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Will = 1 Month Old

Will! You are 1 month old! Here is what you've been up to...


Eating: I wasn't able to breast feed Drew, so I decided to try it with you. I was very lucky and from the first time they brought you to me, you latched on like an old pro! It was going good, but it would take you around an hour to eat (because you'd eat a little bit, then take a break, eat a little bit, then take a break...) and you wanted to eat every 2-3 hours. Since I was feeding you around 10 times per day, that meant A LOT of time in the rocking chair! And it seemed like even after eating for that long, you weren't satisfied -- plus I started feeling like poor Drew was getting neglected -- so a few days ago, I made the decision to start supplementing with formula. I also starting pumping. So right now, you are getting a bottle of breast milk, then a bottle of formula, etc. You will take 4 ounces, but the pediatrician said that was a little too much so I usually stop you at 3-3.5 oz. You seem much happier and content now and take the bottle like no body's business! And Drew gets more time with mommy now too!


Sleeping: For the most part, I will say that you are a good sleeper, although you would much rather be held while you sleep than put down. They say you can't spoil a baby for the first two months, so I'm just enjoying holding and snuggling you for now, although it is nice when you decide to lay in your pack-n-play so I can get a few things done around the house and spend some time with Drew! It's even nicer when you and Drew both nap at the same time, which right now is quite often!!

I am slightly obsessive so I write down what time you eat so, as an example of your sleeping/eating schedule...last night you ate at 10:30pm and went to bed around 11:30. Then you didn't get up again until 3:45am -- I think that's your longest stretch yet! You went back to sleep and then were up again at 7:00am. And then back to sleep again until around 10:00am! Not too bad!!

One difference between you and Drew is that after Drew would eat, he would be out! You, on the other hand, would rather stay awake for a bit. The easiest way to get you to sleep at night and after feedings is to put you in our bed, on your side, with my body pillow at your back. Then I give you your paci and you are usually out in no time. Once asleep, I move you to your co-sleeper (which I love!).


Pacifier: You weren't a big paci fan at first, but you are really starting to like it now!!

Car Seat: So far, you seem to enjoy riding in your car seat and you usually fall asleep when we go places.

Doctor Visits: You have been to the doctor three times this month...You went when you were 6 days old because you had a clogged and infected tear duct. We had to give you antibiotic eye drops for a week. I also wanted to get your weight checked (you were 6 lbs 13.9 oz at birth and 6 lbs 6 oz when we left the hospital). You weighed 6 lbs 13.6 oz. And last of all, I wanted to get your jaundice checked. I took you back to the doctor for the second time when you were 2 weeks and 4 days old because you still had jaundice. The doctor wasn't worried, but drew your blood anyway just to make sure. That was not fun :( Again, he told me not to worry about it, BUT I took you back again on Friday and was reassured for the third time that the jaundice was still there, but not to worry about it. You weighed 9 lbs! I promise I am done taking you to the doctor for a while.


Outings: Your first outing was with me and Daddy to my OB/GYN. We also went to The Great Outdoors store and then you and Daddy stayed in the car while I ran in Target and Dillard's. We had out first outings as a family of 4 -- first to the pumpkin patch and second out to eat and to the mall. We also have went to visit at Grandma and Papa's house and Nan and Pop's house.


Clothes Size: You have been wearing newborn clothes most of this month. I have put a few 0-3 month things on you this past week.

Bath: You didn't really like your first real bath, but have seemed to be enjoying it here lately. I think it will be fun when you and Drew can both take a bath together and play.


Special Events: You celebrated your first holiday this month -- Halloween! You were a cute little giraffe and Drew was a winged dragon. We also had family pictures taken!!


Your Big Brother: At first, Drew really didn't pay much attention to you, but he has been doing some really cute things lately! He likes to tickle your feet and rub your head. He also thinks it's funny when you cry (thankfully!) and seems fascinated with you when your eyes are open (since you sleep so much)! Yesterday, he brought you a toy and tried to get you to hold it. One day, Drew was going somewhere with Daddy and he came and gave me a hug and kiss and then went over to you and gave you one too -- so sweet :)


What I'm Looking Forward To: A schedule and predictability!!! I know it's something I can't expect for a while, but I will be glad when we can get a bit of a routine going! Also, I'll be glad when you realize that getting your diaper changed is just part of life so you'll stop screaming at the top of your lungs every time we change it!

I'm so happy that God blessed our lives with you and even though I've officially only known you for 1 month, I can't imagine my life without you in it!!

love, mommy oxox

And now, your first four weeks in pictures:

Brand new...

One week old...

2 weeks old...
3 weeks old...
And 4 weeks old...

Will ~ 4 Weeks Old!

Happy Halloween 2010!

Drew and his little brother Will...

Note: I am SO behind on blogging...so instead of waiting to catch up, thought I'd go ahead and post this pic from today! I have lots of pics on facebook, so if you're not my friend on there, add me!

Field Trip!

Today, Drew's class took a field trip to the fire station, and since I'm officially on maternity leave, I got to go with them! He had a great time and was such a ham for the camera!!

When You Least Expect It

Most of the time I'm not out trying to take the "perfect" picture. But yesterday, while we were scouting out places for some maternity/family pics, I snapped this and am in love! My two favorite boys (soon to be three!)...

The Important Things

We saw Ms. Julie (SLP) on September 8th. Then on Friday, I went to a parent conference that she hosted. Right now, I'm at work typing out my notes from both meetings so I can give them to Drew's school SLP. I'm trying to communicate with her everything that I think is important in order to get his speech moving along. And then I come to one of the last slides of Julie's presentation called "Thoughts..." and I realize that these are the things that really matter -- these are the important things!

• Try to stay in the now...


• No doesn't always mean no...


• Trust your instincts as a parent...


• Communication is important...


• Speech is not the most important thing in life...


• Being loved and loving is important...


• Health and happiness are blessings...


• Enjoy times together and create fun experiences...


• Snuggle and laugh...

And I think most of these can be applied to any situation! So when things get tough, I'm just going to come back to this list and smile real big, just like Drew :)

Happy Birthday To Me!

Saturday was my birthday! We had a pretty low key day and then Jon, Drew, and I went out to dinner that night. It was a perfect day with my boys!!

So here I am...33 years old and 36 weeks preggo!



And one of my big cheesin' big boy!

*Hope*

When I Googled the definition of hope, I found many different things. These were the ones I liked best:

…grounds for feeling hopeful about the future.
…be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes.
…a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life.
…the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.

Drew’s speech delay continues to be something that I worry about – especially as we spend more time with our friends that also have 3-year olds. I see how well their kids speak and carry on conversations and I see how hard it can be for Drew to interact with them and how he sometimes gets left out (which breaks his momma’s heart!).

I have continued to pray for guidance as to what Jon and I as his parents need to do. We have had him enrolled in speech therapy since before he turned one, we have set up special therapy sessions with the SLP on his cleft team, and we have tried to do everything possible to stimulate his speech at home. But I just didn’t feel like it was enough. So at the end of July, when I was going through one of my “I’ve got to do something right now!” phases, I emailed a former co-worker whose sister is an SLP to get her thoughts. She gave me the name of a lady who is a professor at St. Louis University that she studied under and one of her specialties is Childhood Apraxia of Speech (or CAS), which is something I had been suspecting. Ironically enough, when we went to Drew’s team visit at the beginning of August, his team SLP suggested we see the same lady – so it must have been meant to be!

Fast forward to yesterday – it was the day of Drew’s evaluation with Julie and I had such a range of emotions leading up to it. A part of me was so excited to meet with her and get her thoughts. But the other part of me was so scared – how would I react if she told me that he did have apraxia and what if it was something even worse than that??? So I just prayed that Drew would be cooperative, that God would give Julie the wisdom that she needed, and that I would be able to handle whatever she told us.

I’m happy to report that yesterday could not have went better! Drew was evaluated by Julie and 2 graduate students for almost 2 hours while Jon and I watched from behind a double sided mirror. He could not have done better or been more cooperative! He “said” and did everything they asked him to and even let them all do a pretty thorough exam of the inside of his mouth. Jon and I even had a few laughs while watching him! And then it was time for us to go in to see what Julie thought…

To get right to the point, she does NOT think that Drew has apraxia!!!! When she said that, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off of me! She does agree, however, that he has a very severe speech delay, BUT she said with intense and very specific therapy, that she saw no reason why he wouldn’t develop normal speech! Woohoo!!! It was literally the best news we had gotten in regards to Drew and his speech in forever! Of course we have a long road ahead of us, but I feel like Julie is just what we need to get us on the right path! (And I’m not saying that what we have done thus far has been a waste of time.)

We are going to have a conference call with her in a couple of weeks where we will discuss her report and suggestions. Then we’ll decide on what to do next. One option would be to go see her monthly for “marathon” sessions (since we live 2½ hours away…). She also said she could work very closely with his school SLP and that we will probably want to seek therapy outside of the school system since it is just 25 minute sessions.

Jon and I have some homework too. We are going to start doing more signing with him (but he must use the word with the sign) and making some picture boards so he can better express himself. We also have to come up with 10 to 20 “power words” and those will need to be worked on every day and at every therapy session.

I really can’t put into words how much better I feel about Drew and his speech. I am so full of "hope" for Drew's future right now!!!

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

34 Weeks!

First Day of School!

Today was Drew's first first day of school! He is in the Early Childhood program, which is mostly for kids who are too old to receive services (speech, OT, PT) through Early Intervention (which ends when a child turns 3), but still need some extra help. He will go 4 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day and will have 25 minute speech sessions with one of the school speech therapists 3x's per week.

So Drew, things I want to remember about today:

...how CUTE you looked in your little shark shirt that you picked out.


...how you nodded your head "yes" and said "uh huh" when I showed you the big school from the truck window and asked if you wanted to go there.

...how happy you were walking in. The other EC teacher was standing outside and we know her from church, so you gave her a hug. Also, one of my best friends works there (Ms. Braci!) so you were happy to see another familiar face!

...how curious you were when we first got to your room. You wanted to check out all of the toys and everything on the walls, even though it was a little wild in there -- 6 kids (all boys), and lots of teacher, aides, and parents.

...how you cried when I told you I had to leave (not a good memory...and yes I cried too--good thing Daddy was there!), but after standing outside the class room for about a minute, how we no longer heard you crying. I knew you would be ok, but it was still very hard leaving you with a room full of people that you didn't know.

...how your teacher (knowing I was sad when I left) sent me a picture of you playing.


...how Braci (also knowing I was sad) went and visited with you and then called to tell me how great you were doing!

...how happy and cute you looked when I picked you up with your little backpack on! (Although you were a little unsure about the stamp the teacher put on your hand!!)


...hearing the teacher and aides tell me how great you did!


...being so very, very proud of my little 3-year old school boy :)

I love you so much Drew! Here's hoping to an even better day tomorrow!!

Wordless Wednesday -- Ice Cream!!!

It's Potty Time!!

At 3 years, 1 month, and 6 days old, something clicked and Drew started using the potty! We’d had the “peeing on a tree” event earlier that week and maybe that is what sparked it! All I know is it started Saturday night after a long shopping day with Mom and Whitney. Once we got home, I had Drew go to the bathroom when Jon did (which is nothing new). Then I asked him if he wanted to pee in the potty like Daddy so he stood there and tried but nothing happened. The next thing I know, he is in there with Jon…peeing! And it was hilarious!! He would pee just a little bit and then start laughing, then pee some more and start laughing! Luckily I thought to grab my camera (the pics had to be cropped for obvious reasons!).



He peed in the potty two more times that night before bed! Sunday morning we got ready for church so not much of an opportunity to use the potty. Then we went to the river so, again, didn’t really get to reinforce what had started the night before. He stayed with my mom Sunday night and she said he was peeing in the potty that night and when I talked to her at 11:00 on Monday morning, he had only had one accident and had been peeing in the potty all morning (#2 is a different story…).

He seems to do best, though, with no diaper or underwear on. When I picked him up from mom’s yesterday, she had underwear on him and when we got home, he had an accident. After that, I stripped him down to just a shirt and no more accidents the rest of the night. (The M&M's he got after peeing might have helped -- he definitely has that part figured out -- even if just a little drop comes out, he's looking for his treat!) He even woke up with a dry diaper and peed in the potty this morning before going to school! Not sure how he’ll do at school today since he has a Pull-up on, but I definitely think we are headed in the right direction!! Yay!!

Fun at the Fair and Some Firsts

It's the end of July and in our small town, that means it's time for the County Fair! Jon and I took Drew last night. When we first got there, Drew rode some rides and played some games.

Then we headed to the grandstand to watch the 4-wheeler races. It was hot but not unbearably so. It was, however, very humid which equals fuzzy hair for me and curly hair for Drew!


And what's a trip to the fair without some yummy food? Drew's fave was definitely the funnel cake, but who can blame him!

*****************
Some others things before I forget...

On Monday, Drew peed for the first time ever...on a tree! Yep, not on his potty, but on a tree. We were outside in our backyard and Drew was running around with just a shirt on and I asked him if he wanted to pee on the tree. He came over there, pulled his shirt up and just stood there for a few seconds, but nothing happened so off he went to play. Then a couple of minutes later, he came running over to the tree and peed on it! So now I know that he knows when he needs to pee and how to control it...it's just making him care! If I can get a couple of free days, I'm just going to let him go pantless or put him in undies because that's the only time he realizes he's peeing and I think that's the key for him (it also means lots of messes to clean up though...). And with only a little over 2 months left before Baby B arrives, I really don't want to be buying diapers for two!

On Tuesday night, we finally converted Drew's crib into a toddler bed. It has been going great! The past three nights he's went to sleep like always and hasn't tested his new freedom of being able to get out of bed by himself. Because I'm kind of paranoid, though, we've been putting a gate up in his doorway at night because I'm afraid he might wake up in the middle of the night and just go roaming around the house! He hasn't been here to take a nap in it yet, so I hope it goes just as smooth!!

28 Week Ultrasound Pics

I had my 28 week doctor’s appointment yesterday and also an ultrasound so they could check my placenta (which looked good). I was so happy to get another look at Baby B! She was even able to get a few good 3d shots, which they didn’t do at my doctor’s office when I was pregnant with Drew. I thought they were pretty amazing…


I also asked my doctor about when she would schedule my C-section, and she said, “How about today!” So, assuming I don’t go into labor first, we now know when we’ll get to meet our new little baby!

Since I don’t work on Mondays, I took Drew with me and he was so good! After my appointment, we went to Toys-R-Us. Drew is so good in toy stores – all he wants to do is walk around and play with stuff! I kept asking him, “Do you want to take this home with you?” and he would just shake his head no! I finally got him to get a John Deere dump truck and fork lift set. I also got him a little backpack since he’ll be starting school next month!

(crappy camera phone pic)


After about an hour in Toys-R-Us, we headed to Steak ‘N Shake for lunch. Drew isn’t the best to take out to eat so I was kind of nervous going by myself, especially since they were really busy and really slow. Luckily, he was good, even though he wouldn’t eat anything. I guess the milk shake before the food arrived wasn’t a good idea! But hey, whatever keeps him happy!!

Jon is going to start painting Drew’s new room tonight so hopefully that will all come together soon, since there isn’t much time left!