Who's Your Mommy?

When Dada and Mama went out to dinner for their date night, Ommy called us on our cell phone so that Stella could chat with us for a few minutes. Ommy had Mama on speaker phone while Mama was talking to Stella. Upon hearing Mama's voice over the speaker phone, Desmond crawled over to the phone and said "mama mama mama" over and over again. That just completely melted Mama's heart! Little man knows who his Mama is.

Got Milk?

As we mentioned before, Desmond can do the sign language for milk. Well today, when Mama heard Desmond waking up in the morning, she checked on him on the video monitor. Desmond was sitting up and doing the sign language for milk. It was so cute and pathetic. He was doing the sign for milk, even though there was nobody there in his room, hoping someone will fulfill his request. Needless to say, Mama put down the video monitor and went and scooped up her little man and gave him his milk promptly.

Are you ready for some football?

Ommy bought Desmond his first Steeler's football jersey along with other fun Steeler clothing that Desmond will be sporting in the upcoming months. Though Dada's beloved team was not playing until Monday night, Des decided to show his Steeler pride by donning his # 7 Roethlisberger jersey when we went out to breakfast Sunday morning. Mama thought that Des looked especially handsome in his football jersey and may have to reconsider her ban on Des playing football in school...

Our lil' quarterback is all set to go to breakfast

"Where's my breakfast of champions?"

Ommy & Desmond

Lil' Roethlisberger

Des has his game face on

"Untie Your Shoelaces"

Stella's most favorite game to play with Poppa is to untie his shoelaces. After she unties them, Poppa says "I can't believe you untied my shoelaces" and ties them back up telling her not to untie them again. At this point, Stella just giggles like crazy and says "untie your shoelaces" and then does so. Poppa amuses her like this over and over. You can see from the smile on Stella's face in these pictures, just how much fun this is for her!

Visitors Galore...Ommy and Poppa Come to Visit

For the past 3 weekends, we have been lucky to have various family come down and visit us...first it was Amamma & Appachen, then Aunt Sil, and now Ommy & Poppa. They came down Friday afternoon and left after breakfast today. Ommy and Poppa let Mama & Dada have a date night Sat (Thanks!) while they had some bonding time with the kids. We all went to our favorite breakfast joint this morning, the Original Pancake House, and had a grand ol' time. This was Desmond's second trip to this restaurant (the first was when Aunt Sil was visiting) and let us tell you, he is a big fan. Des had some eggs, home fries, strawberries, belgian waffle, pumpkin pancakes, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Then he conked out for a long nap at home...it's a good life!

Heading out for breakfast.

Stella & Ommy laughing at Des while waiting for our food to arrive.

Standing Still

Desmond can stand up all by himself for a few seconds at a time! But you have to be slick about it to get him to do so. Once he realizes he is standing on his own, he immediately sits down.

Dada is in the process of letting go while giving him a toy to distract him with.

Des realizes that he's standing all by himself, so he goes to sit down (not the best pic, we know, but it's the best we could do).

By the way, the mess of toys you see in the background is courtesy of Mr. Desmond. He loves, loves, loves to make messes.

In other news, his top teeth on either side of his center two teeth broke through the gums...so he has a total of 6 teeth now.

Desmond is 11 Months Old

Our little Des is 11 months old. We can't believe he is going to be 1 soon. He is growing up so fast.
Anyway, here are the things that Des can do:

• Play peekaboo with the curtains by hiding his face behind the fabric.
• Play "Where's Desmond?" by covering and uncovering his face behind a blanket, a towel, or pillow.
• He is still very ticklish.
• He pretty much eats regular food. These days, he will shake his head "no" when you bring baby food to him. The only way to get him to eat baby food is if no one else is eating regular food around him.
• As much as he loves to eat, he is getting pickier about what he eats.
  
• Loves him some chicken
  
• Can do the sign language for milk.
• Will wave "hi" when he sees you for the first time...it's the cutest thing!
• Still says "uh-oh", "baa" for ball, and "bye" for phone consistently along with dada, mama, and "tella" for Stella.
• Will say "na na" back to his sister when she takes a toy away from him...learning to stand up for himself.
• Absolutely loves the remote control and phone. Mama usually hides it under the pillow on the couch, but Des knows that and will go lift the pillow, looking for it.
• He is a big boy and wears 18 month size clothes.
• Still very impatient.
  
• He loves to pull legos apart but gets so mad when he can't attach them back together.
• Loves to play with the Leap Frog alphabet fridge magnets, but gets so mad when he can't fit the letter in the cartridge.

The other day, Dada had fun styling Des's hair into a mohawk after his bath. Des was so tired and ready for bed that he wouldn't smile for the camera no matter what we did.

Even flying through the air didn't elicit a giggle.

Eatin' Good @ the OG

On Sunday, we all went to the Olive Garden (or as we call it, the OG) for lunch. We all enjoyed their delicious soup and salad, especially the Gup.

Waiting impatiently for his food to be served

Aunt Sil and Stella

Mama and her baby girl

A happy camper, enjoying his pasta fagioli soup

At The Park

On Sat, Mama and Aunt Sil went out to a matinee movie while Dada offered to stay back and watch the kids (what can I say, Dada is the best). While Mama and Aunt Sil were at the movies, Dada took the kids to the park. It was a gorgeous day with fall like temps and the best way to spend it was outdoors. As you can see from the pics, the kids had a ball.

Swinging (the pics are blurry b/c the swings were in motion)

Sliding

Des enjoyed some time on the grass while his sister played...



...then his sister joined him

Dada said that when 2 kids came by with a soccer ball, Des got so excited and said "baa, baa, baa" over and over! You'll be running around with the big kids soon enough, buddy!

Stella Has Turned The Corner!

Stella is feeling much better today...finally. She woke up and ate a sausage patty, a chocolate chip pancake and drank water without much difficulty and she hadn't even had her medicine yet.

Also Aunt Sill is here visiting for the weekend so that probably helped take her mind off of any pain or discomfort.

When Mama asked her how her throat was feeling, she said, "it feels much better today".

Now the task is for us to fatten her up because the skinny min has already lost a lot weight the past week when she wasn't eating anything.

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

With his 3rd cold and ear infection out of the way, Des is back to his happy, healthy self and he sure doesn't want to get sick again for awhile (and neither do we!). So he decided to take the old adage "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" to heart. With his new found top two center teeth, Des crawled over to his Dada and took a bite out of his apple. He was happy to be nibbling on this healthy snack while watching some Sunday football with his Dada.

We also let Desmond indulge in a "not so healthy" snack when he decided to sample some of his Dada's popsicle. We bought these popsicles, along with jello and pudding, for Stella to eat during her recovery from her tonsillectomy, but Stella had no interest in any of these. Des was sure happy to sink his teeth, literally, into the popsicles as well as the jello.

If you haven't noticed, our boy is a food lover and without a doubt, if you are ever eating food, he knows it and will crawl over to you, pull up using your leg, and beg for food. He will taste it a few times to see if he wants more or if he doesn't like it. Some of his other antics include pulling stuff off of the dinner table (like juice boxes and Stella's glass full of juice) and throwing his sippy cup off of his tray when he is done with it.

While Des was enjoying his sister's popsicle, poor Stella girl was just hanging out on the couch next to her Dada, watching her favorite show...Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

She's saying cheese in this picture but doesn't want to take her eyes off of the TV.

Amamma and Appachen left Sat morning. We didn't take many pics due to everything else that was going on with Stella's surgery but Dada managed to take a few pics of Des enjoying a shoulder ride with Appachen.

Stella, Post Surgery-Day 5

Stella's doing a little better but still in a lot of pain. Poor girl is drooling a lot because she doesn't even want to swallow her saliva due to the pain. She doesn't talk at all really...just shakes her head yes or no to answer our questions. Stella will get a tiny burst of energy 20 minutes after her Tylenol dose but otherwise, she just sits/lays on the couch. Trying to get her to drink and eat is a battle and very exhausting. Hoping to see improvement as the days go by.

Stella Post Surgery-Day 2

Stella was miserable today when she woke up, refusing to drink or swallow anything. We had been giving her Tylenol with Codeine every 4 hours per the doctor's instruction round the clock but apparently that was doing more harm than good. You see, Stella apparently had an allergic reaction to Codeine...she had red flat spots all over her legs and arms which appear to be hives.

So we called the doctor and we stopped the Tylenol with Codeine and were told to give her just regular children's Tylenol every 4 hours. Within a half hour of getting the Tylenol, Stella perks up and drinks and eats upon our request but by 3 hours post dose, her demeanor and appearance deteriorates rapidly. It's because she is in a lot of pain (even though she doesn't complain but just lays there on the couch) and will not swallow any fluids. Unfortunately, there aren't many narcotics that are prescribed for children so our doctor is going to look into it and see if Stella can take something else for the pain besides Codeine. Luckily, her hives have mostly disappeared since we stopped the Codeine.

Home

We are back home from Stella's surgery. The surgery went smoothly and Stella is such a tough little girl. I think what upset her the most was not the pain, but rather all of the nurses and doctor's poking and prodding her. She is dealing with the pain rather well. She is on Tylenol with Codeine every 4 hours and she hates taking it because it doesn't taste all that great. The nurses and doctor's told us that the first 3 days are going to be especially rough. Our main job is to keep her hydrated, hydrated, hydrated...otherwise, we will have to go back to the hospital to start her on IV fluids. Here is hoping to a speedy and full recovery.

Amamma & Appachen Are Here!

Amamma and Appachen got in late last night and are having a great time playing with the kids today. Desmond took to both of them right away by smiling at Amamma as soon as he saw her this morning and crawling over to Appachen when he first saw him. Stella is having fun reading her books to her grandparents...she can read 8 stories now from Book 1 & 2 from the first series.

Amamma and Appachen are here to watch Des tomorrow while Mama and Dada take Stella to the hospital for her tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Please keep Stella in your thoughts and prayers and pray that the surgery goes smoothly and that Stella has a speedy recovery.

Des's 3rd Ear Infection

Last Friday, we took Des to the doctor's because he wasn't acting right and we feared his cold had progressed to an ear infection and he was diagnosed with a mild ear infection in his left ear. The doctor gave us a Rx for antibiotics but told us to wait and see if he would be able to fight it off on his own, give him Motrin to help relieve the pain, and only start the antibiotics if he gets worse (fever, screaming in pain, etc.).

We made it till last night (Wed) but last night he was screaming his head off and sobbing in pain grabbing his ear and so we had to start the antibiotics. He is much better today. Poor guy, that is 3 colds in a row and 3 ear infections each time.

"Dig My Threads?"

Today when Mama and Gup were playing, Des went over to the pile of clean clothes in the laundry basket that needed folding and started taking clothes out and putting them over his head as if he was trying to put clothes on by himself. Never mind that he was picking out his sister's clothes!

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

The food lover at his best, doing what he loves best...eating and making a mess!!!

Stella Is Reading!

Since our trip from Pittsburgh, we have broken out the Hooked On Phonics reading system Stella got for her birthday as well as the BOB books that her cousins got her because Stella was very keen on reading. She already knew the sounds that each letter made and now it was a matter of putting those sounds together when she saw a word.

Well, Stella loves the BOB books (and so do we) and can now read 6 separate stories all by herself. She is very, very proud of herself and so are we. She even wanted to read when she was sick with her high fever illness. We hope that her love of reading continues as she gets older!