happy birthday michael!!

happy second birthday micheal!!  the dude had a great time playing with you and liam at your party.  you were such a popular boy, i didn't get very many pictures of you.  we hope you had a great day and got everything you wanted!!!

i think i know of one thing the dude will be asking for at christmas this year!!!

first auto show!

the last time grady and i went to the dc auto show was about 5 years ago.  we figured it would be something fun to bring the dude to and we would enjoy it too.  the dude fell asleep on the way down there, but only got about a 45 minute nap.  once we got to the convention center we fueled him up with some snacks and off we went.

to our surprise there was a chinese dragon troup roaming the auto show the same day!  very cool!  we made our way into the show and then took a break for lunch.  of course the dude fell asleep again after lunch for a good 1.5 hours or so.  so we didn't get too many pics of him in cars....maybe next year!!

all in all though, we had a great time.  it was nice to get out of the house, look at cars we would LOVE to have, contemplate cars we COULD essentially get, and drool over cars we will NEVER have the pleasure of driving in our lifetime!  :)

15 month well visit

this morning we had the dude's 15 month well visit.  i know i say this everytime...but seriously...where is the time going???!!!  

here are the stats:

weight - 26 lbs 10 oz (78%)

height - 30" (17%) (woah...2 inches in 3 months!!)

head circumference - 19.5" (96%)

here's what you've been up to:

still wearing the tride and true size 5 diapers all day

typically you go to bed at 730 and are up by 645.

you still sleep with your binkie and lovey.

you're not a huge fan of red meat.  nor very many vegetables!

you've become quite attached to me and always want me to hold you.

you are AWESOME about playing by yourself.  we'll often find you reading on the floor by yourself.

you love playing across the street at the playground with the neighborhood bad boys.  you've also become the first one of the bunch to climb UP the entire twisty slide!!

you are a full time walker and working on running!!

you had two tests so far to try and figure out what's causing all these breathing issues.  both the sweat test and upper GI came back normal.  PHEW!

chillaxin'

someone loves their reading chair.....okay...so make that two someones!!

ps....happy belated birthday mojo!!!  our lovely, loving pibble is now four years old!!  she has been the best dog we could have ever asked for.  we <3 you moj!!!

new and old friends

it was a wonderful weekend full of old and new friends!!  les came into town after visiting her sister in NC and made a stopped by before she headed back home to san fran.  a bunch of us went out to dinner on friday to hang out with the lady.  and then grady, the dude and i headed over to dawn and ej's house today to have some adult beverages and snacks while the kids played.  

graham has hung out with kiera before, but this was the first time he could walk around and actually play with the big kids!  they all got along swimmingly....not to any of our surprise.  we lucked out and got some pretty chill kiddos!  they were all nice and pleasant to each other and kept each other occupied.  

it was so nice to visit some more with les, i was definitely sad when she had to head to the airport.  i still can't believe it's been 17 years that we've been friends now.  one of these days i WILL make it out to san fran to visit.  hmmmmm, family vacation?!

white out!

by pure luck, we were at lowes last weekend and saw the sleds.  we figured we would buy one just in case.  little did we know what would come next!!

they were calling for some snowy weather over night last night, but growing up in NOVA, i've learned to not keep my hopes up.  usually when expectations are high we get 'nuthin.  when expectations are low we get everything!  well, this was a happy medium.  there was only an inch or so of white stuff on the ground, and it must have sleeted more than snowed overnight because everything was that crusty snow.  not a bad thing though.  it was perfect for the dude's brand new sled!!

the neighborhood bad boys had a great time playing outside in the snow.  it didn't take the dude long to realize the sled was the place to be.  we were able to entice michael into the sled, but liam wasn't quite sure about it.  

until the next snowfall*

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, TEN and ELEVEN

congratulations mr. lower left first molar and mrs. lower right first molar!!!  you're simultaneous arrival has been quite interesting.  yeah...you're honeymoon can now end so my little dude can go back to being normal.  now i know why someone has been a little cranky, drooly and clingy!!

the return of senor sombrero

looks like someone has found a new hat too!  hmmm, daddy's wool newsboy hat is quite nice!

sweat test

this past tuesday, the dude went in for his second test that the pulmonologist had recommended.  he headed in to get a sweat test done that would check for cystic fibrosis.  the doctor didn't lead us to believe that he had CF, but she wanted to get the test done to rule things out.  

grady took the day off to take graham in and said he did great during the whole thing.  the dude doesn't normally have a problem sweating....on his head at least!  but i guess sweating on his arm is a different story.  because he didn't sweat enough at first, grady said they had to put his jacket on and make him run around a bit so they could get enough to sample!  i wish i could have seen that!  

it was a long two days waiting for the results.  i thought someone would have called me either from the testing office or the pulmonologist's office.  that would be too easy!  i couldn't wait any longer, so i called the pulmonologist to see if they had gotten the results.  of course i get voicemail!

about an hour later i get a call from the pulmonologist's office.  everything came back NORMAL!  YEAH!!!!!  i was SO relieved!  i know they say not to google medical information online, but i couldn't help it.  the one statistic i saw about life expectancy of a child with CF about broke my heart.  but now that i know the dude doesn't have that, i vow to NEVER look at a CF website ever again.  

instead, i'm even more bound and determined to figure out what's causing the dude's breathing issues.  for now we're just continuing pulmacort nebs twice a day and singulair once a day until we go back to the pulmonologist for a check-up in february.

senor sombrero

all of a sudden the dude has acquired a distinct liking for his sombrero!!  it doesn't look like he'd be able to see, but in fact, the sombrero sits just so on his head that he can see perfectly.  hopefully this means he'll like wearing a hat in the spring and summertime!

playground fun

for some reason it was unusually warm this weekend, so what else to do.....take advantage of it!!  we had all the neighborhood boys out yesterday, but of course, i forgot my camera.  liam was sleeping today, but we got the dude together with his buddies michael and adam.  

they had a fun time standing on the benches, going down the slides and running around on the tennis court together.  as much as i love winter, i can't wait until spring comes around so we can have more days like this.  i love having the dude outside getting dirty and tuckerd out.  for now we'll just keep thinking warm thoughts.

excited!!!

so most of you have heard us talking about the dude's excited face.  it's usually hard to coax out of him, but not today!  i think now that he knows it makes mommy and daddy crack up, he likes being cheeky!

may i present.......

....the excited face!

foto friday

okay, so this was taken on new years eve (yes, i'm a little late)...but i still thought it would be a good foto friday entry!  graham was quite the natural dj!  and i think daddy was just a little happy to see his interest in all the knobs and buttons!

count'em 9!

howdy number nine!

bottom right lateral incisor