Birthday Celebration, Parts 1-4

It's finally happened. Piper and Fletch have gone from toddlers to little kids--they turned 4 years old last weekend. I can't believe it. After their 4-year appointment, this Friday, I'll do a post on what they're up to. For now, here is a post about how we celebrated. I intended this to be a few separate posts so it wasn't so photo heavy, but I got lazy so now you just get one giant post.

Birthday Celebration Part 1:
The first part of the birthday celebration came when Mom and Danny came to visit. We started their trip with a voyage to the National Building Museum, which happens to also be where we spent P&F's 3rd birthday. Maybe it will become a tradition.

After a long morning of exploring the museum, we headed home where we had a mini-party at home with gifts from mom and brownies (of course) instead of cake.

Birthday Celebration Part 2:

The trip to the museum was on Saturday. On Sunday, we had their friends' birthday party at The Little Gym. It was so, so, so awesome. They made it really easy on us, so we could just sit back and enjoy watching Piper and Fletch play with all their friends. It was probably one of my favorite parenting moments yet--just watching them have fun without a care in the world.

Birthday Celebration Part 3:
So all of that stuff was the weekend before their actual birthday. On the Thursday before their birthday, I brought cupcakes to school so they could celebrate with their new classes. I loved seeing how they behave in class and interact with their teachers. So fun.

Birthday Celebration Part 4:

Finally, Saturday, August 30 arrived. I couldn't believe we had celebrated 4 years of keeping these children alive. We had a super fun day. We started out with a donut breakfast, and then headed to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

We also went to the little park across the street from the aquarium and played for a bit.

This was so great, although we had a little incident that put a slight damper on things. On the elevator at the garage, Piper got a little too close to the door, and her elbow got sucked into the door jam. Lots of screaming and crying ensued as Eric and a couple of others dislodged her arm. It was scary and awful, and I sobbed crying when she was set free. Thankfully, within about an hour, she was fine--just a small bruise on her elbow.

After all that excitement, we came home and had their final birthday party. Eric's parents came over, and we had opened presents, had a cookout, and did cake and candles.

Overall, we couldn't have celebrated any better and been more happy to cross this 4th birthday milestone. It was a fantastic week with our fantastic kiddos.

Preschool Progress

We got this note from Fletch's preschool teacher last week.

To most, this is just a regular, run of the mill school note. But to me, it meant so much. We had a terrible experience at our first preschool last year. It left Fletch unsure of himself and with some bad classroom habits because his previous teacher had him nearly like a trapped animal in a chaotic cage in his prior class. In January, we changed schools to a local Kindercare. The transition was rough at first, and Fletch had a lot of new routines to learn and habits to break, plus probably needed to do a little maturing. 

But now, I'm happy to report that Fletch is the star of his class. His teacher says that everyone knows he is the first one to volunteer to be in any show or do something on stage. He keeps all the kids in his class laughing. Sometimes at night, the kids (especially the girls) line up to say bye to him and give him hugs and kisses. He has made so, so, so much progress in the past year, and this note just confirms it. It made my heart swell. Now everyone knows what a smart, sweet, funny little boy he is. I can't thank his teachers at Kindercare enough for their love and patience. And, I'm so proud of Fletch for trying so hard. This is definitely preschool progress.

Watch Out World!

He took a little while to get started, but Deke is off and running (ok, crawling).

Around 9 months, Deacon had very little interest in being mobile and was just barely sitting up on his own, so we called Early Intervention. We had such a great experience with them when P&F were slightly delayed with their speech. They did an evaluation, and Deke qualified for physical therapy services.

He's been getting PT for about 2 months (although the first month was kind of a wash becuse the therapist wasn't great but our new one is awesome). Now, at 13 months, he's crawling, pulling up onto his knees, and catching up to his peers. The only ones not happy about this milestone are Piper and Fletch. There is a near constant chorus of "GET HIM AWAY" as Deacon lunges toward their toys, blocks, etc.

The other thing we're working on in PT is eating finger foods. Until recently, Deacon had almost zero interest in anything other than puffs. We saw the pediatrician this past week, and he'd only gained an ounce in a month. However, Deacon must of have known we meant business because in the past few days, he's started eating pancakes, bananas, and other foods. Yay for progress!

So, with that, all I have to say is "watch out world"! Dekey-boy Chickenpants (as Piper calls him) is up and moving.

Independence Day

I can't believe July 4th has come and gone. This summer is going way too fast. At least we had a good holiday. We started the day at Mount Vernon's July 4th celebration, where after being in the car for a long time trying to find parking, we finally made it inside and the kids got to burn off some energy.

Isn't that what childhood is all about? Just running and running without a care in the world? Or, taking the time to sit on the grass and enjoy the beautiful weather.

After burning off some energy, we posed for a few more pics before heading over to the daytime fireworks.

The fireworks were decent for being in the daytime, although Fletch declared them too loud. After that, it was home for naps and relaxing before the nighttime show. In the evening, we headed downtown to Eric's parents' house. We all went to dinner together and then walked to our "spot" where we've watched the fireworks from the Mall for years.

Fletch was a bit nervous about the possibility of the loud noise, and once the fireworks started, both and Piper spent the whole time with their hands over their ears. But, they still declared the fireworks "beautiful" and "sparkling." Deacon did great too, until the last few minutes when he declared himself done for the day. It was 3 hours past his bedtime, so I don't blame him. We brought everyone home, where we all enjoyed the freedom of a good night's sleep. Another great holiday in the books.

Deacon: One Year Pictures

Despite the fact that he had a cold and a (treated) case of pink eye, Deacon was a trooper and held it together for us to get his one-year pictures taken yesterday. I think they came out pretty darned cute. Enjoy.

 

Overall, the session went great. The last few pics we tried to take were on the stool shown above. However, Deke fell off and face-planted on the ground. The led to huge tears. We attempted to take a few more shots, and then all were pretty pitiful after that and looked like this. 

Poor guy. We ended the photo session after that and just had lots of cuddles and snuggles to make up for my bad idea of using the stool. All in all, he is such a handsome guy with some great photos. 

Deacon: One Year Old

As you saw in the last post, Deacon had his first birthday. 

He's a growing boy and slowly but surely becoming a toddler. Here are his latest stats:

Birth: 7lbs 9oz, 20.5 inches

2 weeks: 8lbs 9oz (49%), 20.25 inches (32%)
1 month: 10lbs 8oz (66%), 21 inches (31%)
2 months: 13lbs 1.6oz (70%), 23 inches (47%)
4 months: 15lbs 13oz (61%), 25 inches (46%)
6 months: 18 lbs 9oz (71%), 27 inches (68%)

9 months: 21 lbs 15oz (85%), 28.5 inches (57%)

12 months: 23lbs 1oz (76%), 29.75 inches (43%)

While I know he's getting older, he's still a bit behind on some milestones, so he seems like a baby in many ways, which I don't mind because it means more baby snuggles and smiles and less toddler tantrums and mood swings. Deacon still isn't crawling, pulling up, or even close to walking. He's in weekly physical therapy for "low tone," to help with all this, and I suspect in the new week or two, we'll have a crawler on our hands.He works so hard in PT, and you can tell he really wants to be mobile. He does roll and army crawl, and can make it across the room in two seconds flat.

While Deacon may not be on the move, he is starting to do better with eating finger foods. As of yesterday, he's officially off formula (except his bedtime bottle) and onto whole milk and finger foods. We'll see how it goes, since he really LOVE his bottle and formula. 

Speaking of things Deacon loves, he loves to "talk. He will banter back and forth with us and babble all day long. Eric and I also hear him "sing" to music, and we swear he is singing "Let it Go" every so often. I really need to record that and let all of you decide if that's what he is singing or not.

Overall, Deacon is still our MVB and just the best baby ever. So sweet, so snuggly, so cute. I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Happy Birthday, Deacon!

I can't believe it but Deacon turns one year old today. The past year has flown by so quickly. Deacon, someday when you are older and read this, I want you to know that you're mama's little angel, and while we may not always be able to give you the attention you deserve, we love you so, so much.

Okay, enough of the sappy stuff. We're sort of doing a bunch of birthday celebrations this week. We kick-started it on Sunday with Eric's parents. We began with dinner and cake.

Deacon LOVED cake. For a boy who doesn't really eat any solids, he certainly found a way to get all that yummy goodness into his mouth.

We then moved onto presents. Deacon got lots of good stuff from us and Eric's parents. 

By the time we were done unwrapping, Deacon had enough. He had a big day of his first swimming trip and lots of outdoor time, so he was exhausted and ready for bed.

That was all on Sunday. This morning was his real birthday. We got a few cute pictures of him after he woke up.

Tonight, we'll do cake and candles again and give Deacon extra snuggles to show him how much we love him and are so happy we've all survived the past year's chaos. And then, our next celebration will be over the weekend when my mom comes to visit. Deke is a lucky boy to have so many parties. And, we're a lucky family to have our "MVB" (most valuable baby).