Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, we started the day with a walk around the lake.  Blake was in the stroller about 10 minutes before he wanted to get out and run.

Dylan was happy eating his toys.

Then we went and got some ice cream and came home and went swimming.  This was Dylan's first time in the pool.  You can see his healed belly.

Blake freaked out with the temperature of the water, but after a couple of minutes he loved it and wants to go swimming every day now.

Ready for Church

Blake is really into matching lately.  His spoon needs to be the same color as his bowl, which needs to match his cup.  I put the boys in what was going to be the outfit they would wear for my brother's wedding, so Blake requested that Aaron had a shirt to match him.  Since Aaron wasn't wearing a vest, he wasn't going to wear a vest.

I broke all matching rules and wore pink.  Blake took the picture.

7 Months

Dylan boy is 7 months old.  We sure love him and his cheeks.  He is now sitting, but really wants to be moving.  Since he cannot crawl he will either roll to his destination or will roll onto his back and will push with his legs to his desired destination.

He loves to play and gets really bored if we are just hanging out.  He is blabbing away.  In the morning, I can hear him talking away in his crib.  If I don't get him in a reasonable time, then he will cry because he can only wait so long to eat.  

The other day we were all in the car, when Dylan said "Daddy" and Aaron responded with "Yeah"...and I said "That was Dylan?  That was Dylan!"  

He still loves his food and will eat peas now.  He slaps his arm down on his high chair when he wants more food.  He is learning to use a sippy cup and loves water.  He gets about 90% of the water on himself, but it makes him happy.  

Since he loves food, it should be no surprise that he is a big kid.  In fact, he is growing out of his 12 months clothes.  The other night, we had dinner with some friends who have an 18 month old.  Dylan looked big next to her.

We had our follow up visit with the surgeon this week and the surgeon said he is all healed and that he shouldn't need anymore surgeries...hmm, I think he told us that before.  While the surgeon was checking Dylan's belly, I had him in my lap and Blake leaned over to Dylan and said, "It's okay buddy".  Blake loves his brother.

Who's driving who nuts?

At the table last Sunday, we were talking while eating lunch (this seems to be a pretty common backdrop for these types of stories, huh?).  A family friend had come up to us at church and was asking about Dylan's surgery.  So, back at home (around the table) we were discussing the situation and Blake chimes in with, "That girl, what did she ask?"

"Well, buddy, she was asking about Dylan's ouchie on his belly and how he was doing." I said. 

"Oh,"  a five second pause, " why?" Lately this has become a rather common response from  Blake to almost anything. 

I said, "She just wanted to know if Dylan was getting better. " 

"Who is she?"

"She's grandma's friend."

"Why?"

"She's lived here a long time, she's nice and grandma likes her. "  

Apparently, I wasn't giving him the answers he was wanting or expecting because he looked at me and rather frustratingly said, "Ohhhh, you're driving me nuts!"

Can anyone guess where he picked that little phrase up?  


Blake was eating an apple on Thursday this week and he got down to the apple core.  He looked at Michelle a little disgusted and said, "I don't want to eat the arm pit," and gives the apple core to Michelle.  Apparently he is a little confused between what fruits have cores and what have pits.  But what I am still a little confused about is what fruits have arm pits?  :)  


Blake loves vehicles, any type; red, blue, big, small, truck, car, motorcycle, 2 wheeled, 4 wheeled, doesn't matter.  He will frequently just want to go out to the garage, sit in the car/van and pretend to drive, pushing buttons, touching everything, turning the steering wheel.  It makes it an interesting experience turning the car on after he's had his fun.  :)  But on to the story.  Saturday we had a little bit of a scare and ended up having to take Dylan to the ER.  It was a long day for Michelle and Dylan there, but they just found out he was backed up and helped him.  He is doing just fine now.  As Michelle was getting ready to take Dylan to the ER, she was telling Blake that she needed to go to the hospital, that Dylan had an ouchie and that they were going to be gone for awhile.  Blake of course was concerned and wanted to show his sympathy for the situation.  He naturally had a question to make sure he understood the situation holistically.  Like any future investigative journalist, he came with the hard hitting, fact finding question, "So, which car are you taking?" 
Truly the most important follow-up question (for a 3 year old).  For those keeping score at home, Michelle took the van.


But just so you don't close this blog entry thinking that Blake is completely devoid of feelings for his younger brother, we'll leave you with this last story. 
On Wednesday, we were able to take Dylan's surgical bandages off.  It had been over a week so it was on there pretty good.  Michelle started at the edges and with her fingernail picked and pulled at it until she was able to get it all off minus the center where some blood had coded the wound and it was really stuck.  Dylan was wiggling and whimpering in obvious discomfort. Blake grabbed Dylan's hand and in a rather soothing tone told his little brother, "It's ok Buddy. You're okay. Don't cry"
It was pretty cute. I grabbed a q-tip, got it wet, and slowly worked the last bit of bandage off.  We're glad it's looking good.  Hopefully, Dylan'll be done with the hospitals and done with surgeries.  Fingers crossed. 

Surgery

Monday, Dylan had his umbilical hernia repair surgery.  The day before, he was a happy boy.  In fact, I was telling him about what to expect the next day and he was laughing the whole time I was talking to him.  Apparently he takes me very seriously.

The day of the surgery.  Well, let me start the night before the surgery.  Blake was up most of the night with a fever and I had to wake Dylan up at a certain time to eat because he needed to be fasting for the surgery,  then we needed to leave the house at 5:45am for the first surgery of the day.  I didn't get much sleep that night.  We get to the hospital and Dylan is actually a pretty happy kid, until we have been waiting for awhile and he realizes that he is hungry. The anesthesiologist comes to talk with us and tells us that because he has BWS, he will put some sugar in his mix of goodies but other than that the only other issue may be finding a vein because he is chubby...hehe.  (It took two times to find a vein).  While talking with him, Dylan dropped a toy on the ground so he picked it up but failed to give it back to Dylan so Dylan sat there and starred at the toy for awhile.  Nothing.  So, Dylan pointed at the toy...then the anesthesiologist realized that Dylan wanted the toy.  He actually was impressed that Dylan pointed at the toy.  I call it being the younger brother.  We waited while the hour long surgery went on.  Aaron enjoyed reading about The Avengers and I played some games and before we knew it, the surgeon came out and said, "He did great."  To which I replied, "Yeah, he just slept."  The surgery was a success.  We were then escorted back to the recovery room to find a screaming, miserable little boy.  Side note:  the hospital called days before to ask several questions (one being if he took drugs or smoked...really did you just ask me that questions?)  They also told me that he might wake up really happy, kind of drunk, mad or laughing.  I told them he will be mad.  So, he was mad, but he was very sad too.  He did not want to take a bottle, so I fed him, but he was just so miserable.  They gave him some more pain meds, and he was out again for 30 minutes, then woke up...looked around and wanted to eat.  I fed him and he was much better.  We drove home and Dylan slept most of the day.  For whatever reason, both Blake and Dylan only wanted mom, so it was a long day.  I now understand what people mean when they say that they wish they could take the pain away from their kid and endure it themselves.  It is so sad to see your kid in so much pain and just miserable.  

The day after surgery (today) he was much better.  He isn't still the same Dylan, but he is close.  He ate all day and slept very little which is what our normal Dylan is like.  Blake spent the day at a friends house so that I could take care of a very clingy little boy and Dylan missed Blake.

A friend of ours had the same surgery done a couple months ago and said it was terrible and that she couldn't move for 10 days.  I asked one of the nurses about this and how this will compare to Dylan's recovery time. She said it is a great thing that he doesn't walk and also that he doesn't sit or crawl because that would make the recovery even longer and harder.  I had no reason to wonder why my 6 month old wasn't sitting yet...he knew.

Thank you for all your prayers!  Hopefully he will continue to heal quickly and well.

Manners

We are a never ending quest to teach Blake manners.  One thing he has learned fairly well is to say "no thank you".  

Recently we had some guys come to the house trying to sell some bottled water.  I was polite at first, but they kept on being persistent and so I told them that we were not interested, etc.  The guys eventually left.  Immediately after closing the door, Blake asked, "Mom, did you say no thank you?"

6 Months Old

Dylan is 6 months old!  We went to his 6 months doctor visit and Blake's 3 year doctor visit.  Both kids are in the 97th percentile for height.  Not surprising because Dylan is wearing 12 month old clothes and Blake wears 4T and sometimes 5T.  However, what is surprising is that Blake is in the 75th percentile for weight and Dylan is 50th.  I thought it would be the reverse.

Since Dylan is 6 months old, it also meant his quarterly ultrasound and we are happy to report that he is still cancer free.    

Dylan still loves food and really wants to eat everything that we are eating.  He drops his toys or whatever he has in his hands to go after the food.  He isn't sitting yet, but is really close.  His pediatrician says he probably won't sit for another month and a half since he will be getting surgery on his belly on Monday.  He seems more interested in learning to crawl and will either roll around the room to get where he wants to go or will use his arms and pull himself around.  Dylan is a strong little guy, but not always emotionally.  He does cry when Blake takes toys away from him.  It is interesting because Blake does a good job sharing with his friends, but when it comes to his brother, he isn't as good.

These two have become pretty good buddies.  It doesn't take much for Blake to get Dylan to laugh...and also to cry.

Potty Training

Last week we started to seriously potty train Blake.  I think this pretty much sums it up...it was exhausting.  It was all worth it though because we were successful.  I was wondering how he would do when we went out to church or to the store, but he had no problems going while we were out.  

BFFs

Blake's BFF, Tyler, came over on Thursday and they had a blast.



Then on Friday, James, Blake's new BFF came back for a couple weeks from college. Blake follows James around the house wanting to do whatever James is doing. James is a good uncle to entertain Blake.

Do you need a timeout?

Sometimes, you say things, phrases, idioms or you pick up a mannerism and you have no idea where it came from, where you picked it up, or from whom.


Late last week, we were at the dinner table and talking with Blake.

"Blakey, did you play with your toys today?" I asked. 

"Yes, it was fun.  I played with my truck and we saw a duck by the pool and I gave Mommy a huge."

"Oh, that's great did you have a good day then."

Raising his not-so firm-hand to his forehead, Blake responded with "Yes Sir!" 

Michelle and I couldn't figure out at all where he got a saluting yes-sir from. 


 
Last Saturday, I was playing with Blake and noticed that inside his ear there was a recent scab.  I asked him, "Blakey, you have an ouchies in your ear.  Was it itching, did you pick at it?"

"No Daddy, I don't pick my ear, I pick my nose. " 


James, Michelle's brother, is in town staying with us, before he heads off to Singapore for an internship.  Blake has become his new shadow.  It is pretty funny to watch him following James around the house always wanting to play.  On Sunday while we all sat and ate at the dinner table, I asked Blake a few questions about church.

"Blakey, what was your lesson on in nursery today?" We usually either get the classic response of "Jesus" or no response at all.  But to my surprise, we got: 

"The sacrament"

"Oh, what do you do during the sacrament?" I then asked. 

"You eat"

"Oh, that's right, and what do you eat?"  I asked hoping and praying that he'd say bread and water as I whispered to James, "Watch this." 

But he responded instead with "Gold fishies."

I playfully slapped my hand down on the table and said, "Ohh man, so close." After a short pause, I reminded him that we eat bread and water for the sacrament. 

Blake then said, "Daddy, you bammed your hand on the table, are you mad?"

"No Blakey.  I'm not mad." I reassured him. 

"Daddy, do you need a timeout?  James can you take Daddy to a time out?"

It got a really good laugh. 

That one question though, "do you need a timeout" we do know where it came from.  :)