Fun Kiddo Updates

This is a crazy house lately, and I mean C R A Z Y, but with that comes lots of fun new things that are going on with the kiddos.  If one isn't crying the other is and the one that's not crying probably pooped their pants and so on and so on.  It NEVER stops, unless everyone is in bed.  Oh and bed time lately is a whole 'nother story.  I'll get to that...

I also did an iPhone photo dump, so I'll share some recent pics that have been sitting on my phone.  

• Boston tries to be so sweet with his sister, but he doesn't understand the concept of being gentle or quiet.  He tries to bounce her in her bouncy chair, but gets a little too excited, pulls it all the way down to the ground and then let's go, so she almost catapults out of the chair.  
• He also tries to give her her paci if she drops it, but this means shoving it in her mouth at full force.  I will have to say, I am pretty proud that he gives the paci to Elise and doesn't try to keep it for himself.  We took the paci away from Bo at the beginning of the year (talked about it here) and I was afraid if he saw his sisters paci, he would shove that sucker directly in his mouth.  Instead he brings it to us and says baby or shoves it in her mouth.  
• Boston also tries to tickle Elise.  He saw me do it to her (very gently might I add) and make a little 'tickle tickle' noise and now he does a funny noise, but instead kind of digs his little fingers into her stomach.  Again, so sweet, but she almost always cries.  We have to be very careful to not reprimand him every time it involves his little sis, but explain (over and over again) that he has to be gentle!
• Potty Time:  so another huge thing is that Boston is going pee pee on the potty A LOT!  He is not telling us when he has to go, but we put him on the toilet between diaper changes and before bath time and he pretty much goes every time! 
• Nap and Bed Time:  So, Boston refused a nap for his very first time on Sunday.  Oh no! I was hoping this day would never come and hoping it's a fluke.  On top of that, the same day, he also tried to refuse bed time.  He got out of his bed and opened his door over and over again.  He is also turning on the light in his room.  Blake put tape on the light switch to keep him from flipping it and that little toot figured out how to pull the tape off in the dark.  Soooo, we decided to pull out the baby gate.  We put that sucker up in his doorway and went about our evening.  The first night he stood there about 45 minutes, whining 'Daddeee, Mommeeee, Babeeeee'.  It really makes me laugh that he is calling for the baby to rescue him.  And here's the best part...he finally gave up and slammed the door and crawled in bed and went to sleep.  We did the same drill last night, but he only whined at the gate this time for about 15 minutes before he slammed the door and went to bed.  I just want to crawl in his brain.  I can only imagine, he's like, 'fine, I'm done with you people, I give up, I'm going to bed'.  
• Elise will be 6 weeks old tomorrow.  I can't believe it.  She is a rock star sleeper.  She is still eating about every 2.5-3 hours during the day, but at night is a different story.  The past several nights, she has gone to bed at 10pm and then wakes up about 5ish.  BUT, last night, she went to bed at 10pm and didn't wake up until 7am.  I got up to make sure she was breathing...I couldn't believe it.  If she keeps this up this week, she is going to start sleeping in her own room.  I was sure that God couldn't bless us with two good sleepers, but it looks like he is giving us a sweet sweet gift of sleep.  Boston was doing 10pm-5am at about a month old and I remember thinking that was unheard of.  I hope none of you mama's that have night owls are reading this and cursing me, but I had to brag a little :)
• Elise is also starting to coo and gurgle at you a little.  She also smiles on purpose if you are doing baby talk to her.  I will get a video of this soon!  
• Beeyah and Nice.  These are my two favorite words that Boston says.  When he does something good, we say 'Niice' and he has totally picked it up.  We also taught him to say Booyah, but instead he says Beeyah.  When we do a high five, it is followed by Beeyah!  It's so dang cute.
• I have a little video of both kids.  Elise is just hanging out.  And then I capture Boston copying Shrek and doing Beeyah!  For those of you who have seen Shrek 3 (maybe 6 jillion times like me), he is copying them when they squeeze there nose and make there ear/antenna things blow like horns.  It is real real cute.  

This is a funny video from JoJo from when Boston spent the long weekend in Dallas.  He is real fired up about bath time.  He is yelling 'Pizza Pizza'...LOL!

Sweet Sleepy Poo

 Go Horns!

 Trip to the park with my Bo!

 Tummy Time

 Bo hugging his sissy!

 I love this

 Bo sucking on a popsicle

 Playing with Woody in his tent

 Love

 This onesie is a present from Mary's co-worker, Cindy.  Boston got a blue and white striped one too.  I have yet to get them both in it at the same time, but that is my goal and I can hopefully snap a pic :)

St. Patty Day and a trip to the zoo!

Hi peeps! I have a bunch of pics to share from St. Patty day and our first trip to the zoo today. It's a rescue zoo right by our house. It is not anything glamorous but perfect for Boston to run around, see/feed some cool animals, and take a train ride! We also ran into his friend Zaki who we play with sometimes on the weekends! It was a fun morning!! I think the highlight was feeding the llamas and deer!

Elise is 1 month old

I can't believe our sweet girl is 1 month old.  She gave us quite a scare this week.  We went to the ER at Dell Children's Hospital on Monday night for a fever.  We were checked in had to stay until Wednesday. She had a blood test, urine sample taken, chest x-ray and finally the worst part...a spinal tap.  It was traumatic for everyone.  Then we were told it was likely she had viral meningitis, but had to wait for the cultures to grow to make certain there was not bacteria on her spinal fluid.  This was the really scary part.  As we googled 'bacterial meningitis', this is the one where long term effects can include, loss of hearing, mental retardation or death.  So, to say the least, we were really freaking out.  Thank you to all of you that were praying for our little lovey!  God answered our prayers and they confirmed it was viral meningitis and we were able to come home.  Blake's parents (JoJo and Norby) came in to help on Tuesday and then they even took Boston home with them for the weekend, so we can all recover.  I miss the little guy, but this is exactly what we needed to get Elise healthy and for MaMa to get some rest.


When we were in the hospital, Elise weighed 9.6 pounds.  She has gained almost a pound in less the two weeks...holy smokes!  We go visit her regular pediatrician tomorrow to make sure all is looking good.


Here are some pics of the poor girl in the hospital and a few a I snapped today to document her 1 month birthday :)


This is my fave...she is holding up her #1!

 You can see her IV and they built a splint around it keep her hand still.

 Finally home!

2 year and 2 week check-ups!

We had a double duty Doctor appointment on Friday with both Boston and Elise.  Boston had his 2 year check up and Elise had her 2 week check up.  All went well!  I'll give an update for both kiddo's with their current stats!


Boston
I have to first brag a little on Boston.  We were a little scared when we first got home from the hospital with Elise that this was going to be a super tough transition for him.  I think it will still take some time to get fully adjusted, but he has gotten better on a daily basis and his teachers at daycare said he was so well-behaved and an all around rock star this past week.  We are in full fledged terrible two mode, so this is great news!  Even at home, he has been a joy to be around and sweet to his sister.  He has still had some visits to time out, but Blake and I have been working on choosing our battles and being consistent.  I think that has helped too!  He is so sweet to his sister when he gives her lots of kisses and brings her things.  He usually does this when she is sleeping.  He'll toss things on her like a package of facial wipes, her blanket, a rattle and puzzle pieces, just to name a few :)  He is trying to be such a big helpful brother.  She is going to be able to sleep through anything.  Boston has one volume and it is LOUD!


Boston's 2 Year stats (18 month stats here)
Weight: 27.4 lbs (35th percentile)
Height: 34.25 in (50th percentile)


He got to get on the grown up scale and stand to measure his height for the first time.


I'll list a few cute/new things Boston is doing at this age:
-He has lots of words.  He isn't forming full on sentences, but he definitely has a lot to say.
-He calls a horse a 'Neigh' (the noise it makes) and a duck 'Wa' (since it lives in the water).  It's funny how his little brain works.
-He LOVES Puppies and Buses.  He used to only say 'No', but has recently started to say 'Yes', when it's the appropriate answer.  If you ask him if he wants a puppy or a bus, he cocks his head over as if he's thinking and he'll look at you real casually and say 'Yeah', while shaking his head yes.  I need to get this on video.  It's real real funny.
-He is doing great in his big boy bed.  For a while, he was trying to escape at night right when we leave the room, so we would hold the door shut. He would try the door and then jump right back in bed.  He hasn't even been trying to get out the past week.
-He loves to play outside and go to the park.  We try our hardest to keep him outside, or else he would sit in front of the TV all day. Yesterday at the park, he was spinning round and round on this sit and spin thing.  When he got off, he looked like a drunken sailor.  Blake and I were dying laughing watching him stumble and fall around. I wish I had video of it.
-Before bath time he streaks around the house naked.  You have to chase him and catch him to get him into the bath.  It cracks me up every time.
-He loves older kids and loves to copy cat what they are doing.
-He still loves to read.  He gets to read 2 books before bed and always tries to sneak in a 3rd.


Elise
Elise is just precious! It is crazy to have a sweet little baby again and even crazier to have a 2 year old running around to boot.  She is a really good baby.  I remember saying that about Boston and thinking there is no way God would bless us with two good babies.  She barely cries.  She really only fusses when she is hungry, which if she is awake, is ALL the time.  The first week she was wanting to eat every hour on the hour.  It has shifted closer to 1 1/2 to 2 hours the past week.  Since her weight gain is so good, her pediatrician said we can start pushing her to longer intervals.  Yay!  When they are so itty bitty, I figure there are on rules and she gets to eat when she wants, but I'm happy to push it a little.  She is literally sucking the life out of me.  Now, with that said, she is a rock star when she is sleeping.  She will go 4-5 hours at night between feedings.  So, I figure I would rather have her eating frequently during the day and sleeping well at night.  I think as she gets older and more alert the daytime feedings will naturally get better!  Boston was always a 3 hour kind of guy, but he also fussed a little more :)  I think back to when Boston was little and if he woke up to eat at 6am, we could just go back to sleep until 8am.  Those days are over with a toddler in the house.  He comes busting in to our room with his loud self around 6:30am and pretty much forces everyone to start their day! 


Elise's 2 week stats:
Weight: 8 lbs 8 oz (75th percentile)
Height: 20 in (40th percentile) she shrunk since she was born
Noggin: 38 cm (98th percentile)


She has gained 9 oz since she was born, which is pretty amazing. This is part of the reason I do not have to wake her to eat and can push her a little bit more during the day.  Generally, babies barely get back to the their original birth weight by their 2 week appointment.  As for her head...I don't remember getting a measurement at the hospital, but it is huge!  Our pedi even wants us to come by in a month to have it checked.  He said not to worry and that if it grows consistently, all is fine, but since it is so large he wants to keep an eye on it.  If for some reason, the growth is not consistent, they would do an ultrasound on her noggin.  We will keep you posted on this one!  Please pray for her big head.


Here's a few sweet details about Elise:
-She smells so good, like a baby.  I don't know what it is about a baby, but yummm! I just want to eat her up. (or as my mom woud say, she wants to lick her...that's where I draw the line :)
-She is starting to crack a few smiles. I swear it's not just gas.
-She hates to get her clothing changed (just like her brother).  It amazes me that even at two it is a surprise every night that we have to put our jammies on. I guess that is all kids.
-She is going to be able to sleep through anything with the noise level and as much as she gets messed with around here.
-She likes being swaddled, but doesn't care too much about a paci at this point.
-Her cord fell out a week ago.  


And finally, if you are even still reading this (and if you are thanks for reading), here is a link to the sneak peak of Elise's newborn pics.  Wildhouse Photography Blog  When I receive them all, I will post some more.  Tali, who also did Boston's pics, came last weekend and did an AMAZING job.  We got some great family pics and the most presh pics of Elise!