Proud Mama

I am so proud of my little man for working so hard over the last week.  Not only is he crawling now, but he can also raise his arms in the air when I ask him "How Big is Drew?"  Sounds easy, but we have been working on this for months.  He is still working on clapping and waving, but at this new rate he has recently established, that will be any day now.  He's pretty darn proud of himself too. 

It's Official People

We have a crawler!!!

             After months of worrying  wondering why Drew isn't crawling like all his little pint-sized friends, I need not worry any more.  Perhaps PT will not be neccesary?  A girl can hope.  Not that I don't love driving down town a few times a week during Drew's usual nap time, with Evan in tow.  That is surely my idea of a rockin time.  I kid, I would do whatever it takes for my boys.  The point is he is CRAWLING!!!!  HOORAY!!!

Crap, now I may never blog again.... or shower.... or cut my children's nails.... or do all those things that don't include chasing my crawling baby and keeping the little punk out of trouble.  See you when he is walking, which may be another 5 months!

You got a little something on your cheek Drew.

Here is a true sneak peek at Drew's pre-birthday photoshoot.  I know a lot of the time, I post like 25 pictures and call it a sneak peek.  I am crazy like that.  They are just too darn cute not to share, No?

I already took Drew's 1 year pictures, an entire month and a few days early.  Why you ask?  Because, I already told you... I am crazy like that.  And I want to have time to edit and blow up the pictures to display at his birthday party.  To display the whole month of September, really.  I actually do change out my pictures monthly in my house, depending on the holiday and what not.  Told you I am crazy, as if you didn't know that already!!!  And I did it early, cause Drew needs to gain a few LBS.  He's freaking skinny.  And who said a little sugar, butter, flour and eggs are unhealthy for an almost 11 month.  NOT ME!!!  So anyway, I wanted to do a cake smashing photoshoot, so a cake smashing photoshoot we shall have.  Oh yeah, and you know me.  I like to practice the cake baking ahead of time too.  Killed a lot of birds with one cake.... er.... something like that.  Why am I explaining myself to you anyway?  I am weird. Period.  So there.  Enjoy these cute pictures.  Thank you and goodbye.

State of the Starstroms

Evan is officially potty trained as far pee pee goes.  Not so much as far as poop or night time accidents, but it's a work in progress.  And I have discovered he HATES potties that automatically flush, like at the mall for example, and he will hold it for as long as he possibly needs to before going in one of those. 

Evan also finally broke the 30 lb mark.  SWEET!!   You can still see his ribs and every bone in his little skinny body, but it's an improvement from 25 lbs a few months ago after his 9 day eating strike.  His ears have also cleared up of the fluid and he no longer needs tubes in his ears... yet.

Evan's imagination continues to be his worst enemy, and naps and bed time are a challenge.  He is never more then a few feet from me, because he is "scared".  I am looking forward to him starting school again in a week and a half, and so is he really.  I can't believe he will be 3 in one month!!!  Oh, yes I can.  I have been planning his birthday party for the last 2 months!!!

And then there is my sweet baby, Drew.  He is sleeping wonderfully (knock on wood).  He sleeps 11 hours at night and takes two, 2-3 hour naps during the day.  He is taking his bottle like a champ now, which was not the case a few months ago.  He weighs 17 lbs, which unfortunately isn't even on the charts yet (still negative 5th percentile).  The doctor has referred us to Early Steps ( a government agency), which will evaluate his need for another Oral Motor Specialist and a Physical Therapist.  He is somewhat concerned because Drew isn't crawling yet, and isn't tolerating solids very well.  But for once, I am not worried.  He is starting to eat pureed fruits and veggies and yogurt, and actually can eat puffs now.  He can also get on all fours and rock back and forth.  I think this boy will be crawling in the next week or two.  But of course, if the doctor recommends getting him evaluated, then I am all for it.  He has been to an Oral Motor Specialist in the past, but it wasn't covered by insurance, so we only went for a few weeks.  This time, it's all covered by the State of Florida.  His doctor said he does not think there is something going on to cause all of this, but it's more a symptom of his prematurity. 

Ok, this post is not my usual light hearted take on motherhood.  But I know we have friends and family who check the blog for updates on my boys, so hear ya go!  I will post later about how Evan rubbed poop all over the wall and his bed later, just to cancel out the seriousness of todays.  Peace Out. 

Goin to Work...

Today Daddy and Evan ran errands together, and what a great morning they had!  Their usual trip to Home Depot turned into some great Father and Son bonding time.  When they walked in, the greeter asked if they were there for the workshop.  Although they weren't, they said they had plenty of openings, so they joined the group.  Evan got an apron and a little pin, as well as some tools and supplies and they made a little School Bus Pencil Holder.  Evan started out very shy and didn't want to participate, but he soon warmed up once he learned that he got to use a hammer.  They had a blast.  Then Evan wanted to get his hair cut, oddly enough, it is his favorite weekend outing.  They traditionally always head to Chipotle afterwards, which is right next door.  Today, unfortunately, it wasn't open yet.  Evan ran to the door and tried to open it and apparently was devastated when it was locked.  The employees witnessed this and opened the store just for him.  They gave him whatever he wanted to eat, on the house, just because he was so cute.  Mama was a little nervous while they were gone, as it was Daddy's first outing with Evan, minus the diapers.  But it went great.  No accidents.  So far, no accidents in the last 2 1/2 days other then one poop accident.  Not too shabby!!!  As soon as Evan got home, I made him take off his pants, because I don't completely trust him not to pee quite yet, and I want a clear shot of the underwear at all times.  Hence the pictures above.  He did, however, wear pants while running errands... just to clear up any confusion.  He kept saying he was going to work and he would grab my phone, Charlie the bear, his tools, Daddy's shoes, his back pack and some snacks and he was off.  You can't blame the guy for wanting to be prepared. 

Day 4... Progress is Being Made. I think.

I gots to brag on my boy today, since I have been so hard on him the last 3 days.  {as I let out an audible groan...because as soon as I do this, he is going to make a liar out of me and regress... but I gotta}.  No pee accidents yesterday!!!  We started out the morning as usual, I asked him if he had to pee every 5 minutes and he would pee when he had to, but of course I was always reminding him.  Then, because I hadn't been out of the house in 4 days, I said, screw it, let's go have some fun!!!  So we dropped off Drew at a friend's house and Evan and I met my friend from Jacksonville and her 2 year old at their resort for some pool fun!  I thought, oh well, if he pees in the pool, he pees in the pool.  Won't be the first time someone has done that.  So I just plain stopped asking him if he had to go.  But mind you, no diaper for the whole 20 mile car ride there.  And low and behold he told me 4 or 5 times that he had to go potty!!  Even we were in the lazy river lounging or playing catch in the pool.  Of course, I thought to myself, really?  I have to dry you off, walk you to the potty, put you on that nasty toilet, pull up those wet shorts again and walk back?  But I was so ecstatic that he told me, I didn't care.  We still had one poop accident yesterday, in fact he has yet to poop on the potty ( it wasn't in the pool, thank GOODNESS).  But this is definitely progress and I will take it!!!  He wears big boy underwear during his nap and all day, and a pull up at night.  Hasn't worn a diaper since Sunday.

Blue

I am thinking Blue may be a good color on Drew.  What do you think?

Precious and That's all there is to it!

Potty Training... Day 3

I realize that you may not be that interested in our potty training trials and tribulations.  If that's the case, then you may want to keep on moving.  Because that's about all I got going on right about now.  Today, I remembered something I had heard many years ago on Oprah, from Dr. Phil.  Both people I pretty much have very little respect for (a nice way of saying, I don't like em... trying to be more positive these days for my boy's sake).  Anyway, Dr. Phil said to have the child call their favorite super hero on the phone to tell them when they used the potty.  This would be an alternative to giving them candy or toys.  Sounds kind of lame, but with Evan's new found obsession with everything super hero, I thought I would give it a try.  So after Evan pee pee'd on the potty this morning, we called Batman (AKA, Daddy).  I even pretended to look up his phone number on the internet.  Paul did a very convincing Batman voice.  Evan was so excited about it.  Thirty minutes later he said he wanted to call Iron Man, so I told him only if he used the potty.  Which he did.  So we called Ironman.  After about 2 minutes into the conversation, apparently Iron Man asked him to repeat what he said.  Evan said, Daddy, I said I got a Transformer bandaid this morning.  So clearly, he knew all a long that this was Daddy and not Batman or Iron Man.  Hmmmmm.  So I gotta think of some more incentives for him to use the potty.  Because I am sure "calling Daddy" will only be fun for so long.    

Potty Training Day 2

Day of potty training = 2.
Number of pairs of underwear I have washed in the last 2 days = 8, atleast... lost count after 6 or so.
Number of drinks I am about to ingest the second Evan's head hits the pillow = 1.  Darn it, still breast feeding.
Number of times I have said, Evan, tell Mommy when you have to go potty = 629. 

Triple Threat: Cute, Chill and Sweet

Believe me when I tell you, that I couldn't dream up a sweeter, cuter baby then my own little baby boy Drew, if I tried.  This is no knock on Evan as a baby.  He was cute and sweet too, but a tad more high maintenance shall we say.  Drew is chill.  Chill.  Me with a chill baby.  Never thought I would hear those words in the same sentence unless the sentence was, Abby COULDN'T have a chill baby if she tried.  Awe, people, you don't know many times I have sang and jumped and made silly faces through the shower door to entertain my Evan while I frantically scrubbed myself from head to toe in under 3 minutes flat only to have him cry and whine for more attention.  The fact that I can plop Drew down just about any where with a toy or two and he will be satisfied for as long as I need him to be, is freaking awesome.  Freaking awesome people.  I have a chill baby.  There I said it.  Be jealous if you want. I am going to go enjoy my sweet chill baby some more. 

D-D-Double Take

Drew at 10 Months

Evan at 7 1/2 Months

I used to think my boys looked identical.  Now, not so much.  Evan at Drew's age, was..dare I say chubby?  His eyes, although the same color as Drew's, are shaped differently.  The boys definitely look like brothers, but not like twins.  Meema and I tried to re-create a picture that we took of Evan when he was a baby, with Drew this weekend.  I definitely don't need to label these pictures in order to tell my boys apart.  What do you think?

Birthday Suit

Evan at times prefers to swim in his Bday suit.  Luckily we have a pool to swim in at our leisure, because although I adore his two little white cheeks, I know not everyone would share in my adoration. 

Uptown Boy on a Downtown Budget.... Gee Thanks Daddy.

If it were up to Evan, we would go to Disney World every day.  He talks about Disney World A LOT.  But season tickets cost an arm and a leg.  Paul is, shall we say, frugal?  So to appease Paul and Evan simultaneously, we get 4 day passes here and there.  And in between our passes, Downtown Disney has to suffice.  It's great because they have a little train, a carousel, and Evan's new favorite restaurant, the T Rex Cafe.  Oh, yeah... and admission is FREE.  Saturday we spent the morning there with Meema.  Evan had a blast despite the scorching hot heat. 

7 Year Itch

The only itching going on in this house is by Corky.  Today marks our 7th year anniversary!  Happy Anniversary Paul! 

Peace Out Diapers

Today is day one of potty training boot camp and so far the score is Potty 3, Accidents 0.  We initiated Evan into the Big Boy Club this morning with the traditional "throwing away of the diapers and putting on of the big boy underwear" ceremony.  Now, I am no dumby.  I know it can't be this easy.  I know we aren't out of the woods yet.  Evan is a lovely little boy who is amazing in every way.  But things just don't come this easy for us.  So I am sure we will have our share of set backs and accidents, but so far so good!  I think the key was waiting until he was ready, and until I was ready and committed to the whole process.  Because let's face it, it's a lot of work for both of us!!  I think the hardest part so far is staying at home.  Since Drew was about 6 weeks old we have yet to stay home for an entire day once unless we were sick or we had friends over to visit.  I may be a stay at home Mama, but I am not a stay at home kinda gal.  We like to be out and about, so needless to say, we are all going a little stir crazy.

True or False?

Yeah, so I was folding and ironing clothes the other day when I looked over to see both boys cuddling and hugging in the laundry basket.  Luckily they embraced long enough for me to get a quick picture of the two of them.  Cough, cough, ahem.  That is about as true of a statement as, my son Evan, NEVER eats McDonald's Happy meals. 

Unfortunately many of my pictures are posed.  But cute nonetheless.  Actually the box on the head one isn't posed.  In fact, I try to have as little evidence as possible that my son eats such terrible food.  But the first pictures are most definitely posed.  The smiles however, are genuine.