Since I don't have class on Mondays and Cole didn't have school today, I'm still calling it the weekend. So as promised, here is an update on my boys.

The weather, until today, had been relatively warm, for January anyway. We had fog every day, all day last week and rain the last couple of days. We did get a little break long enough to make this snowman. That's the first peek of sun we'd seen for a week.

Cole had a blast being outside. He likes to go help Grandpa during chores and usually tells me "I don't want to help you." How nice?
Tate is quickly becoming a little stinker. He knows exactly how to set his brother off. His new favorite thing to do is squeal every time he sees the cat, or just for fun. He's not quiet about it either. He's been busy playing in the toy wonderland downstairs now that he's figured out how to go down them without falling, for the most part.

This is what happens when you fall asleep with Daddy and then Daddy leaves. Kinda reminds me of this picture:

Tate also had his 18 month check up last week. He weighs 24 lbs 11 oz and is 31 3/4 inches tall, which is about 5 inches shorter than his brother. He is in about the 35% for both height and weight. Can you believe he was ever that small?

Never Ending Worry

Tate had his one year check up today. It could have gone better. He is 18lb 12 oz (4%) and 29 1/4" (34%). That part is all fine. It's the other stuff that could have gone better. First she noticed a murmur which no one has ever heard before. I'm not terribly worried about that. However, since we have met our deductible for the year, I figured we'd go get it checked out. Of course, once I heard that my mind starts to go and I over think everything. Is he napping too much? Is he over tired? Yada yada yada... Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing she noticed. She also noticed that his right eye and ear are slightly lower than the left. What does that mean? Maybe nothing, maybe something. So now we have to decide if we want to follow through and have that checked out by a pediatric cranial specialist. Pat and I have noticed it before, not so much the eye as the ear. It's more predominant from the back. I just don't know what to do. More than likely it's nothing, but there is a slim chance there could be a genetic problem, or could cause problems in hearing and vision later on. I'm just torn. If we get it checked out are we over reacting? If we don't are we putting him at risk for problems later on that could have been fixed now? Since I know you are all going to be searching for a picture to see if you can see it, I posted one for you. I think it's easier to see in this picture. Of course, as I was cropping the pic for this post I accidentally saved it over the original. Hopefully I have it on FB since it was really cute. Anywho, here you go. If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears, crooked or not!

6 Months

My baby turned 6 months yesterday! Can you believe how much he's changed? He had his checkup today. We tried the nurse practitioner today and I really like her. She actually spent time with him. Instead of just scanning the check list, she tried some of the things with him. It's amazing to have someone actually take their time to see how he is doing. So his stats...14lb 14 oz - 15%, 26" - 25%. His head circumference was a little low and they seemed a little concerned with that, but not horribly concerned. He is doing most of what he should. He isn't rolling yet, but I think it's coming pretty quick. He's getting really grabby. He loves his big brother. He was watching Cole last night and just laughing at every move Cole made. It was pretty cute. I had to bring Cole along to the doctor. He normally screams but he did really well. He got a little nervous when she brought out the stethoscope and the thingy to check eyes and ears.

After the doctor we headed to Walmart where people were actually helpful! Amazing, I know. First we stopped at Subway, in Walmart. A lady there saw my hands were full and offered to dump my tray for me. Then I went to pick up a file cabinet, but it didn't fit in my cart with the car seat so an employee brought it up for me and had someone carry it out to the van.

The weather has been incredible, not in a good way. It was -23 this morning at 8 AM. Luckily there isn't much for wind so it wasn't too horrible dragging the boys around. The weekend looks promising. They are talking 20s! Heat wave! Maybe I'll get the last of my outside Christmas lights down finally.

I also got my Wii Fit this week. I played with it a little bit the first night. Yesterday, while both boys were sleeping, I decided to actually work out with it. My abs haven't hurt this bad in a long time. It hurts to laugh.

4 month checkup

Tate had his checkup today. He weighed in at 12 lb 14 oz, which is in the 3rd percentile. He is 24 inches long, which is in the 35th percentile. Our doctor didn't even mention formula! He keeps asking if I have enough milk though. If I didn't, don't you think he wouldn't be growing??? Other than that, the appointment went well. I'm still not sure about switching doctors. I feel like he's implying something when he asks if I have enough milk. The other thing that bothered me was he mentioned Tate's head is a little lopsided. He prefers one side over the other, but it's not nearly as bad as Cole's. The dr. never even mentioned Cole's head until I brought up putting him in a helmet. He said Tate will grow out of it (or into it, I'm not sure which). I don't know if he mentioned it because we had Cole in a helmet or what. So I am still undecided on the dr. switch. The little guy got 2 shots and one oral vaccination. He's not a happy camper. He is currently swinging and sucking on his fists. It's either that or I walk around with him all day.

I did decide that I will stick it out with school. I only have 2 semesters of math classes left. Granted they will be really hard semesters, but I'm getting so close that I think I will regret it if I don't finish. I have some ed. classes left to take, but those aren't as hard and if I decide to push those off it won't be as big of a deal to go back and take them later. Well, I'm off to attempt a nap.