Thursday, July 21, 2011

9 Months!!! ...or so...

OK, 9 & 3/4 months now since I took so freaking long to finish writing and post this. I've been working on it off/on since July 8th...

9 Month Picture!!!


Stats from their June 30th pediatrician appointment-

Simon: 21lbs 12oz 72%
28.5" long 62%

Linus: 18lbs 3oz 13%
27" long 14%

Dexter: 21lbs 13oz 72%
29.5" long 87%

I can't even begin to tell you how fast these boys are growing up. It seems every day brings a few more ounces or a new skill or another tooth. Speaking of teeth, Simon has 8 now! 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. Linus just popped his 3rd and 4th teeth this week putting an end to the question of whether or not he'd get them in the same wacky order as Simon. The answer is yes, we have a new vampire redneck in the house. :) Dexter popped 3 teeth this week in a strange, but unique order. He got a top side incisor, then the middle 2 incisors. Strange boys we have here.

Simon still leads the pack in physical prowess. This past month he started crawling, then pulling up, now cruising. There is literally no stopping this boy. He's already bloodied his mouth a few times as he's found his 2 footed balance. I thought for sure he was going to have his first black eye today. He was cruising down the hallway wall and didn't stop when the wall did. His little face lurched forward and hit the corner. It was swollen for a bit, but it all faded away by tonight. He's also already had 2 haircuts. This boy is a champ at growing hair. Simon is such a happy baby. I adore his whole body laughs. He has the deepest voice of his brothers and has now started this baritone "singing." It's adorable! Simon is our best eater. This kid can pack away some food and is rarely picky. The only thing we've found that he won't tolerate is cheddar cheese.

Linus is continuing on his rockstar path. He's gone from a totally floppy baby to one that can sit up unassisted. He's also reaching out for toys he wants and can correct his balance about 75% of the time if he starts to topple over. He's rolling from front to back and back to front. Just yesterday he supported his weight on all 4's in the "crawl position" with very little help from us. He was PISSED about it! Physical therapy is not his bag. He acts like he's being murdered. :) Unfortunately PT is going to be a big part of his life until he catches up. At his original PT eval, he scored between 3-6 months on his skills. I'm not sure what he's at now, but he's not wasting any time mastering new things. Linus's biggest issue, aside from his wonky ticker, is his lack of feeding skills. After a very intense feeding trial, the most we were able to get him to take by mouth was 9oz spread out over an entire day. He's required 26oz a day to meet his caloric needs. 9 times out of 10 he will vomit up anything he takes by mouth. We've made very little progress in his eating purees either. Sometimes he starts gagging as the spoon comes towards him. It's so disheartening. We met with a GI specialist at the urging of our cardiologist. Linus has had an indwelling NG tube for 7 months and this is known to cause problems such as sinus congestion, reflux, oral aversion, esophageal erosion and so on. Linus was displaying all of these things. He needed the NG removed, but unfortunately he couldn't be weaned off of the tube feedings yet. Add to all of that the fact that the tape from the NG was tearing up his face. His cheeks were so irritated they would crack and bleed. Last, but not least, Linus had taken to pulling out his NG tube any chance he got. His record was 3 times in one day. Having to drop new tubes and retape him that often was a nightmare for all involved. It was decided that he should have a g-tube placed and soon. He was scheduled for surgery on Monday July 11. I'll write a separate post about this, but I will tell you it went fine and all is well.

Dexter is our biggest boy again. Not too bad considering he was the smallest at birth. People always think Simon is bigger when they see them since he's built like a tank. Dexter is sneaky big. He's so tall and lean, you'd never know he was carrying as much weight as he does. Dexter was 2 months behind on milestones last month. He had us a little worried. Even his pediatrician recommended he be evaluated. This month, he's half a step behind on some things and ahead on others. He was hitting milestones every day for a minute there. He crawled only a few hours after Simon did. Apparently he was just watching and taking notes. Now he's crawling, pulling up and showing signs of imminent cruising. He's even climbing onto the bouncer to "jump" like Simon does. He's no longer the timid guy. He has a nasty habit of taking things from his brothers just to see if he can. He IS still our sensitive one. He snuggles like nobody's business. This kid has the worst separation anxiety and it kicks in randomly. He'll play independently for an hour one day and not let you out of arm's reach the next. Last week he cried every time I stood up. When I actually took a step or two, he would panic and hyperventilate. The tears this kid can put out would melt the coldest heart. He was desperate to be near me at all times. Even Trina wouldn't do. This was our first bout with that behavior. We've been largely interchangeable until now. If he could have tunneled through my vagina and nestled into my womb, he would have.

Now that we have all 5 of us under one roof and everyone is relatively healthy, we've actually been able to do things as a family. On my days off we load up the minivan and take the boys on errands with us. We've been to the tire store, the grocery store, a fabric store, a friends house and a restaurant. They are SO good in public. We had an entire sit down meal with 5 adults and our 3 boys without a single cry. Not even a whimper! No matter where we are, we get a lot of stares and "you must have your hands full" type comments, but several people have said how good they are and how impressive it is that they behave so well. I couldn't be prouder of them. Being able to go out and do normal, boring things as a family is amazing! I like normal. It's taken us 9 months to get here and it's glorious. :)
Now for the pictures...

Our stylish, custom onsies courtesy of Hope.

We won't make it to a water park before they outgrow these adorable swim trunks so they just played with sand toys in the baby cage. Now I just need someone to photoshop in a beach scene...

Who wants to eat when there are all of these things to explore? Even Linus tossed his bottle and pushed himself into a back bend.
Papa and his handsome grandsons. Doesn't Simon look JUST like him?

The boys having a chat about their toys on "plaid shorts day."

One of his first pull-ups. He's so proud.

This look of concentration kills me. He's got amazing balance. It's all in the tongue.

For a while Linus could only grab one foot at a time.

Now he's mastered the double grab.

Our little guy can finally sit up on his own.

Dexter is crawling like a champ.

Dex likes to "play" this sun like a tambourine. It's adorable!

Eating lots of colors is healthy and fun.

A rare shot of Linus actually taking food from a spoon.
Dex loves cereal.
Blueberries!

Linus likes it best when he's in charge of the spoon. Not much gets in his mouth, but it's still good practice.

Both Simon & Dexter are mastering the pincher grasp.

There is a lot of teething going on here, so we're seeing these faces more often.



Everyone loves frozen binks for sore mouths.

Poor Linus's cheeks are so raw from the NG tube tape. He's also got acid burn down his chin from vomiting so much. :(

Our bad assed Adventure Buggy at the tire store. We got SO many looks/comments with this thing. Not many folks have seen a double decker stroller. :)
Our crew at the grocery store. We LOVE these cart covers sent to us by Three Little Miracles.
Just hanging out in these comfy seats.
Love this coy little smile.
Simon is a very studious comparison shopper. Notice the teething drool?

This is why having a cart cover with it's own safety straps is so important!
Linus is still the happiest zipper chested baby on the block.
It's funny to see how often these two are in the same position or playing the same way. A moment before this shot, Dex had his toy in his mouth, too. Even their hips are cocked the same way.

These guys are such a team. Simon climbs into the chair and Dexter bounces it for him.

There was a ruckus in the baby cage and I found 2 very guilty looking boys when I went to investigate the noise. Dexter and Simon were fighting over the coveted pink & green sippy cup.
Simon won...this time.

I laid my head on Linus's Boppy during playtime and he gave me a very serious look. It was like "Mom, I need to tell you something."
After our talk he just used my head for an armrest. :)

One thing that hasn't changed is the love of jumperoo time. I'm going to be sad when they outgrow confined playtime. :)
For those of you who've asked, yes, Simon & Dexter still do sqiushy baby yin-yang. :)

25 comments:

N said...

OMG, those pictures. To die for. How are they so big??

K J and the kids said...

It's so hard to not compare when you have more than one baby sitting side by side. You wonder if one is on target or early or late. It's so hard.
I do it from oldest to youngest and first set to second. Nobody wins :)

They are just beautiful and reading such happy positive posts fills my heart with such joy !
Thanks !

Mijke said...

I've been following quietly for a while now. Got here through Stacie's blog.

Great to read all three of them are doing so well! Not comparing them is hard: I always have a hard time not comparing our twins. I compare their little brother to them sometimes, too, but having two (or in your case three) of the same age right next to each other makes it a lot harder to resist. If one does something before the other, you never know whether one is ahead or the other one behind. I'll tell you one thing, though: all three of yours are way ahead of what our twins (or singleton, for that matter) were capable of at the same age. They were just starting to roll over at 9 months... Looking at them now, at 3,5 years old, you'd never guess they were such slow starters ;-)

If you find a nice beach scene and mail me both photo's, I'll photoshop them together for you...

moi + toi PHOTOGRAPHIE said...

Its so great for the updates. I always show my wife. I am so happy that all the boys are together and smiling.

i love the stroller, its a great idea having one on top

Jaime said...

I LOVE THEM!!! They are so cute!

Wiley said...

Such a fabulous update to read. Warms my heart!

pyjammy pam said...

good lawd, those boys are cute! love the two-toothed grins.

such sweet boys, this is SUCH a great age! i think it was my favorite by far.

Kirsten said...

They're completely adorable! I love reading about all the "normal" things you all are doing.
p.s. that stroller is amazing!

Anonymous said...

Love love love the update! I was hoping you'd post one soon. Seems like everyone is thriving. I know Linus will figure out this eating thing soon enough. That boy just likes to keep you all on your toes at all times! My partner is having a hard day today and I sent her this link to cheer her up. Seeing your cuties always does the trick!

Allison said...

I'm so glad to hear that things are going well. Your boys are absolutely adorable. All the best.

Meagan @ The Clanahan Fam said...

What a great update! I love the way you write about each of them individually - with love and humor :) Especially glad to hear that y'all are under one roof and doing normal family things - enjoy!!!

jade said...

hurray for you all! thanks for finding the time in your busy schedule, I mean, having to do normal, boring stuff takes time!! kind regards, jade

This Mom said...

Such a great update with so much happy news! They are all so big and adorable and I love that Linus has a big, beautiful smile in almost every one. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the up date. Your kids are sooo adorable! I love how they sleep together. Does Linus like that too?

Unknown said...

They are so big! And yes, confined playtime is/was glorious. Enjoy while it lasts :)

Phoenix said...

I hadn't been online for a while and one of the first things I did was caught up on your blog. I was so happy and relieved to see they were all ok and healthy. They were always in my thoughts and prayers, especially little Linus who is not so little anymore. Much love and positive thoughts for you all from Trinidad.

.rlg. said...

I LOVE this post! The boys all look so in love with life, and it's the happiest thing in the world to see them all together. Well done, you two, for getting through some dark times, and now being open to all that joy!

Anonymous said...

Thank you! Thank you! I've been wondering how the boys are doing. The pictures are wonderful, could they get any cuter :) I love the picture of Papa with his boys. And the look on the faces of Simon and Dexter "discussing" who gets the cup that day are priceless. LOL

All the boys seem like they are doing fantastic. It is so great to see Linus sitting up....go Linus, go! Hopefully soon he will be eating you out of house and home.

Thanks for the update, I was hoping we would hear an update soon. As always your family continues to be in my positive thoughts and prayers.

Leslie

Lex said...

So great to read! Thanks for posting - I'm so glad things are going so well.

Gust said...

Growing up so much XOX

You're doing amazingly :) the trips out look awesome! Wish I could bump into you guys.

jen said...

A long-time follower here...newish commenter.

Just have to say I'm so happy to read/see all 3 boys growing up and getting healthy. They're absolutely adorable! You two are amazing as parents - with all you've gone through. My thoughts and prayers go out to your family as the boys continue to make big strides.

- jen

Pomegranate said...

the boys are super cute. great update. glad to hear all is well.

sophia said...

So... I just love your boys...they're total charmers. And so happy that they're all doing so well, espically Mr. Linus! My only question...WHERE did you find a shopping cart in a regular store that can handle 2 kids. I can't take my twins grocery shopping(not like I really want to) unless i'm pushing the stroller. Good luck mamas, you're doing great!

Megan said...

I've been reading along for a bit now, and I love that everyone is doing well! I just wish my son was able to do the confined playtime in a jumperoo. But he is huge and outgrew those things before he was really ready to use them. He is 11 months and 35lbs and 32". So, he's massive! I liked the frozen pacifiers to sooth teething troubles, but I let my son chew on frozen waffles. He liked the texture, and if he got a bite or two off, I wasn't worried because it was mush after he chewed and slobbered on it. I used the muti-grain toaster ones that you can find at any grocery store. Its soemthing to think about, my son still loves to chew on the frozen waffles for his teething pains.
Good luck and God Bless.

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god bless this kids.