02/25/2012

On our way to church

35 weeks!

Gavin loves his Thomas puzzle. He can put it together all by himself, but only when Tysen is sleeping because he likes to "help" too much!

Alexa loves helping clean the floor after meal time. She knows that this task is very difficult for me now. In fact, as she was sweeping, she was singing a song that she made up about helping Mommy because there's a baby in my tummy!

And there's the reason there's so much food on the floor- the little guy in a red shirt!

Tysen loves berries. He'd already eaten all the raspberries.

Little whale butt!

Alexa is helping stir the batter for waffles.

This might be the last month that Tysen can wear this shirt! It's hard to believe that my baby is about to be a big brother!

First the boxes were race cars, then Alexa decided they should be cribs. So they are all pretending to be babies in cribs while they watch The Lion King. I love their imaginations.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Little Valentines!

The kids are excited for their class parties today at school.

01/13/2012

Tonight after baths, we allowed the kids to open some Valentine's Day presents.

I just love Valentine's Day. The kids and I had so much fun making homemade valentine cards this weekend.

They are so excited about their new movie. We have a baby-sitter coming to the house on Valentine's Day because Mommy and Daddy are going to the Blue Jackets hockey game so they will get to watch it then.

02/10/2012

My sweet angles (that are so very hard to photograph all together!)

Gavin and Alexa love Tysen so much, and he's pretty fond of them too!

I love Gavin and Tysen's expressions in the photo above! So cute!

About a year ago, Alexa and Gavin were rocking these Elmo shirts. Now they fit Gavin and Tysen perfectly.

Coloring

Alexa and Gavin love coloring books.

Tysen is starting to show interest as well! He actually will scribble with a crayon now instead of just trying to eat the crayon!

Just some cute pictures of Alexa and Gavin!

Tysen Update

Baby Tysen had eye surgery to open up both of his tear ducts. Since birth, Tysen's eyes have always been extra watery or teary. At his 1 year wellness check-up, his pediatrician recommended that we take Tysen to see an ophthalmologist. We did and the ophthalmologist felt it would be best to proceed with the surgery as he did not feel Tysen would outgrow this condition on his own. Matthew and I were allowed in the room when the procedure took place and it was very difficult to watch. The doctor had an assistant that tightly wrapped Tysen in a blanket so that he couldn't move his arms. Then she held his face firmly. The doctor quickly placed numbing drops in both eyes and then forced a long needle through the corner of his eye down into his nasal cavity (that's where the tear ducts drain) to open up any blockages. Then he pulled the needle out and repeated the procedure on the other eye. Tysen was so mad. He was screaming. The procedure only took about 2 minutes and then he needed antibiotic eye drops before we were able to hold him. Once Daddy was holding him, he calmed down right away but he was giving the doctor and his assistant dirty looks! We were sent home with instructions to give him antibiotic eye drops for 4 more days and that we should be able to see results in about a week. Well, a month has passed since the surgery and unfortunately it was a big failure. Tysen's eyes are just as watery now as they were before the surgery. The plan now is to wait about six months and we will schedule another surgery at Children's hospital to have little tubes placed in his tear ducts to keep them open. Poor little guy!

It just so happens that on this same day we got confirmation that Tysen does indeed have a milk and egg allergy. Again back at his 1 year wellness check-up, I mentioned my concern about Tysen not being able to tolerate milk. Once he turned a year old, I began trying to wean him off of formula. I started with only an ounce of whole milk mixed in with his formula. He tolerated that okay. But once I increased the amount of whole milk in the formula, he began vomiting up the entire bottle just minutes after finishing it. We got frustrated and just went back to formula until we could speak to his pediatrician. The pediatrician recommended that we have Tysen tested for food allergies. He had some blood drawn and I later got the phone call confirming that he was allergic to milk and I was very surprised about the egg allergy, too. I wasn't expecting that. However, both of his allergies are mild and he has a very good chance of outgrowing them both. Tysen is now doing well on soy milk. Because soy milk has very little fat content, we need to supplement Tysen's diet with extra healthy fats from avocados and olive oil. We also continue to give him two 6 ounce servings of soy formula a day just to ensure that he's getting enough fat for healthy brain development that is very crucial at this age.

01/29/2012

Cousin Dezirae came to visit us! It was great to see her and Aunt Christina and Uncle Eric. We had a very fun evening at the swimming pool. In the picture above, Dezirae is giving Tysen a kiss as they get warmed up in their towels.

This is Tysen's last weekend of the bottle. Mean Mommy has packed them all up so he's been forced to adjust to the sippy cup! Actually, he really didn't even notice. Now those bottle can stay in storage for a few more months until we need them for the new baby.

After the swimming pool, we went out for a special ice cream treat at Jeni's! It was delicious.

Alexa carefully checking out each choice.