The Many Adventures of Team Goulet

Here is the Christmas dilema when both parents in a family are pastors and need to be at church most of the Christmas weekend...when does our family do presents???  Answer - whenever we want :)  Daniel and I decided that we love traditions and we are enjoying creating new ones for our family.  One of the traditions that we are going to do with our family is to surprise our kids with the present part of Christmas.  We really want Christmas day to be about Jesus being born.  So we thought it would be fun as they get older to pick a day for us to open presents, then surprise the kids as to when it is. This year, we decided to have our family Christmas on Friday because its our usual family day anyway.  I also decided that it would work better for our schedule to set up and wrap some last minute presents during nap time.  So when the boys woke up from their naps we had a present party. Nathan's big gift was a kitchen with play food.  Nathan is reall...

Oops posting fail on my part, I wrote this and didn't post. Oh well. Elijah is 2 months old!!! Likes: Elijah loves having his diaper changed and getting dressed.  His new thing is floor time, not tummy time, just hanging out on the floor and kicking. Dislikes: The verdict is still out about the Baby Bjorn.  I tried to use it again last night, and he was pretty indifferent. Elijah also started not liking bottles as much this month, which is fine because he is with me most of the time.  Daniel put him to bed last night and he took a bottle, but he woke up and wanted to nurse. Sleep: Elijah is a pretty rockstar sleeper.  He takes 4 naps a day: morning (8-10), late morning (11-2ish), afternoon (3-5ish), and a quick evening (5:30-6:30ish).  Because we are in between a 3 and 4 hour schedule, his evening quick nap is kind of weird.  Elijah still puts himself to sleep, I just wait until I see him yawn or he gets fussy then just put him down.  His f...

We are learning to play hide and seek in our house. Can you spot Nathan in this picture? He's a tricky one. Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Nathan has developed some top phrases that he likes to repeat throughout the day. The number one phrase is, "what's that sound mom?" which he repeats about 49 times a day. He also likes to say, "Hey! Stop it!" to me when I do something he doesn't like. Lately Nathan also likes to show Elijah what he is doing. Nathan says, "I show you, baby brother." I am loving the talking phase. :) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Nathan was boycotting room time this week. He showed his displeasure by putting his toys into the hallway. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I put Elijah under his play gym for the first time today. He lasted a whole 10 minutes. Then he pooped and fell asleep. I guess it was really exciting for him. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I love kids in winter coats, hats, and mittens. I especially enjoy Nathan's little arms pointing away from his body in his puffy winter coat. Too cute. Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Our family is officially addicted to homemade granola.  It is super easy to make.  I started with pumpkin granola after Thanksgiving.  Then I moved onto Strawberry granola .  Today I made apple cranberry granola with apple juice and dried cranberries.  I also add flax seed and raisins to each batch. Each batch has lasted maybe 3 days in our house.  Nathan asks for yogurt and granola at every meal, and some mornings he'll eat 3 bowls of this. This granola must have some secret addicting property to it, because none of us can stop eating it!

I keep forgetting to document the activities that I do with Nathan.  Now, here I am with #2 and not remembering what I did with child #1. With that, one of the best things that I do with Nathan (in my opinion) is have him do independent play time for 20 minutes in the morning while I get ready.  We started this in a playpen, and now he just plays in his room. I usually give Nathan an activity to do while he plays.  The other day, I found 2 digger trucks that had candy rocks with them.  Nathan still hasn't figured out that the rocks are candy :).  This has provied 3 days of play for him scooping and dumping rocks.

Since Elijah is a Goulet it is expected that he's not a morning person. I have to wake him up nearly every morning at 7:30, he is not a fan. Mainly his grumpiness cones from him having trouble going to sleep at 7:00 at night, lately he thinks bedtime is the perfect time to be awake. He's great for naps though. He does usually need much help to go to sleep at all, its just bedtime he's struggling with. So I'm forced to wake him up in the morning to try to make a decent bedtime happen. We also have to leave the house before 9:00am most mornings so he doesn't have much choice. Ultimately his attitude toward mornings has him fitting right in in our house. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

We've been working on numbers alot lately because Nathan thinks it funny to count incorrectly.  His favorite thing last week was to run around the living room yelling "1,2,5,7,12".  I think he does this mainly because he doesn't like the number 3.  He won't say "three".  He can say it, he just doesn't like to for some reason. Our babysitter told me last week that Nathan could recognize the numbers 1 and 2 written out on paper.  I thought, oh that's neat, but I had never heard him do that.  Until today we were out running errands and Nathan ended up getting a free coloring book for kids.  Nathan opened the coloring book and yells, "Number 2!" He was right there was a 2 on the page.  He continued to find the other number 2's in the book.  So, he knows the number 2.

Nathans trip to the doctor confirmed the same body type he has had his entire life, he's tall and skinny.  Nathan is 27pounds, which is only the 25th percentile. And he is almost 3 feet tall at 35.25 inches, which is the 70th percentile.  I know percentages don't mean much, but I know that he is taller than most 2 year olds and looks more like a 3 year old.

I keep joking that Elijah is my chunky baby, and excitedly hoping for lots of baby fat rolls.  I LOVE chunky babies.  Measurements at the doctor today confirmed what I thought, he is in the 75th percentile in both height and weight.  He weighs in at 12pounds, 9 ounces and stretches 23.25 inches long.

Anyone that knows me, probably knows that I eat Gluten free.  I found out I am sensitive to Gluten in college and I have been eating gluten free for years, even before it got popular :).  Since I've had Elijah, I've been noticing some things in both of our digestion.  I have been really bloated and felt just off.  Elijah has had gas problems since birth and I thought it would just go away.  He has also had skin problems, and his poop (TMI, yes) has been funny colored.  I of course googled all of these things and it's lead me to think that he might be sensitive to dairy.  And my symptoms point to a dairy sensitivity too.  So, I've decided to try dairy free for a couple of weeks and see if we notice any differences. I know that gluten and dairy allergies sometimes go hand in hand so this if not a totally uncommon thing.  I actually haven't been having a hard time so far finding things to eat, but I keep thinking that if I keep limiting my diet...