Wow, a month without one post!

Oops! How did that happen? A whole month gone by without me posting anything. I guess we've been a little busy. We have officially moved! It is sure nice to be home. Moving, however, was a big pain in the neck, so I am hoping that we will stay put for more than a year or two! Since Benjamin and I have been married (5 years) we have moved 5 times!!! Yikes!

A lot has happened that I haven't blogged about. The biggest (other than the move) was William's 3rd birthday! We had a "Star Wars" birthday for him. He loved it.

Here is a montage video I made for his birthday...

We went to the pediatrician yesterday for his 3 year visit. He now weighs 30 lbs and is 3 ft tall. Both are in the 25th percentile. He is talking well, knows most of his colors and letters, and is a wonderful kid! I have to say though that the last few weeks, he is starting to get the toddler attitude. If we say no to anything, then he gets a frown and pouts. But, even with his attitude, he still is a great little boy. He is an awesome big brother. Mikey is always smiling and laughing at him. Here is a cute little video of it!



Mikey is doing well too. He has had us worried the past week with a tummy bug, but we are hoping he is on the mend. In fact, today he rolled over for the first time...

He is still working on his Torticollis, but it is much better. We've also been a little concerned since he has been a little behind on holding his head up, putting weight on his legs, and the rolling over. We have been going to physical therapy once a week, and it has really been helping. The pediatrician wanted to see some improvement by his 6 month appointment (which is in 2 weeks) and there is definite improvement. We are going to start some solids next week, so that will be fun. We were going to try this weekend, but with his tummy bug, we decided to wait a week. Look at his smile. Isn't he just the cutest baby ever??

Benjamin and I are doing well. Benjamin has done a fantastic job getting us all unpacked and settled into our new "old" house. I think he is excited to have that 3rd car garage back so he can get working on his hot rod project!! I'm doing fine. We have been doing our state testing this past week (CSAP) and I am glad it is over! I have one more week of work and then Spring Break. I am very much looking forward to a week off. Well, that is what is happening. Hopefully, now that we are moved and all, I'll be able to keep up with this blog better. Thanks for reading!

WE ARE MOVING!!!!

WooHoo!! We sold our house!! Yes, I admit that I haven't blogged in a while. But to catch you up, we have sold our house. We close in 1 week! We have been packing and getting ready for the move. It isn't the best of timing, because Benjamin is going out of town next Saturday. The actual closing is on Feb 5th, but the people who are living in the house we are buying may not be out of the house until the 7th, and Benjamin is leaving for his trip on the 6th. Soooo, we will try to move on the 12th, and the boys and I will be staying with Mom and Dad, because the house will be all packed up. We have to be out of our house on the 12th, and Benjamin gets back on the 11th. It is all kinda crazy, but I am sure we will get it all done.

The boys are doing well. William had another ear infection, but when we went to the ENT, he said his ears were looking pretty good, so I think we are going to wait on the tubes. Since we are in the middle of the move, and his ears are looking good, it just makes sense to wait. I have been dragging my feet on getting tubes because I just HATE the thought of William having surgery again. However, if he does end up needing the tubes, we will do it. Michael is getting bigger everyday. He is 4 months old today! How can that be? He has had 2 PT appointments for his Torticollis, and is doing great. His neck is getting stronger and when you look at him, you really can't even tell his head is tilted anymore! He is smiling all the time, and is getting close to rolling over. He hasn't done it quite yet, but I bet it won't be long. I think he is teething since he is starting to drool and chew on everything. I don't think William got a tooth until he was 7 or 8 months old. Maybe Michael will get his first tooth at 4 months?!?!

Benjamin and I are fine. Nothing too much going on with us, other than packing and getting ready for the move.

Here are a couple pictures I would like to share...

Michael today - 4 months old

Brothers

(Guess I should have combed William's hair before taking this one!)

Daddy and his boys

2 ear infections - not just one

Our interesting week last week did not end on the weekend. Michael started getting the same symptoms as William, and on Saturday night we decided to take him to the Urgent Care. However, once we got there they said they do not see babies under 4 months, so we ended up taking Michael to the ER. Luckily, there wasn't a wait at all. We got back and found out that Michael has an ear infection too. The ER doc told us not to give him the antibiotics for 24 hours to see if he could fight it off on his own. Well, Monday he still wasn't feeling well so we took him to our regular pediatrician. He told us, yes, he does have the ear infection and give him the antibiotics. So, now both boys are on meds. Luckily, they both seem to be getting better and that makes me feel better too. Of course, they have now shared their germs with Mom and Dad, so both Benjamin and I aren't feeling 100% now too. Hopefully, we will all get better soon!

Michael's first physical therapy appointment is today. I have taken a half day off to go. I hope we find out the Torticollis is mild. The last few days his head has been really crooked, but seems to be a little better today. I wonder since he wasn't feeling well, if that caused him to have less neck control. I guess that is something I'll have to ask today. Wish us luck!!

An interesting development

This week wasn't a totally horrible week, but a week filled with some concerning news. Let's start off with Monday. For a while now, Michael has been having some trouble keeping his head up and it is always tilted. Since I am the computer geek that I am, I got on the computer and "Googled" tilted, head, infant - up popped "Torticollis". Torticollis is a tightening of the neck muscles on one side. So, on Monday, since Benjamin was off of work and watching the boys, I asked him to take Michael to the pediatrician to get checked out. The doctor said that Michael does have Torticollis, and had Benjamin take him to radiology for an x-ray of his neck to make sure that the Torticollis is muscular and not skeletal. So, when school was out, I called Benjamin to see how things were going and met him at the radiology office. They sent us to the hospital because the hospital's equipment was better for the baby. So, about 2 hours later, Michael got the x-ray and did great. The rest of the week was just waiting for the results. After a few phone calls, I finally got the results today that Michael's x-ray was normal (good news) and the torticollis is muscular. So now, we have an appointment with out-patient rehabilitation for an evaluation for Michael. The good news is that Torticollis is curable with physical therapy. So, once we get the evaluation, we will find out how long we need Michael in PT and if we can do some of the movement and stretches at home with him. Our appointment is next Friday - as long as the insurance goes through. I hope that my little Michael will get more control of his neck so he can do some sitting up soon. He is still on track developmentally. In fact, while he was at the pediatrician's he was grabbing at his toy hooked on the car seat. He is full of smiles and has been doing great sleeping through the night with that miracle blanket! So, now if we can just take care of his little neck, things will be much better for him.

Wouldn't it have been nice to just have to deal with the Toriticollis? But of course, that would be too easy. When I picked up William and Michael from daycare today, Robin (the lady who takes care of them) said that William really didn't eat much and had a runny nose. OH MAN! That can only mean one thing - another ear infection. Of course, this was all at 4pm on Friday, so once I got home with the kids, I called our ENT to see if he could call us in a prescription for some antibiotics. This poor kid has only been off antibiotics for 2 weeks! So, we will be talking to the ENT to schedule William to get another set of tubes soon. His last set really helped him, so I hope this set will too. I have to say, that even when William has an ear infection, he is still a happy boy. He won't let it get him down until it gets to the point of an almost rupture of the membrane. What a little trooper. He is now in bed for the night and I sure hope he gets a good night's sleep. He really needs it.

After a very long stressful week, I am exhausted. Thank goodness I can sleep in a little tomorrow. Now, if only my boys cooperate with me and LET me sleep in, it would be blissful!!

I LOVE the miracle blanket!!!

Michael is quite the escape artist when it comes to the swaddle. He was breaking out of his swaddle at night and waking up Mommy and Daddy almost every hour to be re-swaddled and for binky replacement. Well, I had heard of the miracle blanket from the internet, so Benjamin and I decided to try it out. It was pretty expensive - $36 - but it is the best $36 we have spent!!! We have used it for 2 nights, and Michael has slept 9 hours the first night and 10 hours last night. Not one peep from him. Yea for a good night's sleep!!

2009 in Review

January
Happy New Year 2009 wasn't the best start for us. Benjamin and I lost our baby in December, and in Jan I was still having a hard time accepting things. It was also my 35th birthday which put be officially AMA (Advanced Maternal Age) - another issue I had problems dealing with. It was a rough month.
February
A much, much better month for us! We found out we were expecting again! It was so exciting and so scary at the same time. We also had William's 2nd birthday party at the end of Feb (even though his actual birthday is March 5th). He had a "Hi-5" themed birthday and it was then we decided to tell the family that we were expecting again.
March
William's officially 2, and unfortunately March found him sick. He got an ear infection and was fighting it almost the entire month. I was fighting morning sickness myself. It was a nice month for us.
April
April started off fine for us with a nice Easter, but it also brought us a scare. My NT scan showed us that the baby had a 1:42 possibility of having Down Syndrome. It was a scary development for us. We decided to have an amniocentesis at the end of the month to check for sure to see if the baby did in fact have Downs. We did find out that the baby was a boy! 2 boys for us!!
May
God can sure test us sometimes. We found out this month that our amnio we did in April did not work. So, we decided to repeat the amnio. This time it worked, and we found out that the baby was fine - and for sure a boy! Wow! What a month of "low"s and "high"s! William also got his big boy bed. Benjamin had a birthday. He turned 29. He gives me trouble all the time about being older than he, but just wait until next year buddy! I'm gonna give you so much trouble on your big 3-0!!!
June
Made it through the end of the school year, but immediately started teaching summer school. However, after the 1st week of summer school, I started having preterm labor. So, I ended up having to stop working and be on bedrest. That meant no more lifting William. Thank goodness I have such a great little boy, because he was a real trooper even though he didn't quite understand why Mommy couldn't pick him up anymore. This month also brought us a milestone for Benjamin. He received his degree from Colorado Tech. He had his graduation ceremonies in Colo. Springs and I couldn't have been prouder! We also celebrated my parent's 40th anniversary. We had a great party at our house and got to see family members that surprised us with a visit for the party. It was a busy, but really great month for us!!
July
July started off with a bang (hehehe) Happy Independence Day! Not too much happened in July. I was starting to understand why women say it is not the best being pregnant in the summer.
August
One word = MOLD! Darn! While Benjamin was redoing his office in the basement, we found mold behind the paneling. Luckily, we got that all cleaned up and everything was ok. I started back to work at the end of the month - with a student teacher! I was a little concerned going back with being on bedrest for the summer. However, things ended up being ok. It was hard working full time and being 8+ month pregnant. When I was that far along with William, I was on bedrest and not working.
September
September started off on a rocky note as I got a very bad virus! I missed a week and a half off work and ended up in the hospital for contractions being caused by coughing so much. Luckily, I did start to get over the illness. My last OB appointment the doctor told us that he was going to schedule my induction for the evening of Sept.29. This was the month we would meet our new son. My induction went well, and at 9:28am Sept 30, our little Michael was born! A month I will never forget!!!
October
Officially our first month as a family of 4. I have to admit, that October was a really rough month. Not only did we have to get used to sleepless nights of newbornhood, but also dealing with a toddler that was understanding that he was not the center of attention anymore. I have to say, that William really did a good job as a new big brother. He had his days of jealousy, but overall did a great job. However, it was also this month when H1N1 made its way to our household. My poor William got it. It was a rough week of fever, but as bad as they say it was on T.V., William came through it fine. I was very scared that the baby would get it, but luckily both the baby and I dodged the H1N1 bullet. Unfortunately, Benjamin didn't fair as lucky! He did make it through too. It was a long month, but we made it through!
November
A busy month of taking care of kids. We started getting used to the baby and our new life. We had a great Thanksgiving. So much to be grateful for this year!! My time off on maternity leave was drawing to a close. It was a great time off, but all good things must come to an end. William ended up with a couple ear infections, so we went back to the ENT and another set of ear tubes may be in future. Hopefully not! Mikey started to smile. He just gets cuter everyday!!
December
Bringing 2009 to a close was another great month for us. I did end up going back to work. My first week back I did cry every morning. Michael did great at daycare and I know I could count on William to look after him. William had a great Christmas. Santa, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa and everyone else treated the boys very well this Christmas. William really got into the unwrapping and like to help his little brother open presents. Our house is officially undecorated, and William just doesn't quite understand why Christmas can't last longer! What a little sweetie!

As I look back over the past year, I can't imagine a better year. I know not everyone had a great year like we did, and my heart goes out to them. I have a feeling that 2010 will be another wonderful year!!

How did a month get by without me Blogging?

Wow! I can't believe it has been over a month since I have Blogged. I guess things just got kinda crazy. Let me see if I can catch you up. I went back to work on Dec 7th. It was extremely hard for me to go back earlier than I had planned, but again it made sense since we really needed the money. The two weeks back really weren't bad. The kids did pretty good considering they are hyper anyway right before Christmas, but also because they had a student teacher and a sub since Sept. It was kinda nice to get back to work, but I did cry everyday I left for work that first week. I was sooo behind, but after some organization and some rearranging, I think my classroom is going to be great for the rest of the year.

William is doing great. He did end up with a couple ear infections since my last post, so we visited the ENT to see about William getting another set of ear tubes. The Doc said that we could get another set or "wait and see". We decided to "wait and see" because his last infection the pediatrician gave him a different antibiotic. His last dose was Christmas morning, and he seems to be doing fine. However, if he gets another infection in the next couple months, then we will get the tubes. I really hope it doesn't come to that, but if it will help him then it will be worth it.

Baby Michael is doing great as well! I can't get over how fast he is growing. A couple weeks ago I packed away the newborn clothes and got out the 0-3month size, and even some of those are getting tight. He is smiling a lot now, but still needs to work on his neck muscles. He is a really good baby, other than his 6pm fit. I don't know what it is, but at about 6pm every night he has a crying fit. I don't know if I would consider it "colic" or not, but whatever it is, it is no fun. But really, he is a good baby otherwise! He is in awe of his big brother and a complete sweetheart! I think I hit the parent jackpot with my 2 wonderful boys!!

Benjamin is doing fine. He worked hard on the basement to put back the wall he knocked down so his bowling machine would fit. I don't think I have mentioned it on this Blog, but we are selling our house. Our old house was put on the market, so we decided to put in an offer. Our offer was accepted, so now all we need to do is sell our house. It has been on the market for about 6 weeks, and no offers yet, but we hope we will get one soon. It isn't the best time to sell with the housing market where it is, but we will do the best we can!

Here are a few pics from Christmas, and I'll try to Blog more and not let a month go between posts!