End of September - 2010

Carter has a double personality. On one hand he can be so terrible to his sister and grumpy, then on the other hand he is the absolute sweetest child in the world. He will give Cedar kisses and hugs and give toys to Calla to play with. When he is mean he steal EVERY toy she tries to pick up, pushes her over, and throws things. From what I am reading he is a normal male toddler but he is wearing me out! I am trying like crazy to praise and reward the good behavior and not give attention to the bad behavior, so we will see. That seems to be the way to go according to the books I am reading. He truly loves Cedar, he looks for him first thing in the morning and is the first to his room when he wake from his morning nap. He gives him toys when he cries and really tries to give him food and his milk cup. I have to keep a close eye on that! They sit by each other in their high chairs and Cedar just admires him and loves the attention he gets. Carter is talking more, still not as much as Calla but more than he was. He jabbers all the time, so he thinks he is talking, he is just the only one that understands what he is saying. Now on occasion calla will answer back with the same amount of gibberish, so who knows maybe she knows what he is saying. Carter has become a little mommy's boy lately, which I am eating up. I know it wont last so I take advantage of it! He is all boy, he can clear the bookshelf in two seconds, loves the water hose still, and really likes to get dirty. Our dogs went to their new home, which I could not have asked for better. They will have two other weims to play with and 10 acres to run around in. They will be allowed inside if they wish and can come and go as they please. Truly an answered prayer! However, we are all sad. Carter went to the fence yesterday and said "dos", his word for dog. And he looked sad when they never came. He would always go up the fence and let them lick his face. Both the twins liked to run up and down the fence so that the dogs would follow them. Even me, who more than once wanted the dogs gone, am very sad and miss them. I know that they will have a much better live than we can give them right now. Calla is talking all the time. She loves the reaction she gets out of us when she used her words. She always looks at us and smiles when she says something new. Daddy taught her what a razorback is and she loves to say it. She says ra-er-back. She has new words everyday. She is really happy almost all the time. She has to say hi and bye every time she leaves a room. At night if Jamey is home, he takes the twins to their room for their teeth brushing and bedtime routine and she always comes to cedar and I and says goodbye and waves, then she grabs her daddy's hand and takes off to her room. Bedtime is really easy finally. She used to cry herself to sleep and now they both just go right to bed. Love it! When Jamey is not home she grabs my hand and takes me to her room, but first she looks around for someone to say bye too. It is super sweet. She loves to give kisses and blows kisses too. Cedar is growing up so fast, he is 8months one week and he is on the move. He army crawls and can get across the room in no time flat. He can sit himself up, but has only done it a few times. I think he forgets he can do it. He gets up on all fours often and rocks and looks at us like, what do I do now? He is still very happy, been a little crabby lately so I have been looking for teeth. Still none as of yet. He is eating mostly stage 2's and some stage 3's. He is not ready for the chunky ones yet. I still have to thicken his liquids and I still feel like he gets close to aspirating often. He still coughs but not as much, so maybe its getting better. I think we will redo the swallow study after his 9 mth apt. We will see. I think it would give me some peace of mind. I am actually terrified to give him anything not pureed. I have to even worry about the bath tub. All of our kids always want to drink the water. Don't they know they pee in it? I wonder at what age that sinks in. Pee must be ok to drink because Carter and Calla have had their fair share of bath water. When I try to stop them from drinking it, they just drink more. Cedar talks all the time. He mocks the squeals of carter and calla, it is so funny. I have three mocking birds in my house. He loves to bang his toys together and is showing us that he, like carter, is going to be all boy. Well I better finish this post and get to grading. Sorry for the ramble. Here is some pics from the end of September.

9-24-10 Carter supporting the hogs on game day!
10-1-10 This is the Tinkerbell dress that my mom gave her. She loves is. I think she would wear it all day everyday if I would let her. She also always has to have shoes on.

9-24-10 Cedar supporting his hogs on game day!

9-24-10 Here is Calla on game day. She wore this white shirt and some red pants, she was super cute too!

9-21-10 Carter chews on his blankets. Does anyone elses kid do this? I had to take him to the ER a while back due to an ear infection. We were there all night and I got the opportunity to watch him with his blanket. He crams it in his mouth and then falls asleep. Weird, huh! I hope he doesn't get hair balls in his belly.

9-21-10 Cedar likes carter and callas books. I try to give him baby books and he is not interested. He wants the big kid books.

9-21-10

9-19-10 Yes, still living under my cabinets. I am ready for this phase to pass so I can use them again. Of course when it passes, it will be Cedar's turn.

9-19-10 Cedar likes his sippy cups. He has recently started trying to hold his own bottle and he really likes that the sippy cup has handles. He plays with it more than anything, but occasionally gets it in his mouth. I put thickened water in it for now.

9-18-10
Cedar, my big kid in the big boy tub. Look at those fat rolls. He really likes to eat, can you tell?