Time to scrap!

Well, in keeping with tradition, it is a month until Miles' first birthday, so it is time to start his first year scrapbook. I did many marathon sessions in the days and weeks leading up until Mason's first birthday. I like to have the book ready for the boys birthday so that everyone at his party can enjoy seeing the changes and little moments of the first year. So, Saturday I will be spending all day at my sister-in-law's house scrapping. :) Eric will be handling the boys all day, so that will also be interesting!
It is a beautiful day today. The sun is shining, it is about 80 out. Eric is coming home this evening (he was away yesterday and last night on business). Miles slept from 8pm-7am last night. The boys are healthy. Thank you, God, for all the blessings you have given me.

Yesterday

Thursday was just a frustrating day. Mason got into a little trouble at school for not listening and for getting a little rough with one of the girls in his class (please -- someone with boys, tell me that it gets better..... I don't know how to make him sit still for any length of time and obey instructions the first time they are given!!!! HELP!!). Miles had a short nap in the afternoon and was fussy because of it. Some random things happened with scheduling doctors appointments that were frustrating. I also found out that my OB/GYN that delivered both boys and that I love is dropping our insurance in June. Argh!!! I don't want to have to find another dr at this point in life. Deep sigh. It will all be fine.
Looking forward to a relaxing weekend with the boys -- all 3 of them! :) We'll be spending some time on Saturday with a couple of sets of old friends. So, that will be nice. Hopefully the boys will cooperate and be in good moods for it all.
OK, I should go check on the boys. They were playing in Miles' room together (where I am sitting still) and they both left the room..... it's too quiet in the house...... be afraid, be very afraid!

Blessings

I listened to a recorded sermon about children and adoption (we are all adopted children of God's, after all). He said that the 4 most often used terms with children in the Bible are "blessing, gift, reward, inheritance. In our culture, we use weight, cost, burden and inconvenience. First of all, I need to ask forgiveness that I have not always viewed my boys as a blessing, a reward, a gift. I am blessed. I have been so richly rewarded by God. I thank God for my boys. However, I do not always treat them like a reward or gift. I take them for granted, I lose my patience. Caring for them is sometimes a chore, rather than something that I look forward to doing. I tell Mason "just a minute" too often rather than stopping what I am doing to play or help or just spend time with him.
Psa 127:3 Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.

Loves

Miles LOVES:
- Dancing to music - any music - commercials, mommy singing, toys.
- Walking. Most of the time he wants to hold onto a hand still.
- Shoes. Don't know why. He just loves to play with them and chew on them (don't tell Eric!).
- Mason. Very sweet!
- Talking. He is babbling so much more now that he has his ears clear and he can hear.
- His mommy (at least for now - soon he'll love time with Daddy more).

Mason LOVES:
- Trains. Come to our house and you'll understand the obsession.
- Watching movies. "The Polar Express" and "The Bee Movie" are current favorites. (Yes, we are STILL watching Christmas movies. The kid doesn't understand it is 8 more months until Christmas again.)
- Time with Daddy
- Running. He runs laps around our house and loves for anyone to run with him ("chase me!!")
- Being outside and playing in the dirt and/or water

Mommy LOVES:
- Her boys. All 3 of them!!!

My point in this was not to highlight the differences in the boys, but as I wrote, it became more and mroe apparent how different they are..... I'm sensing a theme today..... see my last post! :) Just wanted to journal my thoughts so I will have them in the future.
Miles also says mama now (YEA!!!) and says "bye-bye" as he waves. Great job Miles!

No two kids are alike

I know that no two kids are alike. However, after you have one, you feel like you have seen a lot, have experienced a lot and are (or should be) more comfortable handling the curve balls that a new little one sends your way. WRONG!!
Mason did not prepare me in any way for Miles. Mason had his issues, don't get me wrong. But, they were very different than the issues that Miles has had so far. Miles is still not sleeping. According to the ENT, Miles has 6 teeth that are close to cutting through. He was up every 3 hours last night (10:30, 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30) like clockwork. I feel like I am the sleep-deprived mom of a newborn again. Except my "newborn" is almost 11 months old, 21 lbs and very strong. He is harder to comfort because he is able to throw his weight around. He has also drastically reduced the formula he is taking. On Friday, I noticed a drop in the amount he was taking at each feeding, and by Sunday, I was having to force formula on him. He is supposed to take in 17 oz each day (based on his weight). Yesterday he took in 16 oz. A week ago, he was taking 30-32 oz a day with no problem. Last night, he also threw up the 4 oz he took at bedtime and his entire dinner. All over him and me. Yuck. Eric wasn't home yet. Mason wanted to see (boys have weird interests!!) and started gagging. Thankfully, he left the room when I told him to without adding to the mess! I thought we were done with the throwing up and the majority of the spitting up. I guess not.
So, the slow-down of eating could be one of several things: 1)his teeth hurt and he doesn't want to suck on the bottle, 2)I stopped his prevacid last week (per the GIs instructions) and he could be refluxing and hurting, thus he doesn't want to eat, 3) he is more interested in eating solids than bottles, 4) he went several days without pooping and tummy could have been upset/full and didn't want to eat, 5) just trying something new - "let's not really take any bottles and see what mommy does" 6) I have no idea.....
I think it is some combination of the above - maybe 1, 2 and 4 are my most likely thoughts. Any other suggestions? I am totally open to any advice! At least I know it isn't (or better not be) his ears this time. Ahhhhhhh, my silver lining! :)

Miles is walking!!

Miles took his first real steps this morning!! We were at Keely's playing and he took 4 steps, then 11 steps and finally 15 steps all on his own!!!! I can't believe he just took off like that. He, of course, looked quite proud of himself. We were able to catch it on video and I'll post that soon (having technical difficulties getting it up right now).

Mason had his first visit to the dentist today. Let's just say there were two hygienists involved (one to clean his teeth and one to hold his head still) and mommy (holding his hands down and his legs). Needless to say, he did not have x-rays done. It was traumatic enough without inflicting more pain on everyone involved. She did say his teeth looked great and healthy. We'll visit again in 6 months! :) Oh joy!!!

Prayer request

I have been reading a couple of other mom's blogs for a while now and there are two that I cannot get away from. These amazing families have both adopted children from the Ukraine with Down Syndrome. One family (with 4 biological children) recently adopted a beautiful 3 year old little girl.

The other amazing family adopted both a little girl and a little boy. They already have two children of their own, one of which also has Down Syndrome. The little girl they adopted has a problem with her heart. Long story short (and with my limited knowledge of it), the surgeons do not know if her heart can be fixed. Please keep Emma and her family in your prayers. This little girl needs a miracle and we know that our God can supply that miracle.

Miles has tubes

Just wanted to update you all on Miles. Sorry that this did not go out yesterday -- we lost power at the house around 4AM Thursday morning due to the storms. Our neighbor's (rather large) tree was knocked over by the strong winds. It took out a brick wall and, of course, the power lines. As of 8AM this morning, we are still without power!
Despite no power and getting ready in the dark, Miles had his surgery Thursday morning to put tubes in his ears. It went great - there was a lot of fluid in both ears that was apparently pretty "nasty" - that was the doctor's technical term for it. It was so thick, it clogged his suction. It all went well, took about 10 minutes and then he was in recovery. Recovery was fine, but he was quite unhappy with the world, to say the least. He screamed and fought us for about 40 minutes, and finally fell asleep in mommy arms. :)
Miles is doing well this morning. He has a runny nose and is sneezing, so I am hoping it is just allergies. Mason suddenly has a deep cough also. Not sure why these boys can't stay well lately! We are staying at my parent's house for now. But, we hope to be able to go home today to check on the house, refrigerators (yuck!!) and the dogs.

Storms, standing up

Last night about 3AM, we had some nasty storms pass through our area. For the first time, Mason woke up from them and told me he was scared. He told me it was "raining, tundering and wiping" (aka raining, thundering and lightning). I told him that it wasn't scary but just noisy. He kept repeating "tunder is noisy momma." He was up for over 2 hours during the storms and afterwards. What a long night!
Yesterday afternoon, we went outside to play in the beautiful spring weather (pre-storms). Miles got really heavy after a while, so I let him crawl around in the yard. After a few minutes, he looked at me, smiled and stood up. Then he just stood there looking at me, not holding onto anything at all, for about 5 seconds. I was in shock. It was like he had been doing it his whole life. I started cheering for him and he sat down. Then, just to prove he could, he did it again! He refused to recreate it later when I had a camera nearby, of course. I'll try to get it on video soon.
Tomorrow is tubes day for Miles. We have to be at the hospital at 6:30AM, so if you are up really early, say a prayer that all goes well. Once we get home, I'll post an update on how he did. I know it will go fine, but momma is still a little nervous to have her baby put to sleep.....! Maybe mommy needs a few prayers also! :)

Guess what!!!

You'll never guess..... this one is WAY out there.... ready???? Miles has another ear infection!!! YEA!!!! Who would have ever guessed?!?!?!?
OK, obviously, I am being sarcastic. He had his pre-op appointment with the ENT this afternoon. On Monday, he had the "jello-like" fluid on both ears. Today, the left one is indeed infected. If I was not certain that he needed the tubes on Monday, I certainly am today. I knew that since Tuesday that he has been fighting an infection because he has had low-grade fever, fussiness and not wanting to eat as much from his bottle. For him, those are clear signs of ear infection. So, Thursday morning, bright and early, we will be at Medical City. Say a prayer for us all!!

Swimming

I have often thought and said that if Mason could grow gills, he would be a very happy boy. He LOVES swim lessons. He LOVES water. He LOVES bath time. Anything to do with water and he is happy. At bath time, he will take a huge breath and just stick his face down in the water and sit there. It is a little unnerving and I have to stop myself from grabbing his hair and pulling him out. He pours water over his own head until he is close to drowning! I am not sure if it is a passion or if it has turned into an obsession!!

This semester, he has lessons with Mr. Chad. He loves Mr. Chad. He talks about Mr. Chad all the time and swimming with Mr. Chad. At lessons on Tuesday, Mr. Chad decided to see just how far Mason would swim. He swam 7 feet and 8 seconds by himself. Chad was quite impressed and called the deck manager over. He did it again and they decided that Mason is ready to advance to the next class. So, this evening, he will be joining Mr. Chad's Advanced AquaTots class. I am a little sad that he will not be spending time in the pool with Dylan any more. They have done every swim lesson since they were 5 months old together. But, this is his passion right now. I am excited to see how he does with an older group of kids. We are doing the afternoon lessons so that he can stay in Mr. Chad's class.

Mason and Dylan

Mr. Chad and Mason