15 Months!

Weight Check
William - 22lbs 8oz
Aaron - 23lbs 4oz

The little guy has overtaken William in weight and is off to the races!  Well, almost...

The boys will be one year adjusted on Friday of this week - their due date was October 5th.  Yay!  They were baptized today, which was awesome, and I was happy to have our family and friends there to celebrate - as well those special people in the congregation who have been supporting us and praying for us over the past year and three months.

Medical updates:  The boys were circumcised this month and Aaron had tubes put in.  They both had the follow-up eye exam - William is still farsighted, Aaron is still nearsighted, and still only Aaron needs glasses.  His eyes are almost as bad as mine were before I had Lasik.  I do have the prescription now but still need to find a good place to bring him - which takes our insurance -  to get the frames.  Miraflex are supposed to be pretty much unbreakable, but I don't really like the look, and they were the only brand available at our eye doctor.

The boys have both been released from the pulmonologist, which is great.  We do have everything started to get the Synagis shot (RSV vaccine) next month, and hope to not need the lung doctor again.

Developmental updates:

William continues to cruise around furniture, and is finally able to go from crawling to sitting.  He was just going from crawling to kneeling, which was a minor concern.  I feel like he'll be taking steps within the next month or two.  He has the larger vocabulary of the two, and now also says Hi, Bye, and Boom.  He's started to put things together well, like putting toy balls in a whole in one of his toys to make the ball go down the ramp.  It's really fun to see those connections being made.

Aaron is TAKING STEPS.  My little grade 4 brain bleed miracle whom we were told had a high chance of never walking, talking, etc, is close to walking.  I'm so super proud of him, and at the same time still have the urge to go back and kick those doctors for ever telling us anything negative.  (That's wrong, I know).  I know they were speaking to worst case scenarios and making sure we were prepared for anything, and I do think it makes me more appreciative of every little bit of progress the boys make.   Aaron is also babbling more, but not yet saying identifiable words other than Mama and Dada.  They both are great eaters, and we are currently weaning them off of the Enfacare and on to whole milk.

Instead of pictures, here's a video taken about a week ago - it's probably about 3 minutes and 14 seconds of boredom for most people, but does show how far they've come :)  Ignore me talking in the background!  Aaron is the first one in the video, and on the left when they play at the table.  William pushes the table across the floor, and Aaron walks along the couch, then crawls to me - you will see him take a little unassisted step at the very end of the video, from the couch to the little ottoman.  It was taken with my cell phone, so the quality isn't great...but it's still my favorite video of the boys so far :)

14 Months!

The boys are 14 months as of earlier this week!  They are still amazing little boys :)  They should be close to 22 pounds now, but we haven't had their weights checked in about a month.

They continue to become more and more mobile - both are cruising along furniture with ease, and will let go for a second and stand on their own.  Aaron is super close to walking by himself - he likes walking with the push toys across the room, and seems to have a good sense of balance.  William is getting there, he's just always been a little behind Aaron in movement.

They still babble a lot, and say Mama and Daddy, and possibly a Grammee and Grandma and Anna...but it's hard to tell if they really mean what they sound like :)  I'm waiting for the speech to pick up more - they are on track, though.

They have their own little personalities.  Aaron is super, super cute - he makes the funniest faces and has the cutest grin.  He's more laid back and pretty much takes everything in stride.  William is the pretty boy, and acts like a puppy :)  He's very vocal when he wants something or isn't happy.  He's also more of the mama's boy, for now at least.  They love to make each other laugh, which is the best sound ever, and enjoy doing things like head butting each other for entertainment.  Silly boys.  

We had developmental clinic at the beginning of the month.  Both measure at their adjusted age, with William slightly ahead of Aaron due to the better fine motor skills (he has a better pincer grasp than Aaron, who still does a lot of the raking motion when picking up small items).  Aaron has better control of his overall upper body, though.  Both of William's legs are still slightly tight, and his trunk, so we have stretches to do at home to help with rotation.  The tightness in his trunk is keeping him from moving from a crawling to sitting position, but he has learned to go from crawling to a kneeling position on his own.  It'll come with time.  

Aaron is tighter in his left leg, which we need to stretch so that he can stay symmetrical.  With the tightness just on one side, there's a chance that the other leg can get longer.  Also, because he's stronger on his right side, his left foot tends to turn out and his right foot turns in (so they're parallel to each other, just not facing straight out).  This may/should start to correct itself as he gets older and walking, and I've found it to be better since the clinic noted it at the beginning of the month.

We do have a few visits in September - Aaron, and possibly William, should be getting glasses on the 10th.  Aaron is also getting tubes that week, because he has had a few ear infections this year, and we were able to arrange the circumcisions at the same time as the tubes so that Aaron only has to undergo anesthesia once. 

So, we still have some things to work on and continue to have a barely manageable load of doctors' appointments between all three kids, but really...who could ask for anything better?  We are so, so lucky that the boys are doing this well, and I know it makes me appreciate the quality time I have with them that much more.

Now that the boys are no longer under quarantine, we've been able to attend a lot of family functions this summer, which has been nice. I'm looking forward to next summer when the boys are running around and we're able to do even more :)  

A couple of pictures

William & Aaron

Aaron & William

Aaron

13 Months

Size
They were both just over 21 pounds, and about 28.5 inches at their one year check-up in early July, with Aaron now slightly ahead of William in weight and length

General updates

The boys are now 13 months – they’ll be 10 months adjusted this weekend.  They are doing GREAT.  They are both standing up and cruising along furniture and toys.  They babble and make lots of fun noises, including “mama” and “dada” (although I'm not sure if they really mean "mama" and "dada" yet).  William will sometimes repeat what you say to him, and he is very, very vocal when he wants something.  If you have any type of food or drink he gets very excited and screams at you – you better give him some J  William is more vocal at home, but Aaron tends to be more talkative around other people.  We're still waiting for more real words, which will hopefully start to come soon.  Both are very social, and Aaron is definitely the little flirt with his sweet grin. 

We took them to the Children’s Museum in Short Pump this weekend with friends, to crawl around in the baby area, and they both are unafraid to go over to other kids and adults and seek attention.  Aaron had the first tooth and now has the other bottom one coming in, but William now has more – all four front teeth started coming in at once.  Aaron has started clapping now as well (William has been doing this for a while) – and when you sing “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!” – he claps!  They’re fun babies!  They love peek-a-boo, they love to laugh, they love to eat, and they love attention.

Health updates

Both boys had ear infections at their one year check-up, but were showing no symptoms.  William’s went away, but Aaron has pretty much had one since March, so we have a consult for tubes for him in August.  It would be nice to be able to schedule the tubes and circumcision together (have both heads worked on at once...he he) since both require anesthesia, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible.  Anna has had two sets of tubes now and we know how much they have helped her, so I’m not worried about the tubes. Other than that, they have both been healthy.  

Our early interventionist seems to be concerned about William's eyes turning in sometimes...the boys have an eye doctor appointment in September, so we'll see what he says at that time.  At the last appointment, William's eyes were great and Aaron needed glasses.  They'd both be cute in glasses :)

We have the developmental clinic at St. Mary’s on Wednesday, and I’m curious as to what they will think.  Everything seems to be right on track with no issues – hopefully they will say the same.

Pictures

Aaron ...are you looking at ME?

William

Anna

Aaron & William...they won't look at the camera at the same time!

Aaron & William

Aaron

Aaron & William...trying to break into the play room

Aaron found a girlfriend at the Children's Museum

Aaron & William

Grandpa giving William away to a bear

Aaron ... Birthday Cake!

William.. Yummy!

William stealing Aaron's cake, after he devoured his own :)