whirlwind!

Wow! the past month and a half has been quite a whirlwind. Van is finishing up some antibiotics...again, and hopefully no more sickness in this house for a while. He had brochiolitis along with double ear infections about a month ago. Sadie had this also when she was 3 months old and i remember it being the worst 48 hrs ever. Van slept in about 30 minute increments..for.2.days. We were all exhausted. the bronchiolitis stuck around for quite a while and then he got another nasty ear infection when he caught a second cold. Poor guy. Not quite thinking about tubes with him just yet but after a couple more ear infections we may be visiting a ENT. Sadie also had her first ear infection since she had tubes. She had a horrible cough that just wouldn't go away and after about a week of that she started waking up hysterical in the middle of the night. When i asked her if anything hurt she said her ear and then she said stuff was coming out of it. wonderful...her infection had gotten so bad that her ear drum had a small rupture.

On a much lighter note, now that the weather is absolutely wonderful we are enjoying a lot of time outside. Sadie is getting really good on her scooter and she loves having boundaries outside. She has a long stretch that she can go all alone(with someone outside of course) and not crossing the street. That is one thing that i do love about where we live..we live on a nice quiet street that doesn't get a lot of traffic. She can play freely and i can work in the yard...or have coffee on the swing:) I know i mentioned before that she is my helper and she is still my little helper, now more so than ever. I love giving her responsibility. I let her plant her own pot of flowers , she put all the soil and flowers in and is responsible for watering it too. And she is super excited about it too:) Hopefully she can keep them alive!

I still can't believe Van is 10 months old. That just seems so unreal. He is 20 lbs 2oz (as of his last sick visit). He has 4 teeth, 2 top 2 bottom, and his upper gums are super swollen so it looks like the side teeth may be coming in soon. He ins't crawling, just rolls to where ever he needs to go. Today he started to an "inchworm" crawl. He lays on his tummy acts like he is about to roll to his back then puts his butt in the air and pushes forward(all on his side). Maybe one day he will get it:) I brought his not crawling up to the dr. at his 9 month check up and she wasn't concerned because his muscle tone seemed fine and he was meeting all his other milestones. So, i try not to worry but just want the little booger to get moving!

Thats about all for now..i'll try to get some pictures up soon!

9 month stats

Just a quick post about Van's 9 month stats. Still not quite sure how he is 9 months already!:(

19lbs 9 oz (25-50% %)

28 3/4 inches long (50%)

head circ(not sure of the number but 50-75%

big boy is growing! he has one more tooth coming through up top right now, and the other top one looks right behind it. He still isn't crawling, but the Dr. isn't worried since he is hitting all his other milestones. He is just pretty laid back and content just watching. He is doing MUCH better on his tummy though..he used to immediately roll over to his back but now he will stay a while on his tummy and then eventually roll over but he will also roll back onto his tummy down. he also has mild torticollis where his right side of his neck is a little tight and tilts that way a little. we have to do some massaging and exercises with him but i also think i may take him to a pediatric chiropractor to check him out. He got a new medicine for his infant acne (he has two spots on his face from where he had 2 blemishes like 2 months ago and the spots are still there). This is much different than "baby acne". most babies experience some sort of baby acne within the first few months of life and it eventually clears up. infantile acne starts after 6 months and is very stubborn acne. sometimes lasting longer than 6 months. It's not very common at all. Poor lil Van:( She thinks this cream will work better than the one we were using that the dermatologist told us to use. we shall see. Other than that, he is just as perfect as can be. We are very thankful that those things are all we have to worry about:) He continues to be just the best lil guy i have ever met. he is so sweet, laid back and just so happy.

I'll try to post again about our last month of fun and sickies:)

back to life, back to reality

Now that our break is over, reality has officially set in. Daddy has to go to work everyday, and we have to be up and at em by 7:30 to get Sadie ready for school. Good thing tomorrow she gets to wear her jammies:) We had an amazing Christmas. This year was definitely the most fun so far. Sadie really got it. She asked for specific things for Christmas (well, she only asked for one thing..a baby doll that looked like her), but Santa thought she deserved more than just a doll:). She was really excited about Santa Clause..and very hesitant to sit with him this year. This was a little surprising because last year she let him pick her up and all. We have the sweetest Santa that comes to our clubhouse every year.

Both of the kids are doing awesome. Sadie is growing up everyday it seems. Age 3 has by far been the most difficult yet. I'm really not sure who coined the term "terrible twos" but two was nothing. 3 is all about manipulation, defying behavior etc. She still has her moments but she is so much better. Van is doing well too. He has 2 teeth now. yay! He is still the most happiest baby ever. He is rolling all around and sitting very good. No crawling just yet. I am one of those crazy moms who actually wants their baby to start crawling. I remember thinking the same thing with Sadie and everyone said i would regret it..i didn't. Right now, Van is just frustrated. He wants something and he can't get it. I love playing with him and all, but i'll be happy when he can get around a bit on his own. The only thing i am nervous about is all of Sadie's small toys. She knows that he can't have small things, but man she has a LOT of pieces to her toys. I really can't believe he will be 8 months next week. Where in the world has the time gone?

Today was the first full successful day without sleeping at all in his swing. He took 2 1.5 hour naps and one 45 min one. I think i'm going to have a party when we put that swing in the attic.

I don't remember his 6 mo stats, but i do know that he is 18lbs, 5oz right now. Growing boy!

happy halloween!

we had a wonderful Halloween! For the past few weeks Sadie has changed her mind every day(literally) trying to decide what she wanted to dress up as for Halloween. She wanted to be a ladybug, superman(not woman...don't ask), a ghost, witch, her lalaloopsy doll, a dog, caterpillar, pirate, a mermaid...and the list goes on. She finally decided on a witch. we went with a simple costume, black and green theme of course:) She had green fish net tights with a black tutu that my mom made. i bought a black leotard and some sparkly green tulle to use as a belt. I also found a cute black and green hat at walmart that matched perfectly. She insisted on getting the long black wig that went all the way down to her butt but that came off before we even left the house to go trick or treating:) she wanted to take the hat off too but i told her no one would know what she was if she didn't have it so she said "ok, i'll just wear the hat, no wig though":). She had SO much fun:) This was really the first year that she was really into it, and knew exactly what was going on. She came home for a potty break and then went back out for round two. she came home with lots of loot and now i have to deal with figuring out how the heck to make it disappear without her eating it all. I didn't get a costume for Van this year(i know, horribly mother), but i knew he would be down for the night before we even went so i didn't bother. oh well. he spent the night at home with mimi and nana and helped pass out candy. then i came home at the break and got him back to sleep while everyone went back out. All in all, it was a wonderful Halloween!

Van is doing pretty good. He still has this yucky cold and i'm hoping he kicks it soon. He is such an awesome boy. He is just over 5 months now. I am making my own baby food for him and so far he has tried:sweet potatoes, prunes, bananas, and peas. He has loved everything so far and does fantastic eating it. I am amazed how much less expensive it is to make your own baby food. I got a new food processor for Christmas last year for this exact reason and it has come in really handy. Now i just need a giant freezer to store everything:)

first ear infection:(

Sadie got her first ear infection at 3 months old. It was Thanksgiving. Then she got one at Christmas. 9 months and 8 more ear infections later we decided to put tubes in her ears and she hasn't had one since. I hated that she was on antibiotics so much during her first year of life and i hope that Van doesn't have to go through that. I found out today that Van had double ear infections:( The first thing that popped into my mind was i don't want to have to do tubes again. I guess my kids are just more prone to ear infections. I think i had a lot as a baby maybe thats why? After about 3 nights of waking up every 2-3 hours i decided to take him in to get checked out. He has been a trooper but today was just pitiful. Hopefully the antibiotics kick in soon so we (meaning him and me) can start sleeping again!

Say what??

Some of the things that come out of Sadie's mouth are just priceless. I still see that itty bitty baby that she used to be and can't believe she can just have a a regular ol conversation with us these days. It's really hard for me to look at Van and imagine him talking to us just like Sadie is:) I watched a video the other day from about a year ago of Sadie talking. It is amazing how much she has changed in just one year. She was talking to the dogs and was saying "mas"(miles) and "pooper" cooper. It was the cutest thing ever. If i can ever figure out how to upload videos I'll put some on here..we have some cute ones:) The other day she was at my tennis match and i was letting her play a game on my phone (a matching memory game). We get home and she says "Daddy, can i play a game on your phone"? "I don't have games on my phone, only mommy does". then she says "Maybe you can download one". Brent and i looked at each other and have no clue where in the world she got that one. I guess my point is, is that i was just watching a home video and she couldn't even say Miles and now she is asking to download a game?! I'm not sure I am ready for all of this! She is just SO much fun these days:) Love you my sweet Sadie pie:)

sleep training...again:)

We decided to revisit sleep training now that Van will be 5 months in just a little over a week...i can't even believe that. Poor lil guy...and mama...was waking up all the time at night, even just 20 minutes after he was down for the night. He just wanted to be held and to nurse...a lot. It wasn't so much about eating, just being close etc. As much as i would love to be up all night with him, i was turning into quite a zombie during the day and it wasn't really fair to Sadie. I went to the library and checked out The Sleepeasy Solution and just tried to stick with it. The first two nights were just plain awful..awful. he cried...a lot:( it broke my heart. But, eventually he fell asleep. It took about an hour both nights. He slept pretty good both nights, putting himself back to sleep pretty good but still woke up to eat. The third night there was no crying at all. A little cooing and then nothing. I honestly couldn't believe it. I went and checked on him and he was on his side, sucking his fingers. The fourth night, he cried a little bit off and on for a few minutes and then went to sleep. Both kids have been in bed by 7 for the past two nights in a row and suddenly i feel like i can breath! Fingers crossed that he doesn't get sick, etc. and throws everything off..which it will. But for now, i can have a few hours of peace at night:) Once he is 5 months and 15 lbs(i think he is pretty close to that) we can begin the process of night weaning:/