Leah - 16 Months

Age: 16 Months

New Stuff: Leah is such a spunky firecracker! It's been so long since I posted an update that I don't even know where to start. She is such a joy and makes us smile and laugh, but man she can be dramatic. Is this just a girl thing?? She swats at us when she doesn't get her way and is already throwing tantrums on the floor. MUCH worse than Grant ever did and it terrifies me to think of how the teenage years will go based on how she is at 1 - haha!

She loves to DANCE! She sings and gives us hugs. She blows kisses and waves to strangers.

Words:  She is a slow talker, just like her brother was. She has started talking a lot more the past week or so, but I struggle to decipher the words she's saying. She says clearly:

Momma, Dada, Bubba (brother), Night Night, Up, More, Thank You, Bubble, Bottle, Hi, Bye Bye

Other Stuff:  We had a health scare with Leah a few weeks ago.  She ran a fever for over a week and just got progressively more miserable.  Then she broke out into a rash and just cried non stop for days and kept grabbing her head.  After multiple trips to the doctor, he sent us to the ER for a CAT scan and a spinal tap to check for meningitis.  Once we talked to the ER doctor it became apparent that the pediatrician suspected that she might have a brain tumor... Thankfully all tests came back normal and after spending a night in the hospital getting fluids and antibiotics through an IV she started improving.  We believe it was a combination of vaccines, Roseola virus, sinus infection, and dehydration all at the same time.  Individually those things wouldn't make a toddler inconsolable, but all at the same time it was causing her a lot of pain.

She is ALL better now though! Fingers crossed that we can go a few months with no more big illnesses.

Grant's 2nd Birthday - Daniel Tiger Theme

We almost have a 2 year old in the Martinez casa!

He loves all things Daniel Tiger right now, so when it came time to choose a theme for his party, there was no question about it!

I found these adorable invitations on Etsy.

We had the party at Poco Loco Farm and it was perfect.  We got to play with lots of sweet animals and a bounce house.  Perfect for adults and kids! We had to have it a couple of weeks before his actual birthday due to David's schedule, but Grant doesn't know the difference.

Our favorite part of party planning is the cake.  We LOVE Village Bakery here in Tyler and use them for every occasion.  I was so happy with how the cake turned out. It was exactly what I wanted.  Landmarks from the show are on the bottom tier and the characters are on the top tier.

Grant blew out the candles on the first try.

All he wanted to do was grab the Trolley off of the top.  Which he did, right after this photo was taken - haha!

And he kept grabbing fondant off of the cake.

Here's the décor: I didn't go all out for this party, but I think it turned out alright.

 My parents got him this tricycle and he refused to get off of it. He can't pedal, but he wanted us to all push him around.

We spent the next morning playing with the bubble machine he got at the party and he loved it! David snapped this sweet picture.

Can't wait for Birthday #3!

Grant - 22 Months

 

 

Age: 22 Months! I thought about just waiting until he turned 2, but decided about doing a quick post about 22 months.  We are so close to turning 2! I can't believe how big he is. He really looks like a tiny man. :)

 

 

 

New Stuff: Grant is all about new tricks these days.  He started crossing his fingers out of nowhere.  He thinks it is the coolest trick ever. So adorable! Also, when I ask him if he pooped, he backs up to me so I can look in his diaper. I'm guessing that came from daycare, because I did not teach him that! It makes me laugh every time though.

 

 

 

Words: Grant has been slow to talk, but his words seem to be exploding now. He is constantly pointing at objects and saying what it is.  He will actually say it over and over until I confirm that he said it right - haha! His favorite things to point out: Tree, Puppy, Flag, Light, Moon, Truck, Ball. 

 

 

 

Other: He is really into TV.  I try to limit the TV time to when I really need to get things done, such as in the morning when I'm getting dressed for work or in the evening when I'm making dinner.  He is starting to branch out and watch shows other than Daniel Tiger. I try and save Daniel Tiger for the times he's really fussy or sick.  However, most of the time he will only watch a new show for about 3 minutes before he is bringing me the remote saying, "Tiger" over and over. I'm so thankful that the show he loves isn't annoying.  I have to admit that I really enjoy the Nighttime in the Neighborhood episode.  :)

 

We have the venue booked for his birthday party.  We are having it 2 weeks before his actual birthday due to scheduling issues.  I really need to kick my planning into high gear and start ordering invites and the cake. It seems so far away, but it's only a month out!

Grant - 20 Months

 

Age: 20 Months.  Oh my goodness.  In 4 months he will be 2. TWO! Where has the time gone?  We planned on trying for baby #2 after his 2nd birthday, but I still don't feel ready for that yet.  I want more time to give Grant all of my attention and make memories of just the 3 of us.  Plus I am really dreading being pregnant again.  I miss feeling a baby moving around and that all consuming love you feel for the life growing inside of you, but I do NOT miss nausea, vomiting, getting fat (and I got FAT!), swelling, labor, etc.  So for now it will remain the 2 of us :)

New Stuff: This boy loves some Daniel Tiger.  It's on PBS and he is obsessed.  Anytime we turn on the tv, he grabs the remote and hands it to us saying "Tiger" over and over and over.  And if we refuse, it leads to a meltdown.  He loves it.  I'm planning on a Daniel Tiger birthday party if he's still into it in a couple of months.

Words: His vocabulary is really improving since my last update.  He repeats us a lot more often now and I'm starting to understand him when he asks for things.  Tiger, Paci, and Milk are at the top of the request list at the moment.  He also walks around the house yelling Mama! and Dada! when he's looking for us.  So funny.  No sentences yet, but I'm happy with the word improvement right now.

Other Stuff:  He has been catching back to back colds unfortunately.  Which of course led to a double ear infection.  He was put on amoxicillin, but his fussiness hadn't improved after 4 days.  Then the daycare called me and told me his eardrum had ruptured!  They told me he screamed and grabbed his ear and that all sorts of blood and gross stuff was pouring from his ear.  So after freaking out and rushing back to the doctor, we put him on a stronger antibiotic and ear drops.  I hate seeing my little man in pain and knowing he went through something so painful when I wasn't there. Thankfully, the rupture relieved the pressure he'd been feeling and he felt much better afterwards. Both ears seem to have cleared up now though, and he is a happy toddler again.

Grant - 18 months

Age: 18 Months

New Stuff: I don't plan on doing monthly updates anymore, but I feel like so much has changed with Grant since my last update!  He is talking so much more, much to my relief.  He loves to be chased around the house (while screaming!) and he LOVES to be scared.  We are constantly hiding behind walls and popping out.  He comes around corners smiling now because he's looking for us. We need to step up our game to keep him on his toes.

Words: At his 15 month checkup the doctor made me worry about his lack of words.  I've been working VERY hard to get him to talk since then, and I honestly haven't seen much from my effort... until the last week or so!  My last update at 17 months he was saying Dada, Mama, This, Uh Oh, Bubble, but not very often at all.  All of a sudden he's trying so hard to talk to us and he even repeats us now.  We are up to about 11 words that are recognizable, but he's saying much more that I just can't make out.  He says Da all of the time and sometimes I think he's saying Duck and other times Down, who knows.  But we have added Book, Ball (his all time favorite), Car (his 2nd favorite word), Hi, Bye Bye, Kitty, Shoes,  and Dog.  Everything that is round is a ball.  Periods.  The Sun.  Seriously, anything round.  He points and looks at me all serious and says Ball. 

Other Stuff: He has started picking me "flowers" aka weeds, and bringing them to me.  How adorable is that?  He LOVES giving us hugs and he's even started giving me kisses.  Of course a toddler kiss means his mouth is WIDE open when he comes at me.  I'll take his slobbery kisses any day though.  It's the most precious thing I've ever experienced.  I'm absolutely loving this age (apart from his major fit throwing of course) and I much prefer having a toddler over a baby.  I love that he can feed himself, express what he wants, show me his emotions, etc.

We took him to the park last weekend, and he had such a blast.  I took him about a month ago and it is seriously crazy how much more independent he was this time.  He was able to crawl up the playground himself and even go down the slide.  He loved the slide! He's such a little dare devil!

Grant - Halloween 2015

Halloween 2015 was a success at the Martinez casa this year. So far my husband only wants Grant to dress up as a professional athlete.  We aren't fans of the store bought costumes for little ones.  The options (especially for babies!) are very limited and usually end up being animals that are thick, hot material.  We live in Texas and Halloween is usually hot and humid, so fleece costumes aren't ideal.

Last year Grant was Michael Phelps.  I thought it was adorable and everyone at the fall festival got a kick out of it.  I loved my shirtless chunky baby!

Keeping with the sports theme, we went with our favorite quarterback, Peyton Manning!

Look at that Game Face.  Perfect!

 

 I found a tutorial online for some DIY football pads and they turned out awesome! My local craft store didn't sell the foam by the yard like the tutorial called for and they also didn't sell .5" thick foam.  I had to get 1" thick and cut it in half.  It was awful and made a huge mess, but the end result was absolutely worth it! It really made the entire outfit!

Grant - 17 months

Age: 17 months

New Stuff: He's showing so much more personality lately.  He's always been "stoic" and reserved with his emotions, but lately he has come out of his shell a little bit.  He dances, sings, and laughs around the house.  He still freezes up around strangers though.  I definitely don't have a social butterfly on my hands.  When strangers try to talk to him in the grocery store, all they get is the blank stare he's perfected.  Occasionally he will throw a wave to a stranger, but he never does it on command.  He only waves on his terms apparently!

He can point out his eyes and his nose and clap on command.

He loves, loves, loves to read and is always bringing me books.  He likes to point out things in the book and then look at me for an explanation.  He also loves to point out every bird he sees for some reason.  The kid loves birds.

Words: He still isn't talking much.  We went for a hearing test and found out that he hears just fine.  At this point we are just assuming he's a late bloomer when it comes to talking, but we will see where he is at his next wellness appointment.  He does say Dada, Mama, This, Uh Oh, Bubble.

He's able to understand what we are saying now and follow commands.  He knows what it means to eat dinner, go night night, take a bath, go to school, and his absolute favorite, "Let's go ride!"  He is obsessed with riding the 4-wheeler.  We try ride in the evenings before bed and he looks forward to it.  He even knows what button to push to start it and he can do it all by himself.

We took him to the East Texas State Fair and he was not impressed with the Merry Go Round. However, he LOVED funnel cake. See that look on the Merry Go Round?  That's what he gives strangers in the store.  They try and try and he refuses to deviate from that serious face.  I always try to explain that it's not them personally, it's how he is with ALL strangers!

Other Stuff: He's really into toys now and it is SO much fun to buy him fun stuff.  We have probably already gone overboard with buying stuff, but we get so much enjoyment out of his enjoyment.  My latest splurge was his own little "quad" 4-wheeler that has a track.  He can't steer yet, so he can just ride it around in a circle in his playroom.  So fun!

We've had quite a few bouts with sickness lately, which have been anything but fun.  He had an eye/ear infection combo, and on the final day of antibiotics, he either caught a stomach virus or got food poisoning.  Either way, it was bad.  In the car.  And all night long.  So we've been initiated into the puke club of parenthood.

Luckily he seems to be over it all now, so here's to hoping for a few weeks of wellness!

Grant - 14 months

Age: 14 Months

New Stuff: He loves to play hide and seek and laughs when you pop out and say "Boo!"

His new obsession is "playing" with our cat, Oliver.  His way of playing with the cat is swinging his arms at him until Oliver is upset and hissing.  Apparently this is amusing to Grant because it makes him laugh hysterically. Oliver is declawed, so Grant is in no danger :)

He loves to play with cars and balls.  He keeps alternating which hand he uses to throw and eat, so still no idea if he will be a lefty yet.  He likes to keep us guessing :)

Words: This week he started saying Mama and Dada with intent, like he knows that he is talking about his Mommy and Daddy.  He will also sometimes say Kitty.  Still not a lot on the word front, but he does babble quite a bit more than he used to.

Other Stuff:  This past week Grant has been sick with an unknown illness.  At first he was just having loose bowel movements, but it turned into low grade fever, and eventually a high fever of 103.6.  When I would take him to the doctor, his temp would be normal and then that afternoon it would spike to over 102.  This continued for 6 days and Friday he was finally playing and acting more like himself.  He was laughing and playing and then he stopped, started crying, and then his arms and legs started shaking.  Out of nowhere he just started shivering.  I panicked and took his temp and it was barely 100.  Not high enough to warrant the shaking in my opinion.  I started rocking him and trying to give him comfort.  He ended up falling asleep, but was still shivering. I had no idea what was happening so I called the nurse line and she asked how long ago I had checked his temp.  At this point it had been about 15-20 minutes so I took his temp again and it was already over 103.  Come to find out, a rapid onset fever can cause "chills" and that was why he was shaking so bad.  Saying that I was terrified by the chills sounds ridiculous, but when you're talking about a baby and it honestly looks like he is convulsing and has a high fever, it is terrifying.  He couldn't tell me that he felt cold, so I honestly had no idea what was happening.

Saturday he finally seemed to be feeling a little better, but was still having really soft stools.  Sunday he was fussy most of the day and his stomach seemed to be bothering him.  Now it's Monday and he still seems to be having tummy troubles and is fussy.  The constant dirty diapers have caused him to get a diaper rash despite all of the product I've been slathering on him, so diaper changes are very painful.

I have no idea what is wrong and I am really, really hoping that they were able to find something out with the stool sample I dropped of on Friday.  I feel so helpless watching my son suffer.  I've taken him to the doctor twice since this started and I don't feel like we've made any progress to get him feeling better.  I will update when I hear from the doctor's office with the culture results.
Update: His labs came back fine and he's been fever free for a week.  His tummy seems to be on the mend, but it's not 100% back to normal.  No idea what the problem was or if it was just a few different things at once.  I am just happy that I have my happy toddler back!