - 12 weeks

Went to Doctors appointment yesterday evening with Morgan for her 2 month check-up.

Nurse was saying how tiny and pretty she was. I replied with a simple thank you and mentioned that she was still in newborn clothing. Yep...at nearly 3 months old our little Morgan is still in newborn clothing.

I found this to be strange of course. I had two hunky boys wearing 3-6 month during this time! I honestly just figured she was a tiny little thing.

~ Update on Morgan's STATS ~

When Morgan was born :

November 30, 2011

Weight:   7 lbs 2 oz

Length:   18.75 in

She did drop in weight after birth which is normal.

December 9, 2011

Weight:  6lbs  12oz

Length:  19 in

Things were going normally while she was nursing

January 4, 2012

Weight:  8 lbs

January 31, 2012

Weight:  9 lbs 8 oz

{ Jan 31-This was the weight I got on my own for our blog }

Morgan was filling out her newborn clothing really well around her 2 month blog post but was still wearing newborn. The newborn clothing fit her in length but they were a little loose around her body. I was thinking that I would soon be able to put her into her 0-3 month clothing. Kale and I also went and bought a ton of size 1 diapers. Well the end of the month is almost here and she hasn't outgrown her newborn clothing and she still hasn't been able to fit into her size 1 diapers. I can't fit her head into her newborn clothing all that well. I am constantly buying newborn diapers in fear of purchasing too many. So we went to the doctors yesterday and after reviewing her chart he asked me how much formula Morgan is taking. { I was nursing her until about 3 weeks ago. She would nurse a lot. Supplement with formula rarely. Then I just 'ran out'. I really did everything I could. Spent some decent money on teas and herbal pills safe for baby to try to up my supply. Nothing was working. } So Morgan began regularly taking a bottle. She started out on Enfamil newborn. Then I switched her to Enfamil Gentlease for her tummy. She has been eating normally taking 4 oz @ 5-6 bottles a day starting this month out. Right now she is taking at least 6 oz. @ 4-5 bottles a day .Which is right where she should be.

The nurse weighed Morgan.

February 21, 2012

Weight:    8 lbs 7 oz

I freaked out of course. I said this isn't right. The nurse weighed her again. And it was the same. Oh goodness. I knew something wasn't right. 

The doctor asked me how I got the weight on January 31st. I told him I weighed her myself. He said home scales aren't so accurate but that still doesn't replace the fact that our almost 3 month old is only weighing 8 lbs. 

What does this say ?

Her body isn't absorbing what it needs from formula. The proteins are too large for her body to absorb. She has an allergy. The doctor didn't get into this so this is all I know so far.

What did he prescribe?

He put her on a new formula. 

The way it was explained:

Newborn formula = proteins 

Gentlease formula =  x2 partially broken down proteins 

Nutramigen formula = x3 broken down  proteins even smaller than the previous formula

So she is on this Nutramigen for a week. On March 1 she will go back for a weigh in. We will see what happens with her weight. Hopefully she starts to gain.

I hope that this doesn't turn into something more serious. I am by no means educated on any of this so I don't know any more possible outcomes. Wish I did. I wouldn't worry so much.

Well, hopefully Morgan does do better. She is eating normally and has a great appetite. I do wish that I could have continue to nurse her but mother nature dislikes me so... :)  The next best thing. REALLY expensive formula.

On top of all this uncertainty Morgan also received her 2 month shots. I couldn't bare to look. I don't know why. Looked at every needle going into both my boys since they were born. But for some reason I just couldn't do it with Morgan. She did well though. Cried like a Champ!!

The boys cried their eyes out! They did not like seeing their baby sister getting her shots. Before the nurse walked out she shook her head, grinned, and said," I would hate to see the day a guy tries to take her on a date." I couldn't agree more!

TYLER UPDATE

Tyler James - 6 yrs 2mo's

Mr. Tyler is gaining weight!! 

Tyler also had an medication check appointment yesterday evening.

I posted a while back about Tyler's weight loss due to his medication - Focalin. This is his adhd medication. I wasn't too thrilled about this. My little man started looking extremely skinny not long after starting the medication. I was stuck between a reckless, out-of-control, impulsive, destructive 5 year old and being a mommy who would rather have a healthy kiddo. So Kale and I never pushed the meds very far at first. Then he went off to Kindergarten and this would effect him seriously if he couldn't be allowed in school due to his behavior. I couldn't very well home school him nor was I qualified. So after a long serious heart-wrenching talk with Kale we decided to do what the doctor thought would be best and allow him to prescribe this medication.

~ Tyler's Stats ~

August 8, 2011

42.4 lbs

44 inches tall

November 9, 2011

40.0 lbs

The weight for November was not too long after starting focalin. Within 2 months he lost over 2 lbs.

February 21, 2012

42.6 lbs

44 3/4 inches tall

This really excites me beyond belief. Our little Tyler was looking sickly and not so good. I'm really glad that he is starting to gain some weight on his bones! We purchase him jeans that fit his length but they DO NOT fit his waist. So hopefully soon he will actually fit into his clothes.

What we've been doing:

Giving him 4 meals a day. This seems to be working. We are loading him up on peanut butter and high protein/calorie food that is not junk food.

We are also giving him breakfast before his medication. So instead of only getting in one meal a day he is able to down two meals a day. You would think we would have figured this out earlier but we didn't. He just refused to eat. We really never thought it was the medication.

What the doctor is doing:

Tyler's pediatrician gave Tyler a new medication yesterday. Forgot the name of it but it lasts longer and isn't so potent.

The medication Tyler is on now hits him within 20 minutes. It makes him lose his appetite for 4-6 hours. He takes this twice a day. So he was basically only eating his after school snack and supper. 

What we are going to start doing:

High Protein Shakes in between his meals. Probably no more than 8oz a day. He isn't exactly weighing enough but he is gaining which is really good. I was originally planning on purchasing some Pedia Sure for him to drink but after looking into this it was just not affordable for drinking on a daily basis. So I found some really great protein shakes for kids on the web. I think he will really enjoy these as they are very similar to chocolate milk shakes (in his eyes).

Well I guess that concludes todays worries and solutions. We will keep you posted.

Love,

Kale, Sharin, Colten, Tyler & Morgan

:)

Park Pics

Family Pictures at the Park

I was really excited to take these with Kale as my "helper" or you could really say vice-versa since we are a married couple. We have recently become interested in doing a lot of photography ourselves. Please bare with us as we learn the in's and out's of this new hobby :) ,  our beloved camera and  .... our software! We are seriously a LONG way from being great but trying we will with every picture we take.

Hiring a photographer around here is expensive. We do have a very nice lady/friend/photographer/she's not free that will be doing the "professional" shots for us but very rarely. Her fees are at the mid range  price-wise but they are still really expensive. For months I have been wanting to get our first year anniversary pictures taken. But with family pictures coming in April, it's just not in our budget. So as soon as Kale takes me on our Anniversary Date!!! I will get a good shot of us for our FIRST year together as a married couple. Soon I will work on Morgan's little birth announcements. I've also been wanting to do this since she was born. I really wanted to wait until she was at that smiling stage. She's almost there!

Now to the photos:

We went to the park and put our heads and tripod together! Here they are!!!

OUR SHANK FAMILY

And I know I shouldn't complain..however..they are showing up fuzzy on blogger. O'well. These pictures are lovely! I love sending pictures to all of our family anyway.

We love you all!

Love,

Our Beautiful Family of 5

All Smiles

For weeks I have been trying to get a smile from Morgan ON CAMERA and have failed...

Until yesterday.

She was smiling away and didn't mind the fact that a big black camera was in her face.

"My pretty girl" is all I had to say to get these beautiful cute little smiles from Morgan

School Valentines { 2012 }

The boys totally rocked Valentines at school this year!

Instead of buying the boxed valentines for the boys to share at school we decided to DIY instead.


{I found these on Pinterest. The tutorial is at bottom.}

They are adorable. The boys helped...a little!

Colten signed all of his Valentines and then decided to leave putting them together to me.

Tyler signed 2 valentines and then shook his head at me. 


They were both tired. It was around 8pm when we started which is normally the boys' bedtime. We were out shopping until 7:30 so this didn't leave much time for them to help.

So my bed turned into craft station central

And Morgan slept through it all wrapped up in daddy's arms

So I went ahead and finished all 48 valentines.

Colten's valentines were supposed to look something like this:

but we ran into some issues...

First i couldn't find any rock star mat stacks. The single sheets were $1.09 which was way too expensive. The only mat stack I had at home was a grade school mat stack. This surely wouldn't work. Colten had his heart set on guitars. And like brothers do Tyler wanted rockin valentines too. ( hey that rhymed ). For durability we printed these on card stock which I'm not sure if this was stated in tutorial.

Then the pop rocks were $1.19 each. I wasn't going to spend $28 on pop rocks no matter how cute these were.

So we improvised a little.

And came up with these instead.

with tootsie pops. Then added twist ties to hold these together.

Tyler's valentines turned out cute too!

These were so easy to make!

For the teachers we bought mini Whitman Samplers for a buck twenty five a piece. Then with a dab of hot glue we stuck some of these rockin valentines to them. We also printed them in pink (all of the teachers are females).

All of these valentine card ideas came from

the fickle pickle

Not sure if these DIY valentines satisfied the boys as much as they did me but they sure did enjoy carrying them to class.

Valentines { 2012 }

Happy Valentines!!!

A few new things this year...Gifts that we made ourselves!

I have set out to do a few things a lot differently this year. And we are definitely off to a good start with Valentines!


I decided to be frugal and cute by making Kale a gift that you won't find in any store! This gift only cost me about $12.50 to make.


It was also a great way to include the kids. They presented this gift to Kale being from themselves instead of from me. {This secretly made me feel really good}

We decided on a giant picture of the kiddos

The Picture that Made the Gift

I absolutely LOVE this picture!

To Kale Love The boys (& mommy)

The Tutorial from sugarbeecrafts.com 

And of course a picture of Colten being totally cute

The picture doesn't look as good coming from the camera but it turned out beautifully. We liked this tutorial so much that we decided this would be great for some family photos on the walls of our house. So much empty space. Might as well fill it with some love.

I am also going to make Morgan a 2,4,6,8,10, and 12 month photo doing this for her room. This will be so darn cute! They won't be this large but this is a cheap way of creating large pictures that are adorable.

Love the idea. Love the boys. And love the hubby. 

Happy valentines from the Shank Family

TWO MONTHS

{ January 31 }




MORGAN ELAINE

*TWO MONTHS*

*****{ STATS }*****

9. 5 pounds


21. 25 in long

size : newborn

Unbelievably you are still in newborn clothing. I tried putting 0-3 months on you and the clothes were HUGE. You are just now starting to fill in your newborn clothing. You are a tiny little thing!

*****{ HEALTH & DIET }*****


Your health is great little one.

When we went for our monthly visit with your Dr. and I mentioned how stuffed up your nose was. You would have a booger keeping you from breathing very well through your nose. Not as if you were sick or anything. But you sounded stuffy. So I inquired about possible allergies. Your pediatrician said that your nose was doing what it was supposed to. He advised us to get you a humidifier. So we did. About day three your nose wasn't stopped up anymore. This makes me happy because now I don't have to wrestle with you and your aspirator anymore.

 I did take you to the hospital once this month. I thought you had stopped pooping. The first time I noticed was when Grandma and Grandpa Shank were in town. I noticed you hadn't gone to the bathroom in a while. So I was talking to Grandma Shank and was about to call your pediatrician. Then all of a sudden you decided to poop. A few days later you did this again.This time I did pack you up around midnight and took you to the hospital. I was almost in tears thinking that something was really wrong. After checking in with triage, they took us back to a room. Minutes before the Dr. came in you decided to poop. I don't like talking about your stinky's But I am so glad that everything was o.k.

In the department of nursing...things didn't work out so well. After my hospitalization, nothing return to normal. So I am letting you get all you possibly can through me and supplementing with formula. Not what I planned but as long as you are healthy then mommy is happy.

Currently taking 4 oz a feeding. If you nurse you usually only take 2-3 oz a feeding. I don't wake you to eat very much. Since your sleep schedule at night is so good, I let you sleep.

*****{ SCHEDULE }*****

Your schedule is great. You sleep through the night now. I am so very happy that you got your days and nights figured out so soon. I was missing my sleep. You usually wake up around 5:30-6am to snuggle. Within minutes you are off to sleep again. Then you wake back up around 8am to eat. You quickly doze back off to sleep for the rest of the day. You wake up again around the time daddy comes home from work 4:30 and typically stay awake until around 10:30. From 10:30pm ( at the latest 11) you sleep until the next morning. You still sleep a lot.



*****{ FIRSTS }*****


You slept in your own room for the first time this month. ( not really a first but I felt the need to report something).

Mommy had to "let go" and allow some space for herself. When you were in your co-sleeper literally a foot from my side, you knew it. You would turn your head, look at me, and whimper. I felt so terrible that I would pick you up every single time. Daddy and Mommy both thought it would be great to break you of this as soon as we could. You have done marvelous my little one. You usually go right to sleep every night. I only have to get up once or twice to check on you. You aren't in your crib yet but pretty soon you will be too long for your co-sleeper. I really need to get your room finished so that I can put you in your crib when you are ready!


*****{ MOMMY'S FAVORITE THINGS THIS MONTH }*****

Oh Morgan. You are always surprising me with cute faces. I love your little tongue shows. They are sweet. I have figured out, being as subtle as you are, that the whole tongue deal is a sign of hunger about 10 minutes before you fuss for a bottle. It's adorable!

{ Jan 28 }

You are incredible. You have been so calm and quiet this month. Sometimes you are so quiet that the house sounds baby-less.

I still love staring at you while you sleep. There are many times when I start missing you during the day. I wake you up just to talk to you and see what kind of reaction I can get. I love this.

{ Jan 26 }

I really enjoy how you are trying to sleep on your side. No matter where you are you literally fight to get onto your side. I usually can hear the little sounds you make when you are doing so. It's adorable to watch. Daddy smiles when he sees you doing this too.

{ Jan 31 }
You fought the swing for about 10 minutes to get into this position :)

Love ~ mommy


*****{ DADDY'S FAVORITE THINGS THIS MONTH }*****


My favorite thing to do each morning is go to your room and check  on you.  It has become a ritual of mine to check and make sure you are sleeping soundly.  And yes, like mom said, I was so amazed and a little frightened to find you on your side one morning but mom calmed me down and told me not to worry.  So from then on I just laugh because I know how hard you had to have worked to get comfortable on your side.

Another time I love is coming home to you.  You are usually passed out in your swing in the kitchen.  Then mean old daddy comes over and wakes you up just because I needed to love on you a little.

I enjoyed feeding you and burping you more this month since mom has slowed on the nursing.  It amazes me how much you can drink.  I am convinced you have an empty leg or something because you drink as much milk as your tummy is big.  Weird...

You are beginning to see better and it is fun to shake a bottle in front of you or wiggle my fingers and watch you follow them around the room in amazement.

-daddy


*****{ WHAT WE MISS }*****

I miss your one-eyed willy. It was truly entertaining. It's gone. You are wide eyed and beautiful. ~ Mommy

I miss nursing you. We do this sometimes just so you can get as much as you can from me but most of the time you take a bottle. I felt so connected with you in a way that is indescribable. I really miss these moments. ~ Mommy


*****{ A LITTLE ABOUT YOU }*****

You are definitely stubborn. When you are hungry..you not only fuss...you yell at us. You give us the rar rar rar and chew on your words. It's so incredibly cute Morgan. Sometimes I hold off just to hear you do this!

You are definitely my little monkey. You are always doing silly things with your arms. It's as if you can't quite control them yet so they swing around in all directions.

You are definitely still acting like a newborn. You are trying to roll over but only get about half-way. You are usually on your side wherever you are.

You are a screamer! You definitely like to scream over getting your diaper changed. You are so quiet and calm until you are getting your clothes or diaper changed.

You really love your binky. I won't let you have your binky for too long but for now it's o.k. Your binky is everything. If we lost it we would be in lots of trouble. You have to have your binky when you go to bed at night. Hopefully soon this will end.

*****{ A LITTLE ABOUT MOMMY }*****

I am finally able to get things done around the house. My schedule is back on track. I remember complaining so much last month about the house and laundry. This month the house has been immaculate and the laundry stays clean. This makes me so happy.

I'm able to exercise finally. It took a while after your birth for me to heal and be comfortable working out. I enjoy the time with daddy now that he is working out too.

You have lots of friends now. Since I decided to stay home with you instead of you going to daycare- I decided to start daycare in our home. I will never forget your facial expression the first time you heard another baby cry. You looked confused :)

*****{ A LITTLE ABOUT DADDY }*****


Still busy at work but I am much busier at home.  It seems like there will never be enough time in the day for you, your brothers, and mommy.  We are all working hard to keep the house as organized and clean as possible with mommies new daycare it is even more important that we all get our chores completed.

As mommy said above I am excited to be working out.  It took a lot of convincing from mom but we finally both took the leap and went all in...for the first week.  Then we made an executive decision to cut out some of the ridiculous diet.  It was to much to keep up with.  But I am happy to say we are both feeling and looking much better.


*****{ YOUR BIG BROTHERS }*****

They truly adore you Morgan! They fight over who gets to hold you first.

{ Jan 31 }

They help out so much. They are my little errand runners. Anytime I need something for you they are quick to retrieve. I think it's sweet how fast they move for you but when it's a chore they take forever to get it done.

They are always kissing you and trying to get you to smile! Love it!






*****{ PHOTOS FROM MONTH TWO }*****

{ Jan 4 }

{ Jan 4 }

{ Jan 5 }

{ Jan 6 }

{ Jan 18 }

{ Jan 24 }

{ Jan 24 }

{ Jan 24 }

{ Jan 24 }

{ Jan 30 }

{ Jan 31 }

This month has gone by especially fast! I miss having so much time with you alone. Sleeping, snuggling, and smiling at each other. I remember not too long ago saying how fast month one went by and now I say it again. I can't believe you are already two months old!!!

I love you Morgan

Superbowl Weekend 2012

What an exciting weekend we had with the family. 

On Saturday we went to the Icemen Hockey Game. This is something we do and love! And FINALLY!!! A victory in the search for 

something that the whole family actually enjoys (including Colten & Tyler). It usually ends up being one kid likes and the other kid dislikes. Then problems arise :( This also gives us an idea for future reference when it comes to making changes for 2012.

We also decided to take Morgan. She was so good during the game. She didn't fuss or cry. She got hungry during the game but daddy fed and burped her. It was funny to watch Kale go to stand up and yell but only making it half-way and remembering not to scream into Morgan's ears. 

The boys were pretty well behaved as well. Before the game I went and bought them t-shirts and foam fingers. Inexpensive and cute.

We also met up with some friends. Ashley, Simon, Beth, Dan, and their son Zach. 

This hockey game was the first for Colten, Tyler, and Morgan. They did fantastic.

Icemen Fan Pics

Then on Sunday we had a Super Bowl get together at our house. Our guests of course were Dan, Beth, their son Zach, Ashley and Simon.

2012 Super Bowl Celebration

Left to right: Colten, Kale, Sharin, Tyler, Dan, Beth, Zach, Simon and Ashley

Oh we had some food going down that was delicious. Awesome recipes to share! I will have to put these in another post.

I also got caught on camera doing something funky. I think it had to do with supermodels. Everyone else thinks I was trying to reminisce in my cheer leading days. Who cares. Funny Picture and Morgan was my culprit. One day she will have the moves :)

NY Giants Victory. ( Kale and I despite our Colts T-Shirts were actually rooting for the Pats. Just cause. Kale thinks it's because of Tom Brady. I just laughed and kept my mouth SHUT). Maybe next year Tom.