Summertime!

Since we moved to VA 18 months ago, I've become more excited for the summer months. There's so much more to do around here in the nice weather than there was in NEPA. There's parks, pools, splash pads (our favorite!), museums (which could be a winter month activity), and just anything outside. My point being: there's plenty to do around here, whereas we were limited back north. A few weekends ago, Cael and I made our first season visit to the community pool and splash pad. I looked back at pictures from last June when we first went, and he's changed so much! He's running so much better, and he's so much more vocal. He can now express his enjoyment, disappointment, fear and excitement (he repeats everything now, so he's picked up so much recently). I love everything about it. It was a cooler day at the lower 70's and overcast, but we still had fun. After a couple hours, Cael was shivering, so it was time to go. I can't wait until we go again!

2013 and 2014

2013 and 2014

 

It's Personal

The annual gyne visit. Mostly dreaded because it can be an uncomfortable exam. I dreaded mine last month because of my result last year. I had an abnormal result last year that resulted in a colposcopy (cervical biopsy). Fortunately, that resulted in CIN1, which is the mildest form of cervical dysplasia. I didn't require any further treatment, and didn't even need a close follow up. Just a strict 1-year pap. Which brought me to the end of April. To be honest, I've been anxious about this appointment since January. 

My appointment came and went, and 2 weeks went by. They told me that it could be up to a month for results because the lab was behind. Great, just what I needed for my anxiety. I went to Long Island to attend the wedding of a friend I've been friends for, for 22 years, not really thinking about the results. I got home on a Sunday, and checked the mail on Monday. I had been waiting for a phone call, since that's what happened last year, while trying to keep in mind "no news is good news". In the mail that Monday, was my result. Everything was normal!! Thankfully!! I was so relieved, like a weight had been lifted. All that worry and anxiety for no reason at all. It again reminded me of what the patients I care for on a daily basis go through when they're anxiously awaiting results. 

So until next year...For my gyne exam, that is. :-)

Happy Easter 2014!

Happy Easter! Of course, this post is late, but better late than never. Cael had a fun Easter this year. The Easter Bunny hid eggs this yea, and he had so much fun finding them. And of course, also had fun peeling the wrapper off the chocolate eggs, and eating the eggs.

We got together with my BIL, SIL and niece, and did an egg hunt outside for the kids. After that, the 6 of us got together, and ordered Chinese food take-out for dinner. It was a great Easter!

Spring/Easter/Family Pictures!

We haven't had family pictures done since Cael's newborn pictures. So I decided, after buying a Groupon for $25, that this would be the perfect time for family pictures. We've been getting Cael's "half birthday" pictures at the same time as Easter and Spring pictures, so we just incorporated everything into one session. I'm so happy with how they turned out. I love my little family.

Easter morning post will follow.

Time Flies!

Wow it's been a while!! I guess time just flies by as life happens. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, my birthday, Valentine's day - have all come and gone! Cael is now 2.5 years old, and he is turning into quite the young brute! He is 110% boy - everything is cars, trucks, monster trucks, planes, helicopters and trains. Being fearless, he jumps off our bed and couch. He is smart, sassy, funny and getting so big! He is rather defiant (can someone say Terrible Twos!?), the pickiest eater I have ever encountered, and is a ball of energy - going from 8 am to 10 pm without a nap! Don't judge us, we're having sleep issues. Lack of naps is only the beginning. He's currently sleeping in our bed every night, and has been for several months. Like I said, don't judge!

The last we checked, which was sometime last month, Cael weighed in (at home) at 31 pounds, and measured about 36 inches tall. Both of these are around the 60th percentile, which I'm happy about. Considering the boy doesn't eat anything good! And it's not without us trying. Basically, all he wants to eat nowadays is cereal, cookies, pancakes and pasta. More recently, we tried the Dannon drinkable yogurt, which he loves. So I'm happy he's getting some nutrition from that. We were giving him Pediasure for a while, but it made his poop green, and seemed to give him gas issues.

Speaking of poop, we started back cloth diapering a few months ago. Money has been tight, and we were out of disposable diapers, so we just started using the cloth diapers. However, we switched back to disposables about 2 weeks ago because Cael's bowels have been completely and utterly uncontrollable. Probably from his poor diet. So that made changing disposable diapers disgusting and difficult.

Matt is still a stay-at-home dad. Am amazing SAHD, might I add. He's applied to so many jobs over the past several months, and finally heard back from a local Post Office. We'll see how that goes. As for me, work is going great. I love my job and what I do with such passion, and I'm so happy I've been given the opportunity to get back into it. I'm finally feeling like I'm fitting in where I work. It's taken a while, but I guess that's to be expected when you move to a completely new place, and join a team that's been established for a while. Either way, I'm finally feeling like I'm part of the "team".

Two-years (Plus) Three Months

March 5, 2014 - This is a post I started writing, but never finished. I guess I started it with the intention of finishing it, but with the holidays and work, I forgot about it and never posted it. Well, here it is, without anything new added to it. I'll be writing a new post soon to update with everything :)

I finally stopped tracking Cael's age with months. I now say "I have a 2 year old". Mostly because it's easier, but also because I'm sure I'd get some funny looks by saying "I have an almost 27 month old". :::Btw, I had to count on my fingers just now to figure out he was almost 27 months, because I don't really keep track anymore::: The time is really flying by, and Cael has changed so much over these past 2 years. I just looked back at pictures of Cael when he was a baby-baby, and he looks so different. He's really grown into a handsome little boy, and I really don't think my heart can take much more of that. It's just going so fast.

The poor Little Guy has spent the last 4 weeks sick. It started with a doctor visit on the 6th, and a diagnosis of a right ear infection and viral cold. This was preceded by 5 days of high fevers and lethargy (we figured it was viral and just had to run it's course. Matt and I aren't usually ones to rush right to the doctor), and was followed by 10 days on Amoxicillin (some of which were while we were visiting Long Island). Cael was fine for a couple days following the end of his antibiotic. Fast forward to Wednesday of last week, and Cael's 103.5 fever returned, as well as his crankiness, clinginess and lack of sleeping at night in his own crib. Matt brought Cael back to the doctor this past Friday, even though his fever was pretty much gone. I just couldn't shake my gut feeling that his ear infection didn't go away fully. Plus, I noticed his left ear seemed very sensitive, as he screamed bloody murder when I cleaned it. Turns out he now has a double ear infection, and a new prescription for Augmentin. Today was day 5, and he seems to be improving markedly. He's fell asleep in his crib for the past 2 nights (plus tonight), which is HUGE! His bedtime routine has been so messed up lately, and Matt and I haven't had our bed to ourselves in about a month. Cael usually wakes up in the middle of the night sometime, and ends up in our bed. Baby steps though. I'm happy that he's been going to sleep on his own, in his own bed, and didn't rely on me laying down with him for the past 3 nights. I'm truly hoping this continues.

Since Cael has been to the doctor twice in the past 3 weeks, we got a weight on him. Our scale at home is far from accurate, and I'm trying to weigh Cael every 2 months, just for fun, to see how he's growing. His first visit in the beginning of the month, when he really wasn't feeling well, he weighed in at 29 pounds. I'm sure at some point before that, he had broken 30 pounds, but since he didn't have much of an appetite, I think he lost some weight. Then this last doctor visit, he weighed in at 30 pounds 8 ounces! Little porker gained about 1.5 pounds in 2 weeks, thanks to his appetite being back. That made me feel better. We then measured how tall he was. This is probably not the most accurate, but we got roughly 36 inches. All in all, that's about the 70th percentile. Makes me happy!

Cael talks up a storm now!

Apple Picking, Pumpkin Picking and Halloween - Oh My!

I feel like it's been a lifetime and half since I last posted. Ok, it's been at least a couple months. Cael is currently going on day 5 of being sick, and fell asleep watching Sprout, so I'm taking advantage of this time to catch up.

We went apple picking at the end of September, and had so much fun. Both Matt and I haven't been apple picking since we were both kids, and when I heard about an orchard near us (actually, about 2 hours away "near" us), I instantly wanted to go. Yea, it was a long drive, but I knew Cael would love it and have a blast. Not to mention I would have a blast, too! So we picked a weekend, and the three of us plus Matt's brother, sil and our niece went as well.

We thought we were picking both Jonagold and Golden Delicious, but after picking 20 pounds of apples, it turns out we picked only Jonagold. I guess we missed a turn somewhere in the orchard. It was very hilly, and since it was a large orchard, we brought the stroller. I had to have Matt push the stroller around because I was struggling with all the uneven and hilly terrain. Cael loved it! He also loved eating the apple slices we cut for him as we were going along. The apples we picked were the best apples I've ever had. They were so big, juicy, crisp and sweet. Since then, no other apples from the stores compare, unfortunately. We had so many apples, that I baked quite a bit. I made apple crisp within individual apples, an apple pie, and 2 apple crisps. Everything came out so delicious! I can't wait to go again.

With the month of October comes fall. I am very into fall this year, which is odd for me. I was obsessed with apple picking, and couldn't wait to go pumpkin picking. I'm in love with anything pumpkin scented or flavored (especially pumpkin creamer and sbx psl). Since apple picking was crazy crowded on a Saturday, Matt and I decided I would take a day off from work during the week to go pumpkin picking. That was the best decision ever! We went to a local historic farm on a Wednesday, and we were the only ones in the pumpkin patch. There were also animals, tractors, play barns, and ride-on trikes there for Cael, which he loved. Unfortunately, he was a little cranky that day, so it made our outing a little stressful, but that's to be expected with a 2 year old. Cael still had fun, which is what's important.

Since we went pumpkin picking kind of close to Halloween, we had to carve the pumpkin the weekend before Halloween. I had Matt gut and carve the pumpkin, and Cael loved to help. He especially loved playing with the pumpkin seeds I sorted out. As far as trick-or-treating, I decided to just get Cael a costume from Target. I was originally going to make him a SourPatch Kid, but I honestly didn't have the time or energy to make it. So it was just easier to buy him a costume. He was a super-cute Lion, and even let me paint a nose and whiskers on him!.Instead of saying "Trick-or-treat" because he can't, he actually roared at almost every house. I had a blast watching him have fun. He did so much better than I thought he would, even though I had high-expectations for the night. I was so proud of him - and the candy he collected.

Apple Picking!!

Pumpkin Picking!!

And He's A Talker!

I just wanted to create a short post to update on how Cael is doing with talking. He is doing phenomenal!! I'll come home from work, and Cael will just say something new that I've never heard, and I'll pick my jaw off the floor. I don't even know if I can count how many words, but I'm going to try!

Apple

Bubble

Ball

Bath

Bus(es)

Brush (as in his teeth)

Cars

Cheese

Cookies

Cow

Cupcake

Dada

Down

Ear

Hot

"Inky" for binky 

Mama (finally!!!)

No

Outside

Pancake

Shower

Tractor (hard to understand, though)

Up

Uh-oh

Yea

He also says some phrases like: where is it, what is it, there/here it is!, where'd go (sounds like a go).

He can also say some animal sounds. He knows what a cow, cat and owl says. At this point, I think his favorite animal is a cat. Anytime he sees one, whether on tv or in person, he gets so excited, points and says "mow". He also says cow and "moo", and "whoo whoo" when he sees an owl. He is making so much progress and we're so proud of him. It's incredible to hear him say new words almost every week. 

2 Year Pictures!

I meant to post these sooner, but forgot. We got an awesome deal and spent close to nothing for these pictures, which were done at JCPenny. We've had his pictures done there several times in the past, and we've been pleased thus far. My Little Man is so handsome, and getting so big!

My Baby Is Two!!

Two I said!! I can't believe it.

We didn't have a party this year. We didn't even have a theme. I was going to attempt a Mickey Mouse cake, but that would have been the only theme-type thing. So I just went with cupcakes. Cupcakes in ice cream cones though! Much more yummy. We had only a few of our friends over, Matt's brother and niece, and us. There were 8 of us total. It was really nice and small, and I didn't have to worry about feeding anymore. Money has been tight, which is why we didn't do a party. But it turned out awesome, and Cael was happy, which is all that matters.

Cael loved the cupcakes I made - half with chocolate frosting, and the other half with vanilla. So much, that he ate 2! But he wasn't too fond of the cones, so Mommy ate those :).

Matt was in charge of getting Cael's gifts this year, since I didn't have time to with work. Cael loved them all! His gifts consisted of some trucks, cars and motorcycles - all of Cael's favorites. Our best friends got Cael a T-Ball stand, and our other friend got him a motorcycle that does wheelies. It was really nice, and was all stuff that will keep him busy for a while (hopefully).

Oh yea. I updated Cael's birthday ticker at the top of the blog page. It saddened me greatly to select the "2 year old" ticker, which meant he's on his way to 3. But we have a year until then!

Stats and Updates:
We had Cael to the doctor for his 2-year old well-visit a few days after his birthday. Both Matt and I were anxious to see how this visit would go. Initially, we were worried about how the Dr would feel about Cael's speech. But since he started to "explode" with words and phrases, we grew less anxious. We also were wondering how much he weighed and how tall he was. We did a few measurements at home, but for some reason, the office measurements are "official". So...At 2 years old, Cael weighed in at 28 pounds 5.5 ounces and measured 36.25 inches tall. Also, his big noggin measured 50 cm, which is in the 90th PERCENTILE! And, he's above the 50th percentile for both weight and height, which is awesome!

Second most awesome thing from Cael's appointment, is that the doctor is pleased with, and not worried about Cael's speech! This is huge, because we worried for a while as to whether he was delayed or not. It's nice to hear that he's where he should be. She said he's a boy, and they start talking later than girls, but tend to do developmental things faster than girls. And she sees no reason to worry because of the advances he's been making.

He got his flu shot, and his 2nd Hep A vaccine. His next well-visit isn't until he's 3!!

What a difference a year makes!!