Peyton and Maddox

Just a quick update…

 

Peyton is IN LOVE with Kindergarten!  I never imagined that we would be so fortunate to find such an amazing school that he would adore as much as West Ghent!  So many new friends and he actually likes being there!  Such a blessing!

He lost his first tooth on October 10, 2013…we were at Nana and PopPop's house celebrating Maddox turning two and all of a sudden he reached in and out it came.  I think it shocked him as well as all of us!  He came home and wanted to put it beside the bed.  He was a bit nervous about the tooth fairy!  He did get $5 for his first tooth as opposed to his 1 penny that he thought he would get!

He had school pictures the very next day:)

Maddox took forever to adjust to school.  I would say about a month and then he finally got used to it!  After we got back from Disney he just decided he would like it!  Still blows my mind, but I enjoy not having to leave a screaming child two days a week!  He does take a baby with him each time, normally it is his blue bear that goes along!!

He is still struggling with speech, which is so frustrating for us, but we are working very hard each day to improve!  Our therapist still comes 2 times a month and coaches us through.  Hopefully we will see an improvement sooner than later.  

Halloween was a blast around here.  Hoping to get some pics up soon, but these two kiddos keep me busy.  We were the Toy Story family and everyone loved it!  Peyton was Buzz, Maddox was an alien, I was Jessie and Kev was Woody.  Peyton had so much fun this year and got way too much candy!

All in all we are doing great.  Looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas!!  It will be here so very soon!

School Days

So last week we started school!  I seriously cannot believe that summer is over but yet it is!  We indeed had a great summer, but I know we were all ready to enter back into a nice routine!!

We made a major change this year with Peyton and school.  We thought long and hard about homeschool due to the hours he would be in school and at one point were 100% going down that path. Then out of the blue a friend mentioned a school to us that went from 2 years to 1st grade!  The major thing for us was the hours.  At Norfolk Chrisitian, Peyton would have gone to school from 8:25-3:00!!! At West Ghent he goes from 8:45-1:30!  I personally love having my kiddos with me as much as possible...but also feel they need the interaction with others!  Also, West Ghent accepts 2 year olds...and since my sweet Maddox has yet to astound us with his vocabulary, we decided it may be a good idea to start him and get him around other kids!

So, Wednesday was Peyton's first day!  And he did amazing for going to a school where he only "kind" of knew 2 kids!  He walked in and sat down and started his work.  HE LOVES SCHOOL!!!  He walks right into class and sits down and barely notices we are gone!  I love this...such a 180 from the past two years.  But I will take it!

On the other hand, Maddox had his first day on Thursday.  He only goes two days, Tuesday and Thursday and only from 9-12.  Bless his sweet heart.  The teachers told me he cried off and on all day, but that is only to be expected from him since he has been by my side and his brothers since day 1.  He will adjust, I am sure!  So we will try again tomorrow and hoping he has a better day!!  Fingers crossed!

Heres to a fabulous 2013-2014 school year!

Speech Therapy

So, Maddox doesn't say much...were talking maybe a good 10 words at best!  He will definitely try to mimic you, but if you ask him to say "dog" it comes out as "du."  Not exactly what you would expect from a 21 month old.  I think Peyton was speaking in sentences by now.  I know they are all so very different, but it is so hard not to compare the two.

Anywho, back to therapy...when we went in for Maddox's 18 month check up the doc asked us about his speech and I told her he was saying mama, dada, this and a few others that we can understand but others not so much.  So, she is extremely proactive with her kids so she referred us to therapy.

About two weeks ago we went for our first appointment where they sat Maddox in front of a mirror at a table and asked him to do a number of tasks.  Most of which he was able to perform...just without many words!  The conclusion this therapist gave was his comprehension skills are at 2 years 4 months and his expressive was at 10 months!!!  HOLY COW!  She informed me that many children perform better in their own homes (huge shocker) than they do in an office.

Which brings us to today where we met with Early Childhood Intervention.  They will come out in a couple of weeks and do another assessment on him and then come up with a plan of action in order to get my little nugget talking!

Not sure I ever updated his stats...at 18 months (really about 19 months) he was still in the 1% for weight and the 10th for height!

Update...

I feel like I have no time to catch up on the blog these days.  Lately I feel like all we do is run, run, run! I think I last updated in March and since then we have been on a few trips, ended our PreK4 year and Peyton has now become a 5 year old!

We went to New Orleans in April over my birthday and what a good time we had there.  It was definitely an experience.  We went due to Kevin having a home and bath show so the boys and I tagged along.  We did the city while he did the show.  We went to the Zoo, which was beautiful, to the Aquarium and to the Childrens Museum.  We also has a taste of alligator, the world famous beignets and pralines!  We has so much fun and look forward to another trip down!  I think Peyton's favorite part was riding the street car which we took to the Garden District and the Zoo!!

We came home and it was back to normal...Peyton's 5th birthday was May 15 and we decided not to have a huge party this year and instead took a trip to Disney!  Great decision.  To celebrate his birthday, we went to dinner with Nana, PopPop and Mimi to his favorite restaurant (Val's)!  The next night we took his cousins Cole and Bailey out to Mexican and Dairy Queen.  His actual birthday we went to The Cheesecake Factory where he got an ice cream sundae and also a nice large piece of oreo cheesecake!  He was in heaven!!!  We celebrated my birthday in New Orleans and went to Margaritaville where I was treated with an enormous brownie sundae.  He was in search for that around here...but we had to settle for the Cheesecake Factory!

We were going to take cupcakes to his classroom on Friday and celebrate with his friends when the school was hit with an outbreak of LICE!!!  I kept him out of school for about 2 weeks...I was a nervous wreck that they were going to get lice and I was not going to let that happen with our impending trip to Disney coming up on May 31!

Disney is a whole other post which will come once we get our camera back from being repaired!  It decided to die our last day in FL which wasn't a huge deal due to the nice "tropical storm" that was hitting our last day there!

In other news....Maddox is starting to potty train as of June 21.  We put the potty down and he has only had about 3 accidents!  Kevin jokes that he will be potty trained before he can talk.  He goes to speech therapy Thursday since his vocabulary is about 3 words!  No worries here...he will talk when he is ready!!  Pics and Disney adventure soon!!!

Monthly update!!

So we have been on our trip to the bahamas and it was amazing to say the least!  We did nothing but relax which was so nice!  Literally we were in the bed by 8 and some night Maddox was in the bed at 6:30!  The kids had a blast together and the views were amazing...

We are now counting down the days until we head off to New Orleans!  So excited to go and see the city!  4 weeks in counting!!

Peyton is doing great at school!  Loving every minute of it and just today asking me about Kindergarten.  I think he is going to love it once we all adjust.  He loves his brother more every day and  they play so well together.  i love watching their brotherly bond develop right before my eyes every day!

Maddox is growing up way too fast.  His hair is so long now.  I think it is time for another trim!  He has cut two more teeth just this week.  His other eye tooth and a molar on the left side.  I can't even believe he will be 18 months old. Where did that little 5 pound baby go???

Hoping to post a few pics soon....

P & M

I seriously feel as though I never have time to sit down and write what is happening with life anymore! Who knew these two adorable kiddos would keep me on the go all the time!!  

Peyton is doing great!  He is going through a stage where he wants to pick out his own clothes and sometimes our outfits can be, different!  He loves to wear ties, belts, dress shoes and button down shirts!  Kevin and I always laugh because we have no idea where he got that desire from!  He loves helping me with Maddox every single day.  He always wants to pick him up and put him where he thinks he should be!  He is extremely helpful in the mornings when we are rushing out the front door!  We had to register Peyton for Kindergarten last week.  He loves school, so I am hoping he will adjust to going 5 full days next year.  Time will tell...

Maddox is growing like crazy!  He will be 17 months in about 2 weeks...where has the time gone?  He is still not saying too much.  Just Mommy, Daddy and that is about it.  He completely understands everything you ask him to do, just doesn't use words yet.  One day they will come, 2nd child syndrome:)  He has become such a picky eater.  Actually both of my children are.  Neither of them want to eat a full meal.  They both want to snack all day long!

We are coming up a VERY busy couple of weeks in our house!  We are headed to the Bahamas for a few days next week and Peyton is beyond excited about it!  We are going with the family so he is looking forward to having all his buddies there in one spot!  6 weeks after that off to New Orleans for a couple of days and then 6 weeks after that DISNEY WORLD!!!  We just found out we will be staying on property this time!  I have never stayed on property so we are sooooo excited!  

All in all things are pretty tame around here.  Just making through 1 day at a time with these adorable kiddos!!

A day to remember

I wanted to document for myself!  Today was a huge day for Peyton!  My sweet 4 year old decided that he could walk himself to class today!  I walked him to the door but then there he went to his classroom all by himself.  I was so sad, yet at the same time so proud!  Last year I wasn't sure he would ever like school.  Today I can barely hold myself together knowing that he is 4 going on 14!!!  Time would you please just stop!!!