Catching up

I took Dade to his Doctors appointment on the 18th. He had an ultrasound and then we met with the urologist. He does have a small blockage on the left side. That means the ureter has a small hour glass shape instead of being strait. Everything else still looks the same. No new concerns so we will now be going in every 6 months to check on it. Next time he goes in he will have the VCUG test done again. We still have to give him the antibiotics everyday and watch to make sure he doesn't get a UTI or Kidney infection.

Two days ago Dade said "more" in sign language for the first time. He is so smart. We haven't been doing the signing with him for very long. He loves watching us use sign language. Now he says "more" all the time, even when he is just playing by himself. I thought his k-9's came in on the top because they are so pointy and spread out but actually they are his second teeth. His two front teeth just came in and he is going to have a big gap between his teeth. He does really good at eating solid food and always wants our food instead of his baby food. He is already such a trouble maker. He gets in to everything and is so fast. If we turn our backs for a second he is already in the next room. He is very interested in everything. If he knows someone is going to the bathroom he races in there to see. He will stand up holding onto the toilet and there has been a few times we were not fast enough and he put his hand in the toilet.

Landen is doing so good recognizing his letters and numbers. He can count to 11 by himself and needs just a little help to get to 20, Then from 20 he says 1,2,3 instead of 21,22,23 etc. He is also doing really good with his colors. Some of his favorite phrases right now are: "That's weird", "What the?", "Peace out", and "What you doin?".

It has been so nice having Drew home more now that he is on break. Things have been crazy with Christmas but I have still enjoyed every extra minute I get to spend with Drew and I know the kids feel the same way. We saw Santa on the 12th. He came to the apartments community center. Both the boys were too scared to sit on Santa's lap so we took a family picture with him. On November 7th our friend Candace took some family pictures for us. We went to this really nice park. It was cold outside but we got some nice pictures. I have fallen behind on posting pictures so here are a bunch.

Landen's Birthday Party

We celebrated Landen's Birthday on Saturday the 5th. We went to Furniture Warehouse to watch John Schmidt. He is a lot of fun to watch. We came home so Landen could open his presents and he was really excited. He got a Lightning McQueen plate, bowl, and silverware, and a Lightning Mcqueen skatebaord, and two movies. When its time to eat he always wants to use his new set and he always caries his skateboard around. After opening his presents we went to Applebees for dinner. I am really sad we didn't take our camera because we had them sing to him and he got really embarrassed. He put his face in his hands right before they said "I don't know but it's been said, someones face is turning red". It was so funny. He wouldn't look up and everyone around us was laughing at him for doing it. He wouldn't even eat the ice cream they gave him. We came home and sang Happy Birthday and had some cake. After he blew out the candles he kept saying that he wanted to do it again. Here are some pictures from his birthday and some pictures of Landen helping me decorate the tree.

Praise

Yesterday I was explaining to Landen that tomorrow would be his birthday. I told him "Today you are 2" I showed him 2 fingers and counted them for him. Then I told him "Tomorrow you will be 3" Then I showed him 3 fingers and counted them for him again. Landen started clapping and said "Yeah mom good job". I guess everyone needs praising, even parents.

Our Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was really good. We got up early in the morning on Friday and did our Christmas shopping. Then we went home and had our Turkey lunch and just relaxed and enjoyed our weekend. I think Drew is already getting tired of having turkey sandwiches for lunch. But I have enjoyed them very much. Dade has had a hard weekend though. A few days ago he was playing in his bed and hit his head on the frame and got a nice red mark on his forehead. He has been really tired and wanting to be held all the time. I think his two front top teeth are coming in. Then yesterday he was suppose to be taking a nap and was playing in the crib instead. Landen was in there with him. I don't know what happened but he started crying and when I got in his room I saw under his eye was black and blue with a nice cut. Then today he kept falling and hitting his head or his eye. He his crawling all the time and he is so fast. He climbs on everything but still doesn't have great balance or as he is trying to sit he will fall a lot.

Tomorrow is Landen's Birthday!! He is a very active crazy child and I do have a hard time with him sometimes (okay a lot) but I am so thankful for him. He can be so sweet some times. He says some of the weirdest and funniest things. He makes me laugh all the time (at least I am trying to laugh at some of the things he does). I love Landen so much and I am so thankful for him. Happy Birthday Landen!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. Drew has to work today so we will be having our Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. I really enjoy making Thanksgiving dinner for my family, and enjoy eating it even more. I am so excited for left over Turkey sandwiches.

I took Landen to the Pediatric Dentist on Monday the 23rd. He did pretty good. It took us a little bit but he let the Dentist count his teeth and look at what i thought was a cavity. I am very happy to report that Landen has no cavities. The spot that I thought was one was just a stain. With a lot of bribing he very reluctantly let them clean his teeth too. I am so proud of him. Landen's birthday is next Monday on the 30th. We will just be doing a little family party. I will try to borrow a camera so i can take some pictures of him with his presents. I can't believe he is already 3.

Drew's Blog

I have started a blog for all of the political mumbo jumbo that is running through my brain on a daily basis. Alyssa has long since grown tired of my rantings so we decided a blog would be the best place for my release of steam. If politics interest you at all, I would like to have your comments on any post I write. I would also like topics and questions as to stimulate my mind and to be able keep from just going off about the daily topics that are beat to death on the news and talk radio. Thanks. Drew

www.politicalmindblown.blogspot.com

Dade's 9 month check up

Dade's doctors appointment went really well. He is weighing 17Ib 8oz and is 27 3/4 inches long. He is still in the 5 percentile in his growth but he is growing. He is eating really well. He always wants to eat. Anytime he sees any of us have food he freaks out until we share with him. I think he is still so small because he has so much energy. Just since Tuesday Dade has already started to crawl a lot better. He moves so fast. I am getting worn out just having to chase him. I am so thankful for Landen, he really helps me entertain Dade. I am so excited for the day Dade starts walking so he can entertain Landen too. We still try to go outside to the playground as much as we can but it is getting cold. It is hard entertaining both boys when we do not get to go outside. If there is anyone wanting to trade watching the kids for play dates with Landen please let me know!!!

Go Dade Go

Dade is starting to crawl now. Today Drew heard the "pat pat" from his hands hitting the floor so he started watching him and saw that he was crawling. He still goes between a crawl and his worm move, but he is doing a pretty good job. I will try to get a picture or video with my phone since my camera is still broken. He is also standing while holding on to things, and walks a little along things. I went to get him after his nap and he was standing in his crib. So now we have to lower his crib. He loves to be able to explore. He really likes Landen's room. I will put him down and he will go strait for Landen's room. Dade now has 3 1/2 teeth. His two front bottom ones are in and on top one of his k-9's is already in and the other is starting to poke through. Landen is still doing pretty good with Dade. He has a very high tolerance for Dade. Dade will push him, grab him, and claw at his face and Landen will just laugh and say "Dade is getting me". We are just having to work on sharing right now. As soon as Dade starts to play with a toy Landen will take it away from him. I have an appointment for Dade's 9 month check up on Friday so I will post again then.

First trip to the Dentist

Landen had his first Dentist appointment on Monday. Both he and I had an appointment so it was just the two of us that went. He was scared to sit in the chair so I went first. I got him to sit on my lap. He was being shy the whole time. Finally one of the ladies got him to go explore the office with her. Then he started to relax. Another one of the ladies took him to pick out a toy then he acted like he owned the place. One of the ladies was playing with him with a bouncy ball and kept asking him if she could look at his teeth and he would keep saying "nope". So he never let them look at his teeth. Now I have to take him to a Pediatric Dentist. When we left he was telling everyone bye as if he had known them for a long time. He was really excited to get to take home a new toothbrush and tooth paste.

Landen got a hold of my camera and broke it so it will be a while before I am able to post more pictures.

Swing accident

I was just pushing Landen and Dade on the swings at the playground outside our apartments. Landen kept sliding forward on the swing and then as the swing was going forward he just let go. He fell backward off the swing and landed on his head. It scared me so bad. I ran up to Landen and he was just lying there looking around like he didn't know what had just happened. He started to move so I told him to just lie there and I asked him if he was okay. He said he was okay. I asked him again if he was hurt and he said that he was okay. So I had him get up. I was so surprised he didn't cry because it looked like it had hurt. I think he was just shocked at what happened and still not sure of what happened. He looked at me and said "fall off" then he said he wanted to swing again. I got him on the swing and told him to hold on and not to let go. He said "okay hold on, be careful". What a trooper. He fell off the swing and just got right back on like nothing happened.

Happy Halloween

We had a good Halloween. We first went to "This is the Place Monument" and just walked around. Then we went to the Foothill Village shopping center and did some trick or treating there. Landen got a lot of candy. Dade just enjoyed being out side and being held. We went home and got some dinner. I made a Halloween pizza. Then Drew took the kids around our apartment buildings and did some more trick or treating.

Here is Landen and his pumpkin

He had fun picking out the face pieces and putting them on. If I would have let him he probable would have put all the pieces on the pumpkin.

Here are their costumes. Landen as a handy man, and Dade as Tigger. I had a lot of fun making Landen's costume. I think Dade looks so cute as Tigger.

At the Foothill Village shopping center there was a guy dressed as a robot. Landen didn't like the robot so much, he was scared of him. I was lucky to even get this picture. Dade just stared at the robot.

This was the face Dade had the whole time. He had fun just looking around at everything.

I would put Dade's hood over his eyes and play peek-a-boo with him and he would start laughing so hard. He loves to play peek-a-boo.

This was my Halloween pizza I made.

Landen trick or treating in our court. Every time they would get done at one apartment Landen would ask Drew "More trick or treat?". He had a lot of fun getting candy.

Fall is here

Landen and Dade got to play in a pile of leaves today. Here are some pictures I got of them.

My Project

This was my project I did yesterday. It took me all day (with a few breaks), but I got it done in one day. Its a tool belt for Landen. He is going to be a Handy Man for Halloween. I am making his costume so I made a tool belt to go with it. I used a suede material so it will be nice and strong and last for awhile beacuse I know he will want to play with it after Halloween. I am so happy with how it came out. Now I still have to figure out what to do for Dade. I will put more pictures up for Halloween so you can see the whole costume.

Yeah Landen and Yeah Dade

Well potty training is finally going well. Landen is now in underwear. He still wants help with pulling his pants up and down (even though he can do it by himself). He also wants us right there to watch him go potty. We are still working on going poop in the toilet. He knows he isn't suppose to poop in his underwear but he doesn't want to go in the toilet so sometimes he won't poop for a few days. Then he just cant hold it any more and has an accident in his underwear. I am not sure what to do about that. I am really excited about not having to buy any more diapers for him.

Dade is finally starting to army crawl. He did it for the first time on Tuesday. He can't decide between army crawling or doing this inchworm thing so he kind of does both. His inchworm thing is really funny to watch. He gets up on his hands and knees and flings himself forward onto his stomach. He is so excited about being able to move around. He will finally let me put him down for more than 2 minutes.

I love my boys. They both have such great personalities. It is so fun to watch them grow and learn new things. Landen is learning to talk back and give me attitude. It is very frustrating but when I look back it is also very funny. I have been doing a lot better with learning to not lose my temper and have more patience with both of them. Dade makes us laugh all the time. He always does the weirdest and funnies things. It is so fun to see how well Landen and Dade get along. I hope they always stay close.

Here are a few pictures of our House. I will put some of our kitchen and our room after I clean them.This is Dade's room.

On the Left is the closet.

Here is Landen's room. On the right is the dryer and TV. We can't use our dryer so it is the TV stand.

He has all the rest of his toys in the closet. It is nice having a place to put it.

The living room. The opening on the right goes to the hall and on the Left is the kitchen.

Its a little crowded but every thing fits.

Here is one picture of the Kitchen. I still have to do the dishes before I can show the other side.

Here is the hallway from Dades room. The door on the left is our room. The last door on the left is Landen's room. On the Right next to the washer is the bathroom.

Videos of Dade

Dade is such a Daredevil. After Drew did this with him a few times he started throwing himself back.


This is Dade's new thing. I promise he is not pooping. He started doing it when he was mad but since me and Drew laughed at him he now does it all the time.

Whats New

I don't have any pictures of our new apartment yet. I still need to clean before I take some pictures. I will try to post some soon.

Here is our old room the day we moved. we had almost everything packed so we slept on the floor. It was very uncomfortable.

Landen and Dade's room the morning me moved. The rooms look bigger without anything in them.
We went to Park City on September 11th. This was up at Olympic Park.

As we were walking on a back walkway to get to Main street we found this tree.


We had a Block Party for our apartments on the 19th. Landen got to sit in a police car and did not want to get out.
His first time in a jumping castle and he didn't care for it much. He stayed in there for about 2 minutes and didn't even jump.

Landen trying to skateboard

Dade loves being outside

We are really liking our new apartment. We have a lot more room just not much storage space. Landen loves having the playground right out side. We try to go out almost everyday. There are usually other kids out there for him to play with. It has been so nice having Drew so close to school. He comes home between classes and before work so we get to see him a lot more. Dade is such a Daddy's boy. As soon as Drew comes home Dade will fuss until daddy picks him up.

Landen is such a good big brother. If Dade is crying he will go tell him "It's okay Dade". He is so cute with him. Today Dade was playing on the floor in his room and I was in the living room, Landen heard Dade fussing so he came and told me "Mommy come here Dade's crying". Yesterday we were outside and there was another boy out there. The little boy started coughing so Landen went and asked him "you okay?". He is such a sweetie.