Happy Thanksgiving!

GOBBLE GOBBLE! 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This Thanksgiving we have so much to be thankful for. This year has really been a roller coaster of highs and lows. But we've gotten through it all and are blessed to have two little miracles in our lives.  Happy 1st Thanksgiving Bella Rose! Trying to get a picture of both kids smiling or just paying attention was impossible, this is the best we got lol 

We kept with our annual tradition and did thanksgiving dinner at Jay's parents house. Dinner was delicious  Even with the diet (dairy/soy) restrictions I was still able to eat a lot of food!  I seriously ate 3 plates full, but I will say in my defense it was a ton of veggies, so I can't feel bad. lol 

Helping Grandma make mashed potatoes! 

The kids had a great day! In the morning I made breakfast. I attempted to make "turkey pancakes" for Brayden, I think it ended up looking more like a dinosaur or turtle than anything but he loved them so that's all that mattered.  

After Breakfast, Brayden helped me make a sweet potato pie and pumpkin spice muffins! That kid LOVES to cook! He is a pro at the kitchen aid mixer (supervised of course!), has figure out how to work everything on it and is great at pouring, mixing and most importantly test tasting.  As soon as he hears or sees you starting to cook in the kitchen he runs in the dining room and gets a chair and tells you "I cook". He is too cute! I think we have a little chef on our hands, or at the very least he will be a great husband who makes dinner later.  :) 

I decided to make Bella a Thanksgiving outfit, which automatically meant there was going to be a tutu involved. lol I had seen some cute turkey things as inspiration and just kinda went with it.  I think it turned out cute. I wish i had planned my time better so i could have done a little more with the shirt and or gotten a nicer onesie online but oh well. I think it turned out cute!  Of course with a model like her, of course it looks adorable! (i may be a little bias!) For anyone who is looking for something special for their little ones, please let me know or check out my FB page Designs by Cupcake Cuties! Thankfully one of my kids sits still for pics lol 

Bella also turned 4 months on Friday so I figured Thanksgiving would be the perfect time to try her first puree. I plan on making her organic food again but since it was a trial I got a few earth's best pouches to pick from.  We ended up doing sweet potatoes with apple. I know, I know you're not suppose to start with a 2 food combo but she did great.  She really liked it, but like all babies trying new foods made some hilarious faces. Despite her doing well with the puree I am definitely holding off on starting foods full time. We're going to do like we did with Brayden and do a combo of puree and baby led weaning. It worked out great for him. He loves all kinds of food and was on table solids completely by 9 months. Anyway, Bella is doing SO well with her weight gain and nursing that she doesn't really "need" supplementing. I really need to get all her GI issues squared away before I really focus on adding more things to her diet.  

                            I also uploaded a video of her to FB you can check that out HERE  

This face is HILARIOUS! 

Bella First Pair of Earrings!

We've been wanting to get Bella's ears pierced and finally went for it! She did really well considering. Of course she cried and it broke my heart but I nursed her right after and it calmed her right down. A dose of tylenol later and shes "all better". We picked out the princess cut stone set in white gold.  I think they look adorable!! We wanted to get them done early so shes doesn't "remember" the pain. I know some people like to wait till they are older so than can remember it as a milestone but I was a little too excited. lol Hopefully since she got them early she won't mind them and hopefully won't be trying to pull them out. Thankfully they're the kid safe kind with rounded locking backs so they don't dig in to her head.  It'll be fun to pick out cute earrings for her later. 

Here we go! 

Being a big girl! 

 

So pretty! 

Happy 2 months Bella!

Everyone says time goes faster with the second child and they weren't kidding. :) I cant believe Bella is two months! She is getting so big! She did great at her pedes appointment and only cried for 30 seconds after her shots! What a trooper.  Shes now 12lb 8oz (85%) and 24" long(95%)! I affectionately call her my chunky monkey.  I absolutely love her little leg and arm rolls! 

Despite looking serious most of the time Bella is such a content and happy little girl! She really has a lot of personality! She also started cooing along with her gorgeous smiles, it absolutely melts my heart!  She loves being carried in the moby wrap and being held. I'm really lucky she is not a big cryer and usually only gets fussy when she is hungry or if she wants to be picked up. 

At 6 weeks she finally transitioned to 0-3 clothes and 1 diapers. Even though she is a little chunker her length distributes it so she has been in NB size longer. Also being in summer clothes and not having to worry about pant lengths makes all the difference. Anything one piece like rompers and PJ's she grows out of much faster b/c she is so tall. We had this same problem with Brayden! We've got some tall kids!

We finally got Bella's MSPI (milk/soy protien) issues and reflux in order. I KILLED me to have to dump almost 50 ounces of breast milk i had frozen b/c it had milk and soy in it. After having no supply with Brayden any stash was like dumping liquid gold.  Despite how hard the diet is we're doing so well keeping up with and Bells is thriving. This girl LOVES to breastfeed. I know babies love to, but she seriously gets excited to get on the breast. lol She eats a LOT!  During the day she will go 2-3 hours or longer during nap but she's drinking a lot of milk at one sitting. Since she was a few weeks old she will drink a good 4 oz of pumped milk at one time. She definitely has a great appetite!

Bella has had good head control since she was about 3 weeks old.  At 2 months she can sit well in her Bumbo and has even tried her Exersaucer. She is great at tummy time holding her head up when we put her on her elbows but will only tolerate it for a few minutes at a time.

Bella is a great sleeper. Aside from growth spurts or times when her reflux is acting up she will normally sleep from 9 or so till 12 or 1, nurse then sleep till the morning. We are cosleeping with her so it makes it really easy to nurse and get her back down .  We really lucked out with her sleep habits!! 

UPDATE*** Almost forgot to add on the Brayden/Bella 2 month Comparison! 

Happy 2nd Birthday Brayden Thomas!

I can't believe my little man is TWO! I seriously have no idea where time has gone! It's been a whirlwind of a year and he's growing up way too fast.  Happy Birthday Handsome!! I still see you as my little miracle baby we worked so hard for!  I love you!!!

Brayden's 2nd year appointment was postponed because of hurricane Sandy so I'll have to post those stats later.  Brayden has a wonderful birthday spent with close friends and family!  We did a Halloween theme party this year and he had a great time! The kids dressed up in costumes and we had trick or treat buckets for favors. Everyone was so generous and he was spoiled rotten. :)  

Since so much has happened in the last year here's some highlights of the ups and downs and all about Brayden!

* Brayden Became a big brother!! I was a little worried about how hard the transition would be for Bray when Bella finally arrived. Of course the first month was tough with some extra meltdowns and bad behavior but overall i think he did really well. Most importantly he didn't take anything out on Bells. He was clearly upset with us but has always been great with her. When she is sad or cries he will give her hugs and kisses and rubs her head to make it better. He's really such a great big brother. I can't wait to see these two grow up together. I'm sure we will have our share of not sharing and typical kid fights but all the memories they will have together will make up for it! 

* And the diagnosis is..... PFAPA (Periodic Fever, Aphthous-somatis, Pharyngitis, Adenitis). PFAPA you are the bane of my existence! At 13 months Brayden started having un-diagnosable fevers. They were cyclic coming every 3-4 weeks, lasting 7 days with fevers running 104-106.7 degrees WITH meds. Scary stuff. In February the fevers were out of control. We were dosing him every three hours alternating tylenol and advil and nothing would keep the fever under control. We had already had strep test, urinalysis and an x-ray to rule out any kind of pneumonia. We ended up taking him to the hospital three times that week. We first tried Virtua but they weren't much help. The next night the fevers were even worse and we took him to CHOP. They did a repeat urinalysis and blood work and weren't able to find anything so they sent us home. Two days later the fever was 106.7 an hour after meds so we took him back to CHOP. This time they did a wider range of testing to include bacterial and viral panels. Since the dr.'s would always say "oh it's probably viral" they wanted to make sure. He ended up being admitted with an IV in with his "big bird" arm.

 In the end all of his tests came back clear so they set us up with the specialist because my suspicions that he had PFAPA looked much more likely. The immunologist was great, thankfully all the genetic forms of Periodic Fever they tested for all came back negative and was officially diagnosed with PFAPA. Pfapa is when the fever switch is essentially broken. Its when the body creates and inflammatory response with OUT the presence of bacteria or viruses.  We started a treatment plan that includes him being on Cimetidine 3x a day and a super dose of prednisone at the onset of fever.  Thankfully the Cimetidine treatment has been increasing the time between episodes.  he went from 3-4 weeks to 44 days, 64 days then 9 weeks.  It's great they've spread out but when he skips a fever he still seems to get the aches and is miserable.  It's tough not knowing when his never fever is coming but I'm glad they're not so close. The prednisone is suppose to break the fever and shorten it. So far it's not doing that. One of his fevers was only 5 vs the 7 days but I don't know if that was b/c of the steriods or not. At his last follow up we also started him on allergy meds. He has allergies but meds like the Singular he is on have been shown to help reduce the inflammatory response so we will see. I haven't noticed much of a difference.

 We follow up in 4-6 months which puts us to Jan-Feb so we will see. I'm praying this winter isn't so bad. Having a compromised immune system can increase the intensity and frequency in PFAPA kids even though it's not viral or bacterial related. I just feel so bad that he has to go through this. Leave it to my kid to do things difficult.  It's so hard on him to go through the episodes. His mood dramatically changes before the fever, then it's a week of fever, chills, aches and pains and then it takes him almost a week to recover.  It kills me and breaks my heart that we have no control over it. I just pray he outgrows it sooner than later. They say they usually do by 10 but I'm hoping it's well before that.  

* GO GO GO! I  think he seriously says this like 30 times a day lol Brayden is obsessed with anything with wheels, cars, trucks, diggers you name it!  I love when we are driving and he sees trucks or construction vehicles working and get gets so excited!  He's also turning in to a back seat driver lol When we are at a red light he loves to yell GO GO GO when it turns green. At least it's another chance to practice colors. lol 

Sacrificing bella to the car gods?? 

* Books are his favorite! He loves getting new books and reading. Right now he's obsessed with his "It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" book that his grandma got him for Halloween. The fact that it makes sound effects is a double win. I love watching him on the monitor "reading" books to himself in his crib. And YES he is still in the crib, but he loves it and hasn't climbed out so we haven't converted it to a toddler bed yet.  lol  But he does use his love of books to procrastinate when it's bed or nap time. He will want you to keep reading him one book after another just so he can stay up... too smart for his own good :) 

* Brayden sucks as sleeping. I know that sounds harsh but he seriously still wakes up at night. He has probably MAYBE slept through the night 25-30 times in 2 years.  And when I say he wakes up I mean most nights he is in hysterics and crying. Most nights its only once but on the nights when it's more than one time it's tough.   I think we are kinds use to not sleeping but adding a newborn to the mix made it tough. Honestly we REALLY lucked out b/c bella came home from the hospital sleeping 4-6 hour stretches and then even longer in the weeks after. She must of known we needed a little bit of a break.  So for now we spit kid duty, jason takes care of Brayden if/when he wakes up and I take care of bella since we are still breast feeding.  I really don't know why he wakes up and hysterics break my heart! A lot of the time he does ask for milk and honestly it's just easier to give him some and he calms and goes to sleep. I'm sure that's not helping but during fever episode times we encourage him to drink even if it's 3x at night just to keep him hydrated so it's kind of become a catch 22. Fortunately he is a good napper most days so I'm hoping we can break his habit and get him sleeping better. 

* Bray had the most contagious smile and laughter. You can't help but laugh and be goofy with him, he is so much fun.   He has such a tender heart. He will occasionally jump up and hug and cuddle with you, even though he is always on the go. Its those moments that really make your day and make the tough times more than worth it.  He loves to run up to you and "tickle tickle" or growl and try and scare you. He cracks me up! how can you NOT love that face!  Speaking of that "face" he is such a manipulator. Apparently he's just like me as a child, he will intentionally give you the face to see if he can get what he wants... such a little stinker!

* Brayden LOVES music and dancing! He loves "dance" and pop music the most but will rock out to anything from Linkin Park to Michael Jackon.  He has some of the funniest and cutest dance moves. I love it!! Right now his current obsession is "Gangnam Style" He even tries to the do the dance.  It is PRICELESS!  

* Tantrum king! I love my son but man he throws the most EPIC tantrums. He is a very strong willed and independent and emotional person, which is great at times but when it comes to toddler tantrums it makes them 10 fold! I have tried EVERY approach to how to deal with them. Needless to say some times he really can test your patience.  I know it's the age and everyone says 3 is way worse so please wish us luck lol.  His latest thing is the word NO! And he's been saying it for everything and its in that nasty obnoxious way that every parent just LOVES lol. We are working on that one! We definitely don't let him walk all over us and he will learn to be respectful even if he doesn't like it ;) 

* Brayden loves being outdoors, well i don't know many kids that don't but he really loves being outside, running around and discovering his world. We've had all kinds of fun little trips this year to the parks, farms, beach ext, hence the million pics I post lol.  I felt awful while I was pregnant and was stuck on bed rest but we managed to get by. You can definitely see a difference when he doesn't get to run around and play and get all of his energy out.  He definitely keeps me on my toes! I think I'm in trouble when both kids are mobile!! 

I could seriously go on all day with memories and all the little quirks and things I absolutely love about Brayden and his personality. But I think this has been long enough so here's to another amazing year filled with love, hugs, kisses and memories! 

15 month appointment and 1st ear infection :(

Brayden started again with another fever Monday night.  Poor kid can't seem to catch a break this winter. I feel like he is a germ magnet, every time we turn around it's something else.  I hate when we gets a fever and he seems to run a fever for everything.  I was hoping this time it wasn't going to be a repeat of Decembers sickness.  He was screaming and inconsolable for the last 2 hrs before it was time for bed on monday, he wouldn't eat or anything and i felt AWFUL not knowing how to make it better for him.

Saddest face :( 

We had his 15 months appt on Tuesday so it worked out perfect for the dr to see him.  I called in the morning and told them about his fever since it was over 102 i told them we would have to wait on the shots. He was due for his MMR vaccine and since it's a live virus they were on board with waiting till he is healthy.

Not that i'm happy there is something actually wrong with my child but I was relieved to know that there was an actual source this time for his fever. He officially has his 1st ear infection.  Poor baby. We had a later appointment so I was glad we were able to get his prescription for his antibiotics called in and were able to start his meds that night.  I had asked the pedes about ear drops at the appt and she seemed confident advil would do the trick for the pain. HAHAHAHHA.  It was a hellish night to say the least. he was up literally every 30-60 minutes screaming and crying. It was awful, I felt terrible that I couldn't make it better. Needless to say none of us got any sleep and it was looking like it was going to be a rough day. he fever kept spiking despite alternating tylenol/advil every three hours. In the morning I called the pedes and told them the HAD to call in an RX for the benzocane ear drops. Fortunately we got them but he still wouldn't eat or drink anything from a sippy cup. We got desperate and let him have milk in the bottle as often as he wanted.  All i cared about was getting fluids in to him. Normally he only likes milk and water and he won't drink anything but milk out of the bottle so I didn't really have much of a choice.

In the meantime, things have gotten better.  He's still not close to being 100% but his fever finally did break this morning.  I'm hoping it stays away!! He is eating a little bit but not much so i'm trying to push the fluids and keep him hydrated. Hoping he feels better soon and starts sleeping better. He doesn't sleep through the night as it is so anything has to be better than getting up a few times a night to an inconsolable boy.

As far as the rest of his 15 month appt goes he is doing really well! He weights 22lb 2oz (18%) and is 33" tall(95%).  I was concerned that he has barely gained a 1lb over the last 4 months but the pedes was okay with it since he is staying on the same growth curve (percentage).  his overall height to weight is only in the 10th percentile which just means he's tall and skinny! Lucky for him he got that "Nolte" metabolism that skipped me.  lol

His language and motor skill development is really great!  I am so proud of him. He now says 18 words, and 5 two word sentences. Which the pedes said is at a 18-24 month level.  Of course he doesn't use all the words every day but that's still great. He seriously blows my mind with how smart he is. He knows how to do so many things and can follow all kinds of directions. He is really getting to big too fast!

Like I was saying we are still working on his sleep. He is a horrible sleeper! He has never been a good sleeper but i had a long talk with the pedes about things.  She feels like we have tried and are doing everything right so it's really no fault of our own.  He is a restless sleeper, fusses in his sleep wakes up min 1-2 times a night inconsolable and even had night terrors on occasion. His lack of quality sleep definitely affects how he naps so it's a vicious cycle.  For now we are going to keep trying and see how things look at 18 months. She said sleep studies are out b/c he wakes too much and that won't really help at this point.

I feel like time is going WAY too fast and I'm sure it'll go even faster when we have two kids.  Brayden is definitely my "dramatic" child and can be moody but he is so much fun. His laughter and excitement really make even the worst days better.  I can't wait to see what he has in store for us next!

Now some fun pics! 

What mom, i'm eating a cupcake! 

 Oh coloring! 

 What happens when he gets bored! 

My what big feet you have!

I decided when Brayden was born that I would make sure I took hand and footprints at 6 and 12 months to compare and see how big he had gotten. I did forget that at birth they only did a foot print so I don't have a hand  but that's okay.  It is AMAZING to see the difference. He was by no means small at birth!  I couldn't even really get newborn shoes on him without squishing his feet. He started out a size 1!  lol. I could of guessed before he even cam out since his feet were wedged in my lungs for the last few months and they felt huge lol  Being that daddy has size 13 feet now, we shouldn't of been surprised!

Top to bottom: Birth (size 1 shoes), 6 months (size 3-4) and 12 months (size 5 1/2 -6)

Birth to 6 months 

6 months to 12 months

Birth to 12 months

One Year Old!

Okay he is like 12 months and 3 weeks and I am finally posting about his 1yr appt, stats and all. See I told you I am WAY behind. I promise I won't slack off, all the IVF stuff and everything else going on has definitely had me preoccupied!

Side note, to get ANY photos of brayden with his 12 month sticker is was damn near impossible! Of course it took two of us, and we pretty much have to toss him on the couch and keep putting him back on his butt, acting silly, tickling just to "attempt" to get a good photo. I got lots of funny and cute ones but I don't think I have one solid one of him sitting, facing forward and smiling! I'll add a bunch in the mix so you can laugh with me :)

Brayden continually blows my mind. He is so smart and is really picking things up. Warning, proud mom bragging lol.   Of course he has to do everything on HIS terms but we are working on his "listening" skills now, aka "come to mommy", "put that down" ext ext. But Brayden being Brayden he knows exactly what you are telling him and does the exact opposite. Apparently my son is EXACTLY like me as a child (in many ways) so if that is any indication I am really in for it. lol  Other than wanting to do things his way he is doing wonderful with commands and how things "work". He's command he is great at opening and closing, putting things in and out of containers, finding and grabbing specific items and toys when requested, the list goes on.  He knows at least 10 words and the phrases "all done" and "i did it" which comes out like "did it". Of course when he talks its baby talk so if you don't spend a lot of time with him sometimes you'll have no idea what he is saying. lol  He does have his "alien speak" as we affectionately call it. It's this crazy fast gibberish when he talks to you like he's in a conversation, it's awesome and hilarious. Of course he tried to regress using words. for example he can say and use the word cup appropriately but decided in the last week or two it's more fun to grunt and point at it. lol  Again, always on his terms.  :)   He is really learning places for things, he knows where the tub is and when it's bath time, if he goes in the kitchen he will reach up to the counter if he wants a snack and so on.  It really is amazing watching him grow up and develop, you never know what they are going to know how to do/say next!

His 1 yr pedes appt went great! He is weighing in at 20lb 130z (25%) and 32" tall (97%).  The dr said his speech and ability to do commands puts him at a 15 to 18 month level, so i'm really proud of him.  He got his 1 yr shots and we opted to get the flu shot, he did well but as usual he ran a fever the next few days. He is my fever kid. Whether it's teething, sickness, shots he ALWAYS runs the min of a low grade fever and is good for the 103+ ones too.  He also decided to RE-start clapping his hands. lol He was able to around 7 months and decided that he didn't want to anymore.









Sleep is still an issue we fight with. He is a good napper. He dropped to one nap b/w 10 and 11 months on his own.  He usually sleeps 2 to 2 1/2 hours for nap and if it's a really good day I'll get 3 hrs. But that almost never happens.  But he continues to wake atleast 1x a night. If he is sick, forget it, we are up min 3x a night. I'm not going to lie after 1 year not NOT sleeping through the night completely it has been tough. He has NEVER been a good sleeper and we continue to try and fix things. Hopefully we will get there at some point.


Brayden loves food!  Although he has been on a breakfast hating/picky binge for a while. At this point I give him whatever kind of food he will actually eat for breakfast.  He LOVES breakfast sausage. I get him the Jones natural patties, so i know he will atleast get some protein in. He will eat eggs, depending on the day. It's funny b/c the "fanicer" the food the more likely he is to eat it. I don't give him plain eggs, he gets "baby omlette" with black olives or even cheesy eggs. He loves oatmeal, apple strudel and blueberry muffins, fruit, fruit and fruit. lol  He is not at all big on pancakes, french toast and waffles, yogurrt, cereal ext. but he will pick at them if he's in the mood so we try all kinds of things. Otherwise he loves to eat anything we eat, black olives and tomatoes are his current obsession along with any kind of veggies.  I have also been pushing a lot of snacks, cheese sticks and  fruit in between meals to try and make sure he is nice and full through the night.  Right now he is loving the yogurt covered raisins and any kind of crunchy snacks like the earths best elmo crackers and teddy grahams.

Milk...we successfully transitioned to whole milk at 11 months. Successful meaning he was no longer on formula but still taking it out of the bottle. By his birthday we were FINALLY down to 3 bottles per day. For him and his glutenous appetite for milk this was no simple feat! We have in the mean time been able to drop the afternoon bottle with no problems.  The problem we were having was he REFUSED to drink milk cold, and out of a sippy cup. We had introduced milk months ago, so i was kinda suprised when he would spit it out the second he realized his cup wasn't water.  We tried everything to get him to drink it out of the cup and in the last week he FINALLY came around. Actually he drank cold milk out of his sippy for his Grammy but ever since then he's been interested in it in a cup so i can't complain. That'll make dropping the other two bottles a little easier. Honestly I think the early morning one is going to be harder to stop than the night time one.  But we will figure it out and get there.

Bray is in to EVERYTHING!  Literally if it is not strapped down or locked up he thinks it's all game!  lol Since he started walking so early he is really good at running away from you really fast!  He knows exactly when he is NOT suppose to be doing something and either backs up from you really slowly or turns and runs, all the mean while having a giant smile on his face. LITTLE STINKER!  He is a daredevil and climbing machine!  Its amazing to watch him stare at things and think of crazy things to do. Like his mini Power Wheel car we got him for his bday, that thing is a heart attack toy. he loves to crawl on the tiny, slippery hood and stand up on it.  Yup this is my life.  lol He is obsessed with steps and anything that looks "climbable". Anything that is wide enough to fit two feet on is apparently fun to climb on and do a "stomp dance". He loves to try and scare mommy!


He has daddy's temper... oh yes he does! lol (Sorry Jason!) Since bray was about 9 months and walking he has MASTERED the ability to throw a tantrum in the most violent and loudest way possible. Seriously this kid thinks he can have what he wants whenever he wants no matter what it is. lol God forbid you look out for his well being  and he literally throws himself on the ground kicks and screams. Its ridiculous and honestly embarrassing in public. But I don't give in b/c I am not going to be THAT parent who's kid is a total jerk and expects what they want all the time. Guess we just started the terrible 2's a little earlier. Although all of my friends tell me 2's are rough and 3's are way worse.  lol

Ok, I think i wrote enough... whew! I seriously can't believe my baby is ONE!  It has been the most amazing year of my life and I feel so grateful everyday to be able to be Brayden's Mommy :)