Can you tell who ate more at our Thanksgiving meal?!

HA! (For the record, Caleb didn't eat anything.)

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. My parents came to our house and the boys are always so excited when they are here. I even got to sleep in one day, which was wonderful. They babysat on Friday because Joel and I both had to work. (I am now working one day a week.) So, there was no crazy shopping for me! Although we did take the boys to Stride Rite for some new kicks on Saturday. Isaac is now wearing a 7.5 wide!

There's really nothing new to report. Caleb still tells me every AM that he doesn't like preschool, but tells me he loves it when I pick him up. He still doesn't tell me anything about what he did at school, but is always very happy to show me his art projects that he made. He always makes sure to include Isaac and gives him one of his "paint jobs."

Isaac is sick right now. I thought he had an ear infection because he was up 2 nights in a row screaming his head off for hours and hours, but his ears were clear. The doc thought he had strep, but that came back negative. Just a virus I guess. His nose is a little faucet and today he has a little cough. He is a pro at blowing his nose though...it's so cute. Caleb, knock on wood, is still healthy.

It's hard to believe that Caleb will be 4 years old next week! We are having a small party with our friends and their kids on his birthday (Sunday). He's so "gick-cited!!" (We'll have a bigger party for him in the summer.)

Blessed and Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

One more about Isaac...

I need to write down a conversation I had with Isaac this AM. He was eating crackers and all of a sudden he was spitting them out onto the floor, very dramatically.

Me: Isaac! Why are you spitting your crackers onto the floor?
Isaac: Cuz. (because)
Me: Why did you do that?
Isaac: I sad.
Me: Why are you sad?
Isaac: Cuz. I choking.
Me: (Not sure if I heard him correctly) You were choking?
Isaac: Yah, I choking.
Me: Isaac, you were not choking.
Isaac: Oh.

What's new with IZ Boo??

Isaac has definitely left his babyhood behind. Except for the constant need for his pacie and blanket, he's a little man now. He can count to 13, knows his shapes, and I've caught him singing his version of the ABC's. We've been working on his colors and either he's trying to play mind games with me, or he really doesn't know them (or he could be colorblind...KIDDING!!). I will show him 2 cups and say "red or green," while showing him which is which and he'll point to the green one and say "purple." And most of the time when I ask him what color something is, he'll reply "red" and when I tell him it's not red, he'll then say "pink." We'll have to keep working on that:)

He's talking up a storm now, and is becoming easier to understand. He still loves his sleep and sleeps 12 hours at night and takes a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Sometimes I have to wake him up to take Caleb to preschool (at 8:30 AM) and then his entire day is completely off. For some reason, he needs to play for 10 minutes in his crib after he wakes up before I go in to get him. It's so funny to listen to him...he usually is singing, or talking to his increasing number of stuffed animals he sleeps with. When I go to get him up in the morning or after his nap, and try to get him out of his crib and he says "I tired" and won't let me pick him up.

He continues to be very sensitive and when Caleb takes something away from him or won't let him play, he'll come running to me and say "I sad." Or he'll start yelling "Awwwww, Cay-yub!!" Or if I tell him "no" he says "Awwww, Mommy!" And when we are dropping Caleb off at preschool, he yells "I-D pee-school!" because he wants to stay.



He is becoming more and more of a sports enthusiast everyday. He's always carrying around some sort of ball. He especially likes to "kick it." He can spot a soccer field from a mile away when we are driving in the car and yells "Cock-er! Kick it!" He's also always on the lookout for "bay-ball" (baseball) and "Ah-ball" (football) players.

He also continues to be a stinker and hitting is his new favorite thing to do. He even adds sound effects and says "Bam! Bam!" while he's doing it. I came up from doing laundry yesterday and he was sitting on the timeout chair, and I asked him why he was on there. He looked at me and said "No hitting." When I asked him who put him on time out, he replied "Cay-yub." When I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do, he'll ignore me at first, and when I say his name again, he replies "Whaaaaat?!" He loves music and knows most of the words for the songs "John Deere Green" by Joe Diffie, "Joey" by Sugarland, and "I got a feeling" by Black Eyed Peas. He's also very into the word "poopy" and will add that into the songs as well (Like "John Deere poooooopy" or "Joey, I so poooopy". Can you tell he's already a handful?

He still asks to sit on the potty chair quite often. He insisted on wearing some of Caleb's underwear the other day, so I let him try it. He went on the potty all morning and stayed dry. But then got really into playing and didn't want to go when I asked him, and ended up wetting them. Since I never really had to use pull-ups with Caleb, I still had some in the closet and put one on him yesterday (see above picture) because he refused to wear his diaper. I told him that he needed to keep Diego dry or he'd be sad. He stayed dry all morning, but then came up to me and said "Sad." I asked him who was sad and he pointed to his pull-up and said "Dee-go." So he is totally aware of what he's doing. I should probably bite the bullet and really work on it, but I still think 21 months is sort of young to completely understand the concept. We'll see....

I think that pretty much covers what's new with him. I still cannot believe that he's almost two years old!!

Prematurity Awareness Month

I can't believe it's already November! I have already gone into detail how I really feel about prematurity. (click here and here if you'd like to read them again). But I feel like I need to write a post about it again since it's Prematurity Awareness Month. Even though we are nearly 4 years past Caleb's early arrival, there are days that it seems like yesterday.

I think that everyone who reads our blog is aware of prematurity. Some more than others, of course. We all know that not all premature babies are born to poor, drug addicted women. We all know that premature babies aren't just tiny versions of full term babies. We all know that babies who are born premature will mostly likely have some sort of delay at some point in their lives. We all know that most of these babies will spend hours upon hours in some type therapy to help them "catch up." But we also know that most of them will never completely "catch up." We all know how amazing it is to see many of these tiny babies grow up and thrive, even when their prognosis was grim. We all know that some are not as lucky.

What we don't always know is why babies are born premature. Sure, some are born early because their mothers develop high blood pressure, an infection, or experience PROM (like me), or have cervical issues, etc. But, why did these things go wrong for some women and not others? That is one question I hope will be answered someday.

I have always said that I would not wish a premature birth on anyone. It has changed our lives forever. Yes, Caleb has brought so much joy into our lives and we cannot imagine our lives without him. But, we are becoming more and more aware of how hard it is for him to do some of the things that come naturally for his peers (and even for his little brother). And that is just plain heartbreaking. If I could go back to when my water broke on October 7, 2005, would I still choose to go on complete bed rest, knowing that I could have delivered Caleb at any minute and he wouldn't have survived? Of course. If I could go back to December 6, 2005, the morning Caleb was born, would I still tell the doctors to "do everything" to save him? Absolutely. But I wish we never had to even make those decisions. I still wish he could have spent 40 weeks growing and developing inside me instead of spending 12+ of those weeks in a loud, chaotic NICU.

Prematurity still sucks. Even 4 years later.

Statistics show that over 1,400 babies are born prematurely everyday. Please support the March of Dimes as they continue to try and find a "cure" for prematurity.

NOTHING gets past this kid!

Another "Caleb conversation" for memory's sake....

We were sitting in our car at the stop lights the other night and a car ran the red light. A police car was right behind it and turned it's lights and sirens on and pulled the car over. Here's the conversation that followed:

Caleb: Why dat police car put his lights and siren on?
Me: Because he's pulling that car over.
Caleb: Why?
Me: Because he didn't stop at the light. What does the red light mean?
Caleb: Stop. But why he pull dat car over?
Me: Because he didn't stop at the red light. That's not following the rules. Everyone has to follow the rules.
Caleb: But not police guys. Day not follow da rules.
Me: Yes, even police men have to follow the rules.
Caleb: But not DAT police man.
Me: Yes, that police man also needs to follow the rules too.
Caleb: (Getting frustrated) But he NOT follow da rules.
Me: What do you mean?
Caleb: He not stop at da red light! (Which was true since he/she took off after the car that had ran the red light.)
Me: (Once again, speechless!)

Final Score....

Caleb:1
Pear:0
YEAH Caleb!

Peek-A-Boo!!

The Halloween Edition

We had a great Halloween! The shots they got in the AM didn't seem to phase them at all. (I ended up having to work so Joel took them. He said Caleb didn't even flinch/cry and Isaac just yelled "Oweeeee!" And for those of you wondering, they both got the preservative free vaccine, thanks to my note I sent along and Joel and his mom's persistence!!)

As you can see, Caleb wore the same outfit as last year (Although it fit better this year...it's a 2T and he got new boots.) And Isaac was a football player.


He went to our friends' annual Halloween party. The boys had fun playing with their friends before we went trick or treating. Here's a picture of most of the kids. (I think 3 are missing...)


Isaac and lady bug Mallory:
The boys had so much fun trick or treating. Caleb did not want to do it at first. But, after he saw his buddies and Isaac running up the driveways to the houses, he decided to join in too. He always asked "Dis one not scary Mom?" at each house! He went to a few houses, but he had just as much fun pulling the wagon. I cannot get over how cute Isaac was running up to each door. It seemed like he's been trick or treating for years! It was SO cold out, but they didn't seem to mind. When we got in the car to go home, it was 36 degrees!



Isaac LOVES candy. I went downstairs to do laundry today and when I came back up, he was eating a sucker that he had taken off the counter and figured out how to open by himself. I've had to limit him to one piece after his meals, otherwise I think he would eat it all in one sitting. Caleb has eaten one little Nerd candy (and no, I am not taking the whole little box, just one.tiny.ball). He likes to carry his pumpkin around with the candy in it though. He's very proud of it!

Oh, and I need to write this down too. Out of the blue Isaac told me that he wanted to go "pa-ee" today and he actually went on the potty chair! We did the potty dance and I gave him an M&M. About an hour later he told me he had to go again, and he did! Of course he wanted a M&M again! I'll give him all the M&M's he wants if he's going to go potty! Now I just need to decide if I really want to start potty training him....