A Mother's Instincts

Des has had a cold for about 2.5 weeks now with lots of congestion and yellow, runny nose. His appetite has been lacking and Mama has been suspecting an ear infection but when he had his 9 month “well” visit on Mon, the new doctor said that his ears were fine. But yesterday, Des was so upset all day and kept pulling on his ear and spiked a fever of 102 last night.

Even though he didn't have a fever this morning, Mama just knew things weren't alright with the little Man, so she took him to the doctor's and sure enough when our regular, experienced pediatrician checked him out, his left ear was infected.

The doctor initially couldn’t see well into his left ear b/c there was too much wax, so he had to dig out the wax to get a clear look. So we suspect that his ear was infected on Mon, just 2 days prior, but the new inexperienced incompetent pediatrician couldn’t see it due to the wax that was there. Needless to say that we will avoid scheduling appointments with her in the future. Lesson learned from this is that a mother’s instincts are usually right and should not be ignored!!!

Stella was so sweet yesterday during Des’s illness. Her maternal instincts kicked in and she brought him his socks for his chilly feet b/c Mama had commented how chilly his hands and his feet were and she also encouraged him to take his medicine (Motrin for his fever) telling him "that it’s good for you." How sweet!!!

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands

Mama saw Des clapping his hands to music for the first time today! As mentioned before, Des loves to play with his sister’s laptop computer and one of the features on this toy is to select different songs to play. In the past, Des would crawl over to the laptop, press a song to play, and would tap his left foot, and only his left foot, when the music started to play.

But today, when Mama played song #1, Des, who was sitting up, started clapping his hands and then he got so excited that he ended up eating his hands…I guess b/c he is teething and he’s got that urge to just bite, bite, bite. The funny thing is that Des would only clap his hands to song #1, never to songs 2-10. Mind you, the clapping does not make a sound, but it is the cutest thing. We had been trying to teach him how to clap for the past few days and now he's finally got it. We will have to capture his clapping on video and post it.

Big Boy!

Des had his 9 month checkup today and the stats don't lie...Des is a big boy, but we already knew that. His stats are as follows:

Height = 30 inches (95th %)
Weight = 20 lbs, 9.5 oz (way, way off the charts!!!)
Head Circumference = 18.5 cm (75-90th %)

He got two shots and we have to take him to a lab to get his blood drawn so they can check the lead levels sometime before he turns 1. The Gup is sleeping right now, exhausted from all the crying he did during his shots...poor baby.

T-Ball

Stella received a T-ball set for her birthday and this past weekend, she and Dada broke it out for some backyard fun.

You can see more of Stella's new shorter haircut with bangs in the pics above. She is also sporting her new Little Mermaid sunglasses, which she absolutely loved and wore the whole entire day, indoors and outdoors!

How Many Kids Does it Take to Play a Harmonica?

As we mentioned before, one of the gifts Stella received for her birthday was a harmonica and Miss Stella loves to play it. But today, lil' Des decided to try his hands, rather his mouth, at the harmonica...at the same time his sister was playing it!!!

Stella and Desmond both got haircuts today and you can see a little bit of their shorter dos in this picture. This is Des's 6th overall haircut and 2nd professional haircut since he was born and he is only 9 months old!!!

Picture Perfect

When Dada took Stella to school the first day we came back from our last trip to NJ, Dada was told that that day was school picture day. We didn't know this prior to and had not done Stella's hair or anything to get her ready for her school pictures. Then, when Mama went to pick up Stella later that day, her teachers told me that she took her pictures with her bathing suit on (Stella takes her bathing suit to school because on some days they have water play outside). Mama didn't ask why she took her school pics with her bathing suit on and had low expectations on how the pics would turn out.

But lo and behold, a few weeks back, we got Stella's school pictures and were surprisingly pleased with the results. Here are the three poses we purchased (since our scanner is broke, Mama had to take a picture of the picture...sorry for the dimness of the pics). But you can see below why Stella chose to put her bathing suit on for her school pictures.

Desmond Got His 2nd Tooth!

Des's second tooth erupted yesterday! His bottom, center, right tooth broke through the gums. When it rains, it pours I guess.

He seems to be doing okay so we are not sure whether he is fighting off his ear infection or whether his slight temperature and scream fest a few days ago was due to teething.

Des is 9 Months Old and Got His 1st Tooth!

Des turned 9 months old today and lo and behold his first tooth erupted...the bottom, center, left tooth. Only the corner of it has broken through the gums, but nonetheless, Des got his first tooth, finally!!!...3 months later than his sister Stella. And the bottom, center, right tooth is close behind, looking to erupt any day now. If you look in his mouth (which he doesn't let you do very often) you can see the whites of the teeth below the surface of the gums.

In other not-so-good news, it seems poor Des's cold is turning into an ear infection. He felt slightly warm in the evening and when we took is temp, it read 100.2 F and technically, it is not considered a fever unless it is 100.4 F. He was also pulling at both of his ears. He went down at around 9 PM but woke up screaming and sobbing 20 minutes later and so we gave him some Motrin and rocked him back to sleep. We'll see how he does tonight and tomorrow. Unfortunately, we think he inherited his Dada's ears which were prone to ear infections when he was a baby :=(

Since Des turned 9 months old today, here is a summary of all of the things he can do since he turned 8 months old:

• He has had a variety of foods from table food (pita bread, orange-cranberry muffins, pineapple, peaches, apples, plantains, cheerios, and Kix) to the more complex combinations of food found in the Stage 3 line of baby foods. His favorite Stage 3 baby food seems to be the chicken and rice dinner by Gerber. He has had these vegetable puffs that look like cheese doodles but flavored with vegetables. He gobbles those up along with arrowroot cookies and teething biscuits and makes a big mess when doing so as you can see below.

• He loves to drink water out of glasses, sippy cups, and bottles. He just thinks it's the best thing ever.
  
• He loves to cruise along the sofa. Now that he is even more mobile than ever, we fear that some of his "chub" is going to melt away. So Dada took a picture of his "chubs thighs" so that we can remember them when they are gone.

And you can see a little bit of his buddha belly in the pic below.

• Des said "Mama" for the first time on our last trip to NJ and since then, he has been saying it, and variations of it like "Ma Mm Ma Ma", more and more. We are not sure whether he knows what it means because sometimes he says it when he is just babbling and other times he says it like he is intentionally calling for his Mama. We noticed he says it when he wakes up from his naps and also when he is tired, sad, or whiny and wants his Mama to hold him. So Mama thinks he knows what he is saying when he says "Mama" :=) If so, then Des's first word will be Mama...just like it was Stella's!
• He growls when he gets angry. For example, changing Des's diapers these days are a challenge because he is such a squirmy wormy who just wants to flip over onto his belly all the time. So when Mama tells him sternly "not to flip over and to stay still", he growls and if Mama growls back, Des just growls back louder!
  
• Des loves to nap...that boy can sleep. Even now, he likes to go back to sleep every 2 hours during the day, with 3 hours being his max awake time in between naps. We have a feeling that he is going to be one of those kids in college who misses a lot of morning classes due to oversleeping!

Well, that's all for now. Des has a 9 month checkup next Monday, so we'll post his stats then!

Miss Independence!

Stella has a toddler bed which she calls her "Micko" bed because it has Mickey Mouse bedding on it that she picked out herself. Ever since she was daytime potty trained, we have been letting her sleep in her Micko bed at nap time while she wears a pull up diaper.

So while Mama and Dada were away, Ommy put Stella in her Micko bed for a nap as usual and on the first day, Stella went potty (#2) during the middle of her nap successfully. This was the first time she has ever gotten up in the middle of the nap to go potty. So for the remainder of the time, Ommy did away with diapers during nap time and let her sleep in her underwear and she remained dry each time. At preschool, Stella does not wear a diaper at all and has been staying dry during her nap time for about a month or so now.

Ommy also let Stella sleep in her Micko bed during the nighttime as well. The first night Stella slept in her Micko bed, she got up in the middle of the night to go potty successfully, but after she went potty, she couldn't put her diaper back on because she was not wearing a pull up diaper. Ommy found Stella sitting in her rocking chair in her room with the dry diaper in her hands and she asked Ommy to "help her put her diaper back on". Ommy obliged and Stella went back to sleep in her Micko bed. Her diaper was dry when she awoke in the morning. So the following two nights, Ommy put Stella in a pull up diaper at nighttime so this way she could pull the diaper on and off if she had to go potty in the middle of the night. Stella's diaper has been dry each morning ever since then!!!! This is a huge accomplishment in our minds and we are so proud of her. The final step will be to do away with the pull up diapers at nighttime.

Mama and Dada were gone for only 2.5 days and in that short amount of time, our children grew up in leaps and bounds. It is bittersweet...in a blink of an eye, Stella and Des will be all grown up!

Sitting Up, Pulling Up, and Cruisin' All by Himself!

While we were gone, Desmond managed to learn how to sit up from a lying down position all by himself. Ommy had told us that twice she had left him in the crib on his belly and when she would return, she found Des sitting up. On Sunday (7/20), Mama witnessed Desmond getting up into sitting up position all by himself. Now every time we go to get him when he wakes up from his nap, the Gup is sitting up waiting for us...so cute!!!

On Sunday, before Ommy and Poppa left, we all got to witness Des pull himself up to standing all by himself using his favorite toy piano. He was very happy with himself after his accomplishment!

He also enjoyed walking with Ommy. Nowadays, if you try to put him down on the floor on his bum, he sort of resists and prefers to stand up while you support him a little.

Later on in the evening, Desmond was standing on the floor holding onto the couch and he started cruising in an attempt to get Stella's laptop (probably his favorite toy of Stella's) that was at the other end of the couch!!! We couldn't believe it. We then used the laptop as a carrot and had him cruising along the couch back and forth. He also later cruised in his crib holding onto the crib rails. Our little boy is growing up so fast!

A Visit from Ommy & Poppa

Poppa and Ommy came down from Pittsburgh (7/17-7/20) to visit the kids as well babysit them while Mama and Dada went out to the Midwest for Dada's job search. This was the first time Mama had been away from either Stella or Desmond in another state that wasn't within driving distance. But the kids were in good hands and had a great time spending some quality time with their grandparents.

Unfortunately, both kids were sick during their visit. Desmond started early in the week with a cold and seemed to be improving by the time Ommy and Poppa came down. Stella woke up on Thurs with the sniffles which progressively got worse. She then woke up with a fever of 102.2 F on Sat and Sun along with a runny nose and cough. Des also got more congested and developed a cough by the weekend. But Ommy and Poppa took good care of Stella and Des while Mama and Dada were gone and Mama and Dada are very, very grateful for that. In fact, when we would talk to Stella on the phone, she didn't seem to be missing us at all. We forgot to transfer the pics from Ommy's camera onto our computer so we will have to post them at another time.

Happy 3rd Birthday Stella!

Our sweet Stella girl is 3 years old today. We cannot believe it! Where did the time go? Mama was strolling down memory lane and wanted to post some of Stella's pictures from her past birthdays.

Stella's original birthday: July 15, 2005

Stella's 1st Birthday

Stella's 2nd Birthday

Stella, Mama and Dada love you more than words can describe and we are so proud of all of the things you can do and of the sweet and gentle soul that you are. We hope that you remain just as sweet and as loving as you are now. No two people in this world love you more than we do. Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!!

Amamma & Aunt Sil Visit

This weekend, Amamma and Aunt Sil came to visit us. Appachen wasn't able to come because he was in India visiting his ailing mother, who now, thankfully, is doing much better.

Saturday morning, we headed out early to our favorite breakfast place, The Original Pancake House. Dada was gracious enough to stay at home with the Gup because we all know that Des is not restaurant material these days.

Stella Getting ready to head out.

Stella hanging out with Aunt Sil and...

...Amamma while waiting for her breakfast to arrive.

We ate some yummy chocolate chip waffles, Nutella and banana crepes, home fries, scrambled eggs, and sausage. Needless to say, we were in a food coma by the time we got back home.

Meanwhile, Desmond was crawling all around the house as usual and here he managed to get himself underneath the Exersaucer.

He thought that was pretty funny.

In the evening, the whole gang headed out to dinner at the Rockville Towne Center, one of our favorite spots to hang out because they have so many good restaurants, areas to walk around, and lots of fun things to do for kids. Before we headed out, we took some more pics.

The Gup with his Aunt and his Mama.

The whole gang minus Dada.


Des and Aunt Sil.


We tried to take a family picture, but it was nearly impossible to get both kids to look and smile at the camera. This is the best we could do.

Celebrating Stella's 3rd Birthday!

Stella's 3rd birthday is actually on Tues the 15th, but we decided to celebrate it on Sunday the 13th along with Aunt Sil and Amamma. We decided to open Stella's presents shortly before lunchtime while Des was sleeping so that Stella could open her gifts without having to worry about the Gup getting his paws into everything.

Stella's favorite gift by far was the simple Mickey Mouse Clubhouse coloring/activity book. Once she opened that one, she didn't let it out of her hands and Aunt Sil had to open the rest of Stella's gifts for her. Stella actually said, "I love this book!" So sweet!

Stella received lots of other presents like Hooked on Phonics to help her to learn to read, new story books, new puzzles, an educational Elmo video game, musical instrument set that included a harmonica, a kazoo, a tambourine, shaker eggs, etc.

Here she is playing with some of her new gifts: a Disney princess book and a harmonica.

Of course, the Gup woke up and decided to pilfer Stella's new gifts. Here he is tasting the tambourine.


After the gift opening, we ate lunch and then it was time to cut the cake.


Stella got very shy when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her as you can see in the picture below where she is looking down smiling. She is getting more and more shy as the days pass by.

Stella blew out all 4 candles (an extra one for good luck) one by one.


We had to take the requisite family picture quickly because the Gup was trying very hard to grab the cake and candles...yikes!

We had a great time celebrating Stella's birthday with Amamma and Aunt Sil. Since Stella is getting old enough to remember these childhood memories when she is all grown up, we hope that she will look back on this day and weekend fondly.

Jump! Jump!

We told you before that Desmond loves jumping in his jumperoo. These days he can jump so high in it and just goes crazy. Here's a video of Mr. Des's jumping abilities. Enjoy!

Standing Tall!

This past Sat (7/5/08), as we were getting Stella ready for bed, we put Desmond in Stella's crib and he was able to stand by himself holding onto the crib rails. Desmond thought that this was the best thing ever as seen by his big grin in the pic above. He just loved standing by himself soooo much. He would fall here and there and when he did, he would try to pull up to standing by himself and would make it halfway up. A little more practice and he'll soon be pulling up to standing all by himself.

Stella's a Girlie Girl!

This past weekend, Stella had a very girlie rite of passage...she got her finger nails painted for the first time and she is proudly showing them off in the pic above. Mama has painted her toenails several times before, but this was the first time little Stella girl got a manicure. Stella went into Mama's bathroom drawer, picked out the red nail polish, and politely asked Mama to paint her nails...and Mama willingly obliged.

Lately, Stella has been very interested in all things girlie like clothes and Mama's makeup. She will often follow Mama around like a shadow, watching intently how Mama gets dressed, does her hair, and puts on makeup. Our little girl is growing up too fast!

July 4th Weekend Cont'd

Our 4th of July weekend continued with another trip to the park on Sunday, since our Stella loves it so much. And this time, we had the park all to ourselves until the very end.

Here's Stella and Desmond (from the safety of his Dada's lap) enjoying some time on the see saw.

We brought a blanket to lay out on and Des enjoyed crawling around on it chasing the bubbles Mama was blowing.

Dada took this next series of shots of Stella climbing up the ladder and going down a blue tunnel slide.

Our 4th of July weekend was filled with spending lots of time outdoors having lots of fun and we were sad to see the long weekend come to an end.