Little Man

This posting without pictures stuff is challenging!  I really wish I could share some pictures of Little Man with you guys because he is too cute for words!

LM is 21 months-old today! 

He came to live with us on Friday, March 16.  He is so much fun and a ball of energy.  He has been a joy to have in our home.  He is a great eater.  He has not turned his nose up at any food I have offered him so far.....including water chestnuts?  Ha!  He loves bananas and does great eating his veggies.  He prefers to drink milk and water but welcomes a little apple juice every once in a while.  He asks for "juice juice" but I quickly learned that means milk (when he would cry and throw his cup after I put juice in it and point to the milk in the fridge.  ha.)  Funny guy!  At this time his liquids have to be thickened to a honey consistency.  He does great and doesn't mind at all!

LM is a light sleeper.  We purchased a white noise machine to put in his room and it has worked great!  The first night we had him he woke up crying.  We waited a minute to see if he would go back to sleep on his own (while watching him on the video monitor of course :) ) but he kept sticking his hands way back in his mouth and crying so Joe took him some Tylenol and orajel to see if it would help.  He quickly went back to sleep and slept the rest of the night.  He is cutting some teeth, so since the Tylenol and orajel helped we assumed his teeth must have been hurting.  Poor guy!  

He also had a runny nose which is pretty typical this time of year.  But we had him checked out just in case when we took his sister to the doctor on Saturday.  Poor guy had an ear infection.  No wonder he woke up crying!  He is a CHAMP at taking medicine.  We give him his inhaler when he wakes up and before he goes to bed.  I think he enjoys it!  ha.  Along with his antibiotic we have been giving him Tylenol and orajel just in case.  It has worked great!

We followed up with his pediatrician on Tuesday (after a 4 hour wait) and poor thing STILL had a bad ear infection.  He got a new oral antibiotic, a steroid, (which he finishes today!) and an antibiotic shot in each leg.  Besides the steroids turning him into a bear, he is doing much better!  No more runny nose! 

He is such a happy boy.  He loves to laugh.  He is so ticklish!  He also loves to say mama.  He calls any female (and sometimes Joe) that he likes mama.  He also says mama over and over again when he is trying to stay awake.  He calls Percie (and the stray cat that hangs out at the dorm that I of course have taken to the vet to get fixed and shots) Aarf, Aarf.  We are working on meow.  ha.  Too cute.  He also says (not clearly, but I am beginning to understand him better) I get up, I want cup cup, I want juice juice, get out, ball, birdy (sounds like dirty), tree (he points out quite a few of them on the way to and from day care every day so it sounds more like tree tree Tree TREE TREE...get the point?  ha), dada (he still alternates from calling Joe dada and mama), sissy and baby (he is more consistently calling Baby Girl sissy.  I think it is so cute!),  night night (not his favorite time of day, but believe me he needs it!  Ha!), bye bye (he blows kisses!), hey, ot oh, and his favorite...thank you.  He screams thank you and holds out his cup or food or a toy, etc. when he wants you to take it from him!  Ha!  We are working on saying please and up instead of whining.  (That whining stuff drives me crazy!)  We are working on using our words instead of crying and whining.  Its kinda frustrating sometimes when I tell him not to whine and use his words and he stops whining and says something.....but I have no idea what he said!  Ha!  Poor guy. 

He wears AFO's on his feet to help stretch his feet out so he won't be a toe walker.  He is doing very well wearing them every day.  He also starts outpatient PT this week!  Yay!  I am pretty sure (when he is not too tired) that bath time is his favorite time of day.  He also loves to brush his teeth.  I'm so glad!

And this poor little guys requires so much sleep.  And if he doesn't get it he turns into a bear.  (It doesn't help that he is teething, has an ear infection, is on steroids ~which turn me into a bear~, and has only lived at our house for a week.)  I feel so bad for him.  But we stand our ground and do not allow him to make bad choices whether we feel sorry for him or not.  It's hard sometimes, but a must.  I hate it that he is such a light sleeper.  He is doing pretty good sleeping at night, but he is only taking a 45 minute nap at day care.  Joe or my mom are going to start picking him up around 3 every day so they can take him home and let him take another nap before I get home from work so maybe we can have a pleasant (aka non-whiny) eat supper/take a bath/go to bed experience every night.  :)  Right now I am putting him down at night around 6:15 (yes, you read that right) and he sleeps until 7:15 or 7:30 the next morning.  Hopefully we can work for a closer to 8 pm bed time if he gets that other nap every day.  I am also going to buy a white noise machine like the one we have at home for day care so maybe he will sleep longer there.  We will see if it works!

We spent his 21 month birthday at the zoo.  He loved it!!  We had a great time.  And baby girl did great, too.  LM's favorite were the monkeys.  He said aarf aarf to just about every animal but the Monkeys.  He got pretty good at hooo hooo.  Ha!  We had the best day.  I am so glad grandmama got to join us! 

This little guy really is a blast!  He has the biggest smile, and he loves to make people smile!  I can't wait to watch him learn and grow!

   

Rae

3 Months

Baby girl is 3 months-old today!  She has experienced so much since my last update!

We went on our first trip to Hobby Lobby, Target, Kohls, and Children's Place.  You know, the important stores.  It was our first shopping trip just the 2 of us and it went great!  She also got to meet her Nanny, Poppy, Aunt Malinda, and her cousins, Rylee and Jordan.  We had a great day together.  

On Friday, we also welcomed her 1 year-old brother into our home.  It makes me happy that they can be together.  He loves her and she loves him.  It is so cute to watch them together.  He either calls her sissy or baby.  Love it.  

Baby girl also got to experience her first day at day care.  She did great, of course.  She did great all week.  We love her day care!  The worst part of the day is when I pick her up and they hand her to me and I only get to hold her for just a minute.  Then I have to put her in her car seat and her bottom lips sticks out immediately.....and then the crying starts.  She would really prefer I hold her instead of put her in her car seat.  Poor baby.  And usually her teacher says, "that's the first time she has cried all day except when she was hungry."  Ugh!  But then we make it home and I get to hold her a lot!  That makes her happy.  

For the most part we had a good weekend with baby girl and little man.  She woke up Saturday morning sounding very congested.  It sounded like mainly nose congestion, but there wasn't anything coming out of her nose.  She really scared me a few times while in her cradle.  She sounded like she was choking.  So, Saturday afternoon when it got worse we took them to the weekend doctors clinic.  She just had a cold and it was all nose congestion.  They told me to get a humidifier, which we did.  They also told me to use saline mist or drops and suction her nose, which I did.  It makes her SO mad!  Poor baby.  It can't feel good!  But she did sound better after.

Her poor brother had an ear infection.  :(  He woke up crying Friday night and had a runny nose so we had them check him out while we were there.  Only good thing is he acted fine.  I never would have guessed he was sick!  

Sunday she didn't feel much better.  Early Monday morning when she woke up I suctioned blood out of her nose.  It scared me!  He case worker advised us to take her to ACH ER.  So we dropped Little Man off for his first day at his new day care and headed to Little Rock.  We were in and out of the ER very quickly!  They decided it was just a viral infection and there was no need for us to give her or do anything different.  The blood was from the inside of her nose being aggravated from being suctioned, thank goodness.  They deep suctioned her nose.  It was horrible to listen to her scream!  She did not like it and it took a while to get her calmed down.  But, It helped her so much!  Made the trip worth it!

On Tuesday we followed up with their pediatrician.....after a 4 hour wait.  The first 2 hours were okay.  The last 2, not so much.  But it was worth the wait.  LM's ear infection wasn't any better, so she changed his antibiotic and he got a shot in both legs.  :(  He was NOT happy about that.  And BG now has an ear infection, too.  :(  And since she was not running a fever, her doctor wanted us to go ahead and have her 2 month shots.  They were not giving shots in her clinic that day, so we had to go to the health department for that appointment.  

Joe and LM stayed in the car so he could attempt to nap while I waited with her for shots.  Poor baby girl.  It was horrible.  She screamed a scream I have never heard come out of her before.  It took forever to calm her down.  And even with tylenol she did not handle the shots well.  She wanted to be held all night, but if I moved at all she cried.  I could tell her legs were sore.  I'm so glad she slept all night and was a new baby this morning!  Luckily she and her brother are awesome medicine takers!!  Neither one of them minds at all. 

BG and LM also experienced their first tornado siren and getting to hang out in the bathroom.  They both did great!  I never knew that throwing toys in the sink and bath tub would provide so much entertainment.  Ha!  It made poor Percie a nervous wreck.  She is very scared of storms and to not be able to sit in my lap because I had a sleeping not feeling good baby almost sent her over the edge.  Ha!  Poor girl!  Luckily it didn't last long and we did not have to set up the pack and play in the bathroom and sleep there.  Although, I'm sure that will happen in our future.  Tornado season in Arkansas is NO fun!  BG and LM also got to make their first trip to the airport to pick up grandmama this week.

Both kiddos are feeling much better today!  I hope BG is back to sleeping all night.  Although I love spending time with her, I make a much better mama when I get my sleep!  :)

BG is really trying to hold her own bottle.  I don't think it will be long.  She is also trying really hard to put her pacie back in her mouth.  She is following Joe and I when we walk by her and looks for us if we are out of sight.  She is also recognizing our voices.  And she is so expressive.  We have already discussed the bottom lip.  She also raises her eye brows when she is trying to talk to us.  She is still the happiest, sweetest baby I've ever met!  

Come back on the 24th for LM's 21 month birthday and to learn all about him!

One Week

I really can't believe that we have been foster parents to this sweet 11 week old baby girl for 1 week.  It seems like she has always been a part of our life.  I won't be able to share her picture on the blog due to privacy policies, but just know she is perfect!

Since I use this blog as a scrapbook, I do want to keep up with some important milestones.  The first night we had baby girl was her 10 week birthday.  We figured out that night that she gets cold very easily.  We bought one of the velcro swaddle blankets the next day and she has slept great!  I'm talking like at least 5 to 6 hours at a time.  Last night was 7 hours and 45 minutes!  She is also the happiest baby I have ever met!  She LOVES to be talked to and she talks back.  It is so sweet. 

I love her sweet gummy grins.  She is also giggling out loud.  So sweet!  I love it that I don't even have to say anything to her...if I just smile at her she smiles back.  She is holding her head up great!  She definitely likes to see what is going on.....she doesn't really like being held like a baby unless she is sleepy.  She really wants to sit up on her own.   And definitely prefers to be held in a sitting position.  She loves her swing and her play mat.  She likes to be held of course, but enjoys being put down so she can play, also. 

She is an awesome eater!!  She sucks down 4 ounces every 3 hours like its nothing.  Ha!  And, she cries every time you take the empty bottle out of her mouth!  Poor girl.  It makes me laugh every time!  I am pretty sure she already recognizes my voice.  If I start talking she turns her head to try to find me and then smiles at me. 

She has pretty much set her own schedule.  She gets her diaper changed,  eats, burps, plays, sleeps and then wakes up exactly 3 hours after the last time she ate ready to eat again.  At night after her last feeding I give her a bath.  She LOVES it.  I really think it is her favorite time of day.  She smiles and giggles the whole time.  She doesn't even mind water on her face.  She just blinks and grins.  She is super ticklish.  Its so funny.  When I rub my hands together with lotion before I even touch her with it she starts making a silly face like she knows it is coming.  She also squints when I start to put clothes over her head before I even touch her.  It makes me laugh. 

She is also addicted to her pacie.....and we are very thankful!  It helps when she is getting a little fussy (which isn't often) and when she is sleepy.  She has to have it to sleep.  She does get a little gassy at times.  Gas drops work miracles for her.  We have also started burping her after 2 ounces which works great for her gas issues but makes her super mad!  It makes me SO sad when she cries because she is hurting.  She definitely has a different I'm hungry cry, my tummy hurts cry, and I'm sleepy cry.  She doesn't always fuss before she goes to sleep.  Sometimes she just falls asleep wherever she is. 

She is awesome in the car!  She doesn't mind her car seat at all and loves to go places which is great!  Her first day with us we went to Wal-Mart which she slept right through.  We also went by the pharmacy, doctors office, vets office, daddy's office, etc. Everyone was so excited to see this baby girl!  She also went to church with us for the first time on Sunday morning and Wednesday night.  Everyone loves her.  All 7 of my preschool girls were in my class this week and they think she is the coolest thing ever!  She definitely is a loved little girl! 

She got to meet her Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Lon and her cousins Mattilyn, Logan, and Braden.  She also went to her first birthday party on Saturday for her new buddy Bella who turned 2.  And her grandmama has seen her everyday!  Grandmama even got a crib at her house for when we come visit and when she gets to baby sit. She is pretty fond of her grandmama.

Percie is doing pretty well with her.  She tries to act jealous, but she is the first one to check on her if she cries. It has been wonderful to be able to be home with her this week!  I am going to miss her like crazy when I go back to work. 

And she loves her daddy!  One of her favorite activities is to sit in his recliner with him and watch TV.  He is also a great bottle maker and burper.  I'm pretty sure he is already wrapped around her little finger.  She is also a very active baby.  Her hands, arms, legs, and feet are never still unless she is asleep.  She also has a bald spot on the back of her head where she scrubs it back and forth when she sleeps.

Her biggest milestone this week was rolling from her stomach to her back for the first time!!  Tummy time is pretty much non existent because as soon as we lay her on her tummy, she rolls right over!  Big girl! She is also almost rolling from her back to her stomach.

 I know this post is all over the place, but I don't want to forget anything! I'll try to come up with a better way to organize it before next week. I hope you enjoyed learning about our baby girl!

Rae