Teething Update

You may wonder why I have been saying I HATE teething and molars the most. This 2nd pictues is only 6 days after the first one. Compare them side byside...all I have to say is OUCH!!!!!! (Excuse his dirty little face, we just ate breakfast)

Brandon's ENT Visit

Big freaking surprise....he needs tubes. Poor little guy's right ear that ruptured is still swollen today :( 3 days after it ruptured and 48hours on antibiotics. They also said that they think he has a raelly high pain tollerance which may describe why his ear infections never bother him or present symptoms until it is too late. I just want to get the surgery scheduled so he doesn't have anymore infections.

More on this later...

15 Month Well/Sick Visit

Had Brandon's 15 month visit not been scheduled today, we would have been in the office anyway. I woke up Sunday morning to see that the little guy had ruptured right eardrum. Even with ear infections your ear is not supposed to "leak". When is does you can almost be sure that the eardrum has ruptured to release the pressure, hence all the nasty infected fluid drains out of the ear.

Having been in the doctors only a week before and given the green light I was surprised to see this. No chance in behavior besides the normal crankiness of 4 molars coming through and no fever until the middle of the night on Saturday...the night it ruptured.

SO...a script for Omnicef and off to the ENT on Wednesday and tubes mostly likely will follow. This is the 2nd time without warning that his right eardrum has ruptured and it happens to be the last 2 infections.

Developmentally he is relatively on track, we just don't want to let his speech get behind as a result of his ear problems.

STATS:
22lbs, 3oz 22nd percentile
29inches 9th percentile (He is short, but I am not sure they measured him very accurately)

First Steps

I finally got a few of Brandons wobbly steps on video. I have a much better one on my actual video camera, but would have no idea how to get it on here, so here are a few steps that I took with my digital camera. FIVE to be exact.

To Post Or Not To Post

After sitting on this one for a few days, I decided to share it with the blogging world, because thinking about it now, it is actually kind of funny.

Last week on one of our false alarm ear infection doctors visits thanks to his molars, we ended up in the peds office, Brandon in the Ergo, Brooke in a chair reading a book, while we patiently waited for our name to be called. As I was walking around, keeping Brandon happy, I noticed a wonderful odor that seemed to be following me around the room. Hoping it wasn't Brandon, took him out of the sling, to only confirm....it was Brandon.

The three of us were off to the bathroom. Once I got in the bathroom I realized for the first time, that the bathroom didn't have a changing table in the bathroom...What?!? Okay....not a huge problem, I would change him standing up. I have done it before, but it isn't my preference when he has pooped.

So I reach in for my bag to get a diaper...funny...I can't find one...now that IS going to be a problem..... Not really left with too many choices here...as I sat there I went through my head what I could do, diaper in the car....no, in the Ergo pocket....no, second look through the diaper bag....still no.

Well...I think you know where this is going. Thank goodness he was...umm...solid today....

Yep, scooped the poop off the diaper, into the toilet, took some extra wipes, cleaned off the diaper the best I could.....and.....yep.....put it back on. Sorry Brandon!!!! I swear he was changed as soon as I was home!!

What else was I supposed to do. At least now I know I'll never run out of diapers again because they will be stashed everywhere :)

The Root Of All Evil

This was the best I could do without torturing the poor little man, but below x4 is what is causing all my pain (no sleep) , and apparently his too!

Everyone Loves A Good Box

Snap Crackle Pop

I never usually give Brandon rice crispies because they make such a mess, that even the dog won't clean them all up...but today he was extra cranky and I needed just a few more minutes to get things together so I could leave the house, so...

He got rice crispies and was pretty happy about it

Dog Food...Part 2

If you have read previous posts, then you are well aware of the fact that Brandon is obsessed with the dog food. I feel bad for Kacee most days because her food dish spends most of the time away from little fingers which means she can't eat either.

Taking to food and water dish away has always worked. Its not there, so he can't play with it and try to eat it....right?!?!

WRONG

His latest trick as displayed below...I'm not really sure where he thought he was going to go...

Because We Can

And it made Brooke feel special

First Steps

April 10th, 2010 On April 10th, he officially took his first steps with lots of encouragement from Mommy! He has been standing on his own for awhile now, but every time he wanted to get anywhere he would bend down to crawl. He took 3 or 4 steps a few times that day, and since then he has let go of toys a few times and taken a few steps on his own without me rooting him on from the sidelines!

I wouldn't call him an officially walked yet, but it won't be too much longer. I still haven't gotten any video of him walking but while I was trying to, I got a pretty funny video....well it wasn't funny at the time, but kinda funny watching it now... Hopefully I will have some video of his wobbly steps soon!

Brooke was making a big deal about him shaking his head so he kept doing it and laughing. (It is really cute when they interact with each other nicely...it can be so sweet) He was probably doing it for 2 minutes before I took this video, but this only catches the last few seconds.

A Small Step Backwards

But I don't mind.

The past 2 or 3 weeks, Brooke has been pretty persistant about not wanting to go to her gym class....which she has always LOVED. Since January it has been an independant class, with all the mom's on the other side of the glass watching. The past 2 weeks, I sat inside the gym for abotu two minutes then left....which got her through the class. This week was a different story.

As we pulled into the gym parking lot she loudly stated a few times that she didn't want to go to gym and that she wanted to go to a class "with mommy" After talking to the teachers at the gym, we went to a later class on Friday that was a "mommy and me" class. You should have seen the smile on her face....it was HUGE!! She was soo happy that I was in the class with her....and to be honest....I kinda liked it. She is only going to be little for a short time and even though she is physically ready for the independant class, I don't mind being in the mommy and me class for a little while longer.

First Year Molars....Can You Know What?!?!

Ahhhh.....They are HORRIBLE! Brandon has been working on them for a few weeks (shortly before Easter) and he has been a beast! Has has been sleeping horribly, awake some much at night sometimes I lose track. I have even wished a few nights that he was a newborn because he slept better then, than he is now. Might I add that he isn't getting one molar at a time.....he is working on all four at the same time.

They have really been giving me a run for my money. There have even been two false alarm trips to the peds. because I SWORE he had to have an ear infection or something going on.

Last trip to the ped. I finally convinced myself that he is just a REALLY GRUMPY teether. Even when the pediatrician looking into his mouth, she said that he was teething with a vengeance. Poor guy, teeth poking through, gums running in between where the rest of the molar will eventually be...uggg..

(Side note:the past three days he has started sleeping again!!! When I say this, he is waking up once in the middle of the night, and once around 6am or so, but goes back to sleep until 7:30 or so. Not great for some people, but compared to 4-8 times a night....I'll take it )

Rolling Down The Hill

From Easter Sunday.....

Easter Sunday

An amazing day, filled with family (minus Daddy who was out in Indy for WVU basketball), smiles, and new memories made much like those made years ago at 62 Sunset Drive. I have been delaying this post for awhile now because I have so many pictures from the day, that I knew it was goign to take forever to get through them.

The first thing Brooke said in the morning when I went in her room to get her out, as she put her books down was, "Did the Bunny come?". I was so cute and so innocent and of course he came. We spent the morning going through the Easter baskets, spent some time with Nani and Duckie, had Easter dinner, an egg hunt outside, and then just plain sillyness with Aunt Tracy, Uncle Bob, Mimi and Doc in the front yard....rolling down the hill included.

So here are the pics from the day....

Nothing Is Too Personal

When you have two kids...including trips to the bathroom. I have never been a huge fan of thongs, but when it comes to really tights pants/shorts/capri's...like the ones I had on today....they are necessary. With that said, they are not the typical choice of panty for me. Since having the two kids, I could care less who is behind me seeing my VPL (visible panty line) or not....

So back to the point. The capris I had on today REQURED a thong. Borderline workout cotton capris...skin tight...

We really need to have one of those family restroom signs outside of our bathroom, because it ALWAYS is a family outing. Brandon trying to get into the trashcan, Brooke close behind just because everyone else is in there and god forbid she misses something....

Today she didn't miss a thing...including my choice of panty...

When I was pulling by pants back on, Brooke asked me "where the rest of my panties were" The only thing I could think of at the times was that they were "special panties"....so that is exactlty what I told her....

Lets hope she isn't asking for "special panties" anytime soon........

Time to Dye Eggs

We dyed eggs at Mimi's house this year just like I did every ear growing up. Unfortunately for Brandon we did it while he was sleeping but he got to smash a blue one when he woke up. Brooke didn't really remember doing it last year, she told Mimi it was her first time doing it!

Cody even helped out this year by writing "Brooke" with the magic crayon on one egg. It was really cute when she put it in the dye because she thought she made her name appear all by herself because she was "cooking it that way".

Philadelphia Zoo

We went to the Philadelphia Zoo last week and it was such a great time! It took awhile to get in, park, walk to the entrance, but once all that was taken care of it was a lot of fun. We had Great Granny with us this time. It was really great to see her and have the kids spend time with her. Brooke was a little rude in the beginning (grr) She didn't want Great Granny in the car with us, but by the time we dropped her back off at home, Brooke was asking why she had to go home and was inviting her to a sleep over!

Brandon was a real trouper! He is a such a hard stage because he wants to be everywhere, but isn't walking and its not like you can let him crawl aroudn the zoo, but he did a good job switching it up in the stroller, ergo and crawling around a little when we were taking breaks.

We saw tons of animals and had an awesome experience with the tigers while we were there. Two of them, after a little playing, walked right in front of our glass! I mean inches away from us...it really makes you realize how big and powerful those animals really are.

After a full day and two tired little ones, we left with a tiger in a purple purse and a green snake :) Oh yeah....and a membership!

Friendship Park

With the weather making it feel like summer, we definitely took advantage of it and hit up the parks in PA. Friendship park has sand (forgot about this) but I thought it would be fun. Let the kids take off their shoes and put their feet in the sand while they played. Brooke loved swinging and playing with everything.

Brandon loved this swings as well, but not as much as he liked the sand. Not playing in the sand.....eating it. I mean I figured he would try it, but much like with lemons, he kept going back for more...I am talking about handfuls of sand....and was grinding it in his mouth! Ugg! But I let him do it long enough to get some good pics before I rescued him from himself :)

YMCA

Doc was nice enough to volunteer to take Brooke swimming while we were visiting. It was her first time going to the "big pool inside". She was so excited she could barely stop wiggling enough to get her clothes off so she could go in. She LOVED it. Doc and her spent a good 45 minutes in the water.

I didn't think Brandon would really have in interest. I thought I would just sit on the side with him, take a few pictures, and feed him some snacks. I WAS WRONG. As soon as he saw Doc in the water he reached out to him, both arms, little hands opening and closing, like he was trying to say please will you take me in?? I felt sooo bad! I had no bathing suit for him, not to mention no swim diaper. So I stripped him down to his onesie and let him splash on the side for a little while. That was enough to satisfy him, but now we know for next time!

Brooke had such a good time that when I gave her the choice of leaving or playing for a few more minutes, she looked at me and said, "Mom, I want to stay forever!" It was too cute! I am sure we will be headed back there next time we are in PA!