Good Hair/Bad Hair

Sydney's hair is finally starting to grow out a little bit and I've been having fun with putting clippies and barrettes in her hair.  We've even tried a pony (ponytail) on the top of her head.

She's lookin' cute...but there are those bad hair days that sneak up on us. :)

Pretty little girl

My little Sydney is getting so big.  I didn't really notice how much until Megan took her pictures a couple weekends ago.  When she posted one of the pictures on Facebook, I couldn't believe how big she looked!  She's growing up so fast and her first birthday will definitely sneak up on me!!  Crazy!

Here are some of the pictures Megan took for us.  As always, they are beautiful!

Carefree Kids night at the Children's Museum

Landon always has fun at the Omaha Children's Museum!  We've gone there many times for their "Carefree Kids" night.  They offer free admission to the museum for kids that have compromised immune systems.  It's on a Monday night after the museum has been closed for cleaning all day long.  They bring the kids in after they clean everything to let them play without having to worry about germs and getting sick.  We love it because there isn't a million kids trying to play all at the same time so we get to meander through at our own pace and not have to worry about Landon getting clobbered by other kids.  Landon loves it because he gets to run around and play where ever he wants.

Sydney was checking out the light piano and was too busy for pictures.

Landon and Sydney both liked playing on the light piano.  Sydney really understood that when she pushed a button the board would light up.  She looked up every time!

Taking it all in...

Look what Daddy made on the light board. :)

I'm not sure if you've seen smaller versions of these things, but they are made of a bunch of little pegs and when you push into it, it will make a design of whatever you pushed in.  Braydon decided to make himself with three heads....creepy.

Sydney wasn't too enthusiastic about the ball room. :(

Me and Syd on the swing

Braydon and Landon hanging out in the house.  Landon was laughing at the things in the fridge.

Sydney's play time!!!  They have a room just for kids from 0-3 years old.  I took Sydney in there while Landon ran around not doing anything in particular. :)

I found some baby gym equipment and she really liked playing on it...

...and eating it... :)

Fun bubbles!!!

This entertained her for a little while.

Then off to the mirror where we like to look at ourselves. :)  She was talking to herself a lot.

I can't wait till the next time we go.  I think they do it twice a year.  Sydney will be over a year and doing totally different things by then.  It will be interesting to see what Sydney wants to play with versus what Landon will want to play with.

Happy Birthday to my dear Momma!!!!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you, 

Happy birthday to my momma!

Happy birthday to yooouuuuu!!!!!

I love you!  You are an amazing mom and I couldn't ask for anyone better!  Have a happy birthday and I'm sorry I'm so lame about your gift.  Please forgive me.  I hope you like it! ;)

What can Sydney do?

Sydney has finally mastered sitting!  As well as rolling over both ways...I thought she'd never get it.  Just goes to show that children do things in their own time.  All you can do is just guide them in the right direction.  I think that will apply to many different scenarios throughout their lives...not just sitting and rolling. :)

I bought this toy farm from a consignment sale I do every year for super cheap.  It came with a horse, cow and a duck.  Of course, Sydney likes the duck the most.  I guess it tasted the best??

Then she decided to tell me about how much she liked chewing on the duck. :)

I have also found Landon wanting to interact with Sydney a little more.  He now notices when Sydney has something he wants to play with.  I told him that if he wants one of her toys that he needs to get her another cool toy and then they could trade.  In the next picture, Landon wanted Sydney's toy, so he brought her another one to play with.

Sydney isn't minding this right now, but in a few months we're going to have to figure something else out.  I'm pretty sure Sydney isn't going to like giving up the toy she wants to play with.  This will work for now, I guess.

Sydney has also developed quite a personality.  She's pretty cute and cuddly most of the time, but when it comes to food...oh boy!...watch out!  If you aren't feeding her fast enough she yells at you.  Screams.  It's not so cute and cuddly. :/  I have to say though, that she is a pretty easy going baby.  She is starting to do things to make you laugh and when you laugh at her, she laughs with you.  

The other day I was getting dressed and had put out some toys for her to play with on a blanket.  One of those toys was a play guitar.  It's supposed to be a mini-electric guitar, and when you pluck the strings it will play different rock songs like "Wild Thing".  Everytime she would pluck a string and play the song she would look at me and smile waiting for my reaction.  It was so cute.  

She's also starting to point to things.  I was reading her a book called "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?" at bedtime tonight.  It has big pictures of different animals in it.  Every time I would show her a different animal she would point to its eyes.  She's such a smart cookie...just like her brother.  I'm going to be in trouble!

Doctors, Therapy, and a Dentist

We've had so many appointments over the past week.  Landon has been a trooper and been really good for us through them all.

TUESDAY:

First off, we went to see a dermatologist.  It was a new doctor that was recommended to us by Dr. LaCroix.  She wanted us to go see her because Landon had been having itchy patches on his knees and legs.  We couldn't figure out if he was having an allergic reaction to something, it was his eczema, or something else we needed to worry about.  I brought it up to Dr. LaCroix when we went for Landon and Sydney's appointment in July.  She told us she thought it was just his eczema acting up, but wanted to make sure.  She gave us a referral to this dermatologist and told us that if it didn't go away to go see her.  She also gave us a medicated cream to put on it.  We started with that and it cleared it up, but every time we would stop putting it on him, he would break out again.  I decided that we should go just to make sure it wasn't something we needed to worry about.

I prepared Landon ahead of time and told him that we were going to see a doctor to look at the bumps on his knees and legs.  He said he understood.  When we got there, the lady wasn't very kid friendly.  After making me feel a little silly for bringing him in, she wanted him up on the exam table and broke out the latex gloves, a Q-tip, and a huge light to take a look.  Immediately, Landon started squirming and fidgeting.  He wanted down from the table.  There was no warming Landon up to it.  I was pretty annoyed that I had to fight with Landon to get him to hold still.  I don't like it when doctors don't even acknowledge the kid and then expect him to be good as gold.  Ugh!

After looking at his legs, she told me exactly what Dr. LaCroix said.  Needless to say, I don't think I want to go back unless we absolutely have to.  She didn't give me (or Landon for that matter) a warm and fuzzy feeling.  It was a complete waste of a morning.

WEDNESDAY:

We had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Quinlan.  I guess you would call it a follow-up of the follow-up appointment for his tonsils.  When Braydon took Landon for his follow-up a couple weeks after Landon's tonsillectomy there was still a lot of swelling in Landon's mouth.  He still wasn't wanting to swallow very much and he wasn't drinking out of a straw like he was before the procedure.  Dr. Quinlan wanted to see him again in a month or so to make sure he was making progress and not getting worse.  

After insurance took it's time going though, we finally were able to get an appointment.  Dr. Quinlan took a look at Landon and started talking to us about what the next steps were.  Next stop is a sleep and swallow study to make sure he does okay with both.  If Landon passes both, his trach will come out....like the next day!!  I was in complete shock!  I thought there would be a time period where we would cap it and make sure he was okay for a few weeks and then take it out.  Apparently I was wrong...

I'm pretty sure Landon is going to do great during the day without the trach.  He proved that to us a few Thanksgivings ago.  If you don't remember that fiasco, click here.  I'm more worried about when he's sleeping and when he gets sick.  When Landon wakes up in the morning, he needs to be suctioned.  It's just like when you aren't feeling well and you wake up with lots of phelm in your throat.  He wakes up with that too.  Sometimes, if his humidity collar (that goes over his trach when he sleeps) comes off, all that phelm can get dried out and clog up his trach.  We go in and suction it out and he's okay again.  There have been many mornings where Landon is up early and we think it's because his trach is blocked and he can't breathe very well...that's just speculation though.  Hopefully, that isn't the case.  Then the trach can come out. :)

Don't get me wrong...I'm really excited at the prospect of Landon being free of his trach.  I can't wait to be able to travel with him without having to bring a million medical supplies and equipment with us.  I'm excited to take him to the beach and let him play in the sand (which he can't do now).  I can't wait to see how much he loves the waves hitting his feet.  I can't wait to not have people stare at him like he has five heads when we take him to the store.  It will be a great day.  I just worry because I've never seen him without help breathing from some sort of tube.  It's something you become accustom to but don't want to get used to.

THURSDAY:

Landon got to play with Kim (his speech therapist) this day.  He has started to really like playing with Kim and enjoys going there and playing with numbers.  Kim doesn't mind spending an hour of her week appeasing Landon with as many numbers as he wants as long as she gets what she wants too.  Landon's learning a little give-and-take. :)  He does really great for her and he's been so open to trying to say words.  We've really had to watch what we say around him now because he is liking to repeat EVERYTHING we say. :)

TODAY:

Well, we finally made it to the dentist!  I was really nervous to take Landon to the dentist because his teeth are not very pretty. :(  He has a lot of rotting teeth and we knew it would be bad.  Dr. LaCroix scolded me a couple of times for not taking him and I finally sucked it up and made an appointment.  I prepared myself for what I knew he was going to say and we went for it.  

The dentist, Dr. Kotil, was AMAZING!!!  I couldn't have asked for a better dentist.  He did so great easing Landon into the whole thing and spent the time to talk to him for a minute before he jumped into everything (unlike another doctor we know...ahem...see above).  He showed Landon what he was going to do and told him that he was just going to count his teeth.  That had Landon hooked.  He was ready to do anything Dr. Kotil told him to do as long as it had to do with numbers. :)  

Dr. Kotil took a look in his mouth and he told me what I already knew.  We're going to have to put Landon under to do dental work on him.  Landon's front bottom four teeth will have to come out and three top center teeth need to come out.  All the rest can stay.  We just have to be very good about brushing his teeth with the right things since Landon can't swish or spit liquid out.  We can't use normal toothpaste because of that and so we have to do what we can to keep the other teeth as healthy as possible.  He's also going to take x-rays of Landon's teeth so we will have a better idea of what to expect from his adult teeth.  

So, as of right now, we don't have too much information as to what is going with Landon's teeth, but we'll keep you posted.  They are going to schedule a time for all of this soon and let me know.  

My nervousness with the dentist is gone.  Thank goodness.

Closet roller

I've noticed the past couple weeks that every time I go to get Sydney from her nap she is sleeping or playing on her tummy in the crib.  Strange...cause she still hasn't rolled over from her back to her belly for me on the floor.  She has, however, learned that she likes to sleep on her tummy.  I call her a "closet roller".

I guess it goes to say how stubborn and ornery my kids are. :)  One won't get out of diapers and the other won't roll over...  I hope this isn't a cycle that continues for the rest of my life.

One milestone Sydney has achieved is sitting up.  She's pretty much gotten it down.  I still don't trust leaving her on the floor by herself yet because when she topples, she doesn't try and catch herself.  She does a face plant into the carpet.  She's pretty close though.  She sits up long enough for me to take a couple pictures of her.

She has an infatuation with that purple cup.  She only wants to chew on it.

Gotta love that cute little face. :)  She's doing really well and we're going to practice with our rolling skills so we can learn to crawl.  As much as I'm going to hate her crawling, at least she isn't going to be laying on the floor whining at me.  Wish us luck!! :)

She's also learning how to take a milk meal through a sippy cup once a day.  As much as I've enjoyed nursing her, I don't want her glued to me...so we're practicing now. :)  She pretends she's okay with it, and drinks her milk like a big girl.  Hopefully, this will be the start of a slow weaning process.  I'm not letting go completely till she's a year.  Baby steps for now.