Halloween and general updates

Sorry no pictures of Halloween. I do have them they are just still on the camera. Maggie was a ladybug though she actually slept through trick or treating so she only wore her costume for the Scarecrow Stroll and her 3month pictures. Maxim was a shark. He thought it was fun to play with the candy. When he would see someone coming he would put his hand out with candy in it but by the time they got to the door he had put the candy back in the bucket.
So I don't know if this was discussed in my last blog post but we are keeping a food/poop diary for Max. Basically we are sick and tired of this constant diaper rash. Sometimes he poops and instant open sores. Makes no sense to us except for some kind of mild food allergy and maybe once he is potty trained we can add the food back in the diet. We have tried disposables with prescription creams and that doesn't help it is still a battle. So though we love our cloth diapers we would have stopped on him if that meant he had no more diaper rash. So far we have cut out yogurt and that does seem to help. Matthew and I can't see a pattern from the log but maybe his dr will. It would be nice if the poop came labeled.
Speaking of doctors I get to bring both kids for well baby visits in about a week. I've been lucky so far that Matthew has been able to be there for every dr's appointment since moving to GA but this time he won't be able to join but it's Maxim's 18month well baby and Maggie's 4month well baby. I will post weight and length updates when that happens.
Our calendar we use is a custom one from Shutterfly and so November has pictures of Max leaving the hospital and his Thanksgiving meal. So it is a constant reminder of  those scary 4days where we were told our happy little boy was starving and people threatened CPS on us. I am constantly worried about Maggie's weight and will until we make it to the 6month well baby without any ordeal. Though unlike Maxim, Maggie knows what she wants and isn't happy until she gets it. So I think Maggie would let us know if she wasn't satisfied whereas Maxim was more go with the flow and never really complained or cried.

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Some Updates

Thought it was time for some updates

Maxim: 17months in about a week.
He is running around constantly. He also has figured out how to climb on the ottoman and the couch if pillows are on the floor. We are still battling diaper rash since he was 12months. He likes to hug his sister and will often hold her hand and say go. We take this to mean he wants to play with her. He is now fully off bottles since the other day. It's nice to be able to put away all the bottles and the bottle drying rack (more counter space!). He likes to throw his tools and other objects from his tool bench into his laundry hamper and throwing Maggie's socks into her diaper pail. So those things along with his diaper pail are in closets now. The other day he took out her skirt(his newest clothing of choice) to throw in her diaper pail and after walking around her room and not finding the pail put it back in the drawer. He is constantly putting things back. He'll spill his cheerios and will pick up the cheerios and put them back in the bowl. Things don't always end up where we think they should go but we figure he's trying. He loves to grill with Dad and frankly do anything with Dad. He hates it when he leaves for work and gets so excited when he comes home. Matthew loves his little me. Even when Max is kinda in the way, which is usually the case. We have started going to Tumble Tots at the rec center which he loves. He can just run and get lots of her energy out. Maybe in another 18months we'll start him in gymnastics lessons to help with all his energy.

Maggie: 3months in a few days
 At her 2month well baby she was 8lbs 15oz and 22.5" long. That is about 3lbs and 2" since leaving the hospital. We think that's pretty good. She is in 0-3month clothes and is still tiny. She smiles and coos alot. She definitely has her hold me moments which is very different than Maxim. Since we want to protect her from Max she doesn't get a whole lot of floor or tummy time. Her ears are now pierced. She has really good head control. She sleeps about 8-9hours at night and she has since about 6weeks. Going to bed around 11-midnight. We figure its because she is so awake during the day. She loves to be swaddled to sleep. Without being swaddled you can't put her down she'll just wake up. Maggie likes to join me for demo night at the fabric shop every week and soon Max will get to join us too.

November 15 they have their 4month and 18month well baby visits so I'll hopefully have another update around then if not before.

Maggie Is Born

On Monday afternoon Maggie Suzanne Lippert was born. That morning Alexandra had an appointment and an ultrasound. They were pretty sure she was having the baby SOON! They estimated he weight at 7lbs 8 oz. She actually weighed 6 lbs 8 oz. Monday was supposed to be my first day back to work and I was working nights. So I was worried that Alexandra would go into labor shortly after I arrived at work, where it is harder to get a hold of me and I can't have my cell phone. She had been having contractions since the middle of the night. They were getting worse and worse through the morning. Then at lunch time Alexandra was ready to goto the hospital. She called her doctors office and they asked her to come there first so they could check her. When we parked at the hospital her contractions were bad enough she couldn't walk during them. They had us wait a few minutes in the waiting room. When one of the receptionists noticed how much pain Alex was in she ran and got the midwife and was like you need to get her checked and over to the hospital I do not want a baby born in the waiting room! It was pretty funny. So we checked into the Hospital at 2:30 and Maggie was born just over an hour later. Everything happened so fast. It is a good thing I wasn't at work. We might have had a baby in the truck or just without me. Also because this all happened so fast there wasn't enough time for an epidural so Alexandra delivered Maggie completely natural without any pain medication. I am very proud of her, she is a strong woman! Now we are happy and settling in at home. Danielle was here to take care of Maxim while we were at the hospital which was a big help. While in the hospital Maggie wouldn't sleep in the bassinet, only in our arms. So we both got very little sleep. We took turns sleeping and holding her. Now that we are home she sleeps pretty well in her bassinet. Its a little cozier! Except last night, we don't know why but Maggie wouldn't sleep for more than an hour. She wanted to eat eat eat. On Friday we had her newborn photos taken. They turned out great. We had round 2 of newborn photos today because on Friday Maggie wouldn't sleep and cooperate that well, but both days we got amazing photos and are very happy. I feel very blessed to have the family that I do. I do my best to never take them for granted.

Maternity Photos

So on June 3rd at 8am we went to the beach and took some maternity photos. I am 34 weeks in the pictures. Thanks to pinterest, I made my dress. If I had my sewing machine I would have altered it since I made it months ago I guessed on sizing. The following is the link to the whole shoot.
maternity photos

the password is lippert

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Matthew is currently underway so we are praying Miss Maggie stays put until at July if not July 3rd. But if not we have a sitter in place to watch Maxim. Since I'm currently 37weeks pregnant I probably should get that hospital bag packed.

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Disposable Diapers :(

I'm sure this is going to be a shock, but Max is wearing disposable diapers temporarily. He developed a diaper rash/small infection when he was wearing the diaper liners with the cloth. The liners were something we only used when we don't have the diaper sprayer available. They are a think disposable liner so that the poo can be easily flushed. Well we noticed that the liners also seemed to really stick to his bottom and so that probably was the initial cause of this. At his 12 month well baby check the doctor prescribed us some cream to help. Also said to make sure he is able to "breathe" down there. We continued using the cloth diapers, and it seemed to be improving somewhat but then it also seemed like new spots were appearing. It's possible that the diapers need to be "super washed" to make sure whatever might be causing this is washed out fully. Also maybe his diapers just aren't letting him "breathe" enough. So we made the decision to switch to disposable diapers temporarily, until this is all cleared up. Hopefully it won't be too long. We don't like the disposables, they're expensive and not nearly as cute. Hopefully we will be back in cloth diapers as soon as possible.

Starting to Settle In

We are coming up on 3 weeks in Georgia. We arrived on May 3rd and Max did wonderfully on the trip. He slept the majority of both flights. We got to the hotel and ate dinner then drove around looking at the houses we were going to tour the next day. We wanted to get a feel for the neighborhoods to see if maybe we could cross off some of the houses. There was some that we decided to cross off. That night I actually feel asleep before Max. Matthew actually went back online and found some more houses to visit that night.

The morning of the 4th we got up and spent all morning going from house to house. Many of the houses were pretty disgusting inside with cobwebs, piles of trash and dead bugs. We did manage to find the house right for us and on a .75acre lot that made Matthew pretty happy. We were glad to sign the lease that afternoon. We could now focus on other things like a new vehicle.

We were anxious to get out of our rental car but first Matthew needed to find his new truck. We gave ourselves a week and hoped not to have to need the rental car longer. But since this was something Matthew was very on top of  and very excited about we returned the rental early. He now is the very proud owner of a GMC Sierra 1500.

For the last 3 weeks we have been living off of things we were able to get at the loan closet on base. We were able to get a high chair, a couple of baby gates (though our openings are bigger than standard doorways so they don't really work like planned), kitchen supplies, and 3 mats(their last air mattress popped), and we bought a folding table and chairs.

Matthew being anxious about getting the car and hhg shipment has been calling to get updates weekly. We are happy to be making a trip this weekend to Charleston to pick up the car. Last night we got a call from the movers saying that they could deliver our hhg on Friday. Though we were excited we asked if it could be delayed until Tuesday. It will be very nice to have furniture again and my vehicle. Though I'm sure Max will miss his freedom to roam the house.

Matthew this week is checking in to the boat but on this boat there is about a week worth of training to complete before going to the boat. Luckily we were able to get Max an appointment before he went back to work so he could go and meet the new doctor. My first doctor's appointment is next Wednesday. I am amazed at how quickly things happen here. I don't have to call 4 weeks ahead to get an appointment and so far visiting city offices has taken forever.

Last Hawaiian Night

Tonight is my last night in Hawaii, and it is a little bitter sweet. I am very excited to get back to the mainland, closer to family and all. But at the same time we have made some pretty good friends here in Hawaii. Also this is the first place we have lived as a family. The first house we lived in together is here, next door to possibly the greatest neighbors we will ever have. In some ways I hate to be leaving. But this is apart of the military life. If we stayed eventually all of our friends would be moving away from us, it is simply unavoidable. So the best thing we can do is keep in touch, hope we meet again someday and keep on moving. The most important thing is that we arede together as a family. Tomorrow we start the next chapter,
Which will start with a very. Exciting plane ride with a teething 11 month old!