Speech and more....

C had another session this week with his teacher. He is doing so well and we are so impressed with how far he has come in such a short amount of time. He is now saying mama and dada consistently. He also has expanded his signing language. It is so cute to see him sign thank you. As he signs thank you he uses his inflections to say thank you. We are so excited to hear him start to try to talk. We have been teaching him through music. He loves to listen to music and has a few songs from his teacher that he loves to listen to. We play them over and over and over again, all day long.

We are getting ready for Christmas. It sure is a big task every year but I wouldn't have it any other way. This has to be my most favorite time of year. I do over extend myself every year and every year I say I won't do it next year. Well shocking but I did over extend myself once again this year. I always survive and I will this year too. We leave for Milwaukee tomorrow evening. We are all so excited to spend the weekend with Zak, Susan, Lydia and Helena. It will be so much fun to see the cousins play together. Hopefully the weather is nice so we can get outside some too.

Auntie Alli is coming home! We can't wait to see her either. We are hopeful that we will get to visit with her on Sunday when we return from Milwaukee. It has only been a few weeks since we saw her in Michigan but it still feels like it was months ago. I am so glad that she will be home for a few weeks. We have lots of movies we need to watch, talking we need to do and Wii games to play. I expect to see lots of Alli and I can't wait!! We now have a bunk bed for her to sleep in so she should be all set.

Uncle Graham will be home as well! We haven't scene Uncle Graham in a long....LONG time! I know that Auntie Patsy can't wait for him to come home tomorrow evening. I can't imagine being without my husband every night. It will be nice for all of us to have time as a family, if Sean will share his daddy for a little while ;)

Christmas seems to sneak up faster and faster every year. I remember as a child it took forever to come. Now that I have children of my own I would like time to slow down some. I just want to bottle up these last few weeks to enjoy them a little longer. The long winter sets in January 2nd!!

Here are the pictures I promised from Santa. We sure had a great time.

Back into the swing of things!

It sure was a long emotional week last week. Good byes are so hard but we know Grandpa Chuck is in a great place now!! It was wonderful to see all the cousins that we don't always get to see. We even got to spend a little time with Lydia and Helena. It is amazing how big they are both getting. We miss them so much and wish we could see them more often. E and Lydia had a great time playing together.

This week is going by quickly. We are back into our schedule and crazy routine. Today was C's first appointment with the ECSE specialist. He did pretty well for his first visit. The other kids were very curious and I quickly learned that this may be a challenge having all the distractions around. We are going to see how the next few visits go and may have to ask someone to come help with the daycare kids. We shall see how it goes. They all may get use to it and then it won't be a big deal. I can't wait for C to start talking. We are teaching him some more signs and he is picking them up pretty fast. It takes a lot of patience to deal with a child that constantly whines and doesn't know how to tell you what he wants. We are working through it and my expectations are high with the specialist. I just hope we can have some words by the end of the year. No pressure though ;)

Developmental Delay

We have been meeting with ECSE for a month now. C has been evaluated, observed and tested by a few people including a speech therapist. I had a meeting with the team this afternoon and it has been determined that C does have a developmental delay in his communication. What this means is that he is below average on where he is suppose to be at his age. They are going to be coming to our house once or twice a week to work with C to get him talking. This is great news! I am so glad that I was not told that I just have to give it time. I am glad that our pediatrician listened to my concerns at C's 15 month appointment. C doesn't say anything right now. He babbles some but that is what a 8 month old does. I can tell that he gets frustrated that he can't talk to us or tell us what he really wants. When he needs something he whines, cries or tries to pull me to what he wants. It is frustrating for all of us. I am so glad that he is going to have some help and maybe we can get some words out of him before he is two!! The team of people that will work with him have great ideas on how to get him talking. They know what they are doing because they do this every day. I can't wait to see the improvement. I am sure C will be so happy to be able to tell us what he wants!

Busy Otto's

We are constantly on the go lately with sports, dance and running errands! It seems that we aren't home in the evenings as much as I thought we would be once school started. The cutest moment of the week is a phone call to Auntie Alli! My kids ask about her every day and miss her so much. C just lights up when we call her on skype and he can see her. He grins from ear to ear and wants to crawl through the computer. This week C has been battling another cold. He was so crabby yesterday. Auntie Alli called on my cell and he wanted to say hi to her. Instead of talking he waved at the phone. I decided to call her on skype so he could see her. He sat at the kitchen table like a big boy and waved, smiled and tried to crawl into the computer. It was the happiest he had been all day! Thanks Auntie Alli!!

I am hoping to have a quiet weekend but we shall see. It starts that way and something always comes up. Here are some recent pictures of the kids.

Look at that face! Can you tell he loves ice cream cones?

E all ready for dance

B's soccer picture

Fun weekend

This weekend we were finally home. We didn't have any plans so we got some things finished around the house! It was perfect. I really enjoyed finishing up the outside work and then organizing the inside. It always makes me feel better to check things off my long list of things to do!! We moved B to the basement bedroom Saturday. He loves it. We weren't sure how it would go and if he would like being in the basement. I wasn't sure I would like him that far away either. Well we all did great. He woke up Sunday morning and couldn't wait to move all his toys to his new bedroom. We spent the day yesterday moving everything into his room and getting him all settle. Now I just need to figure out a color to paint it and he will be set.

Saturday night we had movie night for the kids and the neighborhood kids. It was a lot of fun. I set out sundae fixings and let the kids make their own ice cream sundaes. They thought it was the best that they could put as many sprinkles, m&ms, chocolate sauce or anything else on as they wanted. My son called his a lava pile and piled on the chocolate syrup! They ate their sundaes outside and then we watched the movie. It was so much fun! I made them popcorn half way through so they had another snack. I don't think any of the kids went home hungry ;) After the movie was over Nick set them up with the Wii. It is so cute to see them all play and have so much fun. We will definitely have another movie night at our house!

Our weekend ended with soccer last night. Now we start the busy schedule again this week. E has dance tonight so here we go again! It never ends but at least our weekends aren't as busy now.

Weekend pictures

Home Sweet Home

Charlie was released from the hospital this morning. He had a great night! He slept form 7:30pm until 4:30am when the nurses started to poke at him. It was so nice that he was able to get some sleep. He didn't need any more breathing treatments after 2:30pm yesterday. The steroids they gave him did the trick. He had some more steroids before bed as well. He never spiked another fever and his breathing is back to normal. What a scare he gave us! The nurse we had admitted to us this morning they were really nervous with his breathing yesterday. She said that she thought if he wouldn't have had the steroids we may still be there today. PHEW! We are so glad that everything worked out okay. I am exhausted! I think I have been awake since Thursday at 5am! I am so thankful that we still have another day to recover before getting back into work. We are going to have a very VERY low key holiday weekend, what's left of it anyway!

Hospitalized :(

C had to be hospitalized this morning because of his breathing from the croup. He was having such a difficult time breathing all night. We tried all the tricks. We had a vaporizer in his room for the humidity, Nick sat with him outside in the cold air, I had sat with him in the steamy bathroom earlier in the day but nothing seemed to help. We brought him into the ER at 6:30am and the doctor ordered breathing treatments. C had a chest x-ray and everything from that looked good. His breathing wasn't getting any better so the pediatrician on-call admitted him for observation in hopes that we would be going home for supper. C has had to have breathing treatments every 2 hours since we got here. He hasn't slept more than an hour in two days and is just miserable. He is finally sleeping with Nick and the nurses are letting him rest. We are hopeful the breathing treatments will start to get more spread out now! C and I will be staying for the night. One of the grandparents will most likely have B and E for the nigth but we haven't decided yet. There is nothing worse then listening to your baby struggle to breathe! The pediatrician will not send him home until he doesn't need a breathing treatment for 6-8 hours.

Croup

My poor C has Croup! B and E have never ever had Croup before so this is a first for us. Hopefully this is the worst sickness we get this fall/winter! C was horse yesterday but I just assumed he was getting a cold. By 8pm he was wheezing some so I called my dad. He said just to watch him and as long as he is running around and doesn't have a temp he should be okay. Nick and C laid together in a basement until about midnight. When C came up stairs I could really hear that he was having trouble breathing. At about 12:30am I decided to bring him to the ER and get it checked out. When we got there the Doctor said immediately that it was Croup. He gave him some steriods and a few breathing treatments. Then we were on our way home at about 3am. Of course C was wide awake and didn't think he needed to go to bed. I was up and down with him the rest of the night. Poor kid. I took him to our Pediatrician this morning who I absolutely love! He reassured me that C was fine and that this cold just had to run its course. My mom watched B and E while I took C to the doctor. When I got all the kids back home to our house Mary, Nick's mom, was in the driveway. She took B and E with her for the rest of the day and night. THANK YOU! What a blessing to have family so close. The kids love going to the lake. Even though B was disappointed that our plans for the day had changed I know he will have a blast with Nana and Papa at the lake! C is crabby and not sure what he wants. He needs to sleep but is refusing at the moment. He can't breathe very well at all. Just like everything else...this too shall pass!

Go Vikes!

We took the kids on a walk tonight and then played at the park. We had to get home in time to watch the Vikings Preseason game. The kids were excited to watch the game and wear their jerseys. Check out the red cheeks on those kids. We played hard outside! They sure look cute in their jerseys though!!

15 Months...

Where does the time go? I can't believe C is 15 months already. I am a little late posting this but better late than never ;) C is growing up so fast. He runs all over and wants to be right in the middle of everything. He isn't talking yet and that is concerning to me. B and E were talking up a storm by 15 months and C doesn't say much of anything. He has gotten really good at signing but I would like to hear him talk. I mentioned my concerns to the pediatrician and he was also concerned. C use to say mama and dada and no longer even says that...well until yesterday! His pediatrician said that he would rather be proactive about it and get him in to see a Audiologist to make sure he is hearing okay. He is also having a nurse from the school district come out and make sure that he is developing where he should be. The doctor wasn't worried but wanted to make sure that we weren't missing something. He said that we could just let it go and see how he is in a few months but he would rather not wait. Most kids don't start talking as early as B and E so C isn't behind for the normal range just behind for my range ;) C also competes with 2 older siblings and 6 other daycare kids during the day. This might all be a factor in his talking. We shall see. He sees the Audiologist on September 14th. He is growing perfectly. We no longer have to be concerned with him not gaining enough weight. He has caught up and is doing great. Here are his statistics compared to E (I misplaced B's information :( ):

E Height: 30 1/2" - 70%
Weight: 25lbs 9oz - 85%
Head: 18" - 50%

C Height: 31 1/4" - 56%
Weight: 25lbs 6oz - 63%
Head: 19 1/2 " - 96% (big brains ;)

Fun Weekend

We took the kids to the Mega Mall last weekend. It was a spur of the moment trip which was great! We all needed to get away for a little while. Everyone had a great time. The kids were able to ride on a lot of rides and stay up way too late. We didn't leave until 10pm! Sunday we spent the day at my parents' pool. It was a gorgeous day and it was great to be able to spend it at the pool. Hopefully we still have some more gorgeous days left this summer. They seem to be few and far between lately! Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Grandma Ruth's 90th Birthday Celebration!

This weekend was spent with Nick's family. His grandma turned 90 on Friday and there was a big party to help her celebrate. Relatives from all over the US made the journey to Mankato to be there for the party. It was a lot of fun and we were able to see a lot of family that we haven't seen in a long time. We spent the whole weekend at the lake and the weather was perfect. The kids played in the water both Friday and Saturday. B and E even went on the tube for the first time ever. I knew E would do it but was surprised when B said he would too. They both had a blast. Zak, Susan, Lydia and Helena also made the journey. It was great to see them and meet Helena. Lydia and Emma had a great time having tea parties at the lake. We hope to see everyone again very soon! Here are some great pictures from the weekend.

4th of July Weekend!

What a wonderful weekend we had. It was jam packed filled but it was a lot of fun. Friday we took the kids to their first Moondog's game. They had a blast! We went with Auntie Alli and some of our friends. It was a great way to start all the festivities of the weekend.

Saturday we spent the day at the lake. It wasn't as beautiful as we had hoped for. It seems that every time Nick and I invite friends to the lake it rains, is cloudy or is cold. We made the most of our day though. We had some friends come out for the afternoon along with my sister Patsy, Sean, Alli and my mom. We were able to go on a lot of boat rides and all the kids had a blast. Saturday night we watched the fireworks on the lake. It is so amazing to be sitting on the boat and watching the fireworks. I wish I could get a picture of all the boats that are out with us. There is over 100 boats at the minimum watching the fireworks. It is such a great site. This year the people that put it on also had WWII Planes fly over before the fireworks. It was an amazing site and the kids had a blast watching the planes. It was a late night but the kids all fell asleep on the boat during the fireworks and then again on our ride back to town.

Sunday we spent the day at the pool. It was a gorgeous day to be outside and poolside! B is quite the swimmer and loves the pool. E fell in last year so we are still working past her fears. C thinks water is the best thing ever. He would sleep in the pool if he could.

Now we are getting back to work. This coming weekend we will be celebrating Grandma Ruth's 90th birthday at the lake. It will be so much fun to see all the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and friends!

C's Ear Tubes

C had his ear tubes put in today. He did a great job. We had to wait a long time for him to have surgery. The nurse couldn't find his pre-op paperwork from the clinic. It is hard to entertain a 13 month old with minimal toys. He had two wagons, a garbage bag and a medicine box that he played with. He was quite entertained for a long time. Once he got out of surgery we didn't have to sit around at the surgery center that long. Here are some cute pictures I took before surgery:

C's Ear Update...

What a great summer we are having so far. C had an appointment the ENT today for his ears. He has had an ear infection since April that hasn't cleared. At his appointment today he still has a double ear infection. Poor baby! The Dr. would like to put tubes in. Surgery is scheduled for July 8th. Maybe when we get past the summer things will look up for our household!! We are just hopeful that the tubes will be C's saving grace. They worked well for B so we are sure the outcome will be the same for C.

This too shall pass!!