Evalynn at 1 Year

I think the fastest way to have a year go by is to have a baby. I feel like it just flew by and I really am in shock that Evalynn is now a year. We have continued forward with her ECI therapy and have also met with her pediatrician post ECI evaluation. I don't really feel like we have any answers as to why she is slow to develop...and in someways that's great. If we knew why, that would mean we would know for sure that something is not right with her. Between her therapists, pediatrician and Curt and I, we feel like the next medical step we should take is getting her vision tested. There are a couple signs that she may not have the best sight. She can for sure see, but she doesn't hold eye contact well. She also seems to loose sight or interest if an item she is looking at goes too far into her peripheral vision. The biggest concern is if she had a vision problem, it may be why she is so insecure about the world around her. She just seems so unsure of the world, being out of Mom or Dad's arms or not feeling securely held by her parents or in an unknown seat. Between the pediatrician and the therapists, this month we have heard all sorts of terms such as special needs, Aspergers, autistic, vision problems, neurological problems, and the terms we we've heard for several months now of cerebral palsy and chromosomal abnormalities. It's been an emotionally hard month to hear these terms used to give explanations for your kid. Ultimately though, I feel pretty confident it isn't autism or Aspergers. I still just hold to the hope and my intuition that everything is just a result of being in the NICU for two weeks. I still think that it is a pretty good chance of that too. The pediatrician is ready to move towards getting her to a neurologist, but isn't pushing at all. I'm not quite ready to go yet. If something were actually wrong, I do think it is better to know. However, if nothing is wrong, I'd really hate to subject her to tests and lots of doctors. She just hates people so much, so that makes it extra hard. As far as therapy, she is doing slightly better. She now allows her two therapists to get on the floor with her. She still gets nervous if they touch her or if they get to close but she is acknowledging them with smiles and is curious enough at their computers that she is okay getting near them to touch their computer screens. At her appointment last week, we played ball with her and she did so well. She even got super talkative, happy and animated. We do a lot of strength training and make her stand assisted on her legs bearing her own weight. Lately I've started to feel like she has a desire to move even though she just can't seem to figure it out.

Here is a more complete list of what she's doing at one year:

1. She is trying to get up on her knees when holding onto something. While she can get some air under her bum and get some weight on her knees, she cannot get one of her legs out from under her.
2. She loves books. They are probably her favorite "toy." 
3. She can sit and in the sitting position she can turn herself in circles on purpose. She does tend to scoot herself backwards some while sitting, but she doesn't do it on purpose or realize she's doing it. 
4. She loves hair. She laughs when I shake mine. She loves when she gets a chunk of it in her hands. She loves running her hands through my bangs. She will even play with one strand of hair stuck in her hands. 
5. Her favorite non-book toy is probably a ball. She really likes rolling the big soccer ball back and forth. She will also pat it.
6. She is more talkative this month than in previous months. I would still describe her a pretty quiet though comparatively.
7. She is more and more tolerant of being tickled. 
8. She loves to cuddle with Mom and Dad.
9. She lights up when Dad gets home. She loves when he comes and picks her up.
10. I feel like her tolerance for not being in Mom or Dad's arms is worse this month than previous. It just seems to get worse and worse. She starts screaming at even the motion of being put down. 
11. She side sits like a pro and changes which leg is tucked in and which leg is to the side easily. 
12. She's doing much better with a spoon and even better with a fork. 
13. She loves all table food. We don't even attempt baby foods anymore and rarely any smooth foods. 
14. At the beginning of the month she started to travel by rolling. After three or four days of doing really really well and giving me hope of her enjoying being on the floor more, she stopped. She hasn't rolled to travel around the room in probably three weeks now. 
15. She uses her big toe to slowly inch her way forward when she is on her belly. If she wants something that isn't too far out of her grasp, she will reach for it and slowly get there so she can grab it.
16. She still has yet to put anything in her mouth at all.
17. She has slowed down on how much she sucks her fingers. Consistently, she really only always does it in the car seat. Even in her sleep to sooth herself, she's cut way way back. 
18. She still grinds her teeth.
19. She grabs her toes now on purpose.
20. She is more tolerant of Ruger and is starting to be more interested in him and happy to have him around. 
21. She doesn't respond much to pain. If she does start to cry after being hurt, the instant I pick her up, she's over it. 
22. She cannot sit herself up. She can't pull herself up. She can't crawl. The only thing on that list that I feel like she's making any effort to learn is pulling herself up on to her knees...not her feet. 
23. She is happy to just watch people as long as she's being held by Curt or I. 
24. She likes when we click our tongue at her. 
25. At her well child appointment two weeks ago these were her stats:
1. Weight: 20 pounds 10.2 ounces          68th percentile
2. Length: 29.25 inches                           64th percentile
3. Head Circumference: 17.75 inches     60th percentile

Evalynn at 11 Months

Evalynn has done really well this month meeting some new developmental goals. At the beginning of August we had Early Childhood Intervention out to our home. I should probably back up and explain Evalynn has never been strong. When we brought her home from the hospital after two weeks in the NICU, Evalynn was the weakest baby I'd ever held. She was so flimsy. There was no strength to her at all. It took her months to learn to hold her head up well. It took weeks and weeks for her to even try and move her head on her own. As time as marched on, she's still stayed very baby like and hasn't hit her milestones. While I wasn't overly worried, and neither was her pediatrician, at almost 9 months we took her in for her 6 month well child (we went without insurance for a few months) and at that time, her doctor said it was now time to have her evaluated. The pediatrician said that if something is wrong, such as cerebral palsy or chromosomal abnormalities, we needed to know. If there wasn't anything technically wrong and she just had a rough start, it was also time to get some therapy and get her muscles to strengthen. She still wasn't bearing any weight on her legs, wasn't rolling over on hard surfaces or to travel, struggling to use eating utensils and not liking baby food, not baby talking much at all. When you are close up with her, she will look you in the eyes, but then she won't hold eye contact after the initial eye lock although she continues to interact with you. She is very very strongly opposed to anyone other than Mom and Dad. She tolerates strangers better than familiar faces. Probably because they haven't tried to take her from her parents yet. She won't help get dress, won't put anything in her mouth except the two fingers she sucks, she won't hold anything with both her hands at the same time. She is no where near crawling, sitting herself up or any of the more age appropriate milestones she "should" be accomplishing. That is why she was referred to ECI. It took a bit of waiting, both on my procrastination and waiting for an available appointment. Which leads us to her first appointment at the beginning of the month...
Evie was evaluated over the course of two hours in six different categories. Self Help (eating, dressing, etc), Social, Communication, Gross Motor, Fine Motor and Cognitive. At the end of the evaluation, the two workers told me that in two of the categories, Evalynn ranked as a newborn. In another category, she ranked at 6 months and another 6.5 months. I couldn't remember the other two rankings and I couldn't remember what categories went with which ranking. However, on their second time out, they told me different numbers. In self help, she ranked 6 months. In social, she ranked 5 months. In communication, she ranked 2 months. In gross motor, she ranked 5 months and in fine motor, she ranked 6 months. Lastly, in cognitive, she was 6.5 months. To be clear, the rankings were done when she was 10 months and 11 days....so just about 10.5 months old. She was very behind and qualified for services. At her initial appointment, the two technicians who came out put my not so worried mind at rest by saying that a lot of what they suspect is going on is sensory issues because of being a NICU baby. However on her second appointment, which she was 11 months, 1 day old for, the technicians seemed more concerned after consulting with their fellow ECI technicians. All of her issues do not fall into sensory issues, and for that matter, don't fall all nice and neat into any category. Evalynn was described as "quite the anomaly" and her second appointment was not really even an official evaluation or therapy. New technicians were sent out just to watch her and get a feel for her and her personality and delays. They wanted to know what her pediatrician had said about her evaluation, but we haven't been in to see her yet as all the well child visits have been booked with the back to school busy season. So, that small worry in the back of my mind is still there a little bit, but for the most part, I'm still just sticking to her rough start being the underlying problem.
Since her initial eval, she has developed some. Here is a list of more of the things she is doing at 11 months.

1. She know grabs our features on our face. 
2. She is "talking" a little more. 
3. She did eat one whole container of baby food in one sitting. There was still a bit of wrestling with her to do so. Mostly, I've just given up on baby food though and moved to table food. She is much happier and loving eating food she can chew. 
4. She's also started to push up on her arms when she's on her tummy. I didn't mention that above, but while she had no problem with tummy time...even preferred it, she never bore any weight on her arms. She has since started and now props herself up on her forearms and elbows. 
5. She just cut her 8th tooth. It's the first one she's cut in 4 months. She was much more miserable this time around.
6. She isn't sleeping quite as much. She is hovering between 1 and 2 naps a day. It just depends on how long and early the first one was. Her first nap has settled into a pretty consistent 2-2.5 hour nap. The second is about 45 minutes-1 hour.
7. She rolls in her sleep now. She is not used to it and this combined with the teething, means she rarely sleeps through the night now. 
8. She prefers Mom and Dad still. It's actually gotten much worse. If we put her on the ground with her sisters, she usually freaks out immediately. If we put her down and get down on the ground with her, she is much more likely to stay. 
9. She loves toys.
10. She still loves to suck her two middle fingers on her right hand. 
11. She's grown to love Daddy even more lately. She gets so excited when he gets home.
12. She doesn't reach for people in a traditional way of holding her arms out, extended towards the person she wants, but she does hold her arms up slightly and leans towards the person slightly. It's enough that Curt and I can tell, and since we are the only people holding her or being requested by her, that's all that matters, I guess. 
13. She loves when her sisters show her videos on my phone. She also likes the TV being on.
14. She hates screaming kids/parents. 
15. She's getting more and more ticklish and more and more tolerant of being tickled. 
16. She's a pro at grabbing everything in arms reach...small or large. She still has yet to put a single thing in her mouth though. 

Evalynn at 10 Months

Oh boy. I've been slacking on keeping up with Evalynn's monthly stats. Rats. So mad at myself. Anyway, our little ten month old is still going slow on meeting mile stones, but I feel like she is in fact making some strides in the past four weeks. Here are some things about Evalynn at ten months:

1. She's started to grab her toes.
2. She's now started to be ticklish...and she's okay with it too. Before, even if she was somewhat tickled she didn't know if she liked it and half cried, half started to giggle. Now she belly laughs when you tickle her belly button and smiles when you tickle her toes.
3. As far as her sleeping schedule goes, she wakes up somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00. She's usually ready for her first nap at about 9:30-10:00. Her first nap is usually about four hours long. Then she usually takes about a 30-45 minute nap some time in the 4 o'clock hour. She is usually ready for bed by 7:30-8:00 and nine times out of ten sleeps through the night.
4. I've noticed that she doesn't hold eye contact very long. She'll look at you, smile, look away/past you, but continue to interact with you. It's almost like she is using her peripheral vision.
5. She's started to use her legs to push up against my belly when I'm holding her. She still doesn't bare weight on her legs though.
6. She's really started to interact and laugh at her siblings. She loves them to talk to her face to face and jump for her.
7. Evalynn's been really easy to put to sleep. She's slept on her tummy for a long time now. She will nurse and then I lay her on her belly and she puts her right middle two fingers in her mouth and soothe herself to sleep. Lately she's been fighting it though. She digs her legs in the bed and tries to roll over. She has to find her fingers several times. She's also picked up that she likes to have her left hand at the base of her head and her fingers in her hair.
8. She sits really well now. She does fall backwards every once in a while, but not often and very rarely hurts herself when she does fall backwards.
9. She reaches for stuff in front of her and can pick up pretty much anything. Including flat things off of the hard floors.
10. When she sits, she bends herself all the way forward and folds herself in half to get stuff. For the most part, she can pull herself back up. She does so without using her arms. She does this to the sides too, but isn't as successful in sitting up again.
11. When I'm holding her, she pats me a lot. Almost constantly.
12. She rocks herself when she's sitting.
13. She loves loves loves puffs. She doesn't like baby food. She is doing slightly better with level three baby food, as it is chunkier, but still not great.
14. She doesn't like being placed in the car seat, but once she's in, she's generally fine.
15. When she's napping, she is awoken several times by her very loud siblings. She will pop her head up and if she doesn't see anyone or if the noise calms down, she puts herself back to sleep. If she's woken up while she's initially going to sleep by her siblings, she will wake up and stay up for another 30 minutes or so and then go to sleep. Her sibling's screams/fighting, opening of the bedroom door for requests for TV shows or apple juice and/or Ruger's loud footsteps on our hard floors are usually the things that wake her up.
16. When she is laying on her back, she likes to lift her legs up in the air, usually one at a time. 
17. She loves books and loves for Isabelle to read her favorite board books to her. 
18. She hates having her diaper changed.
19. She likes being in pools. She's even fallen asleep while we are in the pool. 
20. She only likes her parents to hold her. And strangers at church. It seems the more people try with her, the more she dislikes them. She does smile at people, but doesn't have a lot of smiles for those that try with her.

Evalynn 8.5 Month Stats

We went without health insurance for three months so we didn't take Evalynn in for her well child check ups for a few months. Once we had insurance again, we took Evie in for lots of reasons. Obviously to be weighed and measured, get caught up on some vaccines and just checked out in general. However we also went to talk about of major developmental delays she has. She doesn't bear weight at all on her legs. She just started sitting, which is later than normal. She doesn't eat from a spoon without me forcing it in. She barely "talks." These are some of the reasons we know have to move to getting her evaluated to see if she's just slow to develop and needs some pushing via physical therapy or if there is actually something going on such as cerebral palsy or chromosome abnormalities. I'm not really worried. I think it is just a symptom of her rough start in the NICU. Anyways, here are her measurements: 

Weight: 17.1 lbs       36th %tile
Length:  27.75"        65th %tile
Head:   17.5"            73rd %tile

Seven Year Interview

I did a little interview with Isabelle now that she is seven.

1. Who is your favorite princess? Rapunzel
2. What is your favorite color? Purple
3. What's your favorite toy? My cheetah stuffed animal from Grammie
4. What's your favorite subject at school? Math
5. What's your favorite thing to do at school? Math and science 
6. What's your favorite thing to do? My favorite thing is to have a sleep over.
7. What do you dream about in your sleep? I dream about going to Disney World and seeing lots of characters. The characters I want to see the most is Elsa and Anna. 
8. What's your favorite animal? Cheetah!
9. What's your favorite thing to do outside? Jump on the trampoline.
10. Who's your best friend? Mary 
11. What are you afraid of? Nothing. A ghost. 
12. What's your favorite thing to draw? Cheetahs.
13. Where's your favorite place to go? The store. Walmart.
14. What's your favorite restaurant? Chick fil a
15. What's your favorite food? Cheesy Beefy Rice

Isabelle at Seven

Here we are...parents of a seven year old. One more year till she's accountable. Pressure is on! :) Here are some things about Isabelle at seven:

1. She's an excellent student. Every time I talk to her teacher, she tells me what a joy Isabelle is to have in her class. On her most recent progress report, she had straight 100s. 
2. Her favorite subject is math. She loves doing math homework...well most of the time. 
3. She loves to draw. She would draw all day long if she had access to writing utensils and paper all the time. (We have to keep them up and away because her sisters and brother STILL color all over the walls, doors, dressers and beds.)
4. She does well with reading and for a few months now has reached the 1st grade reading level goals. However, I can rarely get her to read at home. I think that she just likes playing and drawing and having fun with her sisters so much and works so hard at school that she just doesn't want to read at home. 
5. She is a big helper as long as she is in a good mood. She will clean, but she definitely prefers to do the rare jobs like cleaning walls, helping with the dishes, cleaning windows, vacuuming, etc as opposed to picking up or doing her chores. Getting her to pick up is a fight...but sometimes I really understand her frustrations. She hates that she goes to school all day while the other kids make messes. Then clean up time comes and she is the one who cleans up 60% of the mess while Em and Ella each do 20%. 
6. She's definitely the oldest. She wants to do everything first. She wants to be in charge of every game they play. She wants to tell her sisters everything to make their dolls say. She wants to do the most of everything. She wants all the privileges and delegate all the work. She want to boss boss boss...
7. She whines a lot still. She nags a lot still. She is never happy with an answer of no and she lets you know it. 
8. She hangs on to stuff and pouts for a really really long time.
9. She is very very stubborn. You cannot make her do something she doesn't want to. 
10. She's very picky about her clothes. I cannot go shopping for her clothes anymore. She's passed this picky-ness down to her sisters too.
11. She loves to do her own hair. Getting her to let me do it nowadays is pretty impossible. She is getting better, but she looks like an orphan child most days.
12. She has friends, but often forgets or tells us she doesn't have friends and everyone hates her.
13. She is really really good with Ruger. He does test her patience, but she has always taken him under her wing.
14. She will hold Evalynn when I make her so I can get things done, but she doesn't like it when Evalynn starts crying. As far as Evalynn goes, Isa really hasn't taken a liking to her like she did with Ruger. 
15. She often puts her name as Izzy on her school papers.
16. She cares what people think of her and her clothes A LOT. Some kids, mainly boys I believe, have made comments about her ugly clothes and she will never wear them again. Oh the fights and struggles that have been born out of some dumb kid's comments. 
17. She still will not wear clothing with buttons.
18. She doesn't like to wear any pants or shorts that have any gap in the back when she sits down. At all. I can't say I blame her, but it is really annoying that she won't wear much of anything unless it has an elastic waist.
19. Her favorite color is still purple. 
20. More times than not she comes home from school with food on her face from lunch! She has never started to eat normal again from when she lost her first tooth just over a year ago. She puts her food in her mouth from the side to bite it without using her front teeth, so she gets food on her face all the time. She's getting slightly better about cleaning her face after eating, but oh man. Not good enough.
21. We have a lot of dinner time struggles. She likes everything I make. Everything. Yet, if I make something she didn't want or if I prepare her plate incorrectly or whatever she deems not worth of her, she will not eat it and pout and complain all of dinner. When Curt and I leave the table, she will then eat it all. Or if I make something new and she doesn't want to try it...same thing. Complains all of dinner time, but will eat it when we are not looking. That stubborn streak. I tell you. We cannot make her do anything.
22. She is incapable of putting away her shoes until we ask her at least three times. Every day. 
23. She loves Primary. 
24. She knows the scripture stories pretty well. We go over scripture stories daily and she is able to answer a lot of questions we ask. She's gotten confident enough that she's started answering them in Primary too.
25. She wants to learn how to bake and cook well because she loves watching the Kid's Baking Championship.
26. She loves loves loves to play with her cousins. Nothing is better to her. There is no one she would rather be around that Abby. She would always pick to be with Abby over anyone. However, if Abby isn't around, she's starting to favor hanging out where the adults are. This is totally how I was as a kid. She isn't as bad as me, but she's still only seven. 
27. Out of her sisters, she would pick to play with Emery over the others 100% off the time. She's even admitted and told me lately that she doesn't like Ella. It's a very real problem in our house. Within seconds of her arriving home from school, all calm has disappeared and contention fills our house because the fighting and exclusions gets so bad.
28. We have yet to figure out a punishment that she truly cares about. 
29. When she is happy, she is such a joy. During those happy times, she will talk your ear off and tell you all about her day, the people in her class, her life from her perspective, etc etc. I love those times. However, if she is not happy, she makes everyone in our house miserable. And there is not a thing we can do to pull her out of it. At least not that I know of.
30. She loves to help make dinner.
31. She likes to write stories and illustrate them.
32. She is quite proud that I've started asking her to go to the car and get things. She loves when I give her that assignment.
33. She loves Star Wars.
34. Her favorite toys are Barbies and Princesses.
35. She struggles with our small house. She already is showing signs of wanting her own room and her own space. I think she likes the companionship of her sisters at bed time because she would actually be scared in her own room, but she really hates that there isn't really anywhere in our house she can go to be alone and draw or read or play by herself. Her sisters always find her. It doesn't matter if she hides in a closet or in my bed or where ever.
36. Speaking of hiding...she is is hide and go seek champ. Her cousins even know, she is the best at the game. A lot of the time, she's never found. They either give up or it's been so long, she gives up and comes out.

Ruger at Two Years

Our little boy is two years old! He is such a perfect addition to our family. I am thankful everyday that the Lord blessed us with a little boy. I'm so very glad to have his sweet albeit destructive force in our family. His personality is so strong and fun right now. Here are some things about him at two years:

1. He LOVES dinosaurs. Most of all his clothes, toys and bedding are dinosaurs. He also really loves trucks and 90% of the time is either playing with dinosaurs or cars.
2. He yells "TRUCK!" most of the time while we are driving around. He gets so excited to see trucks on the road.
3. He drinks all day, every day. I swear he would drink one sippy after another if I'd let him. 
4. His vocabulary is really taking off. He's doesn't really well. He's starting to combine words to make short sentences. While he is doing well, he still struggles to voice what he wants unless it is juice. He has juice down. 
5. He is so loud. He has a booming voice and very loud cry. That combined with him liking to talk and yell and scream and make roaring noises all the time...well he definitely adds to the continuous loud volume in this house.
6. He's learned to open doors. It's a sad day for me.
7. He loves to be outside. He cannot accept anyone being outside without him. 
8. If he is in the front yard, his first instinct is to run into the street. Having full arms or when the girls let him out of the house before me is my worst nightmare. That's often, people. Thankfully, we haven't had any close calls with cars, but I'm constantly terrified.
9. He willingly gives me lots of hugs and kisses. He will crawl into my arms and say, "Hug. Hug. Hug. Hug." over and over as we hug. Melts.my.heart. This is probably my most favorite thing about him right now. Or even thus far. Or even about being a mom currently. Brings tears to my eyes a lot of the time. I don't ever want this to stop.
10. He willingly takes medicine but not eye drops. 
11. He loves to play in the dirt/water/grass/mud whatever. 
12. He likes to have his teeth brushed.
13. We've sleep trained him to put himself to sleep. Every night we put him in his room, say a prayer with him, give him kisses and leave him and close the door. Most of the time, he won't cry longer than a minute. Now that he knows how to open the door, we are struggling a little bit, but not too much. He rarely has a nap anymore, so by the time bed time rolls around, he's exhausted and usually very tired and very ready to go to bed even if he doesn't realize it. Therefore even if he wants to put up a fight, it doesn't last long.
14. He sleeps through the night about once every blue moon. 
15. You can always hear him walking around our house. He's barefoot most of the time and we only have carpet in the rooms...so when he's walking around on the hard floor, you can hear each footstep because he slaps his feet on the floor as he walks. It's another of his little things about him at this age I know I'll miss someday.
16. He loves to look at books. His current favorites are the Golden books we have. Especially the three Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
17. He loves to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates. If the TV is turned on, he immediately starts yelling for Jake. He also likes Sheriff Callie. He hasn't watch Backyardigans in a long time, but still loves to play with his Pablo figurine whenever it randomly surfaces around the house. 
18. He is really skittish around dogs. If they come too close he will start to cry. However, he loves to see them from afar.
19. He loves to climb onto things...couches, nightstands, end tables...and jump off. 
20. He loves to try on any shoes that are left around the house. 
21. His favorite people are his two grandpas and his daddy. 
22. His favorite place to be is in the garage with daddy playing with all the tools.
23. He is a destructive force like Ella. Those two play quite a bit.
24. He is a hitter. Bad. He hits everyone a lot. 
25. He considers himself an excellent disciplinarian. If the girls are getting in trouble or throwing a fit or being naughty, he will hit them, he will tell them, "Ella! Night night!" and he has even thrown stuff at them. He recently threw something at Ella because she was throwing a fit and it caught her right beside her eye and gave her a nasty black eye. 
26. He can't and won't even try to say Emery or Ruger. Evalynn is baby but he's said Evie a few times. Ella used to be his word for all girls but now it is just for Ella. He pronounces Isabelle as Imbelle. So adorable!
27. He loves to say "bye bye" to people. He says it for a good minute after we drive away. And by "says it" I actually mean "yell it."
28. Within a day or two he learned how to do matching ABC puzzle games on my phone to spell words in the Endless ABCs app. He's a pro. He sounds out the letter A over and over to ask to play it. It's the first game on my phone I've had in his lifetime and it's only been around for two weeks or so. I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad that I downloaded it yet. 
29. He prefers shorts to pants. He doesn't really like pants because they slip under his feet when he doesn't have shoes on and he hates that.
30. He loves to jump on the trampoline. Especially close to the edges. He's fallen off a lot. Five or more times in the last month or two. I cannot watch him on there because it makes me a nervous wreck. 
31. He loves to climb on top of the dining room table. If he gets away with it, he will reach for my glass chandelier and clang the jars together.
32. He makes hilarious faces. Especially when he is surprised or has found a stick to use as a sword. 
33. He loves to play with balls. He throws everything, but especially balls. 
34. He throws a decent amount of tantrums but they don't last too long.
35. He has no patience. At all.
36. If he wants me to be somewhere or get him something, he will come get me and push me to where he wants me to be so he can point to it.
37. He loves when Isabelle puts him on the small tricycle with her and takes him on a ride. He can get himself around on the tricycle by just using his feet to push himself, but he can't steer it at all. 

This little boy is so fun right now. Yes, he's a two year old, but I think because he's learning to speak so much later than the girls, the fun age of learning how to talk is balancing out the terrible twos. He is so fun to have around. I love having a little boy in our house. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father gave us a little guy to blend in with our four girls. I just wish I could bottle up his personality and this age so much. Man we love him. 

Evalynn at Six Months

We've already had our sweet sweet baby girl for half a year. Time has just flown by, for sure. We sure are glad we decided to have one more baby, as during Ruger's pregnancy and first few months, we thought we were done. We often talk about how glad we are that we decided to have one more baby...even if she completed the trashing of my body. :) Here are some things about her at six whole months:

1. She is still super mellow and calm. 
2. She almost always sleeps through the night. I can't recall a time she didn't sleep at least nine hours straight. Most of the time she is goes down for the night right around 8 and won't wake up until around 6. She eats and goes back to sleep until at least 10.
3. She's started to coo more. It's quiet, but so sweet.
4. It is still pretty hard to get her to laugh much, but she is laughing more as she gets older.
5. She still sleeps a lot during the day. Sometimes she'll only take one nap a day...but that nap will be four hours. Sometimes even longer. Other days she'll take two naps and they'll be shorter, but still decently long.
6. She is not rolling over yet, but it trying and getting close.
7. She still only has two teeth.
8. She is back to hating the car seat and cries just about 100% off the time she's in it. Sadly, any place we go requires at least a 40 minute round trip. Poor baby. She makes herself sick crying to much that she's often covered in puke and spit bubbles when I go to get her out of the car. Breaks my heart.
9. She loves to look at my phone screen and the TV.
10. She's started to try and use her hands at reaching for things, but isn't very good at getting her hands to whatever it is she's reaching for.
11. She's not shown any interest in reaching for our food. I'm not even tempted to start baby foods with her. I don't feel like she's ready at all. 
12. She's getting stronger with her neck. She can now sit in the Bumbo with much more strength than a month ago. That being said, she only lasts for about 5 minutes.
13. She is so happy in the mornings. She sleeps on her belly and when she wakes up, I usually just turn her onto her back. Often times, she will lay there content to look around for a while before she realizes she is starving.
14. Finger sucking is starting to be favored over the pacifier. She can't seem to hold the paci in her mouth for more than a second and her fingers tend to work better. While I defintely prefer the paci, I'm really just happy she has a way to sooth herself. I still wish Ruger did.
15. She still will not bare any weight at all, for even a second, on her legs. She cries when we try to get her too.
16. She doesn't like to be jumped in our laps. Ruger was obsessed...Evie hate it and cries.
17. She doesn't like baths at all.
18. We moved her crib to Ruger's room and she's doing awesome. It's worked out really well.
19. She still doesn't really like being outside. Mostly cause she doesn't like the wind and we live in a very windy place. She hates the sun in her eyes too.
20. She needs a hair cut. She has random parts of her hair that are two inches longer than the rest.  

Evalynn at Five Months

Here are some things about our Evie at five months: 

1. She is taking 2-3 good naps a day. Is is easy to put to sleep. If you give her a pack and tuck her face into your neck she'll will be out in minutes. She definitely likes her paci when sleeping and to keep her asleep. If she wakes in the middle of a nap, she'll often go back to sleep if you get her the paci fast enough.
2. She likes to suck on her fingers. I've never seen her suck on her thumb. She's not a proficient finger sucker. She often gags herself and doesn't quite have it worked out on how to get her fingers to her mouth on purpose. She will settle for her fingers while sleeping if she doesn't have the paci.
3. She's noticing her hands and can bring them together. 
4. She's started to laugh. Not a lot or for long but you can hope to get a giggle or two out of her.
5. She loves to be talked to. She always has a smile for you if you talk to her. 
6. She is chunky! She's got some rolls.
7. She doesn't like the wind or sun.
8. She tolerates her car seat a little more this month. 
9. She sleeps at night really well. She does have some not only great nights but even those she does better than most babies her age, I'm sure. 
10. She is often awoken from sleep to take kids to school and she tolerates it wonderfully. Often after a 45 minute car ride round trip, she'll come home, eat and take an awesome nap.

Evalynn at Four Months

Evalynn has been four months for a few weeks now. She is really starting to make her presence known among her siblings as she is awake more now and interacting with us some. Here are some things about her at FOUR (sniff sniff) months:

1. She is transitioning from sleeping all the time to three to four distinct naps. She sleeps in till anywhere between ten and noon and then is awake for about two hours and then has a nap. The later she sleeps in the shorter her naps are during the day. She is usually down for the night at about eight.
2. She is sleeping a solid 8 to 10 hours straight at night.
3. She likes the paci to fall asleep with and for the first ten or so minutes into her sleep to keep her asleep. She cannot keep it in her mouth on her own for even half a minute. Ten seconds would actually probably be a stretch. 
4. She loves when you get close to her face and talk to her. She always has smiles for you when you do this.
5. She is so close to laughing...I can tell it's just around the corner. 
6. She's started "talking" some. Her coos are pretty short lived and she's only done it a handful of times, but she's starting to use her vocal cords.
7. She had her four month well child visit and she is most definitely behind developmentally thus far. I'm not worried and since she relaxes her hands, smiles at you and has good coloring, the doctor isn't worried either. I just blame it on her rough two week start in the NICU and laying in a box during that time. I have to admit I'm enjoying that she's hung on to the newborn phase so long. 
8. She doesn't like Ruger...even when he's not being mean she doesn't seem to like him much. Honestly though, I don't blame her. She's taken quite a lot of slaps, having his teeth pressed into her head, screaming in her face and feet to the head. Every once in a while she will smile at him when he's talking to her or let him hug her. It's getting rarer and rarer though.
9. When she wakes up in the morning she has about a 30 minutes to an hour time period where she's happy to lay on my bed and look around. This is pretty much the only time of the day where she's okay being awake and not held.
10. We just tried out the Bumbo for the first time and she didn't love it but she tolerated it for about ten minutes. She still doesn't have a super strong neck but she is getting better and I'm desperate for her to start being okay out of my arms when she's awake.
11. She had RSV for three weeks this past month. It was horrible. She would cough so hard that she would stop breathing and she'd writhe around because she wasn't breathing. It was soo so hard to watch. I barely slept. It was happening so much that I didn't trust not having her in my arms or right beside me. She slept on my chest when I did sleep and I would stay up with her half the night with her on my shoulder while I designed signs or organized the computer hard drive. She is doesn't much better now. The cough is gone and her nose is mostly cleared up.
12. She still has one goopy clogged tear duct eye. The left eye is never not yellow and oozing. She's old enough that she's caught on to how much I wipe it and has decided she hates it. I really hope it will clear up soon!
13. She will only sleep on her stomach or in our arms. She won't sleep on her back. Even in the car seat, if the car stops, she wakes up. It doesn't take long at all. Just being at a stop light will cause her to wake up and start crying. 
14. She doesn't have much tolerance for the car seat. She doesn't always cry, but I'd say it's about 50 50 chance she is.
15. She will not bare any weight at all with her legs. At all. No exceptions. I don't think she's done it a single time.
16. She's starting to try and suck on her fist. This causes her to drool even more than normal.

Emery and Ella at 5 Years Old!

Holy moly! Here we are at 5 years old! It's amazing to me that they are five and that we've made it this far with twins! I never thought we'd see the day where they were old enough for Kindergarten. Boy are they excited to be old enough to go to school too. Unfortunately, they think they should start immediately and are pretty disappointed they have to wait nine more months. These two are hard. Twins is exponentially harder than singletons. Seriously. Yes, obviously I love them...but I still struggle with having two the same age. I probably always will. At least while we have them at home...but possibly always. It is an interesting experience. Especially with Isabelle thrown into the mix. I fully believe it would be a different ballgame if those three weren't so close together. Three girls...an odd number...with their being a big bossy sister in the mix...sure is presenting a lot of problems lately. Here are some things about them as they reached their five year milestone:

Together:

1. They go to preschool at a friend's house three times a week for 2.5 hours. I spend as much time in the car taking and picking up as I do at home without them. However, they love it. LOVE it. I can't say it enough how much the enjoy their time there. On the second day of school Emery actually started crying when she saw my car pull up to pick them up. They adore their teacher and she's amazing. We love her and all that she does for our girls. 
2. We've been transitioning to showers from baths with all of the older girls for the past three months or so and the girls really wish they could still take baths. However, once they are in they do fine. It's the getting in and dealing with being wet that they hate. 
3. Which brings me to...they hate to be wet. Emery is worse than Ella, but they both hate it.
4. They both still prefer Isabelle. I think between Isabelle being at school and them going to preschool together it's gotten a little better though. Maybe. 
5. I think both girls would prefer to do art of some sort above all else.
6. They both hate to clean. Big surprise. 
7. They both still love to be read to. It drives them crazy when Isabelle is reading out loud (which she's pretty much stopped doing actually...) too quiet for them to hear. 
8. They both still love their veggies and fruits. Ella more than Emery but they love them and we usually have no problem getting them to eat them. 

Emery:

1. Everyone loves Emery. She is rarely left out by anyone. 
2. Ironically, she's the most okay with playing by herself.
3. Her favorite color is still pink. 
4. Her art skills have improved greatly.
5. She's an early to bed, early to rise gal.
6. Lately she's not been too interested in eating much. She'll often skip a meal a day, either breakfast or lunch. That being said, she loves to snack. 
7. She loves to pray.
8. She can't wait to read. She loves to ask how to spell things and has really taken off with knowing her letters and being able to write them.
9. She's definitely a girl and that includes lots of drama!            
10. Thankfully, she loves all the clothes that Isa and/or Ella won't wear that we buy. 
11. Her attitude can still flip from one extreme to another in a matter of minutes. 
12. Emery is extremely stubborn. Way more than Ella, for the most part.
13. Emery has turned into the brave one. When they were younger, it was definitely flipped. Nowadays Emery is the one who has no problem giving the prayer in Primary, going to Primary, trying out new things, etc. etc. This isn't always the case, but more than not she's the one who can handle these types of situations.
14. She loves to sing. Until a few months ago, she couldn't go to the bathroom without singing while doing her business. 
15. She constantly makes up words, but she also likes to say words correctly. She is a little bit of a grammar Nazi and corrects Ella a lot.
16. She hates to be hot or cold...or wet. Until a month or two ago if she got wet, the world ended and if any of her clothes got a drop of any liquid on them they were toast. They had to come off. Even if we didn't have a replacement. She has literally stayed in the bathroom at Grammie's house without pants on while her panties and shorts went through the washer and dryer because a dot of liquid soaked through them. 
17. She loves to take medicines. We have no problem at all getting her to take them.

Ella:

1. She is so quick to throw herself down on the floor is she perceives something is not going her way or how she wants it. Drives me bonkers. Obviously. 
2. She is always always always willing to include everyone. If she is doing anything, she wants to share with her sisters. 
3. She cannot keep a secret. Ever.
4. Her favorite color is still blue. 
5. Her drawing has really taken off this year. She's very good.
6. She's a night owl who would rather sleep in. She rarely gets to do either and is woken up by her sisters every morning too. 
7. She loves food. We have really tried to teach her to stop eating when her belly tells her she's full, but she still eats a lot. 
8. Ella is really struggling with wetting the bed. Until about six months ago, she never had accidents. It had probably been six months to a year since she'd wet her bed. Now it's all the time. She often stinks. We are really struggling with this as we have no clue why she's relapsed or why it's going on so long. 
9. Ella is often excluded by her sisters and cousin. It's a very real problem. It breaks her heart too. As a parent, it's really hard on us as we don't know what to do most of the time other than make her sisters play with her. Her stinking is only adding to this problem. It's really hard to witness how mean Emery and Isa can be to her sometimes and then twenty minutes later when Ella's helping Dad with dinner, she goes and tells the girls to come help too. (See No. 2) She wants to be included and include everyone which makes it even harder to watch her be excluded. 
10. She's so loud. She yells to talk pretty much all the time. 
11. She loves to try and wear her wet hair in a towel on her head.
12. Ella likes to play Mom and be bossy. She will even take it as far as repeating everything I say as I say it to her sisters.
13. She still likes to destroy things...but I'd say it's calmed down some. 
14. She retains a lot. She remembers a lot, she picks up on music lyrics easily and she can recall details of stories we've told her fairly well. If she was paying attention when we told her. :)
15. Ella LOVES babies. She is the only one of the three girls that takes any interest in Evalynn or cousin Paisley (three months older than Evie).
16. She hates hates hates to take medicine. I can't even tell you if we've been able to get any in her in the last year or more. Thankfully, she hasn't NEEDED it too badly. 
17. She snores super loud. She definitely needs her adenoids out like Isa and she's the same age Isa was when she had her's out, but it's just not in the budget right now. 

Evalynn at 2 Months

With every month that goes by, I cringe that Evalynn is getting older. She still very much has that newborn feel to her. It's lasted longer, I think because of the NICU and how weak she was because of all of that. That being said, she is growing and she's definitely not as small anymore. She is very much loved and we are happy to have her in our family. Here are some things about her at two months.

1. She's starting to wake up more.
2. She's finally starting to practice holding her head up.
3. She goes cross eyed.
4. She's starting to put on some weight and getting some chub.
5. She's taken to liking the paci.
6. She's a stomach sleeper.
7. She has double clogged tear durts that are nasty goopy 100% of the time. 
8. She doesn't like being in the swing much. 
9. She's long. She fills out her newborn sleepers legthwise but not in weight.
10. She doesn't get held as much as my other babies and loves when she does get the chance. 
11. She is so good!! She's super mellow. 
12. She is starting to spit up some.

Ruger at 18 Months

Our crazy tornado of a boy turned 18 months on Sunday. One week before he went to Nursery for the first time. He loved it and went right in. The leaders said towards the end he became a little unsure but held it together. He has very much been ready for Nursery for months and I'm really happy for him to finally get to go. I am pretty nervous that he'll get physical with another kid but hopefully not. Here's some other things about him:

1. He still loves to climb everything. We had to rearrange our furniture so he couldn't climb up the couch, over the bar and get into the kitchen sink. 
2. He can knock on doors. This also means he's figured out how to punch. 
3. He will nod yes to answer a question. 
4. He is starting to follow directions.
5. "Ruger no" is probably the most spoken phrase when he's around. He's into anything and everything. 
6. He moved from the crib in our room to a mattress on the floor in his room over the last few weeks. He's done extremely well with the transition. We give kisses and waves nigh-night, send him in with a sippy and lay him on the bed and leave and shut the door. Most nights he doesn't even cry. We are very excited. 
7. He loves and adores his sisters. Isabelle and him have always had a good relationship but lately Ella and him have been playing a lot together. 
8. He really struggles to sit and eat. He'd rather be crawling on top of the table. When he's done eating, you always know cause he starts throwing his food. 
9. His favorite place to be is in the garage with Daddy.
10. He doesn't talk much at all. He says Ella. I think it's his word for girl. He says bye bye, dada, mama for i want something and pa pa for grandpa. 
11. He doesn't eat a lot of meat. It's strange at our house. 
12. He can never drink too much. Ever. 
13. He yells a lot. I think he's pretty frustrated he can't talk. So am I, honestly...
14. He has the best smile and loves to flash it to get smiles from everyone else. 
15. We transitioned from the infant carrier to a five point harness a couple of weeks ago. He didn't like it at first but he's good with it now. 
16. He loves balls, cars, trains, Legos (although he gets very frustrated with them), Minnie Mouse dolls and the animals and males in the princess action figure bucket.
17. He is seriously so loved by all five of us. He is so hard right now but man he is cute. I'm so glad we have a little boy in our house.

Ruger's 15 Month Stats

This week Ruger went to his 15 Month well child exam. Just for records sake, here are some stats about him right now.

Weight: 22.6 pounds          20%tile

Length: 32.25 inches          73%tile

Head: 18.75 inches             68%tile

Ruger's been steadily losing weight over his last three appointments, so the doctor is a little concerned about that. I just think it's because he is always active and moving. The kid never stops. We also can't seem to get rid of his ear infections that he's been fighting for over a month now. :(

Ruger at 14 Months

Our little man is getting older, however I don't really feel like he has any new milestones. So, this may seem pretty redundant from 13 months.

1. He's a climber. He climbs up any chair, onto the top of the table, the backs of our couches, my moms stairs... It's what he wants to do all the time. 
2. He added one new word this month: Grandpa.
3. He's stopped pooping 4-5 times a.day and now pees pretty much constantly. He leaks a ton if we go very long without changing his diaper. 
4. He's still super into hitting, pinching, hair pulling and biting. 
5. Everything someone comes or goes to the door or he gets in the car seat he says goodbye.
6. He directs music whenever he hears it. 
7. He loves to dance. He's added going in circles to his moves.
8. He's starting to learn to walk in shoes and doesn't like it.
9. He loves to push things around. He'll drop his head down and push anything. He gets sooo super frustrated with the transition strips and changes in flooring case he gets stopped by them. He throws himself down on the ground and has a 4 second fit before he tries again. Usually it's several attempts and rounds of this before he gets it. 
10. He's started to try on other people's shoes. He isn't very good at it.
11. We moved him to a booster at the table instead to the high chair. He likes it so much better. 
12. He eats off a plate at the table instead of off of a tray and does very well.
13. He is Mr. Independent and into evwrything!

Ruger at 2 Months

My newborn is disappearing...

1. He's started to smile when he's awake.
2. He's looked at his hands a few times.
3. He's spending more time awake.
4. He tries to suck on his fist and is getting better at it.
5. Absolutely will not take a pacifier.
6. Plays with his tongue.
7. When awake and not being held, he is most content when in the play room watching the girls play.
8. He likes to watch the fan.
9. He no longer fits in newborn clothes and is in 3 month stuff now.
10. His neck is getting stronger. 

Ruger at 13 Months

Here are some tidbits about Ruger right now:

1. Since birth Emery has played with Ruger's hair right on top of his head with the tips of her fingers. He's never cared but now he does and it definitely irritates him. 
2. He's mostly weaned. He's pretty upset about it. He only nurses in the middle of the night.
3. Adding to being able to say mama and dada, he now says bye bye. He also waves along with saying it. 
4. His favorite food may be crackers currently. He also really loves cheese and rice still. 
5. He's very curious and into everything.
6. He still wakes up 2-3 times a night.
7. He's walking. It's so cute. :)
8. His favoritest person is probably Grandpa. 
9. He knows how to pound on closed doors to get people to open them.
10. He loves piano Music to go to sleep with. 
11. He dances to any music...unless he's going to sleep.
12. He loves pushing trains and cars around and throwing balls.
13. As of 4/29, he weighs 21 pounds and 8 oz, which is the 45th percentile. He's 30.5 inches tall, which is the 57th percentile. His head circumference is 18.5 inches, which is 68th percentile.

Ruger at 12 Months

Here's some things about Ruger at 1 whole year!

1. He's not really liking milk. He does love cheese though and juices and water. Weaning from nursing has commenced and he is very unhappy about it. 
2. He's taking steps, but only three at the most. He doesn't really show that he's interested in practicing or trying much. 
3. He has learned how to scream. Ugh. Such a horrible scream that has a touch of growl to it. It developed during Spring Break when he was suffering from a man cold/ear infection. 
4. He still only has his 8 teeth. He hasn't cut any teeth in months. 
5. He's getting harder to keep out of things. He wants to explore and get into everything like his sisters.
6. He no longer likes the high chair.
7. He only says Mama and Dada. 
8. He has really taken to food lately. Rice is his absolute favorite. He will literally eat half the pot of rice we make for the whole family. Second favorite would be cheese. 
9. As much as he loves to explore and roam all day, he still wants to be held quite a bit of the day. 
10. He brightens up as soon as Isabelle or Daddy get a home. He is quite the Daddy's boy. 

Ruger at 11 Months

Our little boy is only one month away from his 1st birthday. This also means Isa is one month from her 6th birthday. It is unbelievable how fast this year went! Last month I was terrified of Ruger turning one, but something has clicked in me and now I'm actually counting down. I am excited to be able to give him milk and hopefully wean him. Nursing has become quite the burden for me as it's Ruger's only comfort, how he soothes himself and mostly how he goes to sleep. It drives me bonkers at night. Anyways, he is becoming quite the independent big boy lately.

1. He can stand on his own for a couple seconds at a time. 
2. He loves juice. He is a mess with it though.
3. He can walk when pushing something in front of him. We don t have any walkers but we have baskets, chairs and many other things. We have hard floors throughout all the living spaces in our house so the only thing that deters him are transition strips and the rug. 
4. He still has the same eight teeth. I don't believe he's cut any this month. 
5. He loves to dance whenever he hears music. 
6. We've been somewhat successful letting him cry himself to sleep. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesnt. However it has made him more capable of putting himself back to sleep when he's wakes in the middle of the night. Well at least the first time he wakes...at 9 o'clock. 
7. He's developed quite the love for toys.
8. He only takes one nap a day. It's usually an average of an hour long. Sometimes it's only 40 minutes, sometimes it's as long as an hour and 20 minutes. 
9. He loves loves loves when his sisters get down and crawl with him. The cream of the crop is when they chase each other. It's the best. All four of them laughing...yeah...the best.
10. He's a book worm deluxe! I though Emery and Ella were bad. Sheesh. This kid is destroying our nice hard back book collection by biting and eating them! He destroyed the spines.
11. He still likes to pull things off the shelves, but it has slowed down. 
12. He's a biter! Once again, this kid is putting Emery and Ella to shame. They mostly bit each other. Ruger mostly bites me, but he'll also go for Daddy and he wants to chew on every inanimate object in the house...couches, chairs, baskets, books, fabric, any furniture, etc etc etc. 
13. He likes to go to bed for the night right at 7.
14. He has his own grunting language. He only officially says Mama and Dada.
15. He loves to explore and travel all over the house.
16. He loves to play in the toy room with his sisters.

Ruger at 10 Months

Can I admit I'm starting to have panic attacks because in just another two blinks of the eyes, Ruger is going to be a year old! Sheesh, it's just not fair how fast he's growing. Here's some things about him at 10 months:

• He's a pro at drinking from a straw and is really good at drinking from a cup. We've yet to try a sippy cup.
• He says Mama and Dada.
• He is in to everything! He loves to pull the books off of bookshelves, get in the bathroom, pull everything out of cabinets and drawers and the dryer if he gets the chance. 
• He bites all the time. He mostly bites me and a little bit of Curt, but he's started moving in on the girls too.
• He loves to pull hair. He actually seeks it out and gets mad when you won't let him.
• He has eight teeth.
• He hates getting dressed and changing his diaper.
• He totally understands the concept and how to color. He doesn't literally color though cause thankfully he doesn't know how to take lids off of markers.
• He moves all the time. 
• He's cried himself to sleep two nights in a row. We've never been able to get him to before. We are really hoping this starts to help him sleep more cause the kid doesn't sleep much.
• He doesn't like baby food much at all anymore. He doesn't like a ton of solid food either. He is mostly just good with nursing.
• He's started to notice the TV.
• He still adores Isabelle.
• He still is a homebody. The only place he's comfortable other than our house is grandma's house.
• He loves to take baths.
• He doesn't like strollers, car seats, high chairs unless he is actively eating.