If Blogging...

were a course, I would get an F! There are just not enough hours in the day for this Mommy to get everything done. I am going to try and do a little better, but I will stick to my word of not blogging while my babies are awake.

There is so much to say, but it is all sort of random. It is so hard to get back to blogging when you have been away for a while.

I found this picture of our little man while I was looking thorough some pictures. Gavin is growing so fast, unbelievable that he is about to be 7 months old.

This little girl enjoys sitting out in the garage with her Daddy no matter what he is doing. She will sit out there for hours and talk to him while he washes the car or works in the garage.

I am thinking that we have another dog-dog lover in our house. This little boy will watch Beamer all over the house and scoot as quickly as he can to get to him. The funny part is, Beamer will not even make eye contact with him.

Miss Emma turned 27 months old on the 15th and I did not post about it, so we will let this serve as her 27 month old picture.

Guess who helped me cook breakfast Saturday morning? She had her own bowl and yes, she cracked her own eggs. They were on the counter, running down the cabinets and egg shells were all in the bowl. She had so much fun cooking with me and felt like such a big girl.

Speaking of big girls, she woke up Saturday morning and said, "Mommy, I am a big girl. I don't want to wear diapers, I need panties on today." Needless to say, we grabbed the panties and she has gone to the potty faithfully for 2 days now. Guess she just made up her mind she was ready and we are so proud of her.

Emma is so responsible these days with brushing her teeth, getting herself dressed and putting her shoes on all by herself. She is so independent and wants help with NOTHING. We have gone places with shirts on backwards and inside out. She went to the Drs. office last week with shorts, a shirt, bug crocs and a cowboy hat. Did I mention that NONE of it matched? Sometimes it is just best to pick your battles with a 2 year old. So I want to offer my apologies to all the Mom's out there I thought were crazy when their kids looked like, pure MESS! We are officially part of the club these days.

Dreams Come True

I am living the life I have always dreamed of and I am loving every minute of it. What more could I ever ask for, seriously? Like every other Mommy in the world, I believe I have the most amazing kiddos ever.

We took our first walk tonight through the neighborhood with Gavin in his car. The little ones really seemed to enjoy themselves as we strolled. Gavin could hardly take his eyes off his Big Sister and she could hardly keep her hands off of him.

Gavin has the updated model of this car and it is so nice and quiet compared to Emma's. I highly recommend spending the extra $ and getting the Quiet Whisper Step 2 car. Ours was a gift and we love it.

One of our cousins owns a car dealership and gave this to Gavin. It was so cute, because they told us they gave us this one so we would come back and buy his first car from them. They even joked about putting their dealership sticker on the back of it.

I fall deeper and deeper in love everyday. These two give me a reason to be the very best person I can possibly be.

What a week...

it has been in the Frazier household. Honestly, it has been the roughest week we have had as parents. It all began last Friday when Emma came down with fever of 101.7. This poor baby was sick for 7 days straight. We visited the Dr. twice and the Emergency Room once in the past week to be diagnosed with Croup and Pneumonia. On day number 4 of her sickness, our Little Man started running a fever and also had to be taken to the Dr. He was diagnosed with an ear infection, they also gave us a prescription for the Croup if he just happened to get it too. Needless to say, the prescription has been filled and we are currently treating him for Croup also. Ugg...I just want the germs and infection to leave my house and my sweet little family. I need my babies to be back to their jolly little selves and I need it QUICK.

As if all of this was not enough, Gavin received his cranial band and had his initial fitting yesterday afternoon. They actually put it on his little head, marked it with a sharpie and cut it down to the perfect size right there while we waited (the mold was made 2 weeks ago).

This is our sweet friend Aaron who has worked with us at the facility to get Gavin scanned and fitted for his cranial band. He has gone out of his way to make us feel comfortable with our decision to move forward in this process.

Well, it did not take me long to get some stickers put on this new accessory my son is sporting. These stickers are actually just very temporary and not really wanting to stay on. We have ordered permanent vinyl stickers that should arrive in the next couple days.

So far, so good. Today we had to wear the band for 1 hour and then remove it for one hour all day long. The time will increase over the next 4 days until we are wearing it 23 hours a day. We should be to that stage by Wednesday if all goes as planned. Believe it or not, Gavin does not seem to mind it at all. We will see how it goes tomorrow when we increase the length of time he is required to wear it each day. The only problem seems to be the sweat, poor little fella. We have been told by several people that his body will adjust to the heat within about 2 weeks and he will stop sweating. I sure hope this is true for his sake. My goal is to get some better shots of him tomorrow and of that sassy little girl of mine.

Speaking of Emma, she is just the sweetest little girl ever. This morning she woke up and Gavin had his band on and she said, "Brother, I like your new helmet. I like your stickers Gavin." I am telling you she loves her little brother and is so protective.

Between Doctor visits, paying for our cranial band, buying medicine and an additional humidifier we could have gone on a really nice tropical vacation. I feel like we have spent so much money this week, maybe because we have. Oh and did I mention, we need to buy 3 new toddler car seats tomorrow? This little guy needs more room for his thighs and his helmet. OUCH...we will really be broke.

I just keep reminding myself...we are blessed, oh so blessed.

Wordless Wednesday...

Happy 1/2 Birthday

A special little boy had a very special day today as he turned 6 months old. He was so much fun when we took him outside this evening to get some shots of him.

That smile melts my heart more and more everyday. Not just because he is mine, but I think he is the happiest little fella I have ever come across. Seriously, he smiles non stop. When I hear him talking on the monitor in the morning and I go in his room, he is smiling from ear to ear.

He got real serious on us when we put him in his car. It was the cutest little thing. Today was the first day we put him in this little car and he did pretty good. Give us a couple more weeks and we will be cruising the neighborhood.

I loved this picture of him looking up at a tree in our front yard.

Do you think he likes this car? I think he loves it and I can not wait till he is sitting up a little better, so we can go on walks with him. Emma has a matching pink one, but hers is not quite as fancy. They have added a cup holder since we purchased hers, too cute!

No birthday would be complete without a cake. Just something simple to help us celebrate this little guy.

We sing Happy Birthday to our kids every month on their Birthdays and Gavin seemed to really enjoy it this month.

I am not sure I could have a sweeter little boy on my hands. I hope he always has the same zest for life that he seems to have now.

Milestones...this boy has become wild in the past month to say the least. Here are all the things he has done between month 5 & 6:

• Eaten cereal, fruit and he started vegetables last night
• Wearing a Size 5 diaper
• Still nursing, no formula (Yay me!)
• Rolls from back to stomach & stomach to back
• Laughs really loud all the time
• Very ticklish
• Loves to pull my hair
• Can get up on all 4's and rock back and forth
• You will wiggle your way out of our arms and to the floor in no time flat
• Scoots everywhere before you even know it
• Cut 2 teeth on the bottom within 1 week of each other
• Got released from physical therapy for Torticollus
• Measured for a Cranial Band for Plagiocephally
• Ate from a spoon for the 1st time
• Attended your 1st Volleyball game at Mommy's school
• Love to take baths
• Stare at your Big Sister all the time & hold her hand
• Drool constantly
• Enjoy watch Baby Einstein DVD's

Just in the past month it seems like you have become more of a little boy. I must admit that I got really excited tonight when I saw you in that blue car. Your Daddy & I started looking at dumptrucks and boy toys last week and it made my heart giddy. You are going to be so much fun, but I think you might be a very active little thing.

You are such a JOY, JOY, JOY to have around every second of the day. Your little cheeks and smile can light up any room and people often tell us that you put a smile on their face. One thing is for sure Gavin Thomas Frazier, we LOVE you more than we ever thought it was possible to love. Never stop smiling, Son!

Thankful...

Today was the day we had Gavin's appointment to have his head rescanned and to meet with the specialist to determine our next plan of treatment for this little guy. I would be lying if I said I did not struggle a little today or that my heart did not hurt the past couple of days. I thought I was okay with all of this, but I must admit that I have had very mixed emotions about this as the time got closer for us to find out what our next step would be. After a long day, I sit here tonight at peace with the decisions we have made in regards to Gavin.

We started our morning out at the Orthotics and Prosthetics facility having his head rescanned to see if the measurements had changed from one month ago. When they put this sock on his little head, I could not help but laugh. It reminded me of how some of my students come to school in the morning. He looked so cute.

This is the machine that scanned his little head. It took several times to get a good scan because he kept moving, but we finally got one. This boy is WILD!!!

Technology is just amazing and thank God for it. Immediately his head popped up on this computer screen and the technician went to work crunching numbers, comparing it to his previous scans and aligning everything up. It was amazing to watch.

Just another shot of him comparing Gavin's scans that were done 4 weeks apart to see if there was a change in his Plagiocephally.

We took Emma along with us today so she could be involved in this process. We wanted her to be fully aware of what was going on with her baby brother and see exactly what he would be wearing in the next couple weeks. Did not take her long to pick up the cranial band and try to put it on herself. All day she kept saying, "my brothers getting a helmet like me"...yes, we require her to wear a helmet when she rides her tricylce.

After leaving the prosthetics facility, we went to see the specialist who had a good time doing some test on Gavin to document his range of improvement with the Torticollus and give us her recommendations on the cranial band. She was so impressed with how much he had improved and how active he was compared to last time.

Just look at that happy little fella, he never stops smiling. We were so proud of him today through out all of his appointments. He is such a super good baby boy.

So, we will be getting our helmet next Friday, September 11th. We will begin wearing it immediately and within the first week we will work our way up to wearing it 23 hours a day. As for how long he will wear it, that is unknown. It depends on how much growth he has and how quickly he responds to it. Our goal is to have him out of it by his 1st Birthday, so that would be within 6 months.

Despite the fact that it was a long and emotional day, I am THANKFUL. Thankful for health insurance, thankful for amazing health care, thankful for a healthy son, thankful for a supportive husband, thankful for a daughter that can put a smile on my face when I am sad, thankful for our pediatrician who referred us to therapy, thankful for the second referral that led us to the facilities we are working with presently, thankful for an understanding boss and coworkers who filled in for me today and are concerned, thankful for our families and friends support, thankful for prayers, thankful for Mrs. Jenny that loves and cares for my babies like they are her own, thankful we were so aggressive in getting this taken care of early on and most of all thankful for my GOD that will carry my little family through, while walking this journey with us, protecting our hearts along the way.