5 Months Down...

Oops...I did write a post over a week ago and never actually posted it!  Here it is, a little late....

Well, we are back from our wonderful beach vacation but before I get in to that I wanted to post Matthew's 5 month updates and pics....

Right after I made the last post, he officially became a "roller"...it actually happened while we were packing up to leave last Saturday morning.  I had him lying on a blanket on our bedroom floor while I was getting ready...I turned my back and the next thing I knew he was looking up at me from his elbows!  After that, he has been rolling ever since...and has learned that he can attempt to escape from his smothery brother by rolling away!

While we were on vacation I gave him cereal for the first time.  As I mentioned before, I had been holding out but every time he watched us eat he would literally start smacking his lips and acting like he was chewing and start reaching for our food...so clearly he was ready...and boy was he excited to have that cereal.  He gobbled it up and now he gets excited when he sees me get the bowl and spoon out.  I can't wait to see what he does when I bring out the "real" food...maybe one of my boys will be a good eater??

More 5 month fun:

• He has started laughing more...he is very ticklish and giggles through his post-bath lotion rub down.  Love that sound...
• He has discovered his tongue and if you stick your tongue out at him he sticks his right back out.
• He still finds Nate funny and brightens up when he comes around him...which is so interesting because Nate literally smooshes and pesters him, I would think he wouldn't be too fond of him!  But they still get along great...sometimes Nate joins us during the bedtime routine and reads books with us.
• He is still a perfect little angel!

Here are my teeth!

August Wrap Up

August turned out to be a busy month...and in my running from one thing to the next I keep finding myself without my camera (or leaving it at birthday parties and not having it for a few days...oops!). So here are some highlights:

Matthew

• He sprouted 2 teeth! Two weeks ago I caught a glimpse of two little buds on the bottom and within a day or so they had popped through. It caught me by surprise bc it was earlier than Nate's first tooth but also because he didn't go through all of the build up that Nate did. There wasn't a month of excessive drooling and fussiness beforehand...they just showed up. HOWEVER, now that those have broken through, he has now entered in to the drool-y and fussy stage...not sure why the next one is bothering him more!? Thank goodness for teething tablets...they really seem to work.
• He is trying really hard to roll over...he has done it a couple of times but it still isn't something he is doing regularly. And always from back to front...
• As of Monday, he has moved to a 4 hr schedule - he is drinking between 6.5 - 8 oz 4 times a day now...it is nice. I think I may start cereal soon...I have been holding off but he is clearly ready...he would eat my food if I let him...
  

Nate

• He had his first day of Pre-school on Monday! I think he was excited to be around kids again. I was nervous because I was traveling for work the day of the classroom orientation so he had never been to the school before or met his teacher...but the great thing about him having been in daycare is that he knows the drill. I walked him to his class room on the first day and he met his teacher and then made a bee-line for the toys. I got his stuff situated and then went to say goodbye and he looked at me and said "good-bye mommy" and went back to playing. I was happy he was comfortable right off the bat! First week is down and he told me he had fun every day...he told Haley (the new nanny), as he was going down for a nap today, that "school wore him out"...ha!
  

Sadly....I left my camera at Amanda's birthday party last weekend so I didn't have it on his first day of school (and my backup little camera had dead batteries :( )...it was very sad for me...i did get a cute Flip video so if I can figure out how to post it I will do so...

• He had his first dentist appt and did great. We read a book about Pirates and there is a line about Pirates not brushing and having green teeth so he is always very concerned about his teeth staying white...so he was actually excited when I told him that the dentist was going to 'make his teeth shiny'! He jumped right up in to the chair and let the dentist check out his teeth...he did want to sit in my lap for the actual cleaning though but he sat there with his mouth wide open for the whole thing. Great job buddy! (Thank goodness for the Pediatric Dentistry trend - they make it seem like fun to go to the dentist...video games, tv's on the ceiling, LOTS of toys...Nate didn't want to leave!)

Those were the highlights...we also spent a weekend in Knoxville and NC (in one weekend); had a visit from Grandpa Dale and celebrated Amanda's birthday (in one weekend)...we have just been going non-stop this summer. It looks like things may slow to a nice Autumn pace after this holiday weekend...looking forward to fall!

The Patient

We found out a couple of weeks ago that Nate had to have a minor procedure to correct a little "issue" he has been having...long story very short (and hopefully I am editing this appropriately), once he started using the potty we realized that his tee tee was a little "misdirected"...his pediatrician referred us to a pediatric urologist and found out he needed to have his urethra widened to correct a little block he had in there. Nothing major but he wouldn't outgrow it, so he advised us to correct it while he was still little. So, today was the day...we spent 5 hours at Children's....and Nate was a MAJOR trooper...

I was really nervous about how he would handle not having anything to eat or drink all morning (Breakfast is his favorite meal)...but he actually did ok. The first part of the day was kinda fun (for him)...they have lots of toys around so he stayed busy. We spent almost 3 hours in a pre-op "holding room", playing and shooting hoops.
About an hour before his procedure, he got dressed in his gown and took a cocktail of Codeine and Lortab, which we thought would make him groggy and loopy...but he just got silly and restless! We asked the nurse and she said it was only for pain management and that he shouldn't really react to it (which I thought was crazy - I would conk out if I took those two meds, but she said kids don't react the same way)...but then she popped her head back in our room and told us that the parents in the room next door said their kid got wild after he took it too!
Before he got taken back, he got to choose a toy from a large toy closet...there were race cars and games and other cool options...and Nate picks a generic thing of Playdoh?? We tried to coax him in to something that was worth more than $.50 but he insisted...

I went back in to the OR with him until he went to sleep (which is why I am wearing the gown in the pic). I knew going in that I didn't like the idea of seeing him go to sleep but I thought I would be fine and strong for him in the moment, but I fought back tears the entire time. It was very emotional. He was totally fine...I thought he would tense up going in the big room with all of the big lights and equipment but he didn't really skip a beat...he wanted to lay on the table and didn't resist when they put the mask on his face. He was so brave...and there I was, holding his hand and holding back tears.
The procedure only lasted about 20 mins but the post-op was the toughest part of the day...as expected he was very out of sorts and control when he was coming out of the anesthesia. It took us a little while to get him settled and calmed down enough to take some more meds to calm him down...he slept in my arms for an hour and then came to again and drank some juice and ate some animal crackers. We were finally released around 1:00...so it was a long morning.

He seems to be doing ok now...he is completely himself, just sore (he has stitches, ouch), but full of energy...we have to give him meds for a few more days (I won't go in to detail about how that has to be administered) but he should be good as new (better!) in a day or so. He really amazed us...he was so calm and brave all day....I am so proud of him!

And I also have to say that we are so incredibly thankful that this is all that is wrong with him...after spending a few hours in a children's surgical center, I don't know how parents spend day in and day out caring for sick babies and going through operations. I can't imagine. We are counting our blessings.