And Then There Were 3: We’ve got a walker AND a talker…whatchyou got?

So its official…Jacob is on the move. Just before their 18 month (that’s right you heard correctly) appointment I was ready to discuss why Jacob still wasn’t walking when I know some 6 month olds practically running laps around Big Jake and then BAM! He decides on Adams birthday to just stand up and start walking around. Adam and I kind of looked at each other and said “Are you seeing this?” and he’s been on the move since. He thinks he’s pretty hot stuff, making sure you are watching. He even likes to spin on a dime and walk the opposite direction. He is also perfecting this Beyoncé move that I like to refer to as the “Put a ring on it” dance. If you’ve ever seen her video you would know what I mean. He can do a mean butt dance! (sidebar-I think Adam may be a bit worried that Evan dances like a stripper and Jacob dances like Beyoncé…oh well… I like to think of it as “talent” HA!) Jacob is also talking a lot more as well. He only has a few words because mostly he just screams, points, and smacks his brothers in a fit of tantrums while he’s awake. His favorite words are “Ball”, “Bus”, “Da-da”, and “Bay-ee” for our dog Bailey. He also yells “ba-ba” and smacks himself in his nether regions whenever I change his diaper so I can only assume that’s his word for wiener (we..as in me.. are pretty immature here and don’t like to use the technical term)

Braden has also made some big strides this past week and has figured out how to talk around his trache and boy is he pretty proud of it. Evan and Jacob like egging him on and its fun to watch them interact. I would post a video on here if I could ever figure out my log in for YouTube...sigh I know I should write that crap down! He also got a big boy hair cut from daddy and was NOT a fan of the clippers. He’s a hard man to keep hold of when he doesn’t want to be…we like to call him our little greased pig. He’s also tolerating up to 5 tastes of baby food per time, he lets you stick a spoon in his mouth (which if you know him he HATED in the beginning), can sit up to 30 minutes in his tumble form chair, and will blow kisses, signs “All done”, can point to his knee when singing “Head, shoulders, knees and toes”, and can do a mean “Roll it” during Patty-cake! He’s even quite the little exerciser! Sarah and I would like to patent “The Braden” pose for Pilates. ((If you would like to do “The Braden”, lie on your back, with your legs in the air at a 30 degree angle, and clap your hands and the soles of your feet at the same time…its great for working those core muscles and it’s a bit harder than you think ;) )) Braden should have a killer 6 pack for all “The Braden’s” he does during the day!

The boys had their 18 month appointment on the 1st and here are their stats. Jacob weighs in at 23 lbs 12 oz. He’s 31.5 inches long and has a 49.5 cm noggin. Braden weighs in a little under Jacob at 23 lbs 2 oz, and is 25.5 inches long with a 50 cm size melon. Both boys are pretty comparable in size minus the length. I really wish they would chart Braden on the Achondroplasia chart but they have yet to do that. So with that being said, both boys are at 25% in weight, 99% in head size and Jacob is at 50% in height (WOOHOOO!!!!!) and poor B is so far below the growth curve in height that he had to scroll down to see where it landed (OK so that’s an exaggeration but seriously its pretty far below the curve… he’s my pint sized peanut!)

Evan has been pretty busy these days playing outside and hanging with dad. Adam borrowed a tandem bike for Evan to ride that attaches to his bike but unfortunately his feet don’t touch the pedals. Evan has a blast riding with Adam but I’m not sure daddy has as much fun since he’s doing all the work. Adam says he gets quite a few looks on the ride since he’s working his butt off all the while Evan is chattering away like a chatty Cathy doll. He always ends the rides with “Hey dad…that SURE was a great bike ride.” HA! He had a bit of a medical scare last week (Adam said he was fine…I disagreed) He got a bug bite…well how do I put it…somewhere not too pleasant and had a case of what can best be described as “severe swelling”. I freaked out and of course took him to the doc. Evan, in his not shy way, walked right up to the front desk at McFarland Clinic and said “The doctor needs to fix my wiener!” And did I mention that he YELLED it at the receptionist and then proceeded to say “My mom says it has red on it and it needs to be white OK?” WOW…thanks Evan I’m sure everyone was just DYING to know why we were here today! Well that just proves it takes A LOT to embarrass my child…good thing to know while he grows up and it will suit him well with Adam and I as parents!

This month is chalk full of doctor’s appointments so I’m sure I will have plenty to update there and THIS weekend is our FIRST family vacation as a family of 5 and we are headed to Omaha! We are so excited for this trip! We are meeting up with 4-5 other families who have children with Braden’s condition. Adam and I talk to them frequently on Facebook and through email but it will be so awesome to FINALLY meet them in person and share stories with people who know exactly what we are going through. I’m most excited for Evan to meet other children like Braden and see how he reacts. I hope that we all survive the car ride down and that we have a great time without any medical emergencies! I hope to post LOTS of pictures about our trip and show off all our miracle kids to the world…well ok just the small community of bored people who read my blog…BUT STILL! I’m excited can you tell???

Anyway, I will leave you with some pics from our summer adventures. Until next time!

The boys love Uncle Seann…he’s multifunctional. One minute he can be a back rest, the next a jungle gym!

One hot day I took Jacob and Evan to the wading pool at Brookside park…not bad entertainment for a buck (would have been better free…but eh? What can ya do?)

Did I mention the boys are OBSESSED with balls? Thanks to our friend Julie, we have an ENTIRE tub (or keg cooler as Adam calls it) FULL of balls! And yes, that’s Jacob beating Braden in the face with a ball…don’t worry tho, he LOVED it!

On Friday, Wendy and I took Jacob and Evan to the aquatic center in Ames. Oddly enough, Princess Evan didn’t cry once when he got water splashed in his face and even went down the slides…if you know Evan, this turn of events s quite shocking. Unfortunately he wasn’t too thrilled to be leaving the pool hence the pouty face!