"My hugger and kisser are broken"

Whenever something doesn't work Daniel says it's because it needs new batteries.  Even if the thing in question doesn't even use batteries, like a toilet or the garage door.  And after bathtime one of his favorite games to play is for Daddy to lay on him like he's a pillow then act surprised when the pillow starts wriggling around.  The broken pillow then needs new batteries so Kevin makes a big show of "unscrewing" the battery cover on Daniel's hip and putting new batteries in.

A few weeks ago I asked him to give me a goodnight hug and kiss and he said he couldn't because his hugger and kisser were broken and needed new batteries.  So now every night we have to put new batteries in him before we get our hugs and kisses.  Also needing batteries in order to function: his "good morning" and "goodnight."

I have to write these little funny things down to capture them so I don't forget them as he gets older.  Daniel is such a clever, entertaining little guy.  It's hard to imagine our little Energizer bunny needing batteries though!

And, a few bonus pictures:

Dressed as Woody the cowboy for Halloween

I think this is what the kids call a "selfie":

Daniel's surgery

Blogger ate my earlier draft so here's take 2:

At his 3 year well check-up Daniel's pediatrician noted that he had very large tonsils and referred us to a pediatric ENT doctor.  The ENT recommended removal of the tonsils and adenoids to help Daniel's breathing and sleeping.  

We debated about it for a few months.  On the one hand, he wasn't visibly suffering.  He doesn't really get sick much and other than snoring and heavy breathing the large tonsils didn't seem to bother him, so why put him under general anesthesia for elective surgery?  On the other hand, we know how essential restful sleep is for a growing child so knowing that he was snoring and possibly even suffering from sleep apnea concerned us.  His teachers had commented on his heavy breathing as well.  And our friends whose kids had had their tonsils removed all said their kids had had dramatic improvements in their sleep, breathing, and energy after their surgery, but the older the kids were when they had the surgery the harder and longer the recovery, so we could see that if we were going to do it it was better to do it sooner than later.

Finally we decided to do it.  We scheduled the surgery for October 11.  My mom came up from Austin to help watch Rebecca so we could focus on Daniel.  He was excited to have her here and the night before the surgery she got to watch his swim lesson.

Daniel couldn't eat the day of the surgery so we did our best to stuff him full of food the night before with a Fuzzy's quesadilla and some treats afterward.  We worried he'd wake up too late to early but early enough to have time to kill before the surgery but luckily he woke up with just enough time to get up and get in the car.  We let him wear him pajamas so he'd be comfortable.

We got to the hospital, which specializes in pediatric day surgeries, and waited to be called back to the pre-op room.  Daniel was given some "silly juice" to mildly sedate him.  It made him pretty wobbly and he couldn't stand up without support.

After the silly juice had worked its magic a nurse came and took him to the back where he was put under general anesthesia and taken into surgery.  Our wait between leaving him and getting to see him again post-surgery was probably less than an hour but it felt longer.  After it was over the doctor met us to confirm that the surgery had gone well.  He noted that Daniel had a lot of blockage in his airway and that he expected Daniel to breathe much better afterward.  A little later we were called back to see Daniel in recovery.  He was pretty tired and obviously still feeling the effects of the anesthesia.

After some popsicles and juice in the recovery bay it was time to go home.  For the next few days he ran a fever on and off, an expected side effect.  We had him on Motrin round the clock to help with the fever and inflammation.  He didn't complain much during the day but he was pretty listless for the most part.  He was tired and didn't have much of an appetite.  At night he woke up screaming several times a night and had to be comforted.  The fever ran its course within about 5 days but the listlessness and lack of appetite persisted for over a week.  I think it was partly that his throat was hurting but also an unfortunate vicious cycle of not eating so not having any appetite and so not having the energy to eat.

He wanted to be held a lot which is definitely unusual for him.  He napped in our laps for hours at a time.

But sometimes he'd want to play and show no signs that it was bothering him.

We kept him home for the most part that first week.  He tried school for a few days but didn't stay long either day.  He even had to miss his school's field trip to the pumpkin patch which he had been looking forward to.  But his teacher got him a pumpkin anyway and he enjoyed decorating it.

We had been told to expect the recovery to take 10-14 days and it definitely took until then for Daniel to get back to his normal self.  Since then we can definitely tell he is breathing more easily and not snoring anymore at night.  As time passes we may see improvements beyond that; it's too soon to know right now.  He had his follow-up checkup yesterday and the doctor said his tonsils have healed well and everything looks good.  We're glad it all went well and hopeful that the improved breathing and sleep will bring further improvement.

Rebecca at 8 months

What a busy month this has been for Rebecca!  Several noteworthy developments to report.

First, she seems to be going through a growth spurt of late.  She nurses as often as she gets the chance and has decided her favorite place to nurse is in the tub during her evening bath (I sit in the tub with her).  And she has quite an appetite for solid food too.  Sweet potatoes and oatmeal are the favorites so far but she also likes bananas, eggs, and yogurt.  She seems to have 3 stomachs: one for milk, one for sweet potatoes, and one for anything else.  Even when she's full she can find room for sweet potatoes or to nurse a little more.  She seldom takes a bottle, since I'm usually home to nurse her, but she'll take one well when it's offered.

She's still got just the 2 teeth so far but she may be working on some new ones.  I can't feel anything cutting throught right now but I think she's got a top tooth or 2 coming along.

The second big development came just in the last few days.  She has learned how to army-crawl scoot her way along the floor to reach a desired person or toy.  She's not particularly fast yet but I suspect once she realizes that her new skill lets her explore her world she'll get better and faster at it.  She seems quite proud of herself in the meantime.

She continues to be the mellow, agreeable, happy baby she's always been.  The very first night after she was born she woke up once in the night and after nursing fell asleep in my arms and slept there comfortably for hours.  A little food, a little cuddle, and she was content.  That first impression proved to be a very good predictor of her personality!

She babbles now too-not a lot, but she likes to say "babababa".  And she likes to make this smacking noise with her tongue too.  Very cute!  She's generally a quiet baby, content to observe rather than talk.  She's got a sweet little laugh, which Daniel is adept at drawing out of her.  

She adores him and loves when he plays with her.  He also likes to help feed her and while I'm not sure much of the food actually makes it to her, she loves the attention.

Playing together:

She's also fond of our cat Todd and will always turn to watch him if he's in the room.  Here she is yesterday morning when she heard the jingle of his collar when I went to get her from her bed.

Here's her 8 month car seat picture:

And in her Mickey and Minnie Mouse outfit:

7 months: Baby Rebecca...yeah!

I missed the 6 month writeup (oops) so we'll just move right along to 7 months.  Our happy, easygoing girl is still as cheerful as ever but is becoming more interactive by the day.  No longer content just to observe the world around her, now she reaches out to grab things that catch her interest.  This means bath time and diaper changes have become more interesting and challenging as she wants to roll around instead of stay still!

We've also started solid foods in the last month.  Thus far sweet potatoes in a mesh strainer are her favorite.  She likes snacking on MumMum rice rusks and Puffs too.  I'm not sure she's actually getting a lot into her tummy but she's getting used to the tastes of different foods.  Breastmilk is still the majority of her diet, as it should be at this age, but in the months to come solid food will play a bigger role.  

Rebecca looking skeptical and confused during an early feeding effort

She and I are home on our own Mondays and Fridays and during the middle of the week our nanny Gena comes to watch Rebecca.  Both kids adore her.  Daniel only sees her briefly after we get home from school but asks about her a lot.  Rebecca enjoys reading books and playing with her while Mommy works.  It's working out well for us.

She loves rolling back and forth between her tummy and back and is enjoying the jumperoo and exersaucer we put up for her in the past week.  She's still not sitting up independently yet and there are no signs that that or crawling are imminent.  She stands well on her legs though when she's supported so I have a feeling once she starts crawling she'll be pulling up to standing pretty soon.  In the meantime we're savoring the last few weeks/months of not having to be in full-on babyproofing mode again.  We've still got a lot of it in place from Daniel but will have to put a few things back up.

Bath time remains a favorite part of the day.  Now when the water gets low she likes to roll over on her tummy and play in it.

The World's Easiest Baby

Rebecca is, for the most part, continuing to live up to her title of the World's Easiest Baby.  The WEB says "I don't always wake up crying at night, but when I do, I quickly soothe myself back to sleep so as not to trouble anyone."  Sunday night she briefly woke up crying for the first time in months but quickly got back to sleep.  Monday was my fault.  I went in to kiss her goodnight and she looked so cute I couldn't resist holding her little hands and feet.  Her eyes were open at that moment so I knew I was playing with fire.  Sure enough she woke up crying when I touched her, but again, soothed herself back to sleep easily.  Not sure what we did to get 2 great sleepers but I'm not complaining!

The WEB says "I think I'm teething, but don't trouble yourself, I'm fine."  No teeth have broken through yet but it looks like she's got a few that will come up soon.  No drooling yet so it remains to be seen how imminent the breakthrough is.  If it's bothering her she's not letting on much about it.  She has occasional moments where she's a little unhappy but so far she's handling it well.

The WEB, alas, is not much of a car napper, as we discovered the hard way on Labor Day weekend.  Maybe it was just too hot that weekend but she napped about an hour total out of 12+ hours in the car over 3 days.  She wasn't screaming the rest of the time but she wasn't the happiest I've ever heard her.  Before the next car trip we'll switch her to a rear-facing convertible seat.  Maybe sitting more upright will be more comfortable and let her see her surrounding better and thus keep her happier.  Daniel wasn't a great road trip kid either till he was about 18 months so this may just be how it is for the next year or so.  But she's so easy the rest of the time it's hard to get too bothered about that.

Her 7 month picture:

Laughing:

Daniel: 3 years old

Somehow when I wasn't looking my little baby turned into a 3 year old.  He's a happy, energetic, thoughtful little boy who keeps us laughing.

He recently moved up to the next oldest class at preschool.  He moved over gradually, first just in the afternoon but as of a few weeks ago he's there all day.  He's adjusted well.  The new class doesn't have naptime; given that he wasn't napping anyway that suits him perfectly.  He enjoys clean-up time at school and is a good helper.

Before he moved up to the new class, he enjoyed the "celebration of life" birthday commemoration in his old class.  Ms. Becca shared stories and pictures from each year of Daniel's life and he did a circle around the candles for every year of his life and she prayed thanksgiving for the 3 years past and blessings for the year to come.

Soccer lessons are offered at school once a week and he's been taking them since January. He loves it and is excited to tell us about scoring goals.  He has also been taking swim lessons once a week since late May and is enjoying those too.  He does every lesson with enthusiasm: kicking in the water, jumping off the side, swimming, and best of all, going down the slide!  No sooner does he finish something than he's calling out "I want to do it again!"  

Here he is swimming in the neighborhood pool:

They also do yoga at school and his favorite pose is star pose, which he does by spreading his arms and legs and announcing "star pose!"

When he's not swimming and playing soccer, he's happily reading books, singing songs, and loving on his baby sister.  He's very sweet with Rebecca, for the most part.

For his birthday we did a pool party with his school friends and a few other close friends.  He had a great time playing with all his friends.

He got a lot of birthday gifts he enjoyed but so far his very favorite is the kitchen set his teacher Ms. Emily got for him.  Apparently he plays with the school one a lot so she knew he'd love to have one of his own.  The minute he opened it he insisted on "cooking" for everyone!

He also enjoys the camera Mommy and Daddy got him:

Looking forward to Aggie football and showing off his Heisman pose!

He remains, as ever, a happy healthy boy.  At his 3 year checkup though his pediatrician noted that he has very large tonsils and that they partially obstruct his airway.  She referred us to a pediatric ENT doctor who suggested removing the tonsils and adenoids to help his breathing and sleeping.  It's a big decision and one we're still researching.

This year saw a major adjustment for him from only child to big brother and he handled it wonderfully.  He also adjusted from home care to preschool and is thriving at school.  The next year shouldn't hold such dramatic adjustments for him but it'll be fun to watch him continue to bloom in his new roles as student and brother.  Our first 3 years with Daniel have been a blessing and I'm excited to see what the next year brings.

Rebecca: 5 months

This Sunday Rebecca will be 6 months old...which means my 5 month update is right on time ;)  As usual, she remains a cheerful, mellow baby.  She always seems to wake up on the right side of the bed and greets me with a big smile every time she sees me.  She coos, gurgles, and laughs a lot too.  She is truly a joy to be around!

I work from home now and Mondays and Fridays it's just her and me.  Tuesdays-Thursdays our nanny comes to watch Rebecca so I can work uninterrupted and get out of the house.  But even on "nanny days" I still get to nurse Rebecca and spend time with her.  We're enjoying our time together.

She's still a great sleeper and eater. We haven't started solids yet but probably will in the next few weeks once she can sit up and is showing signs of readiness.  She can sit and stand with support but isn't sitting unsupported yet.  She doesn't have any teeth breaking through and isn't drooling yet so teething isn't imminent but she does like to put things in her mouth.

She's quite adept at rolling over both ways and really enjoys her activity gym.  She especially likes to pull the little monkey toy down and smiles triumphantly when she does.  She enjoys her baths with me too and likes standing up (supported) in the tub.

I take her with me to pick Daniel up from school in the afternoons and his friends love to tickle Rebecca's toes, play with the toy ice cream cone she holds, and rock her carseat.  Daniel proudly shows off his little sister.  Such a sweet big brother!

Sleeping beauty

Playing on her activity mat

Beach babe

Lying on my shoulder

Happy girl

Her 5 month picture

Padre vacation

Last month, in keeping with a longstanding family tradition, we journeyed to South Padre Island for five fun-filled days.  We were joined by my parents and two other families we're good friends with, both of whom by wonderful coincidence have 3 year old sons and baby daughters.

We expected a great trip and were not disappointed.  Daniel, Alejandro, and Noah enjoyed playing on the beach and building sand castles.  Daniel enjoyed running out into the ocean too until he'd get hit with a face full of salt water.  But after a minute he generally was ready for another round of it, and we had to keep a close watch to make sure our fearless little boy didn't run out into the water by himself!

Our little beach boy

Marko and Kevin take Alejandro and Daniel out into the surf

Nadine and Noah hanging out on the shore

As for the baby girls, 10 month old Gabi enjoyed crawling around in the sand but 4 month old Rebecca and 7 month old Layla were just observers this trip.  Because of differing nap schedules we didn't all make it down to the beach at the same time very often so I didn't get a lot of pictures of everyone.  Next year though the girls should all be down to just an afternoon nap so we'll get more group time on the beach together.

In 5 days there this was the only beach outing Rebecca made it to.  She was napping the rest of the time!

Amr and Layla look on as Noah plays in the sand.

Rebecca spent so little time down by the water I wasn't able to get a picture of all 4 of us together but here are the 3 of us:

My parents enjoyed the time with the kids and they enjoyed seeing Mimi and Baba.  They celebrated their 40th anniversary on the trip and were gracious enough to include all of us in their anniversary dinner.

One night the 6 30-somethings left the kiddos with babysitting grandparents, teen daughters, and cousins and treated ourselves to a night out.  We went to Gabriella's for a delicious Italian dinner.  We arrived with high expectations and left stuffed and satisfied.  We started with an appetizer of mussels. The broth was so good some of us might have been tempted to drink it up...

The trip was fun and enjoyable except for our last morning there.  I had gotten up early that morning to call to ask about late check-out.  No sooner had I gotten off the phone than I heard a thud from the kids' room.  I knew Daniel had fallen out of bed even before I heard the cry so I ran in to get him.  I assumed he'd have a big bruise but was shocked when he pulled his hand from his forehead and it was covered in blood.  Apparently falling face-first onto a tile floor from bed can give you quite a cut on the forehead.  I knew it was "just" a cut and was thankful it wasn't worse, but I also knew immediately that he needed stitches.  

And just like that, our concern that day wasn't about getting one last swim in, it was about an unplanned trip to the Harlingen hospital.  I woke Kevin up to take Daniel while I stayed with Rebecca and finished getting us packed.  5 stitches later they were discharged from the hospital and on their way back to the island to meet us for lunch.  Fortunately the cut is healing well, though he's still got quite a knot on his forehead a month later.  If you had told me before the trip that one of the kids would need an ER visit I have to admit I'd have bet on it being Daniel-the kid is fearless.  But ironically his first ER visit of his life wasn't because of playing hard at all, he was sound asleep!

After lunch we had a few hours till our flight so we checked out the turtle rescue center on the island.  It's not a big place but Daniel was really interested so we wound up spending about an hour there going from tank to tank looking at the turtles.  You can't see it in the picture but he's got stitches and a bandaid on his forehead.

If the whole falling out of bed thing took anything out of him he wasn't letting on about it.  That night after we arrived back at Love Field and were waiting for our bags, he and Alejandro were jumping around like frogs to the amusement of our fellow passengers.

Injuries aside it was a great trip and I'm already looking forward to Padre 2014!  Such a wonderful time with family and good friends.  I hope someday Daniel and Rebecca are excited to take their own kids to Padre and continue the tradition of happy times there.