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!!!

Somebody Please HELP!!!

To say that Peyton is going through a stage is an understatement!!!  4 years and 8 months old and he thinks he know everything!!!  I am beyond exhausted with this child.  He seems to be going through a very rebellious stage at this point and Kevin and I are trying to figure out why.

We are starting to implement a few techniques into our day and see if this will help at all!  We shall see!

As for Maddox, he is doing great.  Walking everywhere, trying to run and just being his sweet little soul!!  He is learning to talk a bit.  So far he can say momma and dada.  Those two he is fluent in:)  He does understand a lot.  IF you ask him to go get an object he will!  He loves to wave bye-bye and blow kisses to everyone.  He has decided that he doesn't like to eat anymore which is a ginormous change for him!  He used to eat everything...now he is soooo picky!

It snowed here on Friday and Peyton thought is was amazing!  Kevin and Peyton went out Friday night and went  snow surfing (we used a boogie board as our sled.)  It was very entertaining.  We took Maddox out on Saturday morning and he didn't mind it at all.  We bundled him up and he looked like an abominable snowman....so cute!  He tried walking in the snow but it was quite difficult for him, so we toted the two of them around on the boogie board down to the beach!  I love the way the snow looks on the beach!

We have two birthdays coming up this week...Noni turns 60 on FRIDAY and Kevin turns 35 on Saturday!  Woohoo can't wait to celebrate!!

wowzers...

SO far behind as always!!

Just wanted to make note of a few things for my knowledge...
MDR got his fifth tooth on Friday December 28.  He had a horrible couple of days with an upset belly, which lasted about 7 days.  He was very crabby...maybe a touch of the stomach bug.  We took him to Dr. JOhn and the very next day he was back to normal!  LOVE THE CHIROPRACTOR!!!

Peyton had a blast at the great wolf lodge with his cousins!  He talks about it every single day!!  He loves his cousin and thinks he is a part of their family.  He actually spent most of Christmas Day with them at their house.

Speaking of Christmas, we had a great day.  Lots of toys, food and family!!  Unfortunately everyone (but our family) was sick starting Christmas night!!  Somehow we managed to escape it and I hope it continues that way!

My parents and Emily came to town to celebrate on Thursday December 27th but had a short trip once Emily started feeling bad!!  Short but sweet is what we will say.  The kiddos had a great time and Peyton was sad that they had to leave.

New Years Eve, very low key!  We went and had some Mexican and came home!  Party Animals here!!  I think we were in the bed and asleep by 9:30!  And I would not trade it for the world!

Catch up

Wow...it has really been an entire month since I updated the blog!  Time sure has flown by...and with the holidays I can't find a spare minute to do anything! 

We have been super busy...lots of happenings going on...we are in the midst of selling one of our frozen yogurt shops and bringing new partners aboard on our other location! 

Thanksgiving was such a wonderful time, full of super yummy food thanks to Nana!  Everything was simply delicious! 

The kiddos are growing like crazy.  Peyton is 4 1/2 and he tells everyone:)  He has his flu vaccine today and was not happy at all about that!  He is doing wonderful in school these days.  He LOVES it and that makes me feel at ease about it.  He is anxiously anticipating Christmas.  Buddy the elf came back the day after Thanksgiving and has been up to all kinds of fun things since being back.  Peyton loves waking up and coming to find him every morning.  He loves Santa Claus this year.  He actually went to sit on his lap at the mall...we were shocked.  But it did happen! 

Maddox on the other hand...hates Santa!  Simply put, I no more detached him from my  hip to sit him down and screaming he did!!!  So it looks as if we will get no santa pictures with him this year.  He is walking everywhere. He really took off Thanksgiving day.  Just decided it was time and off he went.  He is still his adorable little self that will eat almost anything you put in front of him.  He is waving bye-bye now and loves to blow kisses.  Each night he will blow us a kiss when we tell him it is bedtime!  Too cute:)  Still only saying mama, dada and grunting for everything else...Kind of how he tells us what he wants.

Kevin is in the Bahamams for the week and we are headed to NC to visit.  Peyton is super excited to visit his Noni and Popi!  Hopefully we can get some pictures up soon!  Quick recap of our life at the moment!!

Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween...A WEEK LATE!!!

MDR birthday celebration in VA

The Hungry Caterpillar Bash in VA!!

Can't believe this little guy is 13 months old!!!

MDR is 1...his birthday pics from NC

Only a month late...but a few pics from  his birthday celebration in NC!!  As you can see, he thoroughly enjoyed his Mickey Mouse Cake!!

4th tooth

MDR's fourth tooth has popped through this week!  The top right one came through Tuesday October 30.  He had been such a pill the past couple of days so we knew it was only a matter of time!  He is back to being his normally happy self.  Still trying to master walking.

We have a walker!!!

I can hardly believe that I am typing that....Maddox has started taking more and more steps each day! It all really started last Friday evening when we were visiting Mimi!  He was down on the ground and we stuck our hands out and he took about two steps!  Each day he progresses a bit more.  He does really well and then seems to get tickled with himself.

I can hardly believe my tiny baby boy is well on his way to being a toddler!

a few more milestones

So Maddox has been growing up way too fast lately...

Last Thursday October 11was the last time Maddox nursed!  With Peyton, he nursed at least once a day until he was 15 months old.  I must say I never imagined we would ever make it to the one year mark, but we did.  He had only been nursing once a day for quite a while so I was expecting it not to last too much longer!  Another chapter has closed~

Also, as of today, his top left tooth has finally poked through!  THANK GOODNESS!!!  He woke up yesterday with a fever of 102 and was extremely fussy and cranky and clingy!  I immediately thought it was teeth so I just let it run its course and gave him plenty of motrin.  Today he was eating an finally let me feel and there it was!!

Now off to decide what to be for halloween!!!

Oops!!!

So yesterday I totally forgot a few important things about Maddox.

He has his two bottom teeth and I think his top left isn't too far behind.
He loves to cruise on the furniture but still a bit apprehensive to let go and do it solo!  He stands perfectly and will "try" to walk.  It really is falling with style:)
He says mama and dada all the time.  He knows who Peyton is but not yet said his name.
He loves playing with any type of ball!
He is sleeping through the night and has been for a while.  He goes to bed between 8:30 & 9 and gets up between 7-8.
He normally cat naps in the morning and takes an afternoon nap between 2 and 3 which normally lasts about 2-3 hours.

I think that may be it... Probably not but for now!

MDR is 1!!!!

My precious little bundle of joy turned one on Sunday,  I can hardly believe that I just typed that!  It truly seems like yesterday we were in the midst of a horrible nightmare.  Seriously the longest two weeks of my life when Maddox was in the NICU.  Between him being there and Peyton and Kevin driving back and forth to Virginia...somedays I just look back and think how much we actually went through!  

Maddox had a fabulous birthday weekend!  We started the celebration in Winston Salem on Friday night where we had NC BBQ and A Mickey Mouse cake!  Maddox really got into that one!  He was covered in icing and he loved very minute of it!  The next day we headed to the fair and walked around and had turkey legs, ice cream and of course chocolate covered frozen bananas!  DELICIOUS!!!!  

Sunday was his actual birthday and we drove back to VA and went to the Elmo show.  We were exhausted but the boys had a blast!!!

One more celebration and that was last night for the family in VA!!!  We had chicken bbq( I am noticing a trend here) and of course cake and ice cream!  The theme this go round was the very hungry caterpillar.  The cake was too cute!  Pics to come later!

As for Maddox...he is doing great.  We had a check up on  Tuesday and he is doing great!
Weight: 15lbs 13oz (7%)
Height: 28 inches (3%)
He would seriously eat all day!  His most favorite foods are yogurt, bread, fruit of any kind...the list could go on and on.  He is a great eater.  
He is still wearing cloth diapers but when we do use disposable he wears a 3.
Clothes we are in 6-12 months
He has a head full of hair and looks just like his brother!  

What a sweet baby boy we have!  Seriously can't remember our lives before the little guy.

Back from Vaca...

I always love getting away, even if it is only for a few days!  We went to Myrtle Beach last Tuesday with my parents and had a nice relaxing time.  The weather was great but the pool water was CHILLY!!!  It didn't stop Peyton though!  He loved every second of it.

He has commented many times about how much he misses Myrtle Beach which is funny since we live in a mini Myrtle Beach!!  We enjoyed some fun times, great food and a nice break!  The boys did wonderful and Peyton has fallen in love with Miniature Golf (Putt-Putt).

While we were there, Maddox got his second tooth.  Bottom left (or maybe right)!  SO he has two teeth and I am betting the top two are very close behind!  He has been a pill ever since we came home:)  We also have a brand new nephew....Fisher Max Hutchinson was born the Sunday!!  What a cutie he is!  Peyton has asked me several times every day, can we go see Meggie's baby or can we go see Fisher Max!  It is soo cute!!!

Quick update...Maddox will be turning 1 next Sunday!  I am simply shocked that my baby boy is almost 1!!!  We are headed to NC next week to have a reunion with our NICU nurses and then going to the FAIR!!! Which we missed last year:)  Then back to VA for another birthday for the little guy!  Hopefully I can find 5 mins to update after all our parties!

Comparison

Somedays I can totally see it..but other not so much!!

Peyton at 11 months 

Maddox at 11 months