Bryce Then and Now

Caleb Then and Now

They Are Getting To Be Such Big Boys

On Thursday we had the boys 4 year old well child check up. I know they aren't quite 4 yet but we did the check up a little early since our insurance will be changing soon. They behaved so well. I was very impressed. The nurse had them get undressed and then handed them little gowns to put on. Bryce put his on like a cape and Caleb was perfectly comfortable hanging out in his underwear.
Bryce weighed 37lbs and was 3ft 4inches which put him in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. Dr David was very happy with the progress that we had made on keeping his ankle tendon from getting tight despite the fact that he still walks on his tip toes. He was slightly worried about his hearing because he did poorly on the screening he had done at Lincoln Public Schools and also on the one that they did in the office. However the doctor continues to think it is from fluid build up and hopefully when the weather gets nicer and he gets over his cold that will help. He has to go back in a month for another screening to decide what we will do next. The doctor said he was right on track as far as development. He can do a project for 20min, draw a circle and a cross, knows his colors and can throw, kick and catch a ball. So that was all very encouraging. However the little guy had to get steriods for 5 days for his recent onset of croup that has made him sound like a barking seal the last couple nights.
Caleb has outgrown Bryce a little. Caleb now weighs 42lbs and is 3ft 5inches. This puts him in the 90th percentile for weight and 50th for height. He is our little man that loves to eat. His spring allergies have started up already so we got refills on his allergy medications. Dr David said that we would probably retest for the peanut allergy in a year so until we have to continue to be very careful that he doesn't eat anything with nuts. Caleb was also pretty much on track for development. He can somewhat copy what the doctor drew but has trouble keeping his focus on a project for more than a few minutes. He is way to busy to sit and learn his alphabet or numbers. He has playing to do. The expectation is that they can say the alphabet and count to 10 by 4 1/2 so we have until Christmas. We have some work to do! Caleb could also identify his colors and could throw, kick and catch a ball. It was interesting to me and the doctor that he is right hand dominate for writing but throws and kicks left handed. His hyperactivity is still something that concerns me but the doctor, Robb and everyone else assures me that he is just being a little boy. So for now that is not concerning to the doctor especially since the preschool teachers haven't noticed any problems.
It is hard to believe how fast they are growing up and changing in looks and personality. I used to be able to carry both of them all over and now they are very heavy to carry by themselves. I even have to buy clothes from the big boy area at some stores because they are wearing 4T-5T-4 depending on the store. How time flys!

Too Sweet

We were telling stories at bedtime and Bryce said "Are you married to Daddy? Thats funny!" Then he asked, "Can you marry more than one boy?" I said, "No, you can't." Then very serously he said, "But mom you have 2 boys. You really can't marry us both." Poor kid was very sad about the realization that he didn't get to marry his mommy.

Visiting the Farm

On Saturday we ventured to Tekamah Ne, where Robb's grandparents live. We love visiting with them, we just don't get there very often. I was supposed to work on Friday night but was lucky enough to be on call so we had an open Saturday. The boys loved playing with all the toys at their house. Orville, Robb's grandpa likes to go to toy shows so he always has fun tractors and trucks to play with. Abby loved wondering around the house to see what she could get into. She liked all the baskets of Easter eggs grandma had sitting around. Virginia, Robb's grandma made us a really nice supper which was delicious. Of course right after supper the boys told grandma that they brought boots so they could go outside. She was nice enough to humor them and tromp out in the mud with them to go see the chickens and cows. The boys were fascinated with the chickens. Grandma even let them feed them (which they thought was very cool). They really wanted to find an egg but she had gathered them earlier that day. Abby was also very intrigued by how much noise the chickens could make. She has been working on what sounds animals make but so far everything says ROAR! Then the boys went to see the cows. Caleb wondered why they were so dirty and Bryce wanted to know why they wouldn't come to the fence so he could pet them. I guess you can tell we have little city boys. Everyone had a good time even though by the time we left I'm sure grandpa had turned off his hearing aid so he could have a break from our noisy family.

Spring Fever

It was so wonderful to finally have some nice weather. The boys have been playing outside off and on, but lately it has been too cool for Abby to be out for very long. Today was perfect. We played outside all afternoon and night. Bryce and Caleb loved playing on the jungle gym and making mud cupcakes in the sandbox. Abby loved exploring everything. She tried to keep up with her brothers the entire time. She also loved the swing. She seemed a little nervous at first but really started to like it when her brothers would push her.
When Robb got home, Bryce and him played catch and Caleb rode his big wheel up and down the sidewalk. Abby loved trying to get whatever ball the boys were playing with at the time. Poor girl even ended up with a big bump on her head and a red scraped nose by the end of the night. She thought she could try the scooter after watching Caleb ride it all over. I can't wait for this summer! I think they will all have a lot of fun this year.

LPS Evalutation

As some of you may or may not know. Bryceman has been wearing AFO braces which are little hinged leg braces since November. The pediatrican had been following his tip toe walking since he was 18 months old and the decision was made to put him in these braces. He can still do everything that he wants to do, the concern was that when he walks on his toes he is strengthenig a whole different set of muscles than he would be if he was walking flat on his feet. So the hope with the AFO braces was that they would train him to walk flat on his feet and he could start to strengthen his core muscles which is what he needs to strengthen to do this. It was quite the struggle to get him to wear them at first but now he has done a lot better recently. He has also been seeing a physical therapist at Hand prints and Footsteps in town to help us with exercises and to follow his progress. Recently we made the decison to switch insurance companies and they will not pay for any of the physical therapy appointments or braces. (This may sound like a bad idea to switch insurance companies but that is an entirely different blog that I will write in the next couple weeks.) Anyway we decided to have him evaluated by Lincoln Public Schools to see if he would qualify for their PT services. Bryce handled everything so well! He got evaluated by an audiologist which supprisingly his hearing isn't great due to chronic fluid build up in his ear, which hopefully will resolve itself when the weather clears up and he doesn't have a constant cold. He was also evaluated by an OT, PT, and developmental specialist. He did a wonderful job listening and in the end the team decided that he did not qualify. Which as a parent I was very frustrated. The developmental specialist was very rude and although I realize she sees the worst of the worst for children that need services, she made me feel like an idiot and over worried parent for thinking my kid may need extra help. At the end or the session I felt very helpless. Robb and I have always put our kids first and just want to give them the best start possible. Evidently LPS does not see it our way so we will continue to pay out of pocket for PT because we have taken steps to help Bryce and now he is TOO FUNCTIONAL for help. Well a big thanks to LPS.

Colorado Ski Trip

Robb and I went to Colorado a couple weeks ago. This is the farthest we have been away from the kids at the same time. I must admit it was pretty hard to leave especially since I had only been home from California for a couple of days. Lucky for us Grandma and Grandpa Lutz agreed to watch our crazy kids for us so we could have a little time as a couple.
We drove all day on Thursday and got there pretty late at night. The condo was great. Robb did a good job taking care of all the reservations. Friday was my day. We went to the outlet malls and shopped most of the day. We got some cute things for the kids, I got some clothes and Robb got some snowboarding gear. Friday night we did night skiing at Keystone. When we went to pick up my rental skis, we ran into a great deal. The rental place had lifetime transferrable lift passes that they gifted to customers for the day if they spent that amount in the store. This was great for us because we ended up getting a lot of ski and snowboarding gear with money we would have otherwise spent on just buying our lift tickets. Night skiing is usually my favorite thing but I wimped out that night and only went on 2 runs because my boots were killing me. Robb went on a couple by himself and then we headed back. Our friends Mark and Emily that live in Denver met us at the condo that night.
Saturday I rented new boots and we headed to Breckenridge for the day. I think Emily and I were finally good enough and fast enough on the runs that we all had fun going on the same ones. I did step out of my comfort zone and went on blues. Robb said that I just had it in my head that I couldn't do them because they were labeled blue. He was probably right. Emily and I took a couple breaks to have drinks in the lodge while the guys went off to be dare devils. We were all a little sore after skiing and snowboarding that day so we hit the hot tub. This proved to be a mistake for Emily who had hurt her ankle pretty good. After the hot tub she could hardly walk so we had supper in and watched a movie. I will say that one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip other than just spending time together was eating my meal without having to cut stuff up, feed someone, clean up spills or hound someone to eat their food!
Sunday we went to Breckenridge also. It was another wonderful day of skiing and snowboarding with no serious fall or injuries. In the afternoon it started to snow huge snowflakes. The weather was still pretty nice and the snow was beautiful.This day was also the first time that Emily and I did a Blue/Black run and lived to tell about it. This was our last night of vacation so we went to a nice place for dinner and ate way too much. All in all we had a wonderful time.
Monday was a long drive home and we were anxious to see the kids! Abby was very excited to see us. Bryce and Caleb were excited to see us until they realized that us coming home meant Grandma and Grandpa were leaving. It was wonderful to see the kids again although let our hectic lives begin.

Stress

Well it has been a long time since I have written anything on here! Lets see if I still remember how. A lot has happened in our lives since the last post, so I will work on getting you caught up. On February 5 our nanny Kendra got into a bad car accident on the way to our house in the morning. It was one of those mornings that it had rained and the roads were like a sheet of ice. I went to pick her up from the accident and was so glad that she was in as good of condition as she was. Her car had been T boned by a service van and the metal was pushed in all the way up to the drivers seat. She was pretty cut up and had a badly broken arm, but all in all was very lucky. It really hit me when I saw Bryce and Caleb's car seats in the back. One was a mangled mess; just how fast our lives could change! Thankfully she was okay and the kids weren't in the car at the time, but it still left us with a huge problem. Who was going to watch our kids 3-4 days a week while we worked? A couple of the days I did my best to stay up all night and then some of the day, but I am sure that I wasn't a very good mommy. Robb took days off and our family has helped us. I can not thank my mom and Robb's parents enough for making the 2 hour drive and missing work to watch our kids so we can keep our jobs. It has been 4 weeks now and she is finally coming back. They have decided that her arm is healing well enought to put a hard cast on. So next week she is going to give it a try with 3 kids and one arm. The kids have missed her terribly and will be so happy to see her!

One of the other big things that has happened lately is that my Great Grandpa Eddie died. He was 92 and was still as spunky as I remember him being 20 years ago. I have always had a special place in my heart for my great grandparents Eddie and Ilene, so this was very sad for me and our family. They lived in California and the last time I had been there was when I was four for their 50th wedding anniversay. They came back to Nebraska every year up until the last couple years. They would stay in the trailer they had on my grandparent's lot in Orchard NE. When we would stay at my grandparent's house for a week in the summer we would run back and forth from house to house seeing all the grandparents. My favorite memory of back then was Grandpa Eddie and Grandma Ilene would let us drink root beer out of frosty mugs. Anyway, I really wanted to go to the funeral which was in California. Thankfully I have a supportive husband who willingly let me go for 4 days while he watched all 3 kids. It as nice to see Grandma Ilene even though it was hard to see her so sad and so lost after she lost her best friend of 70+ years. The funeral was very nice and all of us great grandchildren, that were able to come, had a part in the service which was very special. I also got to spend some quality time with my cousins that I haven't seen in way too long. It was nice to have some time to talk about our memories of when we were little and our lives now. My great grandparents did make it back to Nebraska last August. I was so happy that they got to meet my family. Here are some of the five generation pictures that we took. I will always cherish these!