2 years old!

Seamus had his second birthday yesterday. It is amazing how different he is from his sister. Immediately upon waking he was obsessed with his birthday. He saw the cupcakes I made and was upset that he couldn't eat them for breakfast. He also was very upset that he couldn't open presents at breakfast. ("why???" "Because Daddy is at work and we are having a family party after dinner." "Why??" "Because Daddy wants to see you open your presents." "Why??" *sigh*) I did let him wear his party hat.

He was totally cranky.  He was at the beginning stages of a cold, and he wasn't getting his way.  Oh, yeah: and he's two.  Katey said that he was super cranky at daycare until the afternoon when he was allowed to have his cupcake.  Then all was right in the world.  Can you say obsessed? 

Cupcakes for daycare

With age two comes an increased lack of patience as seen in the below photo.  He was sooooo excited that he couldn't wait for the cupcake to hit the table before he started to blow out the candles. 

yum yum

I was only able to get a precious few pictures of the gift opening.  The two year old tornado was on a present opening mission.  It was unbelievable.  We also tried to Skype with a few gift givers during the opening of their presents.  It was hectic.  My parents watched Seamus tear through their presents (quickly throwing a hand made sweater from my mom over his shoulder) and then jump up and grab a HUGE brown box and carry it to the couch.  How he knew there were presents in there is beyond me.  Oh, and he is LOUD!  "Mine!  More!"  I had a headache and Jim was getting back spasms by the time it was over.  The kid was so keyed up.  He also wanted to open each toy right away.  He tried opening a Lego box from his cousins and couldn't get it.  So he tapped Jim on his pants pocket repeatedly.  That's where Jim keeps his knife.  Smart little boy.  So Jim opened it up for him. 

The presents were all a hit.  I thought bedtime would be a epic battle because he was so worked up, but we managed to calmly read two new bed time books.  Then he went right to bed clutching his new Pirate doll and didn't make a peep.  The rest of us collapsed.

Happy birthday, little man!

summer fun

Frog hunting

Dressing up at Katey's

Eve's birthday

Oma came for two visits this summer while Pop was at camp. Here's a picture from the first visit:

Seamus just loves playing with Oma's Kindle.  During this visit, he didn't miss a trick and was pointing at her bag while saying, "Kindle.  Kindle!" until she agreed to let him play with it.

Evie and JoJo holding hands

Eve has a wonderful 8th birthday.  She brought ice pops in to summer school to share with her classmates and then we did cake and presents at home.

Of course Josie was involved. 

And Seamus was a big help.  First he helped blow out the candle.  Then he helped open her presents. 

Then he helped play with her presents.  :/

 

Fortunately, Eve is an excellent sport and didn't mind sharing her new toys and books.  Thank you everyone for being so thoughtful with your birthday wishes.  It's truly unbelievable that my baby is 8 years old.  It is also unbelievable that she's lived half her life in Massachusetts.  Although, this past week has felt more like GA with the crazy heat. 

big boy bed

The new bed arrived for Seamus yesterday. 

He absolutely loves it!  He climbed in and out of it about 500 times yesterday afternoon.  It's a little high, so he needed a stool.  Bedtime was a little rocky; he took a while to settle down.  But then he slept all night and woke up chatty and happy (and stayed) in his bed.  Here's a shot of when he woke up. 

Bubbles

 

 

Seamus loves his bubble bath.  He made up his first song in the bath:  "Hey, bubble.  Hey, bubble.  Hey, bubble (repeat 500 times)."  The first week of bubble baths ended with him crying when the bubbles drained and trying to cover the drain with his hands.  He also loves it when I blow bubbles the size of his head with the shampoo and my fingers in the OK sign. 

new gj - again

This week, we went back to Baystate to have Eve's gj button switched out. After talking with the GI last week, we decided to give the Mic-Key one more try.  And we planned to do it with sedation this time.  When Eve and I got to the pediatric procedure department, the nurse was asking me if I wanted to do it without sedation.  I told her no and explained why.  Then she said that maybe they could just loop her out a little but not fully sedate her.  She told me that most kids don't need sedation for this procedure.  This was pretty frustrating for me.  I just said I wanted sedation and explained why.  Stop trying to convince me otherwise.  I told her that I just wanted Eve to be comfortable - whatever level of sedation that would achieve that would be fine.  So she talked to the doc in charge of sedation and he decided to try just looping her out with a little Versed.  It turned out to be fine.  (She never went to sleep and the doc that replaced the tube said it was a good level - they just had to hold her hands down when she startled.)

When we got down to radiology for the procedure, I found out that she wasn't getting the Mic-Key after all.  There was a total miscommunication and they had the older style gj tube for her.  I was super angry at the GI office.  After talking to the GI, I had called the nurse and asked her specifically if we needed to call the hospital to ensure they would have the mic-key ready for Eve.  The nurse ASSURED me that wasn't necessary, they had already ordered it and placed her name on it.  And, dammit, I trusted her.  I just told the hospital staff as long as she had a replacement gj, I was happy.  The procedure went very well.  I talked to the doc and staff at Baystate and they emphatically disagreed with the GI's recommendation of 6 months until the next replacement.  They strongly believe it should be 3 months and said that they are the ones that take them out and see the deterioration.  So I told them I'll split the difference and aim for 4.5 months. 

As I was stewing on the car ride home, I think I figured out the tube/button mix up.  Here's the timeline:
Monday morning I called the GI office and left a message explaining the button had blown valves and needed to be replaced.  The GI nurse (without ever speaking to me) called the hospital and ordered a new mic-key button ASAP.  The guy that manages the equipment at the hospital called me (and I didn't know the nurses has ordered the button) and we talked about tube vs mic-key and I told him I'd just rather have the old style tube.  So I think he canceled the mic-key.  I never heard from the GI office that day.
Tuesday: GI calls me and I talk to the actual doc.  We discuss tube vs button and he suggests that we try the button one more time because if it were functioning properly I'd prefer it.  He also insists he's never heard of valves blowing.  So I call the GI nurse and schedule the switching of the tube.  I ask her if I need to call the hospital and tell them we are now going with the mic-key. She insists that it's been ordered and has Eve's name on it.  (I did not know she had ordered it prior to me talking to John) 
So, I learned an important lesson: Double and triple check.  Don't trust anyone until I get confirmation myself.  It turned out fine and her new tube works great.  So, sometime in October I'll have her tube switched out again.  And I'll order a mic-key and make sure it's in stock. 

late night shenanigans

Last week, Seamus had trouble sleeping.  I think he was fighting off a cold.  Anyhow, he was not happy being in his crib.  So. he. climbed. out.  It was 5am and I was so shocked I just scooped him up (he was standing in the middle of his room, crying) and took him to bed with us.  No one slept.  He kept tapping my shoulder and saying, "Mamma.  Mamma?  Mamma."  Needless to say he was tired that day. So was I.

Nap time started off with him crying, and promptly hopping out of the crib when I left the room.  I put him back in the crib and he hopped right out and was sitting on his tricycle smiling at me when I went into his room. Here's what he looked like when I went in to wake him up.  Sleeping like a boss.

So, that afternoon we took the front rail of his crib off and turned it into a toddler bed.  I went to a local furniture store and ordered a twin bed for him.  It should come in about 2 weeks.  In the meantime he's doing pretty well.  It was a rough start and we had to go back to sleep training.  The first night was tough with lots of crying.  The second night was better with 7 minutes of crying. By the 4th night there was no crying at all.  My mom was in town for all of this, and she was such a big help.

We got him a pillow and he seems to really like hopping up into bed. I think he's also enjoying the freedom.  When I woke him up from his nap this afternoon, this is what I found.  He had gotten up after we left the room and found his hat and alligator pull toy.  Because who doesn't like sleeping in a straw hat with a wooden alligator.