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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Brenna Update

So as many people know, Brenna has suffered from developmental delays pretty much since her birth (probably more accurately since she was diagnosed with meningitis). Doctors have estimated those delays to be anywhere from 2-4 months behind. We have been concerned for some time about her ability to "catch-up" but had been reassured over and over that she would and we needed to stop comparing her to her same-aged peers.


At first we were struggling with her sitting, then crawling, then standing, and even being able to eat. Just recently has she begun eating various forms of food without issue. It's been a struggle to get her to "expand" her skills. The good thing is that she seems to be consistently delayed in most things. It's not necessarily one thing over another and eventually she does catch on. However, we are becoming more impatient as we see her peers continue to pass her up.


She has also struggled all her life with her sleep patterns. After 14 months of not sleeping through the night we finally decided to seek the help of a sleep specialist. I was always one of those parents that thought we had it figured out. Jacob was such a good sleeper and even though we were doing all the same things we were getting very different results.


Furthermore, at the same time we were referred to the sleep specialist we also decided to seek the advice of an ENT (ears, nose and throat specialist). Brenna has had repeat ear infections for some time now, and some required multiple sessions of antibiotics before going away. Given our history with Jacob and antibiotics we don't want to end up on a strong antibiotic consistently. We had also noticed she was snoring more than we were comfortable with.


After consulting with the sleep specialist and the ENT we discovered we were going to do things in phases. First, we began a regimented sleep plan. Next, we would consider doing a sleep study in January to determine if Brenna has any sort of Apnea. The results would likely be much more beneficial after she was 15 months old. However, if B gets any more ear infections she will be getting tubes placed in her ears (not that big of a deal). If it is determined she has apnea then she will also be getting her tonsils and adenoids removed.


The sleep plan has been a little difficult to implement as she has been sick several times since we began the plan just after Thanksgiving. Each time she is sick the plan starts over. It's been a slow process to say the least.


In terms of her physical development, Brenna is a little over 14 months old and is still not walking consistently. She is not strong enough to hold herself up for long periods of time it seems. Furthermore, her right side seems weaker than her left. We have begun classes at a local gym for toddlers hoping that will make a marked improvement without the need for PT. We will see in the near future if it will work... however, we are seeing some improvement.


I've never uploaded a video before so hopefully this works but here is a few of our little girls steps. As for everything else.. we will continue to wait impatiently and see!



November Activities

At the beginning of every November we are lucky enough to help celebrate the birthday of one of my favorite little boys. Daniel turned #3 and we celebrate at his Cars birthday party!!



Aunt Nicki with Miss Brenna


One of my absolute FAVORITE pictures of 2011!! Aunt Nicki (and godmother) and Jacob! How cute are these two?!?!

The BIRTHDAY BOY!! Happy Birthday Daniel! Daniel and Jacob are 10 weeks apart.

Daniel's Big Boy Bike!

The other big thing that happened in November was another one of our favorite little boys was baptised. Matt and I feel very honored to have been chosen to be Cameron's godparents.


Matt and I with our newest godson.. isn't he the cutest thing ever?!?


Us with parents and baby Cameron


Just a random but great picture of Jacob.. he LOVES to lick the bowl


November was completed with Thanksgiving and I was an awful parent and did not take 1 picture. Uncle Ryan was in town for Thanksgiving and we spend a lot of time with him. However, we will be seeing him again in a few weeks and will be sure to take pictures then.


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

WORLD SERIES

Matt and I were lucky enough to go to the World Series Game 7 when the Cardinals WON! It was the best baseball game I had ever been to. Obviously Game 6 was amazing as well but I was sleep in bed so game 7 was our chance.



Our tickets.. section 129, Row 11


Possibly the last time #5 bats for the cardinals (as a side note, the media is saying we will hear by the end of the day and I'm non-patiently checking my phone every 5 minutes)


Field celebration when we won


Me and Matt post victory


And the 2011 season would just not be complete without a picture of the Rally Squirrel

Halloween In Review

For Halloween this year Matt and I got to dress up too. Since we moved into our new subdivision last year we have made lots of new friends. We absolutely love where we live and our neighbors. The majority of summer nights were spent outside hanging out once the kids went to bed and boy do the kids have some great new friends as well. I think Jacob would spend every minute outside if he could. Now that it's winter we hardly see anyone. Hoping to change that but in the meantime we enjoyed a Halloween party at our neighbors.. we were 80's rock stars!





Here are the some of the girls from the neighborhood. This group is what we call the "court crew".. LOL


Brenna and Jacob enjoyed cutting pumpkins. Actually Jacob enjoyed it for about 5 minutes and generally Brenna couldn't have cared less. But oh well, she got in the picture so we know she was there.

My cutie getting ready to go trick or treating!



Matt had to work late on Halloween so pictures are scarce. Here is a decent one of both kids. We didn't realize how "safe" Jacob's costume was until we saw the pictures.. there is no way you could have missed him!

Here is Jacob with baby Cameron on Halloween (most know but for those that don't, Cameron is our good friends and now neighbor's son and also just became our godson as well). We love baby Cameron around here. In fact, Jacob doesn't really get that he's not his brother.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Teaser

I know, I know.. I've been awful at updating this blog lately. We have had so much going on. I promise I will update this weekend but until then here are the Halloween pictures everyone e-mailed me about weeks ago. I will post more shortly as we have a lot to catch up on.. Halloween, Cardinals World Series (yes, Matt and I were at game 7), some sicknesses and setbacks from Miss Brenna and holiday prep too.


Sorry again and I promise to get better (or at least try to get better)!!




Monday, October 24, 2011

Brenna's 1st Birthday Party!!

We celebrated Brenna's birthday last weekend and we all had a blast.. except Brenna. She wasn't feeling well and we didn't really know what was going on until the next morning when 2 new teeth appeared. Either way, we did our best to celebrate her birthday in style.


Here are some pictures - obviously it was a Minnie Mouse b-day. Brenna absolutely loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She will stop everything she is doing to watch it. Jacob wasn't a tv kid at all and we never could get him interested but Brenna is the exact opposite. She loves Minnie and everything Disney... (hint hint Daddy.. i think there is a trip to Orlando in our future).

Minnie Mouse birthday cake I made for Brenna's 1st Birthday. Every year I say I'm going to buy the next one but here I go again decorating until the early morning hours..


Decided to also do a small candy bar for the bigger kids. It went over well but I have lots of leftover candy!


Matt was nice enough to get a picture of the cake, cupcakes, #1 cookies (made by Nonna) and candy bar that was made all because of our sweet baby girl!


THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!!


Happy Birthday Baby Brenna!!


Jacob with Bren's gift from us - a Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair. I bought this when Brenna was only weeks old. We almost forgot it was in the basement. Jacob got one for his first birthday and still loves it.


Best attempt at a family picture - Jacob wanted nothing to do with it and I have a weird expression.


Starting to not feel so well but trying to make the best of it



Really done - almost falling asleep and there is a cupcake in front of me. She didn't touch it at all and just wanted to go so sleep... so we opened presents QUICKLY!


This is my panic look - there was so many "helpers" I was starting to lose track.. And Brenna just wanted the paper everything was wrapped in.


Still losing track and trying to keep it all together.


Brenna loving the paper!


Hey, what's in that bag?


Mommy and Brenna!! Love my baby girl so much!


After this Brenna went to bed and the rest of the party-goers hung out.


Adorable picture of Jacob and "little" Matt (Tom and Lauren's son). They are 2 years apart but buddies for sure.

Thank you to all those that were able to celebrate with us. Brenna had a fantastic birthday and after a rough year we were so happy to be able to celebrate with everyone!!


Here's to a healthy 2nd year (I think I had this exact same phrase at the end of Jacob's 1st Birthday post)..

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Fall Professional Pics

Here are Brenna's 12 month pictures and a few of Jacob mixed in too!























Jacob's School Picture

This was Jacob's school picture. He has been in school since the first week in August and still has drop-off issues. However, I went last week to be "parent-helper" and observed first hand Jacob's day. I could tell he has so much fun once he gets over the separation issues (which only takes a matter of seconds). We will still be sending Jacob to school and hopefully don't scar him for life in the process.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Our October is super busy so we decided to try to fit the pumpkin patch in this weekend. We go to a local farm and the kids love it there. It's small enough for them to make it through it all but big enough that they enjoy going.

Jacob with the animals. He liked the animals much more this year.

Yes, that is my son sticking his tongue out at the animal.

Me and the kids

How big is Brenna - "SO BIG". She was loving it!



Dad and the kids


That pumpkin is almost as big as Brenna


The best shot at a picture of both of them together


This year Jacob loved the corn maze. He went through about 10 times.


While Jacob was going through the maze Brenna was still on the hunt for a pumpkin as big as her.