Milestone!

Clark rolled over today at Grandma and Grandpa's house!! They were watching him while I was at the grocery store and when I got back they reported he rolled over from his back to his stomach! Grandpa said it was really quick! I'm so excited :)

Captions :)

Here are some captions to the pictures in the last post:

First picture: josh posing in front of clark..this is from last night during the tornado warning. Clark was already asleep when we got word of the tornado warning and the packnplay wouldn't fit through the bathroom door! So we got him as close as possible.

Next twenty pictures haha: Clark makes his bumbo debut and loves it! He has about a million different expressions while hanging out in the bumbo so we wanted to capture as many of them as possible! Haha

Photos from our weekend

Wednesday and Thursday

On Wednesday Clark had a napping marathon!  He napped for two hours in the morning then another hour in the afternoon!  It was great!  We went over to the church in the afternoon to meet with Mrs. Tuttle about playing for the Summerfield Tea in October.  Mrs. Tuttle is volunteering in the church office on Wednesday afternoons, which is why we met there.  Well Clark did very well for the first fifteen minutes.  I had him in the bjorn and he was just staring and drooling until he decided he'd had enough.  He started complaining then eventually was crying.  I swaddled him, then Mrs. Tuttle asked to hold him, and he calmed down for about five minutes then he started reeaallly crying.  This attracted other office staff including Mrs. Eberly who wanted to hold him (I can't believe how "baby people" just love holding babies whether they are crying or not!!) so she took him around the church while Mrs. Tuttle and I finished our meeting. It was sooo nice of her to do that!!  When she brought him back he was almost asleep so when I tucked him in into his infant seat he drifted off completely.

  

Josh was late coming home from work so Clark and I had a little longer afternoon together.  Once Josh got home we had a quick dinner then gave Clark a bath and tucked him into bed.  It took about fifteen minutes for him to fall asleep, but that's pretty typical at bedtime.  We just sit next to his packnplay (where he can't see us) and pop his paci if it falls out (or he spits it out, then decides he wants it back).  We're hoping that not holding him to sleep is helping him learn to fall asleep by himself.  Of course there are times when I WANT to hold him, and in that case I do because I know he's only getting bigger everyday! but for the most part we don't hold him.  Same goes for naps.  When I hold him it's for about five minutes or however long it takes for his eyes to close and his body to totally relax.  Then when I put him down he falls asleep within seconds...OR he wakes up and starts fussing again...which usually means he wasn't totally relaxed yet. :)

Thursday morning we woke up to loooouuud thunderstorms!!  At one point Josh and I were awake chatting and the thunder was so loud that we both jumped a foot!!  We looked over at Clark and he had slept through it!  Whew! :)  Josh decided to work from home, which is always a treat for me and Clark.  Even though he didn't interact with us much except at lunch time, it's nice to have him around.  Clark took another two hour nap in the morning (yay!!! hoping this is a pattern..) then after lunch Mimi stopped by to say hi.  Clark showed her some new tricks like 1) not crying while she smiles at him; 2) grabbing his toys and shaking them around and 3) sitting in his bumbo!  I put him down for an afternoon nap while she was here.  After he woke up, I packed him into the car and we headed up to Amy's house.  It was so great to see all the kiddos and Amy!! :)  Clark's cousins are so sweet with him.  Mackenzie (the oldest) especially is just so dear!  She talks to him and touches his hands so tenderly.  It's really adorable!!  Clark took a nice nap in Molly's crib during dinner.  Then we stayed for about an hour after he woke up before leaving around 7:15pm.  Before we left, Pop-pop came by and dropped off an exersaucer that Mom-mom had.  Amy propped Clark in it and he loooved it!!!  He was sucking on the toys and never once did he cry!  Molly was next to him in the jumper and she would squeal at him and he would squeal back!!  It was sooo cute!!  Anyway I have some pictures of it below:      

We had a great time and we're looking forward to having the Roesler's over sometime in return!  It was sad that Josh couldn't be there.  He ended up working until close to 8pm. :(  When Clark and I got home Josh helped me bathe him then we tucked him into bed.  Well he took forever to fall asleep!!  At one point I heard a little laugh, looked over at the packnplay and his arms were out of his swaddle and he was laughing!!  I swear there was an angel there making faces at him or something! :)  Here is the video of it:

Anyway he eventually fell asleep after about thirty minutes.  Josh and I took turns sitting with him.  And that's all for today!  Here is a picture of Clark sleeping in nursery a couple Sundays ago.  Aunt Kim was with him! 

Clark's first earthquake!!!

Clark and I took a walk on Monday in his "big boy" stroller!  He prefers it over his infant seat carrier. 

Stunned after the earthquake!

 Smiling and chatting about the earthquake at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Tuesday was a fun, busy day for Clark and I!  We both took a nap in the morning, then Clark napped again while I showered and tidied up a bit.  Around 1:30pm we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house!!  He was about ready for another nap when we got there.  We all ate lunch together then Clark started getting fussy so I swaddled him and tried putting him down.  Well as soon as he was swaddled with his paci he started smiling and cooing!  So Grandma held him while I finished my lunch.  He started crying, then Grandma took him in the family room to rock him.  I was finishing lunch in the kitchen and Grandpa had just gotten a phone call so he stepped into the dining room.  Then all the sudden the house was shaking!!  We experienced about a 20-30 second earthquake!!  Grandma said she missed it because she was rocking anyway plus Clark was crying in her ears--it already feels like the room is shaking when Clark is crying! haha!  Anyway apparently the quake's center was in Virginia and it was a category 5.8.  The National Cathedral in Washington D.C. had some damage.  There are some new cracks in the Washington Monument.  And other than that it basically just shattered windows, rolled furniture around and rattled food off grocery shelves.  More exciting than scary! :)  Although I'm sure it was scary in N.Y.C.  There were many interviews of people who thought another plane was hitting a building nearby.  So I recorded it in Clark's baby book: first earthquake. :)  Hopefully his last.

Anyway after the earthquake I went grocery shopping while Grandma and Grandpa watched Clark.  They had a glowing report when I came back saying he slept for a while!  I fed him when I got back then we loaded up and headed home for more naps.  Clark took a nice long nap in the afternoon (like an hour!) so I got some laundry and cleaning done.

Josh came home around 6:15pm then we ate dinner and headed out the door for small group.  I brought a formula bottle for Clark because I hate "missing things" by having to nurse him in a private room.  He took a measly nap while we were there (we spent about twenty minutes trying to put him to sleep and he woke up fifteen minutes later! sheesh!).  So I just fed him and held him the rest of the time.  We stayed unusually long because Clark was doing so well.  We ended up getting home at 9:20pm!  Needless to say Clark was super tired so we skipped his bath.  I swaddled him up, popped his paci and he started fussing pretty bad so I picked him up.  All the sudden he was gagging like crazy and I panicked so I held him in his stomach and patted his back.  He proceeded to projectile vomit all over our sheets--like tons of vomit!  I felt so bad for him!  I think what happened was the lights were so dim that when I picked him up and popped his paci I didn't notice that the paci was gagging him.  :(  Anyway Josh changed the sheets while I consoled Clark.  He settled down then I put him down and he fell asleep in record time.  Poor thing!!  I still feel guilty about it.

Some commentary

We had a busy weekend but it was so fun! Saturday we went to Josh Yorgey's 2nd birthday party! It was so great to be there and Clark did very well overall. It was fun to see Jo Yorgey's twins in person, it was fun to have alll those kids together. The pictures below of all the kids on the couch just make me laugh! The kids (the babies) all took turns crying for the pictures, it was so funny how some would stop then others would start up. As you can see Clark did his fair share of complaining too! Abby does such a great job with the parties. She had a fun game of multiple choice about Josh, then he opened presents, she had a delicious spread of food too. I don't know how she does it with two young kids! We had such a fun time, it was sad to leave.

Saturday night Josh prepared his Sunday school lesson and I had a night out at Kim's house with some other people. She had planned a game night and it was so fun to get out. Clark did very well at home with Daddy. He had a little trouble falling asleep but once he was asleep he didn't make a peep. Good boy! :). I ended up leaving Kim's house at midnight!

Sunday we woke up with severe thunderstorms. Josh went to church early to set up for Sunday school and Clark and I followed as soon as his morning nap was done. Because of the thunderstorms I was nervous about getting Clark into the church. I pulled up to the culdesac and an usher came out with an umbrella for me and Clark, then he took my keys and parked the car! What service! It was so nice. I dropped Clark off at the nursery where Mrs. Frey and Mrs. Baskin were waiting to hold him! It's so nice to see familiar faces in the nursery when I drop him off. I left a bottle there too. Josh did a wonderful job teaching. He spoke about the life of the founder of Westminster Seminary--J. Gresham Machen. It was very interesting and sparked some great conversation about the humanity and deity of Christ at the end of the class. I checked on Clark before going into the service and he was snoozing away. Mrs. Egolf was with him during second service and she said he devoured his bottle then slept the rest of the time! Hehe what an angel haha. Sunday afternoon we took naps and marveled at the thunderstorms. The weather cleared up in time for evening church. Clark did not do so well in nursery at night, poor Mrs. Kenney. He cried most of the hour that he was in there. At the end I came in and fed him. He was doing his "I'm feeling insecure and tired" cry when I got there. I had left a bottle with him and he had drank about an ounce. But I just nursed him because he was sad.

Today Clark and I slept in then had lunch with Kim. It was great weather today so we ended up going for a walk this afternoon. Clark had a tough time falling asleep for naps and at bedtime. Not sure what that was about...hopefully tomorrow will be different. Anyway that's all for now!!

Pictures from Sunday after church

Commentary to follow tomorrow!

Clark keeps us guessing

Last night Clark slept very well. He went down around 7:30 then woke up to eat at 3:30 then 7:00. It helped that he was up early because we had a contractor coming at 9. Clark woke up from his first nap right when the contractor walked in the door so he and I missed all the excitement! We are getting our window in our master bedroom fixed. As it turned out the contractor came for fifteen minutes today and is going to come back another time to fix it. After the guy left Josh watched Clark while I went over to the post office to mail a birthday gift to the latest arrival: Leyton Andrew Tidwell! Congrats to Tiffany and Andrew!! (I have no idea if they read this blog! Haha!) When I got back I put Clark down for his second nap. Josh and I ate lunch while he slept. He woke up around 1pm so I fed him then we packed him into the car and went for a drive. It was very relaxing! Clark's third nap happened sometime in the car. We got home around 3:30 so we played with Clark for a short time before he was ready for his fourth nap. He slept for about an hour and woke up around 5:15. I fed him while Josh made dinner--steaks on the grill! Yum! Then we ate with Clark in the glider then the bouncer. Around 6:30 he was getting cranky so we gave him a quick bath and tucked him into bed! Well he's still awake and kicking down there and it's been thirty minutes! I know he was tired because he skipped his fifth nap. Maybe he was overtired? Also there was just a loud thunderstorm so that probably kept him up. Anyway Josh is taking a turn popping his paci and keeping an eye on him.

Well the reflux is still an issue. Most of his feedings today involved crying and back arching as well as coughing and sputtering. However he didn't spit up nearly as much. I called the pediatrician and they said to give the new Zantac dose a full week before determining if it's ineffective or not. Oh well! I really hope it kicks in. I keep him elevated for five or ten minutes after feeding him and that sort of helps. Sometimes he is crying so much that he doesn't get much to eat then I end up feeding him an hour later! That's what happened tonight--he ate at 5:15 then again at 6:15.

In case you are wondering why Josh wasn't at work today, he had a summer Friday. Let me tell you he earned it this week! He came home thirty to forty-five minutes late each day then last night he got home late then worked at home until 12:50am!!

Okay that's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well!

The outlets...mmmmm

Today Kim and I planned a trip to the outlets! After her morning piano lessons she came by my house and we loaded up Clark. He was acting "strange" when aunt Kim arrived but by the end of the trip he had remembered who she was. Haha what a stinker! Because it was already 11:30am when we left, we packed lunches to take along. Clark slept on the way there so when we arrived we ate our lunches in the car while waiting for him to wake up. He woke up after about fifteen minutes then he had his lunch. By the time we finally got shopping it was 1:00! Everything is slower with a baby!

We had a very successful shopping trip. Clark slept in the baby bjorn most of the time. Kim and I found some great deals too! Now is the time to shop, lots of "back to school" and "end of summer" sales. Clark woke up around 2:30 so we wrapped up the shopping and headed back to the car to feed him. It had started raining so we just headed home after Clark was fed.

Clark and I took a nap when we got home. After he woke up I fed him and he started complaining afterwards so I knew his Zantac was wearing off. I gave him his second dose (he gets two doses per day) at 5:30. Usually I wait until right before bed. I think it helped to give it to him earlier because when I fed him again at 7 he did cry, but it was much less than last night and didn't last as long either. I hope that he doesn't cry when I feed him overnight.

So that was our day! I'm trying to update the blog every day. It tends to be super boring though...kind of like my diary when I was little! Haha I didn't have an interesting life, and I remember reading my old diaries as an adult and throwing them away because they were sooo boring!! "Today we did chores then rode Flash at the barn. It was so cold outside!" hahah I'm bored already.

Anyway I hope you are all having a great week!

Aaand the reflux continues...

Last night went much better than Monday night. I remember reading that when the baby is sleepy the reflux is not as bad because he nurses slower. Clark only nursed once overnight (aaaahhh so nice!!) and he only fussed a little, not even enough to wake up Josh! Then in the morning he nursed at 8am and I gave him Zantac right away. He fussed minimally while nursing throughout the day, but he spit up quite a bit. Then when I fed him at 7:30 before bed he really really really cried!!! I had given him Zantac around 6pm so I'm not sure why he was crying so much except that I remember reading that reflux gets worse at night. Anyway he wore himself out with the crying and fell right to sleep afterwards. I will call the pediatrician tomorrow about possibly increasing his dosage again. (Yesterday the doctor said to call if he keeps crying while eating.)

Today was pretty low-key. Clark didn't take good naps, his first one was twenty minutes, second one was forty-five, third was an hour, then the fourth was back down to forty-five. His fifth nap was choppy. He woke up after fifteen minutes then I soothed him back to sleep and he lasted about twenty more minutes. In spite of the bad naps, we went on a walk and Clark had some fun playing sessions with vigorous kicking and lots of cooing! He is getting more interactive every day. It's very fun!

That's all for today!

Videos from this month

The latest in Clark's world

Clark has been having a rough week! He has gained enough weight that his reflux is starting to hurt him again. Today I took him to the doctor to get his dosage increased. He weighed in at 13 pounds, 1 ounce (!!) which still puts him in the 50th percentile. He was unhappy at the pediatrician because he napped on the way there then woke up hungry. I brought a bottle to feed him because it's really hard to nurse a reflux baby, much less in public! Anyway he cried and cried with the bottle but after about five minutes his name was called. I tried the bottle again while waiting for the doctor but again he cried. I think he didn't like that the formula was cold, plus it's hard for him to deal with the fast nipple when he has heartburn. Anyway the doctor increased his dosage but as of tonight he is still crying while feeding...more like screaming his head off!! It is extremely disconcerting, stressful and overall very scary to have him cry this much. I just hate that he is in pain! I cry right along with him! I'm hoping that the reason he is still crying is because maybe the increased dosage takes a couple hours to kick in? I don't remember how it went last time.

On the other hand, I must say that Clark is a champion sleeper! He falls asleep for naps with minor resistance now and he only wakes up twice during the night to eat! I am so grateful for that.

Anyway our week looks pretty open! Josh has off on Friday so we are looking forward to that. Also we are going up to Nazareth for Josh Yorgey's birthday party on Saturday so that will be fun!

We hope you are all doing well! I promise to do a better job with updates!

Pictures! Commentary to follow...

Welcome Jonathan David!

Congratulations to Jonathan, Carly, Calla and Kelsey on the birth of Jonathan David on August 12th!! Clark is thrilled to have a boy cousin on the Stoltzfus side and we are all excited to meet Jay!! We have been praying for Jay for the past nine months. We are so thankful to the Lord for his safe delivery and for protecting Carly during the delivery as well.

That picture is from today. We went to Mimi's pool this afternoon. I love Saturdays with Josh home. Clark is really developing his little personality and it's fun sharing these special moments as a family. He now reaches for toys, puts them in his mouth and sucks on them. He will grab this particular rattle that makes a ringing sound and he will shake it to hear the ring! He has great head control, although I'm not sure if he's ready for the bumbo yet. He constantly smiles when I'm talking to him, if he's not overtired :). Just a lot of fun things that indicate he is growing up! Well he WAS three months old on Friday!

I will update more tomorrow about our fun Fiday visiting my old work and hanging at Mom-mom and Pop-pop's house!