Growing, Growing, Growing!

On Wednesday both kids went to the pediatrician for well-visit check-ups.  It was also Justin's 9 month birthday on Wednesday!  How time flies!

Justin's 9 Month Appointment        Weight: 19 pounds, 1 ounce Height:  29.5 inches long           Justin's appointment was pretty uneventful.  He is growing well, showing every single sign of seperation anxiety from mommy (ha,ha), crawling, pulling to stand, walking around furniture, clapping, pointing his finger, saying mum-ma and ga-ga and ba-ba, eating solids and nursing.... pretty much everything a 9-month old should be doing.  Well, except sleeping well.  That's not happening around here, but I guess one day he'll get the idea and start sleeping.  I just hope it's sooner rather than later!  He got his flu shot today and his last Hep B injection and doesn't have to return until 12 months!

Katelynn's 3-year Appointment        Weight: 31 pounds, 6 ounces  Height:  42.75 inches       Katelynn's appointment started by our pediatrician asking her a series of questions that included what her age was, her name, what foods she liked (which she answered cereal???), if she rode a bike, if she got herself dressed.  She was very good at answering all the questions for him except for her last name.  She wouldn't answer that one for him, but she does know what her full name is.  I was extremely proud of Katelynn at the doctor's.  She showed no signs of being uncomfortable or shy around the pediatrician or nurse.  After talking with our doctor, we decided to give her the flu mist and the first of two Hep A injections.  I thought for sure I was in for it agreeing to give her a shot.  She has never been a fan of them.  Imagine my surprise when I told her she was getting one to help keep her healthy and she said, "Okay!  And then I can have a sucker?"  When the nurse came in to give it to her, she told her the same thing, and Katelynn sat there and let her give her the shot and never once cried or even made a face like she was going to.  She was soo brave!  I can't tell you how proud I was.  

During Katelynn's appointment, I mentioned to the pediatrican that Katelynn has been excessively snoring in her sleep for months now.  I can't pinpoint when I started noticing her snoring, but I am pretty sure it is something within the past five months or so and not something she has always done.  It has alarmed me recently because there have been times I have been in Justin's room and hear her making such awful snoring sounds that it makes me run to her room thinking she is struggling to breathe.  After her examination, he noted that she did have tonsillar hypertrophy (enlarged tonsils).  We discussed it, and I agreed to have her see an ENT for a further evaluation.

Yesterday Katelynn went to the ENT.  She was not quite as well behaved there and wanted nothing to do with the doctor evaluating her.  I think it may be related to the fact that her appointment was at 8 o'clock in the morning and, therefore, I had to wake her up early.  That and the fact that she hadn't napped the day before meant a tired and crabby little girl.  The ENT agreed that her tonsils were quite large and if her adenoids were large as well that it would be a good idea to remove both, however, to be able to see if her adneoids are large, they have to do a soft tissue x-ray.  (He also mentioned he can see where her tonsils alone are affecting her breathing while she sleeps.)  We talked about options and he mentioned that it was possible that Katelynn's tonsils (they are a lymph node) only became enlarged after a virus and just never went back to normal size.  He suggested trying her on Singular 4 mg chewables for one month to see if it improves her snoring.  If it does, then we can just continue her on meds and avoid surgery for now.  If there is no improvement, then we will proceed with a soft tissue x-ray to evaluate her adneoids and possibly surgery if the x-ray reveals enlarged adneoids.  I am hoping that we have success with the medication and do not have to do anything further.  I know that removing tonsils and adneoids is a very common procedure amongst children, but I would still prefer my child not have to go through it.  We are on day two of medications so we will see how it goes.  I will keep everyone posted on her progress!

Slumber party

With both kids waking last night, I gave up around 2 am and just let them come into my bed.  It's a king-sized bed and Jonathan is still out of town so you would have thought there would have been plenty of room for all three of us, but somehow they both seemed to have to be RIGHT on top of me.  One day I'll miss these days, I know!

Bouncing off some energy

In an effort to keep us busy this week while Daddy is away, I took Katelynn to her favorite place- Monkey Joe's!!  Today was extra special because it was Justin's first time getting to play on the bounce houses.  I figured since he is crawling and standing now that he would have fun, and the place was dead so that meant no crazy kids to plow into him.  He even bounced a little!  We had a great time and both kids even napped for me afterwards!

Here's Katelynn with "Monkey Joe".  She LOVES giving him hugs!

No laughing- I took Justin down the bounce slides for his first time, and I HAD to have a picture.  This was the best I could do.. here's our feet before we went down!  :)

And here's my little man at the bottom of the slide.  He may have been smiling before I got the camera up to his face, but I have no idea!

Already Climbing

Some of you may think we are crazy parents, but our kids are wild and crazy climbers. It makes total sense. Both Jonathan and I love extreme sports so why wouldn't our kids be daredevils too? Of course our house is still equipped with baby gates that we do and will still utilize, but we also think it's important to teach the kids how to properly climb the stairs, etc. So... Justin has got climbing up down! Here's a video of him climbing this weekend:


And just so you know he went all the way from the bottom to the top, here's the start of the video... I had to stop it because he started going backwards and falling, and so I stopped the video, but he ended up continuing to climb.

Gaining the Courage

A few months ago, our mall put in a bungee jump (I guess that's what it's called?) in the center of the mall.  The first time Katelynn saw it, she wanted to do it.  We paid for her to do it, and she went on into the fenced area, but as soon as they started trying to hook the belts around her, she started panicing.  Needless to say, we got our money back and gave up on the idea. 

Today we were at the mall wasting time, and Katelynn saw two girls on the bungee jump having a blast.  She immediately wanted to go on it.  I reminded her that they had to hook up belts to her to keep her safe, and she said she wanted to give it a try so I let her do it.  She had such a great time.  She really didn't even jump.  She just let the bungees bounce her, and she laughed and laughed.  Of course she wanted to get right back on it when her turn was up.  I have a feeling this is going to be another thing she begs to do at the mall now (as if the train and horses weren't enough!).

Pumpkin Babies!!

So, it's a tradition around here to put our kids inside a pumpkin for their first Halloween.  Justin is much bigger than Katelynn was for her first Halloween, but my husband always comes up with a plan and constructed this pumpkin with a big enough mouth to fit Justin's legs out of.

And this was why it took me so long to post these.  I had to dig up Katelynn's first pumpkin picture.  Her face was all broken out in baby acne here and she looks scared to death, but it's her pumpkin picture!  She was just two weeks old and held her head up so well for the picture... and now look at her three years later!

Pumpkin Fun!

Sadly, this was our last family day before Halloween day.  Jonathan is leaving tomorrow to travel for the week and won't be home until Halloween.  So, we made sure to get our pumpkin carving completed today.  We just did two big pumpkins and later in the week I'll let Katelynn decorate the smaller pumpkins with marker and different craft items.  Another one of the great perks of living in the south is that we were actually able to carve them outside (without jackets) and avoid the mess in the house. 

Katelynn really got into carving this year.  She tried really hard to carve the pumpkin herself.  She and Daddy drew an outline on her pumpkin to help her try to follow along with the carving.  She wasn't very happy with us when we jumped in to help her, but it was needed at times.

Justin helped too some.  He actually did understand to a certain degree how to pull the guts out with the scooper (picture at the top).  But.. carving wasn't quite his thing yet.  Instead he decided to try out the guts he pulled when no one was watching.

I'm not sure I'll get to posting it tonight, but we stuffed Justin in the other pumpkin that we don't show carved in any of these pictures!  I'll post that picture later or tomorrow! 

A Sneak Peek

Yes, today was the first day we dressed the kids up in their costumes... and they have another four times to wear them over the next week for different parties and events we are going to all before Halloween.  Whoever said you didn't get enough use out of Halloween costumes?  :)

Did I mention that Jonathan is NOT a fan of my choice of costumes for Justin.  Katelynn found this Minnie costume months ago and wanted it.  I couldn't have her be Minnie without Mickey!!  (And I love themed costumes so I had to do it.)  Justin is only a baby once- he'll forgive me and get to pick the "manly" costumes for himself soon enough!  Jonathan was pleased though that Justin wouldn't smile for any of these pictures.  He said it proved his point that Justin thought it was just as silly (okay, I'm being nice with the terminology versus what he really says it is...) as he does.

I dressed them up to attend an event at the Disney Store.  They were giving away "gifts" to those that were dressed in a Disney character costume.  The gift ended up just being a silly light pin, but Katelynn still had a blast.  They had a little parade and played some games.  This was Katelynn and her friend Jade on a scavangener hunt.

Of course Katelynn had to pose with Minnie at the store!  Justin is not in any mall pictures because he crashed and slept the entire time!

P.S.  Clearly, it's a good thing we started dressing up early this year.  I realized once we got to the Disney store that Mickey and Minnie don't have whiskers... oops!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today was Jonathan's 29th birthday.  I always love birthday celebrations and love to make the most of them, but I didn't do such a good job of that today.  Justin has been waking up all night long, and after only two interrupted hours of sleep last night, I had no energy to make my husband's birthday as special as it needed to be.  Katelynn and I were supposed to make a cake among other things, but we didn't even accomplish that.  So, out to dinner and a store-bought cookie cake followed by shopping at the mall for daddy to pick out his own gift were what his birthday consisted of.  Hopefully it wasn't the worst birthday ever, and he knows how much I wish I could have done more!  BUT.. next year is the big 3-0 and even though Jonathan has already said not to..... I bet I will come up with something big and over the top to make up for this year :)

Halloween is coming!

To Whom It May Concern:

Please forgive me for all the silly outfits and costumes that I am about to have to wear in the next coming months.  My mommy thinks dressing up for the holidays is so much fun, and even though I'm a boy, she figures she can get away with it this year since I'm a baby.  I have decided to let her have her fun for now, but it may be a long few months since Halloween is still two weeks away and she is already dressing me up in all these Halloween outfits.... and there's still Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner.  Just please stick up for me 16 years from now when she is pulling out all the baby books and showing them to my girlfriends.

Love, Justin

Cheap Entertainment

Katelynn received all those fun presents this week (which honestly have kept her quite busy) and yet we spent an hour playing with the cheapest toy possible today.  Both kids had a blast with a cardboard box that one of her gifts came in.  Who would have thought that we could have just gotten her one of these for her present?  :)

A Birthday Celebration!

Our baby girl is officially THREE years old.  It really seems like yesterday that Jonathan and I were very impatiently waiting the arrival of Miss Katelynn, who kept us waiting an entire week after her due date, and now we have had three whole years with her by our side.  Amazing how fast it goes.  It's so fun watching her get older and understand more and more, but it's bittersweet because I want her to stay my little girl forever.

This year we decided to do her birthday party on her actual birthday.  As usual, her party consisted of a million 2-3 year olds.  There were 20 to be exact (well, 21 including her).  I decided to avoid the craziness at our house this year so we had it at Chuck E. Cheese.  My parents came down for the weekend, and my mom helped me make Katelynn's cake and make her birthday outfit.  I am pretty ridiculous when it comes to our birthday themes, and I always have to make sure that her outfit matches the theme so I tend to make the outfit each year to make sure that is the case.  This year she had picked a flower theme at first, but as the party got closer and she seen her friend's party was a butterfly party, she decided that was what she wanted too so butterflys it was!

In addition to all her friends, both sets of grandparents and Uncle Matt attended the party.  It was lots of fun!

Katelynn got so many neat gifts this year that she has really been enjoying this week!

It's funny how quickly she has jumped into opening gifts- so much moreso than last year.  One of her friends attempted to help her open this gift, and she wouldn't have it.

It's the little things....

.. that make a mommy so proud!  I have no idea if this is even something to brag about.  For all I know, everyone else Katelynn's age is already drawing people, but this was a first in our house.  I have been working with Katelynn on drawing shapes and letters, but even so, most of the time she just scribbles as she draws.  We recently moved her easel into my craft room and some days she and I will go down there together during Justin's nap and do crafts.  Sometimes we work on something furn together and sometimes I get to sneak in a few minutes of scrapbooking and she works on stamping or coloring on her own next to me.  Today was one of those days where she was entertaining herself on the easel, and I jumped into scrapping.  When I turned around to check on her, this is what I saw:

She was drawing a person!!  She was quietly saying, "And another eye.. and a leg.. another leg.." as she went.  I was so impressed that I had to run and grab the camera.  She erased it after a few minutes, and I asked if she would draw it again for me.  She said, "No, but I can draw you a spider."

Clearly I need to teach her to stop at eight legs for the spider, but still I was one proud mama that she knew to draw more than two legs!  :)

Looking for Trouble!

As of this weekend, we now have a little mover.  Justin started pulling up to stand two weekends ago (and attempts to walk around the table, etc but he's still falling more than he is making it around), and then this weekend, he started army crawling.  He still isn't moving every which way yet, but when he wants to get somewhere, he does!  Of course, he mainly only cruises over to items he is not supposed to have, but I'll take it!  In a way it makes him less of a baby, and I'll admit that makes me a little sad, but I also love that he's starting to move around.  It's so fun watching how excited he gets! 

He also seems to find crawling UNDER the table and toys fun.  Of course in this picture, he had a second motivation as we were cooking outside that day and Jonathan had just walked in with a leaf on his foot that got left by the rug.  I snapped this picture and couldn't even get to him before he had it in his hand!

This is what he prefers to do- stand, stand, stand.  He will stand all day if you let him.

And here's his favorite new trick- climbing up the table!  Standing just isn't good enough for our dare devil.   I fear it won't be long before he's getting all the way on the table.  For now, he just jumps up one level and then falls back and onto his bum.  It doesn't ever stop him though.  He goes right back over to it and gets right back up and repeats the process!