My little pickle eats... again!

We have been doing the eating thing for a while now, trying to build her up to the two feedings a day that we were at prior to the plague hitting her. By golly I think we have got it! Due in large part to the advice that the speech therapist gave us about trying new and crazy things.

Dylan loves pineapple! I pureed some fresh pineapple and she seemed to LOVE it! It was a really nice sweet pineapple too. I have mixed it with a couple of her favorite baby foods, with oatmeal and she eats them up!

I would say it's pretty normal to get to 4.5 or so ounces at a feeding now, which was what we were at before so she's actually doing really well. She's so cute to, opening her mouth and stuff. We have even gotten to 6+ ounces of solids at 2 separate feedings!! AMAZING! This is really what I would consider a full feeding for her since she gets 6.5 ounces of milk/formula at a feeding. The fact that she just kept eating and kept eating was killing me! I just kept shoveling.

She also seems to like cinnamon bears, boy is she her grandma's grandchild or what? I have always remembered my mom liking the cinnamon bears! We actually eat them pretty regularly around here and they are a staple for knitting night. When they were recommended I jumped right on it. I can take an ear or leg and squish it and put it right on her side teeth and she will chew it a little. If I go up with another bite she will happily take it too.

She will still not drink, I think the liquid is just too thin for her to be able to move around in her mouth. Pat and I were discussing how the ability to spit out food is a good one, Dylan doesn't quite have it yet and I am crossing my fingers that she will like food before she develops that "skill"!

We have also tried fruit roll-ups, big fan. The things she likes are really encouraging since her supposed lack of olfactory nerves leans toward her not having much ability to actually taste foods. Maybe that's why things like black licorice are working? Anyway, who cares. I am so proud of her, I could toot my horn all day.

Duncan came up to me today and said "Uh-oh, Dylie!" when Dylan was napping. I asked if she was awake and he said yes. Took my hand and led me to her room. Sure enough she was in there sitting up! Helpful big(er) brother that he is. He's a sweet heart.

Last Friday Pat brought over a couple of braces for her to try that will hopefully help her stretch her legs and keep them straight. They are a little big, but SO cute. I don't have a picture of her standing in them yet, but it's coming. It's adorable. I put them on her while sleeping and she'll tolerate one or the other, but it seems like both at the same time are too restricting for her to feel comfortable so we will do the trade off. One leg is a bit tighter than the other so I did that last night. Her dad got her up though and he didn't pay any attention to whether or not it may have helped.

Also, Duncan's learned how to say a near perfect "Diego", thanks in part to all the feeding I have been doing with Dylan. Thank you Diego, Dora and Wubzy, I lurve you!

Looking forward to seeing our Grandma Shirley tomorrow morning when she comes to town. And we also have an appointment with Trina on Monday to see how much the little pickle has grown in the last four month so hopefully I will have another update soon!



She's done taking pictures and taking off!


Practically passed out before bed last night, bit in her brace!


A closer look...


And what's a blog post without the other two!?
Good smiling


Happy talking!


I have figured this out... He started it because it was almost always the look on Ian's face! That's how it happened. Oh well, it's cute... and he knows it!

Single mom, only for a few more hours though!

Matthew's out of town, he had to go to a credit card conference in Vegas. Vegas... okay that sounds alright, but speaking from lots and lots of experience... big old thumbs down to credit card conferences. I guess it wouldn't be as bad if you weren't the person running around making sure everything arrived and is in place. And weren't trying to convince uncooperative booth attendees to hang out, but still... Boooooring. It will be good for him to get to know everyone there though. Apparently three kids and a wife who stays at home has turned him risk averse, so not much Vegas-type fun will be had I am sure. Maybe he can sneak in a show or something. He comes back tonight! Woohoo!

In the meantime, I went over to his mom's house MIGHTY early on Sunday, I think it was before 5:00 and then we left at 9:15 or so. Maximizing the time out! People would walk in and ask "Where's Dylan? Duncan?" my reply "not by me!" They just run off and go playing and they like it as much as I do!

Kristen's friend Terry (Shout out!) and her family came over. She's become more of a family friend than a Kristen friend though... we have all adopted her. We were talking about Dylan and it came up that someone in their ward was speaking about having a special needs child and in her talk she said that there will always be the Easter Bunny at their house, and that they will Santa Claus will always visit them. How cute is that? I love it... it's magic!

They have been pretty easy on me though, both yesterday and today their naps over-lapped. Niiiiiice! I don't expect it to last though!

Speaking of Dylan I have tried a couple of new things with her... we did adult oatmeal mixed with one of her favorites, she wasn't a fan of the texture, she gagged a little occasionally but it was just a try. I ended up puree-ing the mess and putting it in the tube after another shot at it for breakfast. Matthew picked out some black licorice ropes thinking that she will probably like the rope part of it. Daddy was right. She kept chewing on it long after she realized it was food. Normally she will mouth something until she realizes it's supposed to be eaten and then throws it aside. I think she actually liked the flavor... messy though, brown goo everywhere. I have now actually slipped her a little section of a rope a couple times at feedings.

Sunday night I had her try the artichoke dip, not a fan. So not a fan that the frosting that followed didn't have a chance! Then she tried the dill dip. She did end up getting a second and third shot at frosting though. By the third it seemed like she really liked it! I keep forgetting to have her taste things and there were a lot of things she could have tried last night. Chili, squash... I am a slacker. Just need to get in the right mindset. Gave her a taste of my blueberry yogurt this mornnig, she has purple all down the front of her to proove it! She's seemed to like it as well.

Ugggh, and last night I pureed pizza! Gross! She wasn't a fan of it either. IT was really gross, and I have dealt a lot with poo, when I say something's gross... it's gross! However, if she starts eating Duncan's leftovers and she'll fatten up in no time!

I was pretty proud of myself yesterday because all three kids got a bath. Because I can't really throw them all in the tub at once I consider this quite an accomplishement! Dylan doesn't have enough *ahem* control to take a tub with anyone so she got special consideration. Duncan was in forever, before during and after Ian, and it all just worked out. Normally mom isn't on tub duty... Daddy loves giving baths! I am pretty sure Duncan probably prefers dad too!

It was a pretty fun weekend with friends. Friday night Jess and Steve came over for games and it was complete shut-out for the guys. Go girl power! Saturday we went to dinner with Shannon, Tracy and Charlotte (mmm cheese fries) and then they came over for a little while. Again... Charlotte and Duncan play soooo cute. I can't even stand it.

Yesterday Duncan begged to hold Ian. When I ask if that's what he wants he says 'yea, yea, yea!' so I get them both situated on the couch and he looked up at me and said "cheeeeeeese!" Hilarious.

And I have to watch what I say around him now... last night when Jess was here and we were watching our terrible reality TV I kind of yelled a name at the Bachelor and Duncan followed suit. D'oh. At least it wasn't a bad word, just a little name calling!

BIG smile!


That nasty bruise is going way... thank goodness.


Little Charlotts holding Ian, such a cutie pie!


She's informed her parents that she would lie a little boy baby...


He's quite the talker now, makes the cutest little faces when he's trying to talk.

Consult with Speech

As I mentioned, Dylan is the furthest behind in speech and eating so we had the speech consult come in and talk with us on Thursday. It was SO interesting! She said that Dylan's not ready for the type of speech that we could do with, say... Duncan. Like the repeat words and sounds over and over. She said it will all come down to stimulating her mouth in new and exciting ways, ie. Foods that are more exciting than the bland baby food that I have been trying to feed her.

Dylan puts everything in her mouth, and she is often licking her hands, which totally grosses me out. I was told that she probably does this because she's craving that oral stimulation that she's not currently getting by eating and that's evidence that she's ready for these new more and exciting flavors.

She suggested pulling out the food processor and getting creative. Anything that we eat, feed Dylan. Matthew and I had been talking about going that direction, making our own baby food, especially because we are starting to plan meals, but the therapist was really helpful in HOW to go about it. Because Dylan's familiar with baby oatmeal, I should mix it with her foods, starting with REAL fruits and vegetables and mix it with the baby oatmeal. It's in an effort to try and trick Dylan so she doesn't realize we are doing something new and respond by completely shutting down.

Once she is familiar with the new taste we can try a bite or two that's a little more chunky to see how she handles it.

Some other things she suggested experimenting with are:
Mashed potatoes with gravy to thin
Beef jerky
Black licorice
Cinnamon bears
Fresh Pineapple
Oranges
Sour Patch Kids
Flavored potato chips
Chips and Salsa (Medium even, not mild!)
Pudding
Yogurt
Cinnamon mixed in

While Dylan can have tastes of these new things, the therapist also said to try mixing adult oatmeal with the baby foods that she's familiar with. Again, introducing a texture and flavor with something she already likes to see how she does. It will be a slow process, very slow, as we can't move too quickly but nonetheless, I am so exciting to try new things! Makes me want to make a special trip to the grocery store so I can go through isle after isle to see what is funky and fresh for her to try!

I tried Yogurt this morning, mixed with baby Oatmeal and she actually ate it. I think she was the most turned off by the temperature... but she did okay. Not a full feeding but several willing bites.

I know this all makes sense to do, but I think when you are in our position you are just so focused on getting her to eat that you don't really step out of the box. I would say this is definitely out of the box! Time to dust off the Food Processor!

Sara forgot to give me the full report with where she is developmentally in which category but she said she would bring it next time she comes which is in two weeks.

My little droooooler.

Awesome!

Dylan had her annual review and goal setting last week. Her PT, OT and Vision Therapist all came over at the same time. She tests in the 9-12 month range except for speech and eating in which she's 5 and 6 months. That I learned from peeking over shoulders. I think I am supposed to get a copy of it but didn't so I will ask her OT about it when she comes over on Thursday.

She has been eating one full meal a day by mouth. Well, except yesterday, she didn't do bso well yesterday. Her food time was all off because of a long mid-day nap and when she got up, instead of being 1/2 hour before food time it was about 2 hours after so she was in no mood to mess with the slow way of getting the food into the belly. There are definately some stand out favorties with the food even though I have been sticking to fruits. She loves all of the banana, apple, strawberry combinations but does not like Apricots and mixed fruit. Cute.

She has this fabulous thing she is doing lately. If you have her on your hip as you are walking along and getting on with life she will lean forward and get close to you, staring at you, until you look at her, and then she smiles and sits back. Then, after a few minutes she will do it again. She's been all about people lately, almost prefering to get their attention rather than playing with whatever toy comes is closest. Unless it's a toy Duncan has, and then she wants that toy. NOW. He has all the cool toys you know.

I got to see Jill and David's baby Mallori form a distance. they came over on Sunday but I stay far away. We are all pretty much cured now, but Sunday was still iffy. She has a full head of long black hair where the boys didn't have any hair. I guess Jill has a place for all of those bows now right? (Poor little girl! ;) )

Momma got some new toys over the weekend. We went out and got me an elliptical and a stationary bike. I have been running on the treadmill at night when I can... which is not terribly often, but I did want to mix it up a little. Back when I was working and going to the gym every day I could do the elliptical for an hour... and I would, often, but uhmm, amazing what three kids does to you. Now I know why everyone thought they were hard! Hopefully it will get easier. Still excited, I don't get too many big toys that often!

As many know by now, the pictures just don't so the in real life face justice. Except for maybe this one, which is.... AWESOME.


These teeth are... AWESOME


I love these flowers in her hair. That's what I wanted a picture of. She was being so cute and coy. She would smile and look away and smile and look away. I was going "Dyyylllieeee Dyyyllllieee" to get her to look up at me. Duncan was behind me going "Dyyydeeee, Dyyydeeeee," you know... helping.


She has to have something in her mouth! Bah! She's smiling though, so cute.

Grumpy Face!

Imagine being in your comfy home thinking about how adorable your little children are and looking down to see this:


What the?! I was washing Duncan's hands and I feel him staring up at me and that was the face he had on! I started laughing, I couldn't help it... why in the world was he looking at me like that, what did I do? Nothing! I think he's discovering his eyebrows or something. After I chuckled and said "What?!" he smiled!

And now it's a game...

Grumpy face!


Happy Face!


Grumpy face!


Happy face!


And as you can see, some of these faces are really REALLY grumpy! (The scary thing is... that first picture looks exactly like I did when I was little, totally the eyes!)

Dylie got a battle wound. It's on her cute little cheeky and you can hardly even see it in pictures but in real life it's pretty bad! I didn't see it happen but it was on my watch I think she fell against a wooden toy she has. See here... it's right next to her nose, told you pictures don't so it justice. I guess it just means she's getting around right?


It's really hard to get Ian's smile on camera. He's kind of stingy with them in the first place but then when you run and get the camera (or call for it to be brought to you) off they go. All done. As a result we have a BUNCH of really cute pictures but hardly any smiles!

I think he looks so tiny compared to Matthew's hand!


I have big eyes too!

He just wanted to talk this night, no smiles.

Oh, okay, now we're talking, this is a pretty cute one...


Ahhhh! Here's a bug catcher! again, up the nose, that's why you get when I have to do the camera holding and the entertaining. I am just lucky he was all the way in the shot, in most of them he's not!

Little projects... I stopped working on the newest animal and blanket for a few days to whip out a couple of really neat and easy scarves. Eden's friend found the pattern on the Lion Brand site and it doesn't take very long at all to whip one up. So I did, one, and another and another... I made matchy matchy ones for Traci, Abbi and 'baby', Abbi's doll. So cute. Here are mine.

Oh and YAY for my newest little neice! Jill and David's baby girl, Mallori Kate, was born on Wednesday. She's a pount a half smaller than Ian was and an inch longer! I can't wait to see her but alas, I must. We are sickos around here and let's put off her first cold as long as possible right? Little Mallori is #23 on Matthew's side of the family. #24 is on the way too!

Ian's Blessing Day!

My cute little guy's blessing was yesterday and Matthew did a great job (of course). A major part of the blessing was asking if Ian could be blessed with patience. Yes, please, with these parents, patience is a must!

Duncan started out the day on a rampage. Boy was he on one. I think he just sensed that we needed him to cooperate and what would ANY two-year old do but dig their heels in right? So Duncan's perfectly normal. We had asked LouAnn to come over early to snap a few pictures of the family and as soon as I pulled the camera out Duncan started wailing. Nice. The pictures didn't turn out as good as Duncan and Dylan's blessing but I suppose the more kids there are involved, the harder it will be. Dylan had her eyes closed in every single shot but one.

The one half decent shot.


If looks were daggers....


Waaaaaah....

The big (sickly) boy...

Over all, not terrible since this was the first shot I took from when I pulled the camera out! Guess he wanted the day to be about him. He definately was the noisey kid in church too. Not only that, but he shut the lights off once, yes... that was my kid.

Afterwards everyone came over for ham and lots of yummy sides. My Wii Fit said I gained 2.9 lbs in one day when I stepped on last night. I shut it off. =)

This morning was Ian's REAL 2 month appointment which was just in time because my little guy started slightly wheezing last night. He's been so sick, and he is such a gagger, that I have been sleeping (or not so much) up right with him. That way if he gagged and pucked I would be able to deal with it... The verdict? RSV.

Bless our doctor too, the first thing he did when he saw us this morning was say "Hi, how are ya? Is Dylan getting better?" Actually, she isn't. She's still running a low grade fever and has the normal cold symptoms. After Ian's check up and his diagnosis of probable RSV, he said it increased the likelihood that that's what Dylan's trying to fight too. He again recommended the steroid, just a few doses tends to help her kick things. That medicine Trina had Dr. Endo call in for us has really come in handy! Needless to say, we are DONE with this winter!

Back to Ian. The doctor said he's probably going to kick it with no problem since he seems so strong and healthy. Just need to give it a few more days. If he gets worse, or better than worse I am to call and see what we can do. Looks like a few more nights of (not) sleeping sitting up then!

Otherwise he is doing great and in the 50th% in just about everything although weight is a little higher but not much. He's at 12lbs 6 oz and 23 inches long.

The other day it was too quiet so I went to check in on Duncan and he was sitting in Dylan's crib, sucking on her binki. They are all sick, so I took them, threw them in the dishwasher and grabbed a couple replacements. I put them on the crib that will be Ian's (since he couldn't crawl into that one...) and left. After a few minute I went back and this is what I saw.

Let's take a minute to examine this picture. The call of the binki was so great, he crawled up on the (lost) hope chest, pushed the box of diapers onto the bouncer (which, notice, is folded up and VERY unstable) crawled accross and hopped into the crib. Very smart! But while there he found a lovely beaded sign that he apparently thought was jewelry and forgot about the binkis. Not only that, but if you look closely under the bouncer, you will see a pile of tissues, emptied form the box, one. by. one. Ahhh... good times.

Duncan loves to hold Ian, I tried to keep them seperated while Duncan was sick but it's hard. "Patting" Ian's head, be so gentle!

A love! Ian's like 'What the?!' So cute though, I LOVE this shot!

Here Duncan's just softly patting him.

Silly Shorts!

I was looking at a picture up at LouAnn's house a couple weeks ago, it was the pictures that we took of Duncan and Dylan in January of last year. They are here. And I was thinking about how far Dylan's come, which I have thought about a lot lately (clearly, since nearly every recent post has something about it in there!). When we took these pitures, Dylan couldn't sit up on her own, Matthew's arm is there, under that cloth, holding her up. It was pretty hard to get a good picture! But then, it dawned on me, even last Easter Dylie couldn't sit up on her own. For the pictures here we had to have her wedged in the corner of the couch. That was April last year! So in less than a year she's not only sat on her own, but got to sitting, army crawled, crawled and kneeled up to things!

She took a full feeding yestersday, this is the first full feeding since before she got sick, which was long before Ian's arrival. She ate really well this morning too but I stopped when she got irritated because she was doing so well. Like... really well. In hindsight I should have never taken the time off that I did. It's just the way it worked with my last month and Ian's arrival, I got lazy. I am not dwelling on not having pushed her through her being sick, just making note of it. =) Timing is such an issue anyway and for me to be able to watch when she has a clear nose and was in a good mood and hope is coincided with feeding time with everything would have been pretty difficult. She has a bit of a nose now, and lesson learned, I am not letting up. She opened her mouth, took the food off the spoon (this is a BIG deal, I didn't have to dump it or use her teeth to scoop it into her mouth) for several bites in a row. Then she would fuss and yell at me about me making her do it, but then she's get over it and cooperate again.

Duncan's really sick right now, I think he was fighting a cough for a while and then his body just gave in and this ickiness took over. He hasn't been sleeping well at all, coughing all night. Then the nose showed up pretty good yesterday and now today his eyes are puffy and red.

Have you ever seen a cuter super sick boy though? This is well rested too, scary!


Just got back from taking Duncan to the doctor, his eyes just looked too bad to me. Ear infection, both ears. Likely due to the coughing but now all the coughing is because of his ears. I was really watching for a fever too and he's been fine. 1/2 hour after we walked in the door, 102. Also came home to Dylan who had been apparently crying for over an hour, guess who also is fevered? Yup, 101, taking her in sometime tomorrow. Should be an adventure with three kiddos!

I mentioned the shorts that Pat has Dylan wearing a couple posts ago. They are sewn together down the crotch and made for low-tone kiddos and it's to help her align her hips better and force her to use different muscles. When she first put them on Dylan was flopping (as I mentioned) but now she acually crawls and kneels in them and according to Pat, they make her hips look really good. I had her in them a while yesterday and she was fine, just waiting for her to wake up to put them on again tonight. She's really tired today, I think because she's sick. Boo. Hope the little guy doesn't get it.

Silly shorts!


We clap now too, she used to keep one hand as a fist, but it's a real clap. Sometimes in response to us saying 'yay!' and clapping. (This is good!)


My little snuggly bug. I think he wants to be a baby forever, he just wants to snuggle into you. He's not really about seeing and experiencing the world yet. I love it. He's cuddly and warm!

Look at those cheekers!

I just thought this outfit was cute =)

There's just something about her...

That makes tough grown men turn into squishy big boys. It's funny really, Dylan just melts people, most noticeably in men, and it's really fun to watch. You see these big, tall, reserved guys change when they pick her up. Grandpa Bob, Steve, Michael... they just start oo-ing and coo-ing. And yes, even ones who think they are tough like Uncle David. She has magical powers.

There's nothing like a Sunday night to show me how loved my kiddos are. We always walk in to grandmas and each kids gets whisked away by random family members. Duncan always runs in to the kitchen, beaming, like "Walaah! I, the one you have been waiting for, has arrived!" and I can see how he gets that impression. They all get the star treatment!

I have been so impressed with my little girl and her exploring lately! it wasn't that long ago that I was celebrating that her crawling at my feet in the kitchen and now she's moved on. Yesterday she crawled down the hall to the laundry room, and then she went in Duncan's room, and then hers. Going from toy to toy exploring. Back to Duncan's, then to hers, she was so proud of herself. The girl has got to be sick of the same old scenery here in the living room. Today she was a bit cranky when she woke up from her nap and Duncan was still sleeping so I had her play in her room for a while and sure enough, she came out to the living room when she was done in there! That seems like such a big girl thing to do!

Duncan and I made sugar cookies this weekend and they were oh-so-yummy. I haven't made them in several months and I thought it might be a fun activity. He loved pouring things into the mixer although I think he was eyeing the flour bag, he wanted his hands on it with the measuring cups. One of his favorite things to do these days is to pour water from cup to cup. If I need to keep him occupied during one of Dylan's therapy sessions I might whip a couple cups out. He's not that great at it, so you can count on it getting all over, but that's why we use water, and just a wee bit at a time. He helped me make the dough, but conveniently he was sleeping during the rolling, cutting, and frosting. I can't imagine how crazy it would be if he were awake for that process!

Speaking of cookies, Duncan finally learned how to say the word 'cookie'. Up to now I was able to give him a cracker when I knew full well he was really wanting a cookie. I guess 'candy' will be next (he is my child after all).

Laly, who is a family friend Matthew has known forever, came over on Thursday. She has been asking to come help do something for a while now and I am just not one to ask for help. Well, she finally cornered me on Instant Message and I am glad she did. We set up Thursday morning because Dylan has PT and she could keep Duncan away for that hour. And boy did she! It was like his very own play date, he was having so much fun! When we were done and Pat was writing up the record sheet Dylan went off to see what all the yelling and laughing was about and for a time there Laly had both of the kids in Duncan's room playing. I got a chance to clean up the kitchen. She was here for a few hours and I feel like I got so much done! It was so sweet of her, very humbling, what a nice giving person she is!

So, funny story, I had Matthew come home this morning for an early lunch so I could take Ian to his two-month appointment. We were all ready and off we went, yea... well, it's NEXT Monday. The lady at the Ped's desk told me I was exactly one week early, nice. And sure enough, it's on the calendar on the fridge for the right day and everything. I am losing my mind.





Eden, Afton and Bridger cam eover on Saturday to use the Cricket to make Afton's star poster. Matthew had Bridger and Duncan (and eventually Afton) downstairs while Eden and I slaved away. It turned out pretty darn cute though!