Rolling over

Well, he's done it. G has figured out how to roll from his back onto his stomach...while sleeping. It started two nights ago when I woke up due to him moaning and groaning. He had rolled into his belly and couldn't get comfortable. I went in to roll him back over and it seemed that he was going to fall back asleep until he started playing with my fingers. He woke again a few hours later when he rolled back to his belly again. Last night, he also woke up twice due to rolling over. I'm hoping that he will soon realize that it's ok to sleep in his belly so I can get some sleep again!

6 months old!

Little G-unit is now halfway to being a year old as of the 21st!  I am still amazed at how quickly it has flown by and how I feel that I'm missing out on so much of it.  But on a positive note - he is the happiest little guy you'll meet and is loved so much by us, especially his brother.  He's already suffered being sick with croup, but was still in pretty good spirits. Here are some 6 month stats:

- Weighs 17 lbs., 13 oz. (10 lbs more than his birth weight)
- 27 1/4" long
- Still eating Mommy milk like a champ.
- Has started eating apples and carrots this week.  I will be adding a few new homemade foods every few days.
- Laughs when you put him over your head and "throw" him in the air.
- Sleeps about 10 hours straight, eats, and usually will sleep for another hour or so.
- Still likes to be swaddled to go to bed, although we are leaving one arm out.  Before we go to bed, we unswaddle him because he moves around a lot when he sleeps.  I've often found him laying on his side with a leg stuck between the bars of the crib.
- Tries to grab everything within arms reach (Cranky the crane, my phone, my food, the dog.  I especially love it when he tries to grab/hug his brother.)

- Crosses his feet when he nurses.
- Sweat excessively when he nurses.  I sometimes have to wipe his neck and will feel droplets running down my arm.
- Has accidentally bitten me twice already while nursing.
- Puts everything into his mouth.
- Drools nonstop.

- Has his two bottom teeth and they hurt a ton!
- Is wearing 9 month clothing (some of which are a bit snug).
- Wears size 3 diapers.
- Likes to play in his high chair and bouncy activity center.
- Loves to watch his brother play.
- Babbles, squeals, and laughs.
- Sits supported, but falls forward when we let go.
- Prefers to stand, rather than sit.
- Enjoys having me carry him as we chase his brother around the house playing Red Light, Green Light.
- Is currently taking a 1 1/2+ hour nap!
- Is starting to realize when people he does know well hold him. He will start fussing/whining/crying when he realizes that I am not holding him.
- Attacks my chest when he's hungry and will fall head first into it OR starts grabbing at my shirt.
- Plays with toys while in the car seat.
- Rolls from back to side, but not to his stomach just yet unless he is assisted.
- Rolls from tummy to back.
- Is now making it difficult to take his monthly chair photos!

Proud Mama

I an unbelievably excited to write this post! Last summer was a turning point for E. I had had concerns about his speech and didn't know whether to wait it out or intervene. Everyone in our family kept telling us to wait it out, that he would start talking when he wanted. Paul and I finally decided to refer him to the AZ early intervention program. Within two weeks, I was contacted and we set a date for his evaluation. It was two days after his 2nd birthday. His cognitive, receptive communication, gross motor, fine motor, social/emotional, and adaptive/self-help skills were all within typical limits (between 85 and 115). His expressive communication score was 68: significant delay. His foray speech therapy session started about a month later. We started with one every week, then went to every other, the one every 3-4 weeks. I asked his speech pathologist, Erin, to do another evaluation on him again to see how he is progressing. She only tested his receptive and expressive language today and the scores were amazing. He scored a 118 in receptive and a 119 in expressive! I was SO proud of how he did! During the evaluation, E said some funny and intelligent comments to her questions. 1. She asked him to put a beach ball on the couch, which he did. Then she asked him to put the Diego ballon in the baby swing. He told her no. She gave him a quizzical look and then he said, "No, baby swing too little!" 2. Erin showed E several pictures, including a bike. She asked him to point to the one that we could "ride on". E looked for a moment, she asked him again, and he said "paper". She wasn't sure why he said that because it wasn't a picture from which to choose. But I said that he must have heard her say "write on". 3. Another moment I remember was when she asked E, "Where do you sleep?" E answered by saying bed. But he then continued by saying, "Big boys sleeping in bed. Daddy sit by door. Too too too too far away!" He has come such a long way! Erin said that E was able to infer and solve analogies, things that kids at five years of age are expected to do. When Erin gave me the results, I almost started to cry. I'm grateful to her and the work she did with E and what she taught us so that we could help him. I'm so glas that I didn't listen to everyone that said he didn't need "help". He is an incredible and smart little boy. I'm so proud of him and I'm proud to be his Momma!

video montage

It's been a LONG while since I've posted videos.  I'm quite good at capturing them on my phone or on the video camera.  I'm just not so good at loading them on here.

Anyway...

E on Valentine's Day


G having his first food

Momma milk?

Just a day shy of three weeks without nursing, E asked to nurse and wouldn't let it go. He never became angry or frustrated when I'd try to distract him, he'd just continue to ask and smile at me. I finally agreed and I asked if he remembered how. He said that he did and was so excited to nurse. He latched on and drank for about 30 seconds, if that. He was content with what he taken and was off and playing again.

Mother's guilt

Finally, after two hours of trying to persuade me that his diaper was wet every 2-5 minutes, crying, screaming, whining, more persuasion, and wanting me to look at the books he was ready, I told him that I was getting frustrated and sternly put him back in bed for the umpteenth time. I said I loved him and left the room in a huffy mood. Ten minutes later (and thankfully Paul has been home for about 5 minutes), E wakes up coughing, which turns into dry heaving, and finally vomiting. Welcome, Mommy guilt. While Paul went in to comfort E in the bathroom, I headed to the kitchen to let out some tears before joining them.

down with the sickness

This past week and a half has been quite a wild ride.  E started it with a fever on the Wednesday before last.  He wasn't in very good spirits entering the weekend.  That Saturday (Feb. 4), we went down to my parent's house to celebrate my dad's birthday when my mom noticed that G seemed to be running a fever.  We gave him some Tylenol that night to bring it down.  For a child who typically will sleep 10 straight hours, he was up every 2-3 unable to breath with his stuffy nose and would wake crying and hot.  He would cough (or bark) so much that it would cause him to vomit.

Sunday wasn't any better, in fact it was worse.  Paul and I were able to sneak away for a few hours to join some friends at a Super Bowl party.  Yeah, we probably weren't on the "Parents of the Year" list for leaving our sick kids.  However, I was so drained physically and emotionally that I needed a few hours of a break. We came home and I slept in G's room for the second night.

I decided to take the day off on Monday and take the boys to the doctor.  It was a good thing too.  E was diagnosed with RSV and a double ear infection.  He was given some antibiotics and is currently on day 7 of 10.  G was diagnosed with croup and had to take 4 days of a steroid.

That afternoon I started feeling a scratchy throat and I tried to remedy it by drinking tea.  The next morning, I had to take the day off for myself because my throat had become extremely sore.  Luckily, I didn't have a fever so I knew it wasn't strep!  My voice has been hoarse for a week and I'm finally starting to get it sounding a little better.

Paul and I went out on a date last night to a new comedy club downtown.  We saw Broken Lizard's Steve Lemme and Keving Heffernan.  They are two of the actors in Super Troopers and Beerfest.  It was great getting to spend some alone time with Paul, especially because we've been drowning in tears, vomit, coughing, and crying lately.

On the plus side...G is *almost* rolling over from back to tummy.  He likes to look at what is behind him and arches himself onto his side, but doesn't roll.  Yesterday I had him take a hold of my finger and gently pulled him.  He ended up rolling over after I stopped pulling him.  It even made me tear up and all I could think about was how thankful and I was to have been there to see it.

Paul took E to his first theater performance.  Puppet theater that is. They met up with Paul's two sisters and E's cousins to watch Cinderella.  Paul said E did really well during the performance and was acting out the hand motions and dancing along.

I feel that since I have two student teachers doing all the work in my classroom, it's easier for me to focus on planning activities for E at home during the day.  I'm quite excited to plan some Valentines related things this month! I've made a matching hearts game (I just used some spare scrapbook paper that I had on hand) and a toilet paper roll heart stamp.  I thought each week my mom could focus on a letter (and number), so this week it's H - H is for heart! I made a page on MS Word that is the capital letter H and lower case h out of circles.  That way E can put circle stickers into each one.  (Heart stickers might be better, but I don't have any. Time to take a trip to the dollar store!) I also made a page that says "Hh is for heart" and left a space for him to attach a giant heart sticker.  (Pretty sure he's not going to want to do any of this, but at least I feel like I'm doing something to help him learn even if I'm not home.)

Oh...and I just remembered.  E can now count to 18!  I had no idea! AND it's been two weeks since E last nursed. I think it's safe to say that he's done.  In fact, he hasn't asked for "Momma milk" in a few days.

Second tooth

Just two days after noticing G's first tooth has erupted, his second tooth came out too. Little guy is fighting off being sick while his teeth are coming. Poor kid.

First tooth

My little munchkin has his first tooth. About two days ago I was feeling around in his mouth when I felt it. His left bottom front tooth has pushed through. It's still not too visible, but it's definitely there. He's been drooling for the past two months, so I was wondering when it would come out. I'm sure he will be glad he has that tooth when he starts eating solids later this month!