My Baby is Getting SO BIG!

Today was a big first for my lil' Pumpkin.  It was a lot to face as an innocent two and a half year old, but she handled it like a champ!  I tried to prepare her as best as I could, but it was still a scary experience.  

Today, for the very first time, she had a check up and cleaning at the DENTIST.  

She waited oh so patiently for her turn.  She munched on cheerios, watched Madagascar, and practiced showing off her teeth for the dentist.  We talked about how her teeth were going to get cleaned, and when I asked if she was ready and excited she exclaimed, "Yeah!!" with a big smile.

Once we got back to the dental chair, however, it was a different story.

I felt so bad to see her so scared!  She loves brushing her teeth, and we talked about what was going to happen all morning, but I guess there is really no way to prepare for something so completely foreign to a two year old.

She held on to her Diego action figure, and I tried to talk to her and keep her calm.  The hygienist was great with her, and even "brushed" Diego's teeth to show her it wasn't scary.  She did GREAT until she had to suction the toothpaste out of her mouth.  That was just a little too much and she started crying.  The hygienist quickly finished and we calmed her down before the Doctor came in.

Peeking around the corner to see what else is going on!

The doctor looked as quickly as he could, and said everything looked great!  Her final molars are coming in, and although we did not get any x-rays, she did get a fantastic cleaning AND a goody bag that she has not stopped talking about.  :)

By the time we said thank you and good bye to everyone and made our way back to the car, she had completely forgotten how scary it all was and was happy to show off her new toothbrush, Spongebob toothpaste, and pearly white teeth!!

I am SO PROUD of her!!

6 Months and 18 Months

My baby doll is now 6 months old (and a few days...) and handsome Bubba is 18 months old (and then some...).  I'm a little late in updating, as it has been a CRAZY few weeks.  But finally, I am getting around to a brief update and some sweet pictures.  :)

One of the great things about these two being 12 months apart is that their wellness check-ups fall at the same time.  And anytime we can work out one less visit to the doctor is a plus for me!  So this week we loaded everybody up and headed to the doctor at 8 in the morning.  Whew!  That made for some very tired kids (and Momma), but it was nice to be done and back by 9:30 am!

This sweet little girl is now 14.5 pounds, and 24 3/4 inches long.  She's growing steadily along the growth curve exactly the way she's supposed to.

And although she's not that big, as far as 6 month olds go, she is one pound bigger than her sister at 6 months, and two pounds bigger than her brother at 6 months.  So to us, she's preciously chunky!

She's rolling pretty well, and loves to play.  She reaches out for toys, brings anything and everything to her mouth, and babbles and squeals whenever anyone talks to her.

She's working on sitting up (but not quite there), and is seriously the happiest baby I have ever, EVER seen.  :)

Her brother's check-up was not quite as good.  His blood pressure was high, so we are continuing to watch it.  We don't want to have to up his medication, but we'll see.  We now have to find a nephrologist who can monitor it and make some decisions about his meds.

My husband took him recently to a cardiologist (4.5 hours away), who told us that he should see a nephrologist.  This was frustrating news, but we'll get it straight eventually.

He is also having trouble gaining weight still, and only weighs 19 pounds.  Considering he eats well, and consumes plenty of calories, we now have to see a specialist for this too.

The doctor is concerned that perhaps he is having absorption problems, so we need to have his kidneys checked out, and whatever else that might entail.

But other than that, he is perfectly healthy, and developing well.  He sees a developmental specialist twice a month to help monitor his fine motor and speech development (this is where he struggles the most).  He tries very hard to communicate though.  He signs 3 or 4 words, and can say probably 6-8 words, but he still mostly points and grunts.  His favorite word is "uh-oh," and sometimes it simply means he dropped his toy, while other times it means, "Oops, I poured your coke on the floor!"

And he is so sweet.  He will still cuddle on my shoulder when he's tired, and he has the sweetest melt-your-heart smile I have EVER seen!  He's definitely mommy's little boy!!

At Least We Tried

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful and beautiful mothers out there!! I hope you are having a wonderful, relaxing afternoon.  I certainly am.  :)  My husband had a beautiful ring made for me that is distinctly "New Mexico," with three stones for our three beautiful babies.  The only other thing I wanted was a picture with those sweeties.  It went a little something like this...

And this...

And this...

But at least we tried.  Aren't they cute when they're tired and cranky? 

A Not So Glamorous Mommy Moment

This week, in honor of Mother's Day, my friend Brittany is posting stories of mothers and their *ahem* not  so glamorous moments on the wonderful journey of motherhood.  Today, she she featured one of my (many) stories, so if you want you can go to her site, Naturally Estes, and check it out!

I've had many fun, challenging, joyous, trying, beautiful and disastrous moments as I try to learn as I go, but my most recent moment occurred just last week at none other than Wal-Mart.  :)

Enjoy!  Be sure to enter her Mother's Day giveaway for some lovely smelly things!

Oh The Joy

Now that my son is walking (and running, and climbing...) EVERYWHERE, he has discovered a new joy, dancing and spinning in circles.  It is so cute to see him dance whenever music starts to play, and he especially loves spinning in circles, and will just laugh and laugh.

Recently, we were playing some Casting Crowns, and he started dancing in the middle of the kitchen.  He is just so stinkin' cute, I had to share the video with you.  You're welcome!  :)


(At one point, his sister joined him, and they looked like a couple of oompa loompas, but I don't have that in the video...I was laughing too hard!)

Oh, the joy of spinning in circles.  Gotta love that kid!