weekend wedding

My baby brother got married this weekend.  I still can't believe it!  Zoe was flower girl, Rhys introduced the bride.  Zoe was, well she was just Zoe.  Things got started a little late and all she wanted to do was play.  This is what I had to deal with leading up to the wedding.  She was throwing fits, throwing her flower petals, and just overall being a grump.  Not fun!!

She was happy to be outside though, for a minute.  Then she wanted to run and play.  I managed to keep her clean but she wasn't happy about it.

I am excited to have gained a new niece!  The kids love her and she is super sweet!

Rhys's sign reads "Uncle Chad here comes your girl!"

I handed Zoe off to Cody once they were lined up.  He's keeping her from bolting.  She did manage to make it down the aisle, but jetted straight back up before the bride came down.  Funny, maybe?  Probably it if isn't your kid doing it! :)

Just for laughs, this is a great representation of our entire night.  Rhys was an angel, Zoe was a goof and Beckett didn't want to stand still long enough to do much of anything.  You turn your back and he's gone!

The best we could get, but I love it!

this is B...

This is B...

Just about every day.  The boy has no fear.  And you see Zoe down there on the bottom of the pic?  He encourages her to behave badly.  Not that she couldn't manage it on her own, but he shows her things she never thought of herself.  Sigh.  Now that Zoe can open/close doors and help herself to food we constantly have a mess around this place.  Which, I should add, is exactly what happened here.  I walked out of the room, heard the refrigerator door open and came back to see this.  Zoe had "helped" B and herself to a snack.  The two of them are attached at the hip.  Which I love!  But boy is it double trouble!

long overdue

My goal for 2013 was to get back to blogging, but as you can see it's taken me almost two months to make that happen.  Here is a recap of the last few months, in cell phone pics so please excuse the photo quality.

Rhys's school pic this year.  And Zoe's and Beckett's.  Zoe wasn't amused, and B didn't know what the heck to think of taking pictures.

 

The kiddos at Zoo Boo.  Rhys had his second annual NICU reunion.

My breakfast crew on the weekend Cody was in Africa.  Don't let this fool you.  I didn't take all three out in public by myself... we hit the drive-through! 

The kids playing in the lobby of the doctor's office.  The two littles absolutely did not want to leave.  Before it was all over Cody ended up in the lobby with them, while I finished up in the exam room with Rhys.  That was a loooong appointment.

No words necessary.

B's first haircut.  He was an angel.  Oh wait, this was his second haircut... we didn't get pics of the first.

Umm... 

What can I say?  My kids don't like fictional characters...

 Cutest little reindeer you ever did see.

Our poor boy landed himself in the hospital the week before Christmas.  Every winter he's had horrible issues with drainage.  The drainage is really bad, and to make matters worse it goes down his throat instead of draining out his nose.  So combine that drainage with an instant gag reflex and you can imagine how fun that is for us.  We've struggled with this every allergy season since he was born.

This year I had Cody take him to the doctor to see if he could get some Rx strength meds to help him out.  Wouldn't you know he tested positive for RSV on top of everything else.  I guess we're lucky we managed to miss it for four years.  He was satting low 90s at the doctor and was sounding junky, and because of his history he was ordered straight to the ER.  Six days later he was discharged (on Christmas Eve).  It was a really rough week for us.  The doctor's complicated everything by not listening to us.  They walked into his room every 15 minutes it seemed and made no efforts to coordinate their care.  In my frustration I actually yelled at a few nurses and had strong words with the floor docs (one of who walked out of the room on me during a conversation, isn't that awesome).  We've done O2 before.  We know how it works.  And as crazy as it sounds Rhys seems to sat the same whether he's on 3 liters or 1 liter.  At one point they had Rhys on a high-flow cannula at SEVEN liters.  Are you kidding me, that's like hurricane force winds.  And they actually asked me why he was breathing out of his mouth.  GRRR.  Anyway, when we explained the situation to his regular pedi she took him off the high-flow cannula and he swapped him to a regular cannula on less than 2 liters.  That's the summary, and I yes I know there was more involved, but I was so incredibly frustrated at the nurses' willingness to come in and crank up the O2 willy-nilly. Thank goodness we have such a great relationship with his pedi office doctors.  So Rhys came home on oxygen and despite my worries he actually only needed it for a few days.  It took him longer, however, to regain his strength... he wasn't 100% for weeks afterwards.  Overall he did unbelievably well considering his history and it could have been far worse.

  

We just celebrated my cousin's birthday at Minute Maid Park.  How exciting!  The kids loved it!

Z on her way to school.  I've been trying to snap random pics more often.  I was so good about it until recently.  On the right is Zoe at the zoo a few weeks ago.  Zoe and Rhys loved it!

Do you see how B is standing?  Who would think this boy is the same one that took the school pic

up there ^^^?  He is a model model now.

Thanks for checking back with us!  I am going to try harder to post at regular intervals.  I miss blogging and sharing the kiddos with you!

yikes!

I'm sad it's been two months since I posted, but I'll try to make up for it.  The kids all started school and have done well.  Despite Rhys's new campus location he has barely made a peep.  There has been one or two days of very mild whining, but no gagging fits like last year.  He has the same bus driver (thank you for small miracles) and same teachers so I think that made things easier on him.  He looks forward to the bus and acts so grown up.  He is a happy little guy when he gets home and tells me "I so happy... home, mama".  Of course he's happy because he now gets his iPad, which he lives on as much as we allow.

 

 

Zoe was not at all crazy about her new classroom situation, but the transition has been much smoother than last year for her as well.  She has two teachers and my feeling is that one is not a personality match with her.  The lady is missing the TLC factor that gives you the warm fuzzies and make the young kids comfortable.  Well, that's my impression anyway.  My first experience with that, but probably not my last.  Beckett on the other hand has been smooth sailing.  One of his two teachers is the same as last year, and they're actually both wonderful.  He has no tears when I hand him over, and other than his typical fussiness when hungry or tired he has done so well!  All the kids in school has given me my first opportunity to have time to myself, dare I said it... alone!!

 

 

Rhys continues with his weekly therapy and is doing SO well is swimming.  He can flip from face down to his back to "rescue" himself and float.  He is floating unassisted for a little more than two minutes.  He needs to do this for five minutes to pass his float test.  When we started this swimming two years ago we never anticipated he'd be able to do this so we are amazed.  Think about it... he has CP, poor overall muscle control, yet he is capable of managing to do this.  Yea!  In addition to his other therapy, we've added equine therapy.  I am SO excited about it.  SO excited.  I've honestly been dreaming of this day for two whole years.  I have called numerous places trying to find something suitable for him, but none of the stables around us were equipped for kids less than four years of age.  As soon as he turned four I was on the phone again.  I have heard so many wonderful things about equine therapy and I'm really hoping this will push him over the edge on his trunk control.  He loved the horses and surprise of all surprises, he did not fight the helmet.  This is a big deal because Rhys does not like much messing with his head/face, and he does not wear hats without a fight!

 

July update

B-man is still a toothless wonder.  He is this close to have a tooth though, the bottom ones are about to poke through.  Finally!  He has been giving us fits with his teething.  He's still mostly army crawling because he is ninja-fast that way, but he'll occasionally make it up on all fours.  We're trying to make him understand he can balance on his own, and he will usually stand for a few seconds until he realizes he IS standing without the benefit of holding onto anything.  He then plops down on his bottom and starts crawling again.  I have seen him get a little crazy and remove his support hand when cruising from one edge to another so I'm hoping we have a walker sooner rather than later.  I'm so excited he will starting school this fall, but I can't believe he's even old enough for it.

Little Miss Sass is full of energy.  Her vocabulary has exploded and she amazes us every day with the words coming out of her mouth.  Swimming is something she very much enjoys and she'll be moving from the "baby" class to the "big" pool in September.  She's noticed swimming on TV and points out water and swimming pools when she sees them.  2024 Olympics anyone?  I'm kidding.  Or, am I?  Her and B will be in neighboring classes at school so I'm anxious to see how she handles it.  She is such a mother hen and is constantly going to check on one of the boys, promptly returning to report on what they're doing.  I hope she can focus on her class, knowing B is going to be next door.

We received a letter that Rhys will change campuses this coming school year.  The letter was poorly written and contained no information other than that.  I received it on a Thursday, after 5 p.m., and wouldn't you know that ISD offices are closed Fridays through the summer.  Despite leaving a message for the "program coordinator", she never called back.  When I called and got on her on the phone she was rude and completely unresponsive to any of my questions.  All I wanted were details of the move.... teacher, class time, why he was being moved, etc.  I sadly had to contact her boss and Rhys's current school principle to get the whole story.  A couple conversations and a huge complaint later I had all my info.  Rhys's whole class, including his fantastic teachers, are moving to the new campus.  The campus is not in our neighborhood, which could pose a problem for length of transportation and potential conflict of outside therapy, but it is a new campus and has a regular pre-k class that Rhys's program will be integrated with.  I am so excited about this to be honest.  I am worried for the disruption it will cause Rhys, but I think the new program is going to be a great benefit to him.  His vocabulary is exploding also.  He picks up words and phrases that Zoe uses, so I can only imagine what school with average kids with do for him.

And speaking of progress, Rhys's neurologist was visibly excited to see how he's doing.  At our checkup last week you could actually see how pleased he was with all Rhys could do.  That does my heart good.  Cody and I know Rhys is doing great things, but it is so fun, yes fun!, to see doctors also get excited about it.  He told us again that Rhys's MRI from last year showed no signs of anything to be concerned with, and with his recent progress there is no "ceiling" that he would currently put on Rhys's development.

Rhys is very attached to his iPad (it goes everywhere, including the doctor).  He tells us he wants to eat so we'll put him in his chair and give him the iPad.  It was originally intended for all the kids, but Rhys has taken it over so we "had" to buy a second one for the other kids.  Yes, I understand that is ridiculous.  But fair is fair.  Zoe doesn't play it nearly as much as Rhys does, but Rhys also can't run and play like the other two so he doesn't have strict time limits for iPad usage.  Zoe has puzzles and educational games she loves to play and to be honest I love to watch her.  I'm amazed to see what she knows.  B is currently content to carry around the old cell phones and play with those, but he does like to watch Rhys play.  I'm sure that wont last long... they always seem to want what the other has.

And finally, we're getting Rhys's new stroller.  I am completely jazzed about it because it's been a long time coming.  Delay after delay getting paper work submitted, and then a 6+ week delay after the wrong color was sent, has made this order take at least 5 months.  I should be picking it up this week and I can't wait to get it.  It is sure to make our lives much easier, and I'm hoping it allows us to get out and about more, knowing Rhys is comfortable.  There is a canopy like a regular stroller, an attachable tray (that will be super helpful), you can make it rear-racing, support for proper sitting, raised height and I can't remember all the other bells and whistles.  Much more age appropriate for a poor 4-year-old that is reaching the max length limits of our other strollers.

happy birthday, Rhys!

Happy 4th birthday to our super preemie, Rhys!

We can't imagine life without you, buddy.

And to sweet baby Bentley, not a day goes by that we don't think of you.

We miss you tons.  <3

happy birthday, Beckett!

One year ago today I held this cutie for the first

time and fell madly in love.

Happy first birthday, Beckett!

my little sugar

Sweet Beckett is almost one! I can not believe it. When Zoe was this age I was about 16 weeks pregnant with this guy. Yikes! Beckett has finally started crawling on all fours, though he only does it half way to his destination then switches back to army crawling. He is cruising on all the furniture but isn't nearly as sure-footed as Zoe was so he loses his balance and trips himself up a lot. The boy is fearless. He loves to play with Zoe and Rhys and is still a mama's boy. He is drinking from a sippy and still gets his bottle three times a day. I quit BFing him around 9.5 months so he's all formula now, with occasional cow's milk. He's about 60% for height and weight as of his last checkup, which surprises me because he seems so huge. We are still waiting on teeth because he has none at this point. Rhys and Zoe both had teeth by 8 months if I remember correctly. It looks like B's getting the top/bottom front two all at once, they're right at the surface.

father's day

We spent father's day weekend at the lake with Cody's dad this year.  I'm sad to say that was the first time back to the lake since I was pregnant with R&B four years ago!  Circumstances have prevented us from going for one reason or another so we were very happy to be back on the water.  The kids loved it!

B didn't even make it out of the cove before he was sound asleep.

Rhys was loving driving the boat.  He kept saying "boat" and "water" when we were in the house.  I honestly didn't know those words were in his vocabulary.

Zoe loves her snacks! 

R&Z both love the water.  Zoe kept kick, kick, kicking and doing her "bubbles" like she does in swim class. 

This may have been the highlight for Rhys.  I'm not sure if he was completely scared or terrified.  Just kidding, he loved this too!  He really enjoys the racing games on his iPad and this was some real life action!

last day of school

Rhys is officially a ummm pre-Kindergartner instead of a pre-pre-Kindergartner.  I can not believe the year went by so quickly.  He is doing great things lately.  He knows so much that is just coming to the surface.  I guess he's been watching and paying close attention these last months because the boy is pretty sharp.  I am constantly amazed at what pops out of his mouth, thing that I had no idea he understood.  Last week he started saying "Nick", as in NickJr.  That is usually the channel on in the kids' play room.  There is a commercial in between shows that plays the little jingle and every single time Rhys says Nick in the appropriate spot.  Today while he was eating he pointed the the living room tv and said Nick, then later told Cody he wanted the tv remote.  Yes, he said remote.  He is doing great at producing new sounds on command.  Just a few short weeks ago this was very difficult for him.  We are so excited to see this progress. 



Rhys had an awards presentation at school the other day.  As you can see, Zoe made herself right at home with the rest of the class.

All the kids received an award for a character trait.  Rhys's award was for determination.

And just for fun...  big boy Beckett loves to play with Rhys and Zoe.  He's almost always right in the middle of the action.  He is still army crawling but is now pulling up to stand on everything.  He wants to be cruising so badly!