Our Baby is No Longer a Baby

After a much longer than anticipated hiatus from blogging, I am hoping to give some updates on our growing family. Although I missed doing Matthias' monthly updates like I did for our older boys, I still wrote down all of his milestones and am able to look back on each month. There is a level of mommy guilt that everything is not completely equitable between the twins and the baby in that regard but intellectually I know there were many extenuating circumstances that prevented me from doing so. We really reveled in Matthias' babyhood after surviving the intensity of having twins the first go round.

Our Matthias Theodore turned one year old last month. It was a surreal feeling for his birthday to come around. On one hand it felt as though he was still that chubby newborn with a head of dark hair and on the other it felt like a lifetime had passed.  This year has presented some heavy trials for us and we are thankful that Matthias has been a big bright spot. 

We call this little boy Baby Beef because he takes a lot after his papa. His mannerisms and facial expressions just scream Eric. At his one year appointment, this kid was in the 76th percentile for weight and height so the moniker just makes sense. He took his first steps at eleven months and really got the hang of it around his birthday. He had several words that were distinguishable including mama, papa, do-do (or dog), yes, no and diaper. He gets very animated when eating food and likes to make a 'mmmhh' sound when it is something that is his favorite. He also says 'ah' when he opens his mouth to let you know he is ready for more. He does the 'ah' sound even when he is independently feeding himself. His favorites are cheese, yogurt, crackers, snap pea crisps and fruit.  He is a good eater overall and it is not too hard to coax him to eat veggies. He also like green smoothies.

Matthias and Marcus- cousins and little buddies

We got our back yard landscaped this past summer and it has been a blessing to have a nice space for the kids to play.

Matthias has a hearty giggle and loves to be involved in whatever his older brothers are doing. Thus far he seems to be very extroverted like his older brothers as well. He is a content little guy and many people comment on how mellow he is. I like to joke that he is very easy going until he is not. It does not come out too often but this kid can have a temper and his inner sin nature can definitely rear its ugly head. He has actually pushed my face and said "Nooo, nooo, mama" when he gets frustrated from being pulled away from something off limits. He is also pretty funny when he gets caught doing something naughty. He will crawl, or now as is the case, walk away as fast as he can. He gives you this look as if to say "You did not see that." I forgot how hilarious and exhausting the naughtiness of a young toddler can be.

Right at twelve months he had three teeth, just a snaggle tooth on top and two bottom teeth. He wears size four diapers and 12-18 month clothing. He does not sleep through the night...yet.  He can generally do 7-8 hours before he wakes up but that still means his mom's sleep gets seriously interrupted.  We have tried more strict forms of sleep training and it just doesn't work on him. He is his own little person and I know that it will happen eventually. I have noticed that every time he cuts a tooth that we are hitting sleep regression (no big surprise there). He is an affectionate little guy and frequently lays his head on people's shoulders which is his version of a hug.

We had a little party at our house for his first birthday and enjoyed the perfect weather by playing outside. We are so thankful for this little boy and his sweet, funny and mischievous personality. Matthias has been the perfect complement to his older brothers and they clearly adore him. We have been blessed with three sons--what an incredible gift! Thank you, Lord, for our our wee Matthias.

Our Son Has Arrived!

With great love and joy we welcome our son, Matthias Theodore Guddat. He was born September 9th at 9:11 pm weighing 9 lbs. 4 ozs. and 20.25 inches. We had a great birthing experience at Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Right now we are just getting settled into life with three children and remembering the sleep deprivation that comes with having a newborn. We are absolutely loving the experience of having a singleton. It has been so special thus far. I am definitely looking forward to writing out the birth story and sharing more about our little blessing.

Right after his weigh in, Vitamin K shot and antibiotic eye drops.

Middle of the night snuggles with papa.

The morning after he was born.

First photo with our new son.

A&W's Second Birthday Party

So it was not my intent to scare anyone with my last post. Just to be clear since I am behind on posts, we are all doing well and Seymour seems to be doing just fine.  We are thankful.  I am looking forward to sharing more about our little one on the way.

The week of the boys' birthday I was on bed rest and then majorly upgraded to modified bed rest a.k.a. "taking it easy" and making sure I rested a lot.  I was not allowed to pick up the boys which obviously was really hard.  I have two mama's boys that quite frequently say, "Mama, hold you" and of course there is nothing more I want to do than hold them and snuggle them.  We got through the week just fine however and I am grateful for my helpful husband who planned the menu out for the boys' birthday and put it all together.   This year's birthday party was intended to be way more low key than the boys' first birthday party.  With the scare with Seymour, it was nice that it was a lot less work and not stressful at all.  We did crockpots of turkey chili, fixings, macaroni and cheese, corn bread and green salad.  We had a birthday cake, cupcakes and vanilla ice cream for dessert. 

What made this year's birthday a lot of fun was that the boys understood much more what a birthday was.  Granted they do not understand what being born means but they understood that it was a special day, involved cake and candles and of course, presents. I would love to say that it was all because I spent weeks explaining about birthdays to the boys but I have to give credit to Yo Gabba Gabba.  Yeah, that is kind of embarrassing to say but it is true.  There is an episode where Brobee celebrates his birthday and apparently the boys locked in on that.  On the morning of their party, we told the boys that family and friends were going to come over later that day for their birthday party.  Abraham was so sweet and right away exclaimed, "Cake...candle...blow it out."  I am amazed that he understood that all on his own.  The boys got a birthday bear last year that sings "Happy Birthday," holds a cupcake and then blows out the lit candle.  The boys love that bear and that also totally made them get into the idea of birthdays.  Later that afternoon when the boys woke up from their nap and they saw the decorations and set up for their party, Abraham gushed, "Wow!  Birthday party!"  Yeah, it was heart melting.

It was a nice afternoon and evening with our family, neighbors and good friends.  It was cute because when the time came for the boys to blow out their candles, Abraham tried but could not figure it out.  Winston was less excited about the whole process but managed to blow them both out right away.

Lord willing, we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with these little guys.

It is chili time!

The Funk children...great little friends.

Grateful for our friends and family that celebrated with us.

Uh-oh Abraham, your fork is upside down.

Winston is showing off his fork skills.

The people in the background are playing the game we came up with.  Different photos were numbered and the guests had to identify which boy was which.  It proved to be pretty hard.

Abraham was amazed by the presents.

Little friends playing together.

It was all about Disney's Cars.

Mama baked and decorated these...with a couple breaks.

Grampa and Winston.

Do you think Abraham likes his cupcake?

My sweet niece being held by some little friends.

Our little twin friends came to the birthday party.  We should have taken a photo before they were all worn out but this was as good as we could get.  These girlies are less then a month older than the boys and their mama and I met in our birthing class.

No Slowing Down

Well, the month of March has not slowed down and I am trying to keep the events on the blog in chronological order.  The week of the boys' birthday ended up being quite an eventful one.  As you know, the first couple of months of 2013 the boys had their fair share of sickness and we spent plenty of time at the pediatrician.  The boys however had never ended up in the ER with a medical emergency...that is until the week of their birthday.  With their sniffles and coughs continuing, Eric had a diffuser with eucalyptus oil in their room.  I was home alone with the boys one night as Eric was helping a friend with a car.  We got to bed time and I was just about to put the boys in their cribs when I realized I had forgotten their sippy cups of water.  I told the boys I was going to get their cups and Abraham followed me down the hallway chatting the entire time.  I filled their cups with water and was heading back to their room when Winston came screaming down the hall.  As soon as he got closer I realized what had happened.  He had been able to to reach the eucalyptus oil and tried to drink it.  Thankfully it is very potent and strong stuff so he had spit it out on his pajamas and was crying because the taste was so bad.  I stayed calm and got a hold of poison control right away.  Apparently eucalyptus oil is very toxic and a very small quantity (tablespoons) can cause seizures.  Poison control advised me to take Winston to the ER and called ahead to our local hospital.  I got a hold of Eric and he met us there.  The doctor and nurses were all prepped with the protocol of administering activated charcoal and monitoring his vital signs.  The ER doc asked us about the amount he ingested and I explained that I did not believe he really drank any.  The doc agreed based on how Winston was alert and interactive so he lowered the amount of activated charcoal to 20 cc's.  Winston was observed for a little more than two hours after getting the charcoal and everything looked great.  They also did a chest x-ray as a precaution.  Everyone at the hospital commented on how sweet our boys were and well behaved while we were there.  It made a lousy situation a little bit better. We got to go home and Winston slept great that night. He woke up the next morning and was happy as a clam as if nothing had ever happened.

Winston hit his limit with taking the charcoal so Eric took over the nurse's job and finished the dose up.

The learning lesson is that when it comes to kids it only takes seconds for something to happen.  Winston was very intentional and deliberate.  He knew it was something he was not supposed to touch and waited for the opportunity to get to it.  I was distracted for less than a minute and in that time he pulled on a doily/runner on his dresser so that he could reach the bottle of eucalyptus oil.  God was gracious to us and our little guy was perfectly okay but it made me realize that we can never be too vigilant or cautious. 

The next day Eric and I had an appointment at the office of a maternal fetal health specialist.  This was the same doctor's office that took care of all of our growth scans for our boys.  We opted to have a first trimester screening for the baby.  I also had it done with the boys and it had provided me peace of mind.  If we were to have a child with special needs, we wanted to be prepared. Our nearest hospitals do not have NICUs so we would want the baby to be delivered at a hospital farther away with a NICU and pediatric specialists.  Our baby which we have affectionately nicknamed Seymour (because we want to see more of him or her) looked absolutely perfect according to the ultrasound tech. The baby was measuring at 13 weeks and 1 day and we got some beautiful profile pics of our little one.  I have a had a great deal of anxiety with this pregnancy because of the difficulties we have had so having such good news really lifted a burden.  That night I felt great and I was sitting and talking to Eric when all of the sudden I felt a gush.  It felt like I had peed in my pants (sorry for the TMI) but I knew that was not the case.  I was bleeding very heavily and it was bright red blood.  The next several hours were pretty emotional and nerve wracking as we got a hold of my OB and I was told to go back to strict bed rest.  Eric and I prayed that night and were prepared to lose the baby.  It was like a bad dream; we had just seen the baby a matter of hours earlier and everything seemed to be falling apart.  I spent the next 36 hours laying flat in bed and then we went to see my OB.  The baby had a heartbeat and while we were so relieved it has continued the emotional roller coaster.  The boys' birthday party was just days later and I was stuck in bed.  Thankfully there was no more bleeding and our little Seymour hung in there.  This baby is definitely showing its stubborn genes it inherited from mama and papa.  We did find out that there is a slight separation in my placenta which may have been the source of the bleeding and the initial results of the genetic screening were all negative.  God continues to bless us but we would continue to covet your prayers as this pregnancy progresses. 

Next up:  The boys' birthday party. The next post will be a happy one...I promise. 

Twenty Two and Twenty Three Months!

So now that everyone is up to speed with why the blog has not been updated in a while (see previous post), I am going to cram in the boys' twenty two and twenty three month updates in before their birthday in two days. I have had no motivation lately for blogging but I wanted to keep these things up until their second birthday.  I love looking back on their monthly updates and all the changes that happen in such a short amount of time.  So even if it is late, I know I will cherish this post down the road.  I did write milestones down for these months so now it is just putting it together with some pictures.  As we are on the cusp of their birthday, we are in awe of having these little boys in our lives and what a joy they are.

Twenty Two Months

The boys are growing and look like little boys.  There is no baby there anymore.  They wear 24 month clothing and size 5 diapers for night time.  Those two year molars caused us some grief with sleep disturbances but they are back to sleeping through the night.  Hallelujah! They were even back on two naps a day for a little while because they were so tired in the morning that they could not make it to the afternoon for their rest.

The boys have two favorite movies, Disney's Cars 2 and Aristocats.  They can watch those two movies over and over again...and they do quite frequently.  They are at the stage where they tell me what is about to happen in the plot and will start singing along to the songs.  They love Bible songs and try to sing along with "This Little Light of Mine" and do the motions with it. The boys do not have a lot of sentences but I do notice that they are gradually building on that with more words and phrases.  Abraham will say short sentences like, "I did it!" and "I found it!"  They are both very affectionate and love to snuggle.  They will spontaneously say, "I love you" which is absolutely heart melting.  Eric and I love listening to their sweet little voices.

Abraham loves to draw.  He can draw a circle really well and beyond that he just describes what he is trying to make and I continue to encourage him in it. He is our little clown and goofball.  He loves to do things to make us laugh and then he will say "Silly...stinker!"  He LOVES to wrestle and is constantly trying to take down his brother.  He loves when his papa comes home from work and asks to wrestle right away.

Winston loves anything mechanical and that he can take apart and put back together. He loves building his blocks and anything that makes noise like the vacuum, coffee maker, blender, etc. He loves music and dancing.  If he has not met a certain quota of kisses for the day, he will ask me for a kiss.  I love that about him.  He has a sensitive spirit and is the type that will get emotional if he is tired, hungry, hurting, etc.

As the boys individual personalities come out more and more, Eric and I discuss how we have to approach certain things like discipline differently with each of them.  It is a definitely a humbling experience to be a first time parent to twin boys and working to do the best for each of them.  I know we have moments where we fail but we pray that the Lord's grace will just guide us in the day to day moments with these boys.

Twenty Three Months

This month has been rough with sickness.  We had taken the boys to the pediatrician when they first developed croup and they weighed in at more than twenty-nine pounds and were nearing thirty.  Exactly two weeks later after having viruses continue to work them over, they were each more than two pounds lighter.  That broke this mama's heart.  Thankfully Winston seems to be 100% again and Abraham just has a nagging cough that he is trying to get over entirely.  I am hoping they gain most of their weight back by their 24 month appointment.  Their appetites are back so now it is just a matter of fattening them back up.

The boys graduated to size 6 shoes and are pretty much back in diapers full time.  When I was on bed rest it became too hard to expect different care takers to potty train my kids.  The boys will still use the potty if I ask them to and I feel pretty confident they will pick it right back up.  I wanted to wait until the morning sickness had dissipated and I just had the energy and ability to tackle the project again. I am just taking a big step back and realizing there is no prize for having my kids potty trained early.

The boys have moved beyond those favorite movies and now are back into a Yo Gabba Gabba phase.  Sigh.  It drives me crazy but they love it and I know they do learn stuff.  They both love to dance lately and I am sure some of that is inspired by Yo Gabba Gabba.  They love music but are picky.  If I put on classical or instrumental music they are clearly unimpressed and continue to request music.  I try to explain that it is just a different type of music to no avail.  They still love bubbles, haul trucks, building blocks and anything mechanical.  They are also enjoying learning how to bounce a ball and learning to play by rolling a ball back and forth.  They are really into their naps lately and often tell me "Sleep...take a rest."  A lot of this has to do with them being sick and needing to sleep more during the day but it has continued now that they feel better. I do not know too many kids that ask for naps. 

Their language development has really improved and they are speaking in more and more sentences.  They understand how to ask questions now when they want to understand something.  Common phrases and sentences they say:

• Good morning/Good night.  
• Good to see you.
• See you later.
• What are you doing?
• I did/fixed it.
• I've got it.
• I don't know.
• Hey, look a cat, dog, cow, etc.
• Take a bath/rest.

They have a lot of concepts that they string together with multiple words so even if they do not speak in complete sentences we are understanding them a lot more. 

Abraham is a real character.  He lives to get a laugh and is a total ham.  If he knows something makes you laugh then he will keep trying to do it to get the same reaction.  His latest thing is finding the vacuum, swiping some dust with his finger and then running up to me with his finger pointing upward saying, "Try it!"  I then tell him that I do not want to try dirt and he giggles like crazy.  He is so pleased when he can make someone smile or laugh and tells me that he is silly.  He is impulsive and does not have an attention span for too many things.  He will ask for a cup of juice and by the time I get it for him, he has run off and gotten involved in something else. Then he will remember that he wanted his cup and starts crying.  He really enjoys coloring and that is something he can be absorbed with for quite a while.  He still loves to wrestle and is always asking mama and papa to wrestle.  I have not been able to oblige too much lately but thankfully his papa always does. Winston seems to enjoy playing more in that way with Abraham now and it is sweet to see.

Winston is both my sweet and strong willed child.  He loves to snuggle and has even become more affectionate with his brother.  He always has an "I love you" ready. He can be so determined and gets so frustrated when he does not get his way.  After some frustrating weeks and months, he has begun to realize when he is in the wrong with his attitude and will voluntarily say "I sorry."  It is a dear thing for a parent to see that heart change.  He still loves all things mechanical and loves to spin in circles.  He has a very dry sense of humor.  He will tease you with an absolutely straight face and then breaks into a wide smile when he knows you get his joke.  For example, we were all in the car and he was whining.  Eric told him to stop whining, gave a clear explanation of why the whining was wrong and then told him, "Say yes, papa."  This is a common practice that we do and it has really helped in our parenting to have the kids affirm what we are telling them.  Winston instead said, "Yes, mama."  Eric corrected him and again he said "Yes, mama." Eric looked back and saw that Winston was smirking.  Eric asked him, "Are you being a stinker?"  Winston smiled and started laughing.  Both of our kids use humor to diffuse a tense situation but they both do it in their own unique way.

To our almost two-year olds, you are a joy and absolute bright spot in our day.  We are loving this age you are at and wish we could freeze time.  It is hard to imagine you were our little newborns and we could easily hold you both in our forearms.  We love you Abraham.  We love you Winston.

So Cal Visit

We are still getting back into the swing of things after returning earlier this week from visiting my family in Southern California.  It was a bit of an impromptu trip.  We typically rotate holidays between Eric's family here in Nevada and my family in California.  Due to a busy work schedule for Eric and (crazy!) gas prices, we decided to stay here for Thanksgiving.  My dad and stepmom really wanted to see the boys before the holidays and they started hatching a plan.  My dad flew up to Reno and the next day the four of us left for So Cal.  My dad paid for the fuel for my vehicle so basically the entire trip was free for us--a huge blessing!  Eric was out of town for work for several days so the timing was perfect in the sense that we were not spending unnecessary time apart as a family.  The boys and I had a great time in the warm weather playing outside, visiting with family and friends and getting to celebrate my grandma's birthday. 

The boys had started getting the sniffles on Halloween and the day following.  Their moods were good, they were eating fine and they seemed to be bouncing back quickly.  The first several days down in California everything was fine but then Abraham got really irritable and had a low grade fever.  He just looked miserable on the morning of our last day there so I brought him to urgent care and he had a double ear infection.  It put a slight damper on things having a sick little guy but we still had a good visit.   The main issue was that the boys have become very attached to me. I love that my boys love me so much but it can be physically and emotionally draining when I am the only one that they want to comfort them.  With them being in an unfamiliar environment, it was like they were super glued to me at times.  It definitely made me realize how much I miss having my family close by for various reasons.  The boys loved playing with their cousins and I know it means the world to my family to be able to see the boys and bond with them more.

We kept the visit a surprise for my grandma so it was sweet getting to see her reaction as she opened her door and she saw two little boys standing there.  Winston said "hi" and walked right in.  Abraham was much less sure and would not go in unless he was reassured by me going in as well.  My grandma also had a birthday when we were down there so it was special that we got to celebrate with her. My best friend also drove in from L.A. with her two little girls.  It was a little interesting trying to have an actual conversation with Kathy when we collectively had four kids two and under in the house but we made it work as best we could.  I am so thankful she made he drive to see me.  I loved seeing how her girls are changing and growing into such little women. 

Enjoy the pics from our week:

Boys and their shenanigans.

The boys have started calling my dad "Gee-pa"

Books with Grandma Ida

Winston LOVES his cousin Tyler.  I think the feeling is mutual.

Mama likes doing self-portraits.

Roxie is a natural looking athlete.

Kathy and me-- we have been friends since we were fourteen years old.

I tried to get Jane to hold still for a pic but this was the best I could do.

 

We loved the warmer weather and playing outside in the afternoon.

My sweet grandma and her birthday goodies.

The boys also turned twenty months old when we were down there so now I need to get going on that post!