Windblown

Last weekend the weather was so nice that we loaded up and headed to the park with Preston. We rolled down our front windows to enjoy the warm air and Preston thought it was hilarious. He just oohed all the way to the park. He ended up with total windblown hair which looked like he had wings on his head. After the park we took him for a stroll in his car. He loves to hold the steering wheel and beep his horn. He already thinks he owns the road :)  And FYI, there is not a photo of me and Preston like there is of him and Blake because Hubby failed to tell me my v-neck shirt was hanging a little too low for public viewing...geez. Here are a few pictures from our fun day out.

15 Months

My little boy is getting so big! We are quickly sailing through his second year of life and he is changing so much. We went to the doctor yesterday for his 15 month check-up and he got a good report from the doc. He is very healthy, weighing in at 26 lbs 11 oz (78%) and measuring 33 1/2 inches long (97%). Big man!

He was not happy at the doctor's office though. As soon as we walked in the examination room, he immediately started fussing and getting clingy. I think he remembers about shots now...oh well, we made it through...poor guy.

My main concern was Preston's walking...or lack of I should say. He can walk against things but gets upset if we try to get him to let go.  He will stand alone for a little while if he's not paying attention...but the second he realizes there's no one holding him up, he drops. His doctor thinks it's just a matter of confidence and that nothing is physically or neurologically wrong. But if he's not walking by 18 months we have to see a physical therapist. So...we are working hard and practicing "letting go" as much as possible. I think it will happen soon but persistence, practice and prayer is what we're going to need :)

As for other things, he is currently sleeping about 10 or 11 hours at night and taking two naps a day. If he sleeps a little later, he can make it with only one nap.

He is a very picky eater. I think he could live off of bread, cheese and fruit...he loves his milk and I'm thankful for that. We stopped breastfeeding a few weeks after his first birthday after he transitioned over to whole milk. It was a lot easier than I anticipated and it was on his terms which makes me happy.

He loves balls and cars. He has an obsession with one particular ball which is detailed in the post prior to this one. He recognizes his cars as voom vooms. He tries to make the noise but it's more of a spitting sound, lol.  He drives them around the house voom vooming away. His favorite word is still Kitty. Every time he sees the cat, it's "Kitty!!!" He isn't saying Mama yet...I say "Mama" and his replies "Dada". I'm relentless though and refuse to give up :) He knows what a lot of things are but can't say them yet. I can tell him to go get his milk and there he goes to the place he left it.  If Moose A. Moose is on tv, I tell him "Moose is on!" and there he goes to the tv. He still LOVES Moose :)

If he gets tired he just lays down flat where he is...even on the kitchen floor, ha! I haven't been able to get a picture of it yet. He also likes to cuddle with blankets. He loves to climb stairs. He can go up and scoot down but still supervised. He's obsessed with pulling every book off his bookshelf. They are on his floor 90% of the time. I try to keep them cleaned up but as soon as I do...he's right behind me pulling them back off. Oh well, they are his books. He is cute though because he tries to put them back on the shelf himself but can't quite get them in there right :) He likes to be read too although he tries to turn the page before I can finish reading it. I'm just glad he likes books!

He loves to dance which is more of a rocking back and forth motion. Any time he hears music (any kind) he dances. This could be because Mommy dances around the house to music or tv and apparently it's pretty funny to the little guy.

I know there's more fun stuff but I can't remember them all at the moment. He's such a sweet and funny little boy and we just love watching him grow and learn everyday! We are truly blessed.

THE Ball

Forget a security blanket or favorite stuffed animal...my child is infatuated with this red ball. It is actually part of a set of 3 balls that came with a basketball hoop for the bathtub. The other two balls are different colors, one yellow with blue stars and one purple with blue stripes. He will play with the others in the tub but the red ball is in constant attendance.

Let me just break it down for you. He sleeps with it. He drinks (one-handed) with it. He eats with it. I tried to take it away today at lunch while I was feeding him. He refused to eat anymore until I gave it back. Sheesh. Yesterday we were in Walmart (ball in tow of course) and I gave him his snack cup. It's the kind with the flaps for no spill (love). Anyway, he was holding the ball with one hand and reaching for his snacks with the other and couldn't quite get his hand back out with his snack because his other hand was unavailable to hold the cup steady. He pitched a fit. I tried to explain that if he would put his ball down, there would be no problem. I ended up holding the cup. Stinker.

And since Preston is still not walking without support from an object or person, he crawls arounds like he is gimping because he won't let go of the ball.

It's adorable though to see how much he cares about this simple little toy. It's a humble reminder to me that we adults often get side-tracked in life and focus too much on the bigger, better or more complex "things." Our church's vision is "Loving God and Loving People." How simple, right?

Matthew 18:3-4 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven."

What a mighty God we serve that uses his precious children to minister to us.

Thank you for the reminder, my small one.

Christmas 2010

Preston had a much better go-around on his second Christmas. Last year, he was not even two months old and still having colicky symptoms. He was pretty miserable. Poor baby. So boy was I glad to have a happy boy this Christmas. 

We had lots of fun Christmas activities with Preston throughout December. We went to the Christmas tree farm and hosted our playgroup Christmas party. We kept two of my nephews one night and made a gingerbread house and watched Christmas cartoons. And we also took Preston to see Santa...who he hated.  But in his defense, it was his bedtime by the time we got up in line to Santa and he was already cranky...so handing him off to a strange bearded man probably wasn't the best idea. Oh well, memories!

It's tradition for us to spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Blake's side. It was so fun having Preston actually enjoy the family Christmas chaos of opening presents on Christmas Eve. My nephews LOVE present time so I think Preston figured out quickly that ripping up paper will get you a prize underneath!

I enjoyed playing Santa this year even though Preston is still not quite old enough to understand how any of it works. Christmas morning we had to keep pulling him back to his stack of goods because he kept crawling away to the kitchen...I'm sure he will be ripping into them next year. We also got a wonderful blanket of Christmas snow that morning! It was so beautiful to see it coming down and on Jesus' birthday! How awesome is that?

Here's pictures of our Christmas fun!

My New Blog!!!

So I have decided to start another blog...one full of DIY crafts and projects and recipes too! I've got a lot of plans for projects around our house and I wanted a separate place to share them all. I have been following some really awesome DIY blogs lately and it completely AMAZES me at the things you can do yourself that only cost a fraction of what you would expect to pay. Thus you can get a lot more for your  money :)

So I hope you check out Mommy's Nook and maybe get a little inspired to do some DIY stuff yourself.
I'm loving it!

Thanksgiving and the Iron Bowl

We had a great Thanksgiving with our families. My brother Shane came in town from South Carolina so it was nice to have everyone together again. We had a late lunch and my parents and an early dinner at Blake's grandparents. Totally stuffed...but oh so delicious. I absolutely love Thanksgiving food. I could eat Turkey and dressing weekly. Yum. Preston was a trooper and had a great time despite only having a 30 minute nap in the car.

Blake had a friend with an extra ticket to the Iron Bowl so he planned to head down to Tuscaloosa. Seeing as the game was on Black Friday, our day went like this: My brother met me at Target (b/c Blake would not allow me to go by myself and someone had to stay home w/Preston) at 3:30 AM to score a few deals on Christmas presents when they opened at 4:00. I know, I'm nuts. We had fun though! I don't get to hang out with my brother too often now that he's in South Carolina so it was nice of him to let me drag him all over Trussville in the wee hours of the morning :)

I got back by 9:00 just in time Blake to leave for the game. So we were both happy. I got to shop and he got to go to the game. Preston and I watched the game over at my parents house and we had a fun time watching Auburn win!!! War Eagle! Below are a few pictures of both Thanksgiving and the Iron Bowl

Our Trip to the ER

I'm a bit behind in my blogging so here goes a few posts.

Let's start off with Preston's happenings. We had our first trip to the ER a few days before Thanksgiving. He came down with what I assumed was a cold, given his cough, runny nose and frequent sneezing. That was on a Sunday. By Monday I noticed his was breathing through his mouth a lot. Again, I assumed it was due to his nose being stuffy. By Monday evening I could hear a wheezy noise coming from him with almost every breath. He was also breathing a little harder. That did it. I'm on the phone calling the doctor while simultaneously scouring the internet for answers. I see stuff about pneumonia and respiratory distress and I freak out. The nurse informs me to go ahead and take him to Children's. Thankfully Blake had just gotten home from work so we loaded up and headed out. The ER waiting room was jam packed full so I started preparing myself for the wait. The check-in nurse listened to his breathing, had me fill out some forms and we were called back within 10 minutes. They do not take respiratory issues lightly. His fever was up to 102 and the his oxygen level was fairly low. They like it to be between 95-100 and his was 91 which is not horrible but definitely not very good. They ordered us a room and that's where we spent the next 6 hours.

He received two breathing treatments which were absolute torture for Preston. He doesn't like to be held down anyway but we had to hold the mask on him for a solid 30-45 minutes both times. He would literally cry until he passed out. It was heartbreaking for us. The doctors couldn't give us a definite diagnosis but said it could have been from his cold or possibly asthma. They treated him as if was the latter and sent us home with an inhaler and steroids. We were told if he gets these breathing issues every time he gets sick, it could mean he has asthma. I personally don't think he does because he's never wheezed like this before when sick. We will pray it was a one-time incident. The last thing they did was clear out nose and mouth and we had to hold him down for that one too...poor guy did not have a fun night. They almost kept him overnight but after the breathing treatments his oxygen levels went back up to about 97 so they gave us the okay to go home. He didn't wheeze anymore once we left the hospital and he was back to his normal self in a few days. I'm so thankful!