what the heck?

I am on my phone app for this and found a bunch of posts that never published. :( I re-published them but now they are out of order and I can't figure out how to rearrange that. Grr! Sorry - tooth 4, 1st place, and Charlie are all from the summer. How annoying. 

first place

My B-man had his Junior Golf tournament yesterday and today. They get grouped by ages and then a parent keeps score. They play three holes each day. Yesterday he shot a 16, and today shot a 15. (They make tee boxes about 100 yards out from the green.) Today he even got a 3 on the last hole!

That was good enough for FIRST PLACE!  He had good competition this year, as the second place winner was only two strokes behind! 

So proud of this boy! 

Charlie

We lost our kitty Charlie today. She was 15 years old and had entered kidney failure. She wasn't making it to the litter box anymore, and she was getting skinnier and skinnier. If you knew her before, you knew she was built like a brick. My mom called her fat. Today, she was all bone. Nothing to her. I bet she barely weighed 5 lbs. :(

So, we made the hard decision to have our vet friend put her to sleep today. It was harder than I thought it would be to make that decision. B-man cried a lot. As did I. He has been with her since he was born. I have had her 11 years. But we felt so bad that she was getting so much worse. Good ol' Josh - he took her in this morning so that I didn't have to. 

Goodbye, Charlie-girl. You were a good cat!! 

Tooth 4

Little b's top right tooth has popped through! We will be celebrating a birthday with 4 teeth to chomp on cake. :)

Tooth 5

Little man had tooth #5 pop through today! It's on the top left next to his middle teeth. Asymmetrical for now... Maybe his top right will come in soon to balance things. :)

behind

I've been a horrible blogger.  I know not many people read this, and that's OK, but I'm sad that I've been so horrible because I love looking back at this blog and remembering things that I may have forgotten.  And let's face it, a mom who works full time and has two kids and a husband that coaches, forgets things.  And here I am, with a son about to turn 7 and a baby who is 14 months old and learning new things every day, forgetting to blog the little stuff. :(

But alas, here I am.  We'll try to do a quick recap of lately:

Little man continues to amaze us.... he's growing so big and is so dang smart! He's hard to keep up with, both physically, and with all his developments!

Let's see... he has learned how to spin around and make himself dizzy, throw things through the baby gate down the stairs, kiss on the mouth, become very good at signing please, more, and eat, play golf, say bath and puppy (along with voom voom from earlier), ride in the truck cart at the store, get his own shoes and bring them to you when you ask him to, bring you something to eat and ask “please” so you open it, sneak into Brecken's room to get something, and just last week took a few steps backwards on purpose.

Making himself dizzy – he loves it! He spins as fast as fast as he can with his feet and then laughs when he can't walk straight. Crazy kid!

Throwing things – he'll take anything that will fit and throw it down the stairs through the slats on the baby gate. Balls don't fit, so he throws them over. We always have quite the pile of toys at the bottom of the stairs! He also uses that baby gate to stand at and cry, cry, cry when someone goes downstairs without him. He has hit a major separation anxiety stage and even though he can see us, he cries like we'll never ever come back.

Kissing – he is very choosy about who he kisses and when he wants to. It's nothing that he gives out a ton of, unless he's feeling especially lovey and then he will kiss you for several minutes while saying “awwwww”. We're working on blowing kisses. He laughs when we do it but won't do it on his own – I think it's stubbornness more than the fact that he “can't”. :)

We are impressed with his signing! He is really good at signing please especially. Funny story – he was trying to poke me in the eye. I told him, “Owie! Don't poke me in the eye!” He got really mad at me and signed “please please please please”. Haha! No, buddy, even if you ask please, you still can't poke me in the eye!

He's obsessed with golf right now. So much, that if he doesn't have any clubs laying around, he'll find a wooden spoon, a stick, anything, so that he can “golf” with that. We went to a store and he insisted on getting down, and when he was on the ground he walked right over to a plastic set of golf clubs that he somehow managed to see. That is now his favorite toy. He must go EVERYWHERE with at least one golf club and a golf ball. He knows where we keep the golf balls in the garage and goes and helps himself while we play outside. We probably look weird going for walks with him holding his golf club in the stroller! :)

He still loves bath time and will go in the bathroom, stand by the tub and say, “Ba? Ba? Ba?” until we either carry him out of the bathroom (because there's no time for a bath) or we give him a bath. He loves baths! He loves dogs too and quickly learned how to say “puh puh” for puppy!

He loves to eat still and we really haven't found anything he won't eat. He quite frequently eats as much as his big brother does. :) Pasta is one of his favorite things to eat.

He LOVES to be outside. He goes out as often as he can to ride his little bike or golf or play in the water table. If someone dares to go out without him, the temper comes out!

Little b is learning how to be a true little brother, too. B-man has this toy that b LOVES but B-man won't let him play with it very often. The other night after B-man had gone to bed, b snuck into B-man's room so quietly that we didn't even know he had gone in there. Pretty soon we hear B-man shout his brother's name and heard b scream and run down the hall as fast as he could, holding that toy for dear life. He had snuck in to get it! We laughed so hard we had tears. Little b was quite proud of himself for succeeding in his mission. :)

We spent a long weekend camping in Yellowstone at the beginning of August .  Both boys had an absolute blast and were filthy dirty by the time we got home!  They loved walking around the campsite (it was large since we camped next to my aunt and uncle and cousins and had their area to run around in too) and playing in the dirt, and liked seeing the things there are to see there. Even there, b was golfing with pine cones! B-man took to my cousins right away and even rode in their car for two days.  He had a great time.

We had little b in to get his shots on August 19 and he weighed in at 26 pounds! We finally found him shoes that fit – we had to go to a child's shoe store while we were in Denver. His feet are fat enough that normal size shoes don't fit, so we have to get him wide width shoes. He's wearing a 5 ½ W. He loved his new shoes and kept walking around, then stopping to look at them, and then taking off again! He has quite a few 24 month and 2T clothes that fit him now, too. It won't be long before he's in those full time.

Little b STILL only has 4 teeth! And he has still been ear infection free!!!

As for my B-man, he started 1st grade and totally loves it.  He loves his teacher, he loves that he can check out two books at the library this year, he loves that he gets to come with me to school every morning.  He's having a great time and is learning a lot already! 

Lost tooth

B-man FINALLY lost his tooth tonight! Josh finally pulled it out. His other tooth was coming in behind it - hopefully it will straighten itself out!

one year

The fastest year in the history of the Earth has just happened.  Seriously, this year flew.  I cannot believe my baby turned one year old last week.  We've had the most amazing year with our little family.  My son has a brother.  My other son has a brother.  I have the two most amazing children ever.  We love this little baby so much, and we thank God for him AND his birth parents every day.

My little man at one year old:

Length / Weight: We were at the doctor for his well visit today.  He is 30 inches, 23 lbs, 15 oz, and a head of 48 cm.  Everything is hovering around the 50th percentile still, with a small jump ahead in his length. 

Eating:  We have made the switch to whole milk now.  I was so sad to see formula go, because that's one step closer to not being a baby anymore.  I would gladly spend all that money on formula to keep him a baby, but at the same time, I'll be glad for the savings. :)  He's eating all foods except peanuts now, and loves to eat!

 

Sleeping: He was doing great sleeping, until we went on vacation a couple weeks ago.  He won't sleep well in other places, and two weeks of that ruined his schedule at home.  :(  He's also been sick with a fever (but we don't know why) and that has thrown things off too.  I so hope he'll figure it out soon and go back to his awesome sleeping.

 

Teeth: Tooth three and four popped through this month!  He now has two on top, and two on bottom. 

Wearing:   Size 4 diapers, 18 month clothes, and we finally found some shoes to fit him and those are size 5.  (!) 

 

Miscellaneous:  We have a walker!  A week and a half before his birthday, he gave up crawling for good and will only walk now.  Hence the need to find shoes ASAP - walking outside on bumpy terrain is hard on bare feet!  He had a great birthday, with ALL of his cousins there - from both sides of the family!  he was a master with his cake and I'm pretty sure he blew blue snot for a few days with as much frosting as went up his knows.  The traditional "aunt bath" where his aunts give the birthday kid a bath after they demolish cake was not a success.  He cried so hard he threw up in the tub - he's the first to do that.  Ha!

 

He had his well visit today.  He got put back on zantac for reflux to hopefully clear up some puking issues we have had - we're so hoping it's a medical thing that can be helped, rather than a behavioral thing!  He also got put on Zyrtec for allergies.  He's been coughing really hard for a few months and we're trying that to see if that helps.  There is asthma in his medical history, so hopefully the coughing isn't a sign of that...  We were also told to watch for words.  He is saying "voom voom" when playing with cars, but that's the only thing on purpose.  the doctor said he should be saying mama and dada and ball and words like that, but he's not worried *yet* because of his history of ear infections.  I told B-man he could help us with teaching him those words, and he took me very seriously - he wouldn't give his brother a ball until he said ball tonight! LOL!

We just got back from 2 weeks of vacation - when I get pictures done, I'll write about the trip. :)

Here's our little man at one year!

 

 

eleven

Eleven months old.  Next month he will be ONE.  The year has FLOWN!

Here's who our little man is this month:

Length / Weight: Just over 29 inches long, and we're going with 22 lbs, 8 oz, which is what he was with clothes on the week before at the doctor.  So that sounds good!

Eating: Still on Similac Sensitive, and most bottles are 6 oz.  He has found a love for mac & cheese, bread, and spaghetti.  I think he's a carbs man! :)  He likes to eat.

Sleeping: We can tell his ears are feeling better, because he has been sleeping through the night a lot again.  I'd say 2 out of 3 nights, he's STTN.  Hooray for that!  Naps can be anywhere from 2 shorter naps through the day (hour-ish each) to one mid-day nap that can last 2.5-3 hours.

 

Teeth: Still two teeth, though I keep expecting a top one to pop through

Wearing:   Size 3 diapers, but we bought 4's to try out when our 3's are gone.  He is wearing a lot of 18 month clothes, too.  In fact, that's all we ordered for summer clothes and they aren't too, too big on him! 

Miscellaneous: He's taking steps!  So far, he's up to 7 at a time.  He laughs and claps for himself. :)  he LOVES to be outside and gets upset when his brother is out there without him.  While outside, he loves the sandbox and the water table.  He can play forever in the water table!  (same with baths!)  He likes to play with balls, and in fact at a garage sale the other day kept squirming to look at the collection of basketballs.   There just happened to be one his size, so guess what we came home with.  :)  He is still quite the talker!  Chatters constantly.  

Love that little boy!

ears, programs, and steps - oh my!

By Tuesday last week, little b's ear was having bright orange drainage.  Our school nurse happened to be working in town that day, so I took him to see her.  She said it was time to call the ENT.  I took him over on Thursday last week, where he ended up having to have his ear suctioned out because the infection had totally packed his tube.  The poor baby didn't cry until they put the drops in his suctioned-out ears but it was short lived, as when I was I was able to pick him up he was OK.  We're now on ear drops 2x/day for 10 days, then 1x/day for 10 more days, as well as an oral antibiotic 2x/day for 10 days.  *sigh*

B-man had his kindergarten program on Wednesday last week.  It was so cute, and I was glad my school was done for the summer so I could attend! I can't believe that Wednesday afternoon, he'll be a 1st grader.  Where did the time go??

And the baby has been very brave in letting go of things while he's standing.  You can tell he wants to walk soooo bad - this weekend he'd stand and get mad because it's like he couldn't make his legs go!  This morning, however, he took three steps from me to Josh!  He'll be figuring it out so soon!

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!)