Declan - 17 Months

I spent the majority of July thinking you were getting ready to turn a year and a half old....nope.  Good news for me!!

You wanted nothing to do with getting your picture taken.  Actually, you were mad because i ripped your binky out of your mouth.  You had just woke up and still had it....mean mom! 

Weight:  32lbs (guessing)
Height: 33in. (again, guessing)

I have no idea on your stats this month...you have your 18 month check up soon so we'll know more then!

Let's see. Still in all the same sizes.  You don't seem to be having any sort of a growth spurt so i'm assuming we'll be in the 24mo clothes for a bit.  Although you can sport some 2T tops.  It's the belly...fills it out :)

You are obsessed.  OBSESSED with tractor's (Cows are a close second).  You think everything is a tractor.  Including papa's mower.  You get tractor ride's almost daily :)

We've reverting a little on the eating.  Once again you are pretty much too busy to be bothered to eat.  You'd rather I fed you.  Lazy I tell ya!! You will pick at things if they're out while you're playing.  But as far as sitting down and eating a meal...you don't like to.  You really like the squeezy deals.  So we do a lot of those.  You are still loving fruit.  And puffs. And M&M's (cringe!).  Those would be your grandpa and grandma's fault.  Grandma always has candy out....and you know exactly where it is.  You'll try and go for that before the crackers or anything else she has out for you.  I have no clue where you get your sweet tooth!

 You went on your first helicopter ride with Gramme!!! She said you loved it!! She had to take your "ears" off because the noise was scaring you, but other wise you did great!! Such a little daredevil!! 

You're newest obsession is cows.  You constantly are mooing, and signing cow.  You find them instantly in all your books...and ask for them ALL the time! So we've been taking many trips out to the feed yard to visit your friends!!

You traveled to Chicago in July!! We went up for Grandpa's birthday, and to run in a 1/2 marathon (obviously you didn't run!)  Once again you were a great little traveler.  It took you a little longer to fall asleep on the flight out there, but you were good non the less.

You had a grand ol time in Chicago. Lots of exploring.  Lots of water...trucks...sights to take in!!





 We bought an attachment for the bike's so you could come with us on bike rides!! You think it's pretty cool!! You just sit there and soak it all in.  It's been a little too hot to get it out much, but hopefully as fall approaches we'll get around it more bike ride's!!

 (You and your buddy Jame's goofn' around.  I see lots of trouble in our future!)

You are still going to daycare twice a week...and you don't cry anymore when i drop you off!!! It took you quite a while to get used to it.  Probably because you don't go very often (and we tend to be gone a lot of Friday's so really just once a week most weeks!)  But from what we are told, you do great there.... 

 Well buddy...another month gone.  As much fun as we are having watching you grow up, learning new things etc.... we'd be fine with you slowing down a bit! 

We love you to the moon and back buddy...

Declan - 16 months

Weight: 31 lbs (this is a guess)

Height: 32.5 (again, a guess)
I'll update once i can actually weigh and measure you!

This month it seems as if things have just clicked.  You have changed SO much....

You are still wearing size 4 diapers, and size 5 night time.  Although if i'd let you go commando all day you would...you HATE getting your diaper changed these days.  It's become almost a sport for us to try and change you.  If we're lucky we get out of it without poop all over something! Still fitting into your 18 month things.  But have also added a few 24 month/2T tops  I can't believe I have a child that can wear 2T tops already.  Just doesn't seem possible!!  Wearing size 6 shoes.

Eating wise we are doing a lot better! You don't seem to care too much if i don't feed you baby food anymore so we've switched to regular mostly full time. (you'll still get yogurt...don't worry!).  For breakfast we've done some of those mini pancakes, some waffles, we've done eggs.  Usually serve those up with fruit.  Lunch and dinner your are LOVING chicken.  I mean you inhale that stuff.  I hate to tell people this...but your very favorite thing is Walmart Popcorn chicken (from the deli).  You get SO excited when we walk past there and request it almost every time.  You have been known to eat the whole cup in half a day.  Impressive.You still love your snack...mostly teddy grahams and those puff things.  Oh and you LOVE to use your fork and spoon, you just smile from ear to ear while you do it...so proud of yourself!  You are also getting better at drinking from a sippy cup.  I can't seem to figure out how to get you to transition fully to one.  The night time bottle is the hardest!

You now say momma, up, bye,quack, papa, and according to your gramme several other words (we think she makes things up sometimes!)  This is SOOOOOO awesome.  You aren't even 4 months old hearing age yet.  I don't think i've ever heard of a 4mo old baby saying any words....so you may just be a child genius :)  Oh and you started signing when you are ready for bed.  We ask you if your tired by putting our hands up to our cheek and learning our head....if you are tired...you will do this back.  It's the CUTEST thing I've ever seen!!!  You've also started telling me when you're done rocking and want in your crib.  You will just sit up, point at the bed and off we go!  I love that you are able to communicate with us now!

Speaking of being a genius.  You had your evaluation with Wanda (our early intervention specialist) and man oh man did you blow it out of the water!!!!!!  We could NOT be more proud of you....you are exceeding everyone's expectations and more.  She constantly tells us how impressed with you she is but we don't usually have anything to compare that to.  The evaluation looks at all your skills...gross motor, fine motor, communication, etc. The top row of numbers is what would be expected for a child your age with out any disabilities.  The second row is what you scored......

Like I said....CHILD GENIUS!!!!  I am soooooooo so so so pleased with this!!! It takes a village though...so we can't take all the credit.  We have a lot of people to thank for helping you along.  Obviously your Daddy is a big part of all of this.  And your hearing dream team; your audiologist Jackie, Stephanie, and Dr. Yoon.  Wanda, who comes to visit once a week and gives us all sorts of good info and support!  And your Grandparents!! You spend soooo much time over at Gramme and Papa's, and Gramme works with you all the time on your words and signs.  She takes you to fun places and shows you new things constantly.... she's definitely a HUGE part of you doing so well!  The rest of our family has been a huge support too...so we must thank them as well!! You just remember this list when you are accepting your first big award!!

For the most part you've stayed healthy this last month! Thank goodness!! You did start to get a gooey eye again but it cleared up pretty fast.  I've kept giving you allergy medicine daily and I think it helps a little.  I'm afraid to stop to see what happens....

You attended your first ever Cousin Camp!! Your grandma and grandpa McGuire decided that every summer they will hold "Cousin Camp" for you, Gage, and Tara (until she thinks she's too old!).  Tara's really just there for help...and from what I hear she was a BIG one!!!  I took you up to Wichita on Thursday night, and left Friday morning.  Throughout the weekend I received many updates...lots of sprinkler fun, park, zoo and bath pics!!! I think everyone had a great time...and i just know it's something you will look forward to every summer! (it will eventually last longer, as you guys get a little older!)

You continue to INSIST on being outside....ALL. THE. TIME.  You get soooooo upset when we make you come inside. And when you are inside you stand by the door pointing out, or pounding on it.  I for see a lot of camping out in your dads future!!!The only way you are happy inside is if you are playing with your cars.  You love those things...and I constantly find them everywhere!! The joys of being a boy mom :)

Every month just gets better and better.  It is SO fun to watch you discover new things and to see you learning new things....I don't want time to go any faster...but i don't dread the days/weeks ahead because I know they'll be even better!! We love you kiddo....to the moon and back....

Declan - 15 months

Weight: 27lbs 12oz

Height: 32in.
Head: 18.75cm

Oh son.  You have been a cheese ball this past month...total cheese ball.  You have such a fun personality, i just want to bottle it up!!! Here's the scoop on the past month.....

Still wearing size 4 diapers (5 in your night time one's).  I have a box arriving today, and after that we're switching to 5's across the board.  So that's fun.  Clothing wise you are in all 18 months things.  Some of the shorts are a little long, but they fit that belly well (oh man i love that belly!) And we bought you some new size 6 sandals.  There's room to grow, so my guess would be that you're actually a 5 1/2.

Still eating baby food.  Gotta work on this.  I stand by my previous comment that you're just too busy to be bothered with feeding yourself.  But maybe you just like being pampered.  Goal for 16 month update...say you eat more normal food!  You eat breakfast first thing...it's usually a small bowl of oatmeal with fruit, a yogurt, and if there's still room, some cereal to munch on.  You usually have a little snack in between that and lunch.  You love teddy grahms still, but dig the gold fish.  You LOVE oranges...grapes, and lunch meat too.  Lunch is whatever we're having chopped up all sorts of little, and maybe a jar of baby food.  You usually want a bottle before your nap as well. You'll snack again... and then it's dinner time around 5:30.  Annnnnd then at 6:15ish you have a full bottle before we put you down!

You love to push things.  Doesn't matter what it is...if it has wheels you want to push it.  Your mower is a favorite.  You also love your motorized cars.  You don't always want to ride them. Half the time you just want to push them.  You push around your golf bag too.... it's cute :)  You love little cars too.  You'll entertain yourself for quite a while with them...just scooting them along the floor (or walls).  You get pretty proud of yourself when you make one go far…..

You unofficially say Momma.  I say unofficially because i don't think you know what your saying.  You understand when someone says Momma.  You know to look for me.  But i'm thinking the whole saying momma think is just rambling.  But i'll take it.  (You aren't even 3 months old hearing wise.  I don't know many baby's that say their first word that early.  So you're ahead of the game!)  Gramme seems to think you say Up.  I've never heard it.  She makes things up every now and then so we'll wait to make that official until I hear it myself.

You are a signing machine lately!! It's soooo cute.  You are very good at asking for milk, water, food....the important stuff.  You know Daddy, bird, dog, book, mom, and papa.  We are on a break from our sign class, so your dad and I have to start practicing more so we don't forget what we learned these past 4 months! We really want you to be bilingual with it!

You got sick...AGAIN.  Double severe conjunctivitis in your eyes.  And a nasty nasty cold.  sinus I think.  And i say that because I got it two days later.  This was a doozy.  We got you on antibiotics ASAP.  So you were only sick for a couple of days.  But man...it was bad.  I would go to get you up in the morning and both of your eyes would be matted shut and you'd have a hard snot covered nose.  I felt so bad for you.  And you hated me cleaning you off....hated it.  But we replaced that hatred with the hate you have for me making you take medicine.  it's a vicious cycle.

You found your tongue.  And you think it's hilarious.  Sometimes you'll just come right up to us...smile, stick out your tongue and laugh.  Sometime's if you stick ours out at you, you'll do the same...and my favorite, sometime's you'll see yourself in a mirror and do it.  Such a ham.   Oh you also decided that your belly button, and your father's....is awesome.

We made one trip to Denver this past month, for more mapping.  We wont' go back to see Ms. Jackie until August now!!! You did great per usual.  She said she continues to be SO impressed with your progress....you're basically a poster child.  I love hearing this....i just know your going to kick ass and take names when it comes to all things hearing/speaking/life :)  You are basically hearing at the level you always will be at this point (volume wise), so now it's just small tone tweeks.  It will be easier to do this once you can talk to us.  But like i said, we'll go back in August and then not again until February!

We also made a family trip up to Emporia to watch "Aunt" Savannah graduate from nursing school!! You were once again a great travel buddy....we're truly spoiled in this department.  You loved getting to see some of your favorite "aunties"....but the party was just too much and you crashed at 9pm :)  Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Manhattan for Uncle Corbin's graduation!  We missed seeing him walk, but we were at the house when everyone got back.  You spent the day playing with your cousin Gage (more like tackling him) running around like a crazy person in the back yard, chasing birds, eating pineapple, and hanging with lots of family.  It was a great weekend to say the least!!!

This month we have no big plans….so hopefully we'll get you to the pool a lot…the zoo… maybe home depot :)  We love being able to spend all weekend with you, no car trips, hotels etc.  So we have been looking forward to the un-busy months!!!

You are growing up SO fast…. I hate it, but at the same time it just keeps getting more fun!!! We continue to soak up every second of every day with you….and love you to the moon and back buddy!

Declan - 14 months

(Wrote May 6th, 2014)

 

Weight: 28lbs

Height: 32.5in.

This year is flying by...I can't believe it's already May!!! But I sure am getting excited for the summer, and all the fun trips to the pool we're going to take! (I said that last summer too, and we went once).

Still wearing size 4 diapers.  Although I think we probably could make the switch to 5's soon.  We did with your night time diapers and they seem to work just fine!  Clothes wise you are mostly in 18mo stuff.  You can wear 12 month pants...short stubby legs :)  Shoes are a 5, (wide if it's an option!).

Still a good little eater.  Although I must say...you won't give up the baby food.  I'm not sure what the age is where it's frowned upon to still feed your child level 3 baby food....but if we're still doing in when your 5 i'm drawing a line! Honestly i think it's because you like to play and can't seem to be bothered to feed yourself so you just want us to spoon feed you.  And naturally, we oblige. You do love to snack though (wonder where you get that).  Teddy Grahams, gold fish, grapes (your fave), oranges, and anything everyone else is eating.  At Gramme's you get lots of fun treats that mom and dad don't give you...like little debbie's. You LOVE swiss cake rolls (who doesn't?)

This past month we left you.  Yep.  Mom and Dad took a little vacay and left you.  Sorry son, but it was glorious :)  We went on a drug company trip to Ojai California.  This trip is our fave....mainly because every year the two companies that take us, pull out all the stops and wine and dine us like crazy!!!! Tons of good food, constant free drinks, awesome activities, and some learning as well!  I hope they do this trip every year till the end of time....cause momma likes. You stayed with Gramme and Papa....and had the flu.  Secretly i'm happy it happened this way.  Don't tell my mom.  You got sick Saturday, literally an hour after left you there. You only threw up the one time, but it wasn't so pretty on the other end for several days.  You ran a little bit of a fever, so we had to take you in to see Doctor Presley.  He confirmed that it was in fact just the flu and there were no signs of an ear infection (thank God, because tubes would have to happen if that were the case, and i don't feel like you want to have surgery again anytime soon right?).  By the time we got home Wednesday night you were pretty much back to yourself....we timed this perfectly :)

The next weekend we loaded back up in the car and made a quick trip to Denver!  It was your first mapping (see below for explanation!) appointment since activation and we were super excited to see how Jackie thought you were doing.

Brief explanation of Mapping for those not familiar (everyone!)
MAPs are programs that help to optimize the cochlear implant user’s access to sound by adjusting the input to the electrodes on the array that is implanted into the cochlea.  While each cochlear implant company has different terminology, different programming strategies, and different capacities for various MAPs on their processors, the basic ideas behind MAPping hold true for all three FDA-approved brands.  The cochlear implant processor is connected to the audiologist’s computer for MAPping.  Using a series of “beeps,” and measuring the CI user’s response , the audiologist sets T- and C- levels for each electrode.  T-Levels, or Thresholds, are the softest sounds the CI users can detect.  C-Levels (also sometimes called M-Levels), are Comfortable loudness levels that are tolerable for the CI user.  The audiologist might also adjust the stimulation rate or programming strategy used for the MAP — these refer to the various computer algorithms and programs used to translate acoustic sound (what people with typical hearing perceive) into the correct combination of electrode stimulations to give the cochlear implant user that same sensation of sound.

Everyone totally understand now? No?? Me neither... but moving along.  You're appointment went GREAT! Honestly this was more emotional for me than the initial activation.  We put you in the booth and tested your reactions (with both sides on this time, next time we will do one at a time) and ohhhh man it was awesome.  You exceeding all expectations that Jackie had.(duh, you're awesome) We turned you up a little (this is your 4th program) and set the next two! We'll change them once a week until we go back May 10th.  

We celebrated your 2nd Easter! You're still a little young to get into all the festivities, but you at least enjoy getting new toys :)  We went to Easter Service and put you in the daycare for the first time.  You didn't seem to mind it.  In fact you didn't even cry when we left you there....which worries me, since you do that every damn day at daycare.  My guess is you were distracted by all the new toys and people that you didn't even notice i left.  The lady did say after a while you noticed and wandered around looking for me crying...so that made me feel better.

You also cheered Mom and Dad on in their first joint 1/2 marathon!! I wish i could say it went well...but it didn't.  Well not for me anyway! You and I both had been dealing with a horrible cold...cough, runny nose, stuffed up...all that fun stuff. We both were on antibiotics at this point but unfortunately mine didn't work as well as yours :(  I had to stop a couple of times and cough up a lung, or blow my nose.  But i still finished! And that's what's important...finish what you start! BUT your dad ROCKED it.  I am soooo proud of him! You were too...i just know it.

Time needs to slooooow down.  You are growing up so fast...learning so much everyday.  It's been amazing to watch you discover new things...especially sounds! We are SO VERY blessed to call you ours...We love you to the moon and back buddy...

Friday Favorites

It's been forever since i've posted about something other then Dec's monthly updates.... so i thought i'd do some Friday Favorites!

1.  It's Friday.  Duh.  That makes everyone happy!! This week has been a loooooong one.  Dec and I are both super sick.  We've had the world's worst cold since last week...and it appears to have turned into sinusitis.  FUN! We're both on antibiotics now...so hopefully by tomorrow we're feeling better!

(only the medical ones mmmmmmk?)

2. Warmer weather... It's supposed to start warming up this weekend.  Although 90 is a bit much...it's better then 50 and 30mph wind. 

Today

May 2

78°F

50°F

Sunny

CHANCE OF RAIN:

0%

 

WIND:

WNW at 11 mph

Details

Sat

May 3

91°

55°

Sunny

CHANCE OF RAIN:

0%

 

WIND:

W at 13 mph

Details

Sun

May 4

97°

57°

Sunny

CHANCE OF RAIN:

0%

 

WIND:

SW at 10 mph

Details

3.  Prairie Fire Half Marathon.  I'm not sure if i'm happy about this or not. But it's happening. Sunday.  When it's supposed to be 98 in Wichita.  And I've been sick for a week.  And and and....so many excuses as to why this is going to suck.  But i'm going to do it.  I just have to be ok with the fact that i'm not going to PR or anything fancy like that.  I just need to focus on not dying.  Oh and Trav's running this with me.  It'll be his first one, so hopefully he doesn't die either! (or beat me!)

4. Cochlear Implants.  Oh man....we are SOOOOO thankful for this technology.  We've just been in awe of how well Declan is doing.  How much he's hearing, and responding.  He's making so many new noises too... most importantly he's getting SO close to saying Momma :)

5. This Guy.

(Chasing Declan around with the shopping cart!)

With both Declan and I being sick this past week, he's been in Super Dad mode.  He's the world's best nose sucker outer, medicine giver, snuggler, eye wiper in the whole wide world :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!