There Will Be Blood

No, not Daniel Day Lewis...it's Parks. Our first real combat wound from either boys, and I'm not counting the 4 times a day heel sticks that we had to give to Wyatt for his hypoglycemia. I was holding both boys in my arms, and Wyatt was wearing his Tron helmet at the time. Both boys moved in at the same time, and Wyatt gave Parks a head butt that would rival any ECW wrestler's style. Right in the kisser. I saw blood and freaked. Parks had just gotten his four teeth, and I didn't want him to be losing any of them this early. I checked him out, and it was just a busted lip. I snapped this shot after I made sure he was okay. He looks so pitiful.

Mardi Gras Beads

Our early intervention specialist for Wyatt introduced him to Mardi Gras beads when she first started to work with him in October. Since then, he has become mesmerized by them. He will hold them and study each bead individually. In the video below, he has learned a new trick. He will hold them out tight, collapse them, and then stretch them out tight again. He loves to watch the way they shake when he does it. His love for beads might have been the main reason that when we recently reevaluated motor skills level he tested out at a 9 month level for fine motor skills, only one month behind his real age. Ahhh Mardi Gras beads, they are good for so many things:

Fear

Roughly a month ago, Randi and I were away for the night, and our nanny kept the boys over night. This included the bathtime/bedtime routine that we do every night . Normally, it goes like this. We run bath water, set out towels, turn on the radio softly, and warm bottles. We then bathe Parks first. He loves taking a bath and playing in his bath seat while I bathe Wyatt. After the bath, we have our nightly wrestling match to get them both dressed before giving them a bottle and off to bed. If everything goes well, they are in bed at 7:30 in the p.m. and will not get up until 6:30 in the a.m. So, you can see why "the routine" is so crucial.

On the night in question, Parks did not want to take a bath. He fought the nanny the whole time he was in there. He clung to her neck and did not want to get anywhere near the bathtub. After she finished putting them both down for the evening, she recounted the event to us. We could not figure out what had changed in his attitude for a normally fun bathtime. We figured it was because a stranger was bathing him. That was until, he did the exact same thing for us the very next night. Looking around we finally figured out what got him so spooked. It was the new Boon Frog bath organizer that we had installed the previous day before we left. We were amazed that this new "imposing" figure had such an affect on him. What kind of frame of reference does a 9-month old have for fear like that? It was very interesting. See photo below:

Wyatt's Delirium

Recently, we went out for the evening and returned late than normal. Both boys were really fit-to-be-tied. They were extremely fussy, and we knew that our bedtime routine was not going to be fun. As usual, Wyatt finished his bottle well before Parks did and Randi was trying anything to keep him occupied. So, she started blowing air in his face by squeezing the bottle. He started to die laughing. Most of what is on the video below was the second round of laughter because I was still in the process of feeding Parks and the video was in another room. It must have gone on for 4-5 minutes and had both of us cracking up. Here's the video of what we witnessed.

Our Easter Outings

We were able to see our families this weekend. My family came down on Saturday to visit with us just after we moved. It was my parents, my sister and her family, and my brother and his wife. We had an easter egg hunt with all the little ones and ate some fried chicken.Randi and Parks out on the lawn. Parks hates the texture of the grass. I'm sure it won't take long before we can't keep him out of it.Randi and Wyatt. Look at those "pearly whites?" Still no teeth for Wyatt yet. By the way, Parks has four already.My mom and Parks. It was a windy day, although you couldn't tell it from Park's hair.The whole brood.

On Sunday, we went to the lake to spend a few hours with Randi's family before going to our new church that night.

Parks Wyatt, can you say CHEESE?!Parks lasted about 15 seconds in the swing, but it was just long enough to get a picture.Randi's mom with Wyatt in the swing. Wyatt ended up getting a nice halo sunburn a the top of his dome.A perfect picture of Parks, clinging to daddy all day.Mister Personality
Over the last week, the boys have really started interacting with one another. Ah, peace and quiet...at least for a few minutes.

Happy Easter from Parks and Wyatt

Happy 10 Months Wyatt & Parks!

Wow!! Half way into March and no posts since 2/26. We have been feverishly preparing for a family move that is actually happening this weekend. Amid all this chaos, we want to mark the boys 10 month birthday today. They are both doing very well and are staying with Randi's mom overnight while we pack up everything.

Wyatt is still wearing his Starband helmet, but we are going for a scan and fitting on Monday. This will give us an opportunity to see how much he's really improved over the last month or so of wearing it. He is starting to become a lot more vocal....no more Quiet Wyatt. He loves turning things on and off, i.e., his crib soother, lights, electronics. He also loves toys that spin. In preparation for our move, his development has been assessed twice in last week. In both assessments, he scored extremely well in his fine motor 0r stationary skills and about 3 months behind in his gross motor or locomotive skills. He sits up for hours at a time and has just learned to roll over consistently. There are no real signs of crawling yet. He is 27 1/2 inches long, only 1/2 inch behind Parks. He was 2 inches behind him at birth. I knew he hadn't been gaining weight at his normal pace lately, so we were relieved to see it was because he was getting taller. We were so excited to see that he is on the growth curve for height (15th percentile) for the first time since birth.

Parks is now full blown in the middle of separation anxiety...mostly for me. It is so bad that I can't leave the room that he's in or even walk by the door opening without going into meltdown. He's got the temper of my side of the family. He is pulling up on everything and crawling very well. He gets frustrated because he wants to do more than his abilities will let him. We really think he'll be walking before his one year birthday. He LOVES the Baby Signing Time video and getting his picture taken. He is a stout little thing. He weighs 21 pounds and is 28 inches long.

We have some great pictures and video over the last three weeks that we will post soon. We are both ready to get settled in own new town and have it be the last time we make this kind of move. We really do feel like we are coming home this time.