Friday, October 30, 2009

FACEBOOK

As Mark is growing and we're doing lots more activities and such, we've moved to FACEBOOK. Click on the badge (don't forget to mention you are from my blog) and we'll add you as a friend. Thanks to everyone who has been following the blog! You can catch up with everything that Mark's been doing there....

Thursday, July 2, 2009

18 months (!) and the croup

It's been a busy few weeks here- time for Mark's 18 month (!) stats. Wow, it's hard to believe he is 18 months. Time sure does fly. It was just a few days shy of 18 months of being contracted out and waiting for him. He's been born and with us officially longer than our wait for him. Actually, we celebrated 3 years from when we contracted out with Lifetime on June 29th. Life sure is different now, and oh so much fun!

Anyway, to get to the good stuff, his appointment and stats: He's 24 lb 10 oz, 32.25 inches tall. His head is 18 7/8 inches. The dr said go ahead and keep him rear facing until 30 lbs, and that she can tell he's a pretty smart kid because he has a great vocabulary and is talking up a storm and interacting well. The challenge- lose the sippy cup completely by 2 years old. He took his 2 shots just fine. The Hib was still deferred due to a shortage (it was at his 1 year appt too). He sometimes doesnt want to drink milk (still on 2% as he has been since the beginning - he's supposed to drink 16 oz a day), and she said as long as he gets it in cheese, yogurt, ice cream, even calcium fortified oj it's ok. We don't go back for another well kid (can't call him a baby anymore!) check up until he is 2! We made that appointment for the Monday after his birthday.

But of course, we were back at the dr office a week and a half later. Mark has the croup again. Apparently there are some kids who get the croup every time they get a virus. Mark is one of those kids. This is his 3rd bout (he had it over Thanksgiving, and again in May). Fortunately we know what to do now (we pretty much ride it out, but he does use a humidifier - we do the shower/steam breathing treatment if it's really bad) and his dr said it gets easier and more mild each time. Eventually he should grow out of it. So while we did have some exciting and busy days this week, we also had some really good, long naps and have been taking it easy. He was at the worst of it Thursday morning, so he's on the upswing and should be fine after this weekend. We don't have much in the way of 4th of July plans except to relax and have fun- so that'll be good for him. Daddy is off Friday, so it's a nice long weekend.

Here are a few pictures taken recently of Mark.








Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Adventures in Reading

Mark loves books. We frequently go to Belles & Beaus (our favorite consignment store) and pick up books. And Mamacita and Papacito gave Mark a fantastic bookshelf that currently resides in our living room. He often picks out one for us to read to him, and sometimes "reads" a book himself. He always holds the book up properly, and can point out pictures in some of his favorite books.

Playgroup went to the library today for Toddler Story Time. Well, we attempted to go for toddler story time, but they were full before our group got there. Anyway, we hung out in the toddler section for a while, checking out the books and playing with our group.

We both got library cards. Mark has his very own library card and is allowed to check out any books from the toddler section of the library. He picked out four board books and is quite excited about it.

We also signed up for the Summer Read to Me program. For every fifteen minutes that Mark reads a book with Mommy or Daddy we gets to check off a space on the chart. When we fill it up with five hours of reading/listening we will take it back to the library for a special treat.

We're off with a bang! We're crossing half a mark off the first fifteen minutes. He doesn't have the attention span to sit and listen for fifteen minutes at a time, but we can do a couple books at a time. Right now our goal is to do fifteen minutes every two or three days. We'll see how it goes!

I loved having a library card growing up, spent many hours picking out books. Now, hopefully Mark has begun a similar path.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

My Mommy

I am so in love with this little boy.

Last night we met up with some friends (Kiza and Richard have a son Colin who is just two weeks younger than Mark) for some playtime and then went to see fireworks. The Kemah Boardwalk does fireworks every Friday night at 930. This was the first time for both boys to see fireworks, so we figured we'd see them from the safe distance of the Target parking lot. It was the perfect spot, not too crowded and a great view.

After the fireworks (which the boys loved by the way) we were standing around talking. I was holding Mark in my arms. He looked right at me, said "My Mommy" and put his head on my shoulder. My heart melted. I am so in love with this little boy.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Windy Hill

Here are some pictures from earlier this month. The family went to Windy Hill to help my parent's celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. It was a lot of fun. Mark had a fantastic time with Mamacita, Pappacito, all his aunts, uncles and cousins.






















Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Growth Spurt!

I have a lot to update, and will add plenty of pictures soon. It's been a busy month, that is for sure!

Mark is recovering from another bout of croup. But he's on the mend and almost back to his normal self. One positive thing, we got to find out how much he weighs and how tall he is when we took him to the dr.

At 16.5 months Mark is 23 lb 14 oz. And he is 32.75 inches tall. We knew he'd had a growth spurt recently, but wow!

I am in the process of going through his clothes and taking all the 12-18 month stuff out. He's pretty firmly in the 18-24 month clothes now. I thought we'd have a few more months, but that last growth spurt did it for him.

He is such a bundle of joy. His vocabulary is amazing. And he doesn't just walk now- he runs. Everywhere. But he still loves to snuggle when the time is right. He is so much fun and keeps me so busy! I LOVE this age!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Bluebonnets

Aunt Holly took some pictures of Cowboy Mark in the bluebonnets. He was all decked out in his cowboy boots (thanks Uncle Andy!), Wranglers, cowboy shirt, and of course a cowboy hat!