Teething Bites

Colin has been getting lots of teeth and he is definitely on the irritable side when teething. He lets us know his pain way more than his brothers ever did.
 

Poor guy. 

Big Brothers Are Fun!

 

 

Colin is lucky to have such doting big brothers. 

Therapy Begins

Since this is the baby book-

Colin had his first therapy session today and did so well! He quickly started picking up new skills.

His physical therapist was impressed with how much progress he had made since his inital evaluation. If evaluated today his delay might not even be enough to qualify him for the program. Also, he is now able to bearing weight on straightened arms so arm cuffs won't be needed. He is sitting up great and can go from his back to side to sitting. He pulls up frequently now and at therapy he learned how to crawl up three stairs which a 12-14 month skill.

 Practicing new skills. More mobility means more work for Mommy!

 

O'Fallon Splash Park

After Tyler's 1/2 day my mom and I took the boys & Cole to the new splash pad in O'Fallon.

It was crazy hot but the kids loved it! There were several play structures also but my boys just wanted to be in the water the whole time. Cole was a bit more timid and it was so cute watching Lucas try to coax him into joining the fun. 

 

 

 

 

 

Tyler Starts Kindergarten!

Tyler had his first day of kindergarten today! He loves a full schedule and considers workbooks, math problems and learning to be fun so I know he will handle the transition from preschool to 5 day, full day kindergarten well. On the other hand, I could use a little more convincing and am not nearly as excited about him being gone that much.

Brian was out of town this week and had to miss Tyler's first day so my mom came over in the morning to stay with Lucas and Colin. It was so nice of her and gave me a chance to focus on Tyler on his big day.

Tyler wanted to walk to school so we did, holding hands along the way.  At school I dropped his hand because I thought I might embarrass him in front of his peers but when he saw the large crowd of people in the gym he quickly grabbed my hand back. He looked a bit overwhelmed but gave me a big smile as his class headed out to their room. I was a bit emotional, but thought I was going to make it through the morning without any tears until I ran into an acquaintance leaving the building. She asked who Tyler's teacher was and when I opened my mouth to speak I was suddenly too choked up to get the words out.


Another 1st day picture for the collection.

You can see his Pre-K first day picture here. 

 

I love how kids get excited about the smallest things. Tyler thinks it is so cool they have a school mascot, and in this picture you can see his prized Goshen Gator hanging backwards from his backpack. Also, I'd selected a different first day outfit for Tyler but he asked for this shirt instead because he wanted to wear one with a gator.




Celebrating after school with a 1st day treat (recycled from his brothers first birthday party). 

Win, Place, Show

We’ve had such a busy summer that it's been awhile since we've made a trip up to Libertyville. We finally had a free weekend to visit and celebrate Papa & Colin's birthday's.



While we were visiting, Grandma reserved a table at Arlington Racetrack and brought along lots of snacks. Papa gave Tyler & Lucas money to place bets so they reviewed the race program to make their selections. They choose purely by horse name rather than odds or statistics so they didn't do too well.

First trip to the racetrack. (I can't locate the spot for that in the baby book?)

If you look carefully you can see that my hair is adorned with the latest summer accessory, a June bug.

Aunt Julie entertains Colin with hand games and books since we have a strict no gambling before age 4 rule in our house.

Uncle Lenny, recovering from surgery, had a scooter all of the kids wanted to ride on.

Colin was a little more enthusiastic about his birthday cake this time. We had to take it away or he might have tried to eat it all.

Colin plays with some of his new books from Grandma & Papa. He is pretty vain and loves mirrored books.

Uncle Mike wore the kids out with a game of Sharks & Minnows and then Uncle Scott got his workout in without having to hit the gym.

 

Papa with his grandkids.

13 months!

This month Colin had the most growth in the language department and has begun "talking" like crazy. He is so curious about everything right now. He points and asks, "that?" half of the day. Some of his new words are jack, milk, cup, star ('tar), yea, and ball. Sometimes his words are super clear but they often require some context clues to help translate what he is saying. Lately he is really trying to repeat sounds and words. He LOVES books so that is one of his most used words and he asks for them all of the time. He has just started to point to some of the pictures when you ask him to find things in the book.

Between his birthday and now I tried dropping his morning nap to give our schedule more flexibility and prep him for preschool in September. This caused him to be overtired so he didn't do very well with the transition and started fighting his naps and bedtimes. We had a rough 2 weeks of him standing up and screaming in his crib only to pop up again and start all over as we laid him back down. Our easy sleeper, whose normal 5 minute bedtime routine consisted of a quick kiss, sometimes a few books, and a simple little goodnight song was now taking 45 minutes to 3 hours to go down. Thankfully this phase didn't last too long and he is now back to his normal self. He usually sleeps from about 6:45 p.m.- 7:30 a.m. and naps from 12:00 until 2:30 or 3. He still sleeps with a lovey blanket and paci but those always stay in his crib. When he wakes up he plays quietly in is crib without crying to get out so you have to keep an eye on his monitor. We are pretty lucky since he can be awake playing for 15 minutes and still not cry to get out.

Colin's upper molars finally popped through. He had been working on them for quite awhile and he had even developed blood blisters there before they came in. He is also getting one of his lower molars.  He is still missing one of his lower incisor teeth.

Goshen Open House

Today was Tyler's Kindergarten Orientation! He will be attending Goshen Elementary School which is just minutes from our house.

We got a chance to met his teacher, see his classroom, find his locker and bring his supplies. His teacher, Mrs. Hellmann, has been teaching kindergarten for 10 years and I have heard wonderful things about her.

 I loved how Tyler grabbed Brian's hand when we were exploring the building. I appreciate his public displays of affection while they last.

I can't believe summer is already ending. The extremely hot weather this summer kept us from doing a lot of outside things we would have liked but we still kept busy. We visited the zoo a few times, took multiple pool trips and the older boys attended Kids Bible Kamp, YMCA Pirate camp, Joyful Noise Music camp and Montessouri Space camp.

Tyler's First Cardinal Game

 

We've been trying to do some activities with Tyler without his siblings before he starts kindergarten. I recently took him to Pottery Hallow & lunch with Taran & Jake and today he went to his first Cardinal game with Brian.

Chicks Dig Scars (Lucas's 8 hour ER trip)



Lucas always wants to be just like his older brother so I shouldn't be surprised when, less than a year after Tyler's ER trip, Lucas had to have one of his own. Lucas and his friend Zach were running around the house and both came around a corner at the same time and ran full force right into each other. Zach escaped with only a few tears but Lucas wasn't as lucky.

Lucas had a deep, gaping cut obviously needed stitches (you could fit a marble in the opening) and he was acting a bit out of it so we took him to Children's Hospital. Our wonderful small group friends helped us get him bandaged up (and stayed with Colin and Tyler until my parents could get there) and we headed for the hospital around 8:45 p.m.

On the way there I was worried about him having a concussion since he had been oddly chilled and acting sleepy at our house after it happened. We put a movie on in the car to keep him distracted from his wound but he still started to nod off a few times.

We arrived at 9:05 to a packed waiting room and two people checking in ahead of  us. We probably should have left right then for Cardinal Glennon (mistake #1), but the woman checking us in told us our wait would probably be about an hour. When Lucas was seen at triage, he perked up and said his head didn't hurt at all which probably didn't help our chances of being seen any sooner. There they told us it was an unusually busy night and we would probably have a 2 hour wait but they would try and get him in a little earlier than that. However, we knew it wasn't a good sign when a few hours later the waiting room hadn't cleared out at all; but at that point it seemed fruitless to go somewhere else.  Thankfully, Lucas was wonderful and was easily entertained by the waiting room fish tank and TV and then fell asleep on our laps at 10:30. We didn't actually make it back to a room until 1:00 am, 4 hours after we arrived.

In addition all of the regular people like us, several victims were airlifted in from a horrible car accident, so we actually didn't see the doctor until almost 2 a.m. We were told they would have to sedate Lucas but since he was sleeping peacefully and would be given lidocaine cream and injections to numb the pain  the doctor decide to try without it  (mistake #2). He woke up during the wound cleaning and irrigation process and freaked out when it was time to do the sutures so it was clear they would have to sedate him. However, because of the traumas we would have to wait another 2 hours for  IV anesthetics so Lucas was instead given Versed and we prayed that the medicine along with the 3:00 a.m. time would make him sleepy enough for the procedure. When the medicine kicked in I got a good idea of Lucas after a few too many drinks.

It (almost) worked  and Lucas slept until his final stitch when he woke up screaming. At that point Brian, myself and a resident were barely able to restrain him for the doctor to finish the 6th and final stitch. Brief, but still a horrible experience I hope to never repeat. Thankfully the medicine helps block the memory of the procedure so he won't remember it. It was a long night and we didn't get home until almost 5 a.m. but thankfully it was just a few minor stitches.

Some cute memories- Lucas was so fascinated by the light on the finger pulse monitor he wore and we told him it was a laser just like Buzz Lightyear's so he thought it was so cool. His sedatives did their job well because the next day he didn't remember it at all. I also thought it was funny when, about 5 hours into our ER visit, Lucas suddenly remembered his brothers and asked me, "You have the [baby] monitor?" So I assured him that we hadn't left his brothers home alone.

Back home, Colin slept through the whole ordeal. Tyler was worried about Lucas but had a fun night making get well cards and having a sleepover with Glammie.

Great Grandparents

The Schuette's stopped by today when Erica was here. We captured a pic of them with their (squirmy) great grandkids.