Halloweens Past

Halloween is only a few days away. I was feeling a little nostalgic and found photos of the boys on their past Halloweens. I hope you enjoy these flashbacks as much as me! The boys will be Buzz Lightyear and Woody from "Toy Story" this year!

2012 - Oklahoma Sooner

2013 - Charlie Brown

 

2014 - Monkey

2015 - Fireman and Dalmatian

 

2016 - Dinosaur and Zebra

The End of an Era

It's becoming very evident that Caleb is moving into a new phase of life. For the last 4.5 years, so much of our weekly schedule has been focused on therapy appointments. Caleb has worked with the same fantastic physical therapist since he was just a few months old. That therapist works part-time, and her schedule won't work with Caleb's new school schedule next month. Our last session with her will be tomorrow, August 3rd. It's crazy to think that we won't see her anymore. She has been such a big part of helping Caleb get stronger and meet so many gross motor milestones. We absolutely love the clinic, so we are going to continue therapy there. I'll take Caleb one day after school each week to work with another therapist. I imagine it'll take him a few weeks to get adjusted to working with someone new, but I'm excited to see how he does with her.

Caleb hasn't been working with his OT for quite as long, but I think he has been seeing her for at least three years (maybe a little longer). She doesn't have any after-school openings, and neither do the other therapists at the clinic. It's a pediatric OT clinic, so most of their patients are school-age and also needing those coveted appointments in the late afternoons. Caleb is on a wait-list, but we don't know how long it'll take for something to open up. We're waiting to hear back from another clinic. For now, he will finish outpatient OT on August 8th. 

We have the world's best speech pathologist. Our schedules fortunately still work, so he will continue seeing her weekly.

Caleb does get PT, OT and Speech at school, and so much of what he does in the classroom helps with his OT goals. I'm not too worried about him no longer doing outpatient OT.

For Tyler's sake, I'm kind of excited about freeing up our schedule a little bit. For 2.5 years, he has tagged along to so many appointments and missed so many good naps. It will be really good for him to have a little more time to do his own thing. I'm off on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so Tyler and I will have six hours together while Caleb's at school. I'm sure we'll find all sorts of fun things to do on those Tuesday and Thursday mornings. He still takes great afternoon naps, so I'm looking forward to a couple quiet hours between lunch and when we leave to pick up Caleb from school. 

Tyler - 24 months

Weight: 25lb 8oz

Length: 34"

Clothing size: 24 month shirts and some 2T shirts, 18-24 month pants

Shoe size: Size 7

Diaper size: He started potty-training three weeks ago, so he wears underwear during the day now. He still wears either a diaper or a pull-up at night.

Eating: Tyler still loves dairy... milk, string cheese and Chobani Tot greek yogurt pouches
Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at 8:00pm and wakes up for the day around 7:00am. He usually takes one nap before or after lunch. A few nights each week, he wakes during the middle of the night and quietly walks into our room. Brad takes him back to bed, and I soundly sleep through it all. 

His days: Tyler goes to Mother's Day Out three days each week. He also tags along to Caleb's weekly PT, OT and speech therapy sessions

His favorite things: Caleb, milk, playing outside, and music (especially "Five Little Monkeys") 

Highlights of the last three months: We switched Tyler's crib to a toddler bed. He started potty training! His speech development has been amazing... he often speaks in sentences, and many of his sentences are 5+ words long! He got a few more teeth, so now the tooth count is at 16. He has everything but the four two-year molars. He had his first dental appointment several weeks ago, and he did great with the dentist.

Potty Time

I just looked back through recent blog posts and can't believe I never posted anything about potty-training Caleb! Caleb wasn't ready to potty-train at the typical 2-3 year old timeframe, but he started showing a few "readiness" signs right before his fourth birthday. So over fall break in mid-late October, Caleb and I got busy with our own little "potty boot camp". He did great and has been in "undies" ever since. He still has the occasional accident, but I'm so happy with how well he's doing.

Tyler wants to do everything his big brother does, so he has been showing lots of readiness signs ever since Caleb started potty-training. I decided to give it a try with him during Christmas break, but it kept getting put off due to busy schedules and illnesses. I finally got around to devoting some time to do "potty boot camp" with Tyler on New Year's Day. He's only 23 months, so I figured I'd introduce it to him but not push it too hard. He picked up on it all right away and has seriously blown me away! He's having a few accidents each day, but he's having way more successes. I wouldn't be surprised if he's potty-trained (day time... not at night) by his second birthday later this month.

Tyler - 21 Months

Weight: 26.0 lbs

Length: 34 inches

Clothing size: 24 month shirts, 18 month pants

Shoe size: Size 6

Diaper size: Size 4

Eating: Tyler loves milk, cheese and grapes. One thing I have to make a note of here, because I want to remember it... sometimes he calls grapes "G-Bs". I have no idea why, but it is so adorable 

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at 8:00pm and wakes up around 7:00am. If we're in the car, he often will fall asleep for a brief morning nap around 10:00-11:00am. He also usually takes a good nap after lunch. 

His days: Tyler goes to Mother's Day Out three days each week. He also tags along to Caleb's weekly PT, OT and speech therapy sessions

Busy Weekend

What a busy weekend we had! Early Thursday morning, Brad and three of his friends left for a guys' weekend. They went up to Minnesota to watch the Ryder Cup and to play golf at a couple courses in Minnesota and Iowa.

I solo-parented Thursday/Friday, and then my parents arrived to our house Friday evening. The boys were thrilled to see their grandparents, and we were excited to have our first overnight guests in the new house. 

We headed to downtown OKC bright and early Saturday morning for the Down Syndrome Festival and 5k. I walked the 5k and pushed the boys in the Bob Duallie stroller. The boys got out of the stroller toward the end and ran across the finish line... so adorable!. We had a great time at the festival and loved seeing so many family/friends there!

Following the festival, we headed down to Lawton, OK and spent some time at the Museum of the Great Plains. We get free admission there with an Oklahoma museum pass that we have, so we were excited to check it out for our first time. After the museum, we went to an early dinner and then my parents took the boys to their house in Wichita Falls, TX (about 40 minutes away). I checked into a hotel room in Lawton and enjoyed a super quiet night's sleep.

I woke up early Sunday morning and ran the Spirit of Survival Half Marathon. It was my fourth half marathon in 2016 and my seventh ever. Miles 0-10 felt great, but then my right calf cramped at about mile 10. I struggled the rest of the way in. My parents and the boys drove back up to Lawton that morning and were there to cheer me across the finish line. Hearing Caleb and Tyler yell "Go Mommy!" might just be one of my most favorite things! Caleb was excited to get his hands on my finisher's medal, and Tyler was eager to get his hands on my post-race snacks. 

I hurried back to the hotel for a shower, and then we all went to an early lunch. The boys and I returned back to OKC Sunday afternoon, and Brad arrived home from his trip Sunday evening. And now another busy week has begun! 

September 2016 Life Update

Posting things here has definitely fallen by the wayside over the last few months. We had a great, relaxing summer. We didn't do much aside from enjoying every minute of our new home and neighborhood. Trips to the pool and playground, having friends over for dinners and play dates, and countless evenings spent in our backyard. The section of the neighborhood where we built is slowly filling in. We got some new neighbors across the cul-de-sac a few weeks ago, and our next door neighbors are hopefully moving in a couple weeks.

Caleb and Tyler started a new school year about a month ago. Caleb is attending pre-k at a nearby elementary school. He's in a fantastic inclusive classroom with the best teacher and aides. There are 15-16 kids (I can't remember exactly) in his class, and four of those students have some sort of special need. The teacher has told us that things are going really well. Caleb is learning from his typically-developing peers, and they're doing a great job of including him in their activities.

Tyler is attending the same MDO that we've been at since Caleb was a baby. He's the youngest in his classroom, but he's doing great keeping up with the "big" kids. I'm still working part-time while he's at MDO... and because of that schedule, we take Caleb there for the afternoons on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He's pretty much only there for nap time and play time, but he enjoys it and it allows me to continue working. 

We have lots of fun things coming up in the weeks ahead, so I'll try my best to get back here more often and fill you in and what's going on. 

Mama's Boy

I just had to get on here to tell you of something so sweet that my Tyler did yesterday. I'm "under the weather" with another sore throat and was in our master bedroom taking a nap Sunday afternoon. Tyler asked where I was, and Brad told him that I was asleep. Tyler then ran to his bedroom, grabbed his beloved Zebra stuffed animal, took it to my room and sat it down at my bedroom door. He always wants Zebra when he's tired, and he was so thoughtful in offering it to me. I sometimes get so tired of his clingy "mama's boy" personality, but I just love the little moments like this... and I instantly forgive him for the times he wears me out!

Tyler - 18 Months

Weight: 24lbs, 6oz (53rd percentile)

Length: 32" (35th percentile)

Clothing size: 18 month shirts, 12 month pants/shorts

Shoe size: Size 5

Diaper size: Size 4

Eating: Tyler LOVES milk. We really try to stick to the pediatrician's recommended 15-20 ounces a day, but he'd drink so much more if we'd let him. He also likes pizza, PB/honey sandwiches, raisins, grapes, and blueberries. He still likes baby food pouches, and I like that it's an easy way to get him to eat some veggies. Peanut butter Cheerios were discontinued, but Tyler seems content with the multigrain Cheerios for now. He also recently discovered a love for Annie's graham bunnies and Teddy Grahams. 

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at about 8:00-8:30pm and wakes up around 7:00-7:30am. If we're home or in the car, he often will fall asleep for a brief morning nap around 10:00am. He also usually takes a good nap after lunch. 

His days: Tyler goes to Mother's Day Out three days each week. He also tags along to Caleb's weekly PT, OT and speech therapy sessions, and he actively participates in all of them... two for the price of one?! 

Highlights of the last three months: Goodness... he has grown up so much over the last three months! Here are just a few of the "highlights" and big milestones

Tyler officially became a "walker" a couple days after turning 15 months, and he never looked back. He loves to run around with Caleb, crawl up the stairs, scoot down the stairs, "jump" in the pool and climb on anything he can. He has no fear! 

He has an insane vocabulary and seems so smart. The things he says sometimes just blow me away. A couple examples...

- We were recently at the lake with Brad's family. Brad's dad was doing "This little piggy" on Tyler's toes. When Dane finished, Tyler looked around and asked "What pig?"

- One morning last week, he was sitting next to me on the sofa and sneezed. He spewed a mouthful of partially chewed Cheerios all over my arm. He looked at my arm and exclaimed "Gross! Clean it!" 

He is learning numbers and starting to count. His idea of counting to ten is "One, two, four, SIX (his favorite), ten!" We need to keep working on three, five, seven, eight and nine... but give him a break, people... he's only eighteen months old! 

He doesn't like to have on a wet diaper, so he usually does one of two things

- he gets a diaper from his drawer and brings it to me

- he runs to me and says either "potty" or "pull-up"

He is very interested in the potty, so we're introducing him to the whole concept of potty training. He sits on his potty several times each day and has successes every now and then. He loves it when I let him wear Pull-ups instead of diapers. We're not going to put any pressure on him to potty train soon, but I expect it will come easy to him when we feel that it's time to get serious about it. 

He is currently getting all four of his first-year molars. That takes the teeth count up to ten. 

Tyler's Tubes

Tyler got his first ear infection in December 2015 and has had six more since then. He finally got a set of tubes today! I hate sending my babies back for any sort of surgical procedure, but this was definitely one I was so ready for. Tyler has such a hard time with ear infections, and I hope we're done with them now. 

Tyler and I arrived at the hospital at 6:45 this morning for his 8:15am procedure. He did so well while the nurse checked his vitals and while we visited with the ENT and anesthesiologist. When the time came for Tyler to go to the OR, he willingly went to the nurse. He refused to let go of his precious Zebra, though, so they went back to the OR together. The procedure only took a few minutes, and the ENT said it went well. By the time I got called back into recovery, Tyler was awake and sitting up in bed. He drank some apple juice and then we snuggled while the recovery room nurses went on and on about how adorable he was. We were able to leave after about an hour in recovery and were at the hospital for a total time of about three hours. It was so easy, and Tyler was a perfect patient!

One final note... that Integris bear in the photo? We have four of them now... a collection of cheap plush animals to remind me of the thousands of dollars we've spent there. I sure hope that collections stops at four, but I won't be surprised if we add a few more.

Tyler - Twelve Months

Weight: 19 lbs, 6 oz

Length: 30.5"

Clothing size: 12-18 month shirts, 12 month pants

Shoe size: Size 3

Diaper size: Size 3

Eating: For the past month, Tyler was still nursing when he was with me and taking bottles at MDO, but we're starting the weaning process now that he's one. He nurses a few times each day and drinks whole milk at other times. He refuses to eat any homemade baby foods now, except for his favorite avocado/banana. He loves yogurt and baby food pouches. His favorite bite-sized foods are peanut butter Cheerios, raisins, and cheese.

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at about 8:30pm and wakes up around 7:30am. He often wakes around 10:00pm and quickly falls back asleep if we rock him for a little bit. He also usually wakes up around 2:00-3:00am. (Brad and I are hoping that the night-waking comes to an end soon!) He usually takes a nap around around 11:00 and sleeps for 1-3 hours. Occasionally, he takes a short afternoon nap.

Highlights of the month: Tyler has switched from army crawler to hands/knees crawler. He pulls up to anything he can find, and he loves walking while holding our hands. He hasn't built up the courage to take independent steps yet, but I bet he will soon. 

2015 Review

Here's the nine most liked photos from 2015 on my instagram account. These photos pretty much sum up our year.

First row (l-r)
- Caleb and Brad after Caleb was discharged from the hospital in Kansas where he was treated for RSV and pneumonia.
- Caleb was so excited to hold his baby brother! They didn't get to meet at the hospital because Caleb had the flu when Tyler was born. January and February were rough months for illnesses in our family. Let's hope 2016 treats us better.
- Welcome to the world, Tyler Cole! Brad and I were so excited to meet our little guy!

Second row (l-r)
- Baby Tyler on his birth day. His head was too big for any of the newborn hats at the hospital.
- My precious family of four
- Those boys. "Tyler bit me!"

Third row (l-r)
- Happy Heart Day, Caleb! We celebrated the second anniversary of his open heart surgery on Feb 1st
- Another pic of my precious little family
- Caleb started walking this spring. What a game changer that milestone was!

Tyler - Eleven Months

Weight: 19 lbs, 3 oz

Length: 30"

Clothing size: 12 month

Shoe size: Size 3

Diaper size: Size 3

Eating: Tyler is still nursing when he's with me and taking bottles at MDO. He eats pureed foods three times/day. We've been trying to introduce some new foods like cheese, pasta, and small veggies, but he's not a fan of those things yet. He likes blueberry yogurt, raisins, Cheerios, though.

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at about 8:30pm and wakes up around 7:30am. About half of the time, he sleeps through the night. On the other nights, he will wake up once (sometime between 11:00pm and 3:00am). He usually takes a nap around around 11:00 and sleeps for 1-3 hours.

Highlights of the month: Tyler got his top two front teeth. He is pulling up on furniture, toys and me. He's also taking some steps while holding my hands and with his activity walker. He can crawl on his hands and knees, but he still prefers to army crawl.

Family Photos - November 2015

Our wonderful photographer, Anna, came to OKC a couple weeks ago and took our photos at a local tree farm. As always, she did an amazing job. If you know of anyone who lives in/near Little Rock, Arkansas, she's trying to build her photography business there. I definitely recommend her! I wish she still lived in OKC, but I love that she takes the time to photograph us when she's back in town visiting her family. Here are a few of my favorites.

Tyler - Ten Months

Weight: 19 lbs, 0 oz 

Length: 29.5"

Clothing size: 12 month

Shoe size: Size 3

Diaper size: Size 3

Eating: Tyler is still nursing when he's with me and taking bottles at MDO. He eats pureed foods 3 times/day. Sweet potatoes are still his favorite. He started eating yogurt a couple weeks ago.

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at about 8:30pm. He often wakes up to eat around 10:00 and goes back to sleep pretty quick. He sometimes wakes up again around 2:00am to eat and then usually sleeps the rest of the night and wakes for the day around 7:00-7:30am.  He often takes a short nap in the morning after a feeding or while we're in the car, and he usually takes a decent afternoon nap in his crib. He usually naps 2-3 hours on the days he's at MDO. 

Highlights of the month: Tyler is army crawling and has pulled up to our train table a few times. 

Happy Halloween

Tyler - Nine Months

Weight: 18 lbs, 4 oz (24th percentile)

Length: 29" (75th percentile)

Clothing size: mostly 9 month, but he's starting to wear some 12 month onesies

Shoe size: Size 3

Diaper size: Size 3

Eating: Tyler is still nursing when he's with me and taking bottles at MDO. He eats pureed foods 3 times/day. He will eat almost anything I offer to him, but sweet potatoes are definitely still at the top of the list. He still isn't crazy about green beans or peas.

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at about 8:30pm and sleeps until about 7:00am. He usually wakes up 1-2 times each night, but he sometimes sleeps through the night. He often takes a short nap in the morning after a feeding or while we're in the car.. And he usually takes a decent afternoon nap in his crib.

Highlights of the month: Tyler got his first two teeth. He also started some pre-crawling where he rocks to his left side and then thrusts his right side forward with the help of his right arm and leg. It gets him where he wants to go, which is often to get close enough to grab something out of Caleb's hands. 

Tyler - Eight Months

Weight: 17lb 6oz

Length: 28"

Clothing size: 6-9 month

Shoe size: Size 3

Diaper size: Size 3

Eating: Tyler is still nursing when he's with me and taking bottles at MDO. If he wakes up during the night, sometimes Brad gives him a bottle so that I can keep sleeping. He eats pureed foods 2-3 times/day. He loves sweet potatoes, carrots, avocados, and bananas. He likes butternut squash, plums, pears, apples and peaches. He dislikes green beans and peas.

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at about 8:30pm and sleeps until about 7:00am. He usually wakes up 1-2 times each night, but he sometimes sleeps through the night. He takes 1-2 short naps in the morning while we're going to appointments or at play dates. And he usually takes a decent afternoon nap. He's getting a little better about napping in his crib, but he still prefers napping on my bed with me sitting next to him.

Highlights of the month: Tyler says "mama" and "dada" a lot when babbling... but he hasn't really said either actually directed to Brad or me, so I haven't counted them as a "first word" yet. He is starting to raise his arms and reach forward when he knows he's about to be picked up. 

Tyler's Six Month Photos

The wonderful photographer who took Tyler's newborn photos earlier this year got married and moved to Arkansas a few months ago. I was so sad that she wouldn't be able to continue taking our photos... but she was home visiting family in July and met us at a local park to do Tyler's six month photos and to take a few photos of Caleb. She sent me a few sneak peeks, but then the photo CD with the rest of the images got lost in the mail. She emailed the rest of the photos to me a few days ago, and I just can't get over how wonderful they are!

Tyler - Seven Months

Weight: 16 lb, 10 oz

Length: 27.5"

Clothing size: 6-9 month. 

Size 3 shoes are still a little big, but the size 2 shoes are getting too small. 

Diaper size: Size 2

Eating: Tyler usually nurses 7 times each day. He takes one 5oz bottle before "bedtime" each evening and takes two 5oz bottles while I'm at work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. He started eating pureed foods this month and usually has 2-3 servings each day. He loves sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocados, and bananas. He dislikes apples, green beans, and peas.

Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at about 8:30pm and usually sleeps until about 7:00-7:30am. We stopped swaddling him a few weeks ago, and he is now waking up a couple times most nights. He takes 1-2 short naps in the morning while we're going to appointments or at play dates. And he usually takes a decent afternoon nap... but only on our bed with me sitting right next to him and patting his chest/tummy. I look forward to the day when he decides that napping in his crib is a good idea.

Highlights of the month: Tyler has started playing so much more this month. He loves watching his brother, chewing on toys and has the funniest laugh!