Birthday Party Fun!

I am wayyyy behind on posting so many things, but I finally uploaded all our birthday party pics to the computer so I thought I would get this post up!

We knew we wanted to have a Sesame Street themed birthday party for the boys as Spencer loves Elmo's World, and we often sing C is for Cookie as our brushing teeth song (I've even made up new words with all his friends names in it b/c I got sick of the original version!). Plus, the colors are fun, the ideas are plentiful on Pinterest, and it is easy to find Sesame Street themed things in the stores.

I took Friday off work to make/organize all the food and do all the last minute shopping that needed to be done. Our menu consisted of the ever popular Ham and Swiss sliders that are all over Pinterest, Pineapple Chicken Salad, fruit kabobs, veggies (some with hummus and some with ranch), goldfish (where would Elmo be without Dorothy??), Italian rice salad, applesauce pouches, chocolate chip cookies, whoopie pies, and 2 kinds of cupcakes.

The food was all arranged on the kitchen island

(Please put this recipe on your list of things to try this summer. It is AMAZING!!! We make it all the time for parties and everyone always loves it! It also is wonderful as leftovers for lunch for a few days afterwards!)

Bar Cart- we had beer, wine, blackberry margaritas, soda, Izze fruit juices, mini waters, and juice boxes for the kids

Desserts were in the dining room on the table and on the buffet

The boys were dressed in shirts from this darling boutique on Etsy. I wanted them to match but not perfectly and I loved that the colors were similar but they each got their own character. I thought they looked just adorable in them!!

For Decor, I made letters for the front door, we put up banners (one in the dining room and one in the kitchen) that I bought from Party City, we did favors on the front table, and all our signs for the food and the games were created by B on the computer at work. I bought polkadot ballons and had them filled with helium the morning of the party. We placed them on the deck, on the mailbox, and around the house for the kids to play with.

One of the activities for the kids was Ernie's Duck Pond. I got a cheap inflatable pool, 12 ducks, and a few fishing nets for kids to fish out the ducks. I think more kids made it in the pool than ducks made it out, but they enjoyed it!

I ordered the treat bags from Zulily and stuffed them with a coloring book, a sesame street plastic cup, and a maraca from the dollar section at Target.

We had a bunch of bubbles out on a table for kids to play with. I forgot to get pictures of the other games, but they included Oscar's Trash Toss- a garbage can and crumpled paper for kids to aim for the basket and Cookie Monster's Cookie Throw- Blue solo cups with a Cookie Monster decal stuck to the front and then I made cookie shaped beanbags to toss at the pyramid of solo cups. It was really cute and I'm mad I didn't get a picture!

Here is a picture of the cups- now picture them in a pretty pyramid with cute cookie beanbags to throw at them!

Spencer wanted cupcakes instead of a cake, and I was fine with that. I made both chocolate and strawberry  cupcakes both of which got a fabulous vanilla buttercream frosting that was not at all too cloying or sweet. As necessary for any 1st birthday party, below are some pics of Peter with the cupcake. I was nervous about not having a true smash cake, but honestly, he doesn't need all that sugar and he didn't even eat all the cupcake that he had!

(don't you just want to eat him up!!!!!)

Overall, the party was really fun. We were glad that we had so many people who wanted to spend the morning with us celebrating are sweet boys. While we definitely aren't birthday party every year kind of people, this one went off well, and I think I'll be ready in 2 or 3 years for another joint one!!

Peter is 8 months old....

 

My sweet-as-pie baby is 8 months old already!

Peter's favorite thing to do is eat. Can you tell by those cheeks? His thighs are even better, ladies and gents! He's a great nurser and bottle taker when at daycare. He gets 5 feeds a day all about 5ish oz a piece. He eats baby food/finger foods twice at daycare and once at home. He is not picky in the least and is getting a great variety of foods. We have been doing a little more baby led weaning this time around and giving him a lot of finger foods. He still does get some purrees as I want to make sure he is getting used to lots of flavors. I wouldn't say he has any favorites, but things he is currently eating include: homemade chicken noodle soup (he LOVED everything about this), squash mixed with apples, spinach mixed with pears, baby split pea soup, blueberries, cheerios, peas, sweet potatoes, and cantelope.

(In my Christmas Bote Tote)

He is sleeping through the night much more regularly now. He got his second tooth this weekend, so both nights were kind of rough. He definitely struggles with sleep more than Spencer did and small changes in schedules, environments, or illnesses really upset his sleep habits. In general, he goes down around 7 and gets up anywhere between 5 and 6. He usually takes a morning and afternoon nap at daycare- the length is all over the board.

He is crawling everywhere and has even gotten himself up the step in between our family room and our kitchen. He is pulling to stand on everything. He constantly blows raspberries (zerberts) but is not really babbling yet. I wonder if that is due to the biscuit (ie- pacifier). He is crazy about his and I wonder if having something in his mouth regularly is preventing him from making more noise. Anyone want to weigh in on this?

 

He has one "look" as a lot of our family and friends say and that is just this wide eyed grin. He is a truly happy baby so much of the time. We did have another kidney ultrasound on 12/31 which showed good interval growth of both kidneys and stable hydronephrosis. Essentially, nothing new has reared an ugly head; yet nothing has improved either. We're just stable, and I will take stable anyday. We don't have to go back to the nephrologist for six months- yea! He had bronchiolitis a few weeks ago, but other than that ucky weekend, he has been a healthy, healthy boy! I'm so glad he got his flu shot this year :)

 

Love you, PUT!!

 

Edited to add:

Spencer at the exact same age the above were taken of Peter. My boys look very little alike. Spencer is so me/my side of the family and Peter is so his daddy!! Funny as their middle names are the opposite: Spencer is after B and Peter is after me.

 

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Kidney Update

(Brotherly love during tummy time)

 

This is a very "medicalized" post. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I'll try to answer or just skip it!

 

Quick Recap:
L kidney is the "bad" and/or "small" kidney with 13% function
R kidney is the "good" kidney with the rest of the function (In case you are wondering, kidney function should be 50/50)

On October 12th we had a VCUG done which showed that the L kidney has grade 5 reflux. Reflux can only be graded to grade 5, so this is the worst it can be. This is consistent with the hydronephrosis we saw on the last ultrasound. Essentially when we saw the test being done, we could immediately see the backflow of urine from the bladder, up the ureter, immediately to the kidney. It was very obvious that the backflow valve wasn't working at all. The ureter is also "torturous" which just means that it is twisted, very dilated (big), and ugly looking. So overall, his whole left kidney system is just not great. The test also showed that his right side has grade 2-3 (subjective apparently) reflux and there is an outpouching (called a diverticulum) right near the junction of the bladder and the ureter. This outpouching apparently makes things "worse" overall. I really wish I could draw pictures on email as this is a LOT easier to describe with a picture!!!

Our nephrologist called us (on a Saturday!!!) to update us on the test and to let us know that she was going to send a referral to urology as if he needs surgery, it would be the urologists who do this. She also upped his dose of his daily antibiotic as he is growing and needed a bigger dose.

We got into urology pretty quickly and had an apt on Thursday with a wonderful urologist. (Seriously, he had amazing bedside manners, was soooo nice to Spencer and Peter, and explained everything so well. We were both quite impressed.) He explained everything again (most of which we already knew), drew lots of pictures, and gave us a plan for the next 18 months or so. Essentially, Peter will definitely need surgery in the future. He will more than likely need surgery on both sides. Many children will outgrow reflux if is is stage three or under (like Peter's right side), but since he has the outpouching on that side, it is very unlikely that his body will adapt appropriately to that and outgrow it. There will probably be two surgical options for him when this occurs, but we aren't even close to thinking about that now. We don't know what will happen yet to his left side. He could just have a relatively minor surgery to fix the angle at which the ureter goes into the bladder to correct the reflux, or he could need the whole entire kidney and ureter taken out. There are a lot of factors which will go into this decision and time will tell what he will actually need. We also don't know yet when he would actually need surgery. Currently, as long as the daily antibiotic works well and he doesn't get bladder infections or kidney infections, then we will push off surgery as long as possible- hopefully even until his is 5 or 6.

The urologist wants to repeat the VCUG in another 18 months but also acknowledges that our nephrologist may need to do the test in 1 year instead of 18 months. So, for now, we will be doing the daily antibiotic for a long, long time (like 3-5 years) and having urine cultures done for any unexplained fevers/illnesses. We will also have growth ultrasounds to make sure that the right kidney is growing 3-4 times per year. We are scheduled for our next one on December 31st and an apt with the nephrologist on Jan 10th. We'll see the nephrologist 3-4 times per year and the urologist 2x per year.

We are happy to have more clarity on the surgery issues and we are certainly happy that people have two kidneys and can live with only one!! Our current prayer is that we can make it through 2013 with no ER visits for unexplained fevers and that we will not have to be hospitalized for IV antibiotics. These would be the worst things that could happen in the next year, so that is what we will be praying won't occur.

 

Overall, we realize we are very lucky. Working in pediatrics for the past 11 years makes me grateful every single day for a very healthy Spencer and, even though Peter has some problems, he is much healthier than many children out there. If you have a moment on occasion this year though, we would truly appreciate any prayers for a infection free winter!

 

Peter is 6 months!

Peter, my sweet baby, is now 6 months old. He is such a happy, easygoing baby and for that we are truly blessed. He loves to smile and laugh and Spencer spends most of their time together trying to get him to talk and laugh at him. It's adorable!

 

He is sitting up like a champ. I leave him in the middle of the floor sitting without anything around him and walk away. He'll sit there for a good 20 min as long as he has something to entertain him. He is starting to fall forward and then push up. He has gotten his knees underneath him twice so far. Spencer started crawling at Christmas time and I wouldn't be surprised if Peter was around then too. His favorite thing to do is jump in the Johnny Jump Up or in the Jumperoo Exersaucer. He just laughs and jumps and cracks himself up. It's a great place to put him during dinner so that B and I can eat with both hands!

(Yep, not only do I look like my daddy but I have his hair too!)

 

Peter weighed 19 lbs 1 oz and was 26 in long at his 6 month visit. He's in the 76th percentile for weight and the 25th percentile for height. Yep, short and chubby, that's my guy :) Like my pediatrician says, he'll even out eventually. My breastmilk must be extra fatty b/c both of my boys were chubs at this age!

 

Peter is doing MUCH better in the sleep department. He is taking 2 naps at daycare, at least one of them in 1.5-2 hours. At night he goes down around 7 and wakes between 5-5:30 to eat. He'll go back to bed immediately and I have to wake him at 6:45 to get him dressed to leave at 7:05. If we didn't have to leave, he'd sleep til at least 8. It's so nice to sleep (mostly) through the night. There are occasions when we get a certain 2.5 year old in our room around 4 (snuggle in the middle, mommy), but, for the most part, our sleep is great in this house!

 

He has been eating pureed foods for about 6 weeks now and is up to twice a day, once at daycare and once at home. He doesn't really like green beans or bananas; he loves sweet potatoes, zucchini, pears, and squash. I made carrots this weekend so that will be a new food for him this week. Spinach and pears was one of Spencer's favorite and I'm sure we'll do this for Peter soon. We've also got to start giving him finger foods sometime soon- it's just so messy that I know it's all going to end up in his hair!

 

A few of Peter's quirks:

*he loves to pull his hair, mostly on the right side. I notice it when he's mad or tired.

 

*he is a pacifier addict. Loves it, loves it, loves it.

 

*he is a great smiler. I think he's going to have a dimple on his right side. It's not a big pronounced one, but there is definitely an indentation of some sort.

 

*he loves chewing on his feet. His socks are constantly wet. It kind of grosses me out, if I'm being honest. Wetness bugs me

 

*he is a monster drooler..........again with the wetness!

 

Happy 6 month birthday, my sweet Peter. Mommy and Daddy and Spencer love you to death!!

Rolling, rolling, rolling.......

 

As a mom of an infant, I have found that I love the closely spaced pediatrician visits b/c I love getting Peter's weight and height and I love doing the developmental checklists and knowing that he is on track. At the four month visit, babies are supposed to be rolling over from tummy to back, and though I checked that Peter did that on the checklist we have to fill out, he really had only done it once. It made me feel slightly inferior that other babies (including Spencer) were rolling over regularly by 4 months and Peter wasn't. Yes, this is me totally admitting that my self esteem is changed by what my children do. Ugg, I know this shouldn't be the case, but I bet that most honest moms feel this way too.

 

The pedi told me that often her "chunkier" babies took longer to roll and not to worry that he wasn't rolling regularly. He was meeting all his other milestones and he obviously has great tone, so she was not at all worried. I really wasn't either- I just like to check things off on lists though, you know?

 

Well, look who decided to surprise me this weekend when he rolled, not only front to back but also back to front all on the same day????? We were at friends for dinner and we were just chilling in the family room on the floor when PUT just started rolling all over the place. He would do it and then he would look up and just grin like a madman. SOOOO cute! He's got it down now, and yesterday rolled over and over in his room until he ran into the dresser. He started crying so I moved him away from the dresser, and he started rolling around again with wild abandon. It's awesome.

 

As a nurse practitioner, I love, love, love having parents come in and tell me what their kids are "working on" and what they have recently accomplished. I love to see the pride come onto the parents and kids faces when the parents mention how good their child is at something, especially when it is a kid who may not hear positive things about him/herself very often. I feel the same way right now. I love that I see him learning and changing and growing. It's so fun. I also love seeing Spencer getting excited about Peter learning things. He has decided he wants to teach Peter to walk. How do you explain to a 2 year old that that's going to be about 8-10 months from now?? Sweet boy!

 

Soooo, tell me, what is your child working on right now? Why are you a proud momma? Spencer's "thing" right now is his amazing vocab- it's growing by leaps and bounds in the past few months and his sentence structure is amazing. I also love that he wants to practice "back and through" all the time (ie- golf). Are you in the midst of learning how to count, how to say the ABCs, or how to do long division? Are you potty training? Are your kids loving their sports right now? Please start bragging because I am listening!!!!

Peter is 4 months old

Hey, sweet P! You are 4 months old. I would say I can't believe it, yet I remember so vividly the time flying by with your brother as well.

Peter is a very sweet, very smiley baby during the day. He will, of course, have occasional moments of fussiness, but, for the most part, is a sweet little guy. He is cooing and doing lots of "gahs" and "guhs". Just this a.m. I heard him making new noises with different high and low tones. He is definitely chattier than Spencer was at this age. He will say something and then wait for you to say something back and then make more noises, just like a "real" conversation. I love it! He is also full on laughing now and it's fabulous. He does it at random times and not always for the same reasons, so it's super fun if you happen to catch him in the act. He's starting to interact with toys and loves looking in the mirror too.

 

No rolling over yet and he doesn't seem interested in trying either. He will roll if he is already laying on his side but he certainly can't get from back to front or front to back. He did scootch around on his tummy the other day to look in a new direction. He is sitting well in the bumbo (as evidenced above) and likes the exersaucer at daycare. He's great in the car- it's a great sleep tool!

It's a shame he is in daycare all day as he, like so many babies, can get fussy in the evenings which is the only time we have with him. It's hard to have a baby who is happy when being held but fussy when out of our arms while we are trying to make dinner, attend to both boys' needs, talk to each other, and wind down from our work day in general. Don't get me wrong, I love holding the little guy, but holding babies and chopping veggies for dinner is a little, shall we say, tricky and, I'm certain, not advised by the American Academy of Pediatrics :)

Love these ears!!!!

He is gaining weight very well and growing in length too. No stats since drs apt is next week, but he is outgrowing clothes left and right. The other day I put him in a 6-12 month sleeper and it wasn't too big at all!! Yikes. He takes 3 5oz bottles of pumped breastmilk while at daycare and occasionally will take 1-2 more oz while there from the extra bottle we send. He nurses in the morning, in the evening twice and, lately, like crazy overnight. I'm amazed I'm keeping up with him to be honest!

See this smile? Are you madly in love? Yep, me too. Would you like to see it mulitple times overnight? Yea, me neither. It's hard to say whether or not he is in the 4 month wakeful period or if his reflux is getting worse, but his sleep for the past 12 days has been awful. He certainly has never been the greatest sleeper. He's only had one 8 hour stretch in his little life, most nights he is up 1-2 times to nurse (usually around 1 and then around 4). For the past 12 days, he has been up 3-4 times every single night fussy and not wanting to go back to bed unless he is nursed. Apparently this is not uncommon, and Spencer did this too for two weeks around this time. Not uncommon, but NOT appreciated either. I honestly can say that I have never, ever been as tired as I have been in the past two weeks.

 

He's always had reflux- very spitty, coughs when lying down, you can hear stuff gurgling around in his esophagus, etc, but it seems to be getting a bit worse lately. We started Prevacid this weekend (which takes about two weeks to really take effect). We'll see if this helps him over the next month and then decide if it is worth continuing. At night, we have noticed that he is often comfort nursing rather than really needing to nurse, and I think it is due to wanting to swallow/suck to get the burning from the reflux down as the pacifier is no longer cutting it and that used to be his soothing mechanism. I'm hoping that if we can cut down on the acid, he'll have an easier time at night when lying down. Only time will tell!

 

I feel badly as this post seems to be more negative than positive. I truly adore my sweet boy and wouldn't trade him for the world! We're just have a rough go right now which I don't want to sugar coat as I think people really appreciate knowing that other moms out there struggle with infants just as much as they do. Plus, as any mom will tell you, lack of sleep is incredibly wearing, and at some point in time, it's impossible to be smiley, perfect, happy pants when you are so gosh darn tired. This too shall pass- it did with Spence and it will with Peter. We're incredibly lucky overall, and all the goos, gahs, smiles, laughs, and bright eyed moments of wonder make up for everything else!

If you need any proof that my babies do not look alike at all, here it is! They really could not be more different. The only similar feature are their sweet noses :) (Click here for Spencer's 4 month pics to see how different their baby pics are)

Only one week left......

Next Monday, I have to leave this face. I cannot believe it's already been 12 weeks since his (very terrifying) birth. I'm glad that I've gotten to spend 12.5 weeks home with him, but I'm wishing for a few more months of strictly mom time!!

He has grown and changed so much in the past 12 weeks. He's already over 14 lbs, has grown more than 4 inches since birth, his head control is amazing lately (tummy time IS worth it!), and he is cooing and talking all the time. He loves to be on a schedule and his cues are really easy to read. God has certainly blessed B and I with this boy!

Hi Mommy!!!

We do love our daycare, and I was more than happy about our infant room, so I can't complain about the care he is going to get. I know his teachers will love him to death- they're already SO excited to have him full time.  It's just hard to know that the first time he rolls over will probably be there and that we'll miss some of his wonderful milestones. I love, love, love that SYT has great friends at daycare and is learning so much more than I would have taught him at this point, but the baby stage has been so wonderful with Peter that I'm definitely going to miss every day with him.

I have asked my work if going to part time is a possibility but I haven't gotten an answer on that yet. I know it wouldn't happen for a few months (due to scheduling and getting a new team member that needs training), but I am really, really hoping that my boss can make it work. I really think that a day home during the week with my boys would make a huge difference in my heart!!

I am excited to see my coworkers and my favorite patients, and I really do LOVE my job.  I am only sad to miss my sweet boy's smile in the middle of the day and the awesome cuddle sessions we have. We have already given him a bottle which he has taken to like a champ, so that is one worry off my plate. I already have a freezer stash of breastmilk, so as long as I can continue to keep up my milk supply daily at work, Peter should be set! I just pray he is as easy and loving for them as he is for us at home. Sweet boy, I will miss you!!!!

He's smiling (and a kidney update)!!

These pictures were taken at 6 weeks old and he's now 7 weeks.  My how the time flies!!

Peter is happy to report that our first trip to the nephrologist's office went well.  The two tests we had last week showed that his left kidney is still abnormally small (below the 5th percentile) and has very little function.  The right kidney is growing well and functioning well.  The left kidney is growing though, so, at this point, we expect that it will continue to grow throughout his life, just on it's own growth curve.  It will always be small and it will probably always have some functionality to it (though not enough to take over for the other kidney if that kidney were damaged in any way). 

His ultrasound showed that he has mild (grade I) hydronephrosis in the good (right) kidney.  This can be normal up to age one, so we will get serial ultrasounds over the next year to watch it.  If it stays the same or gets smaller, then that is great.  If it worsens, then we will have to do another test (VCUG) to see if he is having backflow of urine up into his kidneys.  That can cause lots of infections and damage the good kidney which is why it is necessary to watch it so closely.  I'm content that it hasn't worsened in the first 6 weeks of life, so I'm not worried about the future.

Since my office is on the same floor as the nephrologist's, I was able to stop in and see all my coworkers after the apt.  It was wonderful to see everyone!

(Close ups of this sweet, sweet face)

We're so happy that he is doing well overall and glad that we really haven't been given anything to worry about.  I'm so thankful!