3 month pictures!

Yes, that time already-time for Spencer's 3 month pictures! I can't believe how fast it came. Then again, it seems like not that long ago that we were doing this with Avery and in a few months we'll be taking her to get her 2 year pictures done-where did that time go??!! For his first pro photo session, Spencer did pretty well. His sister, on the other hand, showed us she was less than happy with the fact that she couldn't take the pictures herself (with their very expensive camera) or play with the keyboards on their computers...no one realizes how loud this adorable, petite little girl can scream. But when they hear it for themselves, they try to politely laugh it off, but have that look on their face like oh my gosh get that child out of here!! Anyway, we survived and the pictures turned out pretty well for the first time...next photo session should be even more interesting since it will be Spencer's 6 months and Avery's 2 year pics at the same time!!

Have a great weekend!

Proudly rockin' his ND jersey...this actually was Avery's when she was this age (hence the #9 Tom Zbikowski jersey), so it's extra special:)...don't worry, he'll be getting his own jersey for next football season!

This one didn't rotate right when I uploaded it, but you get the picture (hehe)

This is Spencer's comforting pose-he always does this when he's laying down to go to sleep, one fist in his mouth and the other behind his head playing with his hair!

This is such a funny look on his face, but it shows his big baby blues:)

I love this pout-face...his double chin is so big right now I couldn't even button his top button!!

We have a picture just like this of Avery during her 3 month pictures-I love it! This picture showcases his ear...they are freakishly perfectly shaped and proportioned for a baby.

Showin' off the 'jorts' (jean shorts) in this picture. He looked so cute and grown up in this outfit!

Sanity Savers

My patience have really been getting a workout lately with little Miss Avery wanting more independence and testing her boundaries. I have really been trying hard not to damage my child's psyche by constantly yelling at her because she's yelling, or screaming, or whining, or getting into something she shouldn't on a constant basis-all the while I'm trying to also take care of and pay attention to my other child! There are honestly days where I go so much that I forget to eat-my body doesn't slow down enough to tell me it's hungry! It has been a real learning experience with discovering myself and what I can be capable of-children have a way of bringing that out in you. I wouldn't change me getting to be home with my kids in these special early years for anything-but sometimes a parent needs help...when I don't have an extra set of hands to turn to, I have found a few material things that have been helping!

So, yes, my 22 month old daughter LOVES Hannah Montana-I really thought she'd be older before getting into stuff of this nature, but I'm telling you this child is WAY beyond her years! She loves this movie-it's been put right up there with Enchanted! She demands Disney is put on in the morning while she's having breakfast and if I ever try to introduce her to anything else-i.e. Nickelodeon, Noggin, PBS, etc.-she tells me to put it back on Disney...my child probably watches too much TV, but what can I say, it works for me-and she's not a couch potato, so I'm not too worried!!

Avery loves the Imagination Movers show on Disney and when Artie and I found and brought this CD of songs from their show home to Avery, she insisted I unwrap it and put it in because she knew it was Disney!! This CD is so great for getting kids to dance to and I don't feel like the songs drive me nuts, like some children's music-they're educational too!

Well, being the Notre Dame lovers that we are, we had to pick this up on our last trip to ND and I'm sooooo glad we did. The kids love it. If you don't have this, I really recommend it-the O'Neill Brothers did an awesome job-let me tell you the fight song sounds incredible as a soothing lullaby for the kids to fall asleep to...and it's getting them subconsciously pumped for football to start!

So this is pretty much my go to reading right now. Whenever I feel really on the edge with Avery I refer to this book to regroup. It has some really good advice and even has situations to read to see how to deal with similar things...it's the best discipline book that I have found-though I'm no expert, I'm sure there's better. However, this is a quick reference, and most of the time that's what I need!

Maybe these can help you too or inspire you to find what works for you or encourage you to share your 'sanity savers'!!

Falls and flying straws

Just a few quick pictures to put up from the last few days/weekend. We had a sort of rough weekend. I had a really bad fall over a dog gate and damaged my knees pretty badly on our tiled kitchen floor-it's the 2nd time in about a month that I've fallen hard over one of those gates. The last time was on carpet though so it wasn't such a blow to any joints! I refused to go to the hospital because, well, honestly, I'm sick of the sight of a hospital. So, hopefully, I didn't do any real damage, just some good bruises-I can walk and bend my knees without any pain, so I think I'm good:) Avery was fussy and not herself all weekend and Spencer was attacked by a flying straw and was poked in the eye-it didn't look so good at the time, but is healing nicely. Sigh.

Yesterday, we did head over to my grandparents with the kids and met up with my cousins so Avery could have a little play date. It was a very nice time. We took Spencer to the dr. today for a quick weight check since we put him on regular formula...my big man weighs in at 12lbs. and 11oz. right now!! I don't think they need to worry about him not gaining enough weight:) I'm anxious to see how he does when we start solids in about a month-he just loves to eat!!

Have a great week!

Avery enjoying a beautiful afternoon on great grandma and great grandpa's balcony-she kept sniffing the flowers and saying 'smells good'.

My cousin (Avery's second cousin), Sophie, and Avery playing on the balcony together...Avery wanted to give her hugs all the time!!

Grandpa getting to hold Spencer for the first time!

After grandpa sang Spencer a polish lullaby, he took a nap on his lap:)

3 and 22

It's completely hard for me to believe that Spencer is 3 months old today and Avery turned 22 months old on Monday. We are already starting to brainstorm about her 2nd birthday party bash that we hope to have the energy to throw! Spencer has officially been home now longer than he was in the hospital:) He is doing so great on regular formula and we couldn't be happier with how he is taking off in the development area! He's talking to us and smiling regularly. Yesterday, I got him to hold a rattle for a while and try to chew on it! He makes great eye contact too:) He's really growing and already practically out of 3 month clothes and fits better in a 6 month size-not because he's filling them out, but because he's growing so long! We are not used to this because Avery stayed in her size for her age, if not a little smaller...she's still that way! Speaking of Avery, she's doing pretty well too:) If I didn't know how old Avery really was, I'd seriously think she was more like 3 years old. The girl can comprehend practically anything and talks in pretty full sentences nearly all of the time. I just love watching my kids together, Avery is so sweet to Spencer and Spencer already adores her and watches everything she does...I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts and before it turns in to constant fighting!!

I'm so thankful for my children, especially in times of late. Someone very close to me is battling an addiction problem that has all but ruined their life and practically has torn our family apart. I have been in a pretty dark place over this for years, but it escalated over the last week. No matter how awful I have been feeling, my kids are such constant rays of sunshine-love them:)!

So, I only took a few pics this week...I don't know where the time has gone??!!

This girl looooooves horses! Since we are terrible parents that haven't gotten her a real pony yet, daddy has to be a substitute:) Nothing like daddy pony rides before bed!

Check out those 2 chins and chipmunk cheeks!!! No need to worry about this boy not gaining enough weight:)

I caught a slight smile on camera without the flash blinding him-this is one of his new favorite positions to hang out in...he can see what everyone around the room is doing!

The pigtail princess, she's been in a very good mood all week!

We had some visitors this week! Grandma came by to spend time with her munchkins before she went back to work (sigh. summer's over and most area schools were back in session this week)...and my Aunt Beverly stopped by to spend some time with the kiddos too:)

And finally, here's a video I just had to share of Avery getting her grove on while we were watching the Hannah Montana movie-yes, she's already crazy about Hannah. This girl just loves to dance, I can't wait until she turns 2 and I can get her in some dance classes!!!

South Bend and NICU Party #1

To conclude Artie's last bit of time off work for awhile, we decided to head up to South Bend for the day on Friday. It was Spencer's first long car ride. We did alright on the way up, Avery watched Enchanted and Spencer slept. We got there around lunch time, so we decided to head to Houlihans (for their yummy soup-I know, it was 90 degree weather, but we don't have one in Ft. Wayne). Avery did pretty well at lunch, only screaming at the top of her lungs a handful of times (they must have for seen this because they sat us in a corner, in the back of the restaurant!). So with everyone, including Spencer, having had lunch, we headed to Saint Mary's first (mostly because their bookstore closes earlier). After setting foot in the bookstore, Avery fell apart. Luckily, we were the only shoppers in there because she was LOUD. I was so frustrated because I really wanted to look around at the new stuff and enjoy being back on campus...it didn't work out that way. We ended up rushing out of there-at least I left with a new water bottle. We loaded the kids up (without getting to walk around campus) and headed over to Notre Dame. First stop, the bookstore. I'm sorry to say, we didn't have any better success here. Spencer fell asleep in his sleepy wrap on my chest, but Avery completely screamed. She wanted to climb the stairs, but we told her she had to walk with us first and then we would climb the stairs-she would have none of this. It was so embarrassing-to say the least. I ended up looking around really quick while Artie chased her around. Then I gave him what I picked out (t-shirts for Avery, Spencer and I), then I took the kids to the car while Artie looked around-not quite the family day we had planned. By the time Artie got to the car, I was ready to just head home. We had planned on walking around campus because we hadn't in so long-there is so much new construction and so much happening. We were going to take Avery to LaFortune to get a milkshake, like I always loved to do while we were students, but didn't make it there. The ride home didn't start much better as Avery screamed because I didn't want to turn her movie on for her since she wasn't good and Spencer screamed because he was hungry. We made a pit-stop in Plymouth, fed Spencer and turned the movie on (I seriously needed some quiet!). The day surely did not go how we would have liked it at all. I swear, if Avery does not get over these screaming fits because she can't do what she wants-I'm going to lose it. I don't know what to do. We don't let her have her way at all, I don't know why she continues to act like this, but it is really making any time we want to take her in public a complete nightmare.

So, we put Friday behind us and got up Saturday morning to head to Dupont Hospital-where I delivered both kids. This time we were heading to the hospital for fun! It was Spencer's first Dupont NICU Reunion Party since being discharged. The hospital has this every year for all of the NICU "graduates". It was so great to go back and see all of these children that were healthy, energetic 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. year olds! It had been awhile since we were at Dupont since Spencer only spent his first 8 days in the NICU there (the other 35 were at Lutheran Children's Hospital). I won't lie, it was really hard for me and a surreal situation-probably because the experience is still so fresh. The party had a safari theme and they had snacks, crafts, and a bounce house and bounce slide-yup we were in trouble. We had a family picture taken, then Avery insisted on headed to the bouncers. Spencer and I hung back under a tent at the craft table and decorated a picture frame for our new family shot. The party started at 10am and we were there right at the beginning so by 11, the heat was starting to be too much for us-except Avery who could have played on the bouncers all freakin' day. After telling her we were leaving, she proceed to scream at the top of her lungs and throw herself on the grass. sigh. On the way out we saw one of Spencer's nurses that had him most of the nights he was there-including the night he wouldn't eat when he got the pneumatosis. We also saw his neonatologist that had him for most of the time he was at Dupont and for his first week at Lutheran (and the one who had to call Artie-sleeping in Spencer's NICU room-in the early morning hours to tell him Spencer was being rushed for surgery-sad-but good to see her again, especially in a happier environment! It was nice for his nurses/doctors to see him, healthy! His nurses from Dupont didn't get to see him once he left for surgery, so they only remember him glowing from the sever jaundice and being really, really sick from the pneumatosis (they would often call and check on him later while he was recovering from surgery). So that was our first NICU party...the second will be next month when we get to go to Lutheran's at the zoo:) Yup, the silver lining about Spencer having to be at two hospitals during his NICU stay is that we get to attend 2 parties every year to celebrate his graduation:)

Formula update: Last post I said that we would be transitioning Spencer from his pregestimil to regular formula. Things started out a little rough. We were transitioning him to regular Enfamil with lipil. It wasn't working very well. Spencer wouldn't eat much and had terrible gas and was in a lot of pain. We switched to a gentle formula that is a little more broken down, and it's worked! What a difference regular formula makes! Spencer is having normal baby stools now, with grunting and everything-something we are definitely not used to. I'm so relieved that he is fully transitioned and doing well. We have to take him to the pediatrician in about a week just for a weight check to make sure he's still gaining weight on the new formula...but from what I can tell, he's definitely still gaining weight-he's a little piggy:)

Okay, on to the pics...

NICU Party

Avery in the bounce house. Even the people 'manning' this thought she was fearless-she was like the tiniest one in there and held her own. This girl has one fierce personality!

Sliding down backwards on the bounce slide...we are looking into some kind of bounce house to rent for her birthday party because this girl was in love!!

While Avery was enjoying Spencer's NICU party, here's how the big man celebrated!!

A butterfly tattoo-Avery's first!-that she got at the party...when it started to wash off in the bath that night, Avery would tell us that butterfly was 'breaky'!

ND/SMC
My freshman year dorm, McCandless...oh the memories that flood back when you visit your alma matter.

My sophomore, junior and senior year dorm, LeMans...my senior year dorm was to the right, 3rd floor up, right behind the tree...when I was there 6+ years ago in that room, I could actually see out of that window:)

No trip to SMC would be complete without a picture of the Avenue-love it!!

This is the only pic of ND that we got-given the circumstances...SMC has the Avenue, ND has their version with that administration building at the end, you may recognize it, it's known as the golden dome...(noted with sarcasm!). It was a beautifully sunny day and the dome was so pretty in all it's glory, shining in the sun!

Avery at SMC with her new puppy with a Saint Mary's shirt on (the puppy). Avery had to have this dog, Tink apparently needed a pet.

How did she know what do? This kid amazes me everyday-even when I'm so darn frustrated with her. This is when I took the kids to the car at the ND bookstore.

Now she's driving, I may have to help her with the pedals, though! NOTE: of course the keys were in the ignition because we had to have the air on due to the heat, but I assure you, I was in control the whole time and no one was in danger!

Spencer has started sitting in his little seat to help him with strength so he can eventually sit on his own. He gets very frustrated though because he doesn't want to have to work at it! He is by no means a laid back baby...they say the 2nd is usually more easy going-I think we're going to defy that logic.

This is how we get Spencer to lay on his back...he has to be on a changing pad-I'm assuming it's just more comfortable that the hard floor...oh man, are we in trouble!!

Have a great week:)

New CD players and a Check Up

Courtesy of Grandma, Avery and Spencer have brand new-very awesome and much needed-CD players!! Thank you so much, Grandma...these will get lots and lots of use:)

This one's for Spencer. You may recognize this fella from cars...this is the coolest kids CD player. Where the eyes are is where it opens to put the CD in and the wheels are the speakers!!

Just posting a pic of Spencer's name on his wall...we finally got these hung up. The letters have basketballs, footballs, soccer and baseballs on them.

We finally have Avery's room finished after she moved into it 6 months ago!! These are her princess decals on the wall.

A few princess decals on her closet door...

Here's her new CD player! The middle of the flower opens for the CD...she's really into Tinkerbell right now and just loved this! Now to make sure and keep it out of her reach so she doesn't break this one!

We also finally got Avery's name hung in her room...I decorated these letters while Spencer was in the hospital to occupy myself-when they were in the nursery, they were just white.

Such a silly girl:) She got ahold of one of my velcro rollers and discovered-very quickly-that it would stick to her hair...she had so much fun with this!!

Spencer had his second check up with his pediatric surgeon today. He's gaining weight really well, weighing in at 11lbs 5.5oz with only 9 days to go until he's 3 months old!! We got the OK to go ahead and start transitioning him to regular formula-which means we mix his pregestimil with regular formula for awhile and monitor his bowel movements very carefully (to make sure he is properly absorbing the food). It's so stressful and my nerves are really frazzled right now. I still worry about his heart murmur (PFO) and he still has hydrocele (fluid around his testicles) which is really making me nervous that it hasn't gone away yet-there is a chance that it will have to surgically be taken care of if it doesn't absorb on its own...oh lord:( So, overall his appointment went really well. We are focusing right now on getting him transitioned. He's had two feedings today with the mix-he threw up once after the second one so I a bit worried. I guess we'll have to see. If the transition doesn't go well...he'll be on pregestimil until he transitions to milk. My worry is that if this transition doesn't go well, how will he transition to solids and milk-man I am just in a pretty worried state of mind right now.

In Avery news...she's seriously getting smarter every day and continuing to amaze us with everything she does and knows!! She had a few falls today and has ended up with a pretty serious fat lip-I think she has the soul of a fearless little boy sometimes:) The timeout chair has been our friend lately due to Avery's LOUD screams when she's mad or frustrated-it's seriously earth shattering noise! Due to mommy's very nervous demeanor this week, we have decided to postpone potty training. I just don't think I'm ready! We continue to talk about the potty and give her the option of sitting on it, but we aren't getting serious-I'm going to wait until she's 2 and really seems to be interested!!

Enjoy the second half of the week:) xo, steph

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

So, we told Avery that she was amazing because, well, we think she is. Since our little darling picks everything up these days, she now loves telling us she's amazing:)!! Being a big sister has really brought out another side of Avery, one that we are very much enjoying!!

Since we have told Avery that she's too big to ride in Spencer's swing, she thought she would put her stuffed animals in for a ride instead:)

We are really starting to see changes in Spencer's development lately. He's starting to sit up pretty well in his exersaucer-which Avery loves as much as him because she loves to "show him" how to do all of the activities and play with all the toys!

Artie's dad got Avery this awesome sprinkler for her birthday-since her birthday is 2 months away (OMG, Avery will be 2 in two months, I just had a moment!!), he gave it to her a bit early to enjoy the rest of the summer with...and you all know my little water lover, she ran right to it! Pardon the blurry pic...when the sprinkler first came on, it got the camera.

She was squealing in this picture, having so much fun running through the water.

Daddy decided to get in on the water fun with her. Well, he really had no choice once Avery found out how much fun it was to have daddy lift her in the air above the sprinkler!

Having so much fun going down the slide in her pool...it was over 90 degrees here today, I'd say she was beating the heat in a very cool way:)

Domer even ran through the sprinkler a bit...look at that cute face, he was listening to mommy tell him we were about to give him a haircut (and we did)!

No fun day would be complete without a temper tantrum to finish it off and tell mommy and daddy it's nap time!!-which, she ended up taking almost a 4 hour nap after this:)

An amazingly hot Sunday was capped off with a little ice cream...as Avery would say-mmmm, "nummy"!!:)

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and you found your own 'amazing' ways to beat the heat:)

Squishy's Pretty Feet

We have been trying to work with Avery on saying her name and Spencer's name (instead of calling him baby). So we got her to finally say Baby Spencie one night this week and then asked her what her name was and she said "squishy"! Yes, that's right, my daughter thinks her name is squishy. Even though we call her Avery multiple times a day and are with her every day, she chooses to think her name is squishy, which has been my sister's nickname for her since she was born. Of course we laughed and made a call to Aunt Cimmy so Avery could tell her what her name was! It's just so funny how she picked that up, which she doesn't hear very often, compared to her actual name that she hears all the time!! Avery simply amazes us every day. She is picking up new words every day, and putting many sentences together. We can practically have a conversation with her now and it's the most incredible thing to see happen:) Spencer's still doing well, he's eating like crazy so hopefully he gets to be put on normal formula next week when he has his check up with his surgeon!

Artie has this next week off, so we are planning to really buckle down and spend some time working on potty training. We're not sure at all what we're doing. However, Avery is showing so many signs of being ready, so we're going to give it a shot...stay tuned!!

I finally found some new slippers for Avery that I like! It's summer, so it's been a bit of a challenge to find new slippers for her since she out grew her Tigger ones a very long time ago. We like to keep our house pretty cool, so her bare feet get pretty cold. These are great because they have velcro to keep them on and they have great rubber soles-she loves them and showed them off to mommy and the camera during breakfast!

Another end of the summer purchase...some new sandals for the princess. We got these on clearance at Babies R Us and she absolutely loves them. She hasn't really had any 'girly' sandals like these-only her sporty Nike ones. So we're in Babies R Us and I take her shoe off to try these on and after I finish and discover she's gone up a size (yes, my little big foot is in a size 7!), I start taking the sandal off to put her shoe back on. However, Avery starts screaming her head off. Artie and I look at each other and wonder if it's because I took off the sandal. So, we try explaining to Avery that we have to purchase the shoes first and then we can put them on when we get out to the car. Tantrum continues and Spencer is starting to fuss in his car seat in the back of the cart-and mommies of 2, you know what I mean when you don't want 2 kids screaming at the same time-so, we broke down and told Avery that just this once she could wear them before we paid. So, yep, we were those parents that let our kid have something before we even paid for it! But, I'll tell you, she just loves these sandals-we're not sure what it is and out of it, she's been saying the color green-so a great $5 purchase for us:) Avery loves her new sandals so much that the next day she insisted mommy put them on her baby and her baby wore them all day (I wish I had a pic!).

This is one of Avery's new things when it comes to helping with her brother. She thinks it's very great of her to put Spencer's pacifier in his mouth (sometimes even if he doesn't want it or isn't fussing!). Once he has it in his mouth, she proudly turns and puts her hands in the air in victory and announces "I did it!".

My brother, Jake, came by this week for a little visit and Spencer found himself very content hanging with Uncle Jake!

Spencer, meet your Great Aunt, Beverly:) My aunt, Beverly, came by for a visit this week and we had such a great time and can't wait for her to come for more visits:)

Okay, so this week I was going through some really old pictures of Avery and stumbled upon something that we haven't realized-Spencer looks like Avery when she was his age!! We had totally forgotten, apparently, what our daughter looked like 20 months ago, but no doubt, they are brother and sister:)

Here's Spencer, not long after we brought him home, and...

Avery when she was about a few months old!! They even have the same facial expression! I love it-I love that my kids looked the same!! I honestly can barely remember when Avery was this small...glad I have the pics to prove it:)

And finally, we want to congratulate this cutie on becoming a big sister this week to her little brother, Jacob!! Congrats to our dear friends, Christine, Matt and Elizabeth on expanding their family of three to four:)