A Busy End to the Summer

1. Visiting Thomas

Yes...Cayden went with Mimi and Pop Pop to meet the actual Thomas the Train! Could have been the best experience of his life to date I am sure considering how in love he is with Thomas....haha! He got to take a ride on Thomas, meet Sir Topham Hatt, and even spend half the afternoon playing with train tables....all in all a wonderful day for a 2 year old little boy!

Speaking of train tables......Cayden and I probably both had the biggest meltdowns yesterday afternoon. Definitely his biggest to date. Back to the train table (which is in his playroom) ....Cay loves playing with it but he has started getting into the habit of taking off some of the tracks that are not glued down and bringing them into the living room to be with me and Emresen (knowing he is not supposed to). I understand that he doesn't want to be in his playroom by himself but Emre and I can't sit in there all day with him. So, I decide to try and come up with a solution. I went to Walmart and bought him this small Thomas train and track for him to keep in the living room. He loved it! Well, he asks if he can go play with the new train set in his playroom and I said of course...thinking that maybe he was being a little more independent ;) So, he picks up all his pieces to the track and takes them in his room. A little while later I decide to go check on him because it was just TOO quiet. Well, I walk in and this is what I see... He has pulled half of the tracks off the table and the new tracks were on it. Normally that wouldn't be too big of a deal but most of the pieces were glued down with Liquid Nails. Now how he was strong enough to pull it off I am not sure but he did it. There were wood shavings everywhere. Part of the table itself was pulled up and some of the track pieces were broken in half. I was so upset and he was so proud of himself. To make this long story a little shorter, I ended up taking away all of his trains for half of the day (That is what led to the biggest meltdown I have ever seen). Today he continued to say, "Leave tracks...Cayden, No Sir!" Shaking his little finger :)

2. Kidney Reflux

Well, Emresen has had a very eventful month. He is still doing really well and has turned into a pretty sweet little monkey. About a month ago I was having trouble getting him to eat, which I assumed was because of the acid reflux. After about three days of him eating barely anything, I took him to see the pediatrician. She decided to check his urine because she said that that can cause eating issues if there is any infection. Well, she was right. He had a UTI, which is very uncommon for baby boys. She then informs me that she wants to send us to the hospital to do further testing since it is so uncommon. She wanted to test him for something called Kidney Reflux. Pretty much when a child urinates some of it will flow back up into the kidneys if they have kidney reflux. This can lead to Kidney Failure if untreated. Well, we went to have him tested, which was an extremely unpleasant experience (poor baby) and he does have it. It is separated into grades 1-5, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. He has a 3 in his left kidney and a 2 in his right. They say that many children grow out of the lower grades by age 5 but not usually the higher ones. (1- 80% chance and 5- pretty rare to grow out of.) He is right in the middle. We went to see the a pediatric urologist and he said that it was very good that we caught it (Thank you, Lord!!) but that it is not in his favor that he will grow out of it just because it is in both kidneys. But, there is definitely still a chance. So, for now what the plan is is to keep him on an antibiotic (to keep away kidney infections) everyday for the first year of his life and then repeat the testing. If it has not shown any improvement, he wants to talk about doing surgery to have it fixed. I definitely don't like the idea of having my baby on an antibiotic for that long but you do what you gotta do. And yes....he takes medicine 4 times a day between the antibiotic and his acid reflux medicine. Poor little man!!

3. Emresen is 5 Months

Emresen turned 5 months yesterday!!! WOW! It has gone by so so fast. He is getting so big...and he looks really tall to me. He started rolling over at around 4 months and has been rolling all over the place ever since. He is sitting supported really well now. Today he started getting up on his forearms and knees. He can push up on his hands but not with his knees under him quite yet. And, he can do the inch worm all around the living room. I was so worried at first because Cayden was so fast with all of his milestones. I went and looked at Cayden's baby book and he was sitting by himself unsupported at 4 months, crawling at 5 1/2, and walking at 9 1/2. I researched a little and Emresen seems to be a little more average. It does make since though...Cay never slept so he had lots of practice time!!

Emresen at 4 months

Cayden at 4 months

Emresen at 5 months

Cayden at 5 months

4. Cayden

Wonderful little toddler as usual!!! He has turned into such a big boy. Knows a ton of colors and a lot of his shapes. We are working on the ABCs, not quite there yet!! He likes to repeat sections over and over like a broken record. Potty training has officially come to a halt. He has decided that he is quite scared of the potty. He knows when he is going he just would much rather do it in his diaper. My pediatrician told me not to push it or it would just take longer...especially if it scares him. I guess he is just not ready...which I hear it is pretty common for little boys to not train until 2 1/2 to 3. He won't be 2 1/2 until the end of November so I guess I will start really worrying then..haha! Hopefully I won't be sending him to Kindergarten in a diaper:) And while we are on the topic of school, Cayden went to his first school dance. Grammy and Pa took him to a sock hop at Grammy's school. I hear he was quite the dancer. I have a few pictures from their phone but I am not sure how to upload them on here.

Cay is attending his first wedding on Sunday. Bryan's cousin Adam is getting married. We are so excited to have Kelly a part of the family....love her!!! We did find a babysitter for the rehearsal dinner but were having some issues finding someone to keep both babies for the wedding especially with it being a holiday weekend. We are very thankful that Adam and Kelly were so sweet to let us bring Cay with us.

We took Cayden up to visit Mimi and Pop Pop at the lake. Emresen stayed home with Grammy and Pa. Cay had so so much fun on the boat!!

Mimi and Pop Pop went to Alaska and brought home Cay his own Engineer outfit!

5. Mabry Ann Wright

I have a beautiful new Goddaughter!! She was born October 24th at 6:50pm. She was 8lbs 3oz and 19 1/2 inches long. Absolutely gorgeous! I am so in love:) Cayden and Emresen came to visit in the hospital. Cay and Lainey had a great time playing while we were admiring Bree. Cayden absolutely loves his Lainey!!!

My wonderful sister-in-law, Lindsay took some beautiful pictures for Emresen's 3 month photos.

Well...It has been quite a while since I have written last. So much has happened and it has been quite a crazy month all in all.

1.The Boys

Emresen has been doing quite well!! He has turned into a pretty happy baby for the most part, all 13 lbs and 24 inches of him. The doctor bumped up his reflux medicine at his last visit and I changed the times around and he seems to be doing much better. We are hoping it continues!! He has been smiling a lot and seems to be developing a little personality of his own. Cayden has been doing really well with him...doesn't seem to get too jealous. Although on the occasion Cay will tell me that it is time for his "brudder" to go night night so that he can have Mommy's full attention.

Cay has turned into quite the talker. He is talking clearer and clearer everyday. Although sometimes he will be trying to tell me something and it takes me forever to figure out what he wants. We got him a Winnie the Pooh seat for his birthday, which is the perfect size for him. So, we have been trying to get him to sit in his seat when he is watching a movie instead of standing 2 inches from the TV (which of course is his preference). Well, the other day I say, "Cayden, why don't you go sit in your "Pooh Seat." Cayden proceeds to run around the house yelling "Pooh Seat". Which normally I wouldn't think anything about except for the fact that in "toddler talk" Cayden is leaving the "T" off the end. And you can only imagine what that sounds like....bleh!! The worst word on the face of the planet. I am about to hyperventilate as I am trying to get him to just say seat and praying that he never says that again until he can pronounce it correctly. YIKES!!

We have also been working on boys and girls. He knows that Mommy is a girl and Daddy is a boy and "brudder" is a boy and Harley is a boy and that Cayden is a boy. Although he will change his gender if it benefits him. Mommy was putting on makeup and Cayden decides he wants to put on makeup too. I tell him that makeup is for girls and of course he says, "Cayden is a girl."

We officially added a new member to the family. Dani, Cayden's babysitter and best buddy, brought Cayden a fishy for his 2nd birthday. He is so in love and has named him Memo....toddler talk for Nemo.

2. July 4th

We decided to go to Callaway Gardens with my parents for July 4th this year. We went for July 4th when Cayden was only 5 weeks old and we had so much fun so we decided to go back. Of course, plans can change very quickly when you have 2 babies. First off, Emresen decides to scream almost the whole way there.(He hates the car) We are hoping that once we get there we will be able to calm him down. It takes a while but I was finally able to get him to calm down and go to sleep in the stroller while we have a picnic. But, of course we are sitting at a picnic table where we are joined by the loudest birds on the face of the planet, so little man only gets a 30 minute nap which leads to more screaming. Bryan ended up taking him home shortly after lunch but Cayden and I were able to stay...what a sweet Daddy!! We went to the circus and to see the butterflies. Cayden was quite the trooper. We also took him to see fireworks for the first time that night with the Shoppe family. (Might I add the sweetest people I know.) I was afraid that he would be scared and he was at first. But, he warmed up to them quickly and had such a blast. Every time one would go off he would say "boom, boom, boom". He cried when we left which I am sure had a lot to do with how tired he was.

2. Houston...we have a tee-tee in the potty

So, we have been working on trying to get Cayden to do his poo-poo and his tee-tee in the potty. He will sit on the potty nakey but has no interest in actually going. So, I had a girlfriend tell me to try putting his feet in warm water while he is sitting to see if it will help him go. Well, a couple days ago I decided to give it a go. It definitely intrigued him so that he would sit there longer. He sat on the potty watching TV with his feet in warm water and drinking orange soda (which I thought might help too). AND......an hour later we have a tee-tee in the potty....woohoo!! I heard him go. I don't even think he realized that he went. We made a huge deal jumping up and down, giving high fives, double high fives, and even some knucks (Which awesome Uncle Chris taught him). I am sure he was wondering what the big deal was. All he did was stand up, turn around, look in the potty and say, "Ewww...yucky....mess....ellow (aka: yellow)"

3. New Job

Bryan was laid off from his job about 2 weeks ago. I got a phone call that morning from him telling me that he was on his way home. I can't even explain the feeling...just awful. We both had no idea what to do especially with two babies to take care of. We knew that God had a plan for us we just didn't know what it was yet. Bryan started looking for jobs immediately. He stayed on the computer all day long trying to find something. The Lord provided as we knew He would. Bryan was offered another job on Friday with a bank in Buckhead. WOW!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!

I have learned so much the past couple of weeks some things I already knew....

- We have an amazing God who provides everything we need. No matter how much we plan, it is ultimately His plan. My life is completely in His hands and I am so thankful for that.

- I have been blessed with the most amazing husband in the world who is such an incredible father to our two beautiful children. He is an amazing provider for our family in every way. I thank God for him every day.

- Children are so innocent. I love how everything seemed to be falling a part and my boys kept smiling, laughing, playing....they are always so full of life. Beautiful:)

- We have the most incredible family and friends anyone could ever have. Everyone came to our rescue and just showered us with thoughts, prayers, love and support. It meant so much to have so many people concerned for our family and I thank God for each and every one of you every single day. I can't even express how much you all mean to our family. We love you so!

A 2 Year Old, A 2 Month Old, and 2 Tired Parents

1. Cayden's Birthday

Well...the birthday went great.  Cay had so so much fun.  We had lots of food...mexican...my favorite!!  Elmo decorations were everywhere.  My mom and I decorated the house the day before while Cayden was down for a nap.  When he woke up he came down the stairs and started running around the house yelling "Elmo."  He was running around saying "show me mommy" which really means that he wants to show mommy...he has it a little backwards..haha!  We tried to keep telling him that his birthday was coming up...not quite sure he understood but we tried.  He definitely has his age down pat though....when ever you ask "How old is Cayden"....he answers very enthusiastically "two!!!".   He is such a big boy!!!!  He got a train table which he absolutely loved but might have become the biggest pain in Mommy and Daddy's bottom...haha...jk!  He wants to play with it constantly .... won't even come out of his playroom for 5 minutes!  He will spend hours going around and around and around the table playing with his train....it is the first thing he says when he wakes up....not Mommy or I love you or Good Morning...nope...it is "train...play...downstairs."  The first couple days after he got it he would play with it until he was so tired that he would go around the table whining and saying through the whines, "train...chugga chugga choo choo."  It is great though...I love how much he loves it....so sweet! He also got a big Thomas the train pillow that we now have to take everywhere....and an Elmo Live that he loves but is still too afraid to actually touch himself.  He wants Mommy to push the buttons and make him talk.  He says...."Mommy, Elmo...bite."  I think he thinks Elmo might bite him since his mouth moves which I think is absolutely hilarious!  He loves that Elmo blows kisses and loves to blow kisses back just doesn't want to get to close to his mouth...I think he will figure out soon that Elmo isn't going to bite him.   He also got his own guitar that he loves to dance around and play...too cute!!  Emresen was absolutely wonderful all day...  which was so great!!  We had two happy boys!!  All in all it was an absolutely wonderful day!

2.  Big Boy Bed

Cayden has officially switched to a big boy bed!!!  I was not planning on moving him out of his crib for a few months.  I didn't want to have to mess with his sleep especially while I am dealing with the baby not sleeping at night.  But, we had to move the daybed upstairs into his room since we didn't have room for it in the playroom anymore. So, the night of his party we were getting him ready for bed and he wanted to lay in the daybed.  I layed down next to him and he completely passed out. I moved him to his crib because I didn't have a rail on the bed and he is quite a wiggly worm! So, on Sunday....his actual birthday....I went and bought a bed rail.  We decided to give it a go and let him try out the big boy bed and he did great.  He loves it!  I was so proud...probably prouder than I have ever been. I cried of course!  I don't know that I was as ready as he was for the big transition.  So, every night I lay next to him in his bed for about 5 minutes as he says night night to everything ..."night night Mommy, night night Daddy, night night Harley, night night paci, night night juice, night night froggie, night night Thomas and says a very tired "choo choo"...".  It is all I can do to keep from cracking up out loud.  

3.  Worst Mommy moment ever

So, I have decided having two babies so young is not the easiest thing in the world.  Cayden is constantly wanting to "show me" his playroom (aka: come in here and play with me) or telling me "train...fix it" (aka: he wants me to put the trains together on the track)....which lately my response a lot of the time has been "in a minute" or "you can do it by yourself".  I used to go play with him constantly but lately it has been much harder having two of them and Emresen is not the happiest of babies (although he is much happier than Cay was as a baby!!  Thank goodness!!) Well, it completely broke my heart the other day....Cayden comes in the family room where I am feeding Emresen and says, "Show me mommy...play...train" and then doesn't even give me time to say anything back and answers himself.... "self (aka....by myself)" and turns around sadly and walks into his playroom.  It made me so so sad!  I am trying so hard to make sure that I still give him lots of attention. He is still a baby and needs that extra attention. Sometimes it is just hard especially with an infant in your arms :(  

4. Ice Cream

Today....Cayden had his first experience with the Ice Cream man.  He had just gone down for a nap and Bryan and I were outside washing the cars when we heard the ice cream truck coming through the neighborhood.  I ran upstairs and got him out of bed.  He was super excited...I am not sure if it was more for the ice cream or just the fact that he didn't have to go to sleep :)  He stayed outside with us and helped "wash the car" as he ate his ice cream sandwich.  He had such a blast playing with the hose in the summer sun.  I think I had as much fun as he did or more.

5. 2 months, 2 years

Emresen is growing like a weed.  He has his 2 month appt. on Wednesday.  I can't beleive it has already been two months!!  I can't wait to see how much he has grown!  Not looking forward to the shots though. I have officially decided that my favorite time with him is at his midnight feeding....he is so peaceful! Cayden had to have shots at his 2 year appt last week.  It was so sad...but he was such a big boy. He was 28 pounds and 36 inches tall!  We have tall boys!!  

New at this blog thing!

I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time and have never found the time.  Well, I have decided that I will never have the time so I am just going to have to make time.  Right now I have officially performed a miracle by getting both of my boys to sleep at the same time.  So, now is as good a time as any to get started.

1.  Bryan's Birthday

Bryan was able to take a day off from work for his birthday and we decided to visit the zoo. We had so much fun especially since it was a Monday and there was hardly anyone there.  Cayden absolutely loved it! He was much more excited about the choo choo train that he kept hearing instead of the animals. I have to thank Thomas the train for that....which is currently Cayden's latest obsession! Mommy is not a fan but all that matters is that my little man loves it.

 

2. Hospital Visit

We ended up being sent to Scottish Rite last week with my baby boy Emresen after having a very crazy visit to the pediatrician. We had had a really rough weekend that included a lot of screaming and vomiting so they wanted to make sure he was okay. So, I head over to the hospital, toddler and screaming infant in tow and feeling extremely nervous. Of course when we get there we are greeted with an overwhelming amount of paperwork. As I am filling out everything and trying to keep a baby boy, who hasn't eaten in 6 hours, content with a paci, I turn around to see Cayden licking the window in the radiology waiting room.  I am mortified and looking around knowing that everyone in the room is probably thinking that I should stop having children especially if I can't keep them under control! I proceed to wedge Cayden between my legs as he he is screaming "Stuck....mommy stuck." I finally finished filling everything out...thank goodness. We ended up having an upper GI scan and and ultrasound to check for Pyloric something (not exactly sure). Well, come to find out we have another baby with really bad reflux.  The GI scan showed that his digestive system doesn't work as fast as a normal baby his age....which just tells us why he has reflux.  All we can do is wait it out.  I do have to say...I am so so thankful that he is a good sleeper, unlike his big brother Cayden! We just have to wait it out and hang on to the good days :)

3.  Emresen's Dedication

Emresen was dedicated on Sunday at our church.  I was hoping it would be a good reflux day so that we wouldn't have a screaming baby on our hands. Our prayers were answered!  He had a great night...he was such a trooper :)  They had a beautiful reception and service.  Of course my little man Cayden talked through the whole thing.  He wanted everyone to know what color the streamers were on the table and also that he had a poo poo and needed a new diaper.  I tried to give him a paci (which he is no longer allowed to have, but I was willing to make an exception) But of course, he just proceeded to talk around it.  When it was time to go up in front of the church (Cayden in daddy's arms and Emresen in Mommy's arms) Cayden kept telling Bryan to hold "it"...referring to his brother....He wanted daddy to hold his brother so that mommy could hold him.  We decided to ignore and keep moving forward and he starts yelling "drums" "touch it" getting more and more excited as we get closer to the front of the church. Bryan tries to explain to him that he can't touch the drums and Cayden starts to break down. Needless to say we end up trading babies and I am able to calm Cayden down before we make too much of a scene.   .....And we were worried about Emresen being cranky!

4. Cayden is turning 2

Cayden is turning 2 on Sunday.  This has been such a fast year.  I feel like we were just celebrating his first birthday and now he is almost two and a big brother too.  Which, I do have to say that he is such a wonderful brother!  He loves his baby "brudder"  so much.   He is constantly wanting to give him hugs and kisses.  

We are having a little family birthday party on Saturday...Elmo theme of course! I will definitely update on how everything goes.  

...tata for now!