This morning we had to take Luke to the doctor and made arrangements for Micah to go to daycare. I had a lot of anxiety because it was the first time we would separate them for that amount of time without one of us with each of them. Before we left the house I told them that Micah was going to daycare to play and Luke would be going to the doctor. Micah gave Luke a big hug like he was comforting him. Micah's not real affectionate with Luke, they're more the tackle each other to show affection kind of kids, so I'm not sure if it was related to the news I'd just given them or was just random. Regardless, it was very sweet.
By the way, Micah did great at daycare. He was happy to see Luke, Daddy, and I walk in to get him, though.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Days
Since it's been so long since I really updated on the boys, I thought I should do a description of our typical days so I can look back in the future and remember what it used to be like. Things are going to be changing in November and then again probably in February. I've gotten the boys set up for Mother's Day Out two days a week starting in November. They will be at "school" from 9:30-1:30. They'll play, learn, have music class, and eat lunch. I have mixed feelings. Part of me feels like I'm capable of teaching them at home and that they would be better off with me. Another part of me is excited for the short breaks I'll have to get errands done or to clean the house without the boys tagging along. I know they'll have fun and I'm sure they'll learn lots. Luke's therapists have really been talking about getting them into something like this for a while now. Am I being gullible just taking their word for it, or should I accept their recommendations because they are the experts. Anyway, so back to our current days...
Around 7:00 the boys wake up. Sometimes it's as early as 6:30 and sometimes as late as 7:30, but 7 is probably the average. Micah has been sleeping in the pack n play in the guest room. It started probably about 6 weeks ago when we were having trouble with his sleep. He acted like he was scared to be in his room without either Glen or I. It was taking forever for him to go to sleep and then he'd wake up multiple times in the middle of the night. The only sure way to get him to sleep was to have him in the pack n play in our room. We got tired of that pretty quickly, though, so we tried him out in the guest room and it was like magic. Suddenly both boys were sleeping through the night and falling asleep in their rooms without us needing to sit in there with them at naptime and bedtime.
I give the boys milk in their sippy cups pretty soon after they get up and they watch a show on tv while I either shower or just attempt to drink my coffee in peace.
8 or 8:30 we have breakfast. A week or two ago I started scooting their highchairs up to the table without the trays, so they're sitting like big boys (but are strapped in!). Typically they have a fruit (banana, strawberries, applesauce, yogurt) and a grain (cold cereal, pancakes, waffles, toast, bagel) and milk.
9 ish to 10 ish - Morning play time while I clean up from breakfast. They like to help me empty the dishwasher which is kind of fun. I have to be quick before they can grab anything sharp or breakable. I get them dressed which always seems to take forever as they like to run away and wrestle with each other.
Most days we get out of the house between 10 and 11:30. We'll do our shopping, go to the library, play at the mall, and now that it's cooling off, we can play at the park. It seems there's always an errand to run, though, and I have a hard time mustering the energy to do more than two stops.
12:00 - Lunch. This is a difficult time for me because I usually don't know until just before lunch what I want to eat. We have a few standbys, though. They like nachos, quesadillas, grilled cheese, pb&j sandwiches, pizza, fish sticks, and more. I also try to give them a fruit and sometimes I give them a veggie. They also drink milk again.
12:30-12:45ish I get them down for their naps. We go straight from lunch to naps. I change their diapers and take Micah to the potty. Put them into sleep sacks and we read a couple books together in the rocking chair. Then I put Luke in his crib and carry Micah over to "his" room.
Sometimes I'm good and clean up from lunch right away and sometimes I'm just too tired and figure I'll do it later. Most days I lay down during naptime, sometimes I sleep and sometimes I just read, but I really enjoy that time to recharge.
The boys typically sleep two hours, sometimes they'll sleep up to three hours if I'll let them. I think we've decided not to let Micah sleep more than 2 1/2. Luke seems to do fine no matter how long he naps, so I let him sleep, but usually he's the first to wake at naptime.
We're pretty lazy in the afternoons. I don't really like doing errands in the afternoons because it's hard to get out of the house before 3:30. The boys will usually watch another tv show or a Signing Time dvd or one of their educational dvds and have a snack and drink. Then we mostly just play. I've been taking them to the back yard and they love it. It's nice to have such a large (maybe not large, but much bigger than the backyards at our previous few houses) back yard. They like kicking and throwing balls, climbing and sliding on their slide, scooting around on their cars, and throwing dead grass on me (I'm not a fan of that last one). It's been the perfect temperature lately, but the mosquitoes are horrible, so we need to figure out something we can do about that.
Glen gets home around 5:15 so we catch up and the boys pretty much go crazy. I also start getting dinner going around this time.
6:00 is dinner time. We've just started being able to give the boys what we eat. It's so nice when I find a meal that I don't have to give them any extras. And because they're eating our food, it forces me to make sure it's healthier. Micah loves broccoli these days and he likes it with nothing more than salt on it. He's eaten some raw carrots recently and will eat peas or corn if they're in something else. Luke is harder to please, so I have to sneak veggies into the things he does like to eat. My favorite sneaky food lately is fruit smoothies with raw spinach in them.
After dinner the boys play with Daddy while I clean up. If it's early enough he'll take them for a wagon ride around the block before it gets dark. They enjoy getting out and he often lets them get out and walk for the last hundred yards or so.
Around 7:15 we start cleaning up the toys and "kid mess". The boys are sometimes good about helping. The nights they do help are great and keep us asking them to help every night. If it's a bath night (every two or three nights) we get them into the bath around 7:15. We try to get them into their room by 7:40 or so and do diapers/potty, pajamas, sleep sacks, devotions and other stories, brush teeth, and pray. We alternate which kid we pray for and lay down (I have Micah on the odd number days). Micah usually asks for water as soon as we lay him down, so we'll give him a half full cup of water to keep with him. He likes to have his door open until he falls asleep, Luke doesn't seem to mind his door being closed. We aim to have them in bed at 8:00. And then we RELAX!
Around 7:00 the boys wake up. Sometimes it's as early as 6:30 and sometimes as late as 7:30, but 7 is probably the average. Micah has been sleeping in the pack n play in the guest room. It started probably about 6 weeks ago when we were having trouble with his sleep. He acted like he was scared to be in his room without either Glen or I. It was taking forever for him to go to sleep and then he'd wake up multiple times in the middle of the night. The only sure way to get him to sleep was to have him in the pack n play in our room. We got tired of that pretty quickly, though, so we tried him out in the guest room and it was like magic. Suddenly both boys were sleeping through the night and falling asleep in their rooms without us needing to sit in there with them at naptime and bedtime.
I give the boys milk in their sippy cups pretty soon after they get up and they watch a show on tv while I either shower or just attempt to drink my coffee in peace.
8 or 8:30 we have breakfast. A week or two ago I started scooting their highchairs up to the table without the trays, so they're sitting like big boys (but are strapped in!). Typically they have a fruit (banana, strawberries, applesauce, yogurt) and a grain (cold cereal, pancakes, waffles, toast, bagel) and milk.
9 ish to 10 ish - Morning play time while I clean up from breakfast. They like to help me empty the dishwasher which is kind of fun. I have to be quick before they can grab anything sharp or breakable. I get them dressed which always seems to take forever as they like to run away and wrestle with each other.
Most days we get out of the house between 10 and 11:30. We'll do our shopping, go to the library, play at the mall, and now that it's cooling off, we can play at the park. It seems there's always an errand to run, though, and I have a hard time mustering the energy to do more than two stops.
12:00 - Lunch. This is a difficult time for me because I usually don't know until just before lunch what I want to eat. We have a few standbys, though. They like nachos, quesadillas, grilled cheese, pb&j sandwiches, pizza, fish sticks, and more. I also try to give them a fruit and sometimes I give them a veggie. They also drink milk again.
12:30-12:45ish I get them down for their naps. We go straight from lunch to naps. I change their diapers and take Micah to the potty. Put them into sleep sacks and we read a couple books together in the rocking chair. Then I put Luke in his crib and carry Micah over to "his" room.
Sometimes I'm good and clean up from lunch right away and sometimes I'm just too tired and figure I'll do it later. Most days I lay down during naptime, sometimes I sleep and sometimes I just read, but I really enjoy that time to recharge.
The boys typically sleep two hours, sometimes they'll sleep up to three hours if I'll let them. I think we've decided not to let Micah sleep more than 2 1/2. Luke seems to do fine no matter how long he naps, so I let him sleep, but usually he's the first to wake at naptime.
We're pretty lazy in the afternoons. I don't really like doing errands in the afternoons because it's hard to get out of the house before 3:30. The boys will usually watch another tv show or a Signing Time dvd or one of their educational dvds and have a snack and drink. Then we mostly just play. I've been taking them to the back yard and they love it. It's nice to have such a large (maybe not large, but much bigger than the backyards at our previous few houses) back yard. They like kicking and throwing balls, climbing and sliding on their slide, scooting around on their cars, and throwing dead grass on me (I'm not a fan of that last one). It's been the perfect temperature lately, but the mosquitoes are horrible, so we need to figure out something we can do about that.
Glen gets home around 5:15 so we catch up and the boys pretty much go crazy. I also start getting dinner going around this time.
6:00 is dinner time. We've just started being able to give the boys what we eat. It's so nice when I find a meal that I don't have to give them any extras. And because they're eating our food, it forces me to make sure it's healthier. Micah loves broccoli these days and he likes it with nothing more than salt on it. He's eaten some raw carrots recently and will eat peas or corn if they're in something else. Luke is harder to please, so I have to sneak veggies into the things he does like to eat. My favorite sneaky food lately is fruit smoothies with raw spinach in them.
After dinner the boys play with Daddy while I clean up. If it's early enough he'll take them for a wagon ride around the block before it gets dark. They enjoy getting out and he often lets them get out and walk for the last hundred yards or so.
Around 7:15 we start cleaning up the toys and "kid mess". The boys are sometimes good about helping. The nights they do help are great and keep us asking them to help every night. If it's a bath night (every two or three nights) we get them into the bath around 7:15. We try to get them into their room by 7:40 or so and do diapers/potty, pajamas, sleep sacks, devotions and other stories, brush teeth, and pray. We alternate which kid we pray for and lay down (I have Micah on the odd number days). Micah usually asks for water as soon as we lay him down, so we'll give him a half full cup of water to keep with him. He likes to have his door open until he falls asleep, Luke doesn't seem to mind his door being closed. We aim to have them in bed at 8:00. And then we RELAX!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Time flies
Oh my, it's been over four months since I last posted anything. I have so much to catch up with, but every time I think about it, I feel overwhelmed with the task and end up not doing anything. Ugh.
Well, the biggest news around here is that Luke and Micah will become big brothers in February. We found out this week that we're having another boy. I'm so excited for my (big) boys to have a little brother.
Micah has been talking up a storm. I think he may be a tad behind where he should be, but I can definitely see growth and improvement in his language and speech recently. He's just started forming two word phrases which is fun to hear. He's starting to identify colors. He's pretty accuarate too. Yesterday I came out of my bedroom wearing a gray t-shirt and he pointed to my shirt and said, "Gray!" He's also started identifying letters. He is amazingly good at it too. I'd guess he knows at least half of the alphabet (this is from me writing down a letter and asking what it is, out of order). He'll identify letters he sees on signs outside the van window or in books we're reading or on pictures/decorations hanging on the wall. Micah has developed an interest in dinosaurs recently. For a while it was trains and any other transportation type vehicle. Then we started watching Dinosaur Train on PBS and he's hooked. I found a pair of pajamas at Costco this week that is covered in pictures of dinosaurs. He pretty much hasn't let those out of his sight in several days. I recently got out their duplo legos that have been hiding away for a while and he really enjoys indentifying the colors of the blocks and stacking them. It's a double-edged sword because as much as he loves them, he gets pretty easily frustrated if he can't get them to stick together or if they fall under the pressure he exerts. He's been doing pretty well with going potty on his little potty chair before naps and before bed. He asks to go at those times and at least half the time he'll actually go. Sometimes I can suggest it and he'll willingly go, sometimes just sit there, but sometimes actually go potty. I decided to try some potty training yesterday and it was a fail. He had four accidents before lunch and I gave up. Three of those accidents were because he was mad at me for things like turning off the tv or putting him in time out. This morning when I got him up I asked if he wanted to go potty and he almost threw a fit about not going so I just put a diaper on him. It's not worth the fight at this point.
Luke is doing awesome with his speaking and signing. I would guess he's saying a new word each day. He doesn't always use that word again, but he'll hear us say something and he'll repeat it back. For the longest time his affirmative answer was "uh-huh". I would always say "yes" or "yes please" back to him. And just this week he's started saying "yes" instead of "uh huh". He's great about signing thank you when we say it. His favorite phrase (for the last many months) is "what's that?" That's tough to answer when we're looking through a Dr. Seuss book with all his crazy creatures. Luke is still receiving speech therapy two times per month, occupational therapy once a month, and just started physical therapy once a month. The OT has been helping mostly with the food issues we've had. He's such a picky eater and very particular about textures. We're making progress and he's willing to try just about anything we offer him. I'm starting to accept that he just doesn't care for vegetables. He also doesn't like pasta. A couple weeks ago he discovered he loves steak and poor Daddy had to share a lot of his meal with Luke and Micah. We're working on helping him feed himself with a spoon and a fork. He seems to think it's much easier and more effecient to pick up the food with his fingers - even cold cereal as cold as his hand gets from multiple dunks in the cold milk - and he's probably right. The physical therapist has only seen him twice. Once for an eval in our house and then we met last week at a park. She seemed happy with his abilities, but did note that he favors one side of his body and tires easily. She said she sees good motor planning, which I guess means he thinks through how he's going to accomplish certain tasks like stepping over a curb or down from a step. She worked with him on stepping up stairs using handrails and after a little practice he seemed to remember what he was supposed to do. I'm supposed to get him out in big open fields to run and run (thankfully he and Micah like to run around and chase each other so I don't have to do it). We're still not sure if we're looking at long term delays in these areas or if he'll be able to catch up with his peers. The PT wanted to make sure I understand that any progress he makes is worth celebrating even if it means he continues to be behind his brother. I agree and I think we do celebrate and marvel at his accomplishments, but it's still hard to see the gap widening between Luke and Micah.
A funny story from this week. Glen had a work thing to be at on Thursday night so I did baths and bedtime on my own (which by the way is a TON easier at this stage than it was a year ago or even 6 months ago). I had two naked boys in their room working on one of them to get his diaper on and pajamas. The other started saying "uh-oh" over and over again. When I finally looked down, he was backing away from a pile of poo saying "uh oh". I said something about it being messy or poo or something and he said, "meow". I think he was trying to blame it on the cat!
Well, the biggest news around here is that Luke and Micah will become big brothers in February. We found out this week that we're having another boy. I'm so excited for my (big) boys to have a little brother.
Micah has been talking up a storm. I think he may be a tad behind where he should be, but I can definitely see growth and improvement in his language and speech recently. He's just started forming two word phrases which is fun to hear. He's starting to identify colors. He's pretty accuarate too. Yesterday I came out of my bedroom wearing a gray t-shirt and he pointed to my shirt and said, "Gray!" He's also started identifying letters. He is amazingly good at it too. I'd guess he knows at least half of the alphabet (this is from me writing down a letter and asking what it is, out of order). He'll identify letters he sees on signs outside the van window or in books we're reading or on pictures/decorations hanging on the wall. Micah has developed an interest in dinosaurs recently. For a while it was trains and any other transportation type vehicle. Then we started watching Dinosaur Train on PBS and he's hooked. I found a pair of pajamas at Costco this week that is covered in pictures of dinosaurs. He pretty much hasn't let those out of his sight in several days. I recently got out their duplo legos that have been hiding away for a while and he really enjoys indentifying the colors of the blocks and stacking them. It's a double-edged sword because as much as he loves them, he gets pretty easily frustrated if he can't get them to stick together or if they fall under the pressure he exerts. He's been doing pretty well with going potty on his little potty chair before naps and before bed. He asks to go at those times and at least half the time he'll actually go. Sometimes I can suggest it and he'll willingly go, sometimes just sit there, but sometimes actually go potty. I decided to try some potty training yesterday and it was a fail. He had four accidents before lunch and I gave up. Three of those accidents were because he was mad at me for things like turning off the tv or putting him in time out. This morning when I got him up I asked if he wanted to go potty and he almost threw a fit about not going so I just put a diaper on him. It's not worth the fight at this point.
Luke is doing awesome with his speaking and signing. I would guess he's saying a new word each day. He doesn't always use that word again, but he'll hear us say something and he'll repeat it back. For the longest time his affirmative answer was "uh-huh". I would always say "yes" or "yes please" back to him. And just this week he's started saying "yes" instead of "uh huh". He's great about signing thank you when we say it. His favorite phrase (for the last many months) is "what's that?" That's tough to answer when we're looking through a Dr. Seuss book with all his crazy creatures. Luke is still receiving speech therapy two times per month, occupational therapy once a month, and just started physical therapy once a month. The OT has been helping mostly with the food issues we've had. He's such a picky eater and very particular about textures. We're making progress and he's willing to try just about anything we offer him. I'm starting to accept that he just doesn't care for vegetables. He also doesn't like pasta. A couple weeks ago he discovered he loves steak and poor Daddy had to share a lot of his meal with Luke and Micah. We're working on helping him feed himself with a spoon and a fork. He seems to think it's much easier and more effecient to pick up the food with his fingers - even cold cereal as cold as his hand gets from multiple dunks in the cold milk - and he's probably right. The physical therapist has only seen him twice. Once for an eval in our house and then we met last week at a park. She seemed happy with his abilities, but did note that he favors one side of his body and tires easily. She said she sees good motor planning, which I guess means he thinks through how he's going to accomplish certain tasks like stepping over a curb or down from a step. She worked with him on stepping up stairs using handrails and after a little practice he seemed to remember what he was supposed to do. I'm supposed to get him out in big open fields to run and run (thankfully he and Micah like to run around and chase each other so I don't have to do it). We're still not sure if we're looking at long term delays in these areas or if he'll be able to catch up with his peers. The PT wanted to make sure I understand that any progress he makes is worth celebrating even if it means he continues to be behind his brother. I agree and I think we do celebrate and marvel at his accomplishments, but it's still hard to see the gap widening between Luke and Micah.
A funny story from this week. Glen had a work thing to be at on Thursday night so I did baths and bedtime on my own (which by the way is a TON easier at this stage than it was a year ago or even 6 months ago). I had two naked boys in their room working on one of them to get his diaper on and pajamas. The other started saying "uh-oh" over and over again. When I finally looked down, he was backing away from a pile of poo saying "uh oh". I said something about it being messy or poo or something and he said, "meow". I think he was trying to blame it on the cat!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Beach
This past weekend we took a road trip down to the Florida gulf coast. Glen took two days off so we were able to be there before the huge crowds. On Wednesday (the day before we were to leave), Luke woke up with a 102 degree fever. My boys hardly ever get fevers, so it always worries me when they do. He was really sleepy, even though he slept all night. He seemed much better after his nap, but right around dinner time, Micah started acting out of sorts and when I took his temp, he was at 102 degrees. Our condo reservations were non-refundable, so we were going to try to make it at all costs. Neither of the boys were acting like they were sick, they just had fevers. Thursday morning, they seemed better. I can't remember if I took their temps or not. The drive down was supposed to take 6.5 hours, but we figured it would probably be closer to 8. We had some fussy babies on the drive. They both slept about 30 minutes before lunch and then never did really go back to sleep for the afternoon. Micah would doze off and then wake up crying. I felt bad because I guessed they weren't feeling great. Thankfully they never got sick or anything in the car.
We did have a mix-up with our room. We specifically reserved a 1-bedroom condo, but when we checked in we were given keys to a studio (without being told). Glen checked out the room and was pretty sure we wouldn't be able to make it work. We went back to the office and they gave us a 1-bedroom room. It was nice and had a view of the sound and the pool. It seemed to kind of be under construction - like there was a stove/oven and microwave, but they were still wrapped in plastic, the sink in the master bathroom did not have any water (we ended up not even using that bathroom), there were cabinets being stored in the master closet. It worked for us, though. Unfortunately we could only stay there two nights, the third, we were told, would have to be in the studio room. We put up a fight because we'd paid for a 1-bedroom. Eventually we were given a 1 bedroom condo for the last night, in Destin. That was an experience. The place was nice - it had a dishwasher and full kitchen, and plenty of room for us. We were just across the street from the beach, so we had lots of people walking by, but I'm glad for that expereince.
We did have a mix-up with our room. We specifically reserved a 1-bedroom condo, but when we checked in we were given keys to a studio (without being told). Glen checked out the room and was pretty sure we wouldn't be able to make it work. We went back to the office and they gave us a 1-bedroom room. It was nice and had a view of the sound and the pool. It seemed to kind of be under construction - like there was a stove/oven and microwave, but they were still wrapped in plastic, the sink in the master bathroom did not have any water (we ended up not even using that bathroom), there were cabinets being stored in the master closet. It worked for us, though. Unfortunately we could only stay there two nights, the third, we were told, would have to be in the studio room. We put up a fight because we'd paid for a 1-bedroom. Eventually we were given a 1 bedroom condo for the last night, in Destin. That was an experience. The place was nice - it had a dishwasher and full kitchen, and plenty of room for us. We were just across the street from the beach, so we had lots of people walking by, but I'm glad for that expereince.
Our first night there was a thunder and lightening storm, so none of us slept very well. Micah still seemed to have a fever and the air conditioning wasn't blowing into the bedroom, so it was very stuffy and hot. The second night Luke woke up for some reason and took over an hour to get him back to sleep. The third night (in the other place) Luke slept all night and Micah woke up, but I patted his back for a minute and he went right back to sleep. It's always rough sleeping in new places. In the mornings when we're so tired from being up all night we wonder why we did this to ourselves, but then the expereinces during the day make it worthwhile.
We had hoped to see one of Glen's former co-workers on Friday, but we could never get our schedules matched up. In the morning we hung out at the condo pool. It was fun, but we only lasted less than an hour because we were having to hold the boys the whole time. They were tired from not sleeping and waking up so early, so we did an early lunch and naptime. We went out to the "big beach" on Friday afternoon. Glen had picked up some baby life vests at Costco before our trip, but they were too cumbersome and uncomfortable for the boys and us. We tried taking the boys in the water in those, but quickly ditched the life vests. They were scared enough of the water, we knew they wouldn't just wander into it. Micah was okay in the water as long as he was being held. Luke wanted no part of the water but was very content sitting on the blanket playing with the beach toys. Micah was not a fan of the sand - didn't want any on him and was very worried when he saw it on my legs and feet. We spent about an hour and a half there and had lots of fun just relaxing as a family. Once we got cleaned up in our room we went out for seafood for dinner on the beach.
On Saturday we wanted to go out to the beach on the Sound because we knew the water would be calmer and thought the boys might like that better. We had a lot of fun there. The water was the perfect temperature and the boys were very happy being held in the water by us. Luke did not want to be put down in the water or on the sand, so I held him as long as I could. Finally I plopped him down on the blanket with water and pretzels and he was happy. We could only stay there about an hour before we needed to get lunch and check in to our new room in Destin. I can't explain how wonderful it was to have that time as a family doing something that I love. Going to the beach with two toddlers is not the same as I remember it being before kids, but it was just as great in a different way. That evening we drove to Navarre to meet two sets of friends and their kids for dinner. It was a good time catching up and seeing how much their kids have grown. I wish we could have spent more time together, but things are definitely different when you add kids to the mix. We were so busy with all our kids (5 kids - all boys) that we didn't get one picture. Boo.
Sunday the boys woke up pretty early, like 6:00, so we had a slow morning and left around 9:00. They did great on the way home. They both took a morning nap and then after lunch slept another hour and a half or two. That portable dvd player is key. It's so helpful for keeping them entertained and happy.
Overall it was a wonderful time together as a family. The first night I was really questioning what in the world we were thinking, but by the end I was able to look back and appreciate the opportunity.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Catching up
A lot has happened since I last posted. I hate that I've let all these experiences pass without recording them here. Hopefully I can remember.
On April 25 we left Texas to move to Alabama. We were sad to leave because there was so much we liked about being there, but because we found out shortly after we got there (10 months ago), we had lots of time to mentally and emotionally prepare. We regret that we kind of checked-out as far as friendships and didn't really make much of an effort in that area. Many years down the line our time in Texas will be a blip compared to everything else that's happened in our lives.
The move and all the craziness that comes with moving is the biggest reason I haven't blogged in such a long time. The movers came on the 20 to pack up our stuff and then we moved into our new place on May 2nd. We've been unpacking and orgainzing ever since. We are proud to say we've done more unpacking and organizing in the 3 weeks we've been here than we did in 9 months in Texas.
Luke started walking. Once he started, he had it down. I'm so proud of him. He also started saying more words and signing more. We're still struggling with the eating. He's pretty picky. But he had an 18 month well child check-up and his doctor isn't concerned. Of course it would be great to get him eating anything and everything, but he's growing and learning, so I need to just relax a little bit. He did qualify for early intervention, so we'll be having someone come out once a week or every other week to help us with his communication and his eating issues.
Micah is continuing to develop words and signs at an amazing rate. It's probably not that unusual or spectacular, but it's so fun to see. To help him with his transitions between activities, we started saying goodbye or goodnight to the objects he was playing with. He was saying bye bye to everything in the playroom before nap today. Then after I laid him down I could hear him over the monitor saying bye bye - probably to the objects in his room. It's so funny.
Ever since they were born we've been skyping regularly with my parents. As the boys have gotten older, they've understood it more and interacted more with them. Right now my parents are in Japan, and the other night they were able to skype with us (it was morning for them). The boys loved it. Last night Micah saw the laptop and started asking, "Papa?" It might have been "Baba" which is what he's called Grandma in the past. Unfortunately they weren't available to skype, and neither were their other grandparents. So Glen went into the office and called us on the laptop. The boys were not too impressed.
Last weekend we got the boys a small pool for the yard. We broke it out and they loved it. Micah loves to be sprayed with the hose. That was a shocker. He would stand in the stream of water and when we turned it off, he'd sign more please. Luke is more content just sitting in the pool with some cups or balls. Every so often he'll go off by himself for a bit and then return a few minutes later. That is a kid after my own heart. It's fun that Micah's enjoyment of rough play and lots of interaction goes along with Glen's personality and Luke's introversion follows after me.
One funny story from the pool. Both boys were sitting in the water and using cups to pour water down their chests and stomachs. I asked if it was cold on their bellies. Micah went to a lot of effort to pull up his rash guard (shirt) to find his belly and then proceeded to pur water on his belly.
Luke woke up this morning with a 102.3 fever. He still was at 102 at noon when I laid him down. I haven't checked his temp again, but it feels like he's cooled down. I think Micah woke him up this morning before he was ready, so I laid him right back down after taking his temp and he slept until I went in to check on him at 8:45. I worry that there's something seriously wrong, so I have a hard time just letting him sleep, which is probably just what he needs. Both boys did sleep through the night last night, so I'm thankful for that.
Well, I was going to add some pictures, but for some reason I can't get it to work. And the boys are up and eating snacks in their highchairs, but they're ready to get down, so I don't have time to figure it out.
On April 25 we left Texas to move to Alabama. We were sad to leave because there was so much we liked about being there, but because we found out shortly after we got there (10 months ago), we had lots of time to mentally and emotionally prepare. We regret that we kind of checked-out as far as friendships and didn't really make much of an effort in that area. Many years down the line our time in Texas will be a blip compared to everything else that's happened in our lives.
The move and all the craziness that comes with moving is the biggest reason I haven't blogged in such a long time. The movers came on the 20 to pack up our stuff and then we moved into our new place on May 2nd. We've been unpacking and orgainzing ever since. We are proud to say we've done more unpacking and organizing in the 3 weeks we've been here than we did in 9 months in Texas.
Luke started walking. Once he started, he had it down. I'm so proud of him. He also started saying more words and signing more. We're still struggling with the eating. He's pretty picky. But he had an 18 month well child check-up and his doctor isn't concerned. Of course it would be great to get him eating anything and everything, but he's growing and learning, so I need to just relax a little bit. He did qualify for early intervention, so we'll be having someone come out once a week or every other week to help us with his communication and his eating issues.
Micah is continuing to develop words and signs at an amazing rate. It's probably not that unusual or spectacular, but it's so fun to see. To help him with his transitions between activities, we started saying goodbye or goodnight to the objects he was playing with. He was saying bye bye to everything in the playroom before nap today. Then after I laid him down I could hear him over the monitor saying bye bye - probably to the objects in his room. It's so funny.
Ever since they were born we've been skyping regularly with my parents. As the boys have gotten older, they've understood it more and interacted more with them. Right now my parents are in Japan, and the other night they were able to skype with us (it was morning for them). The boys loved it. Last night Micah saw the laptop and started asking, "Papa?" It might have been "Baba" which is what he's called Grandma in the past. Unfortunately they weren't available to skype, and neither were their other grandparents. So Glen went into the office and called us on the laptop. The boys were not too impressed.
Last weekend we got the boys a small pool for the yard. We broke it out and they loved it. Micah loves to be sprayed with the hose. That was a shocker. He would stand in the stream of water and when we turned it off, he'd sign more please. Luke is more content just sitting in the pool with some cups or balls. Every so often he'll go off by himself for a bit and then return a few minutes later. That is a kid after my own heart. It's fun that Micah's enjoyment of rough play and lots of interaction goes along with Glen's personality and Luke's introversion follows after me.
One funny story from the pool. Both boys were sitting in the water and using cups to pour water down their chests and stomachs. I asked if it was cold on their bellies. Micah went to a lot of effort to pull up his rash guard (shirt) to find his belly and then proceeded to pur water on his belly.
Luke woke up this morning with a 102.3 fever. He still was at 102 at noon when I laid him down. I haven't checked his temp again, but it feels like he's cooled down. I think Micah woke him up this morning before he was ready, so I laid him right back down after taking his temp and he slept until I went in to check on him at 8:45. I worry that there's something seriously wrong, so I have a hard time just letting him sleep, which is probably just what he needs. Both boys did sleep through the night last night, so I'm thankful for that.
Well, I was going to add some pictures, but for some reason I can't get it to work. And the boys are up and eating snacks in their highchairs, but they're ready to get down, so I don't have time to figure it out.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Moving Excitement
Nine days ago we had movers at our house packing up our belongings and loading them into the truck to bring them from San Antonio to Huntsville, Alabama. On Monday Glen had his final check-in at work and then we hit the road. We planned to stop in Houston (about 3.5 hours) for the night, which worked out well as we only had a short drive that day. The next day we drove to Hattiesburg which was about 5.5 hours (of driving - with all the stops it was closer to 7 hours). It was a dive of a hotel - horrible place. The boys did a good job of sleeping, though, so I'm thankful for that. Wednesday morning at breakfast we saw on the tv that they were expecting bad weather for most of our route from Hattiesburg to Huntsville. I was a little nervous about it, but only because I was worried it woud make our drive longer. It was only supposed to be about 5.5 hours, but was more like 7. We stopped in Tuscaloosa for lunch around 12:30 and were back on the road at 1:30. As we drove along the freeway we were noticing trees had been blown down recently. Eventually I turned on the radio to a weather report. They started talking about tornadoes ahead of where we were, although we were driving northeast and the tornadoes were northeast of where we were. At one point we looked ahead of us and saw the funnel cloud ahead of us. Several cars had pulled off the freeway and many people were out of their cars. We pulled over too for about 10 minutes. It turns out a tornado had hit the town just off the freeway where we pulled off. I started getting really nervous and anxious about the weather ahead. I was mostly concerned because I felt such a responsibility to keep my kids safe, yet we couldn't do anything more than what we were doing to keep them safe. We planned to drive to our house and use the automatic garage door opener to get into the house. We had only thought we would leave the cats there and then head to the place we had reservations for the night. As we got closer to the house, we were hearing that more tornadoes were heading our way. I just wanted to get to the house and was trying to think of how we could make it work to spend the night there. We got to the house and discovered the power was out and there was no way to get into the house, so we got back on the road to head to our temporary lodging. I was worried because the tornado was continuing to head toward us and it was going to take time to check in and get to our room. We had some complications with made our drive even longer, but just as we were checking in the tornado siren started blaring and then the power went out. SCARY! We hustled to get to our small apartment and get our cars unloaded. I guess I didn't really expect a tornado to hit where we were because I actually had the kids sitting in their highchairs in front of the window (so I could see them since we didn't have any lights) to eat dinner.
Well, we were safe and our biggest inconvenience was not having power. It was kind of adventurous making due with little food and no power. The power came on for about an hour on Thursday morning so we watched a press conference on tv. It went out again at about 9:00 and stayed off until about 6:30 on Friday morning. We took advantage of the power being on and went to the grocery store to stock up on foods we could eat without power. We do have a gas stove so are able to use the cooktop and we also have hot water. We found out while watching the news that Tuscaloosa, where we had just been four hours earlier was hit really bad by a tornado. We also had a tornado hit pretty close to our house shortly after we were there. God was really watching out for us. It's just amazing to think how close we were to a few different tornadoes, yet we didn't have to experience it. The closest we came to experiencing it was being without power for about 36 hours. We also didn't have any phone or internet access, so we had a difficul time letting our families and friends know we were okay.
We still don't have power at our house. We drove out there yesterday and I got to see it for the first time. Today we drove out to do some cleaning. We met the neighbor and he offered to let us piggy back off his generator, but we'll just stay where we are until we get power out there.
It's been quite a ride. I'm so thankful that God protected us and provided for us just what we needed when we needed it. What an amazing God I serve.
Well, we were safe and our biggest inconvenience was not having power. It was kind of adventurous making due with little food and no power. The power came on for about an hour on Thursday morning so we watched a press conference on tv. It went out again at about 9:00 and stayed off until about 6:30 on Friday morning. We took advantage of the power being on and went to the grocery store to stock up on foods we could eat without power. We do have a gas stove so are able to use the cooktop and we also have hot water. We found out while watching the news that Tuscaloosa, where we had just been four hours earlier was hit really bad by a tornado. We also had a tornado hit pretty close to our house shortly after we were there. God was really watching out for us. It's just amazing to think how close we were to a few different tornadoes, yet we didn't have to experience it. The closest we came to experiencing it was being without power for about 36 hours. We also didn't have any phone or internet access, so we had a difficul time letting our families and friends know we were okay.
We still don't have power at our house. We drove out there yesterday and I got to see it for the first time. Today we drove out to do some cleaning. We met the neighbor and he offered to let us piggy back off his generator, but we'll just stay where we are until we get power out there.
It's been quite a ride. I'm so thankful that God protected us and provided for us just what we needed when we needed it. What an amazing God I serve.
Walking, Talking, and Moving
We've been busy moving and I haven't had time to update here, even though there's tons that's happened. About three weeks ago Luke started really walking. He continues to improve and I'm just amazed after waiting so long for him to start walking that he's doing such a good job. But he's been like that with several different things. Like once he learns it, he's got it. He's still a little stiff in his legs, but I think that will be fixed as he gains strength in his legs and hips. He's also started talking a lot more. He started saying "please" and "ball". He signs please, thank you, cracker, more, eat, water, dog.
Just a few days after Luke started walking he received his SMO's (braces). I'm not convinced he needs them now that he's walking, but we're still having him wear them. We were told to have him wear them anytime he's awake, but he's probably only wearing them half the time. It's hot, so I feel bad making him wear socks and tennis shoes because his feet get so sweaty. Once we're settled, hopefully only a few weeks, I'll arrange to have a physical therapy evaluation along with a speech eval to determine whether he needs to continue with the services or not. We're so proud of the progress he's making.
We've had an eventful move and we're not even done with it. I'll write more about that in a separate post.
Just a few days after Luke started walking he received his SMO's (braces). I'm not convinced he needs them now that he's walking, but we're still having him wear them. We were told to have him wear them anytime he's awake, but he's probably only wearing them half the time. It's hot, so I feel bad making him wear socks and tennis shoes because his feet get so sweaty. Once we're settled, hopefully only a few weeks, I'll arrange to have a physical therapy evaluation along with a speech eval to determine whether he needs to continue with the services or not. We're so proud of the progress he's making.
We've had an eventful move and we're not even done with it. I'll write more about that in a separate post.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Cute things they are doing
The other day Micah was carrying around a little stuffed frog. He walked over to a hat that was laying on the floor and tried to step on it. I told him it was for his head so he put the frog on his head.
Luke has had a walking and signing explosion the last few days. About a week ago he started taking many, as in more than 10, steps at a time. He first tries to walk and then once he falls he goes back to crawling. In the last three days he's started signing dog, more, and I cant remember the third one right now. He's been signing more for a while now but he started doing it correctly with his fingertips today. Oh, the third one is thank you.
I was trying to get a video of Luke looking at himself in the mirror and asked if he could give kisses. Micah walked over to my mom and gave her a kiss. We made such a big deal about it that he did it again and I was able to get the second kiss on video.
Luke has had a walking and signing explosion the last few days. About a week ago he started taking many, as in more than 10, steps at a time. He first tries to walk and then once he falls he goes back to crawling. In the last three days he's started signing dog, more, and I cant remember the third one right now. He's been signing more for a while now but he started doing it correctly with his fingertips today. Oh, the third one is thank you.
I was trying to get a video of Luke looking at himself in the mirror and asked if he could give kisses. Micah walked over to my mom and gave her a kiss. We made such a big deal about it that he did it again and I was able to get the second kiss on video.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
A mish mash of stuff
I have a lot of thoughts, but nothing I could really put together into a logical post. So I'll do bullet points just so I can get my thoughts out.
- Micah has been such a "Mommy's boy" lately. He's been very affectionate, giving me hugs randomly as he's playing. He likes to snuggle a little bit after he wakes up from naps and sometimes in the morning too. At night he really only wants me. He's slept all night for several nights in a row, but then last night around 4 am he woke up screaming. I went in there and he didn't even want me to pick him up - he laid right down. He wanted me there and occasionally I would pat his back to settle him down. I attempted to leave a few times but after a minute or two he realized I was gone and would start crying again. I finally sent Glen in there. I was tired and I thought maybe he'd go to sleep quicker since his preferred parent wasn't there. Nope. He screamed and cried the whole time Glen was in there. I finally went back in and told him to lay down and he did. Hmmm, poor Glen. Because I was so tired I got him up and brought him to bed with us. He cuddled with me for quite a while but didn't go to sleep. I love that he's such a cuddle bug. Eventually we gave him a bottle and then cuddled a bit longer and he fell asleep in my arms and slept the rest of the night.
- The last few days I've been feeling like I don't have the energy to deal with the boys' shenanigans. They are just crazy. They can both climb up on the couches now and think it's great fun to get on the end table and play with the lamp. We've had to remove anything important from the end table, but we've left the lamp. I may have to consider removing it too. The rule is that they have to sit (or kneel) on the couch and they shouldn't be on the table at all. But I just get so tired of telling them to sit and then getting them down off the couch. The other thing they do to provoke me is shake the entry way table. That table has a lamp too and a glass top, so it really is kind of dangerous for them to shake it. I worry they'll pull it down on themselves, so I think we're going to need to anchor it to the wall.
- I've been wondering if I should be giving the boys a little more freedom in the house. I think most kids their age get to wander through most of the house. My kids are still confined to the living room or the play room and their bedroom upstairs. As I've been wrestling with this I go back and forth. Our house would need to be more baby-proof if I'm going to let them have access to other areas, but we're moving in a month so it's not really worth it. But they've been practically climbing the walls in the living room and maybe they'd be better behaved if they had more space to play in. But I have two kids and I can't keep my eye on both of them at the same time which is what would have to happen if they had free reign. I also wonder if they need to be learning boundaries like not playing with the lamp cord (currently all the lamp cords and outlets are blocked with furniture) or the cat water. When I do let them explore the kitchen or my bedroom I'm left with such a mess to clean up and it makes me crazy. They love it, so I'm really trying to consider their needs and desires above my own. Oh, and the other thing on this topic is that it's very likely that when we move we'll be in a house that's more open, so I think they, and I, should probably get used to being all over the place. I'm trying to convince myself that the baby-proofing can wait until we're in our new house and then we can decide what needs to be done.
- Last weekend we took the boys outside to explore. Last time they were outside Micah pretty much stayed on the blanket and Luke was crawling all over. The few times we've taken them out in the past week Micah has been the explorer and Luke has been content to stay on the blanket. Micah just likes to walk around. There's a slight slope in the yard, so he likes to go to the top and kind of run down and then he claps for himself. Luke is okay crawling on the grass, but he's just fine sitting on the blanket watching the action too. It's getting hotter, so I think our outside time is going to be limited.
- I keep thinking Luke is going to start walking any day now. He's able to take a few steps at a time. He'll turn from a toy or piece of furniture he's standing next to and walk a few steps to another toy or furniture. Sometimes he'll be standing with his back to the wall and take a few steps toward me. Also, I can set him on his feet in the middle of the room and he'll either take a couple steps or he'll at least stand for a couple seconds. We have ordered braces for his ankles to hopefully help him feel more steady which will make walking easier and hopefully strengthen his muscles in his legs and hips. We'll probably get those in about a week and a half.
- My mom is coming for a visit next week. She'll be here for two weeks. I'm looking forward to it. Selfishly, I'm excited because I'll have some help. I'll also have some adult companionship during the days. Glen will be gone for about 6 days while she's here so it will be nice to have her assistance with bedtime. I'm also excited that they boys will have time with their grandma. It makes me so sad when I think of how much of their lives their grandparents are missing out on. So anytime that they can be together is very special.
- Luke continues in speech therapy. She asked yesterday if he's saying any new words and I had to tell her no. But then today I was sitting in front of them at lunch and he was communicating, vocalizing, I just couldn't understand what he was saying. I don't really know what's expected at his age as far as number of words. I really feel like he has more words, I just don't understand them. I don't know if that's also a concern at his age (articulation). Yesterday Micah was signing for "water". He does it by sticking his index finger in his mouth. Luke copied him - doing it wrong. All of a sudden I could see how this "twin language" happens.
- I'm really tired and I wish I'd used this time for a nap. Both boys have slept through the night a few nights this week, but it's always one or the other of them waking up, so I haven't gotten a full night of sleep in a while. Luke slept all night last night, even through Micah's screaming fits, but he woke up the two previous nights when Micah slept through the night. I guess I'd still rather get up once a night than twice a night or have the two of them awake and crying at the same time.
- The boys turn 17 months today!
- Here are some pictures from December. They're a little old, but they are worth sharing. Or did I already?
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Sunday, March 20, 2011
Down, down, down
The boys have been able to climb the stairs pretty well for a few months now. It's been nice to put them at the bottom of the stairs and let them climb up. The problem is that we usually have things on the stairs, so they have to stop and check everything out. They have to taste the cat hair clumps, pick up crumbs, Luke likes to throw the shoes down to the bottom, so it takes a lot of time and I usually don't have the patience to wait for them and end up carrying them one at a time up the stairs.
I've felt for a few months that I need to be working with them on crawling down the stairs. If not for my own convenience, at least for their safety. If they know how to safely get down the stairs, it's not so critical that we remember to close the gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. It's also just a developmentally appropriate skill. Over the last couple months I worked with them a couple times, but ended up pretty much pulling them backward, feet first, down the stairs. It wasn't productive. With Micah, because he's so steady on his feet, I tried showing him how he could hold on to the spindles and step down sideways. They just always wanted to go up.
Yesterday I got down on my hands and knees and demonstrated how to go down the stairs. They thought it was pretty funny and wanted to follow me down - head first of course. All it took this time was turning them around and then they scooted themselves down backward on their bellies. They'd go up a couple steps and then scoot back down. I cheered them on, clapped for them, encouraged them. Luke was the first to "get it" and Micah waited at the top for us. Luke's only mistake is wanting to go down the small step between the two landings face first. It works fine because it's only one step and he has enough space on the landing to get himself turned around, but then he wants to go face first the rest of the way down.
This morning I decided to have them crawl down the stairs. Micah would scoot down the first step and then stand up and clap for himself. So funny! Luke was awesome at it. I had to show him how to turn around, but then he just scooted himself down. Every once in a while after hearing me say "good job" he'd stop and clap for himself. I think the boys were also clapping for each other. I suppose it's probably time to clear everything off the stairs because I'm worried they'll get distracted by the shoes and stop and lose their balance.
I've felt for a few months that I need to be working with them on crawling down the stairs. If not for my own convenience, at least for their safety. If they know how to safely get down the stairs, it's not so critical that we remember to close the gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. It's also just a developmentally appropriate skill. Over the last couple months I worked with them a couple times, but ended up pretty much pulling them backward, feet first, down the stairs. It wasn't productive. With Micah, because he's so steady on his feet, I tried showing him how he could hold on to the spindles and step down sideways. They just always wanted to go up.
Yesterday I got down on my hands and knees and demonstrated how to go down the stairs. They thought it was pretty funny and wanted to follow me down - head first of course. All it took this time was turning them around and then they scooted themselves down backward on their bellies. They'd go up a couple steps and then scoot back down. I cheered them on, clapped for them, encouraged them. Luke was the first to "get it" and Micah waited at the top for us. Luke's only mistake is wanting to go down the small step between the two landings face first. It works fine because it's only one step and he has enough space on the landing to get himself turned around, but then he wants to go face first the rest of the way down.
This morning I decided to have them crawl down the stairs. Micah would scoot down the first step and then stand up and clap for himself. So funny! Luke was awesome at it. I had to show him how to turn around, but then he just scooted himself down. Every once in a while after hearing me say "good job" he'd stop and clap for himself. I think the boys were also clapping for each other. I suppose it's probably time to clear everything off the stairs because I'm worried they'll get distracted by the shoes and stop and lose their balance.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Memories
Last night and this afternoon I've been reading through old blog posts. So many of the things I read seem like I just wrote them a week ago. I remember the stories so clearly. It's just confirmation that I need to be doing a better job of updating regularly and that even the mundane details will be interesting in a few months.
Luke is getting so close to walking. Sunday morning (3/13/11) he was leaning back against the wall and then took about six steps toward me. I couldn't scoot back fast enough, so who knows how many more steps he would have taken. Then yesterday I set him down in the middle of the floor and he took about four steps forward before falling over. Today he was standing at one push toy and then let go to turn to another push toy. Tomorrow we are meeting with a doctor to get a referral (hopefully) to see an orthotist about possible braces for him. I don't want him to have to have braces, but if it's going to help him in the long run, I'm all for it. We saw his physical therapist about a week and a half ago and she talked about him being "low tone". I hope that's something that just improves with time because I really think that's what's keeping him from walking independently.
Micah loves hats. He knows the sign for hat and anytime he sees a person wearing a hat he does the sign. We have a few hats around the living room that he'll occasionally put on. Today he found four hats and wanted to wear all of them. At the same time. It was beyond cute. Unfortunately he couldn't get them all to easily stay on his head. Also, Luke wanted to wear a hat, so Micah was mostly limited to three hats. Poor guy.
Luke is getting so close to walking. Sunday morning (3/13/11) he was leaning back against the wall and then took about six steps toward me. I couldn't scoot back fast enough, so who knows how many more steps he would have taken. Then yesterday I set him down in the middle of the floor and he took about four steps forward before falling over. Today he was standing at one push toy and then let go to turn to another push toy. Tomorrow we are meeting with a doctor to get a referral (hopefully) to see an orthotist about possible braces for him. I don't want him to have to have braces, but if it's going to help him in the long run, I'm all for it. We saw his physical therapist about a week and a half ago and she talked about him being "low tone". I hope that's something that just improves with time because I really think that's what's keeping him from walking independently.
Micah loves hats. He knows the sign for hat and anytime he sees a person wearing a hat he does the sign. We have a few hats around the living room that he'll occasionally put on. Today he found four hats and wanted to wear all of them. At the same time. It was beyond cute. Unfortunately he couldn't get them all to easily stay on his head. Also, Luke wanted to wear a hat, so Micah was mostly limited to three hats. Poor guy.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Babies and Puppies
On Saturday we went to visit one of Glen's co-workers who has 6 four week old puppies. We thought this would be a fun outing for the babies as they haven't been around puppies. We had visions of the boys sitting down and calmly holding a puppy in their laps while we snap pictures. It wasn't like that. We did get some cute pictures though.
Single Mom for the Week
Glen left on Sunday for 5.5 days. I was really dreading this trip. This is the longest I've been without him since the boys were born. I like having him around, but now that we have kids I need him around too. Unfortunately it takes his absence for me to realize how much he helps out. And it's only Tuesday! Thankfully the boys are sleeping so much better and have slept all night both nights. (Last night I slept without waking for 8.25 hours! I believe that's the first time that's happened in nearly two years!)
Most days Glen leaves for work before the boys wake up so I'm used to being on my own for the majority of the day. Even if they wake up before he leaves, he's busy getting ready and isn't able to help - and I wouldn't expect him to. But usually he gets home around 5:15 and can help entertain them while I get dinner ready. It's a tough time of the day because they're starting to get hungry and bored, but I can't really focus on them because I have to make dinner. Often Glen will get them set up in their highchairs and get them started on dinner while I continue to work on our own dinner. He'll play games with them or sing to them or show them videos on his phone to keep them happy. After dinner he plays with them while I start cleaning up. Sometimes I'll play too because I don't want to miss out on the fun. And it's really the only time of the day that we are all together as a family. The boys usually have about 30-60 minutes between dinner and bedtime so sometimes we play in the living room and sometimes we play upstairs (depending on how much time they spent in either place throughout the day). Glen obviously helps with our bedtime routine (which I wrote about a few days ago). And then once the kids are in bed we get to putting the house back in order. Glen cleans off the bibs and highchair trays and sweeps the dining room. He also picks up the toys in the living room. I clean the dishes and put food away, wash bottles, start a load of laundry, and sometimes fold a load or two of laundry.
With him gone, all the dinner prep, serving, clean-up, and toy clean-up falls on me. I'm trying to keep things a little better picked up so I don't have so much to do after the babies are in bed. And I'm definitely not cooking such involved meals. The babies don't really want to eat what I'm eating, so I don't have to cook for them. This is my chance to eat what I like. Speaking of...maybe I'll have spaghetti for dinner tonight.
Most days Glen leaves for work before the boys wake up so I'm used to being on my own for the majority of the day. Even if they wake up before he leaves, he's busy getting ready and isn't able to help - and I wouldn't expect him to. But usually he gets home around 5:15 and can help entertain them while I get dinner ready. It's a tough time of the day because they're starting to get hungry and bored, but I can't really focus on them because I have to make dinner. Often Glen will get them set up in their highchairs and get them started on dinner while I continue to work on our own dinner. He'll play games with them or sing to them or show them videos on his phone to keep them happy. After dinner he plays with them while I start cleaning up. Sometimes I'll play too because I don't want to miss out on the fun. And it's really the only time of the day that we are all together as a family. The boys usually have about 30-60 minutes between dinner and bedtime so sometimes we play in the living room and sometimes we play upstairs (depending on how much time they spent in either place throughout the day). Glen obviously helps with our bedtime routine (which I wrote about a few days ago). And then once the kids are in bed we get to putting the house back in order. Glen cleans off the bibs and highchair trays and sweeps the dining room. He also picks up the toys in the living room. I clean the dishes and put food away, wash bottles, start a load of laundry, and sometimes fold a load or two of laundry.
With him gone, all the dinner prep, serving, clean-up, and toy clean-up falls on me. I'm trying to keep things a little better picked up so I don't have so much to do after the babies are in bed. And I'm definitely not cooking such involved meals. The babies don't really want to eat what I'm eating, so I don't have to cook for them. This is my chance to eat what I like. Speaking of...maybe I'll have spaghetti for dinner tonight.
Sensitivity
Luke is an especially sensitive kiddo. He got it from me. Poor guy. But I'm sure he'll make a wonderful husband someday. Someday, far in the future, many many years from now. I do hope he gets married, but most of all I want what God wants for him. We've already begun praying for our kids' future wives.
Anyway
The other day I was drinking my coffee in the living room while the boys were playing. I was sitting on the couch and they were playing close by, standing up in the corner between the two couches and the coffee table. I swallowed wrong or inhaled as I tried to swallow, or something, and choked. My coffee came spewing out of my mouth all over myself and the couch and the coffee table. I couldn't stop coughing. I had tears running down my face. I was a mess. I looked over at Luke and could tell he was disturbed by this. His face crinkled up and he burst into tears. Loud dramatic crying. Once I cleaned myself up a little, I picked him up to comfort him. That's all he needed, to know that I was alright.
He's very sensitive to strong displays of emotion. If we laugh too loud or too hard we can guarantee that he will burst into tears. A few times when Glen and I have argued in front of him, he's burst into tears. When my parents were here in November my dad had a cough and the coughing was even enough to cause Luke to cry.
I don't mean to make it sound like he's a crybaby. He is also the dare devil of the family. He loves rough play. One of his favorite things these days is when Glen puts Luke's belly on his head and shakes him around saying "Luke's my hat." He laughs and laughs. I just hope he isn't looked down on for his sensitivity. It's a positive attribute, but sometimes kids don't appreciate that.
Anyway
The other day I was drinking my coffee in the living room while the boys were playing. I was sitting on the couch and they were playing close by, standing up in the corner between the two couches and the coffee table. I swallowed wrong or inhaled as I tried to swallow, or something, and choked. My coffee came spewing out of my mouth all over myself and the couch and the coffee table. I couldn't stop coughing. I had tears running down my face. I was a mess. I looked over at Luke and could tell he was disturbed by this. His face crinkled up and he burst into tears. Loud dramatic crying. Once I cleaned myself up a little, I picked him up to comfort him. That's all he needed, to know that I was alright.
He's very sensitive to strong displays of emotion. If we laugh too loud or too hard we can guarantee that he will burst into tears. A few times when Glen and I have argued in front of him, he's burst into tears. When my parents were here in November my dad had a cough and the coughing was even enough to cause Luke to cry.
I don't mean to make it sound like he's a crybaby. He is also the dare devil of the family. He loves rough play. One of his favorite things these days is when Glen puts Luke's belly on his head and shakes him around saying "Luke's my hat." He laughs and laughs. I just hope he isn't looked down on for his sensitivity. It's a positive attribute, but sometimes kids don't appreciate that.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The non-title Title
The title is the hardest part about blogging. I always had a hard time coming up with titles for writing projects in school too.
We've just had our sixth straight night of sleeping through the night! It's amazing. But it's kind of crazy because I don't really feel that much more rested. I kind of feel like I'm not sleeping very soundly throughout the night. Maybe I am, I don't even know anymore. Maybe my body just needs a little more time to adjust to sleeping all night. But if this "sleeping through the night" thing isn't going to last, than I'd just prefer that my body not adjust quite yet. The boys are napping pretty well these days too. As long as I can stick to our routine and regular nap times, they'll sleep 2-2.5 hours.
On the topic of naps, we've had two days with naps a little different than normal. Yesterday we were driving home from speech around 11:15 and Luke fell asleep in the car. He'd woken up around 6:00 that morning and then I think went back to sleep, but maybe he just played quietly for an hour, so he was TIRED. He did not wake up when I carried him from the car to the living room. I laid him on the pillow pet so he'd be ready for his bottle. Micah made a few attempts at waking up Luke and Luke slept on. Micah pushed on his belly, fell on his leg, and he still slept. I finally decided to just put him to bed. Micah went down for his nap early too. Luke slept two hours and woke up incredibly happy. Micah slept 2.5 hours before I woke him up. Unfortunately for me, I only got a 1.5 hour break instead of the 2 hour break I've grown quite fond of. Oh well, I'm thankful that I had any time to myself. Today we met Glen for lunch and were driving home at the time the boys usually go down for their naps. Micah fell asleep in the car and slept through me carrying him in the house and laying him down on the pillow pet. Sound familiar? Luke crawled over and patted on him and Micah slept on. It did rouse him enough that he finally woke up enough to drink his bottle and then I took him/them up to bed. Luke went right to sleep, but Micah goofed off for quite a while before I finally went in and rocked him to sleep. I don't mind rocking him to sleep as long as it's not something I have to do every time. And it's not. I do like having an excuse to snuggle with him.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Boring stuff from today
This morning I had a doctor's appointment, so Glen planned to go into work late so he could get the boys up and ready while I was at my appointment. We both got up early factoring in time to take care of the boys' needs. Of course the day we get up early, they decide to sleep till 7:30. Since I had to leave around 7:45, we decided to just have Glen keep them in their room until I had left. They're pretty attached to me these days and don't like having me leave the room, let alone leave the house. I guess they just don't like either of us to leave, because they cry when Glen leaves for work in the morning too. It was so tough to leave without seeing them. I guess I'm pretty attached to them too because it took everything in me to walk out of the house without telling them good morning. Glen gave them their bottles and breakfast and got them dressed for the day and then drove them in to meet me after my appointment since it was on his way to work. It saved him about an hour.
The boys and I stopped at Target for some groceries on our way back home. I have to do the double stroller for Target stops because I can't get them both from the car to the store for a double cart. And then I don't know if there'll be a double cart available, so I just plan my list according to what will fit in the basket of the stroller and in the shopping bag I hook onto the stroller. The boys are usually pretty good at letting me do my looking. If I have food to offer them, even better. We went down the craft aisle and I got some toddler crayons and construction paper and some paintbrushes. My friend Stephanie suggested doing water with paintbrushes on construction paper. They can see the "design" of their painting without me having to worry about the mess. We'll probably try it this afternoon/evening if we need something new and interesting to keep them happy.
When we got home I had a few things I needed to put in the mail, so I loaded them into the wagon and walked down to the mailbox. A few weeks ago we got them these adorable hats that they haven't been excited about wearing. Since it was bright and sunny, I put the hats on them and they kept them on the whole walk. I'm pretty sure I have the cutest kids in the neighborhood. ;)
I gave them their bottles and then it was time for lunch. I feel like I'm failing them in so many ways when it comes to meals. I don't offer them junk food, but their meals are pretty boring. I'm trying to branch out. For lunch I gave them cheese, diced hot dogs (you know, the healthy kind), and a bagel with peanut butter and sugar free jelly. That was their first experience with jelly. Micah had about 5 bites of bagel with the PB and J and then just started licking the PB and J off, leaving the bagel. Luke had many bites of the bagel with the toppings. Neither of them wanted the hot dog. Both ate their cheese (Luke had shredded cheddar and Micah had string cheese). I just realized I forgot the fruit.
They went down for their naps super easy. Not a fuss. Micah has been having more trouble going to sleep at nap time and a few times lately I've had to go in and rock him to sleep. Yesterday I had to go in about three times and calm him and lay him back down. Today they slept for 2 1/2 hours before I went in to wake them up. Luke was sitting up in his crib playing with his seahorse. Who knows how long he'd been awake. He was very happy. His happy noises woke Micah up and Micah was also happy. It's amazing how much happier I feel after a long break like that too. I've also had four straight nights of full nights of sleep, so I think that helps too.
Now they're just playing in the loft while I type this. I offered them a snack and they both had a few pretzel sticks, but they'd rather play. Micah just climbed up into the glider in their room. I can see him sitting there pulling the books off the bookshelf. Luke has the dresser drawers open and he's putting things in and out of them.
Pretty soon we'll head downstairs for them to have their bottles. For about a week I was giving sippy cups of milk for their 4:30 milk, but Luke basically wasn't drinking any milk. Micah was maybe drinking half of what he drinks from a bottle. I finally figured out about how much milk they need during the day to get them through the night without a bottle, so I hate to mess with that. I'll keep trying the sippy every few days, but I'm not stressing about it.
We'll head to the library to return a Baby Signing time DVD and come home and I'll start dinner while they play in the living room. Glen will get home at some point during this. I decided to offer the boys mixed veggies with every dinner in hopes that they would eventually try them and like them. I'll also give them some crackers, freeze dried fruit, half a jar of veggie baby food, and yogurt for dessert. After dinner we'll have some play time upstairs before bedtime.
Bedtime will be around 7:30. Our current routine is that we change diapers and take clothes off and brush their teeth in their room and Glen reads to them in the chair while I get bottles ready and clean up their room. Then we take them and their pajamas and sleep sacks and bottles into our room. The master bedroom (bed specifically) is where I nursed them so that's how that part of the routine got started and we've just kept it up. It makes it a little choppy, but they know it so we stick with it. Each night we alternate which kid we dress in pajamas and give bottles to. Glen has Luke on the odd numbered days and I have Micah, then the next night we switch. Once they finish their bottles, we each pray for the baby we are holding and then take them to bed in their room. Usually they do a pretty good job of going to sleep quickly. Sometimes I have to go in and cuddle Micah for a couple minutes
I love my life. When things are complicated, like trying to wander through Target and look at everything I'm interested in, it's easy to fantasize about my life before kids. But the truth is, this is my new life and I do love it. It's definitely more difficult and tiring than I expected it to be, but it's also so much more rewarding
The boys and I stopped at Target for some groceries on our way back home. I have to do the double stroller for Target stops because I can't get them both from the car to the store for a double cart. And then I don't know if there'll be a double cart available, so I just plan my list according to what will fit in the basket of the stroller and in the shopping bag I hook onto the stroller. The boys are usually pretty good at letting me do my looking. If I have food to offer them, even better. We went down the craft aisle and I got some toddler crayons and construction paper and some paintbrushes. My friend Stephanie suggested doing water with paintbrushes on construction paper. They can see the "design" of their painting without me having to worry about the mess. We'll probably try it this afternoon/evening if we need something new and interesting to keep them happy.
When we got home I had a few things I needed to put in the mail, so I loaded them into the wagon and walked down to the mailbox. A few weeks ago we got them these adorable hats that they haven't been excited about wearing. Since it was bright and sunny, I put the hats on them and they kept them on the whole walk. I'm pretty sure I have the cutest kids in the neighborhood. ;)
I gave them their bottles and then it was time for lunch. I feel like I'm failing them in so many ways when it comes to meals. I don't offer them junk food, but their meals are pretty boring. I'm trying to branch out. For lunch I gave them cheese, diced hot dogs (you know, the healthy kind), and a bagel with peanut butter and sugar free jelly. That was their first experience with jelly. Micah had about 5 bites of bagel with the PB and J and then just started licking the PB and J off, leaving the bagel. Luke had many bites of the bagel with the toppings. Neither of them wanted the hot dog. Both ate their cheese (Luke had shredded cheddar and Micah had string cheese). I just realized I forgot the fruit.
They went down for their naps super easy. Not a fuss. Micah has been having more trouble going to sleep at nap time and a few times lately I've had to go in and rock him to sleep. Yesterday I had to go in about three times and calm him and lay him back down. Today they slept for 2 1/2 hours before I went in to wake them up. Luke was sitting up in his crib playing with his seahorse. Who knows how long he'd been awake. He was very happy. His happy noises woke Micah up and Micah was also happy. It's amazing how much happier I feel after a long break like that too. I've also had four straight nights of full nights of sleep, so I think that helps too.
Now they're just playing in the loft while I type this. I offered them a snack and they both had a few pretzel sticks, but they'd rather play. Micah just climbed up into the glider in their room. I can see him sitting there pulling the books off the bookshelf. Luke has the dresser drawers open and he's putting things in and out of them.
Pretty soon we'll head downstairs for them to have their bottles. For about a week I was giving sippy cups of milk for their 4:30 milk, but Luke basically wasn't drinking any milk. Micah was maybe drinking half of what he drinks from a bottle. I finally figured out about how much milk they need during the day to get them through the night without a bottle, so I hate to mess with that. I'll keep trying the sippy every few days, but I'm not stressing about it.
We'll head to the library to return a Baby Signing time DVD and come home and I'll start dinner while they play in the living room. Glen will get home at some point during this. I decided to offer the boys mixed veggies with every dinner in hopes that they would eventually try them and like them. I'll also give them some crackers, freeze dried fruit, half a jar of veggie baby food, and yogurt for dessert. After dinner we'll have some play time upstairs before bedtime.
Bedtime will be around 7:30. Our current routine is that we change diapers and take clothes off and brush their teeth in their room and Glen reads to them in the chair while I get bottles ready and clean up their room. Then we take them and their pajamas and sleep sacks and bottles into our room. The master bedroom (bed specifically) is where I nursed them so that's how that part of the routine got started and we've just kept it up. It makes it a little choppy, but they know it so we stick with it. Each night we alternate which kid we dress in pajamas and give bottles to. Glen has Luke on the odd numbered days and I have Micah, then the next night we switch. Once they finish their bottles, we each pray for the baby we are holding and then take them to bed in their room. Usually they do a pretty good job of going to sleep quickly. Sometimes I have to go in and cuddle Micah for a couple minutes
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| Happy Luke after nap. |
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| I put Luke in Micah's crib after their naps and he thought it was the best thing ever! |
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| Micah discovered that his finger fits perfectly in his nostril. |
Monday, March 7, 2011
Grandparents
My parents were just here for a few days visiting. They mostly come to see the boys, I think. Because of all the international travel they do, they're able to use their air miles to visit more often than they would be able to normally. I just love seeing my boys interacting with their grandparents. I did not have a close, comfortable relationship with my grandparents, so I'm very thankful that my boys grandparents are making the effort to have a relationship with my kids (and their other grandchildren as well).
They flew in on Tuesday afternoon. The boys were sleeping in their carseats when I picked them up and Luke woke up once we were almost home to find my mom sitting in the seat next to him. He always cries the first time his grandparents ride in the car, but this time he did not! I tried laying the boys down for their afternoon nap once we got home, but Luke and Micah were just too excited to have company that they would not go to sleep. I let them get up and they played with their grandparents. It was so cute to see them showing off. Micah was throwing all his toys, one by one. They warmed right up to them, which is so great to see. I was such a shy child that I never really remember playing with my grandparents. I know my parents are making such an effort to have a different kind of relationship with their grandchildren.
Wednesday Luke had a speech appointment, so my mom went with Micah and Luke and I. She got to see where he receives his therapy and watch Micah play in the waiting room. The boys had a regular nap and that evening we went out for burgers after Glen got home.
Thursday I had an errand to run, so my mom went with the boys and I and she took them for a walk in the stroller while I was inside taking care of business. We had a regular lunch and nap again. Glen was able to come home early. That night we had reservations downtown at a Brazilian steak house. We had planned to leave as soon as the boys woke up from their naps so we could show my parents the Alamo and my dad the Riverwalk, but we didn't get downtown until our reservation time. It was an amazing restaurant with a wine acrobat. The boys loved watching the girl do her spins and rolls. It was a busy place with lots going on to hold the boys attention, but that also made it difficult for me to enjoy my meal because I was having to get their attention to eat. It worked out well, though. We were able to see the Alamo and a little bit of the Riverwalk after dinner. That night after the boys went to bed we started the movie Inception. Glen and I are not night-owls, so we went to bed about half way through. I don't like staying up late because I never know how the night is going to go as far as wake-ups from the boys. (We finally finished the movie last night!)
Friday we went to the San Juan mission. My parents had been wanting to see the missions of San Antonio and we finally made it a priority. It's very interesting to see the old buildings and walls. I don't think Luke and Micah were terribly impressed, though. We went out for lunch at a local dive. It was pretty good food and the boys were a hit with all the older ladies eating there. I insisted on coming home for the boys to get their naps. After naps, we all went for a walk together and then had dinner at home. We let the boys stay up a little later because it was their last chance to spend time with my parents on this trip.
We had a great time and I am so glad they were able to make this trip. My dad doesn't plan to be back to visit us while we are in San Antonio. My mom is coming back next month to help out for a couple weeks. Glen will be gone for one of those weeks, so it will be nice to have another adult to help out.
Two years ago today
Glen and I one week after finding out we were expecting March 2009.
Luke and Micah one year ago. 
Luke
Micah
Luke shows off his belly.
My cuddle bug, Micah.Two years ago today I found out I was pregnant. What a happy day that was! I love thinking back to that day because it was an answer to years of prayer. I think I wrote about that day last year. Last year on this date the boys were five months old. Life had changed drastically in the year between finding out I was pregnant and March 7 last year. Another year has passed and again, so much has changed. Luke and Micah are 16 months now. Last year they stayed where I put them. They were still tandem breast feeding, and that was all they were eating. They were waking up two to three times per night. Taking three naps a day. Holding hands when I laid them down next to each other. Using their infant carseats, which we used when going everywhere.
Now Micah is walking and climbing and Luke is crawling and cruising. They are saying a few words and signing a few words. They take four bottles a day of whole milk, drink water from sippy cups. They eat three meals a day in their high chairs and two snacks a day. They feed themselves and still sometimes let me feed them from a spoon or fork. They take one long nap a day and occasionally they'll have two naps (either sleeping in the car or have a short nap in their cribs if they wake up too early in the morning). They are mostly sleeping all night. Last night was the third night in a row that they both slept all night. I think Micah has woken up once in the last week and Luke has probably woken up three or four times in the last week. They typically go to bed between 7:30 and 8 and wake up between 6:00 and 7:30ish.
It's just amazing how they are turning into little people. I know they've been people all along, but it's fun to see their personalities developing and watch them learn new things. All those years that I prayed for a baby, I never really saw beyond the baby stage. I love babies and I loved having babies, but I think life just keeps getting more fun. I can't wait to see what the next year brings our family.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
So much to say
The boys are learning and growing and amazing us every day. I don't remember to update my blog and then I feel overwhelmed by everything I want to update about.
Luke is in quite a strong-willed phase. The other night I finally thought to pray that his independence will serve him well as he grows. But man, right now it's downright frustrating. He's become a very picky eater and prefers crunchy things like crackers and pretzels. He also likes yogurt, applesauce, and mashed-up bananas. It's been a challenge getting him to eat veggies and/or meat. The only way is with babyfood, and even that has been tough. I've been told by several friends that I can't make him eat. My job is to provide healthy options for him, his job is to eat, so I'm trying to remember that. He's also causing me grief with his milk-drinking. He's gone from drinking about 17 oz of milk a day down to around 10-12 oz. For the last 5 nights or so he's only had a couple ounces of milk at bedtime. This is the most frustrating to me because I know it means he'll wake up thirsty/hungry in the middle of the night. There's absolutely no way to force him to drink his milk. (Interestingly, last night he drank 1 oz before refusing any more and then he slept from about 8:15-5:40. He woke up and I offered him the rest of his bottle - I did refrigerate it over night - and he refused for a bit, I put him back in bed, he screamed for 5 minutes and then when I went back in he took the bottle). I'm thinking I'll just do my best to get him drinking plenty of milk during the day, and water, and offer yogurt and cheese daily for the calcium and hope for the best. He's wiggling around during diaper changes and often throws mini temper tantrums until his diaper has been changed. When we unbuckle him from his carseat or the stroller, he shrinks down, sometimes nearly sliding completely out of the stroller. I've discovered he's extremely ticklish under his chin and I just love getting a belly-laugh out of him.
Luke started speech therapy a couple weeks ago. I guess I never updated after their 15 month appointment. The doctor figured we might as well have him evaluated since he only was speaking 2 words instead of 3. My attitude was "Why not?". I wish I'd realized the impact this would have on us, though. We took him in for his eval and he was very quiet and observant. Based on information from me and her interactions with him, she determined he would qualify for services twice a week for 30 minutes. She likes to see the kids separate from the parents so it's taking him forever to warm-up and be comfortable. The therapist was very proud the other day that she got a couple "grunts" from him. Oh if only she knew how noisy he is at home. He jabbers away and is trying out new sounds all the time. He signs "more" on a regular basis at meals, he'll sign "all done" when he sees us demonstrate or if he sees Micah do it. On Friday (2/18) he started signing "please". He also waves hi and bye and blows kisses. He continues to go to physical therapy every other week. He's not walking or standing independently, but he cruises like a pro.
Micah is the signing master. Just yesterday he started signing "fish". Other signs he knows (which may be a repeat from previous posts) are: eat, more, all done, please, shoes, hat, bird, cracker, banana, water, milk, brush teeth, ball. Micah is trying to talk a lot more lately and he'll pronounce the last consonant on many words like up and out. He likes to make animal sounds so he'll meow when he sees a cat, barks like a dog, and moos when he sees a cow. Micah loves playing with Luke. It's so fun to hear them laughing together when it's all be initiated by them.
Micah pretty much likes the same foods as Luke. I don't think he loves crackers and pretzels like Luke does, but he does like them. He's usually willing to try what we give him, but isn't a fan of most new things. He will sometimes eat shredded cheddar cheese, but he prefers string cheese.
Here are the stats from their 15 month appointments on January 26:
Luke: weight - 21 pounds 1 oz (9th percentile)
height - 29.5 inches
Micah: weight - 21 pounds 15 oz (19th percentile)
height - 30 inches
We don't have a lot of confidence in the height measurements. We think there is at least 1 inch difference between the two of them. I didn't get their head circumference measurements, but Luke's continues to be around 95-97%.
Luke is in quite a strong-willed phase. The other night I finally thought to pray that his independence will serve him well as he grows. But man, right now it's downright frustrating. He's become a very picky eater and prefers crunchy things like crackers and pretzels. He also likes yogurt, applesauce, and mashed-up bananas. It's been a challenge getting him to eat veggies and/or meat. The only way is with babyfood, and even that has been tough. I've been told by several friends that I can't make him eat. My job is to provide healthy options for him, his job is to eat, so I'm trying to remember that. He's also causing me grief with his milk-drinking. He's gone from drinking about 17 oz of milk a day down to around 10-12 oz. For the last 5 nights or so he's only had a couple ounces of milk at bedtime. This is the most frustrating to me because I know it means he'll wake up thirsty/hungry in the middle of the night. There's absolutely no way to force him to drink his milk. (Interestingly, last night he drank 1 oz before refusing any more and then he slept from about 8:15-5:40. He woke up and I offered him the rest of his bottle - I did refrigerate it over night - and he refused for a bit, I put him back in bed, he screamed for 5 minutes and then when I went back in he took the bottle). I'm thinking I'll just do my best to get him drinking plenty of milk during the day, and water, and offer yogurt and cheese daily for the calcium and hope for the best. He's wiggling around during diaper changes and often throws mini temper tantrums until his diaper has been changed. When we unbuckle him from his carseat or the stroller, he shrinks down, sometimes nearly sliding completely out of the stroller. I've discovered he's extremely ticklish under his chin and I just love getting a belly-laugh out of him.
Luke started speech therapy a couple weeks ago. I guess I never updated after their 15 month appointment. The doctor figured we might as well have him evaluated since he only was speaking 2 words instead of 3. My attitude was "Why not?". I wish I'd realized the impact this would have on us, though. We took him in for his eval and he was very quiet and observant. Based on information from me and her interactions with him, she determined he would qualify for services twice a week for 30 minutes. She likes to see the kids separate from the parents so it's taking him forever to warm-up and be comfortable. The therapist was very proud the other day that she got a couple "grunts" from him. Oh if only she knew how noisy he is at home. He jabbers away and is trying out new sounds all the time. He signs "more" on a regular basis at meals, he'll sign "all done" when he sees us demonstrate or if he sees Micah do it. On Friday (2/18) he started signing "please". He also waves hi and bye and blows kisses. He continues to go to physical therapy every other week. He's not walking or standing independently, but he cruises like a pro.
Micah is the signing master. Just yesterday he started signing "fish". Other signs he knows (which may be a repeat from previous posts) are: eat, more, all done, please, shoes, hat, bird, cracker, banana, water, milk, brush teeth, ball. Micah is trying to talk a lot more lately and he'll pronounce the last consonant on many words like up and out. He likes to make animal sounds so he'll meow when he sees a cat, barks like a dog, and moos when he sees a cow. Micah loves playing with Luke. It's so fun to hear them laughing together when it's all be initiated by them.
Micah pretty much likes the same foods as Luke. I don't think he loves crackers and pretzels like Luke does, but he does like them. He's usually willing to try what we give him, but isn't a fan of most new things. He will sometimes eat shredded cheddar cheese, but he prefers string cheese.
Here are the stats from their 15 month appointments on January 26:
Luke: weight - 21 pounds 1 oz (9th percentile)
height - 29.5 inches
Micah: weight - 21 pounds 15 oz (19th percentile)
height - 30 inches
We don't have a lot of confidence in the height measurements. We think there is at least 1 inch difference between the two of them. I didn't get their head circumference measurements, but Luke's continues to be around 95-97%.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Getting some sleep
Over the last two weeks we've definitely seen improvements in nighttime sleep. As of Monday, we'd had three nights that they both slept through the night, except for 1 wake up from Luke I think. Actually, I don't even remember the details anymore, but it was good! :) Maybe it was that they'd had three days that they'd missed their morning nap and then Luke only woke up once two of those nights? I came to the conclusion that they were getting too much sleep during the day which was messing up their nighttime sleep. And then Tuesday Luke ended up with a runny nose and didn't sleep well, so we had to take a couple steps backward this week to try and get him healthy. Micah had a bit of a runny nose yesterday and quite a bit today. Just when I had a plan to eliminate their morning naps, we changed gears, just until they are no longer sick.
Last night was bad. Luke woke up crying around 10:30 and I didn't get to him quick enough and he woke up Micah. I took Micah and Glen took Luke and they just managed to keep each other going with the crying. I didn't get them both to sleep until close to midnight. Glen tried helping, but they both wanted me, and I obviously couldn't comfort them at the same time. I felt bad because I knew they didn't feel well and Glen needed to get to bed in order to get up early for work. Glen was frustrated because he felt like I've been spoiling them, making it more difficult to get them back to sleep when I can't attend to them, but I really think the problem last night was their colds and not that they are spoiled. The last three nights before last night Micah has woken up about an hour after we put him to bed. I've gone in to him and rocked with him and sung for him for a couple minutes and laid him down awake and he's gone right to sleep and then slept all night.
We've (they've) been great with not needing bottles at night anymore. I think cutting out the nursing was the key to that. Luke took a bottle a couple nights ago when nothing else would work, but he hadn't finished his bedtime bottle or eaten a very good dinner. I haven't given them a bottle with less than half water half milk. I'm nervous about how they would respond to that.
I feel like I'm really struggling with their meals. I get into food ruts myself, and it's the same with the food I'm preparing for them. They haven't been very adventurous with the food they eat and I don't like putting the effort into something they won't eat anyway. I've been giving them baby food at lunch (veggie/meat combo) and some fruit and crackers or bread. I want to get away from the baby food, but I worry that they won't get enough calories because they won't eat solid meats or veggies. I asked my mom because I was a picky eater when I was a kid and she said she did a lot of yogurt for me. They can only eat so much yogurt, but it made me feel better, like I'm doing what I can, but I can't force them to eat. I guess I just continue to offer them new and different things and then use the old favorites as back-up.
Last night was bad. Luke woke up crying around 10:30 and I didn't get to him quick enough and he woke up Micah. I took Micah and Glen took Luke and they just managed to keep each other going with the crying. I didn't get them both to sleep until close to midnight. Glen tried helping, but they both wanted me, and I obviously couldn't comfort them at the same time. I felt bad because I knew they didn't feel well and Glen needed to get to bed in order to get up early for work. Glen was frustrated because he felt like I've been spoiling them, making it more difficult to get them back to sleep when I can't attend to them, but I really think the problem last night was their colds and not that they are spoiled. The last three nights before last night Micah has woken up about an hour after we put him to bed. I've gone in to him and rocked with him and sung for him for a couple minutes and laid him down awake and he's gone right to sleep and then slept all night.
We've (they've) been great with not needing bottles at night anymore. I think cutting out the nursing was the key to that. Luke took a bottle a couple nights ago when nothing else would work, but he hadn't finished his bedtime bottle or eaten a very good dinner. I haven't given them a bottle with less than half water half milk. I'm nervous about how they would respond to that.
I feel like I'm really struggling with their meals. I get into food ruts myself, and it's the same with the food I'm preparing for them. They haven't been very adventurous with the food they eat and I don't like putting the effort into something they won't eat anyway. I've been giving them baby food at lunch (veggie/meat combo) and some fruit and crackers or bread. I want to get away from the baby food, but I worry that they won't get enough calories because they won't eat solid meats or veggies. I asked my mom because I was a picky eater when I was a kid and she said she did a lot of yogurt for me. They can only eat so much yogurt, but it made me feel better, like I'm doing what I can, but I can't force them to eat. I guess I just continue to offer them new and different things and then use the old favorites as back-up.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Non-picture post and bottles
I'm having a hard time getting pictures uploaded to post. Every time I try it seems to knock out our internet. I tried three times in a row the other day and finally gave up. I'm feeling like I might be ready to share this blog with family and friends, but I'm sure anyone coming over here would rather see pictures than read my ramblings.
Now that the boys are 14.5 months, I'm needing to wean them from bottles to sippy cups. They just don't want to do it. Finally around 12 months they figured out how to use sippy cups, but they only want water in them. They don't even want juice from the sippys. So I'm trying to figure out how to make this transition and still get enough milk into them during the day. They are "sippers" and drink water from their sippy cups throughout the day and usually only drink about half to three quarters of a cup (maybe 2-5 ounces) of water every day. They drink between 14 and 24 ounces of milk from bottles during the day. I guess the other factor is that I was thinking Micah might be sleeping better because he was finally drinking more milk throughout the day. So I hate to make a cut-and-dry transition to sippy cups because I'm afraid that he won't get enough milk and it will ruin his night time sleep.
Here is our current schedule:
7-8:00 -wake up, change diapers, play
8:00-8:30 - morning bottles (Luke 5 oz, Micah 6 oz - Luke won't drink more than 5 oz)
8:45ish - I eat breakfast and share my toast with them
9:00-9:15 - play
9:15-9:30...9:45 - breakfast for them (fruit and grain and water)
9:45-11:15 - morning nap
11:15-12:15 - play time
12:15-12:45 - noon bottle (Luke 5 oz, Micah 6 oz)
12:45-1:15 - lunch for them (veggie with meat, fruit, and crackers with water)
1:30-3:00 - after noon nap
3:00-4:30 - play time or running errands
4:30-5:15 - sometime in here I give them a bottle (Luke 5 oz, Micah 6 oz)
5:15-5:45...6:00 - play time
5:45-6:30 - dinner (veggie, meat?, fruit, and dairy like cheese or yogurt and if possible some of what we're having.
6:30-7:30 - play time unless it's a bath night, then we start baths around 7:15
7:30 - Bedtime routine, bottles (Luke and Micah both drink 7 oz), pajamas, sleep sacks, prayer
8:00 - In bed
Overnight - no more than 4 oz milk watered down.
I've thought about offering milk with their meals and water between meals, but we have such a great routine going I hate to mess with a good thing. I actually tried that at lunch today and it was not successful. Luke actually threw his cup on the floor and the lid popped off and spilled milk everywhere. Then it was really hard to get Luke to take his bottle after lunch because that wasn't part of our routine. I might just have to do it enough for him to get used to it. We'll see how sleep goes tonight. Maybe I should wait on the sippy cups until the sleep thing is figured out. But then again, sippy cups would be so much easier to deal with when we are out and about. I really want to make this transition, I'm just not sure I'm ready for it to negatively affect sleep.
Now that the boys are 14.5 months, I'm needing to wean them from bottles to sippy cups. They just don't want to do it. Finally around 12 months they figured out how to use sippy cups, but they only want water in them. They don't even want juice from the sippys. So I'm trying to figure out how to make this transition and still get enough milk into them during the day. They are "sippers" and drink water from their sippy cups throughout the day and usually only drink about half to three quarters of a cup (maybe 2-5 ounces) of water every day. They drink between 14 and 24 ounces of milk from bottles during the day. I guess the other factor is that I was thinking Micah might be sleeping better because he was finally drinking more milk throughout the day. So I hate to make a cut-and-dry transition to sippy cups because I'm afraid that he won't get enough milk and it will ruin his night time sleep.
Here is our current schedule:
7-8:00 -wake up, change diapers, play
8:00-8:30 - morning bottles (Luke 5 oz, Micah 6 oz - Luke won't drink more than 5 oz)
8:45ish - I eat breakfast and share my toast with them
9:00-9:15 - play
9:15-9:30...9:45 - breakfast for them (fruit and grain and water)
9:45-11:15 - morning nap
11:15-12:15 - play time
12:15-12:45 - noon bottle (Luke 5 oz, Micah 6 oz)
12:45-1:15 - lunch for them (veggie with meat, fruit, and crackers with water)
1:30-3:00 - after noon nap
3:00-4:30 - play time or running errands
4:30-5:15 - sometime in here I give them a bottle (Luke 5 oz, Micah 6 oz)
5:15-5:45...6:00 - play time
5:45-6:30 - dinner (veggie, meat?, fruit, and dairy like cheese or yogurt and if possible some of what we're having.
6:30-7:30 - play time unless it's a bath night, then we start baths around 7:15
7:30 - Bedtime routine, bottles (Luke and Micah both drink 7 oz), pajamas, sleep sacks, prayer
8:00 - In bed
Overnight - no more than 4 oz milk watered down.
I've thought about offering milk with their meals and water between meals, but we have such a great routine going I hate to mess with a good thing. I actually tried that at lunch today and it was not successful. Luke actually threw his cup on the floor and the lid popped off and spilled milk everywhere. Then it was really hard to get Luke to take his bottle after lunch because that wasn't part of our routine. I might just have to do it enough for him to get used to it. We'll see how sleep goes tonight. Maybe I should wait on the sippy cups until the sleep thing is figured out. But then again, sippy cups would be so much easier to deal with when we are out and about. I really want to make this transition, I'm just not sure I'm ready for it to negatively affect sleep.
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