Mischief

Didn't I just mention how fearless this little boy is?

 

Although slightly paranoid about him falling and hurting himself, mostly I'm just grateful that he's a normal little boy (most of whom are part monkey anyway!). 

Summer Vacation!

We embarked on our annual summer road trip this week.  It's 3200 miles roundtrip across 7 states and one foreign country and includes stops to visit both sets of grandparents.  We were a little worried about how LB would do in the car for so long, but he did great.  We sang a lot of songs and read a lot of books together.  He also spent a fair amount of time snoozing in his car seat or looking out the window and waving at the corn and the cows.   Here are some trip highlights...

 

Playing on the beach in Canada...   

 Fishing with his uncle...

 

Trying to convinces someone, anyone, in the ice cream shop to give him a gumball (no one did)...

 

Enjoying his first ketchup flavored potato chips (a Canadian favorite)... 

 

Devouring his first ear of corn on the cob (he ate nearly an entire ear all by himself)...

Squirting Mommy with water toys... 



 

Although it was a wonderful vacation, we are happy to be home sweet home again.  We enjoyed lovely weather and some really special time with our families where the kids made some great memories, but driving cross country with two kids under the age of three is still a pretty big production. 

 

Sixteen Months

A few fun stories about our favorite 16 month old big boy...

 

He loves to "help" in the kitchen.  We drag a kitchen chair over to the counter and he will gladly help make a mess with any recipe I am concocting.

Speaking of messes, he is likely one of the world's messiest eaters.  We got his Highlights Hello magazine a few weeks ago with a story that goes something like this..."When Teddy eats, he feeds the cat.  He drops spaghetti on the mat.  He squishes veggies.  He smears grape jelly.  Does any food get in his belly?"  This kind of sums up our eating experiences.  Well, that and the fact that he uses his hair as a napkin.  We regularly hold him over the sink to remove the banana treatment from his blond locks.

He loves ketchup!  I had the refrigerator open to pour him some juice, but instead, he removed the ketchup from the bottom shelf of the refrigerator door and climbed up into his seat (while carrying the ketchup...which was quite a production for a boy of his size I might add) and proceeded to give me this puppy dog look.  He really wanted to eat ketchup.  

He is still excellent at climbing onto and into things.  The picture of him in the diaper box was particularly amusing.

 

In other updates...

• he has a few words now including juice, cheese, up, down, yes, dog, ball, along with Mama and Dada, of course.  We still can't pick out his word for his big brother, but he can point him out or chase him down whenever we ask him where his big brother is.
• he wants to do everything his brother does and play with the same things his brother plays with.
• he is at a phase where he wants to do everything and climb everything, but he has no fear of the consequences of falling.  Needless to say, we are nearly always within arms reach to keep him out of the danger that he creates for himself.  I'm always happy when this stage of child development passes.
• we have cut a bunch of molars (I say "we" because after many nights up rocking him through teething discomfort, I feel as if I am also part of the process although he was the one doing all the hard work).  He is now sporting the full set of 1-year molars along with all 8 teeth in front.  Next up are eye teeth and the 2-year molars before he has his full set of baby teeth.
• he is sleeping well, although he tends to still wake up to eat once a night at least 3-4 nights a week. When he does, we give him a 4 oz bottle of toddler formula and he is quickly back to sleep.  His sleeping does get disturbed with teething, though.  I think that's pretty normal, though. 

A Vacation for Mom and Dad

My wonderful husband and I are celebrating 5 years of marriage this summer.  As a gift to us, my husband's parents (a.k.a. the world's greatest in-laws!), offered to come watch the boys for us so that we could enjoy a long weekend in the mountains.  The plans for this weekend have been in the works for quite some time, 6 months or more.  I admit that the idea of leaving LB with anyone other than us was terrifying a year ago.  He was eating every four hours and waking up several times a night.  We were tracking his food intake in notebooks to make sure he made it to within 1/3 of his average food intake for the day.   He was doing great and all, but we were, like all new metabolic families, a bit jittery...me especially.

 

As months have passed, we've gotten more comfortable with the feeding requirements associated with MCADD and the many interrupted nights of sleep.  That said, we had still never left LB with a sitter (other than his daycare provider and she only watches him during the day) up to this point and we had certainly never let him out of our sight for a meal. 

 

My husband's parents came out to visit us a couple times in the month leading up to our weekend.  During that time, they paid attention to his eating schedule and asked questions about the things they should watch for.  They understood the importance of his bedtime snack and his need for adequate hydration and rest periods while out playing in the summer heat.  They assured us that everything would be ok and I became more comfortable with the thought of leaving him not only for a meal, but for three days worth of meals in their capable hands.

 

As the vacation approached, the only thing that I remained worried about was the nighttime feedings.  LB is still waking up 3-4 nights a week expecting a bottle, which we oblige him in and he quickly snuggles back to sleep.  I was worried about my in-laws having to get up in the night with him and having their sleep disturbed possibly several nights in a row.  I mentioned this to my mother-in-law and she said the sweetest thing to calm my fears.  She said that some of her favorite times with all three of her children were during the quiet hours of the night.  She recalled that when her youngest finally started to sleep through the night, she was sad that she would no longer have that special one-on-one time with her because as a mother of three young children, her days were quite full, especially managing the two older boys (my husband included!) and she didn't get much one-on-one time with her youngest.  Not only was my mother-in-law not bothered by the thought of night feedings, she was looking forward to them.  What a relief! 

 

On the morning of our departure for our trip, I was a bit nervous, but mostly I was excited for a getaway with my husband and an opportunity for the boys to spend some special bonding time with their grandparents. I knew the boys would be more than fine with their grandparents and that they would have a lot of fun.  We also knew that if anything catastrophic happened, we would only be a couple hours away and could easily be home lickety-split.  Thankfully, nothing happened...but, in fact a whole lot happened.  The boys went to the zoo, visited several different parks in the neighborhood, went hiking, swam in the pool, etc. 

 

 

And we had a lovely vacation, complete with 3 nights in a row without a night feeding (something neither of us has had in about 16 months).  Happy Anniversary!

 

 

July is FOD Awareness Month!

Welcome to July, which is FOD Awareness Month!  Can you believe it's already July?  I know I can't!