Progress

Well, we're making some progress in several departments. Will is the one who has made the most progress this week. He has, I'm happy to say, mastered the art of the sippy cup. He now freely drinks out of it, and drink he will! We also hit another milestone with Will over the weekend. He finally stood! Not for very long, about 5 or 6 seconds, but we will take it. He did it several times, so we knew it wasn't a fluke. So far today, he hasn't done it again, but the day isn't over! Xander and Grace are still coming along. Xander walked behind the walking toy for a long time today, the first time he has gone more than 5 steps without falling. Grace gets better balance every week, so not long now until she walks on her own, I think. That's about all I have to report. The pictures are: The kids with Curt Brinkmann. He comes over to play and help me out once a week. He loves the kids and they love him, too! The bottom picture is a couple of weeks old, but I thought it was funny. Grace's hair had problems that night, which is partly why they were getting a bath!

Finally healthy!

Well, we made it a week with everyone healthy! I am sure glad about that. We don't even have runny noses anymore. So, we've started to get back to normal routine and a normal existence. Now that I don't have the preoccupation of sick kids, we are practicing things we need to get going on, like walking and sippy cups, both of which are going well. Grace is getting pretty good at the walking thing. She has started spontaneously letting go of whatever she was holding on to and walking away. Sometimes it's to get to a toy, sometimes it's to get to mom and dad. She'll go about 10 steps to get where she wants to go. Brian and I had her walking between us the other night and she was going about 10 feet, so that was very good. Xander is getting better, too. He will also let go and try to walk away, but only gets a few steps before he falls. Will, what can we say about Will? He is moving at his own pace. He's a little behind, but he'll come around in his own time. Not much else is going on this week. Hopefully we'll have another illness-free, uneventful week this week. I included a picture of Grace walking. She looks so funny when she's standing up, because she's so small! Other two pictures are Xander ready to go on a trip and Will riding the zebra, it's a favorite.

More illness

Well, unfortunately, we have been sick again. Will has had it the worst. Last weekend, he started coughing again. We started nebulizer treatments back up, but by Tuesday he was coughing and wheezing very badly. So, back to Dr. Swisher we went. This time he sent us home on steroids (prednisone) to help with the inflammation and we were to continue the nebulizer. Well, Wednesday morning Will woke up much, much worse. I was so worried, in fact, that we almost took a trip to the hospital. But, he improved with a treatment and a dose of the steroids, so we didn't go. We did however call the doctor, and they told us to bring him back in. So, back we went for the second day in a row. Dr. Swisher gave him some heavy duty antibiotics in case it was a bacterial thing, and instructed me to do nebulizers around the clock every 4 hours. Which meant, I had to wake Will up three times during the night to give him a treatment. The first night he cried during the whole treatment. But the other nights, he actually fell asleep on my lap. What a trooper! Glad to report that he is MUCH better now. The medicine is all finished, but we are still doing some nebulizers, although not at night anymore. Grace has also been getting some nebulizer treatments for her cough, but no other medicines. I think she is almost better. Knock on wood, Xander hasn't been sick at all.

Other news? There's not much. Still trying to walk and stand better. They are improving, but it just takes time. We're also still learning to drink from tippy cups. I'm afraid with all the illness we've had, I just haven't spent as much time on teaching them as I should have. We are going to try really hard this week and hopefully in a week or two we can replace a bottle once a day with a tippy cup. Xander has started giving kisses. It is so funny. If you ask him "can I have a kiss?" He'll open his mouth, press it to your cheek and make a sort of kissing noise. Grace has also started trying to do the actions to her favorite song, "Itsy Bitsy Spider." She loves that song. Will is starting to stand more, and he is almost able to balance for a second or two. Soon, hopefully! Happy to report vegetables are going better! I'm glad about that. They have enjoyed several pasta dishes last week. Good stuff.

Pictures:

Top: all three examining the outside and wondering why they can't go out there.

Second: Grace driving the car talking on her cell phone. Isn't she too young to start that?

Third: Xander trying to escape down the hall.

Fourth: All three of them emptying all the drawers in the kitchen they can. This happens several times a day!

Bottom: Will with a big smile, pre-illness.

12 month professional pictures

Here are our pictures from JC Penney. They turned out pretty cute. Poor Xander, just was not in the mood to smile that day! Not much news here. All are still healthy, which is something to be thankful for. We are still struggling with eating vegetables. They are not eating ones they have eaten all along, like sweet potatoes. It was a battle last night to down those. We're at a loss for what to do, except continue to give them vegetables everyday and hope they eat them eventually. They have discovered some new foods they like, though. Pineapple, oranges, waffles, yogurt with fresh fruit, apple juice, grilled ham and cheese and ravioli are all new popular things in the last month. They are liking whole milk, too. We are going through a gallon about every 2 days. It's a good thing Sam's club sells milk cheaper than the grocery store! All three of them will give you "five" now. Grace has been blowing kisses and giving hugs, too, which is very adorable. One the flip side, she has been throwing pretty big tantrums. She'll arch her back, and roll around on the floor screaming. This happens if you make her do something she doesn't want to do or interrupt something she is having fun doing. So, this will be interesting to see how it develops over the next few months. That's all for now, more next week.

Sorry so late

Sorry this update is late this week. I was waiting until Thursday to get our professional pictures from JCPenney to post them, but I was just informed by Penneys that they won't be in until Monday. I'll post them then. I don't really have too many other pictures, so I'll just post some information.

We are all finally getting healthy. Grace and Will are done with the nebulizer and antibiotics. Xander is still doing it a few times a day, he is still a little congested and coughing some, but it's a huge improvement over where we were last week. Thankfully, there are no other illness to report. Hoepfully this will be the beginning of a well streak. Xander and Grace are doing great with their walking. Grace will take 6 or 7 steps between two people. She has also been letting go of whatever toy or piece of furniture she was holding on to and walking a few steps to get somewhere else. It's fine when she does it in the living room, but it's a little scary on the wood floor where spills are harder. Xander is also taking steps between people and is getting really good at standing on his own. Not long now for either of them. Will is a little farther behind that. He is just getting to the point where he will allow himself to be put in a standing position without holding on to anything. He still falls straight over when you let go, but he is getting more willing to try to stand without support. He's coming along!

We are to all whole milk now. I had been mixing in some formula until I exhausted all the formula we had. We are officially out of formula now and drinking straight milk. So far so good. We are having a little trouble with them eating vegetables. They won't eat them. So, they are getting vegetables still for every meal until they eat them willingly. We're working on peas now, sweet potatoes next. That's about all the information to report. Even though it's 5 degrees outside, we're going to the mall to do some shopping. Even mommies have to get out of the house on cold days. More update next week, and the new pictures.