Peyton- 10 Months

Sweet little Peyton is 10 months old!  He is growing up too fast! 

Poor little guy has had a rough month. I took him to the doctor for his 9 month check-up and he had a terrible ear infection and I had no idea! Sweet little boy is so happy, I had no idea his ears were badly infected. The doctor asked us to come back in two weeks to check them again. Unfortunately, his ears were still infected after two weeks of medicine. We are trying one more medicine before the doctor will refer us to an ENT. Hopefully this medication clears it up! He also had another tooth break through this month and it was a tough one for him (and mommy!).

He started walking with a walker this month and is so proud of himself! He stood by himself for the first time and is trying so hard to take steps. He can also stand up from sitting down without holding onto anything to assist him. 

Being Sassy

Love these precious moments of trying to take his first steps!

He is such a happy little baby and giggles all the time! He loves to eat and will eat pretty much anything! 

He is a determined little baby and can definitely hold his own with Patrick. He sometimes even tries to crawl on top of Patrick while Patrick his playing with his trains. 

Michael says he sits like a 7th grade cheerleading girl with one leg bent behind him and one leg crossed in front of him. He crawls at super speed. He loves to play with anything Patrick is playing with, which really upsets Patrick.  He is babbling a lot now and can say ma ma and da da. He also always waves hello to Margaret in the mornings and waves goodbye when we leave.

These two precious little boys got to have a play day at home with mommy one day last week. Cherish those days so much!

Little angel still doesn't like to go to sleep unless I put him down, so he is pretty much always awake when we get home if we go out. How can you get mad at this precious little face? For reference, this was at 11pm. How is a little baby this happy at 11pm?

Love you Peyton! Can't wait to see you learn and grow this month!

Learning to Walk

Peyton is starting to try and walk!  He is so proud of himself and it is so cute to watch. Excuse the amount of trucks laying around, Patrick is sort of a tornado with his trucks!

Here is also a little video of Peyton laughing with Dad. How precious is his giggle?

And here is a video of Patrick singing Jingle Bells. I love his sweet little voice!

Fun in the Bath

Both the boys LOVE bath time (at least once you get them in there!) Peyton will not sit still and thinks it is so fun to stand up and sit down over and over again. He frequently falls flat on his face into the water so I have to be on my toes when I give him a bath! We normally give the boys baths separately. Each boy seems to like their own space in the bath.

One of Peyton's favorite things is to watch Patrick take a bath and giggle at him. Patrick loves to entertain him, so it's perfect!

This little boy has also figured out how to flush the toilet and tries to do it over and over and over again!

And a few little snippets of my sweet little boys. Not sure why Patrick is talking about hot spaghettios!

Patrick Quarterly Update

Can't believe its time for another quarterly update on Patrick!

He is just getting so big! He is such a little person now instead of a little toddler!

Patrick has made leaps and bounds in the sleeping department! He goes to sleep around 9pm and sleeps until about 7am. He asks for Michael or I to lay with him for 5 minutes while we pray and he gets settled in bed. He loves to pray for all of his family members (extended family included) every night. He has the occasional night (about once a week) where he wakes up and insists upon sleeping with us, but I think its mostly because Peyton wakes him up.

He also has the biggest heart and loves his family. On the weekends, Patrick is constantly asking where Peyton is if he is not around (i.e. napping). It is really sweet how much he loves him! A few times this month he has looked up at me, mid-play, and said "Mom, you are my best friend." Can you imagine anything cuter!? I think my heart almost exploded!

We have started talking about potty training. I think Patrick is physically ready to potty train, but is not there emotionally yet. He asks to go potty when he wants M&M's and goes frequently at school, but he won't do it consistently yet. I have a feeling he will be ready pretty soon.

He wakes up every morning and looks outside and says, "Mom it's not dark outside, it's a SUNNY day." I love how enthusiastic he is about waking up each day. Maybe I can take a cue from Patrick and wake up thinking every day is a sunny day too :)

He is also such a backseat driver. The other day I turned right on a red light and Patrick looked at me and said, "Mom!! You have to stop at a red light!" He also tells me when its green and I can go or when it's yellow and I need to slow down.

He loves to go to the "Target Market." He refers to a person as everybody. He sings constantly. Still loves trains. Pronounces his name "Patrick Moy (for Mulloy)"He also really loves movies. We have movie night on Friday night and he get's so into it. We pop popcorn, make a pallet on the floor and watch a movie he hasn't seen before and he loves every second of it!

He is doing really well at school, but I can tell that sometimes it is tough for him to go every day (I have  been working 5 days a week almost every week). By about Thursday or Friday he is pretty worn out. Those are the morning which are the most difficult for me. But, he has a sweet little ritual that he created when we drop him off. He asks if we will play with him for a few minutes and then when he has settled in, he asks for a hug, a kiss and a high-five (which is our cue to leave).

We had his first parent/teacher conference this week and he got such a good report! I was thrilled! His teacher said that he has a best friend and they just giggle at each other all day long. The teacher also said that he is extremely bright! She did say that he plays a little roughly with toys (what boy doesn't?) and that he has trouble when it is time to clean up or get ready for another activity if he is focused on something else.  Couldn't be more proud of his report!

Doing some of our feeding therapy homework and getting messy with glitter!

Build a Bear Workshop

Patrick, it is such a joy being your mom! Your sweet little smile and big blue eyes light up my world! I am so excited to continue to watch you grow and learn!

Feeding Therapy Update

We had Patrick's second weekly feeding therapy appointment last week. The difference two sessions has made is incredible!  Patrick is excited about eating and is doing so well!  He is doing wonderfully in his therapy appointments and is trying so hard to overcome his fears of food. During the first appointment the following foods were introduced: chicken nuggets, applesauce, cheese, bacon, sausage, oranges, cereal cars and apple crisps. During the first appointment Patrick would not try the oranges or sausage. He licked both, but starting showing signs of stress so the feeding therapist had him kiss it and put it in the all done bowl without eating it. During the second session, he ate everything that was introduced! The feeding therapist does not introduce new foods until he consistently eats the foods we have been practicing with at home.

Patrick still will not eat lunch or snack at school unless it is crackers or corn. However, he is excelling at home! For example, after school today he came home and ate 4 bags of apple crisps (freeze dried apples), a couple chicken nuggets, a french fry, 4 slices of bacon, juice and milk (with carnation instant meal added). I don't think he has eaten that much food in an entire week! He was so excited about eating and kept saying mom, I want to try something new (by new he meant only the foods he tried in therapy).

Before feeding therapy Patrick cried constantly around dinner time. He was so hungry but scared to eat anything. He constantly complained about his stomach hurting and he was just grumpy. I can't blame the kid, I would be grumpy if all I ate was yogurt, milk, fruit snacks and crackers. It was stressful coming home from work because he would just be screaming and there was nothing I could do about it. He was just terrified to eat anything of substance. Now he gets so excited about it and I couldn't be happier! He actually ate Chic-Fil-a for the first time in his life last weekend! I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is a big deal for him! I really hope this can continue and it can expand outside of our house. I hope he can become comfortable enough to eat at school and around friends. My hope from the beginning was that Patrick could go to a restaurant or a party and be comfortable eating something! I don't think we are quite there yet, but I know we will get there!

The feeding therapy is also helping in other aspects of Patrick's life. Before therapy, he hated getting his fingers dirty. He did not like to finger paint or get messy. But recently he has been comfortable finger painting in the bath and doing a few other messy activities. I am so encouraged and so excited about the progress Patrick was made. Michael and I could not be more proud of our big boy for facing such a big fear!

Peyton- 9 Months

Peyton is 9 months old! It has flown by!

He is still such a happy, laid back little guy. He loves to be on the move and is constantly crawling at lightning speed after Patrick. Any toy that Patrick is playing with is the toy Peyton wants to get his hands on. He is also VERY persistent and does not quit until he gets his hands on what he wants. He doesn't fuss when you try and redirect him or move a toy out of his reach, but instead just works that much harder to get the toy.

He is still a really good eater and will pretty much eat anything you give him. He is also still a really messy eater. He really wants to feed himself and gets upset when he can't grab onto the spoon and try himself. He started trying table food this month and will eat it, but gags a little. He prefers to eat his baby food, but will eat any table food I give him. He isn't that fond of cheerios, which I was surprised about.

He still has 6 teeth, but I have a feeling a couple more are on the way soon. He likes to bite and bites my arm and shoulder a lot! For such a little guy it really hurts! I'm afraid we are going to have a biter on our hands!

He loves to tear apart play with Patrick's train table. Patrick gets really upset when Peyton rips the tracks off and throws them on the ground.

This tunnel is his favorite toy. He loves crawling into it and sitting in the middle and waiting for someone to play peek-a-boo with him. He can also play peek-a-boo himself. He loves to play right after bath time and lift the towel over his head and then pull it off and giggle. It is hysterical!

He also starting waving this month. He is still a little inconsistent with doing it, but looks precious when he does wave. He started saying dada this month. I don't think he knows what it means, but he constantly says it! I'm working on getting him to say mama, but he does not seem interested!

He is still not sleeping through the night yet and not really showing any signs of trying. Hopefully we can get this little guy to try and sleep through the night soon!

At his 9 month appointment, he weighed 21 pounds, 1 ounce (55%), was 29 1/4 inches tall (75%) and his head circumference was 18 1/4 inches (75%).

Peyton, you are such a fun little baby! I have loved watching you grow and learn! We had your first Christmas this month and it was so precious watching it through your eyes!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning finally came and both the boys slept in! Peyton woke up at about 7am and we patiently waited for big brother to wake up. When Patrick woke up, he immediately started yelling "Mom...come get me! I slept all night in my bed so Santa will bring me presents!!" Love it! 

It was time to see what Santa brought us!

Patrick immediately said "Oh a Jake boat!" when he saw his toys. He did not even see the gigantic blue car sitting behind it!  Notice his favorite two toys from the night before right next to him.  He insisted they sleep next to him and insisted the trucks come to see what Santa brought!

Peyton inspecting the Dusty tunnel. Peyton LOVES this toy! He thinks it is really funny to crawl inside and then wait for Patrick to come jumping in.

He was really excited to get into his blue car!

Pure joy! I love it! He was so excited to drive the car and immediately ran into the couch which he thought was really funny.

Notice Patrick is playing with his cars and Peyton goes immediately for the candy he dumped out of mom's stocking. Not only did Peyton eat a few M&M's, but he tried to eat hershey kisses whole (with the wrapper) and took a few bites of dog treats while we were helping Patrick. Got to watch out for my little food lover!

After seeing what Santa brought, we headed over to the Mulloy's for a yummy breakfast and to exchange gifts. Here is my little cutie for his first Christmas in front of the tree.

A few family pictures

Not the best picture of my little family, but at least we attempted!

Patrick and Harper playing with some of Harper's trains from Santa

Patrick loved his Tennessee jersey from Matt and Mark

We unwrapped more presents at Mulloy's.  The boys had such a fun time. Then it was time for the final present.... matching red corvette's for Harper and Patrick to ride at Nana and Grumps house! Patrick had a lot of fun riding in his car!

Peyton even tested it out!

Mark decided to test it out

Just like Grumps!

Sweet boys cuddling with daddy!

Cuddling with Grumps

Patrick's favorite event of the day was the bubble wrap race track that uncle Matthew and Mark set up for him. He ran through the hallway for an entire hour popping the bubble wrap. He had a blast! Sweet little Harper was a little nervous of it and patiently watched Patrick run back and forth.

Then we went home to take a much needed nap. I took a nap with this little cuddlebug!

Then we went to Big and Allie's to see what Santa brought to their house. My sweet little boys posed in front of their tree.

Ever since Christmas Patrick has been singing "Santa Claus is coming to town" non-stop. So I think it's safe to say he had a blast! It was such a fun Christmas! I loved sharing in the joy of Christmas with these two little boys!