Double Whammy

Poor David has been quite miserable the past couple days, so today I took him to the doctor's office.  Come to find out the poor baby not only has RSV (infection of the lungs and breathing passages) but a double ear infection too!  That's just wrong!  However, now that we have antibiotics for his ears and breathing treatments for his coughing and wheezy breathing, David should be on the road to recovery quickly.

Long Time

It has been a long while since I have even logged onto this site.  I guess I needed a break from this all.  However, I have missed having a journal type space to write down thoughts.  I even considered buying myself an actual journal to dialogue in, but it is so much quicker and easier to type than it is to write.  Given that my three little ones keep me so busy, I don't always have the greatest amount of free time for that sort of thing.  : )

Let me try to update on the boys and our family in a general manner to kind of catch us all up to speed...

**Birth dad never showed for either of the visits he scheduled to see David.  I showed up with the baby as well as my caseworker, but the birth dad never came...he didn't even bother to call the second time.  My worker called him once he was ten minutes late.

**We filed for DeFacto parent status for David and were granted it towards the end of December.  This allows us access to what takes place at court and also gives us a preferential treatment as far as adoption and everything else goes.

**The .26 hearing (termination of parental rights hearing) for David took place this month.  Parental rights were terminated.  Now we have to wait out the appeal period.  About mid-March, we should be able to sign intent to adopt paperwork and get an adoption date scheduled with the court.

**We have been to the snow twice this year as a family (well...technically once last year and once this year).  We went up Christmas Eve morning for a snowshoe trip and then on New Year's Day just to play in the snow.

**We have been on one hike as a family this year so far.  One lesson I learned is David is going to need to start being carried in a backpack carrier for hikes.  He is getting too heavy to lug around in the Bjorn.

**We have found a system that seems to work well for getting Sam to fall asleep (both at nap and bedtime).  Basically we allow him to take some books to bed with him and leave the light on, so he can read them to himself.  He usually falls asleep with a book open across his lap.  It is pretty adorable.

**David was starting to sleep through the night before he got his most recent cold.  He is not fully recovered yet, but I am getting up at least once a night with him at the moment.  Hopefully once he is back to normal, he will return to sleeping through the night.  David does, however, fall asleep on his own without having to be rocked all the way to sleep.

**James has recently started to learn how to kick and use his arms while swimming.  He really enjoys his swim lessons, and often I have to drag him out of the pool when his class time is over.

**In January we had visits with both James' and David's older adopted siblings as well as a couple visits with Sam's older adopted brother (the one we used  to have court ordered visits with).  I will try to do a separate post on those visits at a later time. 

**The adoption support group we started at our church seems to finally be gathering a core group of members who come regularly.  This may also be a separate post later.

There is plenty more that has happened, but I will leave it at this for now and will try to post more regularly to update on life and whatever things come up in the future.

Progress Report

It has been a few days since I have last logged on.  I am going to put together a quick progress report of the newest developments in our home.  I still have Disneyland to eventually write about as well as some adoption related thoughts, but for now I will just give a general update on our little boys.

James

James has really stepped up as a big brother lately...giving up a toy he is playing with because Sam wants to use it, comforting both brothers when they are upset, giving hugs away freely, etc.  Last night James even read a couple board books to Sam based off how James remembers the stories...it was such a sweet, loving moment to witness.

Swim lessons are going well.  James has gained a lot of confidence in the pool and has started pushing off all on his own and gliding out to his teacher with his head under water.  He really enjoys his time at swim lessons.

Sam

Sam is readjusting to his bedtime routine after our trip to Disneyland.  He is finally starting to settle back in where he stays in his room after being put to bed the first time. 

Thankfully Sam's eye that was injured was only a minor scratch...not in a location that could affect vision.  We have ointment to apply three times a day to prevent infection.

Sam continues to develop his vocabulary and can communicate quite well.  He also understand a lot more than some people give him credit for.  He is an amazing little guy.

David

David has started babbling a lot lately making the "da", "ba" and "ga" type sounds.  It is really adorable to hear.

I have restarted rice cereal with David now that he is healthy again.  He is eating a little bit more of it than before, but he still does push out some of the food.

Another assessment was done, and the verdict is still to refer David out to the county for a more thorough assessment to make sure intervention is not necessary.  David's problem solving area went from poor to good; however, his fine motor skills went from let's watch to poor.  Granted since David is older now, his assessment was for an older age range going up to six months, and he is just five months old today (the day of the assessment), so it may not be a concern at all.  We are going to have the county do their assessment.  I was told they may decide there is no need for services, or it is possible they will want to do some intervention activities to try to increase his development.  Honestly I am not concerned about his development thus far...he seems like any other baby his age, but perhaps there is a reason to be.  We will see what happens.

No Break for our Household

So...everyone is finally recovered or mostly recovered from the flu...Daniel still has the runs, but they are not that bad anymore.  Yesterday the boys played a lot during the day because they have been feeling so much better.  They were having a pillow fight, and one of the pillows accidentally caused James to fall into the wall giving him a bloody nose.  The pillow fighting was brought to a close, and it took awhile the regroup again.

Later on in the evening, James kicked his shoe off his foot, and it hit Sam right in the face.  However, it did not just hit Sam's face and make him cry...it actually hit his eye just right causing his eyeball to bleed slightly.  I put a call into the doctor's office this morning, and I am waiting to hear back on whether I need to bring Sam in to have his eye looked at.  It is possible his eye got scratched, and since Sam is not old enough to tell us if he has blurry vision, the doctor may want him to come in.  Since Sam is not having any apparent issues with his eye (excessive watering, rubbing it a lot, excessive blinking), the nurse is going to check to see if the doctor just wants us to keep a watch on Sam's eye or if he wants us to bring Sam into the office.  The doctor is all booked up with appointments for the day, so he would have to overbook himself in order to see Sam.  It has been a few hours, and I still haven't heard anything back.

This morning I woke up with a head cold, and I am having some minor abdominal pain.  We just can't catch a break in this household.  Hopefully everything will be resolved before next week since Thanksgiving and Christmas tree hunting (day after Thanksgiving) are all fun events taking place next week.

Increasing Sick Ones

Yesterday my husband came home from work about a half hour earlier than normal. At first I thought it was because it was Friday, and he was eager to get home.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  He wasn't feeling well and left a meeting at work early in order to come home. By all outward appearances, my husband has the flu.  He was quite miserable last night.

At one point, my husband decided to get up and watch t.v.  It was actually while I was up feeding David a bottle.  I then put David back in his crib and was going to try and go back to sleep when I heard "Mommy!" called out from our oldest down the hall.  I went in figuring I would need to fix his blankets or he needed to use the restroom, but unfortunately, I walked into a poor boy who had thrown up in his bed.  I took him, washed him off, changed his pajamas and then sent him to the couch to watch t.v. with Daddy while I took care of his bedding and his favorite stuffed teddy bear (all of which were immediately thrown into the washing machine).  James was a little upset about his bear, but I told him I would return it once it was clean.  We supplemented another stuffed animal and eventually got him settled back in bed.  One of the following times I got up with David, I made sure to return a nicely cleaned teddy bear to James' bed.

So far this morning my husband and David appear to be doing better.  My husband felt pretty good, but even though we just hung out in the living room together, he was quickly worn out.  David is drinking more of his bottles and seems a bit happier, but he does still have the runs that require changes of clothes.  James hasn't been hungry, and he has just wanted to snuggle and watch t.v., but at least he is drinking fluids.  Sam seems a little off this morning...much more clingy than usual, so I am waiting for him to end up with the runs or throwing up.  As for me, I am holding up okay.  I felt a little sick last night, but that could just from lack of sleep.  My throat is a little sore, but nothing overwhelming.

Hopefully our household can kick this quickly!  I was looking forward to the Veteran's Day parade on Monday.  I fear Disneyland contributed to everyone's illness.  I haven't even been able to post about the trip yet, but hopefully I will get a chance in the next couple days.

Cold Weather & Broken Heater

Our household heater stopped working correctly.  Basically it is still hot at the furnace, but it blows in tepid air through the vents.  This isn't too big of a deal considering we are thinking the heat exchange is broken, and that is still covered under warranty, so we wouldn't have to pay for parts, just for time.  However, since we are trying to get this refinance to go through, we need to hold off a little bit to get the heater worked on. 

Of course the weather has gotten much cooler to the point where it feels quite cold in the boys' rooms at night.  Granted we have exchanged James' and Sam's blankets for warmer, thicker ones, and we are using a sleep sack with David...not to mention warmer pajamas, but we are concerned it may still be a little too chilly for the young ones.  Because of this my husband ran out during his lunch break at work today to pick up room heaters for each of the boys' rooms.  Hopefully that will help us keep them warm while they sleep until the heater can be fixed.

In the meantime, I am trying to make sure to heat up the house by using the oven to bake.  Yesterday I made hamburger buns for our dinner, but because David wasn't feeling well, I wasn't able to use my usual recipe and had to use a 40 minute recipe (which I ended up not caring for).  I am getting ready now to embark on making some pumpkin muffins, homemade graham crackers and possibly even homemade granola bars...depending on how much time I get while the boys are sleeping and how long each recipe ends up taking.  I am thinking I will be lucky to get the muffins completed and will have to try the other recipes another time, but we will see.

David & "The Runs"

Poor baby David has a case of the runs.  He started off the morning by throwing up the contents of his bottle all over himself and me...a gross white mucus-filled mess.  He has slept most of the day away, waking for short periods...the first time to consume 1 oz. of formula, the next to consume 3 oz.  However, the worst part is the most foul smelling liquid poop I have had the pleasure to encounter (and keep in mind this is baby #3 in our home, so it is pretty brutal).  The first two diapers smelled horrible, but there was not much in the way of contents.  Immediately after I changed the second of those diapers, David smelled again.  I saw that some had leaked onto the carpet, so I moved him onto a blanket, wiped up the mess on the floor and then prepared to change the diaper...only to discover a sea of liquid poop spilling over the sides.  My goodness...it was a disaster!  Now David just drank another 3 oz. for me, but he smells horrid once again, so I believe I am about to re-encounter "the runs."  Poor baby...I may end up needing to take him into the doctor's office...we will see how David is faring come tomorrow.

Some Random Updates

We have been a little busy lately...just with our three little ones and then getting ready for our trip to see Mickey Mouse.  So this is just a quick update to let you know I am still around and in a little while I hope to be a bit more consistent in my efforts of posting on this blog.

**Sam has finally gotten down bedtime.  With this I mean the general rule is Sam stays put in his bed (or technically his bedroom) after the first time being put to bed instead of coming out multiple times.  This is great!  However, our trip will probably mess this all up for us, and we will start again at square one upon our return home.

**David was introduced to rice cereal recently.  We waited for a day my husband could be home because he wanted to witness the first feeding and also use the video camera to record the event.  David just cried and cried with his first couple bites of rice cereal.  It was the first time I have witnessed that...a baby crying at their rice cereal tasting.  He doesn't cry anymore, but he only eats a small portion...most of it is pushed back out again.  We have backed off rice cereal because David has a cold...AGAIN.

**James is loving his swim lessons!

Slightly Annoyed

I feel a little annoyed.  I don't know that I should necessarily be, but something this morning just rubbed me the wrong way.  Let me preface this by saying James dressed himself this morning...his clothes did not necessarily match, and he had his shirt on backwards; however, he was really proud of himself when he came into the living room to show me.  As I have mentioned in a previous post, I try to encourage James when he is proud of his accomplishments.  If I am in his room helping him get ready for the day, often I will give James choices of different clothes, so he can still pick out his clothing, match and feel successful in dressing himself.  On the times, like this morning, when James gets dressed all on his own and is so proud, I generally let him where whatever he has put on...unless there is a good reason he needs to change.

Well...we met up with some of our friends this morning at a children's gym for the open play time.  It is a really neat children's gym with two available rooms to have fun and play in.  Since I have three little ones (only two mobile ones), I am usually divided in my attention to each...focusing on the one most likely to get into trouble or the one most likely to escape.  It just so happened I was in the front room monitoring Sam while James continued playing with some friends in the back room.  Even though I know the other moms will look out for James, I will occasionally peek in the room to make sure James is doing well.  One of the times I glanced over, I saw one of the other moms assisting James in putting his shirt frontward instead of backward.  I saw her have him tuck his arms in, turn his shirt around and then put his arms back into the shirt. 

Now granted I was not standing right there and have no idea what words were said or what brought on the shirt reversal, but I have a good feeling it wasn't because James asked.  He was playing and having a blast...the last thing on his mind was whether he could see the picture on the front of his shirt.  In my mind, the other mom just couldn't stand the fact that James' shirt was on backwards and couldn't contain herself...she had to fix it.  This bothered me for a few reasons: 1) James probably felt self conscious having someone else fix his shirt. 2) Honestly, there was nothing wrong with how James was wearing his shirt and it wasn't harmful to him or anyone else. 3) I would never alter a child's clothing who is not my child unless they specifically asked me to. 

Perhaps I am taking the situation too seriously, but I didn't think the reaction from the other mom was warranted.  Of course I am not going to say anything or make a big deal about it, so instead I am choosing to vent here.

My Little Superheroes

Halloween is coming up, and we have already jumped into the holiday with a harvest party this past weekend.  Then we have a Halloween party with our moms group on Friday.  On top of all the parties, our family will need to make a trip to a pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins to carve with the boys.  As far as Halloween goes, our plan is to make homemade pizza, probably a salad or some other sides, a dessert and then trick-or-treat around the neighborhood for however long the boys can last.  We invited family members to join us for the evening.

Anyway...this year we have three adorable little superheroes for Halloween.  Our aunt gave us some costumes from her neighbor, and although they were a little big, I made some modifications, so the older boys could each wear one.  That was nice because we only had to purchase one costume at regular retail price.  James is Spiderman, Sam is the Hulk, and David is Superman.  They are the most handsome superheroes ever!  But, of course, I am quite biased. 

Amazingly all the boys handled being dressed in their costumes the whole party long this weekend.  Granted they didn't wear the masks, but we really didn't expect them to.

Night Time Wakings

In our home there are a few different reasons we are woken during the night.  The most common waking is due to David needing a bottle. I was told at David's four month appointment that he really should be sleeping through the night without needing a bottle, but David hasn't gotten that message.  I am up with David at least once but sometimes twice throughout the night.  Granted, there have been two times David did sleep the whole night through.  I am hoping once we start rice cereal (which we were given permission for), David will last longer between feedings, but we will see.

A second reason we are woken is for James to go potty.  I am glad he knows he has to use the restroom, and generally he does that all on his own, but he does like someone to tuck him back in, so there are not any "holes" in the blankets.  James wants his blanket to cover the entire sheet...if any sheet can be seen, it is a "hole" James wants fixed.  It may seem ridiculous but it can seriously stress out the little guy.

Then this weekend we discovered a new reason we are woken from restful sleep.  My husband and I went on a date Friday night...just dinner, getting my rings cleaned and dessert.  The boys were all in bed sleeping when we returned home.  Well...Sam happened to wake up, and he had to make sure we were back home, so he came out of his room and hunted us down.  It then took us about a half hour to get Sam to stay in his bed and go back to sleep.  I hope this isn't a continuing trend on date nights in which Sam is put to bed before our return...although it is kind of sweet all at the same time.

Sleeping Styles

Both my husband and James are the type of sleepers that pretty much stayed in the exact same position all night long, and they both also fall asleep fairly quickly.  The exception to falling asleep quickly are the days James takes a nap.  Right now he is in an in between stage where some days he desperately needs a nap and other days he does just fine without one.  However, the days James takes a nap, he then stays up at least a couple hours later than he normally would.  I mean...we still do the bedtime routine, and he is put in bed, but he will come out several times to use the restroom or just be talking all silly in his room.

Sam and I, on the other hand, take awhile to fall asleep and we toss and turn a good amount of the night.  I cannot stay in the same position all night, and I know Sam moves a lot because each time I enter his room to get David or put David back in bed, Sam has shifted around.  Also today Sam woke up from his nap and was snuggling me and fell back asleep, and he moved around like crazy trying to settle in.

Thankfully so far none of us snore!  : )

David's 4 Month Appt.

Today David had his four month check up.  Everything was pretty normal as far as pediatric well child visits go.  However, David did receive a breathing treatment to see if it cleared up his raspy breathing.  It made a significant improvement externally, but internally the improvement was only slight...which could just be from the steam clearing away mucus.  We are going to just watch and see...perhaps the raspy breathing will go away on its own, perhaps it will get worse or perhaps it will stay the same.  David also got two shots and one liquid vaccine. 

We did discuss the fact David should now be sleeping through the night without waking for a bottle feeding.  I was given some information to help progress towards that direction.

Height: 27 in. (99th percentile)
Weight: 17 lbs. 6 oz. (86th percentile)
Head Circumference: 43 cm. (87th percentile)

Our little boy is growing like a weed!

A Family Renunion of Sorts

This Saturday we were fortunate to meet and spend several hours with the two families that have James' and David's adopted brothers.  The other two families have been in relationship for a few years now, so they know each other quite well.  We were not only new to the group, but we are also the family with the most and youngest of all the children...as well as the youngest set of parents which the oldest set felt the need to point out.

The night before our meeting, we sat with James after Sam was in bed and talked to him about his brothers and how we would be seeing them at a park the next day.  We used the term "faraway brothers" to help with James' understanding.  He liked looking at their pictures of his brothers, and he wanted to see where they lived, so my husband pulled up a map and showed him.  We left plenty of time to ask questions, and mostly James wanted to know why his brothers lived faraway.  He said it wasn't nice that they lived far away.  James is excited that one of his brothers has a farm though.  Some day in the future, we will have to try to visit them at their home because James would really enjoy that.

At the beginning on Saturday, it was a bit awkward all the way around.  Here we were trying to converse with the families that have our sons' brothers and at the same time trying to pull James and Sam out of the shy shell they had hidden in.  I would say for the first half hour or so, James just did his own thing and didn't care to interact with any of the new people. 

Thankfully we had thought to bring along the boys' two Tonka dump trucks and one cement mixer because this is what bonded James and his older brothers for most of the day.  It was amazing to see them all interacting together.  James didn't want to leave when we finally said goodbye, but it was getting late, and nap time had passed a long time ago.

James has already been asking when he will see his brothers again.  He recounts part of their day together, and it is very sweet.

I am so happy we have been able to establish a relationship with these other families.  I know it will be beneficial to James and David as they get older.  We have essentially increased our extended family in a way only adoption can do.  Adoption is beautiful in so many ways, and this is just one of them.

Pregnant Belly

One of my friends is pregnant with her second child.  We saw her and her daughter today, and after the children had played for awhile, I went to change David's diaper while my friend watched over my other two (she had offered, so I took her up on it).  When I came back, I discovered James had asked her "What is in there?" pointing at her pregnant belly.  I am happy with how he phrased his question because it could have been quite awkward if he had asked the same thing differently.  She explained to him that a baby was in there...Anna's baby brother.  My friend even let James touch her belly.

I expected more questions to come up regarding babies in bellies, but for the most part James let it rest.  In the car he asked again about her belly, so I told him that a baby was in there...Anna's baby brother...babies grow in bellies.  Then James asked "they take the baby out of the belly?"  I told him, yes, when the baby is ready, they would take him out of the belly.  I didn't have to explain anything regarding James growing in a belly (or any of my kiddos for that matter) although I was prepared to answer those questions once James took notice and was asking about my friend's pregnant belly.

Overview of our Week

Life has kept me a little busy as you can tell by my lack of  blog postings.  I figured while I have a spare moment I will come on and give a quick update of our week thus far.

Saturday:
My husband did a mud run with some coworkers.  My parents, my brother and nephew joined us (my boys and me) for a local fire station community event.  There was a pancake breakfast for a nominal fee, and all the kids were free.  Then there were several activities (fire station tour, allowing kids to use the fire hose to put out fire on a wooden house (the flames were wooden and fell down when the hose blasted them), allowing the kids to use a fire extinguisher to put out fires, allowing the kids to sit on the fire trucks and fire boat, etc.)  We had a blast!

Sunday:
We mainly stayed at home and worked on stuff around the house to get ready for our home appraisal.

Monday:
We continued working on the house to get ready for the appraisal.  Monday night my husband and I attended foster care training on FASD.  The video that was shown was actually pretty decent and informative.  In the past some of the videos have been quite lame, for lack of a better word.

Tuesday:
The appraiser came out, so I took the boys to the kids gym to play with some friends.  They had a blast on the gymnastic equipment.  James also had his first group swim lesson that evening.  Only one girl was in his class with him although one more child could add in as well.  He is doing a great job putting his head in the water and getting accustomed to everything.

Wednesday:
Today was James' day to have lunch with Daddy, so we had a low-key morning at home.  James and Daddy went out to lunch.  Then in the evening I took James to see "Finding Nemo" in 3-D (we got free tickets via some Disney DVD's we had purchased).  This was James' 2nd time to see a movie in the theater.  Daddy took him to see Madagascar 2 a few months back.

Thursday:
Another low-key day at home because I needed to make some chocolate chip walnut cookies for my husband to take into work tomorrow...it is their last day with their current manager (whom everyone loves).  My husband asked, and his manager's favorite desserts were either chocolate chip walnut cookies or lemon bars, and I needed to make enough for 20+ people, so I went with the cookies...not to mention we had almost everything on hand to make those.  Today is the first day we purposefully allowed James to stay up and not take a nap.  Last night was so rough with getting him to finally go to sleep, so we decided perhaps he is ready.  Today is our trial run.  So far James is handling it really well.

2 Dental Cleanings

This morning James and Sam had an appointment to get their teeth cleaned.  Yesterday I got a call from the dental office saying they had checked our insurance and Sam wasn't listed on it.  They asked for my husband to contact the HR department to get it sorted out. Originally my husband was told it would be 3-6 months for Sam to be added to the dental benefits, so I went ahead and rescheduled Sam's dental appointment three months out.  Later that afternoon, my husband got a response saying the HR representative had contacted the dental insurance directly and had Sam added to our insurance, and he could see a dentist any day now.  After that I contacted the dental office again and rescheduled Sam for this morning.  What a fiasco!

So...anyway...this morning we walked over to the dental office, and the boys had fun playing while I signed some paperwork and gave our adoption order to the dental office, so Sam's information could be changed on his file.  James had some x-rays taken of his teeth, and both boys were allowed to pick out a sticker.  James choose a Cars 2 sticker while Sam went with a Disney princess (even though the lady had tried to hide the princess stickers under other boy type stickers).

James had his teeth cleaned first followed by Sam.  Both of them did an amazing job!  Then we waited for the dentist to come and inspect their mouths.  Both boys have nice, healthy gums and their teeth look well cared for.  It is not always easy to get the boys' teeth brushed, so it is nice that our efforts are noticed. 

I am proud of how well my two boys did at the dental office.  I was also happy that David stayed content in the Bjorn the whole dental visit.  After the dental visit, the boys and I walked to a nearby store, and I allowed them each to pick out a toy truck for doing such a wonderful job.  They also got their new toothbrushes, toothpaste and a balloon at the dental office, so they were happy boys.  I was a happy mom to hear their mouths looked good.  : )

Swim Lessons

Last night I took James to a free trial swim class at a nearby indoor swimming school.  This was a thirty minute one-on-one swim time to allow the child and parent to see if they want to invest in lessons.  James was so excited about his swim class, he insisted we left immediately after Daddy came home from work although we had time to spare.  It probably wasn't too bad getting there early because it allowed James a chance to check out the facility and watch other children having their swim lessons.  James kept asking "Is it my turn now?"

When it was James' swim time, I walked him into the pool area to meet his teacher.  She asked some questions about his swim/pool experience to get an idea of where to start.  Then I exited the pool area (parents are requested not to be in the pool area during swim time, but there are plenty of windows surrounding the pool area to observe the lessons from) and took up a seat with a good view.  It was fun to see the delightful smiles cross James' face during his swim time.  I could tell a couple times James was telling his teacher "I want to do that" and pointing at a child who was doing the backstroke on their own or diving off the edge of the pool.  You could see the teacher laugh and tell him something.  She did let him jump into the pool before his time was over, and James was super excited about that.  He talked about "making a big splash" afterward.

James had a blast and wanted to return for more swimming, so we went ahead and enrolled him in swim classes.  He will have a half hour time block once a week for eight weeks.  We signed him up for group lessons (3 students max) because it was more financially affordable.  Also we opted for once a week instead of twice a week because we feel that might be a little much...not necessarily for James (although that may be true to) but for us transporting him and giving up those evenings each week.  If for some reason, James is not retaining what he learns at swim class, we may have to consider increasing his lessons to twice a week, but we are hoping once a week will be plenty.

Sam's 18 Month Check Up

This morning I took Sam to his 18 month check up.  This is the first time Sam has gone to the doctor since his adoption was finalized, so we got to go to the pediatrician in town who our oldest son sees.  That was nice because the doctor's office is only a five minute drive from the house.  Unfortunately, the doctor's office was a little more backed up than usual, but Sam and I entertained ourselves looking at the pictures of animals on the wall and practicing their sounds.  The doctor was happy with how Sam is doing and didn't have any concerns.

Height: 2' 9.5" (73rd percentile)
Weight: 26 lbs. 14.3 oz. (77th percentile)
Head Circumference: 48 cm. (61st percentile)

Sam did get the last of his Hep A shots today, but we opted out of the flu shot since last time our whole family ended up with the flu afterward.  Poor Sam wasn't happy about his shot (who can blame him!?), and he called out for "Dada" when it was all over.  I imagine if the roles were reversed and Daddy was there helping hold him down, he probably would have called out for me instead.  I am just glad he only had to get one shot.

After Sam's appointment, we stopped at the bank to deposit some checks and get some grocery money for the month.  Then we made a quick stop at a store to get overnight diapers for both Sam and David.  I am hoping overnight diapers might help David sleep better because when he wakes up, his diaper is quite full, so I wonder if that is waking him up over actually being hungry.  Either way it is worth a try to see if it helps or not.  I also allowed Sam to pick out a treat at the store for doing so well at the doctor's office.  He wanted pretzels, so I let him choose, and he picked out a box of Annie's Organic snack mix, and I was fine with that.

3 Parties, 1 Day

Yesterday was a busy day which consisted of three parties.  The day started with a birthday party for twin boys who we have play dates with.  Technically we met this family through our old Bible study, and it just happened that our kids play pretty well together.  It was a home birthday party with a big monster truck bounce house set up in the backyard.  There was a breakfast spread to eat and lots of adults and small children to talk with or watch.  We got to see some people we hadn't seen in a long time, so that was really nice.

Then shortly after naps we headed over to our church for the 25th anniversary neighborhood block party.  Once again there were more bounce houses and inflatable slides for the little kids and several other options for older teens and adults as well as food vendors.  It was a HOT afternoon though, and the lines were pretty long, so we only lasted about an hour before our boys were ready to leave...which actually worked out well because we were able to grab some dinner before going to our aunt's house to celebrate Grandpa's birthday.

Thankfully the last party was a small family get together to celebrate Grandpa's birthday although technically my birthday and cousin Josh's birthday were also mentioned.  The boys were able to run around and have fun and then have some cake and ice cream before getting ready to head home to go to sleep.

It was a rather busy day, so today we are having some down-time at home to recoup.