01/31/2011

The kids love it when I lay Tysen down on the floor to stretch out. They like to lay next to him and give him kisses.

Alexa is so silly!

01/29/2011 Tysen- 6 weeks

Big yawn- so tired

Tysen 6 weeks old

It seems like every time that Tysen needs to eat, the other kids always need attention, too!

01/25/2011 Wellness Checkups

I took Gavin and Tysen to the pediatrician earlier this week. Gavin had his 2 year check and Tysen had his 1 month check. Luckily, my wonderful neighbor Lauren was able to watch Alexa so that I wasn't completely overwhelmed. However, I still had my hands full with the two boys and I have decided that I will never, ever schedule back-to-back appointments again! Although I saved a little time by doing them together, it wasn't worth how stressed out it made me feel. It started off okay. The nurse led us to an exam room and I undressed both boys so they could be weighed. Then we went back to the room to wait for the doctor to come in. It was only a short wait, but long enough for Gavin to get antsy. I was trying to keep him quiet and calm and then Tysen decided that he was hungry and started whaling. Luckily, I had pumped breast milk before the appointment and had a bottle I could give him instead of breastfeeding (ha! That would have made the experience even more interesting!). I was trying to feed the baby with one hand and with the other, trying to keep Gavin from pulling down the window blinds. Then, just before the doctor comes in...both boys poop in their diapers. Wonderful. It smelled so bad in that little room and there was nothing I could do about it. There was no way I could stop feeding Tysen to change diapers...he would not allow that! When he's hungry, he lets me know! The doctor came in and did his examinations on the boys. They were both crying. Gavin started throwing a tantrum. I didn't know whether I should try and calm the baby down, or help the doctor with the 2 year old. With all of the noise, I could hardly hear anything the doctor had to say. From what I could hear, he is very pleased with Tysen's weight gain. Tysen does still have two blocked tear ducts. His eyes get yellow crusty buildup on his eyelashes and I have to wipe them with a wet washcloth several times everyday. This is very common and the doctor said that 95% of the time, it resolves on its own. Tysen still has pretty bad baby acne on his face, neck, shoulders, and chest. That will also go away on its own. Now for Gavin, the doctor was very impressed with his motor abilities. He was running, climbing, and jumping all over the room. I told the doctor about our concerns about Gavin's speech development. The doctor agreed that it would be a good idea to have a speech evaluation. His reasoning was that it wouldn't hurt anything. Gavin is a very smart little boy. He understands everything that we say to him and he follows commands. He is very verbal, too, we just can't understand most of what he has to say! The doctor said that by two years of age, he should be saying at least 50 words that we can understand clearly. Gavin maybe says half that many. And then to top off the appointment, it ended with both boys getting shots! Then it got even louder.

Here are Gavin and Tysen's stats:

Gavin- weight: 27 lbs (50%) length: 35 in (75%)

Tysen- weight: 11 lbs 4 oz (90%) length: 22.25 in (75%)

01/29/2011 Tysen's first smiles :)

Seeing him smile just melts my heart!

He's so adorable!

01/19 & 01/20/2011 Aunt Tianna's House

Our families gathered at my sister Tianna's house so that the kids could play. All of our little ones are really close in age and we thought they would have a lot of fun. We were right! I really wish that we lived closer because it would be so wonderful to watch our kids grow up together.

Masen is listening to Alexa play the guitar. (Masen and Alexa are both 3 years old.)

Gavin is about 6 months older than Hudson.

Alexa and Masen had so much fun playing with this work bench. They kept making up stuff to "fix."

They put their safety goggles on all by themselves!

It won't be long before this little guy is up running around with his cousins, too!

Aunt Tianna was pushing a toy car back and forth to Masen and Gavin. Gavin thought it was so funny. He was cracking up every single time the car came his way.

Aunt Tianna has all kinds of fun toys at her house!

My dad and Diane with Tysen

(If you've noticed that there have been lots of pictures of Tysen with a bottle in his mouth, you are right...he eats all the time! He's going to be a big boy!)

Aunt Kara drove all the way from Missouri to spend some time with her niece and nephews. It was great to see her!

Aunt Tianna with Tysen

Little Hudson walking all over the place

Grandpa McGrew playing with the boys

Hugs for Aunt Kara!

Kara is so great with little kids, and it's a good thing because she's going to be a teacher soon!

Aunt Tianna brought up the slide from their basement and it was a big hit. The kids liked to stack up pillows at the bottom and then slide down into them.

Then Grandpa McGrew got a workout in while he was playing horsey.

Hold on, Alexa! Looks like she's about to be bucked off!

We finished the evening with popcorn and American Idol. What a fun night! Thanks, Tianna and Richard!

Grandpa and Grandma McGrew with all the grandkids.

4 grandsons and 1 granddaughter