September Update

Things have been pretty busy around here. By the end of the day I'm too tired to think, let alone make a blog post! 1st trimester is definitely wearing me out. Thankfully it's over in a week, so maybe some energy will return. I hope! I'm 11 weeks now, 12 is usually considered 2nd trimester. Thankfully I haven't been nauseous or anything this time, just completely exhausted. I've been very hungry too, except I have a lot of food aversions and nothing we have in the house ever sounds good! Everything I'm craving is more restaurant food. Like Arby's chicken club sandwiches and Olive Garden. Yes, I have some expensive cravings this time around! Their salad and chicken fettuccine are so good! We've actually gone twice in the last couple months, but I don't see that trend continuing. It doesn't help that the boys have such a limited variety of foods they'll eat and Dan is never home at regular mealtimes because of his schedule. So I often don't have much motivation to make something just for myself. It's not like I'm gonna eat an entire hotdish and we've been running out of room in the fridge for extra containers lately. I still can't eat much ice cream. I had a bit at Mom's birthday party and it was ok but didn't taste the same. It's weird because I can eat candy and other sweets just fine, but ice cream tastes too sweet and is almost gross!

Dawson has preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. He gets on the bus at 8:30am and comes home at noon. Tuesday they both have Occupational Therapy (OT) at 11am and then Speech at 2:30pm. Wednesday is OT at 2pm. Thursday is Speech at 2pm. Mondays I keep open for medical appointments and I often have OB appointments on Thursdays. Dawson has an allergy appointment this month too. His face broke out at the state fair in the horse barn, so I want to get some environmental testing done. He already reacts to bug bites too, so I want to see what we don't know know about. I'd prefer not finding out about anything else the hard way!

Dawson is looking so much older lately I think!

Tyler is looking a bit older too, but still has that cute baby face. He's so happy to be off chemo this week!

This is their favorite thing to do. They wait for each other at the end of the slide, so they tackle each other at the bottom. Such boys! Tyler stands more to the side, but Dawson usually ends up knocking him over anyway, resulting in giggles from them both. So cute!

Since Dawson has a trike now, Tyler seems to have decided he can claim his ride on toy back.

Dawson's trike

Spent this week asking around and finding out who carries adjustable waist jeans. I did find those brands at Once Upon a Child, so he has some that should fit him now. He currently has a few pairs that fit, but those don't match much of what he has because they're red and blue. Here's Tyler's skinniest pair of jeans. They used to be Dawson's, but he never wore them because they'd cut into his belly too much. Tyler can walk right out of them!

Got a few baby items last week. One being this swing. Got it off Craigslist. Tyler is still plenty under the 25 pound weight limit, so he got to try it out. Dawson wanted to sit in it but I told him that it's for a baby. He looked over at Tyler! He still thinks of him as Baby and even calls him that sometimes. We have that habit, trying to get away from that. I also got a Baby Papasan chair and a reclining space saver high chair from a friend. I just need a couple more things as far as baby gear.

August Pictures

We went to the State Fair on August 28th. It was nice weather for it too. I was tired the whole day and Dawson had a reaction to the horse barn, but other than that it was fun. Here's Dawson after his reaction. If you look close you can see tons of bubbles all over his face, especially under his eyes.

The crowd at the fair. Very typical. We brought Dawson's monkey harness with because he wanted to walk and we didn't want to lose him. It worked out really well.

Dawson on the carousel, his first time riding by himself. It was a smaller, slower one than he'd been on before. He did great! He was waving at me in his pic, saying "Bye! See ya later!"

He liked the car rides too. He didn't smile much in the pics. Like last time, he was pretty serious but was all smiles and thanking us when he got off.

"Bye!"

What happens when you bake with a toddler. It was a ceramic (I think) flour container, a wedding gift.

 Tyler having fun on the slide. He recently started going feet first though.

Tyler is very good at climbing up to the slide. The steps are nice and wide for him. Dawson is learning patience and how to wait his turn instead of trying to pass Tyler on the steps.

Dawson giving Tyler a hug after he got up from falling over. He's so protective of his little brother, it's cute!

Dawson pushing Tyler on the swing

Dawson hanging from a bar above the top of a slide

Tyler sleeping while Dawson plays. He had already worn himself on our playground, so he didn't stay awake to make it to the playground in the middle of our walk.

 Dawson riding the car in the parking lot. It's Tyler's car and a bit small for him.

I love how he sits up so straight! Makes him look a bit older too.

They were playing on the couch. Flopping down next to each other, rolling into each other's laps. The giggles to were too cute to ignore, so I had to get some pics.

Tyler having fun on a slide

The boys on my grandma's swing

Dawson had gotten off and Tyler looked so cute crossing his legs

Baby #3

I took the test on July 30th and it was positive! A big surprise to me, even after all the signs I'd been having!

At our family reunion I had Tyler wear this shirt. I originally bought it for Dawson to announce my pregnancy with Tyler. I was happy the shirt fit Tyler so I could use it again.

Close-up of the shirt. He'd worn it all day, so had his dinner all over it by the time I got to take the pic.

I've been feeling great so far! No nausea or anything. Just a bit less energy. Before I tested I noticed I was getting a bit bloated, but didn't think much of it. A couple days before I was going to have a pop tart but when I bit into it, it suddenly tasted sickeningly sweet and I felt nauseous at the thought of even smelling it anymore! That's when I really started to wonder, since I never have food aversions unless I'm pregnant! I hadn't even missed my period yet, so I had no reason to guess before that. We're excited and a bit nervous to be outnumbered!

Speech Therapy Evaluations

It's been a busy week! Tuesday I was able to have a day of relaxation, we had my sister come over to swim with us. It was very fun, she brought a friend and the boys enjoyed all the attention. Dawson liked being held by Sarah while chased by Tony. It was nice to have an arm free too. I usually only had 1 to watch instead of both, so it was more relaxing for me. This will most likely be the last summer that I can take the kids into the pool by myself, so I'm trying to take advantage of it while I can! They are getting increasingly more independent, wanting out of their baby/toddler floaties and wanting to be held or play on the stairs. They both have toddler life vests on, but it still makes me nervous! I hope to go swimming more before Fall and hopefully Sarah will be able to come over again to swim with us. :)

Dawson had his Speech evaluation on Wednesday and Tyler's today. They are both considered severely delayed in speech and communication and will be getting Speech Therapy twice a week! I was expecting once a week. Thankfully I'm able to schedule both of them at the same time so we'll only have to go in twice a week instead of 4 times for both kids! I'm relieved about that. There are about 5 or 6 therapists they'll be working with and she said they all pretty much have the same approach, so that's good. I really liked the way she talked to Dawson and got him to listen. She didn't let him get away with anything, which he caught onto quickly. She told me right away yesterday that there would be tantrums and meltdowns but eventually he would really start improving.

Dawson was eager to come in today, even though it wasn't about him, but she brought him toys anyway so he didn't really know the difference! I could tell she was really observing Dawson as well as Tyler while she was asking me questions about Tyler. It's great seeing that she seems to really care and wanted to get a jump on things with Dawson.

Tyler on the other hand wanted nothing to do with that place. She spoke to him in the waiting room and panic set in. He screamed, wiggled and kicked all the way back to the room. He was happy to be let down with toys though. I hope he responds well, I think Dawson will do well but I'm not sure about Tyler. He's very independent with his play lately, doesn't even want me playing with his toys! If things don't go his way we see the typical pre-2 tantrum. We've been seeing more of those lately. Dawson took his blue train away from him today and it was indeed the end of the world! He did a dramatic flop to the floor, looked up to make sure one of us was looking and then layed face-down, arms out. It's just one of those things, you can either get frustrated or just roll your eyes and laugh to yourself! I personally find it amusing, I'm just waiting it out, hoping it'll stop soon.

Another thing that could stop any day now and I'd be more than happy is this heat! It's been so humid outside, I just don't feel like going anywhere! Which isn't an option since we go somewhere 4-6 days per week! This weekend we have a date night Friday, family reunion on Saturday and a get together with some friends in the cities on Sunday, so I sure hope the weather cooperates and is somewhat decent!

They took a rare nap the other day, it was so nice to have some quiet and they looked so cute sleeping by each other. I had brought them in from the car and put them both there. I figured at least one of them would get up right away but they slept for a good 30 minutes. 

Dawson and Tyler's Development

The school gave me the HELP (Hawaii Early Learning Profile) charts that they use for keeping track of development. I got them for both the boys, it's nice to be able to look and see what they need to be working on. Their original evaluations from the school were 8 months ago so I thought I'd compare how they're doing now.

Dawson was at an 8-12 month level for Language, now he's at around 18-20 months.
His Cognitive was at 18-24 months, now he's at about 23 months. He had been on the lower end of that age group.
His Social Behavior was around 12 months, now it's up to about 22 months.
Self Help was at the low end of 18-24 months before, now he's at about 23 months.
Fine Motor was around 18-24 months, now he's at about 23 months.
Gross Motor was at 24-30 months, he was right on track then. He's at a 30 month level now, so a little behind. He isn't riding a trike yet or balancing on 1 foot, which is what is holding it up.
I'm happy to see him gaining ground in all the areas, especially the speech. :)  He's currently 37 months.

Tyler is currently 17 1/2 months. He wasn't very behind in January but hasn't made much progress since then either. The chemo is known for delaying development. Here's where he's at:
His Gross Motor is around 15 months.
Social Behavior is around 12-14 months.
Fine Motor is around 10-13 months.
Cognitive is around 10-12 months.
Self Help is around 10-12 months
Language is around 4-6 months

Benton County Fair

Thursday was armband day for rides, so I decided to go that day. Since Dan was at work I called my sister to see if she could come with and help with the boys. I knew some things like the carousel I'd need to be on with them. Thankfully she said yes and we got to the fair around 6:30pm. I bought an armband for Dawson and tickets for 1 ride for Tyler, to see if he liked it. Turns out he wanted no part of it! Even sitting by Dawson he cried, so the operator got him off before he started the ride. We did use his ride ticket for the carousel though and he seemed to do ok with that. It was a fast one and I think he was getting a bit nauseous. After that he was very happy just to sit and watch the rides. He was very clingy to me though, but after a while he allowed me to put him back in the stroller. Dawson loved it, went on all the kid rides and had tons of fun. I couldn't catch many smiles in the pics, he was very into going onto the ride and then he got more serious for the ride, like he was driving or something. It was cute. I also brought Dawson in to look at some animals since Tyler isn't allowed near them. He named the animals after I told him what they were. He was excited to see some of them, like the sheep and cow because those are animals on Word World and he recognized the names. He also liked the rabbits, they were really hopping all over the place.

 Tyler finally smiled because I was playing peek-a-boo with him.

Wouldn't have been my first choice, but he wanted to go on the bus. He came running off it at the end, came over to me with a big grin and said "Thank You!". I guess he liked it, crazy boy!

Tyler watching the bus ride. Looks like he thought it was crazy too!

Tyler really enjoyed watching the rides and all the lights.

Mini ferris wheel. He loved it! Giggled on the way down everytime.

Tyler liked walking around. He'd walk a little ways away and then come back giggling at us.

He was very excited to on this. He wasn't big enough last year, but he seemed to like it this year.

Kiddie Coaster! He's in the 4th car.

Ice cream break. Yummy!

One of his favorite rides, the train! Funny thing is, he thought it was very boring last year, but now that he has trains that he plays with, the thought of riding on a train suddenly had new meaning. He rode the train about 3 times. He passed us by saying "choo-choo!" :)  He even likes looking at this pic of him in the train.

They were both good and tired by the time we got home at 11:15pm. Dawson liked having his Auntie tuck him into bed, but got up wanting to play with her a bit later. After she left, of course! I told him she left to go sleep at her house and he seemed ok with that answer. He promptly fell asleep after that!