those darn ears

The ENT told us when little b had his tubes put in that if we saw some yucky drainage, he had another ear infection.  Only about 10% of kids never get an ear infection again with tubes.  10% get them just as frequently.  And the rest might get a few but they are less frequent and less severe.  I was hoping we'd be in the 10% that didn't get them ever again, but yesterday morning proved that wasn't so.  B was the first to notice his brother's left ear was wet.  Josh wiped it up, hoping it was just water.  By the time we got to church, it was yellow drainage and was draining so much that it was dripping on his shirt if I didn't get it wiped quick enough.  His ear quickly crusted up.  Gross.  So we started his antibiotic ear drops.  He's not a fan of them, but the nice thing is, he can't throw them up or spit them out like he does with oral antibiotics now! :)  We'll keep an eye on it and hopefully the ear drops take care of the problem.  (And another nice thing - we know it's an infection, we have the drops plus lots of refills, so we can save $45 by not having to go to the clinic!)

He had been running a low fever off and on for a day or two... he was also chomping on his fingers hard so we thought he had another tooth coming in.  He still might - his two teeth he has, came at the same time during an ear infection.  Could this kid be one who gets an ear infection every time he gets teeth?  Ugh!

But hey - we set a new record - 6 weeks without an ear infection instead of his "normal" every two to three weeks since January, before he had tubes.  :)

ten

TEN MONTHS OLD!  Holy schmoly.

Length / Weight: 29 inches long, and 21 lbs, 10.5 oz.  I believe he is now bigger than two of his 18 month old cousins. :)

Eating: Still on Similac Sensitive, and most bottles are 6 oz.  He's been STARVING at night still, so we've been trying to feed him more before he goes to bed, but he falls asleep.  So he's still waking in the middle of the night. 

Sleeping: Like I said - he is till waking in the night because he's hungry.  And he's for real hungry - sucks down a bottle in no time flat! 

 

Teeth: TWO teeth now!  The second one popped through within 5 days of his first one.  It was a rough week - two teeth, an ear infection, and a stomach bug.  Poor kid!

Wearing: Size 3 diapers, and we're wearing more and more 12 month clothes.  I had to find him some new 12 month jammies - apparently B didn't wear them because I cannot find any in the clothes we kept!  Hmm... and who would have ever imagined that size was so hard to find in the store?!  Couldn't find them ANYWHERE in the mall or at Target.  Ended up having to order them online!

Miscellaneous: We had to get tubes in his ears this month.  The poor kid.  I blogged about that already so I won't talk about it much.  He follows B EVERYWHERE and loves to play with him!  He still also loves baths!  And mango smoothies.  He ate most of mine the other day!  He's getting faster at walking around the furniture but hasn't let go yet.  He likes to play with balls, and gives high 5's now.  And his stories - ohmygoodness, his stories.  The kid talks constantly, and throws hand motions in with this stories along with facial expressions, voice changes, and lots and lots of laughter!  His little personality cracks us up!

big day

It was a big day for my B-man. He came home from school announcing that he could now tie his shoes - something we have been working on for FOREVER! He said he used his free time at school today and worked on it enough to master it. Once he sets his mind to something, he does it! I've been watching his demonstration all evening. :)

And to a lot of you this next thing might make you think "um, that's not a big deal". But it IS, in our house with a child with SPD. My boy, who will not eat meat, tried hamburger tonight!! We had tacos and he tried the hamburger. He didn't like it, but HE TRIED IT! Baby steps. So proud of him for trying. He's never even attempted to try before.

<3

tubes

My little man had tubes put in his ears yesterday. We thought we were going to the ENT for a consult only on Monday, and the doctor wanted to do tubes the next day since there is no ear infection currently. He was concerned with the 5 infections in 3 months.

So, we got it done yesterday morning. We got to the surgery center at our 6:30 appointed time (for our 7:30 surgery), but nobody was there! We had to wait for someone to show up and unlock the doors. And then waited another 10 minutes in a half dark wait room for the receptionist. How strange! But we finally got in and got our pre-op stuff done and found that b now weighs 21 pounds even.

B1 took this harder than we thought he would. He did not want to let his brother go with the nurse. And in the wait room he curled up with me saying "I miss my bry-bry". 15 minutes after we left him with the nurse, we heard b2 cry and B went and sat by the door so he could be right there when the nurse came to bring is back to recovery. He booked it back faster than any of us! He was really worried about his brother. <3

The poor baby was very tired and grouchy but slept 11 hours straight last night. Hopefully today will be a better day. We are hoping that without ear trouble now, he will remember how to sleep again. He had been sleeping through the night until he started getting infections... Maybe this will make him feel better!

brotherly love

When little b gives love in the form of hugs and kisses, he always has a big "awwwwwww" with it.  Just now, he came up to B-man, who was sitting on the floor, climbed up on him, laid his head on B-man's chest and said, "awwwwwwww".  He gave B-man a hug in his own way!  He then hit patted B-man on the head.  B-man once asked why his brother hits him on the head, and I told him I'm pretty sure that's little b's way of showing love - like when we pat the baby on the back.  Only, he doesn't know that patting hitting on the head and patting on the back are any different. :)

After this hug just now, B-man broke into the biggest grin and said, "He loves me!"

I love those boys.

nine

This poor kid.  He celebrated 9 months with another ear infection.  I blogged about that already, but I thought it was worth mentioning in his 9 month post because he also celebrated 8 months in the same fashion.  *sigh*

 

We have a 9 month old!  What?!?!!  Here's who my baby is this month:

 

Length / Weight: Not sure on length.  He has his well baby visit later this week.  At last weigh-in (8.5 months old), he was 20 lbs, 5.5 oz.

Eating: Still on Similac Sensitive, and most bottles are 6 oz.  He's been eating a lot of table food this month and loves it!  Ham and potatoes were a hit on Easter, but he's loved anything we put on his tray.  That's such a change from our older child!

Sleeping: Sleeping has been crap this month because he's been teething and has an ear infection.  We are very tired.

 

Teeth: We can add this category in this month, because the kid has his first tooth!  It popped through yesterday!  It's his bottom right tooth and it's so cute!  Tiny little thing.

Wearing: Size 3 diapers, and we're moving into the 9-12 month clothes now.  I bought some 12 month jammies at a second hand store this past weekend and we have to stuff him in them - I think maybe they shrunk a bit?

Miscellaneous: We have a crawler!  He's so fast at it!  And he can pull up to his feet on furniture and also now walks around the furniture while holding on.  He prefers his toys to be up higher so he can play with them standing up.  He loves his music table this month!  Little b also had his first Easter.  We took both boys to an egg hunt, but he wasn't impressed.  He hated the grass.  The Easter Bunny came and hid some big eggs for him and that interested him a bit, but next year will be much more fun. :)  We had his first Spring Break this past week and after my parents came for Easter, we went to visit Josh's aunt and uncle for day, then spent a few days with my grandma.  When we got back home, his other set of grandparents came for the weekend!  ALL of his grandparents in one week?!  Our kids are lucky!!  Little b now nods yes as well as shakes his head no, and it's super cute!

so smart

Little b is brilliant.  He can nod his head yes now and he really seems to understand our questions.  "Was your brother playing with you?" yes. "Do you want to eat?" yes.  "Should we change your diaper?" no.

Tonight, here was my conversation with him:

Should we go swimming when we go to Disney World?

YES (lots of nodding for that one)

Should we ride some rides when we go to DW?
Yes

Should we meet Mickey Mouse when we go to DW?

No

Oh, OK - should we just ride the rides?
Yes

Should we have your birthday there when you turn two?

(thought for a while...) Yes

He's a brilliant kid! :)

ear infection 5

Little b has had a low grade fever off and on for a few days but he also has that tooth about to pop through. But, he was still up 3 times last night, his cheeks and nose are rosy and he has a 100.3 fever. Fever going that high (not low to mid 99's), not sleeping, and rosy nose and cheeks made us wonder if he has another ear infection. He gets rosy cheeks and nose with those. (Weird but helpful!) So since it is Friday, and with his history, J brought him to see the dr today. Sure enough, ear infection 5. Right ear for now. The clinic is calling the ENT for a tubes consult for us. My poor little baby. :( Guess 2 weeks ear infection free was just too exciting! :)

easter

Happy Easter from B1 and b2!

sweetness

One of the million things I love about my baby: the way he snuggles into my arms, eyes shut because he is sooo tired, yet he is still talking because he is trying not to fall asleep. ♥ (I sure wish I knew what he was saying... It sounded so sweet!) 

He has the sweetest little voice.  I can't get enough of it.

His big brother had a rough day today.  I think he was tired, and that turned into being naughty. All day long.  At one point he was in my lap sobbing after getting in trouble once again.  We were sitting on the floor while he sobbed and I hugged him, and little b crawled over, pulled himself up on his brother, and gave him a huge kiss on the cheek.  That sweet, sweet boy.  Brought tears to my eyes and helped stopped B's.

(did you catch that - he's officially crawling now!)

oh, brother

We have seen a lot of "brother-ness" happening in the past week or so. Little b has figured out how to pull himself to standing on the front of furniture, meaning he can always find his big brother. He pops up wherever big B happens to be!

With that comes little reaching hands to steal Cheerios from big brother's bowl, toys from big brother's hands, etc. Big B didn't even get to take a bath by himself last night. The baby made his way into the bathroom, stood up on the side of the tub, and was even reaching over to touch the water!

And when big B gets out his (toy) semi truck full of matchbox cars, he immediately has a shadow to contend with - little b doesn't seem to mind that it takes him 3x as long to get up and down the hallway chasing that truck! Big B is very patient and drives it very slow so the baby has a chance if catching up.

Yep. The big brother - little brother play relationship has started. And we love it!

time flies

I'm always saying time flies when you have fun.

Today I asked my boys how they became 8 months and 6 1/2 years old already. Brecken, very seriously, replied, "you've had fun with us."

I may have teared up. I love that kid.

eight

If March comes in like a lion or a lamb, so does 8 months.  And this one came in like a lion.

It started last week when little b caught a nasty cold.  It was *just* a cold until the weekend when the fever wouldn't go away.  Josh took him to the doctor this past Monday, where he was diagnosed with an ear infection in his left ear.  He was prescribed zithromax, which is a 5 day dose.  Today was day 4 of the 5, and he isn't feeling any sort of better - in fact, he seems worse.  He's so clingy, glassy eyed at times, and his cough is enough to scare anyone - so deep and so phlegm-y and  nasty.  I was hoping there wasn't fluid in his lungs.  We took him back to he doctor today where not only is his left ear infected still, but his right ear is infected now, too.  So, on to another antibiotic - his 4th in his short little life.  We go back to the clinic in two weeks and if it's not clear then, we will be referred to an ENT for a tubes consult.  

Nevertheless, here's who little b is at 8 months: (I did manage to get an 8 month pic - see below - It's not his normal happy, but he does serious very well too!)

Length / Weight: Monday he weighed in at a whopping 19 pounds, 13 ounces.  When I measured him at home, he was 28.5 inches long.

Eating: Still on Similac Sensitive, and most bottles are 6 oz.  We moved to fruits this month.  He loves those too! He likes apples, bananas, apple/banana/strawberry mix, but wasn't too impressed with peaches.  We only tried those once, though - maybe next time he will like them.  He's also been eating a few table foods, like a french fry while we're at a restaurant, an apple slice, and some of the Gerber puff cereal things, which he likes.  He also discovered Cheerios this month and likes those too!

 
Sleeping: He usually gets up once at night to eat - somewhere between 1 and 3 is his norm lately.  Depending on what time he eats is when he wakes up for the day - sometimes 6:00, sometimes 7:30.

Wearing:  Size 3 diapers, and size 6-9 month clothes.  We would like to put shoes on sometimes, but his feet are a bit fat and won't fit in most shoes! I *think* 3.5 is a close size.

Miscellaneous: He is still a mover and a shaker!  He has taken a few "steps" on his hands and knees, but then puts himself back on his belly to army crawl - I think because its faster for him.  He can get anywhere he wants to! He discovered that there is a hallway in our house and down it are some ROOMS to discover!  And he also figured out that if he goes past the living room, there's a kitchen and that's where we are when we cook! :)  There is a picture of his brother when B was 2,  at the lake, framed in the hallway across from little b's room.  Every time we leave his room we have to stop and look at the picture - he LOVES to look at it!  He's also now clapping - on his own, when we say yay, and when he hears the word clap.  And shakes his head no!  It's so cute.  He has only done it once at an "appropriate time" - he pushed his bottle away while shaking his head once.  The other times it's funny.  Like at the pharmacy today I asked him if we should get him feeling better and he said no.  Lol!  He can pull up to sit on his knees, and if you put him on his feet to play at a table of some sort, he can stay there and play.  Such a big boy!  And his facial expressions - OMG, they kill us.  You can't help but crack up at all his faces.  There are plenty of them!  But they never seem to come out when the big black camera does. ;)

He continues to be amazing and we couldn't be more in love with BOTH our boys!

We have the beginnings of a crawler.  Little b has done awesome at army crawling and everyone that sees him do it is highly entertained, but this past weekend while in a huge hotel lobby with carpet for traction, he got up on his hands and knees and instead of just rocking like normal, took about 3 teeny tiny crawls.  I had to laugh at one point - he was trying SO.HARD to go, and he looked under himself at his knees, then sat down and patted them like, "Hey, why aren't you going anywhere?"  :)

Big B had a great time this past weekend as we traveled to the regional basketball tournament.  Josh's team didn't make it this year but we went anyway - as much as I would LOVE to bring his boys, I look forward to the family time too - the first time in months we've gotten to spend a whole weekend with Josh by ourselves. It's kind of nice.

Big B also got to sign up for elementary kid basketball this week.  He's beyond excited.  He wants new basketball shoes.  And we had to buy the shorts that were not included in his entry fee like his jersey was, because heaven forbid his own basketball shorts don't match the jersey!  He also asked his daddy if he would please coach his team.  I noticed he did not ask me. LOL!

Other than that, things have been soooo busy.  In fact I had to go to work Monday in order to have time to sit down and write an email to my family.  How bad is that?!

the observer

I'm constantly amazed at how smart little b is.  We found out just how observant he is this week.  We put recessed lighting into our living room (hooray for no more dark living room!!!).  The lights are ona dimmer which is nice.  I thought I'd put the lights on super low while I fed the baby in the middle of the night after they were installed.  Little b got so distracted by the lights that he couldn't eat.  And he wasn't just curious about them - he was ANGRY at them!  He laid there, pushed the bottle away, and shouted away at those lights with an angry face as if he was saying, "HEY! I know you weren't there last night - what are you doing there now?!?!"

We ended up having to go in his room to finish eating and go back to sleep. :)

I thought it might just be because the lights were on (low) and he didn't like it shining.  However, the next day, his daycare provider told me that she changed the picture above the changing table and he spent the whole diaper change shouting at the picture in the same way - "HEY! You didn't look like that YESTERDAY!" 

So not only does he observe, but he clearly does not like change and shows it with some fantastic shouting and angry faces.  Ha!  It's quite adorable actually!

in other news...

In Brecken's pretend basketball games, we've had what I thought was everything: pretend concession stands, announcing of names, high fiving his imaginary team mates, "goodgamegoodgamegoodgame" afterwards while shaking hands of his imaginary opponents, tip-offs, etc. Today, something new: a pretend bloody nose during the game. Oh, my child! LOL!

seven months

We celebrated little b's seven month "birthday" by receiving his birth certificate in the mail! What great fun that is to see our last name and J and I listed as his parents.  Love that.

Length / Weight: We had to go to the doctor again today, so I have an official weight.  The poor baby had another ear infection this month and we had to go back and make sure it was gone once and for all.  It is... for now.  Anyway, at home when I measured him he's now 27.5 inches long.  At the doctor, his weight was 18 lbs, 10 oz.  

Eating: Still on Similac Sensitive, and most bottles are 6 oz.  We started vegetables this month.  He's a huge fan! He doesn't even make a face of "oh, that's different" when he tries something new, he just gobbles it up! Two exceptions: my homemade carrots, which I think was a texture thing he didn't like.  Three bites and he was done.  The Gerber carrots though, were delicious!  The night I steamed and pureed peas, he had whole body shudders and refused.  B and I laughed SO.HARD at him.  We tried again the next day, and he ate a bowl full.  He had been crabby the night before, so as B said, "He must not have liked them because of his attitude."  LOL!  He eats jarred green beans because I don't know how to make those right, and I've made him pumpkin, squash, and sweet potatoes in addition to the peas.  He loves them all!

Sleeping: He still isn't as awesome at sleeping as he was before Christmas, but we're getting there.  I don't think he's actually HUNGRY when he wakes in the night - just needs something to suck on maybe.  He won't take a paci, so we've given him a bottle of water in his crib.  He's found that and put himself back to sleep 3 out of the past 4 nights.  

Wearing:  Size 3 diapers, and size 6-9 month clothes.  We found out that we can't really use hand-me-downs from his brother anymore - B was so small that his 6-9 month stuff is mostly summer attire, and it is definitely not summer weather yet!  Darn it, Mommy has to shop. :)

Miscellaneous: He is a mover!  The kid is constantly on the go.  He's fantastic at rolling to get places now, but he doesn't need to do that often because he's army crawling!!  I swore the kid would be "real" crawling before 7 months old, but I was a bit off.  He's close - rocking on hands and knees, but can't figure out how to go yet.  So for now, army crawling is his mode of transportation and he's quite good at it!  Sticks that left arm out and gets his feet dug in and he's off to the races!  He's also very close to being able to roll into a sitting position.  And his laugh - oh, his laugh.  It's amazing.  Usually he laughs at his brother.  They love each other so much!

official

We just got called - the judge signed our finalization papers this week.  Our baby is OFFICIALLY ours now!  He always has been, but now we can get the birth certificate to prove it.

Can't even tell you how happy I am - I may have cried (a lot) when Josh called to tell me the news.  :)

six months

How it happened, I have no idea.  My baby had his half-birthday today.  How in the world did these past six months fly by so fast?!  I blinked.  I shouldn't have.

Length / Weight: I had little b at the doctor last Wednesday where he was diagnosed with an ear infection.  At the time, he weighed 16 lbs, 11 oz.  Today, he weighed in at 17 lbs, 3.5 oz.  An 8.5 oz gain in less than a week??  I wouldn't have believed it myself, but I was standing right there for both weigh-ins!  He still measured 26.5 inches, and both the dr and I think his 4 month measurement was a bit off.  His head, length and weight are all perfectly symmetrical, in the 50th percentile!

Eating: Still on Similac Sensitive, and most bottles are 6 oz.  He has oatmeal sometimes, but not regularly.  When he does have it, he scrapes the bowl clean!  We got the OK to start fruits and veggies today.

Sleeping: He was doing AWESOME at sleeping through the night until he got sick over Christmas.  We haven't had a great night sleep in almost 3 weeks now.  Antibiotics for his ear have helped - last night he finally just woke up once, so maybe we're getting back to normal!  He has not liked taking naps.  Fights them and only sleeps for a little bit!  If he can sleep at night, that's what I care about most, I guess!

Wearing:  Still in size 2 diapers, but not for long.  We'll finish up what we have and then move on to size 3.  He wears size 3's at night.  His clothes are all 6-9 month size now.  

Miscellaneous: He LOVES toys now!  Any toy that can go in his mouth is a favorite.  Over Christmas break, he not only learned how to sit up on his own, but roll to GET places, and also scoot backward! All that in two short weeks!  He also learned how to scream and is having fun practicing that. Ha!  He also learned how to cluck his tongue - THAT is super cute!  And when you do it back you get the BIGGEST grin.  He really is the happiest baby!  B-man is soooo patient with him.  He'll patiently remove b's hand from the iPad 100 times while he's trying to play, never once saying, "Stop, b!!!!"  He's never gotten annoyed.  Except the one time B was playing with b's stacking toy with him and b kept knocking it over.  With a big sigh, B kept saying, "I'm not your maid, you know."  HAHAHAHA!


He continues to think that everything he sees is free reign for him to grab.  EVERYTHING.  Plates, glasses, silverware, toys, plants, papers, remotes, phones, anything.  If he can see it he must reach for it.  I forgot how much fun this little stage is. :)
Because of his cold, he didn't have the jolliest of first Christmases, but he sure does enjoy all the fantastic presents he was graced with!  It was a magical season this year with my two perfect boys. (three, counting my husband!)

(I promise - posts about the rest of our Christmas season coming soon.)

christmas gifts

I have some catching up to do (always, it seems) about B's Christmas program, church program, stuff like that, but I wanted to blog real fast tonight about the huge box I found on our doorstep this afternoon.

It was FULL of presents for both boys.  From b's birth mom and his birth mom's grandparents!

I got tears.  Especially at the idea that they included B-man.

*sniff sniff*!

b's birth mom gave B-man a monkey about as big as he is, and her grandparents gave him 20 matchbox cars with a launcher.  The kid couldn't quit smiling. :)

b's birth mom gave b a CUTE monkey bathrobe and slippers, and a laugh and learn puppy that he loves to giggle at!  Her grandparents gave him a soooo soft Carter's outfit.

I'm seriously so touched by their generosity.  <3 p="p">