17 Months

Holy Cow...

Our babies are almost 1 1/2 years old!!!

It's been a crazy busy month with a few "firsts" I wasn't counting on. Starting with Kellan's stitches & ending with a call to Poison Control. In between the boys were really sick & had a visit to Urgent Care.
We have also had a lot of fun this month, we've met a few new friends & the boys got to play on a couple new playgrounds & with lots of cute girls... & a couple boys too ;)

Kellan, stitch removal day



 Garren having some playground fun

 Garren & Caden swingin'

Caden swinging, what's better than a playground on the water?



Having 3 walking running babies has proven to be loads of fun. The boys play tricky little games with us now, like walking up to us when we call them only to turn & run when we reach for them. They love to chase each other & be chased. They also like to take us by the hand & lead us around. All 3 know where to go when we say its nap time or time to go night night & they head to their bedroom. They also go to the dining room table when I ask if they are hungry or say it's time to eat. It's so cute to watch them all walk together!!!

Caden playing peek~a~boo in the coffee table



The boys LOVE to dance & our little climbing monkey, Garren, likes to do his dancing on top of the coffee table, which is quite hysterical! He gets up there, says "dah dah dah" (dance dance dance) & bounces around while stomping his feet. Caden will dance standing or sitting & Kellan likes to shake his booty. Kellan is especially funny when he leans forward to hold onto something & shakes what his mama gave him, which reminds me, they love to dance naked too :D

No more "alpix" (velcro) diapers for Kellan!!!



Cutting molars & eating are quite the challenges, not to mention the lack of eating being ill caused. Everyone I know that has a toddler says they are very temperamental when it comes to eating. What they like one day they hate the next, what they hated is now their favorite & it goes on & on & on... Add in that Kellan will eat as long as there is food in front of him, Garren won't eat much at all & Caden will only eat what he is in the mood for & you're stumped on how much they should be eating & if they are getting full enough or too full & are they getting all the nutrients they need :-/
If they don't want what is in front of them it becomes very obvious very quickly. Garren will throw it & Caden & Kellan will start dropping it on the floor. The dogs are getting fat but loving every moment of it!!!

As far as talking & signing, well, they will repeat just about anything you say & I can't keep up with all the different things each one of them signs now. I really need to spend a few days (before their 18 month check up) & write down who says & signs what. They still talk to each other A LOT in their lanuguage.

Garren showing some Tampa Bay Buccaneer love :o)



Their weights varied at their sick visit to Urgent Care. Garren weighed in at 23.4 pounds,
Caden at 26.4 &
Kellan at 27.8.
I feel like they all lost a little from being sick & not eating but I think they are finally getting their appitites back & I can't wait to get all their measurements next month!!!

A self portrait by Caden

Mom of the Year!!!

Yep, that's me, I'm working really hard on that title, lol!!!

Last night Donna & I were getting the boys ready for bed & Garren was fighting me while I was changing his diaper. I looked for something to distract him & the closest thing I could reach was a bottle of powder. What I didn't realize until it was too late was that the bottle was open & Garren got a mouthful.

I gave him some water & a cookie to clear his mouth & then read the back of the bottle for warnings.
"Seek medical attention or contact poison control if ingested" is what the label stated. GREAT! I just poisoned my kid!!!

So I googled poison control & dialed the 800 number. The woman who answered was very friendly, asked a few questions about the powder & Garren's reaction to when it went in his mouth. She gave me some info on what could happen & what to watch for. Talc can apparently cause delayed respiratory problems & I needed to keep a close eye on him the rest of the night.

We dug out the monitor that we hadn't hooked back up since returning from our vacation, turned the volume all the way up & kept it close by all night. He didn't have any problems through the night or today, so I think it's safe to say he is fine, thank goodness!!!

Just an FYI for those who have cell phones with old numbers from another state, when you call poisin controls 800 number, it connects you to the office closest to your phone number. My very friendly lady was in NC & a little surprised when I told her we were in GA :)

Misery Loves Company...

Because one sick baby at a time isn't enough...

Caden woke up Wednesday morning with a 102.4 fever. Garren & Kellan seemed fine but I gave everyone a dose of ibuprofen with breakfast just to be safe.

Garren in the only place he was content outside of my or his mommy's arms.



By lunchtime all 3 boys had fevers ranging from K at 101 to G with 102.4 & C at 103.6.

Eason keeping a close eye on Kellan



We are in the midst of switching from the Pediatrician we used in NC & the one we used while staying at my parents to one here, but the one here is waiting on all the boys' records & won't see them until they have them, not even for a sick visit :( So we took the boys to Urgent Care. They said that the boys just had a virus with very red swollen throats.
{the boys current weights were; G 23.4lbs, C 26.4lbs, & K 27.8lbs}

Caden, Garren, Mommy & Kellan



Over the course of the next few days we fought their fevers & sore throats. They weren't sleeping well & were crying constantly & just wanting to be held. Garren quit eating anything solid at all but was drinking plenty of milk. Caden & Kellan didn't eat much but did manage to nibble a lit bit from each meal & snack. 

Kellan, Garren & Caden

 

On Saturday I started giving Garren 2 pediasures a day & the other boys just one close to bedtime. 
Garren seemed to instantly start feeling better & all 3 finally took good naps & slept all night.

Caden & Kellan

 

Sunday they all woke up with rashes, Caden & Kellans rashes were blistering up :( I was going to take them back to Urgent Care but I missed their short Sunday hours & was forced to wait until today. This morning though, all their rashes were gone & the blisters were dried up.

WHAT A RELIEF!!! 

I don't think the boys have even been this sick. They don't have colds or anything, but they have never expressed feeling so bad, had fevers for so long, or stopped eating before. They aren't back to eating like themselves yet but I'm sure in a day or so they will be. I'm so glad they are feeling better & hope we don't have to experience anything like this again anytime soon! 

Fort Frederica!!!

A few weeks ago we went to check out this beautiful place on St Simons Island. We will definitely be going agin in the Autumn when the weather is a little cooler & they boys can walk around. It was mostly grass & hard to pull the wagon through but definitely worth it :o)

 

Big Feet!!!

All the boys' shoes were getting to be small on them. They were all just starting to walk so I didn't worry about it right away since it is better for them to learn to walk in their bare feet. Donna & I had already planned to get them good walking shoes once they started to walk. Well we've been looking now for a couple weeks but it seemed the boys feet were now too big for most flexible sole shoes :( I couldn't find anything that fit & was running out of stores here to look at.

Garren

 

{these photos from my phone are really bad, but the boys were kind of crazy walking around trying on shoes & DID NOT want to get back in the wagon!!!}

 

 Kellan

 

Donna took friday afternoon off so we decided to head to Jacksonville to Stride Rite & get the boys fitted. Well there was a good reason we couldn't find shoes that fit, their feet had grown 3 full sizes & not many brands make walking shoes that big. Good thing we were at Stride Rite!

F. to B. Caden, Garren, Kellan & our sweet sales woman, Nicole

 





We had to head across Jax to another mall to get their exact sizes but left Jacksonville with 3 boys in 3 pairs of size 6M, 6M & 6W walking shoes. All 3 boys measured 6 Wide, but the shoes we went with felt a little too wide for Garren & Caden. The old fashioned white walking shoes are still option, but we decided to go with something a little cooler :o)

When we got home we decided to let the boys walk to the apartment from the parking lot in their new shoes...

They did great but Kellan had to stop & sit in the grass for a minute :o) This definetly won't be happening when I'm by myself with the boys!!!

Here are a few more photos of the boys in their new shoes...

 Caden

 

 Garren

{it has been decided, it is time for his first haircut!}

 

Kellan

 

I think it is funny how different their clothes look now that they're upright & walking most of the time :o)

Stitches...

I just spent the evening in the ER with Kellan.

He tripped & fell spliting his eyebrow open on the TV table.

Donna stayed home with Garren & Caden. While we both wanted to be with Kellan it just didn't make sense to take everyone to the ER, keeping them up past their bedtime & exposing them to hospital germs.

Kellen cried quite a bit when he fell, even though it wasnt a hard hit I just knew there would be blood. By the time Donna got home & we decided it warranted an ER visit, he had calmed down. When I left with just him, he & his brothers had a meltdown, poor boys aren't use to being seperated.

He did well in the waiting area although he would say "all done" every so often. They got us in pretty quickly & it took the doctor 2 seconds to determine he needed stitches vs glue. It was a wide gash through his eyebrow.

The actual stitching was horrible, Kellan wanted to wiggle & get up so they had to strap him down, which REALLY upset him!

But he scored a new soothie & afterwards all was right with the world again.

Looked like 5 or 6 stitches inside & 4 stitches outside.
We go back this weekend to get them out. The doctor said 3 to 5 days, I prefer sooner rather than later and hope he doesn't have a scar, although I'm sure boys think scars are cool :o)

Labor Day Weekend & More "Firsts"

My dad & bonus mom came up Saturday morning to spend the weekend with us, while I had great plans for the weekend, it was just too hot & humid to be outside for too long. So Saturday we got a couple things done around the apartment since we had a couple of extra pairs of hands to wrangle the boys. We have wanted to add a little color to the walls, but painting has proven challenging with the boys, so we took advantage of having a little help & got at least a.little color added to the dining room. Marie also helped me rearrange the boys furniture in their room & organize their clothes, now to just get rid of some of the stuff they have outgrown.

After dinner we decided it was time for the boys' first swim in the big pool...

Kellan loved it! No qualms about it, he went right in & started kicking around, he leaned his head back in the water & even attempted the floating position all on his own. He also really liked standing in front of the jet. Lol...

Caden was pretty unsure at first, he cried a little but eventually warmed up to it. He liked being in the raft the best & towards the end he was comfortable enough to lean back & attemp to float.

Grandma & Caden

Grandpa & Kellan

Garren also had no issues with being in the water, he even attempted to let go & swim, of course he sank & his face went into the water but even that didn't seem to bother him much.

Mommy & Garren

A rare occasion... A photo of me with Caden.

Grandpa & Kellan

Caden & I

Thursday night when I was out getting groceries for the weekend, I stopped in Goodwill. I've been keeping an eye out for wooden dining room chairs to hold booster seats. Our dining chairs are fabric & we didn't want to put the boys on them. Well Thursday I finally scored 3 chairs for a whopping $9.99, so Friday I put the high chairs on Craigslist & Saturday while we were out getting paint we stopped in Target & picked up booster seats. Sunday morning was the boys' first meal at the table. It was different for them & has taken a little getting use to but it's so nice to not have to squeeze between the table & the high chairs & even nicer not washing high chair trays!!!

Caden, Garren, Kellan

Garrens expressions are so funny, he's like really, are we doing this again, pictures while we're eating?!?!?

Caden is a happy camper!

Kellan doesn't care where the food is
as long as there is food!

Sunday we took dad & Marie out to St Simon's Island.

 Kellan, Garren, Caden, Grandma & Grandpa

 

 

And Sunday night Marie & I made homemade pizzas!

Another rare photo, myself & Marie

Marie

The finished products

Monday was sort of a lazy day, we hung out at the apartment while dad & Marie got ready to head back home.

It was a fun fun weekend, I always love seeing the boys with their grandparents & it is so fun watching them intract with them, make my heart warm :o)